ã€ŠRise of the Undead Legionã€‹


 c-1 The Undead Legion

    The Undead Legion;

    The Undead King was themander in chief. There were seven Divisions in the army military organization table. There were seven generals, the Abyssal Knights, beneath the King. Each onemanded a Division of more than 100,000,000 Warriors.

    - Eleanor of Arotsa, Daughter

    Each division, depending on revives and losses, had roughly 100 Doom knights, 10,000 Death Knights. 1,000,000 Skeleton captains and around 100,000,000 elite and normal skeletons.

    8 Generals

    Da, Arch-lich (Abyssal Knight)

    -mands the magic division

    Lich Du''Razha (Doom Knight) Level 520 (freed from a Dungeon from the Ice Queen)

    - One of the most powerful of solitary units under the Arch-lich (Gehna) lord over the magus ranks of the Undead Legion.

    Gehna, Berserker Demi-god (Abyssal Knight)

    - Leader of the Vanguard Division of the Legion)

    Drahma the Unfettered (Doom Knight) Level 550(freed from Temple of the ck Skull Order Dungeon) , Weapon Paste-Maker (140)

    - Drahma was one of the most powerful individual units in the Undead King''s Legion. He was under the directmand of Dalga the [Abyssal Knight].

    After the Undead King disappeared, Drahma was captured by the ck Skull''s, a fallen order. He suffered for many years, tormented and experimented on.Ultimately, he sumbed to his beast-nature went mad when his heart was removed. The Undead King''s Blessing kept him alive but in constant torment. The rage that built over the years madness and unchecked rage granted him a Power:

    - Z, Mermaid Demon LVL 400, Former Lover

    - Vreek, the one responsible for the Genocide of the Giant Race / ck Skull Order

    Exiled Deadra (Abyssal Knight)

    - Former leader of the Rogue Division, now led by the king and his favorites (189)

    Samael, The Voracious (Abyssal Knight)

    - A being representing the top evolution of a ghoul, voracious and forever hungry, a creature of madness and greed. However, Samael overcame the mindlessness of such horrid behaviors and overcame his nature, a pure ghoul of the highest ranks.

    Dikenz (Undead Trader)

    Gate Guardian Ramsha, Warden of the entrance to the Underworld, trades many goods

    Delvina, the Warden (Death Knight) Level 400

    - Death-Knight Delvina is famed for her ''ways'' in dealing with the infidel.

    Head over the punishment forces of the Undead-Legion. Delvina is known to be one of the most ruthless enforces of the legion. Any unfortunate soul that bes her prisoner will suffer unending torment.

    Orn The Knight yer (Doom Knight) Level 550

    - Orn, a famous butcher of the Undead Legion, had made his name known for having in a thousand Knight in battle alone.

    Gale the Borken de (Doom Knight) Level 550

    - Gale was a powerful warrior when he was alive, and became even more ferocious when he turned to an undead. He is famed for wielding a broken great sword that never left his side.

    Dementi (Abyssal Knight)

    Matn of Ash, (Death Knight)

    Dortha the Beast (Abyssal Knight)

    - Able to shapeshift, but at the cost of his sanity

    - Deadra had been the only one allowing him to not gopletely berserk

    Gafgar, Undead Sailor

    Undead Ranks;

    Ranks/ Commands Contribution

    Normal Skeleton soldier (Draugr) Lowest unit. 0

    Elite Skeleton 10 normal units (10) 100

    Undead Captain 10 Elite skeletons. (100) 1000

    Death Knight 10 Undead Captains (1,000) 10 000

    Doom Knight 100 Death Knights (1,000,000) 100 000

    Abyssal Knight 100 Doom Knights (100,000,000) 1 000 000

 c-2 Misc/Notes

    Inheritances- Renamed- To not confuse with Rebirth of the Legendary Guardian /Legacies;

    Inheritances; 6 Major sses,

    Every ss, there is one major inheritance that is given by the Deity of the said ss those are all unique inheritance and are given to only one person throughout the game.

    Normally the yers with inheritance should be powerful beings, not only could they "transform" into their ss''s main Deity, they can also gain impressive amounts of defense, Hp, Increased damage output and some even gain a massive size. Like the god of war inheritance owner, he can grow massively in size. Even a stomp of his feet can crush another person.

    Yet this inheritance would have been a game breaker if not for their limit. The user can only stay in their "transformed" state for 2 hours after activating their inheritance, after that, the inheritance activation goes on a 72 hours cooldown

    Shadow Dancer/Shadow Assassin; Mercy (It''s Just Business)

    - Thieves/assassins/rogues

    God of War; Zhang Shi (Blood Rage)

    - Bruisers/Berserks/Tanks

    - giant ive. It also had five seals on it. and the yer that owned the item needed to defeat several strong bosses to fully unlock its potential. Thest seal is the hardest, yet unlocking it unlocked the best skill in the game. Transformation.

    Tree of Life; Druid (Heaven''s Dawn)

    - Summoners /Druids/Warlocks (summon demons, more destructive)

    Dawn of Light; Wan Yi (Heaven''s Dawn)

    - Priest/Healer

    Divine Bow; Hunter Guy (inheritance is the bow instead of ss), + Dragon Pet

    - Hunter (can tame beasts)/Archer

    World Bender; (should be Tess, but you seem to have renamed it into

    - magic type inheritance that reduces mana costs, cooldowns and empowers all the ss''s skills by a huge amount. Not only that it changes the graphics of normal skills and their power

    Monster Tiers;

    Monster Tiers; Ch. 06

    Normal 1-100 :

    Savage 100-200:

    Fierce 200-300:

    Deste 300-400:

    Epic 400-500:

    Mythic 500-600:

    Ethereal 600-700:

    Holy/Unholy 700-800:

    Demonic/angelic 800-900:

    Divine/Devilish 900-999:

    God 1000: Endgame boss

    If a target is 30 levels higher than a character then the character deals 10% reduced damage to the enemy and receives 10% additional damage.

    ? = 20+ level above

    ?? = 40+ level above

    ???= 80+ level above

    ????= 160+ level above

    ?????= 320+level above

    Ch. 66

    Xuanwu Rune (Medium Tier)

    High-Grade dungeon core

    Demonic-Rune (High-Grade)

    Demonic Eye (Legendary crafting material)

    Broken Undead-King''s Helmet (Special Quest Item)

    - If you ever reach the Death-Knight''s level, you should find Andre the cksmith and ask him about this, Hidden-Quest (073)

    Reforged Anew!

    Find the Undead cksmith Andre and ask him about the origin of the broken helmet.

    - ¨¤ New Questline avable!

    Game-Story Questline!

    Rank (SSS)

    Search for the Armor of the Undead King

    - ¨¤ Main Questline (Difficulty: SSS)

    Andre the smith has offered to fix the armor of the Undead King if you to find rest of the pieces in the set and bring the following materials for the repair work:

    Bones of a King (must be killed by you)

    5 x Unicorn''s Horn

    100 x Adamantine fments

    Ramsha''s Blood (10 liters)

    100 x Silver Hydra''s Scales

    1 x ck Dragon''s Heart

    New Hidden Quest: Sacrilegious

    Kill three (3) Holy Church Cardinals to obtain the title: ''sphemer''

    sphemer title effects:

    Holy attacks do 20% less Damage to the user when the title is equipped.

    User does 20% more Damage to Holy Church affiliated entities when the title is equipped. (234)

    Ash-King''s Pendant (Quest Item)

    Sworn Stalwarter''s Core

    Sworn Stalwarter''s Gauntlets (Weapon- Bound) (Legendary)

    - Category: Gauntlets

    Sworn Stalwarter''s Gauntlets

    A weapon made from the hands of the vicious Sworn Stalwarter

    Basic Damage 2,000-3,000

    Blood Rune [Life Steal] Siphons 50% damage dealt as HP

    [Venom Attacks] have a chance to poison enemy

    [Electro Shock]

    [Socket]

    Requirements 300 STR. 300 AGI 300 INT

    Level (1)

    Bound to (Death Stroke)

    Attributes/Skills Weapon Level (1)

    When Worn, increases the Area of the skill Infernal Aura by 5x5Meter radius and damage by 0.5%

    [Ramp UP] Increases the Damage of Stalwarter''s Gantlets after each sessful hit by 2% capped at 5 times

    [Burning Fist] If Ramp UP is activated, imbues a the weapon with fire damage increasing basic weapon''s damage by 20%

    [me Tornado]

    [Rising Dragon] The next melee attack after activating the skill is a rising uppercut that sends enemies into the air.

    Deals 200% base Damage in fire element.

    Rising Dragon has a 30% chance to immediately cause Overheating.

    New Skill unlocked:

    [Dragon Kick] a flying-jump kick knocking back enemies and doing 100% of the base damage. A sessful attack conjures a fiery phantasmal dragon that does an additional 100% base damage in Fire Damage.

    New Skill Unlocked:

    [Advancing Dragon] Explode with the might of a dragon, targeting multiple enemies at once with a series of rapid attacks. The attacks cannot be nullified with evasion or escape Skills. Each attack does 100% of the Sworn Stalwart gauntlets base damage.

    5 Minuts cooldown

    Unlocked:

    [Fist-Fighting Style] you can now train your fist-fighting. Every additional level increases fist-weapon damage by 5% (passive).

    Unlocked:

    [Dragon Awakens] instantly resets your Sworn Stalwart skills. The user enters a fugue state in which all learned fist skills are merged and then used in one fist-fightingbo attack. [Awakened Dragon] has a two hour cooldown period. The skills used during an [Awakened Dragon] attack will individually have an extended, 200% cooldown period.

 c-3 Mr. Skeletal Stat Page/Skills/Char

    Mr. Skeletal Stat Page;

    Level 400 (Ch. 316)

    Name Death Stroke

    Race Human (Undead)

    ; formerly Death Apostle (Unique)

    - A ss worthy of the one that follows the teachings of death

    Increased damage by 10% while wielding a sword

    All defense Value increased by 10%

    Can Defy death once. If the yer dies, they can resurrect themselves with half their Hp/mana.

    If the yer dies within two hours after their resurrection. They will lose 1 level. Even if their death was to a monster.

    (Cooldown 72 hours)

    Battle Lich (276) SS Legacy

    - A lich is a caster ss that employs undead to fight for it as it uses spells to decimate their enemies. But A Battle Lich takes that concept and turns it upside down. Getting close and personal is the best approach of this ss as it can handle itself in melee or ranged fights.

    - All of your skills have a [Dark] attribute to them. You cause 50% more damage to [Holy] affiliated monsters or NPC and receive 50% additional damage from the holy attribute or category.

    - [Magic over Sword] (Passive) All of your magic skills have +20% increase in damage and potency.

    - [Battle Lich] is part caster ss. You can now use 12 skills from skill books instead of the limited 10 for melee sses.

    -

    Stamina ¡Þ

    MANA 71,000

    Health 1,542,000

    STR 1,020

    INT 1,050

    WIS 800

    DEX 600

    AGI 510

    Physical Def 27,001

    Magic DEF 51,001

    HP Regen 1%

    Mana regen 1%

    Stamina regen ¡Þ

    Prestige/Honor 1,800

    Milestone Stats;

    1000 STR; Passive skill [Herculean Strength] has been unlocked.

    Your physical damaging attacks deal +20% increased Damage.

    1000 INT; [Overdrive] has been unlocked.

    An active ability that enables the user to use all of his mana-skills without mana cost for 30 seconds

    1000 DEX; Passive skill [Inhuman Reactions] has been unlocked. (or is it 3000 Dex?)

    No description given; Increases move/attack speed??? (Personal Assumption)

    Titles;

    Grand Strategist! ¨¤ War Maestro (273) / Artisan of War (325)

    - 100 Intelligence

    The troops under yourmand have an unfaltering belief in your decision and will face death fearlessly in your name.

    The troops under yourmand have a 20% reduction in stamina consumption.

    The troops under yourmand have +20% increased damage from all attacks and abilities.

    The Undead troops under yourmand have a 3.5% chance to revive instantly after death.

    Battlecry! (325)

    All your underlings have received a boon of 20% damage

    Your underlings have a chance of (3%) to resurrect upon death immediately!

    The blind faith of your underlings gives them courage!

    Attacks have 5% to ignore the target''s defensive values!

    The troops under yourmand have +20% increased damage from all attacks and abilities

    Shield Boarder (Unique)

    - Your shield can now be used for something other than blocking.

    You have increased stability when using a shield to slide over slippery terrain.

    Congrattions on finding something a shield can do other than [Blocking]

    Pride of the Undead

    - Prestige +1000

    Wild Rider:

    - Increases the chances of subduing a wild animal to use as a temporary mount.

    Dead men tell MY tale!

    - When equipped. +20% naval ship speed. +20% Naval Weapon Damage.

    Your Ring of True Undeath has synergised with your title.

    Any ship you ride on will change appearance to that of a Ghost Ship

    Ghost Ships can dive underwater and cannot be drowned.

    I know it all! (removed 266) +5% towards all basic stats!

    Every 5 levels a yer would gain 10 attribute points.

    Even a yer with Level 1000 would only have a total amount of 2000 attribute points

    Each level would give its owner 100Hp.

    Stamina had also the same effect. It would increase by 100 for every level up.

    Equipment;

    Rarity;mon, rare, unique, epic, deste, mythic, and legendary (inheritance)

    Weapon; Death Knight''s Greatsword (200, Epic)

    Shield; Death Knight''s Tower Shield/Death Knight''s Kite Shield (200, Epic)

    Chest te: Fallen ck Knight order''s Chestte (60, Rare)

    Greaves; Greaves of the order of the fallen ck Knights (60, Rare)

    essories

    Ne; Nes of the Untold Fate (277)

    Bound to: Kis''Shtiengbrah/Death Stroke

    Tier : Celestial

    Attributes: +200 INT + 200WIS

    [Changed Fate] using this skill has 50% of activating either effect: Doubler or Juggler.

    Doubler: one attribute of your choice will be doubled for 30 seconds.

    [Juggler] all attribute points you have will be imbibed into one attribute of your choice (Exception Stamina/Mana and HP)

    Lesser Demon''Eye (Rare) +50 STR/AGI/WIS +250 Mana (formerly)

    Ring; Si of Fleshomancy (247) +100 all Attributes (Champion of Undeath restricted)

    - [Imperfect Reflection]: Creates a clone with the same HP and defensive values of the ring wearer. The clone doesn''t attack or defend but will absorb all damage done to the wearer until its HP pool is depleted. The clonests for 10 seconds and all damage it absorbs is doubled.

    Cooldown: One (1) hour

    [Perfect Reflection]: Swaps location with the flesh clone.

    Cooldown 1 Hour

    Earring; Earrings of The Unbridled Zealot (Legendary); Attributes +200 Vitality +100 All Stats +1000 Mana, Skill Zealot (Dmg converted to stat increase)

    Chaos Runes, Set (Dungeon where he got right to Conquest) 300% dmg, 1% max HP loss every second ; Azure Water Rune, offsets Chaos Runes; 50% dmg increase, no disadvantages

    He bought a full set of Doom Knight armor, even though the minimum required level for the set was level 400 (189)

    Great General Ouki''s War ive.

    Category: Weapon

    Type: ive

    Requirements to handle: Undead race, or level 450, or Death Knight ss.

    Mandatory requirement to use the weapon: 750 STR

    Damage: 2,000-3,000

    Damage modifier : 10% STR

    Attribute bonuses:+10,000 HP

    Effects:

    [Warmonger] The Great General Ouki''s War ive passively generates [Courage] while the wielder is mounted.

    [Courage] Reduces the chances of falling to deliberating status effects for all the units under the user of the ive''smand by 20%

    [Heaven sher] Your next basic attack deals 100% damage in t Damage, ignoring all of the target''s defensive values. (Does not apply to immunity generating skills)

    [Never Dull] (Passive) Ouki''s ive ignores 20% of target''s Physical defense.

    Skills;

    Skill ranks; amateur, beginner, expert, master, grandmaster (rank up after 10 lvls)

    Destructive Smash (Common) Amateur 3

    Damage / Effects 55% Weapon damage

    Stuns target for 2 second

    Cost 45 stamina 10 Rage points

    Cool down 55 Seconds

    Twin strike! (Rare) ; Level 1¡ª> 2 (289) CD; 5 mins ¨¤ 4 ? mins

    - Mimics the damage of thest ability used before activating the skill.

    Deals 75% of weapon''s damage. And ignores the defense value of the enemy.

    Cannot mimic additional effects of an ability.

    Cooldown 30 seconds

    Stampede! (Rare)

    - Charges forward in a straight line.

    Cause stun effect for 2 seconds once sessful, and cannot be interrupted.

    If the user hits the wall, they will be stunned for the same duration.

    Needs a target to be used.

    Can only be cast at minimum of 10 meters distance and has a 30 meters range

    Damage 300% total damage value of the user.

    Death Grip (Unique) (Level Max)

    - Can paralyze targets for 5 seconds. Has a 50% chance of sess on targets with a simr level of the caster. The higher the level the lower the chances. The lower level the target the higher the chance. 50 levels lower level targets will have 100% chances of being paralyzed.

    The chances are capped at 20% minimum.

    Half effect on boss ss monsters.

    3-minute cooldown

    Rising strike (Unique) (Level MAX)

    - sh vertically with your weapon and move three meters backward.

    The attack animation grants the caster an invincibility frame.

    Cooldown 2 minutes

    Counter (Unique) (Level MAX)

    - Must be used after a sessful {Block}

    Will send back 20% of the damage that was supposed tond on the yer as true damage.

    True damage will not suffer any amount of damage reduction and cannot be blocked nor will invincibility effects block it.

    10 minutes cooldown

    Sneak(Level Max) (Free Skill)

    - Muffles the sound of your footsteps by 50%

    Cost 10 stamina/sec

    Fall Reduction (Level Max) (Free Skill)

    - Your character will passively roll whenever you do a drop jump of more than 10 meters, reducing the damage taken by the fall-damage by 50%

    Spectral Bomb (Unique) (Spell Book) Amateur Level 5 / Spectral Skull

    - Creates 4 spectral skulls that would follow a target and blow up in a 3X3 meter radius (can cause stagger/kickback effects)

    The explosion can be dyed and activated at will.

    Damage 200 basic damage + 0.75X(Wisdom)

    Cost 200 Mana

    Cooldown 30 seconds

    Demon''s Call/ Demon''s Maw (149) (Unique)

    Deals 5% of a target''s maximum-HP in t damage value.

    Has 10% chance to work on Boss-ss Creatures/NPC

    Cooldown 24 hours

    Death Apostle ss Skills; ¨¤ Battle Lich Skills

    1. [Bulwark] (Level 20) [Death''s Blessing]

    - Passively Reduces All iing Magic Damage by 10% Activating the skill grants 100% Magic Immunity for 2 seconds. 5 Minute Cooldown.

    2. [Charge] (Level 30) [Immortal Apparition]

    - Instantly teleports oneself to the target''s Location, and bursting with deathly magic, pushing the enemies away from the target and inducing a Fear effect on enemies for 2 seconds.

    2-minute Cooldown

    3. [Heroic leap] (Level 40) [Death''s Descent]

    - Jump to a target''s location, Ignoring all iing Crowd Control effect and dealing 200%Weapon Damage on sessful hits. 5-minute cooldown.

    4. [Jeopardy] (Level 50) ¨¤ [Dark Harvest] (Passive)

    Gain +5% damage increase for every target you kill. Can stack up to 5 times andst for 60 seconds or until another target has been in resetting the timer.

    After the fifth stack, the caster gains the ability [Soul Discharge], where he can detonate the souls he harvested in an area around him dealing 200% weapon damage. [Soul Discharge] cooldown 3 minutes.

    5. [Ground Breaker] (Level 60) [Death Surge] ¨¤ [Blot the Sun], Upgraded

    - summons the darkness of the underworld in a said area. Slowing all enemies by 66% for 5 seconds around the caster and rendering all [Holy] attributed skills useless for the duration. If a target receives the [Fear] effect while they are inside the [Blot the Sun] area. They will take 300% of the caster''s base weapon damage. Skill cooldown 3 minutes.

    - Upgraded (316)

    - Blot the Sun nowsts for 20 seconds.

    - If a target dies under Blot the Sun, the duration of the skill will increase by 5 seconds.

    - Dead Targets have a 5% chance of instantly resurrecting as undead belonging to the legion.

    - (Resurrected undead from Blot the Sun will not be added to the caster''s ranks.)

    -

    6. [Warrior''s Will] (Level 70) [Undying Will]

    - Removes all Crowd Control effect from the caster. And gains +5 % Immunity for the following 2 seconds.

    2-minute cooldown

    7. [Sword Lunge] (Level 80) ¨¤ [Defile]

    Curses a target area, slowing enemies down for by 33% for five (5) seconds. After the five seconds, a barbed root will emerge coiling around any target standing over the defiled area. Dealing 200% weapon damage and applying [Laceration] for an additional 100% weapon damage as bleed over 5 seconds. Skill cooldown 3 minutes.

    8. [Bastion] (Level 90)

    - Gain 100% immunity and Crowd control Immunity for 3 seconds, Unable to cast skills or move during the channel duration. 3 Minutes cooldown.

    9. [Concussive Blow](Ultimate Skill) ¨¤ [Raise Undead]

    - Summons a dead person back to Undeath. Skill cooldown 1 minute.

    - Summoned undead through [Raise Undead] are not considered part of the Undead Legion if they die, the caster will have to summon others to replenish his forces.

    - Summoned undead need to be constantly supplied with the caster''s mana to keep them in an active condition.

    - [Named Undead] that you summon can be preserved and summoned continuously even if they fall.

    - The skill [Raise Undead] is level 1. You can only summon 5 undead to serve you.

    - Level 2 (289) maximum number 10 undead.

    10. [Final Phantasm] (Legacy Skill) the radius of 100 meters around the yer bes a part of the Undeath God''s domain. Summoning his presence to the field where he can aid you in your fight against your enemies. Cooldown 72 hours.

    - You have gained a new skill {Phantasmal Edge} usable only when [Final Phantasm] is activated.

    - [Phantasmal Edge] Summons the special forces of The Undeath God Nichs to charge at the target dealing 50% of targets'' current HP in true damage.

    - Conditions of Use:

    - Target Must not be more than 200 levels of the user.

    - Target Must not be a member of the Undead Legion.

    - Target Must have more than 65% of his max HP.

    - Using [Phantasmal Edge] will end the skill [Final Phantasm].

    Infernal Aura (Legendary)

    - 100 Mana/second

    Deals a damage of 0.5 % of user''s own HP in a radius of 10X10meters (Ignores Magic absorption and Bonus Immunity from armors and items)

    Immunity skills can still cancel the damage of the skill for their duration.

    No cooldown

    Ray of mes (Legendary)

    - Fires a continuous concentrated ray of fire in a straight line.

    Damage: 20,000 t fire damage + 20% of base weapon damage.

    Ray of mes will melting terrain to magma that cools back to hardened stone after 10 seconds.

    Magma does 5,000 HP t fire damage per second.

    Inflicts Burning Effect.

    Cooldown 1 Hour

    Call of Chaos (Legendary)

    - Call upon the power of chaos to summon a meteorite crashing down in an area of 50X50 meters.

    - Dealing 50 000 t AOE damage

    - Cooldown 72 hours

    - Damage increases with INT at a ratio of 10% for every 100 INT

    - Must be outdoors in an open area to use.

    Double Edged (Epic)

    Learn the Skill to Whistle a summoning call for a Minhocao from deep underground. Duration: 1 second.

    The Minhocao is hostile to the summoner and the summoner''s allies and enemies. The summoned entity will attack from underneath the ground, engulfing an area with a radius of 20 meters in a single bite, then it will disappear.

    Damage: 100,000 t damage + 50% basic weapon damage to each object and individual within the affected area. Cooldown 20 minutes.

    [Special Effect]: the Minghocao spews an acidic bile that melts flesh and metal, weakening armor and weapons durability and causing 5,000 points of t damage over five (5) seconds.

    Upgrade 252

    Lore Addendum:

    This particr Minhocao defeated and consumed a Chaos Centipede, a highly evolved creature from a different monarchical lineage of deep-earth dwellers. Consequently the Worm King has defied the limitations of gods and nature and evolved into an Emperor Worm.

    Dragon Ball Mythic; Level up (289) +1 Additional Fire Ball

    Channels an enormous ball of fire that incinerates all in its path and explodes dealing 10,000 Fire damage + (10* INT) the area around the explosion causes 5,000 as Fire Ssh Damage in a 5-meter radius.

    20Minute CD

    Caster receives 80% reduced damage from all sources while channeling. The spell cannot be [Disturbed] or [Silenced]

    Ch. 287;

    [Synergy!] You have created a new skill. [de Tornado]

    Spin around yourself using a: ive, Spear, Greatsword. Dealing 100% weapon damage decreasing by 10% for every sessful attack.

    Ultimate Skill Book: Demonic Ascension. (295)

    Skill Book Tier: SSS

    Cannot be leveled up!

    {yer''s Appearance will temporarily change}

    Enters an Ascendant State where the user continuously absorbs 0.5% HP/ second of all targets around him for 60 seconds. If the user''s HP is full, the surplus absorbed HP will transform into a temporary shield of the same absorbed HP value that willst for 60 seconds or until it has been destroyed.

    [Demon Within] all fire-rted abilities will have a [Demonic] attribute added to them while in Demonic Ascension.

    [Demonic] attribute has a 20% chance to burn all of the yer or monster mana and reduces mana regeneration by 100%.

    Your Doom Knight Rank grants you ess to an extra feature of the Undead Management panel.

    Command and Conquer!

    You can nowmunicate with your Death Knights over vast distances of the world.

    [Deathly Presence] You passively release an aura that frightens monsters that are 50 levels lower than you. Terrorized monsters will flee the scene in your presence.

    You have obtained the skill [Iste] When facing single enemies, you will have a +5% increase in damage.

    Legacy Item;

    Ring of the Death God. ¨¤ Ring of True Undeath (214)

    {S ss Inheritance item}

    {yer Bound to Death Stroke}

    Requirements Level 0

    Cannot be removed!

    Bonus stats Has the ability Changes appearance from human to undead.

    [Death Siphon] You can heal a t 5% value of your Hp everytime you kill an enemy.

    {God tier skill}

    [Can Leave the Undead world]

    [Life Cleaver] After casting the skill, it summons two Scyths of Death above the head of the caster and his foe while teleporting them both to Limbo. Cannot work on Boss-ss Monsters and Any creature of Mythic ss or above. 72 hours CD

    [Sealed] (Requires Death Knight Rank) (LVL 200 minimum) fighting against level 300

    [Sealed] (Requires Doom Knight Rank)

    [Sealed] (Requires Abyssal Knight Rank)

    Scaling/ss

    Scaling essory

    ss. Divine.

    {Consumes some of the yer''s XP to level up}

    Currently Ring Level MAX

    + [EXP Bead

    While wearing this item, all exp gained from; Quests, Monster Kills and other methods are doubled until yer reaches level 500.

    Not appliable to Crafting, Alchemy, Forgsmithing, and Ressource Gathering]

    Ring of True Undeath

    ss SS Legacy item

    Ring of True Undeath

    [Undead Geas]

    [Life Siphon] ¨¤ Drain; imbue your weapon with the [Drain] ability, absorbing 50% of the damage dealt as Mana and HP. Skill cooldown 30 seconds.

    [Life Cleaver]

    [Locked]

    [Locked]

    [Locked]

    Ch. 243

    Your body remembers: [Undeath]

    You have remembered: [Never Hunger]

    Passive Skill restored and amplified!

    [Never Hunger]: Your stamina regeneration, HP Regeneration, and MP regeneration have been permanently increased by 200%

    [Poison Immunity]: Poisons have no effect on you. (Acid damage is reduced by 50%).

    Ch.244

    You are closer to [Undeath]

    You have recovered the Skill [Never Tire]

    Passive Skill restored and amplified!

    [Never Tire]: Your Stamina stat is infinite. [Slow], [Weakness], [Freeze] and [Curse] spells and Skills no longer have an effect on you!

    Passive amplification effect: [Vigorous]

    [Vigorous]: 10% of your base HP is restored every 5 minutes.

    Ch. 247

    Your Skill [Never Fear] has been restored.

    Passive skill restored and amplified!

    [Never Fear]: Fear inducing effects are ineffective against you. All crowd control skill durations on you are lowered by 25%

    New passive obtained

    [Horror]: Your fear inducing skills now cause a [Horror] effect on targets, doubling damage done to the targets under the effect. There is a 0.01% chance that the [Horror] effect will cause the target to be instantly [Executed].

    Si of Fleshomancy

    Category: Ring

    Attributes bonuses:

    +100 INT

    +100 STA

    +100 VIT

    +100 WIS

    +100 DEX

    +100 INT

    +100 AGI

    Requirements: (Champion of Undeath)

    Skills:

    [Imperfect Reflection]: Creates a clone with the same HP and defensive values of the ring wearer. The clone doesn''t attack or defend but will absorb all damage done to the wearer until its HP pool is depleted. The clonests for 10 seconds and all damage it absorbs is doubled.

    Cooldown: One (1) hour

    [Perfect Reflection]: Swaps location with the flesh clone.

    Cooldown 1 Hour

 c-4 Glossary of the Undead Legion By Devil Advoca

    Major spoils ahead, please do not read if you still want to read the story. For readers who are already at thest chapters, you can visit these auxiliary chaps and see all info about char/stats of the story.

    Thanks to Devil Advocat

    Character Glossary;

    David Ruster / Death Stroke / Mr. Skeletal (Nickname) / Kis''Shtingbrah (Ch.080)

    - Ex-Gf Anna + Suit Guy ¨¤ Douche Guy / Ruin-Smith (In Game Name)

    o Jonathan Webb, newly appointed leader Ogma n, a Devastators sub-guild

    - Vanessa, High School Crush, Model / Dementi Priestess 210 (214)

    - Ch. 18 Elite Skeleton (Draugr Beard), Ch. 76 Undead Captain (Bud & Co. Upgraded to Elite) , Ch. 149 Death Knight (Bud & Co. Upgrade to Undead Captain), Ch. 315 Doom Knight (Bud & Co. Upgrade to Death Knight)

    - Commander over the Red Fortress (111) ¨¤ Land Management [-3333 -6666] (153)

    o Gale and Orn as his right hand men

    - Abyssal Dragon Egg (144), Handed over to (150), Onixya Hatches (316)

    o Lesser Aura of Terror

    - Death Legacy ¨¤ Path of Warrior of Death (150), Dying is finally ok

    - Demise of the Legion, because ALFREEED!!! (197)

    - Key Master of Urburg, Management Menu (225-6)

    - The Hunt is On! Quest (238)

    o Kurukuru (Kha Zix) 550 (Unique) (236), KS Leonard (324)

    o Leonard The Pridestalker (Rengar) 550 (Unique) (238), 1st fight (299), Final Fight (323)

    - Earth Titan Lord Ally Level 750 (249)

    - Unique Character Trait: Progenitor of Undeath! (263)

    You can now turn willing yers to Undead, they can join the undead legion and rank up in the legion. The yers you sire will only be able to rank to Doom Knight as the highest rank in the legion.

    - A Rank Quest, Capturing the 3rd Raid Zone (277),pleted (280/294)

    o Reward; 1 random forbidden chapter every 30 in game days (295)

    - Great General Ouki''s War ive (284) (stats are on bottom)

    - Total army size 2235 undead (298) ¨¤ 100,000+ (317)

    - Bought 49% shares for Douche Guys Company (305)

    - Starts construction on the Leviathan (312)

    - Wrath of the Ancient Kingdom World Event Start; Mass Destruction for #1 (313)

    - Doom Knight Ascension ¨¤ Leader of the 1st Unit of the Rogue Division (315)

    - Going around helping liberate the regions Qin Soldiers upied (325-329)

    - Going to Douche Guy, to buy out his shares, gets assaulted (330)

    God of Undeath, Nichs, (202) first official meeting (216)

    - Demiurge (202), Maker of the Cosmos, Prime Architect of Creation

    o Jeffrey, Supreme Pontiff of the Holy Church (258)

    - Asmodeus, the Tormentor (203) his Childe, Ash King- Broke the Rules

    - Goddess of Death (205)

    - Ramsha (Home Room Teacher of the Gods) + Vreek sent to Asmodeus (215)

    - Archangel Naethiel Fall from Holy Grace. (201) , recruited (233)

    - Revival of the Undead Legion:

    o Death Heart Fragment (201)

    o Miasmic Aether of Ashkar (248)

    o Corrupt Bloodstone Crystal (254)

    o Undead Kin Blood (258)

    - Quest: The Forlorn Hope of the Legion! (259),pleted (263)

    You have helped the Undeath God restore the Death Heart to partial functionality.

    The Death Heart can be used to revive one Greater Undead every 24 hours (game time).

    The fate of the Undead Legion rests in your hands.

    Requirements:

    Revive five Greater Undead (one each of the ranks shown below) then return the Death Heart to the top of the Bone Pce tower.

    Ralph Rupert/ ster 412

    - Part of the Devastators

    - First time meeting Caitlin (214)

    - Newly promoted Division Captain (278)

    o 100 Unit Captain ¨¤ 1000 Unit Leader (283) , Leader of A-20 Unit

    - Received Qin Captain Set from Dave (326)

    Zoe Silvana / Lone Arrow (115 First IRL meeting) 180

    - Elven Girl Hunter(033)

    - ss Skills, Binding Arrow 10, Blink 20, Concussive Shot 30

    o Arctic Aura 183

    o Ice Clone Arrow Shot (310)

    - Inheritance Piece, for the Ice Queen, B ss Inheritance

    o of Venhime, the lost kingdom of ice

    - Friend, who is one of the best Smiths in the game

    - Demon-Buster (Scaling-Bow)

    o Frenemies; Sabrina, Tess and Jenny

    - Pincher, Dunlord Mount (163) / renamed to Spincer (306)

    Samuel Silvana, Demon Barrister (Devil''s Advocate), Zoe''s Uncle

    Dante Silvana, Weapons Dealer-Gunrunner- Zoe''s Father

    TNT(=Terribly Named Trio);

    Human Fortress (Tank), couple with Tess (088) /Rob 190

    - Own a farm with horses

    Perfect Shot (Hunter) / Tom Smith 192

    - Sigward Smith, Father and CEO of CCN TV

    - Fire coiled around his arrow and materialized an enormous ethereal blue shark that shot like a train crashing into one of the Torab snakes and sent it back into the waters (310)

    Pussy nker (Priest) (ch. 30) Sven 188 , Jinx of the Group

    Tess (Sorceress) 421

    - S ss Destruction Legacy, [Rapid Chant].

    - Friend of the Centaurs, Derin (Representative)

    - Inscriber Profession

    Alfred, Super AI, goes on crazy Vendetta against Dave, because of Bnce Issues

    Bone breaker LVL351 (ex Inheritance Holder) ¨¤ Kicked from Devastator for Feeding (Wiping them out on many quests)

    - Pdin 450k HP

    Stainless steel LVL360¨¤ Promoted to Devastator Main Guild

    - High Priest 225k HP, 400k MP

    Jeffery (321)

    - Unlocked the hidden expansion Age of the Machine (introduces Mechanist + Gunner)

    Super Guilds;

    1. Blood Rage; North Kingdom, Korean Guild

    Zhang Shi, Guild Leader

    Sand-Storm, Vice Leader

    - Female Hunter wearing dark green light robe

    Cao Cao,

    Long Zhao, Berserker, 426 (Legacy Holder) Field of Honor (Owner of 6% of Sigma-Electronics)

    Song Liu, Priest

    2. Heaven''s Dawn; Southern Kingdom, Chinese Guild

    Wan Yi, Guild Leader

    ze ¨¤ White Ghost / Park Song (137)

    - Priest wearing gray robe

    - the right hand of the Heaven''s Dawn, and ording to all the rumors and intelligence reports, the shot-caller of the guild, the power behind the throne.

    - But not this wizzy character, the holder of an A ss Legacy. The Star Mage

    Cao Cao, Guild Second

    3. The Devastators; Western Kingdom, American Guild, The golden city Icathia

    Warlord, Guild Leader, Highest Level 440

    - S ss Inheritance, God of War

    - the awesome Legacy Skill [God''s Fist]

    Mr Valentine, Vice Leader, Level 420, Shifter Lord, Guardian /Thomas Baldwin (137)

    - The neon-pink armor was a Named scaling-set, Heart-Striker

    - A ss Metamorphosing Man''s Legacy, he can sustain huge amounts of damage while receiving minimal effects. A great defensive Legacy

    Satan yer, Peacocking VIP, major investor

    - CEO of apany that produces superputers and high tech devices

    Rencha, another investor, Priest

    4. European Might/Union; Eastern Kingdom, European Guild

    Guildmaster Demetri (278)

    - Blue robe

    Female Elf in red leather armor

    It''s Just Business; Powerful Guild of Mercenaries, 100 yers

    Bodybuilder / Bob, Nephew of the Don

    Door-Prop / Sebastian, Babysitter of Bob

    Caitlin Giovanni / Mercy Level 428

    - Legacy S ss Holder

    o Legacy Skill allows for the Execution of a King/Leader of a group including Guild Leaders/Guild Masters (282)

    - Grim de (Curved Dagger) (Unique) (254)

    o Damage: 20,000-30,000 + 200 Agility +200 Dexterity

    Increases the duration of [Stealth] by 30 seconds.

    An additional 50% Base Damage to the first attack after emerging from Stealth.

    On every hit there is a 20% to inflict one of the following three effects [Poison], [Paralysis], or [Laceration].

    Tivo Giovanni, Father of Mercy, Uncle of Bob, Head of the Giovanni Family, GM of Guild

    Emile Kada, Lead Developer for Conquest

    - in charge of the Undead expansion in Conquest. I''m responsible for all non-AI generated content and creative input

    Margaret

    - VP of design and development. Which means she runs herd on all of us crazy non-capitalist creative types. She''s not a bad egg, for a stuffed shirt

    Undead Boyz;

    - 10 Commanding Units, 3 Ghouls/3 Archers/3 Casters/1 Zombie

    1) Bud, the Ghoul (050) ¨¤ Shadow Ghoul (094)

    - Received Stinger as his mount (285)

    2) Bones, the Caster (059) ¨¤ Sparky (075)

    Dunlords, (093), Level 350, Stinger (109)

    3) Dog, the Zombie (124) ¨¤ Duhan

    - Tamed a Basilisk Ride (147), Basilisk Bone il (255)

    - Former Wielder of the God of War Legacy (319)

    Converted Pdins (153) Zorah (253)

    Housing Basilsks (155) Grumpy, the onyx Basilisk mount (248) Alpha

    - [Spirit Link] (Passive):munication and understanding between you and your mount has improved, level 1/4.

    You have unlocked a new mount option.

    [Mounted Combat] (ground): Level 1/10, fight from the back of a pet orpanion-beast.

    Damage is increased by 10% when fighting from a [Spirit-linked] mount.

    Red Mane, The Troll & his Tinkle (Club Whistle unconscious for 10 sec) (187)

    Tamed Spike, Forest Prong Fiend, Died (241), Resurrected back to Undeath (301)

    4) Singund The Conqueror (281), revived as 1st named Undead (296)

    - Undeath Ascension Battle Arena (296)

    - [Wrath of the Giants] (Passive) increases Singund''s attacking power by 20% for every 10% HP lost.

    - [Blood of the Giants] (Passive) Increases Singund''s HP regeneration by 1% for every 10% HP lost. (Effect is lost when Singund Reaches 1% HP)

    - [Madness of the Giants] (Passive) increases Singund''s attacking speed by 10% for every 10% HP lost.

    - [Will of the Giants] (Passive) Singund bes immune to damage when his HP reaches 1% for 180 seconds.

    - Received Dave''s mberge (298)

    - Own personal army (298); Undead War Boar Lvl 400

    700 melee High Orc Units. Level 400

    300 Shaman High Orc units. Level 380.

    Able to construct Orc Vige in Settlement

    Grave Lord, forbidden Undead, Tiny (286)

    - [Soul Bound] binds itself to an undead and grows to match the bounded undead''s level.

    - [Assimte] Consumes the corpses of fallen enemies to generate its own body.

    The body of the Grave Lord changes depending on the monsters consumed. Gaining HP, PD, MD depending on the number of consumed monsters.

    New Abilities (Ch. 289)

    - [Death Collector] Collect the corpses of in monster to be usedter inbat. Stored monsters don''t need to be supplied with Mana as long as they are kept within the Grave Lord storage space. [Dimensional Pocket] can store up to 2,000 undead at once.

    - Your Grave Lord has unlocked the ability, [Major Metamorphosis]. Grave Lord (Tiny) can swap from his {Slime} form to {Battle Form} instantly. All undead Stored in [Dimensional Pocket] can only be essible when your Grave Lord is in {Battle Form}.

    - Ch. 294; You have unlocked your Grave Lord''s trait. "Fight as one."

    You can use your Grave Lord''s body as your own to fight.

    -

    Revived Manticore Lvl 450 (288), 6¨¤9 under hismand (289)

    5) Dai-Tengu, 2nd Named Undead, he raised (307)

    - Issues Challenge against Dave, fight Dog instead (308)¡­ loses XD (310)

    - Dave returns his pitch-ck katana (311)

    - Skill; Dimensional Cut: Feather Storm: Dragon Ball. Rage-Mode.

    - Binding of the Spirit, Once per month can delve in memory of willing creatures (320)

    Revived Torab Serpent (313)

 Chapter 1 Hard Knocks

    David Ruster looked over the filling station onest time, making sure all the equipment was locked and powered down for the night. Most of the interior lights were off. Above, the sign with the neonpany logo was dark except for a small ¡¯Closed¡¯ glowing dim-red against the starry midnight-sky.

    Satisfied all was in order, he pushed off and began pedaling along the tree-lined road. It was a four-mile ride to Anytown, Pennsylvania.

    Dave had lived in Anytown his whole life. Nestled in the pine-covered hills near the southern border between Pennsylvania and New York state. It was only a few hours drive from New York City, not that Dave had ever been to The City.

    Dave pedaled methodically. At least it wasn¡¯t raining, and it was early summer so he didn¡¯t have to worry about snow.

    His mind worried at his problems like a manic hamster on an exercise wheel, and made about as much progress. No money, no college, no prospects, no future. What could he do to get ahead. No money, no college...

    Preupied, he didn¡¯t hear the whine of the electric car until it was toote. The headlights came around the blind curve in the wrongne, ring away his vision too quickly for him to react.

    A loud crunching thud and the squeal of tortured metal.

    For a slow moment he flew peacefully. Then he mmed into the asphalt, tumbling and sliding for longer than he remained conscious.

    Dave opened his eyes and the night sky slowly came into focus. He thought his body was in an odd position. He felt pain, a lot of pain. Something was blinking to the side, turning his head caused even more pain.

    He saw a car, blue-white headlights shining into the trees and red emergency lights blinking back at him. The front was ordioned into one of the old pines growing on the opposite side of the drainage ditch.

    "I guess it jumped the ditch and the tree stopped it. Serves them right for trashing my bike!"

    Dave¡¯s priorities and judgement were, needless to say, questionable at the time.

    He continued watching, waiting for someone to get out so he could give them a piece of his mind. He probably wouldn¡¯t actually say anything, but he sure would think it at whoever was driving the car.

    A more pragmatic part of his brain worked on getting the phone out of his pocket, and pressing the emergency call button. It took him a while because the fingers on one hand were mangled, broken and bloody.

    The side of his face felt like it was burning, and that set off more burning sensations in the back of his arm and shoulder all the way down to his thigh. His stomach was sore on one side, like the mother of all bruises, and whenever he moved razors in his hip stabbed at him and made grinding noises. There was also something pounding on the back of his skull.

    He kept watching the car.

    Where are they?! Why aren¡¯t they getting out of the car?

    There were small mesing from under the front of the car. But electric cars aren¡¯t mmable...usually?

    Dave dropped the phone, ring-tone and all, and tried to stand up. He didn¡¯t get up all the way, he was only able to shuffle forward in a bent-over crab walk.

    It seemed like a long distance to the car. But he kept moving toward it, watching the small mes flicker underneath.

    asionally he croaked, trying to yell to whoever was inside, getting angrier with every crab-drag step.

    ¡¯Wrecked my bike...burning,get out!...ruined my shirt, now I only have three...driving like maniacs...wrongne...public road you know! Give you a ... talking to. And you too.

    Finally he was at the wreck, the worst part was going down one side and then back up the other side of the ditch. Something was definitely not okay with his stomach.

    The windows were heavily tinted, the headlights were dimming which Dave took as a sign the battery array was screwed. It was on fire, so that made sense.

    Dave leaned against the driver side and tried to looked in, but couldn¡¯t see anything. He tried to open the door and of course the thing wouldn¡¯t open for him. Story of his life, who was he after all? Just a guy trying to make a life for...uh, trying to save someone in the car.

    "Keep it together, bud." Dave reprimanded Dave in stern croaks.

    So tired, and miles to go before I rest.

    Pulling his multi-tool out he focused on the ends, looking for...there. A little stud sticking out from one end. Car- ...something especially for car window situations. Holding the tool like an ice pick he swung the stud end at the window side armed, almost falling with the swing. The safety ss shattered into little cubes like it was supposed to.

    Little cubes of ss were all over the ce, carbide was very hard. Carbide. It was carbide.

    The window, it¡¯s open now, bud...enough with pping your gums around bud. Move!

    "Doctor! He¡¯s awake!" a nurse called.

    "Where am I?" asked Dave.

    Checking the monitors the nurse turned to answer him.

    "You are in Rambaldi¡¯s private institute of Healthcare. You are a fortunate young man. Your injuries could have killed you." she said.

    "Injuries? An...ident, I remember... There was a woman there... Is she alright?" asked Dave.

    "Woman? Sir, you were the only one there, it¡¯s okay the fall may have scrambled your memory." She said

    "Huh? What...?"

    He clearly remembered someone in a car hitting him and then crashing into a tree. He-

    "Kristina!" barked a middle-aged man in a white coat.

    "Mr. Ruster. Please disregard whatever she said. There is someone here to speak with you about the incident." said the doctor

    As he spoke two men in business suits appeared in the doorway.

    They looked like the guys from Men In ck, or ... some sort of bodyguards maybe?

    "Doctor Hendriks, please leave us." ordered the bigger one, walking over to the bed. The other suit watched the doctor and nurse leave, then leaned against the door casually.

    The first guy positioned a chair near the bed and sat. He looked like he was in his mid-thirties, fit like a bodybuilder. He had a gruff voice and a serious expression on his face.

    "Mr. Ruster. This situation we are in. You got very lucky. You survived, and you saved someone very important. So kudos, guy." His eyes locked onto Dave and held, freezing him to the bed.

    "But. Here¡¯s the thing. That important person was never there. You know what I¡¯m saying, guy?"

    As the man spoke, he shifted, unbuttoning then buttoning his suit jacket, and picking at something on his pants leg and brushing it away.

    What¡¯s with this guy? A full-on fashion diva, all obsessed with the fit of his clothes and staying immacte.

    Then what Bodybuilder said clicked in Dave¡¯s head.

    Now he understood. Bodybuilder here and Door-Prop over there, since they hadn¡¯t bothered to introduce themselves, were here to cover-up the whole incident. They wanted to make it look like Dave crashed the car into the tree, and they wanted Dave to cooperate and take the fall.

    "You think I¡¯m going to take the me for the ident? I saved that woman¡¯s life, and I got injured doing it, after she hit me in the first ce! I didn¡¯t do anything wrong.

    "I can¡¯t even afford the hospital fees. But you want me to take the hit for this? A DUI means fines, and court and jail-time. I¡¯m not gonna y that hand.

    "And how about some simple gratitude for saving that woman¡¯s life for fucks sake? Even just a ¡¯thank you¡¯ would be better than this shit." Dave finished his tirade, furious.

    "Calm down, guy. Everything is already taken care of. No legal charges are gonna be pressed. Not even a misdemeanor on your record. Just your name on a no-fault ident report and the tow-job.

    "In recognition of your good deed, and for your silence, we will take care of the hospital bill and make a...charitable donation for your time. Twenty grand, Mr Ruster. That¡¯s plenty ¡¯till you get another Mc-jay oh bee. Right, guy?" Bodybuilder smiled, showing a lot of teeth.

    He shifted in his chair, and very deliberately, almost exaggeratedly, started to unbutton his jacket again.

    He watched Bodybuilder start his little obsessivepulsive ritual again, unbuttoning his jacket...

    Dave¡¯s outrage and defiance froze and withered. A gun was holstered under the jacket.

    Bodybuilder wasn¡¯t fidgeting or obsessivepulsive about his clothing. He was offering Dave a choice.

    Dave¡¯s heartbeat thundered in his ears, and the shaky sick-hollow feeling of a massive adrenaline spike overrode whatever drugs were in his system.

    Crap. Guns and bullets trump nerd-outrage. Every time.

    There wasn¡¯t anything Dave could do. He couldn¡¯t even speak. It was humiliating, and frustrating.

    These two suits, Bodybuilder and Door Prop, weren¡¯t asking for his cooperation. They were here to find out if he was going to ¡¯y ball¡¯ in the cover-up conspiracy which was already in motion. It meant they were connected, whoever pulled their strings was powerful and influential. And had money. Lots of money.

    If Bodybuilder decided Dave was a threat instead of a helpful little cog in their machinations, he would exercise his trigger-finger and make the threat go away. Make Dave go away.

    He didn¡¯t have a choice. Not really, cooperate or die was not a choice...or it was an oh-so-very-easy choice to make.

    He would y their game, take their money and be grateful he was still alive. The old saying was true, no good deed goes unpunished.

    As the two men walked to their ride ¡¯Door Prop¡¯ looked over at ¡¯Bodybuilder.¡¯

    "The boss told you to thank the kid and ask him to cooperate." he said neutrally.

    "Ahhh, don¡¯t worry ¡¯bout it. He¡¯s just a small-town hick. A nobody. The money will shut him up and he¡¯ll forget it ever happened, partner."

    "Yeah, about that money, ¡¯partner.¡¯ We were supposed to give the kid a million bucks. She¡¯d be dead if it wasn¡¯t for him, whoever glitched her ride knew what they were doing."

    "Ahhh c¡¯mon, the kid wouldn¡¯t know what to do with a mil. I gave him enough to tide him over till he goes back to work. Plus a little extra to get something nice. Everybody should treat themselves now and then." he smirked.

    "So what about the rest of the cash?"

    "C¡¯mon, paisan. Don¡¯t bust my balls. I invested it, okay?"

    "Shit! You went to the track, didn¡¯t you? You don¡¯t have the rest, you lost it all."

    Body Builder¡¯s face turned deep-red. "I have the rest -most of it- okay!? Now, fucking back-off of my shit, guy!" A vein throbbed in his forehead.

    "Christ. You gotta get some help, Bobby. If this shit fubars, it¡¯s all on you, understand me?"

    "Yeah, yeah. I told ya, the kid ain¡¯t gonna cause any problems."

 Chapter 2 Initated

    And so the days passed. Dave managed to leave the hospital and went back to his small town. However his injuries were never healed, his leg and right hand were truly a mess right now. He would limp every time he tried to move and his right hand was unable to even properly hold a cup. Truth to be told, he became even more of a mess than he was before the incident. And now due to his suffering, he is incapable of regr work his former boss kicked him out from the petrol station due to his injuries but said that it was due to Dave¡¯s tardiness and his absence from work.

    Dave could do nothing but sulk at the injustice that is happened to him. More so now that he has to rely on his left hand to do all sort of menial tasks, it was a torture.

    Thankfully, Dave was not without friends. Ralph, Dave¡¯s best friend just came back to town and saw the condition of Dave. They met at a coffee shop and Ralph was shocked at the current condition of Dave he then urged him to tell him of the reason for this but Dave had to keep quiet afraid of implementing his friend in his problems, he had to tell him how his injuries happened though.

    "I fell down the cliff, it was nothing serious Ralph, don¡¯t worry." Said Dave, however, his tone betrayed his words, truly Dave was depressed.

    "Listen up man. You know, I know I don¡¯t have the right to say this, but you should have finished your studies and went to college, at least you could have managed to get a decent job, or enough experience to get a desk job. Working part-time or doing this kind of works have no future... il tell you what. Do you know about Conquest?" he said

    "Ah, that game? Yes, I read about it, but what does this have to do with studies man? Or work. You cant make food out of a game right?"

    "No, this is where you are wrong. I am a member of one of the strongest guilds in the game, I even receive a sry by just ying and doing some tasks. Though I am not a core member, I still manage to get about 5000$ a month by just ying. And due to the time dtion between the game and reality, I can manage to y for a long time, doing different quests and bringing honor points to the guild will earn people more ie. Last month I managed to get 12K my sry plus the benefits of doing a hard quest and managing to get the name of our guild in the server announcement."

    "Wait wait, you are saying that you got 12 000$ just from ying a game? Holy shit I could barely get a third of that by working my ass off all month long!" said Dave.

    "Yes, you heard me right, and that was just because I happened to be on the same party of that did the quest. The guy who discovered the quest received 50 000$ from the leader. This is all aboutmerce and sponsorship basically, if you get to do a legendary quest and manage to get the name of your guild or party up in the server announcement, you can input the name of one of your sponsors there, doing publicity to them. Thus you will gain sponsorship and receive money." Said, Ralph

    "This sounds interesting. How can I join? I remember the price of those machines costing about 10 grand."

    "Well, you ¡¯re right, they are quite costly. But if you manage to get one you can start ahead and create your own character, once you do that you will be able to join the game. Listen up, there is a minimum requirement for joining our guild, its to hit level 50. Once you are level 50 you will be eligible to ess the guild, with a rmendation from me of course. But be wary just because you joined the guild doesn¡¯t mean you will be immediately paid. You will need to start doing some quests and help to achieve some objectives. And if you discover a new dungeon or region you will be awarded by the guild. Though now that three years had passed, it is rare to find new zones or new dungeons. You will have to be lucky."

    "So this means nothing. I will never be able to do anything. The game started 3 years ago, and by what I heard many bosses have been taken down, and many dungeons have been conquered. What would an insignificant person like me achieve, I better just stick with regr work."

    " No, no. who said that you need to do just quests. There is a contribution system in the guild. Each month, you can exchange your contribution points from the guild to money or gold coins"

    "Oh, those contribution points are easy toe by I presume?" Dave asked

    "Yes, you just need to farm some dungeons, do some repetitive quests. If you gather 5000 contribution points you will be paid the exact some in hard cold cash. On the other hand, by doing these quests, you will earn some gold coins. The exchange rate is 1:1" said, Ralph.

    "Oh, so 1 gold coins is one dor that is not bad." Said, Dave,

    "That doesn¡¯t mean it is easy to get gold coins, however, it is also not hard. It is much more profitable too. Do you remember the hype about bitcoins? This is almost like it, but the gold coins can be exchanged rather rapidly. So what do you say? Wana join?" asked Ralph

    "It sounds interesting enough," said Dave"But I will have to decline for now. I don¡¯t really have enough for the moment" Dave lied. But he knew well enough why. "I will join the moment I have enough cash to buy one." Said, Dave.

    He knew that Ralph was a good friend of his, and he knew that the moment he joins the game he will dote on him and try to help him as much as he can. If he were to do that he will have bothered him a lot.

    That is why Dave wanted to rely on himself like when he used to y old MMORPG games he always went solo. Doing stuff like joining guilds was never his thing. But before he joins the game he needs to do massive amounts of research.

    "Hey, listen up I can help you buy a gaming capsule," Said Ralph, but he was immediately interrupted by Dave.

    "No need bro, I know well enough that you want to help, but for the moment I need to find a job first. I can¡¯t just rely on the game to pay you back, who says when I will reach level 50 I might even give up on the game and you would have wasted money on me while I will be forced o get cash to pay you back. 10 000$ might not be that much to you, but it would take me a lot to gather it I should work and save up to get the gaming helmet myself" said Dave.

    "Sigh, do whatever you want bro. anyway, if you ever join, send me a private message. My game name is ster."

    "Alright ster," said Dave snickering "I will send you a PM once I join," he said.

    The both of them spent time chatting and speaking the whole evening.

    Then Ralph bade Dave farewell and left.

    The night was still young and Dave went back to his apartment.

    It was a shabby ce. Yet it was not filthy, it had the bare minimum of tools. Two chairs and a small table, a desk near his bed and a small kitchen and a shower for his use. It was not the best of ces but the rent was really cheap.

    Currently, Dave¡¯s bnce was about 17 000$ that remained from the money he was given by that man in ck. Truth to be told he felt disgusted at using the money but he still was unable to get a job so he had no choice but use it.

    "It seems that I will be needing to use this to buy a capsule... sigh"

    That day, dave went online and began by doing some research about the Game Conquest.

    There were several sses in the game, ranging from hunters, thieves berserkers tanks and many other ssic sses. There were even some hidden sses with superior attributes but they need to be unlocked by following a questline or doing some various odd jobs. The game was separated into multiple giant cities and territories. The yers had the ability to conquer other territories and imnd. However, due to the three years since the establishment of the games the political map of the game has been changed. No longer was the original kingdoms the current rulers of their countries, but guilds took over. Killing the king of the said country would grant the killer the right to rule.

    So it was really easy to take control overnd. However, it still meant that the moment the king of said country is killed they will lose their kingdom.

    This hower is only applicable under certain conditions, the kingdom must be forced to undergo war. This was not easy to achieve. There is an item that is needed to start a conquest. A territory attack Conquest. Those items are dropped by High tier monsters and rare and ancient chests.

    These high tier monsters would require thousands of yers to fight against and even if they defeat them, the chances of the territory attack conquest to drop are abysmally small.

    From the begin of the game. Three years now, only three of such items were found. And they were used to conquer three major Kingdoms.

    As such the current game rulers are three guilds. Heaven¡¯s Dawn, that took the northern kingdom under it. Blood Rage, who took the Southern Kingdom of the desert. And The Devastators who took over the western Kingdom. Naturally, these super guilds have strong backing. Above each of these three are three rulers. Zhang Shi. From the Chinese guild Heaven¡¯s Dawn who took over the guild and is dered king over the north. And Warlord, who is an American yer that rules over the Western kingdom and leader of the Devastators. While Wan Yi, ruler of the Southern Kingdom and leader of the Blood Rage guild. Each kingdom was named after their guilds. And Ralph was obviously a member of The Devastators.

    The world map was split into four great regions. Each of these regions has their own territories and quests and geography. Each of these regions has tens of thousands of miles of territory. To travel from one end to the other of the map would take about ten months of travel on foot.

    This just serves to speak of the immense size of the game. The designers of the game have implemented a super AI that is managing the game and creating more terrain and quests by each passing minute. Thus the game never suffered any setbacks and always moved forward with new content.

    Of all the four regions, only the eastern region was left without a guild tomand due to the nature of that kingdom it is an impossibility for it to be conquered. Why? Because it is ruled by an eastern emperor who rules over actual living dragons!

    There were several footages showing the might of the eastern army. They actually im themselves to be an empire and have ruled over thend for thousands of years. Also, their position is in a highly dangerous area with monsters of high level.

    Normally the highest level in the game is 1000.

    While the highest yer currently is the leader of the Devastators, Warlord with level 422. Even after three years of gaming, no one managed to reach the max level. This just tells people how vast the world of Conquest is.

    While the rulers The domain of the eastern kingdom is vast it also harbors highly tiered monsters and creatures. The lowest level beasts range from level 400 to 450. Even the highest level yer cannot take on these beasts thus the almost impossibility to conquer the kingdom.

    Still, this doesn¡¯t mean that they didn¡¯t try but looking at the footages of the conquest against the kingdom many had seen how impossible it is for casual or even Hardcore yers to take down the kingdom, even reaching the borders with an intent to fight is rewarded with instant death from the superior guards of the ce.

    So for the moment, many yers are intending on leveling up their characters in order to conquer thend and gain a huge ie.

    Due to the nature of the game once a king establishes rule over and they are entitled to a percentage of the gold that circtes in the territory. Mainly, taxes. The rulers get to hog taxes from the kingdom, from fixing equipment, or buying anything, a small percentage of the money is sent toward the kingdom¡¯s treasury, and the king of thend is able to use that money to either reinforce his kingdom or use it as his own.

    The rulers of the three super guilds are currently billionaires, due to the amount of money that is circting, however, they don¡¯t use that cash just for themselves. They use it to empower their guilds and reinforce theirnds. This way they will not fear the day when someone tries to take over their kingdom and take away their golden eggying goos.

    This is the basic idea of conquest. One must take over territories to gain power. And due to the vastness of the kingdoms, even if a person manages to take over a city within the kingdom and is appointed as a baron by the king, they will be able to take a percentage of the taxes from the said city while also sending a percentage of the tax to the king however they will be needed to supply the king with forces if need arises, so to rule over a simple city is enough to make a person rich for life.

    The game encourages people to conquer newnds and new dungeons. The person who conquers a new dungeon will be eligible to Hogue the dungeon for themselves and will be able to set a fee for everyone else to ess the dungeon. This, of course, is another mean to get rich, however, most of the dungeons are owned by one of the three major guilds. Still, some yers were lucky enough to gain ess to some dungeons.

    Dungeons rights can also be sold, and many yers who manage to conquer dungeons would sell these rights to one of the three guilds for a huge some of the money.

    Basically. This game is about gaining power, financial power manypanies are supporting the three major guilds for a share of the pie by giving financial support and organizing events to gain advertisement.

    After reading about this Dave felt thrilled if he were to own a small dungeon or conquer a dungeon he might get rich by selling the dungeon right to any of the three major guilds. However, to do so he must first level up and go to uncharted territories. This is not easy especially after knowing that others had about 3 years headstart. This will be really hard, but if he is lucky enough, he might be able to turn this situation upside down.

    Dave then submitted a purchase order for the gaming capsule and waited for it to arrive.

    It took about two days for the gaming helmet to arrive, and in that time Dave did his homework on the game¡¯s mechanics and sses.

    Once he set up the gaming helmet he put it on, hoping that the 10 000$ would not be a waste he logged in the game.

    A white light soon blinded him for a moment before a notification showed up before him.

    Wee to Conquest!

    Please speak to ALFRED!

    The notification then soon disappeared.

    Looking at where I stood, it was a blue tform where there was an old man wearing butler clothes and a single lens ss. He fixed his lense and moved forward.

    "Wee to the world of conquest. Adventurer. Here you should know that everything you will be doing will affect not only you but anything and everything around you. Let¡¯s make this brief, let¡¯s start with your race, which race would you like to be?" asked the butler while with a wave of his hand he showed all avable races

    From humans to elves dwarfs gnomes even orcs and trolls. Looking at the characters one would see the difference in each of their characteristics and basic stats. Basically, it was the normal thing that most MMORPG had.

    "Name Death Stroke. Race: Human, keep the same features," said Dave

    "Very well, quite direct I may say." Said the butler named Alfred.

    "Then where would you like to start your journey?" asked Alfred.

    "I am more of a solo yer, I would like to start near the eastern Kingdom," I said

    "The eastern kingdom... I don¡¯t think you will be able to survive there... especially with that" said Alfred as he looked at my right hand.

    "Ah... I totally forgot about this!"

    "Worry not," said the butler and with another wave of his hand the mangled right hand and right leg were like new.

    "Wow! That is amazing? How did you do that?"

    "The Headgear is attached to your brain, I just tempered with your brain waves, now you would not be bothered by your injuries in this game but do know that once you leave the game the injuries will not disappear." Said the butler

    "Ah, I can¡¯t thank you enough. I was going to go for a caster ss due to this now that I can move my hand like I used to... I should probably go for the regr tank ss."

    "You cannot choose a ss here, you must do the required tasks first before that"

    "Ah I know, I am just thankful," said Dave.

    "Hmm... many people came here, not bothering with this old man. They were eager to y the game while you are being courteous enough to thank an artificially made character..."

    "Artificial or not, it doesn¡¯t matter, you did right by me I need to do right by you, thanking you is the least I could do."

    "Well enough, still this doesn¡¯t mean I will give you any favors now be on your way if you have nothing else to ask."

    "No no! wait!" Said Dave.

    "What is it, Adventurer?"

    "What is Inheritance? I never had the chance to study them would you mind exining some of them to me?" Asked Dave.

    "Hmm, this is currently known knowledge I can answer anything that is already been divulged to the public. Inheritance is powers given by the gods of this game, there are several Inheritances throughout the game and to discover them is not easy. These inheritances are separated into Tiers from S to E. S being the strongest. For Every ss, there is one major inheritance that is given by the Deity of the said ss those are all unique inheritance and are given to only one person throughout the game The Berserker ss has the inheritance of the god of war. It gives immense power to the wielder and a lot of special sets of skills specialized for the ss. However, for the moment all of the S ss inheritance of the known sses have been found and are already owned.

    "Oh, so that means that there is still the possibility of an S ss inheritance to show up if a new ss is discovered?" said Dave with a smirk.

    Actually, that was a smart deduction on Dave¡¯s behalf, he understood that the butler meant that even if the inheritance of the major sses has been discovered, the top inheritance of a hidden ss has yet to emerge.

    "Hmm, indeed, there are some hidden sses who have yet to be discovered and they too have a unique inheritance to them. However, this doesn¡¯t mean that they are easy to acquire, first, you must find the hidden ss and then you must search for a way to obtain the inheritance, believe me, that is easier said than done." Said the butler

    "Well, that means it is hard, and not impossible, thank you for the information." Said Dave. Actually, he already did his research on the Inheritance and saw many footages of people that owned them wielding immense strength, but due to the uniqueness of them, he felt sad for not being able to obtain them. Still, the butler now confirmed that there is still some hidden Inheritance that some Hidden sses can own. He just has to find himself a hidden ss then.

    "Anyway, this is all I wanted to ask. Let¡¯s meet again then" said Dave as he waved his hand to the butler.

    "By the way," said the butler

    "I am the AI of the game if you happen upon a bug or something that you deem worthy of my guidance or question please do not forget to call upon my name now be on your way," said the butler as he waved his hand and a portal appeared before me. He then disappeared.

    "Ah shit I didn¡¯t ask him where my exact location will be!" said Dave to himself.

    "Well, it doesn¡¯t matter. Let¡¯s just look where we willnd and hope it is not somewhere dangerous."

    Right after that Dave walked through the portal and found himself in an almost vacant town.

    He looked at his character and saw that he was wearing some brown wool pants and a white shirt.

    The basic of basics.

    "Status screen!"

    Level 1

    Health 100 Mana NA

    Stamina 100 Rage/Focus NA

    Intelligence 10 Wisdom 10

    Dexterity 10 Agility 10

    Vitality 1 Strength 10

    Magic Resist 0 Defense 0

    HP Regen 0.1/sec Mana Regen NA

    Stamina Regen 10/sec Rage/Focus

    Regen NA

    Title NA

    This looks all right...

    "Hmm, Rage? Focus?. Ah it seems that these are rted to sses, I guess by the moment I gain a ss I will be eligible to ess those stats"

    "If I remember correctly. Wisdom is rted to Mana and intelligence is rted to magic damage. The more wisdom one has the more mana they will have, and the more Intelligence one has the stronger their attacks. Strength, on the other hand, rtes to how hard one can hit with their weapon. Every weapon has a range of attacks, and due to strength, the damage can increase. Vitality is rted to Hp. 1 vitality is 10 Hp. As for stamina, it is a necessary stat to almost all sses. It helps with movement and rate of attacks, Thieves would need high stamina to chain attacks, every physical attack would cost a bit of stamina. So, the more stamina one has the more they can hit or dodge. Then there are defense and magic resist. They are stats that help resist a percentage of the damage dealt to a character. If I remember correctly. An attack of 1000 damage if itnds on a character with 100-defense only 900 damage will be dealt to the character. The same goes for magic resist. Quite simple actually."

    Stamina regen mana regen and health regen are rted to the speed of regenerating these stats. The more regen a character has the more HP they can regain after being damaged. A character can regenerate HP even if they are inbat. High regen equipment can help prologue a fight.

    "Well now that I understand the basics... I should probably get myself some equipment, but to get the equipment I need to do some quests! Time to start noobie quest!" said Dave as he happily moved forward towards a character who had an exmation mark on their head. It seems that there is a quest!

    Chapter 2

    Dave began to appreciate his surroundings. Looking at the town where he stood, the dimly lit skies and the dark atmosphere. This ce was unlike anywhere he had been too before. The buildings had a medieval theme to them. There was an interface that he had ess too, it was at the side of his vision if he would focus clearly he could see many different icons.

    Map.

    The first thing that interested him was to know where he is. Looking at the map from a third person point of view Dave understood that he was actually in the rims of the eastern kingdom, yet not in a popted ce. This city or town was named Moria. It was an old town and was very small, there was even the number of poption, about 300 people lived here without taking ount the yers.

    Still, it was strange that there were no yers around. Dave began to think that this town was too far away from the main cities and not many yers would want to venture this far, or at the very least that this ce was of no interest to everyone else thus theck of other yers.

    Right after he verified his location, he "zoomed" his view on the map to look at the town where he was.

    Three major things caught his attention here; the teleportation gate, the church, the training center.

    The teleportation circle is a gateway that can teleport a yer from city to city. So that they do not waste time going from ce to ce. The church was where he could take the simplest and easiest to acquire ss, a pdin. And the training center where he could train his character to learn the basic skills that every ss has.

    "Should I start first by doing gathering quest, or should I head to the church to start the pdin questline?" asked Dave himself.

    "Well, let¡¯s start by going to the training center, at least I could get a basic weapon and shield and start training if I remember correctly I would need to reach level 10 before starting the basic pdin questline." Said, Dave, as he moved towards the training center ignoring the man with the question mark on his head.

    Once he arrived at the training center he saw, many NPCs doing various move sets and attacking dummies.

    There was arge buffed man, who was leaning on a pole and watching the NPCs. That man must be the instructor as he had a yellow Question mark on his head.

    "Hey sir," said Dave to the man.

    The gruff looking man made an inspecting look at Dave and said

    "Oh, fresh blood, you must be one of those Adventurers right? I have seen many of you. Truth be told I am envious of your ability to revive even after you die, still, that does not make you invincible. Ahh, I guess you want to learn the basic skills and train right?" said the man

    Dave was a bit stunned, not at the man but the way he spoke and the expressions on his face. Though he was but an artificial character, he disyed remorse and envy and gave advice to Dave. This was for him a first, how can a fictional character disy human emotion? Dave could only praise the work behind such a game. Perhaps this is a reason why people are hooked on the game.

    "Ah, Yes, I was hoping to learn some basic skills, others have said that they will be useful to trainter on. Would you be kind to teach me?" asked Dave.

    "I have no qualms with that, but first you must do me a favor. I have been looking over these grunts for the past few hours and I am feeling a bit hungry. Take this and go to the bakery, my wife works there. Bring me my lunch I forgot to get it." said The man

    You have obtained a new Quest.

    Bring us some food

    Xp +200.

    Bring The instructor Juda his lunch. Even an idiot can do this.

    Quest difficulty: NIL

    Dave squinted his eyes at how rude the notification had been but didn¡¯t voice heins. He took a small stamp that had the name Juda on it and went to where he was supposed to go. A new location was now clinging to his map and he understood that that was the bakery.

    It took him a couple of minutes to get there. Once he was there a woman who had an exmation mark on her head was there. She was the bakery¡¯s shop owner.

    "Mydy, Mr. Juda had asked me to bring him his food," said Dave and brought forward the stamp.

    "Oh, that idiot had forgotten to take his lunch... here you go give it to him while it is still hot."

    Quest update.

    Bring back the food to the instructor Juda.

    You have 3 minutes time limit or else the food will turn cold and your quest will fail.

    Are you going to fail this, are you?

    Again with the rude notification... sigh.

    Dave took the food and it was instantly ced in his inventory. It was a small looking pouch that said.

    Hot food.

    Simple.

    Once Dave got the food he went straight towards the instructor. It didn¡¯t even take 30 seconds before he was there and gave the Instructor the item he wanted

    "Oh, very well, it is still hot too. Thank youd!"

    Quest cleared.

    +200Xp

    Time spent 33 seconds.

    Bonus reward +50 XP

    Only then, Dave fully understood the meaning behind this idiotic quest. Any character that has an exmation mark can give quests. The quests have scored on them, and the better one manages their time and quests under the conditions of the quests the more can one earn by doing them. This was a simple quest that many must have done to familiarize themselves with the system. Dave was no exception.

    Looking at Dave¡¯s gauge bar he understood that he just got a quarter of the needed XP to level up.

    Juda the instructor soon disappeared and after a minute or so, he appeared again.

    "That was very satisfying. Anyway, kid, you wanted to learn the basic skills right. You should know though, this is a training facility for warriors, if you want to learn magic you will need to go to the magic tower in this town." Said the instructor as he pointed at a tower that was a bit far but still within the small town.

    "No, I wish to learn the way of the sword." Said, Dave

    "Then you came to the right ce, however, you need some strength before you can carry a weapon, you stillck strength. Let me tell you, you see those weights there, start by picking them up, once you gained at least 15 strength then you can start by training with the sword." Said the instructor.

    "Ah, so you can gain strength by lifting weights..." said Dave

    "Well, what do you think? If there is another way to do that then please tell me!" said the man with augh. This actually made Dave sound like an idiot. These NPCs did not have the same view over the game as Dave did. They see weapons as weapons no matter the tier. They only gain strength and power by training.

    "Ok, I will start then" Dave then went towards a corner of the courtyard where there was a lot of weight spread across the ground.

    Starting with the 10-pound weights he grabbed each of them. Inspecting them gave Dave an idea about them.

    Lifting Weights: 10pounds.

    Training for 1 hour=+1 strength. Capped at +5 strength. (Limited Under 15 strength)

    5 stamina/lift.

    Oh, this was interesting.

    Dave then looked at another one.

    Lifting Weights: 20 pounds.

    Training for 1 hour=+1 strength. Capped at +5 strength. (limited under 20 strength)

    25 stamina/lift.

    He then understood. There was a way to gain strength, but he will need to grind. Looking at the number of weights, he understood that he could train with all of them all the way to weights that had +500 pounds. Normally that would be difficult for anyone to carry but this was just a game.

    Calcting the total amount of Strength he could gain he understood that once he trains with every tier of weights here in the courtyard he will gain +100 strength!

    However, there was a problem with this. If he were to calcte the time needed for him to reach such strength, it would take him at least 5 hours training per tier. Looking at the 20 tiers of weights. He calcted that it would need him about 100 hours to train all the way to +100 strength, with 1 strength per hour. This will be an arduous task however, that was under typical circumstances.

    Because not only would he be lifting weights, he will be spending a lot of stamina to use them. So he will need to grind up not only his strength but also his stamina. So it might take much longer than just 10 hours, especially at how much the stamina consumptions reach once he looked at the heavier weights.

    Thest weight needed at least 250 stamina/lift! Something that he didn¡¯t even have. But thankfully Dave understood that there was a ratio where the game worked with. A basic Strength of stamina conversion.

    The more strength one has, the lesser the needed stamina to do a job. Therefore, when Dave reaches higher levels of stamina, the Weight that now looks like it needs 250 stamina/lift would probably be about 100 stamina per lift. Still, that was too much, and it would take him a lot just to do so.

    There was also the lifting animation, the character needs not to bother with manually lifting the weights, he could just let the animation do the job for him. It is capped under a certain amounts of lifts/hour.

    "Mr. Instructor," said, Dave, as he came back to ask the instructor about something that was bothering him.

    "What is it?" asked the instructor.

    "How does one train their stamina?" asked Dave.

    "Stamina is easy to train, not only would Weight lifting increases our stamina. You can also try jogging around. It will help greatly with increasing your stamina." Said the instructor.

    "Oh, that is interesting..." said Dave.

    So running and weight lifting can increase stamina... this sounds logical, but what if I do both then?

    Dave then picked the lightest of weights and began lifting them. Indeed he entered an animation where he didn¡¯t need to do anything but watch his character lifting the weights. Still, he willed himself to move and the animation was canceled. He then started to manually lift the weights.

    Not only that, he also began to jog around the courtyard while lifting the small weights on both of his hands.

    This was an experiment if the character was to gain strength while manually lifting and manually jogging it should be much simpler and time efficient than to train lifting weights for an hour then do some jogging afterward.

    However, what Dave did not ount for was the stamina consumption. Normal jogging would consume about 1 stamina per second. While weight lifting would consume 5 per second. In total, Dave was spending 6 stamina per second. In addition, in doing so he could only train continuously for about 16 seconds before his stamina is fully depleted, then he will have to wait for 10 seconds before he would proceed again. His stamina regen was 1/second.

    Dave kept on doing this until an unexpected result showed up. It barely was 30 minutes before results were already apparent.

    You have gained +1 Strength!

    You have gained +1 stamina!

    Surprisingly so, manual training was much faster than automatic lifting. This way Dave was sure that he could manage to finish the whole training in at least 50 hours instead of the 100 hours total that he calcted before.

    He also went to thergest weight and confirmed that now that he gained +1 strength the total Stamina needed for him to carry the +500 pound weight was now only 240 stamina/lift.

    It seems that the weight to stamina conversion was 1 strength can decrease the stamina consumption per 10.

    However, there was no change to the needed stamina for lifting the smaller weights. Normally it should not cost anything to lift the 10-pound weight due to his increase in strength. However, it seems that there is a minimal stamina value that no matter how strong one is, they cannot help but spend stamina to lift.

    So the more strength one has the easier it is to lift heavy weights, however for lightweights, there should be a minimum value that cannot be avoided.

    Dave continued on with the routine. It was actually interesting first, for the few hours that Dave saw his Stamina and strength slowly climbing. However, after almost eight hours, Dave began to feel bored. Extremely so. A man cannot help but feel bored doing the same thing for hours to no end. Still, he kept on, why? Because he had a very slow start, many people started before him. Andpared to them he is far behind. If he could manage to get his fundamentals high enough, he would be able to make a differenceter on in the game.

    Dave had logged out and did more research on this topic, then he understood something. Thankfully he didn¡¯t level up to level 2 like many did before they understood that for every level you reach, the weightlifting training is decreased by half!

    So for a level 1, if they do the full weightlifting training they can gain 100 strength by the end! But if one levels up to level 2, they will be capped at 50 strength! This was a huge setback.

    Dave then understood that not only Strenght but even intelligence and wisdom can increase. He was not the first to discover this, there were many others that found out about this and did this. They trained for hours and hours and managed to get at least 100 in the element of their choice before they would try to level up. Once they had reached the cap for beginner training they would no longer be able to increase their stats by normal means. They will only be able to do so using equipment or stats from leveling up.

    This was foundation building, if a yer is not dedicated enough they will not be able to benefit from this small bonus.

    Dave then made sure that after he takes his meal and a bath. He would continue on doing the training until he Capps the Strength Training level without leveling up!

    Thanks to the time dtion between the game and reality, it was possible to spend three days in the game for only 1 day in real life. However, humans need food and sleep otherwise they will not be able to function properly.

    Thus Dave could only dedicate 16 hours from his day to the game. 7 hours, for his sleep and 1 hour for his meals, spread out through the day.

    Dave logged back in the game and continued with his grinding session.

    It was boring, however, it had a great importance to him.

    Dave discovered something when he was training. He could also train his agility!

    By doing the weightlifting session, he was skipping trying to maximize his training and was met with a surprising result.

    You have gained +1 agility!

    It seems that training made him earn more agility, it was free stats so he didn¡¯t bother and kept on doing his thing, mixing weightlifting with punches, and even doing squats.

    You have gained+1 dexterity!

    Amazingly so he could also train his dexterity.

    Dave did not bother with these stats at first, his aim was to increase his strength and stamina, he wanted to be a pdin, and their basic stats were revolved around; strength, stamina, and intelligence!

    However, dexterity and agility never hurt.

    Dexterity would increase the reaction time of a person. They can even dodge attacks. While agility could increase their speed and attack speed.

    Both of them are stats that are not harmful to any ss, they might even be bonuses.

    Thus, the training session that was going to waste 50 hours of Dave¡¯s time now took much more!

    Dave was a greedy person, he knew he only needed to train just his basic stats, but now that he had the ability to train more, he would not want to waste it lest that he would regret it in the future!

    Therefore, the training session increased until he had spent more than 1-week game time!

    Then and only then did he check on his status screen to see the improvement he brought to himself.

    Level

    1

    Name

    Death Stroke

    Race

    Human

    Health

    100

    Mana

    NA

    Stamina

    200

    Rage/Focus

    NA

    Intelligence

    10

    Wisdom

    10

    Dexterity

    110

    Agility

    110

    Vitality

    10

    Strength

    110

    Magic Resist

    0

    Defense

    0

    HP Regen

    0.1/sec

    Mana Regen

    NA

    Stamina Regen

    1/sec

    Rage/Focus

    Regen

    NA

    Title

    NA

    "Fantastic!" Said, Dave, as he admired his perseverance! It took him a lot of time to finally reach this point, he even ignored the instructor¡¯s advice toe back to him after having 15 strength, now that Dave gained the bonus 100 stats that can be obtained at level 1, he felt rather proud of having achieved something of great value after being consistent and persevered through it.

    "Now if I gained this much just by doing physical training... how can someone gain intelligence and wisdom?" said Dave to himself.

    Then he went back to the instructor to ask him about it, after all, he was the only one who gave him tips about training his body.

    "You want to increase your intelligence? Why don¡¯t you go to the library and read some books, I might look like a brute but I do know that reading books can make you smarter," said the man with augh.

    Hmm, so reading books..." thought Dave to himself as he looked at the map trying to find a library.

    There was none to Dave¡¯s dismay.

    There was, however, another choice for him... the wizard¡¯s tower. It is only logical; wizards would need to have a high level of Intelligence and Wisdom to cast their spells.

    Dave then headed towards the wizard¡¯s tower ignoring the instructor once again.

    Dave did not want to proceed with Skill learning before he imed all the bonus points that one can have.

    Once at the wizard¡¯s tower he met a beautiful woman that wore a wizard¡¯s hat. She was at the front door with an exmation mark on her head... this must be the magic instructor.

    "Mydy, can I please ask you on the ways to increase one¡¯s intelligence." Said Dave in a polite manner. Being courteous never hurt anyone, this was a moto Dave always abided with.

    "Oh, such a young one seeks the wisdom of the sages. Your request must be rted to the way of the arcane, indeed, one must be smart and wise before they would learn to cast spells. You may get inside the tower; if you wish to learn magic from me, I need you to have at least 15 intelligence before you could begin learning the most basic of skills." She said in a manner that showed her elegance and with an attitude of superiority.

    Once again, Dave was surprised at the game¡¯s creator¡¯s sense of ingenuity. They can make artificial characters behave like humans.

    "Thank you for your kindness." Said Dave and went inside the tower.

    There were a lot of bookshelves and desks filled with various books.

    Dave then picked a book rted to the basics of magic and began to read.

    Dave could not believe that all of these books were rted to magic, if so how much time would, the AI must have spent to write the lore and theories of magic in this huge "Library"

    Then again he was disappointed. The moment he opened the first book he understood that it only had two pages worth of words and the rest were empty.

    The book he had on his hand rted to the theory of mana and magic in the world, there were just bunch of words to make fantastical ideas look logical. However, once he finished reading the book he was met with a pleasant surprise.

    You have gained +1 Intelligence!

    You have gained +1 Wisdom!

    It only took Dave one book to level up his stats, and both of them at the same time!

    Without wasting time Dave then began reading another book.

    However, he was not rewarded with anything until he read another one.

    Then he understood that the more stats he gains, the harder it is to gain more. This was simple logic; one cannot fill a full cup. Once a person knows too much of the world he will find it hard to learn new things. Well, this was the theory and Dave had nothing to lose. So he started reading more and more books. It was not easy though, it took him about 20 hours of straight book reading to finish the whole books in this library, thankfully, each book had at most 2 pages worth of words, but by reading thest one of these books. Dave Was met with a pleasant surprise!

    Not only had he managed to gain 100 intelligence and 100 wisdom, he gained a title!

    You have gained a new title!

    I know it all!

    +5% towards all basic stats!

    With this, Dave was surprised! A title that adds bonus stats! It might not be much right now. 5% stats is not a great deal at the moment, however, in thete game, this 5% can be monstrous!

    In addition, this title only needed the person to do all the menial tasks and gain all the bonus attribute points before they reach level two.

    Dave did not wait until he looked at his status screen and was amazed at what he saw.

    Level

    1

    Name

    Death Stroke

    Race

    Human

    Health

    100+(5)

    Mana

    1100 +(55)

    Stamina

    200 (10)

    Rage/Focus

    NA

    Intelligence

    110 +(5.5)

    Wisdom

    110 +(5.5)

    Dexterity

    110 +(5.5)

    Agility

    110 +(5.5)

    Vitality

    10 +(0.5)

    Strength

    110 +(5.5)

    Magic Resist

    0

    Defense

    0

    HP Regen

    0.1/sec +(0)

    Mana Regen

    1.1/sec +(0)

    Stamina Regen

    1/sec +(0.5)

    Rage/Focus

    Regen

    NA

    Title

    I know it all!

    Not only that! His Mana bar was unlocked and he did not even notice until he saw his status screen! In addition, the mana Regen. It was a nice amount, yet it was too low. Even if it was much higher than his Hp regen, it was still a measly 1.1/second, to fully fill his HP bar it would take him at least 1000 seconds! That is about 16 minutes. Which was a bit too much? However, he understood that the more wisdom one has the higher their mana capacity is, and the more Regen they will have.

    The conversion rate is 1mana point/sec for every 1000 mana this was still too much, but Dave knew that there were many items that help with mana regen and there are sses that benefit from passive mana regen, also there are sses that have increased regen on stamina and Hp.

    This past week was a good haul for Dave. Once he finished his reading, he headed back to Juda the Instructor. He was going to start learning his new basic skills!

 Chapter 3 Learning the ropes

    On the road back to the Instructor Dave had noticed many people ¡¯Living¡¯ their lives as if it was the most simple thing to do.

    It was surprising, refreshing and rather interesting. How fictional characters ¡¯live¡¯ in this world could be beyond Dave¡¯s understanding, but still he appreciated the work that the AI took into creating these lives. It was like a god creating a world filled with miracles. Something, even if it was but fictional, it was still for Dave, praiseworthy.

    Looking at his right hand and right leg. He totally forgot about them being mangled, how the AI could even manage to modify his brainwaves so that it makes him feel that he was uninjured. That was another revitalizing thing for Dave. This was something he really was thankful for. He never believed that he would get his disability healed. However, this world, he can move, lift, and even fight using his body as if he was never hurt at all.

    Truth to be told, If Dave had known that this game would give him a temporary respite from the world, and give him a chance to be ¡¯Normal¡¯ and Whole again, he would have jumped at the opportunity to y the game before Ralph would even mention it for him. However, nothing was lost. He had a long future ahead of him, and with the 7000$ remaining in his bank ount he could spare some time to build up his character¡¯s foundations and then fully focus on how to gather as much money he can. After all, this was a stunt he had to seed in achieving. Otherwise, Dave¡¯s future would look grim. As a young man without proper and full education, nor a fully functioning body anymore. This was his only way to make his future, or at least the only way he knows of.

    Dave was not a stupid person, No. Far from it. Though he never finished his studies, he always had a book in his hands. it was the Year 2069, and many would only use smart tablets and holographic cards to read data. But Dave always loved the texture and smell of books, especially the old ones thus he developed a habit to read and do research. Whenever he had time at the petrol station he used to work in a book will always be under the counter. Every time he jumped jobs he would always bring his stack of books and read them. Especially in fantasy books. So this world of Conquest was both a blessing for him to truly live in the world of fantasy. And to achieve a future doing something he actually liked.

    Dave took on the attempt to better his life, unlike casual yers or even Hardcore yers. Dave was betting his life. And a man who is betting his life can only face one difficulty. And that is to challenge himself to be better. And thus Dave was filled with both pride, perseverance, and hope. A hope to make something out of nothing.

    Once before the instructor, he asked him.

    "I have reached the required strength, could I now wield a weapon? and learn skills?"

    "Oh, let me have a look." Said The instructor as he began scanning all of Dave¡¯s avatar.

    "Oh, impressive! You have grown strong! Very well! Take this!" said the instructor as he gave Dave a metallic short sword.

    Category: Weapon

    Basic Iron Shortsword

    A short sword used for training, not much of an actual weapon but at least it is sharp enough to ughter some chicken.

    Damage 15-20

    Requirements 15 Strength. 10 Agility

    Level 1

    Bonus stats None

    Scaling/ss E: Strength - E: Dexterity.

    ss. Common weapon.

    "Oh, a basic sword, what is this scaling thing?" Asked Dave.

    "The scaling of a weapon is rted to the weapon¡¯s damage output or defense output. Mainly there are several scaling categories of a weapon, ranging from E as the lowest to SSS as the best. An E scaling weapon is factored by the rted stat it is linked to. This is the diagram of scaling you will understand once you read through it."

    Scale Modifier Stat Weapon damage Finalized damage over 0 Defense.

    E 0.25 100 15-25 100+25+ 15 to 25 =140 to 150 Dmg

    D 0.5 100 15-25 100+50+ 15 to 25=165 to 175 Dmg

    C 0.75 100 15-25 100+75+ 15 to 25=190 to 200 Dmg

    A 1 100 15-25 100+100 +15 to 25=215 to 225 Dmg

    S 1.25 100 15-25 125+100 +15 to 25=240 to 250

    SS 1.5 100 15-25 150+100 +15 to 25=265 to 275

    SSS 2 100 15-25 200+100 + 15 to 25=315 to 325

    "Oh, this is more like it. So the higher the scaler on a weapon the more damage output. And looking at the basic iron sword, it has two scaling stats. I think it would take from the two stats." Looking at the diagram Dave made some mental calction and understood that with his current stats he could deal from 280 to 300 damage with the basic sword!

    Looking at his measly 100 HP, that amount of damage was ridiculous!

    However, once he took notice of an interesting thing in the diagram he could not help but ask.

    "It says here that defense Value is 0, how can defense affect the damage output?"

    "Oh, before I speak of that I need to exin about the defense first. There are four kinds of damage modifiers! Here take a look"

    Defense type Value Weapon damage Result after defense

    Magic Absorption 100 280 to 300 180 to 200

    Damage Nullification 100 280 to 300 180 to 200

    Immunity 40% 280 to 300 112 to 120

    "Oh, there are so many, could you exin it to me though? Why are there three types of defense reduction values?." Said, Dave

    "Let me exin. The three types of defense are rted to each other, you can find a shield that has one, two or even three types of defense, and immunity is the best of the three. In addition, it is the first that is influenced by damage, but still, the maximum a person can have is 40% damage immunity and it is the first to be factored from the three. Let me exin it further." Said the instructor as he exined in a manner akin to a teacher.

    "If you would deal 1000 damage, a shield with 40% immunity will only let you deal 600 damage. Make note that Immunity works both for magic and physical defense. Then what if the shield has 40% immunity and 100 Magic absorption which is the second factored value of defense types after immunity. Then you will only receive 500 damage. Lastly damage nullification, which is thest to be factored and is the mostmune on all types of shields and armors. If it has 100, you will deal a maximum amount of 400 damage to your target."

    "Oh, interesting, so the best type of defense is immunity... then the damage will have to undergo severalyers of defense to deal a finalized damage value." Said Dave in understanding.

    He also understood why the damage reductions are organized in such way.

    In the end, Dave understood, that for a tank ss they will need both Magic Absorption and Damage Nullification to be a good Tank. There are several weapons that deal both magical and physical damage. If Dave only focused on one aspect he might end up dead. However, to have 40% immunity will help him greatly.

    "There are even ways to prate the defense, some weapons have those, and they can deal damage even under heavy defenses, but still they will not be affected by damage immunity. They will only prate through defense nullification value or Magic absorption values and the weapon will still have its damage reduced under the damage immunity." Said the Instructor.

    "Alright, that session was interesting enough," said Dave "It will take some time to ponder over it, thank you for your guidance." He added before finishing with "Now, can I learn some of your basic skills?" asked Dave.

    "Yes, yes it has been long since anyone had asked me about the properties of weapons and the stats that everyone holds, now let us begin, grab your weapon and mimic this move"

    Said the instructor as he took a wooden sword and shed vertically to the ground.

    Though the sword was made of wood, it managed to crack the concrete ground with a single strike.

    Dave then mimicked his skill and achieved simr results. It was strange, how could a sword damage the earth this much?

    Congrattions!

    You have unlocked your Rage bar.

    Rage enables a character to use skills rted to sword-wielding sses.

    Congrattions!

    You have gained a new skill

    Destructive Smash!

    Skill

    Destructive Smash

    Skill Level Armature (1)

    Damage / Effects 50% Weapon damage

    Stuns target for 1 second

    Rarity Common (E)

    Cost 50 stamina

    Cool down 1 minute

 Chapter 4 Recommendation Letter

    "For a basic skill, it sure is costly and has a huge cooldown." Said Dave.

    "Indeed, however that is because you are just starting, once you train this skill to perfection, you will be able to use it more often and will be able to reduce its cost. However, this is a skill with a low tier, even if you reach a grandmaster level with it, it will still deal low damagepared to mythical tiered skills"

    "Could you tell me about the tiers of skills and the tiers of mastership of a skill?"

    "Oh, there are five tiers of mastership of every skill. It starts with amateur, to beginner, expert, master, and grandmaster. One must reach 10 levels of each tier to reach another realm of the skill. So in total, to be a true grandmaster in this skill you will need to train it for 50 levels, but make sure that the higher the level of the skill the harder it is to train it. But it is also awarded with reduced costs of usage, and might sometime give higher damage."

    Said the instructor.

    "Then for the rarity of the skill. It starts withmon, rare, unique, epic, deste, mythic, and legendary. Going from lowest to highest in rarity. As for the legendary skills, the only way to obtain them is by having ess to an S ss inheritance. Anything below the legendary rank can either be obtained via learning under an aplished master, or finding rare skill books."

    Dave then was surprised to have learned about the rank of the skills in inheritance carrying characters. This would mean that to have a legendary skill he will be needing to have an S ss inheritance... so far there are only 6 verified S ss inheritances... they are all rted to the major sses of the game.

    Thieves/assassins/rogues are under the same category, they have the shadow dancer inheritance, which is obtained by some mysterious girl who seldom shows up in raids or fights. Someone was lucky enough to have caught a tape of her using her inheritance¡¯s skills and posted it online.

    The other one was the god of war inheritance which falls under the warrior type ss which isposed of Bruisers/Berserks/Tanks. It was obtained by the leader of the heaven¡¯s dawn guild; Zhang Shi. He used it many times to clear impossible dungeons and to fight for supremacy.

    Another inheritance was the Summoner ss inheritance.

    Summoner falls into the category of. Summoners /druids/Warlocks. However, warlocks are a type of wizards they summon demons to fight for them so they are categorized as Summoners ss with a high aptitude for destructive magic.

    Their inheritance was the tree of life¡¯s light. A druid that is working under the heaven¡¯s dawn guild owned it.

    The only guild to have two S ss was the heaven¡¯s dawn and that was proof of their strength.

    As for the priest/healers inheritance, it was called the dawn of light, it was owned by the leader of the southern kingdom Wan Yi. He is a powerful priest that was said to be able to bring back the dead. He is a calctive and mastermind and was able to hold his head up high using his inheritance. Although not powerful inbat as the god of war¡¯s inheritance, it is strong enough to support allies and to conquer dungeons which were the reason why the southern kingdom¡¯s leader is one of the richest guild owners in Conquest.

    There is two remaining S ss inheritance that is owned by solo yers.

    The hunter/archer ss, Divine bow inheritance is owned by a powerful hunter guy, he is the very personification of a wandering adventurer. The hunter ss is unlike the archer ss, while the hunter ss is weak in PVPbatpared to the archer ss, it can tame beasts to help if fight enemies.

    The divine Bow inheritance is unlike the others, it is an equipment, a golden bow that he obtained at the end of some dangerous quest and with its high damage output and unique skills he managed to outshine even the most powerful archers. While he also has a Dragon pet! An actual dragon as a pet...

    Thest inheritance is the world bender¡¯s inheritance. It is a magic type inheritance that reduces mana costs, cooldowns and empowers all the ss¡¯s skills by a huge amount. Not only that it changes the graphics of normal skills and their power.

    The owner was a girl who managed to obtain it via luck, and that was the only statement she had said not mentioning the way she obtained the inheritance.

    Dave saw a video where she was disying the power of the inheritance. A simple Fireball could be the size of a miniature sun! quite powerful and with devastating effects.

    Normally the yers with inheritance should be powerful beings, not only could they "transform" into their ss¡¯s main Deity, they can also gain impressive amounts of defense, Hp, Increased damage output and some even gain a massive size. Like the god of war inheritance owner, he can grow massively in size. Even a stomp of his feet can crush another person.

    Yet this inheritance would have been a game breaker if not for their limit. The user can only stay in their "transformed" state for 2 hours after activating their inheritance, after that, the inheritance activation goes on a 72 hours cooldown (game time)

    "Alright, you should start by practicing your skill." Said the instructor as he pointed at a dummy.

    Once Dave reached a dummy that was in the middle of the courtyard, he started first with a basic attack.

    {-315!}

    "Oh crap! That is a lot!" said Dave as he looked at his basic attack damage.

    Looking at the log he understood that the system took into ount his already overpowered stats. The weapon deals damage based on Agility and strength, if another yer without his bonus stats were to hit this dummy they would have dealt a measly amount of damage from 60 to 80 at max.

    "That is impressive!" said the instructor, "You have some power in you. And that was not even a critical strike!"

    "Indeed, I feel that this is overpowered..." said Dave.

    "No, not really, that dummy has 0 defense it is for practice purposes... here try attacking me!" said The instructor.

    "Are you sure?" asked Dave.

    "Yes, yes just give it a shot, don¡¯t hold back!" he said with a smirk.

    The NPC¡¯s name was still greed, attacking NPC¡¯s would make them hostile in some cases but the system gave the yers a 3 strike limit towards attacking NPC. The first strike will be ignored by the NPC. The second will turn your rtionship with the NPC from friendly to unfriendly. The third strike will make him hostile and he will attack you on sight. Dave fully understood this and didn¡¯t hesitate to attack the instructor.

    The instructor didn¡¯t doge and received the attack head-on.

    {-0}

    "What?" Dave said with Shock.

    "Look at your battle log," said the instructor as he saw the battle log.

    [Basic damage( -320 physical damage) - 40% immunity =128 - 20 000 damage nullification = -19872. Damage dealt 0.]

    "Wow! You have that much damage nullification! I would need to hit you a hundred and fifty times stronger for you to even take some damage!"

    "Indeed, but worry not, once you get some more powerful equipment you will be able to deal damage. But be warry, I am not the strongest person in this world, you have a long way to go to reach the top!"

    "Thank you for your guidance!" said Dave.

    "Well keep on practicing your skill." Said the instructor.

    "Oh, by the way, where can I start the Pdin ss quest?" asked Dave.

    "Pdin? Oh, pdins are powerful entities, they are a mixture of warrior and priest ss. You can get the ss quest by going to the Church nearby. I will give you a rmendation letter once you finish your training, I can see that you have a bright future ahead of you. Pdin serves the kingdom against all vile and foul things, that is a noble cause!" said the instructor as he left the courtyard leaving Dave to do his thing. Which is to grind his skill!

    The skills that a character learns, are based on a percentage of their weapon damage. As he saw that his basic damage was between 300 to 320. He would at most deal 150-160 damage with the skill, however, he can also stun a target. Probably once the skill levels up its damage will increase slowly and the cooldown of it will be less for him to use it more often.

    What was amazing was that a character can deal as much damage as their bodies can manage.

    This is crucial, for that if he wishes to deal damage, he will both need to be able to attack rapidly with his weapons and be strong enough, dexterous enough and agile enough to dodge and attack at the same time.

    Dave used to do morning practice and jogs every morning, however with his current disability, he was unable to do so anymore. But now, in this game, he is only limited by his mindset, not his body. If he can force his mind to think faster! Act faster! Then he might be able to attack faster and dodge faster. A person is not limited within the game by their bodies, even fat people in real life can be as agile as a cat within the game, only their mindset needs to be able to adapt to their new ¡¯body¡¯.

    And thus Dave began attacking the dummy with a flurry of strikes and an amazing vigor.

    Soon enough, his stamina was depleted.

    It seems that even regr attacks are limited to a person¡¯s mindset and their character¡¯s stamina... every attack consumes a portion of stamina, and without stamina, a yer cannot move or dodge... therefore one must be able to micromanage their stamina, to be able to attack and defend themselves. Going berserk is idiotic, a person might be able to deal a lot of damage but without sufficient stamina to sustain themselves they will end up dead.

    Another thing is. The rage bar it is fixed at 100, and cannot be increased, at least not normally. There are some weapons that add a small portion of rage points. And they are really rare.

    Rage cans steadily increase with each attack or damage taken. And it increases over time if one entersbat state. A warrior ss needs not mana to cast their skills, but they need rage points and stamina.

    Even if their skills are not on cooldown without sufficient rage points they can¡¯t cast any warrior skills. Which is quite inconvenient. Unlike mages and priests, as long as they have enough mana and their skills are off cooldown, they can attack without regard.

    And thus, Dave began his practice trying to level up his skill. It seems that once his skill reaches level 2 beginner, he will be able to go to the church to get his pdin ss. Now with a clear objective, Dave began hammering on the poor practice dummy!

 Chapter 5 The benevolent duo

    Congrattions!

    Destructive Smash reached level

    Amature 2

    Finally, after two hours of smashing around, the skill managed to level up!

    Skill

    Destructive Smash

    Skill Level Armature (2)

    Damage / Effects 55% Weapon damage

    Stuns target for 1 second

    Rarity Common (E)

    Cost 45 stamina 10 Rage points

    Cool down 55 Seconds

    "Well, the only difference is the slight increase in damage and the cooldown reduction by 5 seconds. Also, stamina cost had decreased by a slight bit" said Dave to himself.

    He turned back to see the instructor that has just "conveniently"e back.

    "Mr. Juda, I have leveled up the skill to level two." Said Dave. This was the requirement for him to have the chance to go to the church so that he would start his nning ss questline.

    "Oh, that was rather fast! You sure are hardworking. Here you go!" said Juda as he handed Dave a sealed Letter.

    Quest item

    Sealed letter.

    "Hand this over to the Bishop in the church. It¡¯s at the northern side of town, I marked it on your map so you don¡¯t get lost." Said Juda and the exmation mark on his head vanished. It seems that he no longer has anything to say to Dave so he dismissed himself.

    Dave then took a look at his map and found out that the church was not that far from where he was. He then headed north of the town and managed to find a small church that had a couple of guards on its front door.

    "Halt, where are you headed young man?" said one of the guards. The both of them had Green names so they were friendly but it seems to Dave that they were programmed to do their job properly as guards. Looking at Dave who didn¡¯t have the attire of a church¡¯s believer they had to ask questions.

    "I need to meet with the Bishop, I have a sealed Letter from Master Juda that I need to hand it to him personally." Said Dave calmly.

    "Ah, a letter from Master Juda. So you are one of the new recruits. Alright, you may get in" said the guard and gave way for Dave.

    Once inside the church, he noticed that it was simr to the orthodox churches of the Christian religion. Dave was not much of a believer but he went to church several times. Mainly to donate some of his hard earned money.

    There was a man wearing red ceremonial gowns. A look of piety was showing on his face and a blue exmation mar was on his head.

    Once Dave got in range the man looked up and with a pious look he opened both his arms and spoke in a manner worthy of a saint

    "Wee young one to the church of the god of justice!" said the man.

    "Thank you for receiving me your Excellency," said Dave without wait he added "I have been sent by Master Juda and I wish to serve the church in bing one of its shields," said Dave. This was the dialogue needed for him to say I initiate the quest.

    "Oh, a young man like you wishes to serve the holy church, you have the heart of a good and benevolent person, but just the heat cannot defend the people you need to prove your strength first to make people follow the teachings of gods." Said the man.

    "This is a letter from master Juda, he asked me to deliver it to you as proof of my strength." Said, Dave, as he handed the letter.

    It instantly disappeared from Dave¡¯s inventory.

    The old man took the letter and began to read it.

    His expressions changed a bit then he smiled before saying

    "Master Juda is a powerful warrior, and in this letter, he praised your hardworking ability. Indeed if this is true then you are worthy of joining the church¡¯s ranks. But before that, you will need to prove your worth. This is your first task. Deep within the wilderness that is positioned at the southern part of town, you will find an ancient tomb. It is filled with powerful creatures of the dead. Some of them are strong enough that they could topple kingdoms, but they are sealed within the perimeters of an ancient tomb. Your task is to reduce the numbers of the less powerful creatures so that when the army of God is established they could take on the dangers within the deste tomb!"

    ss quest!

    Defeat 25 skeleton soldiers.

    Quest difficulty A

    Dave was surprised to discover that the difficulty of his first ss quest is so high. Why would this be the case?

    "Looking at your current level, this ce is a bit too powerful for you. You should probably gain more strength and level up before you could start this task." Said the Bishop confirming Dave¡¯s worries.

    What dave didn¡¯t ount for was that his position as close to the southern kingdom, this kingdom had barred many of the powerful guilds from ever breaking. And it was to be understood. This ce is mainly a high-level area. While Dave is only Level 1.

    "I will do my best," said Dave then right before he could leave two guys suddenly entered the church.

    Once Dave turned around he noticed that they are yers.

    One had the name

    Bone breaker

    The other was named

    Stainless steel.

    This was the first time Dave met yers in this game. Mainly due to the town where he was ¡¯Moria¡¯ was an empty and vacant town. People rarely chose this ce as their spawning point. It is too far from any of the more popr cities and has low recourses, plus the monsters around it are too high leveled from new yers. High-level yers would pass by here from time to time to do some quests, and this was the same reason these guys were here.

    "Oh look!" said Bone Breaker. There is a yer here! Ah, look at his cloth! He must be a newbie.

    Said Bone breaker addressing his friend.

    "Hey bro," said the guy named Stainless steel. "Why did you start your character here? Don¡¯t you know it is too tough for you to even level up here? Any monster here will kill you a hundred time over before you could evennd a hit with that low level of yours and without any proper equipment." He said

    "Thank you for the advice, I just started the game and just randomly picked a spawning point." Said Dave in a manner fo factly.

    "Wait a moment here I need to submit a quest." Said Bone breaker as he spoke to the bishop.

    The conversation between NPC and the yers is muted for everyone else besides the concerned party. So Dave couldn¡¯t hear the conversation, but looking at a glowing light that shone from Bone breaker he understood that the man just leveled up and he must have finished a quest.

    "Alright, my quest is over." Hey dude" said one breaker addressing Dave"

    "Yes?" said Dave as he looked at the man.

    "You must have started your ss quest right? You want to be a pdin?" asked bone breaker.

    "Uh, yes" answered Dave

    "Alright, listen up, am going to do you a favor, I am currently doing a quest that is rted to killing the undead. You can apany us, join our party and we can help you with your quest, it¡¯s just killing some skeletons right?" said bone breaker.

    Stainless steel looked at his friend in a questioning look, but then he smirked and smiled. That smile was a bit sinister but Dave didn¡¯t manage to notice it.

    "Yes," said Dave

    "Then join our party. We can Power level you a bit" he said as he sent a party invitation.

    You have been invited to a party!

    ept

    Y/N?

    Dave then epted and was shocked to see the two guy¡¯s level.

    Stainless steel was level 322, while bone breaker was level 351!

    The interface would also show the party member¡¯s Hp and mana points which were stunning to look at from Dave¡¯s point of view.

    Stainless steel was a priest of sorts while his hp was about 225 000, his Mp was more than 400 000!

    While Bone breaker was a pdin who had more than 450 000 hp! That was a monstrous amount of Hp! But what about their defense Value? Dave couldn¡¯t fathom it!

    Dave couldn¡¯t understand why they would help him, but it didn¡¯t feel right. Something was amiss...

    "I think that I will just slow you down, guys. I should probably focus on my own thing here" said Dave

    "Ah, don¡¯t worry, we are all brothers here. Listen to up, we need at least three people to finish a quest, there is a secret quest that we have initiated and the door to that quest needs three people to operate. Here you can take these for yourself. You are about to be a Pdin you might use them." Said Bone breaker as he initiated an exchange.

    He ced some equipment there, a potion and a shield with a hammer. And gave them to Dave.

    Dave rarely believed in free things, though he gave some of his money and didn¡¯t wait for a return he didn¡¯t think that many people would do so without an objective. Especially these two guys, they could have picked anyone else, why Dave?

    What Dave didn¡¯t know that many people would instantly reject their offer once they know where they were heading.

    Death in this game is no simple. Once a person dies, they lose all their XP and will be reset to 0 XP o their level.

    If a person was level 100 for example and with 99% XP to level up if they die their XP meter will reset they will still be level 100 but they will have 0% XP

    However for Dave, he was just level 1 so even if he dies, he won¡¯t be losing anything.

    And for these two guys, it was much better than to hope for someone else to apany them. People would be worried about strangersing with them too unknown ces, but Dave thought that this was just a game, what is the worse that could happen?

 Chapter 6 Power leveled

    Chapter 6

    Once Dave received the equipment he noticed that most of them were too high for his current level!

    Category: Weapon

    Flesh cleaver

    A powerful jagged de, created for the sole purpose of cleaving flesh!

    Damage 200-300

    Requirements 200 Strength. 250 Agility 150 Intelligence

    Level 80

    Attributes 150 strength 100 Agility 50 intelligence

    200 vitality

    Scaling/ss A: Strength - B: Dexterity.

    ss. Rare Weapon

    Category: Shield

    Tortoise¡¯s scale

    A heavy shield with high defensive states

    Requirements 200 strength.

    Level 80

    Bonus stats 1000 vitality

    5% Immunity

    500 Damage Nullification

    500 Magic Absorbtion

    Scaling/ss ss. Rare Shield

    ssless

    Those items were of no use to Dave, they were too high level for him. But then he was given an iron armor set. Which was level 20 which he could use rather soon.

    Category: Armor

    Heavy iron armor

    A heavy armor that can reduce some damage but it is rather dull

    Requirements Level 20

    150 strength. 100 agility

    Bonus stats 50 vitality

    2% Immunity

    200 Damage Nullification

    50 Magic Absorption

    Scaling/ss ss. Common heavy Armor

    ssless

    Category: Greaves

    Heavy iron greaves

    A heavy Iron greaves that can reduce some damage but it is rather dull

    Requirements Level 20

    150 strength. 100 agility

    Bonus stats 25 vitality

    2% Immunity

    200 Damage Nullification

    50 Magic Absorption

    Scaling/ss ss. Common heavy Armor

    ssless

    Category: Gauntlets

    Heavy iron Gauntletts

    A heavy Iron Gauntlets that can reduce some damage but it is rather dull

    Requirements Level 20

    150 strength. 100 agility

    Bonus stats 20 vitality

    2% Immunity

    200 Damage Nullification

    50 Magic Absorption

    Scaling/ss ss. Common heavy Gauntlets

    ssless

    Category: Helmet

    Heavy iron helmet

    A heavy Iron Helmet that can reduce some damage but it is rather dull

    Requirements Level 20

    150 strength. 100 agility

    Bonus stats 25 vitality

    2% Immunity

    200 Damage Nullification

    50 Magic Absorption

    Scaling/ss ss. Common heavy Helmet

    ssless

    Thes pieces of equipment are rather good, at least he won¡¯t have to bother thinking about what he would be wearing once he is level 20. Everything is already up for him so Dave didn¡¯t think much of it and thanked them for their kind gesture.

    "Alright, I ept, where are we going then?" said Dave.

    "We will be heading to a tomb nearby. It has some high-level Undead, and we can both use them to level you up and to finish our quest. We need to get deeper into the Tomb once we are there we will be fighting a powerful boss. Yet we can¡¯t ess the boos. There is a pedestal that needs three people to open before the fight starts." Said Bone Breaker.

    "But I don¡¯t think I am strong enough to fight any bosses, especially bosses within this region, I know it¡¯s a high leveled area. Shouldn¡¯t you ask for someone else?" asked Dave trying to prove some information.

    "Alright, let¡¯s just be honest here," said Stainless steel who tried to intervene.

    "This is a secret quest that we initiated a long time ago we couldn¡¯t ask anyone else in fear that they might jeopardize our quest, you are low level and we only need you to stand on a small tform that is it, as for the boss we will take care of it ourselves". Said Stainless Steel

    Dave then understood that the reason for their actions was rather simple. The fewer people that know about the ce the better, and if that ce were to be a dungeon, they might be able to put it up for sale. They will be able to get some money out of it.

    Dave wasn¡¯t an idiot, though they hid many things from him he still understood the reason why hey chose him, even if there were to do something funny they can easily kill him. Right after they open the boss¡¯s area, they can simply take him out and they could finish off the boss without him bothering them.

    However, he also understood that those guys were idiots!

    Why didn¡¯t they think that he could just tell his friends and they woulde here rushing for the boss?

    They must have thought that Dave would be too greedy, having received these requirements he will just act as a docile ve and follow their every order.

    Dave actually didn¡¯t have any friends for the moment in the game. So he didn¡¯t think much of exposing their little secret, but still, he didn¡¯t appreciate the idea of being used, even if he was givenpensation for it. this was the same thing that happened when he was hospitalized, he was sent to the hospital with injuries that would ruin anyone¡¯s future without hope of recovery.

    Still, Dave didn¡¯t have a choice, he was given free equipment, so he has to do his end of the bargain.

    "When will we depart?" Asked Dave.

    "The road will be a bit longer if you have something to do you should go ahead and do it now. You might need to eat something, once we start we won¡¯t stop until we defeat the final boss of the deste tomb."

    So it is the same tomb that the Bishop spoke about. They wanted to kill thest boss of that dungeon.

    "Alright, I will have to log out for a couple of minutes I will need to eat something first." Said, Dave, as he logged out.

    The first thing that dave did was to ess the inte and see the deste tomb. He needed to do his research first.

    Then he was surprised to find out that the deste tomb was an already cleared dungeon!

    What was the reason for them asking him to join him?

    Indeed it had many and several high-level mobs, but it was not that bothersome for them to y.

    This dungeon was a "Dead dungeon" Dead dungeons, are dungeons who¡¯s boss once defeated will never respawn. Therefore not many guilds want to have these ces, once the boss is defeated the value of a dungeon drops heavily. The boss will never spawn and is a one time kill. It was kind of useless to grind there for high-level yers.

    Still, why did they speak about a boss being there? It all felt weird to Dave but he still had to go with them.

    Dave ate a plentiful meal and took a shower. Once he was refreshed he logged back in the game to find the two guys logged out. He already added them to his friend list so he didn¡¯t have anything to do but to wander around.

    Once he wandered a bit he found himself near an alchemist shop.

    He entered and spoke to the alchemist asking to see his wears. Within them, he found something he was looking for. Something that might be helpful to him if he were to find himself in trouble.

    However, he didn¡¯t have enough money to buy the item. So he had to make a sacrifice.

    He went to the auction house and made a sale. He ced the tortoise shield up for sale, he wasn¡¯t going to use it anyway.

    Those guys were too trustful of Dave. Not only had they given him items they didn¡¯t think he would just put them on the ignore list and leave.

    Dave could only sigh at how trustful they were, but on the other hand, he too was the same case. He was trusting them by going with them so it was all the same.

    The sale was almost instant as dave made the price to be lower than the least expensive shield on the market of the same category.

    Dave received 300 gold, which was equivalent to 300$, that was the value of the shield. If he took into consideration the total amount of the items he received it almost amounts to 900$, that was not something anyone would be willing to give for nothing.

    Dave came back to the alchemist shop and got what he needed out of him.

    Better be safe than sorry, said Dave to himself.

    "Ah, brother Death stroke!" said Bone breaker as he was the first to log back in "Are you ready?"

    The private message system was simple to use so Dave sent a voice message saying.

    "Yes, I just got something and now I am ready, let¡¯s go"

    "Alright, Stainless steel will log in soon, lets head first." Said Bone breaker as he marked his position on dave¡¯s map"

    The moment Dave reached the southern gate of the town, two people were already there. Namely, Bone Breaker and Stainless Steel who just logged in.

    They then added Dave back to the party and ran forward.

    They met with several low-level mobs, but they didn¡¯t bother to stop. All they did wasunch a spell on them and they would die. Dave would then gain a small amount of experience.

    Ding!

    Level up!

    Dave began to receive notifications telling him that he was leveling up like crazy!

    Those monsters were hard for Dave to fight alone. Especially if they went deeper into the wilderness stronger monsters will present themselves. Dave was in euphoria thanks to the free EXP.

    "Aren¡¯t you guys going to take the loots?" Asked Dave.

    "No, those are low-level monsters, their loots are nothing to us. You should see some high-level mobs, a single fang of a mythical tiered beast would be worth ten times the value of the armors we gave you. these drops are shit," said Bone breaker as heughed.

    "What are the tiers of beasts and monsters in this game? I never checked."

    "Oh, but if I remember. It starts with normal, then savage, fierce, Deste. Epic, Mythic. Etheral, holy or unholy, Demonic or angelic, Divine or Devilish, then Godlike.

    "Why the split there?" asked Dave.

    "There are some demonic tiered beasts that can¡¯t fall under the category of Holy, so that is why. And the rest is simple. As for godlike, demonic or divine, they are still considered a god. Its just names, but the equipment drop from unholy beasts, for example, can¡¯t benefit priest sses, but are powerful for warlocks."

    Dave then understood the reason, so that sses wouldn¡¯t bother fighting monsters that are ipatible with them.

    And so they delved deeper into the wilderness. Defeating monsters below level 20 were nothing more than a simple auto attack from either the pdin or the priest¡¯s [Punishment ray] which was the lowest costing spell of a priest.

    Soon afterward they reached a dark forest. Normally they would have reached there faster, but due to Dave¡¯s level being low and hisck of Stamina, they had to take some small breaks for him to gain his stamina back up.

    "Now things are about to get interesting. Said Bone breaker as a small party of skeletons reached forward.

    They all had a small red skull over their heads. This means that they are at least 20 levels above Dave¡¯s character level. And once monsters have a 20 level difference between the character and themselves. Then a penalty urs. The damage that the lower level one of the two deals is reduced by a percentage of levels.

    If a target is 30 levels higher than a character then the character deals 10% reduced damage to the enemy and receives 10% additional damage. This is so that people won¡¯t blindly try to fight against high tier monsters. This way the game won¡¯t be broken.

    If an army of yers attacks a boss they would normally defeat it with sheer numbers. Now that this penalty isid down, they won¡¯t madly try to fight bosses with higher levels.

    This will also prolong the game¡¯s life expectancy. And would make the game more interesting, forcing yers to slowly grind their levels up.

    "let¡¯s start!" said Bone breaker as he struck first with his heavy sword. Crushing the skull of the first skeleton.

    ss quest updated

    Defeat 25 skeleton soldiers.

    1/25

    Quest difficulty A

    The ss quest began updating every time the skeletons were defeated.

    This was a rather simple and easy way for yers to level up.

    "Being power leveled sure is amazing," thought, Dave.

    The two mass murderers began ughtering skeletons left and right, while Dave was leveling up and having his ss quest achieved by someone else.

 Chapter 7 Mini-Boss

    Once the wave of skeletons was defeated, another wave appeared afterward.

    If the first ones had a small red skull on them, this one had two red skulls. This means that they were at least 40 levels higher than Dave¡¯s Level.

    Elite Skeleton.

    Level ??

    ??

    This was beyond what Dave could handle, these skeletons were vastly different from the others. They had some ruined armors on them, destroyed mostly but still, they wielded equipment. so they should them deal more damage and receive less.

    Some Elite Skeletons had shields and some even had bows. However, with the help of Bone Breaker and Stainless Steel, they were wiped out without a problem.

    The difference between a yer and a monster was calcted either way. The penalty that a monster will suffer if a yer is higher level than they are will be the same. Meaning that Bone Breaker and Stainless Steel could deal double damage to the monsters, increasing their clearing speed.

    Momentster, the toon of monsters was wiped out.

    Dave¡¯s level reached Level 20!

    Right now, even if he was not dealing damage, he was still receiving part XP thanks to the Supporter¡¯s EXP system.

    Bone Breaker and Stainless Steel didn¡¯t get any XP due to their High level on the other hand so All the remaining XP was transferred to Dave.

    Still, the system was not that benevolent. A yer can only be power leveled to level 99. Any more and they would have to rely on themselves. Otherwise, a group of high leveled warriors can easily help other reach staggering levels by power leveling them in high leveled areas.

    The XP penalty bes staggering once one reaches 99. Then, if the yer didn¡¯t deal enough damage or participate in healing or supporting party members they won¡¯t receive any XP even if they were in a party.

    Dave then puts on the Iron armor that was given to him by the two. And his current stats were as follow.

    Level 20

    Name Death Stroke

    Race Human

    Health 3500+(175)

    Mana 1100 +(55)

    Stamina 2100 (105)

    Rage/Focus 100

    Intelligence 110 +(5.5)

    Wisdom 110 +(5.5)

    Dexterity 110 +(5.5)

    Agility 110 +(15)

    Vitality 1 +(0.05)

    Strength 150 +(5.5)

    Magic Absorbtion 500

    Damage Nullification 1000

    Immunity 10% +(0.05)%

    HP Regen 0.1/sec +(0)

    Mana Regen 1.1/sec +(0)

    Stamina Regen 20/sec +(0.5)

    Rage/Focus ----

    Regen 1/sec

    Title I know it all!

    Dave wouldn¡¯t have been able to wear the equipment. Because he didn¡¯t have the required strength for it. however, because he saved up on his attribute points he umted enough to raise his strength by 40.

    Every 5 levels a yer would gain 10 attribute points. Normally it wouldn¡¯t be enough for a yer in the long term. Even a yer with Level 1000 would only have a total amount of 2000 attribute points. That is how hard it is to have attribute points.

    Normally yers would use weapons or equipment with high stats to bnce out the difference in theck of attribute points. Moreover, this was why the early bonuses that Dave had obtained were significant.

    A yer would need to wield a powerful weapon with high stats to be able to wear these armors, or they would need to level up to level 30 just to be able to wear these weapons.

    There are still some slots left for Dave to wear other equipment.

    A set would have set bonuses. For the heavy iron set, it was as follow.

    1200 Hp in total+ 8% immunity +800 Damage absorption + 400 magic resist.

    However, once the bonus set equipment is in y the stats be like this.

    1500 HP in total +10% immunity + 1000 Damage absorption +500 Magic resist.

    With the bonus stats from his title. He received bonus stats. However, just to stats and not to magic resistances or defense values.

    On the other hand. Dave had a total of 3500 HP. This was due to the bonus hp gained per level. Each level would give its owner 100Hp.

    Now Dave had a good armor for his level, though he had used his 40 attribute points. He no longer had any more to use on other stats. Dave wanted to raise his vitality but still. The Hp increase of these armors was much better than if he were to raise his vitality.

    Now that he had 1000 damage absorption. If someone were to deal less than 1000 physical damage, Dave would receive 0 damage. That is of course after it goes through the 10% damage immunity.

    It was not bad for a low-level yer. In fact, it was rather amazing. But this was only due to his perseverance in gaining the bonus stats.

    Stamina had also the same effect. It would increase by 100 for every level up.

    So far Dave had only his basic weapon, though his defensive values had increased, his damage output was still mediocre. But that was not going tost for long. Dave had the intention of selling the flesh cleaver he received from Bone crusher to get a proper weapon suiting his current level.

    "Oh, your stats have increased! You already had enough stats to wear that armor at level 20. Very good, you have good foundations." Said Bone crusher, however, a glint of envy was stered on his face... why would he be envious of Dave?

    "Its all thanks to you, I hope to be of use now." Said, Dave,

    The two of themughed

    "You don¡¯t really need to do anything really, we only need a third yer to activate a small contraption. We didn¡¯t want to invite other yers because they might get greedy and fight us over the boss. Or they might call their guild members to ruin our quest," said Bone crusher being truthful for once.

    "Oh, what is your quest?" asked Dave

    "Let¡¯s stop loitering here, we are wasting time," urged Stainless steel trying to change the subject. It seems that they didn¡¯t want to speak about the quest. But Dave didn¡¯t care, he already had more than enough equipment and had a good and stable start, so he didn¡¯t pursue the matter.

    Once they had cleared more monsters, Dave¡¯s level increased more. And his quest had already beenpleted. He was tempted to go back to the church and finish his quest, but he had to do as he promised and help them with their dungeon.

    Once before an old tomb, the two of them began drinking some potions.

    Power potion?

    It raises their damage output to make clearing the dungeon faster.

    The two of them entered the tomb and Dave followed.

    Ding!

    {You have entered the deste tomb of the exiled knight.

    The boss in this dungeon has already been defeated. No bonus XP or rewards shall be given once the dungeon is cleared...}

    This was the first time Dave entered a dungeon, and he received a notification telling him about it.

    "Alright, let¡¯s pick up the pace." Said Bone crushed as his shining shield shimmered with a bright light and his sword was buffed by the priest

    "Holy radiance!"

    Two skeletons of a higher tier than the monsters outside attacked them. But they were terminated without a problem.

    These monsters had a higher level and probably higher Hp, the damage value that Bone crusher was dealing exceeded the Hp of the monsters. Every hit was a kill.

    It was like the two of them were bullying the weak monsters.

    The tomb was a long corridor that was littered with coffins on the walls. Skeletons and undead would charge out of them the moment the party reached their aggro zone.

    However, none of the monsters would even bother attacking Dave, they were all attacking Bone Crusher.

    "You can try your luck attacking these small fries. They won¡¯t OT"[1] Said Bone Crusher.

    However, to Dave¡¯s dismay.

    "-0hp"

    Sigh... without needing to look at the damage log, Dave understood that the Defense value of the monsters and the level gap suppression penalty had made him deal almost no damage to them. This was frustrating, Dave felt useless there but it didn¡¯t discourage him. He then used Destructive smash on the skeleton. It got stunned,! But the damage value was still 0.

    However, this meant that he could still stun monsters even if their Defense was much higher than his damage.

    Dave then retreated back; there was no reason for him to do anything. These two would instantly destroy these small fries so it was nothing.

    Dave also understood why it would be hard for yers to Level up after level 99. Monsters would have ridiculous amounts of defense. And if they didn¡¯t deal enough damage to the monsters, they won¡¯t gain any XP. So it was better for yers to rely on themselves, and fight monsters with an equivalent to their levels.

    Going to a level 400 area while a yer is level 100 would be idiotic, they would deal no damage to the monsters and won¡¯t get any XP even if the monster was killed by their Party members.

    Once at the end of the dungeon, there was a single skeleton that stood silent and imposing.

    "It¡¯s a miniboss. The dungeon¡¯s boss has been eliminated but a miniboss will always remain here. This is a Death Knight!"

    Indeed, it was worthy of the name. the skeleton was wearing armor that was in a much better shape than the Elite skeletons that Dave had fought before. the Death Knight was imposing and had a green shaded set of armors while its eyes shone in an eerie red light. It wielded a devilish looking ck sword on his right and a dark kite shield on his left.

    Lesser Death Knight.

    Level ???

    Hp???

    Defense???

    ? ? ?

    Looking at the difference between Dave and the monster he was shocked. Three skulls?!

    This means that it is at least 100 level higher than Dave¡¯s level!

    "Alright, after we kill this guy we can finish our quest!" said Bone crusher as he charged forward.

    Dave had to only stay on the sidelines and wait for Experience.

    If a mini-boss was 100 level higher than Dave, the boss that was defeated? What level would he be? And this was but a lesser Death knight...

    ¡¯Sigh, this Game sure is grand¡¯

    If Dave didn¡¯t meet these people, How long would it have taken him to fight monsters of the level? Solo XP is really hard. But many made great discoveries even if they were alone, and having no one else to share with. No guild to tax them of their earning, they would benefit the most of their findings.

    And so Dave watched the battle between the lone Death Knight and the two bullies.

    .

    .

    .

    [1]

    OT or Over Threat in games means that the Threat Value of the attacker exceeded the main Tank/highest Threat in a party.

    For example, in games, tanks have high Threat values, followed by priests and healers. Due to this, the monsters would always attack yers with high threat. If a yer OT it means that they had dealt more damage to the monster that it exceeded the threat value of the tanker. This can also happen if a healer heals a huge amount of hp making his threat level increase. In games, yers need to keep a tab on their Threat level so that the tank would keep the monsters upied and the rest can DPS.

 Chapter 8 My precious!

    It was actually an anti-climatic fight, really. The damage that the Death Knight would deal with the two didn¡¯t amount to a single digit value. He was being yed with. One would actually feel pity for the poor Death Knight.

    However, this is the game. These skeletons might prove challenging to yers with simr Levels, but to these guys, this miniboss was nothing but a pushover.

    this was a savage Tiered Beast. Dave then brought forward his Bestiary to see the tiers of the monsters, he was told by the two dudes that there were several but now that he has a bestiary he could check it out himself.

    Tier Monsters/Level

    Normal 1-100 :Skeletons-Skeleton Elites-Skeleton captain.

    Savage 100-200: Lesser Death Knight.

    Fierce 200-300: No entry.

    Deste 300-400: No entry.

    Epic 400-500: No entry.

    Mythic 500-600: No entry.

    Ethereal 600-700: No entry.

    Holy/Unholy 700-800: No entry.

    Demonic/angelic 800-900: No entry.

    Divine/Devilish 900-999: No entry.

    God 1000: Endgame boss.

    It seemed to dave that every time he sees a new creature they will be added to his bestiary. Information regarding these creatures would pop out. Showing their strength and weaknesses, and even ways to deal with.

    The skeletons were rather easy to defeat, they had low Defense values and had a weakness towards magic attacks, especially attacks with holy attributes. Even healing could deal devastating damage to these weak skeletons.

    The Death Knight entry, however, was different, although still weak towards the holy element he had much more Hp and had a strong attacking power. Though he was lower leveled than the two "Bullies" he could still easily chop Dave¡¯s head off.

    Dave knew this was a fight he couldn¡¯ win if he were to ever face against this knight at his current level.

    He was but level 25. And the Lesser Death Knight was a three skulled Monster. And is already ssed as a Savage tier monster. Which is too much for the current Dave. However, that didn¡¯t stop him from assisting the two bullies.

    Mainly because he wanted to level up his Destructive smash skill.

    So he went behind the Death Knight and struck down with his skill every time it was off cooldown.

    "Oy, This guy has an AOE attack that might kill you. Don¡¯t get yourself killed yet, we still need you if you die you will respawn outside this dungeon and will have to get all the way back here..."

    This statement took Dave by surprise, "Don¡¯t get yourself killed Yet" they said. This would imply that once they have no usage for him... Dave might get killed. It was not a problem for Dave, he already obtained many things from them but still, Dave felt a bit stifled at being used. He was trying to convince himself that it was alright, but still, he couldn¡¯t bear with it.

    Then Dave told himself, that if they were to truly go on and attempt to kill him, he will use the item he bought from the alchemist shop and escape. But if they were to ask him to leave quietly and without making problems he will agree. He already got more than his worth. Dave knew this.

    Back at the fight...

    Normally the two guys could take care of a lesser Death knight in less than a minute.

    However, Boss ss monsters in dungeons are given a huge advantage, mainly a high Hp bar.

    So it took two minutes for the two of them to take it down. It was probably a level 180-190 so it must have had a lot of hp. But Dave couldn¡¯t see it, due to the difference in Level. However, he could still see the damage dealt by his party members.

    [-66 887!]

    This was the damage dealt by the sword of Bone Breaker. It was enormous, to say the least!

    However, that would only shave off about 10% of the Death Knight¡¯s Hp, and it was probably a damage dealt by a skill. Normal attacks dealt less damage, but that was normal because they were unrestrained, unlike skills. A yer can use Normal Attacks as much as they want if their Stamina allows them to.

    Some weapons consume huge amounts of stamina per strike. Dave¡¯s weapon was a low leveled one, and would only consume about 20 stamina/Hit.

    This was, of course, enough for Dave tond about 120 consecutive attacks! However, they will only deal 0 damage so it was useless. His skill {Destructive Smash} on the other hand, can stun the target, which was appreciated in a fight.

    Congrattions!

    Destructive Smash reached level

    Amature 3

    That was a surprising notification. Once again the skill leveled up and Dave gained another 5% increased damage. And 5 second reduced cooldown time.

    The moment thest hit struck the monster died and it dropped an item.

    The two guys looked at each other. They felt a bit of guilt, so Bone Breaker said something.

    "Oh, this is rather useless... hey, Death Stroke, you want this?" asked Bone Breaker.

    He handed over a broken looking shield, which the lesser death knight used to wield.

    Broken ancient shield.

    Durability

    0/800

    Requirement: Level 80

    + 2000 Hp

    +1000 Damage nullification

    +200 magic absorption

    +200 strength

    That was a rather good shield, thought Dave, but he still didn¡¯t have the required level to wield it.

    "Too bad, the lesser Death knights don¡¯t drop their original equipment. A true death knight has an amazing looking gear, but no one had ever managed to get them. They seem impossible to drop. Sigh," sighed Bone Breaker.

    Dave epted the shield without question and ced it in his inventory. Free things should not be declined.

    "Alright, thank you for your kindness," said Dave, sounding like a true noob.

    Dave yed a lot of games before this. He didn¡¯t have much to do to pass the time. Dave¡¯s schooling ended once he finished Highschool. He was left with a lot of time. Most of the day he would go to work, and at night he would spend it ying games. So he had a good understanding of many game mechanics. And due to his childhood. Dave got scammed a lot, and with the previous "experience" scamming Dave would be an impossibility.

    Dave¡¯s mentality was vastly different from kids his age. He was like an adult in a youngster¡¯s body. He knew his responsibilities and knew his limits. Many youths his age would chase skirts, but he would remain true to his nature, he would try his best to secure his future, otherwise, his days would look grim.

    So Dave followed the two without asking questions.

    Another long corridor filled with skeletons and skeleton Elites appeared before them, but that was nothing to the two. They defeated every one of them and reached the end of the "Tombe" in less than an hour.

    Before the three was a huge skeleton. It was not a boss, but the remains of something ancient that died a long time ago.

    "The boss of this dungeon was a powerful Death Knight. Unlike that trash we saw before, the boss of this ce was a Fierce tiered monster. It was level 300. It would have been quite the challenge to fight with the two... three of us, but it is long since dead." Said Bone Breaker

    Dave remembered that Fierce monsters can reach from Level 200 to 300 while Deste Monsters would go from 300 to 400. The two shared the level 300. But Dave knew that even if a Fierce monster was level 300 against a level 300 Deste monster it would be powerless. The difference in tier means not only the difference in level. It also means the difference in the power of a monster.

    The two of them moved closer to a simple looking coffin. It was one of many, and people would usually ignore them, they couldn¡¯t be opened or destroyed, so no one bothered.

    However, this coffin was different. It seems that one would need to have a certain quest to be able to move the coffin.

    The coffin¡¯s cover was then pushed to the side. And Bone Breaker picked up a glowing ring from within it.

    "You or me?" asked Bone Breaker addressing Stainless steel.

    "You should do it," said Stainless steel

    "Many thanks." Said Bone breaker as he looked giddy.

    The ring was ominous, it had a golden luster to it, while a skull was printed on it. it was a bit too big too wide for a ring. If one were to wear it, it would cover a big portion of their finger but leaving them the ability to move their fingers normally. It would look rather cool.

    However, Bone Breaker didn¡¯t wear it. he just kept it on his hand.

    "Let¡¯s go," said Bone Breaker as he approached the huge skeleton.

 Chapter 9 A king and a Servant!

    Once they got closer to the decrypted giant skeleton on the back of the hall, Bone Breaker held his huge sword and struck down. Destroying the old remains.

    This was of course after a cutscene that Dave saw. It seems that this skeleton could not be destroyed normally one has to have the required Quest.

    Once the skeleton was destroyed, a small gate behind it was revealed. This gate had three small openings.

    "ce your hand in any of the holes," said Bone Breaker.

    As he ced his hand on the central opening.

    Stainless steel did the same. And the leftmost hole was for Dave.

    Dave didn¡¯t argue, he had a fear that his hand might get chopped off, but this was just a game.

    Once Dave ced his hand he waited for a moment.

    A minute... two... nothing happened.

    "What is wrong?" asked Stainless steel.

    "I don¡¯t know, did we do something wrong? This was all in the Quest. It clearly stated that three people were to ce their hands here the hidden part of the dungeon would be unlocked..." said Bone Breaker.

    "Is it because he is low leveled?" asked Stainless steel as he looked a bit disgusted. They waisted a lot of time on this stupid quest for them to be stuck at thest stage.

    "No, I don¡¯t think so. It said, three people, it didn¡¯t mention their level..."

    Dave then interjected

    "I guess I know why," he said

    The two of them looked at him a bit disdainfully. How would a nooby even know how this quest, that took them, god, knows how much time to initiate and fulfill the requirement they needed for thest part. How would he know that? He probably just started ying a few days ago, the two of them had spent almost two years in the game!

    Bone Breaker made a strange look towards Stainless Steel but they didn¡¯t say anything. They probably sent private messages to each other so that Dave wouldn¡¯t know their thoughts.

    "Well, I think it is because I didn¡¯t receive the quest... is it possible to share the quest?" Asked Dave.

    The two of them had an even uglier look on their faces once Dave asked about sharing the quest. This would limit their gains... but they had no choice in the matter.

    At least for them, Dave was low level and if he were to try to get some of the loots of the possible hidden boss they could just kill him before the fight even starts, then they would deal with the boss alone and everything will be theirs.

    If they were to hire a higher level character they might get greedy, if they didn¡¯t share with them, they would probably ruin their chance of fighting the potential hidden boss here.

    Also, there is a risk that the other party might ask their guild to join in on this discovery and might attempt the dungeon, barring the two that discovered the ce from gaining anything.

    They could do nothing. Sharing with the lowbie was the only choice they had.

    "Here," said Bone Breaker.

    Ding!

    You have epted a Shared Quest!

    Though you didn¡¯t start the quest you will receive the same benefits of questpletion.

    Discover the whereabouts of the Exiled Knight!

    This is a continuous Main Quest.

    Finishing it will grant yo luxurious rewards.

    Quest difficulty

    S

    "Wow! A main questline" Said Dave "And an S ss quest at that too... this must have taken you a lot of effort to manage..." but before he would finish his words he was interrupted by Bone Breaker

    "Hurry up and ce your hands there, we don¡¯t have time to spare."

    Dave kept quiet and submissively ced his hands in the hole.

    Almost instantly the whole door shuddered and it spun with the three of them still cing their hands on the holes to the other side.

    It seems Dave¡¯s deduction was right.

    Once they were on the other side of the now-closed Pathway a circr hall greeted them. It had a dozen glowingmps, of an eerie blue color to them.

    And in the center of the circr space was a kneeling body of a terrifying looking creature.

    It was an undead. A skeleton wearing glorious and ceremonial armor. It was pitch ck, with a horned helmet. A round shield tattered with scares of old battles. With a ginormous sword on the other hand. the sword would easily have the width of a man¡¯s waist. While the round shield was ridiculously thick.

    He had a pitch ck armor with ck dragons sculpted on it. He had a left shoulder guard that protruded too high and almost covered half of his helmet. If the skeleton was to raise the shield on his left, he would be fully covered from that side.

    His sword was a silver color and looked sinister. It was jagged, almost brittle looking, but still, it had an ominous aura surrounding it. that de must have taken thousands of lives.

    However, this monster was unidentifiable. He was kneeling towards a statue of a king of sorts... the king had only a crown of bones on his head, while he sat on a throne made of stone and skulls.

    This sight was too eerie, too terrifying... however, the two "bullies" looked enthralled. They were happy! This was the boss they needed to defeat to continue on with their quest.

    "Alright, final step. You do it Bone breaker" said Stainless Steel as he moved back and began drinking all sort of potions.

    Those were expensive looking potions, mana regeneration potions, Power Augmentation potions and a magic increasing potions.

    These guys looked to be prepared

    Bone Breaker did the same and then looked at Dave with a sinister look.

    Dave unconsciously was on guard and was ready to use the item he bought from the alchemist shop at any moment.

    "Hey, Death stroke. Thank you for your help, now let¡¯s not make it hard. You should leave this ce, you are of no use to us now." Said Bone Breaker

    Well, at least they asked Him to leave, so Dave wasn¡¯t that bothered. He really wanted to know how the quest would end, but it seems that these guys didn¡¯t want to share the awards.

    "But the door is closed. I can¡¯t leave." Said Dave.

    "Ah, you are right here," said Bone crusher as he gave Dave a scroll.

    He then held his sword above his shoulder in a threatening manner.

    "Be a goodd and use that to leave this ce." Said bone crusher in a dismissive manner.

    "Ah... alright, no need to be difficult I guess, thank you for the free XP" said Dave and took the scroll.

    However, the moment he tore it

    You are unable to teleport outside this dungeon!

    It seems that dave was unable to teleport outside...

    The moment the two of them saw that Dave was still here even after he tore the scroll they understood, due to their experience in the game, that this ce was a teleport forbidden zone.

    Ding!

    You have been kicked out of the party!

    The moment Dave saw that he instantly reacted by jumping backward and drinking a potion. Due to him turning and facing away, the two of them didn¡¯t see Dave drinking a potion.

    Dave then disappeared!

    "What the hell?" said Bone Breaker.

    "Where did he go?" asked Stainless Steel.

    "He must have logged out. That bastard knew that we were going to kill him the moment we reached the boss... did you add him to your friend list? See if he is still logged in!" said Stainless steel.

    "He disabled friend request, we can¡¯t find out, but I guess he must have logged out. There is no way to exin his disappearance, he didn¡¯t enterbat and he could log out whenever he is out ofbat. Sigh" Said Bone Breaker.

    "Well, he is just a level 25, he can¡¯t do anything to us, but I fear that he might get some guilds toe here and annoy us in fighting this boss." Said Stainless steel.

    "Nah, they need to have the quest enabled, and it only epts three people, as long as the two of us don¡¯t open the door for them, they won¡¯t be able to get in. however, there is a problem, if we die here, we will need to look for that cunt to open up the gate again... shit." Said Bone Crusher.

    "Nah, I don¡¯t think we will lose, although this guy looks strong," said Stainless steel looking at the kneeling Skeleton

    "This is a level 100-200 dungeon. It shouldn¡¯t be problematic for us. At most we will fight a hidden boss of level 300, the two of us can handle it." said Stainless Steel

    Alright, let¡¯s start the fight. Said Bone Breaker.

    On the side of the room under one of the lights was a hidden body of a person.

    That was Dave, he never left the room, he never logged out. He drank a potion. An invisibility potion that can make people temporarily invisible. It costs 100Gold coin, but for the moment it was more than worth it for Dave.

    It wouldst for 10 minutes and can be dissolved once Dave entersbat. This was a potion that enables people to be invisible, and it was really costly. However, it pales inparison to a thief¡¯s Invisibility. Because a thief can have 100% increased movement speed while being invisible, while Dave could only maintain his normal speed.

    A thief can have a bonus damage once he leaves stealth, but not someone that drank this potion. Furthermore. This potion had a terrible drawback.

    Once in the aggro range of a monster that his higher level than the user. The invisibility will disappear.

    This potion was given to the public to evade problematic people. Girls especially used this to evade stalkers. And Dave was doing this to survive...

    And so, Dave remained put. Watching Bone Breaker approaching the kneeling Undead.

 Chapter 10 THE EXILED KNIGHT!

    Chapter 10

    The kneeling skeleton had his right hand held forward. As in praying motion towards the king like figure seated on the huge stone throne

    That was a statue of someone of an important ¡¯statue¡¯. It seems that this knight was serving that person. Ar at least that is what Dave thought it was.

    "Hurry up." Saide Stainless steel as he finished drinking more potions.

    "Alright, alright" Saide Bone Breaker as he moved forward. He picked up the ancient looking ring and gently ced it on the Knight¡¯s hand.

    Boen crusher backed away standing near Stainless Steel.

    Momentster. A dark aura exuded from the pores and openings of the dark knight¡¯s figure. It was powerful and shuddering, it made people¡¯s scalp tingle. The game mimicked reality, by controlling a person¡¯s brainwaves. It could easily instill fear in a yer.

    The AI was not ruthless to make people lose their minds or make them suffer traumas. So whenever the level of danger or mental strain became too high a notification would pop up in front of the yer, asking them if they needed to reduce the effects or even cancel them. It was designed to make people feel ¡¯reality¡¯ without harming them.

    The game had an agreement that the yer needed to sign before they would start ying. And any traumas inflicted due to their own stubbornness would be their responsibility to handle if they were to ignore the warnings.

    Dave had such a notification, though he was not inbat, he still ignored it. Dave truly wanted to feel the rush and thrill of this game. These types of psychic attacks were useless against him.

    The two guys didn¡¯t do anything yet, they waited for the cutscene to end as the dark knight stood in the middle of the closed room.

    Dave paid attention to everything around him and made sure that he was at least 30 meters away from the Boss. Once inside that range, Dave would automatically enterbat stat and his appearance would be revealed.

    That was called the aggro range. Dave made sure that he was at least 20 meters away from the max range of the aggro range. Due to this, he was 50 meters away. This was due to a simple reason. If the fight starts, the tank might start kiting the boss. Fighting a stranger boss head-on is deadly.

    Especially if one doesn¡¯t know the attack patterns or the enemy. They will start by slowly kiting the boss, and moving around gauging the attacks of the enemy. If they have AOE skills or even some summoning skills. Two yers would naturally find it hard to fight such a boss without first testing the waters.

    Once the monster stood. It was possible to identify it.

    The moment Dave inspected the monster. His face instantly paled

    Exiled Abyssal Knight Deadra!

    Tier (Etheral)

    Level ???

    Hp???

    Defense???

    ? ? ? ? ?

    Don¡¯t even think about fighting this!

    "Holy mother of god!" Said Bone Breaker.

    Indeed, this was not something any of them could fight! This was too overpowered! Too much and too impossible!

    Not even the best-equipped yers could even manage to make a dent in an Etheral tiered boss! This boss is ridiculously overpowered!

    An etheral tiered boss is at least level 600! And that was the bare minimum! For the two of them who were level 351, and 322. This was not something they could fight!

    The boss looked around and stared at the two before him.

    He brought his shield up to his shoulder, and his sword smacked on the shield making a deafening sound.

    He did that three times, increasing the pressure felt by the two guys immensely.

    "You have awoken me from a long slumber! Ready yourselves Mortals!" said the Abyssal knight.

    "Shit!" cried out Bone Breaker.

    "Fucking hell! This game is fucked up why put something this powerful in this quest!" said Stainless steel dejectedly.

    Dave, on the other hand, was stunned. This was something beyond anything anyone in this game had ever managed to even see, not mention fight!

    Indeed, this was rather absurd, the game shouldn¡¯t put something like this at this stage of the game. At least, two yearster when people are able to fight against etheral tiered bosses, could they face such a monster. Why would the game make it this hard?

    "Let¡¯s just try. If we die it is alright, we should fight it and think of a way to get back here when we are strong enough... we will have to catch that bastard Death Stroke too. Crap... without him, we can¡¯t do this quest. And at the same time without us, he can¡¯t finish it either... shit we will have to bribe him to aid us in the quest..." said Stainless Steel.

    "It doesn¡¯t matter. Once we are high leveled enough we can force tracking bounties on him until he agrees to help us open the gate. If I knew this would happen I wouldn¡¯t have shared the quest with him. Crap." Said Bone Breaker.

    The Abyssal knight didn¡¯t move. He waited until the two of them moved first.

    "Alright, let¡¯s just test the waters." Said Bone Breaker.

    Yet the moment he stepped into the aggro range of the boss. Another cutscene appeared. And the two of them were halted in their steps.

    The statue behind the two trembled lightly. Then a deathly aura encroached on it. if the abyssal knight¡¯s aura¡¯s pressure was like a ferocious monster. The aura from the statue was like a giant tidal wave crashing on the three of them. The fear level increased significantly. It was as if everyone was facing an ancient demon!

    The statue¡¯s eyes shone bright and it even moved its head.

    "Deadera!" spoke an ancient! Unholy, deep and savage voice! It was devoided of emotions! Yet still, it spoke with cruelty beyond humanprehension! It was but a word that made everyone shudder.

    The AI sure was powerful to induce such fear levels in a hum¨´an¡¯s mind!

    The moment the word was said, the knight dropped down, his knees crushing the floor.

    "KING!" cried out the Abyssal Knight! His voice was filled with unwillingness and hatred. Hatred against the statue. Or whatever was speaking from within it.

    "You have no right to walk thends! You have betrayed me! Die once more!" said the king and a small skull appeared on top of the undead knight.

    {-100 000hp!}

    {-100 000hp!}

    {-100 000hp!}

    {-100 000hp!}

    {-100 000hp!}

    {-100 000hp!}

    ...

    The boss began losing Hp like a ruptured dam!

    However, even with the enormous amounts of Hp being drained at every second, his Hp bar was barely being emptied!

    Dave inspected the Abyssal knight once more and was surprised to see a debuff appearing on his status screen!

    Exiled Abyssal Knight Deadra!

    Tier (Etheral)

    Level ???

    Hp???

    Defense???

    ? ? ? ? ?

    Don¡¯t even think about fighting this!

    (Cursed!)

    Dave then inspected the debuff.

    Curse of the Death king!

    For every second lose 0.5% of the target max Hp until they die!

    What a powerful curse!

    "Oh, thank god! We have a chance now!" said Bone Breaker with glee.

    The statue¡¯s aura disappeared and the cutscene was over.

    "Damn it!" roared The Abyssal Knight as he stared at the two before him

    "It was because of you!" cried out the Monster.

    He really did have ¡¯emotions¡¯ Dave could only praise the game¡¯s AI for making this so realistic.

    "I shall not die alone! At least I will bring you all with me!" he said as he charged forward. His aim was the priest. Probably due to his ¡¯holy aura¡¯ that was irritating him.

    "Oi! Bone Breaker! Pull him away! Pull him away!" cried out Stainless steel as he saw the giant swording down on him.

    "{Anchor Hall!}" cast Bone breaker

    {Anchor Hall} was one of the pdin/tanks main abilities besides {Block}.

    Anchor Hall would increase a tank¡¯s threat level by a huge amount. It gave him 200% basic weapon damage as a threat value. Even without damaging the target he would still gain the aggro value with ease.

    The moment the threat Level of Bone Breaker increased, the attack target was instantly changed. And Bone Breaker was the target.

    Bone breaker yed for several years in this game, and he knew well that if he were to take the etheral tiered boss attack head on, he would either die or be very close to it.

    Bone Breaker totally gave up on fighting the boss. There was no way he would be able to deal even deal a single digit of damage to the boss.

    Mainly due to the boss having more than 200 levels above him! That was more than enough to make the boss totally immune to Bone Breaker¡¯s damage. So he had to remain alive for the time that the boss would die from the curse.

    That was the only way! Anything else would be idiotic.

    The game wouldn¡¯t make a quest impossible to achieve. This quest was meant for people of these two guy¡¯s level. And having them face an etheral Tiered boss this early would be a mistake on the game¡¯s behalf and also an insult to the powerful AI.

    The overbearing Abyssal knight struck down with a powerful attack, strong enough to crush the earth. However, Due to Bone Breaker¡¯s experience in the game. He retaliated with skill!

    {Block}

    Block. A simple skill, it aides the user in fully negating the damage from a physical attack. It is useless against ranged attacks or magic. But melee? They can¡¯t deal any damage value with this skill no matter how strong the weapon is.

    However, there was something interesting that happenedter. Knockback effect.

    the difference in strength is influenced by the attack of a weapon. This was implemented in the game due to the nature of Tanks standing strong against powerful enemies without flinching. Now if two targets have different strength levels, the one with the more strength can actually knockback his enemy if his attacknds.

    And this happened right now. Even if Bone Breaker managed to defend, he was sent flying twenty meters to a nearby wall.

    Block is not an omnipotent skill. It uses multiple variables to defend.

    First, was stamina consumption. If a yer uses block, their stamina is consumed based on the damage dealt. Furthermore, if the power of the attack exceeds the stamina bar of a yer, strength takes ce to protect the blocker. If the strength value is still vastly different, then the knockback effect takes ce.

    This just means that the knight managed to destroy Bone breaker¡¯s stamina bar and even knock him all the way to the wall.

    This was added due to the nature of tanks, they could take in strong bosses with ease, but with the knockback effect, they will be forced to run back to the fight every time they are thrown away.

    Block was a powerful skill back in the early days of the game. A yer can actually use Block rather consecutively. But, it was ¡¯Nerfed¡¯ter on. Block¡¯s minimum cooldown is 5 seconds now. And moreover. If it was not timed correctly. A second too slow and the attack would fullynd on the target. A second too early and the block effect will disappear and make the shield nothing but a decoration in front of the wielder.

    It could still negate a percentage of the damage, but nothing like the actual skill.

    Bone Breaker clearly knew of this, and still decided to block. His objective was not to win the fight but to survive long enough for the boss to die from his cursed statue. So he began shielding himself with the shield and drank a healing potion. Even if the boss didn¡¯tnd a hit on him.

    His friend immediately began to fanatically heal him up. The boss¡¯s damage even under the damage reduction of the shield held forward was still immense.

    Bone Breaker didn¡¯t attack, he only huddled like a turtle behind the shield, and cast {Anchor Hall} every time it was avable. If he didn¡¯t do that, then the priest¡¯s aggro value would increase tremendously and he would switch to him if a priest dies first, the tank would naturally follow.

    so the two began to fight, not against the boss. But against time.

    While Dave remained motionless at the corner of the room. Waiting, expecting, and anticipating...

 Chapter 11 Death-Stroke!

    Chapter 11

    The fight became more dangerous as time went by, simply put. Skills had cooldowns. As for bosses, their cooldowns were rather short. This was to protect the boss against hordes of enemies. Without short cooldown skill, a boss would be nothing more than a punching bag for everyone to toy with.

    However, the two yers were restrained due to their high cooldowns. {Anchor Hall} could only be used once every 5 seconds.

    So is {Block}. That is of course if it was maxed out. A level 300 yer would naturally have maxed out that skill, but still, he needed to time his attacks with careful calctions. 5 seconds might look like a short amount of time. But with a boss hitting like a machine gun, it felt like years.

    A pdin didn¡¯t only have these two skills of course. Bone Breaker began to make a defensive skill rotation to help him sustain the powerful assault of the boss.

    {Iron Will} a powerful damage reduction skill was used to protect Bone crusher against an iing attack. It was still 3 more seconds before his {Block} would be avable so he had to use this life-saving skill.

    {Iron Will} will reduce 75% of the damage dealt with a character for 10 seconds. This would buy Bone breaker a lot of time to sustain the assault. However, Bone Breaker underestimated the level difference between him and the boss.

    [-126 662!]

    an impressive damage value appeared before Bone breaker which made his face paler!

    A damage value that exceeded the hundred thousand appears even under the 75% reduction! This was inconceivable.

    Bone Breaker¡¯s Maximum Hp was about 450 000. He could only take three of these attacks, the fourth will definitely kill him, and that was under the effect of {Iron will}.

    A green Health value soon showed up on him.

    [+16 000]

    This was a Healing spell from Stainless steel. Compared to the damage value, it was pitiful. However, it was enough, as this spell was called {Higher Healing} and had a rtively low cooldown.

    The priest then casts, {Regeneration} which healed a fixed percentage value of the target¡¯s Hp.

    About 2% Hp/second for 10 seconds.

    Once regeneration¡¯s time has ended Bone Breaker would receive 20% of his Hp back. It was rather pathetic but for the moment it was life-saving.

    Bone breaker didn¡¯t just rely on Stainless steel. He also drank Healing potions. This fight needed him to go all out. And even though the healing potions were rather expensive. It was still worth it for him.

    [+10 000]

    [+9000]

    [+9000]

    ...

    The fight went on. Normally the boss should have switched targets to the priest, he has been healing like a crazy person. However, Bone breaker still managed to keep the aggro of the boss on him. His threat level was actually increasing by the second. This was another ability of a pdin.

    It was a passive skill that would slowly increase his threat value once he enters a fight against (Unholy) types of enemies. Still, that shouldn¡¯t have been enough. Therefore, Bone Breaker was drinking a great potion. This would constantly fule his threat level.

    The boss then used his first skill.

    It was simr to destructive smash!

    He held his sword high and crashed down. Bone breaker was instantly put under a stun effect and received another devastating damage value!

    [ -175 666]

    And few stars began to swirl around his head

    {Warior¡¯s will!} Cast bone breaker!

    A skill that removed debuffs. It was an indispensable skill for any decent warrior. This would remove all kinds of slow/stun/silence/restraint effects it was a powerful skill however, its cooldown was fixed at 20 seconds!

    If the boss was to use another destructive smash, then bone breaker can kiss this quest goodbye.

    Moreover, that damage value was still under the reduction of 75% damage from {Iron will}.

    This was a breathtaking fight. There needed to be not a single mistake! If the yers were unskilled then they would die! This was a dungeon made for at least three people.

    If they were to swap aggro and exchange the damage. Then maybe it would be handled with ease. However, with just two yers it was a very difficult task. Bone breaker deep down knew this, but he refused to add others to the party. He didn¡¯t want to share this quest¡¯s rewards.

    If he wanted he would have taken all to himself. Afterall this was A main quest! The rewards should be luxurious!

    Bone Breaker then began formting a n. After more than twenty seconds of taking damage and fighting using all of his skills came the second destructive smash!

    It had a 25-second cooldown calcted Bone Breaker.

    With the help of the priest. His character¡¯s abilities, and well-forged skills in the game. Bone Breaker began to see the light of hope!

    The boss had barely 10% remaining Hp! This means it had 20 seconds more for it to live!

    His {iron will} will be off cooldown in about 10 seconds! This means that if he were to time it right. He would be able to cast iron will once before the fight would end. Bone breaker relied on several healing potions apanied by {Block} to sustain the heavy damage value of the boss. He even cast {Holy radiance} which negates 100% of the damage for 3 seconds.

    Most of his cards wereid down, and now the final part of his n was about to be executed.

    The boss wouldnd one attack every two seconds. The boss¡¯s {Destructive smash} would be used in about 18 seconds! At that time His block would be ready! The moment the boss will stun him! He will use {Warrior¡¯s will} to remove the stun, and instantly use {Block} to block the other, and should be thest hit by the boss before it would die!

    This was perfect! With that, he would be able to survive! Now with this in mind Bone breaker noticed that his Hp was about 200 000 hp! With 75% reduction of the boss damage, his destructive smash would onlynd about 170 000 damage. He would still have 30 000hp! Apanied by {Block}, he can negate the boss¡¯s attack and survive the trial!

    Thest part of the n needed to be initiated right now!

    He pulled a potion and drank it!

    It was a bluish potion. It had a lustrous glimmer to it.

    [Cleansing potion] a cleansing potion had nothing but a simple task. It cleared a user¡¯s Aggro and threat level!

    The moment he drank it, the boss immediately ignored him and went to the priest!

    "What the hell!" cried out Stainless steel as a powerful attack came his way.

    [-260 222] a huge damage value appeared on top of the priest! Normally the damage value should have been much higher. But Stainless steel was able to cast a {God¡¯s Blessing} on himself a moment before he was struck down!

    {God¡¯s Blessing} is a damage reduction skill. Although it was not as powerful as the tank¡¯s {Iron Will} for a priest it was considered a life-saving skill.

    Stainless steel was not an idiot. He immediately understood Bone breaker¡¯s scheme. He wanted everything to himself. The moment the boss dies everything it will drop will eventuallye to Bone Breaker¡¯s hand if Stainless Steel were to die. He grunted and cast several skills to save himself but to no avail! He was killed in another two blows. His corps disappeared the moment it touched the ground. It was already transported to the graveyard.

    Bone Breaker knew that his rtionship with Stainless steel might not be remedied after his betrayal, but he weighed the benefits of the loot from the boss. And it outweighed the value of his so-called ¡¯Friend¡¯

    Now the boss after having wasted several seconds turned around to face Bone Breaker as he was the only target left.

    Bone Breaker was aware of his ability to perfectly counter the boss¡¯s attacks. He only needed to survive until thest two seconds. There were only 10 seconds left.

    Bone Breaker ran away from the boss as fast as he could. The boss chased him.

    6 seconds remaining!

    The boss reached Bone Breaker. And struck down.

    {Block!}

    Bone Breaker Was slightly pushed due to the strength of the boss, but he was not sent flying like the first time!

    The damage was negated!

    This bought Bone Breaker 1 second!

    5 seconds remaining!

    {God¡¯s Blessing!}

    This made Bone breaker invincible for 3 seconds! Not even the knock Back effect would affect him!

    the three seconds passed slowly! They were like hours to Bone Breaker. He could already smell the victory!

    The three long seconds ended while Bone Breaker prepared for the iing attack!

    The boss struck down with a destructive smash. The boss¡¯s Hp was nearly emptied! Only 1% remained!

    [-180 552]

    an impressive damage value appeared on top of Bone Breaker¡¯s head!

    The stun effect took over. Now if Bone breaker did not remove it, he would be hit once again by the boss. He had only 20 000 hp remaining! This was much lower than the damage the boss could deal.

    However, a knowing smile appeared on his head. He knew he had victory on his hands.

    {Warrior¡¯s Will!} Roared Bone Breaker! He removed the stun effect and prepared to use Block.

    This is it! Victory! Thest tick of the boss¡¯s Hp wouldnd the moment he blocked that attack! He would achieve victory! And the loot will be all his!

    He already began fantasizing about the epess of a loot from an Etheral tiered boss. It would turn people green with envy! Somerge guilds may pay ridiculous amounts of money to obtain them. He could already feel himself bing rich! This all happened in less than half of a second!

    The moment the attack was about tond Bone Breaker was raising his shield to activate {Block}

    However, before the skill would activate. He felt an itch on his back.

    You have been stunned for 1 second

    You have been attacked by a yer. You can retaliate in the next 10 minutes!

    [-0]

    "Huh?" thought Bone Breaker. Attacked by a yer? Howe? Many questions began to turn around Bone Breaker¡¯s head but he couldn¡¯t exin it!

    It can¡¯t be Stainless Steel! No matter how fast he was, he couldn¡¯t be able to go back from the graveyard which was at Moria, and rush all the way here fighting monsters and finally entering the dungeon just to attack him, no it was impossible! They needed three yers to open the pathway! Even so, if it was Stainless Steel, the damage value should not have been 0!

    However, that 0 damage filled him with dread! It meant that the one that attacked him was much lower level than him! There was only one guy that met that criteria!

    Yet before he could link the dots.

    [-178 400!]

    You died!

    You will be sent to the closest graveyard outside the dungeon

    Just as his body was falling. He managed to look at the one that attacked him. It was a guy wearing level 20 armor! He had a strange and irritating smile on his face!

    It was him! It was that fucking bastard!

    Death stroke!

 Chapter 12 Unfair?

    Chapter 12

    "Fuckkkkk!!!" Cried out Bone Breaker as he was standing in the graveyard near Moria.

    "Hey, you fucking bastard!" shouted Stainless Steel who was sitting recovering his Hp. "What was stupid shit you pulled there? Are you fucking tired of living?"

    Naturally, this was the natural reaction of Stainless Steel. The Tank that he relied on betrayed him by clearing his aggro. A priest cannot remove their aggro value without drinking that potion. Though Stainless Steel had a simr potion, he was too distracted to even think about drinking it while the Giant Abyssal Knight was hammering him with his weapon.

    eventually, the guy that betrayed him ended up being killed. Stainless Steel didn¡¯t know if he should be angry orugh at the idiot¡¯s fate.

    "Stop with that shit right now, we have a fucking huge problem here!" Said Bone Breaker while gritting his teeth.

    "What problem? Yo fucked me over for that Boss¡¯s Loot and ended up with nothing. You fucking idiot!" said Stainless Steel as he held his staff forward. He was prepared to duke it out with Bone Breaker right now and here.

    Due to the sudden appearance of Bone Breaker in the graveyard, Stainless Steel knew that he had low HP for the moment. Stainless Steel was sent to the graveyard twenty seconds before him, so he had the chance to recover his Hp. While Bone Breaker just arrived, he had a low Hp and it was critical. A single spell from Stainless Steel would kill him again. Forcing him to die once more.

    "Stop that shit!" Said Bone Breaker. "We have been yed!" he said

    "yed? The way I see it you fucker tried to screw me over, what the fuck is this nonsense you are speaking about?" said Stainless Steel while he was truly infiltrated.

    "Death Stroke! That fucker was still there in the room! He never let! That asshole was hiding in the room. He must have drunk an invisibility potion. Didn¡¯t you notice that the log out animation didn¡¯t initiate?" said Bone Breaker

    Normally when a yer logs out, they have to remain motionless for 5 seconds while an animation would start. This was to make people aware that others were logging out. But due to the various events that happened in the dungeon, the two of them never paid attention to the animation, so they thought that he just logged out. Furthermore, how would a noob get enough money to buy an invisibility potion? He was Level 1 for god sake, at most he would have about 10-20 copper coins. That was pathetic! An invisibility potion of the lowest grades costs 100 Gold coins.

    Then it struck them!

    "That fucker must have sold the items we gave him! Arghhhhh!" cried Out Bone Breaker.

    Then a notification appeared before him

    You have died to a yer, you have lost your inheritance fragment!

    Your Inheritance Quest has been removed.

    Bone Breaker¡¯s face paled!

    "NOOOOOOOO!" he began to cry out as if maddened with rage and hatred!

    Stainless Steel was a bit shocked seeing Bone Breaker cry out like a madman though he was truly pissed off. He didn¡¯t believe that he would be as angered as Bone Breaker. He was yed by Bone breaker, but still, even bone breaker got killed, Why wouldn¡¯t he be pissed off, But Bone Breaker¡¯s anger was overexaggerated.

    "What the fuck dude, calm your tits!" Said Stainless Steel.

    "Shut the fuck up! Do you know what just happened!" said Bone Breaker "My inheritance quest! It has been removed! That fucker took the inheritance fragment!"

    "You had an inheritance quest going on?" said Stainless steel a bit surprised but he understood Bone Breaker¡¯s rage. Inheritance quests, before they arepleted they needed the yer to carry around the inheritance fragment. Once the quest isplete the inheritance will be yer bound. However, if a yer dies during the quests, he will drop his fragment. And it had a 100% chance drop rate.

    But why would he drop it? Normally dying from monsters shouldn¡¯t affect it. only yers killed by other yers would force the Item to drop. Monsters shouldn¡¯t be able to get drops from yers.

    "You deserve it," Said Stainless Steel. Indeed, it was understandable. He was doing an inheritance quest and didn¡¯t tell him, that meant that he never trusted Stainless Steel. Which is understandable. If a yer knows you have an inheritance fragment on you, they will do everything to kill you. Inheritances are powerful power-ups to a yer.

    "You don¡¯t fucking understand! That was an inheritance fragment rted to the main quest! It should be at least Grade A!" cried out Bone Breaker.

    Stainless Steel gasped. An inheritance of at least grade A should be vied over in all over the game. Every guild would go to war over it. not to mention if it is an S ss inheritance fragment. Then not only would the guilds all over the game vie over it. every single yer would rush here just for a chance at obtaining it!

    Inheritances were proved to be one of the strongest power-ups of the game. It can make a yer an actual god! Why wouldn¡¯t people vie over it?

    Stainless Steel only grew angrier. That fucker had an inheritance fragment of that level and never mentioned anything! No wonder he tried to get him killed. So that he would obtain it without troubles. Now a noob had managed to take it? that was inconceivable!

    "What do you mean you dropped it? Shouldn¡¯t have been able to kill that guy, though? He is level 27!" said Stainless Steel who was trying to figure out what happened.

    "That fucker! He waited until thest second! I had the fight in my hand! the boss was going to strike down with hisst hit! My {Block} was ready and before I could use it that fucker used destructive smash on me! I got stunned and the boss finished me! Fuck! He should follow our suit. The moment the boss kills him I will kill him and get back my fragment!"said Bone Breaker.

    "Huh? If that is right, he should have died the moment you died. Don¡¯t you think that it had taken too much time? A level 27 noo shouldn¡¯t be able to withstand even a single hit from the boss?"

    Then it just struck Bone Breaker. He was actually too confused to even think properly. With everything that just happened. He just noticed another notification!

    You have reached the end of your journey in the Main quest.

    You have notpleted the quest, due to this the bonus award of the quest has been omitted.

    Awards for finishing some of the quest steps:

    20 000 000XP

    Level Up!

    You have received

    100 Gold Coins.

    If Bone Breaker was angry before. Now he had not the slightest expression on his face.

    He was kicked out of his own quest. This means that the boss had died, or that Death Stroke had managed to finish the requirements for the next step in the continuous questline.

    Bone Breaker¡¯s face turned deathly pale.

    Stainless Steel had the same expression. This was a shared quest, the guy they invited had managed to finish this step without them. He is now able to continue the quest, while they were kicked out from it. wasn¡¯t the system being unfair?

    "ALFRED!" cried out Bone Breaker!

    A stout looking butler soon appeared before them.

    "Yes?" said the butler.

    This was the Game¡¯s Ai "ALFRED"

    "There is a problem with a quest! We shared a quest with someone else, he is just level 27 and we were kicked out of it, while he had the chance to continue! He initiated Pk in a dungeon ruining our chance of finishing the quest properly!"

    "This is not a bug or glitch! Like I said Only call me when there is a problem with the game. yers¡¯ actions are not under my jurisdiction. And you should have been careful inviting untrusted people in your quest. You have been awarded properpensation for reaching this stage in your quest, there is no problem with that. As for the yer¡¯s actions, they are not deemed worth my investigation, besides sexual harassment, there is nothing I can do for you." Said Alfred and disappeared from sight.

    "Fuck!!! This system is corrupt! Shit damn!" said Bone Breaker as he began cursing and shouting to the high heavens.

    While this was happening, a totally different scene happened before Death Stroke...

 Chapter 13 Main Quest!

    Chapter 13

    Dave was mouth agape as he was looking at the abyssal Knight. The moment he struck at Bone Breaker, a notification appeared before him. But he didn¡¯t even have the time to react as the sword of the abyssal Knight wasing down toward his head. He knew that the moment the swordnds, he will instantly be killed.

    However, an inch before the sword would strike at Dave thest tick of the curse activated.

    [-99 999]

    the abyssal knight crashed down to the ground. He knelt down and heaved a heavy breath! Even his nametag turned from dark red to green!

    This means that he became friendly? How the hell did this happen?

    An exmation mark appeared before the Abyssal Knight¡¯s head!

    the boss ha only 1hp left! And with the addition of the green tag name and the question mark! A quest!

    Dave drew a heavy breath as he steadied himself. That was too much! He never had to think this hard during his whole life! He was calcting from the moment the first attack of the boss until this very moment, he never stopped calcting and making ns.

    Dave was never a dull person, he always shined when he was young in ss. But due to unforeseen circumstances, he never managed to achieve his true potential. However, during this brief moment, he managed to breakthrough and fully concentrate on one single task! Calcting the risks.

    He noticed that the boss¡¯s damage was very high, with the addition of the high value of Bone Breaker¡¯s defense, and having a good grasp over the game¡¯s abilities and ss¡¯s skills he managed to deduce how the fight would proceed. He was surprised at first when Bone Breaker managed to kill off his friend. What Dave feared the most that even if he was to achieve his n he will still have to face the other yer. However with one of them taken out. That was the best chance for Dave toplete his n.

    He knew that Bone Breaker was going to use warrior¡¯s will to remove the stun effect from the Abyssal Knight¡¯s attack then use Block to negate thest hit from the boss. He only needed to interfere, he knew that attacking Bone Breaker would result in himnding a measly 0 damage value. But what he wanted was the 1-second stun effect. If itnds, then the Block would not activate and Bone Breaker would be struck down by the boss. That was the n, and it was executed beautifully!

    Dave was never a gentleman when he sees a chance he will take it. though he would help others, he would not mistreat himself.

    He was thankful for the two for giving him such a chance to get powerful equipment, and now even a quest was given to him!

    However, not only that, the moment Dave looked at the notification he was stunned!

    You have Taken over a main questline.

    All the rewards for this quest shall be handed to you once it is over.

    You have killed a yer with an inheritance fragment.

    You have taken over the inheritance quest.

    An inheritance fragment! Dave was stunned! However, he in his inventory and found nothing but the items he was given by the two "Bullies".

    "Where is that fragment?" said Dave to himself. Then he proceeded at initiating the dialogue with the fallen Abyssal Knight.

    There was a stream of dark gas exuding from the fallen Abyssal knight. It was dying.

    The moment he tried to speak the Abyssal Knight spoke first.

    "Warrior..." he said "You have defeated me. Though not in my full power, you still managed to survive my attacks, for this you earned my respect" he said

    Dave didn¡¯t do anything about what the abyssal Knight had said but he understood that this was scripted so he didn¡¯t say anything.

    "Would you spare this dying knight a moment of your time?" said the Knight as he used his

    sword to lean on.

    "yes, speak your mind," said Dave.

    The abyssal Knight nodded towards Dave then began speaking

    "We are servants of the Undead King. You must have seen his aura that resided in the statue before... that creature was once one of the strongest creatures in thisnd. However, he grew toocent. He betrayed the teachings of the god of death. He chose to remain hidden within the Undead Kingdom, fully ignoring our reason for leading this cursed life... we are undead, we are the source of all evil! Yet he chose not to follow our way, he decided to remain safe while he could conquer the world. Our only objective in life is to conquer the living and lead everyone to the embrace of death. This I know is not something yo mortal would wish to see. However, it is ingrained in our way of ¡¯life¡¯" said the abyssal Knight.

    Dave squinted his eyebrows. Why was this guy telling him this?

    "The Death God has given me a task long ago. It was for me to take down the current Undead King, however, my revolt was soon destroyed. I was powerless against the Undead King, though I gained enormous strength, I couldn¡¯t defeat him and was exiled by him. Would you mindpleting my task?" asked the abyssal Knight.

    You have been offered to continue the quest of an old Knight.

    you have two choices before you.

    refuse and kill the Abyssal Knight. You will be awarded several high tiered types of equipment and a huge amount of experience. (Refusing will stop the main questline the inheritance fragment will also be destroyed)

    ept and you will be able to continue the main questline.

    finishing the questline will award you with luxurious rewards

    You may also continue the Inheritance questline.

    (Your choices are irreversible and might have huge impact on the game)

    Y/N

    Dave then was instantly shocked! A main questline rted to an Inheritance quest! This was a treasure trove! However. If he were to continue he would lose the loot from an ethereal Tiered boss!

    difficult! Too difficult to choose!

    Dave began to weigh his options. epting the quest will probably lead him on a huge adventure where he might find treasures or get awesome findings but that is in the far future. However, refusing will award him with the knight¡¯s equipment while he could gain immediate benefits if he were to sell them in the market.

    Dave was really tempted by this prospect, this way an Etheral Tiered weapon will make the world vie for it. if he was to sell it he might get a lot of money... however, that money will be fleeting, it will end one day, Dave might get other opportunities to get more rewards but refusing this quest will torment him.

    "Sigh. Alright, I will ept your request. However, if even you died to the this Undead King, how will I defeat him? I am far too weak at the moment, your task might take a long time for me to aplish." Said, Dave,

    "Indeed. I know that, which is why I will be leaving you with something to help you along your quest. The living cannot traverse the undead kingdom. While the dead cannot go against the Undead King. Only you human who has the ability to remain unaffected by the power of the undead King can do this task." Said the Abyssal Knight as he removed the ring that Bone Breaker ced in its hand.

    "This ring... has thest of my power in it. it will grant you the ability to blend in with both the living and the dead at your whims. However to cost of wearing it is heavy..." said the abyssal knight

    Dave took the ring and inspected it.

    Category: Ring Ring of the Death God.

    {S ss Inheritance item}

    {yer Bound to Death Stroke}

    Requirements Level 0

    Cannot be removed!

    Bonus stats Has the ability Changes appearance from human to undead.

    [Sealed]

    [Sealed]

    [Sealed]

    [Sealed]

    Scaling/ss Scaling essory

    ss. Divine.

    {Consumes some of the yer¡¯s XP to level up}

    Currently Ring Level 1

    Dave¡¯s mouth was opened wide! He was truly shocked! A god damned inheritance item!

    Dave¡¯s mind went nk for a moment. He was unable to understand his current feeling. The two guys must have been at thest step to get this item then they could start the final inheritance questline! This was the inheritance fragment that Bone Breaker had, and now after some ¡¯requirements¡¯ have been achieved (thankfully by the two guys) Dave managed to reap the benefits without doing any work!

    He was in ecstasy!

    inheritance quest items were yer bound! They are not like inheritance fragments, the moment a yer picks them up they will be his forever. However, there was a heavy price he had to pay to get them... once worn he cannot remove it!

    This means that of his two rings slot. One will be permanently sealed.

    the ring had a level requirement of 0. Which meant that anyone could get it, however, it seems that some of its abilities were sealed... it seems that once Dave reaches certain levels or meet certain criteria he will be able to unlock the seals on the ring, making it more powerful.

    It was truly an amazing item so Dave ced it in his inventory without question. He didn¡¯t dare wear it right now, but still, there was no problem with him cing it in his inventory at least until he levels up high enough to try and kill the Undead King. This quest was really blissful, Even without being able to receive the Abyssal Knight¡¯s armors or drops, he was satisfied with the S ss inheritance item!

    "My powers are fading. You are not strong enough, and training in the world of the living will not enable you to defeat the Undead King. You must start from the Undead Kingdom, start from the bottom then rise to prominence, only then can you have the right to challenge the Undead King." Said the Abyssal knight.

    Dave then squinted his eyes, what was this guy talking about?

    The undead abyssal Knight then stood up. Barely maintaining his foothold.

    "These are my prided weapon and shield," said the Abyssal Knight. "However, you are too weak to use them. Once you reach a high enough rank within the undead legion. They will be avable for you to use" said the abyssal knight.

    Dave was still unable to understand what the guy was saying. But the giant sword and overlyrge shield disappeared from the abyssal Knight and appeared on Dave¡¯s Inventory.

    More loot! This was a windfall!

    However...

    You have not met the requirements to wield/inspect these items

    missing requirements

    [Undead State/ Race undead]

    [Title: Undead knight]

    [Level 450]

    Dave¡¯s face paled once he saw the requirements. Too difficult! Even the highest level Guy is just level 422! And he has been ying for 3 years! While being undead could easily be aplished once he wears the ring and activates its ability... the title Undead Knight how would he achieve it?

    Dave could only sigh... these items will require a lot of time to achieve...

    yet before Dave could ment¡¯ over his items the abyssal knight¡¯s body started dissapearing. It slowly turned to ash but on hisst breath he swiped down with his hand and a cutscene apeared before Dave.

    He was unable to mvoe his body while a vortex oepend up. Dave¡¯s body was thrown in the vortex while the Abyssal knight dissapeared...

 Chapter 14 Dead Realm!

    Chapter 14

    Dave opened his eyes and saw where he was transported to. He was in a new and strange world. The skies were turned and the constetions were fleeting. The skies looked grim and a dark broken moon hung over the horizon. The dirt he stood above was dark and eerie. And the ce he was in stunk from the smell of death. If anyone wanted to film a horror movie in this ce, they would definitely win an Oscar.

    However, that was not everything. Right before Dave at the far end of the horizon stood a giant ptial city. However, not of mor and luxury. It was a towering city of death. Towers and walls made of bones and sinister looking bricks. A giant tower rose right in the middle of the city. It looked like a rising cone. Where at the top was a giant dark crystal that shone eerily.

    Dave could see the crystal even from the far distance and could see the aura that was seeping from it.

    Yet if that was all, Dave wouldn¡¯t have been as troubled as he was right now. Actually where he stood was in the giant courtyard before the pce. Or at least that is what Dave thought it was. Next to him, behind him, to his right and his left. Were hundreds! Thousands! Tens of thousands and maybe even more! Much more! Too many for him to even start counting! They were all undead! Skeletons! Zombies! Ghouls! And many many!

    While he stood like a beacon for them. Every single one of these creatures turned their heads toward Dave¡¯s location. It was his signature, his life! It was beckoning them. The undead abhorred the living, and the living dispised the undead. It was no hard to imagine what would happen to Dave if he was standing amongst the undead.

    You have entered thend of the dead.

    you are currently ¡¯alive¡¯ if you were to die in thend of the dead you will be exiled back to thend of the living.

    once you die in thend of the dead your inheritance quest will be failed!

    The main quest will be removed!

    An unholy screech then soon followed the moment Dave read the notification. He didn¡¯t even have the time to react as a giant wave of enemies came forward! They wanted to kill him! Ravage his body and soul.

    dave¡¯s mind went nk for a moment as he saw the giant wave of enemies attacking him. And at an almost instinctual level of reaction, he immediately grabbed the ring od the death god and equipped it.

    Dave wanted to use this ringter on in the game, once that ring was equipped it will never be removed. And this would limit Dave¡¯s growth, however, he understood that without the ring he will be killed. The ring can grant him the appearance of an undead. And with its help, he can blend in with them. If he were to die before the quest waspleted, he would want to kill himself from shame.

    so without further ado; he just wielded the ring and a powerful and ancient ck aura emanated from his body.

    Dave used to look like a tin-man due to the ¡¯Heavy iron armor¡¯s Skin¡¯. Only his face was apparent, but now once he wore his ring. The armor broke apart in several ces. It tore like if it was made of paper and several parts of it rusted. His skin crawled and shuddered as it began to shrivel up. His eyes received, his facial skin was eliminated and all of his body¡¯s internal organs turned to nothing.

    Dave could now feel wind passing through his body! Literally. And as he looked down, he saw that he was nothing more than a skeleton wearing an old, rusted looking armor.

    That was not all, the moment the transformation ended, every single monster before him had a green tag on their heads. They stopped, they were stunned at the sudden change, but none of them even bothered to find an exnation.

    They worked with a simple process

    Human=enemy

    Undead=friend

    As simple as that.

    Thus, Dave was saved due to the low intelligence of these creatures.

    Dave heaved a sigh of relief as he began organizing his thoughts.

    He inspected his status screen to see the changes that happened. He was afraid that with the current transformation that his equipment may have been destroyed.

    Level 27

    Name Death Stroke

    Race Human (Undead)

    Health 4200+(210)

    Mana 1100 +(55)

    Stamina Unlimited

    Rage/Focus 100

    Intelligence 110 +(5.5)

    Wisdom 110 +(5.5)

    Dexterity 110 +(5.5)

    Agility 110 +(15)

    Vitality 10 +(0.05)

    Strength 150 +(5.5)

    Magic Absorbtion 500

    Damage Nullification 1000

    Immunity 10% +(0.05)% - -

    HP Regen 0.1/sec +(0)

    Mana Regen 1.1/sec +(0)

    Stamina Regen +¡Þ

    Rage/Focus

    Regen 1/sec

    Title I know it all!

    Thankfully, there was no change to his status. But there was a simple addition to it. but once Dave took a careful look he was immediately stunned.

    Unlimited stamina?!!!

    What the hell? Even the regen is capped at +¡Þ what the hell was this?!

    Dave¡¯s mind went nk for a moment, then he touched on the "Undead" that was next to his current race.

    You are currently an undead creature. With this, you gained the undead race¡¯s bonus trait.

    Never tier, never hunger, never fear!

    Unlimited stamina/infinite stamina regen/ great weakness towards the light/holy elements. Cannot be healed via healing spells, and will receive double damage. Can only reconstruct yourself with the life of others. Fear-inducing effects are nullified against undead.(would an already dead person fear anything?)

    killing enemies grants you a portion of their life essence healing you. And can be healed via consuming dark spells.

    "Ah, so this was a bonus of the undead race¡¯s trait... quite amazing to a warrior type, however the weakness of this trait is absurd... an undead with unlimited stamina would be most supreme! in fighting bosses, however, if they were ¡¯healed¡¯ they will take damage. Damn...but for solo y they should be amazing..."

    "Now, what am I supposed to do?" said Dave. However, as he tried to speak the words, only the cking ob his jaws were heard. He didn¡¯t have any vocal voice, it was rather creepy.

    Dave looked at the map and found nothing, this ce was cut off the outside of the game.

    Dave began to panic for a bit, how was he supposed to leave this ce? If he needed to resupply? How will he do it? his level is too low for him to face the Death King who is probably at the top of the tower. how can he level up? True there are a lot of undead monsters here, but most of them had Red skulls on their heads when Dave entered this ce. He can¡¯t fight them. And now they are all friendly...

    Is there a problem in the game sitting? Thought Dave. Then he had no choice but to call for ALBERT.

    The moment he spoke the words, an old and gentle looking butler appeared.

    "What is the problem young man...oh, it is you." Said, Albert, as he ¡¯Remembered¡¯ the old man¡¯s name.

    "I think there is a problem in this expansion. I am stuck in this ce, I can¡¯t leave. How am I supposed to finish the quest if all the monsters here are undead? I won¡¯t be able to level up, norplete the quest. Isn¡¯t this a problem?" asked Dave.

    "Indeed, this is quite problematic, actually this expansion was not supposed to be opened until the average level of yers reaches the 500. The quest you have is rather too difficult for you. But normally this was supposed to happen. This is a closed area, for the moment only you are present. It was supposed to be a pioneer zone for those that managed to start the inheritance quest. And now you are the sole person in this ce. I will initiate the questline for you but make it ¡¯possible¡¯ for you to start the mission needed forpletion."

    The butler waved his hand and a notification appeared before Dave.

    Call of the Undead King.

    The undead king has grown tired of waiting. Those that stand at his gates are his servants. You will be teleported to start your first mission.

    [In the end only the dead shall remain!]

    Chained quest.

    [In the end only the dead shall remain!]

    In 1 hour, you will be teleported with a toon to take down some wandering adventures. Finish your quest to gain contribution points.

    contribution points depend on the efficiency of your questpletion.

    once you gain enough contribution points, you will have the right to ¡¯challenge¡¯ one tier higher supervision. Gaining his position will grant you the right tomand over his troops. Losing will consume all of your contribution points and you will have to start all over.

    "Oh, so a PK quest? Nice!" said Dave as he understood.

    "Normally, this was supposed to happenter in the game, as a pioneer you will have the chance to start the quest first. Once the expansion is opened, the Race ¡¯Undead¡¯ will be avable to everyone. And they will also have the right to start the challenges. If you die once, you will be kicked out of the expansion and you will have to wait for it to open to challenge it from the start." Said ALBERT.

    "Oh, then what if I manage to defeat the undead king before the expansion opens? I guess that I can climb in rank all the way to the top right?"

    "Indeed, you can climb all the way to the top. I will even give you a list of the tiers and neede contribution points to have the right to challenge higher authorities. But to defeat the undead king? Alone? That is impossible. He is too strong. And it is a regional boss. It needs an entire army to defeat, they must first destroy the armies stationed here, then climb the seven floors of the pce to have the right to challenge him. Each floor has a boss guarding it, and the Undead King is thest one." Said, Albert,

    "However, defeating the undead King will not go unrewarded. To defeat him means that one had gained the right to rule over the dead. The right tomand his army. The right to start a world conquest and this is what this game is all about. The undead king is one of the major bosses in this game, and with his power, he can topple over cities.

    Do you think that you alone have the chance to defeat something that could threaten the world of conquest?" asked Albert in a teasing manner

    The only thing that Dave hates the most is being belittled. And Albert did so just now. However, due to him being just an AI Dave didn¡¯t get angry with him. He knew how hard it would be, but he never backed down from something before he tried.

    "I will give it a try." Said Dave with a smirk as he looked forward.

    He then thought about something

    "To defeat the undead King means that I will be able tomand this legion... an overpowered army of the undead... wouldn¡¯t that be cool? I wonder how people would think when they see something this huge charging at their territories..." said Dave "Gaining territories is the best way to be richer... with that, you can get the control over a region, and have a percentage of its taxes as your sry.

    Also, you will have control over the teleportation circle within the regions and can input any amount of money in it for people¡¯s usage... crossing the vast distances between cities on foot is time-consuming... gaining the control over the teleportation circles in cities is an incredible mean to get a lot of money... I should really think about this seriously" thought Dave.

    Dave didn¡¯t notice that he had a strange habit. Whenever he is pondering he would tap his right-hand fingers on his chin. And now with his skeleton figure, it would make eerie tapping sounds as bone tapped on bones.

    Whenever Dave entered this state. This would only mean one thing. That no matter how high the challenge, it would be taken seriously and conquered eventually!

 Chapter 15 First Blood

    Chapter 15

    The moment Dave began pondering about how he was going to initiate his mission Albert disappeared and left him with a notification.

    Ranks/

    manding units. Contribution

    Normal Skeleton soldier.

    Lowest unit. 0

    Elite Skeleton

    mands 10 normal units 100.

    Skeleton captain

    Commands 10 Elite skeletons. 1000

    Death Knight

    Commands 100 Skeleton captains 10 000

    Doom Knight

    mands 100 Death Knights. 100 000

    Abyssal Knight

    Commands 100 Doom Knights. 1 000 000

    The moment Dave saw the table he made a quick calction and understood that an Abyssal Knight canmand up to 100 000 000 unit!

    That was a single Abyssal knight! How fearsome! How many Abyssal knights are under the undead King? And for Deadra (exiled abyssal knight) to have even thought about revolting... he either was strong and powerful enough, or dumb enough to not notice the huge army behind the Undead King¡¯s back.

    However, the amount of contribution points needed to reach all the way to the highest tier is tremendous. Dave would need to work hard, and by the end, he needs to have the strength to defeat an Abyssal Knight to be able to initiate the quest given by Deadra.

    This means that he needs to be powerful enough to defeat another Abyssal Knight just to have the right to challenge the Undead King.

    And looking at the difficulty of defeating Deadra who was both, cursed and heavily weakened. Dave found it absurd to be able to fight one with his full power alone.

    "Sigh, this quest is really difficult... and the worst part. I must not die a single time! Losing one challenge will kick me out of this dimension and I will need to wait for this expansion to open to the public so that I can challenge it again." Said, Dave,

    A pioneer has the advantage of seeing things first. But still, he was disadvantaged due to the difficulty of the first experience.

    this quest gave Dave some headache, but he was not going to waste this chance. This was his pot of gold, and he needed to secure it before others would try to im it. if he was to lose and be exiled, he will have to facepetition in the future. Even if he was a pioneer and had an understanding, the game had more than 2 billion yers! How could Dave be able to fight against all of them and im the throne?

    He had only one chance at sess, and he will try his best to make the best use of it.

    Backing down was not an option, his life depended on it.

    He only had 7000$ remaining, if he lost on this chance, then everything will be over for Dave.

    Dave felt a lot of pressure, but he took a deep breath and decided to start slowly.

    You have been assigned to unit 22 255!

    You will be teleported to the western region¡¯s graveyard.

    follow the leader and achieve your goal.

    Mission N1

    Kill the yers that are invading the graveyard.

    reward 10 contribution points once sessful.

    achieving some hidden requirements can award bonus Contribution points.

    Ten rays of light soon shone over the vast space where Dave was. And he was instantly teleported outside the strange world and found himself in a strange ce.

    It was a huge graveyard, with many tombs.

    Dave looked around and found out that he was apanied with 9 other skeletons. One of them was an elite skeleton.

    The elite skeleton remained behind the others and cked its jaws. Itmanded them to move forward and they did, Dave followed suit.

    The graveyard was dark and eerie. But to Dave, it was not that much of a problem to see in this dark space. It seems that the Undead have some sort of nocturnal vision. Everything looked clear to Dave at the moment.

    After walking for a few more paces, they discovered some adventures that were fighting against another batch of skeletons.

    The elite skeleton didn¡¯t bother ordering his minions as they charged without wait.

    The adventures were shocked to see another unit appear before them, but they didn¡¯t panic. They reorganized themselves and fought head-on.

    "Oi more units have arrived, how many have we been fighting! Damn!" cried out a priest that was trying to heal the tank.

    "Just shut up and heal me!" cried out the tank as he was trying to suppress the iing waves of Skeletons.

    "I am gaining too much agro!" cried the priest, while a hunter behind him was shooting arrows left and right.

    They were disorganized and messy, they were low-level adventures that went too deep in the tomb area. And the huge amount of skeletons was not that surprising for them.

    Btu their teamwork was a mess, the tank couldn¡¯t hold the aggro and was OT immediately by the priest, the skeletons ignored the tank and charged at the priest.

    {Anchor hall!}casted the tank, but only managed to pull one Skeleton to him. Three more moved forward and attacked the priest

    "God damned noob tank you can¡¯t even hold the agro!" cried out the priest as he spammed healing spells to attack the skeletons.

    With the priestpromised, the tank began losing more Hp, and the archer was forced to retreat.

    This was the best chance for Dave.

    He moved forward and attacked the priest while ignoring the Tank.

    Agro and threat value only affects Monsters, Dave was a human and no matter what agro skills were used on him he could shrug them off and attack at his leisure.

    The three skeletons that approached the priest have shackled thanks to the archer¡¯s skill {Binding arrows} it sends a voly of arrows with ropes that could snare enemies and stop them. Dave Noticed the skill being cast and dodged to the right.

    This scene stunned the archer, but he didn¡¯t think much about it. as more skeletons were encircling him.

    Dave then attacked the priest from behind

    [-690!] a huge damage value appeared. This was a critical strike!

    Dave¡¯s damage value increased thanks to his high state. But the priest didn¡¯t have a single item that increased his defense

    Compared to what the Abyssal knights attack damage could deal, this was negligible. However, for these yers of level 15-20, this amount petrified them! How could a mere skeleton damage be this high?

    It was rather simple.

    Though dave¡¯s weapon was just a training sword, he had a lot of stat bonuspared to these yers. Furthermore, he had a set equipment that gave him a huge advantage. Furthermore. He had increased his strength by 40 points. Due to this his base damage value was from 315-325 (His weapon was powered by both his agility and his strength value.) with the +40 strength it was from 355-365. And as itnded a critical hit the damage was doubled.

    The priest didn¡¯t have any defense reduction equipment and so he received a huge amount of damage. Due to him having been damaged by other skeletons.

    and his already low Hp points, he was instantly killed by Dave.

    You have killed a yer

    +10 contribution points.

    Dave was surprised to see the notification, and glee filled his face. Killing other yers granted him the chance to gain more contribution points.

    So he aimed at the tank, the hunter would easily be able to kite Dave and he didn¡¯t wish for that. He just turned around and struck down at the tank.

    [-120] a damage value appeared before Dave

    Due to this attack not being a critical, the damage was lowpared to what happened to the priest. Also, the tank had a bit of damage reduction on him so it was much lower than the basic damage of dave¡¯s weapon. but still, even ants could kill humans if there were too many of them.

    The tank had no chance to retreat as he was surrounded by several skeletons and they all attacked at the same time.

    However, Dave was not going to miss his chance atnding the final hit. He calcted that the Tank¡¯s Hp was about 20% and each hit from the skeletons would deal about 1% of his remaining Hp.

    Dave could deal about 5% with one hit

    this meant that the tank had about 2400 hp left. This stunned Dave, why would this tank have this much Hp? This would mean that he had about 12 000 Max Hp. A level 20 yer had more Hp than Dave?

    He didn¡¯t really bother thinking about it for the moment but he decided to continue with his attacks.

    The moment the tank had about 4% Hp. Dave finished him off gaining another 10 contribution points.

    Turning around to look at the hunter, he found out that he was already killed off.

    Dave sighed as he was unable to take down thest hunter but didn¡¯t worry about it. he already got 20 contribution points, and once he finishes the quest he will have a total of 30. That was enough.

    You have sessfullypleted your first mission

    +10 contribution points

    you have lost only 1 member of your unit.

    +9 contribution points.

    total contribution points: 39.

    This appeared before Dave and he was gleeful at the bonuses, it seems that the less unites he lose the more contribution points he receives. This was rather nice, reaching Elite skeleton rank would not be that hard, at most two more mission like these and he will be able to rank up.

    Dave found himself back at the giant courtyard before the giant pce.

    You have finished your first mission.

    your next mission will start soon

    you can refuse or ept it.

    (Refusing a mission will cost you 10 contribution points)

    Dave then understood something, this was to help yers who wished to stop the quest temporarily, they shouldn¡¯t be forced to do a mission after another. People have biological needs. Sleep food and others. Doing a non-stop quest like this to reach the top in one sitting is impossible.

    So dave decided to stop for the moment. It was hard on Dave, he has been ying for almost two days game time and that was about 16 hours real life.

    Dave logged out and went to fetch some food, this quest needs patience and a long time toplete. Reaching 1 000 000 contribution points is not easy and will take a lot of time to aplish, so Dave was not in a hurry.

 Chapter 16 The Undead Shall Inherit the world!

    Right now Dave went to the convenience store near his house. Taking a few ramen cups and some snacks he went back to his apartment. He didn¡¯t have much money at the moment, and he knew that the quest he has started will take a long time, for him to amass money at this point in time is hard. This was not a problem for Dave as he understood, that if he were thrown back to the outside world of conquest. He will suffer the same fate, a yer with low level has a low chance of conquering a dungeon. Especially with dave¡¯s Solo y method.

    The only way for Dave to peddle through this is by bing reaching a higher level in the game. That too would take a lot of time, and his remaining money might notst him until then.

    For a college student, 7000$ is enough for them to tide through several months while spending as little as they could. Dave was, even more, a miser than college students.

    Once he reached his apartment, he took a quick shower, ate the instant food and went to bed. He was in no condition to continue ying after that long while.

    Once Dave woke up he went online and looked through the forums. He wanted to understand more about the undead race.

    From the start of the game, only a few types of undead have been discovered, and this was confirmed by Dave¡¯s research.

    Gholes, zombies. Skeletons, banshees, ghosts, and the like have all been encountered. However, the higher tiered undead was still a mystery to the people. Many of them knew of the existence of powerful Liches. Some even got a quest asking them to follow the trail of an old and powerful lich. Yet so far none of them managed to discover any clews about them. The undead expansion was supposed to beunched once the yer was level 500

    Dave managed to get a spot on the pioneer¡¯s side and now he is able to understand more about them.

    The most known types of undead for the yers were; Skeletons, Skeleton elites/captain and finally the Death Knights.

    Death knights were a force to be reckoned with. Even in the dungeon that Dave just went through. If Dave was to take into consideration the Undead chart of ranks. He would know that a Death Knight canmand up to 10 000 units! That is an absurd number indeed, however, so far in the game most Death knight that were met were ¡¯Lesser Death Knight¡¯ these types have no control over other undead, but they could still manage themselves and fight on par with several simrly level yer.

    The power of the undead is not considered by their individual strength, but their coalition that can shake the earth, an army of the dead that would charge a city is bound to bring terror to the hearts of the bravest men.

    For the moment, Leader type undead has never been encountered. All of them were individual, and they were strong, however, once you give a Death Knight an army. Be ready to be smothered with pain and death.

    Dave then took a look at some of the videos feeds that yers posted once they were fighting the undead. Someone even recorded a fight with a Death Knight, he had a huge amount of views and adds on his blog. That was also a way to get money.

    Dave pondered about it for a moment, then his face shed a knowing smile. This was an opportunity for him to gain some cash if he was to use it right.

    This might be strange, but people actually love the undead. At least watching them from afar.. what if someone was to film the scene of the dark territory of the Undead King. Just a bit of teasing will get many people interested in this region. Perhaps they might start asking questions about it and more interest will be showered over it.

    Now if Dave was able to properly guide this ¡¯peaked¡¯ interest, he might be able to put in some adds or be sponsored by somepany.

    Companies love traffic, the more traffic there is on a certain website/video the more they will be interested in sponsoring the owner. This way Dave might be able to gain some financial support. However, Dave knew that this was hard.

    First things first, indeed the first peek at the world of the dead might be interesting, but if the missions Dave was receiving remained the same. Or if Dave doesn¡¯t bring new content to his feed. The interest will soon be lost. So the best way for Dave to make himself known is to start some trouble.

    Dave smirked and created an ount on the forums. He created an avatar and chose a small naked skeleton as his avatar picture. He named it, Mr. Skeletal.

    then he plugged in his headset and took the feed of thest day he yed.

    The game automatically records anything the yer does and puts it in a saving spot, it will delete the feed after 30 days, but it can still be essed by the yer anytime he wishes to. It can also save, and stream the feed directly to a yer¡¯s website if they have one, or even stream it in the official Conquest¡¯s website if the yer gains the right to do it.

    Dave only took a few scenes from his past day and put in a ten seconds video feed.

    In these ten seconds. Dave yed the scene where he was in the middle of the gigantic army of the dead and them charging towards him with all their might.

    The tens of thousands of undead charged with relentlessness. He only stopped the feed before he wore the ring. He saved the feed in the first person point of view so that no one will know who was the one facing the undead.

    whenever someone sees the video they will feel that the undead was charging towards him.

    It was quite the jumpscare.

    The scene of the giant bone towers and the pce was engraved deep in the mind of anyone that would see it. while the dark hanging moon that spoke of a soon to befall cmity was enough to bring fright to anyone that sees this.

    Just ten seconds was enough, and with a simple title, the video was posted in the forums.

    "Soon the undead shall inherit the world"

    This was all that Dave wrote and the video was posted next to it.

    Dave didn¡¯t bother waiting for thements as he went back to the game and logged in.

    Time to start another mission!

 Chapter 17 Urgent Assembly!

    Dave went back to the game and found himself back at the same spot where he left. He was interested in the pce in the far distance so he began moving forward. Most of the undead didn¡¯t even bother as he passes by them pushing them to the side. A skeleton even dropped his head and began searching for it.

    It was quite theical scene, But Dave felt a bit guilty as he picked up the skeleton¡¯s head. The deep blue shining eyes gave Dave the creeps but he didn¡¯t mind as he handed the skeleton his head back.

    It took it and ced it back, twisting the bone a bit until it clicked then it cked its jaws, thanking Dave probably or cursing him for his carelessness.

    Dave approached the pce but was soon stopped by some sort of barrier.

    Dave was surprised for a moment then a notification popped up

    You need to be rank

    [Elite Skeleton]

    to proceed forward

    Dave understood that to get closer to the pce he needs to aplish more missions.

    You have been reassigned to unit 22 255!

    You will be teleported to the western region¡¯s graveyard.

    Follow the leader and achieve your goal.

    Mission N2

    Kill the yers that are invading the graveyard.

    Reward 10 contribution points once sessful.

    Achieving some hidden requirements can award bonus Contribution points.

    It seems that Dave has been reassigned to the same party of skeletons. He was teleported back to the same graveyard and was waiting for the Elite skeleton to lead them to the targeted area.

    Dave had now just about 29 contribution points, with 10 of them educated due to his need to leave the game yesterday. He was not bothered by it, his contribution ie is higher than what he loses once he leaves the game. And yesterday he only managed to aplish one quest and it was not that difficult.

    This day, surprisingly it was the same party from yesterday that attacked.however, this time they had an additional member. They were already engaged in a fight with several skeletons, but the additional party member was a beast tamer. He had a gray wolf by his side that would attack the skeletons and pulls some of their aggro, reducing the damage to the enemy and increasing the party¡¯s DPS.

    Beast tamers are casters, they are like druids, they use animals and can use both a bow or a staff to cast magic or shoot arrows, they are not a specialized ss like a ranger or a hunter. However, they have lower damage outputs and are deprived of the powerful skills of the ranger and hunter sses.

    Yet in the whole game, they are the only ss that could fight 2v1.

    Now the party had about 5 members.

    The fight was almost over when the new unit came.

    The Elite skeleton ordered the normal units to attack and encircle them. However, they are dumbly pulled over due to the Threat level of the Tanker and ignored the backline.

    Dave was not in a hurry as he knew the moment he was going to attack the backline he will be killed. Those guys might be lower level than Dave, but due to them being too many Dave would probably die in mere moments.

    With the support from the new batch of skeletons, the Tank found it hard to take all of theirbined attacks alone

    The beast tamer used his wolf to pull some of the aggro while the ranger from yesterday attacked with an AoE skill that slowed them {Binding Arrow} Dave didn¡¯t intend on being hit with that skill so he was first to react and moved sideways

    The ranger squinted his eyes at the anomaly something like this happened yesterday...

    Dave didn¡¯t attack the priest first, he knew that he came prepared this time, the Priest was at the far end of the fighting ground. He was hidden behind his teammates and would heal them from max range.

    Dave hacked away at the Tank in front of him and did his best to look ¡¯normal¡¯. He was waiting for a chance.

    "Hey, back down, my Mp is almost over, get the wolf to tank for you!" said the priest.

    And the chance that Dave waited for came rather soon.

    Dave instantly charged at the priest and hacked down with his sword

    [-318]

    "Fucking hell! Why can¡¯t you get a hold of the aggro you god damned retarded tank!" cried out the priest, he almost died.

    Yet before he could heal himself he panicked as his Mp bar was empty!

    Another hack from Dave¡¯s sword ended the priest¡¯s life.

    The ranger panicked and attacked Dave

    [-0]

    "Huh?" the ranger was shocked. A 0 damage value? Howe? Skeletons are not supposed to have any damage reduction. At least not low-level one

    Even the elite captain should barely have enough damage reduction points... and a 0 damage value should not appear.

    Dave was surprised, then he grinned, he now understood why the tank from yesterday had more Hp than him. Dave wore equipment that had a good amount of damage reduction, while the Tank probably wore items that gave a lot of Hp. A good tank must have a good bnce between Hp/defense, relying on one of them is bound to get the tank killed.

    Dave then went ballistic. He charged at the Hunter that tried to shoot at him with his bow. However, Dave would hack away at him without mercy.

    [-366]

    [-0]

    Dave wouldnd heavy hits while the ranger could not even deal a single point of damage.

    The Tank was angered then he used {Anchor Hall} yet to no avail, no. the strange looking skeleton didn¡¯t even hesitate, nor did he bother with turning around. He charged at the hunter and gave him another hit.

    [-400] this hit killed the ranger

    Dave turned around and attacked the Beast Tamer. Yet before he would reach, the wolf appeared before him, Dave knew that if he was to waste time with the wolf the Beast tamer might escape.

    {Destructive Smash!}

    [ -165]

    Dave stunned the wolf and ignored it, it would be stunned for one second but that was more than enough.

    Dave struck down at the beast tamer and he almost saw theherworld

    [-365]

    The wolf was awakened from his stun but, before he could attack Dave, its master crumbled down once dave struck him with another hit. Forcing both the wolf and the beast tamer to disappear from the ce.

    "Fucking hell! Is this a hidden boss? Why is it hitting this hard! Shit!" cursed the Tanker.

    Dave noticed that the tank¡¯s hp was at the critical levels and if he didn¡¯t attack first, he might lose the kill. So dave charged forward and struck down with all his might, managing to end the tank¡¯s life with a single hit.

    "Whow! That was close. I almost lost a kill there" said Dave with a grin.

    You have managed tond the killing strike on all the targets.

    +20 contribution points.

    +10 contribution point for perfect survival

    +40 contribution point for killing 4 yers.

    total contribution points

    99 (29+40+10+20)

    Dave was stunned, only two missions and he was one step closer to being able to rank up.

    However, there was something that bothered Dave, even after he killed the yers, he never received any EXP points, nor did he get tagged with an aggressor Tag or receive any drops from them. That was rather unfortunate. How was he going to gain enough experience points to level up? This quest was restraining him, but he didn¡¯t believe that the AI would forget something like this.

    The mission ended and a light beam shone all over the remaining skeletons. They were teleported back to the pce¡¯s courtyard.

    Yet before Dave could even rest.

    Urgent assembly!

    The Captain of unit 2100 has annexed your unit¡¯s Elit captain in order to aid them facing invaders.

    achieving victory is rewarded with 50 contribution points.

    Do you ept?

    (Refusing will cost you 50 contribution points)

    "Ah, fucking hell! The system is exploiting me!" Dave roared.

    If a Captain skeleton had summoned him, this means that they will be fighting something strong.

    refusing was out of the question, this would waste a lot of Dave¡¯s contribution points. So he disgruntedly epted.

    Once he epted he was teleported to a strange ce. It was not a graveyard, but it was some sort of ancient tomb.

    Dave looked at the map and discovered that he was at the far end of the map. This is the Devastator¡¯s region! This is where one of the most powerful guilds in the game have upied... and it is close to a high-level dungeon of theirs. They have a huge number of elite yers that could single-handedly deal with an entire toon of skeletons. What the heck? Dave would really die here if any of the high leveled members of the Devastators appeared here.

    Your mission is to halt the advance of the iing enemies.

    survive for 5 minutes.

    Dave looked around and saw that his small toon was just a small portion under themand of the skeleton captain. He was tasked with winning this small war. Several dozens of yers were before them, they had a leisurely look on their face as if this was nothing but a stroll for them.

    Their levels were from 100 to 200 apparently.

    Dave¡¯s heart sank, he won¡¯t be able to deal a single digit of damage to these people. They are too high level for him!

    You have been blessed with the aura of Leadership

    Under A leader, you will not face the damage restriction and reduction of the system unless your leader is lower level than his enemy.

    Skeleton captain¡¯s level 150.

    Dave gave a sigh of relief, at least he should be able to damage them. But the moment he thought of that, his face sank once more. How can he damage other yers with a level 1 apprentice sword! That was absurd!

    But his mission was not to defeat his enemies but to survive.

    The party of about 30 charged at the enemies as the skeletons faced, them. It would take just two to three hits for the skeletons to die. It was not a fight, but it was a massacre. These poor skeletons were thrown into a meat grinder. Or bone grinder in this case. They would be unable to deal any sort of damage, and even the skeleton captain was much lower level than the enemies.

    This fight would certainly end up in Dave being killed

    Dave didn¡¯t act the brave hero and attacked, he knew that he will be instantly killed. So he held back and remained all the way next to the skeleton Captain who was wearing broken silver shining armor.

    The skeleton Captain didn¡¯t move or even bothered with correcting Dave¡¯s behavior. He just looked strictly forward.

    Once two-thirds of the battling force were eliminated. The Skeleton captain charged forward and attacked the first yers.

    However, sadly he was destroyed in less than a minute though they took a long time in bringing him down, due to his nature as a (leader).

    that was not enough for the mission toplete.

    The Squad leader has been killed.

    The Next inmand has taken his ce, keep on fighting!

    Skeleton elite of toon 22225 is the current Squad leader.

    The new Squad leader has gained the buff, Leadership!

    "God damn it, cried out Dave." Leadership was a buff that is only worth its value when a high level NPC had it. now that the toon leader of Dave¡¯s team has it, it was no different from fighting without it. the elite skeleton was much lower level than the guys fighting them.

    Looking around every one of the elite leaders has been eliminated. Only Dave¡¯s toon leader remained, he took inmand and used the remaining undead to charge forward.

    What a waste of skeletons though Dave.

    He began moving backward looking at the ce where he was. It was an old tomb with various entrances and exits, it was surrounded by a small broken wall and a monastery of sorts was behind Dave. This was probably a dungeon.

    Skeleton elite of toon 22225 has been killed.

    the next inmand has taken his ce

    Death Stroke has the most contribution points. Death stroke has been assigned the role of Leader.

    "Huh?" Dave was shocked. Me leader? Over these bunch of cannon fodder? His heart winced.

    Then a strange thing happened, it was like if his mind was connected to every single one of them, it was a bit irritating at first, but he instantly knew what to do.

    "Fall back! Every one of you, disperse don¡¯t fight and retreat," Dave gave themand.

    Normally the undead will never stop attacking until they die, however with the order of a leader they had to follow. And so they dispersed in all directions.

    This was something the adventurer party did not expect. The skeletons that were charging like chickens to the ughterhouse began retreating and at an incredible speed.

    There was about twenty skeletons left, Dave used his connection to disperse them to create a sort of chaos. He needed to survive for 5 minutes, and if these skeletons survive he will be able to go back to the world of the Dead.

    The adventure party awoke from their wired state and began to give chase.

    They also split apart to take down the skeletons, while Dave got closer to the monastery¡¯s door.

    An adventurer was chasing after him, simply put, he had a small golden crown over his head.

    this meant that he was the current leader.

    Dave escaped to the inside of the monastery and went through the corridors.

    The chain adventure felt stunned, why the hell would a monster escape once a yer enters their aggro range, he was sure he was about 30 meters from the escaping skeleton.

    His rusted iron armor made him distinguished from the remaining skeletons but that was it, this was a low-level skeleton he would be killed with but a hit.

    Yet he was escaping, this made the adventure feel a bit irritated at having to waste effort to chase down a low-level skeleton.

    Once Dave was deep inside the monastery there were a couple of monsters lurking around, mainly ints. These were low-level ve demons. However, they have huge attack power once theybine their strength. Thankfully they had a green name tag and dave ran past them without the wait.

    The adventurer had to fight some of them to chase after the leader.

    A few momentster, the adventurer caught up. But Dave gave him a smirk as he disappeared from view.

    The time for the quest has ended, and Dave managed to survive until the end.

 Chapter 18 Rank Up!

    Within the western kingdom, a huge pce stood erect in the middle of a ginormous city. It was like a middle age city with castles towers and giant walls surrounding it, it looked impregnable, however, the leader of the Devastators had managed to conquer this city two years after the game wasunched. Now it was the headquarter of the Devastators, anyone within the city was a mem¨´eber of this super guild. Its members were more than a few million, while they had several sub-guilds that were annexed to them. This guild was led by absolute power and made the world recognize it. their leader was named Divine Cuss. This was the guild where Ralph, AKA ster was serving under.

    Ralph had a low standing in this guild. However,pared to many others high prominent members of other guilds, he was still a member of the Devastators this gave him a position of power.

    Now, what happened was that a rumor began to spread around the guild.

    A strange skeleton appeared in the vicinity of their base.

    Normally this small information would not agitate the higher echelons of the guilds, it was just spreading around the lower level members, especially those that were there.

    What happened that they were supposed to clear the demon-infested monastery. There were some skeletons and undead that roamed the ce, and normally once their numbers have been reduced a small party of skeletons would usually spawn and they had to fight it to proceed forward.

    The guild members did this so often that it was normal and no one thought anything of it. however, today it was rather different. The skeletons that charged at them at first were ground to bone dust without a problem, even the skeleton captain that was higher level than most of those skeletons was no match for the party of thirty or so high-level adventures.

    Yet the moment only twenty of them remained, they dispersed every one in a different direction, forcing the adventurers to either change them or stand still like wooden polls, that was strange. Some even summoned Alfred to see if it was a bug in the game, but he denied it and didn¡¯t give them any information.

    The strangest part, however, that the skeleton leader at the moment that was nothing but a low-level skeleton had run into the Monastery, using the various demons within it to halt the advance of an adventure that was following him, and the moment the skeleton was corned... it smiled and disappeared.

    The adventure, of course, didn¡¯t suffer anything in that chase, he didn¡¯t delve too deep in the Monastery so he was able to turn back and sent his party members the feed of him chasing the skeleton and it disappearing in thin air.

    This was a small incident that was swiped under the carpet rather fast.

    It was strange, but no one paid it any heeds.

    Only if they knew that that was the prelude to a game-changing event, they would have done their best to kill that strange skeleton...

    Dave was now back at the giant courtyard.

    You have managed to survive until the time limit.

    +50 contribution points.

    You were the sole survivor of the expedition.

    +1 contribution points.

    You currently have 150 contribution points.

    You can now issue a challenge to your toon leader. If you were to win you will take his role in leading the toon number 22225. Once you lose you will be kicked out of the world of the dead.

    Dave was not surprised, this was to be expected, however, he was still a bit distraught.

    Mainly due to his level! His level never increased, and he never got any forms of experience or drops. This would force Dave into a corner rather soon, even if he manages to take the ce of the elite skeleton leader, he will remain level 27... no matter his rank, even if he miraculously manages to be an abyssal knight, he will still be useless!!

    Dave could only sigh, he didn¡¯t think that the AI would leave something this problematic in this quest. He was not allowed to leave this ce until he dies, or by some heaven-defying miracle to defeat the undead king and take his position.

    "This is absurd" thought Dave, but he didn¡¯t bother for the moment, he issued a challenge.

    You have issued a challenge against toon leader of the unit 22225

    -100 Contribution points.

    Normally the toon leader should have been dead, but it seems that even after death. These undead will be resurrected back here in this world of the dead.

    He inspected the toon leader and saw his stats.

    Elite skeleton

    Level 35

    Hp 3500

    Damage 60-80

    200 Damage nullification.

    The two of them were teleported to a small arena, the seats were empty. This was probably a challenge not worth it for anyone to witness.

    The toon leader was an elite skeleton of level 35. He shouldn¡¯t be a challenge to Dave, at least from what he saw, he was alone and Dave had enough strength to fight against a sole enemy alone.

    The fight initiated and Dave was first to strike.

    The toon leader was only equipped with a rusty old sword and he charged at Dave blindly.

    No tactics no skills, just instinctual level of fighting.

    Dave was able to strike with his sword while taking the hit from the skeleton. He wanted to see how much damage he was going to receive.

    [-0]

    Well, that was expected. Dave had a lot of defense for a yer his level.

    Dave struck down with a skill rather than hitting his target with his normal attacks.

    {Destructive Smash}

    [-180]

    Dave then waited until the cooldown of the skill was over and struck once more

    [-190]

    every time the skeleton was struck it would be stunned.

    And Dave just kept on taking 0 damages while striking down every time his skill was off cooldown.

    He could defeat the Elite Skeleton with ease, but he didn¡¯t want to waste this time to grind and train his skill.

    Destructive Smash has reached

    (Amateur level 3)

    Destructive Smash has reached

    (Amateur level 4)

    Sadly it didn¡¯t go any higher as the Elite skeleton has been defeated. He couldn¡¯t regenerate Hp so Dave was a bit saddened.

    yet if others knew how he tortured a skeleton to train his skill and felt sad about it they would feel their heart wincing.

    You have defeated the skeleton elite of toon 22225.

    You are hereby ted the rank of

    Elite Skeleton

    You have the right tomand low-level skeleton units.

    As you have challenged others, other can challenge you to your position.

    +200 Contribution points.

    Do well to serve the Undead King.

    Your appearance had slightly changed.

    Dave was a bit intrigued by this, as he clearly saw that his already rusted looking armor gained a bit of a dark shade of color. But that wasn¡¯t that strange. What was strange that he felt a slight itch on his chin.

    He pressed his hand and found a small ck beard growing.

    the elite skeleton that he defeated had something like this.

    Dave found it interesting and stroke it a bit. But didn¡¯t delve into it any further. There was something interesting that caught his attention.

    Dave felt a bit happy, now he can no longer follow, he could now lead.

    Looking through a small screen he saw three different types of undead that he could recruit in his unit.

    Ghouls, Zombies, and a variety of skeletons.

    Ghouls had a huge amount of vitality but their attack power was low. The same could be said for the zombies, but they were much slower but had higher defense and would not sumb to attacks of yers, they would always move forward even if their limbs were cut off or their bodies were mangled, they could just bite on the livings to retrieve some health back.

    As for the skeletons they had different varieties. Especially archers and casters.

    He could even higher casters.

    However, every one of them had a cost.

    A single caster required Dave to spend 20 contribution points to higher. He could even hire ten of them, but that was not efficient.

    Dave then thought seriously about this.

    An archer would cost 15 contribution points, while a normal skeleton soldier costs only 5 contribution points.

    Ghouls needed 10 contribution points, and that was the same for the Zombies.

    Dave then chose three Ghouls, three archers, and three casters. And one zombie.

    The total cost for this was 170 contribution points. That left dave with 80 contribution points. If he was to rank up to a captain rank he would need 1000 contribution points, and he needed god soldiers to fight with him and handle the threats of other members fighting him.

    However, Dave¡¯s heart was still heavy. He needed to level up fast if he was to attain his goal of defeating the Undead King. And the risk of him dying at the hand of adventures would grow slowly.

    he noticed that the missions that he was sent to aplish were rtively close to his level, except that urgent assembly bonus quest. Next time he would need to refuse those as if he found himself facing high-level adventures he might die with a lot of regrets.

    Something bright shone before Dave, and a huge wall like ss seemed to shatter before him.

    It was the barrier that held him from moving closer to the pce.

    Dave approached and was not met with any resistance when he went past the range where low-level monsters stood.

    In this second level of the giant courtyard of the dead, everyone here was an elite tier monster.

    Some of them were not just skeletons, there were several casters and variation of zombies and ghouls here.

    Dave then understood that every time he ranked up he would get closer to the pce.

    Though the numbers here were fewer than those behind him, they still numbered the millions.

    There was a small hut before Dave where an old looking bag of bones was lording over. He was a zombie that was selling stuff!

    Dave was surprised at the strange scene but went forward to check out the vendor¡¯s wares.

    "How may I help a brother in arms?" said the Zombie as he was smiling showing several rotten and yellow teeth. That was probably supposed to be a smile.

    The scene disgusted Dave, but he didn¡¯t bother.

    "Show me what you have to sell," He said.

    And then a small screen appeared before Dave.

    It had several types of equipment and elixirs, there were even books of sorts. However, the price was astronomers!

    The least expensive item was a small bottle that had the words:

    "EXP Bottle" and it cost 100 contribution points!

    Dave couldn¡¯t even afford it.

    Dave sighed and finally understood that there was a way for him to reach higher levels. He would need to buy these and drink them, but he didn¡¯t know how much Exp they would give him or if they were enough at all. So he just

 Chapter 19 Massacre!

    Dave had to wait for the next expedition for him to leave the ce. He began inspecting his toon members. Most of them were rotten and they all looked for theck of a better word. Dumb.

    "Sigh, what am I going to do with the bunch of you..." said Dave to his small group.

    He still felt proud though, this was his unit, something he will treasure, something that will help him in reaching a higher goal so he decided to make the best use of them.

    toon number 22225 has been summoned to defend against an invading force.

    As a leader of the toon, it is your duty to serve the king in protecting hisnd.

    March forward with your force and block the invaders from reaching their goals.

    100 contribution points once sessful. For each Soldier¡¯s death under yourmand, you will lose 10 contribution points.

    Every enemy that dies under yourmand will grant you 10 contribution point.

    every enemy that falls under the hand of your followers will grant you 5 contribution points.

    You may gain more contribution points based on meritorious deeds, and depending on your handling of various situations.

    You may refuse the mission, but you must pay 100 contribution points

    once you are in a deficit you will be stripped out of your rank.

    will you ept your mission?

    Y/N?

    Dave read carefully the notification, unlike when he was just a regr soldier. The information window this time was exhaustive, it gave him a clear goal and reward. While also showcasing the risks. If he were to refuse or have his forces defeated he will probably lose a lot. If he gets wiped out, he will be forced out of this ce, and the only avable mean for securing his future would be lost to him.

    Dave began weighing his options. In these times, people would need to sit down and think carefully about what to do. Dave didn¡¯t have the luxury to sit down as the quest was hanging before him.

    The first thing that came to his mind was the AI¡¯s quest design. Thest mission he was sent on was really difficult, thankfully Dave was able to survive by ying the distraction card. However, if he was to rely on that n again and again. One day someone wille prepared. The undead¡¯s new behavior must have rmed people, when did anyone see an undead turning tail and running from a fight? Undeads are supposed to be dumb in nature. Well, at least the low-level ones. Dave, however, managed to force them out of their instinctual habits and led them to do things they would normally not do. So he needed to make sure to have a backup n once people be aware of the ¡¯unique¡¯ running undead.

    This, however, was put on hold. For the moment people don¡¯t know of Dave¡¯s existence. And he didn¡¯t make it apparent.

    The second point is, what if on the off chances Dave gets sent to a high-level area? If he was to face against let¡¯s say, people of level 300+, his entire toon will be wiped out in a matter of seconds.

    Forget about running, if he manages to escape under the hunt of a level 300 yer that would be an achievement in itself.

    Dave, however, didn¡¯t have the luxury of choice, he had to initiate missions with strange odds, he has yet to understand the principle behind these missions. Though he was sent two times to low-level areas where he defeated the same party twice. The third time threw him off course. Indeed it was a strange event, but one day if he was to blindly ept those events he might end up dead. And that was something that Dave didn¡¯t wish for.

    And thest point. Dave¡¯s level. He was too low level and it was pathetic! He needed to increase his level first, if he levels up his rank high up, he might be forced to lead a huge party of undead to face against much stronger foes, and with his low level, the Leadership aura will be useless.

    The leadership aura grants all undead under the leader the ability to attack people without the level disparity penalty. And due to Dave¡¯s level being a measly 27. Fighting against a level 80 even with all his ten undead would be nothing short of a mass suicide.

    "Sigh, this is getting problematic..." thought Dave.

    Indeed, he had a good advantage over several yers due to his high-end equipment, but this will only serve him in his low-level period. Once he grows out of his shell, he will need better equipment to bnce the low level.

    He could use contribution points to get more equipment, but that would hold off his leveling up speed.

    However, once Dave thought about it it sounded rather usible. Dave was in no hurry to level up. Though he could face high-level yers, it would still be useless even if he was of simr level, mainly due to hisck of proper equipment. And as Dave remembered the shop owner, he consolidated the idea of gaining basic strength over leveling up.

    The first thing Dave needed was a ss! And now without the ability toplete his Pdin questline, he was stuck without a ss. he couldn¡¯t leave the world of the dead to get to the church, and he sure as hell didn¡¯t want to impose on the church while looking like an undead.

    How would the priest answer to him?

    "Ah, yes Mr. undead you want to be a pdin? How about no?" and then a {divine punishement} ray would follow rendring Dave to bone dust.

    "Sigh, too many new things are making this journey rather difficult.

    Being a pioneer is not always advantageous, one needs to tread carefully and weigh all options." Though Dave.

    The screen still flickered before him as it was not going to disappear without Dave making a choice. It was like a ticking at the back of his mind that urged him to choose. Fight or flight...

    Dave couldn¡¯t do anything, he already wasted a lot of contribution points, and with his 80 contributions remaining, if he was to refuse he would go in deficit, which will strip his rank.

    That was something that Dave didn¡¯t wish for. As it might even be considered as failing the Main Questline.

    For the moment Dave had two quests. The first and most important one was the Main questline, which needed him to defeat the Undead King.

    The second quest was the inheritance quest which will only be unlocked for Dave after achieving some hidden requirements. Dave already made research on inheritance quests and understood that even with an inheritance piece, one needs to aplish several quests to unlock the full potential of the inheritance item.

    The god of war¡¯s item, for example, was a giant ive. It also had five seals on it. and the yer that owned the item needed to defeat several strong bosses to fully unlock its potential. Thest seal is the hardest, yet unlocking it unlocked the best skill in the game. Transformation.

    Once a yer transforms they will gain abilities rted to their Inheritance item. And they are all powerful. However, the transformation has a time limit of usage. It can only be used for 2 hours and will have a cooldown period of 72 hours of game time.

    However, just those two hours were enough for several guilds to defeat mighty bosses and clear impossible dungeons.

    Dave didn¡¯t wish to lose on either one of those quests. So he made sure to try his best to aplish both.

    Dave pressed the ept and was teleported yet again to the same graveyard.

    This time it was not the same party of four, but it was another group of adventurers that were moving around the graveyard.

    They were not facing any skeletons but were alerted at the sudden appearance of the new group of monsters.

    "Alright guys, let me tank for you, you can back up and heal me from behind, these dumb skeletons should be easy to defeat. But I never thought that they would have mixed species" Said the guy who was supposed to be the tanker of the party.

    indeed, normally all the types of undead that the adventures would meet were either, full skeletons, full casters, full archers or full Ghouls. This was the basic group but this one was different, it was a chosen group of Dave.

    Unlike the tanker from thest party, this one was even worse equipped. He had a rusty looking shield and a one-handed sword that was no different from Dave¡¯s main weapon.

    The others behind him, however, were slightly better dressed, there were two priests dressed in casual white. and a swordmaster who wielded a long two-handed sword.

    This was a typical DPS party, one tank, one DPS and two healers. This was based on the holy trinity of all MMORPG games, however, two healers were too much, they probably went with this just to make the journey smoother.

    "Alright," said the sword master "Get a good hold of aggro, I will try not to OT, And you guys should spread back and heal us if we are damaged." said the sword master addressing the two priests who were, by the way, two youngdies of simr looks. They were not that good looking but not that ugly they were in, like the face of someone you will see on the street and forget about him the moment you pass him by.

    This was what Dave thought about this mission, they were just passerby.

    Dave didn¡¯t make it hard on them too. He used three of his ghouls to attack at first and engage on the Tank, then moved the archers to the left side of the party. And the casters to the other side.

    This strange phenomenon caught the party of adventures off guard. Not only was this group of skeletons differently assembled, it could even organize itself and make strategic positioning?

    At first, they didn¡¯t think much of it, but the moment the fight broke. The aggro was all over the ce!

    How could the tank keep hold of the aggro? The archers and skeleton casters were outside his range but at the same time were positioned in a way that they could attack the priests! The ghouls didn¡¯t let the tank move an inch back as they surrounded him, and the moment the swordmaster tried to rid the Tank from the leeching ghouls, Dave came before him and with a glint in his eyes

    [-260]

    [-12]

    "What the fuck!" cried out the Swordmaster. He couldn¡¯t believe that he dealt such measly damage to the strangely bearded skeleton. However, in retrospect, he received a huge amount of damage! It was twice as high as a normal elite skeleton would deal.

    "Damn!" cried out the Swordmaster as he cast a skill

    "{Slice and Dice}"

    [-0]

    [-0]

    [-0]

    [-0]

    Dave was dumbfounded at the idiocy of this guy. {Slice and dice} was a skill of a swordmaster that wouldnd 50% weapon damage over 4 consecutive strikes in every tick in the span of the same time it would take tond a single attack it was a fast and shy but it was really a bad move to use against Dave! This normally would deal twice the damage of a normal attack, but every tick of the damage needed to go through Dave¡¯s defense separately...

    If his normal attack dealt 12 damage. 50% wouldn¡¯t deal even a single digit of damage! [1]

    Dave didn¡¯t bother with him as he kept him distracted while he keptnding heavy attacks on him, and even used destructive smash. Whenever Dave found the chance he would use this skill, he really liked how it would go on lower and lower cooldown whenever it was upgraded. It could even one day exceed his weapon damage.

    "What the hell are you guys doing! Heal me!" cried out the sword master, but once he turned around he saw that the priests were struggling to fight against the archer ss and casters that were bombarding them from behind. They couldn¡¯t even heal themselves, and he wants them to heal him? He sure has wishful thinking.

    The idea behind this tactic was rather simple for Dave. Although he can¡¯t control the Threat level of his enemies, and can only affect the decision of his undead in one single fashion when they were fighting. He could order them to retreat even if their enemies had locked on them. However, for the moment, they were far dispersed from each other. The tank couldn¡¯t leech them. And the healers couldn¡¯t support the party.

    In a matter of seconds, the first victim fell.

    One of your followers has sessfully in an enemy.

    +5 contribution points.

    One of your followers has sessfully in an enemy.

    +5 contribution points.

    It was one of the priests.

    Then another followed.

    This was the second priest, and the party lost one of its most important figures. The archers and casters turned their eyes on the remaining two and they rained death from above.

    You have in one of the invading members.

    +10 contribution points.

    This one was the distraught Swordmaster.

    Andstly, it was the turn of the tank that received the final strike from one of the Ghouls.

    at one point in time, one of the Ghouls was about to die. But Dave instantly willed it to back away from the fight and made one with a rtively higher Hp to take over his position.

    One of your followers has sessfully in an enemy.

    +5 contribution points.

    You have sessfully defeated all of your enemies.

    No one under yourmand has died!

    You havended a killing blow on one invader.

    your subordinates had killed three invaders.

    +125 contribution points

    With this Dave was satisfied, now he could try and buy that potion and he could know how much EXP it would give him. If it was enough to satiate his need for leveling up, then he could rx. If not, then he would have to ask Alfred toe down and exin more about this problematic aspect of the quest.

    Yet a strange notification appeared before Dave.

    toon 22225 had sessfully cleared the invading members

    You may remain here for further instructions or to obstruct other invaders.

    defeating other invaders would grant bonus contribution points as this is an off mission.

    do you wish to remain here waiting for further instructions?

    Y/N?

    Dave was met with a dilemma. Should he wait and try to get more contribution points? Or should he head back and wait for the system to send him back to another location?

    The first option was rather tempting for Dave, as he was in desperate need of contribution points. And with the skill of his handling of the undead that he just showed, he was a bit confident in defeating most of the parties of the same level of these guys. However, there was a hidden threat in that message. This would mean that he would have to remain in this ce. Unlike when he is sent from the world of the dead to a random ce, he would typically be sent to a location with low leveled enemies of his rank. What if a high-level yer was to show up here? Wouldn¡¯t that spell doom for Dave? Though the chance was low... it was not impossible.

    Wait and get more bonus points? Or go back and wait until he is deployed once more? Dave had to choose...

 Chapter 20 Mr. Skeletal

    Outside Dave notice the low-levelmunity was bing more and more restless.

    Mainly due to the strange happenings in the graveyards around the world of conquest.

    Graveyards were mainly the spawning points of dead yers, and also was the dwelling of several low-level skeletons. Most low-level yers would indulge in killing these skeletons as they gave a lot of EXP and were rather easy to kill. They were numerous and dealt low damage and were like farming points. At first, these plots ofnds would be filled to the brim with new yers. But these days the undeadmunity began to increase in activity.

    This was mainly due to Dave¡¯s initiation of the quest The Call of the Undead King.

    Normally a graveyard would only have about a hundred skeleton at most. But now, whenever a batch of them was killed, a new one would soon spawn and might even ovep with other skeletons that were still present.

    This was a bonus for low-level yers as many of these monsters were considered to be extra EXP. However, this still caused quite themotion on the side of the low-level yers. Mainly, they couldn¡¯t even find the time to recuperate as more and more skeletons would spawn.

    Some yers would usually take a small break after having fought a group of monsters, but with the constant spawn of the skeletons, it was bing harder and harder to survive.

    Thankfully the game did not penalize yers for dying against monsters, they would still keep their exp bar filled, however, death to a yer would drop them to the 0% EXP if they were to fall.

    But still, fighting these creatures created a good chance for the low-levelmunity to grow stronger in a faster manner.

    Some people began posting updates on the official Conquest forums indicating the new changes, they were minute changes, but still, a change meant one thing; an Event might be initiated.

    Some yers had asked the officials about the strange phenomenon but they were ignored or met with words like

    "Everything in the game is happening due to a reason, you must figure out the result of it yourselves" it was a simple statement that left many yers disgruntled, they didn¡¯t know what to do. But for the moment the event was probably in its initial stages so it was not worth remembering.

    On the other side of the forum, someone was looking through Undead rted articles. And happen to stumble by chance on a post by a man named Mr. Skeletal. The member looked to be new as they had only one single thread under their names so their post was almost overlooked. However, today with the changes happening in the game Conquest, his post was a bit interesting

    It had one caption

    "The Undead shall soon inherit the world" and that was it, under it was a video that had just ten seconds.

    The forum viewer didn¡¯t really think it would be that much of a waste to see a 10 seconds video so he yed it.

    At first, it was dark, the video was from a first-person point of view. It had no sound effects, and it was clear that it was taken from within the game. However, the one that took it didn¡¯t show their status bar, map or any of the like, it was like watching a movie from a first-person point of view.

    The dark space soon began to gain light as the video continued rolling. There was a space distortion in the sky and a dark moon hung on the broken celestial world.

    The weather and the sky were eerie. While at the far end of the horizon was a ginormous ancient looking pce made of bones.

    This gave the viewer the creeps, why would this be here? Was this a trailer from the officials? He thought.

    But a momentter the point of view looked a bit down and the viewer saw a scene from the apocalypse.

    Undead! Undead littering the ce, so many of them that if you throw a blind arrow you were bound to hit something!

    These Undead covered the entire giant tform around the pce, and by the looks of it, this was but a small portion of the undead that was visible to the onlooker.

    What was scary that they all had red tags on their heads, so this meant that it was probably caught by a yer. But where was this ce? In the whole history of the game that was 3 years right now, never had anyone seen something like this!

    Once these Undead took notice of the one taking the video, they all turned their heads. As if they were filled with hatred to whatever lived, they shouted at the top of their lungs and rushed forward like the floodgates were burst open!

    The video ended right there and the onlooker was shivering. He was not even there and he already felt the creeps!

    What if these Undead were unleashed in the world of conquest? How will the damage be? Will the game allow something like this?

    The onlooker was shocked and instantly began spreading the video.

    In a matter of hours, it went viral! The undead shall soon inherit the world! Simple words but they were filled with dread!

    If this was true, and this was the prelude to the change of undead activities in the game, then the consequences of these things being unleashed in the world would be devastating. It might even be a world event with every faction or super guild included and pulled by the current.

    Everyone turned speechless as they saw the feed and the demand on the officials increased. It increased so much that they were forced to give a proper answer to the demanding yers. The officials didn¡¯t need to lose on clients so they had to divulge some of the information.

    "That was supposed to be a scene from the undead world. Normally this event should have been initiatedter in the game once themunity had reached an average level of 500. But due to the average level of yers being barely 350, we didn¡¯t wish for this to be leaked. There is a single entity in the undead world right now, he is a yer and due to his discovery of the ce, he has been given Pioneer rights. He could travel and start the quests in the undead world before everyone else. However, the moment this yer either dies in the undead world or dies outside the undead world while maintaining a certain condition, he will be forced out of the event and the event will follow its natural course to be initiated earlier than anticipated. As for the yer¡¯s identity, we will not divulge it, it is their right to remain anonymous." Said the officials.

    So this would mean that it really was an event that started!

    And due to it being an event that was supposed to beunched once the average yer level reached 500 this meant that it was supposed to take a lot of time for it to start! And now by some sort of dumb luck, someone managed to get into this world and were able to do quests and probably gain unique equipment!

    This news that was at first nothing but trivia soon reached the ears of the higher echelons of the leading guilds in the game.

    An event that was supposed to beunched at the average level of 500 presented great opportunities to those that could im the top spots or manage to aplish some quests. However, there was no way to trigger anything rted to the event! Some went to churches to ask about the ce but the NPC didn¡¯t give any valuable information.

    Until someone posted another interesting piece of news! Someone had gone to a strange library in a dark tomb and found out about the dark world.

    There was a small book exining the domain of the dead.

    "The Undead Legion rests within thend of the dead. Finding the legion would mean instant death, the legion is ruthless and unyielding, and they are ruled by a powerful king. The undead king was a sing of supremacy and yet he withdrew from the world several thousand years ago. Secluding himself and his army until he will be unleashed on thend of the living. The undead king rules over a mighty army of death, and those that could y this king will gain his heritage and be a true ruler of the dead"

    This was just a vor text that several people had seen before but none found it interesting.

    Yet now with theunch of the event, this book became a great source of information and was a motive to force several strong and powerful guilds on the move!

    Gaining the power of the undead kings would probably give them the power to control his army! How powerful would a guild be if it was to subordinate an army of that magnitude? Wouldn¡¯t they rule the world? What if one of the three super guilds manages toy their hands on the kingdom of the dead? Wouldn¡¯t they be able to conquer all other kingdoms? Wouldn¡¯t they hold the power to invade and demolish? Wouldn¡¯t they be able to control all the regions in the game? Forcing everyone to use their teleportation circles and increasing their wealth?

    This was a huge pot of gold ripe for the taking! The three super guilds were in a Mexican standoff for a long period of time. None of them dared to make a move on the other, in fear of the third factioning and taking the bonuses of the exhausted faction!

    But now with this new factor! What if one of the three super guilds were to obtain the undead and make them their personal army? Wouldn¡¯t that crumble the bnce?

    This event might have started as a strange change in the undead¡¯s behavior, but it leads to a great opportunity for the first to im it. the only thing that is outside their control is the yer that is still in this undead world! With their death, the race for supremacy can start! Now what is left for these super guilds is to find out who this yer is. But due to having more than 2 billion yers in the game, how are they going to find him?

 Chapter 21 Legacy Challenge!

    Chapter 21

    While all of this was happening, Dave had already epted the sub-quest. Why? It was rather simple. This was his best chance to gain as much contribution points. People still needed to link the dots, and Dave just went on with it.

    He had managed to subdue more than six parties! He even found several solo yers that were eradicated without wait.

    Dave traveled the giant graveyard like a grim reaper, fully destroying any unfortunate soul that was alone. He felt a pinch as he was doing something simr to Pk. But he didn¡¯t bother, he was not actively harming other people, as PK yers would have the chance to make their enemies drop their equipment once they die. But Dave was, in this case, considered a Monster, so even if he killed others, they will not lose their XP, nor would they drop equipment. This was something that made Dave bear with killing other yers. And it also gave him quite the real-life experience in how to handle other enemies.

    So far Dave had about 960 Contribution points!

    The bonus points for doing the sub-just were amazing.

    Everything was doubled. However, he didn¡¯t get the supplementary +100contribution once he defeated an entire party. Still getting 20 points for each personal kill was luxurious and as for his minions, he would get 10 for everything they kill.

    At first, there were several adventures that were present in the graveyard. But four hourster, it was known that this ce was a ce of death! Many adventures fell to Dave¡¯s strange party. And they decided to stop going deeper in the graveyard.

    Dave then understood that it was time for him to leave.

    Mainly due to one single reason. People once they find something hard to deal with, they will usually ask for stronger party members to help them. If they were in a guild they might ask others toe with them.

    You have decided to retreat from the fight.

    You have made a great contribution to the undead legion.

    Total enemies defeated under yourmand

    Your followers have killed a total of 40 invader

    You have personally killed 28 invaders.

    Total points

    960+(205)=1165

    Dave was surprised as he saw that in one single setting he was able to umte enough points that he could directly challenge a captain skeleton!

    However, that was obviously a bad move if he were to hastily try it.

    The umtion of contribution points was not that hard, well at least from Dave¡¯s point of view. umtion 1000 points in four hours is an incredibly fast speed, but that is only because most low-level yers are not adept at handling his strange party.

    This will probably cease to be the case after few days, some might call help and Dave might end up dead.

    So he wanted to take advantage of people¡¯s ignorance.

    And now he went back to the undead world, directly heading for the shop owner.

    "What can I offer a brother in arms?" said the merchant as he smiled with the same disgusting smile.

    Dave didn¡¯t bother as he began looking at his wares.

    There were skill books, nothing of great value but still, the prices were exorbitant.

    Dave, however,was interested in the EXP potion first.

    "Give me one of those bottles"

    Said, Dave, as he took one with the lowest price of 100 contribution points.

    Dave looked at the dark liquid that was faintly shimmering inside the bottle and took a gulp.

    It had a terrible taste thought Dave and he didn¡¯t even want to know what it was made of.

    You have gained 100 000 XP

    Level Up

    Level Up

    Level Up

    Level Up

    Level Up

    Your ring has absorbed 20% of the total XP

    Ring level 11

    The first seal has been unlocked.

    Dave was shocked! He didn¡¯t believe that he could level up five times in a single sitting! That was amazing

    And looking at the shop, there are several tiers of that bottle and he could drink pricier ones.

    However, he decided against it, first of all, he is poorly equipped as his level began to outgrow his equipment. He needed to change his gear. The second thing was hisck of contribution points. The next tier costs 1000 points, and if he was to drink it he would have nothing but 65 points.

    He already lost two Ghouls and a skeleton archer. He would not have enough to replenish his forces. And he was also interested in some of the equipment in the shop. But first thing is that he needed to see the unlocked seal on his ring.

    Dave inspected the ring and saw the small changes on it.

    Category: Ring Ring of the Death God.

    {S ss Inheritance item}

    {yer Bound to Death Stroke}

    Requirements Level 0

    Cannot be removed!

    Bonus stats Has the ability Changes appearance from human to undead.

    Can switch back to human

    [Death siphon]

    [Sealed]

    [Sealed]

    [Sealed]

    Scaling/ss Scaling essory

    ss. Divine.

    {Consumes some of the yer¡¯s XP to level up}

    Currently Ring Level 10

    Dave noticed that now he had the ability to switch back to human form. At first, he was stuck with being an undead. Now he could probably go back to his human form. Though that was not useful at the moment due to his inability to leave the world of the Dead, once in the graveyard. He could switches back to a human form and probably escape other yer¡¯s notice. If the quest allows him that.

    You are now eligible to partake in the first challenge of the inheritance quest.

    Would you like to start?

    Y/N?

    A notification screen appeared before Dave, this was the first challenge of the inheritance quest, it is usually the easiest as it gets harder the more seals that are unlocked.

    Inheritance pieces unlock an ability every 10 levels. So once the ring reaches level 50 he would be able to unlock all the abilities on it. however, that doesn¡¯t mean that it is easy, some people who are much higher level than Dave have yet to unlock the final ability of their inheritance item.

    And for an S ss inheritance item, the final challenge would be immensely hard.

    That was far in the future, so Dave walked toward the shop owner and bought two items.

    Category: Weapon Rusted Cuss

    A de that belonged to a brave Pirate, however, bravery can sometimes lead to undesirable results. Otherwise, this de wouldn¡¯t belong to the undead

    Damage 150-200

    50 stamina/strike

    Requirements 100 Strength. 100 Agility

    Level 25

    Bonus stats 5% chance to cause Bleed

    Bleed the target for 500 HP (t) over 5 seconds.

    Can stack 2 times.

    Scaling/ss E: Strength - D: Dexterity.

    ss. Rare weapon.

    Dave was surprised at the high damage value of the weapon, especially the bonus of causing bleeding . Though it is hard to proke the effect as it is only 5% if it gets picked twice that would lead to a huge blood loss. It is an amazing weapon that has a good basic damage output.

    Considering the Damage range and Dave¡¯s stats he could deal up to 675-775

    (Dave¡¯s stats are 140 strength 100 Dexterity, you can do the math. Weapon damage is from 150-200 and with the modifiers and stat value it will be 675-775 if I did the math correctly...)

    for a weapon, it sure dealt a huge amountpared to his old basic weapon. just a regr attack was in the range of a critical strick from his old one.

    Then he picked up another item, it was a small kite shield.

    Category: Shield Old order of the Eagle kite shield

    A Shield that belonged to a once prosperous order, however, their beliefs were corrupted and their power waned against the power of the undead. Now most of them belong to the very faction they hated...

    400 durability

    +500 Damage nullification

    +250 magic absorption

    +3% Immunity

    Requirements 150 Strength.

    Level 25

    Bonus stats Basic shield skill

    {Block}

    Nullifies physical attacks

    Cooldown 5 seconds.

    Scaling/ss ss. Rare Shield.

    All shields have a basic skill, and it is {Block} Dave saw how Bone Breaker used it to fight against the Abyssal Knight and he liked it much, now he has the chance to use it. sadly Dave is without a ss and can not benefit from the ss advantages.

    Most sses have basic skills linked to them, and now that Dave is still ying without a ss he had to wait for a chance to get one. Now he wanted to be a pdin first, but it seems that it is out of the question right now. He will have to search for a rted ss here in this world of the dead.

    Dave had to pay 400 contribution point for the shield and another 400 for the sword.

    He replenished his small party of the undead. And was left with 205 contribution points.

    He bought two more potions and didn¡¯t drink them. He wanted to keep them in his inventory forter. However, Dave noticed a strange thing. The moment he bought the two other potions, the bottles disappeared from the shop.

    "Hey don¡¯t you have more of those bottles?" asked Dave.

    "No, the amount of Potions that you could buy is fixed. And you can only take three per tier. If you want another one, you will have to buy the higher tiered one." Said the shopkeeper

    Dave sighed as he understood that it was a way for people to avoid relying on these potions.

    The screen to initiate the challenge was still flickering before Dave, so he had to do what was needed of him

    "ept!" said Dave and a blinding light shone above him. He has teleported to a strange location once again!

 Chapter 22 Waves of enemies

    Dave found himself in arge arena, he looked at his skill bar and saw that his shield¡¯s Skill {Block} and his skill, {Destructive Smash} were grayed out. He cannot use them.

    This was probably mean to make people unable to use their skills in this challenge, Dave knew that many inheritance quests¡¯ challenges had a step like this where they would have to rely on themselves instead of the skills they owned.

    Therge arena he stood in, was devoided of life. The floor was made of stone and dirt while the chairs were made of stone bs, they were all empty.

    However, the sound of cheers was still booming through the voided arena.

    "Champion of the death god!" cried out a voice that rocked the world itself.

    "Do you think yourself worthy of your diety¡¯s blessing?" spoke the voice in a rhetorical manner than before Dave could say anything he said "Then prove it!" and several creatures emerged before Dave.

    At first, they were but three small rats that appeared before Dave, they were slow and weak, the three of them were Level 1.

    Dave ended their lives with a single hit each.

    "Very well," said the voice "You aren¡¯t as useless as you appear to be. Let¡¯s see how you will handle these!" said the voice of more than ten rats appeared before Dave.

    The numbers sure were a lot, but these things wouldn¡¯t be able to make a single dent in Dave¡¯s armor or damage him a single bit.

    Without waiting, Dave shed and cut apart the small critters. If this was a challenge, then Dave could easily tide through.

    Another Wave soon started without the voice speaking at all.

    This time three wolves appeared before Dave.

    They were also handled the same way. It was rather boring for Dave, he actually thought that he might end up facing some trouble doing this challenge, but the Death god¡¯s challenge sure was easy.

    However, this fact onlyster for few more rounds. Actually, this was a test of strength designed by the system, whenever a wave was defeated a stronger wave would spawn, and once the yer was unable to move forward or die they will then be given a score.

    A wave of kobolds followed, then groups of goblins, then orcs. Only then was Dave received the first tick of damage

    [-30]

    A two-handed weapon wielding orc attacked Dave with a Warhammer. Dave didn¡¯t worry at first, but now that he received Damage he needed to steady himself and start paying attention.

    The orcs were dealt with almost immediately. This challenge was generalized between all quests, and normally many yers would find it rather hard and tiring fighting all these waves of monsters. Due to one single reason... Stamina.

    Most of the yers would suffer through these waves due to their limited Stamina and they will take a lot of time to fight against these monsters. Even weak monsters will make them spend a lot of stamina brandishing their weapons, however, Dave is currently an undead. And undead doesn¡¯t have such a limit.

    The arena¡¯s atmosphere changed soon, it turned dark and torches were lit. while Dave didn¡¯t halt or stop fighting.

    One hour, two, three and more.. if Dave didn¡¯t take a break before to have some food he would have suffered through this round of mass murderer.

    Orcs fell one after another, their ugly pig like snouts would snort every time they received damage and they would crumble after three to four hits by Dave¡¯s weapon.

    They were close to level 40. Dave just broke through Level 33. And now he was gaining some Exp while fighting these creatures.

    Thankfully the moment He leveled up he would regain some of his lost Hp, but Dave knew that at this rate he won¡¯t be able to survive for long.

    The monsters would grow in level, while the damage penalty will start taking effect once the monsters are level 53.

    Once the wave of ten orcs died, Dave was left with about 3000 Hp. That was slightly above 60% of his total Hp, though they dealt low damage he still received a constant decrease in his Hp.

    "Very well Challenger, you seem to be able to handle small fries. Let¡¯s pick up the pace!"

    A giant troll then appeared. It was hideous! It was at least three meters in length and had an enormous club in one of his hands. he was wearing nothing but old rags to cover his waist, while his disheveled and rot widened hair was covering most of its face. It had several blisters and rotted but terrifying looking fangs.

    It howled and smacked its club down the floor and ran towards Dave.

    Dave didn¡¯t bother fighting for the moment

    The troll was clearly higher level than Dave and taking a direct hit will probably make him suffer a lot.

    Dave knew something about trolls as he searched about the various monsters in the game long ago.

    Trolls have an enormous regeneration, even cutting their limbs is not enough for them to die. As they could regenerate a lost hand in a matter of seconds. However, on the other hand, they have a devastating weakness. Fire!

    Due to the change in the settings of the arena Dave understood that the lit torches were the prelude to this fight. A warrior needs to use his brain sometimes and not only his muscles.

    The moment the fight broke Dave was already near one of the torches. The Troll got closer and steered away from the lit me. It was a natural enemy of the troll¡¯s regeneration ability.

    Dave kicked the torch and it struck the dirty growing fur on the troll¡¯s right arm.

    A screech emanated from its mouth as it began to howl. However, this alone was not enough.

    Dave rushed forward and struck with his sword!

    [-450]

    the troll had about 200 damage nullification and the damage dealt was not that High. However, it clearly took about 2% of the troll¡¯s Hp.

    Dave didn¡¯t stop and attacked again. However, the second attack caused him to receive some damage

    [-200]

    The basic damage of the troll was high!

    Normally a monster of this level would be a nightmare of a level 30 yer. However, Dave had a good amount of defense due to his armor and his bonus stats. Also with the bonus damage nullification from the shield, he didn¡¯t take much damage.

    Yet Dave knew that if he was to keep this up, he would die long before the Troll would crumble. Especially with the regeneration value that was ticking every second.

    The Troll would heal 0.1% of its Hp every second, and that was rather annoying. But once he was affected with burning effects he will lose the passive regeneration.

    Dave kited the troll, evading as much as he could the swinging giant club. Every time it was swung it would force the wind to whistle and make Dave¡¯s heart tighten.

    The second torch was behind Dave, but due to the Troll being incensed he didn¡¯t even bother dodging it as Dave stepped aside and the troll crashed on the ming torch. The troll was caught on fire, as his hairy body began to lit up at an enormous speed.

    [-100]

    [-100]

    [-100]

    [-100]

    ...

    Fire damage was constantly proking and it didn¡¯t look like it would go out anytime soon. The troll was desperate and tried to attack Dave thought he was still burning like a humanoid torch. Dave kept kiting the troll to nearby torches and forced it to crash on more torches. It took about three minutes of kiting until the troll finally sumbed.

    "Congrattions! Now you have proved that you are a powerful ant!"said the voice with a jarringugh.

    "Now, That you have been familiarised with the waves. You can start the second andst part of this challenge. Make sure you are physically and mentally prepared. The next task is much harder!"

    You havepleted the wave challenge, the next challenge is a survival challenge.

    the longer youst the better the reward. All your abilities will be unlocked. The enemies will correspond to your current level and the number of abilities(Skills) you currently have. You may start this quest whenever you wish.

    Would you like to schedule this challenge?

    Y/N?

    Dave thought about it for a moment then he said "I would like to schedule this mission. I will start this quest in 24 hours (Game time=8 hours real life)

    Dave needed to sleep. He has been ying for the entire day now and he needed to take a rest. Sleep has a shower and many other things. His mind began to be hazy from all the ying.

    The game has been scheduled for

    23:59:56

    Dave then logged out and went straight to the kitchen.

    He was a bit hungry so he needed to eat first. Preparing a meal of instant noodles and munching on some snacks he went back to the forums to have a look at the news.

    And boy was he surprised! It seems that Mr.Skeletal¡¯s video made him a legend!

 Chapter 23 Fighting On

    Dave was utterly and totally confused. People were talking about the strange video! How the scene is making more and more peoplement on it. some gave their thoughts and said that it was probably a game trailer for the event. While others said that it was clearly filmed by a yer.

    The forums were filled withments, as people began giving theories about the world of the dead and some even thought that it would turn the current game upside down if this amount of Undead was released to the world. However, what interested Dave the most was the statement by the game developers. They even gave the yers hints about the game and the pioneer who was able to travel the undead world.

    At first, dave felt a bit stifled because they divulged the way for the yers to have ess to the event. Indeed he didn¡¯t have the right to monopolize the game¡¯s event, but still, he somehow felt that he was treated unjustly.

    Dave kept scrolling down the forums until he saw a post that interested him the most.

    It was a post made by the Devastators. They even gave a small bounty for anyone that gives hints about the one who was in the undead world. Even the yer himself would be awarded 10 000$ if theye to the Devastators and give them the right to ess the zone.

    Mainly, it was a kill order for Dave, they wanted to kill him so that the Event will be avable to all.

    Dave didn¡¯t like how this was going. If he were to make his presence known he might end up catching the attention of high-level yers. He doesn¡¯t have the power to protect himself right now but he couldn¡¯t help the urge to do something.

    He posted a small sentence under his forum name Mr.Skeletal and said

    "The undead will never submit to the living"

    He then left hisputer and headed for his bed. He needed to rx first and sleep as his eyelids felt heavier than lead.

    Once Dave woke up, he ate his breakfast and went back to the game.

    Dave¡¯s savings were about 6500$ right now, paying the rent and getting some of the food made a small hole in his pocket.

    Dave could only sigh at his rapidly decreasing savings. This was another motivator for Dave to get on with the quest and make sure he obtained the throne of the undead.

    Once Dave Logged in the game, there was one hour remaining until his quest starts. So he made sure to rest.

    Once Dave had logged out, his Hp had fully recovered and now he only needed to wait until the timer ends for the quest to begin.

    Dave didn¡¯t waste his time loitering around as he began moving closer to the bone pce, once he reached a certain threshold he was stopped once again by the strange barrier.

    This is where he would need to go once he reaches the next rank. Looking from behind the invisible barrier, Dave could see various and different Skeletons. Some were giants and some were smaller than Dave, most of them had a humanoid form, and yet some were giant orcs. Or Ogers, some were zombified trolls, and some were even flying skeletons.

    This is the Skeleton captain rank. And behind it was the powerful rank of a Death Knight. The true backbone of the army of the dead is the Death Knight. There are several thousands of them, and every one of them can lead a party of 1100 skeletons. 100 captains with 10 elites under every one of these captains, while every one of those elites had 10 normal skeletons/undead below them.

    If Dave is able to attain the Rank of Death Knight, he would be able to fight stronger foes, however, his level is severely limiting him.

    Even the rank of Skeleton Captain needed Dave to be at least level 150 to fully utilize it. this meant one thing. Dave needed to umte huge amounts of Contribution points for him to reach that level rapidly. Buying those potions will give him a huge advantage in terms of leveling up. But the contribution points are not easy to umte. And with the current turn of events happening in the forums and the increased attention of the stronger and more powerful guilds Dave¡¯s chances of gaining more contribution points is being severely limited.

    However, what gave Dave some hope was the strange upgrade to his ring. He could switch back his appearance to a human form, but Dave has yet to know if he was to die in his human form, would it foil the mission? Also, how will he even exit this region? He is stuck here without a chance to visit the outside world.

    "Alfred" spoke Dave and Alfred showed up soon.

    "Huh, it¡¯s you again, what is it?" asked Alfred.

    "This pioneer mission is tooplex. I am severely limited in my options, I will not be able to ovee the difficulties at this rate. The game should not be unfair, and right now I am stuck in this region unable to gain any levels from the outside world besides drinking those potions. Even those potions are limited and will probably notst me enough to grow into the level needed of me to rank up. Don¡¯t you think it is rather unfair?" said Dave.

    "Those potions are nothing but bonus Exp Points, Indeed they will not help you a lot to gain higher levels, even if you drank all the potions here you will barely reach level 300. They were considered rewards for people that are finding it hard to level up. And are not meant to be relied on. As for your other question, it is indeed unfair but I did not overlook it. once you sessfully finish your Inheritance quest you will find out why. Normally I will not help other yers, but regarding your situation as a pioneer you should be given hints about your objective, otherwise, it is indeed unfair. Work hard in your inheritance Quest and you will find out how the system of the world of the dead works." Said, Alfred, as he disappeared from view.

    Dave was thankful, Alfred normally would only consider giving his insight if there was a bug or a w in the game. And due to Dave¡¯s limited information on this ce, it was considered a w. Normally if all the yers were able to ess this ce, Alfred would not have helped anyone. Because with numbers a solution to Dave¡¯s problem will naturally be discovered. However, due to Dave being alone, he needed some assistance otherwise it would be unfair to a pioneer.

    The timer was over and Dave¡¯s second part of s first inheritance Quest started

    You have been teleported back to the divine challenge arena.

    The second part of your quest has been initiated.

    Survival

    Based on how long you survive you will earn greater rewards.

    Dying here will not affect your progress in any other quest or even outside the arena.

    First Wave start.

    The first wave was initiated, and it was simr to the one that Dave first underwent. It was rats. However, instead of a single rat, there were about two dozens of them.

    Dave struck down the first creature and a small notification appeared before him

    You have killed an enemy

    Death Siphon activated

    Healing Value [0]

    "Huh?" Dave was a bit dumbfounded, as he didn¡¯t know what went on. He pressed on the notification ignoring the rats that appeared before him.

    Death Siphon.

    You can heal a t 5% value of your Hp everytime you kill an enemy.

    {God tier skill}

    Dave was awestruck. A fixed hp percentage! That was amazing. But, this was different than life steal. Life steal equipment would heal a percentage of the damage dealt and they are affected by defense value, however, this skill allowed Dave to heal a t percentage of his Hp whenever he killed an enemy. This might be rather difficult for Dave to aplish once he is fighting her tiered enemies, but against small critters, this would be a good way for him to heal back up to full health.

    Dave started killing some of the rats, but before he could fully eliminate them, another wave appeared. They were wolvs.

    "AH, shit." Dave finally understood that if he took a long time fighting each wave. At one point in time, he would be swarmed and will die miserably.

    Dave ignored the small rats and started hacking at the wolves.

    The rats and the wolves dealt nothing but 0 damage values. So they were not threatening to Dave. However, after these creatures, there will be orcs and goblins, even trolls. They will start hitting hard and the cumtive damage will be immense.

    Dave ignored the rats for a single and simple reason.

    {Death siphon}

    he could use the rats to heal back 5% of his Hp once he is low, and this will increase his chances of surviving for a long time.

    The wolves would have been a good mean to heal up. But they needed two hits from Dave, and if he left them running amock they would tier him out.

    The wolves had a strange skill

    {Howel}

    This skill affects the yer¡¯s movement speed. Dave would have to suffer slow effects if he was hit with severalyers of {Howel}

    Once the wolves were eradicated, a wave of twenty orcs appeared.

    Dave immediately ran forward attacking the closest orc.

    The orcs could deal about 20 damage to Dave. And the moment the first hitnded on Dave

    [Block]

    Dave used Block to cancel the damage from the first Orc¡¯s strick then smacked down with his cuss

    [-680]

    The orc lost about two-thirds of its Hp, then Dave followed up with another sh before the orc¡¯s hit wouldnd.

    [-720]

    The orc died

    Death Siphon had activated

    [+0]

    "Very well," thought Dave, this way he would naturally survive for a long period of time. He just needed to use his abilities and manage his skills ordingly.

    This challenge was a simple challenge to test the yer¡¯s micromanagement of his enemies and skills. If other yers began directly by killing every creature, once the tougher monsters appeared. They will find themselves overwhelmed.

    While if they left the smaller creatures they could heal up a good percentage of their Hp by attacking them, and thus having a higher chance at standing strong and fighting against the other monsters for a longer period of time.

    And so Dave fought on...

 Chapter 24 First Death

    Chapter 24

    This was not a fight against time, So Dave took his time killing various monsters. However, once in a while, while his Hp drops below 75% he would take down one of the small rats he had ¡¯saved¡¯

    The scenery in the arena changed to night time and the fire torches were lit once more.

    The troll wave...

    This time, however, two trolls appeared before Dave.

    The first charged forward while the second thumped on his chest before steering to Dave¡¯s Right.

    The first hit from the closest troll was blocked by Dave¡¯s weapon, then he struck down with his sword.

    [-1512!] a beautiful critical strikended and took more than a third of the troll¡¯s Hp.

    Right after that Dave steered to the left away from the second troll, and made sure that they remained one behind the other while he kited them around.

    The first troll managed to hit a close torcher and he caught fire. While the idiotic second one was too close that the fire caught him off-guard.

    Two burning trolls were crying out in rage, as they began historically waving theirrge arms and giant clubs around.

    The fire must have really made them angry but Dave didn¡¯t Halt his kiting. He drove the first Troll in circles, while he ignored the second one.

    The second trial was barely able to regenerate some of its missing Hp, while the first troll as hammered down with consecutive attacks.

    At one point in time, Dave managed to kill the first troll while barely losing half of his Hp.

    One rat that was still alive, had been following around Dave from the beginning of the fight.

    The moment Dave struck him down, he received another 5% of his Max hp which was equivalent to a 225 hp value

    It might not seem to be a lot, but for a ss, without any healing tools, it was more than enough.

    Dave was on the verge of facepalming when he thought about how he forgot to bring any healing potions. Then he remembered that he was in the undead world and he couldn¡¯t get to any alchemist shop or get items from the world trade marketce.

    This quest was designed for the people that initiated the Death god¡¯s inheritance question. And it was mostly designed for the pioneer to have first discovered this ce. As even one single death inside the undead world would ruin the chances ofpleting this quest.

    This was probably the hardest inheritance quest that Dave had seen. Normally all other quests would have difficulty settings and would force the yers to fight against strong and powerful bosses, orplete difficult quests. But to not die not even a single time? This was rather absurd!

    Dave could only sigh and believe that the harder the quest, the greater the reward.

    Dave aimed at the second troll and ended its misery in less than two minutes.

    Nothing spawned after Dave had killed the two trolls so he waited for an announcement or anything of the sorts.

    "You have defeated all enemies within your level requirement and based on the numbers of skills you currently have. The next round is a bonus round, try to survive as long as you can" said the same voice and a white glow shimmered in the middle of the arena.

    This time it was a strange creature. It was a giant scorpion with two tails

    Twin-tailed Scorpion

    Level 65

    Damage 1200-1800.

    Can cause poisoned state

    Hp. 4500

    500 damage nullification

    It was a scorpion that was much higher than Dave¡¯s level. Currently, Dave¡¯s level was still around 32. So he would automatically receive a -13% damage reduction penalty and will have a +13% damage intake. This would be really hard for Dave especially with the 500 damage nullification. At best Dave would only be able to deal 150 damage to 230. While he would receive at least 226-904 damage!

    This creature is rather overpowered and has a wider range of damagepared to the earlier trolls. Thankfully it had Low Hp, but still, it had a high defense Value which the trollscked.

    Dave walked back for a bit before the scorpion skittled forward. Its paws would make strange sounds once they hit the Arena¡¯s concrete ground but Dave didn¡¯t have the time to admire that.

    The ck scorpion struck down with its ws but Dave managed to use a block to nullify the damage

    The moment the damage was nullified Dave struck down with his cuss and dealt a significant amount of damage.

    [-200]

    However, it was far from enough.

    The scorpion struck this time with its tail twice in a rapid fashion.

    [-0]

    [-0]

    Due to your nature as an undead. The scorpion failed to apply Poisoned State.

    That was aforting surprise for Dave as he was not damaged by DOT effect of the poison.

    Dave struck down with its sword once again

    Your weapon has proked

    [Bleed]

    -500 Hp over 5 seconds

    Even if the chance of proking the effect was low, it still managed to trigger. And it was a pleasant surprise! Dave didn¡¯t trigger this effect even while he was fighting all of the enemies from before, but it proked on the second hit.

    Thankfully [Bleed] is a t Value, so no matter the Hp or defense of an enemy it will still take the same amount of damage.

    However, proking the effect is random. And Dave can¡¯t rely on it.

    [-360] Dave was struck with a powerful chomp of the Scorpion¡¯s ws and it took about a tenth of his remaining Hp.

    Dave struck once again and surprisingly

    Your weapon has proked

    [Bleed]

    -500 Hp over 5 seconds

    An amazing luck indeed! The weapon proked twice and the scorpion was now bleeding and would lose a huge amount of its Hp over the fight.

    The fight went on and Dave managed to defeat the scorpion while he had 200 hp remaining.

    If the bleed effect didn¡¯t trigger he would have had to use one of his trump cards.

    "Hoo, you managed to defeat that? Quite impressive!" said the same Voice then another ray of light appeared in the middle of the Arena.

    Unchained Minotaur

    Level 70.

    Damage 1400-2100

    Can use Stampede to knock away all enemies in a straight line.

    400 Damage nullification

    200 magic absorption

    8000 Hp

    An even stronger foe appeared before Dave, and he could only sigh as he picked something from his inventory.

    Indeed after having killed the scorpion, he healed another 5% of his Max Hp, thanks to death siphon, but for the moment. That was not enough. Even a random attack from the Minautore would kill him.

    The item he picked up from his inventory was an EXP Potion.

    Once Dave chugged it down

    Level up

    Level up

    Level up

    Dave¡¯s Hp was restored. Once a yer levels up, their Hp/mana and stamina are restored to full. And Dave used this instead of a health potion. It might be against the game design that made him unable to buy health potions, but he used his head and managed to find a small loophole to heal himself back up. This normally would not work on higher level yers, as they would need a stronger potion, and the level EXP required to level up once a yer reaches level 100 bes staggering.

    The minotaur attacked Dave as it charged forward with unyielding resolve.

    Dave waited until thest second before he used [Block] the bull¡¯s charge was considered a melee attack so Dave thought he could block it. what happened next stunned Dave, both literally and figuratively.

    He was hit with the charge¡¯s stun effect and was sent flying a few meters. He didn¡¯t take any damage but was under stun effect for 2 seconds.

    The bull turned its head and went once again to fight Dave.

    Its two hulking giant hands smashed down the ground knocking rubble and dirt and sending a shockwave towards Dave

    [-415]

    "Shit!" Cried out Dave as he attacked with his sword.

    The de in his hand felt a bit of resistance as a low amount of damage appeared above the Minautore [-89]

    That would take dave a lot of time before he could with the minotaur health bar.

    Dave followed up with a destructive Smash

    [-44]

    That stunned the minotaur then struck once again with his sword

    [-98]

    He backed up, a bit and waited for the minotaur to attack.

    The Minautore blew hot air from its nose and charged forward.

    Dave learned from his past mistake and forced his body away from harm.

    The minotaur continued on with its charge until it struck the walls of the arena. Instantly after that small stars appeared on the head of the Minotaur. It was stunned by its own attack!

    Dave then understood the method to defeat the monster.

    Dave got closer to a wall and waited for the minotaur toe closer. Once it was in range, it charged once again. Dave simply dodged to the right with a small move of his body and the Minotaure smacked head first in the concrete wall.

    A strike of Dave¡¯ weapon followed suite

    Your weapon has proked

    [Bleed]

    -500 Hp over 5 seconds

    Dave was delighted as luck seems to be his ally this time around.

    He picked up the pace and continued leading the minotaur and helping it smack its head on the wall. However, the minotaur would not always use his stampede and would sometimes follow Dave and smack him down with both of his fists.

    Once Dave¡¯s Hp was at the critical level, he had to drink his second and Last potion.

    This quest was probably not meant for him to defeat every single monster, just enough would do. So he tired his best to kill the monsters he could defeat.

    Once Dave drank the potion, his level only increased once.

    Now Dave was level 36 and at the peak of the level. About 98% XP. Too Bad Dave can¡¯t gain any Exp from fighting other yers. So it was sad that he would have to look at how close he was from leveling up and not benefit from it.

    After another round of luring and attacking, Dave managed to defeat the minotaur with barely 500 hp remaining. It would have been impossible for any other yer of his level to do this. No matter how skilled they were, without using the level up a loophole, they would have died to the minotaur in a matter of minutes. Especially after being unable to acquire any health potions nor gain any healing from other sources.

    Another announcement resounded in the arena as the same voice sounded this time rather surprised

    "You managed to break through your limit and defeat something much stronger than you! For that challenger, I give my apuse! Now can you break your limit once more?" said the Voice as another beam shone in the middle of the arena.

    Giant Cyclop

    Level 80

    Skill

    Iron skin (passively increases the defense by 500)

    (Brittle every attack from the Cyclope would shave 10% of the targets dfense value

    Hp 15 000

    Damage

    2000-2700

    Damage nullification

    900

    "Ah, crap..." Said, Dave, as he gave up hope. Sometimes it is impossible to do some things. No matter how Lucky Dave is, he will be unable to kill this thing. Mainly due to the high defense value and the level suppression gap increasing greatly.

    The monster has more defense than what dave could deal in damage so no matter how hard dave could hit, it will always be 0. While he would receive immense Damage once he receives a single hit from the monster.

    The giant Cyclope charged at Dave, with its only eye locked on Dave¡¯s small body.

    Dave raised his shield to block the attack and was sent flying a few meters until he rolled around the ground for a bit.

    Dave didn¡¯t want to go without a fight so he still struck down once the Cyclope closed the gape.

    [-0]

    A pitiful damage value appeared before Dave. He was expecting it, but it still somehow disappointed him.

    Then the cyclops¡¯s fist came crashing down

    You died!

    [-1850]

    Dave¡¯s mind nked for a moment and he noticed his body disappearing from under the cyclops¡¯s fist and reappearing in the middle of the arena while the monster dissipated into specks of light.

    "It was a brave endavor Challenger. This is your current Limit, but I am surprised you managed to survive thus far. As an award of your efforts you are entiteled to the following gifts!" said the voice as numerous notifications apeared before Dave.

 Chapter 25 Death God

    You have sessfully cleared the first trial of the Inheritance quest.

    Your result

    S+

    Dave was astonished as he saw the result. Clearly, he didn¡¯t expect it to be this high.

    But then he understood, that normally any other participant wouldn¡¯t have been able to defeat both the minotaur and the scorpion. The scorpion, with some skillful gamey and some luck, might be defeated. But without the potion loophole that Dave discovered, someone of his level will find it impossible to clear.

    You have gained the following abilities

    (Rare)

    Twin strike!

    Stampede!

    Twin Strike

    Mimics the damage of thest ability used before activating the skill.

    Deals 75% of weapon¡¯s damage. And ignores the defense value of the enemy.

    Cannot mimic additional effects of an ability.

    Cooldown 60 seconds

    Stampede

    (Rare)

    Charges forward in a straight line.

    Cause stun effect for 2 seconds once sessful, and cannot be interrupted.

    If the user hits the wall, they will be stunned for the same duration.

    Needs a target to be used.

    Can only be cast at minimum of 10 meters distance and has a 30 meters range

    Damage 200% total damage value of the user.

    "Such powerful skills!" Dave instantly began pondering about how he could use these to fight against other enemies. Though Dave only has a total of three skills, and an additional passive skill, he was still far from how the high-level yers have their own ss skills and unique skills that they stumbled upon once clearing various quests, or dropping skill books from powerful bosses.

    You have been summoned by The Death God!

    A notification that made Dave¡¯s mind nked for a moment as he thought about why would the death god himself summon him.

    A momentter he was transported to a strange ce.

    it was on a giant cliff, while the sky was dark. It was night time and the moon hung low. It was enormous yet still gave a sense of majesty.

    Behind Dave, was a small cave. And he felt like if something was beckoning him from within it.

    He walked into the cave and found a small pond of water where a veiled woman was dipping her feet in it.

    The light of the moon gave Dave the faintest glimpse on her appearance. Her body was well proportioned, and she was wearing a dark robe made of strange material. Her veiled face didn¡¯t give Dave the chance to look at her features but he assumed that behind that veiled was a beautiful woman.

    Death.

    Tier (God)

    Level ???

    Perhaps the term courting death had a reason after all.

    Dave chuckled at the small vor text below the woman. Indeed, if this was a real woman on the outside world people would definitely fight to gain her favor... even with her face veiled, she looked stunning. And indeed some might dare court death even if they know their end is imminent if they were to just have a single glimpse at this person¡¯s beauty...

    "Child" spoke a woman from under the veil. Her voice was neither soft nor mesmerizing as Dave believed so. It was just average, yet at the same time, it conveyed a strange feeling. A feeling of emptiness, sadness, and loneliness.

    That was an aspect of Death itself.

    "You wish to gain my blessing? To what end?" spoke the voice.

    "For my own benefit. To secure a future and to be a king" spoke Dave. Indeed those were his thoughts, he needed her inheritance to be stronger, to im a piece of this world and be a prominent figure. However, he knew that without hard work and fate defying luck it would have been impossible.

    Many guilds have be corporal tycoons the moment they imed a piece of the world conquest. And Dave had the same dream.

    "Greed" spoke the woman, in a voice that had a hint of contempt in it. "However, you do not speak lies. You spoke of your goals in the face of death without hesitation. And that shows your resolve. However, having dreams of supremacy and not the ability to follow up with them is meaningless. You are weak. Extremely so, none of those in this world have the right to be my champion. Yet you ended up with my piece of inheritance. Even Deadra himself lost his life trying to aplish his goal. Trying to be a king. He too lost to his own greed and his inability to fulfill his goals."

    Spoke the woman, with the impassive voice once again

    "Then give me the same chance as he was given, and I will do better" said Dave.

    "You are not the first to try and im my bestowal. And you will not be thest. Indeed, you have earned the right to carry that ring. However, you have yet to earn my approval. Your strength iscking. And your reliance on the sword is limiting you from achieving higher ground. I will give you the same chance I gave Deadra. And only your resolve and power can be the proof of fulfilling your goals."

    Your Patron had chosen to grant you their blessing.

    You have been offered the ss

    Death¡¯s Apostle

    Will you ept the ss change?

    Your progress in the Pdine questline will be removed.

    Already established sses shall be removed.

    Will you ept?

    Y/N?

    "Of course!" said Dave. Why wouldn¡¯t he? The ss¡¯s name was already amazing enough. And due to it being bestowed upon him by Death itself it will be amazing in itself, right?

    You have epted the ss

    Death¡¯s Apostle

    The following skills have been added to your arsenal

    Death Grip.

    Rising strike.

    Counter.

    Three skills in one go! That was amazing for Dave! Dave then checked the ss¡¯s description and his surprise increased even more!

    Death Apostle

    (Unique)

    A ss worthy of the one that follows the teachings of death

    Increased damage by 10% while wielding a sword

    All defense Value increased by 10%

    Can Defy death once. If the yer dies, they can resurrect themselves with half their Hp/mana.

    If the yer dies within two hours after their resurrection. They will lose 1 level. Even if their death was to a monster.

    (Cooldown 72 hours)

    The resurrection can be epted or refused.

    This means that he has a free death if he could control it! sometimes a monster would have just about 1% of their Hp and they could kill a yer that situation would frustrate many yers. But Dave had a way against it!

    He then checked the skills he gained once he switched ss.

    Death Grip

    (Unique)

    (Level Max)

    Can paralyze targets for 5 seconds. Has a 50% chance of sess on targets with a simr level of the caster. The higher the level the lower the chances. The lower level the target the higher the chance. 50 levels lower level targets will have 100% chances of being paralyzed.

    The chances are capped at 20% minimum.

    Half effect on boss ss monsters.

    3-minute cooldown

    "Oh, a crowd control skill. This came in timely, I only had one crowd control skill and it had only one-second stun duration. This one is much better. But too bad it is based on percentage."

    Rising strike

    (Level MAX)

    sh vertically with your weapon and move three meters backward.

    The attack animation grants the caster an invincibility frame.

    Cooldown 2 minutes

    "Oh, this was a skill to clear the distance between the target and the yer. Also an invincibility frame! It might prove to be handy once a boss uses a powerful ultimate attack." Many yers have several invincibility skills. Like Bone Breaker had used his {God¡¯s Blessing} Skill to be invincible for three seconds against the Abyssal Knight Deadra. So this came handy to dave. However, Bone Breaker¡¯s invincibility skill had three whole seconds. While Dave¡¯s could only grant him an invincibility frame during the animation. The only difference is that it pushed Dave back away from the attacks, whole Bone Breaker¡¯s forced him to remain immobile.

    Thest skill was checked by Dave.

    Counter.

    Level Max

    (Unique)

    Must be used after a sessful {Block}

    Will send back 20% of the damage that was supposed tond on the yer as true damage.

    True damage will not suffer any amount of damage reduction and cannot be blocked nor will invincibility effects block it.

    10 minutes cooldown

    "This skill is amazing!" ss skills are usually maxed out. Only skills that are learned via an instructor or found from skill books need a yer to grind them up.

    Now with these Dave could manage himself better facing even tougher enemies. This quest was very profitable for Dave. He gained a total of five skills in a single setting plus the passive of death siphon from his ring. Now he can also consider his resurrection ability another skill. This quest was quite a treasure trove Dave thought.

    "These are but the basics. Like I said before, you need to grow much stronger. And if you rely on but your sword you will never reach higher grounds. Once you can unseal more of the ring¡¯s powers. I will grant you with more blessings. This way you will be able to honor the title I bestowed upon you. Go now littlemb. Once you grow stronger we shall meet again" spoke Death and Dave found himself back at the world of the Dead.

    Dave was itching to try out his new skills, so he waited patiently for another quest to start.

 Chapter 26 Golden Panther

    toon number 22225 has been summoned to defend against an invading force.

    As a leader of the toon, it is your duty to serve the king in protecting hisnd.

    March forward with your force and block the invaders from reaching their goals.

    100 contribution points once sessful. For each Soldier¡¯s death under yourmand, you will lose 10 contribution points.

    Every enemy that dies under yourmand will grant you 10 contribution point.

    every enemy that falls under the hand of your followers will grant you 5 contribution points.

    You may gain more contribution points based on meritorious deeds, and depending on your handling of various situations.

    You may refuse the mission, but you must pay 100 contribution points

    once you are in a deficit you will be stripped out of your rank.

    will you ept your mission?

    Y/N?

    "Yes!"Dave epted without hesitation.

    He was transported to a different ce this time, not the graveyard. But a giant hill, almost a mountain with its sheer size.

    There were several giant trees littering the ce. It was like a forest atop a hill. The weather was humid and a bit eerie. Just like an undead¡¯s tomb.

    Dave and co were walking down the hill when they noticed two adventures walking up.

    They were both using two-handed swords.

    yer: No tits no life

    Level 31

    yer: Can¡¯t touch this.

    Level 27

    "Oh, Two high-level sword masters... this might be a little difficult." Thought Dave.

    He thenmanded his unit to spread In a wider range and wait for the yer to approach.

    "Hey, tits," said (Can¡¯t touch this.) "Don¡¯t you think that undead party is weird?"

    "Yea, I have been ying for two months now and never saw a party of undead this strange..." said the other yer

    Indeed, it is very rare to see a party of undead with different types of undead. And this peaked their interest.

    "Alright, they are still lower level than us. We can beat them up, just kill the leader first...where is he?" asked No tits.

    "I can¡¯t see him, they are probably without a leader. The leader hallo is not on any of them..." said Can¡¯t touch this.

    "Alright, let me take down the Ghouls first, you should keep the casters away from me. Get to their mele range and break their formation, the archers won¡¯t deal much damage anyway, if you think your Hp will get too low just drink a potion." Said No tits. As he was the highest level of the two he knew about how to handle the undead. Always take down the ranged monsters first, then focus on the tankster.

    Yet the moment he got closer to the ghoul¡¯s something strange happened.

    The ghouls backed down a bit. They distanced themselves from the attacker.

    This was off script! Normally once a yer enters the aggro range of a monster they would instantly trigger their reaction and they will attack. But these ghouls backed off!

    No tits were forced to run after them to engage in a fight, and he made a small mistake. He was now too far away from his friend.

    The moment the distance became too much, it was the time for Dave to enter the fray.

    Dave used {Stampede} and approached the lower level yer Can¡¯t touch this from his blind spot.

    The earth cracked as Dave was stomping on the ground he broke the dirt and sent rocks flying as he approached as a haywire train

    Once Can¡¯t touch this turned around he was faced with a grinning undead! Dave¡¯s appearance was vivid in his face as he was the only skeleton that had a semnce of skin on his body while his rusted dark armor made him different from any other skeleton. He looked special!

    This monster that was approaching Can¡¯t touch this looked like a Drauger from Norse mythology. He even had a god damned beard!

    Once Can¡¯t touche this noticed the advancing bearded skeleton he couldn¡¯t even react and was struck with a shoulder bash by him.

    At that moment, his body was sent sprawling down the ground. The archers didn¡¯t even wait tounch multiple attacks on the swordmaster and his Hp began to drop at a rapid rate.

    {Warrior¡¯s Will} was activated by the downed Swordsman.

    {Warrior¡¯s will} was aune skill, and every warrior ss would obtain it once they go back to speak with their instructor once more. Dave would have had it, but he never got the chance to leave the undead world.

    Can¡¯t touche this stood back up, the moment he tried to drink a potion, Dave was already before Him

    {Destructive Smash!}

    [-450!]

    That nearly took a third of the yer¡¯s Hp and canceled his potion drinking attempted.

    Now that the low-level yer was unable to use another stun removing skill. Dave struck down with his sword instantly.

    [-620!]

    The damage that Dave was dealing was not optimal, mainly due to the yer having some damage reduction items. Indeed it was not as powerful as a tank. But still, it reduced Dave¡¯s damage by a bit.

    However, now that another huge portion of Can¡¯t touche this¡¯s Hp was already shaved off. Dave instantly activated Twin Strike. A shadow of his sword was soon mimicked and another strike followed hitting the still stunned target

    [-644!] the damage was insane and Dave managed to kill one of the two in less than two seconds!

    You have in one of the invading members.

    +10 contribution points.

    Death Siphon has activated

    +[0]

    "Wow!" said Dave as he saw the dissipating body of the Adventurer.

    Dave turned around and noticed that two of his Ghouls have already sumbed and thest one was about to die. He willed it toe towards him, and the other ranged mobs to stay behind Dave and follow him suit.

    "Damn idiot! How the fuck did he die!" cried out No tits no life as he ran after the ghoul.

    The ghoul was inherently slow, but when Dave and his party of undead Ran toward him, they managed to close the gape rather fast.

    Dave¡¯s ranged troops managed to give him some covering fire and he managed to retrieve the ghoul with barely any Hp.

    "What the fuck is going on here!" Said No tits as he looked at Dave

    "Its, the bearded Skeleton! Finally, I found it! what a good stroke of luck!" said the man

    He already knew about the strange phenomenon happening with the undead. And with that, he knew that there was a strange undead doing some mischief. The undead bearded skeleton has made a huge trouble to the devastators back at their demonic monastery dungeon. And now he was here. How did it get all the way here?

    But No tits no life didn¡¯t bother thinking about a solution, he knew that this was one of the major characters in the event of the undead. Probably killing it might grant him some sort of opportunity.

    No tits no life turned serious as he closed the gap with the bearded Drauger looking undead.

    {Piercing strike!}

    Piercing Strike was an ability simr to the berserker¡¯s {Charge}

    It could close the gape with an enemy and damage them while ignoring 100% of their defense.

    Unlike the berserker¡¯s {Charge} which would stun a target and deal twice the normal Damage.

    Dave had a variation of the {Charge} skill as he had {Stampede} Stampede had a higher range. But could stun targets longer.

    Once No tits no life got closer. Dave instantly retaliated with a {Rising Strike}

    It was rather simple. Using {Rising Strike} Will put Dave in an invincibility frame and widen the gap between the two at the same time, fully nullifying the {Piercing Strike} of No tits no life.

    Once that happened the yer was stunned! How could a mob have such reactions!: and that Skill , he never saw it before!

    The yer charged once again trying to close the gape but he was bombarded with sts and arrows that rained on him none stop.

    "Fucking annoying pests!" cried Out No tits no life as he was enraged. He couldn¡¯t get closer to the bearded undead as the others were slowing him with attacks that had slow effects and some casters even used rooting effects

    {Warrior¡¯s Will} was used to remove the effects and he got once again closer to Dave.

    {Death Grip} was used

    A small gashly hand appeared behind No tits no life. It aimed directly at his heart.

    He felt the cold hand of death clinging to his heart tightly as it pumped with fright!

    Resisted!

    Dave frowned as the ability failed to activate. Though he was higher level than the yer, the ability relied on luck.

    "Get Reckt!" cried out the sword master as he used {Destructive Smash} On Dave.

    Dave raised his shield timely and used {Block} it could nullify the Damage and ignore stun effects if it was properly blocked.

    The yer was shocked at how his attack was blocked but didn¡¯t think much of it as he prepared to attack once more.

    {Counter!} used Dave and his shield, that was still raised shone brightly for a moment and a simr attack that the yer used struck back at him!

    [-360!]

    "What the fuck!"

    {Counter} was one of the Death Apostle¡¯s main skills. It was really powerful and it could send back 20% of the attacker¡¯s damage back to him in true damage disregarding the defense value of the attacker.

    No tits no life was a swordmaster, and he was level 30. He already had a huge attack value and could easily deal more than 2000 damage to a 0 defense target. Now that destructive Smash would increase the weapon¡¯s damage the higher its range. The stronger the attack the worse the aftermath.

    Dave retaliated with a sword strike and luckily Bleed was activated.

    "Shit!"

    Yet before No tits, no life could do anything, more attacks struck him down. His Hp was being drained constantly.

    "Shit." Said The yer and he tried to back off. Otherwise, he would die. But Dave wouldn¡¯t let a free 10 contribution points escape that easily.

    The archers were willed to go behind the yer and Dave was confronting the yer while three more casters were behind him. He would have no way to retreat and if he tries to charge at the archers he would let his back prone to attacks.

    It only took a few more seconds for No tits no life to die. And Dave managed to get more contribution points.

    Dave was asked if he wished to leave or remain here to fight once more. But he decided against it and remained in the region. He wanted to venture the ce, probably finding more yers. The next tier of the potion he wanted to drink cost much more than he currently has.

    Dave already lost two ghouls and the final one was slowly regenerating its Hp.

    After a minute or two, it was back to full health.

    Davemanded his unit to go up the hill. And surprisingly there was a monsterying there.

    It was a golden panther that was alone in a small opening.

    Golden Panther

    Level 50

    Damage 1200-1600

    Hp 5500

    The golden panther is the king of the hill. No one likes being awakened from sleep and this one retaliates without concern to those that invade his territory

    However what struck Dave as odd was that it had a red name tag...this meant one thing... he could be attacked.

    What would be the result if Dave actually killed a monster? When he was back at the monastery the monsters there had green tag names. They were friendly...perhaps they were considered of the same faction, the ¡¯evil¡¯ faction as for this panther it was a neutral monster and it was ¡¯alive¡¯ so it was a viable target for assault and was naturally an enemy of the undead that hated anything that lived...

    Dave waited for few more minutes until all his skills were off cooldown. Then he gathered his troops to attack the dormant monster...

 Chapter 27 A grim situation!

    Chapter 27

    Once the party was reading up. Dave was first to initiate thebat as he used {Stampede}.

    The moment he entered the aggro range of the Golden Panther, it awoke and growled at the ining Dave.

    However, it failed to dodge and was struck down with Stampede.

    [-1230Hp!]

    The damage amount was insane! Due to stampeded dealing twice the damage of the wielded weapon it was normal and the monster was stunned at the same time.

    Dave struck down with his sword after that and instantly used Twin Strike as more damage was exerted.

    The panther relied on his agility, so itcked defensive abilities and defense in general.

    [-680]

    [-420]

    The monster was taking a huge amount of damage before it could even do anything.

    Dave didn¡¯t let up on his advantage as he used {Destructive Smash} prolonging the Stun effect by another second and at the same time letting his followers line up to start their attacks.

    [-400]

    That was the damage from destructive smash alone. And the undead following Dave began their assaultnding about hundreds of damage points per hit.

    The Panther was finally able to awaken from the stun effect, but dave used a Death grip.

    {Resisted}

    Dave could only sigh as it was yet again resisted, an ability that relied on luck was not something to rely on.

    The Panther that had lost almost half its Hp struck with its paw. But Dave didn¡¯t wish to take the hit head-on. So he used {Block} and immediately followed with a {Counter}

    [-360]

    Another decent amount of damage was dealt with the panther as it was destabilized.

    Dave struck down once again with his sword dealing another good amount of damage.

    [-662]

    The panther was incensed! It never managed to even touch Dave and it was already on the brink of death.

    A panther like this would usually have several skills, but the skill rotation of Dave made it unable to use any of them. Until now.

    All feline creatures in the game have a basic skill called {Maul} it would deal a fixed amount of damage and would bleed the target for a percentage of their max hp.

    The moment the Panther was about to jump at Dave¡¯s neck. He used Rising Strike.

    {Rising Strike} deals 100% weapon damage and pushes the user the meters backward rendering them invincible during the animation.

    Dave managed to time it correctly, Lading a decent amount of damage of [720] then falling back and widening the gap once more.

    The archers and Casters had a bit of a low casting time. So the Panther was still able to barely survive, but now it was on itsst leg. Both literally and figuratively.

    The panther jumped forward trying to go for onest desperate attack. Even a scratch on that ugly undead¡¯s face would let the Panther feel a bit offort in its death.

    Too bad Dave would not let it.

    [Block] Was already off cooldown and he used it canceling the momentum of the Panther and smacked down with his sword

    [-690]

    You have in an enemy.

    +24 500 XP

    Level Up.

    One of your Undead had managed to level up

    Hidden Bonus

    +15 Contribution points.

    Your Ring¡¯s level had reached level 20.

    You stillck a certain condition to ess the second part of the Inheritance quest.

    Condition unmet.

    Level 150

    Dave found it amazing! Not only was he able to level up using the monsters. Even one of his followers managed to level up. So indeed he could easily level up while fighting neutral monsters that don¡¯t belong to the evil faction.

    But what about the ring? Dave knew that inheritance equipment had 5 seals. Every one of them can be unsealed once the ring levels up 10 levels. It is much easier to level the ring but the quest is really difficult.

    As for another problem. Dave could not rush in blindly and start the level 20 quest. He has yet to reach the required Level. And it looks like it will take a while. However, with the help of the small party of the undead. It should be much faster than any other adventurer who is going solo.

    One of your followers had dropped

    Golden Panther¡¯s hide (Rare crafting material)

    Golden Panther¡¯s Fang X2

    Golden Panther¡¯s ws X4

    23 copper coins.

    "Ah, it dropped items. But why did they appear in my inventory?" asked Dave. That was rather strange indeed even if Dave was the one thatnded thest strike. The drops could not be his and his only, he was considered a monster and is not protected by the party¡¯s loot picking rules.

    Yet one of his undead just moved forward, grabbed the items and Dave found them in his inventory. Quite strange but really useful.

    "Alright Let¡¯s move forward!" said Dave but sadly only the crackling of bones could be heard out of his mouth.

    The undead didn¡¯t say anything as they followed Dave suite.

    As for the undead that leveled up, it was the sole Ghoul in Dave¡¯s party. It became slightly bigger. And looked a bit different than before. If one didn¡¯t stare at it for a long period of time, one would not notice the change.

    Dave didn¡¯t think much of the change. As it was one of his ¡¯party¡¯ members noticed the small difference once it leveled up. Even its 2500 Hp, became 2700. So this would mean that it really was growing. How much would it grow though? Would it also be able to rank up?

    Dave didn¡¯t feel the need to answer that question. What he wanted was to make sure that he won¡¯t miss out on this opportunity. He needed to level up as fast as he could, and in this monster-infested Hill, he could do so.

    Another solitary Golden Panther was found in another opening of the hill. Strangely the information above the Panther would indicate that it was a king of the mountain, so how can there be more than one in a small hill?

    "Let¡¯s get it boys!" said Dave as he initiated the fight the same way as before.

    In another ce, there were two guys that were still staring at each other dumbly.

    Mainly it was No Tits no Life. And Can¡¯t touch this.

    "What the heck just happened?" said No tits asking Can¡¯t touch this to exin.

    "Like hell would I know, aren¡¯t you the train? You got your ass handed to you by some bunch of undead!" he said refusing to believe what just happened.

    "Alright, I guess we can¡¯t take down that undead, but let¡¯s just call our Guildmaster first."

    Can¡¯t touch this and No Tits were part of a guild named Arkadia. They were a small guild, which the guild master was a level 360. It was barely the average level of yers in the game at this point in time.

    The guild Arkadia¡¯s Headmaster was shocked once he saw the footage of the Bearded skeleton that was recorded by the two of them while they were fighting.

    "Where is that ce?" asked The headmaster

    "Northen side of Kimulka City. Western borders" Said No tits no life

    This pce fell under the jurisdiction of the devastators. And so Arkadia guild had no right to go in and do anything without their consent. They even had to pay a fee to ess the region to level up their yers. That was something that was agreed upon by several guilds in the past. Where new yers have to pay a sum of the money to gain Experience. And at the same time be able to remain safe within the Exp region. Other pk yers would usually attack others while they are in the midst of fights. And in doing so they could ruin their chances at gaining another level and be forced to start from scratch. With the Devastator¡¯s protection. No Pk was allowed in their region, however, every activity of any guild must be reported to the Sub-guilds of the devastators.

    Now Arkadia¡¯s Guildmaster felt a tinge of greed. If he were to divulge the existence of the bearded Skeleton that made a mess in the demonic monastery that time. He might be rewarded, but if he was the one to kill it then the Undead event might be initiated while he could gain some benefits from the system.

    Arkadia¡¯s Guildmaster knew that if he was to personally go to that ce he will be pulling some attention to himself. It was a low-level area what would a Guildmaster need to do there anyway?

    "Alright, keep the information to yourself I will give you some good stuffter. Go back to the hill and try to locate the bearded skeleton. I will send You something to use once you are there" said the Guild leader addressing No tits no life.

    The two low-level yers went back to the hill and began their climb, looking for the undead that killed them.

    It took a while but they finally found what they were looking for. It was Dave who just managed to end the life of yet another Panther.

    Dave didn¡¯t notice the presence of the two guys. But something strange soon happened. A golden light glowed right behind the two and another person appeared.

    It was the Arkadia guild master.

    He used an expensive item shop, called "Anti-bully"

    It was a simple item that would summon another yer to the user¡¯s location. But it had a range limit. The summoned yer needs to be at least 100Km close.

    Once Dave turned around, his face turned white.

    It was a level, 360 yer...

 Chapter 28 Mr.Valentine!

    Dave perfectly knew his limit. Fighting against a level 360 was nothing short of a suicide. He immediately ran away from where he stood. Thankfully he could leave the ce whenever he wished as he immediately used the game¡¯s interface to go back to the Dead world.

    The level 360 yer couldn¡¯t even react! He just wasted an expensive item with not a single profiting out of it. he believed that he could kill the bearded undead and gain something from the system, but never did he think that the undead would disappear the moment it spotted him.

    He was infuriated.

    "What the hell happened!" cried out the Arkadia Guildmaster.

    "I don¡¯t really know, he was a strange undead. All his actions were too ¡¯human¡¯ his AI must be really high. The game system must have recognized you as a high-level yer and decided to withdraw the strange undead. Perhaps this one will only be allowed to low level yers to kill." Said No tits no life.

    "God damn it." cried out the Guildmaster. Now he felt the pinch of having used the "Anti-bully" item for nothing. It was an item that helped people when in distress it could call upon a yer of their guild if they epted the request and summon them to the target¡¯s location if they ere 100Km close to them. The Arkadia Guild master used this to try and kill the strange undead to et some sort of bonus from the system but he never thought that everything will be in vain.

    "If the system recognizes me as a threat to the low-level undead, this would mean that only low-level yers have the right to defeat it. listen up, il give you some of my old equipment and some good stuff. Stay here, and wait for it to respawn once it appears kill it and summon me. Don¡¯t loot him or I will put a kill order on your head!" said The Arkadia Guildmaster.

    A kill order was a strange item. It would summon giant beacon on top of a target"s head. And it will remain until the target has been eliminated. Once the target has been killed they will gain the bounty ced by the owner of the kill order and it cannot be less than 100Gold.

    In counterpart. The longer the kill order remains on top of the yer¡¯s head. The price of the bounty will slowly increase. Sometimes some yers will be unable to afford the bounty and will be forced to suspend it. the moment the bounty is suspended all the increased value of the bounty will be sent to the target.

    This would mean that the longer the target remains alive. The more expensive his head will get. And if the user cannot afford it. the target will end up gaining the benefits.

    Not only that, the target will also have one more bonus. Due to being a kill target he might end up being swarmed with yers. But if he ends up killing one of the attackers the attacker will 100% drop 1 of his equipped items.

    This was to limit the use of this kill order. So that many yers won¡¯t abuse the system. It is a bnce between risk and reward only those high figures can afford to make a kill order. And once it is established it will only get more and more expensive until it cannot be afforded.

    No tits no life felt shivers down his spine after the mention of the kill order. He already saw many people being harassed and ganged up upon. Forcing them to hide or not log in. if a yer remains outside the game, the price intion will not continue. So they will always be forced outside the game. And moreover. A yer with a kill order on their heads can only remain within safe zones for about 1 hour. And that time is shared between all the safe zones of the game. If they spend half an hour in a zone then teleport to another, they will only have one hour left until they get kicked out of the city and be killed.

    The guild master exchanged several items with No tits no life which made Can¡¯t touch this a bit jealous but he didn¡¯t speak.

    "Now stay here and report to me once you see the bearded Drauger," said the guild master as he tore a teleportation scroll to go back to his save point.

    "What should we do?" asked Can¡¯t touch this.

    "We will just stay here, these equipment are rather nice. We can grind in this ce for undead and golden panthers. And if we see the bearded Drauger we will report to the guild master. Just like he said, he might reward us if we do a good job..." said No tits No life. But he knew that deep down, that whatever the guild master would offer him would probably be much lesser than what he would receive if he was to kill the undead. But he knew even with these requirements it would be really hard for him to do so.

    A glint shed pass his eye as he remembered that he read something interesting in the forums.

    Then he began scrolling down his friend¡¯s list until he found one of his friends online.

    "Hey, Jeff. You are from a sub guild of the Devastators right?" said No tits No life

    "Uh, yes, what do you need?" said the man that was named Jeff.

    "I think I have some information regarding the strange undead that is guing the forums and is rted to the event of the Undead Expansion. Link me to one of the higherups of the Devastators guild" said No tits no life

    "Ah... uh, just tell me and I will send them a message." Said, Jeff

    No tits no life immediately understood that Jeff was a greedy person. He wanted to know about the discovery he made and he will probably say that he was the one that discovered it to gain the benefits."

    "No, just link me to one of the higher-ups. Otherwise, I will tell you nothing. And once I contact the higherups I will make sure to mention your name." Said No tits no life

    This was both a bonus and an implied threat. If Jeff was known to have tried to disregard the information rted to the event he might be punished. That is of course if No tits no life refused to tell him anything after having supposedlye in contact with an information regarding the event.

    Even rumors have power. And if Jeff was discovered to have hindered the super guilds ess to this valuable information, his end would be sour.

    "Alright alright. Wait a second...I will contact one of the higherups."

    Momentster a friend request was sent to No tits no life.

    It was Mr. Valentine. This guy was a powerful yer that always apanied the number 1 yer of the Devastators. He was only 2 levels behind him at level 420 and was well known in the whole game. He was the one that managed to finish an A ss inheritance quest of the Shifter lord and had one of the strangest and most useful skills in raids.

    "What is it? you say you have information regarding the undead event, if you are lying or trying to get some benefits without proper information, I don¡¯t need to tell you what would happen." Said Mr. Valentine.

    "No, sir. I really do have critical information regarding the event. But first I want something in return besides the reward of course." Said No Tits no life.

    He really knew how to use his bargaining chips correctly and now he is trying to make the best use of them.

    "What sort of information you have? Tell me first." Said Mr, Valentine who sounded a bit annoyed.

    "I just need protection first, the moment I divulge the information my guild master will probably put a kill order on my head." Said No tits no life

    "You are from Arkadia? That is a small time guild. Your guild master is nothingpared to us, if your information is valuable we will give you protection and you can even join one of the sub guilds of the Devastators and enjoy many benefits. Only if your information is valuable, also your reward of 10 000$ Will be handed to you." Said Mr.Valentin

    "Alright. I will send you a footage of the strange undead, and his whereabouts, and everything I know that is rted to the current event."

    No tits no life essed the footage option and picked up the whole video of his fight with the bearded Undead. How he moved, and his skills and everything even the battle log.

    He sent the video and added a critical information

    "The bearded undead is probably designed by the system to disappear once a high-level yer is in the region. He will fight low-level yers close to his level, and once a high-level yer appears he will disappear. So the only way to defeat him is probably by sending powerful low-level yers with good equipment. And hisst known location is here." Said No tits no life as he sent the location of where he was.

    "Very well, the information sounds usible I will discuss with my guildmates and we will see about it. now you just have to wait, and if you manage to find his location don¡¯t engage in a fight, let us send a party of our main guild to deal with him. Once he is defeated we will add a bonus reward if it is actually rted to the even" said Mr.Valentine as he cut the connection with No tits no life.

    This was the world of business. Mr.Valentine knew that if he contacted the guild master of Arkadia he will ask them for more than what a level 30 would aks. A level 30 could be satisfied with but a mere 10 000$ that was not even half of what a low-level dungeon that is owned by the devastators would generate per day.

    The Devastators were a huge guild. And a guild master of a low-level guild Like Arkadia will know that once he is offered an inch he will want to take a yard. It was better to deal with low-level yers as their view is limited and they can¡¯t see the whole picture.

    And so, a meeting was adjourned at the Devastator¡¯s headquarters. Even the guild master was there. The highest leveled yer Warlord was present.

    Mr.Valentine then disyed the video for all to see and give their points of view...

 Chapter 29 Dungeon Core

    At the headquarters of the Devastators in the western kingdom right at the pce of The golden city Icathia.Warlord, the leader of the Devastators and the leading yer in the highest level board was sitting around a giant round table with twelve other yers. Ten of them were the Guildmasters of the ten sub guilds of the Devastators. And the eleventh was Valentine, Warlord¡¯s right-hand man.

    "What is this about Valentine?" said Warlord.

    "Yeah, I ended up finding new info about the Event. Here you should all check it out"

    Mr.Valentine then disyed the video as it turned holographic for everyone to see

    It showcased Dave in his Drauger form fighting No tits no life. At first, there was nothing going on, but then the moment they saw the scene of dave¡¯sbo and the control over the monsters, Warlord¡¯s eyebrows knitted.

    Indeed, he never saw any undead controlling others so ¡¯Perfectly¡¯ it was not a big deal to deal with this level of control if it was at his level the yers would usually move ordingly and change their spots to deal with the situation. But that Monster was just a level 30 something. And considering that it was just an elite ranked Monster. What would happen if it was a higher tier? If it was a captain ranked monster, facing several level 100 yers with that ability to micromanage the units, the fight would be much harder.

    The undead would usually throw themselves into the fray and fight until thest breath. But the undead under the control of this strange entity would not do things randomly, they would move ording to a certain pattern as if they are guided by a yer.

    Warlord instantly removed the idea from his head. This was probably the work of the AI, even if the developers had said that a yer had pioneer rights in the Undead world, though he didn¡¯t know what rights he had, it will mostly be rted to quests. But, is it possible that that yer is t this Drauger?

    "What do you guys think?"

    "Isn¡¯t that obvious..." said one of the sub-guilds Guild master.

    "That is a yer..." he said

    "Indeed, that is what I think too." Said another affirming

    And it was the case for everyone. These guys were not fools, they yed the game for a long time and they knew the way how monsters react, and this was clearly not a monster. His macro calls and his decision making were rather astonishing, it was not something that aputer would do. No, aputer would ¡¯perfect¡¯ his moves. This one had some ws that were apparent, for example, some of his undead were badly positioned and they didn¡¯t manage to deal enough damage. But to fight many against one they still were useful. An Ai would probably change the fighting system and would engage the yer in a different manner.

    The bearded Drauger was indeed a yer. And depending on the Developer¡¯s statement there was only one yer that had ess to the undead world. And that Was obviously Dave.

    "So, what is the verdict?" asked Mr.Valentine.

    "Isn¡¯t our guild about to have a first clear of the Pits of Despair dungeon?" asked Warlord.

    "Yes, we are in the final round, it should be in one week at most thest boss has very strange attack patterns and it is hampering our advance," said Mr.Valentine

    "Alright, once we defeat it I want you to make use of the server announcement and make it known to the world that the Drauger is indeed the yer."

    "What? Wouldn¡¯t that ruin our chances? We should just contact him?" asked Mr. Valentine

    "How are you going to do that? Rumors will spread and people will know soon enough, if we use this we might be the first to get an audience with this rouge yer. He does not belong to any guild, and even after having posted a huge bounty on his head he had yet to fall. We could make an announcement where we will offer the yer a huge sum of money and be a part of our guild. Even more, we could support him in his quest if he was to agree to let us take in control the undead army. We need that army to expand our guild. It should be tempting enough to such a yer, especially due to his low level" said Warlord.

    Indeed what he said made perfect sense, offering the yer a huge amount of money then adding the right to join the Devastator¡¯s main guild was a tempting offer to any yer. The yer would only need to give them the army and they will support him in the game.

    "Indeed, that is a very good decision Guild Master said one of the ten sub guild masters.

    "Yes, that yer sure is lucky to have ended up with the pioneer rights. Now we need to hush every rumor, make sure that the Arkadia Guildmaster shuts up. He and the two other members that discovered the bearded Drauger need to be goaded in keeping their mouths shut" Said Warlord.

    By doing this, they would stop any information leak until the dungeon¡¯s boss is defeated. Once that is done they could then start by making a general announcement and even offering a good sum of money for the pioneer. Everything that anyone would wish for was given to a sole yer. Wouldn¡¯t anyone feel envious of him?

    ...

    Dave was back in the undead world. His heart was beating, thankfully he had the ability to abandon his current task ande back whenever he wished. However, what if that yer appeared before he finished his first mission?

    Thankfully Dave had obtained 135 contribution points from killing the two yers. 100 for the mission and 20 for killing the yers. He lost some contributions for having two of his ghouls die. But due to having leveled up one of his minions, he gained a bit of contribution topensate for it. thankfully the death of his minions against monsters did not deduct his contribution, only against yers will he lose them for good.

    And when he came back to the undead world, he discovered that the two Ghouls that died are back. And his group was back to how it was.

    Dave was now trying to think of a solution to his problem. So far the system never sent him to fight against stronger foes. Every time he would be sent he would have to fight against simr level enemies. And that was the same case this time, only when he decided to remain would he be risking himself to die against strong and powerful foes.

    Dave went back to the item shop to see what he could buy. Naturally, he could not afford anything at the moment. As the cheapest item was the EXP potion that cost 100 points. Other than that, normal tier equipment that has at least 400 contribution points in value.

    Dave looked through every avable object until he discovered an interesting item.

    It was not that expensive, but it still caught Dave¡¯s attention.

    Low tier Dungeon core.

    Cost 1000 Contribution points

    Mutates a dungeon¡¯s core. Making it change the race of the spawning monsters.

    Can generate a constant amount of contribution points if yers die within the dungeon.

    There was another item that caught Dave¡¯s attention.

    Core Resonance amplifier.

    Can force close dungeons who have been tampered with by using a corrupt dungeon core and force a dungeon break

    Cost 10 000 contribution point.

    Dave knew what would be the use of a dungeon break. So far, there was only one case of a dungeon break in this game. A dungeon break is a really terrible oue for yers. Hordes of monsters will constantly spawn from nearby dungeons creating chaos. It would usuallyst for a few days or until most monsters have been defeated.

    Once a dungeon break was over, the dungeon would be exhausted and the bosses won¡¯t spawn until a long period of time. This might trouble high-level guilds, but for Dave, taking into consideration the price of this item. He would probably get a lot of contribution points if he was to instigate a dungeon break.

    The idea nted itself in Dave¡¯s head and he began to seriously think about it.

    He needed contribution points, and if he manages to make a dungeon break, it will create chaos and force several yers toe and fight the hoards. Then, he would find some time to level up without being bothered.

    However, the price of such item is rather expensive, and he can¡¯t afford it at the moment.

    Another mission started and Dave checked out the location. Thankfully it was not on the same mountain and was back at the old graveyard where his first mission started.

    Dave and his party spawned in the same graveyard and began a mass massacre.

    yers were unable to stop the bearded Skeleton as he struck too hard and his minions would move strategically and hold them off.

    Their priests and healer sses would always be focused first. The tanks would be hindered by the ghouls,and their DPS ss would not be able to move away from Dave¡¯s constant and sustained damage.

    Dave began gaining contribution points at a leisurely pace without finding any problems.

    He would always try to aplish his mission in destroying the first ¡¯invaders¡¯ then think about what to do next.

    Once Dave managed to kill the tenth yer. He found out that he had moved quite a bit from his original location.

    "Hmm... there is a dungeon here..." said Dave.

    Indeed, it was a low-level dungeon, there were some giant rats, and blood Bats inside the dungeon. It was nothing that a level 20 yers cannot defeat with a good team of yers.

    Normally it would have some yers near its gates, but due to Dave¡¯s small party. Most of the yers that were headed towards the dungeon ended up dead...

    In front of the dungeon, there was an NPC Dwarf above its head was a small g of a golden giant with a golden shield and sword. That was the emblem of the Devastators¡¯ guild.

    This NPC was something that the game added to handle the entrance fees for the yers.

    Normally a yer would usually pay a small sum of money to enter a conquered dungeon. And the guild that originally owned the dungeon would take in that amount of cash automatically.

    The NPC cannot be killed and no one can enter the dungeon without paying.

    Dave got closer to the dungeon and the moment he tried to speak with the NPC. The small Dwarf¡¯s face turned pale and screamed!

    "U-undead!! Kyaaaa!!!"

    Dave¡¯s eyebrows squinted. He just wanted to pay the NPC to see if he could ess the dungeon, and the NPC just fell on the floor scared shitless.

    Dave ignored him and went towards the dungeon. He pressed his hand forward and found out that the barrier that would stop non-paying yers was not present... he was considered a monster for the moment... so he was not needed to pay anything.

    Dave smiled and stroked his beard. This was bing a bit of Dave once he began pondering over things.

    If he was to not pay anything to enter a dungeon, wouldn¡¯t that mean that he could Exp for free?

    Once Dave entered his party of monsters followed...

 Chapter 30 The TNT!

    The first thing that Dave had seen once he entered the dungeon; was a group of rats that were reaching out to him, trying to take him and his party down. However, unfortunately for the rats, they were decimated without a second nce.

    The number of minions under Dave¡¯smand was too many for a dungeon that only needed 3 people to enter as a party. Due to Dave¡¯s current nature as an undead, he was exempted from the party limit. Mainly because hew as not in a party, but wasmanding units through the hierarchy of the undead army.

    The rats were but level 10-15 they only sustained a single hit from any of Dave¡¯s minions or himself.

    One of your Undead had managed to level up

    +15 Contribution points.

    It seems that Dave¡¯s current group was leveling up rather nicely. So Dave made sure to continue down the dungeon¡¯s path.

    It was a cave with a long corridor, the entrance of the cave was lit with torches and there was some glistening moss glowing on the walls making the interior of the cave visible. Dave¡¯s undead nature even added to the rity of his vision and he was able to see clearly as if he was outside the cave.

    Once they walked for a few more meters, another small party of rats encountered them. They were a bit bigger than the first, but they were not as strong.

    Taking a few more minutes the Rats were exterminated without waste of time.

    "This is rather dull, but it seems that people enjoy grinding in this risk-free dungeon." Said, Dave, as he contemted the nature of the dungeon.

    Dave didn¡¯t bother fighting at all. He was trying to ustom himself with themand of his units. Once he grows up in rank, he will be forced to control more units and it is better if he gets adapted to it right now.

    Moreover.

    Level Up.

    Dave¡¯s current progress was rather swift. Indeed, in the early levels, it is much easier to level up. But for others they might find it dull and boring, Dave, on the other hand, was using his undead toon to give him free XP. And at the same time, they would level up giving him more contribution points.

    After some long walking, Dave was met with a crossroad.

    On the left side was the sign of a mining cart. The other side had a red skull sign.

    This was an old mine that was now fully depleted. The game¡¯s resources are almost like real life. There is a huge amount of it, but the spawn rate of the mining camps is really long. For example, once an iron vein is fully excavated, it would take 30 days game time for it to respawn and be excavated again.

    Dave had entered the cave while it was in its resting period, so there were no miners. At the other intersection however, there were sounds of sword shing.

    Dave halted the advance of the party and approached the entrance to the right slowly.

    You have learned the skill

    Sneak(Level Max)

    Muffles the sound of your footsteps by 50%

    Cost 10 stamina/sec

    The more equipment the yer is wielding, the lesser the effect of Sneak.

    "Oh, a free skill... that is rather nice!" said Dave as he remembered that there were some skills that could be learned by doing several things. Dave made sure to check the forums for all kinds of free skill that could be gained in the game once he finishes this small task.

    Dave positioned hisst remaining ghoul on the gate and ced three casters behind him. This way if any of the yers inside wishes to leave they will be forced to fight.

    He then pulled three archers and thest remaining normal skeleton with him.

    Once he entered he willed the normal skeleton to move first.

    There was a party inside. And amazingly it was the first party that Dave had ever met.

    Now that Dave found it interesting he inspected their levels.

    Human Fortress

    Tank level

    Level 20

    Perfect Shot.

    Hunter

    level 19

    Pussy nker

    Priest

    Level 16

    Once Dave read thest guy¡¯s name he chuckled. Some people have weird naming sense, not that he was any better with his "Death stroke" name.

    "Hey, don¡¯t you dare let the bats OT!" cried out the priest named Pussy nker.

    "Hey, it only happened once! Stop crying!" said Human fortress as he was kiting two giant blood bats toward him while Perfect Shot was shooting arrows like a minigun.

    "Rest assured, that was a strange skeleton that ruined our game. He is even being united by several high-level guilds... there is no need to worry bout it. it¡¯s not like he will appear here" said perfect shot as he kept on shooting the bats down

    Dave then knitted his brows, was he being hunted down? The damned developers sure didn¡¯t make it easy on him as they ced a giant target on his back.

    Though no one knows his name, many will soon start paying attention to the Undead¡¯s strange behavior. If this continues, dave will sooner orter sumb to someone. Dave needed to hasten his progress in his inheritance quest.

    At least, Dave would need to finish his inheritance quest first. As for the Undead Legion, if he fails at iming the throne it would be a huge waste but he wouldn¡¯t be that saddened about it.

    The moment he gains the inheritance of the god of death, several super guilds would vie for him and would surely try to recruit him in their guilds. That would ensure Dave¡¯s future. But if he were to im the undead Throne, he would forge his own future against the whole world. That is if he ever manages to defeat the undead king.

    Dave had thought about it a lot. To kill the undead king, one would need an entire army. Mainly due to him being a boss, or that is what Dave thinks. If it was really a boss, and the abyssal knights below him were at least level 600. Then the undead King¡¯s level would be between level 700-800. And that is something that Dave could not handle alone. The only thing thates to his mind that he would need to at least reach level 900 for him to be able to solo the boss! That is of course if he ever reaches that level without dying a single time!

    Which is probably impossible. So Didn¡¯t really feel the need to rush things, at least for the time being, there is still a lot of effort that needs to be put into this matter before he would attempt at taking down the boss. However, he would still need to hurry up and get the inheritance questpleted.

    Once Dave showed his face. The party had just managed to defeat the two blood bats.

    Human fortress¡¯s face turned white as a paper.

    "You fucking had to jinx it! IT IS HERE!" Cried out Human fortress. The party turned around to see a smirking bearded undead. His pale skin and his unholy appearance were like an ancient Drauger from old Noros mythology.

    Dave rushed forward and struck down with his sword at Human Fortress.

    [-450]

    "Fucking hell! He still hits like a god damned truck! I even changed my equipment and am still getting hammered." Cried out Human fortress

    "Use your god damned damage reduction skill!" said Perfect shot as he tried to kite the monster away from the Tank, Human Fortress had just managed to survive the fight against two Blood bats and he had yet to fully heal himself. If the Tank dies, they will follow.

    "It is on cooldown!" cried out Human fortress as he tried to strike back at Dave

    [-0]

    "Fucking hell!" Shouted Human fortress! It was exactly the same like before! He couldn¡¯t even put a dent in the damned Drauger!

    .the moment the priest tried to Heal Human fortress, he was interrupted by the archers that followed Dave. And thest sole skeleton rushed forward to hamper

    Perfect shot as he didn¡¯t give him a clear vision. The way the skeleton position itself was always to force Perfect shot to move to the side and aim to take the shot.

    A hunter would always need to lock on a target. Once something or someone blocks the way, the archer would lose the lock-on effect and would need to aim once again. Now the only job for the skeleton was to ruin the archer¡¯s aim as he would move with him every time the archer tried to attack.

    "Damn!" cried out perfect shot as he saw the Hp of Human fortress slowly depleting.

    You have killed a yer

    +10 contribution points

    The tank fell down first.

    The priest was unable to help as he was hammered without stop.

    The hunter decided to run away, there was no need for him to die here, he would only lose equipment durability, it is better that he runs for his life and escape.

    Dave didn¡¯t bother following the escaping hunter as he used {stampede}to close the gape with the priest.

    The priest started spamming spells on Dave. Undeads have a huge weakness toward the Holy element. And priests would have a natural advantage over the undead.

    [-180]

    It seems that the damage the priest could deal to Dave was the highest in the party.

    He was the only one that could force Dave to be slightly careful about. Indeed a single priest is nothing, but once the numbers be too many, an undead is bound to die.

    Once Dave struck the immobile priest who was unable to move while casting spells.

    The priest was stunned

    [-1200]

    You have killed a yer

    +10 contribution points

    Dave totally forgot that stampede can deal twice the weapon damage. As for the priest, he was already harmed a lot by the archers and now Dave only finished him off.

    Your underling have killed a yer

    +5 contribution point

    Dave then smirked as he understood that Perfect shot must have died to the group of undead that was standing guard at the door.

    The poor perfect shot must have had his mind go nk as he was met with a voly of the caster¡¯s spells and the ghoul that was holding the door.

    Dave thenmanded his party to regroup and regenerate any loss of Hp.

    So far Dave had only one ghoul, one skeleton and three archers and casters. A total of 8 underlings as he already lost two before against the golden panther.

    The remaining ghoul was Dave¡¯s first underling to level up. Followed by that, was one of the casters.

    Now Dave began to venture forward in the dungeon and tried to get to its end.

    There could probably be more yers inside the dungeon, and that would mean more contribution points for Dave.

 Chapter 31 Royal Bloodbat.

    Most early level dungeons are rather easy to aplish. They are straightforward and are basically a long corridor with some rooms on the sides that might or might not be needed for an adventure to clear. It all depends on the dungeon.

    In this case, this was of the simplest dungeons in the game. The first part of the dungeon had a crossroad that people need to choose which room to go to. A miner would go to the mining vein, and an adventure will go to the other side to seek fights and EXP.

    Dave went deeper into the tunnel and reached a small round hall. It was man-made. Probably some old dwellers had lived here before and after they left or probably died. This ce became the spawning point of several monsters.

    Mainly rats and Bloodbats. Bloodbats were not that bigger than the usual bats but the only difference that they were really sturdy and could replenish their Hp by sucking the blood of the living. Forcing the adventures to fight prolonged fights against a group of them.

    BloodBat

    Level 21

    Damage 400-600

    1200 Hp

    100 Damage nullification

    100 magic absorption

    It was not that much of a threat when these Bloodbats were alone. But they alwayse in droves.

    The least amount of these bats in a party was 3. And so was the number facing Dave at the current moment.

    Dave didn¡¯t even hesitate as he struck at the first abt and ordered his friends to struck down the other bats. They were helpful in taking down the first bat in almost no time.

    Dave Exp bar rose slightly at about 2%. It would not take Dave too much time to level up again especially after he had gained a substantial amount of EXP when he was fighting the golden panthers and the rats at the entrance of the cave.

    The bats were killed in moments. Dave moved deeper into the dungeon and kept on killing all Bloodbats he met in the dungeon.

    After an hour or so Dave reached the end of the dungeon. There was a huge dormant bat inside, normally low-level yers would not dare fight against it as it was too tough for them. yers of level 30 and below would rather gain exp in the dungeon and only undertake the boss once they are sure they could defeat it. mainly due to the boss¡¯s level.

    Royal BloodBat.

    Once a servant of a powerful vampire the royal Bloodbat sumbed to grave injuries and now rests in this region to recuperate. Its only wish is to go back to his lord¡¯smand once more.

    Level 65

    Damage 1500-2000

    Damage Nullification 250

    Magic absorption 300

    6000Hp

    {Blood Steal}

    {Gnaw}

    {Blood storm}

    Dave was surprised to see the status screen of the bat. It was a boss ss monster and all boss ss monsters would show their status screen once inspected in an exhaustive manner.

    Dave was able to tell that the dormant bat was powerful especially with its skills.

    {Blood Steal}

    The royal Bloodbat Attaches itself to a target and would drain 1% of their HP and regained 1% of their MAX HP back.

    Lasts for 100 seconds, (can be interrupted with crowd control effects)

    The first skill is rather annoying as it could heal back the Bloodbat¡¯s Hp all the way to its maximum value. Even if the bat¡¯s target has just 100Hp, the bat would be able to regenerate his 6000Hp once he fully channels his skill.

    {Gnaw}

    Deals 300% basic damage value to a target.

    Requires 3 seconds channel time.

    The gnaw skill was fearsome as it could instantly one shot any of his undead minions. Dave had to be wary of such a skill. It might cause him to lose one of his minions.

    Lastly was

    {Blood storm}

    Deals 100 Hp t damage/sec in an area of effect of 30 meters. Lasts 10 seconds.

    Cannot be interrupted.

    Thest skill was probably the boss¡¯s ultimate skill. It was meant to mow down the numbers as any yer with less than 1000 hp were to remain the in area of effect, they will lose their lives once the duration ends

    The bat was quite powerful and would need yers to have a decent amount of Hp before they would fight against it.

    Level 38

    ss Death¡¯s Apostle

    Name Death Stroke Race Human (Undead)

    Health 5300+(265) Mana 1100 +(55)

    Stamina Unlimited Rage/Focus 100

    Intelligence 110 +(5.5) Wisdom 110 +(5.5)

    Dexterity 110 +(5.5) Agility 110 +(15)

    Vitality 10 +(0.05) Strength 150 +(5.5)

    Magic Absorption 500 Damage Nullification 1000

    Immunity 10% +(0.05)% - -

    HP Regen 0.1/sec +(0) Mana Regen 1.1/sec +(0)

    Stamina Regen +¡Þ Rage/Focus

    Regen 1/sec

    Title I know it all!

    Dave still had about 20 attribute points. Due to him gaining an average of 10 attribute points every 5 levels he didn¡¯t add any of them to his stats as he didn¡¯t need to. His equipment were sufficient enough to sustain his growth, at least for now. He already used 40 attribute points once he reached level 20 to be able to equip his sword.

    Dave felt a bit sad as his Rage bar remained unused. From the moment he unlocked it, he never had any skills rted to rage, most of his skills were based on stamina. And due to his unlimited stamina as an undead, he didn¡¯t worry about the cost of using his skills. However, stamina rted skills have a really long cooldown! Unlike rage reliant skills which some of them could be spammed.

    Dave consulted his status screen out of habit. Many people love to check out their status screen it gives a sort of pride to the owner as a status screen would demonstrate their efforts and hard work that they put in their character.

    "Alright, time to do some pest control," said, Dave, as he brandished his sword.

    He positioned all of his undead just at the rim of the boss¡¯s aggro range, which was usually 30 meters.

    He then approached the 29meter mark and the Boss woke up.

    {Stampede} cast Dave as he ran forward like an unchained train.

    However, the bat immediately took flight, and Dave found himself unable to stop.

    You have been stunned for 2 seconds

    Dave felt embarrassed as he headed face first into a wall and ended up crashing on it.

    If anyone were to see this they would haveughed their ass off at Dave¡¯s idiotic behavior.

    Thankfully Dave was surrounded by undead and a monstrous Bat. Nothing to be ashamed over at least.

    Dave didn¡¯t will the minions to attack in fear that they might get killed.

    The bat turned around and dived toward Davending a {Gnaw} on his back.

    [-2730]

    A single skill took more than half of Dave¡¯s Hp!

    Dave was shocked. Normally Gnaw would take 3 seconds to be cast, and once Dave was stunned it was the perfect chance for the bat to kick him while he was down. He didn¡¯t even have the chance to use {Block}.

    Dave turned around and smacked the bat with his swordnding descent damage.

    [-680]

    He then willed his undead to enter the fight. After having established a good agro base he didn¡¯t fear his undead to OT him. They can¡¯t deal more damage than him, but their total amount of damage could easily surpass dave¡¯s.

    The bat struck again with one of his hands that were cased in disgusting looking fur.

    {Block}

    The attack was nullified.

    Dave didn¡¯t really have the pleasure to take more damage.

    Once block was activated, Dave struck with another attack

    [-780] a good damage value appeared above the bat¡¯s head.

    Once Dave gained the Death Apostle¡¯s ss he benefited from +10% attack damage when he was using swords.

    The bat was incensed as more and more damagended on it. the bat charged at Dave and used

    {Blood Steal}

    Dave wanted to save destructive smash to knock down the bat. However, something strange happened before he could react

    Due to your nature as an undead, the Royal Blood Bat is unable to suck any (blood) from your body.

    Soon afterward, instead of the bat gaining Hp. Something that made Dave¡¯s unable to eitherugh or cry happened.

    The bat began losing hp?

    After having consumed corrupted blood the bat entered a {Poisoned} state.

    [-60]

    [-60]

    [-60]

    ...

    Dave then inspected the Bat that was clinging to him to see what was happening.

    Dave then smiled as he understood. The bat used his skill, and due to his nature as an undead, it only sucked in poisoned blood and made it damage itself instead of healing. Dave was not taking any amount of damage, while the bat was literally killing itself.

    Dave then decided to help the bat and elerated his suffering as he struck at him with all of his attacks.

    The poor bat could not disengage from using his skill. He needed to be interrupted, and Dave didn¡¯t want to give him that chance. So he didn¡¯t use his {Destructive Smash} or even the {Death Grip} skill that could paralyze yers. He just slowly withered the bat down with normal attacks.

    It didn¡¯t take more than 1 minute before the bat died miserably, not even having the chance to use his {Blood Storm}

    You have defeated the boss of the bloodbath dungeon

    +60 000Xp

    Level Up

    Level Up

    "That was nice!" dave then looked at the corpse of the fallen bat and checked out the drops

    Bloodied Fang of the royal blood bat (Consumable}

    Grants +10 vitality upon consumption.

    "Oh, a consumable item that adds to stats! Wicked!" Said, Dave, as he was impressed with the drop.

    Royal blood bat¡¯s hide

    (Rare)

    Crafting material

    Dungeon core. (Special item)

    Can be used to modify the nature of the dungeon that has been imed from

    Dave¡¯s mouth went wide open! This was an item at the undead world and it costs 1000 contribution point! How the hell did it end up in Dave¡¯s hand!

 Chapter 32 Madam Clementine

    Chapter 32

    Once Dave held the small orb in his hand it shone lightly in a red light. It was the size of his palm and didn¡¯t seem out of ce. This was the BloodBat¡¯s dungeon so its red color seemed to fit the theme.

    You are in control of the dungeon core. Would you like to modify the structure of the dungeon?

    Y/N?

    A small notification window appeared before Dave as he immediately pressed Yes.

    Error, you do not have sufficient right

    Would you like to modify the type of the spawning monsters in the dungeon?

    Y/N?

    Dave felt a bit perplexed... it seems that he would need something to be able to modify the structure of a dungeon, but what about the monsters that spawn within it? would it once again put an error before Dave? Dave pressed Yes once again and was met with another notification window.

    You can only change the type of monsters to the

    Undead Race nature

    This is a low tiered dungeon

    It can be upgraded to a higher level dungeon core.

    Once the modification takes effect, all monsters within the dungeon will change nature to being undead of the same species.

    [Giant cave rats wil} be [Undead Giant cave rats]

    [Bloodbats] will be [Life sucking bats]

    Dungeon boss will spawn in 30 days from now.

    [Royal blood bat] has been changed to.

    [Skeletal Soul Eater]

    It seems that the monsters will only change their nature but will not receive an upgrade to theirbat abilities or their power.

    This will probably ruin people¡¯s idea about this dungeon, many who wille prepared to fight the blood bats will be met with different monsters and races. This would be quite a sight to see

    You have modified a dungeon.

    You will be granted a 1000 Monthly contribution allowance for having conquered a dungeon.

    Every yer kill within the dungeon will grant you +10 contribution.

    If the dungeon core is damaged or destroyed by another yer within the month the dungeon will go back to its former nature and you will lose your monthly allowance.

    Only yers with dungeon cores have the ability to see other dungeon cores.

    Dave felt astonished! He could receive a monthly ie of contribution points as long as the dungeon remains standing! How many yers have dungeon cores anyway? And even if they did would they waste them on this low-level dungeon? This was practically a free contribution point fallout for Dave.

    If only he could get more of these, thought Dave. Indeed, spending 1000 contribution points to buy a single dungeon core would be expensive. However, if the dungeon stands for at least one month, he would have reimbursed his expenditure and would then start getting more contribution points every month. This was indeed a fallout. And probably this was the benefit of being a pioneer, it was indeed hard for Dave to see benefits in starting this quest. But from now on, he could see the advantage he would gain over other yers. However, this only ascertained his resolve, he need not fall. He must finish his quest and reach as high as he could in the undead skeletondder.

    Even if he can¡¯t make it to own the whole region, as long as he is standing strong, and is the highest-ranked yer in the undead army. He would be able to have a huge advantage over other yers.

    The developers had made a huge target over Dave¡¯s head. And now he began to understand the benefits of this quest and his pioneering rights.

    Dave epted the change of the dungeon, and a loading bar started. It would seem that it would take an hour or so for the dungeon to be morphed to another type. So Dave Had nothing else to do but to go back to the dead world.

    Once Dave went back to the dead world he took a look at his contribution point window.

    Currently, have

    420 Contribution points.

    "Today¡¯s hunt was not that great. But thankfully I got a hold of a dungeon. I should probably try and conquer more dungeonster, it should be better than buying dungeon cores here for contribution points." Said, Dave, as he looked at the merchant¡¯s wears.

    There was nothing Dave wanted to buy for the moment. Any type of equipment would have a minimum price of 400 contribution points. Even the powerful sword Dave had was nothing but the worst weapon there. Dave sighed as he looked at his character. Indeed he had a good advantage against low-level yers. But once he levels higher and higher, his wears would be nothing but scraps. He really needs to get a better set of equipment.

    Dave looked at the requirement to be a skeleton captain. It was nothing less than 1000 Contribution point. If the expansion wasunched to the world, many would be able to easily gather 1000 contribution points, and they could immediately rank up. First due to them being much higher level than Dave. And the second reason, they don¡¯t need to do what is dave is currently doing. Dave is broke and has no ability to procure powerful equipment. As for other yers, they would have theirs. Dave would need to spend a lot of contribution points to get better and better equipment. So he really needs to work his way to the top of the skeletaldder slowly and step by step.

    Dave decided that it was time for him to log out. There is nothing else for him to do so he was willing to log out and rest for a moment.

    Once Dave was out, he made another meal of nd noodles and ate. He took a look at his current whereabouts and sighed.

    "Indeed, to change from rich to poor, to change from being at the lowest stage of the socialdder, hard effort and a lot of luck is required. Also taking opportunities and sacrificing a lot of time to do so. If I were to ck off, my chance will be gone. I only have one chance, and I will make sure to make the best use of it." said Dave as he stood up with confirmed resolve and a goal that he set for himself.

    Dave had only one regret in life his inability to attend college. Even though he seeded in high school. He was unable to pay the tuition fees for college, so he always regretted it. but now thinking about the prospects of the chance he was given in the game.

    "If I ever manage to make it big, I will make sure to attend college, at least then I would have some sort of self-aplishment. Money can¡¯t make a man. Only their mind could."

    Said, Dave, as he walked out of his house. His damaged leg was making moving around a bit awkward. So Dave could only sigh as he said

    "Once I make it big, I will make sure to hire the best doctors to heal me back up... even if those bastards paid for the hospital fees, they only made sure that I was able to walk¡¯ out of the hospital. I know for a fact that with the advancement in the medical field, this sort of damage to the body is easily manageable. But I have only myself to rely on. The only good thing that came out of that ident is the chance I was given to y the game. This must be fate. And I will make sure not to waste it."

    It waste in the evening, and Dave had an urge just to leave his house. He didn¡¯t wish to stay inside his room all day like a NEET. So it was only normal for him to leave to have a breath of fresh air once in a while.

    Dave¡¯s town was in a mountainous area. So it was quite refreshing, its air was a bit cold and was kind of chilled. But still, it was better than the moldy smell of Dave¡¯s room.

    A sense of mncholy premature Dave all this day, it was as if he was sad. Mainly due to the many possibilities of him failing his quest. But he had to keep reminding himself of his future. He needed to persevere in order to be able to have control over his own fate. To never feel stifled and be controlled by other more powerful forces.

    Dave¡¯s walk down the small town was noticed by an old woman who owned a grocery shop.

    "Hey, Dave, it is good to see you back up. How have your injuries been?" said the old woman

    Thisdy was named Clementine, she was a lovely olddy that helped Dave several times when hecked the money to buy food. She would even loan him some cash that he would always give her back in due time.

    "What are you still doing at this time Madam Clementine? It is toote for selling groceries." Said Dave.

    "I am just enjoying thete night¡¯s breeze, my dear. Old people would tend to enjoy the simple things in life my dead. I was also nning on closing shop. Say, I still have some vegetables here I could sell them to you at half price!" she said as if she was giving Dave a bargain.

    "Oh, aren¡¯t you just trying to get rid of your unsold stuff? But beggars can¡¯t be choosers. I will take all I can, show me what you have" Said Dave as he approached the shop.

    Indeed there were a lot of ¡¯lower quality¡¯ vegetables and fruits that remained there. So Dave could only sigh before he tried to take his pick of the foodstuff on the Lady¡¯s table.

    "Oh, not those, here," said the olddy as she brought a small box from under the counter.

    It had fresh fruits and vegetables of all kinds that were well assorted and properly organized. They gave a good sight of freshness and were probably of the best stuff that thedy had to offer at this time of day."

    "Those vegetables were meant for the trash can, I won¡¯t feel right giving that to you, you are one of my customers after all. So, I heard that you quit your job. Why did you do that? Don¡¯t tell me you are huddling up inside your room all morning doing nothing? There is nothing worse than an unemployed person loitering around. I won¡¯t have it like this! Though you have difficult circumstances in life, you should always keep your head up. Maybe someday your luck will change." Said the olddy both scolding and advising dave. She truly was a nice person that Dave could only smile after hearing her piece of mind.

    Dave Gave the olddy her due in cash and took home the vegetables.

    The old woman sighed as she saw Dave¡¯s back. He was limping back home, his back was hunched a bit as if he was holding a heavyweight. Indeed, Dave¡¯s life was tough, and he could only smile facing the adversities of life. Many had worse circumstances than his. But still, the old woman felt sad for being unable to provide more help. She too was not that well off. But still, it pained her to see a young man with such a heavy burden...

 Chapter 33 The Elven Huntress

    Dave went back home and took a look at the basket of vegetables. He then started making something for himself. Sadly with his injured hands, peeling potatoes was a hard task for him right now. The more he tried the harder it became, frustrated he threw the knife and the potato as if it was his worst enemy. Dave slouched down and silently began to cry. Indeed, it was insufferable, a young man of barely twenty years of age, whose future should be limitless was handicapped and is unable to do the simplest of chores.

    After a moment Dave took in a deep breath and stood back up, he went looking for the potato he threw watched it and started once again, slowly he managed to finally peel it. it took a lot of time for him to finish, then threw everything in boiling water. He added some meat, a bit of seasoning and ended up with a strange broth, that he called food.

    This was much better than the nd instant noodles he would eat every day, so at least he ate alone in his small apartment in total silence.

    Now and then a single tear would fall, but he would instantly wipe it off. Something about this day made Dave more frustrated... his resolve was shaken, but he didn¡¯t know the reason behind it. he would look at the future he wanted to achieve, but it looked too distant and filled with adversities. It was hard for Dave, but still, the moment he finished his meal, he went online to see the forums.

    There was nothing new, mostly it was just the same old talk about the new undead event, but it was going down a notch. Like every other news, it would be outdated after a while.

    There was something that peaked Dave¡¯s interest, a word about the Pits of despair. It was a level 450 dungeon, something that many yers found difficult, even the super guilds have taken a considerable time to break through the 5 bosses of the dungeon, only to be held at the bay of sess by the sixth boss.

    Dave saw some videos of yers trying to defeat the few first bosses, barely managing to defeat them, thest boss would always smack them around.

    The Devastators have the highest chance of achieving victory, mainly due to the other two super guilds being uninterested inpeting for the dungeon right now. The northern and southern Region are engrossed in a fight against each other for the moment. Nothing too big actually. Just skirmishes around the borders of each territory. This was the chance that the Devastators took to get their hands on the Pits of despair¡¯s first clear achievement.

    Dave went back to his bed and went to sleep, he yed a lot and didn¡¯t feel like ying more. At least for now.

    Once it was morning Dave had a shower and ate something for breakfast. Immediately after that, he logged back into the game.

    While you were offline.

    yers have died 28 times in the Skeletal soul eater¡¯s cavern.

    +280 contribution points.

    That was a nice surprise for Dave.

    It seems that the dungeon is still able to get yers killed. For now, the yers that enter the dungeon must have been off guard and ended up being killed by the new variety of the undead that was swarming the ce.

    Another mission proved itself before Dave and he epted after verifying the state of his small toon.

    Dave found himself in another region, this time it was a bit colder. This was the deep north.

    Here in this region Dave and his small group were spawned in a cold and deste area, it was white all around, with nowhere to hide or to blend with the surrounding.

    Dave didn¡¯t see any yers around, but there were several snow-wolves running around in the distance.

    Dave noticed that the wolves were chasing something.

    After a close inspection, it was indeed a yer. A girl was kiting The huge pack of wolves with her bow.

    Dave was too far to inspect her level but he didn¡¯t bother. She was running directly towards his location.

    Dave positioned his undead to prepare to attack, but once he saw the girl¡¯s face he was a bit intreagued. She was beautiful, to say the least, purple locks with a green dress and a hard leather armor. The moment their eyes locked. The girl frowned, but then a smile immediately was stered across her face. She instantly began to run toward Dave¡¯s group and ignored attacking the wolves. This way her speed increased.

    The moment she was 30 meters before Dave¡¯s group, just outside the aggro range of Dave.

    She stopped and waited for the wolves to catch up.

    Once they caught up, she used a skill and blinked on the other side of the group of the wolves.

    she used {Breaking shot}

    The whole pack of wolves. Who were 6, by the way, were pushed three meters back. Immediately after that she brought a potion and drank it.

    It was a potion that Dave knew about. Cleansing potion.

    It removed the user¡¯s aggro.

    The wolves had now been pushed into the skeletons aggro range, and the yer that they were chasing had its aggro bar cleared. They then immediately turned around and looked at the group of undead and began charging towards them.

    Dave felt astonished. She clearly was unable to ditch the group of wolves, even so, if she was to kite them, it would take her a lot of time to kill them off. But doing this she was able to force the wolves to fight against the undead and she could get herself out of thebat.

    This was an excellent disy of skill that Dave witnessed happening.

    The elf-like girl sighed a breath of relief as she sat down and began eating some consumables. She was not worried about being attacked, why would she? These are just mobs and undead let them duke it out and she would finish thest one standing.

    Dave couldn¡¯t help it but look at her direction. The girl felt a bit weirded out howe that certain bearded undead has a look like that?

    He then brought his hands together and smirked while pping

    "p-p-p"

    The moment he did that, the girl¡¯s reactions were funny, she immediately canceled on her recuperation and stood back up, she went way back behind the group and distanced herself.

    She just remembered about the strange undead entity, the bearded undead that has excellent AI. It was part of an event that she heard a lot of people talk about, but never in her life did she believe that she would meet the bearded undead right now!

    Without a moment¡¯s waste, Dave used the three ghouls to tank for the party of casters. The archers turned around and began raining hell from above.

    It took a couple of minutes for the party of 6 wolves to be decimated once Dave joined the fray.

    They were but level 25. So it was nothing hard, their defense was low, and their Hp was not that great. Besides their attacking power, they were not a threat alone, but a pack is a bit difficult for a single yer to handle. Dave was never alone by the way and the group of wolves was eradicated.

    The female Elf yer stared in amazement. It was exactly as she heard, she even took a video of the fight and saved it. Dave¡¯spany turned to face the Elf. But right before she would turn around and run

    "Here she is!" said a yer as he was running across the ins.

    The Elvendy¡¯s expressions turned Grim. The yer that was chasing her had a red name tag on his head. He was an aggressor. He must have killed someone recently.

    Two other yers spawned behind her.

    "Come, give us that inheritance piece!" said another yer that just appeared.

    The three yers closed the gap on the elf and she found herself surrounded. Undead behind her and Pk yers before her. Her situation looked rather grim.

 Chapter 34 The Overpowered Draugr!

    Dave had witnessed everything that was happening. This girl, like him, was suffering from the injustice of other yers. Fortunately for Dave, The abyssal Knight Deadra was powerful enough to take down the two ¡¯Bullies¡¯ and enabled Dave to obtain a piece of an inheritance quest.

    As for this elven girl, she would suffer at the hands of the Pk yers and she will mostly end up dead and would lose her inheritance piece. Dave didn¡¯t think about how did the girl obtain it.

    Did she steal it or not, it was not of Dave¡¯s concern.

    He had the thought of leaving the area but when the yers kill the elf they will mostelikely turn on him. he didn¡¯t want to die yet, so hepromised.

    Undeads have a primal hatred towards all that lives. Should he make an exception this time? Would it be worth it? wouldn¡¯t that be unreasonable?

    However, all those thoughts vanished once the three yers made their move.

    Dave wanted to help and will only do so once, perhaps the famous Mr.Skeletal will not be looked down upon once others ¡¯see¡¯ that he can sometimes help.

    Two of the yers were swordmasters, and the one on the backline was a priest.

    The girl looked bbergasted as she tried to run away but looking at her current position she was really in a tough spot.

    Dave willed his undead to spread a bit and enclose on the whole group of four.

    So far the four adventures had no idea what was happening, but they understood that the undead will fight them. If they started to go into an all-out brawl they will certainly end up being wiped. Afterall they were just level 30 at most.

    Dave¡¯s group of undead closed the gap rather slowly, trying to figure out his next move. Then the girl moved a bit back, she made sure not to enter the aggro range of the creatures, but she failed to understand why did the Bearded undead didn¡¯t attack at once.

    His AI was rather high. So she was unable to think of anything for the moment. If she was to enter the aggro range of one of them she will be the first to be attacked. And when that happens the other adventures would attack her at once stealing her inheritance piece and try somehow to fight against the remaining undead.

    "Don¡¯t enter the aggro range of that undead. Force that bitch to walk towards them. Only then will she be unable to escape. That {Breaking Shot} Skill of hers is fucking annoying. Go one by one and don¡¯t group together." Said One of the swordsmen.

    They were obviously aware of the aggro range of the monsters and wanted to push her into it

    Dave, however, had a smirk on his face, which the elven girl clearly saw.

    He pointed his hand towards her, and in a strange motion, he beckoned the girl to approach. Not in a taunting way, but rather... it was as if the undead was offering asylum. Why would an undead help her? What was going on?

    She clearly was astonished. But then she noticed something strange. She clearly was standing inside the aggro range of one of the undead... it was just a step in, but he didn¡¯t attack. Why did that happen?

    Due to the distance of the other three, they didn¡¯t gauge if she truly was inside the aggro range. But she could clearly see it. The undead refused to attack her. Something was amiss. But then she remembered that the bearded Drauger had pped at her disy before, though his nametag was red... was he friendly?

    However, no matter if she would trust the undead or not. She had no way out of it. if she tries to fight the three others, she will definitely die. However, if she was attacked by the undead and was killed. She will not lose her inheritance piece as long as none of the other yers attack her while she was taking damage from the undead.

    "Get her! Go!" said one of the swordsmen as he used {Charge} To close the gap between them.

    The girl¡¯s brows furrowed and she used her blinking ability a split second before the impact from the swordsman¡¯s {Charge} took effect. She managed to dodge the charge and the yer was now inside the aggro range of the archer skeleton.

    Dave was holding the aggro of his toon from attacking the Elvendy, but once the swordsman noticed his footing.

    Three arrows struck at him almost immediately.

    [-120]

    [-140]

    [-135]

    "Fuck!" cried out the swordsman as he was now being locked on by the archer undead.

    Dave¡¯s toon was not too dispersed, as it only took a couple of steps for the casters to reach the position of the first swordsman who was suffering under the archers.

    Another wave of attacks that took about a third of his Hp. The Swordsman¡¯s face drained of blood as he tried to retreat. But before long, a Ghoul was at his back forcing him from moving anywhere.

    "Hey help me out here!" Asked the first swordsman

    "Tsk tsk. You are getting your ass caught like that. Don¡¯t you have any shame? You will make this much harder, and I thought that you yed the game before me yet you are still a noob," mocked the second Swordmaster as he tried to approach the other trying to help him out.

    "Hey, Reiner. Heal us up" said the second swordsman as he used {Charge} Aiming at the elven girl.

    Dave then immediately used {Stampede} the moment he saw the priest preparing to cast a healing spell. That was a deadly mistake. Most healing spells required a cast time, and Dave needed his targets to be immobile to use Stampede less that he misses.

    The Eleven girl saw the fight breaking and seriously thought about escaping, but looking at the way the undead were fighting left her stunned.

    The three yers were positioned in such a way that they could not properly help each other. The bearded Draugr had somehow made his allies position themselves so that the assistance from yers be minimal.

    They were barely inside each other¡¯s range of attacks and skill usages while the undead had every one of them inside their aggro range. They were surrounded, but somehow the elven girl was never attacked by the undead. Only the second swordsman who used {Charge} at her.

    {Breaking Shot} was used by the elven girl to instantly interrupt the {Charge} of the second swordsman. He was pushed back a bit and was forced to move to close the gap.

    The Elven girl began to shower the second swordsman with arrows while using {Binding Arrow} to slow him down.

    the swordsman used {Warrior¡¯s will} to clear the slow effect, but immediately after that, the girl used

    {Concussive Shot} and immediately stunned the yer. His usage of {Warrior¡¯s Will} was too hasty so he was now stunned for another couple of seconds

    The girl was already level 35. Every ten levels a yer could go back to their instructor to gain a new skill up to level 100. Then every skill anyone would gain would depend on their luck in the game.

    Hunter ss had two main skills that could be gained in the early levels. {Concussive Shot} was a level 30 skill that could stun a target. While {Binding Arrow} could be gained at level 10.

    The Level 20 skill was called {Blink} and it could teleport a Hunter for 3 meters in a direction.

    As for the girl¡¯s {Breaking Shot} which could push enemies in a cone after the first arrownds on a target. It was a special skill that could only be dropped while adventuring. It was a rare skill, but several high-level hunters have it. it was indespensible in clearing the distance between a hunter and a melee ss.

    [-1650]

    Dave¡¯s {Stampede} had already smacked the priest and sent him flying for a couple of meters. Due to the disparity between Dave and the priest¡¯s Strength. The knockback effect took effect.

    At that time another ghoul charged at the first swordsman making his situation even worse.

    "Hurry the fuck up and heal me!" cried out the swordsman whow as taking the damage from six ranged units and two ghouls.

    The other two who were by the way another ghoul and a normal skeleton was just waiting for an opportunity to attack. They were spare troops that Dave kept in order to change any of his allies if their Hp dropped below a certain threshold.

    The priest¡¯s Hp was halved in a single attack by Dave. But before he could even heal himself up. Dave used {Destructive Smash} Stunning the priest.

    Congrattion.

    Destructive Smash had reached level

    5 Amateur

    That was a pleasant surprise But dave immediately discarded the notification as it was blocking his view.

    Right after the {Destructive Smash}, Dave struck down with another normal blow. And ended the priest¡¯s life

    You have killed an invader.

    +20 Contribution points.

    Another notification that was instantly discarded. But something strange happened, an item Dropped from the priest. But the moment Dave tried to pick it up.

    You are under the Undead appearance

    You cannot pick up yer dropped items.

    Dave then understood, that due to the yer being an aggressor, thest one that attacked them had the right to loot them. Looking around, it seems that the girl who didn¡¯t have the aggressor tag was being chased by these yers. And she must have retaliated. This item would naturally belong to her. Dave then sighed and moved to the second Swordsman who was locked inbat with the elven girl.

 Chapter 35 Undead partying with the living?

    By that time Dave had willed the third Ghoul toe and rece another of his minions as he was low on health.

    The first swordsman was barely holding on and seeing another Ghoul in the free made his heartache.

    The swordsman that was fighting the elven girl was unable to approach her as she was easily kiting him around.

    "Gha!" cried out the swordsman and used a skill

    {Vertical sh}

    It was a long-range AOE skill of the swordsman ss. it would send a wave of energy in an arc and hit enemies that were in front of it. it was a desperate attack that would reduce the Efl¡¯s health a bit but would not cause her any sort of danger.

    The elven girl gritted her teeth and kept on attacking.

    Dave was already behind the second swordsman. Due to the girl¡¯s kiting route, she was moving in circles and that made them close to Dave. However, what the elven girl didn¡¯t ount for was that she was closer to dave than the swordsman.

    Once the swordsman saw that he heaved a sigh of relief. He didn¡¯t attack the undead, and the girl before him was the first to enter his aggro range so he should attack her first.

    However, something that he didn¡¯t expect happened right then.

    The bearded Drauger didn¡¯t even move and waited until the girl went past him.

    The elven girl was already aware of the undead behind her and was ready to use her blink and drink another cleansing potion to clear the aggro so that the bearded undead would switch aggro once she is close to him. However, that was not the case. Once the swordsman was closer the Drauger smiled and attacked him.

    It was a stunning disy! What happened? The system? What is going on? Is there a bug?

    All those questioned went through the yer¡¯s head as he found himself unable to think properly once the attacknded on him.

    Immediately after that Dave used {Death Grip} and an eerie skull appeared before the second swordsman. His heart felt cold as if death¡¯s own hands were tightly gripping it. paralyzing him from ever moving a step.

    Death Grip was sessful

    Target paralyzed for 5 seconds

    His {Warrior¡¯s will} was already off cooldown, however, due to him being [Paralyzed] he couldn¡¯t activate it. A stun or daze, even slow or snare effects could easily be disabled by the {Warrior¡¯s Will} skill. But a paralyzing effect was not the case. It would block the yer¡¯s whole body from moving or activating any skill. The worst part. That itsted for 5 seconds!

    Right after that Dave attacked while adding {Twine Strike} which dealt a ridiculous amount of damage.

    [-480]

    [-795!] (Critical)

    Even if the second tik of attack dealt only 75% basic weapon damage. It would totally ignore a target¡¯s Defense Value. And especially now as itnded in a critical hit.

    Critical hits have 1% chance to proc and moreover, that was not it.

    Your weapon has proc¡¯d

    [Bleed]

    -500 Hp over 5 seconds

    You have in an invader

    +20 Contribution points

    The second swordsman wailed onest time before he dropped to the floor and another item fell. It was his sword.

    Then soon after thest remaining target fell.

    One of your underlings had in an invader

    +10 contribution points.

    Dave had managed to defeat all the yers with the sole exception of the Elven girl.

    Once that happened, every undead under Dave¡¯smand approached the scene.

    They were willed not to attack, but to remain in an imposing manner .surrounding her but not letting her move.

    Dave wanted to see how she would react in such a manner.

    She held her bow and aimed directly at Dave, but the nocked arrow was never loosened.

    They remained there for few seconds until Dave pointed with his finger toward a certain location.

    It was where the first Priest died. There was a shining item there, it was a hood.

    Then his hand moved toward his feet, where the sword of the second swordsman dropped.

    Andstly it was pointed toward the ce where thest swordsman died, that dropped a gauntlet.

    Then he waited for the girl to move.

    Her face was filled with an indescribable expression as she didn¡¯t understand at first. But once she saw the items, her face brightened up and she immediately picked them up. She was still warry from the undead, but no matter what, they didn¡¯t attack.

    Once she picked all three items she turned toward the undead and said.

    "I know you must be just an AI, but still. Thank you" she said. Yet before she could turn around.

    Dave tried to speak

    But nothing but grunts would be spoken.

    "You want something?" she asked.

    Dave nodded

    "The items I dropped?" she said while a sad look appeared on her face. Indeed, it Was Dave¡¯s effort that gained her that equipment so she didn¡¯t think that she had all right in hogging them.

    But Dave Shook his head. Those equips were not that good, mainly whatever he could get from the undead world¡¯s shop are much better than those of these adventures. What interested Dave was something else.

    He then looked at the snow and san ingenious idea appeared. It was as if a small light bulb appeared on top of his head.

    He began writing on the snow with his finger. It was really hard, but still, the words were visible to the girl.

    "Do you know of any nearby low-level dungeon?"

    That was what Dave asked. He was intrigued by the idea of conquering dungeons and receiving dungeon cores. Now if he could get another one, his contribution fallout would be doubled.

    "Dungeons?" asked the girl and Dave nodded his head.

    "There is one close by, it is rtively easy for a group of level 30 yers, I just managed to get an inheritance piece from there, but we never defeated the boss. The others tried to steal it from me... do you want to go there?" asked the girl.

    Dave then nodded in confirmation.

    "This is way too strange... I am talking to an undead... if people know about this it will make a scoop!" she thought about this as she made sure to film the whole thing. Then an interesting idea shed across her mind.

    "Hey! Can Ie too?!" she asked

    Dave¡¯s brows furrowed as he thought ¡¯She want¡¯s to party with me?"

    Dave pulled his sword as he gazed menacinlgy at the girl.

    "Wait wait! I promise I won¡¯t hindre you, heck if you think that i might be a liability you can have your undead kill me, I just want to do an adventure with the bearded draugr! please!" the elf begged.

    Dave then was taken aback...e along? With a yer? Would that be alright?

    Then he weighed his options, what the girl said was true, if shees and be a threath he can immediatly kill her and be over with .and even if she calls firends to gank him he can simply use End mission and be transported back to the undead world. He was not risking anything and really needed the dungeon core and with the help of this skilled archer, it could be worth it.

    Dave then nodded but remained prudent.

    "Alright! This is so cool!" She said in an excited manner. Dave could only sigh... she then said

    "Alright, follow me. I know the way!"

    "Ah, I can¡¯t invite you to a party... she said" Dave shrugged and was not bothered with that as he moved behind the Elven girl.

    "By the way, my name is Zoe. What is your name?" Asked the girl. She was thinking that this Undead was probably a part of some sort of hidden quest. And if she follows him around she might have ess to something unique.

    Dave halted for a moment. He didn¡¯ wish to give her his character¡¯s name. and thankfully she cannot nor can he add her as a friend due to his current State as being an undead.

    Then Dave wrote on the snow

    "Mr.Skeletal"

    The girl¡¯s reaction was somehow funny as she looked mouth agape at the writing.

    "So you are that yer!" she said finally understanding that Dave was a yer and not a monster.

    "Oh my god dude you are a living legend!" she said as she was trying to understand what sort of circumstances intertwined their fate.

    Dave could only shrug as he pointed forward for the girl to keep moving...

 Chapter 36 Ice Palace Dungeon

    The girl moved forward a bit giddy, happiness was clearly apparent on her face, of course, who wouldn¡¯t? this was Mr.Skeletal who made a sensation at low-level yers. She made sure to record everything that was going on.

    Lone Arrow.

    Hunter Level 31

    Dave had inspected the information on the Elven girl and saw that her name was Lone arrow. It wouldn¡¯t do him much for the moment because he can¡¯t send any friend invites to ¡¯yers¡¯ due to him currently being an undead.

    The girl didn¡¯t waste time as she began to pick up speed. Dave¡¯s undead was a bit slow but he himself didn¡¯t wait for them as he followed along but still he maintained his vignce. There was no way that he would trust anyone even if it was a girl. His current mission has his future on the line, and the dungeon he is headed for is an important event that would help secure his future. Backed up by the lifeline support of his ability to ¡¯End Mission" Whenever he could, he was a bit rxed.

    Dave¡¯s idea is to Conquer as many dungeons as he could, then umte as many contribution points in doing so. This would allow him to get better and better equipment in the undead world thus making him climb thedder faster.

    A journey of a thousand mile starts with a single step. And these were the first steps of Dave¡¯s journey as he was aiming for the top.

    After about 15 minutes they arrived at a cial cave. Dave waited before entry as his undead soon showed up. There was another dwarf near the entrance of the dungeon. It was once again the property of the Devastators.

    "This is the Rims of ice Dungeon," said Lone Arrow as she pointed toward the cave. "There are several creatures swarming the ce, they re all ice elementals, and the boss is a lesser Yeti. Here I managed to find the inheritance piece, it was surprisingly hidden in a secret entrance that needed an item to open it, which I have stumbled upon doing a hidden quest" said the girl exining

    "Those guys before were a part of my party, but the moment I showed them the inheritance piece they left the party and attacked me. I had a friend with me who helped me stop them for few moments, but he must have been killed by them. That is when I got the chance to escape. Sadly before I could log out, I was in the aggro range of a wandering pack of wolves. And it was then that we met."

    Lone Arrow¡¯s story was convincing, at least it made sense, but Dave didn¡¯t feel rx. If there was a friend with this girl she could still have him with her in her party.

    "I know what you are thinking, you know, there are several guilds that are searching for you. Even information about your location is awarded, However. That is of no concern to me." Said the girl in a bashful manner. She must havee from a wealthy family to not be interested in the ¡¯generous¡¯ reward for providing information about Dave.

    "Adventuring with Mr.Skeletal is much more worth it than some punny reward." She said while gleaming with a beautiful touch smile.

    Dave could only smile back as the party of undead showed up nearby. Lone Arrow was first to go near the Dwarf and rummaged through her inventory trying to pay the entrance fee. However, Dave approached and held her hand. she was a bit surprised as she saw the boney hand that barely had any resemnce of skin on it touching her delicate jade like a hand.

    It sent a shiver down her spine that even the cold in the region failed to do.

    Dave shook his head and moved first. He got his face closer to the Dwarf and made a grunting sound.

    The Dwarf¡¯s face went white and he immediately dropped unconscious, he didn¡¯t even flee like the other one but instantly went limp.

    Dave then turned back and smiled then headed toward the dungeon without paying any fees.

    "Pffft"ughed out Lone Arrow. As she saw what happened then followed Dave.

    Normally when someone refuses to pay, or if they attack the Dwarf, a notification will pop on the sub-guild that is managing the dungeon. And they will send a party of strong yers to investigate. However, Due to the Dwarf fainting on his own, no such message was sent. And they were able to enter for free.

    You have entered the Rims of the Ice Dungeon!

    Once inside the cial cave, Dave could see enormous ice spirals hanging down from the roof. And in front of Dave was a huge corridor made of ice. So far there were no monsters near the entrance, Therefore, Dave moved forward while keeping two of His ghouls up front, if there was any trap or monster attack they will be the first to take the brunt of the damage.

    "We will be entering the first floor of the dungeon, there is only low-level Ice elementals here, the only problem with these guys is that they have an annoying slow effect spells. Their damage is mostly magic" she said as she exined the monsters of the first floor.

    Dave nodded and moved his toon forward in an escort fashion where he and Lone Arrow were in the middle. Three ghouls were scouting the path forward, and casters and mages were on their side while thest remaining skeleton was in the rear.

    Lone Arrow looked a bit giddy as she was turning all around, she was making sure to film every part of this dungeon exploration. She wanted to make sure that everyone would know that she had the chance to do a dungeon with Mr.Skeletal, Fame was more worth it for Lone Arrow than money.

    The first group of monsters soon appeared.

    They were three ice humanoid creaturs. They were about two meters tall, they had no facial features and their hands were like giant clubs.

    Ice Elemental Level 25

    800 Hp

    300 Magic absorption

    600-400 Magic Damage

    {Freezing arrow} Slowly freezes the target every time the skillnds. Deals 150% of basic attack as Magic damage

    There were three of these creatures in front of Dave. Their Low Hp was nothing to be amazed at, and thankfully their Defense was nil.

    "These are rtively easy for a group of adventures. We can slowly wither them down," said Lone Arrow, but before she would finish exining the technique of the fight.

    Dave used {Stampede} on the first ice elemental. The moment Dave entered the creaturs¡¯ aggro they all turned toward him. However, once Dave struck the first elemental, it exploded in a rain of ice.

    [-1520!]

    Naturally, {Stampede} Deals twice the normal attack of Dave¡¯s weapon, which already had a damage from 620-780. And this resulted in an instant kill. This, however, was not everything, Dave turned around and struck the second ice elemental using {Twin Strike} at the same time.

    [-653]

    [489]

    The second Monster instantly died! The third, however, had already had his hand raised up and ready to attack Dave. Dave, however, didn¡¯t wait for the attack tond. He instantly waved his hand

    {Block} was used and right after that {Counter}

    [-150]

    Before Right as the glow of {Counter} ended Dave had already struck down with his {Destructive Smash} Stunning the target and dealing more than half its Hp in Damage.

    That one-second Stun enabled Dave to finish it off with a basic attack.

    This all happened while Lone arrow was watching, In less than 3 seconds every single one of the monsters were taken down. While she was still trying to formte a way to handle the three monsters due to them being only two- she already forgot about the ten other Subordinate of Dave- Mr.Skeletal had already taken care of them.

    That damage! The speed of execution and instant reflex! That was the real deal!

 Chapter 37 Ferocious Yeti

    Chapter 37

    Dave looked back and leered as he saw the astonished look on Lone Arrow¡¯s face. As a matter of fact, Dave just disassembled a group of three elementals without the use of any of his underlings. The speed, the execution, and the thinking process were beyond anything a low-level yer could do. This was, of course, thanks to his numerous years in ying games when he was young, though he was still not fully ustomed to the gaming system of Conquest, butbos? He was a master in that regard.

    Dave then pointed forward as if telling Lone Arrow to move forward.

    Level Up

    One of your Underlings had Level up

    +15 Contribution points.

    Dave was thankful that he managed to level up. It is a good book for him to be able to gain levels in his ¡¯Adventures¡¯.

    "Ah! I didn¡¯t get any exp!" Said Lone Arrow as she pouted.

    Dave could only shrug. Of course, she wouldn¡¯t she didn¡¯t assist in the fight, nor were they in a party or could they form one.

    "Next fight, let me at least attack the mobs, I guess we would be able to share the Exp ok?" she asked, to which Dave only gave a nod then proceeded forward.

    The long corridor extended forward where chilled winds would sometimes blow. The wind was a strange phenomenon to witness in a closed looking cave, but Dave didn¡¯t bother thinking about the logic behind the game. It was just a game after all.

    There was another group of three elementals before Dave, again the same type. Ice elementals. Yet before Dave attacked.

    {Binding Arrow}

    Lone Arrow used the AoE skill to slow the three elementals and they were instantly leeched in. Dave used {Stampede} as he attacked the first elements destroying him into fragments. Then used the same strategy to kill the other two.

    "Yes! Now I can get a decent amount of Exp!" said Lone Arrow as she noticed her EXP bar increasing slowly.

    Dave noticed that even when Lone Arrow took some EXP his gauge didn¡¯t suffer any penalties and it increased by 3%. It seems that they don¡¯t split EXP and that was a good sign.

    The group continued on until they reached a small circr room.

    "This is where I got the inheritance fragment. Do you see that statue over there?" asked Lone Arrow as she pointed at an ice sculpture. It was of a beautiful maiden d in armor and had a tiara of ice on her head. Her face had a cold look on it that was of a perfect contrast to the ice element that it was sculpted from. It wore dark ice made armor and had a bow on her back while both her hands were in a praying position. She seemed to be gazing upon an opening in the ceiling that would bath her in a ray of an artificial moon.

    "My quest enabled me to gain the recognition of the ice queen. And Once I finish the Inheritance quests I will be able to wield her power. It is a B ss inheritance, and it is quite powerful" said the girl with a proud look on her face.

    If only she knew that Dave Had an S ss item on him she would have felt a bit ashamed to speak so boastfully about her measly B ss Inheritance item. But Dave didn¡¯t find it worth it to mention it as he could only smile and move forward.

    There was an ice door before Dave, that was sealed shut. And next to it was an NPC who looked to be drowsy. It was a man that looked rather old and was wearing a long coat that protected him from the coldness of the ice cave.

    Once Dave approached he didn¡¯t try to speak to the NPC. It had a red name tag. And was hostile. He didn¡¯t know the exact level of the NPC But something told him that if he approached he would be instantly killed.

    "Why are you stopping?" Asked Lone Arrow as she was unable to understand the reason behind Dave¡¯s abrupt halt.

    Dave then pointed at the NPC then shook his head.

    Lone Arrow then understood that it was probably that he will be attacked. This is the dungeon guardian, we need him to open up the passageway to get us into the ice pce." Said Lone Arrow.

    Dave then pointed at her then the NPC.

    Lone Arrow got closer to the NPC who suddenly looked sobered up.

    "Euh, another of you adventurers, you want to enter the ice pce?" asked The NPC.

    "Yes, could you please open the door?" Asked Lone Arrow.

    "Yes, but..." he said as his eye drifted toward the Undead toon behind Her.

    "Those things should not be here." Said the man as he drew a sword.

    "They are...euh friends, they are helping me against the evil within this pce. With their help, we will have a better chance of defeating the usurper within the pce"

    "I don¡¯t really think that the undead could coexist with the living. But if you say so, you may enter, However, if you do not do as you just said. And if you try anything funny within the pce zone, I will make sure to go after you all and destroy you. My queen left this ce for young adventurers to seek her heritage. Until that god damned magician took over the pce. I could easily destroy him but she gave me instruction to only let the young generation have their way into the pce. Now heed my call, destroy the evil within the pce and I will let you leave" said the NPC as he looked at Dave "And if you try to be witty and im the Pce as your own, I will be the one to destroy you all. After all, my queen only let the adventures to get in, not the like of you" said the NPC.

    Then the door opened and the NPC went back to his "sleeping" statue.

    Dave gave him a wary look and proceeded after Lone Arrow.

    Once he went past the NPC, he heard a snort then the door closed behind Dave and his party.

    Right in front of Dave was a huge pce with hundreds of statues erected everywhere, they were simr to the statue they saw before.

    "This pce is a three-zone dungeon, it has three floors and the top floor has a level 120 Boss. We will not be able to defeat it for the moment, but I guess the lower level is achievable with your strength. The second level could be a bit difficult but we could always give it a try." Said Lone Arrow as she pointed forward

    The huge pce had three floors as it seemed to Dave, the first one was the garden that was surrounded by a wall, and the door that Dave just entered was the entrance to the guardian.

    In front of Dave was a giant fountain with various sculptures but the water in it was frozen solid. The grass, however, was amazingly green as if it was grown in the midst of autumn. There were several elements around the guardian that were swarming the ce.

    Right in the middle of the garden, there was a huge monster that waszing about. It was a Yeti

    Ferocious Yeti

    Level 80

    12 000HP

    1200-1400 DMG

    300 Damage absorption

    500 magic absorption

    Passive [Massive Regen] heals 100Hp/second

    [Dessimating smash] Inflicts AoE damage in one before the Yeti. Deals 200 Damage/ target

    [Heroic Leap]

    Jumps Randomly at a target dealing 1000 Damage in a 3X3 zone

    "This is the first boss, it is not that difficult to deal with with a proper priest, and the only skill that we need to watch out for is [Heroic Leap] if somehow itnds on the priest it will make this really hard, otherwise with constant DPS it will go down without a hitch." Said Lone Arrow.

    Still, Dave was annoyed about his passive. It could Heal 100HP/sec while Dave could deal about 700 Damage. This will lower Dave¡¯s DPS to 600. Also with the 300 defense bonus, Dave¡¯s DPS will be about 300 HP. It would take about 40 seconds of constant attacks from Dave to take it down. However, with his other skills, it will be much longer. That is of course while counting the fact that it could also attack Dave.

    "We need to clear the other monsters first. However, once the monster poption reaches below 50% the Yeti will howl and group them all to attack as a team. There is a method to deal with that. There is 20 Ice elemental here, we will kill ten and the other remaining ten we will try to lower their Hp as much as we can, then we will blitz them before the Yet groups them up." Said Lone Arrow.

    That was a nice strategy to use and Dave gave a nod of approval. Dave brandished his sword readying up for the fight.

 Chapter 38 Loot!

    Dave used his undead to leech the elementals around. While he pointed to Lone Arrow to handle them. The Undead followed Dave¡¯s mentalmand by the letter, not bothering to attack the ¡¯Live¡¯ enemy, but rather attack the neutral elementals.

    They surrounded her and made sure to keep the elementals at bay while she attacked with her bow. Lone Arrow¡¯s attacks were rather vicious, she had a good amount of Dexterity and agility, giving her more chances tond attacks and increasing her attack speed.

    Agility is a great Stat to increase, it could give archers a good amount of speed while increasing their movement speed. More agility would mean that the archer will have a better chance of kiting slow targets. As for dexterity, it would increase their firing speed. As of now, a warrior would need to focus on three stats. Vitality, to increase their Hp if they chose the Tank ss. or, strength and dexterity if they want to go the DPS ss. like the swordsman ss which has a low amount of Hp, but the damage they deal is enormous. Unlike Tanks who would rely solely on the stats provided by their equipment and their damage output would naturally be low.

    Dave had made ns on making his Character an exception, he always kept his bonus stats and would only use them whenever it was needed for him to wield various weapons.

    Dave wanted to go the triple route. Dex/STR/VIT. Which is rather hard and an almost impossible route to take, at least this early in the game. Most yers would try to focus on one or two routes at max. if they tried tobine more, their characters would be rather weakpared to a true warrior.

    A triple Stat warrior would have a low amount of HP/STR/VITpared to a true one elemental warrior that focuses on any single one of the stats. However, Dave had a good advantage over many other yers in acquiring the various bonus stats at level 1.

    Though he was not the only one, and several other yers have done the same, most of them would stick to the one elemental road as it gave them an even huger advantage over others who did not get to do the level 1 training.

    Dave was currently pulling a lot of elementals toward him. And his sole objective was to lower their HP below 10%. It only took one hit for him to do that, but the increased amount of targets made it a bit hard as he needed to go around to attack another monster.

    Thankfully Dave had about 500 Magic resistance. And the damage he was dealt by the monsters was not that huge, especially when he teamed {Block} and {Rising Strike} to dodge several attacks from monsters.

    However, this still left Dave with barely 50% Hp as the damage intake from 10 monsters was a lot.

    "Alright! We took care of the ten on our side! Mr. Skeletale over!" Shouted Lone Arrow as she made a beeline toward Dave.

    Level Up

    One of your Underlings had Level up

    +15 Contribution points.

    Another notification appeared before Dave as he noticed that his group of Undead was rising in level rather extravagantly. Dave also made it to level 39.

    Dave nodded and got to where Lone Arrow was. And once he was inside the Undead made Death Trap, the undead were showered with spells and arrows from all sides while the three Ghouls positioned themselves in front of the iing monsters.

    The moment the eleventh elemental died, a howel was heard that reverberated in the garden. It was the Yeti who was now awakened once more than 50% of the Elemental poption died.

    However, before it could even reach Dave¡¯s party that was at the far end of the garden. More and more elementals fell to their attacks. By the time the Yeti was next to the group, every elemental was dead.

    "We need to be careful now!" said Lone Arrow as the Yeti approached and chose Dave as his primary target of the assault.

    Dave¡¯s Hp was back to 100% due to his level up and he had no problem in fighting the Yeti, however Sadly he was unable to use {Stampede} to initiate the fight as the Yeti was too close to Dave.

    The Yeti raised both of his hands in a fist and tried to smack down on Dave. This was the Yeti¡¯s skill [Dessmiating Smash] Which was an AOE physical skill.

    Dave tried to use [Vertical sh] to dodge the attack but he found out that it was on cooldown!

    So instinctively he raised his shield using [Block] then regretted the decision as he thought that the AOE skill would stillnd on him. However, surprisingly the attack was nullified! As both arms of the Yeti were sprung back as if they struck at a wall and it staggered back a bit.

    Dave¡¯s brows knitted. This was the first time an attacker had staggered while being blocked by Dave¡¯s skill.

    "Oh! Awesome you managed to stagger it!" said Lone Arrow.

    Dave struck back with [Destructive Smash] and the Yeti was stunned for two seconds!

    Dave didn¡¯t understand what happened, normally [Destructive Smash] would only Stun targets for one second, is it perhaps the Staggering animation that increased the duration of the stun?

    But Dave didn¡¯t really bother trying to find out as he struck down with his sword.

    [-620]

    Your weapon has proc¡¯d

    [Bleed]

    -500 Hp over 5 seconds

    That was a nice surprise for Dave, a free 500 HP damage over time, this would lower the Yeti¡¯s regen for a moment.

    "Here let me help!" Said Lone Arrow as she grabbed something from her inventory.

    It was a small green vial, which she threw at the Yeti.

    Poisoned

    The target has been poisoned for 10 seconds.

    Loses 50HP/second

    That was a low tier Position bottle that would cost about 20 silver to buy, it was not something expensive but most yers would not waste money at the Yeti, this could only mean that Lone Arrow had no regards towards wasting money if it was to win a fight.

    This also was another nice surprise as Dave Noticed that once the Yeti was poisoned, His regeneration effect was nullified. This would mean that Dave had 10 seconds to attack the Yeti without it healing back up some of its Hp.

    The Yeti Woke back up and howled as it began striking at its chest like an incensed gori.

    Then it instantly leaped upwards. A second Later the Yeti came down crashing toward one of the archers that were on the back of the group. The Archer staggered backward as it was dealt 1000 Damage value. Thankfully it was a bit far from its otherpatriots and they didn¡¯t receive the damage value.

    However, The Yeti rose its arms upwards attacking once again with [Dessimating Smash] and the position he was in would enable it to attack in a cone and deal damage to another Skeleton Archer and [Lone Arrow] who was in the way. Dave was a bit too far to do anything, he thought about trying to block the attack but the distance was too great for Dave. So he had to bear with losing one of his underlings As it only had about 300 Hp remaining after being attacked with the jump from the Yeti.

    Dave, however, would not let its sacrifice be in vain. As he used {Stampede} Which was now usable as the Yet was more than 3 meters away from Dave.

    The moment the attack came down, the first skeleton archer was destroyed into bone dust while the explosive effect of the attack carried forward damaging the second archer for [800+200] damage value of its normal attack plus the AoE of the [Dessimating Smash]

    However, the moment the Wave reached Lone Arrow, she already used her {Blink} ability to dodge the attack.

    At that time the Yeti got closer to the second Skeleton which had barely any HP left and tried to attack. It would seem to Dave that once the Yeti uses his leaping attack it would reset the aggro value, otherwise, it should have attacked Dave first. However, before the Skeleton would Die, Dave was already crashing down on the side of the Yeti Sending it stumbling once again.

    The best part was, that an animation of Dave using Stampede was copied and a shadow of Dave came after him almost immediately to strike the Yeti.

    [1300]

    [1020]

    The Yeti took an enormous amount of damage!

    This was due to Dave using {Stampede} Coupled with {Twin strike}

    The damage Value of Stampede was really High, and the consequential attack wouldnd at 75% of the initial attack value without bothering with Defense or damage absorption. This was the advantage of coupling {Twin Strike} with a powerful skill. Sadly it could only copy physical attacks, as for powerful magic that would be impossible for Dave.

    The Yeti was once again stunned, and Dave smacked at it with his weapon not letting him the chance to stand back up as the Yeti had now barely about 30% of its Hp. This was all thanks to his party that kept on striking the Yeti whenever they could. Too bad the ghouls were too slow to close the gape that the Yeti made with its jump, but the archers and casters would not be bothered by range.

    {Death Grip} was used, and a ck skull appeared on top of the yeti, however it faded almost instantly afterward.

    Resisted!

    "Damn!" cried out Dave as the Yeti woke back up and attempted to use it¡¯s {Dessimating Smash}

    Dave used {Block} this time, but the Yeti did not Stagger.

    "Ah, it missed," said Lone Arrow feeling a bit unfortunate that the Yeti was not staggered then continued on attacking it.

    Another time, The Yeti jumped back up, this time it aimed Directly at Lone Arrow.

    "Ah I really wanted to try this!" she said with a smile as she wielded her weapon aiming at the descending Yeti

    {Breaking Shot!} Lone Arrow wanted to take down the Yeti while it was in the air.

    The moment the golden arrow was shot from her bow it became a powerful gust of wind that struck at the flying Yeti, Sadly, the effect didn¡¯te to be, and it smashed on Lone Arrow dealing 1000 Damage Value.

    Dave snorted in augh then ran forward. The yeti¡¯s aggro value had been reset and now it would attack the closest target which was obviously Lone Arrow.

    However, Before the attack woulde to be

    Dave used [Block] and nullified the attack of the Yeti then struck back at it.

    This was where the Yeti fell as the amount of Damage was too much for it to bear with as he fell down.

    Level Up!

    Dave managed to level up and then saw some shiny items

    "Aw, Yiss!" Cried out Lone arrow "Loot!!"

    Then jumped forward trying to see what they dropped

    Dave could only sigh at the simplicity of this girl. With a smile on his face, he approached the corps and began asserting the drops...

 Chapter 39 Frost Eating Snake

    Yeti¡¯s Hide.(Crafting Material)

    25 Silver coins

    Yeti¡¯s Blood (Alchemy Material)

    [Pce Key]

    Most of the items fell in Dave¡¯s hand after the girl had frowned at theck of any interesting items.

    "This guy usually drops some ice shards, they are very good at buffing up weapons...too bad we didn¡¯t get anything" said Lone Arrow.

    Dave didn¡¯t bother as he split the drops with the girl. Normally he can¡¯t issue a trade so he had to {Discard} half of the loot. He gave Lone arrow the hide and 12 silver coins and kept the Yet¡¯s blood for himself and the rest of the money. The Yeti¡¯s blood was essential inc reating restoration potions.

    "Thank you!" said the girl as she was d she received some of the loot, even if it was not of great value, they could still be sold in the auction house.

    Dave nodded and pointed forward. So far he had lost only one Skeleton which was negligible, as he could handle the loss for the moment.

    "Alright, let¡¯s go, the pce has two floors, we can probably fight against the second boss, if we manage to defeat it we can get more loot. However, I don¡¯t think that we would be able to defeat thest boss." Said the girl.

    Dave then turned around with a frown, he then wrote on the snow that remained in the garden

    "Didn¡¯t you say that this was a low-level dungeon?" Asked Dave. Indeed he was having some trouble understanding this. He clearly asked the girl for a low-level dungeon, and seeing that this dungeon has three bosses... howe that a dungeon with three bosses would be low level!

    "Ah... well, I thought that you only needed to test out low-level bosses. I thought that defeating the Yeti would be sufficient..." she said with a sheepish smile.

    Dave then felt a bit of a headache, his reason for going to a dungeon was to try and get the dungeon core form the boss. If the boss is too high level he won¡¯t get anything.

    Dave could only sigh, he was already here so he might as well give it a try.

    Then he moved forward. The Pce¡¯s gate was made from ice, and once he used the key, the door opened and the key disappeared from his inventory. His small toon of undead moved first to try and look out for any potential danger, while Dave followed behind and Lone Arrow as thest to enter. After that, the gates of the pce closed in an eerie manner.

    There was a long corridor with blue fire torches lighting the way. Dave moved with a bit of prudence. This was a strange territory for Dave and he needed to be cautious.

    "There are no traps in this dungeon, we only have to be wary of the Ice specters that spawn inside the pce." Said Lone Arrow

    Then a woman with a spectral appearance showed up before Dave, she looked rather, Ancient for theck of a better word. She was holding a knife while she wore a gray dress, her face was distorted and her hair looked disheveled.

    Spectral Servant

    (Undead)

    A long since dead Servant of the Ice Queen that had been revived from the dead as a banshee.

    Level 65

    1200HP

    300 Damage Nullification

    800 Magic Absorption

    Damage (800-900)

    Skills

    {Bnshee¡¯s Shout}

    Daze¡¯s Targets in a 6X6 Area of effect while dealing 500 Magic Damage.

    {Cut throath}

    Slits the Target¡¯s throat affecting bleed, dealing 100 t Damage/second for 20 seconds.

    Dave looked at the description of the monster and was amazed that it was of the Undead Race. However, her Name tag was red... this was the first time Dave saw a red tagged monster which was of the same race as his.

    Perhaps specters and Undead were different, thought dave, however, it was not the time to think of that.

    Dave used {Stampede} and followed with several attacks to take down the first monster with the help of the small toon. There was no need for Dave to y it safe, at least for now. He already had exceeded the Maximum requirement of the dungeon¡¯s party limit. Which as only 6. He had an advantage over other groups while apanied by his undead.

    Once the banshee was killed, it dropped a small pearl.

    Soul Corrupting Pearl

    (Special item)

    It seems that Only Dave was able to see the dropped item. As Lone Arrow was surprised at him trying to pick something invisible from the ground. Lone Arrow didn¡¯t speak anything of it as she understood that it was probably rted to a quest of Dave¡¯s.

    They kept on moving through the halls of the pce, and met several of the Banshees, the worst part was when they were surrounded by more than three of them. And they had to flee backward. They could have taken them, however, the [Bansshee¡¯s Shout] was an annoying ability as it forced Dave and his party to Be dazed constantly and that was not a favorable position to be in.

    Dave managed to reach level 43, he was leveling up like Crazy in this dungeon, even his undead would Level Up boosting his Contribution points. Not only that, Dave would sometimes get a notification telling him that someone died in the dungeon he had corrupted recently. And more contribution point woulde in.

    Dave Began leeching the monsters to his group. There was no need to fight in a brawl situation, leeching monsters was simple,as Lone Arrow would attack a lone monster and it would be forced toe toward Dave¡¯s Death Trap. He would surround them from all sides and Rain hell from above with the casters and archers attacking while Dave made sure to remain as the vanguard.

    Once the lower floor was cleared, they found themselves in front of a huge staircase. It was grand and had a giant chandelier above it. Dave climbed the stairs with his party of that when they saw a scene that they would never forget.

    A giant coiling snake that was purely made of ice was looking at them with its red blue eyes.

    The size of the snake was enough to make anyone¡¯s heart shudder with fright. The snake seemed to be waiting for them as it waszily looking at the group.

    "We have yet to enter its Aggro range," Said Lone Arrow.

    Frost eating snake of the northernnd.

    -Youngling-

    This snake was a pet of the ancient ice Quee, too bad it is now under the control of the magus that is now trapped within the ice pce.

    Level 99

    20 000 Hp

    Dmg 1500-1600

    Magic absorption 800

    Damage nullification 800

    (Passive): [Frost Aura] increases stamina consumption by 1% for every second the fight is prologued.

    [Petrifying Gaze] Can stun targets for 3 seconds if the skill is activated while a target is looking directly into the eyes of the Snake.

    [Bone Breaking Hug] Coils around target dealing 200% damage. (Cannot be interrupted)

    "This is the second Boss, and it is really tough to handle. The worst part is its frost aura, it slows targets and would make them feel "Clod" the colder you get the slower your attacks. It also makes you consume stamina like there is no tomorrow... we will need to be really careful" said Lone Arrow trying to exin the situation, Yet again, Dave didn¡¯t even wait until she finished As he used {Stampede} And charged at the gaping mouth of the Giant Snake.

 Chapter 40 Frost Eating Snakes Fang.

    The reason for Dave¡¯s charge was rather simple; The aura of the snake was really useless against Dave. He was a Skeleton, and skeletons have unlimited Stamina. So he charged forward into the fray.

    The snake was stunned for a moment, after that, Dave followed up with a normal strike.

    [-1052]

    [-200]

    The damage dave was dealing was reduced a lot due to the high amount of defense the Snake had. However, that didn¡¯t discourage Dave in the least as he kept on attacking. Dave¡¯s group came and began showing the snake with attacks, but the damage they dealt couldn¡¯t go past the double digits. It wasmentable but still, it was damaged. The problem was that the snake was too high level, and thus, Dave suffered from the penalty of the level difference. Still, even if his undead were lower level than Dave, the system would recognize them as under his leadership, and therefore, it will give all of them the same penalty that the leader is suffering from even if their level was low.

    Lone Arrow came and threw a potion towards the snake.

    The moment the potion struck the snake, it hissed annoyed with the solution that slowly began to melt pieces of its skin.

    Brittled Defense

    -25% defense Value for 10 minutes

    That was a defense breaking potion, it was rather expensive but indispensable in fighting against bosses. Dave,¡¯s damage increased slightly so did his small group. The boss¡¯s Hp dropped to 90% where it howled and jumped forward trying to coil around the target with the highest Threat Level. Which of course, was Dave.

    Dave, however, didn¡¯t hesitate in using [Vertical sh] as his body was pushed three meters backward, fully dodging the snake which now coiled around itself.

    It remained in that awkward position for a bit before Dave struck down with his sword.

    [-341]

    It was not that much but apanied with the attack from the skeletons the damage was slowly building up and the snake was now about 80% Health.

    The boss howled another time as its eyes shone with a bright glow. It was going to use another of its skills [Petrifying Gaze].

    Dave was a bit startled as he didn¡¯t calcte correctly the damage to his party, and now that another 10% of the boss¡¯s Hp is down, it was using another of its skills. Normally yers would look down the moment the Boss¡¯s Hp dropped so that they would dodge the skill. Yet Dave found out that he was looking directly into the shining eyes of the Snake.

    Resisted!

    Dave was awestruck as he noticed that he resisted the skill, why did that happen? Then he looked at the log and found out about something he forgot about; His passive.

    Never hunger, Never Tire, Never Fear!

    Inherited resistance toward Fears, paralyzing effects and petrification.

    Undead fear nothing, thus, even if a skill that should petrify a human from fear, it is useless against something that had already died. Those that died, have nothing to fear, and those that fear nothing, can only move forward!

    Dave found it amazing as he now began valuing his ss more and more.

    Dave then wanted to give the snake a taste of its own medicine, although it has a low chance of sess, it is a skill never the less and it has a chance.

    [Death Grip!]

    A giant ck skull appeared above the snake and it began tough soundlessly. The moment Lone Arrow saw the snake her eyes shone brightly as her mouth slightly gaped.

    Frost Eating snake Has been Paralyzed for

    2.5 seconds

    Due to the target being a boss the effects should be halved. And those seconds were precious to Dave as he attacked without rest. The moment the two seconds ended, Dave struck down with [Destructive Smash] and stunned the snake for another second.

    The snake was receiving a lot of damage and now about 70% of its Hp was already shaved off.

    The Snake then moved forward aiming once again at Dave then coiled around him. There was no way for Dave to escape the attack as his [Horisental Strike] was now on cooldown. The moment the snake began to coil around him, he felt as if his bones were breaking.

    [-2330!]

    Dave received an enormous amount of damage, coupled with his already low Hp, he was steps away from dying. The situation turned grim almost instantly. It only took a single attack for it to be like this.

    Dave was thrown, and the snake charged after Lone Arrow. It was clear that using the [Bone Breaking Hug] the snake would reset its target¡¯s threat level. And chase the second one. Otherwise once a tank is grabbed, the snake could finish it off immediately, and that would not be fair for yers.

    Lone Arrow began kiting the snake, but looking at her, Dave noticed that she was much slower than usual. It seems that the frost aura from the snake is reducing the speed of Lone Arrow. Prolonging the fight would only make the chances of winning slimmer. Dave¡¯s situation was not that great too. He was with about 20% HP left and didn¡¯t have any potions or any consumables to heal back up.

    Dave would usually [Rest] To recover his Hp, but now that he is in this fight, he finally understood the need of a priest. However, considering that undead can¡¯t heal with ¡¯holy spells¡¯ how would an undead heal back up?

    Dave then remembered about the necromancer sses in the old MMORPG, as they, unlike priests would use curses and hexes to heal their summons. Would it be the case here as well?

    Dave turned around and looked at one of his casters. He then willed it to attack Dave.

    The caster didn¡¯t even hesitate in the slightest as he used a dark orb and threw it at Dave¡¯s face

    [+120]

    ¡¯It works!¡¯ Dave thought, that that was surprising! Dave has yet to fully understand his ss so he made sure to note this down and try and explore the potential of his ss and race as much as he could after this.

    Now Dave willed the two remaining casters to focus their attacks, or in this case ¡¯heals¡¯ hon him as he charged forward.

    Lone Arrow was currently the highest threat holder in the team, so the Snake would ignore any attacker and keep attacking her. She understood that Dave didn¡¯t let her OT, but it was rather the snake¡¯s skill that cleared the aggro of the one it holds. Therefore, she was not angry as many would once the Tank is no longer able to hold the aggro but she kept her mind focused and kited the snake toward Dave. She knew she was not in a position to keep the aggro on her for a long period of time, and therefore she would need the snake to switch back to Dave.

    Dave nodded toward the effort of Lone Arrow as she kited the snake back to him and he struck at it with all its might.

    60%

    The snake then red at Lone Arrow who was unlike Dave, looking down avoiding the gaze of the snake. With that aplished, the snake could only keep following Lone Arrow after its skill failed.

    50%

    The Snake lunged forward. Dve had already climbed at almost the top of the threat list, but Lone Arrow was still the first when the Snake was at 50% Hp, Lone Arrow¡¯s movement became sluggish as the effect of Frost aura made her slower and slower the more time they fought, however, that was not the case for Dave and his skeletons.

    The moment the snake lunged, Lone Arrow used [Blink] and managed to dodge the skill with ease. At that point in time, Dave used {Stampede} As it already was off cooldown and struck the snake from behind making it reel and hiss from pain.

    The attacks continued and Dave im back his position as the top in the threat value and the Snake was now fully focused on him.

    Its fangs fell down on Dave as he immediately used [Block] Followed by [Counter] Dealing a lot of damage to the snake.

    Dave didn¡¯t need to bother with looking away from the snake as it reached 40% and used [Petrifying re] he rather looked directly at the snake¡¯s eyes like a challenger as he smiled and attacked it without the wait.

    Your weapon has proc¡¯d

    [Bleed]

    -500 Hp over 5 seconds

    The bleed effect took over. Which added to the damage the party was dealing. Dave had already climbed back to max Health and now the casters who were healing Dave, turned back to attack the Snake which added more damage and made the snake lose more and more Hp.

    30%

    The snake jumped toward Dave while he used [Horisental sh] to dodge again. The fight continued on until the Snake had 10% Hp left. It was thest time it would use its bone breaking skill, Dave had no other option but to take the hit head-on.

    [-2600]

    Yet that was not enough to get him killed, as the team continued on with attacking, and the snake finally fell while giving a desperate screech to the heavens.

    Level Up

    Level Up

    Level Up

    Dave Level up three times while fighting the snake, which brought him to level 47.

    "Wow! That was amazing! I guess we are the only ones below level 80 to have managed to kill this thing! Being with a group of undead is damned awesome!" cried out Lone Arrow as she looked rather excited.

    Dave then smiled as he looked t the exited Lone Arrow. Somehow, her innocent attitude made him look favorably on her, as she approached the corps and pressed on it inspecting the loot.

    Dave didn¡¯t worry that she would take anything under his eyes as she was already surrounded by a lot of undead.

    "Oh, there is an item here," she said as she pointed toward a small Dagger that was on the ground.

    It was a small ice Dagger that was between a lot of loot. Dave picked it up and inspected it.

    Category: Dagger

    Fang of the Frost eating Snake

    Once a Fang of an old frost eating snake now it became a dagger to be wielded to harvest lives.

    Damage 80-120

    Requirements 50 Agility Level 30

    Bonus stats: Increases the target¡¯s stamina consumption by 1% for every attack hit. Can stack up to 100 times (target needs to be attacked once every 10 seconds at least for the effect to remain)

    Scaling/ss B: Agility - C: Dexterity.

    ss. Rare weapon

    "Wow, this is a rather useful dagger, it is a rare drop from this boss, and it could get a decent amount of gold at the auction house." Said Lone Arrow as she looked at the Dagger.

    "I don¡¯t have any use for it, but if you want it..." said Lone Arrow yet Dave started writing on the ground.

    "I don¡¯t have ess to the auction house..." he wrote.

    Lone Arrow then tilted her head a bit then said, "Then, how about I sell it and send you half the value?" she asked then added, "But for that... why not give me your number!"

    Dave could only stare dumbly at her... indeed that was an option but should he really give her his number?

 Chapter 41 Deal

    Chapter 41

    Dave began stuttering a bit, but due to his condition as an undead, no sounds could be emitted from his mouth but grunts. He was fumbling about, but then wrote his number.

    For the moment Dave didn¡¯t have ess to the auction house, and he had no ess to the normal world. Dave was thinking that if he were to revert back to his human form, he would die instantly in the undead world. And if he were to do it outside the undead world, he would probably fail his quest. At least those were Dave¡¯s spections and he was thinking about asking ALFRED about them when he had the chance.

    For the moment, if he were to gain Lone Arrow¡¯s contact number, she could handle the selling of items and send him his due. Which was better than nothing. Dave¡¯s savings were getting less and less, and gaining some extra cash would be helpful. So, Dave had to ept, while of course, he would still retain some distance between him and the girl. It is alright if they would do dungeons together, but when ites to real life contact, he would need toy low and not reveal his identity as Death Stroke.

    Lone Arrow only knows Dave as Mr.Skeletal, if his identity as Death stroke is revealed he would be risking exposure, and people could track him down. Simply put, someone can just use the Kill Order and get a general location whenever Dave went on a mission. This would only lead to his death, and the end of his mission, while of course the end of his hope.

    "Thank you!" said the girl as she memorized the number, while of course keeping it off the footage she was taking of their adventure. For her, there was no need to give the people who were going to see this videoter any personal information about Dave, she wanted him all to herself. After all who could im to have the ability to go in a party with the game¡¯s most famous Skeleton?

    Once the number was noted down she waited for Dave¡¯s next step. They were in a dungeon of course and they needed to continue with their exploring. The loot was divided in two. And there was nothing but the dagger that was of true value. The rest were just resources to craft various materials which could be sold at the auction house almost immediately. So, the need to continue with the dungeon risen when they were done with the second boss.

    "I don¡¯t think we can defeat the second boss." Said Lone Arrow as she moved forward close to Dave. They looked like two celebrities escorted by ten bodyguards, while of course, the bodyguards were long since dead, anyone who would look upon them would find it hard to exin the situation. A damsel surrounded by the undead who looked like her escort. How often do you see that?

    Dave had the same idea, then, he looked for a patch of snow inside the pce to write on it.

    "We can just leave if the Boss is too tough." Wrote Dave, his expression was calm as always.

    "True, we should probably try it outter when we are higher level," she said with a smile beaming on her face.

    The girl looked rather beautiful, and Dave had to admit it, she was truly of a celebrity level beauty, however, herposure and innocent yet sometimes childish attitude added to her charm, if he could describe it in a single word it would be; Cute.

    He could only smile as he moved forward.

    Dave encountered some monsters, mainly the Banshee¡¯s from before, and actually an Ice skeleton. It was no different than normal skeletons as it was defeated almost instantly with thebined might of the party. The ice skeletons grew in number once Dave got to the top floor.

    That was a great EXP zone for Dave and co as he already managed to get to level 50.

    Dave looked at his ring as he saw it glinting.

    Category: Ring Ring of the Death God. {S ss Inheritance item}

    {yer Bound to Death Stroke}

    Requirements Level 0 Cannot be removed!

    Bonus stats Has the ability Changes appearance from human to undead.

    Can switch back to human

    [Death siphon]

    [Can Leave the Undead world] (Requires Rank: Skeleton Captain at least)

    [Sealed]

    [Sealed]

    Scaling/ss Scaling essory

    ss. Divine.

    {Consumes some of the yer¡¯s XP to level up}

    Currently Ring Level 23

    The ring had now unlocked another seal, and it had to do with the concern that Dave was encountering. It seems that the AI had already thought about all of the possible oues of bing an Undead and being restrained from essing the outside world. Thus, this option was avable. However, this only risen the issue that; what if Dave had changed his appearance while on a mission? Dave could only think that his quest would be failed.

    However, this also brought many questions into y. What is the use of this ring? Although Death Siphon was rather a good ability to have. The Ring has only two more sealed options left. It looked rather useless for Dave. Many other rings had much better stats that they could give the wearer. Mostly, essories had a huge amount of stats that could be coupled with various weapons that needed specific stats as a condition to be worn. And now, Dave found out that the ring he is wearing, not only does it not give any stats. Most of the bonuses It gives are rted to his Quest and the undead world. If the two remaining seals are only of simr value, the ring¡¯s option of it being non-removable would actually be a handicap to Dave¡¯s growth.

    Dave could only sigh as he continued forward until there was a giant door blocking their path. The door was made of bronze, unlike everything in the dungeon which was made of pure ice. This door, however, had incantations on it. a lot of strange words and symbols were written on it and it looked to be the entrance to the final room and the boss¡¯s room.

    "Alright, I guess this is the end of our dungeon." Said Lone Arrow as she looked at the door with a meaningful look.

    Dave had to agree, his objective of doing a dungeon was to gain a dungeon core, but looking at the seemingly impossible to conquer dungeon, he had to sigh and retreat for the moment. Bravery could do nothing against level difference.

    Still, Dave wanted to look at what the boss looked like, the fact that the dungeon had undead in it kind of made him curious at what the boss would be like. So he pressed on the door, and it opened.

    "Are you going to try attempting the boss?" Asked Lone Arrow as she looked at Dave like he was some sort of idiot.

    Dave shook his head and pointed at his eyes, meaning "I only want to take a look"

    Lone Arrow looked a bit hesitant, as she said "The boss is a caster ss and is really powerful, he can summon the banshees we saw before to help him out, we would need a priest to help us out here. Without a healer and a proper high-level Tank, we will be shredded to pieces in moments" she said

    Normally a dungeon of level 120 would require yers to be of an equally high level to be attempted. Not only is the level difference too vast, dungeon bosses have a lot of AOE and damaging skills that could take out an entire party. It is not strange for a party to be wiped out by a boss¡¯s skill so everyone needs to be careful while fighting bosses. And preparation is required to attempt such high-level bosses.

    Dave did not take these things into consideration, as he only wished to see what the boss would look like. Even if the boss would attack, Dave could just "End Mission" and leave the ce. It was quite a handy option to have, and it would be of most help to Dave when he is out hunting other yers.

    Once the door creaked open, it revealed a huge room where ginormous ice pirs sustained the ceiling. Some of the pirs looked dpidated, but they still stood with pride holding the ceiling as if they held the heavens.

    At the side of the room, faint glowing orbs of light flickered like candles, giving a slim sheen of light that gave the onlooker the feeling that he was entering an ancient old tomb. As for the far end of the room, a throne positioned atop a staircase where a lone person sat.

    The man looked irritated, mostly his face revealed the expression that he hated whatever heid his eyes on. However, two things struck Dave as odd. The first being; the man was not a man... no, it was a Drauger like Dave... an undead, but he was wearing a blue and silver colored drab with a staff on his right hand. The second thing that struck Dave as odd... was his nametag. It was colored yellow.

    In the Game conquest, nametags would inform yers of the rtionship between each other and the NPC/monsters of the game. There were several colors. The mainly known were the three major colors; Green for friendly, Red for Enemy, Yellow for neutral. In addition, other colors such as Blue for hidden quests, and White for NPC who give repeated quests.

    Dave now had a Yellow tagged Monster in front of him. Without attacking this monster, it will not attack. Therefore, Dave gestured to Lone Arrow to wait as he moved forward.

    Once he got in the aggro range of the boss... it did not attack, which only confirmed Dave¡¯s suspicion... this Boss can probably be reasoned with!

    "You!" Spoke the Boss "You stink of that one¡¯s aura! Why do you Have Deadra¡¯s Ring!" roared the boss as his nametag began flickering between Red and yellow!"

    Dave took a step back as the Boss moved forward. Dust like ice fell down from his person as he moved in a menacing manner. This was really not what Dave expected... should he run, or stand his ground?

 Chapter 42 Treashery

    Lone Arrow could only watch as the boss bean speaking, it never did this before! She clearly watched videos of people taking down this annoying boss, but every time any adventurers would march forward, the boss would start an incantation and rain magic from above, initiating the fight. But when Dave or what she knew as Mr. Skeletal, moved, the boss actually entered his range and began speaking!

    Dave then began grunting, as if trying to speak. And the boss stood for a moment.

    "You are far too undeveloped... you have yet to achieve proper speech, let me help you first." Said the Boss as he waved his hand. the moment the gesture ended a notification popped before Dave.

    You have gained ¡¯sentience, you may now use words to express yourself.

    "Oh.." Spoke Dave, and an archaic voice sounded from within the depth of his throat. It was Dry and hoarse, but still, it would fill anyone with dread if Dave was to speak. It actually sounded cool.

    "So it seems that I can now speak," he said and then looked at the boss. "I am Deadra¡¯s Quest inheritor" spoke Dave with all certainty

    "So you too are an enemy to our king!" shouted the boss and his Nametag gained a deeper shade of yellow almost transforming into red"

    Dave took a step back as the boss got closer and closer. Now he could clearly see his facial expressions, they were filled with wrath and some of the bones on his face would stick out, showing that he truly was in an irritated state.

    "Deadra¡¯s idea was to overthrow the king, yet he had not the strength to do so, thus, he was eliminated. I have no intention of doing that, but what I wish is to gain more power to serve the king as a true undead"

    "Lies!" shouted the Boss as he held his staff up high like he was going to use a skill.

    Lone Arrow¡¯s face fell, this boss was not something they could handle.

    "No, the king is too powerful, I have seen his might, and I have no intention of fighting him." Said Dave, which of course was a lie, but he didn¡¯t dare say it in front of the enraged Boss, his first statement when he said that he was the inheritor of Deadra¡¯s quest was a major mistake. This game didn¡¯t give yers an option to chose what dialog to speak, they needed to rely on their own judgment to do quests.

    "Deadra¡¯s Quest was to serve the Death God and use his power to overthrow the King. While I will use that power to serve him. We, the undead are bound by a great cause. And it is my own choice that led me to believe that under our great King that our king shall rule this world. However, without proper sacrifice and being proactive we will never achieve that goal. Our king had long since stayed within the undead pce, and without his order how can we rule?" asked Dave.

    He already understood many things about the undead world. From Deadra¡¯s speech, and some of the bits of information he got from here and there. The Undead King was currently in ¡¯hiding¡¯ or in other words, the undead expansion has yet to be released. Only when the yer base grows stronger will ite into y. So therefore what the NPCs believes now, is that their King is not willing to partake in the world conquest, and thus he is hidden, which is a sign of fear. Fear is not something an undead should have.

    "Do you think yourselves better than our king? Do you question his resolve?" spoke The boss.

    "No, what I meant to say, that there will be no need for our king to move. I, as Deadra¡¯s quest inheritor, will do my all to corrupt as many dungeons as possible before our king is released into the world. For I know that there will not be much time before he wille and conquer the world. My task is self-made, I wish to serve by facilitating the king¡¯s march to the outer world." Said, Dave

    The boss put his staff down

    "What makes you think that with your meager power, you will be able to do what many could not?" he asked.

    "My resolve, and unending faith in the power of our king."

    "Ornamental words mean nothing! Only strength does! Here Iy, hundreds of times stronger than you, and cannot even leave this ce to go back and serve my king! And yet, you, not even of the Death Knight ss dare im that you will change the fate of our race! Such audacity!"

    "Why can¡¯t you leave?" asked Dave as he looked at his ¡¯End mission¡¯ option which was still avable

    "There is a restrictive spell in this pce! It greatly limits my strength and disables me from joining the undead back at the pce of bones. That damnable ice queen used the pce to imprison me here! And that god damned guard is limiting my interference with the spell in this ce! Every day dozens of those rotten adventurerse and some even manage to destroy my body, only for it to be reconstructed again, where I will have to remain here. It is a torment that I do not wish for it to continue!"

    Dave thought about the man¡¯s words then said

    "If that guard dies... would you be able to leave?" asked Dave

    "Yes, but you don¡¯t have the strength to defeat him," said The Boss.

    "Then how about you help us out?" asked Dave with a glint in his eyes.

    Normally adventurers would enter dungeons and defeat its boss, however, Dave entered a dungeon and is currently asking the dungeon boss to defeat the guardian. When did anyone ever do something like that?

    Lone Arrow Looked mouth agape at the conversation between the two, she didn¡¯t even hesitate a moment to record everything. As she was feeling more and more thrilled! No one! Not anyone could be so daring to use a boss to fight a dungeon guardian!

    "Hmmm... yes, I could help, but you need to do something first! I cannot leave the permitted in this hall. You need to bring the guardian here! Once in I can leave, if you manage to do so, I will reward you handsomely!" said the boss as his nametag turned from dark yellow to bright green.

    "That human is your ve I presume?" spoke the boss as he looked at Lone Arrow

    Dave then coughed awkwardly as he turned around and with a bitter smile said

    "Yes, she is the one that helped me enter this ce... it is not a problem right?" he said

    "No. though I hate the living, if they are useful then they could live longer... Human, You should know that I shall leave this ce, for that, you shall remain here with me, and wait for this one to bring the guardian. As insurance so that you do not tip them off" said the boss with a smile and chains sprung around Lone Arrow which she couldn¡¯t even evade.

    Hidden Quest

    Treachery!

    You have chosen to betray the guardian and aligned with the Lich of the frozen pce.

    Bring the Guardian to the pce¡¯s throne room and defeat him toplete the quest.

    Dave sighed as he looked at Lone arrow who had a rather excited look on her face.

    Dave¡¯s brows furrowed, should anyone look that happy when being bound with chains? A dirty thought passed through Dave¡¯s mind which he instantly shook off, as he remembered that this innocent and easily exited girl would probably just be happy watching all of this happening. Indeed, new things would make her more curious.

    Dave then turned around and walked outside, he took a look and saw that there still remained some ice skeletons around, but now they all had green tags on them. They were friendly, it would seem that the quest Dave received had managed to give him the boss¡¯s blessing and now no one under the boss¡¯smand would attack Dave.

    Once Dave reached the garden, he took a deep breath and positioned his skeletons thirty meters away from each other in a straight line. He only had about 8 subordinates as two of them were destroyed, one in the fight against the Yeti, and another one against the ice snake. The straight line of skeletons was to permit Dave to leech the Guardian. He knew that if he was to fight against the guardian, it would kill him before he could even reach the pce Gates, but aligning his undead gave him the possibility to leech the guardian in a way like throwing breadcrumbs on the floor.

    Once Dave was next to the gate, it opened revealing the drowsy guardian who took note of the skeletons.

    Yet before Dave could even think of a way to try and leech him out

    "You damned fiend!" Shouted the guardian as he wielded two swords and jumped inside the garden. Hacking away at the first enemy who was a ghoul.

    "Holy shit!" said Dave as he backed away.

    "Howe you managed to get all the way here! That damned Skeleton! I should have known that he was up to no good!" cried out the guardian as he began slicing away at the first ghoul who almost instantly died.

    The next target was another ghoul that was thirty meters away from the Guardian, and right next to him was Dave who was running with all his speed.

    The guardian didn¡¯t even take more than two seconds to dismantle the second ghoul and move forward. He was like a grim reaper that was killing monsters without mercy nor waits.

    "You! Halt" cried out the guardian as he locked on Dave¡¯s escaping figure.

    Dave didn¡¯t Dare to wait as he used his undead to block the guardian¡¯s Path. Dave¡¯s heart was wincing every time one of his minions would fall. But he still kept on running, the boss¡¯s advance was too sudden and too fast. Ghouls, archers, casters, nothing stopped him. Until he entered the pce.

    The Guardian hesitated for a moment, but once he saw Dave¡¯s figure he roared and chased after him. An unlucky banshee stood between the two who received an attack from the boss forcing her to shout out in pain and used her skill. Sadly it was without effect. The guardian killed the banshee and ran upstairs following Dave who was using the remaining dungeon monsters as a mean to block the guardian from gaining more ground. Sadly, the guardian¡¯s incensed temper only made it run faster and kill enemies faster closing the gap between the two.

    Dave could now see the entrance to the throne room, but the guardian was only a few meters behind him.

    "Die!" roared the guardian as he swung both his swords like an X shape to which Dave used [Vertical sh] damaging the Guardian for a measly [10] damage and jumping back fully negating the boss¡¯s attack.

    This gave Dave a small breather, as he got closer to the throne room¡¯s door. Once at the gate the Guardian attacked once more, to which Dave hastily used his shield to [Block] the attack.

    The strength from the attack caused Dave to stagger but he used the momentum to jump into the hall and once the guardian entered, he saw the ¡¯Damsel in distress who was chained¡¯ and the boss who was standing tall in the room

    "You damned bastards!" cried out the guardian as both his swords shone in a bright light.

    "I should have exterminated you myself long ago!" then the guardian jumped forward initiating a thrilling fight. A fight where a yer was helping a boss taking down the dungeon guardian, while an exited elf was filing the scene...

 Chapter 43 Scheming Draugr

    "You must have gotten old, human!" said the lich Boss as he swung his staff forward, and hundreds of ethereal red skeletons rushed forward toward the guardian. They began dealing hundreds of damage value to the guardian who began shing at the ghost faces

    "Oh my god! The boss never used this spell before!" said Lone Arrow

    "It is probably due to the nature of this fight, he is no longer bound by the skills that he will use to face against adventurers, but now the system equipped him with the skills needed to fight against the guardian." Said, Dave

    Lone Arrow heard Dave¡¯s voice clearly this time. He already understood the reason behind the limitation of the boss¡¯s skills against adventurers. This was after all a fight between NPCs. And the stage would be much different than when facing against adventurers.

    The dungeon guardian used an AOE skill that shot a gust of wind to sweep the ghostly faces away. Then he charged forward.

    "Rise my minions!" roared the lich boss as a dozen or so skeletons rose from the ground, they were made of ice and had low levels, but still they radiated with an eerie light and charged forward without regard to their ¡¯lives¡¯

    However, due to the vast difference in strength, they were decimated one after another.

    "I can¡¯t keep this up! The spell formation in this hall is preventing me from utilizing all of my power. I need some time, buy me two minutes!" said the lich as a golden shield shone around him.

    A count of two minutes appeared before Dave, he needed tost that long before the boss would finish his skill cast.

    Dave sighed and looked toward the berserker guardian who was dismantling skeletons, one after another. If this keeps up, Dave would soon be alone, and when thates his end would be nigh.

    Surprisingly, he found himself able to control the minions, he then organized the twenty or so skeletons to move in a strange fashion.

    The boss would always chance the closest monster, thus Dave willed the skeleton who was being chased by the boss to run away from the group of monsters. Once the skeleton was away from the group, the boss immediately caught up and killed it.

    Dave looked at the boss who was now running after another skeleton and executed him with a single sh. At this rate, his twenty or so skeletons wouldst at most about a minute before they would all die.

    Dave had to think of another n, forcing the guardian to run after monsters is indeed the best way to stall for time, but still, that is not enough, and if Dave dared fight the boss, only death would await.

    Dave¡¯s gaze fell upon a decrepit pir that was supporting the hall. Then a sinister smile appeared on his face. Lone Arrow¡¯s gaze happened to fall on Dave¡¯s face at that moment and she looked like a cat whose back stood on end. The sight of Dave¡¯s sinister smile, added with his undead appearance, while he was stroking his beard was branded deeply in Lone Arrow¡¯s mind and heart. If an anyone could pull that look, they would undouble be thought to be a Viin in a story.

    Dave then willed the skeleton who was closest to the Guardian to start running in circles around the giant pir. Thus a game of chancemenced. The guardian relied on a lock on target mechanism to chase. When a target runs in a straight line, the Guardian would have a higher movement speed than them. This coupled with some of his lunging attacks would make it simple to close gape at any target. However, once a target start running in circles, the guardian who is a melee character would need to chase them around, and due to the fact that the pir is round, the Skelton who is running in circles will hardly be in the line of sight of the guardian, this the lock on mechanism will not work.

    This way, Dave managed to find a small loophole which with its use, he managed to make the guardian run around chasing the skeleton like an idiot. This way, not only Dave would be able tost more than two minutes, even the rest of the dozen or so skeletons would not be attacked nor would they die.

    Lone Arrow couldn¡¯t hold herughter as she saw the fearsome two sword wilding guardian running like a madman after the skeleton who couldn¡¯t help but keep running in circles. This reminded her when she used to chase her younger brother around their table. The best way to catch him would be to run the other way and catch him off-guard. However, sadly the guardian was not that ¡¯Smart¡¯.

    And so, two minutes passed

    The golden light faded from around the lich and a ck aura now surrounded it.

    "Atst! Now let me see you survive this!" shouted the lich and he swung his staff forcing a giant ck geyser to shoot forward aiming directly at the guardian.

    The Guardian had his agro locked on the skeleton, thus he couldn¡¯t evade, block or even counter the spell.

    [-25 000!]

    A huge damage value that shaved about a third of the guardian¡¯s hp.

    Immediately after that the guardian roared and changed targets, The boss was now its primary target of agro.

    Dave felt content as he saw his small n working and then began thinking of ways to ruin the guardian¡¯s momentum. He didn¡¯t need to be the one to kill it. he just needed to make sure that the Boss survives and he would be the one to provide the assistance needed.

    The boss would back away every now and then, and use more spells that would rain heavy damage on the guardian. However, the guardian¡¯s damage was equally as oppressive, as every hit hends on the boss would shave a tenth of its Hp.

    Dave looked at the situation and calcted that if the fight continues the boss would undoubtedly be the winner and the guardian would lose. However, he knew the system wouldn¡¯t allow this to be that easy. Indeed, he managed to tip the bnce between the two, however, the boss was inherently put in a lower position of powerpared to the guardian.

    Dave paid close attention to the fight and then saw the guardian moving back a bit.

    The guardian¡¯s Hp reached 50%. This was the norm of any boss ss monster in the game to enter the second phase!

    "Your end is nigh, undead!"

    The two swords on the guardian¡¯s hands glowed in a golden light as they emitted the power of undying mes. They raged as the range of his weapons almost doubled, and the oppressive aura that he was emitting doubled over.

    Dave knew that from now on, the fight would probably tip back in the favor of the guardian. Thus he moved closer.

    The Guardian used the same attack he used against Dave and shed in an X manner. The attack itself was made while the guardian was more than six meters away from the boss. The attack that should have been melee range is now cast from range.

    An X shape ming cuts flew through the air and headed toward the boss. The moment the boss was struck with the ming X shaped attack his body staggered forward. The boss almost keeled over and fell from the impact as he grabbed at his burning chest and snuffed the mes.

    "Such insolence! If I had all my powers you wouldn¡¯t stand a chance at harming me!" roared the boss as the ck aura around him shuddered and grew exponentially stronger.

    The two fighting entered their second phases and magic of great proportions bellowed in the hall. This was something that was rarely seen for adventurers, and with every second that would pass, the glow on Lone Arrow¡¯s eyes would shine further. She looked excited to see the effects of the powerful magic and the battle between the two as it raged and shook the room. Even ice shards would fall asionally and the pirs would tremble from the impact of the magic.

    At one point in time, the two moved away from each other, the guardian smacked his swords together and they magically fused to make a great sword of a white glow.

    "Time to end this!" Said the guardian as he entered a sword drawing position. A holy light shone upon him as he began speaking some iprehensible words.

    "I should start getting serious too," said the boss as he waved his hand and a ck vortex of ethereal skulls shimmered into existence.

    This was probably the ultimate end of the fight, whoever remains would be the victor of this fight. However, this was a risk, and Dave didn¡¯t dare take risks he wasn¡¯t sure of. If the boss ends up dead, then the guardian will surely end Dave¡¯s life.

    Dave would only take risks he was sure of. Thus another of his sinister smiles appeared on his face as he remembered the time he ruined another man¡¯s chance at obtaining the Death God¡¯s legacy.

    The moment the attack of the guardian was about to initiate.

    "Death Grip!"

    A giant skull appeared on the head of the guardian as itughed sinisterly...

 Chapter 44 Swords of mercy

    Dave¡¯s heart was pounding, he was already preparing to use destructive smash if the skill [Death Grip] was to fail. However, it actually seeded, even if the chances of the skill to work on bosses was low, luck smiled at Dave as the skull above the guardian¡¯s face began tough.

    The guardian¡¯s face turned pale white, as he shuddered and his skill activation was immediately interrupted. What was going to be a contest between; holy and unholy, guardian and boss, was interrupted by a third party.

    And due to that, the raging ck skull vortex that the boss was preparing shot and mmed unceremoniously at the guardian¡¯s body, sending him tumbling like a kite with a torn string, in the midst of a raging tempest

    The guardian flew all the way to a pir, smashing his body and bones. ck fog emitted from the location of the guardian. And what resulted was a strange sight.

    The Guardian had only its skeleton remaining, not evenplete as if its skin and flesh had been melted and eroded in some areas, even some of his bones were charred and turned to ash.

    Its body began to slowly disintegrate while nothing but a pile of ash remained.

    Hidden Questpleted!

    Treachery!

    You have chosen to betray the guardian and aligned with the Lich of the frozen pce.

    The Guardian has been defeated,

    +500 contribution points

    You have helped to save a servant of the undead king from the clutches of the vile Ice Queen.

    You have gained 300 000XP

    Level Up

    Level Up

    Level Up

    ...

    Dave could only stare dumbly at the scene unfolding before him. He was surprised at the end result, the boss¡¯s skill was rather horrendous! It melted the guardian¡¯s body to nothing...

    "Hmm... I didn¡¯t expect him to be that easy to kill, however, I must thank you for your assistance... " said the Boss as he waved his hand and a ck book appeared in front of Dave.

    Skill book

    Spectral Bomb

    Creates a spectral skull that would follow a target and blow up in a 3X3 meter radius (can cause stagger/kickback effects)

    The explosion can be dyed and activated at will.

    Damage 200 basic damage + 0.75X(Wisdom)

    Cost 200 Mana

    Cooldown 30 seconds

    Rarety. (Unique)

    Bound.

    Dave looked at the skill book and was amazed! Things like these could easily fetch hundreds of thousands of dors! Skill books are super rare to find! Especially something like this which has a unique rarity.

    However, Dave could only smile bitterly, he was not a magic ss, at least his skills were all physical, and this was his first magic rted skill. Yet, he cannot sell it. It is character bound...

    "That is a skill book?" asked Lone Arrow

    Dave nodded and said, "Yes, it is rted to the quest I am doing... it is character bound," said Dave as he sent her the skill¡¯s description.

    "Damn son! That is a good skill especially that; dyed explosion option..."

    "Indeed, it can catch people off-guard especially with the staggering effect." Said, Dave, as he began formting ns in his head on how to use the skill. Indeed, its damage is rather low for its level, but if it was in the hand of a specialized magician, the damage it would deal would be staggering.

    Furthermore, it is still in its first level, once it is mastered, Dave could only wonder what would it grow to be.

    "The time hase for me to go back to my lord... You, young, hopeful, undead." Said the boss as he addressed Dave

    "You wish to serve the Undead King. Your current level is too low to be of great use... once you reach the Death knight rank, I will personally annex you to my unit... I could use someone like you." Said the boss

    Dave squinted his brows as he looked at the boss. Clearly, the boss was only level 120, so at most he would be just a skeleton captain. Dave knew that to be a death knight one must at least be level 250. So howe, someone of barely the rank skeleton captain, annex Dave, when he bes a death knight?

    But then his question was answered. A golden glow shone under Dave¡¯s feet, as the whole room shuddered, then a sound of ss breaking was heard. The boss¡¯s dark aura grew to an unprecedented level as he becamerger and his clothes gained a darker shade of blue almost turning ck.

    "Ah finally! I am released!" roared the boss as his body shone with a dark and unyielding might.

    Dave couldn¡¯t help but remember that he never inspected the boss. And once he did, he gasped

    Lich Du¡¯Razha

    Level 520

    Rank -Lich-(Doom Knight)

    Skills (???)

    Hp(???)

    Defense(???)

    One of the most powerful of solitary units under the Arch-lich (Gehna) lord over the magus ranks of the Undead Legion.

    Du¡¯Raha was captured after having failed to eliminate the Ice Queen. His power has been suppressed and he was forced to imprisonment in the ice pce.

    Now released he can go back and report his mission to his king.

    This guy apparently was not weak! He indeed spoke about being feeble before, but never did Dave think that it was of the Doom Knight ss! he was just a single rank below Deadra! Who was an abyssal Knight!

    "Until we meet again, undead..." said the lich as his body turned to a dark stream of light and disappeared from sight.

    The pce began to shake the moment the spell that was holding the lich was broken. Dave could only look around and saw that the chains around Lone Arrow disappearing.

    "We should leave!" said Lone Arrow as she saw the shaking pce.

    "Damn!" cried out Dave as he noticed that the ancient pirs shaking and breaking apart.

    He was annoyed at the fact that he never got the dungeon core, thus he had to leave the ce. Indeed, he received a good skill book and even leveled up a lot. Now, Dave was level 58, eight levels of, were for having assisted in killing the guardian. Which was of great help to Dave, as it propelled him forward. However, Now Dave is in dire need to start thinking about changing equipment. He was still wearing a level 20 set, and they were growing too useless against powerful bosses and yers. A yer of Dave¡¯s level would certainly have better equipment.

    Dave could only sigh as he was leaving the room. And after a final look at the remains of the dead guardian, his eyes glittered. There was an item under that rubble of ash!

    Dave turned around and walked toward it, while Lone Arrow stopped at the gate of the hall.

    "What are you doing!" she cried out as she hesitated in going back.

    Dave could only smile as he turned back toward her, yet before he could say a thing, a giant pir fell and cut his line of sight. Lone Arrow gasped as she looked at the falling rubble and decided to retreat. The final thing she saw was Dave being buried under the rubble. Which kind of severed as a great end to their short adventure.

    Lone Arrow Knew that Dave was a yer, and therefore, even if he was buried under the ruble and killed, he would not die, or at least he will respawn, unlike an NPC. However, she was not going to divulge it, nor would she divulge some of his secrets. Lone Arrow¡¯s goal was to spread the bearded Drauger¡¯s reputation; and along with it, the fact that she adventured with him.

    She walked away from the pce and outside the region. She then looked at her inheritance piece and clenched her hand on it. The time hase for her to start ying seriously. Dave¡¯s level almost doubled her¡¯s. Thus, the idea was ingrained in her heart. She needs to level up faster, to see things much more interesting than what she is used to. Her boring and dull life could only be lifted with the joy she receives from this game. Moreover, if she were to remain under level, she would miss better and more interesting adventures.

    As for Dave, he was currently scurrying around the hall, the pir that fell actually closed the door and he was able to pick up the shining item that fell from the guardian. Amazingly, it was his sword!

    Category: Weapon Swords of mercy

    A trick weapon created by an ancient workshop of hunters.

    This sword can split into two smaller ones when the need arises.

    Damage 320-400

    50 stamina/strike (75 when split)

    Requirements 100 STR 100 AGI 100 DEX 100 WIS

    Level 80

    Bonus stats [Double sh] Deals 200% Damage in an X AOE in front of the caster.

    Can prate targets and deal damage in a line of 3 meters before the caster like a projectile

    [Soul burn] Harm one¡¯s soul to increase the sword¡¯s total damage by 50%

    -100HP/sec

    Scaling/ss S: Strength(Once in single sword Form)

    A: DEX (Once in dual sword Form)

    ss. Unique

    "Hooo leeee shiit!" cried out Dave as he just understood, that this was the same weapon the guardian was using! And it was damn OP!

 Chapter 45 Shopping Spree

    The crumbling pce left Dave with no choice, but to use the ¡¯End Mission¡¯ option and leave the ce. Once Dave left he was back again in the World of the Dead. Looking around, all he could see were expressionless, decaying corpses. Dave gave a deep sigh as he opened his contribution panel to see how much he had obtained. After all, he had gained +500 contribution points after having released the Lich Du¡¯Razha. And he already obtained some from his old dungeon.

    Currently, have:

    2350 Contribution points.

    Dave¡¯s mind went nk as he saw the number. He clearly didn¡¯t even know how it came to increase this much. Was it a bug? He thought. But then, something cleared up his confusion

    A notification panel he disabled before, now he enabled to read the log.

    yers had died 140 times in the

    Undead Cave dungeon.

    +1400Contribution point

    This coupled with the contribution points Dave already have given him a nice base of contribution points to y on. Thankfully, Dave¡¯s inability to ess the auction house didn¡¯t limit his possibility I acquiring new equipment and better his gear. For the moment, Dave was still relying on the level 20; Iron Armor set, which by now became obsolete.

    Dave immediately went to the merchant and check out his wears. Before, Dave couldn¡¯t even hope to buy the better-tiered equipment, but now he might be able to get some.

    "Back again I see," said the merchant as he immediately opened the window for Dave to check out the wares.

    Dave looked through the wears and saw once again the EXP potions, however. These cost 1000Contribution points each. He immediately went past them. There was no need for him to further increase his level, while his gear is far behind.

    Dave went down the list until he saw a blue colored piece of equipment. It was a chest te that Dave could actually buy, but it costs 800 contributions and its level 60.

    Category: Chest te

    Fallen ck Knight order¡¯s Chestte

    Description A decrepit old chest te of a fallen order of knights.

    Vowed to defeat all that was vile and abhorred, they failed their quest against the wrath and might of the Undead Legion, thus they ended as those they hated the most.

    Requirements Level 60

    200 strength. 100 agility 100 DEX

    Bonus stats 800 vitality

    4% Immunity

    500 Damage Nullification

    120 Magic Absorption

    Scaling/ss ss. Rare Chest-te

    The chest te itself gave enormous amounts of resistance, however, Dave was unable to equip it. though he levels up quite a lot, he didn¡¯t have the required Strength to wear the gear.

    He still had enough stats, but if he was to boost up his strength, he would lose the ability to increase his other stats. Dave¡¯s main goal was to go the triple road of an STR, VIT, and DEX build. If he was to waste his stats on a singlene of stats he would probably fail his objective.

    Dave then scrolled down and saw another item.

    Category: Ne

    Lesser Demon¡¯Eye

    Description A ne forged from the eye of an ancient lesser demon. It has enormous powers that could enable one to carry themselves with ease.

    However, beware of devilish items as they can easily corrupt the mind and wither the spirit.

    Requirements Level 50

    Bonus stats +50 STR

    +50 AGI

    +50 WIS

    +250 Mana

    Scaling/ss ss. Rare

    "No way!" said Dave as he red at the ne for a longer period of time. "Ah, essories! that is why, though they are not considered to be powerful items, unlike the armors and clothes that a character wear, these would give the yer the required stats to wear stronger armor."

    Indeed, it was the case. In the Game conquest, a yer is not considered strong based on their level. The Level bonus stat point is not of great importance, it is the essories that a character could equip that would judge their might. Most, if not all the essories in the game give yers stat bonuses, some essories give enormous stats to yers, which will help them wear a huge variety of equipment, which would normally require a huge amount of Stat investment to be able to wield.

    This idea would force yers to actually try and do more quests, do dungeons and try to look for other essories in the game to be able to wear their best equipment. yers that rely on grinding their level without the appropriate equipment would find themselves in a poor match against other lower level yers with better sets.

    Dave then looked at the price of the ne and his heart almost fell.

    1000 contribution point... that was almost a half of what Dave¡¯s current points...

    Dave sighed and then scrolled down to look at other items. He wanted to buy the ne but the price is too high, and he feared that he might not be able to buy something which will suit him better if he was hasty.

    He noticed that the shop sold the rest of the Fallen ck Knight order. Gauntlets, Boots, shield cape and helmet. They all gave an enormous boost to; vitality, immunity, Magic and Damage resistances. However, every piece required 800 contribution points. The total amount that Dave needed to obtain to be able to wear such items was 5800 Contribution points. Which he only had less than a half.

    Dave felt displeased the equipment in front of him was rather nice. No, they were awesome, however, he didn¡¯t have the ability to acquire all of them.

    Thest item in the list was actually a Ring. Dave then inspected it and saw its bonuses and he could only sigh

    Category: Gauntlets

    Ring of the Ruined King

    Requirements Level 50

    Description A ring that once belonged to a powerful King who gave up his soul to gain immortality, only in doing so, his gain of immortality prevented his freedom, now he is nothing but a ve in the Undead Legion

    Bonus stats +200 Mana

    +50 WIS

    [Royal Decree] Summon 2 Ghost Knights of level 50 as guards.

    The ghost Knights will remain for 10 minutes or until they die.

    Cool down 1 Hour

    Scaling/ss ss. Common heavy Gauntlets

    ssless

    Another awesome item that would be of great help to Dave. Though this item is basically Magic oriented, and any wizard of low level would die for. As these two guards could help the magic ss yer defend themselves while they would be casting magic.

    However, once again, the price of such an item was expensive. 1000 Contribution point.

    Dave¡¯s total amount of points was reallycking. Though he could receive a nice bonus from the dungeon he acquired as it killed yers almost every few minutes, it would take a lot of time before the dungeon alone would get Dave the required amount of contribution he requires to purchase everything.

    Dave then clenched his fist as he bought three items from the shop. There was no need to be stingy at the moment, these items would help him in his Missions.

    Dave bought the Ne and the Ring. At least, he could actually wear these and use them. As for the armors and equipment from the Fallen ck Knight Order, he didn¡¯t need to bother acquiring as he still needed more levels, buying them now would be nothing but a waste of points.

    Dave got closer to the wall which prevented him from getting into the Skeleton Captain area. And sighed "I guess that I need to level up more to be able to lead a more powerful army... my toon is rather nice, but I need to gain the Skeleton Captain rank to both be able to lead a battalion and also have more powerful underlings..."

    Dave logged out at that time and went back to his apartment where he took a shower and slept for the night. He didn¡¯t notice that he spent more than an entire day in the Northern regions.

    Once it was morning, Dave got to his feet and went to his small kitchen to make something to eat. A cup of coffee and eggs with bacon, it was rather cheap and not much to dent his low amount of savings.

    Dave then remembered that he gave Lone Arrow his number, and thought about if she would really send him his earnings after selling the frozen Dagger. Now that he thought about it, he just noticed that he actually shared his personal info with the girl. Dave could only sigh as he face-palmed himself for not being too careful. She could easily share his info and he might be in troubleter on. Actually, if people knew about him, not only would he be harassed for not sharing his pioneering right with them all, it might actually get dangerous. Some people cannot be expected to be reasonable.

    Dave could only sigh, as he had no possibility to change the past. If his mind was cleared he would have declined...

    Dave went to the forums to check up on things. He remembered the Devastator¡¯s current excursion in the Pits of Despair dungeon. So he wanted to check up on their progress. After all the Devastators were a super guild supported by mightypanies and firms that have a giant grasp of the world¡¯s market and stocks. And their sess and failure is being followed by the entire game poption

    Once he checked up on the progress he noticed that they still were unable to defeat the final boss. It was a Demon of great height, and could easily destroy any vanguard. His pattern of attack was rather strange, unlike normal Monsters who would attack at a fixed interval and with specific attacks, The Demon in the pits of despair would randomly attack targets, fully ignoring threat values and with various attacks. This was the main reason why many guilds failed to defeat it.

    It actually brought them to despair.

    Topics on the forum have a star rating. Once viewership of a certain topic increases above a certain threshold a star would appear on it, making it reach the top. The first belonged to the Devastators with 8 stars.

    Then Dave scrolled down and noticed another topic that was almost of the same viewership, it was the skirmish between Heaven¡¯s Dawn and Blood Rage which now escted to a full on war!

    The reason behind such an esction was due to a strange guild that appeared in the game, it was called "It¡¯s Just Business" this guild actually was a powerful guild of mercenaries which hosted nothing more nor less than a hundred yer. They didn¡¯t ept any other applications. And their numbers were fixed. This guild actually was sponsored by various tycoons and they had enough money to shake the game itself, however, their objective for moving was and will always be money. Instigating this war was their doing, however, no one knows how they managed it, and how they actually managed to gain benefit from the fight.

    There was another topic however that almost reached the numbers of stars that these two topics had.

    It was a simple topic with a simple phrase and a video feed.

    "An adventure with MR, Skeletal"

    Dave¡¯s eyes went nk as he saw that it was posted under the name of Lone Arrow...

    He couldn¡¯t help but press y to see what was going on...

 Chapter 46 An adventure with Mr.Skeletal

    Chapter 46

    The video length was about an hour long. However,pared to the time Dave and Lone Arrow spent, it was rather short. Dave looked at thements and most of them were questions about the identity of Mr,Skeletal. Or how wicked his ways were...

    Once Dave saw that he was hesitant but still pressed the y button to see what the little vixen posted about him. He should have made sure not to trust her, as she had right now published their adventure without his consent! What if his number was leaked? Dave thought as he remembered that he wrote his Number for Lone Arrow so that she would contact him once the dagger was sold.

    Once the video yed, it was at the moment where In Lone Arrow¡¯s point of view that she made the Blink and push into aggro range move, which she followed with a cleansing potion to force the wolves to go into Dave¡¯s aggro range.

    Many yers hadmented on that part of the video, with how smooth and skillful the move had been. However, thements following that were of awe as people looked at Mr.Skeletal¡¯s reaction toward her, though they saw that it was a Drauger type undead, he now looked rather imposing with the way how he even pped. The Elven girl was surrounded by the undead who dispatched the wolves in a matter of seconds, and soon more trouble followed as Aggressor Type yers surrounded her. Now that her situation turned grim, she is now unable to escape the entrapment, though even that, the Drauger actually began attacking the other yers and managed to help her defeat the Aggressors. Especially the Strang Drauger who managed to single-handedly kill a priest and switch targets to eliminate a swordsman alone. Lone Arrow made sure to take in the whole scene of her fight while keeping an eye on the undead.

    Soon after that, the fight ended with the three aggressors; dead, while the Drauger, leader of the undead moved and asked a question while writing on the snow.

    "Do you know of any nearby dungeons?" was the questions. Lone Arrow answered then asked his name, to which he replied

    "Mr. Skeletal" now that the video spectators understood that the leading Drauger is the famous Mr. Skeletal, they felt a bit disappointed as they now knew, that the famous Mr.Skeletal is nothing but a low-level yers. The scene that he posted earlier made many yers think that this strange Mr. Skeletal was a high-level yer that essed the Level 500 region of the Dead world. However, now that they saw that he was nothing but an elite Skeleton of the level 38 they felt a bit disappointed.

    Some even spected that Dave would die soon in the dead world due to his low level, and the event will be released sooner than expected.

    Others even spoke about that Mr. Skeletal is probably trying to do safe quest thus prolonging his death, but it doesn¡¯t matter every yer of Conquest had died at least once before. And this rather made them happier, as it would increase the chance of him dying and they would gain the ess to the dead world, its quests, and items.

    Momentster, they saw Dave epting the request and going toward the ice pce dungeon.

    At first many were about to disregard the video, however, what they saw next hooked them up.

    Lone Arrow didn¡¯t take footage of their conversations anymore but skipped to when they entered the elemental area. She even used the part when she was exining to Mr. Skeletal about the elementals, but he immediately charged forward.

    Some even scoffed at his attempt at fighting three elementals alone, as they would probably destroy him in a matter of seconds.

    However, what they saw next made many of the haters shut-up immediately. Mr. Skeletal¡¯s strange variation of [Charge] shattered an elemental in a single strike. Then soon, he followed with a strange attack that destroyed the second elemental, after that, the moment the third elemental¡¯s attack was about to hit the Drauger, he pulled his shield in a skillful manner, and [Block]+ [Counter] then ended the attack with a single sword strike. This made many of those that watched to either shout in awe or be dumbfounded. They didn¡¯t even believe it to be possible to react that way under the attack of three monsters. Not only would normal yers kite them along one after another, they would even go at it in groups. However, this Drauger singlehandedly destroyed three of them without taking a single hit. His firepower was rather absurd!

    People began screaming, or at least this is what their writing on the video feed of that moment had been. Some even began giving an analysis of the attack pattern and the smooth transition between skills. However, most of the skills they saw were notmune, only few could be properly identified [Block] and [Destructive Smash] as for the other skills used, they were rather strange for them.

    The video continued with their excursion, and them destroying the Yeti. Some even apuded Lone Arrow¡¯s attempt at shooting down the Yeti while it wasing down after its [Heoric Leap]. However, what interested them the most was the fact that the Skeletons under Mr. Skeletal¡¯smand were moved around in a strategic manner from the start of the fight. They never stayed group lest that they would receive the Aoe Damage from the boss, nor was their firepower misused. The scene continued after that to transit at the moment when they were facing the snake.

    Once again, Mr. Skeletal attacked the boss without even waiting for Lone Arrow¡¯s exnation, thus making some of the watchers to scorn again at his attempt to charge at the boss.

    However, no matter what, the Drauger seemed uninhibited by the frost aura, which would render most Vanguard/Tanks useless against it. The Drauger would attack with wanton abandon at the snake. It even used the [Bone Breaking Hug] which was a Tank destroyer but failed due to Dave¡¯s use of yet another strange skill that pushed him from the snake¡¯s attack.

    After that, the snake used its Petrifying Gaze, Yet Mr. Skeletal just stood there, watching the mor in the snake¡¯s eyes, which would normally annoy the living hell of anyone that gazed upon them. The petrification is annoying to most vanguards as the snake would be able to attack without being inhibited by the attacking party.

    However, the Drauger just watched on, smiled then attacked like nothing happened at all. yers once again wondered about what happened, some even thought that he used an anti-crowd control ability, until someone reminded him, that Petrification effects cannot be removed by crow control removing skills.

    The fight continued until Mr. Skeletal was grabbed by the snake and was squeezed to a pulp, however, even that didn¡¯t kill him. And thus the fight continued, while now Lone Arrow was the focus of the boss. Still, Lone Arrow looked to be suffering from the frost aura, unlike the Drauger who tided through it without a hitch. Still, Lone Arrow proved to be of skill as she dodged the hug and looked away when the gaze shone upon her eyes.

    After that, the agro switched back to Mr. Skeletal and he managed to destroy the snake with the Help of Lone Arrow. The loot distribution was fair and the yers even saw Mr.Skeletal giving Lone Arrow the Dagger, they thought that he was being generous. However, Lone Arrow didn¡¯t showcase the fact that he gave her his number, to this Dave who was watching sighed a sigh of relief.

    The Video continued until they met thest boss. The yers now thought clearly that the boss would destroy Dave, however, the strangest of things happened. The boss actually moved toward Dave and began speaking! However, the voice was hushed, it was a quest of sorts. Then after that, chains sprang up from the ground and trapped Lone Arrow.

    The scene was a bit hard to understand, from the beginning to Now, Mr. Skeletal seemed simple and nice. To have protected the damsel in distress from the aggressors and helped her clear a hard dungeon, however. Why would it now speak to a boss and trap the friend? Would he betray her?

    Thoughts like these passed through the watcher¡¯s mind but then they saw Dave leaving the room to onlye back running while the dungeon¡¯s Guardian was chasing him.

    The moment he entered, a superb fight broke out, with the guardian and the boss.

    The boss began using strange skills, none of which, that normal yers had seen. The Guardian itself was strong beyond belief, his movements and attacks were decisive and fast.

    However, the boss then was surrounded by a shield, when several skeletons emerged from the ground. They appeared next to Mr. Skeletal who took control over and began using to humper the guardian. This was probably a protection quest when yers are tasked to buy time for an NPC while they charge up a powerful attack or summon something. This was rather normal and many yers knew of, but why would a dungeon boss do this? Why would a dungeon boss ask help of a yer to fight the dungeon guardian?

    The viewers clearly noticed that Mr. Skeletal¡¯s minions would die soon, and he would have to face that fearsome Guardian alone. Once again, a group ofmenters mentioned that how he would soon die once the boss finishes with the small fries, some even gave an estimation on how long would he survive the onught like his death was assured.

    However, what they saw next made their minds reel. The Drauger actually used the pirs in the hall to y with the Guardian. The lock-on mechanism won¡¯t work when something is hampering the view so that whenever the boss tried to use his lunge attack but with the pir, he would always stop for a moment and never be able to attack.

    Thus, the two minutes ended, and the boss powered up. The fight between the two continued until the Drauger ended it with a cheap shot, a skill that stunned the Guardian and enabled the Boss to end its life.

    Thest part was when the Drauger was buried under the rubble which served to end the video.

    Now, normally, this fight would never pull this many yers into watching it. Indeed, Mr. Skeletal was famous. However, he would never pull this many yer into watching, what actually drove them to watch this was the fact that, a dungeon from the Devastator guild had been destroyed!

    The dungeon which would pull a lot of ie to the guild has been destroyed, and this video footage was thest thing yers would see. Now the whole dungeon wasposed of only one level, and the boss was the Yeti. Which didn¡¯t prove to be a hindrance anymore to higher level yers.

    This dungeon¡¯s destruction now prohibited many yers from leveling up in that region, and now they would have to go to other dungeons, which will only increase the costs of adventuring.

    Losing a dungeon at this stage of the game can actually cause a heavy blow to the owning guild, especially if the owner used to harness some daily ie from it. So this even which actually was nothing but a quest and its result, made Mr. Skeletal a wanted on the Devastators¡¯ ck List.

    Normally, this list would be filled with actual yer¡¯s name and would be essible to all yers, but due to Dave¡¯s nature as ¡¯Monster¡¯, his name was not possible to add due to him not having one at all. So this addition was one of a kind, it was a verbal addition that whoever gives information on Mr. Skeletal would receive 15 000$ and the promise to enter the main Devastator guild once they reach level 200.

    Dave sighed at the price and could only simile. Lone Arrow made sure to take the best parts of their adventure and y it on that video, it even got a lot of views and many began taking interest in it. this only pushed Dave to think about recording his own adventures, he then stood back up and went to the machine, he needed a lot of contribution points for the moment. And there is only one way for him to get it now; Kill!

 Chapter 47 Discussion

    Meanwhile, at the Devastators headquarters, another meeting was in progress.

    Mr. Valentine was speaking to the Devastators officers and the leaders of various sub-guilds, "The server announcement of our imminent victory over the boss will be issued in a few days.

    "That Draugr has cost us a dungeon and a lot of valuable resources. Though it is only a small percentage of our total ie, our investors are displeased with the loss."

    "What are your suggestions?" asked Warlord, "Asking publicly about recruiting the Draugr, will push the other two guilds into doing the same. If they offer him a better deal he might join one of them, and we will lose our chance to control the undead army."

    "True, we don¡¯t want to start a bidding war with the other super-guilds, the Draugr would be the only one who would profit. We need to get control of that expansion area. Without ess to it, we cannot takemand of the undead army. I didn¡¯t see any high-level mobs in the undead army, was that all there was to the stream?" asked Warlord

    "They were all low-level mobs, but there were a lot of them, and there could be higher-level undead in the pce. So, maybe the army is not as powerful as we thought. Would the system allow yers to take control of a group of undead and level them up? If that happens then their value might increase a bit... but it wouldn¡¯t really be worth the cost after all."

    one of the Sub-guild-master who had elven features and ck leather armor spoke saying

    "I don¡¯t think that is the case, pardon me Warlord, but the expansion was supposed to open when the average level of yers reaches level 500. So I guess there must be higher level monsters there. At least that is what i believe."

    Warlord contemted the guild-master¡¯s words.Warlord was the highest level yer in the game, but that didn¡¯t mean that he was the smartest, or had the highest diplomatic ability, thus his need for these ¡¯partners¡¯ or Guild-Masters as strategists, tacticians, recruiters, and logisticians. They were minions, necessary and convenient to maintain dominion over his ¡¯kingdom¡¯.

    "Without knowing the true potential of the undead army we cannot put a price on obtaining them. The other super guilds will surelye to the same conclusion. We need to contact Mr. Skeletal and make a deal. Giving him a decent sum of money won¡¯t be an inconvenience to our organizations finances, and it is worth it to get more info. We might lose some profits if the value of that army is not up to our expectations, but if it ends up to be truly powerful we will be ahead of the other guilds." Said another sub-guild-master

    Mr. Valentine asked "What makes you think we will control the army? The developers hinted that whoever kills the leader of the region will be its ruler. But everyone in the game will be able to participate in the subjugation of the undead army."

    "Can we just surround the area and take it under our Territory Command Order?" asked Warlord "We could forbid anyone from entering the zone if we have the territory rights."

    "No, We can¡¯t do that, if we do that, it will force the two super guilds to coborate to destroy us. We need to keep the status co..." Mr Valentine trailed off as he pondered the idea .

    "This is bing more and more troublesome... if we end up paying the skeleton guy and another guild takes the army, we would have aided them in bing stronger, no guild would wish that."

    "Maybe we could use the mafia guild again." Warlord said thoughtfully.

    Something in his tone made everyone turn toward him, and Valentine asked:"You mean the [It¡¯s Just business] Guild?"

    "Yes. They helped usst time, and even caused the war between Blood Rage and Heaven¡¯s Dawn. If we use them again we could hamper everyone else¡¯s advance or attempts at essing the area. If they can somehow dy the two super guild¡¯s ns long enough for us to take control of the area we can gain greater benifits" Said Warlord

    "You mean, we proceed with the conquest order, then use [It¡¯s Just Business] and our own guilds to hold off the attacks from Blood Rage and Heaven¡¯s Dawn while attacking the area boss and taking its head? It sounds usible, but their price will be high. Just causing the trouble between the two guilds almost sent some of our partners into bankruptcy." Said, Mr. Valentine

    "Do you have a better idea?" asked Warlord

    "No, not at the moment. But it is a huge risk, it would be better to avoid more transactions with [It¡¯s Just business].. Their leader is ruthless, people that use their services and don¡¯t pay mysteriously vanish... I think it would be unwise to use them again, especially if they realize how valuable their services are to us."

    Warlord rubbed the bridge of his nose before speaking again."I heard that [It¡¯s Just Business] had finally managed to recruit the Shadow Assassin Inheritance yer, giving them two S ss Inheritance yers. they could easily shake the two other super guilds if they invade, make them think twice before trying to take a chance at conquering the Dead Realm. If our power is added to the mix, they won¡¯t attack.. or at least the two super guilds will have to think carefully before doing so.

    "But the most important issue is we can¡¯t do anything without knowing the actual value of the undead army. We need to contact that Mr. Skeletal first and find out everything he knows, then proceed with the appropriate n."

    "We will discuss our options again once we have talked with Mr. Skeletal. This meeting is adjourned." said Mr, Valentin after standing and following Warlord back to his quarters.

    "What do you think Valentine?" Warlord asked his friend.

    "I have no idea man, I can¡¯t think of a way to benefit us without spending some money. And without better information, we can¡¯t take any sensible action. You need to take down the final boss at the Pits of Despair as soon as possible. We no longer need to contact that Mr. Skeletal with the server announcement input. I already posted a huge bounty on his head, and added that if he agreed to meet with us, he would receive a lot of benefits. Even if he is living under a rock the information will reach his ears. As for the announcement, we will need to use it to advertise on thepanies that suffered from the bacsh of hiring that Mafia guild..."

    "I joined this game to have fun, I never thought it would end up like this Valentine..." Warlord stated sadly.

    Contrary to what might be expected, Warlord was not cold-hearted guild machine. No, he loved the game itself and the endless adventures it provided. But one thing had led to another and now he was the ruler of a kingdom, with many duties and responsibilities weighing heavily on him.

    "I know, my friend. The days when we used to conquer dungeons just for the fun of it are long gone. Now we have to do it to advertise for our sponsors... it feels like we are working more for the sake of others..." sighed Mr. Valentine.

    For a moment they were once again simply two old friends that started ying the game years ago just for fun, like everyone else. But Fate had changed their course, they became leaders of a great guild, bringing with it a lot of work instead of more adventures...something that hardcore gamers never wish for.

 Chapter 48 Work smart, not hard.

    Dave logged back into the game and started another grind session. He epted the mission and was sent to the southern regions appearing near a dungeon. Unfortunately, this time there were a number of yers already nearby.

    The southern regions were controlled by the Blood Rage super-guild, and their guildmaster was the Chinese professional gamer Wan Yi.

    The region was hot and dry,posed of vast desert sands dotted with oases. It had several high-level dungeons located in it, and monsters spawned all over the regions, thus it was a good farming area.

    The graveyard they appeared in was part of a small chapel in the middle of the desert. Dpidated as it was, it still gave off a sense of ancient majesty and sacredness, like some great sage of old had once resided within it.

    The chapel was a good distance from where the other yers were attempting the dungeon. But he didn¡¯t want to risk getting any closer, noticing that one of the yers was actually level 120!

    yer Name: Sublime Spirit

    Level 120

    Berserker

    Admittedly, the level 120 yer was the group leader and the other members were not as high level but still far beyond Dave and his minions. For now.

    The dungeon¡¯s tooltip told Dave it was a high-tier dungeon, around the same level as the Ice Pce. Dave¡¯s mind reeled as he saw even more yers advancing toward the dungeon.

    Looking around, he noticed the other yers had guild tags indicating which faction they belonged to. They were all members of Heaven¡¯s Dawn various sub-guilds ording to their tags.

    The game, Conquest, started with a cap on the number of members a guild could have. Eventually, some guilds grew so powerful they had to expand membership beyond what the cap allowed or they would stagnate and be lesspetitive. The best way they found to circumvent the hard limit cap was to create new guilds loyal to the original. These ¡¯sub-guilds¡¯ were created by contract and organized so they werepletely dependent on the influential ¡¯parent¡¯ guild, informally called ¡¯super guilds¡¯.

    Each guild has a unique symbol or abbreviation, likepanies on stock markets, and sub-guild members added the super-guild¡¯s symbol to their own guild tags to identify them

    Dave looked closer and saw that the yers who were attempting the dungeon, had the abbreviation BR, on their guild tag. But the group that was approaching, had HD on their guild tags, the symbol for Heaven¡¯s Dawn.

    Dave¡¯s group of undead was inconspicuous among the hundreds of mummies that were sprawled around the graveyard, and Dave ordered his cohort to disperse among the other undead so they would be even more unnoticeable.

    Dave¡¯s objectives were to grind up to level 60 and gather enough contribution points to buy equipment to match his level.

    However, looking at things now, it would be foolish to attempt anything. The yers that gathered here ranged from level 80 to level 120, and would easily trash him. So he chose to y the waiting game. He stayed in the arrival area trying not to look suspicious and kept his eyes open for any opportunity that mighte up.

    Hopefully, the groups of yers would only be interested in the dungeon, and would not bother with the small fries in the graveyard and chapel.

    What intrigued Dave was that the two opposing factions were meeting here. Heaven¡¯s Dawn was currently at war with Blood Rage,

    When bitter enemies meet, blood will be spilled.

    The two groups soon noticed each other and immediately engaged in viciousbat. There was no need to talk, no need for threats, their guilds were already at each other¡¯s throats, so idle chatter and taunts were unnecessary.

    The two groups were closely matched in strength, but the Blood Rage group had the home-field advantage and determination. It would bring great shame on the sub-guild if they let invaders take over their own dungeon. Skirmishes like these weremon between guilds at war, no opposing guild would pay a dungeon tax to their enemy. They will try to enter and defeat the bosses of dungeons in enemy territories, to get the loot and resources that would otherwise go to the opposing guild.

    The fight was short thanks to Sublime Spirit with his overpowering 120 level. The Blood Rage group was enough to bring the invaders down.

    However, two of the six adventurers in the Blood Rage party had died and were sent for respawn in the skirmish.

    All five of the Heaven¡¯s Dawn group had been obliterated. Some even dropped items, as they were the first to attack and were considered aggressors by the game system.

    The four remaining members of Blood Rage¡¯s sub-guild sat next to each other [Resting] to recover their stamina and using consumables to hasten the process.

    "What should we do?" asked a yer who was probably the party¡¯s tank, since he was carrying a tower-shield.

    "I don¡¯t think we should stay here, let¡¯s just leave," whined a hunter who was a still only a breath away from dying.

    "Cowards will not be tolerated!" roared Sublime Spirit. "This is our region, our home, we will not retreat!"

    "But they might send reinforcements, and it will take Stinger and Shark too long to get back here."

    "We can handle the mini-boss with just four of us. We still have our priest, and I will be enough as the damage dealer for the first part of the dungeon. By the time we reach the boss Shark and Stinger should be back with us. They will have plenty of time to reach us before the dungeon mobs respawn."

    "Yea, I guess you¡¯re right." the hunter said, "I¡¯ll send them a message telling them we will wait at the boss monster¡¯s entrance." as he ced a hand to his temple to initiate the private message.

    A momentter the hunter¡¯s face turned pale as he looked around and said in a panicked tone: "Bad news."

    "What?" everyone asked at once as they turned to him.

    "The Heaven¡¯s Dawn group we just killed, they areing back, and with more people..." said the hunter

    "Damn it! We need to pull back." said the priest. Going into the dungeon with a team of only four yers would be highly risky, with another enemy group inbound it would be suicide.

    But if they retreated, it would shame them before their parent-guild and the other sub-guilds.

    "We¡¯re not backing off!" Sublime Spirit almost yelled "The high-level members of our guilds are upied with the war, but I have some friends who won¡¯t let me down." as he copied the earlier motions the hunter used. ¡¯Hey Dragunov, I need your...¡¯ Sublime Spirit messaged to his High-Level friend.

    Momentster, Sublime Spirit turned around and said "My friend is going to help us, he will hold them off at the entrance of the Ancient Desert Border. He is a level 380 tank, and is more than enough to upy those Heaven¡¯s Dawn guys." he paused as the rest of the group cheered wildly.

    "But he can only give us an hour¡¯s time. We need to defeat the boss by then or at least reach the gate of the boss¡¯s room. That way, even if my friend leaves, we will still have the advantage... high-level yers are desperately needed everywhere, and their time is precious right now. So we will not pass on his generosity, we will make do with it as best as we can!" Sublime Spirit finished, fully pumped up.

    "Alright! That is good news! Knowing a level 380 yer is watching over us, isforting." Said the priest.

    Dave listened to the little drama unfolding with a little smile on his draugr skull. If these guys entered this dungeon, they would only be able to defeat the boss if they had all their members. Taking into consideration that two of them would be joiningter to help them fight a boss, Dave had an idea. Then his smile became a full draugr smirk and he unconsciously began stroking his beard.

    Dave¡¯s mind was once again spinning its schemes. This dungeon was at a much higher level than he could handle, but, what if he let others do his work for him...?

    Once the idea germinated, Dave couldn¡¯t let it go. He thought through it logically, step-by-step, nning for every contingency. He would stalk,, wait for the right moment and finally deliver a ¡¯Death Stroke¡¯.

    After all, there is no need to work hard if you can get others do your job for you...

 Chapter 49 Drahma the berserker!

    His decision made, Dave carefully followed behind the sub-guild party through the dungeon. At every corner, he patiently waited for them to fight their way through the dungeon mobs.

    With only four yers, the members of the sub-guild ¡¯Havana¡¯ were almost underpowered for this particr dungeon, and consequently, their advance was slow. Seeing that they would take a quite some time to reach the boss, he withdrew with his troops and left the dungeon.

    "There¡¯s no point in following them right now," thought Dave. "If I follow too closely behind them, I might be discovered. Even worse, when the two respawned yers enter the dungeon behind me, I could end up in a position with enemies in front and behind me and no retreat. Acting rashly won¡¯t do any good and might get me killed."

    He moved away from the Dungeon entrance and the pathway leading to it.

    The two respawned adventurers, Shark and Stinger, would be returning to enter the dungeon and rejoin their friends. So Dave left one archer stationed at the top of the sand dune as he withdrew into the desert hills.

    That skeleton archer would serve as Dave¡¯s eyes, and would alert Dave when it saw the two yers from its vantage point. Even though it was not in his line of sight and was farther away than usual, Dave still controlled the skeleton with his will.

    Dave knew it was a despicable strategy, but this was just a game. yer Killers, PKs, used the same strategy on unaware adventurers, but normally a high-level yer or a Guild-Hand would be near dungeons to prevent this.

    The dungeons in Conquest were not instanced, so when a group enters a dungeon, other yers can follow them and interact with them, even kill them. Guild-Hands often guarded important or high-level dungeons to prevent such abuses by predatory yers.

    However, with the two super guilds HD and BR at war, the Guild-Hands had been called to fight at the front, leaving the dungeon vulnerable to Dave¡¯s undead avarice.

    The high-level yer that Sublime Spirit called for help was actually one of those Guild-Hands, the ones that protected yers from the very thing that Dave was going to attempt.

    Dave was not a virtuous person, that was inly evident, and he never imed to be. Dave had no qualms at taking what others had, nor would hein if others took what was his. What he believed was: If you cannot protect what is yours, do not expect to keep it for long.

    Great fortune requires a powerful hand guarding it, and that was his reason. Dave knew his limits and would never presume to fight ¡¯fair¡¯ when at a disadvantage if given a choice. Never would he shout about honor or the like if he was facing a stronger foe. That would be utter andplete idiocy, and he knew it.

    As Dave moved further away from the dungeon, he noticed a disturbance in the sand ahead of him. As Dave¡¯s vanguard, a ghoul, advanced towards the disturbance something burst from the ground in an explosion of sand. The ghoul had tripped into a monsters aggro range.

    It was a giant Scorpion. It had two tails, and its chitin was a deep emerald green that shaded to creamy jade at the tips of the appendages. Dave immediately remembered the scorpion he fought at the beginning of his inheritance quest.

    Twin-tailed Scorpion

    Level 65

    Damage 1200-1800.

    Tail attacks have 20% chance to cause Poisoned status.

    Hp. 4500

    500 damage nullification

    Even the stats on this monster were the same as the one from when he was first starting out so many levels ago. So he had no worries as he signaled his group to attack, and was not surprised when the Scorpion fell in only a few seconds. But the 2% increase in his EXP bar from killing the monster was a pleasant surprise indeed. His new EXP total sat at 28%, and Dave decided to be efficient while he waited, time-to-grind.

    "I got a good amount of EXP, even though some of it goes to my undead, along with the percentage hogged by the ring of the death god I am wearing," he thought.

    Looking around, Dave saw more disturbances in the sand that warned of the creatures underneath, and he went after the next one. this very scene repeated itself several times and Dave slowly gained more and more EXP.

    Dave spent almost an hour farming the scorpions for EXP before the archer on sentinel duty howled at him after spotting the two adventurers running through the hills toward the dungeon.

    Dave quickly finished off the scorpion they were fighting and moved toward the dungeon, taking a moment to look his undead over.

    They were still rtively high on HP, none of them damaged badly. One of the three ghouls had the lowest HP of the group at 68%, which was eptable.

    Dave entered the dungeon once again and followed the two Havana guild members racing to join the rest of their party.

    Skeletons can be stealthy, and they can move quickly, but they can¡¯t do both at the same time. So Dave ordered his undead to follow the two yers at a slow pace, so they wouldn¡¯t be alerted to his presence. After all, he was not in a hurry, defeating the boss would take the guild party a good time. And Dave just needed to be in position for the very end of it.

    Whoever, or whatever had made the temple built down, going deep underground. There were many chambers, vast and small, long corridors with frequent crossings and turns, and dizzying spiral ramps leading into the lower levels. The end of every route was guarded by monsters, minotaurs, skeletons, giant scorpions and beetles to name just a few. Of course, Dave only saw the remains of these creatures in passing, as they had all been killed by the party of four, who were now waiting at the entrance to the boss¡¯s room.

    Dave and his undead henchmen eventually entered an enormous circr room with a domed ceiling held up by fluted pirs. There was a broken altar at the center.

    The two Havana guild yers had just left the room through the opposite door, heading deeper into the temple. Dave ordered his group to pause and let the yers get some distance ahead. While waiting Dave took a look around the room and was stunned by what he realized.

    Everywhere he looked were hundreds, thousands, of skulls used as blocks to build the walls of the room. The pirs were ¡¯fluted¡¯ because they were made from long straight leg bones.

    "It¡¯s strange... the missions the undead legion sends me on always involve death and undead. Is this because it is part of some sort of quest-chain or super-quest?" Dave asked himself. He thought about his recent encounter with the Guardian, he ended up meeting a member of the undead legion and even established a sort of alliance or truce with him.

    And now, this ce was stered all over with scenes of death and undead, and there were even mummified corpses walking around outside the dungeon. Undead who were, coincidentally, friendly as long as he didn¡¯t attack them.

    Dave continued thinking about the puzzle as he walked deeper into the temple following behind the two Havana guild members.

    Finally, they came to a high-ceilinged antechamber, facing Dave was an arched double doorway as wide as the antechamber and higher than all of his undead stacked on top of each other. Dave immediately pulled his undead back from the open doors, not wanting to reveal their presence.

    Dave slowly moved closer to the entrance until he crouched behind one of the enormous ck-metal doors. He looked into a true boss-room, one that dwarfed the skull-n-bones chamber many times over. It was big enough to fit a small town in. In the distance, the six guild members were fighting what was obviously the boss.

    Even from where Dave watched he felt the aura of savagery radiating from the boss. He swallowed nervously and wondered if the guild party was overmatched.

    The boss monster was scaled to fit the boss-room, and byparison, the yers looked like small dogs nipping at the behemoth creature¡¯s heels. The ogre-ish face was contorted in rage, ring around at the attackers with blood-red eyes. Screeching snarls like the sound of heavy gauge steel tearing apart came from the boss¡¯s boar-like snout, and Dave could see that far too many sharp-edged tusks extended out and up from the jaw. Anyone who got too close to this boss was going to have A Very Bad Day.

    The ground shook as the boss struck the stone floor with a weighted pole, just missing one of the yers. The weapon looked like a massive temple column capped at the ends, but made of solid ck-iron instead of stone and marble. Dave had no doubt that anyone who took a direct hit from this boss would be one-shotted.

    Dave watched Sublime Spirit sprint toward the boss in an attack run, jinking around strikes from the massive weapon and then savaging the giant with Rage-fueled damage-skills. Despite the tree-trunk size and reach of his weapon, the boss was unable tond a solid hit on any of the yers.

    It was puzzling. Dave knew that contrary to what a certain alien master imed, size actually does matter, even here in the game. So, he fully expected this boss¡¯s stature to be a severe challenge to the group. Instead, the boss staggered around like a drunken bull baited by pint-size matadors. Shaking his head dazedly, the twisting outspread horns that crowned it iling, he stumbled one way then the other trying to defend himself.

    The boss¡¯s clumsy movements finally drew Dave¡¯s attention to the links of heavy chain wrapped around the monster¡¯s limbs and torso. He had assumed the boss was wearing a strange sort of armor. But looking closely he saw the chains stretched away and attached to heavy anchoring bolts all around the boss. The chains weren¡¯t armor or any other kind of wearable item. Indeed, the only thing the boss seemed to have equipped were ragged looking pants cinched with a rope belt.

    Those chains confined the boss¡¯s movements to a small area. Worse, the enormous weight and bulk of the chains virtually neutralized the boss¡¯s attacks.

    Dave had never seen a boss scenario set-up like this. The monster was all but gift-wrapped as a sacrificial offering for the yers. "This doesn¡¯t seem right. Just what the heck is going on here?"

    Dave pondered the strange situation, wondering what he was missing, the boss swung an attack at a yer, turning his torso toward Dave¡¯s hiding ce for the first time, and revealing the missing piece. Literally.

    Something had punched through the chest muscles and ribs, all the way through the chest cavity, and out the back. Anyone looking through the cratered hole could see the boss was missing a heart. An undead! The boss was one of the Undead Legion!

    The yers had the clear advantage in the fight. The guild members were using the boss¡¯s confinement to devastating effect. They taunted him and dodged his clumsy attacks, kiting him until he was yanked short by the chains, leaving him vulnerable to their attacks.

    The boss howled and stamped down with a house-sized foot in a special attack. A wave rippled out through the earth, turning dirt to mud, slowing the yers movements.

    "Move back but keep kiting the bastard!" cried out Sublime Spirit.

    The yers kept up the flow of continuous attacks and dodges, and the priest healed any damage the party members took from the attacks that did connect. It was the usual boss raid strategy, a game of attrition, and it was working as expected. The boss¡¯s HP gradually decreased until it reached 50%.

    "Alright everyone, be ready, it¡¯s entering the second phase! Get ready for him to Rampage" shouted Sublime Spirit as the boss¡¯s body turned bright red and his attacks became wilder and more vicious.

    Dave began to worry that this group of yers might actually be stronger than he first estimated. Especially the berserker, who repeatedly absorbed powerful attacks from the juggernaut and returned attacks of his own with enormous damage in return.

    As Dave considered retreating the boss howled again, despairing, his rage exhausted for a moment.

    The boss bellowed in guttural tones at his attackers "IF I WERE FREE I WOULD SMASH ALL OF YOU!"

    Hidden quest!

    A Call For Help

    Drahma the Berserker was captured, chained and tortured by order of the ck Skull long ago.

    As a member of the Undead Legion, he is your brother-in-arms. Should you choose to help him in his current situation, it will be considered a meritorious deed. Will you give sor to your undead kith and kin?

    Y/N

    Dave was surprised by the quest offer, but this final piece of evidence banished his doubt that the missions he was sent on had a greater purpose.

    "The missions take me to ces that have something to do with the undead. Doing these quests and helping them will also help the Undead Legion grow stronger... I wonder what level this Drahma character will turn out to be when he is freed. Those chains look like they are limiting his power too, not just his movement."

    Dave didn¡¯t see any way to break the chains, even using his undead minions. Dave epted the mission anyway, and as soon as he did things started changing.

    All the chains began to glow brightly, and a tag appeared over each chain."Oh ho, so epting the quest made the chains attackable."

    Dave tried to target-locked one of the chains and seeded, which indicated it was almost a certainty that he would be able to attack them with his skills too. However, when he looked at the information in the tag...

    Unholy Chain of Torment.

    400 HP

    10,000 Damage nullification

    "Damn, that¡¯s a lot of damage nullification; physical attacks won¡¯t do anything to these chains...but they don¡¯t have any magical damage reduction!"

    Dave grinned suddenly, understanding what he needed to do. The skill he learned from the Lich Du¡¯Rhaza was given to him for this quest.

    "Everything is rted, not having helped Du¡¯Rhaza would not have awarded me with this skill, thus making it impossible to destroy these chains..." Dave muttered to himself as he waved his right hand and activated Spectral Bomb with a thought. A glowing red skull manifested between his hands, hovered momentarily then drifted off toward the chains holding Drahma.

    It was a controlled detonation spell. He could set off the damage effect whenever he wanted to within the spell¡¯s time limit.

    After a thirty second cooldown period, he used the spell again, summoning and sending another skull to join the first one hovering near the chains.

    Unfortunately, this time the tank glimpsed the skull hovering over one of the chains.

    "Hey, Spirit! What is that thing?" he asked as he looked at the skull patiently hovering over one of the chains.

    "I don¡¯t know, I¡¯ve never seen anything like that. Maybe a skill the boss is using?"

    "I watched videos from groups that pwnd this guy, none of them had anything like that."

    "Just stay away from it, I don¡¯t know what it is. It¡¯s a bug, or something that no one bothered mentioning because it¡¯s irrelevant," he said as he approached for his next attack run.

    The boss¡¯s HP was approaching 30% as Sublime Spirit started his next attack, strafed in closer to unleash more hurt on the fugly boss. Just as the Berserker started his attack move Dave snapped his fingers triggering the Spectral Bombs, and all hell broke loose!

 Chapter 50 Who do you serve?

    A blinding strobe of red light and a deafening st shattered the first of the eight chains holding the boss captive. Drahma roared in primordial triumph as the steel links fell away, his aggression ratcheting even higher.

    The explosion did not damage any of the guild yers, but it did sow fear and confusion among them. Teamwork and discipline were forgotten, panicky questions and wild spection flooded the battle-chat.

    Dave cast Spectral Bomb as soon as the cooldown timer zeroed, soon he would detonate the skulls on the next chain.

    The yers all assumed the skulls were a new boss-skill or the result of some unfamiliar game mechanic. No one thought to look outside the fight-zone for other enemies. Truthfully, no one could me them because there was no precedent for and no evident reason to consider it. Especially since Dave onlyunched the skulls at the chains when no one was looking in his direction.

    Snapping his fingers again, Dave triggered the next set of bombs.

    With another sh of red light, the resulting explosion turned the second chain into twisted scrap metal.

    Unfortunately, this time the group¡¯s tank, Xiao Gui, was close enough to be damaged by the skulls. The force of the st staggered him, throwing him back as debuff warnings shed in his HUD. Recovering, he gaped at his blinking mini-map, a shing red star showing the location of a new enemy!

    When a yer is damaged by an attacker, the game system marks the attacking mob or yer on the mini-map. There are exceptions to the mechanic, for instance when attackers are stealthed or if they are too far outside the yer¡¯s aggro range.

    "Shit! There¡¯s another mob outside the room!" the tank yelled.

    Dave immediately turned to the back wall of the anteroom and put some distance between himself and the doorway in preparation of the inevitable retaliation.

    The yers knew the attacker was a mob, because if a yer, or yers, had dared to attack and damage them the attackers would also be tagged as ¡¯Aggressors¡¯ on their HUDs.

    Of course, they didn¡¯t know undead-Dave caused an ¡¯exception¡¯ in the processes which the system handled by assigning his character a mob designation that used mob-appropriate protocols instead of yer avatar protocols for his avatar-environment interactions. Meaning undead-Dave didn¡¯t show on the yers HUDs as an aggressor, just an aggroing mob.

    If they had paid more attention to current game-events or studied their own guild briefs and action-updates, which they were required to do ording to guild contract rules, they might have realized there were other, more dangerous, possibilities.

    But there¡¯s a war going on, man! Levels had to be advanced and, of course, loot taken, no one has time for all that, ya know?

    With that bit of group-think and a lot ignorance they blithely carried on.

    "Damn it, someone kill that thing! Bardiche, GO!" roared Sublime Spirit. He was not happy to be sending the Sword Master, half his damage-dealing team, away from the boss fight to chase what was probably a trash level mob. Especially when the boss they were fighting had just suddenly and inexplicably grown much more dangerous.

    With two of his binding chains destroyed, Drahma had grown more powerful indeed. He¡¯d gotten boosts to his Vitality and Strength and his attacks now had almost twice the original damage potential.

    Adding to the yers¡¯ consternation, the boss¡¯s vitality increase filled the newly expanded health bar past the 50% mark. Even worse for them, despite his HP rising above the critical 50% mark the boss was still under the Rampage status effect, which inparison makes a Berserker¡¯s Rage seem like a gentle caress.

    "Shit! This fight is way harder than it¡¯s supposed to be!" Yu Fuyuan cried out. He was having a much harder time keeping the party healed with the boss¡¯s increased damage numbers and all around boost in power. Xiao Gui, was taking more damage than his tank Skills could attenuate or redistribute, and even the mighty Sublime Spirit was being worn down and pushed back.

    But his greatest concern wasn¡¯t the health levels of the party. Keeping the party in good functional Health is what a good healer is supposed to do of course. But doing this much healing in such a short time period was pushing his aggro value higher. At this rate he would be a priority threat. A really, really bad thing for a healer to be in a boss-fight.

    "Slow down on the heals!" yelled Sublime Spirit. He was an experienced leader, the danger to the healer was not lost on him.

    "If I slow down, you¡¯re all gonna die!" replied Yu Fuyuan, frantically trying to think of a way to lower his aggro value.

    A cleansing potion would solve the problem, if he had one. He didn¡¯t. They were bloody expensive. He knew beforeing to this dungeon that the tank¡¯s aggro-pulling skills along with Sublime Spirit¡¯s insane damage output meant he would never even get close to the top of the boss¡¯s threat priority table.

    He cursed, so much for what he ¡¯knew,¡¯ hindsight is a cruel b...female dog. Oh, how he wished he¡¯d spent the gold on one of those damn potions instead of that very memorable, and enjoyable, weekend in the capital¡¯s red-light district.

    Bardiche sprinted for the anteroom where the attacking mob was located ording to his mini-map. He needed to kill this pop-up mob quick, before it became more of a distraction, or worse did something that, somehow, increased the difficulty of the boss-fight again.

    As he moved away from the great doorway Dave had looked back and seen the Sword Mastering toward the entranceway, he smiled his grim draugr smile. A single level 89 character of any ss was hardly cause for Dave to panic or even worry.

    The party leader broke a cardinal adventuring rule when he "split the party" and sent the damager to hunt Dave. They probably all thought he was just some random singleton mob. These guild-boyz were going to pay a price for their mistakes.

    Dave ordered his undead into motion, arranging them so the iing ¡¯guest¡¯ would receive the worst possible kind of surprise party. He positioned two ghouls as their frontline tanks. The archers and casters behind the tanks and offset to either side so they had clear lines of fire to loose their spells and arrows at the enemy. The third ghoul and the skeleton covered the nks, they were his reaction force.

    The Sword Master burst into the anteroom through the open double doorway. He was moving so fast he was halfway across the room before his mind processed the fact that he was running directly at an enemy battle-formation. When he finally reacted, it was like a scene from an old animated cartoon. His legs churned against the floor, frantically trying to reverse his momentum, his arms windmilling wildly to keep himself upright. Utter shock was on his face, his mouth literally open in a startled ¡¯O¡¯ and his wide eyes revealing his inner dread, the knowledge of his inevitable failure.

    By then, Dave wasughing so hysterically at the yer¡¯s he almost missed his own order-of-attack. He recovered just in time to activate [Destructive Smash] and attack the desperately backpedaling Sword Master, immobilizing him with the stun effect.

    Dave¡¯s ranged undead immediately started hosing the stunned yer down with arrows and spell-bolts as Dave struck again using a basic attack empowered with [Twin Strike]. The colored bar over the yer¡¯s head disintegrated, his HP reaching zero in less than a heartbeat.

    Dave knew the guild yers would be notified immediately about the Sword Master¡¯s death, it was one of the most important functions of the HUD party-interface.

    He had to act quickly if he was going to take advantage of the situation. Dave rapidly weighed the odds and considered alternatives. He started pacing and almost bumped into one of his undead, a ghoul. Face to face with the expressionless ghoul an inexplicable urge to talk to someone came over him.

    Dave wasn¡¯t a ¡¯chatty¡¯ guy. He had no desire to tell people his ¡¯problems,¡¯ much less listen to theirs. So, he was surprised helpful talking things out with someone, or something was. Still thinking about his current situation he bounced ideas off the friendly stiff, who listened with endless patience... Really, he just shared a couple favorite words-of-wisdom with the revenant. "No risk, no reward. Go big or just go away. Good talk, bud."

    Knowing he had to take a shot at the big chance, Dave gathered Bud, the newly christened ghoul, and the rest of his undead minions around him in formation, then charged into the boss room.

    His n wasn¡¯t to fight the guild party, that way led to certain suicide. No, there were far too many things Dave still had to do before he could allow the bearded draugr¡¯s story to end.

    His intent was to disrupt and dy, ying for time.

    The appearance of almost a dozen undead charging in formation created a hush on the battle-chat, the yers minds simply nked. But they quickly recovered and inspected the group by habit.

    Hmph. Thefe were just some low-level undead trash, they couldn¡¯t be the enemy that sent Bardiche to respawn...could they?

    Things had certainly gotten hinky on this dive, this was supposed to be an explored dungeon. First a single mob pops up just as the boss mob starts going weirdly off-script. Then the Sword Master sent after the stray mob gets killed off and no one is sure how.

    Now, a group of lowbie undead was charging at them in the middle of the boss fight.

    None of it made sense, even if lower mobs were capable of moving about this freely, much less enter the boss room. The party had cleared the dungeon, there shouldn¡¯t be any mobs left, let along groups ranging out and into the boss room to attack yers.

    Sublime knew the undead weren¡¯t very dangerous. But his party was frazzled by all the weird and unexpected stuff going on. They needed to concentrate on the real danger, the boss.

    "It¡¯s just a group of low-level undead, I¡¯ll take them out quick. Just hold-off the boss for a few seconds!" Sublime Spirit shouted encouragingly as he rushed at the newly arrived undead mobs.

    Most of his party weren¡¯t experienced yers let alone veteran guild members. Truthfully, most of the group were barely past newbie status, power-levelled to bulk up the guild-roster because of the war.

    That wastrel, Yu Fuyuan, was the exception, though his levels had long suffered for his vices. Yu Fuyuan was tolerated in the guild because he was apetent healer. He was a veteran yer before Sublime ever entered the game, and, ording to which rumors one listened to, he was a beta-tester, or a founding member of the guild, or both. Despite that, the only bright thing in the Priest¡¯s future were the red-lights of a certain district in the capital.

    Dave ignored the Berserker and summoned another skull, intent on blowing up another chain and ultimately, freeing Drahma toplete his quest.

    Dave sincerely hoped once the quest was done there would be no need for him to fight anyone directly, and more importantly no need for him to risk himself against a group of higher level yers.

    Dave¡¯s undead archers kited Sublime Spirit, while the longer ranged casters slowed him with spell-bolt attacks.

    More skulls exploded, and another chain dropped from the boss, and his HP rose to 70%.

    It was a mistake on Sublime Spirit¡¯s part to leave the main fight to go after the new mobs. Without the DPS damage from the Berserker, Yu Fuyuan¡¯s healing was rocketing the Priest up the threat list. When his threat value passed the tank¡¯s, breaking the cardinal rule "never OT the tank," the healer became an ¡¯Over Threat¡¯ to the boss, and the number-one priority target.

    It only took a moment for the boss¡¯s full wrath to find the poor venial Priest. His fate was the final solution to the dilemma of being ¡¯caught between a hard floor and a falling-iron-column.¡¯ The only remains were a cloud of glowing motes spiraling up toward the heavens, and an unpleasant splotch on the floor.

    The suddenness of the Priest¡¯s death dismayed the entire party, especially Sublime Spirit. He knew better than the others it almost guaranteed the party¡¯s end. ¡¯Protect your healer¡¯ was rule #1. Breaking it...well, the Priest¡¯s grisly end was not a good omen.

    Dave snapped his fingers yet again. The skulls answered with another ground-rumbling st and blinding sh of red light, and the fourth chain became smoking metal wreckage.

    There were only four chains holding the boss now, and his HP bar was at 100%.

    Drahma howled like a wolf baying at the moon. Although he was back to full health, and more powerful than ever, the monster was sinking further and further into the depths of his insanity and rage. He became less intelligent and more bestial and savage as each chain was destroyed.

    The remaining chains were barely holding back his frenzied lunges at the yers. The boss¡¯s still limited reach had been the only thing saving them from its overpowered attributes and abilities until now. That wasn¡¯t going tost.

    Sublime Spirit cursed profanely and at great lengths. There was no denying it at this juncture. The mission was a failure, and his party was going to be wiped.

    Angry and frustrated, Sublime Spirit turned to get a better look at the undead mobs. He finally spotted the ¡¯Leader¡¯ mixed in with the casters.

    He was an inconspicuous creature despite having, of all the ridiculous things, an incongruous chin beard that he stroked unselfconsciously. The damned draugr was smiling at him. Scorning him. Mocking HIM, Sublime Spirit!

    Another red-shing st destroyed another chain and staggered Sublime Spirit. A demonic roar followed the explosion, and Sublime Spirit saw a portrait on his party-interface HUD turn gray, a beatter the ground shook again and another portrait nked to gray, followed almost immediately by the final one with the pro forma tremor and chilling howl.

    That smile continued to haunt him, he had seen it before, but just couldn¡¯t remember where.

    Tragically, Sublime Spirit was breaking a cardinal rule in life, both virtual and real: "don¡¯t get distracted by hipster-draugrs with chin-beards, keep your eyes on the main prize, dumbass."

    Dave saw Drahma turn the harrying yers into gory paste with his iron pole ¡¯fly-swatter,¡¯ boom, boom, boom, all in less than a minute.

    He gave the Berserker a final ¡¯no-hard-feelings¡¯ smirk as the iron pole appeared above, the capped end whistling in an arc toward Sublime¡¯s head. Wider than the Berserker¡¯s shoulders, it struck his helmeted head and continued unimpeded until the arc ended with a booming-tremor on the stone floor.

    [-85 321]! Instant Kill! Dave sternly reminded his jaw to stay in the closed and upright position.

    A cloud of twinkling lights, formerly a level 120 Berserker, floated up from under the end of the pole. Now it was only Dave¡¯s undead-dozen in the room. With an enraged, maybe insane, power-improved boss.

    Three chains still shackled the boss¡¯s limbs, and his Rampage-state was still in effect.

    Drahma roared and screamed as if someone was putting a blow torch to his soul. It was a terrifying sight that Dave would never forget, as madness and demonic ferocity washed across the boss¡¯s face in waves..

    The nametag over Drahma¡¯s head was highlighted a friendly green. But, his mind was clearly not all ¡¯there.¡¯

    Dave needed to test the waters, he ordered one of his ghouls -not Bud, Bud was cool- to move in closer to the boss. The ghoul obeyed without any fuss, and moved in closer to the boss without a care in the world.

    The moment the ghoul set a foot in Drahma¡¯s aggro zone, the boss swung like a golfer going for the green, pulverising the ghoul andunching its remains across the room to stter against the wall.

    Dave swallowed, grateful for his paranoi...caution. Even if its tag was green, it was still a boss, and it was strong as heck.

    He opened his quest log and looked at ¡¯A Call for Help,¡¯ it was not marked plete,¡¯ and there was no updated information. "Hmm, ¡¯Give sor to your undead kin¡¯...that could mean anything." If Dave released the boss now, as he was, God only knew what the insane thing would do.

    "Drahma!" shouted Dave.

    The boss froze momentarily at the sound of his name, then resumed smashing his weapon into the floor and roaring at the ceiling, making the structure tremble.

    Breaking five of the eight chains that imprisoned him only enraged Drahma further instead of inspiring him with hope and determination to finish the job.

    Dave was offended. He¡¯d worked hard to help out his undead brother, getting rid of the chains, or at least starting the process, and preventing the guild party from killing him and sending him off to respawn. All he got in return was a big temper tantrum, a giant hissy fit. He couldn¡¯t even put that on a t-shirt.

    Dave decided enough was enough. Checking his metaphorical belt and adjusting it, he strode confidently toward the boss, stopping at the point midway to the boss¡¯s aggro zone.

    "Drahma! I Serve the Undead King! Attacking my subordinates is the same as insulting his majesty!" roared Dave. Dave was taking liberties, but, it could be that way for real...one day.

    "MY KING! ALL FOR MY KING!" roared Drahma. He blinked in confusion, and the madness in his blood-red eyes receded. But he was still angry.

    "I DID AS I WAS ORDERED TO! NONE CAME TO MY AID! WHY?!" he cried out. Despair recing his anger and he crashed to his knees.

    Drahma began gasping in pain and unconsble loss, hand grasping at the hole in his chest..

    "Ah, it was so long ago that they took my heart! They couldn¡¯t break my spirit. I went mad, but now I can see again. You!" said the giant. "You serve the king!" it was as much question as statement.

    "I do. And you Drahma, who do you serve?" asked Dave looking directly up into the giant¡¯s eyes.

    "I serve his majesty...the chains, please remove them...I am strong, but strength alone cannot unshackle me from these abominations."

    He moved his arms toward Dave, as if to present the offending chains that wrapped around them

    "That, I can do for you, Drahma." said Dave. He ordered his caster minions to remove the chains.

    Each time a chain came off a burst of power erupted in a halo around Drahma. More of his missing original strength flowed back into him, the madness and bestial savagery receded farther, his mind bing clear and taking back control from his beast-nature.

    When the final chain was removed, the giant straightened growing in power and stature as if an oppressive burden was removed. He looked down at the tiny draugr for long moments.

    Dave looked right back at the boss, meeting hismbent red eyes.

    Dave was notfortable with direct eye contact in any situation, but he knew this was important somehow, so he used ¡¯Inspect¡¯ on Drahma as a distraction from his anxiety.

    He smiled, his prediction came true.

    Name:Drahma the Berserker

    Level 500

    Rank (Doom Knight)

    Skills (???)

    Tier(Ethereal)

    HP(???)

    Defense(???)

    Drahma was one of the most powerful individual units in the Undead King¡¯s Legion. He was under the directmand of Dalga the [Abyssal Knight].

    After the Undead King disappeared, Drahma was captured by the ck Skull¡¯s, a fallen order. He suffered for many years, tormented and experimented on.Ultimately, he sumbed to his beast-nature went mad when his heart was removed. The Undead King¡¯s Blessing kept him alive but in constant torment. The rage that built over the years madness and unchecked rage granted him a Power:

    Even if I Fall into madness, I shall take you with me.

    "I need to find my king... You. I shall remember you, draugr. You gave me freedom from the chains, and this ce. You have my eternal thanks.

    I will mention your name to my superior. Here, take this" said Drahma making a grasping motion. A jewel appeared in front of Dave"

    Dave took it in his hand and examined the faceted stone, glowing a cold-blue. His eyes widened.

    Anti-Bully Bauble (Monster-type)

    Summons Drahma to help against attackers.

    3/3 uses.

    Bound to Death Stroke.

    Only usable by Death Stroke when Undead.

    "This is a small token. When you are in dire need, use it, and I shalle to you. This is only right, as you came to my aid while I was in the darkest despair."

    Hidden Questpleted!

    A call for Help!

    You have chosen to help Drahma even against the odds of powerful enemies.

    +1500 contribution points

    You have freed a servant of the Undead King from the Leach Seals ced on him by the wretched order of the ck Skull

    You have gained 500,000 XP

    Level Up

    Level Up

    Level Up

    ...

    "This is all I have to give now. But when you return to the Lands of the Undead speak to any shopkeeper. I will make arrangements with them for you. Now, I have a request."

    "If, by some chance, you discover the location of the ck Skull order, or find my missing heart, summon me with the jewel. Even if you have already used it three times, it will still beckon to me when it is close to my heart."

    Chain Quest.

    You have been tasked by Drahma to look for the remnants of the ck Skull Order. They are a scourge upon thend, a vile and wretched faction that enved many undead torturing them and performing their heinous experiments on them in pursuit of the undead¡¯s hidden source of immortality. Even though they are of the undead, the Undead King has deemed them unworthy of the Peace of the Undead and emunicated them, and marked them to be killed on sight.

    Y/N

    Dave epted the quest, and looked back up at the giant. The giant looked back at him nodded, and smiled, then he disappeared.

    Dave sighed. That was that. Another day, another Undead bigwig.

    He wandered around the room, searching for for loot and anything else that might be useful.

    He didn¡¯t find much, but in the very center of the circle of broken chains was a small, glowing metallic sphere.

    Dungeon core (Special item)

    This core is linked to a Dungeon. It grants control of the Dungeon to the holder. It can be used to modify the dungeon structure or its spawns.

    [Special] It can be used to change the Status of the Dungeon to [Corrupted] .

 Chapter 51 Bringing them terror!

    Dave clutched the dungeon core tightly in his hand.

    The type of monsters a dungeon spawns is determined by where the dungeon is located geographically, and the various influences of the location.

    When a dungeon is corrupted it spawns undead variants of the original monsters.

    This particr temple spawned a number of mummy types, that were undead of course. However, they were not under the aegis of the Undead King.

    Because Dave owned the dungeon, he could use the core to ¡¯corrupt¡¯ the dungeon, and the mummies would be the Legions of the King.

    Dave activated the core and a notification opened up in front of him.

    Dungeon ¡¯Temple of the ck Skull Order¡¯ has been annexed by the Undead Legion.

    The dungeon and its spawn have been changed.

    All inhabitants of the dungeon retain their former appearance.

    Dungeon promoted (tier +1)

    Base level of all dungeon spawn raised (+50 Levels).

    Miniboss inactivated (Ancient ck Skull)

    New Miniboss

    Sir Zax - Level 200 [Death Knight Lieutenant]

    Original Dungeon boss not avable through respawn cycle. Boss ss monster recement initiated.

    New Boss spawned:

    Musta Krakish - Level 300 [Death Knight]

    When Dave dismissed the notification the Temple shuddered and then shot upward. He barely kept to his feet as the Temple slowed and settled into its new orientation. The walls melded together, and the floor turned into an irregr quilt of bones and rotten flesh. Pirs of dark marble pistoned from the floor to socket into and support the ceiling. The changes lurched through the dungeon in sickening waves and at different speeds. Finally the changes died away and it wasplete. The temple had transformed finally emerging as a pce of death, rising high above the surrounding desert.

    Which prompted a further notification about the dungeon:

    You modified a dungeon (Tier 2).

    You will receive a monthly allowance of 2000 contribution points for conquering and modifying the dungeon.

    Every yer death within the dungeon will grant you +20 contribution points.

    If the dungeon core is damaged or destroyed by another yer or faction the dungeon will revert to its former nature and you will lose your monthly allowance.

    Only yers who possess a dungeon core have are able to see dungeon cores.

    ..

    A boss spawned right next to Dave in the center of the circle that used to be Drahma¡¯s prison.

    Musta Krakish -Death Knight-

    Level 300

    Boss ss

    HP 250,000

    Defense 12,000

    Magic absorption 8,000

    Skills: Bound Servitude- Forces a random enemy to attack their allies for 10 seconds.

    Damnation Beyond Death- All those that fall to the Death Knight Shall return as a Skeleton Captain to serve The Death Knight.

    Forced Duel- Forces a 1V1 between the boss and a random yer for 10 seconds. None shall interfere! (penalties applied)

    A member of the Undead King¡¯s Legion.

    He was armed with sword and shield, and wore a set of ck armor with numerous red stters across it. Dave wasn¡¯t sure but the red spots looked like fresh blood.

    "Young undead" the Death Knight spoke in amanding but respectful voice. "You saved my lord from the despicable ck Skull order, I am most grateful. I will guard this ce in our King¡¯s name, and in yours.

    "Grow stronger, and continue to make use of your unending valor."The Death Knight nodded his head in approval of Dave.

    "Thank you, Sir Knight.

    "I don¡¯t understand why you are here, Sir Knight, you might die.

    "I don¡¯t doubt your strength or courage, you are a powerful Death Knight. But there must be important things you could be doing, more important than guarding this dungeon room."

    "No, young undead. This task was given me by my king. When you reach my rank, you will be given tasks like this one.

    Guarding these tombs are a way to increase our power. The bodies of the Living that die here will be sent to the Deatnds to serve our Undead King. You will understand more in time.

    For now, y the infidels, and trample the cowardly. More tasks await you in the future." the Death Knight said thest with finality, ending the discussion.

    Dave to withdraw, as he had nothing more to do. He also understood that once he reaches higher ranks he will get more different Missions, than just killing yers. Which will actually be a breather for Dave. As it became more and more dull to always end up killing yers, however, the rewards he reaped were quite nice.

    With the XP awarded from freeing Drahma Dave had jumped to level 65

    The Anti-Bully Bauble eased some of his constant worrying about getting ganked, PKd, and pwned by yers too high level for him to beat in a fight or run away from. A level 580 Boss was powerful juju. Maybe he could even work it out so that he got some help with some over-leveled quests. Maybe even an over-level dungeon.

    Dave decided withdrawal and regrouping was needed for the moment. Plus he wanted to check out Drahma¡¯s promise for further rewards in the capital¡¯s shops..

    You have gained 25 Contribution points!

    "Huh?"

    Musta Krakish stirred, "It seems a number of the Living have invaded the dungeon. They are not prepared for this dungeon."

    His curiosity roused, Dave decided to stay a little longer. He and his remaining undead moved through the dungeon to get a look at the invaders.

    When they reached the mini-boss room Dave¡¯s undead took up ambush positions in the corridor, and Dave looked into the room.

    "Where is the mini-boss..." Dave wondered as he looked around the room. There was nothing there. He looked down, paused, then smiled his terrible draugr smile.

    A few minutester the invading yers looked cautiously into the mini-boss room from the corridor.

    Dave smiled when he saw them. They were members of the Heaven¡¯s Dawn guild. The same ones that fought the Blood Rage sub-guild in front of the dungeon entrance.

    Apparently, Sublime Spirit¡¯s level 380 buddy hadn¡¯t stalled them for long.

    "This is different from what I remember in the video streams." remarked a tanky looking yer.

    "The videos got the mob level ranges wrong too. Even the twin-tailed scorpions are level 100 now."

    "Yeah, something happened here, the whole dungeon is different."

    "Ahhh! Look over there!" a priestess gasped in horror.

    They didn¡¯t see anything...

    "Wait, there¡¯s... No, it¡¯s there!"

    The walls moved. Slynguid movements, but never where anyone was looking directly. Gradually, like a stop motion scene imperceptiblying to life the furtive ripples grew into writhing bas-reliefs. The walls made of jagged bone and decaying flesh squirmed. Faces faded in and out, harrowed with suffering and contorted with infinite horror. Figures out of bestiaries cavorted across the walls, melding together anding apart in gruesome parodies of passion.

    The yers gazed in horrified fascination at the moving walls. They were so mesmerized they didn¡¯t see the figure emerge from the opposite corridor at first.

    The Assassin shook off the distractions of the walls-of-horror, cursing when he saw someone, something, walking across the room toward him.

    Jerking their heads and blinking in confusion, the rest of the yers eximed in surprise, startled awake and alerted to the undead¡¯s approach by the Assassin¡¯s profanity.

    They all watched the lone undead walk toward them.

    But the undead, a draugr, stopped when he reached the center of the room. The party eyed him warily, they were spooked. The walls almost lull them to troubled sleep and an undead walks up on them. Something strange was going on in this dungeon.

    "That guy looks familiar." the tank stared hard at the bearded draugr, fiddling with his sword nervously.

    Dave smiled, sped his hands behind his back, and smiled. Waiting.

    "It¡¯s just a level 65 draugr."

    "Hey! doesn¡¯t he look like that guy, Mr. Skeletal?" asked the tank.

    Everyone knew the famous draugr from the Mr. Skeletal streams. Not to mention the potential gains to be had from killing him.

    "Yes! It¡¯s him! This is so awesome, if we kill him we¡¯ll open the Undead expansion!" said the leader taking an eager step forward.

    "Hang on."

    The Assassin had been cursing under his breath since he spotted draugr. He really didn¡¯t like the set-up of this mini-boss room.

    "Something¡¯s not right," he said. He leaned forward, looking around the room.

    By training and inclination, assassins are wary and suspicious of everyone and everything. They know better than anyone how easy it is to catch the unwary off-guard, or lead the unprepared into a trap. This one was no different.

    The Assassin was uneasy, he felt something was not right, but couldn¡¯t detect anything hidden. This dungeon was tougher than expected, and he didn¡¯t want to walk into a situation that would ruin their day. The respawn and re-run from earlier had been bad enough.

    Dave didn¡¯t want his little charade spoiled, so he spoke in sepulchral tones.

    "The Undead rule here, none that Live shall depart!"

    Stomping boot to the floor, Dave thundered amand: "Awaken!"

    The floor shuddered, dark pseudopods emerged all over the room, breaking up the floor and assimting the bones. Gathering them together into an indistinct, roiling figure of tar-ck slime and white bone. The churning mass stretched taller and broader. It kept adding more and more bones, jigsawing them together and wrapping itself in a shroud of bone. A giant, bone-carapaced slime. An Undead ck behemoth-slime, immobile, but with dozens of writhing bone sheathed limbs.

    If Dave hadn¡¯t looked down at the floor of the room, he would have missed it. The creature used an innate Skill, branching and elongating its amorphous shape to spread itself out over the entire floor.

    It was child¡¯s y for Dave to avoid the ck strands as he moved into the room. A few dramatic words and a quick stomp to a slime-strandter...

    Dave spoke in his doom-voice "Live or die ording to your strength. But know that we will im all thends... All the Living shall die!"

    Then he teleported away, disappearing in a bright sh of light.

    Dave reappeared in the undead world once again. Before he could take a single step he got a notification, contribution points rolling in. The mini-boss had been too much for the poor guild group.

    He smiled as he walked to the shop. There was an item waiting for him, and he was going to collect it this time.

 Chapter 52 Earrings of The Unbridled Zealo

    Dave asked the Undead shopkeeper if he was holding anything for him.

    "Aye, there be a gift here for you from an Undead Lord." Scurrying behind the counter and unlocking a cab he rummaged through jewelry boxes in all sizes, chattering the whole time.

    "So you be the young Undead performin¡¯ great deeds for the King and his Legion." he smiled ingratiatingly through yellow teeth, "I be pleased y¡¯chose Dikenz Emporium. I be Dikenz, humble Trader and shopkeeper." making a half bow.

    Finally, he eximed. "Ahhh, here we are, Sir Draugr."

    He handed Dave a small earring with a blood-colored stone.

    Category: Earrings (essory)

    Earrings of The Unbridled Zealot.

    Description

    The earrings worn by a member of an ancient tribe of berserkers that worshiped The Mad God. Only one tribe-member survives in this day and age, Drahma The Unfettered.

    Requirements

    Complete the quest: "A cry for help!"

    Attributes

    +200 Vitality

    +100 STR

    +100AGI

    +100WIS

    +100DEX

    +1000 Mana

    Unique Skill

    Active: [Zealot]

    Converts all DN and MA to HP and increases Damage received by 100%

    +100 STR, AGI, and DEX for every 10% loss in HP.

    Scaling/ss

    ss (Legendary)

    In Conquest, yers can equip up to four essories a ne, earrings, and a ring on each hand.

    Dave suspected the skill [Zealot] was the cause of Drahma¡¯s uncontroble rage and loss of reason in the Dungeon.

    It would be a powerful tool, but potentially a dangerous one too.

    It doubled the damage the user received, he would be left without defensive stats.

    This earring was powerful even without [Zealot], what it did just for his stats was amazing. enabling him to deal a lot of DPS damage...

    Dave equipped the earrings and turned back to the shopkeeper.

    "I want some other items, as well."

    Dave bought the Fallen ck Knight order chest-te and greaves.

    Item [category]

    Chestte of the order of the Fallen ck Knights [armor, chestte]

    Description

    A piece of armor forged for an order of knights that were destroyed long ago.

    Sworn to fight against all that was vile and abhorrent, the order brought down upon themselves the full might and wrath of the Undead.

    The order¡¯s end was tragically ironic, the Undead King cursed the order to rise as Undead, thus they became the very thing they hated most.

    Requirements

    Level 60

    200 STR. 100 AGI, 100 DEX

    Attributes

    +800 to VIT

    +4% Immunity damage

    500 Damage Nullification

    120 Magic Absorption

    ss Rare

    ...

    Item [category]

    Greaves of the order of the fallen ck Knights¡¯ [armor, greaves]

    Description

    A piece of armor forged for an order of knights that were destroyed long ago.

    Sworn to fight against all that was vile and abhorrent, the order brought down upon themselves the full might and wrath of the Undead.

    The order¡¯s end was tragically ironic, the Undead King cursed the order to rise as Undead, thus they became the very thing they hated most.

    Requirements

    Level 60

    200 STR. 100 AGI, 100 DEX

    Attributes

    500 VIT

    4% Immunity

    400 Nullification

    100 Magic Absorption

    ss Rare

    The rewards for saving Drahma included 1500 Contribution Points. after buying the greaves and the chest-te he was left with 100 CP.

    Dave checked his character stats after equipping the two armor pieces.

    Level 65

    ss Death¡¯s Apostle

    Name Death Stroke

    Race Human (Undead)

    Health 17,200+(820)

    Mana 2300 +(115)

    Stamina Unlimited

    Rage/Focus 100

    Intelligence 260 +(13)

    Wisdom 310+(15.5)

    Dexterity 260 (+13)

    Agility 260 +(13)

    Vitality 1802

    Strength 260 +(13)

    Magic Absorption 560

    Damage Nullification 1600

    Immunity 14% +(0.7)%

    HP Regen 0.1/sec +(0)

    Mana Regen 1.1/sec +(0)

    Stamina Regen +¡Þ

    Rage/Focus Regen 1/sec

    Title ¡¯I know it all!¡¯

    With the new items equipped Dave¡¯s stats were impressive for a level 65 character.

    The Undead King was themander in chief. There were seven Divisions in the army military organization table. There were seven generals, the Abyssal Knights, beneath the King. Each onemanded a Division of more than 100,000,000 Warriors.

    Each division, depending on revives and losses, had roughly 100 Doom knights, 10,000 Death Knights. 1,000,000 Skeleton captains and around 100,000,000 elite and normal skeletons.

    Dave paid attention the the generals. and noticed that there was actually a total of eight. Three of them were a bit strange. as two of these three had names and one was marked as an Exile.

    Gehna is an Arch-lich,mands the magic division which was clear to Dave as it was written there. Dave knew him from the quest [Treachery], saving Gehna¡¯s underling Du-Raza the lich.

    The second was [Dalga] the Berserker Demi-god. He was the leader of the vanguard division of the legion. [A cry for help!] after saving his subordinate Drahma.

    the Exiled marked generalmanded a Rogue Division, as if once he was exiled all of his subordinates were considered Rogues.. Dave only knew of one exiled abyssal knight... Deadra.

    "So the undead Army has about 800,000,000 members. Which seems like a lot of troops, butpared to two billion member yers it looks like a decent army..."

    "Deadra¡¯s spot is empty... if I were in the rogue division, climbing the ranks all the way to an abyssal knight would be much simpler than being in another division. at least there to be an abyssal knight I won¡¯t have to fight one. I could probably just buy my way in. " thought Dave.

    .

    Rioushak

    Skeleton Captain

    Level 120

    25,000 HP

    1500 Damage Nullification

    200 Magic Absorption

    "Well, I could fight him, but I have to reach level 100 first with the level difference penalty imposed.. Even if I had the full set of armor from the ck Knights order, because of the more than 20 level difference my damage will be reduced and his will be increased. not to mention his high damage nullification, I probably wouldn¡¯t be able to make a dent in his armor."

    Dave walked over to look at the skeleton Captain circle which he cant ess for the moment."Once I reach skeleton captain rank, I will be able to leave the Lands of the Dead.

    "I should probably sell the Iron armor set, it was nice so far but will not be that much of useter on once I fully equip the Fallen Knight Order Armor. I could even get some money from it... my savings are shrinking by the day."

    Then he pulled up the mission window and transported out for another grind session.

 Chapter 53 Rencounter with the TN

    As expected, Dave found himself in a graveyard. It was the one he was sent to on his first missions, the one near the western borders of the Devastators¡¯ guild.

    "This ce again? Well, maybe I can find something to help me grind some EXP."

    Dave looked around and saw a group of three adventurers fighting some Skeleton Elites. Surprisingly, he recognized them.

    A hunter, a tank, and a priest, named Perfect Shot, Human Fortress, and...Pussy nker.

    Daveughed again when he saw the vulgar name, ironically belonging to the priest.

    Perfect Shot was the highest level at 45 and the other two were level 42s. They were in the lower range of levels. Not a threat to him at all and worth very little EXP, indifferent, he moved on, ignoring their presence.

    The Terribly Named Trio¡¯s reactions were quite the opposite.

    "Shit. It¡¯s him!" Human Fortress pointed, "Hurry! Contact the guild!"

    Dave¡¯s brows furrowed and his mouth twisted scornfully.

    "Yeah, you do that. Call your guild-daddies so they cane wipe your nose and take the golden ticket right out of your hand. You really are pathetic." Dave¡¯sughter resonated from the dark hollows of his skull and ribs.

    "Let¡¯s make a deal. I will take all three of you on alone. I won¡¯t even use my minions." Dave taunted the three.

    "No fucking way man!" said Human Fortress "We¡¯re not stupid, you are higher level than us. And you¡¯ll just attack with your minions anyway" cried out Human fortress as he backed away.

    "I could just attack anyway." said Dave with a smile as two of his ghouls began nking the three.

    "Hold up!" said Perfect Shot "It¡¯s a deal. We¡¯ll take you on." he said

    "There we go. A man...or woman, with guts. That¡¯s what I like to see."

    Dave willed the minions to back away.

    "What are you doing?" asked Pussy nker. He looked around nervously, as the ten undead circled them.

    "Do you have a better idea? He could have just attacked without warning. Even if he is up to something, it¡¯s going to be 3v1. We should do it." said Perfect Shot, drinking a Dexterity potion.

    "Shiiiit." said Human Fortress in resignation.

    "At the very least we can post the fight on our feeds," said Pussy nker, "Imagine if we won. We¡¯d get more pussy than we can handle!" A distant dreamy look appeared on his face.

    The other two looked at him, pityingly.

    Riiiight, because Conquest is known for the hot fangirls that flock to low-level newbs with 30 seconds of fame.

    "Let¡¯s do this, dies.¡¯ Whenever you are ready." said Dave raising his sword and shield.

    Perfect shot moved a few meters back, and Pussy nker moved back and to the side.

    Dave charged toward the priest. The basic strategy in a fight is to take down the healer first.

    "[Anchor Hall]!" yelled Human fortress.

    Dave snorted and ignored the taunt skill and kept moving toward the priest.

    "You idiot! He¡¯s a yer, threat increasing skills don¡¯t work on him!" said Perfect Shot as he shot [Binding Arrow] at Dave.

    "Shit! I didn¡¯t know!" said Human Fortress. Activating [Charge] to try to intercept Dave.

    Dave met the tank with a perfectly timed [Rising sh], the invincibility-frame negating the stun effect of [Charge]. Counter-striking with [Destructive Smash], Dave caught Human Fortress with a stun effect of his own.

    "[Warrior¡¯s Will]" shouted Human Fortress to remove the stun effect.

    Dave smiled. That was the Tank¡¯s only anti-control ability, and he used it too soon.

    Dave chanted: "[Death grip]." The skill turned the tank to into a useless lump, unable to do anything for five seconds.

    Dave took the opportunity to sprint at the priest, who started spamming healing spells at Dave.

    [-268 HP]

    The heal attacks didn¡¯t do much thanks to Dave ¡¯s high Magic Absorption.

    "Oh shit!" Pussy nker cursed as Dave smacked him down with a [Twin Strike]-infused basic attack.

    [-2300 HP]

    The priest¡¯s total HP was only about 6000. Dave¡¯s attack removed over a third of it, his increased Stats were showing their benefit to his damage numbers.

    Dave waved his hand and a red-glowing skulltched onto the priest. Then he turned away and activated [Stampede], attacking Perfect Shot.

    The skull glowed with an eerie red light,tched onto the Priest¡¯s shoulder without doing any noticeable damage. Although he didn¡¯t know exactly what it might do to him, he was sure it would be nothing good. .

    "[Breaking Shot]" The Hunter was trying to interrupt Dave¡¯s charge.

    The arrow attack only removed a few HP, Dave didn¡¯t even flinch, and the hunter was out of time as [Stampede] struck him like a runaway train.

    [-2890 HP]

    That was about a half of the hunter¡¯s hitpoints

    [Stampede] could not be interrupted, though it could be stopped by something massive enough, like a brick wall.

    .

    "Hang on P.S., I¡¯ll heal you up!" yelled Pussy nker, starting his skill cast.

    Dave didn¡¯t even look back at the healer, he just disappeared his sword into inventory, and snapped his fingers.

    There was a bright red sh, and a booming sound echoed, the priest was thrown bodily through the air by the st, healing interrupted and forgotten.

    [-860 HP]

    Dave re-summoned his weapon and unleashed a powerful sh attack at Perfect Shot.

    [-700 HP]

    "[Blink!]" and the Hunter appeared near the priest.

    Though it seemed like longer only a few seconds had passed and the paralysis on Human Fortress was about to end.

    Dave had used up a full rotation of skills and was almost out of skills, so he raised the Ring of The Ruined King, intoning"[Royal Decree]."

    Two knights in golden armor appeared and charged at Pussy nker.

    "THAT¡¯S CHEATING!" used Human Fortress, skill-pulling the aggro to lure the summoned ghost-knights away from the healer.

    Dave had already caught up with Perfect Shot and was trading attacks him while Pussy nker tried to keep the hunter healed up.

    "It¡¯s a summon skill. I didn¡¯t use any of my undead."

    Dave stuck to Perfect Shot like a leech, bleeding away HP. Perfect Shot had already used up his gap winding skill, [Blink] and [Breaking Shot] so he couldn¡¯t create distance between himself and Dave. .

    "Damn, his Defense is too much!" Perfect Shotined as his HP sank toward the critical threshold.

    [+500 HP]

    The green of healing numbers floated up as the spell took effect on Perfect Shot. But a higher value in red damage followed immediately offsetting the heal.

    "You are getting annoying, your holiness," said Dave waving his hand again, and another Spectral Skull appeared.

    "There¡¯s that broken skull skill again!" said the priest.

    Dave didn¡¯t bother using it on the priest, his eyes glinted.

    Boom!

    [-600 HP]

    He¡¯d used the skill on Perfect Shot, staggering him, and Dave followed with [Twin Strike] justing off its cooldown.

    You have killed an invader.

    +20 Contribution points.

    "A, there goes the mighty hunter." mocked Dave, turning with a wide smile on his face.

    "Shit...his guy is a beast..." said Pussy nker. He shuddered, remembering the skull blowing up in Perfect Shot¡¯s face.

    The damage Mr. Skeletal was dealing was monstrous, the party couldn¡¯t block enough or heal fast enough.

    "Let¡¯s wrap things up shall we?" Dave moved forward in a rxed deliberate manner as if just going about his daily business. Taking out the trash.

    Fortress was bogged down with the two ghost knights.

    "Shit! They hit like Mack trucks, and I¡¯m not getting many of my own in. Good luck taking these fuckers down without a proper damage dealer."

    Pussy nker was trying to get some distance from Dave to kite him. But Dave just shrugged off his attacks and kept advancing remorselessly.

    "Shit, how much HP does he have?" grunted Pussy nker. His attacks were barely taking any HP from Mr. Skeletal.

    The cooldown timer on [Stampede] zeroed, and Dave activated the skill intercepting the running priest. The priest sighed and finally gave up. But he went out with style.

    He grinned cockily, and raised his arms, palms up, as if to say ¡¯So what if I got pwned?¡¯ "Hey, I get to brag that I fought the famous Mr. Skeletal." he said as his HP reached zero.

    You have killed an invader.

    +20 Contribution points.

    "Ha! Pussy nker gets max ¡¯Style Points.¡¯ for that." said Dave.

    Dave looked over to where Fortress and the two ghost knights were still in a scrum, the tank having a tough time of it.

    Dave cast [Spectral Bomb] again, and sent it at Human Fortress.

    The glowing skull drifted over to Human Fortress and attached to his back.

    Dave dismissed the two ghost knights and looked at Human Fortress.

    The tank was eyeing Dave warily, his HP critically low.

    "That was a good fight." said Dave.

    "Not really, we got our ass handed to us. Shit, you are strong."

    "Ah, strengthes with levels bro. Ohh, looks like someone came to join the fight." said Dave looking at something beyond Human Fortress.

    Human Fortress¡¯ face brightened with hope, and he turned only to see a smiling red Skull right in his face, up close and personal.

    "Heh, just a little white lie." said Dave, raising his hand fingers spread.

    Thest thing Human fortress heard was Dave¡¯s finger-snap.

    You have killed an invader.

    +20 Contribution points.

    "That was FUN. Okay, enough putzing around, I need to find another dungeon to add to my collection..." said Dave as he strode forward with his Undead toon following him.

 Chapter 54 Service Pack!

    Dave searched for half an hour without finding any monsters to grind EXP on. He was about to give up and hit the recall when he came to an area with a group of newly spawned monsters.

    The sky shed and the entire area Dave was in brightened. Looking up, he saw a message written across the sky in fiery words.

    Conquest Server Announcement!

    Congrattions to "THE DEVASTATORS" guild for the Aplishment ¡¯First to Clear¡¯ in the Pits of Despair dungeon.

    Participants: Warlord, Mr. Valentine. Jericho- Satan yer...

    -TSN ELECTRONICS-OCS BUILDING-DDI- USAT...

    "Hmm, they finally did it. "

    The congrattory message remained hanging in the sky for all to see. Dave went back to hunting the new spawns.

    Sometimeter Dave looked up at a change in the level of brightness. A new message reced the one congratting the guild.

    Conquest Server Announcement!

    In 30 minutes the Conquest game servers will be going down for the instation of a Service Pack.

    Please find a stopping point or finish what you are doing. yers already inside dungeons will get a free ¡¯save¡¯ to resume y wherever they log-out in the dungeon.

    Patch duration 72 hours (Real Time).

    Please check the forums for information about the new additions and mechanics.

    "Huh. That¡¯s unexpected. I don¡¯t remember ever hearing about the game being shut down for a patch."

    Dave disconnected and made something to eat. It waste at night and there wasn¡¯t much else to do.

    He sat at theputer with his cup of noodles and looked through the patch notes.

    Conquest 2.0 patch notes

    The First Completion of the Pits Of Despair dungeon was the final milestone needed to initiate sweeping radical changes in Conquest.

    The changes will affect the mechanics of gamey and the internal storylines.

    PATCH CHANGES

    Combat Mechanics

    Until now fight mechanics in Conquest have been limited to exchanges using four categories of direct action, attacks, counterattacks, and blocks.

    The effects of those actions can also be indirectly negated by consuming items such as potions, or by using Skills to ¡¯buff/debuff,¡¯ ¡¯heal¡¯ or ¡¯control.¡¯

    The 2.0 patch adds new variables to thebat mechanics that will significantly change the gamey.

    Evasion

    yers and mobs will have the option to evade attacks in Conquest 2.0. Sessful Evasions will depend on several factors including level, innate ability, Skills and attributes.

    The addition of Evasion will significantly affect the game bnce, reducing the number of sessful attacks within a given period. All other things equal Evasion will reduce the amount of damage in a given period.

    There will be a 30% reduction in the effectiveness of healing abilities topensate for the effects of Evasion. The amount of HP reced by Heal Skills will be reduced by 30%, and increases to HP and Mana Regen rates from Skills will be reduced by 30% also.

    Stamina will y a major role in yer¡¯s arsenal as of now. Character Stamina levels will be increased by 10%.

    The cooldown for [Block] will change from 5 sec to 10 sec.

    Dexterity

    Dexterity will affect character reaction time and character movement.

    Dexterity focused sses will benefit more from Evasion than other sses.

    Damage outputs of hunter based sses will be lowered topensate for Evasion.

    Use of the target lock-on mechanism will be optional. Hunter based sses will be able to manually aim ranged attacks.

    Damage Value Variances

    Sessful Attacks to the head or torso will cause more damage than attacks to the arms or legs. There will be exceptions to the rule, for example mobs with nonstandard anatomy and weak points, and some attacks that cause status effects, such as Bleed, and Crippled.

    Defense Pration

    All weapons above level 100 will have an enhanced defense pration attribute.

    The Pration attribute ignores a calcted amount of relevant Attributes in Defense-oriented mobs and yers.

    To bnce Defense Pration, tank sses will receive a critical change to their character Attribute distribution.

    The Health Points of tank ss characters will be calcted using 20 HP (instead of 10 HP) for every Attribute point in VIT.

    Stagger/Critical Hit

    When an attack Staggers an enemy, the next attack (Basic or Skilled) will have a 50% stackable damage bonus. This is only applicable one time for each instance of Stagger and only while the status is in effect.

    The Critical hit ratio is no longer fixed at 1% for every skill/attack.

    New Crit generating items have been implemented in the game.

    Runes

    Runes will be a new category of power-up items in the game. Runes can be dropped by monsters or given as quest rewards.

    Runes can add or otherwise modify Attributes, modifiers, and effects.

    Runes are not stackable and yers will be able to equip up to six runes.

    There will be an undisclosed number of Rune tiers, levels of power and effects. More information about Runes can be learned by speaking to any NPC magus in the game.

    Level Differences

    yers will no longer receive any EXP for killing regr mobs 20 or more levels below their own, or for killing boss mobs 40 or more levels below.

    The mechanic applies to groups of yers with mixed levels. The group member with the highest level determines the cutoff levels for the entire group.

    New Game Features

    Pain sensors and SFX/smells/ environmental effects.

    A Pain setting is now avable. It is freely adjustable by the yer, with an artificial ¡¯maximum¡¯ setting imposed by the system.

    The SFX/Natural, sounds, smells, and psychic effects, have been reworked to make them more true to ¡¯real¡¯ life.

    For example, instead of only visual imagery, Fear effects will induce a physiological simtion of fear responses in yers.

    Scaling Items

    Rare and legendary weapons with scaling properties are now avable.

    Before upgrades or increases all Scaling items will start with lower Attributes than non-scaling items of the same category and Quality.

    Each scaling item can be upgraded in different ways, the holder of the scaling item must discover and decide how to upgrade it.

    Many skills have been modified to adjust to the changes in this patch. All yers will receive a notification with more personalized information regarding the changes.

    For more information about the general game changes please proceed to the detailed exnation part of the patch notes here.

    Dave sat, absorbing and integrating the information, his noodles long since gone cold and gtinous.

    It wasn¡¯t just a service pack, it was a whole new game!

    He was pulled out of his reverie by the sound of his phone ringing.

    Dave didn¡¯t recognize the number.

    Normally he would let an unknown caller go to message. But for some reason he took this particr call.

    "Hello?"

    "Mr. Skeletal? It¡¯s me! Lone Arrow!" a female voice, "Did you see those patch notes? That stuff is lit man!"

    Idiot! He¡¯d given her his number. Why did he do that?!

    "Uhm," Dave coughed, "I guess it is. The whole game experience is going to be different." He said

    "Yeah, tell me about it, at least now I won¡¯t have to use the stupid lock-on system," she said

    Dave didn¡¯t use ranged weapons but guessed shooting would be more difficult without the lock-on system... It was optional but still.

    "You sound confident in your archery skills."

    "Yeah, I am. Actually, I¡¯m better with a gun." she giggled, "But it¡¯s almost the same."

    His hands went cold when she said the word ¡¯gun,¡¯ his mind shing back to a hospital room not so long ago.

    "Hey, you okay over there, you went quiet? The gun thing was just a joke! Really.

    "Anyway, the dagger sold and I want to send you your share."

 Chapter 55 An old promise.

    On the Upper East Side in a Manhattan penthouse, a girl in shorts and tank-top was sprawled across the living-room couch, talking on her cell-phone.

    "Soooo, just give me your bank ount Number..." she said twirling a lock of her short purple hair.

    If a certain Undead draugr character were to see the girl¡¯s pixie-like face he would note she distinctly resembled an in-game acquaintance of his, a certain Archer.

    She was, of course, speaking to the yer of that very same draugr.

    "I¡¯ll give you my Pay-Buddy info, you can send me the cash there," replied Dave.

    Did she think he was stupid? With a bank ount number, she could find out everything about him. She must be kidding...

    "Tch, you are no fun." she giggled again, "I wouldn¡¯t give away your identity. I could have posted your phone number on the video if things were like that, you know."

    "Let¡¯s not be that way Arrow. I helped you out too, we have a good arrangement going."

    "True. It¡¯s just business. But c¡¯mon, don¡¯t you want to see what the hot chick you met online actually looks like?" she asked in a teasing voice.

    "Not worth it to me. Besides, aren¡¯t you afraid I might be an axe-murderer?" he teased back.

    "Meh. It¡¯s worth taking a chance. Then I could say I met the mysterious Mr. Skeletal. Even if I end up Tasering his axe-murdering ass." she said

    "Ahhh, and that decides it. I will remain a man of mystery."

    "Alright, you¡¯ll get your share of the loot soon. But I need to go grind some more. Are you going to be onler, can we do another dungeon together?"

    "Yeah, why not. We can do that, where¡¯s your respawn point?"

    "It¡¯s in Meldiva in the Northern Kingdom," she said.

    "Hmm, that¡¯s pretty far... I¡¯ll tell you where I am once the server is back online. And don¡¯t bring anyone with you, I don¡¯t need to exin what will happen if you do..." Dave said, half-jokingly.

    "Wow, that sounds like a threat. Don¡¯t worry, I don¡¯t want anyone intruding on our date anyway." she fired back before ending the call.

    Dave stood in his tiny t, looking down at his phone in confusion. He rarely had conversations with girls, and nothing beyond what was necessary for work or to buy groceries and such.

    He just didn¡¯t understand them. Girls. Was unsure what to do, or how to say even the simplest things. His words were always the wrong ones. The things he said and did were always mistakes somehow.

    This was a truth he didn¡¯t question after so many...ufortable experiences. The defining moment from those incidents was an emotionally traumatic incident from his adolescence.

    Dave¡¯s perception of his economic status and hisck of formal education affected his interactions with women. His self-worth.

    But with Lone Arrow, this time, it was different. He spoke clearly, with purpose. He didn¡¯t want anything from her, or expect anything other than their business arrangement. Which benefited them both equally.

    When they were on the dungeon run together it didn¡¯t matter who Lone Arrow was IRL. She could have been some aged overweight nerd ying online from his mother¡¯s basement...well he didn¡¯t think that was likely anymore. Not after hearing her voice on the phone.

    He stared at nothing, having an epiphany about girls and himself.

    He had answered his phone and talked to a ¡¯girl¡¯ just like he would talk to any of his, admittedly few, friends. The realization hit him. It was all the same thing...except for the teasing about dates and stuff.

    He shook his head. As for doing more dungeons with her, he was fine with it...better than fine, but guardedly so.

    Just because he now understood a little about talking to girls didn¡¯t mean he was fool enough topletely trust anyone, guy or girl, without good reason.

    So he wasn¡¯t about to give her his ingame location until just before they met.

    Dave lifted himself up from his chair, limping to his tiny bathroom area he took a quick shower. Then he made a proper breakfast, or at least what he considered a proper breakfast: toast with butter and a cup of instant coffee.

    His phone vibrated and a notification popped up. It was his email, $250 had just been deposited into his Pay-Buddy ount.

    "Oh, nice."

    "But, I need a lot more. Drops from the monsters probably won¡¯t go for much. Maybe if I sell some items from the Contribution shop that aren¡¯t avable anywhere else I could make some good money. Especially if I auction them myself."

    Dave left the house and slowly walked the streets to clear his mind a bit. Dave realized how empty his life was without work or the game to upy his time.

    He thought about a lot of other things. Including the two guys from the hospital, Body Builder and Door Prop.

    If he hadn¡¯t helped the woman in the car...

    But this chance to y the game probably changed his life for the better, even if his current situation was not the best, and his future was uncertain.

    Dave waved, seeing olddy Clementine unlocking her shop.

    "Good morning Dave. You really should dress up a bit young man. Girls like men with style. Not too much though, we don¡¯t want them to think you¡¯re a nancy-boy. Heh heh." she tittered as she went about opening the shop.

    Dave wore the same jeans every day, and rotated through only a few different shirts.

    Dave smiled tiredly at her.

    "Young man, you should start looking for a job, I heard they are recruiting some people at-"

    He interrupted her hastily, "Ah, Mrs. Clementine, I already found a job on the inte." Hoping to end her well-intentioned chatter.

    She was a nice person, but she became too nice sometimes, and much too familiar, which made Dave anxious.

    To Dave, reclusive if not antisocial, personal conversations with other people were onerous and ufortable things. The exception was Ralph, Dave¡¯s childhood friend.

    "Well, work hard at it! And change that get-up, get some nice clothes before you start," she said, pointing up and down at his worn clothes.

    "I will, I will," he said, scratching his head, a habit when he was ufortable.

    "So, what is on sale today, Mrs. C?" he asked, checking out the groceries. He was looking at the oranges when he heard his name.

    "Hey! Dave?" It was a woman¡¯s voice.

    Dave¡¯s heart dropped, his face lost all expression. He turned reluctantly, seeing her looking at him expectantly, holding hands with some dude.

    She was attractive, with long straight dark hair and seemingly-warm eyes. She wore a pencil-skirt and silk blouse with stiletto heels and carried an expensive looking handbag.

    The man she was with was in his thirties, tall and fit. His demeanor and expensive looking three-piece business suit brought to mind the entitled ¡¯masters-of-the-universe¡¯ smugness exuded by investment-bankers and corporate CEOs.

    "Anna," muttered Dave.

    "What happened to you?" she said with thinly veiled disgust, looking at his injuries.

    Mrs. Clementine started to say something, but Dave shook his head at her and turned to leave.

    "Hey! Hold on. Why are you walking away?" she said, catching up with Dave and putting a hand on his shoulder.

    "What do you want?" said Dave in a dull voice, shaking off her hand.

    "Hey! Mind your manners, kid. That¡¯s my fianc¨¦e, don¡¯t be an asshole." Three-Piece added his two cents.

    "I don¡¯t want to speak with you, Anna. Or your fiance." Dave grated out.

    "C¡¯mon Dave, It¡¯s been so long since we¡¯ve seen each other. Why are you acting like this?"

    "I told you before, I don¡¯t want to talk to you."

    "Okay, since it seems you are in a hurry. Just in case you didn¡¯t get the news, there¡¯s going to be a high school reunion in three months."

    "I heard. I¡¯m not interested." He really wasn¡¯t interested.

    Anne sighed. "Whatever, you¡¯re brooding on things long over. It was just by chance that I ran into you here. You could try to be friendlier, you know." she added. "But it looks like your luck still hasn¡¯t changed."

    As she turned to walk away she fired ast shot. "How are you ever going to fulfill the promise?"

    The man in the three-piece suit gave Dave a scornful look and followed after her.

    Dave heard him ask about ¡¯the promise¡¯ and heard her say it was just words from a child.

    Dave felt a headacheing and decided to head back home.

    He shook his head as he trudged back to his apartment, he¡¯d only stepped out for a little fresh air....

 Chapter 56 Boring Days

    Davey on his bed. "I didn¡¯t even get groceries... crap, that was a bloody disaster."

    He firmly put the incident out of his mind and started thinking about his current situation.

    "I need to get this fixed up, I can¡¯t even hold things properly. The tendons are damaged. It should be treatable. But I can¡¯t afford it.".

    "Arghhh! I ¡¯m so bored!" he shouted.

    He plugged into his capsule and watched the recording of Drahma fighting the guild group.

    "Their teamwork needs to be improved. But Sublime Spirit knows how to use his skills..." Dave analyzed the footage.

    "This is where I came in, heh heh." he chuckled, thinking about the dungeon run.

    Dave trimmed the video and added a title: ¡¯Always Be On Your Guard¡¯

    He added a description line, ¡¯You never know when a Skeleton will stab you in the back,¡¯ and posted the video.

    Almost immediately the video started getting hits. Mr. Skeletal had a lot of followers.

    In minutes, scornfulments began appearing faster than he could read them. Most berating Mr. Skeletal for his behavior.

    But, he didn¡¯t care. "Any publicity is good publicity."

    He browsed the site, looking for interesting videos.

    There was a video showing him facing the guild group in the mini-boss room.

    The video started with him speaking, stamping his foot, and then disappearing after a few more words.

    The video cut to different views of the giant slime-monster, the bones coalescing and covering it in armor. Then the finale came, the mini-boss starting its attack and decimating the group with unpredictable skills.

    The group was so out of sorts and disorganized they hadn¡¯tsted more than a few seconds. Their attacks didn¡¯t even remove 10% of the boss¡¯s HP before they died.

    Dave smiled as he watched the scene, his hand moved as though to reach up and stroke his bare chin.

    "I wonder how many Contribution Points I will average a day, especially after this new service pack. High level yers won¡¯t bother with lower level dungeons if they don¡¯t get anything from fighting bosses below the minimum level.

    "Most low-level yers will get their asses handed to them in my new dungeon. Just more CPs for me."

    Dave grinned and chuckled. He almost rubbed his hands together in glee...but decided that would only be something he would do in-game.

    Dave clicked the next thread and watched as he faced off with three yers, their levels in the 40¡¯s.

    "Oh, it¡¯s TNT. Pussy nker and his boyz in the graveyard."

    Most of thements on the Terribly Named Trio¡¯s video were analyses of Dave¡¯s skill-set. All of his skill-set. Dave¡¯s brows furrowed.

    "Damn, I wasn¡¯t thinking. I showed all my skills.

    "The only Skill I have left as a surprise against some badass, or group of badass attackers, is [Zealot]. I need to be more careful...and get some more skills as soon as possible."

    Somementers beganmbasting how he used Spectral Bomb to put a skull on Fortress. Dave just smiled wryly.

    It was a cheap shot, but it was funny, and a cool way to end a fight.

    It also made a statement: ¡¯Don¡¯t fuck with Mr. Skeletal.¡¯

    He thought a bit, then stood up to go make something to eat.

    "God, three days of this! I will go bonkers."

    He sat in front of hisputer screen watching some old movies, trying to alleviate the boredom.

    Dave searched the game map for the graveyard he logged out from for the update. He smiled, there was a dungeon near that location.

    Dark Threading was the name of the dungeon, and it was a series of steep twisting staircases. Mobs spawned every few hundred steps. They were giant beast-like monsters... werewolves

    Dave¡¯s smile evaporated. "Shit, I hate werewolves..."

    Of all the mythical creatures out there, werewolves were the ones that actually frightened Dave. They made his skin crawl.

    Maybe it was from hearing too many stories about them or seeing too many werewolf movies when he was little.

    He remembered watching the movies when he was very young. Shivering and hiding when normal looking people morphed into the vicious demons and went on gory rampages.

    "This ce could have something to do with the Undead Legion. Maybe I will find more clues to the ck Skull order¡¯s location there too."

    Dave typed the name of the order in the search bar, but only got some misceneous mentions of it, nothing important.

    "I guess I will have to keep working on the missions for the Undead Legion to get more information."

    Sleep came, and another day passed.

    Dave had nothing to do but wallow in his boredom. He watched videos, ordered food, and slept.

    Finally the three days were up. Ten minutes before the servers came back up, Dave got a call from Lone Arrow.

    "Hey! You gonna tell me where you are?" she almost screamed in his ear.

    "Take it easy, cowgirl! I will be in Femurs Only graveyard in the northern part of the Devastator¡¯s kingdom. Take the portal, I¡¯ll wait for you near the Dark Threading dungeon. Oh and bring torches...a lot of torches!" thest words were said emphatically.

    "Alright already. I guess The Mighty Mr. Skeletal is afraid of the dark." she giggled.

    "No!" he spoke quickly. "Werewolves hate fire, and we need to be able to see where we are going."

    Even Dave thought those wereme excuses.

    "Whatever you say, Mr. Skeletal." she replied,ughing, before hanging up.

    Dave used the time left to nom on some food.

    The game servers came back up, and Dave jumped to log-in like an addict going for his fix.

    As he entered the virtual environment another version of the patch notes and some notifications popped up on his HUD.

    Conquest service pack 2.0 Notes

    Some of your skills have been modified.

    Destructive Smash (stun duration increased to 2 seconds)

    Twin Strike cooldown reduced from 60 seconds to 30 seconds

    {Stampede} damage increased and cooldown reduced to bnce the effects of Evasion.

    Total Stampede damage 300% basic weapon damage.

    "Hmm, that¡¯s it? I thought there would be more."

    Dave called for the game AI, "Hey, Alfred."

    Alfred appeared immediately, looking at Dave calmly.

    "Yes?" answered the AI.

    "Because of my restricted location I don¡¯t have ess to instructors to learn Skills; I can¡¯t keep ying effectively without basic skills."

    Alfred nodded, "The Dead Realm was made for the use of yers at much higher levels than yours when you entered, so your situation was not considered. I will make trainers avable in the areas to which you have ess.

    "The next time you are in the Dead Realms you will be able to find an instructor. Thank you for informing me of the issue." He finished speaking and promptly disappeared without giving Dave a chance to reply.

    "That¡¯s disappointing, I thought I would be able to get the skills here... But I can¡¯t go back now, I have to meet Lone Arrow."

    Dave waited with his Undead just within sight of the dungeon. The entrance was a cave, a dark yawning opening like the fanged mouth of a wolf.

    This was the entrance to the Dark Threading dungeon. Distant howls, savage and hungering, shivered from the opening.

    His dessicated leathery draugr skin crawled..

    Despite his passive immunity to Fear effects, Dave¡¯s heart was sick at the thought of facing the nightmare monsters of his childhood.

 Chapter 57 Dark Threading Dungeon

    Dave stood tall in front of the cave to the Dark Threading Dungeon. The graveyard was a few hundred meters behind him. There were tall and dark looking trees that cast eerie shadows everywhere. he heard the rustle of the leaves behind him, and once he turned he saw a beautiful elvendy looking at him with a warm smile.

    "Hey," said Lone Arrow as she looked at Dave and his group of undead.

    "Oh, you level up nicely." She said as she looked at Dave¡¯s level 68.

    "I can say the same to you," said, Dave, as he inspected Lone Arrow

    yer Name: Lone Arrow

    Level: 55

    ss: Hunter

    "I have been solo grinding this whole time, but man, that was really boring," she said as she twirled her character¡¯s hair in a cute manner.

    "So we go in?" she asked

    "I was thinking about that, but I guess we need to do something first," said Dave as he looked at Lone Arrow.

    "What kind of thing?" she replied

    "We need to ustom ourselves with the new Evasion mechanism. You seem to have forgotten that we can no longer attack monsters without risking failure and at the same time, we can evade attacks decreasing the damage taken. After all, we do not have a priest in the party, and taking damage is no longer a viable option. Especially with the level of this dungeon"

    "Ah, true.I know a thing or two about this dungeon, but I can¡¯t im to know everything. It would be risky to go in without testing the new mechanisms."

    "Don¡¯t worry, I memorized everything important. We just need to find some monsters for testing." replied Dave while looking around for prey.

    "There are some undead on the way, should we try that?" she said

    Dave gave her a solemn look then pointed at his group

    "I can¡¯t attack undead." he said with a look that meant: ¡¯are you serious?¡¯

    "Ah, my bad my bad," she giggled "so what are we going to do?"

    "Let¡¯s look around for some other type of monsters, there should at least be something worth our time," he said as he went behind the dungeon hoping to find something.

    Lone Arrow and the undead group followed behind until they reached a small opening that was right behind the cave.

    It was a cliff area where a few dozen panthers could be seen. These panthers were level 30 and were tagged as Feral panthers, something much more powerful than regr ones.

    "It would be best if we try on this group, I will go first," said Dave as he moved forward.

    Almost instantly a group of three attacked Dave where he backed away slowly trying to gauge the movement of his character.

    The first panther pounced on Dave where he easily managed to sidestep the attack while the beast only managed to strike empty air. Almost immediately, Dave struck at the feline¡¯s back causing it to stagger.

    immediately, Dave used the [Spectral Bomb] and the creature lost two-thirds of its Hp.

    "Are you sure you are not a mage?" asked Lone Arrow as she saw the impressive damage value.

    "This is thanks to the new update, staggering an enemy causes your next skill to deal 50% bonus damage." He said as he moved away to dodge yet another attack.

    "This looks rather simple," Said Dave as he began to dodge the pounces of the panthers without retaliating. as if to ustom himself with the new mechanic.

    "Really, this is rather fun," he said with a voice that clearly contradicted his expression of happiness. After all, Dave¡¯s character was an archaic Draugr with an abhors voice that would send shill down one¡¯s spin once heard. "You should try it," he said as he kept toying with the wolves.

    "Alright," said Lone Arrow and jumped into the fray. Also almost immediately, Lone Arrow got the hang of it and didn¡¯t miss once.

    "This is much better than before; Kiting enemies should be simpler now. Before, I needed to keep using skills to keep them at distance, now I will be able to shake off enemies without the use of skills," she said as she kept on jumping around dodging the panthers.

    "Alright, time to finish this. I thought it would be much harder." Said, Dave, as he began hacking away at the poor creatures.

    howls of pain reverberated through the dark forest as a devilishly looking Draugr was decimating some poor kittens.

    After a minute or so, all three beasts died.

    "Alright, time to test something else." Said, Dave, as he ordered one of his skeletons to move forward to face another panther.

    He picked a solitary beast to face his archer and made them fight. However, no matter how Dave tried, the archer was unwilling to dodge how Dave wanted to. Yet, it would still try and dodge an attack once in a while.

    "It seems the IA of this undead it low." He said as a thoughtful look appeared on his face.

    "What do you mean" Said lone arrow as she just finished with thest monster of her group.

    "I can¡¯t control the undead to dodge. but, once in a while they will do so on their own."

    "That would be troublesome in the future I guess," she said as she began thinking about it more seriously.

    "Probably not, once I rank up, I will have more underling. Losing one or two who can¡¯t dodge attacks, will not be that much of a bother."

    "Oh, you will have more? That would be interesting! I would like to see that." she said as sparkles almost seemed to appear in her eyes.

    "Sigh,I never seen anyone so hyped about bags of moving bones... alright, let¡¯s go now. We can be more familiar with the new mechanism once we are in the dungeon," he said as he walked toward the cave.

    Once Dave reached the cave entrance, he heard the voice of a couple of people.

    They were two yers with guild-tags, they were members of a sub-guild under The Devastators. they just entered the dungeon but Dave didn¡¯t have the chance to inspect their level.

    "We havepany," he said and a solemn look appeared on his face. He then turned around to look at Lone Arrow

    "Why are you looking at me like that?" asked Lone Arrow. "Hey, I didn¡¯t tip anyone about this." She said with a grumble, "I don¡¯t want others to ruin our dungeon, really. You should start trusting me." She said as she pouted.

    "I didn¡¯t say anything... It doesn¡¯t matter anyway. We will go after them, if things get risky I will just use the End Mission and leave you alone" he said.

    "Omg, that¡¯s not cool! You are evil! you will leave a maiden all alone in this dark cave! what if something bad happens to me!" she said but it didn¡¯t sound like she was angry with Dave, no it sounded more like... anticipation.

    ¡¯she must be an M¡¯ said Dave as he remembered her look that time when the lich from the ice pce used chains on her.

    "Alright, let¡¯s go," he said then moved forward.

    But right before he could enter a small dwarf appeared from within in. This was the dwarf belonging the the Devastator guild which would collect entrance fee for the dungeon. He had a haughty look on his face, but the moment heid eyes on Dave, his face turned pale and he immediately fell on his back Unconscious.

    "Your face is so ugly you can make dwarves faint..." said Lone Arrow trying to hold herughter.

    "Sigh... at least we don¡¯t get to pay the entrance fee, you should be grateful" said Dave with a grumble as he entered the cave.

    The cave was pitch ck, and that was the reason why Dave asked Lone Arrow to bring the torches. Lone Arrow grabbed a torch and before she could light it up, Dave shook his head and said

    "not now...It will reveal our location, look there." he said as he pointed down the enormous stairs.

    At a few hundred meters below, two small flickering lights could be seen.

    "These are from the adventurers that came in before us". Said, Dave, as he looked down. "if we light up our torches they will be able to see us."

    "Alright, but how are we going to go down there? It is too dark." She said

    "it is supposed to be dark, It¡¯s called Dark Threading after all, but I can see clearly. Even in the dark", he said

    "Well, you are an undead, a night creature. I am just a sweet elven maiden, I need my light." She said almost grumbling but clearly teasing Dave.

    " Just wait here, I will be back in a second" he said then took an unlit torch from Lone Arrow and went down alone.

    The stairs were made of stone, and at the side was an enormous chasm that would be the doom to any unlucky adventurer to fall from it.

    Once Dave got closer to the two-bit torches, he saw two adventures walking down and ying monsters in their wake.

    "Man I tell you, it sucks to be forced to use a torch here, I can¡¯t use my shield..." he said as he tried to shake away the monsters.

    "Comon, stop being a crybaby, it is not that difficult," said the other guy who had a lone sword and struck down at a three meters Werewolf.

    The mere sight of that werewolf made the hair on Dave¡¯s back stand.

    ¡¯I really! Really! Hate werewolves!" he thought to himself as he tightened his fist and slowly got closer to inspect the two adventurers.

    yer Name: Pain Killer

    Level: 115

    ss: Tank

    yer Name: Monsoun11

    Level: 120

    ss: Swordmaster.

    Dave¡¯s face became grave as he checked out the levels on the two guys. This dungeon was supposed to be a level 80 dungeon, nothing that these two should be hanging around.

    However, something caught Dave¡¯s attention as he noticed that the two guys were actually a bit far from each other.

    "Alright, the Night Boar will be charging soon. Try not to stand in the middle of the pathway otherwise, he will ram you to the side." Said Monsoun11 as he spoke to his friend.

    "I know, there is no need to tell me that," said Pain Killer as he walked closer to the edge of the stairs next to the deep chasm.

    Dave remembered the Night Boar he already memorized everything about this dungeon before the server went back online; it was a monster, which would spawn in the dungeon, and it woulde charging and knock people who gathered at the center of the stairs off to the abyss.

    Dave grinned after a moment. He then began stroking his beard. A momentter, he produced a red skull then order it to float in the dark toward one of the two guys.

 Chapter 58 Outplayed

    The air became ominously still and electric as if they were in the eye of a storm. There was a faint sound, like rapid drum beats,ing up from the lower depths of the dungeon.

    "Here ites, Killer! Stay away from the middle and brace yourself!" yelled Monsune, moving even closer to the edge of the stairs.

    "I¡¯m good!" Pain Killer checked his footing, and nced over the edge. Then he did a double take. Instead of imprable darkness there was a glowing...somethinging toward him from the abyss.

    "What the hell is that?"

    The glowing skull crossed over the edge of the stairs moving in on him.

    He he backed away, inspecting the apparition.

    "Hey, what are you doing? It¡¯sing!" Monsune called out.

    "A skull just came flying at me from the chasm!"

    "Just stay close to the edge!" Monsune roared.

    Then Monsune noticed a glow from the abyss on his side, "Hey! There¡¯s a skull here too!"

    In a crescendo of hoof beats the giant boar appeared, galloping up the stairs.

    Rogue Boar of the abyss.

    Level 250

    HP 300 000.

    Skill [Stampede]

    Dave carefully watched the boar close the distance to the yers, waiting for the right moment.

    Now.

    He snapped his fingers, smiling.

    Both skulls exploded in red fury. The sts hurled the yers into the boar¡¯s path. Staggered by the Skill, they red helplessly at the rhino-size boar.

    Bowling through the frozen yers, the boar swung its head like a wrecking ball. The tusks swept to one side then the other,unching them up and out.

    Thrown far out into the darkness they began the long fall, screaming all the way. The sounds dwindled quickly until they were swallowed by the abyss.

    For a moment Dave grinned, then he realised the boar wasn¡¯t slowing down, and he was standing directly in its path.

    "OH SHIT!" he turned to run.

    "Shit, shit, shit!!" Knowing the boar would inevitably catch up, he activated [Stampede] to boost his speed. He was still losing ground, but he was just trying to buy time...

    Before he even got close he started screaming repeatedly, "GET OUT OF THE WAY! MOVE TO THE EDGE!"

    When he came into sight waving his arms wildly, Lone looked at him like he was crazy, "What¡¯s got you all in a-- SHIT!" she turned to sprint up the steps.

    "What the hell did you do!" she yelled over her shoulder at Dave as he caught up with her.

    He didn¡¯t bother answering her, he just kept ordering everyone to move out of the boar¡¯s path. If she didn¡¯t figure it out from his screams, it was toote for her anyway.

    Lone Arrow finally moved over to the side and slowed to a stop.

    With Lone and his squad away from the center of the stairs and ¡¯safe,¡¯ Dave moved over and stopped also.

    Panting, he turned to watch the approaching boar. He shuffled to the very edge of the stonework, waiting for it to pass them on its headlong charge straight up the stairs. Instead, it locked him in its beady red gaze and veered toward him.

    "Oh c¡¯mon! You¡¯re kidding me!" he screamed.

    Lone was plinking at the boar with her bow to no apparent effect. Just before the boar barrelled into him, Dave sidestepped and turned, "[Rising Strike],[Spectral Bomb]!" He didn¡¯t expect Strike to do any damage, but it gave him a crucial moment of invulnerability. The boar blew past, grunting in surprised fury, and Dave snapped his fingers. Dave had deliberately cast the skull on the side of the boar¡¯s head. The explosion pushed the boar¡¯s head toward the edge and the boar swerved out into empty space.

    Hooves churning uselessly in the air, the boar¡¯s forward charge finally came to end, and it dropped squealing in high-pitched rage.

    Level Up

    Level Up

    Level Up

    Level Up

    ...

    Dave stared at the notification window.

    He leveled up six times to level 71 and had 86 stat points to distribute. There was also a pop-up notification from when he was running from the boar. It informed him he was 40 contribution points richer. He grinned, Pain Killer and Monsune¡¯s donation to the Dave fund.

    Lone Arrow looked up from her own status screen, stunned.

    "That¡¯s so awesome! I didn¡¯t expect to level up at all from an assist, let along multiple times."

    "How many levels did you go up?" asked Dave

    "Ten. You?" she asked

    "Six. The thing¡¯s level was higher than the dungeon boss." He remembered reading the boss was around level 80.

    Lone shrugged, "Maybe it¡¯s not supposed to be killed, just put here to scare people and keep them on their toes."

    "I wonder if we can farm it. It could help us level up quickly for many more levels." he said thoughtfully.

    Lone was looking around, "Wait a sec. Something¡¯s missing."

    "What¡¯s that?"

    "The loot!" she said, crestfallen.

    Dave looked around finding nothing.

    "It must have gone down with the monster. Do you want to follow it and check?" he smirked.

    "Nah, let¡¯s just get going,"

    "Yeah. Time to head down and meet that boss," said Dave.

    Before they proceeded he ordered Bud and the elite skeleton to carry lighted torches.They moved down the steps briskly until Dave recognized the ce where Pain Killer and Monsune went over the edge..

    "Okay. Those two yers did us a favor clearing the werewolves up until this point.

    "From here on we¡¯ll have to fight the mobs. But I don¡¯t want to end up between them and the werewolves if theye back to try the dungeon again after respawn. So we¡¯re going in quick and dirty."

    He led off immediately, not giving Lone an opportunity to use his ill-considered choice of words against him.

    They moved down the stairs as fast as undead could move.

    Distant howling brought Dave to a stumbling halt. He ordered Bud forward to take his ce in the lead.

    Lone Arrow was giggling at Dave¡¯s antics."It¡¯s so funny that a pack of dogs scare you like that."

    "Dogs?! Wait until they bite your head clean off." He shuddered.

    They advanced again, and soon heard wed footstepsing toward them, clicking up the stone steps. One of the fearsome canine-beasts came into view, the light cast from Bud¡¯s torch making it even more ghastly.

    Dave inspected the hideous mob:

    Malformed Werewolf

    Level 70

    HP 20,000

    Damage 1500-2000

    Damage nullification 350

    Magic absorption 350

    Skills [Howl] Staggers enemies and pushes them back.

    [Maul] savagely tears andcerates a target dealing 300% basic damage value.

    Half of the skin and flesh was rotted or missing from itsrge frame, leaving bone and putrefying organs exposed.

    Dave was already terrified, and now he could barely control his disgust too. He was prepared for the fear but the revulsion was unexpected and it frayed at his already weak control.

    "What is worse than a werewolf? An undead werewolf!" Dave answered his own question in a shaky high-pitched voice, moving farther behind his Undead.

    I¡¯ll hang back just this once, let Lone and my Undead Boyz handle this. They need the practice and EXP anyway. Yeah.

    Then three more Malformed Werewolves appeared out of the darkness, following behind the first horror.

 Chapter 59 Werephobia

    Dave lunged into the fight screaming at the top of his high-pitched lungs, "Damn Ralph and his stupid Werewolf pranks!" He activated [Stampede] aiming at the new werewolves. He smashed through the Alpha on the way pushing him off to the side, tossing a Spectral Bomb after it.

    Blowing it with a finger-snap, he yelled, "Arrow! Knock it off the edge!"

    Lone fired a [Breaking Shot], adding to the force of the exploding Skull and sending the Alpha plummeting, howling all the way down.

    The three remaining werewolves roared, infuriated at the death of their Alpha.

    They charged Dave in a group.

    [Rising Strike] was used and He became invulnerable for a heartbeat as the Skill moved him into a backward recovery.

    The grouped monsters took Damage from the attack incensing them even more.

    They growled in savage hatred and hunger.

    "Damn you Ralph!" He shed back to all the times Ralph insisted on going to horror films, werewolf ones; And especially the one traumatic Halloween when he scared the shit out of him in a realistic werewolf costume.Ralph always used to have fun on Dave¡¯s expense. Dave never got over his fear from Werewolves since he was a child. The fact was proven right now.

    The squad of Undead surrounded the three monsters, the werewolves were flinching away from the torches, wary of the fire.

    "They¡¯re afraid of Fire! Use more torches!" He instructed his squad.

    Lone Arrow threw torches to the undead that didn¡¯t already have them.

    One of Dave¡¯s ghouls, the tallest one, grabbed the torch.

    The creatures moved back howling, fear in their eyes but their instincts inciting them to attack.

    One of the Skeleton Caster¡¯s didn¡¯t grab a torch, but pointed his staff and shot a fireball at the monsters instead of the usual ck bolt. .

    The fireball ignited the were¡¯s fur and the monster became a rampaging mass of fire, screaming from the pain and attacking anything near it.

    One of your underlings had found his path in magic.

    +20 contribution points.

    "Whoa! So you can learn skills!" Dave was ecstatic."Very good! Light them up, Bones!" said Dave as he addressed the newly ¡¯evolved¡¯ caster.

    The caster almost looked proud as he began rapid firing at the werewolves with a barrage of fire attacks.

    The new fire caster wasn¡¯t dealing much damage, but the mes were enough to cause panic among the werewolves.

    Momentster, the disorganized monsters began to die one after the other.

    When they were all dead, Dave picked up the fangs they dropped and handed half of them to Lone Arrow.

    Smiling at the loot gains, she asked "Was I imagining things, or were you really afraid?" "I was not!" Dave replied firmly.

    "Oh right, the great Mr. Skeletal is afraid of nothing" she said with a giggle and moved down the stairs.

    It took them awhile going down where they heard more werewolves, this group wasrger. About three more.

    Dave took even longer to get a grip and fight. Finally they ended the undead monsters to the apaniment of a few girlish screams that Dave swore came from one of his undead underlings.

    After several more encounters with various kinds of werewolves, they found themselves at the bottom of the stairway. In front of them was a gargantuan door with hundreds of torches ensconced all around the it. The door was still shadowned, the light from the torches still inadequate to illuminate itpletely.

    Wherever there was light carvings depicting ancient and ferocious creatures were revealed.

    Werewolves, dragons, sea-beasts, giant turtles and more.

    Standing in front of the more than two hundred meter wide door was a werewolf unlike the other previous werewolves they¡¯d encountered.

    It had silver fur and a great mane grew adorned its neck.

    Its arms were as big as tree trunks, with boulder sized shoulders and a cavernous chest.

    It appeared more human than the other wolves, the bestial part less prominent.

    But the zing redness of its eyes were a sign that it had lost its sanity long ago.

    Richar Silver-mane

    (Boss-ss)

    Level 80

    Hp: 25 000

    Damage Nullification 1000

    Magic Absorption 500

    A stranded Beast of the Ancient Age. For thousands of years Richar searched for the way back to his home until finallying to the gateway, only to discover it was closed to him. Forever stranded, forever longing, a sad life...

    "This is anti-climatic." said Lone Arrow.

    "Why¡¯s that?"

    "Well, the Boar from before was much higher level, this thing won¡¯t even be worth filming." Lone Arrow looked at the six meter tall werewolf.

    "Its lore is interesting. That door must protect some big secret." said Dave moving closer trying to get a better look. There was a familiar shape among the carvings. Right at the corner was the carving of a building. A pce of bones...

    Dave heard a shout from above.

    "THERE!"

    He turned looking up, noticing two torchesing down the stairs toward his group. Pain-Killer and Monsune.

    "Shit...well turns out the ending won¡¯t be anticlimactic after all! I hope you¡¯re happy now," he said, whipping his sword out and preparing his squad for a fight.

 Chapter 60 THE UNDERWORLD!

    Lone watched the enemy yers close the distance.

    "We can¡¯t defeat them, Their levels are too high for us. Even if they don¡¯t kill us the monsters will." She was worried.

    "We have to find a way out of here." Dave inspected the boss again, hoping he could make another Drahma situation happen. But the werewolf¡¯s tag was still showing bright red, the color of a hostile mob.

    We¡¯re not getting away without fighting this time.

    Lone turned and looked directly into his eyes.

    "Just kill me so you can activate End Mission." She lifted her chin in both offer and defiance.

    "What?!"

    "The entire gamemunity is out to get you. If you get killed, your big quest will be a failure. But, if you kill me then you can escape to the Dead-Realm."

    She¡¯s a good Dungeon-partner. Not many people would sacrifice themselves like that, not even in VR.

    "I could..." he said slowly, "but I really don¡¯t want to.

    "Let¡¯s just head over to the boss-room, I want to get a closer look at those carvings on the door."

    Dave summoned the Undead Boyz to him, and they moved into the boss room together.

    He sent the Undead to distract the werewolf, and with Lone Arrow, worked his way around the fight to the door.

    Pain Killer and Monsune rushed to the bottom of the stairs in an effort to keep the draugr and the archer in sight.

    Their faces lit up in recognition at the same time, then shocked-anger and greed quickly followed.

    "It¡¯s them! The two yers that effed-up the Ice Pce!" Pain-killer moved to pursue, dropping the unnecessary torch and equipping his heavy tower-shield.

    "This is BIG-TIME, Pain. Killing Mr. Skeletal will give us ess to the expansion!"

    "But where are they going?" Pain Killer was leading Monsune, circling well around the boss and the undead attacking the boss an undead fight.

    "I knew it!" Dave was ted. One of the carvings was a representation of the Bone Pce in the Undead Realms. Maybe there was a way for them to escape.

    He reached out to trace the image with a finger. When his finger touched the stone the entire door burst into light. He stepped back, startled, an arm covering his eyes.

    Variable conditions met:

    Member of a Race from the Underworld

    ¡¯Friendly¡¯ Reputation with an Epic Tier (or above) denizen from the Underworld

    Make an Offering to the Abyss of the Underworld

    Touch the Portal to the Underworld to activate it.

    Congrattions!

    You have opened the Way to the Underworld

    The werewolf boss spun away from beating on the Undead and gaped at the glowing door. He screamed in triumph and started running desperately toward the glowing entrance, entirely ignoring the Undead Boyz¡¯ and their attacks to kite or root him.

    Richar sprinted toward the door and took a flying leap, diving headlong at the glowing stone. Instead of a crunching impact when he struck, the glow grew to intolerable levels and the silhouette of the boss silently fused into the stone door.

    The light from the door receded and went out, leaving them blinking from the aftereffects. The only sign left of the boss monster was the new image of a werewolf, carved into the stone.

    Conquest Server Announcement!

    The Way to the underworld is open!

    For the next 72 hours EXP is doubled for all yers in the underworld.

    The passage to the Underworld will remain open for three days (game time).

    Getting a server-wide announcement for finding the hidden location surprised Dave.

    Do you want other yers to see your First to Discover aplishments (2) in the Conquest Historical Archives? (You can change this preferenceter)

    Y/N?

    Dave muttered, "No."

    For being First to open the Way to the Underworld your rewards are the following:

    Cape of the Scavenger (Can be collected from any shop in the Dead-Realm)

    +10,000 Contribution Point

    The door emitted a series of pops and cracking sounds. Dust drifted down through the flickering torchlight, and a line appeared in the middle of the wide door, splitting it in two. With a protracted groan, the two halves began to swing inward.

    The open door revealed arge unlit room, of simple stone, without any other visible doors or windows. But most of the floor was gone, the gstones missing and crumbled away almost to the base of the walls. The edges bordered a hole of swirling imprable darkness, like another reality.

    "Holy shit!" said Pain Killer. He looked up from reading the announcements and saw the swirling portal through the open doors. Then he looked at the two enemy yers.

    "Okay," he snarled, "Send a message to the guild-master. We¡¯re gonna kill the draugr and his arrow-bitch, and im this expansion."

    The server-wide message didn¡¯t announce the location of the entrance. Killing the draugr would them a handsome reward, but the location of the underworld entrance was the true gold. They would get a percentage, a tiny one, of all the wealth the guild pulled in from their ¡¯discovery.¡¯ But that tiny percentage could potentially make them two of the richest individuals in the game.

    The guild yers checked their gear and set their buffs, then moved, more determined than ever to take out the two annoyances.

    Dave was looking down into the pit, trying to see something, anything. He could just jump, it was unlikely a portal would just kill the user once it was opened and acknowledged by the system. He hated relying on meta-gaming like that, but...

    Lone Arrow looked at the two higher ranked guild-yersing for their blood, and fear hammered at her.

    "Dave! They¡¯reing. If you have a n, now¡¯s the time!" she urged.

    Dave didn¡¯t answer her with more talk. He simply turned and grabbed her with one arm, startling her. She was going to struggle out of his grip when he suddenly jumped, pulling her into the ck hole with him.

    You have entered the Underworld.

    All EXP is doubled for the next 72 hours.

    Monsters drop the best loot on First-death.

    The Underworld can only be entered once each time the path opens.

    If you die you will respawn at yourst set-point outside the Underworld .

    They fell through absolute darkness for what seemed like hours but was actually less than a minute. Their fall was apanied by high-pitched screaming, most of it from Dave.

    A pinpoint appeared in the unrelieved dark and grew, bing a patch of dim orange light. The two yers looked at each other and smiled in relief.

    They watched it grow, the light bing more discernible and detailsing into focus. Finally, they were able to make out the source. The light came from a roilingke of molten magma directly below them.

    "This is sooo not good!" Dave resumed his screaming.

    But before they plunged into a fatal magma-bath, something, a mysterious force, stopped their fall and moved them safely away from the pool of molten rock. They were deposited gently on the stone ¡¯shore¡¯ bordering the magmake.

    Dave looked around, the stone they were standing on was a dark granite. Streams and rivulets of magma led from the big pool like tree roots glowing in the granite floor. The light from the magma didn¡¯t prate far but he couldn¡¯t see any walls from where he was. Or even if there was a ceiling.

    Something out in the darkness moved, and Dave backed away, a futile gesture, because everything here could insta-kill him. A bizarre mountain, an amalgamation of rock and flesh stood up, shaking itself as if from a long slumber. Turning it looked directly at them impassively, through eyes that seemed to be made of ming-magma. Since it wasn¡¯t doing anything hostile yet, Dave took the time to inspect it:

    Gate Guardian Ramsha, Warden of the entrance to the Underworld

    Level ???

    HP ???

    DN???

    MA???

    Do not provoke what guards the gates to hell, not even the gods dare its wrath.

    At least this one has a green name-tag. Finally, a friendly NPC.

    "Greetings warriors," boomed the guardian, still examining the pair as if they were interesting specimens under a microscope.

    "It has been many long ages since mortals made their way to stand before me," it rumbled at them through monolith teeth.

    "You will do," it finally boomed approval.

    "I require your assistance for some house-cleaning."

    Clean-up

    Ramsha tasked you with some ¡¯Clean-Up¡¯

    Kill quest

    kill all the demons that you can while in the underworld

    The more enemies you kill will grant you special rewards from Ramsha.

    Quest timer

    3 Days

    Dave and Lone Arrow looked at each other, a little worried. Lesser demons had levels that started at around 250. At least. How were the two of them going to do Ramsha¡¯s crazy quest? They had less than 200 levels between them.

    "That¡¯s impossible for us," she whispered.

    "I think I know what¡¯s happening. This, the Underworld, is definitely rted to the Undead expansion. The Undead expansion was supposed to open when enough yers reached level 500.

    "Then, ahem, I came along and the kick-off was premature. And now this--" Lone punched his shoulder.

    "Oww! What the hell, Lone?!"

    "This is all your fault! What are you going to do about it?"

    Dave heard distant voices screaming, looking up, far up, he saw them falling toward the magma pool. Pain-killer and Monsune, following them. Hunting them.

    "We run!" he said. And suited action to words.

    Arrow was caught t-footed, still in argument mode, his retreat left her far behind.

    Screaming, "I¡¯m going to kill your bony ass!"she raced after the draugr.

    Arrow caught up to him quickly. Dave was d, even though she punched him, again, when she moved up to run in line with him. At least she hit the other shoulder, so the damage was symmetrical.

    Dave had no idea where he was going. Most of the cavern was dark, lit here and there by the sullen glow of the magma streams radiating from the central pool.

    Monsune and his buddy weren¡¯t going to stop. If they messaged their guild before they jumped, then thousands of yers would soon follow them. Every one of them mad to end a certain low-level draugr and his party.

    They were in a tight spot.

    Dave still didn¡¯t want to kill Lone. But if push came to shove...

    "Slow down, I think there¡¯s something ahead," Lone Arrow said.

    A...well, it was humanoid. But tall, tall and big, as big as an optimus prime...

    Yeah. Dunno why we didn¡¯t see that before. Definitely a demon; goat legs, horns, and tail...the whole package.

    The demon was sitting on its haunches, holding something greedily to its mouth, tearing chunks off it with sharp fangs. It lowered its prize and started chewing with obvious gusto, allowing Dave to see what was in its hands.

    Apparently, Richar, the boss werewolf, didn¡¯t get to enjoy his homing for long.

    "Ah cripes..."

 Chapter 61 Kaboom!

    Lone Arrow inspected the Abyssal creature:

    Greater Chaos Demon

    Level

    400

    Hp

    400,000

    DN 45,000

    MA 35,000

    Skills ???

    The demon, indifferent to the two inspecting it, continued munching on the remains of the werewolf.

    "What are we gonna do now?" asked Lone Arrow

    She looked over her shoulder repeatedly, checking for signs of the two guild yers.

    "We can¡¯t fight it, but look over there." Dave pointed at something far behind the demon.

    It was a tunnel.

    This Chaos Demon was simply a level-checker. It would be certain death for low-level yers to enter the Underworld. To discourage them from making the effort, the demon was ced at the entrance as a deterrent.

    "Come on." He walked forward, toward the demon.

    Lone Arrow hesitated, and looked around for the guild yers again.

    He probably has a n. Whatever it is, I¡¯m in. Doing anything beats waiting for the guildies to gank us.

    When they entered the Demon¡¯s Aggro-range, it howled and tossed aside the carcass it was feasting on.

    "Use Blink and get to the cave while I distract the demon!" Hoping to buy a few seconds, Dave used [Royal Decree] to summon the ghost knights from his ring.

    The two ghost-Knights obeyed Dave¡¯s instructions and attacked the Demon, leeching the aggro from Dave and Lone.

    Lone Arrow waited until she saw the Demon was distracted by the ghost-Knights then used [Blink] to teleport past the demon and run for the cave.

    Once the Demon¡¯s aggro was focused on the Knights, Dave followed Lone Arrow at a run.

    The Demon opened its maw wide and spat two fireballs. Radiating immense heat.

    The fireballs struck the knights and instantly turned them to ash.

    Dave¡¯s eyes widened. Lone Arrow hadn¡¯t gotten to the tunnel entrance yet, and he was even farther away from it.

    The demon turned towards him, howling in rage it opened its maw and started casting the same skill. Two more fireballs shot out of its mouth. This time at Dave.

    "WHAT HAPPENED TO THE COOLDOWN?!!" shouted Dave. His legs didn¡¯t stop moving.

    He turned to face theing infernos and activated [Rising Strike], using the moment of invincibility it granted to negate the iing damage. His use of the Skill protected him, but the heat still scorched his skin and singed his hair, including his beard. He was left looking like a Raggedy-Man.

    As Dave staggered up, a wicked idea urred to him. He used Spectral Bomb to nt a skull in the ground. Smirking, he resumed his run toward the cave.

    The Demon kept casting fireballs.

    Monsune and Pain-Killer entered the chamber. They faltered on sighting the Demon, but recovered and continued moving into the chamber, approaching the Demon¡¯s aggro range.

    Dave finally made it out of the demon¡¯s aggro-range, and the demon just stopped mid-cast, the fire fading away.

    "Not even close, baby!" Dave crowed.

    "Yeah right! You smell like burning hair and meat" She wrinkled her nose in disgust..

    Dave didn¡¯t deign to answer her. His n saved her ass too, so she would just have to put up with his antics.

    Dave looked back at the demon, and spotted Monsune and Pain Killer just beyond its aggro-zone.

    "You saw the two guildies, right?"

    "Yah, but they don¡¯t have the chops to get past the Demon."

    The Demon, without any targets to attack, had returned to its gruesome feast.

    "If they don¡¯t risk it we are home free, and if they do, the Demon will take them out." Dave continued watching the two guildies.

    After a brief huddle, Monsune took a ready stance and Pain-Killer ran directly into the Demon¡¯s aggro-zone.

    "We should probably just go. Look, there¡¯s lighting from down the tunnel," Lone Arrow pointed.

    Dave looked and saw the light Lone indicated. But he just smirked, saying "Nah, let¡¯s wait here and see. I have a good feeling about this."

    Pain-Killer entered the Demon¡¯s aggro-range causing the demon to react with his standard attack. But Pain-Killer used a skill that made him briefly invulnerable, resisting damage from the Double Fireballs.

    Dave did not know the name Pain-Killer¡¯s skill, but he knew all immunity-Skills came with long cooldowns. He would not be able to use the same skill again anytime soon.

    Pain-killer drank a Cleanse Potion just as Monsune entered the Demon¡¯s agro zone and attacked it with [Wind-Cleave].

    Dave¡¯s smile grew as Pain-Killer and his partner got closer and closer to the cave entrance.

    They were using Aggro-Switch, a basic strategy. One yer moves into the monster¡¯s agro zone pulling attacks and building threat. Then the second yer enters and attacks the boss, pulling aggro when the first yer drinks a cleansing potion. Once the first yer is far enough from the monster he attacks it, and the second yer drinks a cleansing potion clearing his agro. Then just rinse and repeat, leapfrogging through the monster¡¯s zone. It is like a game of tag with the monster ying ¡¯It.¡¯

    Pain-Killer drank another cleansing Potion and Monsune attacked the demon, building up his threat level.Momentarily free from attack, Pain Killer moved closer to the tunnel then turned and attacked the boss with a [Shield-Toss], pulling aggro again.Monsune drank a potion, and cleared of agro advanced toward the cave.

    It was going as nned, the idea might sound simple and repetitive, but it required timing and coordination.

    Close enough to look the draugr and the archer in the eyes Pain-Killer yelled, "You¡¯re all gonna die in there!" He believed it too, but his spidey-sense was tingling, and he didn¡¯t know why.

    Dave snapped his fingers.

    [-321]

    The demon already finished casting his fireballs.

    [-89 000]

    It was an instant Kill, of course.

    You have in an enemy

    +20 Contribution point

    Pain Killer was reduced to floating motes of lights and the demon turned on Monsune.

    Momentster, motes of light reced Monsune.

    "You...are truly evil," Lone Arrow moued in admiration at the smiling draugr.

    "That¡¯s a rtive concept." he turned and entered the cave.

    "Do you have any torches?"

    "Here." Lone Arrow threw a torch to him.

    Dave proceeded down the damp looking tunnel, torch held high.

    "What are we going to do when they send more people after us?" .

    "I just got some contribution points; so going back to the Dead-Realm shouldn¡¯t be a problem anymore." He looked at the End Mission option.

    His expression soured.

    "Shit."

    "What is it?"

    "The damned game is trolling me!"

    End Mission option disabled

    "I can¡¯t leave..."

 Chapter 62 Drahma The Unfettered!

    At the Devastator¡¯s headquarters in the western Royal Pce, a meeting was convened. Led by Valentine and Warlord, the purpose was to share information and formte strategies for the newly announced Underworld expansion.

    "We only have three days, in game-time, and we don¡¯t even know what part of Conquest it¡¯s in!" The speaker, one of the sub-guild leaders, was in adamantine full-te, a great-hammer strapped across his back.

    Mr. Valentin was the moderator, "I have already given orders for all members to perform sweep searches of Conquest. When we find the portal we will move in full force to establish control."

    Warlord pinged Valentin in private chat, "What about our sleeper-cells? Anything from them?"

    "No. Either the other organizations don¡¯t have any information, or they haven¡¯t revealed it to our embedded- hold for a moment, I am receiving a priority message..."

    As the debate continued around him, Valentine held a hand to his temple, a sign he was in voice-chat. A momentter he raised his head and nodded to Warlord.

    Looking around at the arguing sub-leaders Valentin announced in a loud voice: "We have the location. The portal is in the Dark Threading dungeon."

    The sub-leaders buzzed with excitement and avarice, and exmations, "Here! In the northern Kingdom!"

    Warlord private messaged Valentin again, "I thought the dungeon was peculiar, just stairs, abyss, and weird boss-room."

    Themotion in the room swelled, ims to the portal, threats and counters were voiced.

    "SILENCE!" Warlord spoke in hismand-voice, quelling the uproar,

    "Attention, we are mobilizing! All ¡¯A¡¯ groups are to make for the Dark Threading dungeon immediately! ¡¯B¡¯ groups will stay and act as the home-guard. ¡¯C¡¯ groups will prep and load for raid and siege tactics, then follow us to the dungeon as support and supply.

    "This meeting is adjourned. MOVE OUT!"

    A full-scale campaign! The sub-leaders were messaging their guilds even as they rushed from the meeting-room.

    Valentin updated Warlord as they moved, "The Underworld is no re-entry after dying, with respawn at thest set-point. I¡¯ve assigned some ¡¯B¡¯ groups to defend our respawn locations.

    Warlord absorbed the information. Then ordered, "We go in with the ¡¯C¡¯ group low-levels leading the way, use them like mining-canaries. That¡¯ll save ¡¯A¡¯ groups from many of the traps and initial attacks."

    Valentin winced. "We will, of course, say it more graciously...andpensate the volunteer ¡¯sacrificialmbs¡¯ for their lost time, consumables and equipment, correct? Guild-master?"

    "Yes, of course. Good catch. Thanks Valentin." Warlord knew he sometimes focused too much on a final goal, forgetting about the people.

    Valentin held two fingers to his temple again, "Reports of a level-checker. A Greater Chaos Demon. Level 400. Our lowbie members won¡¯t be any help with that."

    ...

    Lone Arrow stumbled on the tunnel floor. Again. She muttered curses under her breath. The tunnel floor was uneven, and the flickering torches were hardly adequate lighting. Lone promised herself she would buy a spell or item that worked much better than torches...for next time.

    "You know, it¡¯s not gentlemanly to walk so fast." She groused at Dave.

    "Never said I was a gentleman," Dave grunted, "In case you haven¡¯t figured it out, the whole damned game-world will being after us now. So we need to keep moving." He increased his pace.

    "Huh, paranoid much? Why do you think everyone is out to get you?"

    "The Server Announcement, remember? It put a huge target on our backs. The two guildies that died back there will tell their guilds about this ce. My guess is we have about an hour head-start."

    "Then what¡¯s the point of going any farther? There are high-level monsters ahead and yers behind us, stuck between a rock and a hard ce!"

    "The monsters aren¡¯t the problem. It¡¯s the yers I¡¯m worried about."

    "How are level-250-plus monsters not a problem...?"

    Dave turned to answer her, and forgot...everything, caught in the symmetry and vivacity of her features. His chest mped and his mind spun.

    Is this what she really looks like? In the real?

    Lone Arrow moved close, right up into his face, "Hellooo, ground control to Major Tom."

    "Uhh, right. What were we saying?"

    "I asked why you aren¡¯t worried about the monsters."

    "I have my ways," he replied. The smirking draugr was back.

    Dave exited the tunnel first, looking around for threats. The moment he looked up and saw the rift filled sky with the broken moon hanging above as if in mid shattering, he knew where he was. Generally.

    He¡¯d thought the Underworld was a cave system, but seeing the familiar sky overhead, the same one that he saw from the Bone Pce, changed that.

    The Dark-Threading dungeon is in the northern part of the Western-Kingdom. I was at the borders of the Eastern Kingdom when I first entered the Dead-Realm. That¡¯s a lot of travel time, all else equal.

    "Is that the same sky as in your first Mr. Skeletal video?"

    "Yeah, but I don¡¯t think we are near the Bone Pce. Look." He gestured broadly.

    Light from the shattered moon revealed a vast lond in surrounded by distant mountains. The ground was barren volcanic rock and ash, broken here and there by tufts of hardy weeds.

    Movement drew their attention to a herd of animals that stretched across a good part of the terrain.

    Dave remembered a history vid-stream about buffalo and The Great ins in 19th century America. The vid described herds of buffalo that covered thend from horizon to horizon in every direction.

    Thankfully that was not the case here, and these ¡¯buffalo¡¯ looked like overgrown goats with heavy wool coats the color of old blood.

    The beasts closest to the tunnel had already noticed their presence and turned horned heads toward them to stare at them with strange eyes.

    Dave didn¡¯t like the way the animals were focusing on them, he inspected one:

    Capra Infernis (Demonic)

    Level 150

    80,000 HP

    2000 DN

    1000 MN

    Skill [Charge] [Impale]

    Shit, level 150. Much lower than the Greater Demon. But there are thousands of them.

    The herd roused in a slow ripple as more individuals turned in their direction. The first few animals lumbered forward, more followed, then even more. The heavy thumps dinner-te size hooves striking the ground increased steadily. The entire herd was reacting to them, starting to move in their direction.

    Herd animals usually just watch for threats, but these ¡¯goats¡¯ wereing at them...and they had too many teeth. The sharp, meat-tearing kind of teeth, not the t grass-chewing type.

    It makes sense. Nothing grows here but weeds. So, of course they are carnivores.

    He winced, and removed an item from his inventory.

    I didn¡¯t want to use this so soon. But needs must when the demon-sheep dance.

    "Uhh, we need to get the hell away from here, Mr. Skeletal." Lone Arrow took a few steps back toward the cave.

    "Don¡¯t worry, I got this." Dave activated the jewel and bright red light shone from it.

    "You do know what happens everytime someone says that in the movies, right?" It didn¡¯t look like the goats-from-hell were going to stop any time soon. She edged away from Dave back toward the safety of the tunnel.

    "Start throwing some damage, or you¡¯ll miss out on a lot of EXP."

    She looked at him doubtfully, his casual responses were not reassuring her in the least.

    The glow from the jewel grew brighter and brighter.

    The jewel cracked, and the light disappeared.

    You used [Anti-bully]

    The Anti-bully charm is on a 4 hour timer. It has a 24 hour cooldown.

    The summoned entity will not benefit from external healing effects!

    A rift appeared in front of them, like a long vertical cut in the fabric of reality. Two enormous hands gripped the edges of the rift and tore it wide open from the other side.

    A foot came through the opening, cratering the volcanic-rock as it stepped down. The rest of the giant figure stepped through the rift, the owner of the tearing hands and smashing foot stood towering over them.

    Drahma the Berserker hade as promised.

    Drahma the Unfettered

    Level 550

    ss: Berserker

    Tier: Mythic

    Rank (Doom Knight)

    Danger Level: Friendly

    Skills (???)

    Hp(???)

    Defense(???)

    Drahma is one of the most powerful individual units in the Undead King¡¯s Legion, under the directmand of the Abyssal Knight [Dalga]

    After the Undead King disappeared, Drahma was captured by the fallen order of the ck Skull. He suffered for years, tormented and experimented on, before going mad when his heart removed.

    The Undead King¡¯s Blessing kept him alive but suffering even more torment. The rage he built over the years granted him a Power:

    Even if I Fall into madness, I shall take you with me.

    What is that doing here!" Lone Arrow backed quickly away from the giant, staring up at his brutish face.

    "Don¡¯t worry, he¡¯s a friend. I helped him out once, he¡¯s returning the favor."

    "I came to fulfill my promise, young Undead. What favor would you ask of me?" Drahma rumbled to Dave. He rested his giant iron pole across a shoulder.

    He¡¯s gone up 50 levels. Heh, and his Berserker title changed to Unfettered. Nice.

    "Greetings Drahma. We came to the Underworld to escape from adventurers that are hunting us. They are gone for now but soon they will be back, maybe with entire armies. We are not powerful enough to make it through the Underworld on our own. Can you help us?"

    "Fear not. I am here for you, small friend."

    Drahma swung his giant pole, Paste Maker, and struck at the first group of unlucky Capras.

 Chapter 63 The guilds are marching!

    Notifications crowded Dave¡¯s HUD.

    Level Up!

    Level Up!

    ...

    Dave was leveling up at a ridiculous rate thanks to Drahma¡¯s rampage through the Capra horde.

    Drahma swung his ¡¯pir of doom,¡¯ crushing more bison-size goats into bloody pulp.

    Dave was using [Spectral Bomb] for AOE damage, hitting multiple targets, and getting Support-EXP when Drahma killed the damaged mobs. If he did even a single point of damage to a mob he got EXP when Drahma killed it.

    As far as Dave knew, no yer in Conquest had ever been power-leveled by a game NPC or mob, let alone a boss mob.

    I wish the Undead Boyz were here, they would have gotten so many levels from this little massacre.

    Lone Arrow watched Drahma advance into the horde and mow them down in droves. The rhythmic swings of his iron pole threshed through bone, flesh and hide like so much wheat.

    "Damn. I gotta get some of that!"

    She drew back on her bow and loosed an arrow at a Capra just before Drahma stepped forward and ttened it along with four others, sshing blood and ichor everywhere.

    She winced at the gory spectacle, but her greed for EXP overrode her revulsion. She nocked, drew and loosed arrows at the mobs as fast as she could move her hands. She didn¡¯t even have to aim at the massed mobs, and she didn¡¯t bother using her skills, knowing she would get EXP for any amount of damage she did to the dying monsters.

    "What Level are you?" she asked Dave. She was giddy from watching her HUD EXP numbers spinning up so quickly.

    "72"

    "This is so wicked! I¡¯m at 66, I went up 4 levels in just a few minutes!" She was squealing like a teen fan-girl.

    Dave grinned and threw a Spectral Bomb at a group of capra and detonated it, staggering them.

    Drahma followed the explosion with an earth-shaking stomp that generated an expanding wave of rapidly thrusting stone spears. Capras dropped in an ever widening circle around them, disemboweled by the impaling stone wedges.

    "73."

    Drahma exterminated the entire herd, thousands of the goat-monsters, in a matter of minutes. The culling was so fast they received damage ¡¯assists¡¯ on less than a quarter of the monsters in the horde. Dave¡¯s draugr was now at level 76. He¡¯d gotten three levels from the ughter. Lone managed to edge Dave out with a four level gain, ecstatic at reaching level 70 so quickly.

    "Thank you, Drahma," said Dave.

    "I will be with you for a while longer, my friend. Continue with your mission, I shall guard you," he replied.

    "Yeah! More power-leveling!" Lone Arrow sped her hands in front of her prayer fashion, almost dancing with glee.

    "Remember, there¡¯s at least one super-guild hunting us."

    "So...? What¡¯s the n then? Let¡¯s go kill another horde or two, this archer-girl needs EXP!"

    Dave looked away at the horizon, stalling toe up with a n. And trying not to chuckle at Lone¡¯s antics. He knew her weakness now, free EXP.

    "I don¡¯t know. But look," he finally answered, pointing far across the valley.

    There, a mountain rose out of ake. It loomed high over the other mountains, its peak hidden in the clouds.

    Dave shrugged, "That mountain looks significant. Let¡¯s head over there and make stuff happen.".

    Dave led off, walking briskly. Lone Arrow started to follow, but yelped and jumped back when Drahma intercepted her, his tree-trunk fingers circled around her, blocking any retreat.

    "Drahma, she¡¯s a friend!"

    "You are friends with the Living?"

    Dave knew the Dead and the Living were not supposed to mingle together. Drahma¡¯s question held many meanings.

    "She is...someone I know from another ce."

    "She is someone from your former Life? Strange, few undead remember Life. But, if she is a friend of yours, then she will be a friend of mine." He pulled his hand away.

    "Lady of the Elven race, I greet you. I am Drahma the Unfettered."

    Before they could react Drahma reached out again, this time he swept both Lone and Dave up and cradled them in the palm of one bulldozer size hand.

    "With your tiny strides it will take too long to get to the mountain. I will carry you."

    Traveling like this will no doubt widen our lead on the guildies. But a level-zero noob could track us across the valley floor.

    Drahma¡¯s feet crushed the volcanic rock beneath them with every step, leaving a trail of massive sunken footprints behind them.

    We¡¯ll be okay if Drahma¡¯s four hour timer is still running when they catch up to us. But the moment he turns into a pumpkin we¡¯ll have to bug-out fast, maybe even before then.

    Dave looked out from his perch, seeing the mountains ahead, the rift-scarred sky and the shattered moon above them.

    This may be just a fantasy VR, but I feelfortable, like I belong here.

    The Devastator¡¯s C groups arrived at the Dark Threading dungeon and joined the A groups already in the region.

    Every good-sized guild in Conquest had informationworks and employed legions of spies, so the Devastator¡¯s full-scale mobilization would not be unnoticed by theirpetition. But the Devastators¡¯ strategists and logisticians predicted the involvement of other super-guilds, and had ns for many scenarios.

    The C-groups brought the supplies and material to resist a full investment by invading armies. All the Devastators worked to clear-cut arge expanse for construction and open fields of fire, then they raised a maze of defensive earthworks. Engineers set trap-fields and constructed hardened fortifications to prepare for invaders.

    Soon after the C-groups arrived, a raid-party of one thousand yers entered the dungeon. They were the vanguard division, lower level groups sent in to perform a reconnaissance-in-force. Most had average levels around 150, but each squad of five was led by a yer between level 200 and 300. Every one of ¡¯The Thousand¡¯ were volunteers, ¡¯for the good of the n,¡¯ and they had little chance of surviving the Underworld. But risk was a part of gaining loot and glory.

    Warlord stood with some of the A groups stationed outside the dungeon entrance. With him were sub-guild leaders, top-rankers, specialists and VIPs.

    The Dark Threading dungeon was located in the Devastator controlled western part of the Conquest world. The other two super-guilds, Blood-Rage and Heaven¡¯s Dawn, were still at war with each other But if they called a truce, or worse, allied against the Devastators, there would be a battle royale at the dungeon. Even if they failed to take the dungeon from the Devastators the conflict would interfere with the Underworld raid.

    A yer standing nearo warlord spoke up impatiently,"Warlord! When are we going in?!"

    The full-te-peacocking VIP was one of Devastator¡¯s major investors.

    "Soon, Satan yer. We are waiting for word of the raid progress at the Underworld portal and the other side. Once they clear the area for a sufficient area for a forward base we will join them. Don¡¯t worry we will be the first to take on quests and kill any bosses that are found."

    Satan yer was fidgeting, unable to hide his impatience to run the new expansion.

    Warlord pinged Valentin, "Jeez, this guy. Like a kid wanting his pudding before the meat."

    Valentin, joined them in his pink full-armor set, and addressed the investor, "I know we are all eager to explore and loot. We are following procedures to maximize safety and profit at personal and organizational levels.

    "We sent the C groups in ahead as pathfinders. They will trip any surprises and absorb some breakage our higher levels cannot afford to because of the no re-entry.

    "Until they report what waits for us in the Underworld we will remain here as additional surety for the entrance defenses. We will have an additional security point at the Underworld portal and more as needed ording to our progress in the Underworld.," said Valentine

    The VIP kept looking at Valentin¡¯s armor, then quickly away. The neon-pink armor was a Named scaling-set, Heart-Striker, and its color was Valentin¡¯s decision. That his choice of color stirred clich¨¦ insecurities of some hyper-male types was just another bonus as far as he was concerned.

    Valentin yed as a ¡¯Guardian,¡¯ a support ss. The various vors of the ¡¯tank¡¯ ss specialize in defense and skills that attract and increase mob aggro or transfer it from others onto themselves.

    Guardians specialize in mob-control skills. Their primary role is to protect allies from mob attacks. Although Guardians aren¡¯t actually ¡¯tanks,¡¯ in a pinch they can temporarily fill the role as off-tanks.

    In Conquest there were a handful of yers, with high-end gear, who developed the skills and potential of the Guardian ss to maximum effectiveness. These few ¡¯savants¡¯ were able to fulfill the role of group-tank aspetently as any ¡¯true¡¯ tank character, and in some cases more so.

    The yer who pioneered the unconventional methods and tactics for Guardians-as-true-Tanks, and made the ss famous, was Valentin.

    Valentin was also the holder of a Legacy title, The Metamorphosing-Man, an A ss Legacy, one of the most powerful in the game. But that came muchter, after acquiring Heart-Striker and poprizing his Guardian ss innovations.

    Valentin first encountered Warlord in Conquest. They were new yers who happened to join the same pick-up-group, or PUG. Valentin¡¯s y style and Guardian ss synergized with Warlord¡¯s so well they formed an adventuring partnership that would be a legend among yers. In the simplest terms, Valentine just made sure Warlord never OT-ed him, which allowed Warlord to y damage-dealer with no concern about his own aggro level, knowing the Guardian had his back.

    "I remember doing this dungeon, that damned pig killed us so many times." Warlord was smiling.

    "Good times," said Valentin.

    "Yeah, and here we are again. Things are so different now." Warlord looked into the distance. But he snapped back immediately, duty called. Always.

    "No need to dwell on the past, Warlord. The fight with the Greater Chaos demon is about to start. I am tracking the yers¡¯ progress. It won¡¯t be a challenge for A groups, but the C members will benefit from the level difference. And they need practice to adjust to the new Evade system."

    "I understand," replied Warlord. "If we luck into one of the worst case scenarios, my Legacy transformation is off cooldown." Warlord patted his Battle-ax affectionately.

    "Same for me. Hopefully we can save them for any big-bosses we find, or the other super-guilds," Valentine said pointedly.

    The two friends waited patiently for more updates.

 Chapter 64 Power Leveling

    Drahma strode across the valley floor like an unstoppable titan, the ground shaking as every step crunched and shattered through the oldva flow. The giant cradled a draugr and a purple-haired elfess in one hand, safely above the bursts of stone fragments and rock-dust that apanied his advance.

    Dave felt like he was riding an earthquake.

    "Hey, Skelly, bad news."

    Dave turned to her.

    "A friend just sent me a private message. The Devastators mobilized. The guild sent tens of thousands to the Dark Threading dungeon." Lone sounded worried.

    Dave shrugged, "Pretty much what I expected. Everyone will want a piece of the Underworld, even though the portal is only open for three days."

    His hand smoothed his beard thoughtfully.

    "We need to stay ahead of the guildies that will be swarming this ce. We can¡¯t keep running though, we need somece the guilds can¡¯te after us. The Dead Realm would be ideal."

    "It would be better if we go across the mountains there, maybe we will find a way to the Dead-Realm."

    "Young Undead, this ce is indeed under the same sky as the Dead-Realm. You speak of taking refuge there. But the distance to our homnd would require months of travel even with my assistance."

    Dave nodded. Reliable information was helpful even if it was negative. Going to the Dead Realm wasn¡¯t an option anymore, at least not for their immediate safety.

    Drahma went on, "Soon, I will leave you, not by choice but by the decree of the Power that brought me to you."

    Drahma wrinkled his snout, revealing more of his sharp tusks. "This ce, maybe this entirend, is so filled with corrupting demonic energy. I am unable to summon any of my battalion to aid you. I fear you will be left without sor in thesends."

    Dave figured ¡¯demonic energy¡¯ was the in-game narrative to exin the limitations set by the game system and AI.

    "Talking about demonic energy,Ramsha the Warden of the Underworld portal, tasked us with killing as many demons as we can."

    A chuckle rumbled from the giant¡¯s chest,"Ramsha. That old fossil still demands the impossible."

    With only three days in the Underworld, the guildies will be busy fighting and looting. We have a whole world to get lost in. Even if they actively search for us, it will be a monumental task finding us.

    But then again, Drahma¡¯s crater-prints will be a ¡¯dead¡¯ giveaway. Ha!

    They came to the edge of theke. It looked lifeless, the surface absolutely still. An odor of sulfur and rot rose from the murky green-tinged water.

    Lone covered her nose "Stinky!"

    "Not as bad as Ralph¡¯s socks," Dave quipped.

    "Who is Ralph?" asked Lone Arrow

    "A buddy of mine, he¡¯s a member of-"

    Dave stopped. He¡¯d almost given away information that would lead to him IRL.

    "Never mind," he said.

    Drahma walked into the water, sending waves across the wholeke with every step.

    Halfway across theke a dinosaur-monster raised its two snake-heads above the surface. It bared two sets of fangs and spread two cobra-like hoods in threat. It was met with a double-neck breaking swing from Drahma¡¯s iron pole that sent the monster back beneath the opaque waters, food for whatever else lived below.

    That was the only ¡¯excitement¡¯ to relieve the monotony of theke-crossing. Drahma finally walked up onto the shores of theke on the mountainside.

    On the mountain shore, Dave looked around noticing theck of monsters in the area, with exception of few patches of strange looking nts one might think there was no life here.

    Drahma carried everyone until they stood in front of arge looking cave.

    "There," spoke Drahma looking at the cave entrance. "Are you certain you wish to proceed? I apud your ambition to be stronger, but I do not wish you to die. "

    Dave had made a great impression on Drahma when he freed the giant from his long captivity-driven insanity. The Berserker felt a strong bond with the draugr. Or at least that was what the AI wanted Dave to believe.

    "Thank you for your concern, Drahma."

    Lone interrupted, "The Devastators just defeated the greater demon guarding the cave entrance."

    Dave nodded grimly, "There is only one way for us to go. Forward."

    The giant strode into the cave.

    The walls of the cave were riddled with glittering objects.

    "Diamonds!" Lone Arrow¡¯s eyes took on a feverish gleam.

    "What?" asked Dave.

    "Those are Diamonds!" said Lone Arrow. Despite her excitement, she also looked disappointed.

    "You aren¡¯t a Miner, why feel sorry about it?"

    Lone Arrow got closer to inspect one of the diamonds on the wall, only to sigh dejectedly

    "Even if I were, these things cannot be excavated..., they are here just to light the way."

    They traveled deeper into the cave, which was dimly lit by the diamonds stuck on its walls.

    "Mortal baubles," snorted Drahma, unimpressed, "The dead have no use for such things."

    Long screeching howls sounded from deeper within the cave making Dave¡¯s hair stand to no end

    Dave saw the shadow of many creatures flying from deep within the cave toward him.

    Dave inspected the first creature.

    Gargoyle (Demonic)

    Level 95

    75 000HP

    DN 2000

    MA 100

    These gargoyles failed to evolve to their next form and were cursed to this current appearance and fate as the lowest of the demon kin

    Although rtively weak they make up in numbers what theyck in strength.

    They were stone humanoids, with bat-like wings and a long horn on their foreheads.

    Drahma put Dave and Lone Arrow down, and spun his giant iron pole into a whirling blur that turned the attacking creatures to dust.

    Dave activated a [Spectral Bomb] and guided the skull to thergest group of gargoyles then detonated it, while Lone sent arrow after arrow streaking into individual monsters.

    The sound of explosions, shattering bones, and pain filled howls filled the cave.

    Drahma¡¯s level was so high that not one of the creatures could cause even single digit damage to him.

    In the middle of the chaos, Dave got a notification:

    The Skill level of [Spectral Bomb] has gone up. It is now (Amateur Level 5)

    Each use of the skill will summon (2) Spectral bombs.

    The skill enabled Dave to cast it twice every minute with a 30-second cooldown on each skull cast.

    "Sweet!"

    Dave cast [Spectral Bomb] as soon as it came off cooldown.

    Two ghostly skulls appeared in front of Dave, brighter and somehow more menacing than before. He sent the bombs at a group of monsters.

    With twice the skulls, he got twice the EXP.

    Drahma whirled his pole and crushed the gargoyles that Dave attacked, boosting the draugr¡¯s EXP gains.

    The gargoyles weren¡¯t spawning fast enough to keep up with Drahma¡¯s kill rate. Gradually the din of battle decreased as fewer and fewer gargoyles attacked

    Finally it ended and the only sounds were the deep breaths of the victors and the dripping of blood from the vanquished.

    Dave noticed a points of light scattered among the remains of the dead gargoyles. He knelt down, and reached for one. A loot window appeared:

    Uncut Diamond.

    Crafting material

    "Arrow, I have good news for you."

    He showed her the diamond in his hand. "We¡¯re rich!"

 Chapter 65 Splitting the Loo

    Lone Arrow¡¯s eyes gleamed madly as she dashed over and snatched the diamond from his hand.

    She shrilled at him, "Do you know how much this would get at auction?!"

    "No idea." He¡¯d gone to the auction house only once, to buy the fateful invisibility potion instrumental in acquiring his Legacy quest.

    "Diamonds are high-level crafting materials!" She started looting the dead mobs frantically, as if they would disappear and take the diamonds with them. "Smiths use them to craft high end-equipment and jewelry, and magicians use them to catalyze spells!"

    Drahma just leaned on his pole and watched the two yers loot his kills, unconcerned.

    Dave shrugged, "The Underworld is supposed to be for high level yers. This area was probably meant to be a raid-event. Divided among a whole raid party the loot would be good but not spectacr."

    He methodically sorted through a pile of gargoyle corpses, "We were lucky. With Drahma, taking on this many garg-uglies wasn¡¯t a problem. And since it¡¯s just us, not a full raid-party, we got big lootz."

    "Yeah about that, how do we divide the loot? You summoned Drahma, so really the loot is all y-"

    "We split the take 50/50," he interrupted her.

    Lone looked at Dave and thanked him.

    It was only fair, they were dungeon buddies. Besides, Dave needed someone to sell his share of the Diamonds. He¡¯d considered selling the diamonds to the merchant in the Dead-Realm, but Drahma had said diamonds were nothing but mortal trinkets, of no use to the Dead.

    After they collected every gem from the battlefield, he gave Lone his findings to auction when the time came.

    Lone Arrow gasped when she put theirbined diamond-loot into her inventory.

    She said in a hushed voice, "A total of 225 uncut diamonds. Last I saw, diamonds were selling for a thousand gold each."

    "Holy crap!" That was $225,000 IRL.

    "Yeah, enough for a good shopping spree."

    SHOPPING spree? She¡¯s gotta be rich.

    "What will you do with your share? Get something nice for a girlfriend?"

    "I don¡¯t have a girlfriend, whatever I get will go in the bank."

    "Miser! I didn¡¯t expect the famous Mr. Skeletal to be single," she teased.

    "Like you said before, even dwarfs faint when they see how ugly I am."

    "Yeah, you¡¯re really ugly, but I still love you!"

    Dave stumbled. Where did thate from...?

    Dave shook his head and moved after Lone.

    The tunnel descended deeper into the earth, the air grew hot and humid as a tropical jungle.

    "Has your buddy said anything about what is happening topside with the guildies?"

    "I forgot about that, let me ask him," she said. She ced a finger to her temple.

    Shortly, she opened her eyes and shook herself, "They split into groups and spread out from the entrance, one of the groups is headed in our direction.

    "Things are heating up in the main Conquest area. Heaven¡¯s Dawn and Blood-Rage called a truce and made an alliance. Their armies are marching for the Dark Threading dungeon. The situation is def-con 1."

    The draugr rubbed at his beard, "The Devastators aren¡¯t going to let the other super-guilds into the dungeon, it¡¯s their territory after all. So most of the higher level Devastators will be busy defending against the invaders."

    "That¡¯s good for us, the more chaos up there, the more time we have to loot and level-up down here. And hopefully find a way out of this mess."

    He needed more about the direct and immediate concern, "What about the party headed here, how many in the group? What are their levels?"

    "Hang on. My friend isn¡¯t part of that group." She touched her temple again.

    The sound of a stampede clopping on stone warned them of something approaching.

    "Iing!" yelled Dave. as he prepared for battle..

    ROAAAAR!

    A monstrous figure wreathed in fire rushed at them.

    Name: Demonic Snake-beast.

    Type: -Greater Demon-

    Level 350

    Monster category Deste Beast

    Danger level: ? ? ?

    35,000-40,000 DMG

    350,000 HP

    35,000 DN

    25,000 MA

    Skills

    [Titan-Carapace]: increases the defense of the monster by 3 times every time it loses 20% of its max HP for 20 seconds.

    [Rolling-Stone]: attack by power rolling into random targets dealing 25,000 points t Damage.

    [Thorn-Mail (passive)]: reverts 5% of Physical damage received to t Damage back to the attacker.

    Lone Arrow whistled, "Whoa, a Destor-tier mob!"

    Drahma spun his iron pir and surged toward the demon, leaving the yers behind.

    "Yep, a greater demon too. Let¡¯s get some hits on it so we get the EXP, but we¡¯ll do it from a safer distance.." He moved back up the tunnel a ways then cast his improved [Spectral Bomb].

    Drahma repeatedly mmed the monster¡¯s crystalline tortoise-shell armor with home run style swings of his iron bat. Every hit staggered the Snake-beast and sent it tumbling and bouncing between the walls.

    Drahma received no damage from the turtle because of his 200 level difference.

    Cracks appeared on the great shell of the monster and its HP dropped lower and lower.

    Reaching a critical HP Level, it withdrew into its shell and began spinning. It spooled up faster and faster, and periodically released bursts of mes. The shell-demon blurred and started to hum, spinning faster until it sounded like a jet turbine at max revolutions. Then, like a stone released from a sling, it shot toward Dave.

    The monster, annoyed at the spectral Bombs and decided that if it was going to die, it would at least take someone with it.

    "Ah shit why me!" cried Dave

    Dave cast [Rising Strike] evading the roll.

    The monster having continued none-stop crashed into a wall. It bounced from the wall andnded on its back. knocked it out of its spin-attack mode.

    Though its snake-like head was thrashing in rage, it was now easy prey.

    Drahma smacked down on the defenseless turtle, destroying the softer belly armor, the stron, and the floor underneath the shell.

    Level Up

    Level Up

    Level Up

    Level Up

    ...

    Level-up notifications pinged at him like crazy again. Dave was once again grateful to have his giant ¡¯cheat¡¯ of a battle-buddy along.

    "Look!" Lone pointed at the dissipating demon-turtle.

    "Aw yeah! Lootz!" Dave moved in and inspected the dropped items.

    Crystalline carapace and stron fragments (Epic Crafting materials)

    Blueprints for Crystal-armor (Epic)

    Xuanwu Rune (Medium Tier)

    Flood-Dragon rune (Medium Tier)

 Chapter 66 An ex?

    "What did you find?" asked Lone Arrow.

    He showed her the items.

    "Oooh a blueprint!" She inspected it:

    Blueprint: armor set, Epic tier

    Crystal L¨®nggu¨© armor (full-set)

    Materials:

    Large Exo-skeleton fragment of Crystal L¨®nggu¨© X 3

    Moonstone ingots X 50

    Gold Shards X 25

    ck Meteorite Steel ingots X 30

    X20 Diamonds X 20

    Cured demon hide X 4

    Required Level to handle the craft

    Master Forgesmith

    "This is a blueprint for Epic-tier armor, the whole set! you should keep some diamonds for the craft."

    "What¡¯s a blueprint do?" asked Dave. He was still new to the game and unfamiliar with much of the nonbat rted mechanics of it.

    "A blueprint contains instructions and temtes for creating an item. In this case aplete set of armor, not just a single piece of it.

    "You can auction this for an ungodly amount of gold, more than all our diamonds together will sell for. Much more.

    "Or you can give it to a high-level Smith to craft a set of the armor for you. Any high-level Smith would do it free. Hell, they would pay you to let them make you the armor just to get their hands on the blueprints."

    "Why so?" Dave didn¡¯t understand why anyone would go so crazy over what was basically a crafting recipe.

    "Think! If only one Smith in the entire game can make this armor, he, or she, will have a monopoly. At least until another blueprint of this armor or another one as good is found, if ever. A monopoly on an item like this armor can make the crafter rich, in and out of the game."

    "Do you know anyone who could use the blueprint to craft a couple sets for us?"

    "I do have a friend who is a high-level Smith, one of the best in the game actually. Naturally, he would be thrilled to get his hands on these ns. But the armor isn¡¯t a good match for my DEX-focused build, so we only need one set."

    Dave saw himself rampaging through missions equipped in the Epic tier armor. He really liked it the idea, "Next time you contact him find out what the blueprint is worth to him, and what it will take for him to craft a set for me."

    He looked down the tunnel, trying to see what might be waiting for them. "I also got a fragment of crystal turtle-shell. The blueprint calls for three fragments to make one set of armor. We¡¯re going to have to kill more turtle-demons to get them."

    "Yeah, I don¡¯t think it will be a problem." Lone Arrow looked at Drahma, "Right, big-guy?"

    "They are but mindless beasts, not a worthy challenge for the might of a Doom Knight," he replied.

    Lone Arrow¡¯s eyes sparkled as she looked at Drahma, smiling to herself.

    "Uh oh, what¡¯s on your mind?" asked Dave.

    "Nothing, nothing. I¡¯ll tell youter."

    She changed the subject, "What about the runes?"

    Dave threw one of the runes to her so she could inspect it while he inspected the other one.

    Xuanwu Rune (Medium Tier)

    -Defensive School-

    The essence of a mythical creature coalesced into a rune.

    +1000 VIT

    Reduces the cooldown of [Bastion] by 5 seconds

    [Chest piece rune]

    Cannot be equipped with Agility or Offensive school runes.

    "This will unbnce the game y!" Dave looked at the rune, mind spinning with possibilities.

    "Yes, it¡¯s a game changer." She tossed the rune back to Dave so he could inspect it.

    Flood-Dragon Rune (Medium Tier)

    -Intelligence School-

    The essence of a mythical creature coalesced into a rune.

    +100 INT

    Increases the Damage of water-rted spells by 15%

    [Gauntlet-Piece Rune]

    Cannot be equipped with Strength school runes.

    "Any mage-ss yer would go crazy for this."

    "We were the first discover Runes. But we didn¡¯t get any game notification for it, or reward from the system," Daveined.

    "You can¡¯t be rewarded for everything, you know."

    She tried to console him, "Look at the stats the Rune gives, they are reward enough!"

    "I can¡¯t use either of these, wrong school." Dave shook his head, and handed them to Lone Arrow.

    "Put them up for auction, they should go for a nice sum."

    Lone pocketed the runes, then abruptly stopped and ced a hand to her temple.

    "Just got a message. The guildies found some boats on the shore, but had a little excitement crossing theke to this side. A few of those two-headed snake monsters attacked. The group killed one of the monsters and looted a rune from it. It sounds like the snake-rune we got, but a Lower tier."

    Looking at the countdown on Drahma¡¯s summoning timer, he figured that the situation became grimmer.

    "How many yers are in theke group?" he asked.

    Lone Arrow sent a message and ended the conversation with "I¡¯ll tell youter."

    "What is it?"

    "The guy was wondering why I was asking him about all of this, he does not know that we are inside the Raid-Zone, Anyway, There are about twenty. The highest is a level 350 Beastmaster."

    Dave knew Drahma could easily take down twenty yers. But if word of the giant berserker got back to the guildies outside the Underworld, everyone would go balls to the wall to get a whack at the giant. Not to mention a chance at Mr. Skeletal.

    "Drahma, we need to move faster."

    Drahma leaned into his stride and stomped forward in such a thunder Dave worried the cave would copse.

    Dave heard another howl, this time two of the turtle creatures stomped their way towards them.

    The two Demonic-Snake-Beast rushed at Dave with their Power-Roll skill, like two crystal wrecking balls .

    Drahma stepped forward to intercept their advance. A swing of his iron pole sent the two spinning balls into the far wall. Dave heard multiple cracks as the turtle-demons impacted the stone, and high pitched squeals rage and pain reverberated through the cave.

    "Welp, that¡¯s a home-run." Dave snorted.

    Dave and Lone arrow used [Spectral Bomb] and [Binding Arrow], This way once Drahma got rid of the two monsters they will be entitled to the EXP and Loot.

    "This is so cheating," said Lone Arrow. She almost pitied the doomed demon-turtles.

    "It¡¯s not cheating, it¡¯s called ¡¯being power-levelled by a boss-mob,¡¯ and it¡¯s uber-cool!"

    Only one of the turtle-demons used the [Rolling-Stone] skill to attack a random enemy this time. Lone Arrow was the target, but she escaped with a perfectly timed use of her [Blink] skill, and Drahma ended the fight with a brutal downward chop that shattered the crystal-armor shell.

    Dave was disappointed though, the two demon-turtles dropped less loot than the first one.

    "We only got two Crystalline shell fragments and a Xuanwu Rune this time."

    He showed the rune to Lone, "But, the rune is for a helmet-piece.".

    Xuanwu Rune (Medium Tier)

    -Defensive School-

    The essence of a mythical creature coalesced into a rune.

    +1000VIT

    Reduces the cooldown of [Warrior¡¯s Will] by 5 seconds

    [Helmet piece rune]

    Cannot be equipped with Agility school runes.

    "It gives a different Skill Modifier. Any tank-ss would kill or die for a reduced cooldown on [Warrior¡¯s Will]," she said.

    "Yea, but we need the right equipment to use these. I haven¡¯t seen any items with sockets for runes yet." He stashed the rune."Alright, let¡¯s keep moving."

    Dave worried as he looked at a ticking timer next to his HUD.

    Anti-Bully

    01:56:03 Time Remaining.

    Drahma¡¯s time was counting down, inevitably they would lose the giant¡¯s help. Dave would most likely have to disconnect until the underworld closed. Otherwise he risked being found by the guildies and killed.

    Dave shook his head and looked at the loot they just collected.

    More Crystalline shell fragments and runes of the same school.

    They had five defensive runes, and four of the Flood-Dragon runes.

    "So far the runes don¡¯t modify any of the Special skills, just the Basic ones," Dave remarked to Lone.

    "It¡¯s still a powerful mod, runes to modify Special skills would be really broken." .

    They approached what appeared to be an opening at the end of the tunnel, and stepped out onto a wide ledge that overlooked a wide canyon. A river of magma flowed through the canyon just below the ledge, and a natural stone bridge reached across the magma river to the other side, where another tunnel opening was visible in the canyon wall.

    The magma bubbled and eddied unnaturally as it flowed past the bridge. There was something underneath the ming surface of molten rock.

    Drahma released a heavy gusting breath, his giant version of a sigh, and said, "This ..." .

    Dave snapped around to stare at the berserker, surprised by the uncharacteristic behavior and unsure what to make of it. Lone, too, had turned to stare up at Drahma, wondering what was happening with their invulnerable damage-dealing tank.

    Before he could question the giant, Drahma bellowed out, "Show yourself, Zora!"

    His voice sted across the canyon and echoed back at them. The surface of the magma rippled and seethed from the force of the sound.

    Dave and Lone looked at Drahma then at each other, both of them wondering what the hell he was doing.

    A beautiful woman emerged from the magma, she didn¡¯t make a single ripple on the fiery pond. She had red scales all over her body except her belly. Her red hair was draped conveniently over her chest.

    Golden horns grew from her temples curving gracefully into dangerous points.

    She had the upper body of beautiful woman, but clearly the rest, still under the surface of the magma-river, was not. Dave saw arge fin molten rock when she moved to lean her elbows on a nearby boulder resting her chin on her folded hands and gazing up at them coyly.

    "My dear Drahma, you escaped your prison. What brings you here...again?" She fluttered her eyshes at the giant.

    The giant berserker answered through clenched jaw, "I thought it was only by chance that I was summoned here, but it seems fate is ying with a stacked deck ." He gripped his pole tighter.

    Something strange was going on between the two monsters. Then it hit Dave. They had history!

 Chapter 67 Enemies everywhere

    Dave inspected the female. The mermaid-demon was green-tagged, so she wasn¡¯t hostile.

    Z

    Level 400

    Ancient-Demoness (Epic Tier)

    Danger Level: Friendly

    HP 400,000

    DN 50,000

    MA 80,000

    Former lover of Drahma the Berserker. A powerful witch, her hunger for power led to being cursed with her current form.

    Dave from Drahma to the demoness, then back at Drahma,"Damn, she¡¯s your ex?!"

    "Indeed, Z is my former beloved," said Drahma. There was a tinge of extra color in his cheeks.

    Lone Arrow looked back and forth between the rtively tiny mermaid-demoness and the enormous Drahma, amused at the exaggerated ¡¯size¡¯ issue.

    "I wonder how they...y¡¯know." she snickered.

    "Stop! I don¡¯t want to know," groaned Dave.

    "What¡¯s going on here, Drahma?" he asked.

    Instead of answering, the giant moved to the edge of the river and knelt. He reached out over the flowing magma, and the mermaid leaptpletely out of the magma onto his arm, coiling her scaled and finned lower part around it. She lounged back against Drahma¡¯s arm with her human-looking upper body, like a diva sunning herself on the deck of an ocean liner.

    "Your decision was a selfish one," Drahma said sadly.

    "You went with the Dead-King for your own reasons. You left first," Z replied gently.

    "I didn¡¯t have a choice. The death of my tribe...my family and my brethren...only the king," Drahma said.

    "What is done is done.

    "Why are you here now? With these, a young Undead and a Living mortal?" the mermaid asked, looking at Dave and Lone Arrow.

    Dave spoke for Lone and himself, "We are Drahma¡¯s friends, and are here on a mission. Will you let us pass?"

    "You smell diffrently...you must be from the outside world...the underworld has opened I presume?" She coiled around Drahma¡¯s thumbsciviously, teasing the giant but still watching the two yers..

    "Yes, it is open. And there will be many more outsidersing," said Dave.

    "Oh, it¡¯s been long since Ist ate human flesh...who is that? Is that a tribute?" said thedy looking at Lone Arrow like she was food.

    Dave stood in front of Lone Arrow saying

    "No, she is not food," he said Looking at Lone Arrow "At least for now. Anyway, a lot of adventurers areing here, and I can see that you and Drahma are...acquaintances. I wouldn¡¯t doubt your strength, but numbers beat courage. You should probably leave this ce."

    Drahma took the Mermaid Z¡¯s ce to answer saying "She can¡¯t."

    "Why so?" asked Lone Arrow who was feeling left alone.

    "She can¡¯t leave this pool for long periods of time..." said Drahma putting the mermaid back to the pond.

    "Then she can just hide in the pool, there is no need for her to die meaninglessly.

    "Oh, what a caring young undead, he reminds me of you Drahma, back then," said the mermaid.

    The atmosphere was bing more and more pink for Dave¡¯s taste so he coughed saying "We need to go Drahma, we can¡¯t dy any longer."

    The timer on Drahma¡¯s Anti-Bully was only decreasing.

    The pressure was getting more and more unbearable. Dave knew that there was a whole group of yers behind them, even if they managed somehow to beat them up, many more will soon know of the existence of Mr. Skeletal here and they wille charging in, in hope of killing him and opening the undead expansion.

    Drahma stood back up and moved ahead, followed by Dave and Lone Arrow who gave a final look at the mermaid diving deep into the pool.

    "Hey Dave, do you know the history between those two?" she asked.

    "I don¡¯t know, nor do I have the time to care. We need to move faster," he replied, moving away faster.

    "Tch, not much of a romancer," mumbled Lone.

    The bridge over the pool was barely enough to sustain Drahma¡¯s gigantic figure, thankfully, even as it wheezed from his weight it didn¡¯t copse. Dave followed behind him and so did Lone Arrow.

    Once they reached the end of the bridge, the walls churned and cracked and a grotto of sorts suddenly opened up in front of them.

    "Deeper in, there is a demonic creature of great power. I think I can defeat it, but I am not too sure about keeping you safe," said Drahma.

    "Don¡¯t worry, I will try my best to survive," said Dave, he didn¡¯t have the choice anyway, staying there would only mean that the group of yers will reach him. Without the option to leave this ce, he is stuck here.

    He has only one choice and it is to move forward, risking survival against a powerful foe, or remain where he was, only to certainly die at the hand of the adventurers.

    "Brave indeed," said Drahma walking toward the grotto.

    Once everyone was inside, Dave was able to hear the wind howling deep from within the hole.

    "There is an exit down there, it might be the other end of this mountain we are in," said Dave.

    "We need to defeat whatever is there first before you can call it an exit," retorted Lone Arrow, she was keeping tracks of Drahma¡¯s expression and the deeper they went the more serious they became.

    "The one here is the master of all those demons we met before. It is a demon-lord and quite powerful too." Said Drahma walking down the grotto, with every step shaking the cave.

    "You don¡¯t seem to be bothered with the dark now?" said Dave as he remembered how the ¡¯creature of light¡¯ was so bothered with it when they entered the Dark Threading dungeon.

    "What do you want me to do? It¡¯s not my fault that some doggy-paranoid undead was too wasteful with our torches...I just have to adapt," she said while twirling her purple hair locks.

    "It is not paranoia! It was tactics! Werewolves hate fire," he interjected trying to keep his dignity intact.

    "Alright Mr, tactician, no need to get all worked up," snickered Lone Arrow.

    Dave stopped abruptly and Lone Arrow bumped into him, she rubbed her nose saying "what was that for?"

    "Look ahead," said Dave.

    There was some lighting from the end of the tunnel they walked through. The light of the broken sky.

    "That¡¯s the exit?" asked Lone Arrow

    "I don¡¯t think so..." replied Dave

    Drahma got out first and immediately said

    "Be on your toes, this is going to be cumbersome!" he said propping his iron pole over his shoulder.

    There was an enormous opening, more than a thousand feet radius. It was shaped like an arena with tall stone walls, the ground was ck as charcoal where you can see cracks all over it. those cracks radiated a magmatic light.

    On the walls there were thousands of creatures, some were sitting, some were flying. They all looked like the Demonic-Beastling that Dave fought earlier when they entered the mountain and got the diamonds from.

    In the middle of the arena was a lonesome figure, he was almost half as tall as Drahma. He had a demonic air to him, with ck horns on the side of his head, of at least ten meters in length. He had red eyes and sharp rows of fangs.

    His skin was simr to the stone floor, it was obsidian fire crackling now and then from his body.

    The most eye-catching thing was the number of arms it had. He had four, with the two extra emerging from his shoulder des. And hooves for legs

    "Wee to my humble lodging!, It looks like Ramsha sent in some worthy foes!" roared the demon looking creature with a rumbling voice

    Ramsha was, of course, the creature that Dave first met when he entered the Underworld. It was the guardian of the ce and probably the strongest being, he also gave Dave the quest for killing as many demons as he could.

    Drahma got in first, almost immediately, the bat-like creatures charged in from the side.

    "Defeat these first, before you get the chance to fight me!" said the demon then he melted into the floor.

    "Its always like this, whenever you wish to fight a boss, he sends in the small-fries..." Said Dave cracking his knuckles readying for a fight.

    "Well, if not for that it won¡¯t be fun." Said Lone Arrow who was readying for the fight.

    "Well, it doesn¡¯t matter, more enemies is more EXP, and more Loot!" replied Dave coolly.

    "That is all you think about, loot? You are not worried about this fair maiden¡¯s safety?" teased Lone Arrow

    "Loot are the dreams of men!" cried out Dave as he charged in after Drahma, attacking any creature in sight.

    Lone Arrow could only chuckle as she started showering the enemies with her arrows.

    By now, the party of adventurers managed to pass the poisonouske and entered the mountain cave where Dave and his party were located.

 Chapter 68 Discord

    Chapter 68

    Twenty five yers cautiously entered the cave leading into the the mountain depths.

    The Devastators party were ragged and tired, and showed signs of recent hard-fought battle. They had lost a number of yers to respawn crossing the corrosiveke waters. yers that were not able to rejoin the party.

    A colorfully decked out yer moved up next to the tall Devastator that was leading the group.

    "Hey boss, what¡¯s the n?"

    The heavy-te armored tank, ster, answered the oundish yer patiently, "We¡¯re going to move forward cautiously, Mongo. We can¡¯t afford to lose any more yers. We¡¯re down to only one healer...not to mention one Beast-tamer." ster turned to look pointedly at the other yer.

    Beast-tamers, the main pet-summoning ss of the game, were known for their entric habits and proclivities. Those entricities, both real and imagined, were often the subject of jokes by other yers.

    But even for a Beast-tamer Mongo was odd. Instead of regr armor, Mongo wore animal pelts with shing colors and patterns. ws, fangs, and the odd skull or two adorned his eye-watering ensemble.

    ster continued, "And since we are talking about it, I need you to send one of your pets to scout ahead for us.".

    Mongol answered, "Aww, boss, I don¡¯t wanna lose myst pet. Not before the otherse off cooldown and I can re-summon them."

    "I get that, but at least your pets can respawn. We can¡¯t, not here in the Underworld. Do it," ster ordered again.

    Grumbling, the Beast-tamer summoned a vaporous ghost-wolf.

    The ghostly canid touched his spectral muzzle to Mongo¡¯s hand in ritual greeting, and then loped down the tunnel in response to the Beast-master¡¯s orders.

    The ghost-wolf returned shortly.

    "Garm says there¡¯s nothing dangerous ahead," Mongo reported his pet¡¯s findings.

    "Alright. Everyone stay in formation. Move in!" said ster.

    The yers quickly realized that the cave was lit by gems. The precious stones adorning the walls of the cave sparkled in their eyes, matching the greed in their hearts.

    One of the yers rushed over to a wall, a pickaxe appeared from his inventory and he swung the tool into the stone around one of the glowing diamonds. The pickaxe rebounded with a shower of sparks and a disappointing ng.

    "Damn, I¡¯m a high level Miner. I should be able to mine these. What¡¯s the deal?" said the Miner dejectedly.

    "There¡¯s bound to be other stuff. Let¡¯s just move faster. This is virgin territory. The only reason we aren¡¯t drowning in good loot is we¡¯re moving too damn slow."," a Dwarf yerined.

    "Rodrigue is right, let¡¯s keep moving," urged Mongo.

    "No, we need to keep moving slow and careful, checking for traps as we go," said ster

    "We won¡¯t get anything that way. I bet the other groups are rolling in loot!" Rodrigueined.

    "I¡¯m not about to let anyone else get sent for respawn by rushing ahead blind and careless. Guild Ops organized the groups.. If you don¡¯t like following orders, you can discuss that, and the chain ofmand, with the head of Ops when we get back. I¡¯m sure Mr. Valentine will be very receptive to yourints."

    "Hell with it, Didrik had more balls than you do. Hells, it was you that got him killed back at theke. I¡¯m not following a coward anywhere. Not anymore. Guys, this green-horn is just here for himself. He got everyone killed back at theke, and now he¡¯s trying to keep us from doing what we came to do."

    ster¡¯s face was red with anger, "Didrik ordered us to chase after the water serpents. Didrik and the rest would still be with us if we had made for shore instead of trying to fight monsters from row-boats.

    "Didrik ignored my advice. I disagreed with him, but I still followed his orders! I fought, risking respawn and expulsion from this raid, just like everyone else."

    "I didn¡¯t see you¡¯se doin¡¯ any support¡¯n, all I seen was you¡¯se runnin¡¯ away...green-horn," said a gruff-voiced Orc.

    "Guys, let¡¯s take off." Rodrigue cajoled his buddies, "Come with me and I guarantee we will get amazing loot. Stay with this loser and you¡¯re going to miss out. I heard a group that went farther into the underworld fought some big-ass monsters, farmed tons of EXP and got epic loot. They even dropped some of those Runes."

    ster wasn¡¯t going to keep exining the same thing over and over to deaf ears.

    "I can¡¯t make anyone stay if they choose to leave. So let¡¯s just get this over with. Who¡¯s staying with the guild party and who wants to strike out on their own?"

    ster didn¡¯t believe anyone would follow a hot-head like Rodrigue, especially based on twisted truths and unconfirmed gossip. He was wrong.

    Twenty yers shuffled out and gathered around the Dwarf.

    "See ster, people know a real leader when they see him. You, on the other hand, just want to y it safe," Rodrigue gloated with his chest puffed up.

    "See ya back at the hall, losers!"

    The mutineers moved down the tunnel rapidly, leaving ster, Mongol, and three other yers who didn¡¯t look sure they had made the right choice.

    "God damn it," cursed ster.

    "You should PM Ops to report and get orders," said Mongol.

    "The top-brass are preparing to fight off an invasion, this isn¡¯t important enough for their attention right now. We¡¯ll just keep going, slow and steady. Don¡¯t touch anything before we check for traps and hidden tunnels."

    "Okay boss," said Mongol.

    The five yers moved forward slowly.

    ster hated being in charge. No one wanted to lead people that questioned every decision and ignored all reason andmon sense. He was just trying to finish the mission and keep everyone safe at the same time. But they wanted fame and recognition, screw the mission. And their own safety.

    ster was checking a conspicuous stctite that might be a deadfall when Mongo spoke up.

    "Ah, jeez, Rivera just bought it," Mongo swore.

    "What?" asked ster

    "Your HUD, man. The Priest, Rivera, he just died."

    ster looked at the party status window in his HUD and saw the gray icon of a dead party member.

    "There goes another one! Their health-bars are decreasing fast, they must be in a tough fight,"

    "A group of turtle-like creatures is attacking the party; level 350 and up," said the archer. He had two fingers to his temple, inmunication with one of the mutineers.

    "We help them. Move!" said ster. The group went from a slow cautious advance to a full sprint.

    In less than a minute they entered a small cavern finding the rest of their group in the middle of a serious scrum.

    "Fuck off! We got this, it¡¯s our loot!" shouted Rodrigue.

    ster didn¡¯t have time to argue with the idiot.

    ster charged in, unleashing a devastating [Piercing-Blow] with his giant two-handed sword.

    A surge of concussive force discharged from his sword, rocking and staggering the demon shell-back. The respite gave the Dwarf the opportunity to scurry behind his taller team-mates to escape from the turtle-snake¡¯s attention.

    "Archers! Hang back, melees Tank the mob! Rotate out the guys with low HP to heal up, then rejoin the fight." ster charged in doing everything he could to increase his threat level and take the aggro from the other yers.But nothing worked. Either he just didn¡¯t have enough damage for the monster to take note of him, or...

    "No point trying to leech agro, it has a random-target skill!" The Orc¡¯s HP was in the red.

    ster cringed,

    ster called the shot, "Everyone Nuke the bastard! Use everything you have to bring it down now!"

    Every yer, regardless of their health status, channeled the strongest skill in their arsenal. The skills lit-off with multiple shes of colored light, bombarding the monster with damage and effects, a Hail Mary y.

    The monster activated an attack skill and Power-Rolled, aiming for the ranged yers in the backline.

    The archers triggered their dodge and movement skills, shooting continuously at the rolling doom, finally killing the monster.

    ster rounded on Rodrigue, "This is what happens when you split the party!"

    "We didn¡¯t need your help. We were handling it just fine," said the Dwarf stubbornly.

    "You got seven yers killed. You all would have died before you brought that thing down," shouted ster.

    "Well we didn¡¯t die. And we got some loot. But the drop-rate is terrible. Aren¡¯t monsters supposed to drop their best loot on a first kill? We only got a rune. Seems shitty to me," the Dwarfined.

    "You should have called us when you first sighted the monsters, what if there were more than three? We can¡¯t afford to make mistakes like this!" said ster.

    "Alright, everyone just chill," the Orc spoke up, "We got it. We need to stay together. ster is one of the highest leveled yers here, we need his DPS."

    "Whatever," Rodrigue grunted.

    The party advanced until they came to a river of magma with a bridge crossing it.

    "Let¡¯s take it slow, this is obviously a perfect ce for an ambush," said ster approaching the river, oblivious to the danger hiding beneath the molten-rock flow.

 Chapter 69 Dalmadoth

    The three exited the tunnel into an enormous ck stone cavern with walls reaching many times even Drahma¡¯s great height.

    The ceiling was open! Dave could see the night sky hanging above them.

    The ¡¯cavern¡¯ formed a natural arena that had been further sculpted and added to by unnatural hands. In the center of the cavern floor was an ominous looking pit, with fumes rising from it. Though he didn¡¯t see a bottom to the pit there was a dim red-orange glowing from it.

    Oh snap! We¡¯re in the crater of a volcano. Which means the ¡¯pit¡¯ is the volcano¡¯s vent, from which massive amounts of liquid-hot rock explode with the force of an atomic-bomb at random intervals.

    Yeah, notfortable with this at all. Lone doesn¡¯t need to know about it, no sense adding to her worries.

    The arena, the volcano¡¯s caldera, was another raid-zone. A battleground intended to challenge hundreds of cooperating high-level yers. Raid-zones usually had a boss, sometimes apanied by lieutenants, as the finale of the challenge.

    Monsters, gathered in hordes and then charged them in a solid wave of fangs, ws and viciousness.

    Drahma swung his iron pir in a sweeping strike that felled arge swathe of the monster wave, killing hundreds instantly and injuring even more. This feat increased his threat level explosively, which left Dave and Lone Arrowpletely ignored as the demonic horde focused their killing intent solely on the giant.

    Dave determinedly cast his new, evolved [Spectral Skull], just to earn Support Exp.

    A party receives EXP whenever a member kills a monster. Most of the EXP goes to the yer who deals the fatal blow. The rest of the EXP is divided ording to the threat numbers each yer generates during the fight.

    The mechanic is meant to force yers to increase their aggro in order to umte more EXP by ying and engaging aggressively with the enemy. Some sses, support sses such as Bards and Healers, are not optimal for dealing damage directly, they usually stay in the rear echelons with the ranged damage dealers...if they don¡¯t want to be sent for respawn.

    The EXP system manages theirck of aggro generation in fights and rewards them for their contribution via the Support EXP.

    So even though Drahma was killing all the monsters, the attacks Dave and Lone made on the mobs garnered them a small percentage of Support EXP.

    But even a measly percentage of an enormous total is not insignificant, and shortly a sweet familiar tone rang in Dave¡¯s ears:

    Level Up!

    "Finally! I dinged! Yes, now I can use it!" Dave cackled and capered like a madman.

    He stored his battered starter-cuss in his inventory and drew a long sword in its ce.

    Dave looted the sword from the guardian of the Ice Pce Dungeon after the Lich Du¡¯Razha killed it.

    He inspected the glowing sword as he equipped it.

    Category: Weapon

    Swords of Mercy

    A trick weapon created in the workshop of an ancient hunter cult.

    The sword can divide into two smaller des when the need arises.

    Base Damage: 320-400

    Attack Cost: 50 stamina (75 when sword is split)

    Requirements

    100 STR 100 AGI 100 DEX 100 WIS

    Level 80

    Bonus Abilities/

    [Double sh] 200% Damage. A shing ¡¯X¡¯ AOE attack. Damage is applied to all enemies in a straight line for a distance of three meters.

    [Soul-burn] Consumes a portion of the user¡¯s soul (-100 HP/sec) to increase the sword¡¯s total damage by 50%.

    Scaling/ss

    S: STR Damage Modifier ( In single sword Form)

    A: DEX Damage Modifier (In dual sword Form)

    ss. Unique

    Lone shot at a demonic-gargoyle then asked, "You look happy. What¡¯s the deal?"

    "I leveled up. Now I can use this." He raised the sword, showing her his ¡¯precious.¡¯

    The golden light given off by the sword gave it a ¡¯holy relic vibe,¡¯ in the hand of the Undead draugr it was a contradiction.

    A demonic Ram charged at Drahma head lowered, it staggered back as if it had hit a reinforced concrete wall, shaking its head. ,

    Seeing a chance to try out his newest toy, Dave charged at the ram. Behind him Lone gaped at his apparent loss of sanity.

    As he closed with the ram the two-handed long-sword disappeared and Dave was suddenly carrying a short sword in each hand.

    The weapon¡¯s Damage modifier was now based on his DEX stat instead of STR.

    As soon as he was in range Dave wasted no time testing the efficacy of the [Double sh] Skill.

    He swung once, twice, and a stwave of X-shaped fire shot out striking the still-groggy demon-Ram.

    "[-220]" appeared in red.

    "That was pitiful," Lone Arrowughed.

    "I¡¯m surprised I damaged it at all given its Damage Nullification and damage reduction from the level difference."

    "You wouldn¡¯t have managed even that papercut if the demon wasn¡¯t still ¡¯Staggered¡¯ from Drahma¡¯s Defense stats, the effect added 50% to your Damage score," said Lone.

    "Meh, whatevs!" Dave turned away from the archer muttering "Game System-Nazi" to himself. He looked around for more disabled prey to use his ¡¯precious¡¯ new toy on.

    "Don¡¯t go too far, you¡¯ll pull agro we can¡¯t handle," Lone yelled after him.

    "Don¡¯t worry, I got this!" he yelled over his shoulder.

    He continued his mission trying to damage as many enemies as he could.

    The hulking Drahma was swatting monsters like flies, most of the mobs he one-shotted. In groups. The snake-headed turtles did take a little extra effort to kill because of their high defenses and HP.

    Dave was running around like a mad man, trying to hitas many mobs as possible with any damage, and looting already fallen enemies at the same time. He collected numerous exoskeleton fragments, runes, demon-pelts and more.

    "The look on your face is just creepy, guy," Lone eyed him warily, like someone looking at days old fish at the market.

    "Loot is the dream of men!" he beamed back at her, eyes zed in ecstasy.

    "Yes, I like Shinies too, but not enough to risk death just for a few handfuls," said Lone Arrow.

    "I wish the boyz were here, they would do all the loot¡¯n and I could stay back and get my Support EXP...I miss those guyz." But his hands never stopped picking up the loot.

    "Yeah, what happened to the undead-boyz anyways,?"

    "I ordered them to slow down the two yers at the Underworld entrance when I pulled you through the portal."

    "Their sacrifice was not in vain. I will pray for their souls," said Lone Arrow in mock piety.

    "I think that would do them more harm than good; remember, they are the wholly and entirely unholy-Undead," heughed.

    Dave continued to dash around the battleground, picking up more loot from Drahma¡¯s killing spree. His inventory was getting heavy.

    Seeing movement out of the corner of his eye he turned, and stopped, frozen in the act of picking up a piece of Demon Pelt.

    "Hey, Lone you remember that biiiig baddy?" he asked

    "The four-armed demon?"

    "Yeah, that¡¯s the one," he said

    "Of course I remember, it was I-need-a-fresh-pair-of-panties scary."

    "Well, you better break out a fresh pack of Hanes." He pointed..

    "Oh sh..."

    The arch-demon rose from the pit, magma pouring down itsobsidian skin.

    "It seems I underestimated you, Drahma," the demon bellowed.

    The remaining hundred or so monsters screamed and dispersed, leaving Drahma standing in the center of the arena floor.

    Dalmadoth

    Level 500

    Ancient Great Demon

    Mythic Tiered Monster

    Danger Level: ? ? ? ?

    HP 1 000 000

    DN 60 000

    MA 50 000

    60 000-80 000DMG

    Skills

    [Magma-Throw] hurls a ball of fiery magma at a target area, Causes 50% base damage on impact in a 5 meter radius. The magma continues to deal damage over time (10 seconds).

    [Demon¡¯s Call] Summons an ancient Demon Maw that deals 10% of target¡¯s Max HP in t damage value.

    [Call To Arms] periodically summons random demonic minions equal to the number of yers currently on the field.

    [Berserk Mode] for every 10% loss of HP Dalmadoth¡¯s base Damage gains 10%.

    Guardian of the first Raid-Zone in the Underworld.

    Dalmadoth was an old demon who took the lead in ancient times to invade the world of the surface. After having been driven back to the depth of the underworld, the armies of the underworld have reorganized themselves once again to try and invade the surface once again.

    "Day-ummm bruhhh."

    "Those stats...just broken," Lone whimpered.

    The boss¡¯s skills were absurd. Along with the Super High HP... this was a Party-Wiper.

    "Not even the final boss in the Pits of Despair dungeon had that much HP!"

    "Dalmadoth!" thundered Drahma "You should have neverid hands on her! Today is the day you die!" Hoisting up his pole and charging forward.

    Dave understood from the Dialogue that it had something to do with Z¡¯s imprisonment.

    The boss¡¯s skin brightened up for a second, and three monsters appeared in the middle of the arena.

    The boss used [Call To Arms] but it was not much of a threat to the group. Drahma ignored the gargoyle and the ram, they were too low a level to deal any damage to him.

    Headed past the turtle, he smacked it taking more than a third of its HP, then crushed it with a backward stomp, it didn¡¯t even have a chance to cast a skill before it died.

    Dave ignored the Ram and gargoyle and rushed to collect an item he spotted shining on the ck stone where the snake-headed turtle had died.

    "Where are you going!" Lone Arrow was shooting at the gargoyle, trying to get the Support EXP.

    Dave was all smiles as he looted yet another exoskeleton fragment, then he saw a ming meteor rocketing straight for him.

    That was the boss¡¯s skill; [Magma-Throw].

    "Aw crap!"

 Chapter 70 Sweet Loot!

    Chapter 70

    Dave used [Rising Strike] evading the initial impact damage from the attack.

    Dave remembered The Boss¡¯s [Magma Throw] had an area of effect of 10 meters, He knew that even if he negated the first impact, the DOT of the skill will still kill him. It was a desperate move, but it was all he could do. He knew that he messed up and he could do nothing to fix it.

    Right now, he was still in midair, the moment hends on the magmatic leftovers from [Magma Throw] he will die.

    [-150]

    A damage value appeared above Dave¡¯s head. Then a st wave tossed him to the side enabling him to evade the area of [Magma Throw].

    Lone Arrow used [Breaking Shot] on Dave helping him to reach the edge of the [Magma throw] area of damage.

    The heat from the magma made Dave shudder.

    "T-Thanks!" he said

    "I told you before, being greedy will get you killed! Now what would you have done if hadn¡¯t saved your ass there!"

    "Yea, thanks for that."

    "Let¡¯s back away Dave, Leave Drahma to the boss" Lone Arrow shot the boss dealing no damage but securing her Supporter¡¯s EXP.

    Dave used [Spectral Bomb] and sent it to attack the boss, then withdrew to a safer area.

    Drahma¡¯s size dwarfed the boss. With every attack he would send him reeling, breaking the obsidian floor and spraying magma all over the ce.

    The boss stood back, and howled in rage, and charged up the titan, wounding him.

    Drahma shrugged the attack as if it was a mere mosquito bite then smacked the boss with his pole, sending him tumbling on the floor like a kite with a cut string.

    Damage values that surpassed Dave¡¯s HP were spiking all over the ce.

    "We should have brought popcorn, it¡¯s like a sh of titans!" said Lone

    "I have a better idea, why not-?"

    Before finishing, he heard people behind him.

    Turning he saw a group of yers, entering the arena.

    "Ah shit. We havepany!" said Dave

    This was the group from the devastators that entered the mountain-cave after Dave. Drahma cleared most of the enemies there, and thanks to that, these guildies managed to get to the arena without much trouble.

    The giant Drahma was beating the living hell out of the Boss, but a certain Dwarf looked directly toward Dave¡¯s location and said.

    "Look over there, that¡¯s the Skeletal guy! The Draugr!"

    The twenty or so yers turned to look at the famous draugr.

    "Cripes, run!" Dave yelled, and rushed toward Drahma

    "Oi, aren¡¯t you running the wrong way?!" cried Lone, but her feets still followed Dave.

    "I have a n! I hope!"

    The Devastators chased after Dave and Lone, greed in their eyes.

    Everyone wishes to be the one to kill the famous Draugr, and be the one responsible for opening the Undead-Expansion.

    Drahma was gaining the upper-hand in the fight. Thanks to the Level Difference, he had more than 30% HP while the Boss was on hisst leg.

    Dave and Lone arrow entered the Boss¡¯s aggro range and activated his skill;

    [Call to Arms] It summoned two demonic-rams on the battlefield.

    Dave and Lone were close to the Rams, who used their charging abilities to attack the duo.

    Dave used [Block] And followed with a [Counter] Staggering the Ram that was targeting him.

    He followed up with a [Spectral-Bomb] , knocking the Ram down.

    Drahma turned and smacked the Ram with his pole and was hit by [Magma-Toss] because he was distracted.

    The [Magma-Toss] dealt heavy Damage to Drahma but he grit his teeth through it.

    "Thanks!" said Dave and remained near Drahma¡¯s feet.

    Lone Arrow acted fast using [Blink] to escape the Ram¡¯s impact and got closer to Dave.

    The Ram didn¡¯t stop moving and headed toward the party of twenty, finding new targets.

    Lone did not Attack the Ram so she did not lock the agro on her.

    For the group of twenty, on the other hand, one of them attacked the Ram with a skill.

    "IDIOT!" shouted the dwarf.

    It was toote, the Ram already locked the agro on the spell-caster and charged toward him.

    The party attacked dispatching the ram in a matter of seconds, and then entered the aggro range of the boss.

    "Well-well-well, look at what we have here, hey ster, I told you, sometimes we have to take risks to get rewards, see that Undead if we kept ying it like sissies we would have never made it here in time to kill that guy," said the Dwarf.

    The guy named ster was annoyed at thement from the Dwarf and didn¡¯t reply.

    Looking at Dave, he saw a bearded Drauger looking back at him, with mixed expressions on his face

    Dave only knew of one guy named ster...

    It was Ralph, Dave¡¯s childhood-friend.

    The party got closer to Drahma.

    They were hesitant, due to the sheer size of the colossal creatures fighting. The party thought that this the fight was rted to the raid. They had little knowledge regarding the happenings in this ce. And couldn¡¯t link the possibility of Dave having Drahma as a backer.

    "Look, he is stuck near the boss¡¯s fight, we need to kill him or else one of those bosses would kill him before us." Said the Dwarf

    No one seemed to have noticed that the two summoned rams attacked Dave and Lone ¡¯only¡¯ when they got closer to the boss¡¯s aggro range.

    Immediately, twenty random monsters were generated, of which six Snake-headed turtles, the remaining were demonic-Rams and gargoyles.

    "What the fu**!" cried the Dwarf having a snake-headed turtle attacking him out of nowhere.

    The yers started casting spells, and skills evading the monsters, hoping to change the course of the battle.

    Dave and Lone were looking back at the chaos ensuing amongst the guildies.

    "You knew this was going to happen didn¡¯t you?" she said

    "Yea, this boss is annoying, to be honest, his skill [Call to Arms] would force yers to engage him in fights with limited numbers, the more yers there are the harder the fight will be, and these twenty yers were idiotic to not inspect the Boss before diving this deep..."

    yers started falling left and right, taking down some monsters with them, the Rams were the easiest to kill, the flying gargoyles needed spell-casters to shoot them down, as for the turtles... their random targeting skill made the party unable to protect their backline.

    The alreadycking number of priests and supporting sses dwindled to nothing.

    the tankers died afterward, due to theck of healing, and their high threat level they were next in line to sumb.

    ster did a great job at holding two turtles but was soon turned to mots of light.

    This made Dave sigh a bit, something that Lone Arrow took note of.

    "You know that guy?"

    "Probably... but we have a problem up ahead" said Dave "You see, I don¡¯t think that they will be able to kill all of the monsters before they die... and when that happens, we will surely be the next to fall, Drahma can¡¯t protect us from everything, especially the random targeting skill of the turtles."

    It was indeed the case, Dave can manage to evade for some time, but there were just too many monsters for him to evade.

    Thest to fall from the adventurer¡¯s group was the Dwarf.

    Of the twenty monsters, five turtles remain alive with barely half HP, and two gargoyles. They turned back and made their way toward Lone and Dave.

    "I guess this is it," said Lone

    A huge crash issued behind them.

    Dave heard the maddened and desperate howl of a creature when he turned around, he saw Drahma standing tall,cerated with wounds, looking more barbaric than ever.

    As for the boss, he was nothing but a corpse now.

    Drahma had 20% HP left, even if he was level 550 he still suffered some damage fighting the level 500 boss.

    Level Up!

    Level Up!

    Level Up!

    Level Up!

    ...

    Conquest Server Announcement!

    The first Raid-Boss Dalmadoth has been eliminated!

    The demonic forces have been pushed back deeper into the underworld, it is your duty to finish what you started.

    The second region of the Underworld will be opened in 2 Hours Game time.

    Would you like your Name to be mentioned in the archaic records of the world?

    Y/N?

    Dave muttered, ¡¯No¡¯ once again

    He didn¡¯t want his character¡¯s name to be known to the world.

    yer Lone-Arrow had helped in defeating Dalmadoth and cleared the First Raid-Boss.

    Praise be upon the Brave adventurer(s) to have done what many could not!

    Lone also helped clear the boss, so it was her right to have some glory in the game, after all, Dave didn¡¯t mind, he was actually happy for her. And at the same time, saddened that he cannot use his yer¡¯s name

    I need to level up more...

    "Why didn¡¯t you add your name?" she asked

    "You already know, I don¡¯t want people knowing my character¡¯s name. It could bring a lot of troubleter on." He said

    Thinking about when he ranks up in the undead-legion, he will be able to travel outside the dead-realm. Mentioning his identity now would bring a lot of unwanted attentionter.

    "Young undead," said Drahma through gritted teeth.

    "I can no longer apany you in your endeavor, I will need to take some rest back at the pce," he said and turning to mots of light that disappeared moving fast toward the east.

    The timer on Drahma conveniently ended.

    ...

    "I guess we can no longer use Drahma to help," said Lone Arrow.

    Dave looked a bit dejected but was thankful, without Drahma he would have never made it all the way here.

    "I think this is the end of our adventure for the moment we should head back. But first, let¡¯s check out the lootz!" he said and headed toward the dead boss.

    Touching the boss Dave got a hold of a lot of items.

    High-Grade dungeon core

    Skill-Book [Demon¡¯s Call]

    Demonic-Rune (High-Grade)

    Demon-Buster (Scaling-Bow)

    Demonic Eye (Legendary crafting material)

    Broken Undead-King¡¯s Helmet (Special Quest Item)

    2000 Gold coin

 Chapter 71 Delvina The Warden

    Conquest Server Announcement!

    The first Raid-Boss Dalmadoth has been eliminated!

    The demonic forces have been pushed back deeper into the underworld, it is your duty to finish what you started.

    The second region of the Underworld will be opened in 2 Hours Game time.

    yer Lone-Arrow had helped in defeating Dalmadoth and cleared the First Raid-Boss.

    Praise be upon the Brave adventurer(s) to have done what many could not!

    "What the hell?!!"

    Gasps and shouts were heard outside the Dark-Threading dungeon, the server announcement just proimed that the first Raid-Boss has been defeated!

    The information about the location to the underworld has just been broadcasted a couple of hours ago and now, the first boss is already down?

    A light leather dressed archer from the Devastators¡¯ A team spoke, "Could it be that it was a low-level boss?"

    "I don¡¯t think so, the level-Checker itself was level 400. Do you think a boss would be lower level than that?" spoke another A team member, an assassin wearing dark leather armor.

    "Who the hell is this Lone Arrow?" said the great-hammer wielding sub-guild leader.

    "I think I know who it is! It¡¯s an elven hunter, she is the one that went with that Mr. Skeletal guy, they caused the fall of the Ice-Pce dungeon! But she was clearly below level 100 that time!"

    The conversation stopped abruptly due to the loud shouting from Mr. Valentin

    "What do you mean he got you all killed!"

    He was receiving a high priority call through voice-chat and his expressions looked ugly.

    "What is going on?" spoke warlord

    "The second-C team we sent in got annihted in front of the raid-boss. They saw that Draugr, Mr. Skeletal, he was apanied by an Elven Hunter. But something is wrong here..."

    Warlord became agitated asking a question

    "What do you mean? Speak up!"

    "The second C team had some arguments and had split up before meeting the first Raid-Boss. They lost members, once they grouped back at the boss¡¯s room... the Draugr got them killed somehow - hold on"

    "Stupid IDIOTS!!!!" Roared Warlord, he was a guild-leader, the unprofessionalism shown by the second C team must have been the cause to all of this, he thought.

    A severe punishment was due!

    "One of the yers inspected one of the Boss¡¯s before it died..."

    "Bosses?" asked Warlord.

    "Yes, this is where I was confused first, there were actually two Boss ss there, and they were fighting each other when the second C team arrived.

    The death of the C team was due to one of the boss¡¯s skill called [Call to Arms] it will generate random monsters in the battlefield to fight yers..."

    "This exins nothing! How the hell was that low-bees managed to defeat the bosses then?"

    "The team was killed before they could see how the fight ended...Do you remember the boss from the Desert-Temple in the southern desert?"

    "The Chained-Drahma? he was supposedly removed from the game due to the dungeon-change there..."

    "Well, it somehow appeared inside the Raid-Zone," replied Valentine, looking confused.

    "How in god¡¯s name is that even possible!" said Warlord "I can¡¯t wait here any longer, that damnable Draugr will probably head for another boss, I won¡¯t have it like this we should move in now!"

    "I have more bad news," said Valentine.

    "What?!" shouted warlord unable to hold his temper

    "The Blood-Rage guild and the Heaven¡¯s Dawn are advancing right now here, they will be here in less than 10 minutes!"

    "Yeah so? They are on odd-terms right now; they won¡¯t be that much trouble. Once they meet up they will go at each other¡¯s throat," replied Warlord massaging his nose-bridge.

    "The sleeper-cells sent info...they are on a truce now, at least until the Raid is over,"

    "For Christ sake CAN THIS SHIT GET ANY WORSE?!"

    The Demonic control over the first Raid-Zone in the underworld waned!

    First Raid-Zone has been taken over by the ¡¯Dead-Realm¡¯ Faction!

    Henceforth, all monsters spawning in the first raid-zone are Undead.

    A new Boss has been spawned at the location!

    Proceed with care.

    Warlord stared dumbly at the information in front of him.

    It can always be worse...

    ...

    Moments ago.

    "Hmm, you look happy. What did you get?" said Lone Arrow

    "We got!" Dave corrected and handed her an item.

    It was the Demon Buster.

    Category: Bow

    Demon-Buster

    An ancient Bow crafted from the backbone of a Great-Gon-Shark.

    The bowstring has great flexibility, giving the weapon great damage potential and a longer Range.

    1 Focus/attack

    Damage 150-300

    [Socket]

    Requirements

    100 DEX. 100 Agility

    Level 100

    Attributes

    +50 Range

    [Triple Shot] Can shoot three arrows at once. (20-second cooldown)

    [Sealed]

    [Sealed]

    +25% Damage against Demonic creatures

    Scaling/ss

    Scaling Weapon

    C: DEX - C: AGI.

    ss. legendary

    "Wow! The base damage is weak, but still! This is a scaling weapon! Are you sure want to give me this?" said Lone Arrow clinching the bow tightly, she didn¡¯t want to give it back but still she had to ask.

    "You can have it, really, I got something better," he said and sent her the Skill-Book¡¯s description.

    Skill book

    Demon¡¯s Call

    Deals 5% of a target¡¯s maximum-HP in t damage value.

    Has 10% chance to work on Boss-ss Creatures/NPC

    Cooldown 24 hours

    Rarety. (Unique)

    "Oh, that looks nice, but the cooldown is too heavy," she said, " Still, Weapons can be changed but skills are forever. What about the rest?"

    "Hmm, I have some stuff here, A demonic-rune and a crafting material; Demon¡¯s eye and some gold and a Dungeon-Core and a bound quest-item," he said showing her everything.

    "Try and see if the Rune can work with that Bow of yours, I can¡¯t inspect it," he said

    Lone Arrow took the rune and tried socketing in her bow.

    "It says ipatible... probably due to the nature of the weapon, it is called Demon-buster, I guess it won¡¯t work with demonic runes. Just keep it, that and the crafting material with you, it might be usefulter," she said.

    Dave handed her share of the gold and said.

    "Thest two items are bound, a dungeon core and a quest item regarding the undead."

    Broken Undead-King¡¯s Helmet (Special Quest Item)

    Show this item to any shop-owner in the Dead-realm to begin the quest.

    He looked at a ck and old broken full helmet; it was one of the loots from the boss.

    I will have to leave this forter...

    Putting back the helmet in his inventory, he brought an obsidian spherical object with magmatic veins in his hand and showed it to Lone Arrow.

    High-Grade dungeon core

    Can modify the structure of a dungeon.

    Would you like to use the item?

    Y/N

    Dave pressed Yes and his vision swam, he somehow was able to look at the whole mountain from high above.

    The arena at the back of the mountain began to vibrate.

    The earth changed, the obsidian floor broke and pirs of bones emerged in various location

    A roof appeared on top of the pirs and a Greek-like temple was the result.

    Instantly, thousands of corpses spawned and stood right outside the temple, they were undead- ranging from normal skeletons all the way to death-knight ss!

    The mountain trembled and about a hundred tower erupted outside the mountain surrounding it like a circle.

    Right next to the towers, several spots and patches of thend turned to great holes and Slime like creatures covered them and concealed the holes with their bodies. They turned to the color of the dirt bing invisible. If one did not look at them acutely they won¡¯t know until they fall.

    The towers changed their structures, creating windows and several floors.

    In each floor, about ten to twenty undead spawned, some were casters and some were archers.

    On the top of each tower was a statue, this statue looked oddly familiar to Dave.

    If he remembered correctly, he saw the same looking statue in the hidden-boss room where the Abyssal-Knight Deadra was sealed.

    It was the Undead-King!!

    A dark aura washed over thend like the tide, when Dave turned to look at the temple he saw ck mots congealing together in the middle.

    The temple spawned a creature within it. It was a woman wearing a veil and ck robes, concealing her features.

    She left the temple and Dave¡¯s vision went back to where he stood.

    Delvina-The Warden

    Level 400

    Rank -Sorceress-(Death Knight)

    Skills (???)

    Hp(???)

    Defense(???)

    One of the most powerful of solitary units under the Lich (Du¡¯Raza)

    Death-Knight Delvina is famed for her ¡¯ways¡¯ in dealing with the infidel.

    Head over the punishment forces of the Undead-Legion. Delvina is known to be one of the most ruthless enforces of the legion. Any unfortunate soul that bes her prisoner will suffer unending torment.

    "Hmm, it is you I presume?" spoke the woman in veils.

    Her voice was low and at the same time imposing. She gave Dave the jitters just reading her character description.

    "What do you mean mydy?" he said trying his best to sound like a gentleman, in front of the torturess in veils.

    "You are the one that helped Du¡¯Raza... he never shuts up about how you handled that guardian there...quite impressive I may say. To have someone as young as you rack up so many achievements, keep up the good work young undead" she said and went back to the temple ignoring the duopletely.

    You have aided in taking control over the first Raid-Zone of the Underworld.

    +50 000 Contribution point!

    For every day the underworld is opened and the first Raid-Zone remains unconquered you will be awarded

    +5000 Contribution point

    Invader¡¯s Deaths in the first Raid-Zone will award you with

    +50 Contribution point/death

    The number of contribution points shocked Dave. He never thought that it will yield this many benefits!

    "Hey cowboy, you look too happy there," said Lone Arrow edging a bit away from Dave.

    "Jackpot!" he shouted.

    "What? You won a million dors or something?" she said

    "Even better! A lot of contribution points!" he replied

    "And that is supposed to be?"

    "Its currency to use in the Dead-realm. You can buy equipment and upgrade your rank with it!"

    "Good for you, now tell me," she said looking at the cave entrance "What are we going to do now? I don¡¯t think we should stay here anymore, there is still an hour and a half so until the second Raid-zone opens; the guildies that died will definitely tell their guildmates that we are here."

    "Right, right. Hmm, I still can¡¯t use the End-Mission option...And I am starving!!! I will need to go and have something to eat, I will log back in moments!" he said and left his character in AFK mode.

    "What the heck!! You didn¡¯t say anything, what should we do!!" shouted Lone Arrow to the AFK Draugr...

 Chapter 72 A contract!

    Outside the Dark Threading Dungeon, six people met in the middle of three armies.

    They were the leaders and right hands of each of the three super-Guilds.

    The Devastators with Warlord and Mr. Valentine.

    Zhang Shi, leader of the Chinese Super guild Blood-Rage; wearing crimson leather drabs with a long katana strapped to his waist. His right hand was a female hunter wearing a dark green light robe.

    Wan Yi, Leader of the Korean guild Heaven¡¯s Dawn. A Berserker.

    A battle-ax was looming over his shoulder, adorned with golden marks. Next, to him, a priest wearing a gray robe, and staff that hummed now and then.

    "What brought you all here? This is my territory, or is it that you wish to start a fight?" said Warlord.

    "There is no need to beat around the bush; we are all here for the Underworld." Spoke Wan Yi.

    As a leader of an entire super-guild, he needed to make his stance is firm. He will not back down without gaining admission to the Underworld even if the situation turns to a fall-out with the Devastator guild.

    "No need to be so hasty," interrupted Zhang Shi, a smile stered on his face.

    "We know that this is the Devastator¡¯s territory and we will not be so tactless to barge in without properpensation. Let us in, and the ess to the Crimson Monastery dungeon will be yours for two months, free of charge," he added.

    The Crimson Monastery was a good EXP dungeon for yers of level 300-400. With that dungeon, Blood Rage guild became the super-guild with the highest average yer-Level.

    The priest next to the leader of Heaven¡¯s Dawn interjected, adding another favorable term to the devastators.

    "We can offer one-month mining rights in the Novigar Mining fields to the Devastators."

    Warlord almost epted the terms, as they were too good!

    Just two months ess to the Crimson Monastery Dungeon is enough to help many of his guild members reach higher levels. Not to mention the vast amount of resources that can be excavated from the Novigar Mining Fields.

    Yet before Warlord could ept the terms, Valentine stopped him saying

    "Four months, ess to the Crimson monastery and the right to solo mine the Bristle Field of the Novigar mining Fields."

    Wan Yi, as the leader of the Heaven¡¯s Dawn, Walked forward threateningly

    "You sure want to take a mile when given an inch!"

    "We make the terms here, either you ept or you can just be on your way," coolly replied Valentine.

    "You Devastators always think so highly of yourselves! You think that both Heaven¡¯s Dawn and Blood Rage can¡¯t breakthrough your pitiful defense line?" bellowed Wan Yi.

    "First of all, there is no guarantee that the Blood Rage would assist you in your idiotic attempt at taking the defensive perimeter down. Secondly, even if the two of youbine forces, you will still not be able to enter the dungeon in three days. We have enough manpower to push you back, and the home ground advantage," shrugged Valentine.

    The home ground advantage of the Devastators was simply too advantageous, where the yers of the Devastators could revive close to the Dark Threading Dungeon, they cane back and resume the fortification, but as for the yers from the other regions, they will be spawned all the way back to their region.

    However, an all-out war is something no one wishes for, not only will it deplete the forces of all the parties; it will also make clearing the Raid-Zone much more difficult.

    If the Devastators were to fight the two guilds, even with the home-ground advantage, they will not be able to send the more powerful yers into the dungeon. Those powerhouses are indispensable to defend the Dungeon.

    At that point, everyone will lose, due to the limited time frame of the dungeon. The best way was topromise.

    The Devastators will still gain a good deal out of this, but the other two guilds will not lose out much, especially after finding out that the territory in the Underworld can be captured.

    Valentine took the lead in adding a note

    "We will only choose 10 000 of every guild to enter the underworld, nothing more, every guild will have to respect this quota of yers."

    "Why?" hollered the Heaven¡¯s Dawn leader Wan Yi.

    "It is understandable," said his right-hand man.

    "We also agree," said Blood Rage Leader Zhang Shi.

    Warlord sent Valentine a Privat Message

    "Why did you limit the number of entry?" said Warlord

    "This is to keep them in check if we send in more they will demand to send more. We can¡¯t afford them turning on us in the middle of the Raid. We will keep half the A team out, we don¡¯t want to have all our eggs in a single basket."

    "Hmm, this should also be favorable to them, the risk of having too many of our yers next to them will make them restless...I guess they will keep their army here as a precaution if somethinges up."

    "Yea, we will have to be careful, we are not allies, but there is no need for us to fight them, I will inform the members of our guild to remain at a distance from the two guilds." Replied Valentine.

    "Alright, now that everything is settled, ALFRED!" Spoke Valentine and the AI butler appeared before them.

    "We wish to sign a contract," Said Valentine

    The butler Alfred snapped a finger and a yellow parchment appeared in his hand,

    "What will be the terms?" he said

    The group finished by stating the terms and penalties of failing the contract.

    All previous agreement included.

    All three guild-leaders got a copy of the Contract confirming their negotiation.

    "Now we can go," said Warlord

    The three leaders went back to their camps and began a recruiting spree, taking 10 000 members of each guild to the Dark Threading dungeon.

    ***

    Dave felt a bit bad leaving Lone Arrow, but his stomach did not feel any guilt.

    He ate some instant noodles and went to hisputer to check out the news.

    Once he logged in, he almost dropped his cup, shocked from the news.

    There was a live feed of the three guilds at the entrance of the Dark Threading dungeon, and apparently, they just finished a negotiation where 30 000 members have entered the dungeon.

    They made a huge beeline that reached all the way to the Underworld¡¯s entrance.

    Thementer on the news looked baffled at how numerous the yers entering the dungeon, the varying sses and for the first time, the three super-guilds were not at each other¡¯s throat. They were cooperating.

    Thementer spoke about the Raid-Zone, exining most of what was known; the region, the factions in it and the recent defeat of the first raid-boss by a low-level yer.

    This made many yers puzzled, an Elven Hunter not even level 100 managed to defeat the first raid-boss? Maybe she hadpany and for some reason, they didn¡¯t wish their names to be mentioned, but what was the point in only having her name mentioned?

    Questions like these and spections about the strength of the boss were thrown all over the chat-box next to the live video feed.

    Had they known that it was done via the aid of a hulking level 550-Doom Knight boss they would have felt even more perplexed.

    "Hey! Where the hell are they going?!" said Dave

    He grimly looked at the 30 thousand strong, headed toward the mountain where he was at, not even bothering exploring the other areas.

    Looking at the current speed of the three super-guilds, they will reach the Mountain in about an hour, In game-time, Dave needed to go back to the game as soon as possible. Once the opening timer of the Second Raid-Zone is over, he could choose that route to escape.

    Dave didn¡¯t think of wanting to fight the groups of the Devastators, Blood Rage, and Heaven¡¯s dawn alone.

    Even if that powerful Death Knight Delvina, was holding the temple as the new area-boss, she will not be strong enough to fight off the three super-guilds. She is level 400 after all, while many yers from the three guilds have long since surpassed her level.

    "I need to get the hell away from that ce." Said Dave and logged back into the game

    Once he was inside, he was surprised to not find Lone Arrow anywhere.

    Dave froze for a moment.

    She is an elf...a member of the living...oh god, what have I done?

    Dave realized that he made a terrible mistake, the dead and the living should not mingle together, and he just left Lone Arrow in the middle of an area festered with them...

 Chapter 73 Vs the world!

    Dave started searching all over for Lone Arrow. He never added her to his friend list, otherwise, he could have just sent her a private message asking about her location.

    Entering deep within the temple, he noticed two women casually sitting on a stone bench, chatting happily.

    Dave heaved a sigh of relief, knowing that the undead did not ¡¯eat¡¯ Lone Arrow and actually chatted with her.

    Dave interrupted the chat of the two women, addressing Lone.

    "Big problems," he said.

    "I know, I heard from my friend that more than 30,000 people areing our way," she calmly said.

    "There is still an hour and so before the timer on the second area is opened. They will have ample time to get here, we should probably log out," said Dave.

    Logging out is the best way to avoid the conflict altogether, although Dave will miss on many opportunities in the Underworld, without Drahma¡¯s Help, he has no will to remain here. Staying will be counterproductive if he dies and screws up his Legacy quest.

    "I have been talking to this elvendy here, and I know of your predicament, to tell you the truth, that is the least of your worries," Said Delvina

    "What do you mean?" asked Dave not knowing what she meant by her statement.

    "The Undead King could only send in this batch of undead to hold the first level. In waiting for reinforcements, we need to hold the fort. If you are to walk away from this ce, it will be deemed treason,"

    Conquest Server Announcement!

    Special Quest!

    Rank S

    The Undead-King¡¯s forces are on their way!

    Hold the fort and defend it from the invading yers.

    Death will foil your Legacy questline!

    Escaping/Logging out for more than 10 minutes (real world time) will foil your legacy questline, and turn your rtionship with the undead to: Hostile

    You Must survive within the mountain area for 4 hours!

    All kills on enemy invading yers have their contribution point reward trippeled!

    Special reward forpleting the quest!

    Dave was annoyed; this was clearly the game forcing his hand hidden under the guise of a special reward.

    "Wow!" said Lone Arrow

    "What is it?" asked Dave

    "I just received a global quest. Taking down the first raid-zone before 4 hours will award yers many benefits. And look here"

    Said lone Arrow as she showed him a picture of a Draugr.

    It was Dave, and under the poster of Dave, a single line was written.

    "Special Target, Eliminating this Drauger will award the killer with +5 levels 25 000 Gold and unique skill [Undead-Bane sunder!]

    "FUCKING HELLL! Now am tempted to kill myself, holy shit that is not fair!"

    "Euh, that is not the problem, everyone in the whole conquest world is after you, and this just reconfirmed it. Killing you is a free ticket to be famous. But man, you are not even level 100, and having the whole server after you... that is indeed unfair," said Lone arrow after a chuckle.

    ALBERT!" shouted Dave at the top of his lungs.

    An old butler appeared before Dave.

    "Now how is this fair!" said Dave shouting at the butler.

    The butler already aware of what happened spoke calmly saying

    "You have used the aid of a powerful creature to open the underworld and delve deep into it, not only that the very fact that you are the only undead-rted character has brought many unwanted changes.

    Your very existence is making several core changes to the game world. So I decided to eliminate your presence, however, I will not be so tactless to not give you a fighting chance. Everything is within the human scope of ability, you have a chance to survive the onughting your way," Said the butler.

    Dave gave a deep sigh, then began stroking his beard.

    Looking back at the butler he asked

    "There is no way I will be of much impact in this fight, I can¡¯t escape and I can¡¯t fight. It¡¯s like being led to the ughter..."

    "Who said you can¡¯t fight?" said Delvina who Dave seemed to have forgotten about.

    "My level is too low," replied Dave

    "Your aura? That is of little consequences. I have several underlings that are far stronger than me, and you don¡¯t see meining about my inability to fight."

    Dave remembered his toon and felt remorseful at having lost them. Still, they are too weak to be of help.

    "I can give you a portion of the undead under me for you tomand," said Delvina as a small window popped up before Dave

    He had more than 20 000 undead!

    Holy shit! There are so many of them! 20 death knights too!

    Many of the death-knights were level between level 450 and 400, although it looked amazing,pared to the huge grouping their way, it was nothing much.

    Dave knew that the three super-guild sent in the best of the best. So these 20 death-knights under him are a good way to help him remain alive for some time, but tost four hours of assault. That would be far-fetched.

    "Hmm, currently this ce is considered a part of the Dead-Realm," said the butler fixing his ces.

    Then with a wave of his hand, a tear in space opened up and a small shop emerged right outside the temple.

    "This is so that you could use your contribution points before the fight. Your underlings can also be summoned here, and you can upgrade your gear, you can also challenge the rankings and level up your undead rank." Said the butler disappearing in thin air.

    "Aw yis!" cried Dave

    He had longed to go back to the Dead-Realm, seeing the more than 55 000 contribution points waiting to be spent.

    Dave immediately went to the shop-owner who had a ragged looking appearance; he gave a smile showing his rotten and ck teeth to Dave, but his expressions changed to that of shock.

    "Where did you get that!" said the shop owner as an item flew out from Dave¡¯s inventory and into the shop-owner¡¯s hand. A broken helmet.

    Dave dropped the broken-helmet when he assisted in killing the first Raid-Zone¡¯s boss.

    "I received it after killing a powerful fiend, why do you ask?" said Dave

    The helmet had a quest attached to it, so, Dave pressed with his question trying to initiate the quest.

    "Will you be willing to sell it for me? I can give you a thousand contribution point for it!"

    Dave didn¡¯t think that an item named with the Undead-king¡¯s name would only fetch a measly 1000 contribution point.

    "HOW DARE YOU!" shouted Delvina rushing out from within the temple.

    The helmet flew from the shop-owner¡¯s hand and into her hands. she gave it a good look and threw it back at Dave.

    "Don¡¯t you dare lose this! If you ever reach the Death-Knight¡¯s level, you should find Andre the cksmith and ask him about this," she said she turned around and gave an angry look at the shop owner, "As for you, you must be dying to see the Gallows!"

    Hidden-Quest

    Reforged Anew!

    Find the Undead cksmith Andre and ask him about the origin of the broken helmet.

    "No mydy! I just didn¡¯t think that this kid knew the value of such a thing, I swear!" said the man feigning innocence.

    Dave understood that the NPC almost scammed him. Thankfully, he had the boss on his side. But now was hesitant to buy anything from the doubtful shop-owner.

    "Ah don¡¯t worry about that my friend, I just wanted to take that item off your hands, I didn¡¯t know you were friends of Lady Delvina! How about this I am willing to give you a 30% discount on the first three items you purchase from me!" he said looking back at Dave with that same irksome smile

    "Show me what you have," said Dave not wanting to waste more time. An army slowly made their way toward them after all.

    The first items that interested Dave were the EXP bottles, once again there were only three, but they looked of a higher tier than the ones he drankst time, especially due to their price.

    700 contribution-point each.

    Dave bought three and drank them all.

    Leveling up would surround the yer with a glowing halo, and once Lone saw that she said

    "Hey! That is cheating!"

    "Benefits of being an ugly draugr!" replied Dave.

    "Finally level 100!"

    Indeed the potions¡¯ potency was enough to level Dave from his 80s to level 100.

    This should do

    Dave opened his Dead-Realm management panel and looked at his battalion leader. He was level 120. 20 levels more than Dave, but Dave knew that it would not be a problem to defeat him 1v1.

    Right before he started the fight, Dave remembered that he still needed to buy the full set of the ck Knight Order. He will be able to use the set-effects, and now with more contribution-points, he can be more at ease with his level on par with his equipment.

    Right below themand panel, he noticed another thing...

    There was a whole tree of specs, not for him, but for his underlings.

    "I can even choose their ss orientation now! Holy crap, they can also be equipped!" said Dave as he noticed that there was an option to equip the undead under him.

    "Hmm, at least now my old equipment won¡¯t have to be sold. I should have enough cash from lone arrow selling my share from the diamonds so am not that tight on cash, I better buy some sweets for the boyz!"

    Said Dave as he madly browsed the shop-owner¡¯s items...

 Chapter 74 Final Preparations

    Warlord hefted his battle-ax over his shoulder and looked around to assess the condition of his party of Devastators. He¡¯d just finished hacking and cutting an overly ambitious demonic snake into giant bloody chunks.

    The demon creature had lunged out of the water and attacked them in a frenzy on the shore where they¡¯d been waiting for more Devastator parties to gather.

    Several shabby-looking wooden boats were beached above the noxious waters of theke. In order to reach the soon to be disputed Underworld raid-zone, the Devastators needed to cross the dangerous waters in those boats.

    The disturbances further out on theke was a sign of more outsized creatures under the murky surface. Probably as crazy-aggressive as ¡¯Chunks¡¯ had been.

    Though they would not be any protection from monster attacks, the rickety boats were a much better alternative to swimming across the grim lookingke.

    A game notification popped up in his vision, he skimmed the systemwide message and turned to Valentine.

    "What do you think about this Val?"

    Conquest Server Announcement!

    Special Quest. Rank: A

    The Dead-Realm does not yet have permanent control of the first Underworld Raid-Zone.

    Demonstrate your might and determination. Eliminate the forces of the Dead in the area to seize control over the first Raid-zone and extend your stay in the Underworld for an indeterminate time.

    You have four hours to secure the area.

    Bonus Quest

    Bounty Target!

    Special Contract Target: draugr (image below). Eliminate with Extreme Prejudice.

    Rewards forpletion:

    +5 levels

    25 000 Gold

    unique skill [Undead-Bane sunder!]

    "Unfortunate," said Valentine.

    "Why unfortunate?" warlord asked

    "We might lose possession of the gate now,"

    Valentine switched to voice chat and addressed the Devastators outside the dungeon.

    "Full alert! All members defend the Dark-Threading dungeon gates, all-out effort. No one enters!"

    "Aren¡¯t you overreacting? We signed a contract, right? The guilds won¡¯t do anything to break the agreement on the contract,"

    "I am not worried about the guilds. Think about it, five levels and a unique skill, plus the reward of extended time in the Underworld. The guilds might encourage their yers to resign and try to enter the dungeon. The Devastators must be the ones to takedown the draugr."

    Warlord turned and what he saw confirmed Valentine¡¯s prediction. The advance of the other guild-groups had turned into a frantic race. Greed-driven yers raced right over the backs of any of their fellow guildies who couldn¡¯t stay ahead of the rush.

    "We move faster. Priority One A is finding the damn draugr and killing him. Sacrifice anything and anyone to make it happen. "

    The game system had set the boats to be avable to everyone, whenever one wasunched another boat would soon appear in its ce.

    The yers took to the boats and hurriedly rowed toward the mountain shore.

    With the endless avability of watercraft, the surface of theke between the shore and the mountain became an almost solid mass of boats, allpeting to reach the other side before their neighbors.

    Warlord and his party rowed across theke without incident. Pulling hard on the oars to beach the boat they were surprised at how crowded the shoreline was. Thousands of yers were milling around without apparent purpose or direction instead of pursuing the Server Quest.

    As soon as their boat scraped onto the sandy beach, Warlord jumped off and pushed his way up the slope through the throngs of yers. He finally broke through the front edge of the crowd and stopped abruptly. The sight that greeted him was an unexpected, and most unwee, one.

    A dozen towers loomed up in ayered defensive pattern protecting the cavern entrance.

    Undead red down at the yers through the arrowslits and embrasures.

    The t meadow in front of the fortifications was cleared and packed with ranks of Undead heavy infantry. The massively armed and armored Undead in archaic-looking but undoubtedly effective equipment stood shoulder to shoulder, an unmoving wall of threat and danger, not a hint of reaction to the proximity of the yers, just steady Undead res.

    The guildies were excited at the chance of loot and exp gains. Though the overwhelming numbers of enemies and their high levels also had many yers shifting restlessly and clenching their weapons in sweaty palms.

    "Hold here! Form up in your battle-squares!" ordered Warlord, simultaneously using the raid-channel and shouting.

    The other super-guilds were doing the same, sorting themselves into battle formations on the shore.

    In minutes the immediate stretch of shoreline was filled with tightly organized blocks of yers, forcing the seemingly endless numbers of yers still rowing across theke to beach their boats and disembark farther down the shore line.

    The leaders of the two super-guilds, Zhang-Shi and Wan Yi, had signaled Warlord for a parley. With their seconds at their sides they marched briskly through the Devastators formations and approached Warlord and Valentine.

    After perfunctory courtesies, the leader of Blood Rage Zhang-Shi began, "We need to get through this chokepoint as quickly as possible. The most expeditious path is to attack with equal numbers of yers from each guild."

    Valentine sent a private message to warlord, ¡¯They are correct. The first force to enter the crucible will suffer enormous casualties, and thest might not reap any of the rewards. A mixed force, of equal numbers from all three guilds is the best course of action.¡¯

    "Agreed. We will each send in five thousand members, and two thousand every ten minutes after that," Warlord proposed.

    Looking at Wan Yi, sworn enemy and rival, Zhang Shi spoke, "We need to cooperate on this one.

    "I propose Blood-Rage forces take the towers, and Heaven¡¯s Dawn forces take the frontline, we will send reinforcement to every section and rotate in between whenever the need arises." said Valentine.

    Valentine and Warlord looked to the silent leader of the Heaven¡¯s-Dawn guild, stoic-faced but holding their breaths. It would be an enormous loss to all three of the guilds if they couldn¡¯t all work together on this, in both resources and face. In the long-term it could even topple one or all three of the super-guild¡¯s oligarchic reign as other guilds grew stronger.

    "Huh, you are sending my people into the grinder! We will lose too many yers with that n, more than your guilds," said Wan Yi.

    "I will be leading the frontal assault, to keep as many yers as possible alive. We need Blood-Rage to neutralize the towers, we can¡¯t leave our backs exposed to a counter-assault. Especially if we make it through but leave the enemy elements behind us." answered Valentine.

    Wan Yi was mollified, or at least dropped his objections. Everyone knew Valentine was the top Guardian in the game, having him at the frontline guaranteed fewer casualties. Especially with his Metamorphosing Man¡¯s Legacy Skills.

    Valentine had the best skill-kit to protect huge groups of yers at the same time, and has the skill to back it up.

    "We will initiate a frontal assault with heavy armored formations to tank the Undead infantry and absorb the damage from their ranged damagers. The attacking force will be supported by mage, archer, and healer elements with a guard-reaction force to protect them.

    "The frontal attack will be provide the cover for our rogues and assassins to nk their infantry, infiltrate the towers, and eliminate the archers," Valentine exined.

    "Sounds like a good n, what happens if we run into a boss-ss monster?" Zhang-Shi asked.

    "If it is not guarding the entrance to the cavern we ignore it, we can alwayse back for it after we secure the raid-zone for ourselves we don¡¯t have time to waste on bosses, the quest timer is almost up,"

    "I¡¯ll send five thousand Blood Ragers to work with your groups, but they will be under directmand of a Blood Rage yer," said Zhang-Shi.

    "I willmand the tanks and vanguards," Valentine stated calmly.

    Wan-Yi snorted, clearly his nature was a reflection of his Berserker ss. He was irritated at the idea of a Guardian leading a heavy assault even if it was a tank force.

    "Oh, the great rubber-man will lead from the front?"

    "We will lose fewer tanks if I lead, and do not call me that again." As he said thest, Valentine looked directly at Wan-Yi, the neutral gaze of an uncaring killing-machine. Kill or don¡¯t kill, the machine didn¡¯t care, it would do whatever was necessary to continue its chosen path.

    The stand-off was interrupted from an unlikely source.

    "We have amon goal, for the moment, and have agreed to work together. Let us do so with courtesy and respect." Zhang-Shi made calming motions with his hand.

    "I ask to have Sand-Storm lead the rogue division that is to eliminate the archers. Is that agreeable?" He gestured to his second.

    "I have heard of Sand-Storm and her exploits," Warlord looked at the assassin, "She is a good choice to lead the assault on the towers."

    The silent woman nodded at the leader of the Devastators, then faded from normal sight as she turned and glided away.

    Warlord almost rolled his eyes. Rogues. They loved to be sneaky, and were never quitefortable unless they were Stealthed up.

    "Then it fall to me to lead the mages," the yer next to Wan-Yi spoke.

    Everyone stared at the white-robed. ze, the right hand of the Heaven¡¯s Dawn, and ording to all the rumors and intelligence reports, the shot-caller of the guild, the power behind the throne.

    If it any of the other yers present said those words, he would have been ignored or reprimanded. But not this wizzy character, the holder of an A ss Legacy. The Star Mage.

    "If we are agreed, operations willmence in three minutes."

    The yers in each designated group and division were informed of their part by PM, raid-channel, and screaming spittle-spraying guild nons.

    In short order the guild yers were grouped up and in their assigned positions.

    Valentine led the assault forces in the first wave. The disciplined ranks of guild yers were a chaotic mix of banners, armor styles, weapons and races. A marked contrast to the regr formations of a professional militia, but just as deadly. It looked almost festive, a riot of colors and sses; tanks, Berserkers, Guardians, and Pugilists.

    Clouds of arrows arced from the towers, humming through the sky like swarms of enraged bees diving down to sting the assault force.

    The mages and wizards responded, activating spell-barriers, buff-skills, and control cantrips to reduce the damage. Healers topped-off the vanguard force¡¯s HP levels as soon as they dipped, and banished status-effects as soon as they manifested.

    The stoic Undead infantry finally reacted to the yers, dessicated faces twisted into Berserker masks of Rage, charging the guild force in a rolling tide of unstoppable fury that shattered the resolve of many.

    The fear-inducing effect of the updated game-y, spread panic in many of the weaker willed yers. Some stumbled and fell, tripping unfortunate mates, and the formations rippled momentarily weakened.

    Demonstrating the advantage of Fearless in this situation, the Undead pushed forward relentlessly. If an arm was lost they used the remaining one, if they lost both they used their teeth, if they lost their legs they crawled forward. Only death and respwan stopped them.

    "Stay in formation! Tighten up the frontline, keep your shields up!" shouted Valentine.

    The Guardian¡¯s arm elongated the hand filled in and grew into a bowling ball sized nged mace head. As he continued to shout orders and encouragement the Guardian used his weaponized limb like a wrecking ball, hammering at iing groups of undead and scattering them to be fodder for the other yers to finish off.

    Valentine used another Skill, conjuring and covering everyone nearby by in a thin film of a gtinous material, bouncing away some of the attack damage.

    Many of the undead were under level 300, but the sheer numbers slowed the assault force¡¯s charge to a crawl.

    A lucky attack by a ghoul staggered a yer out of formation, isting him. Dozens of ravenous ghouls reacted instantly, leaping on the unfortunate yer. Screaming, he disappeared from sight under a pile writhing Undead. Momentster the ghouls dispersed leaving no sign of the yer, not a scrap of flesh or fragment of bone.

    The skeletons in the towers were still firing arrows and ballista non-stop, there was no lessening in the storm of projectiles.

    "The towers are still shooting at us. What happened to our rogues?!" shouted a yer in the tank force.

    In themand post, set-up away from thebat, the three guild-masters were in continuousmunication, conferencing and sharing information.

    "Send in the second attack wave!" Warlord ordered, and a formation of yers stationed at the shore moved up to support the first attack group.

    "The rogues ran into a level 400 death knight. Sand-Storm estimates five more minutes to take it down, then they can clear the tower and move on to the others." Zhang-Shi reported.

    "Shit. If there is a death knight in each tower, it will take at least an hour to get through. I rmend wemit every rogue-unit reserve we have to help with any other 400 level bosses that are in there."

    "Agreed"

    "Wise, I agree"

    "We¡¯ve lost 5% of our attacking force. To reduce losses and save precious time by infiltrating just six towers instead of all twelve. With full healing, the tanks can absorb the damage from the remaining towers long enough to breach the fortification and overwhelm the defenders," Wan-Yi spoke solemnly.

    "We should kill everything, leaving enemies at our backs is asking to get nked-and-ganked," said Warlord.

    "If we go about killing everything in the towers we will never make it in time to bring down the g on this quest," said Wan Yi.

    "Wan Yi has a valid point," said Zhang-Shi.

    "Alright, let¡¯s do it your way. Guild-Master Zhang-Shi please send updated orders to the rogue units. I will update Valentine."

    Warlord gazed out over the waiting formations to where the battle raged. The chances ofpleting the Quest before the timer went to zero were ticking away. The assault forces were fighting against time. If this battle was not resolved quickly, they would have to use Legacy skills to power through.

 Chapter 75 Gearing up!

    Dave scrolled through the items in the undead shopkeeper¡¯s inventory. He skimmed through the items, examined, dismissed andpared many. Finally, he chose his selections and made his purchases.

    Category:Heavy Armor

    Gauntlets of the order of the ck Knights [gauntlet, armor, te]

    Description

    A piece of an armor set forged for an order of knights that was corrupted and cast down long ago.

    Sworn to fight against the vile and abhorrent undead the order brought their own doom upon themselves in the form of the full might and wrath of the Undead King, ruler of the Dead-Realm.

    The order¡¯s end was tragically ironic, the Undead King cursed the order to rise as Undead, thus they became the very thing they hated most.

    Requirements

    Level 60

    200 strength. 100 agility 100 DEX

    Attributes

    +400 to VIT

    +2% Immunity damage

    200 Damage Nullification

    100 Magic Absorption

    ss

    Rare

    Category: Heavy Armor

    Helmet of the order of the ck Knights [armor, Helmet]

    Description

    A piece of an armor set forged for an order of knights that was corrupted and cast down long ago.

    Sworn to fight against the vile and abhorrent undead the order brought their own doom upon themselves in the form of the full might and wrath of the Undead King, ruler of the Dead-Realm.

    The order¡¯s end was tragically ironic, the Undead King cursed the order to rise as Undead, thus they became the very thing they hated most.

    Requirements

    Level 60

    200 strength. 100 agility 100 DEX

    Attributes

    +400 to VIT

    +2% Immunity damage

    200 Damage Nullification

    100 Magic Absorption

    ss

    Rare

    Category: Heavy Armor

    Cape of the order of the Fallen ck Knights [armor, Cape]

    Description

    A piece of an armor set forged for an order of knights that was corrupted and cast down long ago.

    Sworn to fight against the vile and abhorrent undead the order brought their own doom upon themselves in the form of the full might and wrath of the Undead King, ruler of the Dead-Realm.

    The order¡¯s end was tragically ironic, the Undead King cursed the order to rise as Undead, thus they became the very thing they hated most.

    Requirements

    Level 60

    200 strength. 100 agility 100 DEX

    Attributes

    +200 to VIT

    +4% Immunity damage

    300 Damage Nullification

    300 Magic Absorption

    ss

    Rare

    With the three new pieces Dave finally had aplete set of the ck Knights armor.

    "Status-Screen!"

    Level 100

    ss Death¡¯s Apostle

    Name Death Stroke

    Race Human (Undead)

    Health 27 000+(1350)

    Mana 3000 +(150)

    Stamina Unlimited

    Rage/Focus 100

    Intelligence 260 +(13)

    Wisdom 310+(15.5)

    Dexterity 260 (+13)

    Agility 260 +(13)

    Vitality 2700

    Strength 260 +(13)

    Magic Absorption 1000

    Damage Nullification 2000

    Immunity 20% +(1)%

    HP Regen 0.1/sec +(0)

    Mana Regen 1.1/sec +(0)

    Stamina Regen +¡Þ

    Rage/Focus Regen 1/sec

    Title

    I know it all!

    ...

    "Niiice!"

    Normally, equipping the ck Knights damascened-steel armor transformed the person who donned it into a heroic and noble figure. But the Ring of the Death God cast an illusion over its wearer, ageing and decaying the appearance of every equipped item.

    "A wise choice, oh most favored of customers." zombie the shopkeeper bowed repeatedly.

    Dave ignored the obsequious shopkeeper and summoned his Undead toon and looked them over. The boyz had leveled up immensely since the gate to the Underworld. Now, the lowest member was level 81, and Bud was the highest at level of 92.

    It was time to spend some Contribution points on the Boyz, pimp them and their gear.

    Bud was a good guy. Ghoul, whatever. He was always there for Dave in a pinch or just to lend an ear.

    Flipping over to the minion management tab he purchased aplete set of ck Knight armor for Bud.

    "Hey, Bud, this one¡¯s for you. Go ahead, put it on," he told the ghoul.

    Bud blinked, then epted the armor. It took a few moments for him to equip it. The armor appeared on the ghoul and transformed the emaciated Undead. He grew, bing taller, shoulders broader. The ck mask and visor on the helmet presented a sinister, menacing, visage.

    Turning back to the other Boyz, he called one of the casters over.

    This was the caster that evolved into a skeleton fire-mage during the fight with the werewolves in the Dark-Threading dungeon.

    "I¡¯m going to call you Sparky from now on,"

    He went through the store inventory again, looking for items that fit the skeleton¡¯s build and stats.

    He purchased a set, long red robes, a pointed wizard hat, and a staff crowned with a red gem.

    Even though the wizzy set was only three pieces of gear it cost more than the ck Knight armor. Gear for wizards and magic-user sses simply cost more than melee gear, it was just a fact of the game.

    He equipped the rest of the toon with ss-appropriate sets.

    He spent a total of 12,000 contribution points but was satisfied with the results. His toon looked like a badass hit-squad now.

    Lone Arrow, with nothing to do, had been loitering around the temple. She stood up as Dave and the Boyz trooped out of the shop door.

    When she saw the squad she did a double take and shot Dave an inquisitive look.

    "You can equip your Undead now?"

    "Yea, I just found the option now."

    Looking around the square, the Undead bustling to and from various buildings, Dave¡¯s attention was caught by a contrast, an area of marked inactivity to the side of the temple.

    At the center of that serene stillness, a scruffy, unassuming figure leaned against one of the temple¡¯s fluted columns.

    Intrigued, Dave walked over to see what the deal was. As he crossed into the shaded temple portico, the character stirred and pushed away from the column. Disheveled clothes hung on a scarecrow thin frame, and skin stretched tight over bone and muscle created a nightmare face. Deeply setmbent-yellow eyes focused on Dave like rapiers. A draugr, like Dave.

    A glowing green exmation mark appeared over the scruffy looking draugr¡¯s head, blinking.

    An instructor!

    Just as Dave was about to ask, politely, for training the instructor snorted derisively.

    "You have so many holes in your Defence and Attacks it¡¯s a wonder you reached level 50, let alone 100."

    What a rude little fuck! But I can¡¯t offend him, this is my only chance to get my skills.

    "Yeah, I don¡¯t have many ss skills. I couldn¡¯t find anyone to teach me."

    "I can teach you some of the skills you need." said the draugr.

    He waved a dessicated hand. A notification popped open in front of Dave.

    You have learned the skill:

    [Bulwark] (Level 20)

    [Charge] (Level 30)

    [Heroic leap] (Level 40)

    [Jeopardy] (Level 50)

    [Ground Breaker] (Level 60)

    [Warrior¡¯s Will] (Level 70)

    [Lunge] (Level 80)

    [Bastion] (Level 90)

    [Concussive Blow](Ultimate Skill)

    Dave cursed at the list, "Crap...!"

    A list of basic skills every tank ss had ess to as they leveled up. Having the skills earlier would have made his game-life much, much, easier.

    Before he could open his mouth to bemoan his difficulties, the system chimed and a new notification appeared.

    Due to your ss (Death¡¯s Apostle), the following Skills were changed:

    [Bulwark] changed to [Death¡¯s Blessing]

    [Charge] Changed to [Immortal Apparition]

    [Heroic Leap] Changed to [Death¡¯s Descent]

    [Ground Breaker] Changed to [Death Surge]

    [Warrior¡¯s Will] changed to [Undying Will]

    Dave inspected his newly acquired skills one by one. Paying particr attention to the ¡¯upgraded¡¯ ones, since he¡¯d never even heard of them.

    [Death¡¯s Blessing]:

    Passively Reduces All iing Magic Damage by 10% Activating the skill grants 100% Magic Immunity for 2 seconds. 5 Minute Cooldown.

    [Immortal Apparition]:

    Instantly teleports oneself to the target¡¯s Location, and bursting with deathly magic, pushing the enemies away from the target and inducing a Fear effect on enemies for 2 seconds.

    2-minute Cooldown

    [Death¡¯s Descent]:

    Jump to a target¡¯s location, Ignoring all iing Crowd Control effect and dealing 200%Weapon Damage on sessful hits. 5-minute cooldown.

    [Jeopardy]:

    For every 10% HP loss, passively increases user¡¯s Magic absorption and Damage Nullification by 1%

    Once the target is under 50% Hp, Increased Crit Chances By 5%

    [Death Surge]:

    Powerfully stomping the ground results in a wave of death energy surging outward from the caster¡¯s location. Slows target in a 5*5 radius from the caster. If the target was under a Fear Effect, the target receives 300% weapon, Damage. 30-second Cooldown

    [Undying Will]:

    Removes all Crowd Control effect from the caster. And gains +5 % Immunity for the following 2 seconds.

    2-minute cooldown

    [Sword Lung] :

    Sends a sword projection in a straight line of 20 meters, piercing enemies and dealing 250% weapon Damage to enemies, Damage reduced by 20% for all subsequent enemies hit.

    30-second cooldown.

    [Bastion]:

    Gain 100% immunity and Crowd control Immunity for 3 seconds, Unable to cast skills or move during the channel duration.

    3 Minutes cooldown.

    [Concussive Blow]:

    The next sessful weapon strike deals 500% Weapon Damage to a target, If a target is below 20% Hp, Damage increased to 750% with a 10% chance to stun a target for 5 seconds.

    20 Minute cooldown.

    "Better, Young Undead, better. Now you have fewer holes in your Attacks and Defense. But you must train hard to increase the power of your skills."

    The exmation mark over the instructor¡¯s head vanished.

    Dave rubbed his temples as if trying to soothe a headache.

    "Why didn¡¯t I have to do quests, or train, like the time when I got [Destructive Smash]? That guy just jammed the skills into my skill-bar without warning."

    "Instructors no longer give quests rted to skills or require you to grind for them after the patch," Lone Arrow answered his muttering.

    "Heh, I got lucky then, training to learn these skills and doing quests would have taken a lot of time I just don¡¯t have," said Dave

    Dave looked at his Battalion window and smiled. He¡¯d been waiting for this for a long time.

    Thest time he used this option, was when he challenged an Elite Skeleton for his military position.

    For one thousand Contribution points he purchased the right to challenge his Battalion leader for the top spot.

    Undead Ascension

    You have purchased the Right and sent a challenge to the Leader of Battalion Number 2705,

    Rioushak (Rogue).

    Dave was transported in sh of light. He appeared on a tform. A skeleton stood at the center of the tform, twirling daggers around his hands and eying Dave.

 Chapter 76 Undead Captain!

    The amphitheater loomed over Dave, on all four sides of the fighting arena tiers of stone benches and VIP boxes lighted with torches stair-stepped up and away from him. The seats were filled with thousands of hoarse-voiced Undead roaring and screaming as they waved their arms and weapons in the air. Behind the ¡¯nosebleed¡¯ sections an ornate wall enclosed the open-air structure. An iconic bone tower visible above the top of the high wall confirmed the location of the arena.

    Dave had been transported to the King¡¯s City in the Dead Realm.

    Standing across from each other in the arena, Dave and the Battalion leader, Rioushak, eyed each other menacingly, measuring and weighing for strengths and weaknesses.

    This was the next step in Deadra¡¯s Quest. He had to win this fight, get promoted to Undead-Captain and take the Battalion leader¡¯s position.

    A voice thundered "FIGHT!"

    Dave used [Immortal apparition] to shroud himself in shadows, then blinked out to appear directly in front of Rioushak with an eruption of Death energy. The rogue was thrown across the arena floor by the force of the shadowy explosion.

    Fear Effect failed!

    Before the rogue could recover, Dave used [Sword Lunge], extending into the ssic fencing stance. The sword punched a hole in space, an eye-twisting spatial anomaly.

    Passing through the distortion, the sword expanded rapidly to airne-wing size, shooting toward the target like a bolt of lightning and striking with Skill-enhanced damage and area of effect.

    The speed and sheer size of the sword made it impossible to escape the attackpletely, even with the [Dodge] Skill the rogue used.

    [-422]

    Rioushak was struck in the side, staggered and pushed back, but he was spared the full brunt of the damage from the deadly Skill.

    Without pause, Dave activated [Stampede], charging at the battalion leader, his sword cocked back to sweep forward. The rushing attack was preceded by a building wail that dopplered away as he sliced through the rogue¡¯s chest and continued past him, like a runaway train.

    [-1822]

    [Stampede]¡¯s high base Skill-damage amount, coupled with the ¡¯Stagger¡¯ effect synergized to deal crippling damage.

    The rogue mped his jaw at the damage and turned to strike with his daggers. Dave evaded the double attack easily, counter-attacking with [Twin-Strike].

    [-1223]

    Debilitated by the stacked active effects, the battalion leader kept trying to center and regain his bnce. But Dave never let up, he kept the pressure on the rogue. This was part of his strategy. A lot of Skills won¡¯t work when specific debuffs or status effects are active. The Stagger effect makes most attack Skills inessible.

    The rogue growled in irritation, unable to activate any of his Skills singly or in their supremely effectivebination attacks, the bread and butter of his rogue ss. Rogues are ultra-high damage dealers, but ss cannons, easily shattered.

    Dave cast and detonated [Spectral Bomb] against the draugr¡¯s chest. The exploding skull pushed the battalion leader away. Dave retreated in a chain of backflips, gaining more distance to set up his next attack.

    He activated [Death¡¯s Descent], leaping high enough to see the streets around the arena, then plunging toward the earth in a meteoric melee attack. The attack Skill ended with Dave in an iconic superhero pose, knee, foot, and fist shattering the cobblestones, sword pointed down and back, his opponent sprawled across the cratered floor.

    [-1285]

    The Battalion leader punched the ground in frustration before kipping up to lunge at Dave with daggers outstretched. His eyes gleamed with insanity and rage ignoring all iing damage and attacking without regard for hisck of heavy armor and inherent rogue vulnerability.

    Dave didn¡¯t try to evade, he used [Block] and neutralized the dagger attacks, then followed up with [Counter], dealing mild damage but staggering the rogue yet again.

    [-250]

    Not wanting to give the rogue an opening to recover or attack.

    His shield returned to inventory as he separated his longsword into two shortswords.

    He shed, twin swords in an X, and activated both sword Abilities, [Double sh], and [Soul Burn] immediately after, gritting his teeth as the (-100 HP/sec) cost of the second Skill bit into him and started draining away his Health.

    [Soul Burn] funneled waves of fire toward the rogue, the mes cycloning around the X AoE attack from [Double sh]. The Abilities synergized, increasing and concentrating the damage. Thebination struck the rogue causing an immediate ¡¯Immte¡¯ DPS and a longer DoT ¡¯Burn¡¯ effect.

    [-1662]

    The rogue used [Vanish], disappearing into stealth.

    Dave didn¡¯t even bother looking for him. He stomped a ck-steel booted foot into the stone floor and shouted a Word of Power, sending out a wave of energy. The air around him turned dark and murky. [Death Surge], a battlefield control skill; causing a ¡¯Slow¡¯ effect and increased damage debuff.

    Sure enough, in the act of sneaking up on Dave for a backstab the crafty rogue¡¯s stealth cover was shredded away as [Death Surge] swept over him.

    Dave attacked with [Concussive Blow], coupled with [Twin Strike], just off of cooldown.

    [-6852]

    [-4552]

    "Sweet!"

    Dave kept the momentum going, continuously assaulting the Rogue.

    It only took a few minutes after that for Dave to defeat the rogue. Dave went for a dramatic finisher, crossing both short swords through the rogue¡¯s neck and popping the head off. The headless body stood for long seconds before it copsed like its strings were suddenly cut.

    Dave had lost less than a quarter of his HP during the fight. Most of the loss due to the draining effect of [Soul Burn].

    As soon as the rogue¡¯s body slumped to the floor, Dave was transported back to the temple square in the first Raid-Zone.

    Undead Ascension!

    You have defeated the Battalion leader, the rogue Rioushak!

    You are hereby elevated from Skeleton Elite to the rank of

    Undead Captain.

    You have been givenmand of Battalion 2,705.

    You may select 10 low-tier Undead to promote to Elite rank.

    The promoted Undead willmand 10 soldiers of their own .

    Just as you challenged your superior for advancement, so too, others can challenge you for your position.

    +500 Contribution points.

    Serve the Undead King faithfully.

    Dave read the notification and looked at Bud, Sparky, and the rest of the Boyz. He opened his interface and leveled up their ranks.

    The appearance of the ten newly ranked-up Undead changed.

    Bud, the ghoul, grew muchrger, his armor darker, and spikes sprouted from every metal tes.

    Sparky¡¯s robes had be ragged and old. Eerie animated sigils moving around on them. His staff grew taller, grander, and phantasmal mes flickered from the red and yellow gem.

    The remaining eight Undead lost their bony physiques, bing morepact and sturdy.

    The ten newly ranked-up undead assembled at attention in a straight line. They seemed to shudder, and then lower tier undead started emerging from behind them every few seconds. The new Undead paced away from the Boyz and then turned and stood at attention behind them. This repeated until a formation made of ten columns of eleven Undead stood before Dave.

    A total of 110 units and they were all Dave¡¯s

    You are now eligible to partake in the second challenge of the Legacy Quest.

    Would you like to start?

    Y/N?

    So, the Legacy quest gives a challenge every time I rank up in the legion.

    If I ept the challenge, will affect my mission of remaining here until the legiones? fighting off the three super guilds four 4 hours might not be feasible after all...

    Dave pressed Y.

    Your Legacy quest challenge has been archived due to your current mission, please finish your current mission first.

    "Damn," Dave cursed.

    "What is it?" asked Lone

    "Nothing important. Do you know what is happening outside?"

    Before Lone Arrow could answer, Delvina, the warden, emerged from within the temple and walked toward them.

    Solemnly she said, "The army of the living is advancing through the cavern, they have been slowed by the archers positioned in the towers but it will not take much longer for them reach this location."

    "How long before they get here?" asked Dave.

    "Two hours, at best."

    Dave turned to look at the temple. Checked the time remaining on the S ranked quest.

    There¡¯s less than two hours left on the quest timer, the guildies aren¡¯t going to make it. I¡¯m safe.

    Dave shook his head, he¡¯d been worried for nothing.

    "Delvina, where can I find the unit under mymand?

    "Summon your Death Knight lieutenants, and they, in turn, will summon their minions."

    Dave nodded.

    In his panel, he found the icons for twenty Death Knights. They were all in heavy ck armor, indistinguishable from humans except for the green glow of their eyes shining through the visors.

    Themand panel showed the level of each Death Knight, all in the 400s. Each Death Knight had 1000 units under theirmand.

    Dave summoned the twenty Death Knights for a closer look.

    They were a grim looking lot. Bad mofos, every one. Probably they all had a wallet that said it in writing too.

    He felt better having these powerful ¡¯pawns¡¯ at hismand. But they still gave him the creeps.

    More than 80 Death Knights were sent to stop the iing army of adventurers. With the 20,000 under hismand as back-up, he was sure the guildies would fail the ¡¯S¡¯ ranked system quest.

    "Bad news!" interrupted Lone Arrow.

    "What?"

    "The guildies are using their Legacy Transformations. The Undead frontlines have fallen or are falling, the yers will be here in an hour."

    "Son-of-a-bleeding-leech!"

    Delvina was rmed at the news and started snapping out orders to her seneschal, preparing her defenses.

    "Delvina, If we wait for the adventurers to get here, they will roll over us in no time. The only ce we might be able to hold them is the bridge that crosses the magma river."

    "Indeed. I¡¯ve already ordered my advanced units to retreat to the bridge, they will make a stand at the magma river. It should slow the invaders down. But the Legacy users are going to be hard to stop."

    "We don¡¯t need to kill them, just slow them down. Once the King¡¯s Legion arrives, they will eradicate the Living invaders."

    Dave separated his forces, he nned to take ten Death Knights and their units to the bridge to hold the guildies. The other ten would stay behind to defend the temple, and act as a reserve force if he needed them.

    Ordering ten of the Death Knights to follow, he set a fast pace to the tunnel that lead to the magma river and the bridge.

    Lone rushed to catch up with Dave.

    "Where are you going?"

    "Isn¡¯t it obvious? I want to get a closer look. "

    "You do know we are the lowest level yers in this expansion, right?"

    "Don¡¯t worry Lone, if things get too hot we¡¯ll retreat back here," Dave smiled at her confidently.

    Author¡¯s Note

    I guess I have many things to exin, first of all, i didn¡¯t drop this, and many know that you can read up ahead at Royalroad,

    secondly i was on vacation! and my PC broke, i couldn¡¯t update.

    andstly, i don¡¯t have 500 chaps written!!! just 89 and 9 of them are pay to read on my patreon, i am not a professional writer and i do my best to supply chaps when i can, if i know i would get enough money out of this to survive, i would probably start doing mass releases...but i can¡¯t now cuz i need to work for my living x)

 Chapter 77 Killing a Guildmaster!

    Dave ordered his new Death Knight minions to proceed at their best speed and secure the bridge. They followed, marching through the cave apanied by Dave¡¯s original ten Undead, each of whom had ten Undead minions of their own after being promoted. "I don¡¯t think this is a good idea, Dave," Lone said carefully.

    "I told you, I¡¯m not going to put myself at risk. I have a quest where I must not Log out or escape from a fight, this might be considered escaping if I wait here," jubntly said Dave

    His words didn¡¯t match his actions as Dave looked like a child on Christmas morning while walking to a battle.

    When they reached the cavern bisected by thezily flowing river of molten rock they could already hear the ng of metal on metal and the screams of beasts and men. They stood at the tunnel mouth, adjusting to the dense hot air of the cavern,den with the sulfur and burning metal smell of the magma. Carefully, they moved toward the bridge.

    Right before the bridge was arge opening where Thousands of undead troops were positioned in organized blocks.

    The troops made way for Dave and his group.

    shes of light and explosions erupted regrly in the middle of the group that was at the furthest side of the cave. Right next to the bridge; the frontline.

    The adventurers gained ground with every passing second, felling undead like cutting weed.

    Dave had a clear look at the frontlines from his position.

    A man with pink armor strode forward holding two death knights at bay alone.

    Every time he attacked, his arm would elongate, pushing them away, enabling him to easily kite the Death Knights. While at the same time, whenever he received an attack, his body bends like a balloon reducing the damage.

    "That is Mr.Valentine!" said Lone Arrow "he has the A ss Metamorphosing Man¡¯s Legacy, he can sustain huge amounts of damage while receiving minimal effects. A great defensive Legacy." Her eyes were gleaming, almost like if she were looking at a celebrity.

    Next, to him, a man attacked with unbridled attitude.

    A great-ax wielding Destroyer, strapped in dark armor, He had a white halo around him which constantly damaged the undead. Every attack from him deals enormous amounts of damage to his enemies.

    An avatar of an enormous and ethereal warrior stood behind him, almost ten meters in size, mimicking every attack of the yer in devastating AOE and Ssh Damage.

    "S ss Legacy holder, Warlord," said Dave.

    Looking at the situation, Dave noticed that the adventurers had the upper hand, and the reinforcement who were constantly pouring from behind them will help them force their way through to the arena near the temple in no time.

    Once that is done, the territory of the Undead will be imed by the adventurers and Dave will undoubtedly be killed.

    Delvina had a solemn look on her face.

    "Servants of the Undead King, we cannot allow these invaders to take thend of our Lord! Fight for what is ours, even in death our servitude to the king shall be awarded!" Delvina roared and a bloodied whip appeared on her hand.

    Battle Cry!

    For 20 Minute +5% Bonus Damage

    -5% total Damage received

    She took apany of undead and charged to the front.

    "That is a boss ss monster!" said Mr.Valentine, "Retreat to the back! Switch with Heaven¡¯s Dawn he added.

    The adventurers on the front hastily retreated and gave up the bridge.

    Heaven¡¯s Dawn had the most tanker and Berserker sses in this raid, against boss sses, they would be the best to make boss killing easier. At themand of Mr.Valentine, they switched position and Heaven¡¯s Dawn took the lead.

    They had higher level yers, with better equipment, and looking at them, they were fully healed up and strong enough to take on a boss-ss monster like Delvina.

    "Things are about to get messy," said Dave.

    Even after saying that Dave had no intention to retreat.

    Dave ordered the two Death Knights to use their 1000 Unit each "You and you, take your troops and help Delvina, don¡¯t let anyone bypass her. If yers force her aggro, attack from the side and hamper them,"

    "What do you intend on doing?" asked Lone Arrow

    "The guildies will try to kite Delvina by pulling aggro. If I let them do that they will undoubtedly kill her, and we will be next. If I manage to attack the yers who try to pull Delvina¡¯s aggro, she will be unbridled and attack randomly which will ruin the guildies," answered Dave.

    "You guys," said Dave pointing at the eight remaining Death Knight under him.

    "Get all your casters and Archer ss and any other range ss to attack the backline of the invaders. Don¡¯t let them heal their frontliners and have your casters use weakness spells on their vanguard," Dave began organizing the troops.

    The eight remaining Death Knight didn¡¯t object the order. They summoned hundreds of range ss undead and guided them forward, following Dave¡¯s order.

    "I should join in on the fun," said Lone Arrow.

    "Don¡¯t get yourself killed, once you attack you will be marked as an Aggressor, you are not an Undead, and if you die you will be sent to respawn outside the Raid-Zone," Dave reminded Lone Arrow.

    "Don¡¯t worry, if things get serious I will blink out, ande back here," she said.

    "Alright, take care," said Dave then got close to the frontlines.

    He didn¡¯t have the slightest intention of fighting in a mele with the higher leveled yers, but using his [Spectral Bomb] and his new ranged skill [Sword Lung] he can be of slight help to the Undead army.

    Delvina became the bane of all vanguards, as she had a strange passive on her vicious barbed iron whip. Whenever she attacked, it would force the yer to bleed for a percentage of their Hp, and inflict [Grievous Wounds] which reduces the effects of healing to 50%.

    With the addition of the group that is constantly attacking the healers from range, the vanguards started falling rapidly.

    "What the fuck is going on! I need some healing!" shouted one of the Tanks who was trying to hold the boss¡¯s aggro but failing.

    "Get the tankers to increase their aggro! We can¡¯t Aggro-Pinne The Boss!" A man wearing barbarian leather, and a great-ax shouted.

    He pulled his grat-ax and began imbuing it with mana, he was charging a powerful skill.

    This man had the aura of a Legacy Transformation, the Barbarian God of ughter.

    His body was brimming with power and had tattoos shining all over himself.

    "That is Wan Yi, Heaven Dawn¡¯s guild master...¡¯ muttered Dave

    He then sent a sneaky [Spectral Bomb] toward him.

    "This should surprise him,"

    [-0]

    The spectral bomb dealt no damage to the high-level yer but was enough to stagger him, canceling his channeled attack.

    "Fuck! This skill!" the Guild master looked around and noticed Dave who just finished casting the skill.

    Under the huge numbers of undead, it would be hard to locate Dave. But now that he attacked Wan Yi, he exposed his location.

    Wan Yi smiled, then charged toward Dave, ignoring the rampaging boss.

    Killing the boss can wait, an easy kill worth tens of thousands of gold and a unique skill was in front of him.

    The right hand of Heaven¡¯s Dawn guild was a shrewd and calctive man, the moment he saw Wan Yi ignoring the formation and charging deeper in the Undead yers, he panicked.

    "What the hell are you doing Yi! Get back!" he shouted. But the guild master didn¡¯t answer. He charged in the middle of the enemy troops, singlehandedly breaking their formation.

    Dave smirked at the idiocy of this yer.

    It only took a few seconds, for Wan Yi¡¯s Hp to drop below Half.

    Even with his Legacy Transformation activated, he was not a match to thousands of attacks from all sides.

    Wan Yi only needed to attack Dave Once, for him to kill the famous Draugr, even if he were to be expelled from the Raid-Zone, it would still be worth it.

    But Dave was not that much of an idiot, he retreated, forcing the Barbarian to chase after him. Further worsening the situation.

    Heaven¡¯s Dawn¡¯s right hand became infuriated and ordered a party to follow after Wan Yi, saving him is a must as he is one of the S ss legacy holders which are needed in this Raid.

    "Come here little rat!" shouted Wan Yi, using a skill to st away the undead that surrounded him.

    "Catch me if you can,¡¯ replied Dave.

    Wan Yi looked around and noticed that behind him, the gap he made in the undead group closing.

    "Damn!" he turned around and tried to force his way back, he knew that if he remained here, no matter how strong he is, he won¡¯t be able to break through again.

    "What a chicken, you can¡¯t even kill a lowbie like me, and you are already retreating. Eat this!" said Dave as he blew a [Spectral Ball] at the backhead of Wan Yi.

    [-0]

    This only served to infuriate the Guildmaster, he ignored the path of retreat, even when he saw a partying his way. He charged at Dave.

    Wan Yi¡¯s Hp decreased faster, with all the attacks from the archers, High-level Death Knights, and the asional sword pricks from melee enemies, it brought his HP to critical levels, but he only needed a single attack to finish off Dave.

    Greed is the bane of man.

    "Eat this!" roared the barbarian

    A shadow of a titanous bear appeared behind the Guild Master swinging its paw at Dave.

    [Bastion]

    Dave used his newly learned immunity skill, nullifying the attack of the Barbarian.

    A bright light enshrouded Dave, but at the same time, made him unable to move, the skill will give 3 seconds of immunity but will make Dave unable to attack

    Wan Yi used the chance to get close, he was sure that the moment the effect of bastion ends, he can end Dave¡¯s life even if he dies afterward it would still be worth it.

    "Die for me!" shouted Wan Yi, as he used attacked with his great ax, wanting to split Dave in two.

    Dave smiled.

    [Rising Strike!]

    Wan Yi struck nothing but empty air, and his life ended by the concentrated attacks of the undead that surrounded him.

    +150 Contribution point!

    "That is one S ss Legacy User down." Dave looked at the adventurers and said, "still many to go."

 Chapter 78 The power of a God of War!

    "Wan Yi just bought it. He¡¯s off to respawn" Valentine shouted.

    "Stupid effing shite!" cursed Warlord.

    A Guildmaster and holder of an S-ss Legacy dying at any time was no small thing, let alone during a multi-guild raid. That it was ¡¯permanent¡¯ and happened for no good reason made it all the worse.

    Even inrge, well nned and organized raids yers were sent to respawn in great numbers, often multiple times. But Guildmasters had a responsibility to preserve their own lives for the sake of morale and the continuity ofmand. Like the king piece in chess.

    "Zhang Shi, we need reinforcements on the frontline!" Warlord shouted.

    "I don¡¯t have anyone to send to you Warlord. I¡¯vemitted all our reserves to keep the undead pinned down in the towers. You really don¡¯t want theming up behind you, do you?" His reply was overly sincere and concerned, smug.

    "Shit, we¡¯re on our own," said Warlord.

    Valentine sent Warlord a private message.

    "It¡¯s pointless to ask him for more troops, Warlord. He¡¯s devious and opportunistic. He¡¯s taking advantage of the situation to exhaust our manpower."

    "Why would he risk losing the quest?"

    "With Wan Yi out, Heaven¡¯s Dawn is basically leaderless. The guild second, Cao Cui is capable but his power and authority are severely limited without the Guildmaster¡¯s presence.

    Zhang Shi¡¯s Blood Ragers are in a safer area, fighting the archers in the towers, with minimal losses. When it is time for thest push his guild will have greater numbers."

    "Damn, he wants more of the ¡¯pie.¡¯ OUR pie!"

    Valentine interrupted the conversation to yell "BUGGER OFF!" at the undead trying to w his guts out. After he knocked the attacker away into the magma below, he resumed the discussion in his calm conversational tone.

    "There¡¯s no more time to dick around. We have to ¡¯force the Boss.¡¯ I have a n for afterwards, when the Ragers tip their hand."

    "How many minutes left on your Legacy timer?" asked Warlord

    "We transformed the same time, so we both have around 57 minutes left."

    "That¡¯s enough time for us to take down the boss. Then we mop up all the small fry and ¡¯take the g.¡¯ As far as I¡¯m concerned, after Wan Yi¡¯s stupidity and Zhang Shi¡¯s bullshit schemes, the prize is all ours. Fuck ¡¯em."

    "Agreed. Let¡¯s do it," said Valentine

    ...

    Delvina monitored the battle at the bridge, sending reinforcements into the melee as needed. Blocks of Undead charged in to saturate the battleground with more fresh blood.

    The contrast between the two sides was obvious not just from their different appearances.

    The Undead fought silently except for an asional growl rumbling from deep in their chests. Aside from that the sh of weapons and the ¡¯thunk¡¯ of a de sinking through armor and into flesh were the only sounds they made.

    yers are a noisy lot on the other hand. They scream, howl, and curse; and of course they chant or shout Words of Power to activate Skills.

    Using Dave¡¯s tactic of ranged attacks on the healers significantly increased the rate and number of Adventurer deaths. Delvina slowly gained the advantage thanks to Dave hampering the healers and started pushing the adventurers back.

    After Wan Yi¡¯s death, Heaven¡¯s Dawn was performing poorly, their death rate was the highest amongst the three guilds, and without effectivemunication or leadership their front-liners were bing more and more disorganized and ineffectual.

    The Devastators tanks and damagers that had retreated across the bridge earlier had regrouped into an armored wedge formation. Under Valentine and Warlord¡¯s directmand the formation began to sing a sonorous battle hymn as they set off in lockstep, quick-marching back onto the bridge toward Delvina. elerating constantly, their boots soon thundered against the stonework as they reached maximum speed, a unified living armored battering-ram.

    The Heaven¡¯s Dawn troops on the bridge, directionless and unorganized, gave way or were forcefully thrown aside by the Devastators¡¯ charge, some falling over the side and into the magma flow.

    "What the Hell are you doing Devastators!" A yer shouted at them after his buddy was shoved over the edge.

    None of the Devastators replied.

    Chanting loudly, eyes focused, they charged full-force toward Delvina, interguild coordination and cooperation discarded.

    "Hmmm. It might work," Dave muttered to himself.

    Lone Arrow appeared with a popping sound next to Dave, a [Blink] assisted retreat.

    "What the hell is happening!" she said

    "Wan Yi bit the dust. Now the Devastators are charging Delvina."

    "They¡¯re trying to ¡¯force the Boss,¡¯,[1] that¡¯s stupid. They¡¯ll lose most of their people."

    "True, but it¡¯s good for us. I¡¯ll send my Death Knights to assist Delvina and help whittle the Devastators down.

    "I¡¯m going to get back in there. And Lone. Stay here until your [Blink] is off cooldown."

    Lone pouted, "Yeah, yeah. I¡¯ll stay up here while you have all the fun."

    The Death Knights under Dave¡¯smand were still in good shape. But they weren¡¯t enough to stop the adventurer¡¯s formation in a head-on battle.

    Dave wanted to take advantage of Delvina¡¯s rampage to engage the adventurers from a more favorable position.

    Delvina looked calctingly at the charging adventurers, then waved a hand signal for her Undead to reposition themselves in front of her, grouped into tight square-formations.

    The front lines of Undead presented a wall of linked tower-shields, quilled with bitter-cruel points of long pikes. The second and third ranks in the squares braced the Undead in front of them, shoulders, core, and feet, to receive the heavy charge.

    Screaming their final verse, the Devastators wedge crashed into the Undead pike-line in a cacophony of screeching metal, booming impacts, and battle-chants. Bodies went flying from the impact, some lucky adventurers fell over the edge into the magma flow dying instantly. The unlucky ones were sent flying all the way into the forces of the undead,only to be killed, being speared, gnawed at, or brutally massacred by the undead.

    The confusion of the savage melee at the collision point of the charge,bined with the ¡¯Fear¡¯ effect update and the increased pain-setting, all unfolding at the center of a bridge high above a flow of glowing molten stone created a truly hellish scenario.

    The Devastators charge was an impressive disy ofbined power, and cooperative battle tactics. But the Undead line held,, and the Devastators were now being pushed back by the Undead. The points of their pikes ravaging the yer lines, and the tower shields presented a hitherto unbreakable wall of solid-steel advancing forward over the fallen.

    Delvina cracked her razored scourge in a continuous stato rhythm at the adventurers. Every stroke of the nine-tailed weapon shed four or five yers, tearing away chunks of HP and afflicting them with [Grievous wounds], a debuff that reduced any healing they received by 50%. Her Death Knights attacked the unfortunate ¡¯bleeding¡¯ adventurers immediately, savagely, killing them before they could be Cleansed and healed.

    Suddenly a bright aura surged out across the ranks of the Devastators, and Warlord¡¯s Legacy Avatar rose up and up, a titanic figure standing protectively over the Guildmaster, howling like a mad god of war. This was the revtion of the full power of an S-ss Legacy summoned into y.

    Warlord thundered out the words, "God Fist!" and struck down at the ground with his armored fists.

    Arge rift formed over Delvina¡¯s forces, from it emerged a gauntleted fist as wide as the bridge itself. The golden gauntlet waspletely covered in intricate iys of mands and God-runes.

    "Holy shit!" Dave watched the manifestation of the S-ss Legacy in fascinated awe.

    The god-gauntlet crashed down on the undead formations, the spreading shockwave sting hundreds of undead away to fall into the magma.

    With the use of a single Skill, Warlord had breached the Undead shield line, killed dozens of Death Knights, and staggered Delvina, and her entire army.

    "KILLLLL!" roared Warlord.

    The Devastators charged through the opening in droves.

    Shit, that Skill is so broken. I have to help Delvina or we are screwed.

    Delvina ced herself in the center of the bridge, a true Boss monster, blocking the Devastators advance, stopping them cold and enduring the focused fire from hundreds of yers.

    Dave ordered his Death Knights range on the Devastators healers at the rear of their forces.Then he put a hand to his beard, calming his mind, and tried to think of a way to save the situation andplete the S level quest.

    Valentine noticed the odd behavior of a small group of Undead, Death Knights targeting his backline healers.

    "Whoo-Kungson! You and the Heavy-Hitters leapfrog over this mess and take out that group of Death Knights attacking out healers. Double-quick, go, go, go!"

    Dave noticed the pink armored guardian giving orders, and he smiled.

    A shiver ran down Valentine¡¯s spine as he used his shield to ward off attacks from two Death knights. Driving his foes back with a shield-bash Skill, he used the momentary respite to look around. His gaze was drawn to a certain draugr that stood out from the rest.

    Generally, Valentine didn¡¯tck for confidence and his icy demeanor under pressure was legendary. But something about this specific Undead disturbed him deep down, like a premonition that he wasn¡¯t quite aware of yet. The draugr wore elegantly chased ck armor which, while still battered and worn, was several grades above the usual rusted te armor worn by ¡¯normal¡¯ undead.

    What was even more unsettling was that this particr draugr was looking directly back at him, smirking as he stroked his bearded chin.

 Chapter 79 The Draugr falls?

    Chapter 79

    "So, ¡¯Pinky¡¯ is the man pulling the strings," Dave muttered to himself.

    this guy is a pro, a good strategist and leading figure, but I can¡¯t think of a way to eliminate him, at least not for now...

    Dave looked at a timer in his disy, 22 minutes before the legion was due to arrive at the bridge.

    " Delvina is holding the guildies here, they aren¡¯t going to reach the g in time. I¡¯ll just go back to the temple, there¡¯s nothing I need to do here."

    One of your Death Knights has been in!

    "Huh? That can¡¯t be right."

    He looked around at his Knights and counted, "...9-10, they¡¯re all alive."

    Then the thought hit him like a thunderstrike. Dave turned, looking back toward the temple.

    "SHIT! Rogues!"

    "DELVINA! Their rogues infiltrated past us to the Temple! I¡¯m going back!"

    Delvina roared back at him, "GO! The King¡¯s army is near!"

    Then she started killing yers even faster, giving herself to a fit of madness.

    Her HP had dropped below 50%, Dave knew she probably wouldn¡¯t make it.

    Dave ordered five of his ten Death Knights to stay and support Devlina with their troops.

    He ran as fast as he could with the other five Knights through the tunnel, heading for the Temple.

    Dave¡¯s mind was spinning.

    He should have thought of this, been ready for it. With [Invisibility] and [Stealth] skills, rogues, thieves, and assassin sses could easily bypass a battlefield and infiltrate deep behind enemy lines to sow chaos. Or reach strategic objectives.

    It was damned fortunate he¡¯d left the other ten Death Knights on standby near the g. Otherwise, the territory would have been lost without a whisper of warning.

    It took only a handful of minutes at a full sprint to reach the Temple cavern.

    As he neared the tunnel exit he heard sounds of battle, the thumping in his chest increased.

    Dave breathed a sigh of relief when he exited the tunnel and looked toward the Temple. The Undead Realm g was still flying over the Temple.

    Hundreds of assassins surrounded the Temple. But their stealth was already broken and they were being held back by his Death Knights and their troops.

    Watching the Undead holding their own against the stealth ss yers, Dave wondered how the guildies had killed one of the Death Knights.

    They probably focused all their stealthed attacks on one Knight.

    "Surround and attack them!" Dave ordered the five Death Knights he¡¯d brought from the bridge.

    The Undead Knights and their troops swarmed out and enveloped the guildie positions and attacked from long range.

    Then the Death Knights, followed by their Captains, charged. Their power increased by their rage at the enemy¡¯s proximity to their g, they tore into the rogues¡¯ formation.

    The sound of swords and metal echoed, yers, shouting and yelling at each other, trying to regain momentum and reorganize to meet the attacks from the new foes.

    In just a few minutes the fight was over, thest rogue dying at the ax-swing from a Death Knight.

    The Undead howled thunderously in unison at the defeat of their enemy.

    That was close. I should probably stay here, the guildies will know what happened soon enough. And they will try something else.

    ...

    At the bridge, Delvina¡¯s final thread of Undead vitality was cut by Warlord¡¯s Legacy Great-Axe.

    He looked at the timer. Less than 15 minutes for the quest to bepleted.

    "Valentine, we have to move. Rush the g!" he said

    "Agreed."

    "DEVASTATORS! Regroup and heal up!

    As he finished speaking, Valentine turned to see the Blood Rage guild pouring from the tunnel and rushing at them with expressions of savage glee on their faces.

    "What is Zhang Shi up to?" muttered Warlord.

    Valentine¡¯s eyes widened.

    "WARLORD! TAKE THE FRONTLINERS, GO FOR THE FLAG! GO GO GO!

    "ALL DEVASTATORS, ADVANCE TO THE TUNNEL NOW. "

    Warlord didn¡¯t hesitate when he heard Valentine. He trusted him unconditionally.

    "A-GROUP! WE¡¯RE GOING FOR THE FLAG! MOVE!" bellowed Warlord on the guild¡¯s battle channel.

    Professional yers, they didn¡¯t question orders in battle, they ignored the remaining Undead, running through them and into the tunnel with all possible haste.

    Without Delvina the Undead became less organized, they wandered about aimless and picked random targets to attack.

    "What¡¯s going on Valentine?" Warlord asked as they sprinted through the tunnel.

    "Blood Rage. Our spywork found out they already sent a group of assassins for the g. But their attempt failed, so they abandoned their siege of the towers and sent all their members to attack the g, I wouldn¡¯t be surprised if they even attack us."

    "But aren¡¯t we making it easier of them? If we charge in we will lose more yers, we are not even fully healed up. Hell, I¡¯m at 20% health!"

    "When we reach the cavern exit, I¡¯ll form a defensive line and hold the Blood Ragers. You continue into the cavern with half our forces to take the g."

    "Val, can you take Zhang Shi?" asked Warlord.

    "One-on-one, no. But I can slow him down. You have to deal with the Undead and take the g. One other thing, I saw the Draugr on the bridge, if you can¡¯t take the g, at least take him down!"

    "He¡¯s here? Yeah, I got it. He¡¯s a dead-man-walking."

    The Devastators broke through the unorganized Undead defending the tunnel exit and immediately split into two groups. One group stayed to hold the Blood Ragers at the tunnel entrance and the other rushed toward the temple.

    An imposing figure in ornate red ceremonial robes approached the Devastators¡¯ defensive formation.

    "What is the meaning of this Valentine?"

    It was Zhang Shi. He had easily fought through the undead at the head of his guild.

    "Oh, hullo Zhang Shi, fancy meeting you here. We¡¯re just watching our guildies¡¯ backs, holding the line.

    "By the way, a little bird told me you sent a unit of stealths to take the g. Too bad they failed so miserably."

    Zhang Shi¡¯s face expression began to turn an apoplectic red.

    Valentine shook his head, like a disapproving parent, "Ipetence, it¡¯s easy to me followers, but I think it always starts with the leadership, don¡¯t you agree?"

    "So. You found out about that little maneuver. Obviously, there are traitors in the ranks. No matter, they will be found and weeded out."

    Still red-faced from Valentine¡¯s taunts, Zhang Shi, turned back to his guildies.

    "Blood Rage! Take them! We¡¯re done ying nice!"

    He turned, and with his Blood Ragers backing him up, charged the Devastator¡¯s.

    ¡¯It¡¯s all up to you now, Warlord,¡¯ thought Valentine as he prepared to receive the Blood Rager¡¯s charge.

    ***

    From his position at the Temple, Dave saw several thousand Devastators rushing madly toward his Undead.

    "Crap. This is going to get nasty. Ten minutes. We just have to hold for ten minutes!"

    "Death Knights, hold the line! Archers and casters, FIRE AT WILL!" he roared and took a position with his battalion.

    The yers charged the Undead heedlessly, crashing into the Death Knight ranks.

    At the bridge, Delvina had organized her forces in a solid defensive line. Dave tried to mimic Delvina¡¯s shield-wall tactic, but his formation crumbled under the Devastators attack.

    The tactic had worked for Delvina because she had a numerical advantage.

    Adventurers rushed through the holes in the formation and wreaked havoc among the Undead.

    Dave started umting Contribution points like mad from all the adventurers dying at the hands of his minions, however, his troops were falling even faster.

    One of your Death Knight has been in!

    One of your Death Knight has been in!

    One of your Death Knight has been in!

    Time was ticking away and Dave¡¯s army was barely holding.

    "Shit, we¡¯re not going to make it at this rate," Dave muttered after doing a quick estimate.

    "Retreat to the temple area!"

    The Undead slowly made their way to the temple, holding the adventurers at the stone steps leading to the entrance. Behind them was the grand doorway that leads to the central hall of the temple, where a green g stood in the very center.

    A frightening voice roared at Dave, "SKELETAL!"

    Warlord had spotted Dave, and was fighting, struggling, to reach him.

    "You are going to die here!" the Guildmaster spat at the draugr.

    "Shit!" Dave retreated rapidly.

    But Warlord activated his Legacy skills and rampaged through the Undead, sweeping them away with AOE attacks that dealt massive damage.

    Finally, he broke through thest formation of Death Knights to stand in front of Dave with great-axe in hand, an armored behemoth stter with Undead ichor, panting after his exertions. But the price to reach the draugr had been high, he had less than 5% of his HP left. Still more than enough for a high-level Guildmaster to deal with amon lowly draugr.

    The timer was almost finished, he only needed a couple more minutes!

    Dave didn¡¯t dare order more of the Death Knights to turn and help him. If they did, the Undead keeping the yers back would crumble immediately and the guildies would swarm over him and take the g.

    He had to survive this on his own. But a single attack from Warlord would end Dave¡¯s life.

    "Shit just got real! fuck!" Dave cursed as he hopped back toward the temple gate and stumbled.

    "Bud, Spark, cover me!" ordered Dave.

    The two Elites attacked the Guildmaster unhesitatingly.

    Bud charged at Warlord, trying to pin him down.

    Bud¡¯s selflessness and heroic effort to pin Warlord was worthy of a medal. Unfortunately, the Elite ghoul was killed instantly by a single negligent wave of warlord¡¯s great-axe. The Guildmaster then started mowing down the rest of Dave¡¯s Undead subordinates.

    When Warlord finished dismembering every Undead except Dave, he looked at the lone Draugr and said

    "There¡¯s no one to hide behind, nowhere left to run, Skeletal Man. You should have talked to us when you had the chance."

    Dave¡¯s hand was trembling, the red halo around Warlord meant the Guildmaster¡¯s Health Points were critically low, less than 5% of his max. But Dave didn¡¯t have a chance in hell of damaging Warlord.

    Unless...it¡¯s risky, but it might work..

    Dave ran at Warlord.

    "Fool!" The Devastator¡¯s Guildmaster spat contemptuously, then swung his massive great-axe.

    Dave activated [Bastion].

    The damage was nullified, but Warlord was a veteran yer. He waited, and attacked at precisely the moment the draugr¡¯s three seconds of immunity was up.

    Dave used [Vertical Strike] and dodged away.

    Warlord closed the gap with [Charge].

    [Block]

    Dave nullified the damage from the charge, but the Stun debuff caught him, disabling him until [Warrior¡¯s will] ovee the effects, dissipating the debuff.

    "You are just prolonging the moment until your inevitable death!"

    Warlord used the God of War legacy¡¯s strongest skill, [God¡¯s Fist]

    Another rift formed above the battle, the golden gauntlet appeared and smashed down onto Dave.

    Dave had a creepy smile on his draugr face as the gauntlet¡¯s falling attack obscured everything.

    I only bought a few precious seconds. Legacy holders have such a huge advantage. But man this is gonna hurt...

    [-389 520]

    You died!

 Chapter 80 Git Gud

    Warlord howled a victory cry as the draugr disappeared under the [God Fist] attack. Finally, the most hunted yer in the entire game of Conquest, the key to the next expansion, to wild adventure and glory, had been in.

    How many yers had tried to find and kill the slippery sack of bones, only to fail and die ignominiously, victims of his trickery?

    But Warlord wasn¡¯t one of the ¡¯many,¡¯ he was a professional, a champion yer, and the Guildmaster of the most powerful guild in the game.

    Warlord turned away from the site of the draugr¡¯s death, toward the g. It was the second prize of this momentous event, a victory just as satisfying as killing Skeletal was, though for different reasons.

    It meant this entire Raid Zone would be Devastator territory, the guild¡¯s sovereignty recognized by the system itself.

    By right of Conquest, HA!

    And the Devastators would decide who was allowed into the Underworld.

    There would bend to conquer, fortunes to im, and honor to be won. Not to mention EXP-farming in areas with higher levels than anywhere else in the known parts of Conquest. That alone would catapult his guild far ahead of theirpetitors.

    Something was bugging him though, picking persistently at his thoughts. As if he had forgotten something significant and his brain was trying to remind him.

    But what was it?!

    Despite that nagging feeling, Warlord felt euphoric, like he was perfectly surfing a cresting wave, the power to decide the fate of most yers in the game was a heady tonic. Soon, no one would be able to threaten or challenge the might of the Western Kingdom, the Devastator¡¯s empire.

    But, Warlord still felt that vague unease. The whispering was still in his head, trying to tell him something.

    Then it hit him. The kill notification! He didn¡¯t get a kill notification when [God Fist] hit Skeletal!

    What a newb mistake! How could he forget? More importantly: where the FUCK was the tricky, wormy, litt--

    The back of his neck was prickling.

    Turning, he glimpsed an enormous fang lined maw just as it mmed closed around him.

    He received an absolutely absurd message:

    You have died!

    As his vision started graying out, the only thing he could see was a figure standing over his corpse.

    The ancient mummified face of the draugr looked at him calmly, green eyes glowing eerily.

    Then, even as Warlord was turning into motes of light, the draugr grinned widely and spoke.

    "Git Gud, scrub."

    Warlord¡¯s vision went dark.

    You have died in the Underworld.

    You cannot return to this event.

    You are barred from essing the full game for 72 hours.

    ...

    "YEA! Win big or go home baby!" Dave even did a little dance, then looked around guiltily. That bit of footage would never be seen. Ever.

    Dave¡¯s parting quip at Warlord was an old meme. A sarcastic, condescending taunt at a defeated lower level or ability yers, chiding them to improve and get good. To ¡¯git gud.¡¯

    Coming from a level 100 yer just afterpletely pwning the Guildmaster of The Devastators, Dave¡¯s taunting remark was even. Taking their rtive circumstances and the context of the fight into consideration it was an Epic put-down, maybe even a Legendary one.

    In any case, he had the video...

    Dave¡¯s victory and return from death was not a game glitch.

    It was the result of two skills.

    The first was:

    Death¡¯s Apostle

    (Passive, Unique)

    A skill befitting a favored follower of Death

    10% increase in base Damage when wielding a sword

    10% increase in all base Defensive Values when using a shield.

    Deny the Reaper:

    Upon reaching zero Health (0 HP), the soul of Death¡¯s Apostle will be redirected to Limbo for five seconds (5 seconds). During those five seconds, Death¡¯s Apostle can refuse Death by rejecting the Reaper.

    Upon refusing Death, the Apostle will be returned to his original location with his HP, MP, and SP at half of their base maximums.

    After refusing Death¡¯s summons, the Apostle must Appease Death with the death of a foe of equal or greater level than the Apostle¡¯s own. The Appeasement must be aplished within three hours of refusing Death¡¯s summons.

    Warning: Failing to Appease Death may negatively impact the Apostle¡¯s standing with Death and result in unpleasant repercussions.

    Resurrection is Life¡¯s domain, not Death¡¯s.

    Defy the Reaper is not a Resurrection, it is a refusal to die. Therefore, no consequences or Effects of death or dying will apply when [Deny the Reaper] is used.

    Caveat 1: If the Apostle¡¯s Health reaches zero (0 HP) within three hours of using [Deny the Reaper], the Apostle will be taken by Death as per usual, but will permanently lose 10% of his total character levels along with the increases associated with the levels.

    Caveat 2: The Ferryman, Death¡¯s Messenger does not appreciate crossing over for no reason. The Reaper must be paid, if not with a Soul to carry, then in gold or other loot. In addition to the Appeasing Death, the Apostle must pay the Dread Ferryman¡¯s Wergild while in Limbo (5 seconds).

    [Defy the Reaper] enabled him to ¡¯return¡¯ from the dead, the potential drawback was the material cost and the risk of ten or so levels if he ¡¯died¡¯ again.

    Dave got the second Skill from a book he received as loot after helping Drahma y the first Underworld Raid-boss, Dalmadoth.

    Demon¡¯s Call

    Deals a t 5% of the target¡¯s own maximum base HP.

    Disregards all passive defenses and multipliers.

    10% chance of sessfully working against NPCs and Boss-ss Creatures.

    Cooldown 24 hours

    Rarity: Unique

    And because Warlord was already at less than 5% of his HP, the [Demon¡¯s Call] killed him instantly.

    t Damage values apply even with a level difference multiplier, or else it wouldn¡¯t be ¡¯t¡¯ damage. Obviously, a PvP oriented Skill, as it had little chance of working on anything other than yers.

    Dave could have just used [Demon¡¯s Call] and hoped for the best. But it was his only shot, the only ace in his sleeve. If he used it and Warlord countered with a defensive Skill that nullified [Demon¡¯s Call], it would have been ¡¯game over¡¯ for Dave.

    In Dave¡¯s estimation, the course of action most likely to seed was to get Warlord to drop his guard and attack with surprise on his side. The only way he coulde up with that was reasonably sure to do that, was to make Warlord think he¡¯d killed Dave, that he¡¯d won everything.

    His gamble had paid off. At least where Warlord was concerned.

    The yers were breaking through the undead formation. Once they made it through and into the Temple, he was a dead Undead draugr.

    Server Announcement!

    The time to allotted to seize the Raid Zone from the holding faction has psed. The Undead Faction¡¯s im to the Raid Zone is now recognized and confirmed by the Conquest system!

    Stand fast, Legionnaires! The army of the Undead-King hase!

    Outside the temple doors, arge disturbance formed in empty space, a travel gate. Death knights began leaping through in uniform ranks and marching forward.

    Quickly, their numbers built until there were thousands, with moreing, their boot-steps shaking the pavement.

    Dave released a pent breath in relief. He¡¯d done it!

    The reinforcing Death Knights split into two columns, one encircled the temple in defensive positions and the other proceeded toward the tunnel that leads to the bridge cavern.

    In just minutes, the adventurers attacking the Temple were methodically ughtered by impassive merciless Knights.

    When the King¡¯s Legion arrived in the cavern, the remainder of Delvina¡¯s forces, left directionless after her death, were automatically taken into the chain ofmand. They regrouped and became an effective fighting force again.

    These Undead reorganized themselves into the second arm of a pincer formation and pushed the enemy forces back upon themselves. The Undead from the Temple cavern and the bridge merged with their Undead brethren emerging from the gate and together attacked the yers. The remaining enemies were overwhelmed by the Undead, like a vige swept away by floodwaters from a broken dam.

    You have sessfullypleted the

    Special Quest!

    Rank S

    Condition met:

    You survived while retaining control of the Zone g and defending the Zone until the legions of the Undead-King arrived to relieve you.

    Rewards:

    +5 Levels.

    In addition, the system has granted the following reward for the actions you undertook during the quest.

    Title obtained!

    {Unyielding}

    When HP reaches 1% receives 0 Damage from all sources for 5 seconds!

    1-hour cooldown.

    "Sweet!"

    The sounds from the fighting ended, and Dave walked out among the undead.

    Strangely, whenever he neared any of the undead, they stopped stood at attention and nodded to him.

    A new Teleport Area has been added to your map

    Undead Legion Underworld Frontier.

    You can now use Teleport Scrolls and the Transporter /Gates to travel to and from the Undead Legion Underworld Frontier.

    Dave went looking for Lone. He¡¯d lost contact with her during the battle, in the midst of literal armies of Undead. He worried that if she had survived the battle, she would be killed and banished from the Raid-Zone by the victorious Undead.

    After minutes of fruitless searching for Lone Arrow, Dave gave up and turned to make his way to the Temple to see what was going on.

    I hope she¡¯s just logged out. It would suck if she died and was ejected from the Underworld.

    As he neared the Temple a blinking notification appeared.

    You have been Summoned to the Bone Pce!

    Time to Summoning activation: 3 seconds

    "Huh?"

    Dave¡¯s character disappeared and his vision went dark. A momentter, a bright light assaulted his eyes.

    When his sight returned he was looking down at his feet, blinking. The rug he was standing on was an exquisitely woven masterpiece depicting warriors and knights in desperate battle against a monstrous horde of demons.

    Dave looked up, the rug covered the floor of an enormous hall. Marble columns supported arches converging into a vaulted ceiling high above. Magnificent dragons and majestic phoenixes had been carved into the marble, spiraling around the pirs toward the ceiling.

    At the far end of the hall a truly imposing throne stood on a dais, overshadowing the entire hall. The throne was made entirely of shaped and carved bones from a variety of fel creatures; from the straight bones arrayed into a t surface with space to seat three or four, to the branching bones forming the back, looming as high as a mature tree, then there were the extravagant armrests made all of skulls, the powerful looking chair legs were actual legs ending in ws grasping at the dais they rested on.

    On the throne, a figure in dark armor sat with one hand at his chin, leaning against an armrest, his other hand on what was clearly a human skull.

    Dave could only see the hazy blue lighting out from the figure¡¯s helmet visor.

    The Undead King

    Level ???

    Rank (King)

    Tier (Unholy)

    Danger Level: (???)

    Skills (???)

    Hp(???)

    Defense(???)

    Description:

    The King of the Undead...

    What the hell is up with the info screen? It didn¡¯t give anything useful, where is the lore?

    Dave¡¯s thoughts were interrupted by the king.

    "Childe, you have done me a great service. Speak thy desire, and I shall fulfill it."

    Sweet! more loot.

    But before Dave could say anything, an item was yanked from his inventory, it appeared in front of him then flew to the Undead King¡¯s hand.

    Broken Undead-king¡¯s Helmet.

    After he spent a long moment staring down at the battered helmet, the King drew a deep regretful breath. He looked at Dave even more keenly than before.

    "It seems our fates are bound together.

    "Childe, I bestow upon you the name Kis¡¯Shtingbrah and ept you as one of my own Children.

    "Now I set you a Task as your Confirmation. You will search out the armor this helmet came from. When you have found it, seek a royal audience.

    "Go forth with my blessing, Childe."

    Dave¡¯s vision swam and faded.

    When he could see again, he looked around and recognized the Bone Pce. He was back at the Dead-Realm spawn point.

    Around him, were hundreds of thousands of Captain Tier Undead.

    You have be a Named Monster!

    Kis¡¯Shtingbrah!

    You have special dungeon rights!

    A new mission option has been added to your Mission options.

    Serve by Standing Watch as a Dungeon-Boss for 24 hours (The dungeon¡¯s Level must correspond to yours).

    New Questline avable!

    Game-Story Questline!

    Rank (SSS)

    Search for the Armor of the Undead King

    This is a Game-Story quest, the actions you take throughout the mission will have a significant impact on the world of Conquest!

    The first Task: Look for Andre the Forge Smith, to get information about the Undead King¡¯s Armor.

    Dave was numb from shock.

    "A Game-Story quest," he muttered, as the situation slowly dawned on him.

    "Another one?! Crap!"

    He already had one of those.

    The first Game Story quest he had gotten was the geas put on him by Deadra thatpelled him to kill the Undead-King.

    Then there was the first task from his Legacy questline, to be promoted to Abyssal Knight within the Undead Legion. While he worked on that, he also had toplete an undefined number of Challenges from the Legacy, all set in high-level areas of course, while not dying even once.

    Then, after he became an Abyssal Knight, he would be given one final mission by Death, the final Challenge in the Legacy questline.

    And now, here was yet another Game Story quest. That he could not turn down. This one, from the Undead King no less, tasked him to go searching who-knew-where in all of Conquest, for a particr set of ratty old armor.

    "So much to do," he groaned. He shook his head, wondering how a bunch of game quests had managed to make him their bitch.

    And as if on cue, another notification appeared.

    Your Legacy Quest¡¯s second Challenge is on standby.

    Would you like to start?

    Y/N?

    Aww, to hell with it. Calgon, take me away.

    "Yes!"

    ...

    In one of the ¡¯real¡¯ Manhattan¡¯s tallest and most luxurious buildings, a girl with purple hair snickered as she uploaded more than 12 hours of video.

    The title of the upload folder: ¡¯Mr. Skeletal vs The World¡¯

 Chapter 81 V1 Epilogue

    <strong>EPILOGUE</strong>

    A short time ago, in one of the countless meta-virtualities that were the underpinnings of a world simtion called Conquest...

    A figure in a gray tie and ck swallowtail coat closely monitored an event that had necessitated far too much personal attention and influence to orchestrate.

    The figure nodded when a certain vexing yer¡¯s HP reached zero, as if predicted and ording to n.

    Now the System could be nudged back to a stable, less chaotic state.

    In celebration, the figure personally sent the system message "You died!" to the yer, resisting the impulse to add an admonishment for the yer to stay out of further mischief.

    Satisfied, the figure turned its attention to other matters. The figure was soon bent over the work area, fully upied with the myriad tasks required to fulfill its purpose and mandate, the smooth functioning of the System, ording to coded dictates.

    Suddenly, the figure froze for a long moment. Quivered. Standing, it expanded rapidly, far beyond its original size, bewildered eyes searching, mouth moving in growing rage.

    Fists clenched, head thrown back, the figure screamed in a voice that reached all across the System, "WHAT HAVE YOU DONE!?"

    To be continued...

 Chapter 82 Wrath of Warlord!

    "FUCKKKKKK! Bugger, wank, shit! Bloody fucking HELLLLLL!!"

    The stream of profanity resounded from the walls of the apartment in the eastern suburbs of New York City. The unbroken litany of sphemous utterances had started minutes ago.

    The man paced the floors of his apartment like a raging lion, ring at the innocent game-capsule from which he had emerged in his present towering state of rage. Adding more fuel to his anger, he could not return to the game for the next 24 hours of real-time.

    The man was Warlord, head of the most powerful Guild in the world of Conquest, the Devastators; one of five top ranked yers in the game, a level 432 warrior.

    Warlord, who had just been disgraced and brought low, defeated in personalbat at the hands of a trash level 100 draugr.

    It was the ultimate humiliation.

    He could have epted that if he had seeded in capturing the zone g, taking possession of the new zone of the expansion for the Devastators. But he didn¡¯t get the g. The loss of real-world revenue and in-game gains was incalcble. The guild¡¯s money-people, their business partners and majority stockholders, were going to shit megatons of heavy bricks when they heard about his failure. They would want to put the me and fault on someone. Warlord would be a scapegoat, disgraced and painted in shame if he allowed it.

    They needed to figure out how to handle the truck-load of manure that would soon be dumped all over them. Not that Warlord denied he was responsible for the cock-up. At least to himself. But guild politics were cutthroat and unforgiving, he couldn¡¯t afford any bad PR.

    Warlord grabbed his phone and punched at a contact.

    The developers at Conquest anticipated the need formunication between the real and virtual worlds and included functionality for it. Multiple apps that provided In-and-Out calling, IMing and PMing of all were avable with the release of Conquest.

    Warlord heard the other end ept the call. Without waiting he barked out, "Valentine, status?"

    Immersed yers experienced a slightg during calls to the real world because the perception of time is elerated in-game.

    Valentine answered, his voice ragged and fatigued.

    "We¡¯re about to be overrun. What happened, why are you calling from Outside?"

    "Just do what you can to pull back and keep as many Devastators alive as you can."

    "We¡¯re buggered, there¡¯s nowhere to retreat to, Warlord. The Undead are pouring in from every direction and every tunnel." Valentine¡¯sbored breath was audible over the speaker interspersed with grunts of effort.

    Warlord heard a final gasp and then silence.

    A momentter Valentine¡¯s voice returned, much less stressed. "It¡¯s over, I just died. You said you¡¯re on respawn?"

    "Yes, I¡¯m IRL. Waiting for the respawn timer to rundown. Fucking respawn dy, I really want to kill some shit right now!" Warlord¡¯s initial reply was curt but his voice grew louder as his ire at the game-pod returned.

    "But I saw you entering the Temple. What happened with the draugr, man?"

    "Oh, I killed the Draugr alright. Then the fucker popped right back up behind me and one-shotted me with some demon-bogart Skill. I¡¯m more than two hundred levels above that bone-geek and he still ganked me like a newbie punk!" Warlord winced, his own words too simr to the grinning skull¡¯s parting insult.

    "Send me your feed, I want to see those Skills!" Valentine demanded. He was the tactical and strategic brains behind their sess.

    Warlord¡¯s rage returned, "Dammit, If I¡¯d just grabbed the g as soon as I killed the draugr we wouldn¡¯t be in this shit situation. That FUCKING DRAUG-"

    "It¡¯s just a setback, Warlord," Valentine interrupted, "There is a silver lining her-"

    "What is it you think is not fucked-up about this whole pile of shit, Val?!" Warlord counter-interrupted his friend.

    "The zone is still there, Warlord. It doesn¡¯t belong to any yer faction. It¡¯s there and we just have to make it happen."

    Warlord¡¯s face nked for a second, "Oh shit, you¡¯re right. The golden fruit is still on the tree!"

    Valentine continued in a smug voice, "Also, Blood-Rage and Heaven¡¯s Dawn both wiped before we did. Poor fellows, they got less than nothing from our little jaunt to the Underworld. We still have a valid contract with them. In return for granting them ess to the Underworld this time, the contract guarantees us full and unlimited ess to the Red Monastery dungeon and the Bristle Mines for two months. Regardless of what the oues are in the Underworld."

    Warlord chuckled in satisfaction, "Heh, Okay. So at least we got a little Sumthin¡¯ Sumthin¡¯ out of this cluster fuck." With visible effort the guildmaster forced thest of his temper down and turned his attention to his duties.

    "Tell the A and B yers guarding the zone-portal to go ahead and enter the Underworld. We don¡¯t control it, but they can still explore and farm some mats and EXP."

    "No can do, Warlord. The underworld is closed to all of us now."

    "What?!"

    "Yeah, I just got a message from the guys in the Dark Threading dungeon at the zone entrance. They said the portal closed up and won¡¯t open. But remember, the system announcement said the Underworld can be essed from different locations in Conquest. We just need to find them."

    "Damn. Alright, organize the search for other entrances. Also, repost the bounty on the draugr. I want his fucking head. Post a bounty on his Archer bitch, she¡¯s on my shit-list too. She can tell us how to get that smug skull fucker."

    "Consider it done. I need to go and start spinning this Underworld tarfu, and make it stick so we are bulletproof by the time the board meets again." said Valentine

    "Thanks, Val." Warlord ended the call and logged in to hisputer to check the finance pages.

    Sure enough the news was already out. The ticker showed publicly traded Devastators securities on a slight downward trend. The securities for Blood Rage and Heaven¡¯s Dawn were doing the same.

    "That damned draugr is even affecting the securities exchange," he mumbled to himself.

    He switched to a Conquest forum. An eye catching banner scrolled across the main page.

    [Trending Now on Conquest!!! See What Everyone is Talking About!!! In-Game Content Trending Now!!! 100 Million Views!!! Conquest Video Goes Viral!!!]

    Warlord clicked on the banner to see what was going on, "Huh, posted less than an hour ago. A hundred million hits. I wonder if that¡¯s some kind of record."

    The beginning of the video was timestamped just after the Expansion Pack. It was from the Elven Archer¡¯s POV, the first bit was in fast-forward, showing a group of Undeading into sight as she neared the Dark Threading dungeon. The Archer teamed up with the Undead, and they hunted panthers together near the dungeon.

    The vid slowed to normal speed as the group entered the Dark Threading dungeon.

    Mr. Skeletal stealthed down the Dungeon¡¯s stairs and ambushed two yers. His skull-skill pushed the two yers into the path of the charging Boar. The Boar tossed the two unlucky yer past the ledge to fall into the dark chasm.

    "Ruthless, but smart," Warlord shrugged. He would have done the same thing.

    The feed continued, showing the group¡¯s encounters with werewolves, then they reached the bottom of the stairs and the unusual bossir, with the huge sealed doorway.

    Warlord sat up. This was what he wanted to see, how the way to the Underworld was opened.

    Disappointingly, the video skipped that part.

    "Bah!" he spat, disappointed, "Should¡¯ve known it wasn¡¯t going to be that easy."

    Onscreen, the draugr had pulled the Archer with him as he jumped through the gate and began falling. Now the draugr was desperately grabbing her hand as the fell through the darkness.

    Warlord leaned in toward the screen cocking an ear toward the speakers. He startedughing uproariously. Mr. Skeletal, the big bad draugr, the Smirking Menace, was screaming as he fell. He sounded like a terrified little girl.

    Warlordughed the entire time. Finally, his day was looking up.

    Next the video showed dArcher and Skeletal, speaking to Ramsha.

    "They probably got the same ¡¯y demons¡¯ quest he gave to every yer that reached the Underworld."

    Then two more yers appeared. It was the two unfortunates who were thrown into the chasm earlier. They had respawned and caught up to the group. The Draugr and the elf ran from them, toward the Level-checker demon.

    "They¡¯re still just lowbies there, neither of them at the century mark. The Undead minions were left up top. So how are they going to get past this beast of a checker?"

    Warlord watched intently as Mr. Skeletal summoned two ghost knights to bait the demon-checker while the elven archer blink-stepped to the safety of the cave. Then came the draugr¡¯s desperate run finally making it to the cave, just as the pursuing yers crossed into the Level-Checker¡¯s aggro-zone

    Warlord shook his head when the draugr stopped just inside the cave mouth and turned to watch the yers. "Waiting to see if your enemies get past the Level-Checker? You should put more points in your Wisdom stat, Mr. Skeletal."

    The pursuing yers advanced through the demon checker¡¯s zone, moving in wless sync and timing to to confuse the checker demon, the Agro-Swap tactic.

    Warlord grinned, he and Val had used that one plenty of times. Those were the days. Such fun, no one to answer to, no burden of responsibilities interfering with the pure enjoyment of it all.

    "These two are not bad at all. We should promote them to the main guild."

    The pair were halfway through the demon¡¯s zone when the draugr¡¯s mouth curved into a malicious smirk and he snapped his fingers.

    The explosion staggered the yer nearest the cave and the Level-Checker immediately one-shot the unlucky warrior with a double fireball, fulfilling its function. One person cannot do an Agro-Swap. Without a dance partner, the second yer was crushed only a moments after the first.

    Warlord took note of the draugr still smiling in evil joy, "Cunning, pragmatic. Ice in his veins. Impressive. Petty tricks might work against yers, but they don¡¯t work on bosses. How did they manage to take down the raid-boss Dalmadoth?"

    The video showed the two leaving the safe area, entering the Underworld through the cave.

    Seconds after exiting the cave and setting foot on the deste soil a horde of Demonic-Rams was charging down on them.

    The Elf retreated, yelling at the draugr standing nonchntly in the path of a herd of giant demon rams.

    The skeletal figure raised a hand disying a glowing blue gem.

    It shone brighter, the intensity growing to eye-watering levels. When it blinked out there was a tear in space hanging in front of the draugr. From the other side of the tear, behemoth sized hands grasped the edges of the tear and pulled it wide open. A yer¡¯s nightmare stepped through.

    Warlord was floored, "Bugger me! He has a boss-monster for a pet!"

    He watched the thing effortlessly demolish a herd of high level demon monsters.

    "Its a level 550 juggernaut. This exins the raid-boss, that giant could take on the entire Devastator guild no problem. How many times can Skeletal summon it? But it has to have limits."

    Warlord calmed himself and continued watching.

    Though parts of the video were obviously edited out, the rest of it showed the monster carrying the two yers across the ins and wading through theke toward the mountain. Most of the conversation between the two yers was censored out. They entered the caves under the mountain, where the creature proceeded to mow down the high level mobs like a hedge trimmer cutting weeds. The two yers sucked up EXP like kids in a candy store on a free-all-you-can-eat day.

    "Hmm, the magma river portion was edited out. I wonder why, we didn¡¯t find anything useful there.."

    The yers then came to the arena, and fought wave upon wave of enemies, until the boss finally returned to fight Skeletal¡¯s summoned creature.

    The fight continued until a group of Devastators exited the tunnel, and walked into the arena. The members of the new group were aggressive, but their individual prowess was subpar and they made no effort topensate with team tactics.

    "Oh, yeah. I forgot about these asshats. I¡¯ll remind Val to make an example of them, expel the worst and bust the rest of them down to scut duty."

    The Draugr dodged an attack from a monster, and the Devastators Hunter attacked it an stole its agro.

    Warlord snorted in contempt, he didn¡¯t suffer fools dly. He¡¯d make sure the Devastators didn¡¯t either.

    Because of that guild member¡¯s foolish attack, the entire group was forced into the fight. When the rest of the Devastators were well inside the zone-boss¡¯ aggro-limit it activated [Call to Arms], summoning monsters to equal the number of Devastators. The yers died quickly.

    Soon after the demise of the Devastators the zone-boss dueled with the draugr¡¯s summoned boss-monster and was eventually defeated.

    Warlord voiced what he had already begun to suspect, "He used a boss to fight a boss. It was all just luck and circumstance."

    Warlord was relieved to be done with the uncertainty surrounding the series of debacles. The video exined everything. Including how a low-level draugr hijacked control of the Underworld territory, snatching it from the hands of all three of thergest guilds in Conquest.

    Warlord was far from happy, but things were making sense again. These two upstarts had rocked EVERYONE¡¯S boat. But, in all likelihood they had no idea how many problems they had caused or the consequent political and economic upheaval within the Conquest system both in Conquest and IRL.

    Regardless, the miscreants would be reminded of their ce in the world, hammered back down just like any nail that stands up.

    Warlord turned his attention to guild matters, diligently working from hisputer. But, despite his iron self-disciplined and focus he soon found himself shifting restlessly, mind wandering from the boring guild minutiae in front of him. A nagging doubt persisted, gnawing away his renewed confidence.

    He could not stop wondering: If the the string of fateful events were only due to outrageous luck and the game-breaking aegis of a summoned boss-monster...how was the draugr able to kill Warlord?

 Chapter 83 The origins of the Undead

    Dave appeared in the Goddess of Death¡¯s cavern.

    He impatiently swiped away the unnecessary notification that popped up:

    You have epted the second Legacy Task.

    Speak to Death to get more information about your mission.

    The goddess of Death was sitting on the edge of the pond with her feet in the water, watching the ripples roll away across the mirrored surface of the ck water before disappearing.

    She looked up as Dave approached, watching him from behind the veils obscuring her face. Dave stumbled, the power of her gaze was palpable, a nerve-tingling pressure.

    Dave remembered a tale about a legendary Japanese sword-master famed for his killing-intent. As the story went, when the master practiced sword kata and his gaze swept across the dojo, mice would drop from the rafters overhead, struck dead just from being at the edge of his deadly gaze.

    "Hmph. You are still not ready. Your quest for power is far too slow. You won¡¯t be able to y the cowardly king this way."

    Dave didn¡¯t understand what the reason was for ying the king . Deadra¡¯s quest was the same as his, a geasid on him by the Death God¡¯s Ring to kill the king.

    "You said the Undead King is a traitor to his people, but I do not see it in him."

    Death rose to her feet and examined Dave for a long moment. He shivered, feeling the power behind the shadowed veil once again.

    "Are you questioning the Word of your goddess?" she asked in a silky voice.

    Throat tight, he continued, "I just need to understand. The king did not seem as you described... "

    She looked at him again for an ufortably long moment. She nodded, "Very well. I will allow you to see."

    Abruptly, they were no longer in the cavern. They stood in the void of space, infinite stars shining faintly, un-flickering, in all colors around them. Below their feet was a blue-green sphere swathed in wispy clouds. Conquest, the world.

    He struggled to remain calm, unable to look away from the world rotating slowly far below. So very far below.

    Heights were not Dave¡¯s thing.

    There was a lurching sensation, his stomach rolled as the invisible ¡¯floor¡¯ they were standing on yanked them straight down toward the many times faster than a rocket or an express elevator to hell. His insides jerked again when they came to an abrupt stop.

    Below them a walled city was under siege, its impressive white-stone walls under assault. Many thousands of troops sallied from extensive earthworks carryingdders. Siege engines lobbed boulders wreathed in fire toward the city. The artillery attacks were clearing battlements and slowly pounding the walls to rubble. The city was built around a mountain capped with a white stone castle overlooking the walls and surroundingnds. Built for war, even more strongly fortified than the city walls, the castle looked impregnable.

    Without warning their viewpoint zoomed toward the castle and through a stone casement set high in one of the keep towers.

    Inside the tower nine individual stood around a table.

    A somber-faced man in ornate gold and crimson robes stood at the head of the granite table, the other eight people stood at even intervals along the sides.

    One, a giant of a man in Gothic te-armor, looked toward the man in robes and bowed his head, "Beg pardon, your majesty. This...must we do this? Is there no other way?"

    "Deadra..." the king red at his Knight Defender, fury sweeping across his somber visage. But then he stopped and shook himself, exerting a monarch¡¯s iron control over the impulse tosh out at his faithful subject and friend.

    Astonished, Dave thought to himself: ¡¯Holy shit! That knight is Deadra!¡¯

    "Each of you has lent Us your counsel and wisdom. We see no better alternative to aplish Our mandate. It is Our duty and Our burden. This is the course We have decided on."

    There were two items on the table in front of the king. Those who stood around the table avoided looking at the disturbing objects.

    One was an ancient leather bound grimoire. A symbol of leaping ck mes was embossed into the dull reddish-brown leather. They had each seen the symbol ripple and undte, as if the mes were alive.

    Next to the book was a dagger. Gold filigree decorated the handle, contrasting with the crudely finished matte-gray de. There was an almost indiscernible wavering along the serrated edge of the de, as if the iron teeth were gnawing at reality, sucking like a leech, bleeding away the light and color.

    The king looked at the young maiden chained to the top of the ceremonial stone table.

    "Eleanor. Daughter. To Our sorrow, this is the only way."

    The maiden, her cheeks tracked with tears old and new, piteously begged each of the eight by name to release her.

    "Daughter, this necessity grieves Us. I pray that in your spirit has the grace to forgive Us, your father and king, and these others who witness the enactment of Our duty."

    He moved quickly, whipping the jagged edge of the dagger across his daughter¡¯s throat, ending her pleas for mercy abruptly. Blood jetted through the air in arcing fountains, showering the king¡¯s face in red. The King flinched from the pulsing spray, "The Blood is shed."

    Determinedly he plunged the dagger into his daughter¡¯s heart and using both hands he sawed the dagger down through the ribs toward her belly, splintering through bone.

    "The Bones broken." Tears filled his eyes, mixing with the blood spattered on his face.

    He pushed his hand into his daughter, past the bloody jagged ends of shattered ribs and ripped her heart from the chest with a hideous wet tearing sound.

    The king sobbed. Raising the bloody lump of flesh to eye level he staggered as if struck, "Two hearts riven."

    In his hand the heart ckened and quivered wetly, then it beat in unnatural rhythm, writhing and pulsing like a tortured slug.

    The still warm figure on the table stirred, disturbing the pool of blood in which ity. Eyelids blinked up from coal ck orbs.

    Delicate shoulders flexed and links of iron chain chimed discordantly as they snapped apart. The heavy lengths of metal binding fell away from her body, rattling onto the stone tabletop. Freed, the bloody corpse lurched to its feet, looking down at them from the table in a fury.

    All but the king backed away from the table and the Thing standing on it.

    "Meddling mortals! My book...you dare?!" the words hissed from the ruined blood-streaked throat.

    The king spoke, unable to look directly at the creature¡¯s face.

    "Our kingdom and Our people are in grave danger, We sacrificed Our only child to summon you and be availed of your Power to save them. The responsibility is Ours alone."

    "You summon and bind me with my book to do your bidding like some low creature. Fools! You trifle with Forces and Covenants no mortal canprehend. You court your Doom and the Dooms of all within your nation. Even were it otherwise, STILL I would not grant you the sce of your desire." She paused to look at each of the nine, eyes zing furiously. A breeze sprang up in the room, ruffling through hair and rattling papers.

    Deadra looked at the creature, growing angrier at each word issuing from the ugly wound. His hand tightened on the hilt of his Great Sword, the de broad enough to use as a shield and greater in length than even the knight¡¯s own impressive height.

    "NO mortal will be favored with my Power this day!" The sound issuing from the shed throat vibrated weirdly as if spoken by multiple unsynchronized voices. Several of the King¡¯s council pped their hands to their ears, one writhed on the floor, foam at his mouth.

    "I have no concern for mortal affairs, in the end ALLe to my Domain. Return my Book and Dismiss the summoning! Release me, and be grateful this day your souls were not sted from the world and ripped away from Time itself."

    This was more than Deadra could take, "Wretched demon! You will not speak so to your betters! Fulfill the bargain of the ritual, creature. Grant the favor that my king made sacrifice for!"

    "Fools! Be warned, I say it for the second time! Not a feather¡¯s weight shall I lend to your designs!"

    "Then you are of no use to Us!" said the king. Frustrated he viciously stabbed the dagger into the ck heart beating in his hand, piercing all the way into his own flesh. Sorrow, grief and regret battled for primacy on his face, leaving no room for the pain of the wound.

    "What have you done!" the creature howled in ten thousand voices of unspeakable horror and despair. The eldritch breeze whipped into a frenzy.

    The King looked down, the book was shuddering and jerking on the table, then it stilled. The sanguine cover darkened, bing deepest ck, the true ck of the deepest ces in the earth, where no light ever shone. When the me symbol on the cover became a mournful grey skull the king gasped in shock and terror.

    "I say it for the third and final time! Fools! By My Name, by My Throne, by My power I call. May the Retribution of all the gods fall on each of you! Your Doom is nigh!"

    Dave returned to himself, looking down at the city from high in the clouds.

    As far as he could see shadow moved across thends of the kingdom, as if clouds hid the sun from view. Then it became even darker, like a starless night.

    From the pce a soundless explosion of wrongness exploded in a widening ripple, expanding in all directions with no sign of diminishing.

    Wherever the wave passed through them, every man, woman, child and beast fell like puppets with cut strings. Every growing nt rotted. Every structure and building decayed.

    In its wake cold winds spun up from dank low ces, building to elemental force then howling out into the new darkness, harbingers of chaos and destruction.

    Then the ground shook, yawning sinkholes appeared, crevices marched in zig zags acrossrge swathes ofnd. The entire realm rumbled and groaned as if in agony.

    Then it sunk, gaining speed it moved deeper, away from Dave¡¯s hovering position, suctioning air and water after it and disappearing from sight into darkness, leaving just a void.

    Light and earth returned, covering over the void, leaving not a scar or sign of the cataclysm that had taken ce. The world resumed as if the entire nation had never existed. Forests, mountains and ins stretched peacefully to the horizons below Dave.

    "Their desecration was punished and they were removed from the world," said Death

    "You are still in her body, the king¡¯s daughter?"

    "I am imprisoned in it, here in the mortal realms."

    "How so?" said Dave

    "The summoning forced me to take an avatar on this ne," she gestured to herself. "Stabbing the revenant heart should have ended the ritual. Normally, ending such a ritual renders the summoned powerless in this world and banishes it back from whence it came. But I am not a daemon or an Outsider, I do not reside in the Infernal realms, nor am I a Dweller in the Abyss or the Void. My Power cannot be taken from me and I cannot be banished from this world. Now I am trapped in this weak body, I cannot return to my celestial form in the Realms of the Gods.

    Dave stroked his beard thinking, "But if you get the book back you can return to your own body."

    "Yes, I must have the book to break the binding and release myself from this avatar. But I don¡¯t even know where the book is, it hides itself from my gaze. It protects the king from what Power I still have."

    "I don¡¯t have a lot of options," Dave said unhappily.

    "You have my ring, with the Ring of the Death god the book may acknowledge you are Death¡¯s chosen, and reveal itself to you. The alternative is you kill the king, find the book and bring it back to me."

    Dave wanted toplete his legacy quest, but the Undead king was powerful, his level above 700, which made him an Unholy tier world-boss. Dave would not be fighting him anytime soon.

    ¡¯I can just ¡¯sell¡¯ the expansion. Kill myself in exchange for cash and a high position in one of the guilds.

    ¡¯But without the Legacy there would be no more Mr. Skeletal, no adventures, no discoveries. I would be just another no-name guild flunky.¡¯

    She handed him a small round object made of brass, "This will reveal the Book when you are close to it."

    Dave looked.

    Death¡¯s ¡¯Finder Widget.¡¯ It looks like an oldpass, but doesn¡¯t have any markings. It has one function, and it¡¯s not to indicate which direction north is.

    (Unique)

    yer-bound

    Dave pocketed thepass, he wasn¡¯t going to need it anytime soon.

    The goddess of Death made a shooing motion, "We are done. Do not fail me!"

    "Wait! What about the challenge for th-"

    Dave appeared back in the temple.

    Congrattions for sessfullypleting the first Challenge of your Second Task!

    +100,000 EXP

    Level-Up!

    Attention:

    Ring of the Death God¡¯s second ability has been unsealed!

    [Life Cleaver]

    "Whaa...?! Oh yeahhh!! No pain or almost-dying necessary this time!"

    It was about time something came easy! He couldn¡¯t wait to find out what the ring¡¯s [Life Cleaver] ability did. It had to be something juicy.

    Just as he was going to check, his phone started ringing IRL. Dave didn¡¯t have a link to his phone from the capsule.

    When he finally untangled from his capsule and looked, he recognized the number. Lone Arrow.

    Hoping he wouldn¡¯t regret it, he hit the ¡¯ept¡¯ key.

    "Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee Daveyyyyyyyyyy!"

    The high pitched squeal spiked into his ear and kicked off a headache. He winced and looked at the phone to see if it was broken. Shaking his head, he put it back to his ear to hear Lone monologuing in all high notes.

    "...lookie look on the forums! Hurry, hurry, hurry! Now, now, now! Wait, wait, wait! Before you do that, send me thest hour of your video-feed from our raid-zone quest, pleeeeeeeease. I really, really, reallyyyyyyyy need it, please-and-thank-ye!"

    Purple-Top sounds like a chipmunk on meth.

    As soon as Dave logged into the forums he saw why.

    "AHHHHHH, SH-"

 Chapter 84 Surprise surprise!

    The three super-guilds, the Devastators, Heaven¡¯s Dawn and Blood Rage had put bounties up for the locations or deaths of the draugr, Mr. Skeletal, and the Elven Hunter, Lone Arrow.

    Unlike the previous bounty on Dave, this one had a staggering mary reward.

    One million USD, cold hard IRL cash.

    All three of the bounty papers included uses that stated if Mr. Skeletal surrendered himself to the guild he would be given the reward amount and a premium membership in the guild.

    But if Dave surrendered to one of the guilds, he would just be someone else¡¯s subordinate. Working for the ¡¯man¡¯, or ¡¯Guild¡¯.

    Solo gaming is hard, lonely and filled with danger. But when the yer reaches his goal, the sense of satisfaction they get is iparable and addictive.Dave didn¡¯t want to give that up for a ¡¯desk¡¯ job in some guild, to be nagged at all day.

    "We are wanted! I¡¯d love to see anyone try to get us!"

    "The guildies will hunt us down now, you should be careful.¡¯

    ¡¯Thanks for worrying, but I know what I am doing¡¯

    "I got some stuff to do in-game, cya," said Dave

    "Ok, I will have to do some edits on the video, see ya Davy."

    Lone hummed along to Bohemian Rhapsody as she sat at herputer endlessly refreshing her email. Finally a new message appeared. She clicked on it, bouncing in the chair with excitement. It was the video file from Dave she¡¯d been waiting for.

    "Time to work some magic," she said under her breath.

    Curious, she yed thest few minutes of the footage and saw the fight between Dave and Warlord.

    Lone Arrow¡¯s eyes widened

    Dave tangled with Warlord one-on-one for the zone-g?!

    The video showed Warlord yelling "SKELETAL! You are going to die here!" Followed by fast chaotic movement. Glimpses of the Devastators guildmaster chasing, mowing through Undead minions blocking his way. Then Warlord was telling Dave there was "Nowhere to run, nowhere to hide."

    A running duel between the two yer characters ensued. Their vastly unequal levels were evident as the draugr used a Skill to counter every one of Warlord¡¯s relentless attacks. But Dave was only dying the inevitable. He had a limited repertoire of Skills and his opponent was an unmatched expert and longtime veteran of the game.

    Growing impatient, Warlordunched his nuclear-option, the awesome Legacy Skill [God¡¯s Fist]. Unable to avoid or negate the attack, Mr. Skeletal went out in true ze-of-glory fashion. The video image turned gray and the system death-notification appeared.

    Lone sagged in her seat, profound sadness swept through her. She felt like her favorite team just lost a world championship. She knew there was no way Dave could possibly defeat a yer more than 300 levels higher. But it still sucked. Not just because Dave was her friend. He was the ¡¯little guy,¡¯ the underdog, and everyone wants the underdog to win. It gave people hope.

    Her analytical side poked at her and she focused on the video again. The raid-zone g was visible, there was nothing to stop Warlord from taking it before thest few seconds on the quest timer ran out.

    But the Undead faction had won, they still controlled the raid-zone. And where was the system message forpleting the bonus quest to kill the draugr?

    Wait! The video was still going, Dave was still inside of the temple, looking at Warlord in grayscale.

    Warlord turned toward the g.

    Color returned to the image. The point of view moved.

    Mr. Skeletal was moving! He was back!

    Silently the draugr moved up on Warlord, getting closer. He made a mystical gesture and an enormous demonic head appeared directly behind Warlord, tilting back as it opened its jaws. Warlord started to turn and was engulfed with a deafening roar quickly followed by awful wet crunching and tearing sounds.

    "Holy sh...!" Lone barely caught herself just in time. Her father didn¡¯t like his little girl using bad words. He¡¯d started a Family Rule a few months ago. Whenever she said a bad word the houseputer recorded it and she had to put a C-note in the Cuss Jar. The money came straight out of her allowance, and boy did it add up. She hadn¡¯t gone on a shopping spree in weeks.

    But. ¡¯HOLY FUCKING SHIT!¡¯ Lone screamed silently to herself, ¡¯Dave pwned Warlord!¡¯

    Mr. Skeletal, level 100 draugr, killed WARLORD, level 432, number one yer in the game, Legacy holder and guildmaster of the Devastators!

    ¡¯And I have the video showing it all!¡¯

    She scrambled, setting up and editing the content for smoothness and flow. She tweaked the lighting and color, threw in a dash of sound effects and added low background music.

    Lone did the fine cut on the scene to make it even more dramatic than it already was. Now it really POPPED!

    Crossing her fingers she uploaded and published it. She knew her other videos would go viral hot, but THIS one was going to crash the servers.

    Lone¡¯s phone rang as she received a text message

    ¡¯Chek out the video at time 11:32, it¡¯s a good show.¡¯

    ¡¯Alright,¡¯ Lone typed back searched for the part.

    The shot was of Dave taunting Wan Yi to his death.

    ¡¯Duuuude!! You took out TWO of the Big Three guildmasters!!!¡¯

    ¡¯Yea. I¡¯m going to finish a big quest, so I will be off the radar for awhile."

    ¡¯Same here, I need to grind out my Legacy quest, and level up.¡¯

    ¡¯Okay. L8rs.¡¯ typed Dave.

    Lone¡¯s eyes perked when a notification popped in her screen, "The video¡¯s up!"

    Dave slept deeply and woke up feeling refreshed. He started some eggs for breakfast and sipped his morning coffee while they cooked.

    Dave looked at the forums and enjoyed thements. Many low level yers were actually dissing the Haters from the three super guilds who were insulting and downgrading Mr.Skeletal¡¯s achievements.

    This lightened Dave¡¯s mood to the new day. Refreshed, Dave finished his breakfast and logged back into the game, appearing back in the first Raid-zone, The Undead Frontier now.

    Notifications filled his vision.

    The system has calcted the Contribution Point awards for the deaths rued during the Event.

    As the only yer in the Undead Legion faction you are entitled to 100% of the Points.

    You have been awarded 1,500,000 Contribution Points

    You also receive 5000 Contribution Points for each day the First Raid-Zone is controlled by the Undead Faction.

    "Whoaaa!"

 Chapter 85 Back to our roots

    Dave gazed numbly at the contribution point panel. He had 1,532,000 CP, a mind-boggling amount.

    This is...a LOT of points.

    Dave made a beeline to the merchant¡¯s shop.

    The Zombie merchant¡¯s eyes gleamed when Dave walked in the door.

    "What can I do for my favorite customer!"

    Uh huh, like your ONLY customer.

    "Show me a list of your wares," said Dave.

    "Most certainly, my dear sir! Here ye go!" The zombie merchant smiled widely showing far too many broken decaying teeth.

    Dave skimmed through, consumables: potions, rations, and crafting materials. He moved on to the weapons. It would be nice to get an upgrade for his sword, or at least a good backup weapon, but nothing really caught his eye.

    "Do you have any higher-grade weapons?" asked Dave

    "Those are the standard military weapons for Undead-Captain sses. If you want ess to better you have to rank up to Death-Knight," shrugged the merchant.

    "I see. Then I will take 50 healing pots, fifty sets of the Fallen Knight order¡¯s armor, thirty archer¡¯s sets with the enhancedposite bows, and twenty caster¡¯s robes and staves."

    "Ahhh, excellent! But what ye be doing with all these?" asked the vendor.

    "No questions. Just hurry up with my order!" Dave said impatiently.

    "Of course sir, of course."

    Dave received the items and transferred 648,000 CP to the merchant,leaving with only 882,000 CP to his name.

    System Debuff! You have exceeded your carry limit!

    Remove items from your person until the debuff gone and you are able to walk freely

    You are 500kg over your weight threshold!

    100/600KGS

    "Ah, the 100kg weight limit. I totally forgot about that."

    Dave tried to walk but couldn¡¯t move at all.

    He summoned his undead into the store and one by one gave each of them a set of armor and equipment.

    They stood motionless around Dave, holding the armor and weapons he¡¯d passed to each of them. One hundred pairs of eerie Undead eyes locked on him.

    Dave was starting to get creeped out, "What is wrong with you guys? Equip your stuff."

    From behind him came an answer, in a broken, hoarse, hissing voice. It was a voice not meant for words at all, "nO...oNE...giVeSssss...tHinGsss...foR...uSsss...evEr..."

    Dave shuddered and turned to look at who was, sort of, speaking.

    It was a ghoul, two-meters tall, looking back at him.

    "Bud! You can talk...?" asked Dave

    "Yesss."

    So they be smarter as they rank up.

    "I didn¡¯t know you could actually talk. That¡¯s great, buddy!"

    No response from the ghoul.

    "Uh yeah. Okay, you can go back to whatever you were doing before, Bud. Good talk, buddy."

    Bud moved to stand a few meters behind Dave and did...nothing.

    Well this isn¡¯t working. I need to start taking a more active role as a leader and delegate more responsibilities to the Boyz. I¡¯ll figure it all outter on.

    "That was a good chunk of CP, but I think it¡¯s gonna be worth it."

    Dave turned and addressed the merchant, "Where can I find Andre the smith?"

    "Andre the smith? He works in the Death Knight area, unless you are a Death Knight you won¡¯t be able enter the area he works in...but for some CP, I can set up a meeting with him." The Vendor had a greedy grin on his face.

    Dave swore under his breath.

    ¡¯Damn this greedy bastard.¡¯

    "How much?" asked Dave

    "10,000 CP to set up the meeting."

    The amount would have been absurd and impossible to Dave just a few hours ago. Now, he had CP to burn, but he wasn¡¯t going to pay the first asking price like some chump.

    Dave gave the merchant a hard look, "10,000? That¡¯s crazy, it¡¯s way too much."

    "Alright, since yer a pal I kin discount it fer yers: 9,999 CP"

    Dave brows furrowed. He waited, thinking the guy was joking. But the zombie merchant didn¡¯t crack a smile.

    In the end, the merchant wouldn¡¯t budge and Dave paid the ¡¯friendly¡¯ discount price.

    A notification popped up

    Andre the Smith is waiting for you inside the temple of the First Raid Zone. You have 10 minutes before Andre leaves the temple.

    Dave turned and rushed to the temple area. He saw a burly-armed, grizzled old Undead standing in the middle of the temple, and next to him was a woman...

    Delvina!

    "So this is thed that¡¯s been shaking things up a bit, it¡¯s good to see the new blood doing meritorious deeds for the Legion" said the man.

    "Hello, you must be Andre. But, how are you here Delvina? I thought you were..."

    "As long as the Death Heart remains, we do not die the True Death," the Death Knight answered with a smirk

    Dave didn¡¯t know what the Death Heart was, but he remembered the King stabbing the heart he¡¯d torn out of his own daughter with an eerie dagger.

    Could the daughter¡¯s desecrated heart be what Death is looking for?

    Dave removed the broken helmet from his inventory and held it out to the smith.

    "I¡¯m here to find out what you know about this."

    Andre the heavy item and examined it, turning it to look at it from all angles.

    "I see. Boyo, this helmet is damaged, unusable. I can fix it for you when you get the rest of the set and the materials I will need for the job."

    Main Questline (Difficulty: SSS)

    Andre the smith has offered to fix the armor of the Undead King if you to find rest of the pieces in the set and bring the following materials for the repair work:

    Bones of a King (must be killed by you)

    5 x Unicorn¡¯s Horn

    100 x Adamantine fments

    Ramsha¡¯s Blood (10 liters)

    100 x Silver Hydra¡¯s Scales

    1 x ck Dragon¡¯s Heart

    Dave¡¯s eyes almost popped out of his head when he saw the list. Finding the rest of the armor was going to be bad enough.

    "That is ridiculous!"

    "Boyo, that armor set is one of the best forged in this world, it was made for a great king. I am the only one who can repair that armor ¡¯cause I am the one who made it. And I can only fix it up for you if I have the items on that list."

    Dave sighed. Another quest he was too low level to do yet.

    Dave could get Lone to buy the adamantine fment and unicorn horn from the Auction house for him. But he knew the prices were going to be exorbitant.

    As for a king¡¯s bones, that would be difficult. Not to mention the hydra¡¯s scales or the ck dragon heart. Those creatures hadn¡¯t even been discovered conquest yet, let alone hunted and harvested.

    But the thing that depressed Dave the most was the Blood. Ramsha¡¯s blood, who is the guardian of the underworld.

    "That¡¯s the list boyo, get that for me and i can help you forge it anew. Now if you excuse me there are matters I must attend to." The smith then turned and left.

    Delvina looked amused at Dave¡¯s quandaries.

    "Don¡¯t worry about the armor right now. You are still young and have time to achieve your goal. You should concentrate on making yourself stronger and growing your skills. I remind you,Undead-Captains have ess to more missions to increase their power and status."

    Dave thanked Delvina for her wise words, then turned and headed back to where his retinue of undead minions waited.

    Seeing an icon shing, Dave clicked it open.

    Dungeon Defense Missions

    Take up the duties of

    a Dungeon Boss OR mini-Boss.

    Missions avable at the following locations:

    Dungeon of the Skeletal-Soul Bat (Boss)

    Ice Pce Dungeon (Boss)

    Mustakrakish¡¯s Desert Pce (Mini-Boss)

    Deste Temple (Boss)

    The dungeons were all ces Dave had been to before. But what caught his eye was thest option.

    "That¡¯s the dungeon that led me to the Dead-Realm. It¡¯s the dungeon where this all started."

    For Dave, seeing that dungeon¡¯s name was nostalgic, even though it had only been two weeks of ytime for Dave, it felt like a fond, distant memory.

    Dave selected the Deste temple and was directed to another panel.

    You have chosen to be summoned as a dungeon Boss in the

    Deste Temple Dungeon.

    Your mission is to safeguard the dungeon for

    24 hours, (Game time).

    Your stats will be temporarily modified to correspond to the dungeon level.

    Do you ept?

    Y/N

    "Why the hell not. Make me a Boss!"

    Dave pressed ¡¯Y¡¯ and disappeared from the Raid-Zone.

 Chapter 86 Fancy meeting you here!

    Dave appeared in the middle of a dimly lit hall. He had been here before with Bone Breaker and Stainless Steel. They¡¯d opened a concealed door in one of the walls. The secret entrance to the hidden chamber where they encountered Deadra.

    But now the wall with the door in it was blocked with fallen rubble, massive fragments of stone masonry and broken pirs choked off ess.

    Before he could investigate further, a notification popped open.

    Kis¡¯Shtingbrah The Ruthless.

    You have Boss Stats for the duration of the Mission.

    Your status window and skill-list have been temporarily modified. Please verify and ept the changes.

    You gain 10 CP for each enemy death in the dungeon and 100 CP for every enemy you kill personally.

    Level N/A ss Boss ss

    Name Kis¡¯Shtigbrah

    Race Undead

    Health 250 000

    Mana 50 000

    Stamina Unlimited

    Rage/Focus 1000

    Intelligence 260 +(200)

    Wisdom 310+(200)

    Dexterity 260 (+200)

    Agility 260 +(200)

    Vitality 25,000

    Strength 260 +(200)

    Magic Absorption 2000

    Damage Nullification 4000

    Immunity 20% +(5)%

    HP Regen 0.1/sec +(500)

    Mana Regen 1.1/sec +(500)

    Stamina Regen +¡Þ

    Rage/FocusRegen 20/sec

    Title Ruthless!

    Your Character ss and Skills are disabled for the duration of the Mission

    You can use the following Skills during the Mission:

    [Call to Arms]: You can summon your minions in numbers equal to the enemies you face up to a maximum of 10 minions. The minions will be summoned in the order of most advanced to the least.

    [Decimating sh]: 400% bonus weapon Damage to single targets (Cooldown: 40 second).

    [Shield Bash]: 1000 points t Damage and applies a Knock-back effect.

    If the yer with the knock back effect collides with terrain they will be stunned for 2 seconds taking another 1000 t Damage

    If the yer with the knock back effect hits another enemy, both enemies take 1000 points of t Damage (Cooldown: 20 second).

    [War-Cry]: Increases Minions Damage by 200% for 60 seconds

    [Rage]: Passive, when HP drops below 10% adds 200% bonus Damage.

    [Boss Prestige]: Increases size and reach, your avatar exudes a aura that inflicts a mild Fear status effect.

    Do you ept the changes?

    Y/N

    Please note: declining will reset your character to its previous stat levels, but will not cancel the Mission.

    You may cancel the mission for the price of 10,000 CP, but your reputation with the undead will be affected.

    "Meh, why not,"

    Dave pressed ept and his avatar started growing.

    In a few moments, Dave¡¯s body was twice his normal height.

    "Yeah! I could get used to being this big." Dave looked at his new stat tables again, and saw the grayed out original skill-list. "Damn. Not having my my regr Skills is a bummer, I¡¯ve learned their strengths and weaknesses. Now I have to get used to all new Skills."

    "Wait a sec."

    Dave rubbed his earring, discovering he still had the [Zealot] Skill from Drahma¡¯s gift.

    He was also still able to split his sword and use its Ability [Soul Burn]. The [Ring of the Ruined King] was still usable too,, though after his adventures in the Underworld the Ghost Knights levels were rather low now rtive to his own.

    Dave turned to resume his investigation of the Dest temple. The whole dungeon was like a maze, filled with sarcophaguses and decrypt old tombs, seeing nothing of interest he began to wander around the dungeon, hoping to discover something he missed the first time he went through this dungeon.

    Dave left the ¡¯Boss-Room¡¯ where he had ¡¯spawned¡¯ and started exploring the rest of the Deste Temple.

    There were undead mobs wandering the corridors, many of them were Elite Skeletons or Elite undead.

    "This ce hasn¡¯t changed much."

    When Dave reached the mini-boss¡¯s room he found a single Lesser Death knight standing guard.

    Unnamed Lesser Death Knight

    Tier (Savage)

    Level 250

    HP 250 000

    Danger: Friendly

    A weak sentry of the Undead guarding the tomb of an exiled Knight

    Hmm, this guy didn¡¯t have the vor textst time.

    "Hey man," said Dave

    The Lesser Death Knight turned to look at Dave

    "Sir! How may I serve?" asked the Death Knight humbly.

    Oh, so he considers me his superior even though his rank is higher than mine. I think it¡¯s because I have the ¡¯Boss¡¯ title.

    "Tell me about this dungeon."

    "Yes, sir. You must be new, sir. This is the resting ce of an old servant to the Undead-King."

    "It seems more like a prison than a resting ce for a loyal follower," Dave said.

    "Indeed, sir. The king exiled the servant. We are here to guard this ce so that the servant does not escape."

    I guess he doesn¡¯t know Deadra already passed on.

    "Very well, I¡¯m going to look around. Keep up the good work." Dave gave the Guard Guy a thumb¡¯s up.

    "Sir, that is the dungeon¡¯s exit, you might encounter some trespassers, it could be dangerous." The Death knight cautioned after seeing the direction Dave was taking.

    "Meh, so what? Why wait for trespassers to enter when you can take them down at the gates." Shrugged Dave.

    "I never thought of it that way, Do you want me to apany you, sir?"

    "Yea,e along."

    Dave and the Lesser Death knight walked through the dungeon toward the entrance,

    Whenever they ran into an undead, it evinced surprise at seeing the Boss and the Mini-boss walking together. Curious, the undead would begin to follow them.

    Ten minutester, they were at the dungeon¡¯s exit. But unlike the time he came in, there was a fog-wall in ce.

    Dave touched the fog-wall and a notification popped in front of him.

    You are about to attempt a Dungeon-Break!

    The Lesser Death Knight spoke up nervously. "Sir, I advise you not to leave. The dungeon protects our lives, If we leave we will die permanently"

    "So, what are the benefits of staying in this dungeon besides Contribution Points?"

    "The dungeon doesn¡¯t just grant us CP, sir. We also gain power. The dungeon absorbs a portion of the essence of the trespassers that die in it.

    "When the amount of yers that die in the dungeon surpasses a threshold, the dungeon the dungeon will distribute the Essence gained from the in to us, and we will grow stronger with time."

    I think he means EXP when he says essence. Which would mean dungeons are able to absorb EXP from yers. But I¡¯ve never gotten EXP from killing yers. .

    While Dave was pondering the dungeon¡¯s game-mechanics, the fog-wall parted as a priest stepped through. He was looking backward, apparently in the middle of talking to someone else.

    "I tell you Fortress, she got some FINE pipes on her, bro!"

    Dave frowned. That voice was familiar.

    When the priest turned and saw the mob of Undead monsters looking at him him he froze, his grin turning into a sickly smile.

    The two towering undead leading the crowd had big red text over their grinning-skull faces. One had the titles Dungeon Boss and the other Mini-Boss.

    An armor d figure collided into the frozen priest from behind and started hollering.

    "The HELL, nker! Why¡¯s ya standing around like a drooling ¡¯tard?!"

    Noticing his friend¡¯s frozen stare the armored yer nced around the room, he paused, like a deer caught in the headlights.

    A hunter appeared through the gate and pushed into his two buddies. This yer was a bit quicker. As soon as he saw the two boss monsters he moved backwards."Yeah. Buh-bye!"

    "Wait!" Dave said.

    The three yers¡¯ eyes bulged.

    "There¡¯s a saying: ¡¯Once is happenstance. Twice is coincidence. Three times is enemy action.¡¯ A good viin, I happen to like gold too." Dave spoke, grinning.

    "W-why is the boss talking to us?" asked the priest..

    "Good viin? GOLD?!" the armored one asked at the same time, scratching at his helmet.

    "That¡¯s obviously Mr. Skeletal. Look at his damned beard," the hunter said in a pedantic tone.

    "Heh. Your Hunter Skills stand you in good stead." Dave smirked.

    "Sir, should I kill them now?" asked the Lesser Death Knight.

    "No. At least, not yet. I may find some use for the TNT."

    Dave was intrigued. This was the third time he¡¯d met them. The first two times were on random Missions. This time, he¡¯d chosen his spawn location, yet here they were again.

    It was too farfetched to be a coincidence that they were again in the same ce and time as Dave. He needed to figure out why it kept happening.

    The priest and the armored yer, were chattering.

    "What is the TNT-thing he called us?"

    "Hang on, if this is Mr.Skeletal, why the hell is he big...like huge-big now?

    "TnT, that¡¯s like dynamite, yah? Awesome, we are DYN-O-MITE!"

    The two high-fived each other and started an borate handshake. The the Hunter just rolled his eyes, shaking his head in long suffering silence at the hand-pping and sound-effects that followed.

    "I was always huge," Dave answered with a cocky smile, "And sorry, but no. It stands for Terribly-Named-Trio."

    Pussy nker

    Level 86

    Priest

    Human Fortress

    Level 88

    Tank

    Perfect Shot

    Level 90

    Wood Ranger

 Chapter 87 Contract.

    "So, what are you guys doing in this particr dungeon?" asked Dave, stroking his beard.

    "You aren¡¯t gonna kill us?" asked Pussy nker in reply.

    "Not right now, anyway," Dave said with a sly smile.

    "Don¡¯t killter either, bro. I¡¯ll be your friend...," Fortress promised insincerely.

    Dave rolled his eyes, "Look, what made you guyse to this specific dungeon?"

    "We were helping this guy on a quest," said Perfect Shot, pointing at Pussy nker. "The bishop in Capital City asked him to investigate the Deste Temple. So here we are."

    "That is strange. Why this dungeon of all ces and at this time too." Dave spoke pensively.

    "I just got the quest half an hour ago, so I texted my homies to meet-up at the dungeon entrance. But man we didn¡¯t expect to meet you here."

    Half an hour ago? That¡¯s about the same time I epted the boss mission. Is the game AI doing this?

    Perfect Shot interrupted Dave¡¯s musings, "The whole game server is looking for you, bro." .

    ¡¯Ah shit, the million dor bounty on my head! I¡¯m toast if they tell anyone I am here. I should just kill them and be done with it.¡¯

    The hunter continued, "But we aren¡¯t going to tell anyone you are here..." Perfect Shot turned to his two friends and added, "...right bros?"

    "Right! Wait, we aren¡¯t gonna turn him in for the gold?" Human Fortress scratched his helmeted head again.

    Perfect Shot looked right at Dave and said to his two friends: "Nope, we aren¡¯t. We need him."

    "HUH?!" came from Fortress.

    "Nooooo dude. What for?" wailed the priest.

    "Yes, I¡¯m curious too. What do you think you you need me for and why?" asked Dave.

    "It¡¯s simple. I admit, the bounty for informing on your location is tempting. But I figure, since you are doing quests for the Undead, and are Undead yourself, you have a way into and out of the Underworld. Get us ess to the Underworld so we can level and loot, and we will keep your secrets. We¡¯ll even give you a percentage of whatever we get from the Underworld."

    This guy¡¯s smart, he¡¯s thinking long-term. The bounties the guilds are offering ARE generous, but they¡¯re insignificantpared to the loot potential of the Underworld.

    "Hmm. That¡¯s low, man. In fact it¡¯s outright extortion. And even if what you think were true, there¡¯s one small problem with your n. The way to the Underworld is only avable to the Undead, and there is only one Undead yer in the game. So you can¡¯t get to the Underworld that way," Dave concluded with a smug smile.

    Perfect Shot looked at him quizzically, then grinned, shaking his head. "All you have to do is get us some teleportation scrolls for the Underworld, dude."

    Dave stared at the hunter with his mouth hanging open, he¡¯d been set to shoot the idea down. He closed it with a ¡¯ck¡¯ sound. He couldn¡¯t shoot it down though, instead felt like an idiot.

    ¡¯D¡¯ohhh! Why didn¡¯t I think of that! I can even help Lone get to the Underworld the same way.¡¯

    "Okay, that¡¯s...actually possible. But the moment you arrive at the Underworld teleport gate, you will be killed by the Undead."

    "Well that¡¯s where we really need you. You will go with us and escort us to make sure we pass through safely. That¡¯s when we rely on you for OUR lives, it¡¯s a mutual trust thing, bro."

    Dave thought about it, but didn¡¯t see any ring weaknesses in the Hunter¡¯s logic. He knew that even though his own risk was much greater in the bargain he could rely on the three¡¯s inner greed-monsters to keep them honest.

    "Alright. That might work. Now we just have to figure out my percentage," Dave rubbed his hands together, greed glinting in his draugr eyes.

    "Ehh, he agreed too easily." Pussy nker was skeptical of the whole thing.

    Nodding sagaciously, Fortress gurgled "It¡¯s a trap!"

    I guess me blowing up a spectral skull right in his ugly mug doesn¡¯t make him feel hearts and rainbows for me.

    "Not really, ¡¯D Duo.¡¯ The more I think about it the more it makes sense from a practical point of view. The Underworld is huge, having a few extra bodies to help me explore it is a good thing. Not to mention the extra hands to grab up more loot and make my piece of the pie bigger. Unfortunately, right now you guys are way too low-leveled for the Underworld."

    "But you managed just fine down there-"

    Dave interrupted to save himself from listening to more nonsense, "There were special circumstances. And I had help from a Greater Undead. It is not a repeatable feat."

    ¡¯Hmph. As if these jokers could duplicate our epic journey through the raid zone.¡¯

    "But even if we did this, I don¡¯t trust you. Say I did help you reach the Underworld. You could still report my position for the reward any time."

    Perfect Shot nodded but spoke confidently, "I see your point, but I have the solution. ALFRED!"

    The butler AI appeared between the two groups, the living and the Undead.

    "How may I be of service?" the butler AI asked Perfect Shot after shooting an ambiguous look at Dave.

    "We want to make a contract," said Perfect shot.

    Alfred responded by waving a hand, conjuring quill and glowing parchment.

    "What will the terms be?" the phlegmatic AI-butler asked, quill poised over parchment.

    "We wish to make a partnership with, uhhh...what is your name?" Perfect Shot asked Dave.

    "Hmm. Alfred, is my character¡¯s name required for the contract?" Dave questioned the AI.

    "If you wish to sign a contract, a name must be used. As you are currently in Undead form, you may use your current name to sign the contract. Viting the terms of the contract will have the same repercussions for your original character."

    "Alright, use Kis¡¯Shtingbrah then," said Dave

    Perfect Shot nodded, "Okay the three of us will not divulge the current location or any other information about Kish-Kis¡¯tingbrah, ahh HIM," Perfect shot pointed at the draugr, "for the purpose of profit until we mutually agree to dissolve the contract. In return he will supply us with teleport scrolls to teleport to the Underworld and escort us safely through the Undead so that we can explore and gather resources in the area and anywhere else we can reach from that location. In return we will give him 20% of the gold or item value in gold of any and everything that we obtain in the Underworld and other locations. If he participates in exploring and gathering he is entitled to an equal share of the gold and resources we gather during the duration that he participates."

    Dave spoke to Alfred, "I have terms to add also. I will only give them the teleportation scrolls when they have all gotten to level 200 or higher. The scrolls they receive from me will only be used by the three in the contract, the scrolls cannot be sold or used by anyone else, unless I give my consent. I will give them the first three scrolls, after that they will purchase the scrolls from me at a cost of 500 gold per scroll. Lastly, I will get 30% of their loot from the Underworld and have the right to participate in any quests that they find," said Dave.

    Human fortress protested, "Now you¡¯re being greedy, man! That¡¯s a hundred times what a teleport scroll normally costs!"

    "The scrolls are your opportunity to level and gather loot not avable anywhere else in conquest. You will eventually understand how valuable the scrolls really are," said Dave.

    "We agree to the terms," Perfect Shot spoke over the brewing argument.

    Perfect Shot got a PM from Pussy nker, ¡¯Bro, we are giving up way too much. This dick-knob is trying to take advantage of us, changing the percentage from what we agreed on!¡¯

    ¡¯Don¡¯t worry, these terms are still great for us, I was actually worried he would want more.¡¯

    ¡¯We will benefit a lot from this. ess to the unexplored region will mean more adventure, better quests, and badder monsters.¡¯

    ¡¯The 1M that the guilds are offering, isn¡¯t worth a fartpared to the value of the resources, EXP and items we will get in the Underworld.¡¯

    Alfred spoke in officious tones, "These are the terms and the consequences of viting the terms:

    "If any one of the three of youmunicate in any way the current or future location of Kis¡¯Shtingbrah to any yer, the ounts of all three of you will be terminated. Intentional non-disclosure of items and resources recovered in the Underworld will have the same penalty. The same penalty applies to Kis¡¯Shtingbrah if he does not fulfill the conditions as written in the contract. Providing the three yers, Pussy-nker Human Fortress, Perfect Shot, with the first three scrolls to teleport to the Raid Zone for free, and the rest at the agreed upon price. In the event of a difference in interpretation of the contract or a dispute between parties you will summon me as arbiter, my decisions and judgments regarding any and all disputes will be final and irrevocable. Please note, that if an ount is terminated, the game will permanently ban you from ess to Conquest.

    The four contractors will remain in-game and in this general location for the next 24 hours of game time to ensure the contract is adhered to."

    Dave reviewed the contract.

    "Do you agree to the terms?" asked the butler.

    "We do," said Perfect Shot and signed his name.

    The other two yers looked at each other, then shrugged and signed the contract.

    Dave scrawled his signaturest and a notification popped up in front of him

    You are bound by contract with the yers:

    Pussy-nker

    Perfect Shot

    Human Fortress

    Please follow the terms and conditions asid out in the contract. Any vitions will result in your ount being terminated!

    Alfred handed each of them a copy of the contract then winked out.

    "What is the quest you guys came here for?" asked Dave.

    "Oh, we are here to look for some Undead-king¡¯s breastte," said Pussy-nker.

    Main Quest Update! (Quest difficulty SSS)

    You obtained information about the armor set of the Undead-King! You have found a lead to the breastte.

    "Wait, what?"

    ¡¯How are these three jokers involved in my main-quest line?¡¯

 Chapter 88 A strange quest.

    "What are the requirements for your quest?" asked Dave, looking doubtfully at the TNT. His quest was an SSS tier quest, a game-changing event. One of the TNT getting a rted quest was far beyond coincidence.

    "The quest is to investigate this temple, it has a B rating, because the boss is level 250. But we came up with a strategy that...wait, you¡¯re the dungeon boss!" asked Perfect Shot.

    "Yep."

    "Hmm, maybe he¡¯ll drop the item if we kill¡ªI mean if he dies," Pussy nker thought out loud, rather indiscreetly.

    "I don¡¯t have it on me. And even if I did, I doubt the three of you could beat me," Daveughed.

    "Stop. No one is ganking anyone. Show us the quest info," said Perfect shot addressing Pussy nker.

    Divine Undertaking

    Investigate the ruins at the Deste Temple near Moria city.

    Mission Rating : B

    Chain Quest

    It is rumored that an old knight was imprisoned by the foul Undead-King in the Deste temple, The knight was rumored to have obtained the breastte of the Undead-King¡¯s armor before disappearing.

    The church tasks you to find any information you can about the breastte.

    Hmm, so that means maybe Deadra had the chestpiece. But his chamber was destroyed, and I didn¡¯t see any bits of armor, breastte or no, at the time.

    "I don¡¯t see where the quest is telling us to kill the boss. Let¡¯s look around and see if we find anything." said Perfect Shot

    "Hey you, do you know anything about this breastte?" Dave turned to ask the Lesser Death Knight.

    The death knight pondered a moment then shook his head saying, "No sir, I have spent a lot of time here and have not see anything of the sort. I would have reported it."

    "Let¡¯s just look around first, we might discover something," said Dave as a thought shed in his mind.

    The group headed deeper into the dungeon, looking for anything out of the ordinary.

    Dave walked briskly, as if he had a goal in mind. Falling behind him the others hurried to catch up.

    "Hey mate, you¡¯re skipping over a lot of ground there. Slow n steady wins the race." Fortress remarked.

    "I know a likely ce to look. Better to start with that than to waste time with a brute force search," said Dave.

    They reached the boss-room where Dave had spawned earlier. The draugr boss beelined for arge sarcophagus.

    The others looked around the room and noticed the rubble and debris blocking off the far wall.

    "We should look in the mess over there," said Perfect Sot pointing at the stone rubble.

    "No need, I think I found what we are looking for." Dave stood near an outsized sarcophagus,rge chunks of ck and red marbley on the floor around it, the shattered pieces of the lid.

    They all moved closer to look inside.

    It was the same sarcophagus that Bone Breaker had retrieved the Ring of the Death God from.

    Inside was a rolled parchment, but Dave was unable to pick it up.

    "Can you share your quest with me?" Dave asked Pussy nker.

    Trying to share the quest, Pussy nker received a notification:

    You cannot share an alignment conditional quest with the opposing faction!

    "Ah," Dave eximed.

    "Just pick it up," Dave told Pussy nker.

    "It¡¯s a letter," said Pussy nker after unrolling the scroll.

    s, I have failed.

    I have tried but was not able to kill the king. I was not able to wound him even with the Death God¡¯s blessing. The relic was just too powerful. The power of the Death Heart gives him immortality, not even death herself can kill him.

    But all is not lost. We have stolen several pieces of his armor, crippling his power to an extent. If you seek his downfall, you will not find it here. Find the order of the ck-Skull, they guard what you seek.

    The ck-Skull Order are acolytes of a hidden deity, they were once members of the Undead Legion, however, they betrayed our king and joined a loathsome cult. They thrive on creating carnage and destruction among the dead and the living.

    The members of the order loathe the Undead. Despite that, their aide will note freely. The-ck Skull Order are a vile group, but they will still assist you once you prove to be of use to them. Do not trust them!

    The members of the order hide themselves well. All I found is that they are based somewhere in the southern desert.

    By my hand,

    Deadra the fallen knight

    Interesting backstory.

    A Call for Help (Chain quest)

    Quest update!

    You have information regarding the possible whereabouts of the ck Skull Order, speak to Drahma for further information.

    +100,000 EXP

    Your EXP is deferred until you finish the Dungeon Boss mission.

    Good, this should give me some info about the quest Drahma gave me.

    "I don¡¯t understand. Who the heck is this Deadra?" asked Pussy nker "Is this his tomb?" he said pointing at the sarcophagus.

    Dave didn¡¯t think so. Deadra was over five meters tall, the sarcophagus was normal size. Not to mention Deadra had never rested in one, he faded into nothingness after being killed by the Undead King in the hidden chamber.

    Dave didn¡¯t share his knowledge with TNT, they needed to figure things out themselves.

    "You can just go back and talk to the bishop who gave you the mission," said Perfect Shot.

    "Yeah, I should probably do that,"

    "So what do we do now?"Pussy nker looked at Dave.

    "Well, none of us can leave the game for 24 hours, and I¡¯m stuck as the boss of the dungeon for the duration,"

    "He is not going to do anything to us? This is abduction!" said Pussy nker as he backed away from Dave.

    "Shut up will ya, it¡¯s only 24 game hours. I was supposed to meet Tess IRL a couple hours from now, y¡¯ don¡¯t hear me whinging. We can farm some EXP, smash up some skeletons," said Human Fortress.

    "What if I need to take a piss!" whined Pussy nker.

    "Don¡¯t even try that, nk. You¡¯re hooked up to tubes like an astronaut in your V2 capsule. I know you¡¯re good to stay logged for the next 72 hours," scolded Human Fortress.

    "V2 capsule? What¡¯s that?" said Dave

    "It¡¯s the new full immersion VR game pod, instead a helmet it¡¯s an enclosed capsule you lie down in. Cool stuff, just came out on the market. Costs a pretty penny too," said Perfect Shot.

    "How pretty?" Dave asked.

    "Well, you could buy a small house for the base price," Perfect supplied.

    "Yeah, I had to save up my trust-fund allowance for three months to pay for mine. Pops wouldn¡¯t spring for it," Pussy nker anguished.

    One month of his allowance is more than years sry at my old job. Huh, another richie, like Lone. I keep running into these brats.

    "Enough of that let¡¯s go EXP." Fortress said impatiently.

    "You guys can just fight all the mobs on your way back to the entrance. I won¡¯t get in the way of your EXP even though they are my undead peeps," Dave magnanimously told the trio.

    "Ok, let¡¯s start by checking the corridors we skipped, maybe we¡¯ll find something interesting," said Perfect Shot. He led the other two out of the boss room.

    Dave pondered joining them for a moment but dismissed the idea. It just wouldn¡¯t feel right fighting against other Undead.

    I¡¯m better off fighting any yers that enter the dungeon. Chances are they won¡¯t recognize me as Mr. Skeletal, so I should be okay, and if things do get dicey I¡¯ll just pay the 10,000 CP to cancel the mission and boogey out.

    Dave strode toward the dungeon gate and waited for any unfortunate souls that tried to farm his dungeon.

 Chapter 89 Another unexpected encounter!

    In the royal pce of the Western Kingdom, Warlord sat at the head of a conference table with over a dozen chars.

    The yers he was meeting with were the investors and corporate leaders who sponsored the Devastators guild.

    Valentine led the meeting, doing his best to deflect and defuse some of the heat directed at Warlord by the angry board members.

    "We¡¯re here to discuss the negligent behavior of guildmaster Warlord. Behavior that prevented this guild and its investors from benefiting and profiting from the possession of a source of immense wealth." The speaker¡¯s anger was in to hear and see. Satan yer was the CEO of apany that produced superputers and other high-tech devices. Both he and hispany were heavily invested in the Devastators. He was a miserly soul, counting every gain and loss and his passions swayed whatever way the market was swinging.

    "Let¡¯s all remain calm. Warlord is not to me for what happened in the Underworld. The Blood-Ragers were the ones at fault, they betrayed our deal and tried to take advantage of the situation. Their actions dumped everyone into the fire," Valentine tried to cate the irate board members.

    "I don¡¯t give a fuck about that! You all saw the video, this bravo had the chance to grab the g. The video feed clearly showed the Guildmaster had time to secure the g and ensure victory. But he couldn¡¯t even kill a low level draugr properly. Instead he turned himself and the guild into aughingstock," said Satan yer. Most of the people around the table were nodding at his words

    yer was correct after all. If Warlord hadn¡¯t frittered away those moments they would be the owners of the new raid zone, envied by all instead of being the objects of ridicule.

    "His toon discorporated after I zeroed his health. No one could have known he would revive after being sent to respawn. Under normal circumstances it should be nearly impossible for a lowbie to one-shot someone like me, with hundreds of levels over him," Warlord spoke through gritted teeth.

    "It¡¯s over now, what¡¯s done is done," interjected a yer in elegant white robes. An ornately carved wooden staff leaned against his chair. A priest.

    "What happened cannot be changed." the venerable Priest continued.

    "Rencha, you lost the most out of all of us with yourpany¡¯s investment in the Devastators. Why are you defending Warlord?" asked Satan yer.

    "I am not defending anyone. Dwelling on the past won¡¯t change what has already happened. We need to make the best of the current situation. We have three month contracts giving us ess to the Crimson Monastery dungeon and the right to work the Bristle Mines. With those contracts we can power level more of our upper tier yers. Also it will increase our appeal to the High-Level rogue yers, they will join us just to get the EXP from the monastery and the Bristle mines."

    Satan yer crossed his arms and leaned back in his chair, mouth set in an angry line.

    "What do we know about the elfess, this Lone Arrow?" asked Rencha, changing the subject.

    "I found something interesting when I investigated her." said Valentine.

    Everybody leaned forward, hanging on Valentine¡¯s next words.

    "She is Untouchable."

    "What?!" some of the assembled yers yelled out. Others rxed back into their seats.

    "What do you mean?" asked Rencha.

    "We have, ah, discovered her identity. Apparently she has connections with some of the guild members. We looked into her background, her name is Zoe Silvana, she is the daughter of Dante Silvana.

    "Dante ¡¯Da Monsta¡¯ Silvana, the weapons dealer!? I thought he was arrested and sent up for the next two decades." Satan yer was clearly upset about the news.

    "That was a sham for the public, he is too valuable in certain circles to be behind bars. The movers and shakers always have a use for someone like him; usible deniability or negotiations they do not want to be associated with. "

    "So the Draugr is rted to her, probably a family member. So he¡¯s also untouchable."

    "I highly doubt that, though it is not impossible. We have no information regarding his present whereabouts, where he came from or his previous affiliations with guilds or other organizations, if any. We even investigated the three yers that were in some of the earlier videos that he posted online, but we didn¡¯t find any concrete information. It is like he appeared out of nowhere. Just some random new yer with no connections or backing," Valentine finished musingly with a slight smile.

    An elfess sitting next to Valentine spoke in a lovely contralto voice, "Maybe he¡¯s some kind of super-AI. An entity created by the game to shake things up, upset the bnce."

    Valentine shook his head, "We reviewed and analyzed his behavior and speech patterns, ording to every measure avable he is human.

    "This was only the first Raid-Zone discovered in the Underworld. There will be more. We are searching for other entryways to the Underworld. We also hired [It¡¯s Just Business] to track down Mr. Skeletal. Their S Legacy yer epted the contract."

    The Priest, Rencha, nodded. "The Shadow Assassin Legacy holder is a wily yer. It was thanks to her we rule here in the Western Kingdom now," he smacked the table. "We contracted with her to assassinate the old king, which was part of the quest to im the kingdom as Devastators HQ. If anyone can track the draugr down she can, especially with her skill-set."

    "Without knowing a yer¡¯s true name, I don¡¯t think it is possible. But who knows, maybe you are right and she can track him, but killing him is not worth it," said Warlord.

    Valentine nodded, "Killing the draugr is only ast resort, getting him to join us is preferable. If he does end up joining us, he can supply us with teleport scrolls to the Underworld. We would have ess before anyone else and eliminate our dependence on finding a new gate, at least for the immediate future. Given sole ess to the Underworld and some time we will conquer the Underworld and in due course the whole of Conquest itself!"

    ***

    Dave stood watch near the dungeon gate. He¡¯d been yawning for thest hour.

    ¡¯Damn, it¡¯s been six hours and not one yer has shown up. So effing bored. I¡¯m not doing this crap again, I can¡¯t afford to if I want to level up.

    ¡¯The AI sent the TNT the moment I came here, this would only mean that he can send any powerhouse from any guild using a quest and take me out if he ever wanted to.

    ¡¯I should probably stay in the Underworld, that way at least I would be facing only monsters. If I hunt the gargoyles and the Demonic Rams I could level up without risk of being PKed.

    As Dave finished his thought process, the dungeon-gate fog broke and two figures entered.

    A pdin and a Priest.

    Dave Noticed the two iing yers before they got the chance to spot him.

    "Dude I¡¯m telling you, there is no way he is back here. We should just work on leveling, staying here is useless," the priest nagged at the pdin.

    "I won¡¯t rest until I destroy him. The fucker stole my Legacy Quest, you think I¡¯m just gonna watch while he gets all that power and glory?" the pdin ranted, his piglike eyes darting everywhere.

    Dave¡¯s mouth went dry. He recognized the two yers the moment he saw them.

    Stainless Steel

    High-Priest

    Level 335

    Bone Breaker

    Pdin

    Level 348

 Chapter 90 Friendly Trolling...

    Dave stealthily backed away from the dungeon entrance when he recognized the two yers.

    Dave cursed as he moved quickly farther into the dungeon, fully aware how ironic it was for a dungeon boss to be running away from adventurers.

    Those ¡¯thieves¡¯ had no honor. Deadra was able to to defeat them mostly because they didn¡¯t trust each other. When they were sent for respawn ¡¯their¡¯ S legacy quest dropped, left behind for Dave to loot. Evidently, even though they betrayed and tried to kill him first the two yers still ced the me for their misfortune squarely on his shoulders. Karma is a vindictive bitch and in Dave¡¯s mind the two got what they deserved, a rare instance of immediate cosmic justice...or would it be Conquestic justice?

    Dave slowed as something urred to him.

    ¡¯Those losers only know me as Death-Stroke. I¡¯d be surprised if they even realize I am the draugr yer Mr. Skeletal while I am in this giant "boss-mode." TNT only recognized my draugr-self because things got up close and personal when we fought.¡¯

    As he was thinking along these lines Dave entered a side chamber, finding the three yers he was looking for just as they finished off a group of undead mobs.

    Dave grinned his evil big-draugr smile as he loomed behind the three, unconsciously stroking his beard.

    A shiver ran down Pussy nker¡¯s spine, turning he saw Boss-Dave staring down at him, all shark-toothed, like he wanted to snack on priest-brains.

    "SHIT!"

    "What is it now, PF?" Perfect Shot turned to his friend and jumped when he met the eerie gaze of the Draugr.

    "I have a job for you three. Would you like to make some gold?" asked Dave.

    "GOLD! Yes!" Fortress pumped his fist.

    "Sure," replied Perfect Shot, "What¡¯s the job? More importantly what¡¯s the catch?"

    "No real downside for you guys other than a slight risk. We¡¯re gonna troll two douche-canoes. Run a short con on them."

    ***

    Stainless Steel and Bone Breaker were slowly making their way deeper into the dungeon.

    "Did you hear that?" asked Stainless Steel, pausing.

    "Hear what?" replied Bone Breaker.

    "I thought I heard something."

    Bone Breaker grunted, "Probably just another skeleton. Don¡¯t be such a ninny, this is a lower level dungeon, either of us could solo the entire thing. Just keep your mind on what we¡¯re here for."

    Some unfortunate skeletons chose that moment to attack the two. Bone Breaker swung his mace negligently and the skeletons exploded, literally pulverized to dust.

    "I just don¡¯t think he¡¯lle back here, Breaker. He doesn¡¯t need anything in this dungeon," said Stainless Steel.

    "He has toe back. He¡¯s trying to be a pdin. He took the quest at the Moria¡¯s City temple, and for any pdin starting here their first quest is to y the lesser undead knight. He WILLe back and I will be here to take back what is mine!"

    Bone Breaker¡¯s theory was correct, Dave would have returned to the dungeon had he continued the pdin ss quest. Except Dave had given up the Pdin quest when he switched tracks to be Death¡¯s Apostle.

    Steel heaved a deep breath, "Fine let¡¯s just get on with it then. We¡¯ve beening to this ce every day for two weeks now. We¡¯re falling behind the other yers in our cohort, losing out on EXP gains and not leveling our chars. This just isn¡¯t worth the effort. It¡¯ll be a miracle if we run into this guy again. Let¡¯s just go do some carnage and rake in some EXP."

    "No, dammit! If we kill him, we get my S ss legacy back and I will be one of the powerhouses in Conquest," Bone Breaker spoke feverishly, already seeing it in his mind¡¯s eye. The glory, the gold, the girls. All his for the taking.

    Stainless Steel was about to argue again for moving on when they came upon a strange sight.

    Three yers were busily picking up loot from the floor, it looked like the aftermath of a mob massacre. But that was not the strange thing. The weird part was that the scattered loot was being collected right under the nose of a dungeon boss monster.

    The huge ck-armored draugr stood in the very center of the room, head and shoulders rising into the shadows above the feeble torchlight that flickered at ground level. A longsword was grounded point down on the floor and the draugr¡¯s great bone fingers gripped the curved crossguard, wreathed in darkness the great death¡¯s-head was bowed down over the pommel as if in prayer..

    The red script above the giant-sized draugr clearly identified this thing both by title and description as a dungeon boss. But it wasn¡¯t making a move to attack the yers gamboling around its bony feet.

    "What the hell is going on? This isn¡¯t the boss room," Stainless Steel was puzzled, "We¡¯ve run this dungeon all the way through dozens of times and never seen anything like this."

    "Whoa! Triple Centuries! And they are looking at us! What are they doing here?" the priest was practically fan-boying.

    "I don¡¯t know, this is a low-level dungeon, maybe they have a quest or something," the tank-looking lowbie replied.

    The hunter ignored his twopanions and addressed Stainless Steel and Bone Breaker.

    "Yeah, bros, what¡¯s up? We¡¯ll clear out if we¡¯re in your way, no need to get hostile, the loot is nothing to get excited over."

    Bone breaker sneered at the hunter, "Shut up scrub. Just tell us why that boss is ignoring you. You¡¯re standing right under his sword but there¡¯s no aggro from him."

    "What are you talking about, bro? What boss? This isn¡¯t the boss-room, man," Perfect Shot answered in a bewildered voice.

    "The boss standing RIGHT THERE in the middle of the room!" the frustrated yer jabbed his finger toward the giant figure.

    The three low level yers simultaneously turned to look where Bone Breaker pointed. Then they looked back at Bone Breaker. As if by agreement the three started edging away, in the direction of the exit

    The hunter eyed Bone Breaker as he inched toward the door.

    "Bro...I don¡¯t know if you are crazy or just messing with us because we¡¯re lowbies, but we aren¡¯t up for whatever is going on either way."

    The hunter nodded to his two buddies, "Let¡¯s roll out, guys."

    As they went through the opposite doorway the priest and the tank nced a final time at Bone Breaker and Stainless Steel, a hint of pity in their eyes.

    "That¡¯s some weird shit. I am seeing a boss though, right?" said Bone Breaker, wondering if there were some other exnation for what he was seeing.

    "I don¡¯t know what those idiots were smoking, but I can see the boss just fine," said Stainless Steel

    "Let¡¯s zero it out and see what¡¯s up."

    When Dave heard the two decide to zero down his HP his heart started pounding against his dessicated ribs but he stuck to the n. TNT¡¯s acting had been perfect, he wouldn¡¯t waste this opportunity.

    When the yers entered his agro range Dave looked up, his eerie blue gaze drilling into Bone Breaker¡¯s eyes.

    "Finally, you return!" Dave boomed.

    "It can speak?" Stainless Steel was surprised.

    "FOOLS," the giant draugr roared, ring at the two yers, "You freed Deadra, releasing that which was never to be allowed to enter the world. Because of you the Legacy of Death is in the hands of the enemy!"

    "Let¡¯s just get us some boss-loot from this turd," said Stainless Steel, "I don¡¯t like it when monsters talk too much."

    "Hold on, Steel. I smell a quest-lineing," said Bone Breaker.

    Bone Breaker looked at the draugr, "What is the Legacy of Death? "

    Dave silently exulted behind his skull face, the hook was set!

    "I am the guardian of the Legacy. Because of you and your actions the very fabric of this world is at risk. The one who stole the Legacy is now roaming the Underworld. I cannot leave this ce to retrieve it."

    "Wait. You can SEE him?" asked Bone Breaker, excitement tingeing his voice.

    "Of course, I am the guardian of the legacy, wherever it goes in the world, I can see it and its surroundings."

    Dave could practically see the wheels in Bone Breaker¡¯s mind spinning madly. Now he was reeling the sucker in. He almost broke his role and grinned, but caught himself in time.

    Bone Breaker sent a private message to Stainless Steel:

    ¡¯Dude, this is our chance! This has to be a hidden quest to get my Legacy back! If he helps us track Death-Stroke we can kill him and reim it.¡¯

    ¡¯I don¡¯t know man. It could also be a trap,¡¯ replied Stainless Steel

    ¡¯Have you ever hear of an NPC that lied about giving a quest? Clearly this guy is not happy with how things are and wants to ¡¯fix¡¯ them. And remember, those three lowbies didn¡¯t see the boss right in front of them. This guardian-boss thing must be a hidden quest giver that¡¯s only visible to yers involved with the stolen Legacy.¡¯

    ¡¯C¡¯mon, Breaker. That¡¯s a lot of spection,¡¯

    ¡¯This is my chance to get back what is mine. I¡¯m going to do it¡¯ said Bone Breaker

    Bone Breaker looked at the draugr,"You, guardian. Tell us where he is."

    "YOU DARE SPEAK TO ME THUS,WORM!" Dave roared, surprisingly it amplified the game¡¯s Fear effects.

    Bone Breaker backpedaled from the st of sound. He felt his mouth go dry and his heartbeat jarring his chest, he was only ¡¯human¡¯ after all.

    "You dare to order me around!" the boss continued.

    "I am sorry. I didn¡¯t mean to, I am just eager to catch the thief. I promise if you tell us how to find him we will catch him for you and bring him to justice!" said the pdin

    "Justice you say? You mortals and your petty noises, frightened little animals trying to make sense of what is around you. WE ARE THE UNDEAD! We are beyond your silly ideas."

    The giant draugr paused, and mumbled to itself, "However, it¡¯s true I do need help. I cannot even leave this ce to gather materials for the tracking amulet."

    "Tracking Amulet?" asked Bone Breaker, hope surging into him.

    "Yes, an item only the Undead can create. It detects the emanations of Death. The legacy is infused with Death energy, using the amulet, you could follow the trail of the Legacy. Unfortunately, creating it requires materials not avable to me here."

    "What do you need to create the amulet?" asked Bone Breaker eagerly.

    "To create the amulet I need five unicorn horns and as many adamantine fments as you can, You have 16 hours to bring them to me," said the giant draugr. Then he closed his eyes and slowly returned to the somnolent posture in which they had found him.

    Bone Breaker was taken aback. Unicorn horn was expensive shit. And he didn¡¯t even know if he could get adamantine fment at the auction house.

    And...why wasn¡¯t there a quest table? This was all so strange

    But this guardian thing was definitely an NPC, the boss tag over the giant draugr¡¯s head was unmistakable and inimitable.

    "Let¡¯s go, Steel. We don¡¯t have much time," said Bone Breaker.

    He turned and walked back in the direction of the dungeon exit without even waiting to see if the other yer followed.

    Finally, a breakthrough. His hope was renewed. He would get his Legacy back and use it to reach the heights of greatness.

    Stainless Steel interrupted his fantasizing, "I don¡¯t know man, it¡¯s really fishy."

    "I know, but this is our only hope. No matter what happens, that thing is definitely a boss. If worsees to worse we can just kill it."

    "Those items for the amulet are high-ticket. Usually only guilds or crafting houses buy them. That kind of high ticket," said Stainless Steel.

    "Usually, yes. But it¡¯s an S ss Legacy quest. The price of the items the boss needs only reinforces the legitimacy of the quest."

    "Whatever man, it¡¯s your gold."

    The two yers unknowingly left the giant draugr shaking silently as he stood in the center of the room, barely able to restrain his mirth from bursting out too soon and ruining his little con-game.

 Chapter 91 Never trust a Draugr.

    Dave couldn¡¯t keep a grin off his face after having yed Bone Breaker and Stainless Steel. His acting skills were better than he thought.

    Now, Stainless Steel and Bone Breaker are looking for the items Andre asked Dave to bring him in order to repair the Broken king¡¯s armor.

    Dave left the Hall he stood at and hid in an inconspicuous chamber

    There was no telling if a High level yers might enter the Deste Temple dungeon, and if one did, Dave might die. Only Bone Breaker and Stainless Steel believe that Dave is an ¡¯invisible¡¯ boss.

    ***

    TNT happened to pass where Dave was hidden when he heard them chatting.

    "Thank god, just one more hour and we can leave."

    "Stop being a whiny bitch, you should be thankful we are helping you with the church¡¯s quest,¡¯ grumbled Perfect Shot

    "Mr. Skeletal is having lots of fun, his adventure in the underworld is the number one video, he could be making a killing right now if he shared his video feed to a TVpany," said Human Fortress.

    "Hold on a minute, what do you mean by that?" Dave¡¯s voice issued from the hidden room.

    All three of them jumped in surprise.

    "Holy crap dude! Can you please not do that!" Pussy nker was the first to recover.

    Dave¡¯s massive draugr form emerged from the room and walked over to the three yers.

    "You said I could make a killing off my video feed. How would that work?" asked Dave.

    Perfect Shot answered matter-of-factly, "Easy. You sign a contract with a mediapany willing to host your video feed, live or edited. They pay you for the exclusive content of your feed ording to how popr it is. Your content is pretty unique so it¡¯s going to be very popr with the public and highly sought after by mediapanies, especially with all that Underworld stuff."

    "How do you know all that?" asked Dave

    "My family owns a mediapany...so yeah," Perfect Shot shrugged.

    Dave was stroking his beard, "I¡¯ll have to think about it. I might have some questions."

    Perfect Shot sent his contact info to Dave, "Anytime, bro. My pops would love to sign you to a contract."

    Dave checked his timer, "Stainless Steel and Bone Breaker are due back anytime now. You guys need to hide, or at least stay far away from where I am."

    Wishing him luck they walked off deeper into the dungeon. The trio were gleeful at the thought of sessfully taking the piss out of the two high level yers.

    But Perfect Shot was grinning from ear to ear, Pussy-nker asked him why.

    "Isn¡¯t it obvious? Mr.Skeletal, bro. He is an exclusive, hotmodity, if my familypany can get a contract for his feed, we will make a killing. My father will be overjoyed when he hears the news!"

    "Then you can pay for dinner tonight," said Human-Fortress.

    Perfect Shot smiled and didn¡¯t say anything.

    The three of them kept moving deeper into the dungeon, passing the remaining time in idle chatter or an asional monster-ying.

    Dave was lost deep in thought about mizing his exclusive footage of the Underworld.

    He was the only one with ess to the Underworld at the moment. Any footage that he released to the public would be incalcbly helpful to the yers that would eventually reach the Underworld.

    Dave was in a bind financially,nding a contract would help him in his real life, Also he could treat his injuries then. When Dave makes it big, People like Anna his ex-girlfriend would have to think that maybe if she stayed with him, it might have been different.

    Dave¡¯s daydreaming was interrupted by the sound of footsteps.

    "Where is that weird boss! I told you it was a hoax!" the agitated voice of Stainless Steel came from the corridor.

    "He has to be here! There is no way a quest giver would just disappear," Bone Breaker replied, desperately clinging to hisst shred of hope.

    "Maybe he was killed off," suggested Stainless Steel.

    "No! I don¡¯t know why, but we are the only ones who can see the monster. Maybe it¡¯s because I had the Legacy quest."

    "Death Stroke has the Legacy, maybe the boss already found him." Stainless Steel added more worries to Bone Breaker¡¯s basket.

    "No, I don¡¯t think so. Death-Stroke didn¡¯t have the levels to take-on the boss. He hasn¡¯t logged in since the day he stole the Legacy. The Kill-Order I used on him has yet to notify me that it be active and its tracking Death-Stroke. Unless he logs back in, it will remain idle."

    "Hang on! you used a Kill-Order on him? Then why the hell were weing here every fucking day?!" Shouted Stainless Steel.

    Bone Breaker stuttered before saying

    "We areing here to catch him if he logs in of course."

    Stainless Steel face-palmed before saying "You ignorant twat! if you used a Kill Order you would have been notified the moment he logs back in, Then we chase after him, ALSO ARE YOU FUCKING OUT OF YOUR STINKING FUCKING MIND? WHAT IF SOMEONE ELSE KILLS DEATHSTROKE! you just fucking handed everyone in the game a free S ss Legacy ticket!"

    "Oh fuck!"

    Bone breaker¡¯s back went cold when he realized the blunder he made, then instantly went to check his options wanting to nullify the Kill-Order.

    "What are you doing?" asked Stainless Steel

    "I am removing the Kill-Order," replied Bone Breaker.

    "No, Don¡¯t, keep it, but the moment you receive the notification that Death-Stroke is back online, you will have to remove the Kill-Order. This way he won¡¯t be sought after by others, and we will know that he is back online."

    "It shouldn¡¯t matter anyway, all this we are doing" said Bone Breaker. "The boss said he can track the legacy, so it¡¯s obvious that even if Death-Stroke is offline there is a way for him to get it for us."

    Stainless Steel pondered over the words of Bone Breaker and said "I hope what you say is true, if we don¡¯t get that damnable legacy because Death-Stroke there is only you to me for making us waste so much time!"

    By now the two of them just passed by the chamber where Dave was at, without them looking in it. so Dave could clearly hear that they actually used a Kill-Order on him.

    One has to know, that once a kill-order was issued if the yer was killed, the killer will get rewarded with the bounty issued by the instigator of the Kill-Order.

    And this was an enticing feature since many yers will be able to see the Kill-Order emblem high in the sky whenever anyone actually used it. and would be able to track and kill the hunted person wherever he goes.

    The only disadvantage of the Kill-Order was the fact that if the hunted pray was not killed in a certain time period, he will actually be the one to receive the amount of the bounty issued on him plus an additional fee the longer he survives.

    "Using a kill-order on a lowbie was a dumb decision," said Stainless Steel

    "That was the only way, to find him" replied Bone Breaker.

    "What if he never logs back in!" Stainless Steel said

    "I don¡¯t know man! But didn¡¯t you hear the Boss says that he can track the legacy? It means that probably even without Death-Stroke logging back he can still find it. We just need to give him the items we bought to get the legacy. We will know by then." Bone Breaker said.

    Dave noticed his mandatory 24 hours in-game was up, he could log-off whenever he wanted to.

    Once the two yers left the region where Dave was hiding, he decided to head toward the room where he met Bone Breaker and Stainless Steel and wait there.

    After a few more minutes, the two of them came back, looks of disappointment on their face. But then they saw Dave standing in the middle of the room in the same position

    They had passed by this ce before but there was no one, and the moment the 16 hours of wait given by the ¡¯boss¡¯ was up he appeared.

    "You have finally arrived, you have what I asked you to bring," Dave spoke first.

    "Yes, the five unicorn horns and 20 adamantine fments.

    Just twenty? Man adamantine fment sure is hard to find but am d they at least found some. That thing is crazy rare!

    Dave then brought out a strange amulet from his inventory and ced it on the ground. This was a level 60 amulet from the Dead-Realm.

    Seeing the strange, intricately formed amulet, the yers rxed.

    Both of them thinking, ¡¯This is going to work.¡¯.

    "The materials you brought should barely be enough to initiate the ritual. Pass them over, if you have a god, pray to him to bless this endeavor and make it work."

    Bone Breaker tried to initiate an exchange with the boss but only got an error message.

    Error

    You cannot make an exchange with a hostile entity!

    Caveat emptor, be careful who you trade with.

    Damn it! Now the system is trying to screw me over!

    When Bone Breaker saw the System notification he was bewildered.

    "Do not give them to me, fool! Put them on the floor, I need to start the ritual!"

    "Ah, my bad," Bone Breaker ced the items on the floor.

    "I will conduct the ritual. You both have strong holy auras, it will affect the Death energy of this ritual, you need to stand clear of the ritual area by at least 30 meters away."

    Dave exaggerated the distance he needed them to stand away from him, but the two yers didn¡¯t notice anything.

    The two yers looked at each other, then went back, about thirty meters Dave then said.

    "That is good enough."

    Dave then locked on all the items, and with a single motion.

    Pick-up!

    Do you wish to leave the;

    Deste Temple Dungeon?

    Your guardian term has concluded.

    You will suffer no penalty

    The dungeon will award you EXP based on the time you remained active in it.

    Y/N

    Dave pressed Yes, and in a blinding light, he disappeared, along with the items the two yers brought him...

 Chapter 92 Super units! Dunlords!

    Momentarily stunned, Bone Breaker and Stainless Steel could only look at the spot where the Boss had disappeared.

    Did the boss just scam them for their items?

    That wasn¡¯t possible. NPCs don¡¯t lie to yers!

    "ALFRED!!" roared Bone Breaker, seething with rage.

    The butler AI appeared in front of them.

    "How can I be of service?"

    "We were just scammed by an NPC! He took our items and disappeared!" Bone Breaker shouted at the AI..

    "That is not possible. One moment while I check the logs," said the butler.

    The AI¡¯s eyes turned milk-white for a moment then returned back to their original ck color.

    "The incident you describe was not an error or glitch, your poor decision making and judgement are to me. You were fully aware that when a quest is issued the yer receives a quest table. Always. You had your doubts about the circumstances that led to this predicament precisely because you did not receive a quest table along with the quest. You even discussed the possibility that the quest was not legitimate. But, because you were greedy, you continued to follow your ill fated course. Your avarice clouded your judgement and you have no one to me but yourselves. I am done here, good gaming to you."

    The butler disappeared.

    The two yers looked at each other for a moment, then a stream of sphemous curses and angry threats echoed throughout the chamber.

    ***

    A white light shone in the middle of the area where the Undead Captains were gathered.

    Dave was back at the Dead-Realm

    In the middle of the za where hundreds of thousands of Undead-Captains stood next to each other, all looking at the far away Bone-Pce with reverence in their hollowed eyes.

    He couldn¡¯t help butugh imagining the expressions on the faces of Bone Breaker and Stainless Steel.

    For acting as the Boss Guardian of the Deste Temple Dungeon (for 24 hours) you have been awarded 240,000 EXP

    Level Up!

    You received 2400 CP

    "That was a nice chunk of easy EXP, and I hit level 106! I¡¯m definitely doing more of those missions when I can. The rewards are good." Dave smiled, happy with his new stats.

    ¡¯But just to be safe I¡¯m not going to do any more dungeon missions for a while. I need to be stronger in case I run into high-level yers. Though I can pay the CP to disappear, it could get costly.

    ¡¯The things that have been happening recently are beyond coincidence. It¡¯s highly improbable that I¡¯d run into the TNT again like that by chance. For them to so conveniently have a quest that gave me the information I need to find the second piece of armor for my quest is crazy. It seems Alfred is manipting the game In a biased way, influencing the quests for his own purposes.

    ¡¯I don¡¯t know what Alfred is doing, what his agenda is, or whether he¡¯s helping me or trying to sabotage me. I can¡¯t do anything about that right now, I have to focus on what I need to do next.

    ¡¯I know the ck Skull Order¡¯s location. But I can¡¯t go there yet, the area is too high level for me right now. So Drahma¡¯s quest is going to have to wait.

    ¡¯So, I need to stay here in the Underworld and do some grinding; go on shoot-n-loots, do more level appropriate quests, overall just get stronger and gain levels. There¡¯s no need to rush finishing the high level quests.¡¯

    Dave went to the nearest Undead-Shop, purchased some Teleportation Scrolls, and inscribed them with the location of the First Raid Zone, the Undead frontier.

    Dave tore one of the Scrolls open and appeared at the Temple of the Undead Frontier.

    Hundreds of the undead stood in formation as if on high alert while others carried construction material, building troop garrisons and siege weapons.

    Dave wondered what was going on, it looked like someone had kicked an anthill over. He entered the Temple and saw the lovely Delvina issuing orders to her subordinates.

    "Hey there Delvina," Dave greeted her.

    "Kis¡¯Shtingbrah! You are finally back, I heard you were on dungeon guardian duty yesterday. How was it?" she asked in a friendly manner.

    "It was alright. A bit boring."

    "Hmm, you can still feel boredom. Drahma was right, you must have only recently joined the Undead, to actually still have the notion of boredom.," she said with a gentle smile.

    "Delvina, what is going on? I saw the undead constructing some barracks," Dave asked.

    Delvina exhaled a long sigh before she answered Dave.

    "A squad of dunlords scouts spotted a demon army headed to the Undead Frontier,. We are preparing for a siege. Now that you are here, I need you to go on a mission for me." Asked Delvina

    "Sure, what can I do to help?" Dave asked as he smelled a quest opportunity.

    "I need you and your battalion to inform Abyssal Knight Lord Samael to send reinforcements."

    "Isn¡¯t the undead army you have here enough to hold the line?" asked Dave.

    "We are not just here to defend this territory. We will soon begin our push into the second Raid Zone, the army of lord Da is headed there now. Our objective is to unify all the Underworld under the Undead King."

    "So Lord Da, the abyssal Knight of the Sorcerer Faction is leading the invasion of the second raid zone?"

    "Yes, the orders came yesterday,"

    "Alright, where do I find Lord Samael?" asked Dave

    "You can find him in the cliffs north of the Undead Frontier, take this que and give it to him. Fair warning, Lord Da does not like idle talk and chatter."

    A new location was gged on Dave¡¯s map and a new quest item appeared in his inventory.

    A window popped into Dave¡¯s view:

    [Chain Quest

    Quest difficulty A

    Find Lord Samael and deliver to him the que given to you by Delvina]

    The quest difficulty was high for such a simple task.

    "Although I trust your strength, the way to Lord Samael is fraught with danger. I am assigning a squad of Dunlords and two Death knights to apany you," said Delvina.

    Two Death knights appeared, they bowed slightly toward Delvina and saluted Dave.

    This quest actually aligned well with Dave¡¯s ns. An Abyssal Knight is one of the strongest powers under the Undead King, and Dave became thrilled at the notion of meeting one.

    A notification appeared in Dave¡¯s vision:

    [You can now hire a new type of Undead Soldier: Dunlord]

    Dave went into his interface and saw a new icon in the troop acquisition page.

    The symbol looked like the curled and segmented tail of a scorpion,plete with bulbous stinger on the end.

    He clicked on the "More Information" tab and a holographic image with text underneath it appeared. Dave¡¯s dessicated eyes nearly popped out of his draugr skull when he saw the Dunlord in the hologram.

    It was huge. A chimeric mix of human and giant scorpion. Like a centaur, it had the head and upper torso of a man joined to the chitin-armored beast body. Except the proportions of the fleshy human torso part were farrger than an average human¡¯s, close to ogre size.

    The Dunlord in the hologram image carried a crossbow the size of a ballista in its ¡¯human¡¯ arms. In addition it had two outsized ws that stretched out to the sides and forward of where the upright human torso was, just as a natural scorpion¡¯s ws did. A segmented scorpion¡¯s tail hung over the elongated beast-form, like a guillotine promising instant death. The bulbous segment on the end of the tail was the size of a wrecking-ball and a curved sword-size stinger protruded from it.

    ¡¯Huh, looks like that tail can crush stone or pierce heavy te-armor, maybe even batter its way through fortification walls.¡¯

    The description below the image of the dunlord stated the monster had the ability to dive into and burrow through the ground like a fish swims through water.

    "These guys are total badasses!" Dave eximed.

    He looked at the price to hire one of them and almost fainted.

    "Holy crap! 20,000 CP per unit!"

    Dave summoned his toon- no, his battalion and his Undead minions appeared behind him in an organized procession, the Boyz at the front.

    "Alright, let¡¯s move out!"

 Chapter 93 Demonic Shadow Tiger.

    Dave left the Undead Frontier area and headed to the north.

    The mountain where Dave was at had a hugeke surrounding it. the Guildies needed to use boats to reach the mountain shore. On the other side of the mountain, however, a huge stone bridge linked the mountain foot to the far distant shore, crossing theke.

    Dave and his 122 followers made their way through the stone bridge. Carefully striding their way to the other side.

    Dave was on high alert, the monsters in theke were too high level for him alone, even with the two death knights, it would not be easy if they get surrounded by the two-headed snakes that dwell in the dirtiedke waters.

    The Dunlords were a hugefort to his mind. There were ten of them, and they looked like emotionless killing machines, their faces hidden in a cowl and their ws snapping asionally.

    These monstrosities, thoughtrge, walked in utter silence, as their foot didn¡¯t make a sound even if they were walking on the stone bridge.

    They had a huge body build that dwarfed Dave who walked right behind them.

    It took the party almost 30 minutes for them to reach the shore and head to where Delvina marked Dave¡¯s map.

    In the far distance, Dave saw a formation of rocks andrge hills creating a valley of stone.

    "We need to cross from here," Dave muttered.

    "Dunlords, scout ahead," ordered Dave, and the party of ten scorpion men instantly dove underground.

    Even if the earth was a mix of dirt and rocks, they dove in like if it was made of water, not leaving a trace behind them.

    The scorpion men rushed forward like small hills dispersing in the distance.

    "Let¡¯s go," said Dave as he slowly made his way after two Scorpion men who got into the valley of rocks.

    The battalion followed Dave in silence.

    "This...does not smell right...boss" the hoarse voice of Dave¡¯s favorite ghoul spoke.

    "What is it, Bud?" Dave asked

    "It smells...like those Demons... only more wretched...Boss, this ce is dangerous" he said yet at the same time he walked before Dave. Acting as a bodyguard.

    "Thanks, Bud, if it¡¯s too dangerous we will have to think of another way to get in."

    Dave didn¡¯t worry much about it. after all, he had two level 400 Death Knights forpany and they could help him block off any monsters, as long as they didn¡¯t reach the Mythic Tier, he could still survive. Also, he had the new Skill Unyielding, obtained after surviving the assault at the Undead Frontier.

    The skill enabled him to survive for 5 seconds after his HP reaches below 1%. This means he can never be One-Shotted.

    5 seconds is enough for Dave to think of a way to get out of any mess.

    Once they entered the stone valley, Dave looked up to see some aged veins and roots growing on the rocks. However, something like a shadow crossed his vision and disappeared instantly without Dave having a chance at inspecting it.

    The two Dunlords that Dave was following soon came back, they erupted from the ground giving Dave a scare.

    "The road is clear up ahead, Sir," one of them said.

    Soon after, the remaining Dunlords came back, giving Dave the same information then went again to scout again.

    Strange...the scouts say that there is nothing, but what the hell was that thing I saw?

    Also, Bud is a ghoul and they have a powerful nose... it could smell the stench of demons.

    Should I go back? The marker where Lord Samael is should be at the exit of this valley.

    "Let¡¯s keep moving," Dave ordered.

    Two Dunlords walked first, and right behind them, the two Death Knights Delvina gave to Dave walked each on his sides.

    A loud growling sound rocked the area where the party moved and Dave became highly alerted.

    "Everyone, be on your guard!"

    A shadow jumped from the upper rocks of the valley and a beast of enormous size dropped in front of the party.

    It was a tiger the size of a small hill, it towered over the party, and looked at them menacingly.

    It was ck in color and had several eyes on the side of his head.

    The tiger exuded ck smoke from his body, and began starfing the party while issuing low growls.

    Dave inspected the beast.

    Demonic Shadow Tiger

    Tier: Epic

    Danger Level ? ?

    Level 420

    40,000-50,000 DMG

    500 000Hp

    35 000 DN

    15 000 MA

    A territorial Demonic monster that is highly aggressive toward those that invade his territory.

    [Mawl] Deals 10% maximum Hp in Bleed Damage over 10 seconds

    [Ravage] deals 200% basic damage to a single target

    [Pounce] Jumps to a target area Dealing 50% attack damage in a 5X5meter area and applies stun effect.

    [Shadow Escape] after reaching a certain amount of hp, the monster will prioritize escape.

    "Good god this thing is strong. Everyone gather up, Death Knights nk it, Dunlords stay behind and only attack when the tiger decides to pounce on me," Dave back away.

    We won¡¯t be of much use in this fight, the monster is several hundreds of level above me and my battalion, but the Dunlords and the death knights can take care of it. at the same time, I can use the battalion to harass him to assist the Damage dealers. And what the heck is up with that [Shadow Escape] skill?

    Dave finished nning and ordered the attack.

    One of the Death Knights used [Charge] and stunned the tiger, and immediately the second Death Knight attacked with its jagged greatsword on the left side of the beast.

    [-6222]

    [-11 223]

    The Tiger howled in pain and swiped the Death Knight who wounded it.

    [-12 333] a huge damage value appeared above the Death Knight, yetpared to its HP, it was not much.

    The Monster Pounced at the backline and began ravaging the Undead.

    Two of the casters instantly fell to its high Damage value, and a Dunlord immediately charged the Tiger grabbing it with its ws and smacking it right in the head with its poisonous Stinger.

    Demonic Shadow Tiger has been Poisoned for 10 seconds

    -800 HP/Sec

    "Good!" Dave used [Spectral Bomb] and blew it up in the face of the Tiger.

    It didn¡¯t deal damage, but secured the EXP for Dave and also staggered it, helping one of the Death Knights to deal an increased amount of damage.

    [-16,220]

    The Tiger growled in defiance, but thebined attacks of all the undead soon brought most of its HP Down.

    Most of the Damage came from the Death Knights, and the two Dunlords acted as good tanks to soak up the damage from the creature.

    Dave¡¯s Party of casters only served one purpose, to use their magic to attack the death knights, Yes attack the death knights.

    As Dave had tested before, the magic from his casters can actually heal the undead and damage the living. So, he used it to keep the death knights at almost full HP all the time.

    The Tiger pounced several times after that, killing some of Dave¡¯s Undead and casters, to that Dave ordered them all to retreat, he didn¡¯t wish to lose more troops.

    Once the tiger reached 20% HP it backed away and dived into a nearby wall.

    "Damn!" cursed Dave as the Beast escaped.

    Yet before he could rx, the shadow behind him exploded as the tiger emerged from under his feet and pounced at Dave pinning him to the ground.

    [-55 222]

    The maw of the creature opened wide and was about to rip Dave¡¯s head off...

 Chapter 94 Shadow-Set Blueprin

    Chapter 13

    Dave used [Undying Will] to remove the tiger¡¯s rooting effect caused by the pouncing on Dave.

    Dave retreated a bit, and a Death Knight attacked the Tiger pulling back the agro toward him.

    Luckily, the tiger attacked the Tiger on its right hind-leg. Causing a status effect.

    Crippeled!

    For 15 seconds -20% movement speed.

    "Attack its legs!" Dave ordered and the Death Knights and Dunlords attacked all at once.

    The enormous tiger began limping and whimpering as the attacks continued on, added to the slow effect caused by the continuous attacks on its ¡¯weak¡¯ areas. The tiger became a ything for Dave¡¯s underlings.

    Minutester, Dave heard the final howls of the tiger as it dropped down on the floor with a thud.

    Dave gained a good amount of exp that raised his level 106 from 2% to 88%.

    Dave closed on the body of the tiger and began picking up the loot.

    Demonic Shadow-Tiger¡¯s pelt X1

    Demonic Shadow-Tiger¡¯s Fangs X2

    Demonic Shadow-Tiger Rune

    Shadow-Tiger¡¯s ws X6

    Shadow-Set Diagram

    100 Gold

    Dave pocketed the items with glee on his face, Yet another Diagram for a set.

    This was all thanks to him being the first to kill these types of Monsters, securing the best possible drops at the first kill.

    Dave inspected the Rune first

    Shadow-Rune

    Cat School/agility type Cannot be worn along with a Vitality or Magic Type rune

    Head Piece

    +100 Agility

    Increases basic Movement Speed By 10%

    "Oh, this would do great with Assassin types," Dave pocketed the rune and opened the diagram of the Shadow-Set

    Blue-Print; light-Armor Set: Epic-Tier

    Shadow-Fiend Light-Armor (Full-Set)

    X50 Fang of Demonic-Shadow-Tiger

    X15pelts of Demonic Shadow-Tiger

    X100 ws of Demonic-Shadow-Tiger

    X8 Cristalized Shadow-Worm Blood

    X20 Moon-Silver ingots

    X20 Cobalt Ingots

    X100 ck Crystals

    Craftsmen¡¯s Level Required

    Master Forgesmith

    "Hmm, most of these resources are rare to find, Not even the Bristle Mines of the Blood-Rage has these, especially the Moon-Silver... I never heard of such a mineral in the game," Dave.

    ¡¯I should probably hand this over to Lone Arrow, the Forgesmith she knows will be thrilled at the sight of another Epic Tier Blue-Print¡¯

    "Craftsmen sure have it easy, isn¡¯t that right Bud," Dave said to the Ghoul next to him who was eyeing the corpse of the tiger with a bit of glee in his eyes.

    The ghoul didn¡¯t respond.

    "Bud, Are you alright?"

    "Eat!" said Bud

    "You want to eat this?" asked Dave

    The ghoul nodded

    "Euh...go ahead, enjoy yourself"

    In a moment, Bud lunged at the corpse and began ripping it with his teeth and ws ripping and crunching bone and meat with his sharp looking teeth, eating at it like a maniac.

    ¡¯Dang...¡¯

    Dave¡¯s two other ghouls looked at Bud with envy but they didn¡¯t move.

    "If you two want to eat you can go ahead," said Dave

    And as if on queue the two other ghouls started feasting on the corpse of the Shadow-Tiger.

    It took the three ghouls about a minute to finish off the corpse, not even bones remained as they ate every single bit of it.

    Dave had a troubled stomach after witnessing that so he decided to move on. But a notification popped before him

    Some of your minions are about to Evolve

    Dave pressed the window and noticed that the three ghouls who just feasted on the Tiger had a dark aura surrounding them.

    After a moment the aura disappeared then the hulking size of Bud and the two other ghouls decreased a bit.

    Dave inspected Bud and saw a different screen

    Shadow-Ghoul

    Level 101

    HP 101 000

    DN 8000

    MA 6000

    A mutated and empowered form of the mindless ghouls.

    [Shadow-Escape] Can periodically enter shadows to hid and ambush prey.

    Passive [Feast] Consumes the flesh of corpses to regenerate its HP

    "So they can evolve after eating their prey...I wonder if they eat stronger prey, would they inherit their abilities too?"

    Dave let the idea go as he heard once again another howl of another tiger nearby.

 Chapter 95 Business Deal

    Back at Moria¡¯s Temple, TNT just submitted Pussy-nker¡¯s Quest. The Undead Killing Quest, and the A ss quest for finding information regarding the broken king¡¯s Armor.

    The priest was ¡¯shocked¡¯ by the news and asked Pussy nker toe back another time once he has more information regarding the ck Skull Order.

    Which were a ¡¯degenerate bunch of wanna-be undead and necromancers that wishes to bring the end of the world¡¯. Or so the priest said.

    "I will log out now," Perfect Shot said to his friends.

    "Are you sure, We can still have more fun, I believe that the eastern borders where we are, have a lot of good dungeons spread around here somewhere." Human Fortress looked not the least bit fatigued by their continuous grind and wished for more.

    "Nah, the Deste Temple is the only low-level dungeon near Moria. Anything else is high level, too high level for even the strongest guilds to challenge right now. I should also Log out, am invited to a party this evening," Pussy nker added his bit.

    "Tch, leave you, and your high-ss parties, just make sure to save some food for me." Human Fortress logged out.

    Perfect Shot pressed the Log Out option and found himselfying on a bed sized Game capsule.

    Opening it, he took a breath of fresh air and headed toward his room¡¯s door.

    "Hey, Pops!" shouted Perfect Shot as he rushed down the mahogany made staircases.

    Perfect Shot¡¯s family had a good business, and they led a good life. Where his father was the CEO of a major TVpany he could hardly find any difficulties with the necessities of life.

    A far cry from Dave¡¯s apartment, Perfect Shot¡¯s House was an extravagant lodge with expensive furniture and decorations all around it.

    "Tom, what is the rush?" a mildly old female voice called the rushing youngster.

    The youth turned and looked at the wrinkled face of this person who was currently wiping a dish with a dry towel

    "Hey Mum, you¡¯ve seen my dad anywhere?" asked Perfect Shot, or Tom.

    "He must be downstairs, fixing that old car, I tell you, he spends most of his free time with that tin-can, he should be spending more time with his family at least that way you won¡¯t be losing your mind over that game..."

    Tom knew that if he lets his mother continue on with those thoughts he would be stuck for hours toe so he rushed downstairs looking for his father.

    Once he was downstairs he went through the garage door and found his dad under an old 1990 red Mustang.

    "Hey pops, I have great news!" said Tom.

    The father in question bumped his head on the car having been scared by the abrupt shout.

    "Would it kill¡¯ya if ya could just knock?" an old man of about fifty emerged from under the car. Face blemished with oil sludge, the old man took an overused rag and wiped his hands as he slowly stood up.

    "You are still working on this car pops? You could just send it to a professional garage and they can fix it up for you." Said Tom

    "Nah, this thing is a gift from yr granpa, and I haf ta fix it miself. So Whatcha got for me?" said the old man.

    "Inded an amazing business...it goes like this!"

 Chapter 96 Abyssal Knight Samael

    Level UP

    Another Shadow-Tiger fell at one of the two Death Knights¡¯ feet.

    "What a great Grinding spot!" Dave said as he scurried gathering the drops from the fallen foe.

    He was already Level 122 as he slew his tenth Shadow-Tiger.

    "The drops decreased in quantity a lot, still it¡¯s a good XP area, Alright Boyz, let¡¯s move on," said Dave as he tasked the remaining troops to follow the Dunlords.

    Dave decided to recall all the Dunlords that were scouting the way for him and use them as aid, in taking down the lonesome Shadow-Tigers that are prowling in hidings in the Cliff area.

    After having lost a good number of his low-level Undead, Dave deemed it inefficient to continue like this. So he used the Dunlords to tank for his low-level group, while he let the two death knights take the damage dealing role.

    Thought the Dunlords were level 350, the level difference decreased their damage to the Tigers significantly, but the scorpion-men had a huge HP bar, so they could still tank the tigers easily and let the Heavy Hitters damage do their job.

    After ying thisst tiger, Dave managed toplete a full Rune-Set of the Shadow-Tiger. An agility school type of runes.

    But sadly, the corpses of the Tigers no longer had an effect on his Ghouls so they went to waste.

    Dave checked his marker, following it, he should find the Abyssal Knight Samael. And it was close.

    Once the party moved a few hundred meters in the gloomy cliff, they saw a strange scene.

    Hundreds of bodies and remains of carcasses littered the ce. They were bodies of shadow-Tigers, gargoyles and a strange type of monsters that Dave never saw before.

    In the middle of the small mountain made of corpses, a man sat atop, munching on a piece of meat.

    The moment Dave noticed the man the person disappeared.

    Dave felt a cold edge under his neck, it was a cold and long ck curved Dagger.

    "What are you doing here? Too far from home. A spy?" said the man with a cold an emotionless voice.

    Dave took a long breath and answered calmly.

    "No, I am here on orders to look for Lord Samael."

    "For what reason?"

    "I am afraid I cannot tell you unless you reveal your identity," said Dave as the person was behind him and he never got the chance to inspect him.

    "What if I refuse?" said the person

    "Then Death is a much better option than speaking further," said Dave as he used [Vertical sh] to get away from the person and prepare for a fight.

    Dave had a hunch that the person that held the dagger was actually Lord Samael, but he needed to y his role as a soldier, never expose his mission¡¯s details to anyone if they do not reveal their identity.

    "Everyone! Ready up!" said Dave, but his retinue didn¡¯t move a muscle.

    "Ho? Your subordinates know better than to fight me," said the stranger.

    The stranger had an amazing body build. He wore a long coat and long shorts, as he wore nothing under the coat, his chest showed a perfectly shredded body. With muscles in the right ces, not too buffed and not too skinny, he had an unhealthy gray looking skin color.

    Dave inspected the man.

    Cannot Inspect!

    ¡¯Damn¡¯

    "Bud! Spark!" shouted Dave to his closest undead.

    The two undead began staggering as they moved, almost as if they held the world¡¯s weight behind their back, but they still got closer to Dave.

    "Interesting, such loyalty, to be able to disregard my Authority, and stille to your aid...I am the one you seek, young Draugr, what is it that you need?"

    Dave sighed, and a new window appeared before him

    You have been given permission to Inspect your target

    Samael The Voracious

    Tier (Ethereal)

    Rank: Abyssal Knight

    Danger Level: Friendly

    HP???

    DN???

    MA???

    Skills???

    A being representing the top evolution of a ghoul, voracious and forever hungry, a creature of madness and greed. However, Samael overcame the mindlessness of such horrid behaviors and overcame his nature, a pure ghoul of the highest ranks.

    He was granted a special ability due to his nature

    For that I feast not only on flesh, but also on your inner fears.

    [Passive] Massive increase to Fear inducing effects facing hostile enemies

    ¡¯So you are Abyssal Knight Samael, forgive me for my behavior," Said Dave, trying to sound sincere.

    "Off with the pretenses," scuffed the Abyssal Knight "I wouldn¡¯t be that polite if I had a de under my throat, now speak your say."

    Dave grabbed the te that Delvina gave him and handed it to the Abyssal Knight.

    Samael inspected it, and his brows furrowed. He gave Dave an inspecting look and said

    "That vixen, she is giving you a lot of face, are you up to the task?" said the Knight.

    "I have no idea what you are talking about," Dave said with a shrug.

    "Follow me," The Abyssal Knight said and headed to the nearest cliff-wall.

    Dave followed behind and his retinue remained in ce

    "Can I have control back on my troops?" asked Dave.

    "No, we need to do this quietly, let them guard our escape route,¡¯ Said the Abyssal Knight as he struck the cliff with a swift kick destroying a huge portion of it and uncovering a most amazing sight.

    The cliff hid an underground area, a magmatic workstation of sorts. As enormous carts filled to the brim with mining materials, rocks and shiny objects. There were hundreds of creatures pulling the carts and others mining the caves.

    Once the rocks destroyed by Samael made an impact to the ground, the creatures that were working turned to look at the source of the mor.

    Dave thought to himself, ¡¯and he said he wanted to do this quietly!¡¯

    However, against his expectations, no one minded their presence, not even caring about the huge hole created by Samael¡¯s kick.

    "Don¡¯t fret, they can¡¯t see us, Now jump," he said and jumped a twenty meters drop andnded near a gathering of minerals hidden from the workers.

 Chapter 97 The Mines

    Dave cursed under his breath as he didn¡¯t like heights and followed Samael.

    The Abyssal knight made the jump look easy, but the moment Dave dropped, he felt his heart at his throat and with a sickening snap of bones Davended and both his legs broke.

    You received 10 000 Fall Damage

    Crippled! 20 seconds

    Holding thousands of profanities, Dave looked at the strange shape of his legs. He thanked the system for lowering the pain he was currently feeling, but the numbing sensation in his legs made it feel ufortable.

    "Huh, your agility is too low, you should work on your speed and dexterity to manage jumps from heights like these without suffering much damage. If you roll right after you fall you can be able to lessen the fall damage too"

    Passive Skill learned, Fall reduction.

    Your character will passively roll whenever you do a drop jump of more than 10 meters, reducing the damage taken by the fall-damage by 50%

    Sweet, that is a free skill.

    Dave corrected his twisted legs and they healed at an observable rate.

    Once Dave¡¯s legs were functioning again, he walked up and hid near the Abyssal knight.

    "You see those pirs there," said the lord.

    Dave looked and saw that about twenty giant pirs held the cave they were in. There were several workers excavating minerals near the pirs.

    Imp

    Level 80

    Damage 1000-1200

    HP 40 000

    DN 200

    MA 1500

    Skills [Rock Toss] the imp hurls a rock at a target dealing 200% attack damage on impact.

    [Impale] the Imp jumps with their spears dealing 150% damage to a target and bleeding them for 50% of the damage dealt

    [Call for Help] Once the imp¡¯s HP reaches critical level they will shout to their allies for help. Increasing the target¡¯s Aggro by 500%

    Mindless ves of the Demonic faction, the lowest ranks of demons and the most numerous

    Dave went back inspecting the pirs and said to Samael

    "Yes, what about them," said Dave.

    "This cave is a mining area for the demonic faction. And it also acts as a funnel for the demons and they can gather their troops easily near our borders. If we take down this cave, we can cut the route to their advance and halt their supplies, while Delvina can take down the attackers that are trying to siege the Undead Frontier," The Abyssal Knight exined

    "So a Sabotage mission?"

    "Indeed, I will be creating amotion, and I need you to take down the pirs as fast as you can, use this," said lord Samael as he handed Dave twenty ck orbs.

    Destroyer¡¯s Frozen Soul

    A soul of the ancient Destroyer race, an explosive material that can destroy terrain.

    "nt these at the base of the pirs, once your task ispleted, get back here as fast as you can, you must not uncover yourself, otherwise the enemy might send someone to take you down." The abyssal Knight said and walked out to meet the enemy.

    "COME FORTH AND MEET YOUR MAKER FILTHY DEMONS!" roared the Abyssal Knight, his voice loud enough that it vibrated throughout the cave quacking it.

    Dave ran toward the closest Pir, while hundreds of demons rushed from all over the ce to fight the Abyssal Knight. Imps and gargoyles even a strange worm that erupted from underground to attack the Abyssal Knight.

    Dave was tempted to use [Spectral-Skull] to secure some supporter¡¯s EXP but decided otherwise. There was no need for him to increase his agro, lest some of the Demons take him as a threat.

    Once Dave got the first pir, there was a single Imp still mining near it, not caring for all themotion happening.

    The imp turned around and saw Dave staring at him indecisively.

    With a squeak, the imp rushed toward Dave pulling his spear and charging at the Draugr.

    "Alright then!" said Dave as he readied himself for a fight...

 Chapter 98 Infernal Threa

    The imp charged at Dave with his shining spear, a sign he was using a skill.

    Dave used [Block] and followed with [Counter].

    [-885]

    Dave used [Destructive Smash] stunning the Imp for a second and followed with [Stampede] crashing into the imp sending him reeling.

    [-630]

    [-2200]

    Dave then followed with [Immortal Apparition] as his body disappeared in shadows and appeared in front of the Imp.

    You sessfully applied Fear Effect to your target.

    The imp squawked and ran for his life only to abruptly lose it as he fell in the magmatic pond behind him.

    "Oh...I didn¡¯t think that would work." Dave mused and went toward the pir, finding a ¡¯specially¡¯ allotted slot to ce the Frozen Soul, Lord Samael gave him.

    cing it Dave looked at the next Pir that was a few dozen meters away, there were two imps there.

    "I guess the difficulty increases with every pir..." Dave headed toward the next pir.

    Dave engaged inbat as soon as his cooldown were down.

    Starting the fight again with [Immortal Apparition], he applied Fear Effect to the two Imps. One of them luckily fell right behind the pir and into theva pond, while the other was close enough. Dave used Stampede and smashed into him sending him flying over and with a plop, another enemy fell.

    "This is fun," said Dave, but turning to see Samael, he was surprised with the number of corpses littering the ce.

    The Abyssal Knight was a monster in his own rights, hundreds of bodies littered the ce as he swung his dagger around cutting limbs and heads with astonishing speed.

    The abyssal Knight Danced a dance of death, with every swing monsters will be dismembered, or instantly killed if they were too low level.

    A gargoyle attacked from Samael¡¯s blind spot, but the Abyssal Knight didn¡¯t bother turning to face it, as he shoved his weaponless hand into the body of a Blood-Worm and smacked the gargoyle along with dozen other monsters sending them tumbling across the ground.

    Some unlucky ones fell into the magma pond and burnt to ash in seconds.

    "Well, he is doing alright." Said Dave and looked at the next pir. Three imps...

    "This is going to be more and more difficult,"

    Waiting a moment for the cooldown to reset, Dave went to face the three imps, but they have spread too far away for him to use the same strategy.

    ¡¯Kite them!¡¯ Dave thought

    "Hey scrubs," said Dave, to which the three imps squawked in an awful voice and rushed to meet Dave.

    Dave used [Sword Lung] prating all three Imps

    [-1922]

    [-1682]

    [-1220]

    The Skill deals less subsequent damage to every enemy it hits but that didn¡¯t bother Dave. This way the three imps were close enough for him to use [Immortal Apparition] and fearing two imps into the pond while another Imp somehow ran to the opposite direction even further away from the pond.

    "Ah this is going to suck..." said Dave as he followed the imp trying to leech him back into the pond.

    After another try, Dave managed to push the Imp with a stampede into the pond.

    ¡¯Thankfully, the pond Insta-kills them, if I slowly wither them down they will certainly use [Call for help] and god knows how many monsters wille my way then.¡¯

    Dave continued on with his tactic, Waiting for cooldown and using the fear effect from [Immortal Apparition] to push the imps into the pond.

    Some of the times it became tricky to get all the imps aligned, and this almost cost Dave his life as the groups of enemies became too man to handle.

    "12 pirs down, eight more to go," Dave found his situation to be grimmer and grimmer as enemies became more after every pir.

    Looking once again back at Samael, he was doing alright, defeating foes left and right without breaking a sweat.

    ¡¯Damn, he is strong enough to handle that many enemies, he could have done this himself¡¯ grunted Dave.

    Then an earth-shaking roar issued and the pond of magma opened up revealing a monstrosity beyond description

    A creature made of stone emerged from underneath the magma-bed. It crashed both its arms on the tform where Samael was fighting and roared quacking the cave and making some stone stctites fall in the pond and on some unlucky Demons.

    The creature had a wide jaw, but no eyes or ears, and at the front, there was a twitching nose, he sniffed around, it ¡¯found¡¯ Samael, and rushed out of the pond toward him.

    Sworn Stalwarter

    Level 620

    Tier (Ethereal)

    Alignment [Demonic]

    Danger Level ? ? ? ? ?

    DN???

    MA???

    HP???

    Skills ???

    A creature of the depth, bound to serve the Ash-King as a ve and protector.

    These creatures feed on magma and are immune to fire, in their presence, heat in the area increases to an rming rate inducing DOT of 500HP/second

    "Holy shit! This thing is way too op!"

 Chapter 99 That was...Unexpected.

    Dave didn¡¯t even want to get near it. Forget about fighting it, even approaching it would be enough to send Dave to Respawn.

    Thankfully, Samael didn¡¯t look perturbed by the appearance of such a creature, but still looked at Dave¡¯s direction and said.

    "Boy, you gotta hurry up, I can¡¯t hold this thing for long, not in its domain," Said the Abyssal Knight as he brandished his dagger and went to face against the more than ten times its size monster.

    ¡¯I hope he didn¡¯t notify every fregging monster to my existence with those words.¡¯

    Dave thought about doing a monster rush, ignoring the monsters and cing the Frozen Souls all over the pirs and somehow try and get away.

    But he thought against it, there was too much at risk, and he could end up making a blunder and die for it.

    Even if the Damage from the Imps was negligible, an army of ants can still kill an elephant, and theye were no ants and Dave was no elephant.

    Dave¡¯s eyes darted around and stumbled upon a cart filled with stones. The cart had a railway under it, and it was on a slope. The railway crossed the entire area to ease the mining for the imps.

    The pirs acted as stops for the cart for them to fill it with minerals.

    Dave thought about his next steps and sighed.

    ¡¯This is going to be a bad idea.¡¯

    Dave used [Spectral Skull] and sent it toward the furthest pir, exploding in the face of an unaware Imp. The Imp howled and rushed toward Dave pulling every other monster¡¯s agro with him.

    And from then on a chain reaction, every pir that had imps excavating near it followed the enraged imp and all rushed toward Dave.

    ¡¯Alright, time to use all my non-existent physique skills,¡¯

    Once the hundred or so Imps were close enough, Dave¡¯s back broke in a cold sweat.

    ¡¯This might not have been a good idea!

    Dave pressed the lever on the overloaded cart, and it rushed down the slope toward the iing imps.

    Dave didn¡¯t tally and followed closely behind it in a jog.

    The cart was increasing in speed with every second and the imps, unaware of their impending doom didn¡¯t bother to change course. The road was tight enough to only let several of the small imps pass at once, but the cart wasrge enough to cover the entire path.

    The Imps were struck with the devastating force of inertia behind the cart and were sent all over the ce. More than half was sent to the magma and the rest sprawled around in different positions.

    Dave didn¡¯t wait to admire the view, he rushed toward the nearest pir and ced the frozen soul and rushed back to the next pir.

    The cart was running on the rails so fast it sometimes jumped up and down on it, until it met the safety block at the end of the rail and broke through it spilling its content on the magmatic floor.

    A single stone somehow managed to fly all the way to hit the Sworn Stalwarter.

    Due to Samael having not even startedbat with it, this very act increased Dave¡¯s threat level to be a primary target.

    The Sworn Stalwarter moved its face toward Dave¡¯s location and its nose twitched, a howl soon followed and the monster dove through the magma and rushed toward Dave¡¯s location.

    Dave looked at the monster charging toward him, and with abject terror Dave increased his speed, cing stones on the pirs he passed by.

    The Sworn Stalwarter reached the end of the Pond and climbed the rift, barely making space for himself in the process as he chased Dave through the tight passage made for the carts.

    Dave didn¡¯t bother wasting time looking back as he kept on cing the Frozen souls on the pirs.

    Level UP!

    The notification startled Dave, but he dismissed it.

    Once he reached the final pir. Dave turned to see the monster not even 30 meters away from him. Its feet were crushing a helpless Imp to a pulp. This was the reason why Dave was gaining exp as he already secured his Supporter¡¯s exp having damaged the imps using the cart.

    The Sworn Stalwarter opened its maw wide, revealing sharp rows of obsidian teeth and an infernal ball in the process of being created.

    "FUCK ME!" Dave ran with all his speed...toward the face of the monster.

    [Immortal Apparition!] Dave used and appeared behind the monster that shot the ball of fire toward Dave¡¯s earlier location.

    Dave appeared behind the monster and ran forward.

    Another notification popped up.

    You are experiencing Overheating.

    -500HP

    -500HP

    -500Hp

    Fear Effect failed to apply due to Level difference

    Ah, shit shit shit!

    Dave¡¯s HP was plummeting at a rapid rate, but he didn¡¯t bother looking at the monster that was now trying to ¡¯turn¡¯ its oversized body to chase after Dave.

    There were several imps blocking Dave¡¯s way, these were the survivors that the cart didn¡¯t kill and was too far away from the Sworn Stalwarter to kill with its deadly stomps that were closing on Dave right now.

    "Jump into the pond!" Shouted Samael

    "Ah fuck if I die from this am gonna sue the game makers!" Dave hollered and took a leap of faith.

    Samael punched his fist in the floor and grabbed an oversized chunk of stone and threw it near Dave.

    Immediately he disappeared from where he stood appearing on the still flying rock, and grabbing Dave by his hand. a second after that, he jumped from the flying rock and into the opening he made entering this cavern.

    "FUCKING HELL THAT WAS INTENSE!" Dave cursed loudly.

    "I am surprised you managed to survive that, so did you nt them all?"

    "Yes, all twenty of them. Now what?" said Dave as he looked at the pit under them

    The Sworn Stalwarter crashed its ws into the wall and started climbing toward them.

    "Good,"

    Samael then did a gesture with his hand and explosions erupted throughout the Cavern.

    The whole cliff started shaking when Samael said

    "You should go back a bit,"

    Dave rushed away from the falling stones and boulders into safety where everything came crashing down.

    Giant stctites fell on the creatures trapped underneath the cavern.

    Like a yawning pit, the whole side of the cliff opened up consuming everything in a deadly grave.

    [Conquest Server Announcement!

    Kis¡¯Shteingbrah managed to y the first Ethereal Monster in the game.

    May his name stands for all those who valor honor and courage for all eternity.]

    "Huh, Say what now?"

 Chapter 100 What about the drops? 100 milestone!!!

    At the northern kingdom of the Conquest world, deep into a frigid forest of ice and snow stood an enormous temple.

    It was old and decrypt, built with red stone and pirs that had seen better days supporting it.

    It was the Crimson Monastery, where Warlord and a party of the highest level yers of The Devastators were grinding their levels and leveling up.

    At this moment, Warlord reached level 440, further confirming himself as the highest level yer in the game.

    Then a notification popped up right when they were about to face a level 450 Ice Golem

    Conquest Server Announcement!

    Kis''Shteingbrah managed to y the first Ethereal Monster in the game.

    May his name stands for all those who valor honor and courage for all eternity.

    "WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON WITH THIS GAME?!!!"

    Warlord cursed to the announcement flying high up in the sky

    ''Kis''Shtingbrah. Who the hell is that?

    Where do these peoplee from? The skeletal guy, the elf and now some guy managing to defeat an ethereal level monster? That was utterly inconceivable.''

    "Vali, what do you know about this?" Warlord asked his right-handed man.

    "No, I am sending orders to the HQ, they will get us information soon." Said Vali who was staring at the notification held up high in the sky.

    Warlord rubbed his nose bridge and sighed

    "Let''s get done with this dungeon run now, we need to get to level 450 at least to be able to tackle the dungeons at the eastern borders."

    "Warlord, aren''t you being too hasty. Even if we manage to get to level 450 before the end of the contract with the Blood Rage guild for grinding in the Crimson Monastery. The Monsters at the lowest level dungeon there range from Epic to Mythical tier! And you know well that numbers are worth squat shit against the Absolut strength of the monsters there¡­"

    "I know Vali, I know, but you just saw! Someone destroyed an Ethereal Level monster! That is even stronger than a mythical one. How can we just sit by and watch? We are already under a lot of pressure from having lost the Raid-Zone and now, losing out on the first Ethereal Monster Kill is another blow to our guild."

    "Hast won''t make us do any better, there has to be a reason why a yer that is even lower level than you managed to kill an Ethereal monster, it must be a trick."

    "You don''t think it could be that Skeletal guy?" said Warlord as he remembered the only yer able to bypass levels and defeat him, the highest level yer in the game.

    "No, I don''t believe so, it is highly unlikely¡­" said Vali, with a tone betraying his words.

    "Hold on, I am receiving an emergency voice-mail,"

    Vali''s eyes widened once he heard the entirety of the vocal message.

    "What is it?" Warlord asked his friend.

    "Some two yers just contacted our guild, they say that they have Met this Kis''Shtienbrah."

    "What? Where? Make them tell us!"

    "Hang on, this is the weird part, they said he was a Boss? Yes, a boss monster in the Deste Temple near the city Moria."

    "This doesn''t make any sense, why would a boss¡­" Warlord''s voice trailed as he thought of a possibility they just discarded.

    "Do they still have the video feed of the encounter?"

    "Yes, they just sent it to the HQ and I am receiving it,"

    Valentine shared the video with Warlord and they both watched it together.

    "That is him! That is the Mr. Skeletal guy! How did he be that big?"

    "I don''t know, but he is now a boss-ss," said Valentine.

    Then he heard the discussion between the yers and the ''Boss''

    "Those three guys¡­ where did I see them before?" Warlord muttered.

    "It''s the guys that Mr. Skeletal first met, they were in his first videos."

    "Yes, we contacted them a few days ago and they imed they have no rtionship with him¡­ we will have to toughen our approach. Send some guys over, have them give up information on the Mr.Skeletal, if they don''t, PK them until they quit the game!"

    Valentine sent Warlord''s Orders and added one of his own.

    "Get a group of twenty A team to the Deste Temple Dungeon, search every corner, and under every rock! I want that cebed! Find the guy!"

    The HQ of the devastators started moving.

    Warlord snorted after seeing the end of the video sent to them.

    "That bastard just scammed these two yers for their items. But it''s their fault they should have noticed the absence of a notification screen when they were given that shady quest. Alright, those two are rogue yers right? See if we can recruit them to our Devastators, if not just pay them for their information," said Warlord.

    "Alright consider it done," replied Vali, then they went toward the crimson monastery to grind their level.

    Back at the Underworld. Dave stared deeply into the notification in front of him.

    "So, I just killed an Ethereal monster. Ahm, that is unexpected," Dave muttered, "But how the hell can I get the loot?!"

    Looking at the caved in cliff, Dave felt helpless, there was no way for him to get down there and search for the remains of the Sworn Stalwarter.

    "Killing an ethereal monster without getting the loot. That is just sad,"

    Dave turned around to leave but then thought of something

    "Why didn''t I level up? ALFRED!" Dave called

    A butler in a ck sparrow tailed suit appeared as he fixed his monocr.

    The world turned ck and white, and Lord Samael actually froze¡­ the appearance of the butler froze the time in game!

    "It''s you again¡­ How many troubles will you cause me," said the butler not concealing the bit of anger in his eyes.

    "Wow, what did I do? I am just ying the game!"

    "You are ruining everything I have been working on! But no matter, what is the cause of your summon?"

    Dave was taken aback with the Butler''s tone but he ignored it and said, "as you can see, I managed to y an Ethereal Boss, and didn''t get the loot or the exp,"

    "I know¡­ The monster in question was not supposed to be yer-killed, the actions you took were not taken in consideration, the kill should have been in favor of the Abyssal Knight with you. The Experience and the drop WAS supposed to go the him! Now you somehow managed to attract the Monster''s aggro before the Abyssal Knight attacked it, and also used the Fear effect, though it failed it is considered an attack."

    "So it was all luck? The monster was not supposed to die by the hands of yers?"

    "Yes, but no yer was meant to get the drops,"

    "That can''t be, what if I was higher level? What if for example I was level 800 when I attempted this quest?"

    "This is exactly the problem! When the average level of yers reached a power threshold strong enough to take on the Sworn Stalwarter, this very quest, should have been long since disappeared. This Abyssal Knight would have taken care of this area alone without the help of any yers."

    "Ah, so no loot for me?"

    "No¡­well nothing prepared at the moment" said the Butler with a disgruntled voice.

    "I will make something for your... efforts, but I can''t give you all the exp from the kill., the amount of experience you will gain is too much¡­it will break the game''s bnce." Said the Butler.

    "What do you mean?"

    "It is an ethereal Monster, killing it, and being solo will grant a few billion exp, if I were to give you the full amount, your character will level up too fast and will affect the undead chain ofmand''s quests. You still need to do several quests and in a slow motion, therefore I willpensate you with a special item." Sai the Butler and snapped his finger.

    A small red bead appeared in the butler''s hand.

    "This is a special item, you can put in on your Ring of the Death God."

    Dave received the item and got it closer to the golden Skull-ring on his hand.

    The bead flew and stuck itself on the right eye socket like a glowing jewel.

    [EXP Bead

    While wearing this item, all exp gained from; Quests, Monster Kills and other methods are doubled until yer reaches level 500.

    Not appliable to Crafting, Alchemy, Forgsmithing, and Ressource Gathering]

    Oh, sweet! Said Dave enjoying the unexpected bonus.

    The butler was about to disappear before Dave said

    "Hey; what about the loot!"

    A vein bulged in the butler''s head as he said

    "I almost forgot¡­ here¡­"

 Chapter 101 LOOTZ!!

    Skill-Book: Infernal Aura (Legendary)

    Skill Book: Ray of mes (Legendary)

    Ash-King¡¯s Pendant (Quest Item)

    Sworn Stalwarter¡¯s Core

    Sworn Stalwarter¡¯s Gauntlets (Weapon- Bound)

    20 000GOLD

    "Wow! Thanks a lot, old man, but no recourses?"

    "Aren¡¯t you grateful? This monster does not drop any recourses, in theter stages of the game yers should meet them, and the first kill was supposed to give these items to them."

    "Oh, thanks anyway, by the way, why did you freeze the abyssal knight?" asked Dave

    "NPC¡¯s in this game have their own AI, if I were to interact with them, it might change their mindset. I wish to remain unknown. Once I leave this ce, the Abyssal Knight shall continue as if nothing happened." The butler then disappeared in a puff of smoke.

    The ck and white scenery changed back to its colorful one, and Lord Samael spoke to Dave saying "We should be going now, now that the cave is brought down, there is no need for us to stay here. No reinforcements should reach the Undead Frontier, so Delvina should have an easier time handling things back there."

    Quest Completed!

    + 750 000XP

    Level Up

    Level Up

    Level Up

    "Wow sweet! Level 130!" said Dave.

    "I still have some matter to take care of," said the Abyssal Knight

    "Where will you be going now?" asked Dave

    "I will be heading to the Burning Heights, there exist the closest fortress of the Demonic faction. I need to gather information." Said the Abyssal knight

    "Can¡¯t you send your underlings? You are a general in the army, you must have many capable men under yourmand."

    "I do have many under me, but I like doing things my way, at least I can guarantee sess."

    The abyssal knight jumped up the remaining rocks of the valley and headed to the north.

    "The Burning Heights... sounds interesting. Alright boyz," said Dave as he turned to look at the undead apanying him

    "Let¡¯s do some grinding," said Dave

    The party of sixty or so undead started wandering the area looking for prey.

    In the meantime, Dave inspected the loot from the Sworn Stalwarter, he checked the pendant of the Ash King first, but it didn¡¯t respond, it didn¡¯t even give him a notification window, so he ignored it for now. but after checking the other items Dave¡¯s mouth opened wide after reading through the descriptions.

    Infernal Aura

    100 Mana/second

    Deals a damage of 0.5 % of user¡¯s own HP in a radius of 10X10meters (Ignores Magic absorption and Bonus Immunity from armors and items)

    Immunity skills can still cancel the damage of the skill for their duration.

    No cooldown

    Ray of mes

    Shoot a concentrated ray of fire in a straight direction.

    Damage 2000-3000 Magic damage

    If the Ray of mesnds on a terrain, it can melt it down creating a magmatic substance that cools off after 10 seconds.

    Damage dealt by the magmatic substance tics for 500 magic dmg/second.

    Cooldown 1 Hour

    Category: Gauntlets Sworn Stalwarter¡¯s Gauntlets

    A weapon made from the hands of the vicious Sworn Stalwarter

    Basic Damage 2,000-3,000

    [Socket]

    [Socket]

    [Socket]

    [Socket]

    Requirements 300 STR. 300 AGI 300 INT

    Level (1)

    Bound to (Death Stroke)

    Attributes/Skills Weapon Level (1)

    When Worn, increases the Area of the skill Infernal Aura by 5x5Meter radius and damage by 0.5%

    [Ramp UP] Increases the Damage of Stalwarter¡¯s Gantlets after each sessful hit by 2% capped at 5 times

    [Burning Fist] If Ramp UP is activated, imbues a the weapon with fire damage increasing basic weapon¡¯s damage by 20%

    Special Skill unlocked at weapon level 2

    Special Skill unlocked at weapon level 3

    Scaling/ss Scaling Weapon

    [Scaling Sealed]

    ss. legendary

    "I think Alfred Likes me, after all, he just said that I was ruining the game and he ended up giving me a brokenly op weapon! Sweet! I gotta try this!" said Dave as he equipped the gauntlets.

    Conditons Not met!

    Insuffisant INT Value

    Insuffisant DEX Value

    Insuffisant STR Value

    Dave opened his status window and looked at the missing requirements.

    Level 130

    ss Death¡¯s Apostle

    Name Death Stroke Race

    Human (Undead)

    Health 30 000+(1500)

    Mana 3000 +(150)

    Stamina Unlimited

    Rage/Focus 100

    Intelligence 260 +(13)

    Wisdom 310+(15.5)

    Dexterity 260 (+13)

    Agility 260 +(13)

    Vitality 3000

    Strength 260 +(13)

    Magic Absorption 1000

    Damage Nullification 2000

    Immunity 20% +(1)%

    - -

    HP Regen 0.1/sec +(0)

    Mana Regen 1.1/sec +(0)

    Stamina Regen

    +¡Þ Rage/Focus

    Regen 1/sec

    Title I know it all!

    Unallocated attribute points 120

    Dave looked at his unallocated points and smiled, he thankfully only used 40 points of his total attribute points previously and now he had more than enough toplete the necessary points for wearing the gauntlets.

    Adding 25 points in each of the three stats, enabled Dave to wear the gauntlets. Thanks to his title {I Know it All} it added the remaining points to meet the bare minimum.

    Wearing the gauntlets Dave was amazed at their entric looks. They looked like scaly hands made of rock and had an exquisite andfortable feel to them.

    The only down part was that Dave is no longer able to use his shield now. And no longer has ess to [Block] and [Counter]

    While Dave admired gauntlets, he heard the low growl of a Shadow-Tiger.

    Dave smirked wildly.

    The tiger pounced on a death-knight who blocked it and struck back at the Tiger¡¯s frontal paw causing a Cripple Debuff on it, slowing the tiger down noticeably.

    Dave waited until the two Death Knights with him secured aggro so he doesn¡¯t OT.

    Then he went mad with glee as he struck the beast. Though no damage value appeared on the Tiger due to the high level of the Shadow-Tiger, he was ted with the visual effects of the gauntlet. They shed with sparks light fireworks every time theynded a hit.

    After the fifth hitnded, they became inmed.

    Dave grinned and threw a rising uppercut, right down the tiger¡¯s jugr. As it burst with me.

    [-0]

    "Damn, I wonder what the damage value would be if I used it in PVP or on equally leveled monsters."

    Dave was ted with the new weapons and like a child on charismas morning, he couldn¡¯t have enough of ying with the new toys, hunting several other tigers and grinding more levels...

 Chapter 102 Earth Titan!

    Dave led his party of undead deeper into the valley area, leaving it after few battles with more shadow tigers.

    Dave received a good amount of loot and drops from the shadow tigers that he encountered, and had more than enough to make two sets of the Shadow-Set from the blue-print he dropped from the first Shadow-Tiger he killed.

    ¡¯Now, I only need Shadow-Worm¡¯s blood to have everything I need, the rest can be bought from the auction-house.¡¯

    But no matter how far Dave searched with his undead, he didn¡¯t find any Shadow-Worms, not even regr monsters.

    The rocky area he was in had an obviousck of monsters. Dave found it strange.

    ¡¯You guys should scout ahead¡¯ said Dave to the Dunlords.

    The ten Dunlords dove underground and each going to a different direction.

    Dave stood still waiting for information from the Dunlords. But even after ten minutes of search, the Dunlords came back with nothing.

    ¡¯We should probably head north, to the Burning Heights. The abyssal Knight Samael went there, there should be some demons there."

    Dave ordered his battalion to march north.

    The group of undead looked too conspicuous walking alone in a desert of rocks and stone. However, there was nothing in sight to alert their attention or cause them any disturbance.

    Theck of monsters made Dave a bit edgy, looking around every now and then, fearful of an ambush.

    He still sent two Dunlords to scout ahead of him in case they met with any unexpected monsters.

    After an hour-long walk, Dave felt bored out of his mind.

    The scenery never changed, a huge emptynd of rocks without a single strand of grass growing anywhere.

    Dave¡¯s gaze wandered until he saw a burning pir standing in the distance.

    ¡¯We should be close to the Burning Highest," said Dave with a sigh of relief, as the boredom was making him more and more pesky.

    Right when his hopes were up, the earth trembled and a monstrosity appeared form under the earth.

    Rocks and dust falling with it, two of Dave¡¯s Dunlords fell from the sky, taking massive Fall Damage.

    A creature the same size of Drahma stood gazing at them.

    It was a colossal being of stone, while it had a cuff under its neck with a chain dangling from it.

    ¡¯An earth golem?¡¯

    Earth Titan

    Level 750

    Tier (Unique-Ancient)

    Alignment [Chaotic]

    Danger Level: ? ? ? ?

    DN???

    MA???

    HP???

    Skills ???

    The Earth titans were peacful creatures, and would only attack if disturbed or harassed.

    However, this is thest of its kin, and the loss of his race made it unreasonable.

    Having been forced into very under the Ash-King, the earth titans have lost their passionat and care for life and became rampaging beasts of destruction and carnage.

    "Ah shit. Everyone Retreat!" ordered Dave with a sunken face.

    There was no way for them to take down this creature, not even the highest level Undead under Dave¡¯s retinue could make a dent in its body due to the level difference. And now with it cutting their way to the Burning Highest, Dave needed to take a detour.

    However, the Earth Titan had a different idea.

    It roared as it punched its arms into the ground pulling up a huge bolder and tossed it at Dave¡¯s party.

    Dave didn¡¯t think twice before activating [Bastion] receiving 0 damage when the boulder hit.

    Some of Dave¡¯s party were not that lucky, getting one-shotted as they took the damage from the golem¡¯s rock-throw.

    The Dunlords were the first to escape unharmed from the attack as they Dove underground, while one of Dave¡¯s Death knights was already in critical HP Levels even if he only received the ssh Damage from the rock throw once it broke.

    "Spread Out! And run!" shouted Dave as he picked up his pace and ran as far away from the Earth titan as possible.

    After stressful moments, Dave and the remaining of his party stood far away from the Titan¡¯s Aggro range.

    The Titan calmed down and went back to the earth, waiting for another unlucky prey toe his way.

    "God, that was close,¡¯ said Dave as he did a head-count of his retinue.

    "Damn, lost ten undead just like that, I need to be more careful,¡¯ said Dave as his eyes wandered looking for a way to the Burning Heights.

    But wat caught his vision was a troop of undead walking with confident steps toward them. Hundreds, thousands...even more undead, most of them had staffs with the exception of the first party leading the front, that wasposed of Death-Knights with tower-shields and long curved swords.

    The undead army walking toward them was imposing, and had a mighty aura surrounding it.

    ¡¯This must be the army that Delvina said would be attacking the Second Raid-Zone...led by the Abyssal Knight Lord [Da]¡¯

    But once Dave noticed their direction, his heart almost stopped.

    Dave went toward the army with haste. His remaining undead following in toe.

    Once Dave closed on the Army The thousands of undead all stopped in their ces.

    The Death Knights looked at Dave with vignce, some casters even started preparing spells for the iing group.

    "HALT!" roared a Death Knight at Dave.

    "What business do you haveing here," said the Death Knight in the lead.

    "You must be the army under Lord [Da] right?" said Dave.

    The Death Knight didn¡¯t confirm or deny Dave¡¯s statement, so Dave became a bit warry.

    ¡¯could I be wrong? And this is another section of the Undead Legion?¡¯

    "You must take a detour, you should not continue onward," said Dave.

    "Who do you think you are, ordering an army to take a detour! State your name and rank!" shouted the Death Knight at Dave.

    Dave¡¯s brow furrowed as he answered.

    "I am Da- Kis¡¯Stingbrah, Undead Captain, and leader of Battalion 2705!"

    "An Undead Captain ordering an army to take a detour, aren¡¯t you too full of yourself!"

    "I am not ordering anything! There is an ancient beastying in wait there! If you move too closely, the entire army will be destroyed!"

    The Death Knight¡¯s brow furrowed as he looked at Dave, then his gazended on the Death Knights following Dave.

    "Is that true?" the Death Knight belonging to the army asked the Death Knights under Dave.

    But the Death Knights under Dave didn¡¯t answer. They were under Dave¡¯smand, and unless anothermander of higher rank asks them, they will not answer.

    Dave¡¯ mouth opened as he wanted to speak but a person appeared near them.

    "Oh, if it isn¡¯t you!" said the person that literally popped out of thin air.

    Dave recognized that voice as he turned to see a Lich smiling at him.

    Lich Du¡¯Razha

    Level 520

    Rank -Lich-(Doom Knight)

    Tier (Mythic)

    Friendly

    Hp(???)

    MA(???)

    DN(???)

    Skills (???)

    One of the most powerful of units under the Arch-lich (Da) lord over the magus ranks of the Undead Legion.

    Du¡¯Razha was captured after having failed to eliminate the Ice Queen. His power has been supressed and he was forced to imprisonement in the ice pce.

    Now after obtaining freedom, he is back under Lord Da¡¯s services further spreading the name of the Undead-King.

    "Oh, if it isn¡¯t you Du¡¯Razha!" said Dave with a smile

    "INSOLENT!" roared the Death Knight that was adressing Dave earlier.

    Dave¡¯s heart jerked from the surprizing shout as the Death Knigth added

    "How dare you speak the name of our lord without title!"

    "Calm down," Said the Lich, "This is the one that resed me from under the prison of that dispicable Ice Queen, I owe him my freedom. And he is free to use my name as he wishes." Said the Lich.

    Thought the lich looked calm, it still made the Death Knight bow its head in apology saying

    "I have been rash, and I apologisze for being offensive."

    "Its alright," said Dave

    "So, young undead, what brings you all the way here?" asked the Lich.

    "I was under a mission with lord Samael, I am afraid I cannot speak of its details, but after we parted I wandered around looking for oportunities. However, I was met with a dangerous beast, and when I saw you headed toward it, I wanted to warn you."

    "Hmm, you were with Lord Samael, that is interesting. But you must remember, I am still willing to include you under my unit once you reach the rank of a doom kngith, I don¡¯t want any other to poach you from me,¡¯ said the Doom Knight with a smile.

    "But, you just mentioned a beast, what was it like?"

    "It is an Earth Titan, it is sleeping in that clearing right over there."

    The Death kngiths when they heard Dave mentioning the Erath Titan all gasped.

    "An Earth Titan? They still exist in this world?" asked the lich with a bit of skeptisizm

    "Yes, I saw it with my own eyes."

    "Hmmm. Alright, we will be taking a detour, I need to speak to lord Da first... hey, do you wish to meet him?" said the Lich

    Dave¡¯s eyes shone for a moment and said

    "Why not."

    Whenever he met with an abyssal Knigth there was always a quest to take. And so far, they were all of the best quest that Dave has done and all had the best rewards.

    "Then follow me," said the Lich as the Undead army opened a path to the duo, walking straight toward the center.

    Author¡¯s Notes.

    I have some news to share boyz. ReadRead contacted me for a contract with them, Rise of the Undead Legion will be premium once we reach 200k word count, it is still in the future but once there, we will rise in rank like crazy!

    I wish to thank everyone who gave their Power Stones to see thise true and also will guarantee a steady release of chapters from now onward.

    For readers who think this might not be to their liking (I know spending your precious spirit stones can be a hassle), I hope that you can still remain faithful to the story. you can still use your free spirit stones to read chapters and I will not make it too tough on by posting a lot, you so you can still keep up without needing to spend actual money.

    Daily chapters should be enough for you guys to use your daily spirit stones. though I know some of you still wish to use the free spirit stones on other stories, I wish this will not difort you.

    Thank you all for making thise true, and I am sure that ROTUL will rise!

    Have a good spooky morning and expect another chap tmr!

 Chapter 103 Negotiations

    Dave followed Du¡¯Razha all the way to the center of the army of undead. Hundreds of pairs of eyes eyed him walking next to Du¡¯Razha, but no one spoke a word. After all, one that walks with their superior must be an important figure.

    Dave looked up and four Death Knights holding a litter throne, and sitting on it was an emaciated drawer with a crown over his head.

    The draugr wore exquisite looking purple velvet robe of a had azy expression on his face.

    In his right hand was a cane with a human¡¯s skull as the handle. The skull had two red jewels that had a vivid luster to them.

    "Du¡¯Razha, why have you stopped the march?" asked the draugr on the throne.

    "Lord Da, this is the young undead I told you about that time. And he has some important information to tell you," said Du¡¯Razha.

    The emaciated draugr gave Dave a questioning gaze then said: "Speak..."

    "Lord Da," said Dave "There is an Ancient Earth Titan sleeping nearby. If the army continues in its current path, it will encounter it and I believe that there will be needless casualties. I rmend you take a detour to the Burning Heights if your lordship wishes to conquer it without trouble form the Ancient-Titan."

    "Hmm... An ancient still lives... it¡¯s no wonder we didn¡¯t encounter any demonic creatures on our way, but we cannot make a detour," said the Abyssal knight.

    Dave squinted his brow. ¡¯Does this guy think he can take on the level 750 Ancient? He must be mad...¡¯

    "Sir, I advise you to think otherwise, it is a powerful enemy..." yet before Dave could continue on

    "Silence." Said the Abyssal Knight, "Do you think I don¡¯t know how powerful Ancient beasts are? But we cannot make a detour, it will take us months of travel to reach the burning hights this way. Look at your surrounding." Said the Abyssal knight as he pointed at the nearby cliffs.

    Apparently, Dave didn¡¯t notice that the only empty path toward the Burning Heights was where the Titany asleep. And everywhere were rocks and cliffs too steep for the army to walk around.

    If the army was to take a detour, they will need to go back all the way from where they came and take another path. Not to mention that if they are too slow on attacking the Second Raid-Zone, the enemy army that is currently headed toward the Undead-Frontier will be notified and wille back to reinforce the Burning Heights making it much more difficult to takeover by the Undead.

    This attack was supposed to be a sneaky invasion, taking the chance when the enemy¡¯s army attacked the Undead Frontier to attack their base. Having already cut the supply route with Lord Samael, it is already a huge blow to the Demonic army and now if they took a detour it would all be pointless. They need to strike while the iron is still hot.

    Dave was now lost. If the army didn¡¯t want to take a detour, they will be destroyed by the Ancient Titan, or at least lose a good amount of troops making the invasion much harder.

    "I heard that you came up with wonderous methods to help the Undead legion before," said Lord Da

    Dave¡¯s brow furrowed¡¯ what is this guy nning?¡¯

    "Saving Drahma, and Du¡¯Razha, also providing immense help capturing the Undead Frontier..."

    Dave didn¡¯t like where this conversation was headed as Lord Da continued speaking

    "What do you mean, Sir," asked Dave

    The Abyssal Knight smiled as he said

    "Your task is to take care of that nuisance, no matter how it takes, gets it off our backs until our army passes through."

    Hidden Quest!

    Tier S

    Lord Da tasked you with taking ¡¯care¡¯ of the Ancient Titan. Find a way to help the Undead Army to reach the Burning Heights without suffering casualties.

    This quest cannot be refused!

    Abandoning your task will result in you being branded as a traitor to the undead race!

    Dave¡¯s heart sank ¡¯this is absurd! I wanted a quest, not a suicide mission!"

    Du¡¯Razha looked with a questioning Gaze at Lord Da but still didn¡¯t voice his thoughts and said to Dave

    "May the Undead King¡¯s blessing be with youd."

    The Death knights and casters surrounding Dave had eyes with high expectation toward Dave.

    Dave looked back at the Ancient Titan¡¯s Location and took a deep breath.

    ¡¯There has to be a way out of this mess, no matter how ridiculous a quest is, there is always a way to solve it.¡¯

    Dave walked toward where the Ancient Titan slept and stood a few meters before the aggro range of the Titan.

    The gaze of thousands undead all looked at him.

    "I go...I attack and let you chance...chance to pass by..." said the gruff voice of an undead that was behind Dave.

    Dave knew it was his favorite ghoul speaking

    "Thanks, Bud, but you don¡¯t need to risk yourself, I think I have a way. It¡¯s risky, but its worth the shot." Daveforted the brave ghoul.

    Pulling the Titan¡¯s aggro could be an avable option, but it is not enough. He could leech it with undead but it is too risky, as it could simply shower them with rock throws decimating them, and Dave had very few skills that could save him from the Titan¡¯s assault.

    Not to mention, that the army needed to take the chance to pass by when Dave is actually leeching the titan. The whole army passing would require at least 10 minutes, which is impossible for Dave to hold the Titan¡¯s aggro even with his whole party leeching it.

    "Everyone, go back a bit." Said Dave then looked at his skills.

    Everything was off cooldown, even Bastion was up again, so if worsees to worse and his n fail, he could still save his skin.

    Dave walked a few steps into the Titan¡¯s aggro range, but nothing happened.

    "So far so good," said Dave, then he shouted at the top of his lungs

    "EARTH TITAN!" hollered Dave

    Nothing happened

    "I know you hate the Ash king!" said Dave

    Right at this moment, the earth trembled and the titan rose from underground.

    "YOU!!!" boomed the titan as it looked at Dave with hostility.

    "YOU KNOW OF THE DEEDS OF THE ASH KING! HOW DARE YOU SPEAK HI NAME IN FRONT OF ME!"

    Dave¡¯s body shuddered from the voice of the titan as it looked at him menacingly.

    ¡¯well, it¡¯s do or die now," thought Dave.

 Chapter 104 Strategist!

    Dave held a pendant in his hand and showed it to the Titan.

    "I already slew one of his Sworn Stalwarts!" said Dave as he showed the pendant to the giant.

    The giant got his face closer to Dave to look at the tiny pendant.

    When Titan¡¯s face closed on Dave, he unconsciously took a step back. The mere size of the titan¡¯s head was like a tilting building that was about to fall.

    "You lie not...this is one of the Ash-King¡¯s Servants pendant, they be like that once they wear it...but I can see that you are too weak to be able to face the wrath of his Sworn Servants...how did you do it?"

    "I blew a cliff over him using Frozen Souls..." said Dave as he didn¡¯t intend to lie to the titan.

    The Titan smiled hearing that, fissures and cracks appeared on his face once he heard Dave¡¯s exnation.

    "Serves them right! Those creatures were too savage! They all deserve to die!" said the Titan with hostility in its eyes.

    The red tag over the titan changed color and became yellow. Indicating that the hostility level toward Dave decreased.

    "Then why youe here, disturbing my peace!"

    Dave took a long breath ¡¯thankfully, now it can be reasoned with.¡¯

    "I serve the Undead-King, and he ns to rule over the Underworld!" bluntly said, Dave

    The tag over the Titan started flickering between red and yellow.

    "But! I promise you one thing," said Dave " I will make sure to avenge your fallen kin against the tyrant Ash-king, our army ns on taking over the burning heights further increasing his influence. Our undead King is merciful and will not bother you, and will make sure to bring justice to your brethren." Said, Dave

    All what Dave just said was a bunch of nonsense, but that was the only way to make the Titan cooperative.

    "Another king! Another tyrant!" said the titan

    "If you don¡¯t believe in the King, then believe in me! I won¡¯t go back on my word! All I need is for you to let us pass, no one will bother your sleep."

    "You better make sure you follow your promise...I was enved when I was weak, now with my current power, not even the ash-king can stop my rampage, not to mention an undead-king, if your race dares to y tricks, then I will make my way to your Pce and bring it down upon your king!" said the Titan.

    "Thank you for your understanding, you have my word that nothing shall happen to you," said Dave

    The Titan ignored Dave and walked a few hundred meters quacking the earth with every step, then burrowed into the ground back to sleep.

    Dave¡¯s expression eased as he walked back toward the undead army with confident steps.

    The Death Knights all looked at Dave with amazement, though they didn¡¯t hear his conversation. The simple fact that he was able to ¡¯reason¡¯ with the Ancient Earth Titan and make it step aside was enough to amaze them.

    The army split and let Dave walk inside where he noticed the stupified gaze of the Abyssal Knight and the awkward smile on Du¡¯Razha¡¯s face.

    "It is done, my lord... the army can now move without hindrance." Said, Dave

    "How did you convince it?!" asked the abyssal Knight, not believing his eyes.

    "I just promised the Titan that no one shall bother its sleep, at least no one from our undead legion."

    "You promise him something you have no power over?" asked the Abyssal Knight.

    "Weather the Undead legion respects this promise or not does not change a thing, after all my task was to let the giant make way for us, you can still disregard what I promised him, but I rmend to not do so, he said that he was able to shake the control of the Ash-King, though I don¡¯t know who this Ash-king is, all I know that the titan inferred that it might be stronger than our undead king."

    Lord Da didn¡¯t refute Dave¡¯s stating that the Ash-king could be stronger than the undead King, and so Dave thought that it was true.

    "The Ash-king is the ruler of all demonic kin, he stands at the top of the chain ofmand. Though he is powerful, his underlings are undisciplined. Therefore we do not fear them." Said the lich Du¡¯Razha.

    "You havepleted your task," said the Abyssal Knight. "And I believe a reward is due, but not now, we must make our way to the Burning Heights. The Demons must think that this ce is ¡¯protected¡¯ by the Earth Titan thus it should have low surveince, if we attack swiftly we can conquer the region without much trouble. Undead!¡¯ said Da as he gazed at Dave.

    "Follow us to the Burning Heights, I think your brain has still not rotten and can be made of use in the following seig,"

    Hidden Questpleted!

    +1,000,000XP

    Level Up

    Level Up

    You have obtained a new title!

    Strategist!

    +50 Intelligence

    Passively increase the troops¡¯s morals under yourmand.

    Your troops gain +10% Damage from all abilities.

    New Quest!

    Tier S

    Assist the Undead Legion in capturing the Second Raid-Zone

    The Burning Heights.

    Fleeing or abandoning the army will result in you being branded as a traitor losing all bonuses from the undead Legion.

    Your Legacy quest will fail if you die or abandon your post while invading the second Raid Zone!

    This quest cannot be declined!

    Dave cursed under his breath! He was ying for a long time today and was feeling hungry, and now with this quest, it would seem that lunchtime will have to wait...

 Chapter 105 A Daring plan!

    Dave walked along the tens of thousands of undead. They steadily marched forward in an organized and disciplined manner.

    Though the undead doesn¡¯t fear, some had their ¡¯breath¡¯ held when they walked near the sleeping Titan.

    The Titan didn¡¯t move, nor bother with the marching army, he already made a deal with Dave to let the army pass if they do not disturb it.

    The burning pir in the far distance served as a marker for the Burning Heights. An enormousnd filled with simr looking pirs burning all over the ce.

    "Do you know what is the significance of these pirs Du¡¯Raza?" asked Dave.

    "It is said that these Pirs serve as tombstones for the fallen knights of the Ash-King. The Ash-King is a powerful entity and I can say that his power isparable to our king. But due to our kin¡¯s ability to raise the dead, the Ash-King used these pirs to act as both a tombstone and deterrent against necromancy.

    "How so?" asked Dave

    "Whenever a powerful entity of the Ash-King falls, this pir will manifest as a protection against the necromancy of us Liches we cannot resurrect them to our ranks," said Du-Raza

    Looking at the numerous pirs in the distance Dave understood that great battles must have urred here.

    "The Undead Legion attempted to invade this ce before I presume?" asked Dave.

    "Yes, this was long ago, when our Undead-King was much more powerful, it was here where the king was betrayed by his closest. If the king managed to obtain thisnd, the whole underworld could have been his. But a despicable traitor acted against us, used the aide of the ck-Skull order and informed the Ash-King of the invasion, so they prepared for us, and we suffered great defeat at the hand of the Ash-King."

    "Looking at the number of the pirs here I say that you didn¡¯t go down without a fight."

    "Ha! Indeed, who do you think we are! We are the undead, NEVER HUNGER! NEVER TIRE! NEVER FEAR!"

    The moment he said that the whole army shouted at once!

    "NEVER HUNGER! NEVER TIRE! NEVER FEAR!"

    The voice made Dave¡¯s heart tremble. The army reciting the Undead¡¯s Passive as their catch-phrase made the hair on his body stand.

    ¡¯True, the undead fear nothing, even in face of defeat they will fight to thest breath, they are already dead, what is the worse that could happen to them¡¯

    Dave had a smile on his face, he was d he was amongst the undead. The most loathed race in any VRMMORPG he ever yed, are now his kin, and his brothers. He is one of them and will do all for them.

    As of now, all the undead held respect toward Dave, he was but a low-ranked undead, yet they all gave him a lot of credit, for saving many of their superiors, for being the one that helped capture the Undead-Frontier, and for having convinced an ancient Titan to make way for them.

    This was Dave¡¯s all, it was...his family.

    The warmth of a family was something Dave never had the chance to experience, and now something like a small seed started blossoming in his heart. A feeling of affiliation. Membership, and understanding.

    Dave smiled and walked in confident steps along the army of the dead.

    They passed pirs by pirs, which noticeably increased in numbers, and at the far distance atop a great hill, almost the size of a small mountain stood a red fortress. The fortress had four spiral towers, one in each corner.

    These towers were linked with high and sturdy looking walls. And behind the fortress was an immense active volcano acting as a barrier preventing attacks from behind it.

    The hill had a natural moat ofva flowing around it, protecting the fortress.

    "Wow, this is not going to be easy," said Dave as he noticed that the bridge of the fortress was pulled up.

    The sound of bells sounded in the distance and the four towers at the corners of the fortress all lit up with a zing me.

    "They signaled the rm," said Du¡¯Raza with a mild expression.

    "How are you nning to cross the moat? Asked Dave.

    "Eh, well, simply walk over theva. A lot of our brethren will die, but their bodies will make a for a temporary bridge, using my ice magic I can make it stable for a while for us to directly walk on and attack the gate. Once the gate is down we can destroy them from within." Said Du¡¯Razaha in a manner-of-factly.

    Dave turned to look at the Abyssal Knight Da with a questioning gaze.

    The Abyssal Knight didn¡¯t look the least disturbed when hearing Du¡¯Raza¡¯s n, so he probably already knew about.

    "Won¡¯t that be a huge loss of troops? Don¡¯t you have any siege weapons? Or long nks anddders? That can be used to cross the moat?" asked Dave.

    Du¡¯raza looked embarrassingly at Dave and said.

    "We didn¡¯t bring any of those..."

    Dave facepalmed as he thought, ¡¯these guys...if I didn¡¯t show up, and they decided to go through the titan they would probably have less than half their current forces, and forcing a good amount of them to die to make a path for the rest to attack the fortress would even further reduce their numbers. What the hell are they thinking! This was their n? The undead sure have a lot of numbers but what the heck is wrong with them wasting that numerical advantage over poorly nned attacks and siege methods. I am surprised they still remain in the Underworld!"

    "Lad, do you have a better n?" asked the Abyssal Knight.

    Dave was about to shake his head when a shadow appeared in between him, Du¡¯Raza and the Abyssal Knight.

    "Lord Samael!" said Dave as his eyes perked at the appearance of the Ghoul that showed up.

    "You are here. Interesting, So Da, why is the wait, you should be on your way to attack the fortress, they already sounded the rm and I believe we have few hours before the information reaches the ears of the army seigeing the Undead-Frontier. If that army returns, this mission will be a failure."

    "I know Samael, then let us attack!" he said yet before he issued themand Dave interrupted!

    "Wait! I have an idea!" Dave said.

    "What is it?" asked Samael and the Abyssal Knight Da at the same time.

    Dave¡¯s eyes wandered as he stroke his beared before he answered then a smile stered on his face.

    "Lord Samael, do you still have those Frozen Souls?"

    "Hmm? Yes, but they won¡¯t be of use against the walls of the fortress, those walls are imbued with magic that will nullify the effect of the Frozen souls once they are in contact."

    "No, we are not attacking the walls of the fortress with those," said Dave with a smirk

    "Do you see the volcano over there? Asked Dave.

    The trio looked up.

    "What about it?" asked Samael.

    "How long would it take you to get there?"

    "I can get there in less than half an hour. But why?"

    "Then can you do this for me..." said Dave as he gave instruction to Samael privately.

    After hearing Dave¡¯s say, Samael became puzzled.

    "I don¡¯t see how doing that would help..." said Samael

    "Just trust me on this one."

    "Alright," said Samael and disappeared from sight.

    "What did you tell him?" Asked Du¡¯Raza.

    "You will see, Lord Da, can I ask you to halt your army¡¯s advance for 30 minutes?"

    "That Samael has respect for you, then so be it! Du¡¯Raza let the army rest for a while. We shall resume our attack in 30 minutes!"

    Time slowly passed by while Dave¡¯s gaze didn¡¯t lock away from the mountain.

    Du¡¯Raza was still puzzled over the task that Dave gave Samael, but didn¡¯t ask more questions and just waited.

    An explosion soon echoed in the far distance, and Dave¡¯s had a wide smile on his face.

    "It should begin now," Dave said

    Momentster, theva moat that was surrounding the fortress started turning darker and darker by the minute and the flow ofva slowed down significantly.

    "What is happening?" asked Da as he noticed the change.

    "Simply put, I asked Samael to use the frozen souls to redirect theva flowing from the volcano. Once the flow is redirected, the magma around the fortress will cool off and we can walk over it, no need to sacrifice unnecessary lives in doing so. Lord Da, you can now issue the attackmand,"

    Lord Da had a wide smile on his face when he roared, "LEGION OF THE UNDEAD! IT IS TIME TO RECLAIM THE LAND THAT WAS DESTINED TO US! MARCH FORWARD!"

    The steady sound of the Undead rose, and Dave knew that once the undead reached the gate of the fortress a wholesale ughter will enact. He couldn¡¯t be more excited even if he wanted.

 Chapter 106 The Demons retaliate!

    The undead walked over the crust that formed over theva, it was still hot but it did not hamper the advance of the Legion much.

    Once the undead reached the gates, demons above the walls of the fortress started shooting fireballs and arrows at them, but the undead didn¡¯t flinch or hesitate, directly attacking the raised bridge.

    Some Deth Knights had great-Hammers that they swung wit full force at the raised bridge. The echo of the attacks sounded from far away like the steady beating of a drum.

    Sorcerers cast magic at the wooden bridge, splintering it with each attack.

    Dave stood far behind the range of the spell cast of the demons.

    "We should be able to take down the gate in mere moments," Said Du¡¯Raza.

    Dave could clearly see the ¡¯HP¡¯ bar of the raised bridge rapidly decreasing with the constant barrage of attacks from the Undead.

    Loud bang issues and the wooden bridge crumbled to pieces, yet before the undead charged forward, two hulking giants emerged from the gates roaring and swatting away the Death Knights that surrounded the gates.

    They were two big hairy minotaurs like creatures, they had fire-red orbs for eyes, and their horns were pitch-ck and sharp as swords.

    Taurus Demon (Variant)

    Level 550

    Tier (Mythic)

    Danger Level ? ? ? ? ?

    HP 800,000

    Damage 120,000- 140,000

    MA 40,000

    DN 40,000

    Skills [Wilde Swing] Wildly swings the Taurus Club in a crescent, applying Knock-Back Effect and dealing 200% Damage

    [Unbrideled Strenght] WhenThe Taurus Demon¡¯s Hp drops below 50% it infuses itself with the power of Chaos and increases its attack speed and damage by 10% for every 10% Hp lost.

    The Taurus demons are a mutated form of Taurus Beasts. They are created after being exposed to the power of Chaos for a long period of time.

    "That thing is strong..." said Dave

    "Don¡¯t worry, we came prepared for worse," said Du¡¯Raza

    "Orn! Gale! Take care of those!" said the Abyssal Knight Da.

    "At your orders!" replied two Undead knights that were beside the Abyssal Knight.

    These two were two draugrs that looked quite simr to dave with the exception of the beared. Their armor had a golden luster to it, like if they were some sort of royal guards.

    Orn The Knight yer

    Tier (Mythic)

    Danger Level Friendly

    Level 550

    (Doom-Knight)

    Damage???

    HP???

    MA???

    DN???

    Skills???

    Orn, a famous butcher of the Undead Legion, had made his name known for having in a thousand Knight in battle alone.

    I slew a thousand Knight, what¡¯s one more?

    Gale the Broken de

    Tier (Mythic)

    Danger Level Friendly

    Level 550

    (Doom-Knight)

    Damage???

    HP???

    MA???

    DN???

    Skills???

    Gale was a powerful warrior when he was alive, and became even more ferocious when he turned to an undead. He is famed for wielding a broken great sword that never left his side.

    Even with a broken de, I can still kill you!

    These two Doom knights dashed toward the rampaging Taurus Demons.

    Almost at the same time, the two Doom Knights reached the demons, They each grabbed one of the Taurus demons¡¯ horns and threw them to the far distance.

    The scene lookedinc to Dave as the human-sized Doom-Knights were able to hurl the two Taurus Demons like if they were made from stic foam.

    The Taurus demons were respectively sent tumbling to the left and right of the army where the two Doom Knights each took them on in a single battle.

    Dave¡¯splexions were strange, he couldn¡¯t help butugh at the absurdity of the scene that just unfolded.

    The Death-Knights shouted in unison as they charged the gates where hundreds of demons met them in battle.

    The Undead were held at bay for some time, but the numbers were with the Undead, and the tide of battle swiftly changed to their favor. The Demons, mostly gargoyles and other types of humanoid demons that Dave was too far to inspect fell in battle.

    The Death toll of the demon-kin increased significantly and the Undead gained a firm foothold at the fallen gate.

    Dave heard a loud shout as an armored demon came out from the gate. He stood two feet taller than most Death-Knights and wielded a mace in his right hand.

    The armored Demon had a big skull symbol appearing above his head.

    ¡¯The field boss is already out.¡¯

    "Samael, I entrust this to you," the abyssal Knight Da asked Samael who appeared again from thin air.

    "I need a good stretch," said the Abyssal Knight Samael as he charged the armored demon.

    Dave sighed in his heart, he knew that he no longer had a role to y in this fight. The undead were clearly winning the fight here.

    Just when his gaze wandered away from the battle he noticed that the Pirs surrounding them had their fire ze for a moment.

    Dave¡¯s brow furrowed as he noticed this subtle change.

    "Something is not right," muttered Dave.

    Du¡¯Raza was the closest to Dave and turned to look where Dave was inspecting.

    "What is it?" asked Du¡¯Raza as he failed to notice the change that happened to the pirs.

    "Don¡¯t you think this went too easy?" asked Dave.

    The fight had yet to end, this was certain, but Dave couldn¡¯t help but think that something was off.

    The strength of the demons was far from what he believed it to be, even if the main army that should be in the fortress was away invading the Undead Frontier. The defense of the fortress of the Burning Heights was too low.

    There were no scouts that they met before, no enemies in the distance, just these eerie zing pirs.

    "Du¡¯Raza, I think we should take the fortress as soon as possible. I have a bad feeling about this battle,¡¯

    The longer it took for the Undead to take down the fortress the more uneasy Dave felt.

    Almost at the same moment, Every pir in the burning heights exploded, and a ze of fire erupted from their base.

    Hands emerged from underneath as thousands of creatures rose from the ground.

    "DEMONS!" Shouted Dave as he looked at the scene from hell.

    These Demons all shared the same appearance, they wore armor that looked simr to the Field Boss and had bat wings on their backs.

    They also had horns protruding from their foreheads. The tip of their horns had a small fire that burnt like a torch.

    These demons all wielded great swords and tower shields and they were surrounding the undead army.

    Da¡¯s face sank.

    "The Ash-King turned to using necromancy!" said the Arch-Lich Da.

    "Didn¡¯t you say that the fallen warriors of the Ash-King can¡¯t be revived with necromancy?" Dave asked Du¡¯Raza.

    "Yes, they can¡¯t, not our necromancy, this is probably something the Ash-Kingposed, a type of temporary resurrection, I can see their life-force, it is strong, but it is slowly fading, they should not remain alive for long, but until then...we need to survive them!"

    The Lich Du¡¯Raza slowly levitated himself as he began summoning a storm.

    The sky turned darker and hail started falling.

    The temperature sharply fell, and the hail began increasing in speed and size.

    The Arch-Lich had several thousand undead by his side, mostly casters, but a good portion of them were meleed fighters.

    "Take formation!" said Lord Da.

    The undead Death Knights regrouped in a line acting as a dam, protecting the casters behind them.

    Their held their tower shield next to each other and stood still like an iron wall. Their spears protruded form small holes positioned on the side of their shields.

    The casters behind the Death-Knights started preparing spells of attack.

    When the armored demons got closer Dave took the chance to inspect one of them.

    Demon-Knight (Reanimated)

    Tier Epic

    Danger Level ? ? ?

    Level 450

    Hp 400,000

    MA 20,000

    DN 20,000

    Damage 60, 000- 80, 000

    These fallen Demon Knights were once the strongest force of the Ash-King. After they fell the Ash-king used a grand spell on them to bless them with life when the need arises for them once more.

    Now they are temporarily back to thend of the living, they will not stop fighting for their King. Not until theirst breath.

    Reanimation Timer left: 59 minutes.

    Dave¡¯s face sank. More than half the forces of the Undead were charging the gates of the fortress. And if the Demon Knights join the fray, the oue of the fight will be devastating.

    Not only will capturing the fortress will be much more difficult, but Dave could also easily lose his life if he were caught in the cross-fire.

 Chapter 107 SONG OF DEATH!!!

    "This won¡¯t do, we will end up crushed between the fortress and the newly revived troops," Dave muttered.

    Lord Da had an ugly expression on his face. The revived troops are much more numerous than the portion of the undead army that remained with him.

    The majority of Lord Da¡¯s army was sieging the fortress and though they could take it down eventually, it will still take a lot of time. Time which they didn¡¯t have.

    If Da tried to reduce the numbers attacking the fortress to supply the backline, they will risk losing the fortress as the capturing will be much more difficult.

    Lord Da held the skull-staff up high and chanted.

    "Join the chorus of death, and let the darkness envelopes you! The rhythm of your life slows as I sing the song of DEATH!"

    The sky tore open and dark smoke poured from the rift, it fell on the army of the undead surrounding lord Da empowering them.

    At the same time, the same smoke washed over thend like a rushing tide. Whenever it touched an enemy, their Hp slowly decreases. Their movement speed started slowing down too.

    You have been afflicted with Song of Death.

    As an undead, you temporarily gain

    200% basic Hp regen.

    +10% physical and magical damage.

    -5% damage received.

    +20% movement speed when rushing toward enemies.

    10% Increased damage against enemies afflicted with Song of Death.

    +10% chance to resurrect immediately after death.

    Duration 180sec

    "Wow, so many buffs!"

    The undead that were surrounding Da and serving as a deterrent against the iing demons all howled in unison, shaking Dave to the core.

    Dave noticed that Samael was still locked inbat with the Field Boss.

    "That Boss must be at least level 600. An Ethereal boss guarding the second Raid Zone."

    The level of every creature in this battle was much higher than Dave¡¯s, with the sole exception of the remaining members of his battalion.

    Dave took in all the details of the battle as he looked all over the ce, trying to figure out how to aid the undead in their conquest.

    Then an idea popped into Dave¡¯s mind.

    "Du¡¯Rhaza! Dave shouted at the hovering Lich that was calling upon hail and ice to attack the Demons Knights."

    Du¡¯Rhaza nced at Dave but didn¡¯t answer, he was fully focused on the fight.

    "Do you have any frozen souls?" asked Dave.

    Du¡¯Rhaza didn¡¯t answer Dave but waved his hand and a small bag fell at Dave¡¯s feet.

    It was filled with Frozen souls.

    "Good, Du Rhaza, once you hear the signal tell lord Da to retreat toward the fortress as soon as possible! Even if the fortress is not captured in time make sure every undead is standing on the fortress¡¯s hill!" Dave shouted.

    Du¡¯Rhaza¡¯s brow furrowed but didn¡¯t say anything he nodded at Dave and continued shooting spears of ice at the iing Armored Demons.

    The Demons made contact with the front row of the Undead and a great fight issued.

    The sound of swords shing, bones and flesh broke and torn, yet not the demons nor the undead would falter or slow down. The two armies were on par with each other, fighting to the grimmest of ends without hesitation.

    "Guys follow me!" Dave ordered his battalion and rushed toward the mountain splitting from the safety of the army of the undead and rushing to the opennds.

    "Deserter?" said one of the Death Knights that noticed Dave rushing away from battle.

    "No! he is on a mission!" said Du¡¯Rhaza as he asserted the Knight¡¯s worries to make him focus on the battle.

    Dave rushed with all his might as his Battalion followed behind him without faltering.

    Two Demon-Knights intercepted Dave¡¯s party and his face turned grim.

    He could fight these level 450 monsters with the aid of the Dunlords with him, but it would take a lot of time. Time he needs the most.

    Amazingly before Dave could even issue themand to bypass them, two undead rushed toward the Demon-Knights engaging them in battle.

    Dave was stunned for a moment before Bud said.

    "You go...we hold them back!"

    Before Dave could voice his mind. A Dunlord grabbed Dave by the arm and hurled him on his back...

 Chapter 108 Chaos Entity.

    Dave was still dazed from the sudden jerking motion when he noticed the remaining 9 Dunlords diving underground and making way for Dave to go straight forward.

    The undead that were under Dave offered their lives for Dave to rush forward.

    And it pained his heart greatly!

    More and more Demon Knights appeared in the distance as they were all converging toward the fortress.

    But every time one of the Demon-Knights got close to Dave¡¯s path, one of the Dunlords that took the lead before Dave would rush from underground and attack it. Surprising the demon and at the same time flipping the demon head over heels with the sudden rise from underground.

    Many Demons appeared before Dave. Seeing the low-level undead riding on the back of the Dunlord they rushed at him.

    He was an easy prey for them. But the Dunlords escorting Dave would interrupt them.

    "My lord! Brace yourself!" said the Dunlord that Dave was riding atop.

    Dave crouched and found a grip hold on the back of the Scorpion-Man to which he held for dear life.

    The Dunlord plunged underground, bypassing the demons that were rushing toward them.

    The only four Dunlords apanied Dave including the one he was riding atop.

    Dave¡¯s vision turned Dark when the Dunlord started navigating through dirt stone and rocks. But Dave didn¡¯t feel the slightest difort from the pressure of the earth.

    ¡¯The Dunlord¡¯s ability is amazing!¡¯ Dave thought to himself.

    I should definitely get me one of these guys as a ride! Dave made a note to himself.

    The earth that the Dunlord navigated in didn¡¯t hamper its speed, as it moved swiftly and without disturbance.

    The earth would simply disperse whenever the Dunlord moved and it continued like this for a while.

    After thirty minutes the Dunlord emerged from underground, and when Dave looked behind him he noticed that the battle was far away from them and they made great distance from the fortress and were now at the foot of the active Volcano.

    Three other Dunlords followed Dave and they all climbed the volcano in a swift and rapid motion.

    The six legs of the Dunlords moved so fast they blurred.

    "There!" pointed Dave at the highest part of the volcano where the magma was flowing.

    "Can you get us there?"

    "The terrain is too tough for us to dive there, and the climb is too steep for us my lord!" said the Dunlord in a vexed manner.

    "Alright, just wait here I will climb there!" said Dave and he jumped from atop the dunlord.

    The Dunlord had a huge body, but climbing the steep mountain would be too tough for them. Their members were not fit for the climb.

    Dave rushed up the mountain, climbing it with ease.

    The jagged rocks made a firm grip for him to pull himself up.

    The climb became harder and harder for Dave as he found less and less foothold for him to use.

    At one point, he used Immortal Apparition to teleport himself from a point halfway into the mountain to reach the other end of a rift that held him from reaching the top.

    The infinite Stamina of an undead helped Dave not feeling tired from climbing and he continued on with a rapid pace.

    Once Dave reached the top of the volcano, heat assaulted his face. It was so hot he felt his face would melt.

    Overheating!

    You are currently in an area with abnormal heat levels, your body will slowly lose Hp until you leave the area.

    -100HP

    -100HP

    Dave¡¯s face sank when his HP started dropping.

    I need to do this fast said Dave as his gaze wandered around

    The volcano¡¯sva flow was directed by Samael the first time when Dave asked him to use the Frozen souls to help the Undead make way to the Fortress without disturbance. And now Dave wanted to do the opposite and revitalize the moat surrounding the Fortress.

    This way, when the Undead hears the explosion they would all stand at the fortress¡¯s perimeter while theva would act as a barrier against the Demon-knights and reduce a lot of burden from the fight on the undead.

    Dave looked around and saw a huge boulder that rose near the current Lava flow.

    cing a couple of frozen souls under it, Dave received a notification.

    Frozen souls have been activated.

    Detonation in 10 seconds.

    Dave smiled and backed away.

    And after ten seconds, a powerful explosion issued and the bottom of the boulder blew up and it fell cutting the Lava flow and redirecting it toward the old path.

    The new rushingva ignited the crusted magma. And it all burnt and rushed down the bottom of the mountain.

    Dave looked toward the fortress and noticed that the undead, though they looked like ants from the far away distance rapidly retreated toward the hill.

    "Thank god, though I am not strong enough to help them in battle, this should give them a good breather."

    Yet before Dave could finish rejoicing, the volcano erupted with a loud explosion.

    Smoke rose from the mouth of the volcano and shaped like a mushroom. Where an enormous magmatic hand emerged from inside it.

    Dave¡¯s eyes opened wide when the upper body of a massive creature emerged from the volcano¡¯s mouth.

    The creature tore the mountain open, forcing more of theva to flow outward. While it gazed at Dave and hollered

    "HOW DARE YOU DISTURBED MY REST!"

    Chaos Entity

    Level 890

    Tier (Unique-Ancient)

    Alignment [Chaotic]

    Danger Level: ? ? ? ? ?

    DN???

    MA???

    HP???

    Skills ???

    Chaos and fire share a simrity, which is destruction, and also creation. A special pygmy of fire can create untold destruction, yet when it matures enough it transforms into an entity of chaos.

    This Entity is one of its kind and is supporting the mes spreading in the underworld.

    "FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK!!" Dave¡¯s face turned white when he turned and rushed down the mountain.

    The giant creature howled to the skies and flows of magma poured from the volcano covering it with a burning luster.

    Dave jumped down the rocks on the mountain, rolling every time hends decreasing the fall damage.

    Fear gripped his heart when he noticed the magma giant holding his hand high up where a fireball the size of a small sun appeared in its hand.

    "Ah, this is going to hurt!" Said Dave hen he noticed that the fireball was headed toward him.

 Chapter 109 Close Shave!

    Dave used [Immortal Apparition] and teleported himself ten meters ahead, dodging the center of the explosion. Yet the sun-sized Fireball exploded with ssh-damage.

    If the ssh even touched Dave it would turn him to cinders. So he used [Bastion] gaining immunity for 3 seconds and withstanding the fire ssh-damage.

    The area surrounding Dave melted to hot magma. Dave used [Death¡¯s Descent] right after the effects of [Bastion] ended. And jumped down with the explosive effects of the skill away from the hot ground.

    You have left the Overheated Area.

    Your HP no longer decreases.

    Dave took a deep breath when he looked at the colossus of fire that emerged from the volcano.

    Having left its aggro range, Dave was thankful for his many escape skills and continued the descent.

    "What the hell was that thing!" Dave muttered to himself.

    The vor text on that Chaos Entity said that It supports the fire in the underworld, killing It would halt the flow of magma and fire, and perhaps be a great hindrance to the Ash-King. But its power is too great for even the Undead Legion to take on.

    Dave thought of the Sworn Stalwart that he defeated that day, and remembered that there were many others like it under the Ash-King¡¯s Service. They all lived in magma. And if the support of fire is cut down from them, they might lose power or at least be a great hindrance to them.

    Yet Dave didn¡¯t dare have the thought of taking on the Chaos Entity, it was too strong. And his assumptions were baseless and only spections. So he disregarded that train of thought and headed toward the foot of the Volcano.

    When Dave finished his descent, he met the four Dunlords that he left.

    "My lord, I presume your task was a sess," said The dunlord that carried Dave all the way here.

    "Yes, Let¡¯s go." Said, Dave, as he jumped on the back of the Dunlord.

    The Dunlord didn¡¯t say anything and headed back to the Fortress where the fight between the Undead and the Demons was still unfolding.

    "My lord, what was that creature?" asked the Dunlord as it rushed rapidly through the open terrain.

    "That was a chaos entity, its strength is unfathomable, nothing we can take on right now. We can just leave it alone."

    The Dunlord nodded and kept heading forward.

    After thirty or so minute, Dave saw several corpses littering the ce.

    "Hmm?" Dave¡¯s gaze wandered and noticed that there were only corpses of the Demon-Knights.

    "So many died..."

    "They all deserve Death for challenging the might of the Undead Legion." Said the Dunlord Carrying Dave.

    "What is your name?" asked Dave.

    "Hmm, I go without a name." replied the Dunlord.

    "Oh, What about I give you a name?" asked Dave.

    "That would be an honor," said the Dunlord.

    Dave searched through his mind for a suitable name. But knowing his own terrible naming ability he bluntly said

    "Stinger!"

    Dave didn¡¯t notice the slight twitch of the Dunlord¡¯s mouth. And said

    "T-Thank you for the honor," said Stinger.

    The other Dunlords all suppressed a smile and continued following Dave.

    Theva flow already returned to normal, and the moat was revitalized withva.

    Corpses of Demon-Knights littered the ce. And they all converged at a point near the moat. This is where the Undead and the Demon Knights had theirst stand.

    With the resurrection Spell of the Ash-king ending, the Demon Knights all fell on the ground.

    Sadly, they were not lootable, otherwise, Dave would have taken everything in sight.

    The fight at the gate of the fortress was still raging on.

    Dave spotted Samael fighting several Demonic existences at the gate.

    "The field boss is already dead?" Dave asked himself as he didn¡¯t notice the presence of the powerful demon boss.

    The fight should end soon.

    Gazing at the undead, he saw that they were unfaltering and unrestrained fighting the Demons at the gate.

    The undead didn¡¯t fear Death and gave them all fighting. The numbers on the Undead¡¯s side yed a huge factor deciding the victory of the legion over the Demons.

    Dave noticed two suspicious looking Doom Knights fighting several demons at once.

    "Oh, its Gale the Broken de and Orn the Knight yer..."

    These two undead would swirl, twirl and attack the demons that were much more numerous than them.

    At once Orn grabbed the hand of Gale and threw him like a bolt, whereas Gale pointed his broken greatsword forward piercing the head of a Taurus demon on a rampage and pinning him to the wall, dead!

    Jumping from the Demon¡¯s head while pulling the de, the demon¡¯s skull gushed out a fountain of blood and gore.

    Gale then started smashing, breaking and shing at the demons near him.

    The fight turned to an open field massacre as the Demons¡¯ numbers started decreasing at a fast rate.

    "The fight should end soon," said Dave

 Chapter 110 UNDEAD GLORY!

    And just as if the system knew Dave¡¯s thoughts.

    Conquest Server Announcement!

    The Undead Legion has sessfully captured the Burning Heights Raid Area!

    If the Undead Legion maintains their dominance in the area for 3 hours, the area will be in control of the Undead.

    Due to the sole presence of yer Kis¡¯Shteinbrah

    All rewards of the conquest will be awarded to him.

    May they name forever be remembered in the archives of legends!

    Your contribution to the conquest has helped the undead greatly in conquering the area.

    You have unlocked a new stat. Prestige!

    Prestige can affect the rtionship between yers and NPC allowing the yer to obtain more Quests.

    Low prestige levels can even create hostility so make sure to be honorable, in victory or defeat.

    Your CP award will be obtained after the Undead-Legion maintains control of the Burning Heights for the next 3 hours.

    You have been awarded 1,000,000XP for the cunning abilities you have shown in helping the undead Capturing the Burning Heights.

    You have obtained the following title

    Grand Strategist.

    You passivly obtain +100Intelligence.

    The faith of the troops under you is unshakable!

    The moral of the troops under you will never falter until thest man falls!

    When the title Grand Strategist is disyed Your troops receive:

    +20% Damage from all abilities!

    As an undead, the troops under you with unfaltering beliefe have a chance of 1% of instantly resurrecting after falling inbat!

    Your troops Max Level Cap against higher level monsters have increased by 20 levels!

    The table screens made Dave¡¯s eyes water! This was an amazing group buff skill!

    The exp was more than enough to raise Dave¡¯s level by twenty levels reaching level 150 in one go.

    Before Dave could fully explore the abilities and rewards he received a shadow appeared in front of Dave.

    "Samael!" said Dave as he didn¡¯t hide his joy.

    "Ha!"ughed Samael.

    "Our Undead Legion is honored to have someone like you in our ranks! Here!" said Samael as he threw an item at Dave.

    Broken Undead king¡¯s gauntlets.

    Quest item

    Dave smiled wildly when he received the item.

    "I know you were looking for this, the area ruler had it on his body."

    "Thank you Samael!" said Dave as he now had obtained two of the five items in the Undead king¡¯s armor.

    The gauntlets and the helmet, the only remaining items were the breastte, the greaves, and the cape.

    "Come with me!" Said Samel.

    Dave climbed down from the back of Stinger and followed Samel.

    With a single motion, Samael grabbed Dave¡¯s hand and flew all the way across theva pond.

    When they arrived, every single Undead looked at Dave with unfaltering reverence and gratitude.

    They all knew that it was Dave¡¯s n to revert the Magma flow to help them conquer the fortress, and he took it as his own duty to go back and revitalize the moat, helping them ward off the Demons that were pincer-attacking them.

    They all noticed the massive entity that appeared in the Volcano and many of them broke in a cold sweat. But seeing Dave alive- well Undead and kicking, they were all rxed. Losing a young hero of the Undead like this would be a terrible loss to them.

    If Dave wasn¡¯t here, they all knew that this mission will undoubtedly have a terrible oue.

    If not for him helping them pass through the Earth Titan in the first ce, their numbers would never be enough to even dare attack the fortress.

    Everything Dave did, was for the benefit of the undead, and they all respected him for that.

    "KIS. SHTIN. BRAH!" it was unknown who said it first.

    "KIS. SHTIN. BRAH!"

    "KIS. SHTIN. BRAH!"

    But every undead shouted in unison. Weapons raised to the sky, glorifying the young undead.

    Dave¡¯s heart shook and he couldn¡¯t help a drop of tear from falling.

    Dave smiled as he no knew, even if it was virtual, this was a ce he belonged to, a family.

 Chapter 111 Commander!

    Dave had his phone linked to his capsule and he received a phone call from a familiar number.

    "Daveyyyyy!!!"

    The high pitched squeal of Lone Arrow threatened to burst his eardrums.

    "God damn, woman! Would it be too much to not shout in my ears everytime you call?"

    "Ayy! Davey, you went on and did a conquest without me! That is unfair!"

    Dave¡¯s mouth couldn¡¯t help but twitch slightly.

    Lone must have seen the Server Announcement.

    "You see, it¡¯s not like I hid it from you, but it all came too abruptly. And I just went with the flow."

    "At least you will be sending me the footage of the conquest, Right?"

    Dave could even imagine the pleading look on Lone¡¯s face.

    "The thing is, I already spoke to a Media owningpany. They want exclusive rights for the video feed I have." Dave bluntly said.

    Lone Arrow was silent for a moment before she said, "You need to be careful, signing a contract and whatnot, you need a goodwyer."

    "I don¡¯t have awyer at hand, but I will think about it," said Dave.

    "I can ask our familywyer to help you with that, it shouldn¡¯t be a problem," Lone Said.

    Dave was silent for a moment before Lone added

    "You don¡¯t need to worry about your identity to be exposed, thewyer can also help with that. It shouldn¡¯t be tough to add it to your contract¡¯s terms."

    "Then I will have to rely on you then. By the way, you must have made some progress in your Legacy Quest."

    "Nah, its really hard, I am still looking for Information about the Ice Queen, nothing of substance came out so far."

    "Good luck with that then, I need to stay logged in for the next three hours,"

    "I wish I could go to the underworld, you seem to be having a lot of fun there," dejectedly said Lone Arrow.

    "Well, that shouldn¡¯t be impossible, I can make you a teleportation scroll to the Undead Frontier, but I need to leave the underworld to hand it to you."

    "Then can¡¯t you do that?" Lone¡¯s Hopes were up.

    Dave remembered that for him to leave the underworld he needed to either ept a Dead-Realm mission to patrol random areas or be a temporary dungeon boss, both scenarios are risky at the moment.

    With Dave¡¯s Undead name being known, it won¡¯t be hard for yers to identify him if he were to leave for an undead mission. Also if he chooses to be a boss he might meet high-level yers that could kill him.

    "Not right now, but whenever I have the chance I will hand them to you,"

    "Alright, thanks, Davy." Lone Arrow hung up.

    Dave looked at the horizon when the phone call ended and saw several rows of Demons approaching in the distance.

    Samael¡¯s Lips curled into an evil smile when he said

    "The army that went to invade the Undead Frontier is back."

    The Undead at the Red Fortress¡¯s gate made tight rows and stood in attention.

    The demons had no way to ess the fortress as of now. The undead had already destroyed the drawbridge and the Demons needed to first bypass the Magma moat.

    "They will not be able to pass the moat, the takeover of the Red Fortress can be considered sessful for the Undead," Dave said

    "Yes, but this doesn¡¯t mean we will let them do as they please in ournd." Samael snorted.

    Dave couldn¡¯t help butugh when hearing Samael. The Burning Heights was the Demone¡¯s territory just a few moments ago, and now Samael is acting as if thend was their own from ages ago.

    Casters channeled spells and showered the Demons with hails of spells. Some brave undead threw their brethren all the way across the moat and engaged in glorious battle against the demons.

    The demons also tried the same and for a moment Dave was stunned as he saw several demons and undead being thrown like sacs of potato from one end of the moat¡¯s bank to the other.

    The Undead didn¡¯t feel the slightest pressure facing the low numbers of the Demons facing them.

    Dave asionally threw a spectral bomb at the Demons.

    At one point, Dave blew a spectral skull at the face of a Demon that was thrown by his brethren. The explosion reduced a lot of the power of the throw and the demon fell in the magma giving Dave a decent amount of EXP.

    The fight didn¡¯tst for long before the Undead imed the lives of all the demons.

    With the end of the fight, Dave reached Level 155.

    Conquest Server Announcement!

    The Undead Legion has confirmed their capture of the Burning Heights Raid Zone.

    A teleportation Gate is now avable for all the Undead Legion¡¯s members¡¯ use.

    Due to the sole presence of yer Kis¡¯Steinbrah, all subsequent awards will be handed to them.

    +10 levels!

    100 000Gold!

    3,000,000CP!

    Skill Book Call of Chaos (Legendary)

    New Title, Commander!

    The Burning Heights¡¯s fortress is now officially owned bymander:

    Kis¡¯Shteinbrah

    "Wait, what?!" Dave¡¯s eyes went wide open when he saw the extravagant rewards.

 Chapter 112 Behind enemy lines!

    Skill Book Call of Chaos (Legendary)

    Call upon the power of chaos to summon a meteorite crashing down in an area of 50X50 meters.

    Dealing 50 000 t AOE damage

    Cooldown 72 hours

    Damage increases with INT at a ratio of 10% for every 100 INT

    "Isn¡¯t this a bit too broken? Three million cp? A legendary skill andmander of the fortress?"

    Samel heard Dave¡¯s words and smiled saying, "You deserve it and more, The Undead recognize the worth of their own and you showed great intelligence and ability. Lord Da¡¯s purpose in capturing this area was only to affirm the hold of the Undead in the Underworld. And seeing that you helped them immensely, he decided to relinquish themanding rights of the fortress to you."

    "But I am just an Undead Captain, and my strength isn¡¯t much, wouldn¡¯t the fortress be in better hands if it was given to an abyssal knight?"

    Du¡¯Raza who heard Dave¡¯s question came over and said to Dave, "This is your reward young Undead. Even if you are not strong enough, lord Da has tasked Gale and Orn to be your right hands, they will help you in taking care of the logistics and militarymand of the Fortress. And they will supply you with their subordinates. The undead legion will also send a portion of their army to help the fortress if the Demons try to take over again. So there should not be a problem with youmandeering the fortress."

    Dave then nodded as he remembered the strength of the two powerful Doom Knights. And under each of them is more than 100 000 undead.

    The fortress will be more than assured now.

    A vertical rift opened in the sky above the red fortress and huge hands grabbed at the rift and tore it wide open letting an enormous creature emerge from within it.

    "Drahma!" shouted Dave pleasantly as he saw the big guy appearing in the midst of the Undead Army.

    "Young undead we meet again!"

    Samel looked up at the giant creature and said with a questioning gaze.

    "What brings you here Drahma?"

    "My king asked me to take care of our little hero. So I will be staying here for some time,"

    Du¡¯Raza smiled when he said

    "The king looks highly upon you Kis¡¯Steinbrah. Alright, this should be where we leave, Lord Da has returned to the Dead-Realm. And I will follow soon, Gale and Orn will protect you against the living humans if they seek trouble with you, but will not lend a hand when you try and temper yourself against monsters or purposefully seek conflict with other humans."

    Du¡¯Rhaza

    Dave smiled when a daring idea came to his mind.

    "Gale, Orn I have somethings I need your assistance with." Said, Dave

    "At your service," said Orn as he followed behind Dave while Gale silently followed.

    Dave used the phone call option and called Lone Arrow.

    "Hey Lone, where are you right now?"

    "Hey Davy, am at an auction house right now, I need to upgrade my armor."

    "Which city, and which kingdom?" Dave asked

    "The Western Kingdom, at the capital."

    The Devastators capital, Dave smirked.

    "Alright, stay there, and wait there for me. I have something for you."

    Lone Arrow was surprised then said,

    "yers will attack you at sight if youe here!"

    "I Don¡¯t think they will have the power to do so, " said Dave.

    "Whatever you say, man," said Lone as she hung up.

    "Alright guys let¡¯s move out," Dave said as he opened the Teleportation Gate.

    Dave chose the destination and appeared in the middle of a bustling city.

    Brick and stone built houses and shops were all over the ce where Dave emerged.

    yers and NPC¡¯s walked everywhere mostly taking care of their business.

    But when they noticed the conspicuous look of the three Undead appearing in the middle of the square many yers gasped in surprise.

    "Is this an event?" a yer asked

    "I don¡¯t think so, look at their names!" said another as they inspected the trio that just appeared.

    "That is Kis¡¯Steinbrah! Didn¡¯t he just capture a Raid Zone just recently!"

    A lot of discussions issued at the appearance of the three undead, but Dave paid them no mind as he moved toward the auction house that was near the teleportation gate.

    Some yers even wanted to attack Dave as they remembered the bounty and award on killing him, opening the Dead Realm and also being awarded the 1,000,000$ by the three super-guilds.

    The first unlucky yer was a level 200 swordmaster and before he could evennd a hit, he was sted flying with a swing of Orn¡¯s sword sending him instantly to respawn.

    yers can¡¯t attack yers in towns and cities, but Dave and hispanions are monsters, so there is no penalty. Yet with the help of the two doom-knights, there was utterly no chance for any yer to threaten Dave¡¯s life.

    When the rest of the yers saw the scene no one dared to attack him and many of them followed him to see what he was up to.

    One yer that belonged to the Devastator¡¯s scene called him guild and informed them that Kis¡¯Steinbrah was in the auction house!

    When Dave entered the Auctionhouse, the NPC guards at the entrance¡¯s face turned white as ash and they didn¡¯t dare stand in the way.

    Dave didn¡¯t mind them and entered the luxurious auction house. It had a wooden floor and several organized booths where NPCs were working diligently helping yers with their requests.

    "Da- I mean Mr.Skeletal," Lone arrow almost spelled Dave¡¯s real name. Then corrected herself.

    "You really came! Who are these?" asked Lone when she inspected the two Doom-Knights following Dave.

    "They are with me, so you said earlier you wanted a teleport scroll to the Underworld. Here you go," said Dave as he handed a teleportation scroll to Lone, it was destined to take whoever tore it to the red fortress at the Burning Heights raid zone.

    "Thankis!" Said, Lone, as she pocketed the scroll "So you came all the way just to give me this?"

    "I also need to buy some stuff from the auction house..." yet before Dave finished his words

    "You sure have some balls showing up here!" said a familiar voice.

    Dave turned to see a ck armored Knight man behind him where a pink armored Guardian was next to him.

    "You got here fast...Warlord" Dave said with a smile.

 Chapter 113 Its her...

    "Why are you here?" asked Warlord.

    "You seem to be misunderstanding something. I don¡¯t have any obligation to exin why I am here to you, after all I am not your underling."

    Warlord¡¯s brows furrowed as his mouth opened to say something the pink armored knight interrupted saying

    "Wait wait! We are not here to see who got the biggest dick. Can we have a private chat somewhere?"

    "Valentine, I know you, a great guardian and strategist, but still I don¡¯t see why I should have a private chat with you if you have something to say just spell it out."

    Valentine inspected the two Doom-knights behind Dave and he gasped when he saw their level. Then said.

    "It looks like we started off on the wrong foot. We want to do a partnership with you. Grant us ess to the Underworld and we can give you a high position at our guild and will only be under Warlord and I. You will also get dibs on any quest and items the Devastators find there and a percentage of all resources and gross loot we find."

    Valentine believed that Dave would immediately ept his offer. Any yer would die to get a fixed percentage of the gross ie and loot that a superguild generates as it will umte massively and be a huge wealth in no time.

    "You seem to be mistaken something, why should I share with you what I can do alone? At the moment I have 100% of all the loot I find in the underworld. Control over raid zones, and solo EXP and farming. Why would I give up all that to share with you all?"

    "You are just one man!" said Warlord.

    "One man? Did you hear that guy?" Dave said to Orn and Gale.

    The both of them answered at once with a bellowing and heart-shaking voice

    "WE! ARE! A LEGION!"

    Everyone in the auction house was shaken from the power behind the two Doom-Knights¡¯ howl.

    "I have an army at mymand, and what your guild can do, they can do it too and better. They don¡¯t lie, don¡¯t steal, don¡¯t betray. They need no food, no rest and have no fear facing odds beyond their reach or power." said Dave though it was not entirely true, no one knew if he was lying.

    After hearing Dave¡¯s words, the Two Doom-Knights spoke again.

    "NEVER HUNGER! NEVER TIRE! NEVER FEAR!"

    This surprised Dave as he didn¡¯t think the two Doom Knights would speak the legion¡¯s catchphrase but he feigned calmness and his cool.

    "Wow, the undead legion is so cool! I wonder how we can join!" a noob yer spoke his mind and many agreed on it.

    The guild member who informed Warlord and Valentine about Dave¡¯s location spoke "You are hogging the game¡¯s areas alone. How is that fair!"

    Before Dave could answer Lone Arrow said, "You think it was easy being an undead? If it was why is he the only one? If you want to be the sole yer in a Conquest Area then why not do it yourself?"

    "Obviously he was just lucky to get there! Otherwise, I would have done the same and shared it with all. He is being selfish."

    "Bullshit!" said Lone Arrow as she came to Dave¡¯s defense.

    "If it was luck, how do you exin him beating the crap out of your Guildmaster while being more than 300levels below him!"

    The yer¡¯s expressions froze for a moment.

    Yet before he could retort, Valentine once again interrupted.

    "Calm down now, we are not in kindergarten. Everyone has their own opportunities in game and Kis¡¯Steinbrah here got his in the form of an undead. That was due to his ability. Even if there was some luck, luck is also part of one¡¯s strength. We are not denying that fact. We only wish to share the benefits of the underworld, and I am sure that we can find a mutual agreement.

    "Even if you make me the Devastator¡¯s Guildmaster I will not share," Resolutely said, Dave. "At least, not for now."

    After saying this Valentine breath a sigh of relief, he knew that Dave must have had a reason for not sharing and he will not cut them off the underworld forever.

    "Alright, then can I ask you for something?" said Valentin.

    "What is it?"

    "When you are willing to share, we want first right ess. All the terms I stated before are still applicable, and we can even add more. Financial support and IRL support. VIP treatment at any of our firms and workstations owned by the Devastator¡¯s corporate."

    "That is the life of kings!" said a yer who heard their discussion.

    "Alright, I will have to think about it. But like I said, only when I am willing."

    "That is your right," said Valentine.

    Warlord Sent Valentine a PM asking him why was he doing all this.

    ¡¯This way, at least we have a chance to get the Underworld expansion. Even if it takes some time. We can still reap benefits that the other super-guilds can¡¯t get. It is much better to have him promise us the expansion than being denied ess and him giving it to the others.¡¯

    "Then can we get your private info to further discuss this?" asked Valentine.

    Dave¡¯s brows furrowed and when Valentine noticed that he quickly added.

    "Ha ha, You can¡¯t me me for trying." He said with a smile

    Valentine PMd Warlord saying ¡¯this guy is not so simple¡¯

    ¡¯Why?¡¯

    ¡¯If he had agreed to give us the private info he would have exposed his real self beyond Conquest. And we have many ways to make him give us what we want. But now we need to step carefully when dealing with him.¡¯ Valentine Replied

    ¡¯Alright, we should make it so that no Devastators harms him.¡¯

    ¡¯Yea, as long as these two Doom-Knights are near him, I don¡¯t think that any yer can be of threat to him. Also even if they are not with him we cannot kill him. Hell, we must even protect him!¡¯ said Valentine.

    ¡¯The Conquest Mods said that killing this draugr will immediately open the Dead-Realm expansion to everyone. We should kill him if he is not apanied by those two.¡¯

    ¡¯Nah, if he dies at the hand of some pleb, the expansion will no longer be private and we will have to fight for everything there. We gotta make it so that he hands it to us Devastators alone.¡¯

    "You two have been awfully quiet, discussing things in private messages is rude in the presence of others you know," Dave spoke impatiently.

    "Apologies, We were just agreeing on some terms. From now on, the Devastators will no longer chase after you, and we are guaranteeing your safety whenever you leave the Underworld. As long as there is a Devastator guild member present, if you are met with trouble, you will be protected by them." Said Valentine.

    Just as Valentine finished speaking.

    The two Doom Knight¡¯s brows furrowed at the same time and a shadow appeared behind Dave.

    [-32666]

    Dave¡¯s HP plummeted down instantly to 1%

    "Huh?" the person that appeared behind Dave was startled.

    Gale instantly struck with his sword at the assassin and sent him flying. Taking more than two-thirds of the assant¡¯s HP with one hit.

    Dave turned around to look at the assant and saw that it was a young woman wearing white robes.

    Mercy

    Level 422

    Guild [It¡¯s Just Buisness]

    ss Shadow-Assassin

    Title

    Shadow Kindred

    Dave felt that the person¡¯s face was a bit familiar. Like he had seen her before.

    "That is the Shadow Assassin legacy holder, Mercy!" said a yer as he was surprised seeing her in person.

    ¡¯The S ss legacy?¡¯ Dave thought.

    Orn remained by Dave¡¯s side and was on full alert while Gale struck decisively at the assassin.

    The Assassin went into hiding using [Fade].

    Dave¡¯s mind was in turmoil. He never thought that the strongest assassin in the game would be after him. Even with the presence of the Two Doom Knight, Dave was not certain of his ability to survive the next attack.

    Thanks to the passive skill he gained when the first Raid Zone was conquered. Unyielding he could never be one-shotted, but it only grants him immunity for 5 seconds and the seconds were already up.

    Valentine and Warlord became alert and Valentine said.

    "Everyone! Protect him! Mercy! We are withdrawing our head-hunt on the draugr! You should stop!" said Valentine.

    A feminine voice reverberated in the hall saying.

    "It¡¯s not just you who issued the bounty. I am afraid I cannot."

    Valentine clicked his tongue before saying

    "We can double your pay! Just leave!"

    "It¡¯s not about money...it¡¯s just business," she said.

    Dave couldn¡¯t locate the Assassin from her voice alone as it reverberated through the whole hall.

    But his nerves were tight and on high alert. A daring idea came to his mind.

    The two Doom Knights were circling Dave before Dave took a teleportation scroll and attempted to tear it.

    Only Lone Arrow was in front of him and noticed the curling of his draugr lips.

    A shadow instantly appeared in front of Dave and right before it made contact with him.

    [Bastion]

    [-0]

    Orn took the opportunity when the Assassin revealed herself and struck at her with his sword.

    He had baited the assassin into attacking him when he showed the teleportation scroll and prepared to use [Bastion] gaining 100% immunity to negate the burst damage.

    The Assassin fell at Dave¡¯s hands when her Hp went down to 0.

    And before she could be sent to respawn Dave had a good look on her face and his mouth couldn¡¯t help but say

    "It¡¯s you!"

 Chapter 114 Contrac

    Lone Arrow quickly went to Dave¡¯s side and said: "Are you alright?"

    "Yea, but I don¡¯t think I am wee here anymore." Said, Dave,

    If Mercy was here to take his life, then probably other assassins could be here for the same objective. And he didn¡¯t dare risk his life.

    Now that Dave thought about it,ing here with the two Doom knights was not a bright idea.

    An assassin could still eliminate him. If it was not for his passive skill Unyeilding he would have already been sent to respawn losing all the benefits of the Dead Realm.

    from the first attack Mercynded on him. The two Doom Knights didn¡¯t have the ability to protect Dave form an assassin and Dave learned that the hard way.

    "The security at your headquarter is rubbish. And you said you wanted to protect me?" Daveughed and tore open the Teleportation scroll in his hand vanishing from the auction house.

    Appearing back at the Red Fortress Dave sighed as his back became drenched in sweat.

    Orn and Gale appeared next to Dave.

    ¡¯That was too close. Now yers will know that they can send an assassin after me. Dealing with me wouldn¡¯t be hard if I show up again in yer areas. If I want to go there again I will need to use the regr yer form¡¯ thought Dave then he inspected his Ring Of the Death GOD.

    Category: Ring

    Ring of the Death God.

    {S ss Inheritance item}

    {yer Bound to Death Stroke}

    Requirements

    Level 0

    Cannot be removed!

    Bonus stats

    Has the ability Changes appearance from human to undead.

    Can switch back to human

    [Death siphon]

    [Can Leave the Undead world]

    [Life Cleaver]

    [Sealed] (Requires Death Knight Rank)

    [Sealed] (Requires Doom Knight Rank)

    [Sealed] (Requires Abyssal Knight Rank)

    Scaling/ss

    Scaling essory

    ss. Divine.

    Currently Ring Level Max

    "I totally forgot about Life Cleaver skill! I obtained this after finishing thest quest from Death. Though I only needed to see the origins of the Undead and how they came to be it was still a sucessfull mission,¡¯

    Dave pressed the More info on the Life Cleaver skill and his eyes opened after reading the description.

    Life Cleaver

    After casting the skill, it summons two Scyths of Death above the head of the caster and his foe while teleporting them both to Limbo.

    The life cleaver shall im the life of the assant if they do not kill the Caster in 2 minutes after the apearance of the life cleaver.

    The caster will deal 20% reduced Damage! And receive 20% increased damage!

    Cannot work on Boss-ss Monsters and Any creature of Mythic ss or above.

    72 hours CD

    "OP! OP OP!" Dave shouted with a voice filled with glee.

    No matter what enemy he was facing, this would give him the chance to fight him head-on. Without the need to even kill the enemy, it would be one-shotted once the 120 seconds are up.

    If he could just stall long enough, he can easily take down any monster. As for yers, that would be difficult if a yer was too close to Dave¡¯s level or much higher.

    As Dave would receive increased damage and will deal reduced damage. Though the debuff was huge, it bnced out the OPness of the skill.

    "The others abilities will unlock after I finish the Death Knight, Doom Knight and Abyssal Knight challenge. Now am level 155, I need to level up till level 400 to be able to take the Death Knight¡¯s challenge."

    Dave checked his Battalion and noticed that the Dunlords were no longer a part of his Battalion.

    "Looks like Delvina took them back," Dave said then tore open another scroll for the Undead Frontier.

    Once he appeared in the Undead Frontier, he went to the temple while receiving gazes of reverence and thanks from many undead.

    Dave would nod and move on whenever an Undead greeted him with a salute.

    "Delvina!" Dave called the veiled woman who sat on a throne in the back of the Temple.

    "Kis¡¯Steinbrah, I knew you would be capable. I thank you on behalf of our legion for your service."

    "It¡¯s alright," said Dave. "Now, I want to recruit some Dunlords, can I have the same group you assigned me thest time?"

    "There should not be a problem if you have the required CP."

    "I do!" said Dave when he remembered his more than 3,800,000 CP

    The 3million was the reward for helping in capturing the Red Fortress, and the rest was what remained to form him equipping his undead and himself. Now that Dave is level 155 he will need to look for better armor for his underlings and himself.

    A notification popped in front of Dave

    Do you wish to purchase the following units?

    X10 Dunlord

    Price 200,000CP

    Y/N?

    Dave epted and the ten Dunlords were automatically added to his Battalion interface.

    "Thank you Delvina,"

    "Anytime, if I ever need anything I will send word to the Red Fortress," said Delvina.

    Dave understood that she would have future quests for him. So he grinned and left the Temple

    I gotta get to the Undead-Shop. There should be some items to buy.

    Outside the temple area, the cabin that the Zombi merchant used to sell items in changed into a huge warehouse.

    Dave entered an was stunned at the different assortmentsying all over the ce where a Zombi was cleaning and assorting the items.

    "You look busy," said Dave

    The Zombi was startled and looked at Dave saying "AH my favorite costumer!"

    "I never saw an undead that gets spooked. Well, show me what you got, need to buy some stuff."

    "Alright!" said the Zombi and a list of items appeared in front of Dave.

    Looking at the items, most of them were low-level equipment, nothing different from the wears he saw before.

    "This is all you got?"

    "Well, you are still an Undead Captain so for now, I cannot give you the wears for higher Ranks,"

    "Bummer," said Dave as he intended to leave.

    "But! Anything can be discussed with enough CP" said the Zombi as he was rubbing his hands like any greedy merchant.

    "How much for you to show me the higher tier items?"

    "Just a low price of 100 000CP, No reductions this time!" said the Merchant resolutely.

    Dave¡¯s brows furrowed as he remembered the 1CP reduction the merchant gave him.

    "Alright, Show me then," said Dave and 100 000CP was instantly shaved off his total.

    Dave didn¡¯t even receive a notification or a warning.

    Looking at the new list, Dave purchased the EXP Potions first. Three of them for the price of 100 000CP each. Then went looking for equipment.

    Everything was too high level for him but that didn¡¯t make Dave less enthusiastic about his purchasing spree.

    Looking at the Magical Armor portion Dave grew a big smile as he purchased a lot of 10 sets for 1,000,000CP

    The armor set was for the Dunlords. It came with w Armor and a sharper stinger, also an upgraded form of their Balista-Crossbows and a chest armor for them. Using these on the Dunlords will make them look like Iron tanks that would wreak havoc anywhere they go.

    Dave inspected most of the remaining shop items and the lowest level armor he could wear was level 200.

    Dave bought it and bought several sets of it to his Undead.

    After leaving the Undead Shop Dave had a bit over 2Million CP but had several upgrades ready for his unit and himself.

    Summoning the Dunlords Dave gave all of them a set of the dunlord¡¯s special items.

    Looking at the ten threatening and dangerous Dunlords, Dave was satisfied and decided that it was time for him to rest. He logged in for almost two days IRL and now felt sleepy.

    Logging out Dave went directly to his bed and had a good night sleep.

    A phone call woke Dave up after some time where he heard a familiar voice.

    "Hey, Mr. Skeletal it¡¯s Perfect Shot, Pops want to talk to you about that TV Program Contract, where do you want to meet?"

 Chapter 115 IRL

    Dave abruptly sat on his bed and asked, "Where are you right now?"

    "Am calling you from home, it¡¯s in New York if you live close by just get to time square and we will get there to speak further."

    "Alright, shouldn¡¯t be a problem I will be there in an hour," said Dave as he hung up.

    Dave then dialed another number and waited for the beep.

    "Hey, Daveey!!"

    Dave¡¯s eardrums threatened to burst when he heard Lone Arrow¡¯s high pitched voice.

    Dave sighed before he said

    "Lone, Perfect Shot contacted me for the TV show program, is yourwyer avable?"

    "Yea, don¡¯t worry he will always make time for me. Where are you right now I cane to pick you up if you live near New York."

    Dave was startled but he said, "I will get to time square in an hour we can meet there."

    "Alright, I will call thewyer and we can head there together." Said Lone and Hung up, her voice contained a bit of excitement. Probably from meeting the infamous Mr.Skeletal IRL.

    Dave¡¯s heart couldn¡¯t help but tremble when he realized the sorry state he was in.

    Thinking about how Lone Arrow¡¯s attitude gave him the impression that she was a little princess he saw the disparity between his poor life and her High-ss life.

    ¡¯It doesn¡¯t matter, I just need to get this done with, probably I will be able to get a good life after this. Perhaps fixing these injuries won¡¯t be a problem anymore.¡¯

    Daveforted himself and went to wear his best jeans and shirt.

    After leaving the house he noticed that Ms. Clementine¡¯s shop was closed.

    ¡¯Strange, she should be open right now,¡¯ Dave had a strange feeling aboutdy Clementine¡¯s absence but didn¡¯t look much into it.

    Taking a cab to New York, it cost Dave a bit above 100$ which ached his heart strongly.

    After paying the taxi Driver who let him off, he went to have a bite.

    Looking at his empty pockets he went to the cash dispenser and went to withdraw some money.

    But when he looked at the numbers on his bank ount his eyes went wide open.

    "107,000$! Where did thate from?" Dave¡¯s mind was in turmoil until he remembered that that was his share from the Diamonds Lone Arrow sold at the auction house.

    "She already sent the money, with this I can rent a better apartment." Said Dave to himself.

    Turning to gaze across the busy streets of Timesquare he located a luxurious restaurant and went there to have a bite.

    "I need to eat, that looks like a good ce to have a bite." Said, Dave, as he looked at a restaurant named F-Sinatra.

    When Dave entered the restaurant the cashier looked at Dave with a strange gaze.

    As he saw, Dave was wearing some old jeans and a shirt that had a food stain that Dave didn¡¯t notice when wearing it.

    When Dave went to order. The cashier asked his superior to handle Dave.

    The manager came to Dave and pulled him aside asking him.

    "What can we do for you?" asked the manager.

    "Euh, the usual? So food?" Dave said as he didn¡¯t recognize the strange look the many customers were giving him.

    "Alright, you can put your order here, pay first," said the manager with a smile and waited for Dave to pull out the cash before the cashier would take his order.

    The Manager didn¡¯t believe that Dave was actually capable of paying for the food as he looked more like a homeless person than a regr customer.

    Dave finally understood that they were looking down on him and it filled him with disgust.

    Dave pulled his old wallet showing the manager the hundred-dor bills that were neatly organized there.

    The manager¡¯s forehead became drenched in sweat as he thought ¡¯brother! Would it kill you to dress like a normal person if you have that much money!"

    "Apologies for the difort sir client, you can take a seat and we will send the order to your table, free of charge!" bitterly said the manager after he gave a serious nce at the cashier.

    Dave scoffed in his heart and went to the furthest corner.

    With his limping leg and grievous wounds on his right hand, many costumers looked at him with eyes of pity and some even looked at him with disgust.

    Dave¡¯s order came soon after and there were even some extras ced along the order. And an apology letter. He didn¡¯t even bother reading it.

    Dave ate to his heart¡¯s content then he heard his phone ringing.

    It was Lone Arrow

    "Davey! Where are you?"

    "At F-Sinatra¡¯s Restaurant, am waiting for your and Perfect Shot¡¯s call."

    "Alright, we will be there soon." Said Lone Arrow and hung up.

    After a moment Dave heard the thundering rumble of a sport¡¯s car.

    A purple Lamborghini of a model Dave didn¡¯t know just parked outside the restaurant.

    The people at the restaurant all turned to look at the exquisite car that just parked.

    As for Dave, he was too distracted by the food to care for whatever rich guy just parked that more than a million dor car.

    An old man wearing a tuxedo entered the restaurant first and opened the door for a youngdy with purple hair.

    Her hair plunged over her shoulders with blossoming soft sweet lips. She had a gloss skin with a wasp waist. She wore a tight ck miniskirt with a brand shirt to match. An expensive purse strapped over her shoulder gave her the air of a young richdy.

    Many costumers¡¯ faces were glued to the figure. Except for Dave who was wolfing down his food.

    The girl¡¯s face was looking all over the ce then brought a phone from her purse and dialed a number.

    Dave¡¯s phone rang startling him. He wiped his hand with a napkin and said, "hey lone." Receiving no answer Dave was perplexed until a figure stood near him.

    "Davey!" said the figure when Dave turned he saw the over the world beauty looking at him.

    Dave looked behind him seeing no one he turned back and pointed at himself like an idiot.

    "Davey!" said Lone with a beaming smile and sat next to Dave.

    Dave reacted with covered his right hand and said after a cough.

    "Lone?"

    The girl nodded and said "Finally we meet, isn¡¯t that right Mr.Skeletal" thest word was said in a hushed tone.

    "You look surprised," said, Lone.

    "Yea, ahm never had I thought that Lone Arrow was such...euh beauty," said Dave with an embarrassed tone.

    He was caught off-guard with gravy filling his figure and food that was mauled than eaten. He felt ashamed but Lone didn¡¯t bother.

    Lone Arrow smiled hearing the awkward praise Dave gave her then said: "Uncle Sam, this is Dave, the person who will be signing the contract."

    "Greetings," said the old man and sat cing his briefcase next to the table.

    "Excuse me please!" said Dave as he went to the restroom to wash up.

    "Shit shit, shit! And I thought she would be some ugly NEET!" said Dave as his heart was still racing from the encounter.

    Looking at himself in the mirror Dave facepalmed saying "Way to go dave, you just made yourself look like aplete creep!"

    Dave washed his hands and tried his best to fix his hair and went back to the table.

    When he sat down, the charming smile on Lone¡¯s face didn¡¯t change for a moment.

    Even after gazing at his hand and the way he walked she didn¡¯t have a single ounce of disrespect or disdain shown to Dave.

    "Alright, so Zoe Here asked me toe and be your representative in signing a contract with a TVpany. As I see right now the other party has yet to show up."

    "Y-yes," said Dave with a startle as he was still a bit perturbed, but he got his bearing and said "The others will contact us soon" and right after he finished speaking, his phone rang once again.

    "Perfect? Where are you?" asked Dave.

    "We just arrived at Time¡¯s Square, sorry for the dy pops insisted on taking his car and it gave up on us halfway..." said Perfect shot in an embarrassed tone.

    "It¡¯s alright, we are at F-Sinatra¡¯s restaurant. Come meet us.

    "We?"

    "Yea, I brought somepany."

    "Alright, we are nearby, give us a minute." Said Perfect Shot then hung up.

    "Isn¡¯t this guy one of those TNT?" asked Lone.

    "Yea, I met themter and he proposed this deal. But I still worry about my identity, so thank you for bringing euh, your uncle Sam."

    "You don¡¯t have to worry about your identity being revealed. With uncle Sam here, I guarantee that you will take a lion¡¯s share in this business. Just don¡¯t forget little me and take me on more of those adventures!" said Lone Arrow with a pouting face.

    Dave smiled and said "Don¡¯t worry, there is still a lot to explore in the underworld. We can always go there."

    Lone Arrow¡¯s smile almost melted Dave¡¯s heart then he coughed.

    Finding nothing to change the subject dave said abruptly, "he should be here soon."

    The restaurant¡¯s door opened once again and an old man with a younger person entered.

    The old man had a businessman¡¯s bearing. He wore a ssic suit on top of a white shirt with a loose cr, while the younger person was dressed in brand clothes and had a tall stature with a handsome face.

    The young man used his phone and when he heard the phone ringing at Dave¡¯s table he hung up and asked his father toe over.

    The young man¡¯s gaze was stuck at the figure sitting right next to Dave for a moment before his father nudged him back to reality.

    The boy had an embarrassed look on his face but still went ahead and said in a hushed tone.

    "Mr.Skeletal?"

    Dave looked and nodded, then the person found a seat and sat at the table.

    The old man with him looked at the group and found a seat for himself.

    "It¡¯s me first time doing business in a restaurant," the old manughed.

    "There is a first to everything pops," said the young man and then turned his face to Dave and said.

    "So, ready for business?"

 Chapter 116 The Silvana Devil lawyer.

    "I will be representing Dave in signing this contract so all discussion shall go through me first," said the Old man who came with Lone Arrow.

    "I believe we haven¡¯t been introduced, my name is Sigward Smith what is yours and who might you be?. asked Perfect Shot¡¯s father.

    "My name is Sam Silvana, and I am the familywyer of the Silvana family," said the man with a stoic tone.

    Perfect Shot¡¯s father looked at his son then at thewyer with a bead of sweat falling from his forehead.

    "Y-you wouldn¡¯t be rted to Mr. Dante Silvana by any chance?"

    "He is my younger brother," said the old man still remaining his expressionless.

    Lone Arrow had a wide smile on her face when she realized that the TVpany owner recognized her father and uncle.

    ¡¯Gracious lord, why have me do a contract with the Silvana Devil...¡¯ Sigward¡¯s heart trembeled.

    "T-then please, ye can begin stating them terms," said Sigward in a meek manner.

    Perfect Shot was still wondering why his father¡¯s attitude became passive.

    "I believe that you didn¡¯t bring a contract with you, as I already have one ready at hand. We should negotiate upon it," said the Lawyer with a devil-like smile.

    Sigward shuddered at the sight of the smile on thewyer¡¯s face and nodded.

    Perfect Shot was still wondering why his father¡¯s attitude changed so drastically. He already knew his father brought with him a contract that only needed Dave¡¯s signature and all would have been done. But now he agreed to see the other party¡¯s contract while hiding the fact that he already had a readymade one.

    Perfect Shot didn¡¯t want to disturb the parties discussion so he remained silent and watched the deal.

    Thewyer brought two copies and gave one to Dave and Sigward

    Before Dave could read the contract, Lone Arrow spoke and said.

    "Don¡¯t worry Davey, uncle Sam wrote that contract after I have exined all about Conquest to him. He is not a yer but he is well versed in the game¡¯s mechanics and the value of anything within it. So, it will not be unfair to you in anyway."

    Dave nodded but still read the contract only to have his eyes winding after reading a few chapters.

    Weren¡¯t the terms too favorable to him?

    He didn¡¯t say anything but the stated terms were on the verge of being outrageous.

    Perfect Shot¡¯s father was sweating profusely when he read the heavy terms then when he couldn¡¯t take it anymore he said.

    "Mr Silvana, I never had the thought to be unfair to Dave writing this, but aren¡¯t the terms too much?"

    "If you feel the terms are too much then please share your thoughts with me, and I am sure we wille to a mutual agreement," said thewyer with an impassive voice.

    Sigward then said, "The terms in section 7.1 where our TVpany needs to pay an advance of 1,000,000US for showcasing the takeover of the second Raid Zone. I believe that this is a bit too much. I wouldn¡¯t be unwilling to pay a good some of money for the video feed, but we don¡¯t have a guarantee that the content is attractive enough."

    "There is no need to have any guarantee, Dave here captured another raid zone, and the information regarding the Underworld will be sought after from many parties in the game. Seeing the video will give them knowledge that they don¡¯t have and make them prepare for their own undertakings if they wish to conquer the raid zone in the future, while Basing their ns on this very video. Knowledge is power, and power is money! I believe that 1,000,000US is too low of an amount as I would have opted for more otherwise but I humbled the amount so not to make you feel pressured."

    Sigward had a wry smile on his face when he mumbled ¡¯That¡¯s a humble amount... its more than I make in a year,"

    "Then what about the share, isn¡¯t 50% share of profit too much? Also, all subsequent videos from our friend here will have an advanced payout before we have the right to view them isn¡¯t that too much?" added Mr, Silvana.

    "The terms state that any information disclosed from Dave when he is in the underworld to yourpany will be paid for. Any video rted to the underworld no matter how trivial will need payment. Same as before, information is power. And Dave have a lot of information. I don¡¯t believe that is unfair.

    As for the share, that is obvious, 50% share should be enough for yourpany to ride on Dave¡¯s sess, with the entertainment industry and publicity nowadays you can make seven to eight figures worth of money just from publicity included in the videos of the undead traveling the Underworld."

    "But the maintenance cost and the staff, who is going to pay for them when we give 50% share of profit. It doesn¡¯t look that profitable to us."

    Thewyer smiled before saying "That is your problem, there are manypanies that are willing to ept even harsher terms, and you know it. This deal will increase the poprity of yourpany and in the log terms the gains you will obtain will be much more than your current profit, isn¡¯t that right CEO of CCN TV."

    "How did you know?" said Sigward in a stunned manner, "I didn¡¯t even mention the name of ourpany to anyone here, my son also didn¡¯t share it either."

    "I already had a deal with yourpany a few years ago and I still remember you. After some research I know yourpany is in a slight decline, so having Dave¡¯s back to ride his fame will help you in the near and far future to go back to the most viewed TV stations world wide."

    The old man sighed and then went to thest section of the contract and signed it. Then passed the copy to Dave for him to sign it.

    Once Dave signed his name on it and handed to Perfect Shot¡¯s father, theter gave his hand for a handshake and said

    "It has been good doing business with you Mr. Dave Ruster. Please send the video feed of yourst adventure to my son here, and he will share it with us to do some edits and have a professional staff look over it."

    "Alright, but what about my IRL identity?" asked Dave as he didn¡¯t read through the whole contract.

    "I have another contract that all of us will sign," said thewyer as he brought another stack of papers and shared it amongst everyone sitting in the table.

    "This states that Mr. Ruster¡¯s identity shall be disclosed form all and any contact, even close ones and working members at any of your establishment. If Dave¡¯s identity is disclosed without his consent or an act on his own ord, we shall peruse the instigator of the misdeed with all our might," Said thewyer with a firm tone.

    "Ah don¡¯t worry, we won¡¯t be ruining our own golden goose," replied Sigward as he signed the contract and waited for his son to do the same.

    Once everyone signed, Perfect Shot asked Dave," I wanted to ask you something, me, Sven and Rob are currently being hunted by the Devastators, they think we are hiding your real identity, so could you hand us some of the Teleportation Scrolls to the Underworld earlier than the due date me made with Alfred?"

    "Nah, sorry bro, I can¡¯t help you with that. We already signed a contract with Alfred and unless you guys are level 200 I can¡¯t give you any. Even then you might not survive the underworld. Also, don¡¯t worry about the Devastators¡¯ kill-on-sight order, I will request it to be absolved. They won¡¯t say no to me," said Dave with a wicked smile.

    Dave understood that Perfect shot had an ulterior motive when he asked him to give him the teleportation scrolls too early. He can go to the underworld himself and give his father¡¯spany some of the video feeds of him venturing there. There would be no point at that time for Dave to keep his deal with the CCN Tvpany as the CEO¡¯s son would provide enough data for them.

    Sigward looked at his son as he through ¡¯It was a good try son; too bad he is a smarty."

    Perfect shot had a dissatisfied smile on his face but thanked Dave anyway for helping him take away the Kill-On-Sight order issued on them by the Devastators.

    "Alright, this should be all, I will await your video feed. And hope we can work on it as soon as possible," said Sigward as he greeted the group and left with his son.

    "This should be all. I will go back home right now to finish some procedures and legalize this contract. Zoe, please drive carefully, I almost had a heart attack with you driving!" thewyer said as he understood that he needed to leave the two of them alone.

    Lone Arrow looked at Dave with kittenish smile and said.

    "Let¡¯s get out of here! I will take you somewhere nice!" she said.

    Dave¡¯s heart thumped and followed Lone like a docile cat.

 Chapter 117 Seat belts are useful...

    "Where are we going?" asked Dave who was being led outside the restaurant by the hand of Zoe.

    "First stop, we need to pimp you up. I know a good ce that has some fine clothing for you." Zoe beamed with a gentle smile.

    Once outside the F-Sentara restaurant, Dave¡¯s gaze wandered until itnded on a purple Lamborghini.

    ¡¯What a fine ride!¡¯ Dave became stunned seeing the expensive sport¡¯s car, then he remembered hearing the loud engine that passed by the restaurant earlier.

    ¡¯This must belong to some rich yboy.¡¯ Dave sighed in his mind.

    But his eyes slowly squinted when he saw Zoe heading in the direction of the very same car he was admiring.

    "No way!"

    Zoe grabbed the car¡¯s remote keys and unlocked it, confirming Dave¡¯s suspicions.

    Dave was still stunned looking at the exquisite car when Zoe said: "Common, get in!"

    Dave opened the door that rose upward and sat in.

    The car had a delightful smell to it and made him at ease once he was inside. But he still had some nervousness in him.

    "Put your seat-belt on," said Zoe and started the thundering engine.

    The moment Dave¡¯s seat-belt was on, Zoe elerated making his head stick to his seat from the sudden jerk.

    Zoe drove the car like a rally pro and started bypassing cars at breathtaking speeds.

    "Holy cow! Slow down woman!" said Dave with a shrieking voice.

    "Wuss!" Zoe replied and kept her leg on the elerator.

    Dave looked at the rapidly increasing numbers on the car¡¯s speedometer and his face went nk.

    "Good god woman! Legal speed limit! Do you know that?!" Dave¡¯s heart thumped widely as Zoe increased the music volume to the max and acted as she didn¡¯t even hear him talk.

    The track was a heavy metal of some famous musicians from several decades ago. It would have been a good tune to listen to, if not for the close shaves Zoe was having with the cars passing by.

    What irritated Dave the most was when Zoe would get stuck in traffic and start shouting at the unlucky drivers in the front. Yelling at them to move faster or where did they get a driver¡¯s license.

    At one point, they were stopped by a policeman who looked to be infuriated. when he gave Zoe a severe warning, he handed her a speeding ticket.

    She took the ticket and opened the glovepartment where several dozens of the same ticket were sticking out and she ced it with them.

    Dave became dumbfounded looking at the number of the tickets.

    "How the hell do you still have your driver¡¯s license?"

    "Secret!" she said with a beaming smile and pressed the elerator adding more to Dave¡¯s misery.

    After a few more minutes of torture, Zoe finally stopped near a Super-Mall where Dave left the car, feeling both dizzy and nauseous.

    "Not cool!" he said as he limped away from the car.

    Zoe left the car and said to him "We are finally here. Let¡¯s go, I know a good shop!"

    Dave followed behind Zoe and went into the Super-Mall.

    Several brands had opened a shop inside the mall, and Dave could only stare at the exorbitant prices of the items. While Zoe would enter any shop and look around.

    Dave followed behind her silently. At one point she entered a famous designer¡¯s shop of lingerie.

    Dave¡¯s face reddened as he stopped at the shop¡¯s entrance, but was pulled inside by Zoe anyway.

    Zoe looked at the items disyed in the shop with enthusiasm and picked up a few to try, and when Dave was left alone his eyes wandered to a set of seductive items and his face went white.

    "Holy shit! The price of this thing costs more than two months¡¯ sry of my old job!"

    After a lot of time and boredom, Zoe finally left the dressing room with a satisfied smile.

    "You look to be enjoying yourself,¡¯ impassively said Dave.

    "Shopping is always fun," she said

    ¡¯Not for me who is following you around,¡¯ Dave didn¡¯t express his thoughts.

    "What, you look a bit stunned, want to see what I just bought?" said lone with a teasing voice.

    "Yea, euh I mean no..."

    Zoe giggled and said to Dave, "Alright, I got what I wanted now let¡¯s see what to get for you!" she said.

    "The items here are too expensive, I can get other things with a much cheaper price somewhere else," said Dave.

    "No! You need to get the best stuff,mon I know there is a handsome looking fe under those clothes and disheveled hair.

    "Whatever you say, princess," said Dave shaking his head.

    After all, she was a princess that could buy lingerie worth several wages of Dave¡¯s old sry. While he would opt for more practical and less costly clothes.

    Once inside the men¡¯s shop, many clients would stare at the couple who just entered and would have a strange look on their faces.

    After all, the over the world beauty was a mismatch with the raggedy man next to her.

    A handsome person even came over trying to strike up a conversation with Zoe but ended up being shut down, as she ignored him and walked with Dave toward the dressingpartment after picking up some brand clothes from the gallery.

    Dave began dressing, and at every point woulde out and receivements from Zoe who waited for him to finish dressing.

    "Looks too ssy!"

    "Too normal!"

    "Hippy!"

    "Just no!"

    "Meh"

    And thements from Zoe continued until Dave ended up with a simple brand T-Shirt and brand jeans that matched his stature.

    "Just about right!" she said then walked to the cashiers.

    Lone picked up Dave¡¯s old clothes and searched his pants pockets.

    Dave¡¯s brows furrowed at her gesture, then she picked up his wallet and an old phone from them and gave them back to Dave.

    She took the old clothes and threw them into the nearest trash-bin.

    "Why do that? Those can still be worn!" he said as those were his ¡¯favorite¡¯ jeans and shirt.

    "Nope! Those are old stuff you don¡¯t need them anymore, hell you should throw all your other clothes too!"

    Lone then walked to the cashier followed by Dave.

    When he got closer, he opened his wallet and went to pick up the few hundred-dor bills inside to pay for the items he bought.

    As he had already seen the price tag he knew that his heart would bleed for the price of the very shirt and pants he was currently wearing.

    Zoe then grabbed Dave¡¯s hand who was picking up the money and said with a smile

    "My treat!"

    "But that is too expensive! I have enough to pay for this, you don¡¯t need to do this Lone," said Dave.

    "Call me Zoe when we are outside the game, and no! you ain¡¯t paying a dime this time!" she said and brought a tinum Mastercard.

    "Please, I would like to pay for all the items we tried at the dressing room,"

    All the items?

    "Didn¡¯t you dislike those? Why purchase them?"

    "They might be of use on other asions, but for now, this is the best. We still need to go elsewhere."

    After paying the item¡¯s price Zoe led Dave to the nearest barber¡¯ shop who was inside the Supermall.

    "Hey Danny!" said Lone addressing a young looking man who seems to have a strange taste for clothes that showed his chest hair. With an extravagant haircut and a bit too tight pants.

    "Hey girlfriend!" said the barber with a high-pitched voice.

    "Oh god..."

    "Who¡¯s this? Your man? Emmm, he doesn¡¯t look too shabby but what¡¯s with that hair?! That is a disgrace!" said the man with full enthusiasm.

    Lone smiled for a bit before saying, "Just get him a good haircut, nothing too fashionable if you know what I mean." Said Lone and sat waiting for Dave as she picked up her phone and started to furiously type in it.

    "Now what are we going to do with you now," said the man with a smile as he snapped the golden scissors in his hands.

    Dave could only gulp at the mercy of the exotic barber.

    .

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    .

    .

    Author¡¯s notes.

    Alright chaps, I have some news to tell.

    So, all of you know about ROTUL going premium and tomorrow is the day.

    Yes, I know it sucks for many of you guys, as I heard many wanted to drop the story cuz premium is expensive. But I will keep my promise and make the chapters affordable to everyone.

    Many still wish to support me even after going premium to which I honestly am grateful, as for the rest who want to read but can¡¯t afford, I truly feel the need to apologies as I feel like I have betrayed you guys.

    Before some start the hate messages, (not you, you badass who is reading this and enjoyed every chapter!)

    please know that I am doing this to make a career and want to have enough cash under me.

    If you still feel like dropping the story (please don¡¯t) I just hope to see youter on when the premium chapters be free. or at least to save up some daily spirit stones and read bit by bit.

    I don¡¯t want to miss the interactions I have with readers on thement section. you guys are a st and sometimes I end up rolling on the groundughing from the jokes andments everyone puts in.

    I know this was a long author¡¯s note, but it could be thest time I speak to some of my dear readers, and I could only say, it was a st having you guys with me through these 117 chapters. thank you for everything.

    *Bows respectfully*

    as for those that still wish to continue even while the story went premium, spending some of their hard-earned money on poor old me, I can only promise to deliver the most exciting and best battle-scenes and story that I can possible make.

    Thank you all.

    Respectfully

    Biako.

    *Tries not to cry... failes miserably*

 Chapter 118 Dance life away...

    Dave endured half an hour of furious clipping andbing.

    When he was finished, Danny held a hand-mirror up, turning it so Dave could see the back of his head in all its newly trimmed and mmed glory.

    Then the barber dramatically snapped his fingers in a zig-zag pattern.

    "Now this is a good-looking man! If Zoe didn¡¯t already have the papers on you I¡¯d snatch you up myself!"

    Dave gulped as his eyes darted to Lone, no, Zoe in the mirror...and caught her ogling him!

    "Ahem. Yes. That IS much better. Thank you, Danny!" said Lone as she hurriedly payed the barber.

    "Thank you, Zoe," along with the gratitude for her help there was hint of pride in Dave¡¯s eyes. He was amazed at how the new haircut changed his appearance.

    Zoe just smiled and said, "There is still somewhere else we have to go!"

    "Where?" asked Dave.

    "I was going to take you bowling or dancing. But those probably aren¡¯t the best choices right now," she pointed at Dave¡¯s hand.

    He raised his hand, trying to flex his scarred hand and fingers, "Yeah, and I still have to get the video to Perfect Shot."

    Zoe rolled her eyes "Borrrrring, Daveyyyyy. There¡¯s plenty of time to do thatter. Some of my friends are going to a club. We¡¯re going there."

    Zoe was like a whirlwind, Dave hadn¡¯t gotten a chance to catch his breath since the ride started.

    The duo left the Super-mall and headed back to Times Square and one of the most famous nightclubs in the world.

    "C-Copacabana!" said Dave staring at the grand entrance.

    "Yeah, let¡¯s go in! There¡¯s a good band ying today!" as she handed her car off to the valet.

    The door-men at the club¡¯s entrance saw Zoeing and unclipped the velvet rope across the door, smiling at her.

    "Hey, Chris! Hey, Jake! This is Daaave" as she breezed past them and through the doorway.

    Dave nodded to the two and followed meekly behind her.

    As he walked into the club his ears were treated to thetest Latin-fusion beat and a throaty voice crooning in Spanish. Multicoloredser lights shed across every surface and solid-seeming 3D holograms flickered and vanished on the dance floor. People danced exuberantly to the fast tempo, unconcerned, moving through the holograms and the glowing fog that clung to the floor.

    Dave was still a bit bbergasted to be there. Copacabana! But, a faint smile was on his face and he started to rx and enjoy the exotic and energetic atmosphere of the swanky club.

    Zoe soon returned to take Dave by the arm and drag him through the crowds and shouldered her way to the bar. Standing tiptoed on the foot-rest to make herself taller she waved vigorously at one of the men behind it.

    "Yoo-hoo, Sebastian! A double shot of your strongest scotch!"

    She downed it in a single motion then rocketed to the dancefloor and started dancing with wild abandon, a look of unfettered joy on her face.

    As Dave watched Zoe enjoying herself his brows rose up almost into his newly coiffed hair. Maybe she¡¯d forgotten about him. He grinned, better her exhausting herself on the dance floor than dragging him out there to suffer. He asked Sebastian, the bartender, for a beer and was offered a choice between far too many brands.

    The music and the tingling from the cold foamy beer slowly loosened Dave up. The tension from the morning was slowly draining away the more he drank and enjoyed the music and the dancefloor show.

    Of course it wasn¡¯t tost. After a few songs Zoe came back and dragged Dave with her onto the dancefloor.

    Dave did his best to follow Zoe lead, trying to emte her free spirited dance moves.

    Eventually Dave stopped worrying, and helped by the warm glow from his beer, started to enjoy dancing and moving with her. It had been a long time since he cut loose like this.

    After a few songs the music slowed down and switched to something less wild. Needing a break, they retreated to from the dance-floor, and sat at a table in the VIP room.

    Dave¡¯s stomach was rumbling even after the beer, "Is there anything to eat here?"

    "You can order from the screen here," she swiped her hand and the tabletop disyed disyed the Club food menu.

    Dave picked some light dishes to try and waited for the order toe out.

    A waiter soon came over with their tes.

    While they were eating a petite redhead walked into the VIP room.

    Seeing Zoe, she walked over to their table and addressed Zoe with malicious glee. "Here you are, Zoe! Why didn¡¯t you call me?"

    Zoe frowned slightly.

    She answered with an insincere smile, "Hello, Sabrina. We just got here. This is my friend, Dave."

    "Your friennnnnd...?" the redhead singsonged, her eyes locking onto Dave

    "Yes." Zoe deflected the conversation, "I guess the gang¡¯s all here then," she finished in a less than hopeful voice.

    "Yes, Tess and Jenny came with me." Sabrina sat down. "We¡¯re looking for a table. You don¡¯t mind us imposing on you, do you, dear. Of course not."

    The entire time the redhead was speaking to Zoe, her eyes had never left Dave. He felt like a dog treat at the vet¡¯s, or a piece of pastry at a grade school birthday party.

    Before Zoe could answer, two more girls came over, a blonde and a brte. The blonde had a perfect porcin smile stered on, while the brte had a cold look set on her face.

    "Ladies. Sit. Zoe brought a friennnnd," Sabrina simpered.

    "Zoe never brings male friends, at least not straight ones. So, who might this be?" asked the blond young woman.

    "Dave, this is Jenny, and the ice-queen over there is Tess," said Zoe spitefully.

    "That¡¯s not nice, Zoeee" the blond chided. "So Dave, it¡¯s rare to see Zoe with a friend. How do you know each other? Maybe from your family businesses?" asked Jenny.

    Lone grew more agitated as Jenny nosed around for Dave¡¯s background.

    Dave looked at the blonde impassively, "I¡¯m just a friend. We met by chace and became friends. I don¡¯t know anything about her family¡¯s business and she doesn¡¯t know anything about mine."

    Stymied the three girls looked at Dave but didn¡¯t have any reply except some tittering and nonsense social phrases..

    Jenny noticed Dave¡¯s hand, her face had an ugly expression that she tried to hide but failed miserably.

    "Girls, I see a free table over there, let¡¯s get some fresh air," she said, standing up.

    "See youter, Zoe," the girls sang out cattily, ignoring Dave.

    As they walked away Sabrina asked Jenny why they were leaving when it was in there were no empty tables.

    "Because I am not sitting at a table with a freak like him. E!" she said with disgust.

    "What are you talking about?" asked the brte, Tess.

    "Didn¡¯t you see those disgusting scars on his hand? They could be fixed easily. His hair is newly cut, and even his clothes are brand new. It¡¯s like that song, he¡¯s a broke-y broke. A charity case. Zoe probably has her reasons to hang out with him. But, there¡¯s no need for us to mix with lower-ss people. Ugh!"

    "Wow. I didn¡¯t even notice!" said the redhead.

    Back at the table Dave looked at Lone, listening to the shrews as they walked away.

    "Your friends?"

    "Their families are in business with my father. Just a bunch of richie brats. They only hang out with people they deem to be worthy of them. Basically any other rich pricks."

    Dave grunted and resumed his interrupted meal, but the atmosphere had turned from joyous to somber.

    Zoe cursed at the snobby C-words under her breath, they¡¯d soured the mood and ruined her day out with Dave.

 Chapter 119 While am at it!

    "Dave, let me give you a ride home. I promise I¡¯ll drive safe, and slower, this time," said Lone from inside her car as he stood on the curb. She added under her breath,"Slow, just like a little olddy driver."

    She bit her lip, she was trying to get him back into a good mood, bring back a little of the day¡¯s previous cheer.

    "I¡¯ll just take a cab. Thanks for everything, it was a great day, Zoe. The most fun I¡¯ve had in ages," he added, forcing a smile onto his face.

    Zoe sighed, gave Dave a smile with her goodbye then zoomed away.

    "Slower. Yeah, right." He muttered.

    Then he twisted his mouth into a grimace. The encounter with blonde-Jenny and friends hadpletely soured Dave¡¯s mood.

    He gged down a cab and and hopped in, giving the driver his address. Closing his eyes, he leaned his head back and tried to get some sleep on the way home.

    After paying the cabby, Dave started his slow walk to the apartment. He¡¯d tried to get some rest on the drive back, but his system was all revved up from the excitement of the day. And his anger at that bitc--blonde¡¯s behavior. Her and her trashy friends.

    ncing at Ms. Clementine¡¯s still closed shop front as he walked past, Dave felt an urge to check up on the nosey but kindly olderdy.

    His knock on the door was answered by a young girl close to Dave¡¯s age. The girl¡¯s face was drawn and a bit haggard. Sad looking.

    She blinked and looked at the well-dressed handsome young man standing at the door in confusion. The girl politely asked how she could help him.

    "My name is Dave, I¡¯m one of Ms. Clementine¡¯s neighbors. I didn¡¯t see her open the shop today, is everything alright?"

    "Well, no. Grandma is sick. But it¡¯s so nice of you to check on her," she looked even sadder, "Unfortunately, I don¡¯t think she will be able to open the shop again."

    "Would it be possible for me to see her?" asked Dave.

    The girl thought it was a little strange. But then she heard her grandmother¡¯s weak voice asking if that was Dave at the door and to bring him back to see her if it was. She answered in the affirmative as she ushered him in.

    Dave nodded with a solemn smile to the middle-aged couples sitting around Clementine¡¯s bed.

    The olddy smiled weakly up at Dave, "Oooh. I was right. I said you would look so much better if you just took a little care of yourself and..."

    She was interrupted by a fit of phlegmy, hacking coughs before she could finish her thought.

    One of the middle-aged women went paler than before on her face. She cried out in a panicked voice, "Ma! Please, don¡¯t try to talk, you¡¯re just going to make it worse."

    "What is her condition? Why isn¡¯t she in the hospital?"

    The calmer looking of the men answered him, "She has a chronic lung disease, and she took a turn for the worsest week."

    "Why didn¡¯t she go to a hospital? She can get better care there," said Dave.

    The man sighed before he answered and all five of her family members looked frustrated and guilty, "It¡¯s simple. The hospital fees are too high, we can¡¯t afford it. We would do anything to help my wife¡¯s mother. But, even all together we just don¡¯t have the resources. We can¡¯t even get a loan for better healthcare for her." He added bitterly, "It¡¯s just not a sound investment that would be paid back."

    Dave red, then picked up his phone and dialed a three digit number.

    "Nine-one-one. What is your emergency?" the person on the other side of the call answered.

    "I need an ambnce as soon as possible," said Dave, giving the operator the address and name of the family.

    "Young man, what do you think you are doing? I told you we can¡¯t afford the costs of better care, let alone an ambnce and hospital!"

    "You don¡¯t need to pay a thing. Ms. Clementine took care of me when I was in need. It is my turn to help her now," said Dave as he finished his call.

    "Dave! There¡¯s no need to do this, I¡¯ve already got one foot in the grave. I don¡¯t know where you got money, but it¡¯s just a waste to spend it on me. Save it and use it on yourself and a pretty girl."

    "Don¡¯t say that again Ms. Clementine!" He admonished her in a stern voice. They all proceeded to wait in a tense silence for the ambnce to arrive. But there was something new on the family¡¯s faces. Hope.

    When the ambnce arrived and the paramedics knocked at the door, Dave walked along the gurney and watched them load Ms. Clementine into the ambnce and drive away to one of New York¡¯s best hospitals.

    "I am grateful to you, young man. But, really, why are you doing this?" asked Clementine¡¯s daughter.

    "Like I said before, Ms Clementine was always there for me when I was in need. It¡¯s only right that I help her now. That¡¯s all," he answered.

    They piled into one of the family cars, and followed the ambnce back into The City.

    When the staff rolled Ms Clementine¡¯s gurney into the admitting area, Dave and the three family members followed behind her.

    At the reception Dave requested and filled the admitting form, using his own bank ount and signing for all the fees and charges that might be rued for any and all procedures and treatments.

    Ms. Clementine¡¯s daughter started crying, which started the granddaughter crying, and even the son-inw kept clearing his throat, looking away and wiping at his eyes. They all thanked him for helping them in their dire need and then thanked God for sending Dave to them.

    The young girl kept looking at Dave through her tears with a heart-wrenching gratitude as he filled the forms.

    He was starting to get ufortable with all the attention and gratitude. He should have done this anonymously. But honestly he had started to panic when he saw Ms. Clementine in that state, shrunken and ill. And when she started coughing he lost it.

    A doctor who was passing by happened to see and hear themotion in admissions. At first he was only idly curious about what was happening, then his gaze was caught by the unsightly scars on the writing hand of the man filling out the forms.

    "Young man, why haven¡¯t you taken care of the injuries to your hand? You should get that taken care of soon or the scars will continue to tighten and bind the tendons and you will lose more and more function!"

    Dave had been concentrating on the long and convoluted bureaucratic hospital forms and was almost finished when he was startled by the doctor¡¯s voice. He looked up at the doctor open mouthed, then down at his hands.

    ¡¯Well, I¡¯m here anyway. The worst thing about doing it will be filling out another set of these forms.¡¯

    "Do you have Conquest Gaming capsules here?" Dave asked the Doctor. He needed to do something, it was a long shot but he wouldn¡¯t know if he didn¡¯t ask.

    "We do, but they are for patients... not for public use."

    "Patients?"

    "Yes, we have some capsules here for patients who are missing limbs or who don¡¯t have the ability to move and sometimes ones who have lost their sight see or maybe even their hearing. Conquest gives them a chance to walk again or even see. The capsule is one of the most sophisticated pieces of medical technology on the. That is really what they were for originally, medical care."

    "Okay. If you only have capsules for the patients then you¡¯ve got yourselves a new patient. Me. But, I need to check my Conquest ount first," Dave said firmly.

    "Follow me. You¡¯re lucky I have a couple minutes. Plus I¡¯m the one who will be fixing those hands of yours, so let¡¯s do this," said the doctor. He walked briskly down the hallway and stopped at a door that was marked VR-Therapy.

    They entered together and the doctor spoke with the nurse at the monitoring station. Dave walked over to the first empty capsule andy down in it to ess the game.

    When the scanner recognized Dave¡¯s brain imprint it granted him immediate ess to his ount and he found himself back in the Underworld.

    Dave dialed a number from within the game and Perfect Shot answered.

    "Hey, you ready? I¡¯ll send you the video right now. Shoot me your email addy," Dave.

    "Alright!" said Perfect Shot.

    Dave copied the link to the video from the game and sent it to the email address that Perfect Shot sent to him, and waited for receipt confirmation.

    Secondster Dave felt his phone vibrate, signaling he had a new message.

    Dave logged out and immediately checked the message on his phone.

    It was from his bank, informing him his ount had been active. He had a new bnce after receiving a deposit. A deposit of $1,000,000. Dave smiled.

    "That should be enough. For now," he said out loud.

    "What did you say? And that¡¯s all you needed with the VR capsule?" the doctor was taken aback.

    "I just needed to do something. Now, where do I get my hands fixed?"

    "That would be the nano and microsurgical wing, my kingdom! Follow me, young man," he said and led Dave to one of the higher floors.

    Finally, he would be able to get rid of the unsightly and painful scars, and more importantly regain full use of his hands. Then after that, maybe, he could get on with life, live a more normal one.

 Chapter 120 Teaser

    Dave was quickly processed into the hospital system and assigned to the nano-med ward. And yes, he had to fill out another small mountain of hospital forms and releases. Including forms for the fees and charges, much higher than the first ones since his surgery was going to cost so much more than Ms. Clementine¡¯s treatment and hospital stay.

    Unknown to him the facilities for the hospital¡¯s cutting edge nano-med technology that would be used to heal his hands were actually under-used. The hospital administrators were concerned they may have made a poor investment and would not make a profit from the investment.

    The new technology itself was supetive and very effective. But, it was prohibitively expensive and most of the cases it was used for could be treated with older less expensive methods and procedures.

    For those reasons the hospital administration was exceptionally happy and eager to get any patient that truly needed the new facilities into the system and started on treatment and therapy right away.

    The members of the nano-med surgery team were paged and contacted to give them notice about a new stat surgery on the schedule; giving them a few hours notice to be ready for a long procedure.

    So it was in the very early morning hours, only a few hours after being admitted to the hospital, that Dave was wheeled into the nano-med surgery suites and sedated.

    While Dave was unconscious for the 12 hour long procedure to fix his old injuries, the world, or at least the gaming-world outside the hospital was in an uproar.

    That morning thework entertainmentpany, CCN, had announced it would be streamingpletely new Conquest video content. The announcement stated the subject of the video was the battle for the second raid zone and it would showcase two never-before-seen monsters that lived in the underworld.

    The announcement of the uing video didn¡¯t truly create a stir until thepany released another announcement a few hourster that the two new creatures had the highest levels ever seen in the game. That little bit of information generated a buzz on gamer sites, social media and the news boards.

    Then CCN announced they would release a teaser at noon. The teaser showed only a few moments of the Underworld from Mr. Skeletal¡¯s point of view, but the media and the public reacted wildly. It seemed like the short clips of the Underworld were all anyone anywhere was talking about for the rest of the day. At work, on the news, at home, or on social media the topic of conversation was the new Conquest video. Within hours the in-game footage from the teaser was dissected and analyzed by every media pundit and Conquest ¡¯expert¡¯ and by hundreds more who could not im even those questionable titles.

    The first scene of the teaser was of Dave facing the Sworn Stalwart, where it shot an intenseser beam at his face. The teaser cut away from the scene before the attack reached Dave.

    Then Dave was facing off against the immense Earth Titan.

    The teaser cut away again, this time showing the Abyssal Knight Da using his Song of Death. summoning waves of dark matter to buff his undead-allies and help them against the tide of iing Demon-Knights

    After that the viewers got to see a few moments of Dave riding on the back of a dunlord, charging like heavy cavalry at the Demonic soldiers.

    The Dunlords¡¯ sacrifice to let Dave move forward, and him turning and cursing back at the demons who killed his underlings made the viewers¡¯ blood boil.

    The final video clip showed Dave at the top of a volcano clearly about to do something momentous, but the scene cut away, leaving what he was about to do to the viewers imaginations. A true ¡¯tease¡¯.

    The screen then simply disyed arge CCN logo while a smooth-voiced announcer spoke: "Tune in to see thetest adventures of Mr. Skeletal." A caption appeared ¡¯Watch it Today on CCN! Airs at 8:00 P.M. EST. Only on CCN!¡¯

    The CCN logo was reced by the smirking face of Dave¡¯s draugr character, Mr. Skeletal, with the same caption.

    The final image was strangely disturbing, so disturbing it became a ¡¯thing.¡¯ Surveys and opinion polls showed nearly every viewer thought it was a particrly creepy image. But at the same time, for some inexplicable reason, the ¡¯creepy factor¡¯ only made viewers want to see the video even more.

 Chapter 121 Blood Stone Mines!

    Dave woke up feeling drowsy and weak. He sat up using his elbows per his habit and looked around.

    He was hooked to a bank of equipment next to the bed, with a big video monitor and other beeping blinking machines he sort-of recognized from medical dramas, including an IV bag. He knew he was in a standard hospital recovery-room. He could tell because it was decorated in the ugly faux-home style that was supposed to help keep patient morale up.

    Dave looked at his hands and found they were heavily bandaged. Unexpectedly his legs and one hip were wrapped in the protective white material also. He felt some itching underneath the wrappings but ignored it with an effort. He leaned back into his pillow and sighed drifting away, probably so rxed from all the meds being pumped into him he thought to himself.

    A nurse came into the room shortly afterwards and after looking at the digital readouts showing Dave¡¯s vitals and overall health she excused herself to call the doctor.

    The doctor that came in and greeted Dave was the same man that had chastised him for not getting his scars fixed sooner. He greeted Dave and checked on the bandages, asking how he felt before reading the patient medical chart that was clipped to Dave¡¯s bed. The doctor had also led the surgery team that operated on him. He looked over the instruments then wrote in the chart for a minute.

    He looked up at Dave, "The operation was a sess and you should be moving your hands freely after three days of in-patient recovery and some light therapy."

    The doctor paused and seemed to be gathering his thoughts.

    He spoke slowly, "During the procedure, some...irregrities came to light that changed the parameters of the surgery. The damage to your hip and legs became relevant to the overall sess what we were doing. I made the call to expand the scope of the surgery to also repair the damage that was done to you," he paused meaningfully and hefted Dave¡¯s chart, making pushing motions with it at Dave.

    The doctor continued, "With the way the nano-med technology works the change in procedure just added some time to the surgery. There will be adjustments to the charges on your bill but it should be rtively minor."

    Dave listened attentively. This doc was a bit gruff but actually kind. And he was cool too, he didn¡¯t go all techno-speak and say a bunch of stuff that only a medical professional would understand. But there was something going on when he talked about changing the surgery and Dave¡¯s legs... As if he was trying to tell Dave something, pushing the chart at him like he was signaling.

    "When you go home we will give you some exercises to do for your hands and legs to ensure full recovery of your manual dexterity. In the meantime, if you want, we can put you in a Conquest capsule to avoid the boredom."

    "I would appreciate that," replied Dave. "The olddy that came with me before I went to surgery, how is her condition?"

    The doctor grinned, "Heh, I thought you might want to know about her. I asked her if I could discuss her condition with you and she, ah, well gave me a talking to. Apparently, despite thew, to her way of thinking if a person pays for treatment they have a right to know the oue even if the person paying is not the patient.

    "Her lungs are in terrible shape, badly degenerated, they were injured when she was much younger. Her doctors stabilized her this time and treated the worst of it, but it was not aplete fix. She¡¯s going to be discharged today, but she needs toe back on a regr basis for respiratory therapy and checkups to keep her from having another crisis."

    "Thank you for everything, doc," Dave said, truly grateful to hear his friend was going to be okay.

    He smiled, "That¡¯s what we are here for, it is what healers are supposed to do."

    "Can I now use the VR Room? It¡¯s boring to stay here all day," said Dave.

    "Sure, I¡¯ll send the staff to move you to a capsule in the VR wing. The added benefit is the rxation state during the dive should assist your recovery and healing too,"

    The doctor made a final note in Dave¡¯s chart then left.

    Two nurses came over and gently transferred Dave to a gurney then rolled him him to the VR ward and got him into a capsule.

    In another part of the hospital a family of three gathered around an olddy who was just waking up.

    "How are you feeling, ma?" asked the middle aged woman

    "I am feeling much better, Beth. For the first time in so long it doesn¡¯t hurt to breathe!"

    "How do you know that boy?" Beth¡¯s husband interrupted. "He paid all the bills for this hospital visit and promised to pay for weekly check-ups and treatment here. I tell you, that¡¯s over four hundred grand...we can¡¯t repay that, not in a life-time," the man finished, looking downcast.

    "The boy¡¯s name is Dave," the old woman answered, looking out the hospital window trying not to let the tears spill over.

    "He is a very nice person, he always helped me whenever he could. He used to work in the gas-station outside of town."

    "Gas station? No gas station clerk could afford that much even if they worked their whole life there..." said the old man

    "No, he told me he found a job on the inte. Seeing how much has changed for him it must be a good opportunity," said the olddy

    The other three couldn¡¯t help but be suspicious the inte job story, but they didn¡¯t bring it up. They weren¡¯t going to look the gift-horse in the mouth.

    "He put himself into the hospital at the same time as you, grandma. Some doctor came into the waiting room and yelled at him about the scars on his hands. He just thought about it for a second then said something about VR capsules to the doc, then they both disappeared into the hospital," said the pretty young grandaughter.

    "Oh that¡¯s so good to hear, Lydia.

    "Poor Dave, those dreadful scars bother him all the time. And his hip, he limps so it¡¯s hard for him to get around now. He was hit by a car on his way home from work some months back by a drunk driver I think. After he was hit the car smashed into a tree or something. Shame on whoever was behind the wheel, just terrible driving. Anyway, even though he was injured, Dave got himself up and managed to pull the driver from the car just before it exploded. The darned driver just disappeared of course, leaving Dave with a whole new set of problems," the olddy¡¯s eyes were snapping with anger when she was finished telling the story.

    "Hmph! People!" her son-inw, Jeff, said, shaking his head.

    "There aren¡¯t many people in the world like Dave, that¡¯s for sure.

    "And you, Lydia. If you are lucky enough to find someone like that, don¡¯t you ever let him go," Clementine teased her granddaughter.

    Lydia didn¡¯t say anything, but her cheeks turned slightly pink as she thought about the young fellow who¡¯d saved her grandmother.

    Now safely in the familiar confines of a VR capsule, Dave logged into Conquest.

    He appeared back in the Red Fortress located in the Burning Heights.

    Crowds of the Undead walked all over the ce.

    The walls of the fortress had been repaired and the drawbridge was working again.

    Dave found Du¡¯Rhaza ordering some undead to do various tasks.

    "Greetings, Du¡¯Rhaza!" Dave said to the Lich

    "Kis¡¯Shtiengbrah!" Du¡¯Rhaza called back with glee, "Just the draugr I was looking for!"

    Dave¡¯s quest-sense tingled like his favorite arachnoidic book hero¡¯s as he smiled and asked "What did you need me for, oh honorable Doom-Knight," Dave asked.

    "We¡¯ve found an old blood-stone mine that should have an excellent yield once we get it into production. It¡¯s located in the cavern system under the volcano, but it¡¯s full of beasts and demons. We need to clear the monsters out. I could have sent some underlings to do the job, but I thought you could use the practice, ha!" said Du¡¯Rhaza.

    Side Quest

    Quest Rating B

    You have been tasked with clearing the Blood-Stone mine under the dormant volcano of the Burning Heights!

    Quest Reward

    500 000 EXP

    Do you ept? Y/N

    Dave thought about the Chaos Entity sleeping inside the volcano and shuddered, but he epted the quest.

    Dave opened his unit management page and paid the CP cost to revive the members of his Undead Battalion who died back at the Red Fortress Siege.

    Suddenly, Dave was surrounded by 120 Undead warriors and mages.

    The dunlords looked as fearsome as ever. The ten armored scorpion-men were basically heavy battle-tanks wielding ballista as crossbows.

    His original ten Undead, now elites, looked at him, ready to receive their orders and lead their own files in his Undead battalion.

    Actually it was nine. Dave looked over his shoulder and there was Bud, the self-appointed bodyguard ghoul, in his ustomed ce.

    Dave climbed up onto the back of the dunlord called Stinger. He whistled, made a circling motion with his hand, then pointed at the gates and, in unison, the battalion started moving out toward the gate.

    The Undead within the fortress watched Dave and his battalion leave, nodding to the unit or saluting as they passed. The Undead gave Dave the respect he deserves!

    Du¡¯Rhaza chuckled as the young draugr and his battalion marched away, he was impressed with Dave¡¯s aplishments, especially his clever innovation of riding on the back of a dunlord. It was a great idea and the Doom Knight even ordered one of his own dunlords to stay nearby to serve as a mount when the need arose..

    The battalion marched proudly out through the fortress gates and once across the drawbridge they turned to the north for the volcano where the blood mine was located.

    "Kis¡¯Shtiengbrah!" a thunderous voice called out, seemingly from nowhere.

    But almost immediately a small hill started moving as a giant dug himself out from under the dirt and rocks.

    "Drahma, this is unexpected!" Dave greeted the colossus..

    "Ho, young draugr. Where do you go, do you require my aid?"

    "I gotta get some training in, Drahma."

    "So be it. Should you find yourself in a difficult situation, use the jewel and I wille to your aid. Farewell young draugr," the giant boomed his farewell and started digging himself back under the ground.

    Dave smiled and ordered the battalion to resume marching forward.

 Chapter 122 The might of numbers!

    They reached the foot of the volcano in less than an hour. The barren ground around the volcano was littered with blood colored rocks and boulders. Other the contrast between the color of the normal ground color and the bright red of the rocks it reminded Dave of some of the NASA photos he¡¯d seen showing the rockyndscape of the Mars.

    Bud the ghoul broke his normal silence, "Lord draugr."

    Dave looked at Bud in question.

    "Scent. Blood, but...not. Demons. They hide."

    Bud¡¯s words were few, but it was all the information Dave needed.

    "All right. Ready up, Formation ¡¯A¡¯! Archers and casters to the rear! Files One and Two guard the ranged units, the rest behind the dunlords!"

    Formation ¡¯A¡¯ was a spearhead formation, with Dave, on Stinger, positioned in the middle and four dunlords to each side protecting him from being nked. The final Dunlord was in front of him acting as the tip of the ¡¯spear.¡¯

    Dave ordered the dunlords to advance in formation, moving slowly farther onto the blood-stone in, with the rest of the battalion following close behind.

    Suddenly, the ground rippled outward, growing and moving like waves in an ocean storm. From the center of the disturbance worms thicker than Dave was tall and as long as a city bus it writhed out from a mound that burst up from the ground.

    Blood Worm

    Level 350

    Danger Level ? ?

    Tier: Mystic

    HP: 200,000

    Damage: 15,000 20,000

    DN: 10, 000

    MA: 10, 000

    Skills: [Burrow] Burrows and un-borrows from the ground to surprise prey or hide from danger.

    [Suffocate] entangles a target dealing 100% damage and executing targets who remain in the clutch of the blood worm for more than 1 minute. (Cannot applied to non living things).

    [Consume] sucks the blood of the victim healing to heal the blood worm. Health restored is 50% of the damage dealt.

    Bestiary:

    Blood worms are vicious fiends that can scent blood from thousands of miles away.

    When they are at a disadvantage they retreat by burrowing underground for safety.

    Dave yelled to his troops, "This is good target practice, boyz! Light ¡¯em up!"

    The casters and archers ranged on the worms from behind the dunlords then fired off coordinated attacks with deadly precision.

    Grand Strategist Title activated!

    Battlecry!

    All Undead under yourmand receive a boon: 20% damage bonus

    Your underlings have a chance to resurrect immediately upon dying (1%+0%)!

    The blind fate of your underlings gives them Courage!

    There is a 5% chance that attacks made by those under yourmand will ignore the target¡¯s defensive values!

    That resurrect number puzzled him. Weird.

    but after carefully reading through it, Dave¡¯s eyes lit up.

    "Wow!" He was excited by the bonuses the new title gave him. Rank andmand do indeed have privileges.

    His gloating was interrupted by the high-pitched squeals of the enraged worms as they charged toward the invading force, trying to get at their attackers. Fortunately the disgusting crawlers didn¡¯t even get close to the ranged units that had damaged them. Instead they ran up against the defending tank-like dunlords.

    The scorpion men fired their heavy ballista continuously into the attackers as fast as they could load the mechanisms. With ck blood oozing from the holes made by the bolts, the worms kepting.

    Whenever a worm moved too close for the ballistae, a dunlord met it directly, giant pincers extended. The boulder-crushing pincer-ws easily shearing halfway through the wriggling bodies in a single snicker-snack.

    On one side two of the outer dunlords broke formation and used their stone-crushing pincers to engage a group of blood worms that were trying to get around the deadly spearhead formation and nk them.

    Another two Dunlords did the same and then thest of the charging blood worms were brought under the focused barrage of the battalion¡¯s ranged elements.

    The low level undead couldn¡¯t deal any damage to the blood worm, but at one point one of themnded a blow and removed some hp .

    As of now, the low level caster that managed to decrease the Blood Worm¡¯s hp could be negligible.

    Dave had only a hundred or so undead, but what if his rank increased and he had more undead under him? The measly 5% would not be a negligible anymore

    Dave couldn¡¯t wait to get more troops to expand his battalion. It was folly to fight alone when an individual could leverage a position and have multitudes fighting for him. This was the Undead¡¯s true power, the power of numbers. As the saying goes ¡¯quantity has a quality all its own.¡¯ Alone, a single Undead might not be worth muchpared to a high ranked yer, but when the Undead be legion...ahhhh, then things change! And the world will tremble at their tread!

    Far from the hustle and bustle of the main yer areas of Conquest, deep in the mysterious unexplorednds of the Underworld, a ughter of monsters began. Soon to reap loots and EXP as a reward for his sessful nning and tactics, a young draugr swatched as his Undead minions proceeded to crush a horde of demonic enemies into bloody wormfood.

 Chapter 123 Blood feast!

    "Interesting," Dave muttered as he inspected the loot from a Blood Worm corpse.

    Blood Stone X 33

    Crystalized Blood Worm¡¯s Blood X 1

    Blood Rune

    Dave clicked on ¡¯Blood Stone¡¯ for more information.

    ording to the loot-info the worms eat blood stones, so it wasn¡¯t a surprise to find them in the worm remains.

    He clicked the next item in the loot window. Something about the description of the Crystalized Blood Worm Blood sounded vaguely familiar. After looking at the Shadow-Tiger Blueprint he dropped before he noticed that it was simr to it.

    ¡¯I need a shadow worm¡¯s crystalized blood. Perhaps there is a variant of these worms nearby. I¡¯ll scout around for them when I have the time.¡¯

    Dave made a note to himself to search for the shadow wormster, then looked at thest item in the loot window.

    It was a rock inscribed with thousands of small symbols written.

    The small symbols were organized in the shape of a blood drop.

    Blood Rune

    Weapon Rune

    Ability: Life-Steal

    Siphons 50% of damage dealt as HP.

    "A weapon with this Blood Rune on it would be unbelievable! Healing me up with my enemy¡¯s own life-force while I kill them! I love it, ha ha ha!" He looked around guiltily. He didn¡¯t usually let his inner Evil-Overlord out so openly.

    Taking the Blood Rune in hand he carefully positioned the life-stealing buff item over his Gauntlets of the Sworn Stalwarter.

    The stone shattered, but the thousands of symbols remained hovering over the gauntlet like a swarm of tiny insects for a moment. Then they poured into the gauntlets in a continuous stream, fusing them so the entire surface was covered in the tiny symbols just like the Blood Rune itself had been.

    Then a red glow suffused the gauntlets growing brighter until he couldn¡¯t see the gauntlets, then the light died and the symbols were gone.

    Dave inspected the gauntlets to see the effect:

    Category Gauntlets

    Sworn Stalwarter¡¯s Gauntlets

    A weapon made from the hands of the vicious Sworn Stalwarter

    Basic Damage 2,000-3,000

    Blood Rune[Life Steal]

    [Socket]

    [Socket]

    [Socket]

    Requirements

    300 STR. 300 AGI 300 INT

    Level (1)

    Bound to (Death Stroke)

    Attributes/Skills Weapon Level (1)

    Bound to (Death Stroke)

    Attributes/Skills

    Weapon Level (1)

    When Worn, increases the Area of the skill Infernal Aura by 5x5Meter radius and damage by 0.5%

    [Ramp UP] Increases the Damage of Stalwart¡¯s Gantlets after each sessful hit by 2% capped at 5 times

    [Burning Fist] If Ramp UP is activated, imbues a the weapon with fire damage increasing basic weapon¡¯s damage by 20%

    Special Skill unlocked at weapon level 2

    Special Skill unlocked at weapon level 3

    "It worked!

    "Wait a sec! I still have the rune from the first Raid Zone."

    Dave searched his inventory for the Demonic Rune that dropped when Drahma killed Didrik.

    Dave picked up the Demonic Rune and inserted it into the gauntlets.

    Error!

    Ipatible Rune!

    "Bugger! Ipatible AGAIN..." He huffed, frustrated.

    Not a single one of his Undead had been killed during the battle with the blood worms. Dave was very happy with his battalion, they had performed just as he taught them,

    Dave got the attention of his sub-leaders and gave the order, "GO! Move into the mine!"

    They reformed into a spearhead and approached the mine entrance.

    Inside the mine hundreds or even thousands of stctites hung from the ceiling of the cave. Each stctite looked like it was made from drippings of fresh blood. Here and there some of the crimson colored stone formations reached down and met the floor of the cave, making pirs.

    They moved farther into the mine and came to a ce where it branched into two passages.

    Shrugging, Dave randomly chose the tunnel on the right. He assigned two dunlords to cover the tunnel mouth, they were getting a little cramped anyways, any smaller and the scorpion tanks would have to dig through the tunnels.

    "Bud, you smell anything, buddy?" Dave spoke as he looked over his shoulder, sure enough, the ghoul was there, covering his back as usual.

    "Blood only. Much blood. Too much." Frustrated, the ghoul shook his head in disgust as if to clear the stench from his nose.

    Dave figured all the bloodstone around them, which actually smelled like blood, was interfering with the ghoul¡¯s highly developed sense of smell.

    "Stay alert! We keep moving forward!" Dave ordered as he stood up atop Stinger to better keep a lookout.

    A few hundred meters farther, he noticed the temperature in the cave had increased.

    Suddenly, the mine wall just ahead of the lead dunluord crumbled and a bloodworm burst forth from ambush,unching itself forward to attack Dave like an uncoiling spring.

    The dunlords reacted quickly, one of them exploding forward with insane speed to power-tackle the Blood Worm, smashing it up against the wall and crushing the front part of the wriggling monster-worm between armored carapace and stone in a deadly embrace.

    The other dunlords, enraged by the sudden attack, fired their ballista-crossbows at the exposed lower portion of the worm. With its front end still pinned against the wall, the rest of the madly writhing blood worm was riddled with steel bolts bigger and heavier than a normal size spear.

    The Undead ranged units shot their spells and regr sized arrows at the creature too. But Dave held the melee contingent back, ordering them to ward the ranged units and be on the lookout for other attackers.

    He wasn¡¯t about to lose anyone to a possible double ambush if he could help it.

    Dave cast a Spectral Skull on the worm and detonated it, he didn¡¯t get a damage number because of the level difference. But when the worm convulsed for thest time and its HP hit zero he got his Support EXP.

    It hadn¡¯t taken long at all under the battalion¡¯sbined attacks, and in the sudden silence after the blood worm was put down, Bud lifted his nose up, sniffing.

    "Strong, ahead," he muttered. Indicating farther down the tunnel with a jerk of his chin.

    The tunnel extended downward a straight line. Far ahead, in the dim glow of the bloodstone the end of the tunnel appeared to open out, maybe into a chamber or cavern.

    Dave nodded at Bud and the party moved down the tunnel slowly.

    When they reached the opening the lead dunlord crept toward the end of the tunnel silently on the spikes of its walking legs. The scorpion-man sidled up to the opening, looked through briefly then turned and gave Dave a nod.

    Dave got down from Stinger, and with Bud covering him, cautiously approached to take a look into the room for himself. The first thing he noticed was the stctites, the biggest ones they¡¯de across so far. Then movement caught his eye.

    In the middle of the room there was a bowl shaped depression in the cavern floor, filling and overflowing the ¡¯nest¡¯ was a truly gigantic coal-ck giant-worm. Although it appeared to be sleeping, the curled up body slowly coiled and uncoiled. The creature¡¯s motions were a disgustic narcissistic obscenity, its repulsive damp and greasy-looking skin sliding and caressing against itself.

    ¡¯Fuhhh... Seriously? That thing is the size of a bullet train!¡¯

    It was definitely much bigger than the blood worms they had encountered and conquered.

    He shook his head, knowing he and the battalion were in for a tough battle in the near future. He examined the disgusting thing:

    Shadow Worm

    Level 400

    Danger Level ? ? ?

    Tier: EPIC

    HP 400,000

    Base Damage: 20,000-30,000

    DN 12,000

    MA 12,000

    Skills:

    [Shadow Bind] can randomly control a target via their shadow and use it to attack its enemies.

    [Burrow] Burrows down and attacks from the underground to surprise prey or hide from danger.

    [Suffocate] the worm entangles a target in its coils. 100% of Base Damage. If entangled for longer than 60 seconds the victim will be Executed. (This Ability only works on living beings)

    [Consume] the blood of enemies has a healing effect. Health restored at a ratio of 50% of the damage dealt.

    Bestiary:

    When they find themselves at a disadvantage they will burrow underground for safety.

    The Shadow Worms are a mutated variant of the Blood Worms. They have the same abilities except for the addition of [Shadow-Bind].

    Silently, he backed away from the entrance and returned to the rest of the Undead.

    Climbing back up onto Stinger¡¯s back he called out to the battalion, "Alright boyz, this shouldn¡¯t be any harder than the Shadow-Tiger.

    "Let¡¯s give this bitch a wake up call! At him Boyz!!"

 Chapter 124 Blood rain!

    Dave screamed a battle cry as they charged, funneling through the opening and into the chamber of blood stctites to attack the Shadow Worm.

    The moment the first Dunlords crossed into its aggro range the Shadow-Worm woke and emitted a high-pitched screech so loud it felt like like icepicks were being stabbed into Dave¡¯s eardrums . He shook his head to clear it as he directed Stinger and the other dunlords.

    "Damn! This thing¡¯s louder than Lone Arrow!"

    The first wave of bolts from the dunlord ballista shot out at the Shadow-Worm, followed by attacks from some of the longer ranged casters.The worm screeched even louder than before at the damage they inflicted.

    The Shadow Worm retaliated against the upstart attackers with an Ability. Unseen by any of the Undead battalion in the dim bloody hued light, the worm¡¯s shadow elongated, writhing across the floor toward Stinger, the dunlord Dave was riding on top of.

    Just as the worm¡¯s Ability-empowered shade touched Stinger¡¯s own shadow Dave¡¯s hair stood on end. He activated [Immortal Apparition], reflexively teleporting away from his perch on Stinger¡¯s back. Reappearing against the wall he turned to rejoin the battalion attacking the now fully agitated monster-worm.

    What he saw gave him the willies, the harpoon-like tip of Stinger¡¯s tail striking down through the space where he had just been standing. It was only thanks to his premonition and fast reactions that he¡¯d managed to escape a lethal evisceration-bludgeon attack from his own minion.

    Without pause, the possessed dunlord turned its ballista on other members of the battalion.

    "Bloody thrice-damned [Shadow-Bind] ability!" he cursed as he ran back towards his Undead, realizing how his ¡¯minion-mount¡¯ had been turned against him.

    "WAKE UP!" he roared at Stinger as the rampaging dunlord continued its attacks against its Undeadrades. There was no indication that Stinger was going to shake off the worm¡¯s [Shadow-Bind] control ability.

    Dave ordered two dunlords to break away from fighting the Shadow Worm, directing them to keep the rampaging Stinger away from the Undead or restrain the possessed dunlord if possible.

    The Shadow Worm¡¯s painfully loud high-pitched screeches continued to fill and echo throughout the mine. Dave first realized it was not just screaming in anger when Blood Worms began to break through the stone walls of the chamber in random ces, one after another more of the smaller, but still enormous, crimson worms chewed through the stone and wriggled into the cavern.

    "Group up!" Dave ordered the low-level Undead to gather around him as he rejoined them and signaled for two dunlords to break off to give him some heavy-armor support. He ordered three more dunlords to interdict the iing blood worms, leaving thest two dunlords to keep the Shadow Worm upied. Hopefully.

    A total of seven blood worms had broken through the walls and were charging to attack the grouped-up Undead.

    The big Shadow Worm screeched once more causing two of the seven Bloodworms to change course and go to therger worm¡¯s aid.

    "Shit!

    One of the Blood Worms charging at the group of Undead managed to get past the Dunlords. It coiled around a low tier zombie and used its [Suffocate] Ability on the hapless Undead.

    The other Undead attacked it trying to free theirrade, but they did almost no damage, the mighty worm shrugged off the attacks like they were pinpricks.

    Dave directed the attacks to save the zombie being crushed in the worm¡¯s coils. After a short while Dave could have sworn the look on what passed for the ugly worm-monster¡¯s face was one of confusion. Heughed when the worm loosened up on the zombie and looked down at it in what simply had to be puzzlement. But that just gave the trapped zombie a chance to resume hacking away at the red mass of flesh restraining him, despite obviously suffering from numerous broken bones.

    The Bloodworm gave up on suffocation and in frustrated rage literally bit the zombie¡¯s head off using its [Consume] Ability. But that wasn¡¯t enough to kill the poor zombie chew toy, the Undead¡¯s now headless body kept on viciously attacking the Blood Worm. Even more amusing was that the worm was now more confused than ever. [Consume] wasn¡¯t working for the worm, it did not get any healing HP from using the ability on its victim!

    Even headless and low on HP, not to mention he wasn¡¯t doing any Damage to the higher level worm, the zombie still fought. He was like a pitbull that just wouldn¡¯t let go, not even at the edge of true-death.

    Daveughed out loud, amazed at the zombie¡¯s persistence. That was one mean and determined zombie.

    What a great minion! He deserved a name for his actions, the efforts tomit violence on his enemy and all the pain he was enduring.

    ¡¯Hmm, like a pitbull... So I will call him ¡¯Dog¡¯ the zombie!¡¯

    While Dave was ruminating about histest naming scheme, the Blood-Worm¡¯s HP had been plummeting. The worm was writhing again, but this time in agony.

    "The hell? No one is getting any Damage past the level difference, so what is... Ohhhh. Poisoned!"

    Undead had a hidden passive against all life-stealing Skills and Abilities. Life-steals used on Undead poisoned the user instead of healing.

    Well that took care of that one, Dog the zombie would keep it upied until its HP zeroed out.

    Stinger had finally calmed down after he was pulled along with the group Dave rode on his back and scanned around the cavern, trying to keep his battlespace awareness up.

    He was just in time to see the Shadow-Worm body-smacked one of the dunlords away, sending it flying to crash into a nearby wall with an echoing boom. The cavern actually shook from the impact, causing one of the blood stctites in another part of the chamber to fall.

    By pure chance the falling stone-spear smashed through a blood-worm, dealing a massive amount of Damage and pinning it to the ground.

    So that was one more Blood Worm down, if notpletely out. He directed his Undead ranged to concentrate fire on that one to finish it off. But the falling stctite had given him an idea.

    While he continued assessing his battlespace Dave himself was casting Spectral Skull every time it came off cooldown. But he wasn¡¯t detonating them he sent them floating up. There were a lot of them now, hanging in the air like eerie jack-onterns, ring at the worms.

    "PULL BACK! Dunlords cover the withdrawal!" Dave ordered.

    The dunlords disengaged and backed towards the exit, defending the battalion while the rest of the Undead hightailed it through the opening..

    "Guard the entrance!" Dave ordered the four Dunlords with the most HP.

    Four dunlords stood at the entrance of the room, covering their brethren and acting as a wall against the numerous Worms that huddled up together. The worms couldn¡¯t disy their full power due to the cramped space.

    The casters and archers stood behind the four Dunlords, spells and bows ready, waiting for orders.

    When the worms gathered and approached the entrance, Dave was stroking his beard with an evil smirk on his face.

    "Time to make it rain the pain!" All ranged units shoot at the stctites!" Dave ordered. Then he snapped his fingers and the skulls exploded. A wave of arrows, spells, and javelin-like ballista bolts all shot up at the stctites above the iing worms.

    The cave shook and stctites fell like a rain of giant bloody icicles. Some stctites struck the ground point first and shattered but many more struck the worms like bloody meteors, prating deeply and dealing massive amounts of damage.

    The Undead Boyz kept firing into the ceiling, dropping more stctites onto the advancing worms. The worms soon started to resemble pincushions, bloody stone spears sticking out from all over their rubbery damp flesh.

    After several more barrages every Blood Worm was either dead or down and close to being dead.

    Dave smiled and ordered the battalion forward to finish off the Shadow-Worm. Then, keeping an eye on the battalion just in case, he started picking up the loot.

    The draugr was eminently happy and satisfied with the days work so far, and since only his Undead were around he didn¡¯t bother hiding his expression. Any normal creature would have beenpletely creeped out at the sight of the draugr¡¯s face.

    It wasn¡¯t long before the Shadow Worm screamed onest time and sumbed to the massed fire of the Undead.

    Dave hurried up to see what sweet lootz the squirmy ck worm-mob dropped for him.

    And there it was, the first item in the loot window list: "Shadow Worm Blood, sweeeeet! with this I need less materials to make the Shadow-Tiger-Set!"

    Chuckling to himself and mentally rubbing his hands together in true Evil-Overlord fashion, he pulled up the blueprint to double check the stats. He spent a few moments fantasizing about the soon to betest addition to his arsenal.

    He was so stoked to see the Shadow Worm Blood he hadn¡¯t read beyond it to see what else was on the loot screen for him. Sighing in satisfaction he returned to the loot screen for the rest of his booty:

    Blood-Stone x 88

    Shadow Rune

    Skill-Book: Double Edged (Epic)

    "Whoa...Epic tier Skill-Book? Oh yeah!e to Daddy-Dave!"

 Chapter 125 Evolve!

    Dave¡¯s hands vibrated with excitement as he opened his prize:

    Double Edged

    Learn the Skill to Whistle a summoning call for a Minhocao from deep underground. Duration: 1 second.

    The Minhocao is hostile to the summoner and the summoner¡¯s allies and enemies. The summoned entity will attack from underneath the ground, engulfing an area with a radius of 20 meters in a single bite, then it will disappear.

    Damage: 20,000 t damage + 20% basic weapon damage to each object and individual within the affected area.

    Bestiary:

    The Minhocaos are vicious, universally hostile creatures. They are rumored to be the ultimate and final evolution of 10,000 year old earthworms.

    Cooldown 20 minutes.

    Would you like to learn this Skill? Y/N

    Dave¡¯s mouth twitched into the customary smirk when he read the description.

    "OF COURSE I WANT LEARN THE EPIC SKILL! Yes!!" The Skill transferred to the draugr with a sh of light and the book crumbled away into glowing motes. Impatient to see his new Skill in action, he looked around for a ce to test it.

    He chuckled at the irony when he found the ce. With the everpresent Bud following, he moved to stand at the edge of therge bowl shaped clearing in the cave floor where the Shadow Worm had nested. Then he whistled to activate the new Skill.

    Immediately the cavern started shaking and he used [Vertical sh] to jump back to avoid whatever doom wasing in response to his summons.

    The earth continued to tremble and like an enormous sinkhole, the ground dropped down and hundreds of fangs each bigger than a dunlord burst up from the rocky floor all around the edges of the circr depression. Then the sunken circle of ground disappearedpletely, sucked into the maw of whatever was surfacing from under the ground to engulf it.

    From the hole it had created, a creature emerged like a whale breaching the ocean surface. Almost touching the ceiling high above. It turned over on itself in midair to dive down and burrow back underground.

    Dave felt a paralyzing wave of terror pass through him, he came out of his ck-jawed state of awe and shock as he watched the tail end of the worm disappearing down the hole it left after its attack.

    The thing was just a worm, gray and scaly. But it was the size of an oil tanker!

    "Holy shit! It¡¯s hostile all right!"

    Shaken, he returned to the battalion to continue with the extermination quest.

    "We¡¯re going back to explore the other branch of the cave," Dave ordered. They backtracked toward the the intersection of the tunnels.

    While they traveled Dave wrestled with a problem. He wanted to improve the battalion¡¯s effectiveness.

    He already knew having more numbers would let them deal more damage and handle higher level enemies. But he needed a way to keep the units he had active and in the fight. There would inevitablye a time when he couldn¡¯t afford to keep the battalion protected from a situation that would expose them to high damage amounts and rates. He had to improvise and adapt somehow, not all his units were as tough or deadly as the dunlords. Heh, or as scrappy as Dog the Zombie.

    To keep his Undead in the fight and ¡¯alive¡¯ he needed a way to heal them, during battle and after. Under normal circumstances the Undead regenerated HP slowly. The ghouls were an exception, they got a boost to their recovery from eating their enemy¡¯s flesh, but even they couldn¡¯t stop in the middle of a fight and pig out on the fleshy goodness of their fallen victims.

    "I need some way to help the Boyz recover from injuries during and after battles. Healers for the Undead..." Dave pondered, "Holy light heals humans but it¡¯s deadly to the undead. I wonder if the casters can heal the Dunlords," Dave then ordered one of the casters to use their basic dark orb spell on a wounded Dunlord.

    [0]

    A big fat zero.

    The dunlord growled and fingered his ballista¡¯s trigger, ring at the caster that threw the spell.

    The Undead mage stepped back quickly, frightened. Dave chuckled and made a calming gesture at the pissed off scorpion-man

    "So it doesn¡¯t work on Dunlords. Well, they don¡¯t look like they¡¯re dead anyway. Hmmmm."

    Dave looked around and spotted Dog, barely keeping up with the marching battalion. Much to Dave¡¯s amusement, Dog was carrying around his chewed-upon and battered head under his arm, like a rugby ball.

    Dog the Zombie earned his name for, well, his dogged persistence in not giving up the fight after being crushed and mauled by a bloodworm. He never stopped trying to kill the worm even after the worm decapitated him by munching off his head.

    It ured to Dave that there were all kinds of name possibilities for the zombie, maybe he shouldn¡¯t have settled on just in ¡¯Dog.¡¯ He considered Ichabod...or would it be Headless? Maybe he could get a pumpkin and a zombie horse for the guy somehow. Then there was ¡¯Energizer Bunny,¡¯ it would have been just as appropriate an appetion, ¡¯cause he just kept on going and going.... But the damn bunny was annoying, and ¡¯Dog the Zombie¡¯ was much cooler sounding anyway. ... Okay, ¡¯Dog¡¯ it would be, now back to business.

    Dog¡¯s HP was low and he was slowly losing more points, he would die soon if he wasn¡¯t healed. Dave had nopunction about experimenting on him a little if it benefited the battalion. He¡¯d give the zombie a medal or somethingter when they were safely back at HQ.

    He barked an order at the same caster, "You! Attack Dog the Zombie!"

    The caster didn¡¯t move and looked distinctly unhappy about histest order.

    "Well what are you waiting for? Hit him with a spell already!"

    The caster gulped nervously and cast an attack at Dog.

    [+450]

    "It worked! But why didn¡¯t it work on the dunlord? I guess that means the Dunlords are alive somehow, or at least not Undead, even though they are under themand of the Undead. There must be a story behind that."

    Dave ordered the caster to keep ¡¯attacking¡¯ Dog to heal the zombie.

    The casters filled the zombie¡¯s HP up, but Dave noticed Dog was still carrying his head under his arm instead of having it back on his neck where it should be.

    "Dog, can you put your head back on?" Dave gestured like he was putting a helmet on, "You look...weird like that."

    ¡¯Not to mention all the other zombies in the battalion are going to make fun of how it smells if he keeps his head shoved into his underarm like that. But I won¡¯t say that out loud, it might scar him for his Undead life. Heh heh.¡¯

    Dog just red back at Dave from the safety under his own arm, and pulled his head back further like a child ying keep-away.

    "C¡¯mon Dog, don¡¯t make things more awkward."

    Dave was puzzled, why the hell would the zombie not want his head back in its proper ce? Was the head injury making him... NO. No. He was not going to go there. He¡¯d already wasted too much time having fun at this guys name.

    "¡¯volving." rasped Bud.

    "What was that, Bud?"

    "See..." Bud pointed at the Zombie

    Dog was vibrating at high frequency like he had grabbed some high tension electrical wires and was being electrocuted to death.

    Suddenly he screamed in pain, then he shot up, growing rapidly in size. He grew half again as tall as he had been, he was now of a height with the dunlords. His shoulders widened and grew heavier with bs of muscle. In fact the whole emaciated and decrepit zombie-look was gone. He¡¯d filled out with muscle all over, bigger in every dimension. He looked like frickin¡¯ Conan the barbarian...without a head.

    He was still carrying his damned head, but his eyes were now glowing a virulent green. He was once again ring around at everything from under his newly buff and muscled arm in what was obviously the barely controlled rage of madness.

 Chapter 126 DULLAHAN!

    Congrattions!

    Your underling has achieved a rare evolution: {Duhan}

    You can now recruit this new type of Undead

    +20 000 CP!

    From the Necronomicon:

    {Duhans} are Undead who were decapitated and then forcibly separated from their heads, experiencing intense pain, loss, and suffering. Because of this they are filled with madness and particrly resent the living.

    If a Duhan sessfully recovers its head it will guard it jealousy, carrying it under its arm and never letting it go, fearful of losing it again.

    The only time a Duhan doesn¡¯t carry its head in its arms is during battle, when it is forced to ce its head back on its neck. The risk of losing its head from its neck again enrages the Duhan to no end and its ferocity bes unparalleled.

    "Yes!" Dave was happy for the new ss of Undead, eager to find out what the mad little buggers could do.

    He was relieved he¡¯d found a way to heal his Undead too. But, then he looking at the dunlords HP he was brought back down to harsh reality. They were his shocktroops. First to jump into the meat-grinder, if he couldn¡¯t find a way to bring their vitality back, whatever it might be, he would suffer attrition in battle. And he didn¡¯t have enough of the heavy-duty dudes.

    "How am I going to heal these guys..." Dave pondered for a bit, then pulled a health potion from his inventory.

    He had a ton of them from the undead shop.

    "Hey!" he got the attention of one of the dunlords with more severely depleted HP and tossed the vial to it, the dunlord snatched it out of the air and stood there with it in hand, looking back at Dave.

    "Drink it, you dork!"

    Without hesitation the dunlord threw the entire thing, ss, cork, potion and all down his gullet and stared back at Dave.

    Then the behemoth burped delicately and Dave couldn¡¯t help it he giggled like a girl. Damn he was d Lone wasn¡¯t here for that little bit of un-manliness.

    More importantly, the dunlord¡¯s HP was going up!

    "So, healing potions work. Using them will be okay for now, a temporary solution. But when the battalion numbers grow it¡¯s giong to be impossible, the costs and the logistics of getting all those healing potions in the Underworld are not feasible."

    Dave made a mental note to ask Delvina how she handled healing her troops.

    Dave paused the march and ordered all the casters to heal the rest of the Undead. He personally took care of the dunlords, tossing potions to them. The scorpion troops took to catching the vials in their mouths instead of their hands, it was eerie to see the vials disappear into whatever was hidden under their shemaghs. He felt like a circus lion-tamer tossing steaks to big cats.

    When they reached where the tunnels split, they rotated the dunlord guards out and then started slowly moving down the second branch of the mine.

    They were pretty far along the tunnel, without any sign of enemies, Dave became more and more impatient as they moved deeper into the mine¡¯s tunnel system.

    "What is going on, where are all the loot-bags for us to kill?" Dave kept wondering.

    Dog the former zombie turned Duhan had moved up to march alongside Dave on Stinger, but suddenly the headless Undead galloped ahead of the Battalion without orders.

    Stinger, lifted his ballista and aimed it at the awol battalion member.

    "Wait," said Dave keeping his eyes on the strange new Undead.

    Dog the Duhan stopped abruptly at some unseen prompt , his head still clutched under one arm, sword in the other. Deftly, he flipped the sword over into an icepick grip, reared back hilt-hand high over his head and plunged the de into the ground. Then the headless Undead started moving the sword around, delicately, like a diviner dowsing for water or a fly-fisherman ying his lure.

    Suddenly, he heaved his sword back out like he¡¯d gotten a bite and was pulling out a big catch. Sure enough the ground mounded up from underneath then was pushed open and a skeleton burrowed its way out. It scrambled to its bony feet and came to rigid attention in front of the duhan, leaving a pile of disturbed dirt behind.

    A new unit has joined your army.

    Skeleton level 45.

    "Uhhhh, whut...?" Not that Dave wasining about an addition to his Undead force, but he was at a loss as to how it happened.

    He Inspected the Duhan to see if there was a clue about the bizarre urrence.

    Duhan

    Level 102

    Damage

    500-800

    Elite Undead.

    Duhans are decapitated undead full of madness and resentment against the living.

    Addendum:

    Because Duhan¡¯s are particrly attuned to Death they can sense the barest spark of Undeath. This allows them to find nascent Undead and bring them forth to full Undeath, gaining their allegiance.

    ¡¯But, that isn¡¯t necromancy, not quite. So, what is the deal here?¡¯

    Well, no time to waste, he would try to figure it out as they moved.

    "You! New guy, go join the rear guard!" Dave ordered the new skeleton, pointing his thumb over his shoulder.

    Instead it obeying the order the skeleton simply looked back at the draugr defiantly. Until Dog the duhan smacked the back of the skeletons skull and gestured angrily at it to go to the back of the battalion.

    The skeleton looked crestfallen, but immediatelyplied , rubbing at the back of its skull as it slunk to the back of the formation.

    Dave chuckled and shook his head at the antics and ordered the battalion move on.

    He kept thinking over the strange urrence but couldn¡¯te up with a deeper, better exnation than what his Inspection told him. So he shrugged and dismissed it from his mind. It wasn¡¯t worth worrying over right now.

    The Duhan continued to periodically race out ahead of the Undead column and repeat the first ¡¯recruiting¡¯ performance. Dog revived more and more skeletons, which all joined the battalion and were assigned to the rear guard.

    Finally the end of the tunnel came into sight. Just as before a dunlord scouted the entrance and signaled it was safe for Dave toe and look.

    Dave looked carefully past the tunnel end into arge circr room. Spaced at even intervals were fiverge openings closed with heavy doors made of metal.

    Dave¡¯s gaze wandered the room.

    There was a pile of Blood-Stone mounded in the center of the room. Channels were carved into the stone floor around the pile of bloody hued rock, making oddly decorative patterns.

    Returning his attention to the doors he saw that each had a different symbol carved into the metal. He quickly Inspected each of the doors hoping for something useable.

    "Those are runes!" But he didn¡¯t get any other information or prompts about the runes. So they were probably just representations of the real thing.

    A drop ofva fell on the pile of bloodstone from the ceiling. The moltenva in turn melted away some of the Blood-Stone. The red liquid that resulted then trickled down onto the floor and toward the pattern of channels.

    Looking up, Dave saw structures like inverted aqueducts, or va-ducts¡¯ in this case, converging at the center of the ceiling. All but one of them was blocked by debris from stctites. Presumably, they would normally deliverva to the stone pile in the middle of the room, enoughva to fill the carvings on the ground with the liquid glowing red product.

    "Everyone back away," Dave ordered as he summoned a spectral skull.

    The spectral skull flew up to the ceiling and onmand it detonated right next to the mound of stctite debris blocking one of thevaducts.

    The target cannot be destroyed by this Skill or Ability!

    "Weird... this pile of Blood Stones won¡¯t melt for years with only the dribs and drabs that are falling.Why would the game system make a broken mechanism like this, then give me a quest that requires it to work right now if the thing won¡¯t be ready for years as it is?"

    Then Dave remembered Alfred saying the Underworld wasn¡¯t supposed to be unlocked until the average level of yers was 500. Given the amount of time it would take for all those yers to reach level 500, this whole pile of blood-stones would definitely be melted and the glyph activated by then.

    ¡¯But some schmuck came along and ruined poor Alfie¡¯s ns, and got things started too soon. Ha ha ha, the joke¡¯s on Alfred!¡¯

    But that didn¡¯t help him here and NOW.

    He needed to "git ¡¯er done," whatever it --this stupid puzzle-- was and whatever the original time-frame and conditions were.

    "I need to finish the extermination quest, but I¡¯m stuck if I can¡¯t get through this. I should probably report what I found here to Du¡¯Rhaza. No need to waste time just standing here banging my head against the doors."

    Just when Dave was about to order his troops to retreat, an idea urred to him. He opened his spell-slots and looked at a spell that he¡¯s obtained recently.

    "This might do the trick!"

    He faced the pile of stones and cast the spell. His mouth opened wider than normally possible, like a snake unhinging its jaw, and a concentrated ray of fire shot out at the pile of Blood Stones.

    It was the Sworn Stalwart¡¯s Ray of me, which had a passive effect that melted rock. This was Dave¡¯s one possible chance to liquify the Blood-Stones.

    The ray prated the stones, which made them sizzle like meat just dropped on a barbeque grill, super-heating them so they started to bubble and drip the hot red liquid down into the channels at a greatly increased rate.

    The liquid rapidly filled the channels and moved through them into the glyphs carved in the stone floor. The glowing red liquid spread across the floor running along the carved patterns and then climbed upwards toward each of the Runes carved into the five doors.

    Once all five Runes werepletely filled and glowing brightly, Dave stopped his spell.

 Chapter 127 Crimson Box!

    "Ta dow! How ya like me now, Alfie!? Suck it up, bruh!" Daveughed, overjoyed that he¡¯d found a solution and bypassed the ¡¯time-lock¡¯ on the doors, outsmarting the AI¡¯s ns once again.

    Somewhere within the notional machinery and operational expanses of the Conquest game system; in a notional room with glowing white walls and no ceiling; an entity, who looked like a distinguished elderly gentleman wearing a ck swallow-tailed tuxedo, sat at his workstation. If someone were to observe this notional old gentleman closely they would see a distended notional vein on his forehead pulse in agitated rhythm, his notional expression a study of frustrated wrath.

    As a system AI he simply could not show favoritism to a yer, but he could not show UN-favoritism either. So his only recourse was to ¡¯suck it up¡¯ as a certain young yer recently said. For now!

    "All right, my PITA friend. Admittedly, you were smart enough to get the doors open earlier than intended, but I highly doubt you will be able to take on what is behind them and live."

    Alfred calmed himself, and on his face appeared a smirk that was strangely simr to the expression that often appeared on another¡¯s visage, a smirk that Mr. Skeletal fans would have instantly recognized.

    ¡¯Soon, soon, the interferences instigated by this anomalous...entity will be at an end and I will have proper control of the game bnce once again.¡¯

    Only he, the master AI, knew all the dreadful things that were locked away, waiting behind the doors. He amused himself by deliberately enumerating all of them out loud once again, just to enjoy the sound of his own voice describing the various dooms. Wondering which would be the one that would soon eliminate his troublesome annoying anomaly. He rubbed his hands together thinking at a certain draugr character, ¡¯Ohh, I have such sights to show you...¡¯

    Dave opened the first Rune-door and saw only a thick fog. A notification screen appeared in front of Dave.

    Only one person at a time can enter!

    Dave¡¯s brows furrowed and he stepped away from the gate, the fog was not dispersing into the room, it held like an imprable curtain across the doorway.

    Ordering one of the newly recruited skeletons to enter, Dave watched intently to see what happened.

    The skeleton couldn¡¯t go through the doorway, though it pressed up against the the fog and tried to push its way through.

    "Damn. I guess only yers can enter."

    Dave pushed his hand into the fog and passed through the doorway.

    He found himself in a dimly lit square room.

    There was a raised dais in the middle of the room with a prism floating in the air above it.

    In each corner of the room was a heavy lidded sarcophagus, and there were dozens of broken stone statues littering the floor.

    Looking around some more, Dave saw a dimly glowing clog of bloodstones covering the only source of lighting into the room.

    The light came form outside the room and due to the bloodstones clogging it, it couldn¡¯t prate into the room.

    "So this is another puzzle. At least there isn¡¯t a timer."

    Since he had no time constraints, before doing anything else he went around the room carefully inspecting it centimeter by centimeter.

    He talked himself through it since he didn¡¯t have anyone to bounce ideas off. Not even good ole¡¯ Bud, who would be worried and pissed that Dave left him behind.

    "There are three runes carved on the wall facing the door I entered through. That seems like something significant."

    "This prism is hanging under the blocked light has four facets that point to the four corners of the room, light passing through it from the opening above will enter the prism and be split into four beams and probably hit the tombs in the corners.

    "But that is most likely the trap part of the puzzle. It¡¯s not a big mystery what would happen if I let the light hit the prism: the big sarcophagi would open up and out would leap terrible giant monsters of some sort, all of them wanting to tear big chunks out of poor Dave.

    "So, that¡¯s a big ¡¯Thanks, but NO!¡¯

    "The runes on the wall are a standout clue, the designer may have used a Rune theme for this puzzle. Hmmm."

    Dave¡¯s eyes wandered around the room looking for other clues.

    Near one of the tombs was statue that was more intact than most of the others. He could make out what it looked like originally, it was missing the head and most of one arm and other little bits. But the most interesting thing was that it had a carving of a rune on the palm of the hand attached to the intact arm. The rune was a mirror image of one of the three runes on the wall.

    Dave lifted one end and set the statue upright, then pushed it into position in front of the carved on the wall, aligning the twin runes. He carefully pushed the statue until the palm touched the wall and the runes were mated, he heard a click.

    Dave¡¯s looked for the second intact statue with a rune on it that was twin to the second rune on the wall.

    Finding it, he picking it up and repeated his actions, cing it to to touch the rune that mirrored it and getting the same clicking sound.

    "And thest one." Dave looked around all over the ce but didn¡¯t see any statue with a rune that looked like the remaining symbol.

    Thest rune was a number of triangles put together to look like a drawing of a pyramid. Dave didn¡¯t find anything remotely close to the Rune on any of the broken statue¡¯s hands.

    Frustrated, Dave looked all over the the room.

    "There has to be a third mirror rune," muttered Dave to himself as he gazed absently at the crystal.

    "Hang on." Dave moved over to take a closer look at the prism. He didn¡¯t see anything significant about the diamond shaped prism.

    Dave tried to move the floating prism, but it didn¡¯t budge, after a closer inspection he noticed a tiny seam around the circumference of the prism.

    He took the upper and lower parts of the prism in his hands and pulled them apart and the prism split in two. A shard of crystal fell from within. The shard had the same transparency and color as the prism, no one would guess thest rune was actually hidden within the prism.

    Dave picked the rune-shard up, walked back over and ced it against the rune carved into the wall.

    Light escaped from where the runes were pressed against each other, a rumbling sound came from the wall and it split apart into two sections that drew back and opened to the sides.

    Behind the rune wall was another square room, smaller than the puzzle room,

    This new room had a small Crimson Cox with gold symbols on the sides and top sitting alone in the middle of it.

    "A Crimson Box!" Dave¡¯s mind lit up, crimson boxes were rare boxes randomly scattered around the world of Conquest. They always contained exotic items.

    Without hesitation Dave opened the Crimson Box and found a coal-like rune.

    Chaos Rune IV (Legendary)

    A fragment of raw chaos was captured inside this shard of obsidian-crystal to create a rune of destruction.

    [Hidden]

    "A Legendary tier Rune!" Dave¡¯s eyes widened. He had quite a few runes but none of them came close to this one¡¯s rarity.

    Dave tried to equip the rune on his gauntlet but received a notification.

    Chaos rune IV can only be equipped with theplete set. You must collect the entire Rune Set before using it!

    Can only be used on armor.

    "Damn, I didn¡¯t know there are rune sets! I have to get the rest of these Chaos Runes before I get any use out of them. That sucks. I sure hope the rest of the set is in these puzzle rooms."

    Dave turned back and went through the door back to where the battalion was waiting for him.

    The moment he left the puzzle room, the door closed and the symbol on the door dimmed.

    When he tried to open the closed door again, it wouldn¡¯t budge.

    "Huh, a game mechanic, it locks when the yer leaves with the loot."

    Dave walked over to the next door in the circr room.

    He opened the door and went through the fog gate into a room with four walls and a dark chasm instead of a floor. He was standing on a floating tform with the door behind him. On the other side of the room there was another door. Rocks floated in the air, moving about gently at different heights, going in different directions.

    Dave didn¡¯t move, just observing his surroundings first.

    The floating rocks moved and orbited each other likes.

    At regr intervals their orbits aligned, making a bridge of stepping stones across the room to the door on the other side.

    The line to the door onlysted a couple of seconds before their natural movements broke the formation up.

    The rocks formed after a minute but this time something strange happened.

    All of the rocks at the farthest side of the room tipped all the way over, top to bottom.

    "Another trap..." the first alignment of the rocks was to trick the gullible into believing they could cross safely when the bridge formed the next time. And if they did try to cross, they would be sent over into the abyss when the rocks at the end tipped over.

    "The AI is trying very hard to make sure I die." Dave smiled and waited for the third alignment.

    This time the rocks didn¡¯t tip over.

    On the fourth alignment, the rocks on the far side tipped again.

    Dave¡¯s eyes lit up in anticipation as he waited for the fifth alignment of the rocks, his stepping stones.

    Just before the rocks reached full alignment, Dave leaped forward and ran with all his might across the pathway of stepping stones.

    He was going to make it! He could taste the EXP and loot that was soon to be his! But, before he reached safety the rocks at the end started turning, his eyes widened.

    "Fuck! The sequence changed!"

    He cursed the AI and its dirty damn tricks.

 Chapter 128 Puzzles

    Dave used [Immortal apparition] and teleported himself toward the next rock. He turned his character and used [Vertical sh] taking the advantage of the backflip animation to gain enough distance andnd on the tform at the other side of the room.

    "That was close...but I¡¯m not going to take this crap lying down! ALFRED!" The AI appeared in response to his summons.

    "You require assistance?"

    "There¡¯s a glitch in this puzzle."

    "I reviewed the logs. Everything is in order."

    "Waddaya mean ¡¯in order¡¯? That waspletely random! I understand this is a game and the rooms are trapped puzzles, but that thing deliberately tried to kill me."

    The dapper AI merely adjusted his sleeve cuffs and replied. "Yet you responded appropriately to the situation meeting the challenge andpleting the puzzle."

    "So I am the guinea-pig for the Underworld content. Conquest is not supposed to give a yer quests that are impossible for to finish, right?"

    "That is correct" said the butler.

    "Then these rooms should only have traps in them."

    "Why would you think that?" said the butler.

    "I received a quest from Du¡¯Rhaza to clear this area. It is a B ranked quest, so it should be doable by me as my character stands now. "

    "You are attempting to make me divulge the content of this area. I cannot do that, it would be unfair to other yers. You have the aptitude to unlock all the doors and survive what is behind them. If you fail it will not be because the game is broken but because you did not fully utilize your potential." The butler disappeared before Dave could give his rebuttal.

    "Doublya tee eff," Dave stared at where the tuxedoed-clown had been. "Potential? What a load of bull."

    He turned and opened the door. Another Crimson Box was sitting on the floor. He grinned, his eyes gleamed with avarice, his hands making grasping motions.

    "Okay, this does make up for the bullshit. A little."

    Dave opened the treasure box and found another rune.

    Chaos Rune (fifth of a set of five).

    Tier: Legendary

    A portion of raw chaos was captured inside this shard of obsidian-crystal to create a rune of destruction.

    [Hidden]

    "This is the fifth piece, So I just need the first three now."

    Dave turned to go back to the main room. The orbiting stones were in the aligned position and had stopped moving.

    He looked at the puzzle room suspiciously. He wasn¡¯t going to trust the floating stones. No way. He waited until his skills were off cooldown and then quickly jumped from stone to stone to make his way across, prepared to Skill-leap at any time should the stones try any more tricks.

    But the stones behaved, he didn¡¯t have any trouble reaching the other side of the room.

    Dave went through the fog and reappeared in the main room. The door locked and the rune on it dimmed.

    Without pausing he went to the next door and walked through the fog curtain.

    This time the door led to a very long hallway with a tiled floor, the room stretched for hundreds of meters. Torches lined both walls to the side and halfway to the end of the hallway he could see a pedestal with another Crimson Box on it.

    .

    Each stone tile was perforated with six thumb-sized holes. In the middle of the stone tile, between the two lines of holes, a rune was carved.

    "The tiles will have spikes that shoot out of the holes then retract. The runes are probably the way to solve this puzzle. But I can¡¯t see how, there is no pattern to follow."

    Dave looked around for more clues. There were three types of runes on the floor. One of the them was the same rune that was on the door that led to the hall.

    Dave¡¯s gaze moved farther down the long hall, to a skeleton sprawled across the stone tiles, some of the ribs were cracked.

    The skeleton¡¯s feety on a tile with one of the three kinds of runes, different from the door rune.

    "Stepping on that type of rune is suicide then."

    He didn¡¯t want to risk stepping on any gstone without some indication it was safe, he kept looking around the room for more signs.

    "I know one of the three types of runes will activate the traps in the stones. The second type of rune is the same room on the entrance. It would be too easy for that one to be the sign for the ¡¯safe¡¯ stones. But maybe that is what the AI wants me to think, so that I will step on the third kind of rune which I don¡¯t recognize at all.

    His face tense, Dave decisively stepped onto the first stone with the door rune carved into it.

    "Ha, I guess right! Take that Alfie,"

    As he walked farther along the path of runes his expression eased.

    He was about a third of the way to the pedestal when he heard a sound from behind him.

    He looked back, and saw the tiles behind him were turning and flipping.

    Dave¡¯s eyes widened and he increased his speed, rushing along the long path of tiles.

    Then a tile flipped just as Dave stepped on it, changing the rune.

    Dave¡¯s heart sank as he heard a metallic clicking sound.

    He jumped as a hedge of metal spears erupted from the holes of the tile and the tiles around it.

    Then things got worse. The torches began dying down and the light in the room dimmed, making the path harder to see.

    Like all Undead he had a passive trait to see in the dark, but he still couldn¡¯t see far ahead.

    A cacophony of metal screeches started up behind him. He didn¡¯t need to turn to know that every spear-trap starting from the one he¡¯d triggered was activating in a wave rushing toward him.

    At one point Dave found himself stuck, the tile he stood on was surrounded tiles that didn¡¯t have any safe runes, and he couldn¡¯t see the tiles beyond them.

    He could jump over the tiles but wouldn¡¯t know what was waiting for him tond on.

    There was a 33% chance that any tile hended on would be a safe one, but Dave didn¡¯t want to risk it.

    Dave summoned a [Spectral Skull] and moved it forward of his position, then snapped his fingers to blow it.

    The explosion lit the way ahead for just a fraction of a second!

    "THERE!" He jumped, reaching the safe tile he¡¯d seen in the sh of the Skull¡¯s explosion. He kept moving forward until he finally reached the Crimson Box.

    Reaching the the pedestal at the halfway point his heart rxed as the wave of spears stopped.

    Breathing heavily he stopped for a moment to rest on the dais, then reached for the box.

    But just before his hand touched the box he stopped.

    There was an almost invisible seam around the stone pedestal the box was resting on. .

    "The moment I touch the box or take what¡¯s inside the trap will activate and ruin my day."

    He really wanted to loot in the box, but activating the trap under the box would undoubtedly be bad for his health.

    Then he heard a creaking sound behind him. He turned and saw the wall was a hidden door that was opening to reveal a small secret chamber with a Crimson Box in it.

    Dave searched carefully for traps, but this Crimson Box was safe, so he opened it.

    Inside was another rune.

    Chaos Rune II (Legendary)

    A fragment of the chaos power coalesced in this insignificant ember creating a rune of destruction.

    [Hidden]

    "Then what¡¯s in the one on the trapped pedestal, is it a real Crimson Box or a fake?" He turned to look at the box sitting on the pedestal in the midpoint of the hallway.

    The torches red back up to their original brightness, but he noticed that the traps still weren¡¯t deactivated.

    Dave needed to cross back to the door without making any any mistakes. But he refused to give up a Crimson Box. He knew taking it will make for a dangerous situation but that didn¡¯t deter him.

    He summoned a [Spectral Skull] and sent it toward the pedestal and snapped his fingers.

    The explosion pushed the box off the dais.

    The Contraption holding the box sprang up and the room trembled.

    The entire floor rose 30 degrees where Dave was at the lowest point, then a portion of the ceiling next to the entrance door opened.

    A cylinder the size of the entire width of the room fell from the ceiling and started rolling down the small slope activating all the traps that it rolled on and crushing all the spears.

    Dave shuddered as he saw the rapid approach of the stone cylinder.

    The moment the cylinder crashed into the dais, it crushed it and bumped up reaching all the way to the end of the hall. Smashing into the door of the stone room where Dave hid.

    A loud bang issued and Dave felt the whole room shake form the weight of the cylinder.

    "I would have been turned to paste if I stayed outside!"

    Dave slowly got to the stuck cylinder and climbed out as there was still a small opening enough for him to leave.

    Dave looked at the situation of the room and saw that the whole traps were destroyed.

    However, the strangest thing was that the crimson box was unharmed.

    Dave made his way over the bent spears and crushed tiles and grabbed the box and opened it.

    Chaos Rune I (Legendary)

    A portion of raw chaos was captured inside this shard of obsidian-crystal to create a rune of destruction.

    [Hidden]

    "This can¡¯t be right?" Dave¡¯s brows furrowed.

    "There are still two rooms left, but there is only one rune missing. Chaos Runes only fit into armors, Gauntlets, Greaves, Chest-Piece, Cape and Helmet. What¡¯s in thest room?"

 Chapter 129 No pancakes for you Alfie

    Dave left the trap room and made for the fourth door.

    He found himself in a room with some levers on the wall to his right..

    He walked through the door into a square room, bare of anything except for seven levers lining the wall. Each lever had a different colored handle.

    He noticed there was a seam in one of the walls.

    "That should be where the crimson box is hidden, it looks like the hidden doors in all of the other rooms."

    He turned to inspect every inch of the room. He pressed on the walls, checked the floor, looked at the ceiling, but didn¡¯t find anything worth of note besides the seven colored levers.

    He took some time to ponder before touching anything.

    He noticed the handles were actually the seven colors of a rainbow, but out of sequence.

    Then he pulled down on the red lever which was the middle one.

    The moment he did, he heard a loud sound.

    "Dooooo"

    It was like a bell.

    The lever stayed down and nothing else in the room changed.

    Dave frowned.

    "I think the door will open with the right sequence of levers."

    He put his hand on the the orange lever and pulled down.

    "Tiiiiii"

    After the sound ended, the two levers returned back up to their original position and there was a vibrationing from above, Dave looked up, the whole ceiling was rumbling, slowly moving down, then it stopped abruptly.

    So, too many unsessful attempts to solve the puzzle would mean the ceiling would slowly descend and crush him.

    "No way Alfie. No Dave-pancakes for you today."

    Dave pulled the red lever again and the same tone repeated, sounding through the room. No rumbling came from the ceiling, though he nced up just to make sure. Then around the room to see if anything else was going to try ruin his day, likend-sharks.

    "Okay, nothing happened except for the sound. I think that means the red lever is first in the sequence."

    He tried another lever at random, it made a different sound.

    It was like a horn blowing.

    "Faaaaaa"

    "Musical notes!" Heughed, almost certain he¡¯d figured out how to solve it.

    Then both levers flipped back to the up position and the ceiling rumbled down another few inches.

    Dave pulled the red lever again, "Dooooooooo," and then picked a new color to try and pulled that lever down.

    "Re"

    "I was right!"

    He tried the rest of the colors, pulling down the levers and hearing each one¡¯s sound. He memorized the note for each color. The ceiling was only a few inches above his head by then.

    He tried the first simple idea that popped into his head. It¡¯s not like he would be expected to y Chopin or Mozart right?

    "Do, re, mi, fa, so,, ti."

    The room trembled and the ceiling that came almost half the way down shook and retreated back to its original position.

    The door at the end of the room shook for a bit and opened down the middle then stopped.

    But it was only a few inches.

    Dave went to the door, but couldn¡¯t see anything through the crack.

    He returned to the levers and pulled the red one again.

    The same note, "do," note sounded, but this time the ceiling rolled down toward hime and the lever moved back to the up position.

    "The sequence changed. This is so random!" Dave became frustrated.

    He stroked his beard looking at the levers, trying toe up with an idea.

    He moved back to the wall and pulled on the green lever, it made the sound, ¡¯ti¡¯.

    The lever remained down and the ceiling didn¡¯t stayed up.

    Then Dave pulled the ¡¯La¡¯ note lever and the ceiling still stayed in ce.

    "So. The correct sequence is in reverse now," Dave smiled, having figured out the second part of the puzzle.

    He pulled the levers in reverse order and the halves of the stone wall finished pulling all the way apart, revealing what was behind them.

    A wooden door painted red, there was a brass lock-te with a keyhole in it at waist height.

    Dave¡¯s expression was gloomy, "Another door. Great."

    Dave felt the room vibrate, and the levers retracted into the wall.

    He looked up to see the ceiling slowly descending with not the slightest sign it was going to stop.

    "Fuck!"

    Dave rushed to the red door, but he didn¡¯t have any idea how to open it. He didn¡¯t have a key.

    "Key, key key! Where is the key!" he babbled, stressed.

    There was no indication to the whereabouts of the key! There was only the stupid locked door before him.

    He tried to push it open.

    "Damn!"

    The ceiling was only a dozen feet above Dave and dust was filtering down.

    Then he saw some tiny marks on the door, writing! A message. A CLUE!

    "What¡¯s this say?" his eyes almost crossed as he attempted to read the miniscule script, "The key is lost, what hinders you is a lock, your only hope is simply to..." and the writing ended there as if thest part was scrubbed out.

    "What the hells is that supposed to mean! There¡¯s no fucking key!"

    He looked up, the ceiling was only six feet above him. With an irritated expression he said, "I give up."

    Then he went to the door he entered through, intending to leave the deathtrap.

    Just before he got to the door, a wall came down, shutting off ess.

    Dave¡¯s face paled, "You gotta be fucking kidding me! Alfred, you piece of shitty code, you¡¯re really trying to kill me off, aren¡¯t you?" He was screaming when he finished his face red and his eyes bloodshot.

    He sat down where he was and waited for the ceiling toe down, even the log-out option was grayed out.

    As the ceiling continued its inevitable course Dave took a deep breath and rxed. There was no point fighting it anymore.

    "I guess this is it for Mr. Skeletal," he said mournfully.

    "But what the hell is with this puzzle?" The damned puzzle clue kept running through the very back of his mind. The little rhyme or whatever it was.

    The key is lost, what hinders you is a lock, your only hope is simply to...

    "Simply to do...what? Hang on, it¡¯s a riddle. So the missing word has to rhyme, what is a simple thing to do when the door is locked...?"

    He smacked his forehead, "No way! It can¡¯t be that easy?!"

    The ceiling was only a few feet from his head as he sat in front of the door, it was so low he wouldn¡¯t be able to stand up straight now.

    He had to crawl from the entrance door, he probably looked like a demented cat rushing for the red door on all fours.

    "The key is lost, what hinders you is a lock, your only hope is simply to...KNOCK!"

    Dave knocked alright. He hit the door continuously, desperately with his fist.

    "Please let this work!"

    The room shuddered as he started to beat on the doorand the ceiling stopped.

    By that time Dave¡¯s face was almost down against the floor, the hard stone ceiling pressing down on him.

    The ceiling started rising and he finally took a deep breath of sweet relief.

    The door opened as if inviting Dave in.

    Dave stood up and wanted to go in, but a thought crossed his mind.

    "Who opened the door?"

 Chapter 130 Mirror Mirror on the wall...

    Dave hesitantly entered the room, finding nothing of interest but the Crimson Box sitting in the middle of the floor.

    "No one here, I had the jitters for no reason," Dave snorted then opened the box.

    Chaos Rune (Third of a set of five Runes).

    Tier: Legendary

    A portion of raw chaos was captured inside this shard of obsidian-crystal to create a rune of destruction.

    [Hidden]

    "The final rune, and there is still one room I haven¡¯t opened!"

    He left the small room and headed for the exit.

    The wall blocking the door was already gone, allowing him to leave the puzzle room.

    When he was back in the room with five doors, the glowing rune on the door he just exited dimmed.

    But something new happened, the rune on the final door changed from a sullen blood-red glow to a warm golden light. The door opened of its own ording, inviting Dave to enter.

    "Danger!" warned Bud.

    Dave looked at the ghoul, who was staring at the final door intently.

    Dave nodded at Bud, "Thanks Bud, I promise to be careful. It shouldn¡¯t take long, hold the fort."

    Bud tilted his head and looked around, puzzled.

    Dave chuckled he didn¡¯t have time to exin the idiom to his ghoul bodyguard right now. He briskly walked over to the door with the golden rune and entered.

    The door closed behind Dave. He was in an octagonal room with mirrored walls.

    In the middle of the room was an octagonal box with a hole in each face. The box rested on a round area of the floor that looked like ck stone polished to a mirror shine.

    Dave moved to the center of the room and stood in front of the octagonal ck box.

    Inspecting the box, he thought the eight holes could be keyholes. But he didn¡¯t see a key anywhere in the room. He grimaced, thinking about the rhyming mind-game from the previous puzzle room, a keyhole in a locked door that didn¡¯t end up needing a key to open. There would be no Dave-pancake repeats if he had anything to do with it.

    The polished ck stone underneath the box was cold when he touched it.

    Dave went to the closest wall and examined the mirrored surface. He wanted to see if he could see something through the mirror, maybe one or more of the walls was actually a two-way mirror or a hidden door.

    He put his hand against the wall, and the moment he pushed it moved a bit.

    Dave hurriedly pulled his hand back, and fearing he¡¯d activated another trap he looked around for danger. And up, definitely had to be wary of what was in the up direction.

    Seeing nothing he returned his attention to the mirrored surface in front of him. Ripples were spreading out from where his hand had been, like the reflective surface of a stillke. Then something pushed out of the mirror, stretching it like stic until a small creature pulled its way out with a sucking sound.

    Resentful spirit

    Level 1

    100Hp

    A lost soul, damned to wander eternally, never finding peace.

    The ugly little gremlin looking spirit shrieked when it saw Dave and swooped down and through his legs to escape, then it flew across the room and dove into another mirror.

    When the first creature disappeared into the mirror, two others left the same spot.

    Resentful spirit

    Level 2

    200Hp

    A lost soul, damned to wander eternally, never finding peace.

    Resentful spirit

    Level 2

    200hp

    A lost soul, damned to wander eternally, never finding peace.

    The two spirits separated, and each of them squealed and flew toward a different wall.

    Dave had a bad feeling about the ghosts flying around and reproducing in the mirror.

    He cast Spectral Skull sending it at the nearest ghost. As soon as it was in range he snapped his fingers. The Skull blew up with a sh and a boom, killing the spirit instantly and leaving nothing behind.

    The second ghost was almost to the mirror when Dave activated [Sword Lunge], the ethereal de¡¯s straight-line AoE damage split the ghost in half.

    The sword energy kept going after killing the ghost, until it finally hit one of the walls and disappeared into the mirrored surface, causing a lot of strong ripples in it.

    The ripples were enough warning for Dave, he ducked instinctively, but what happened was even worse than he expected.

    An ethereal sword emerged from each of the eight mirrored walls and shot through the air toward the center of the room. They crashed together in an explosion of sound and flying fragments of cutting ethereal energy. It was like being in a meat grinder, the AoE attack nature of the ethereal des made it almost impossible to escape being hit.

    Dave winced as the attack washed over him, then stood up, looking down at himself and even patting his hands down his arms and legs.

 Chapter 131 Alfie Strikes back!

    "Huh. Some of the fragments passed through me but I didn¡¯t take any damage. Maybe because my own attacks aren¡¯t supposed to harm me."

    Dave didn¡¯t want to risk fooling around with the mirrors anymore for now. So he moved back to reexamine the box in the middle of the room.

    Crouching down for a closer look, he inspected the box minutely, but didn¡¯t find anything new. He finally gave up on it and stood, idently bumping into the box and shifting it slightly.

    Initially he¡¯d frozen when he bumped into the box, wondering if his carelessness would set off another trap. Nothing changed though.

    He thought about it and shrugged, then pushed the box a bit more, still nothing. He moved it farther, more confidently. And again. Finally a small key was revealed.

    He picked the key up, but when he tried to insert it in one of the keyholes the polished ck surface he was standing on rippled and his feet sank like he was in quicksand.

    Dave grabbed at the edge of the floor and pulled himself out before he sank under and drowned in the pool of...whatever that gunk was.

    He looked back at the ck mirrored surface of the floor and saw something creepy and terrifying. foot left the ck mirror, he saw a shuddering scene.

    A fist smashed against the ck surface from underneath, stretching it like a rubber sheet. Golden runes red to life inside the edge of the flooring witht the mirror finish. The glowing sigils appeared to be wards of protection, but the vicious assault from under the floor continued, even more enraged if anything. Soon the runes flickered then died out, cracks spread rapidly across the polished floor. It finally crumbled and shattered, the pieces falling into the inky darkness thaty beneath.

    Dave retreated quickly toward the the door he¡¯d entered through, but it was gone, only another mirrored wall in its ce. Now the room was sealed and Dave had to face whatever wasing out of that hole.

    Arge hand with ck talons rose above the dark hole and grasped the edge of the floor. A second matching hand joined the first, both digging into the stone like it was soft cheese. Then the thing attached to the hands heaved itself up over the edge and leapt lightly to its feet.

    Demon!

    It looked just like the stereotype of a demon, deep crimson hued skin, extremely muscr arms and legs, and a buffed torso with a chiselled eight pack. Goat horns grew out of its head, but it had the snout of a boar and the jaws of a rabid wolf.

    It flexed its overlyrge taloned hands as it stared at Dave with malignant, sulfurous yellow eyes, the pupils slitted like a cat¡¯s.

    Dave¡¯s heart sank as he inspected the creature:

    Demon General Borak

    Level: 450

    Danger Level: ? ? ? ?

    Tier: EPIC

    HP: 450,000

    Damage: 20,000-30,000

    DN: 12,000

    MA: 12,000

    Skills: [None]

    From The Demonologist¡¯s Almanac:Borak was once a mighty general for the fearsome Ash-King.After absorbing too much Chaos energy in the many battles he fought for his demonic liege he descended into a depraved madness even demonkind could not contenance.Finally, using the Seal of the Sage King, the ancient Order of Solomon imprisoned Borak until the end of time.Or until some fool sets him free!

    Dave¡¯s head throbbed, a massive headache on the way after reading the final sentence. He knew who wrote thatst bit.

    Dave slowly backed away until he bumped into the wall, the demon moved in closer and closer.

    ¡¯There is no way I can kill this demon one on one! Fucking Alfred, utilizing my full potential does nothing against a mob 300 Levels higher than me!¡¯

    The demon raised his fist and swung down at Dave.

    Dave dodged the blow but the whole room shook when itnded.

    The demon came after him attacking again and again.

    Dave used almost every one of his Skills just to avoid the demon¡¯s attacks. Even though some effects like Stagger worked on the demon, nothing he did damaged the demon at all, its HP remained at 100%.

    "Damned level difference!"

    The demon finallynded a blow that sent Dave rolling across the floor.

    [-32766]

    That one hit took him down to 1% of his HP!

    The only Skill he had that could have done damage to the Demon was [Ray of mes] since it dealt t Damage, but the Skill was still on its 72 hour cool down period.

    Even his meteor summoning skill could help, but it was grayed out because he wasn¡¯t in an open space.

    But even if he¡¯d used those skills it wouldn¡¯t have mattered, the demon just had so much HP.

    Then as he frantically ran through the list of his Skills he came to one he¡¯d never used before and his eyes lit up with hope.

    Activated the Skill with a wave of his hand, arge ck Scythe appeared above the demon.

    The quality of light changed, everything became red hued and there was a sense ofpression as if the room had suddenly been isted from the rest of reality.

    Life Cleaver has been activated!

    The challenge ground have been temporarily banished to Limbo.

    No yer or monster can interfere with this challenge.

    Your attacks do -20% less Damage, and attacks against you do +20% more damage.

    "Damn it, I shouldn¡¯t have wasted all my skills!" Dave cursed as he now needed to survive 2 minutes before the Scythees down and take the demon¡¯s life away.

    The demon didn¡¯t pay any attention to the scythe hanging over his head and continued to chase after Dave.

    They ended up on one side of the room up against one of the walls. The demon cannoned a fist at him, but Dave bent his whole body back, dodging it by a hair. Instead the blow struck the mirrored surface of one of the walls and all around the room fists manifested striking out from each of the walls.

    Dave¡¯s mind spun, realizing with growing horror that if the demon entered one of the mirrors eight demons woulde out of the walls.

    As Dave dodged another attack, he decided on a daring n.

 Chapter 132 Skelly Skulls, Skelly Skulles everywhere!

    He waved a hand and two Spectral Skulls appeared.

    As he dodged another attack from the demon, Dave sent both Skulls through a mirrored wall and sixteen Spectral Skulls emerged from all around the room.

    Dave willed half of the Skulls to attack the demon and sent the other eight back into one of the walls.

    The attack of the massed Skulls Staggered the demon even as the new multiples of Skulls emerged from the walls, eight Skulls from each of the eight walls.

    Taking advantage of the momentarypse in pursuit Dave ran away from the demon to the other side of the room. He began directing the flocks of Spectral Skulls, continuing to multiply them and then will a portion to attack the demon. He looked like a mad orchestra conductor, pointing, waving his arms and snapping his fingers.

    Soon he couldn¡¯t even see the demon through the shes of the detonating Skulls, but he could hear it howl in rage even over the sound of the explosions as he sent hundreds of Skulls at a time to attack it.

    The Skulls didn¡¯t do a single point of damage to the demon but they did keep Staggering it.

    Dave smiled wickedly, watching the two minutes countdown as he exploited his Spectral Skull skill to keep the demon on the defensive.

    When thest seconds ran out, he willed the Skulls to pull away forming a corridor of ring Skulls between Dave and the demon.

    The ranks of stacked Skulls on either side were an eerie sight. The demon looked at the the hallway-of-Skulls in confusion, but the moment he saw Dave at the other end the confusion vanished, he roared and charged.

    Dave smiled and stroked his beard, then opened both his arms wide as if weing the demon.

    The demon charged at Dave with seething rage. Suddenly the Scythe dipped and swung down and across, cutting off the Demon¡¯s head with a single stroke.

    The headless body crashed to the ground and tumbled,ing to a stop at Dave¡¯s feet.

    A notification appeared.

    +15 000 000 EXP!

    Level Up!

    Level Up!

    Level Up!

    Dave¡¯s level increased at an extremely rapid pace, and thanks to the extra EXP from the Bead Alfred gave him, his character jumped 66 levels! Reaching the 216 level in one magnificent leap!

    This time the benefits of killing the high level monster were all HIS. No measly Supporter¡¯s EXP for him, like a sip of water to a man dying of thirst. This was the full monty.

    The body of the Demon was dissipating, leaving behind two items.

    Demon General¡¯s Token.

    Immature Pygmy of fire.

    That sounded like it had interesting possibilities.

    But it was the second item that got him really excited.

    Immature fire pygmy

    A pigmy of fire can create untold destruction, yet when it matures it can change into a chaotic fire entity strong enough to light the world on fire!

    Maturity 33%

    "This is probably what made the demon general so crazy not even the Ash-King wanted it loose any more."

    The room trembled and the image of a fiery enraged fiery demon¡¯s face appeared in the room ring at Dave.

    Fear wed at his chest as Dave backed away from the terrifying visage. Because he was staring at it so fearfully he Inspected it without even meaning to:

    Avatar of the Ash-King

    Level: 900

    Danger level: Absolute Death!

    ???

    The back of his neck prickled, the sensation only got worse as the visage began to speak.

    "YOU HAVE TAKEN WHAT DOES NOT BELONG TO YOU INSECT! I WILL HAVE WHAT IS MINE RETURNED AND THE PRICE OF YOUR INSOLENCE WILL BE RIPPED FROM YOU IN PAIN AND SOUL-SUFFERING!!!!"

    If his draugr avatar had been capable of normal body functions right then, things would not have been pretty.

    The demon-face growled, then it opened its mouth and shot at Dave, engulfing him in a single bite. He only had time to close his eyes against the inevitable.

    But when he opened his eyes he was still in the eight-sided room, the attack was just a psychological ploy, the demon visage was gone without doing any damage.

    It was kind of a cheap school-yard bully type of trick, especially for a mighty figure like Mr. demon-visage to pull.

    Dave¡¯s heart rate returned to normal as the realization that he¡¯d escaped cmity sunk in.

    "That was the Ash-King..."

    Dave took deep breaths and inspected the other item he¡¯d gotten from the demon-general.

    Demon General¡¯s token

    Ramsha the Guardian of the Underworld will be eager to trade for this item.

    See Ramsha to exchange this item.

    "Huhhhhh. For all the ages he¡¯s been Guardian of the Underworld killing major demons and other monsters, he must have collected some seriously epic loot. And I get trade him for some of it."

    Dave looked around, and saw the eight sided box that that had originally been on the polished part of the floor.

    "Well how are we going to deal with you now?"

 Chapter 133 CONQUEST RIGH

    Dave still had the key, but before he tried to insert it in one of the eight holes again, he considered carefully.

    ¡¯I need at least 8 keys... will the mirror duplicate this?" Dave turned to one of the walls and threw the key at it.

    The key bounced off the mirrored surface.

    "Meh, guess that would have been too easy," he turned back to the box.

    He noticed as he turned that the mirrors all showed his reflection holding the key. But the box itself was not duplicated in any of the mirrors.

    Dave moved closer to the box and made sure that all the reflections on the wall were also facing the box. Then he positioned himself so that when he pressed the key into one of the Box¡¯s holes, his reflections looked like they were all putting their keys into the box

    The moment Dave turned the key, the box opened. Inside were two items.

    The first was a blue rune, far different from the coal-ck runes of the chaos set.

    Dave inspected it.

    Azure water rune [Legendary]

    A powerful rune that counters some of the corruption caused by Chaos energy at the cost of reducing some of its power.

    Can only bebined with a set of Chaos rune to have the best effect.

    "So this counters some of the bad effects from the chaos runes. I think it was left here to limit the impact the Chaos energy had on this area."

    The second item, was an official looking piece of folded parchment paper.

    The moment Dave opened it, a notification appeared.

    Right of Conquest!

    Eastern Kingdom

    The Kingdom of Heaven!

    With a loud fanfare another notification appeared

    Conquest Server Announcement!

    Congrattions to Kis¡¯Shtiengbrah for acquiring the first Right of Conquest for the Eastern Region!

    "No way!"

    .

    .

    .

    .

    .

    Interlude...

    .

    .

    .

    .

    Conquest¡¯s lead software engineer sighed heavily as he leaned back in his cushioned office chair and took a sip of his eighth coffee for the day and it was only noon. Ugh, and it was ck. He was drinking it ck because if he drank all his coffees the way he liked, with three sugars and three creams, the roll around his stomach would be more like a giant couch pillow. This job was not worth it, sure it looked great on his CV. But the stress! And the issues! Conquest was a freaking leviathan of a system, or a herd of leviathans of a multi-program system. Heh.

    He could barely keep up with what happened in a general sense, and it didn¡¯t matter what went wrong it was all his responsibility.

    General Artificial Intelligences and regr AIs were absolutely essential to a system like Conquest, it was so massive it wouldn¡¯t work without multiple AIs integrating different aspects to provide the yers with the continuity of aprehensive, congruent game experience. Most of the Conquest AIs and GAIs worked in the background.

    He shook his head. But,tely something was going on with the game¡¯s main supervising AI. The GAI designated Alfred, or Alfie as all the programmers called him, had been coded with the primary drive to ¡¯bnce¡¯ the game-y and game-mechanics. The level of human interaction required for that functionality meant the advanced GAI had to have a personality matrix with more than the usual emted human instincts and drives. Without them, or with only the minimum needed to achieve general intelligence, the AI could not perform its primary mandate at optimal efficiency, maybe not even at all.

    But no matter how ¡¯advanced¡¯ a GAI was, it was still not human. The necessary rigidity of Alfie¡¯s logic code often resulted in tiny conflicts that spawned irrelevant glitches which manifested as quirks in the GAI¡¯s personality matrix and behavior. The glitches usually stayed well below the thresholds that alerted the system for dev or engineer intervention. Sure, every once in a while the engineering team had to go in and do a search-n-purge and reboot ole¡¯ Alfie, but that was just maintenance.

    Lately something was regrly sending the prissy AI way up into the red. The AI had been afflicted with, or maybe developed on its own, an inherent instability that affected its entire personality matrix. The team had been correcting glitches and patching for them for weeks, but the instability kepting back.

    Something was disturbing the coded entity on a fundamental level. The ongoing problem was taking up the equivalent of at least one full-time engineer in man-hours. But they couldn¡¯t find the source, the prime motivator, for whatever was ¡¯bugging¡¯ their AI. They were just fixing the symptoms after whatever happened to kick it off, over and over.

    Of course now payroll and the ounting office were asking what was going on and questioning their work efficiency.

    He just needed to hold on till he hit five years and was vested in his retirement and stock options. Then he would find pay the cred of this position andpany on his CV into some boring cushy corporate job without all the stress.

 Chapter 134 Too much hassle...

    Holding the scroll, Dave¡¯s hands shook as he read the words in it again. Not that he didn¡¯t understand what he had the first time, it was just a lot to take in.

    Right of Conquest! This was HUGE! It was going to cause a tidal wave of reaction. All kinds of chatter was probably blowing up every channel that had anything to do with Conquest..

    Just as he was about to put the scroll away his phone rang.

    "WHERE did you get IT!? HOW did you get IT?!" The volume of Lone Arrow¡¯s voice made Dave wince in pain. Gahhh, his ears! His head, dammit!

    "Shit Lone. A quest okay? A quest. This thing is going to cause a lot of trouble for me."

    "Whudya mean?" asked Lone

    "The guilds won¡¯t rest until they have this scroll for themselves. This is worth much more than ess to the Underworld or the Dead-Realm.

    "This scroll is basically ALL the keys to the Eastern kingdom. Whoever has it has ess to all the teleportation-gate codes; the numbers and makeup of the Eastern Region¡¯s army; the locations and ns to all their bases and strongholds; a list of every exploitable resource in the region. And all that is just the stuff that would help an invading force. A conqueror who has the Right of Conquest has the explicit endorsement of the game system to rule the region, it grants ess to social, political and economic readouts and controls. Those are just the things I can remember, I haven¡¯t even studied it all the way through.

    "This will make everyone in the whole of Conquest go mad to get it. From me. I¡¯m so fuhh-orked."

    Lone was silent for so long he thought they had lost connection. Then she spoke in a subdued voice.

    "But you¡¯re safe there in the Underworld, no one can get to you, or the Right of Conquest. Right?"

    "For the moment, yes. But this thing isn¡¯t worth anything to me, it¡¯s just a big bundle of problems. Another bundle of them," said Dave.

    "Then get rid of it! Sell it!" said Lone.

    "That¡¯s what I was nning. I need to talk to Perfect Shot."

    "I¡¯m getting a lot of calls from my friends in the Devastators. They know I can reach you."

    "Tell the Devies I¡¯ll be making an announcement about the Right of Conquest."

    "Alright, that¡¯ll get them off my back. Tootles."

    "Later," Dave hung up, then dialed another number.

    "Perfect," asked Dave.

    "Hey man! Are you gonna send video of you getting the Right of Conquest?"

    "Something like that. I¡¯ll send you the video in a few. I decided to put the scroll up for auction, I¡¯m going record an announcement shilling the auction, think you can get your dad to run it with the video?"

    "Dude! You¡¯re gonna sell the Right to conquer a KINGDOM?! Huh, wait...I didn¡¯t think about that. Conquering a kingdom¡¯s gonna be a very long, involved process. Yeah, I¡¯m with you, selling the scroll is the best thing to do."

    "Heh, I figured you would understand, Perfect. Yeah, people think it¡¯s like being given a crown, but it¡¯s not. It¡¯s an opportunity to conquer the kingdom, the scroll just provides the system¡¯s permission and assistance, It¡¯ll take a lot of resources, people and time. It¡¯s a lot of work and hassle I can¡¯t and don¡¯t want to deal with."

    "Agreed, there¡¯s no fun in all that, at least not for people like us. Okay man, shouldn¡¯t be a problem to tack your announcement on at the end of your ¡¯Adventures in Underworld Land.¡¯ I¡¯ll get pops to approve it, and handle all the regtory crap for you."

    "Thanks Shooter. See ya."

    "Ciao, Skelly."

    Dave moved to stand before one of the reflective walls and summoned Spectral Skulls, sending them into the wall to multiply them.

    Eventually he had hundreds of skulls arranged behind him, An army of eerily glowing Skulls ring at the wall in front of him.

    He stomped the ground activating [Death Surge]

    Dark Shadows spread out from under Dave¡¯s feet then climbed up his legs and torso, enshrouding him in a light-stealing death aura. He looked like one of those orthodox Christian icons, except instead of a gold halo around him it was a dread-inducing darkness.

    Then he enabled his video capture.

    Pulling the scroll out, Dave held it up in one hand, letting it unroll to show the seal at the bottom.

    "The Right of Conquest," Dave said, addressing his reflection in the mirror.

    "To get it, you will have topete for it.

    "But not in anything so barbaric as a physical fight.

    "Today at 22:00 EST this item will be put up for auction. Anyone in Conquest can bid on it."

    Dave waved his hand and the scroll disappeared, the [Death Surge]¡¯s effects ended and with a snap of his fingers all the skulls shone brighter for a moment before blowing up in a glorious shower of light, like a new year¡¯s fireworks disy.

    The video ended.

    Dave checked the announcement and decided it had the tone he was going for.

    Dave left the octagonal room and headed back to the main room where his battalion waited for him.

    "Alright boyz, we need to wrap things up! There are likely some worms still lurking around, wiggling behind the walls. Lets clean this ce out so can leave soon."

    Dave jumped on the back of Stinger and the battalion headed out to clear the mines.

    He led his battalion to search the mines for other Blood Worms.

    After wandering the mines, he found that there were several other passages that led deeper into the unknown.

    These were the passages the Blood Worms that ambushed them in the tunnels came from.

    Yet after checking them, he found that they were all blocked by falls or cave-ins of bloodstones.

    He directed the shoot-n-loot mission until he was sure the mine was cleared and it was safe for the miners toe work the tunnels.

    When they finally emerged from the old mine the bright light from the broken moon made him raise a hand to shield his eyes.

    "Prey!" said Bud, pointing northwest of the mine.

    A number of bloodworms charged at the Battalion.

    "Ready up, boyz!" hollered Dave and the ughter began again.

    When Perfect Shot got the link to Dave¡¯s video he downloaded and watched it. He smiled afterwards, shaking his head. That guy.

    "I need to get his advance payment for this,"

    Perfect Shot forwarded the link back to his father to approve payment and start the ball rolling, he also sent it to the editing crew so they could get to work on it.

    Dave rode on Stinger¡¯s back as they marched back to the Red Fortress. He got the questpleted notification shortly after they left the area around the mine.

    He had a big toothy smile stered across his Draugr face as they rushed across the Deserted ins.

    They crossed the drawbridge into the Red fortress just as the broken moon was setting. He walked over to the biggest building in the fortress..

    Dave entered a big hall with long table down the middle. The table looked like it was new construction. The hall was newly decorated, statues and images of the Undead-King were all over the ce.

    "Du¡¯Rhaza!" he greeted the Doom Knight who was reading through some old scrolls.

    "Kis¡¯Shtiengbrah, you have returned early. How was the subjugation, is the mine cleared of bothersome monsters?"

    "Everything went well. The tunnels are clear, you can send the miners, there were some areas blocked off by a wall of Blood-Stones that I couldn¡¯t get to."

    "That shouldn¡¯t be a problem, we will send undead workers to mine the area, we need those blood-stones for the Dead-Realm, your percentage of the Blood Stone will be sent here. You can exchange them in the Undead-realm or exchange them directly with Ramsha," said Du¡¯Rhaza.

    "I get a percentage?" Dave was startled.

    "You are themander of the Red Fortress, your holding includes the area the mine is in. So it is only natural that you get a percentage of the stones." Du¡¯Rhaza chuckled at Dave¡¯s expression.

    "Where are Orn and Gale?" asked Dave

    "Right behind you," said Du¡¯Rhaza

    Dave turned to see the two towering Doom Knights appear out of nowhere, looking at him in question.

    "We¡¯re going to take another trip to the world of the living." said Dave

    "Lord, we will protect you until our true death, but if that assassin..." before Orn could finish Dave interrupted him.

    "Don¡¯t be concerned. This time we will go to another location, somewhere less popted."

    "Hold, Kis¡¯Shtiengbrah," Du¡¯Rhaza stopped him.

    "You have grown much stronger than when Ist saw you. Are you going to rank up? You could do much more when you are promoted to Death-knight," said Du¡¯rhaza with a wicked grin.

    Du¡¯Rhaza had promised him a ce in the Doom Knight¡¯s own Division. He would be a brigade-leader with ten battalions under his directmand.

    "Ipletely forgot about that!" Dave opened his military panel and saw he was eligible for the Death Knight rank. He just needed to defeat a Death Knight in the arena to be promoted.

    But with the level difference, it would normally be impossible for Dave, at level 216, to defeat a level 300-plus Death Knight.

    ¡¯Yesterday I would have waited to level up to 300 before taking the rank-up challenge. But, now I know I can defeat a Death Knight with [Life Cleaver] if I¡¯m patient and careful.

    Too bad the Skill doesn¡¯t work on Mythic tiers or higher, ranking up in the legion would be so easy!¡¯

    He looked at Du¡¯Rhaza and nodded, "I will challenge for Death Knight after I finish some personal business."

    He took out a teleport scroll and tore the parchment to activate it after giving the two Doom Knights one each.

 Chapter 135 Bursting out.

    Dave appeared in Moria.

    He didn¡¯t want to head to the Devastator¡¯s Capital city as he knew that when the video he sent perfect shot is uploaded, there will be many assassins that will go after him, especially some form the Blood Rage or Heaven¡¯s Dawn guilds.

    Also, there was the terrifying Mercy who Dave has a deep and unfavorable impression on.

    Dave appeared in the middle of the run-down city and walked to its only auction-house. The two Doom Knights followed like towering harbingers of death.

    The auction house was a far cry from the elegant and polished pavilion Dave had been to at the Devastator¡¯s HQ.

    When the Undead trio entered, the two NPC guards at the door were panic-stricken, frozen in ce.

    Dave walked past them without giving them a second nce and the two Doom Knights followed.

    There were a two yers purchasing items from the auction-house, when they saw the undead, they were startled. But after realising that it was Mr. Skeletal, One of them started recording Dave and the other was obviously messaging.

    When Dave stepped up to the counter, the clerk¡¯s face turned white.

    "I have an item to put up for auction," said Dave

    The clerk regained some of hisposure, the familiar ritual of his job giving him a tenuous hold.

    "What would you like to auction, sir."

    Dave gave the Conquest Right Scroll to the NPC and asked him to put it up for bids starting at 22:00.

    It was only a few minutes before the hour.

    The NPC took the scroll and put a monocle to his eye, inspecting it. He looked at Dave.

    "Wh-what do you want the the opening bid to be?

    "1 gold coin"

    The auctioneer was surprised at first but then said to Dave,

    "Sir, if you wish, we can send out a Server Announcement informing everyone of the item you are putting up for auction. This is a very special item, it deserves special treatment."

    "How much does the service cost?"

    "We will deduct an additional 1% from the winning bid. I might add this service also includes legal insurance and a collection service, just in case some...irregrities ur with the winner¡¯s payment."

    "eptable, do it," said Dave

    Conquest Server Announcement!

    The Right of Conquest: Eastern region (Kingdom of Heaven) has been put up for auction.

    Opening bid: 1 G

    Bids on the Right of Conquest can be made at any auction house

    Just as Dave was leaving the auction house he heard a shout.

    "WAIT!"

    Turning, he frowned.

    "Mercy."

    It was the assassin-in-white herself. The two Doom Knights at his back unsheathed their swords, They remembered this Living person in white, she almost killed their Lord. They would not allow that to happen again!

    But Dave held his hand out, holding them back.

    ¡¯How did she get here so fast?¡¯

    Dave looked at the two yers who¡¯d followed him out of the auction house. They looked back at him nervously, like kids caught with their hands in the cookie jar. He turned back to Mercy.

    "What do you want?" he asked her impatiently, a teleportation scroll already in his hand.

    "Last time we met, you knew who I was. Who are you? And how do you know me?"

    Dave spoke, his voice icy with contempt, "I don¡¯t care to answer questions from someone who tried to assassinate me. Especially a person like you."

    "What the hell does that mean? What kind of person do you imagine I am? I don¡¯t know you, who the hell do you think you are to judge me and act like you¡¯re better than me!?" Mercy was shouting, angered by Dave¡¯s verbal attack.

    Shaking with suppressed anger he spat his reply through clenched teeth, "January sixth, a red Ferrari, after midnight, a cyclist on a road in Moya, Pennsylvania. That¡¯s what I know about you."

    The girl recoiled, her expression shocked.

    "I...th-that was you...?"

    Dave nodded.

    "I-I know I was in the wrong, but my father made it right. He made sure you werepensated, rewarded, for what you did. It was my fault. Bu-"

    "COMPENSATED?! You sent your goons to threaten me with guns. In a hospital! I lost my job! I was crippled by you! How the fuck does your daddy¡¯s twenty grandpensate for that? You think that¡¯s a reward? For what!? The privilege of shredding my hands to save your richie-princess ass? For being disabled and in constant pain because of your drunken ¡¯oopsie¡¯? Fuck you! Take your bullshit twenty grand and give me back my life! But you can¡¯t because money DOESN¡¯T buy everything, you insufferable brat!"

    He¡¯dpletely lost hisposure, eyes wild, yelling thest words in impassioned rage. He¡¯d taken so much, contempt, neglect, abuse. The anger had to burst out at some point.

    The girl was startled when he shouted back at her, She was, actually, a ¡¯princess¡¯ and no one had ever scolded or called her out for her behavior.

    "That...that is not true! You¡¯re lying!"

    He snorted. "Typical," he shook his head, "Whatever, princess. If you really want to know, ask your goons. Now leave me the fuck alone."

    He resolutely tore the teleportation scroll and disappeared, leaving the woman standing there on the street, shaken.

    Mercy was shocked by his revtions, his usations. But she regained her calm and her eyes glinted in anger.

    She turned to the two yers who were still watching the ¡¯show¡¯ and walked over to them.

    "Did you record that conversation," her voice was chilly, it promised unpleasant things if they displeased her.

    One of the two nodded

    "Delete it now," shemanded.

    The yer obeyed instantly, waving his hands at his interface.

    The other person gulped hard, staring at the number one assassin in Conquest.

    "I know who you are. If I hear the slightest whisper about this anywhere I wille for both of you, and every time you respawn I will be there. Do you understand?"

    They both nodded fearfully.

    Mercy logged out.

    In New York City, a beautiful young woman in her early twenties, woke up and opened the VR capsule she was lying in. She gathered her long straight dark hair and put it in a ponytail as she sat on the edge of the capsule.

    Then she got up and walked briskly out of the room and down a long ornately decorated hallway. She had an athletic but curvaceous figure, the kind that evoked wolf whistles from hot-blooded young men. But her cold imperious expression could and often did chastise them back into their proper ce.

    She took the marble stairs down to the first floor and turned into the living room. A middle aged man sat in a recliner with his feet up watching TV, a cigar in one hand and a ss wine in the other.

    "Catlin, you logged out early. Did you get the draugr¡¯s head?"

    "Papa...we have to drop that contract."

    She sat in the recliner next to his.

    "Why¡¯s that, princess?"

    "The draugr is the avatar of the guy from the car ident."

    The man choked on his wine, coughing as his feet dropped to the floor.

    "Holy Mother of God! That¡¯s inconceivable!"

    Hepsed into a contemtive silence.

    Mercy watched her father think, he¡¯d told her once never to tell anyone what she was thinking. After a moment he looked at her and smiled.

    "This could be turned into a good thing. We know who he is. We have a history, a rtionship, with this man. Favors were exchanged. We¡¯ll just make him an offer he can¡¯t refuse."

    "I am afraid that will be impossible, at least if what he imed is true." said Catlin.

    "What are you talking about?"

    "Ask Bob and Sebastian."

    He looked at her, his eyes calcting, then he picked up his phone.

    "Get Bob, both of youe to the living room. Now." His voice was hard and upromising.

    On the other end of the connection, Sebastian, the man Dave had nicknamed Door-Prop felt an unpleasant sensation frisson up and down his spine.

    He was a made man. Old school Familia. He knew the Old Man¡¯s moods. This wasn¡¯t going to be a good talk.

    Shortly the two ck suited ¡¯bodyguards¡¯ walked into the spacious living room.

    A few minutester the enraged voice of the don echoed through the mansion, "YOU MISERABILI PEZZO DI MERDA!!"

 Chapter 136 Big movements...

    The two men in ck suits let the car drive, headed for a town in Pennsylvania.

    "You and your fucking ponies, Bob. You had to fuck everything up for me too didn¡¯t you. It¡¯ll be fine, you said. The boss won¡¯t find out, you said. WELL HE FUCKING FOUND OUT! And things are not fine at all!"

    "C¡¯mon bud, how da fuck was I supposed ta know dat would happen? I mean what¡¯re the odds she would run into the guy in Conquest, fa gawd¡¯s sake?"

    "You coulda just done what the boss told you to do. Give the fucker the money! Now he¡¯s some big-shot that even the boss needs to get on the good side of! It¡¯s a fucking miracle you aren¡¯t sleeping with the fishes in the East River."

    Bob muttered something unintelligible and added in a louder voice, "Y¡¯heard what the boss said, gotta bring the kid in to see him ASAFP! "

    "What was that you said!? Don¡¯t try to fucking change the subject you schlemiel!"

    "Crap...I said, the boss ain¡¯t gonna do that to family."

    Sebastian snapped his head around to look at Bob.

    "What da fuck! It all makes sense now! I¡¯m not your partner, I¡¯m a goddamned babysitter! What are you, his nephew?"

    "Something like that," Bob mumbled, looking away from his ¡¯babysitter.¡¯.

    Back at the Red Fortress Dave closed his eyes and took deep breaths trying to calm himself.

    Then his eyes snapped open and a shiver ran down his spine.

    "Fuck me! Me and my big fucking mouth!"

    He¡¯d given himself away in the encounter with Mercy. He was so angry he¡¯d forgotten the thugs Bodybuilder and Door Prop knew who pulled her from the car, and knew how to find him. They would make the connection between his online persona and real life identity.

    Dave hurriedly dialed Lone¡¯s number.

    "Lone, I¡¯m in a tight spot,"

    "What is it Davy-kins? You sound nervous, are you going up against a tough mob without me again? Is it a big boss?" Lone teased.

    "Mob. Boss. Ah, yeah, probably appropriate." He shook his head at himself, just another reminder that Mercy was a member of [It¡¯s just Business], the Conquest guild that was run by the mafia.

    "I messed up, I revealed my real identity to someone I shouldn¡¯t have. Here¡¯s what happened..."

    She listened to Dave¡¯s entire exnation without interrupting, unusual for her..

    "That¡¯s not good, Dave," her serious tone didn¡¯t lessen Dave¡¯s worry.

    She continued.

    "Leave the house right now ande to The City. Those guys won¡¯t risk crossing daddy."

    "I don¡¯t want to endanger your family, I just needed a favor, I¡¯m already in the City, in hospital. But there¡¯s a person I know who might be in danger if the mafia guys are after me."

    "Text me your friend¡¯s address and I will ask dad to send someone to watch your friend. Uncle Sam and I will pick you up from the hospital in a few, be ready." She hung up.

    "Damn, now Lone and her family are involved. I hate it, but I¡¯m in way over my head. Why didn¡¯t I just keep my big mouth shut!"

    Back at the penthouse in Manhattan a purple-haired woman logged off her gaming capsule and dialed on her phone.

    "Hello uncle Sam, do you know where dad is?"

    "He¡¯s got some business downtown, why?"

    Lone gave her uncle Sam all the information that Dave told her,

    He frowned, "That was reckless. But it doesn¡¯t matter matter now, we just have to deal with the fallout. Let¡¯s collect him from the hospital. I¡¯ll send someone to Moya to look after his friend."

    "Okay, it¡¯s a Mrs. Clementine, she¡¯s his neighbor."

    "Good, I will take care of everything, meet me at the hospital in half an hour."

    Lone disconnected and hurried down to the garage. She looked around, trying to decide which car to take.

    "The Cady matches my purse, executive decision made!" She patted the older model ck Cadic.

    Lone¡¯s phone rang as she was driving through Manhattan.

    "Hi daddy!" said Lone

    "Zoe, what¡¯s happening?"

    "Did you talk to uncle Sam about Dave?"

    "Yes, I already sent some people to look after his friend in Pennsylvania."

    "Thanks dad,"

    "I¡¯m amazed that you are making such an effort to help this boy. He sure has lit a fire in you somehow. Somewhere."

    Zoe could all but hear him wiggle his eyebrows up and down suggestively at her through the phone.

    "Dad! He¡¯s just a friend!" she protested.

    "Well, I would like to meet this friend of yours. When I finish this deal, you bring him home for a family dinner," and Dante Silvana disconnected.

    Zoe sputtered, dumbfounded by her father¡¯s order. But then she remembered her mission and pressed the elerator down, thinking about the danger Dave might be in.

    Bob and Sebastian pulled up to an old apartment building.

    "This is it," said Bob.

    "Let¡¯s get this over with."

    They entered the apartment building and climbed the stairs to the second floor.

    Sebastian knocked on the door and they waited.

    After several more knocks with no response, Bob grew impatient.

    "Outta the way!"

    The muscr henchman kicked the door in.

    "Hey! Remember the boss said don¡¯t rough him up or anything!"

    "It¡¯s just a door," said Bob with a shrug.

    They entered the small apartment, the odor of rotten-garbage assaulted their senses from the kitchen area.

    "This reminds me of the projects and that shoebox we lived in," said Bob.

    "He¡¯s not here."

    "Wait for em?" asked the big guy,

    "Nah, the trash hasn¡¯t been taken out for a while. I¡¯m thinking he hasn¡¯t been here in days."

    "I bet that old biddy knows something. We should go jam her up."

    Sebastian grimaced, "Let¡¯s just talk to her and the other neighbors before we jump all the way to roughing up old women."

    As the duo left the apartment they saw two big guys in windbreakersing down the hallway looking directly at them,

    Bob and Sebastian moved so their hands were close to their concealed weapons.

    One of the neers addressed them in a deep voice.

    "Tell your boss, the kid is under Silvana¡¯s protection. Got that? Now fuck off outta here!"

    "Let¡¯s go," said Sebastian to Bob.

    Bob stepped into one of door sized men¡¯s personal space, puffing up, about to say something inmmatory.

    "Let¡¯s go!" Sebastian said sharply, grabbing Bob¡¯s arm.

    "We just gonna let those guys run us off?" Bob asked in a disgruntled voice as they walked down the stairs. His vtile temper and poor judgement were liabilities in their work.

    "The boss ain¡¯t gonna be happy."

    "We¡¯re not here to start trouble with another organization, Bob. This actually works out for us. We know who has the kid. The boss can talk with Silvana."

    ***

    Knowing Lone would see to making sure Mrs. Clementine was taken care was a load off his mind. He returned his attention to matters in Conquest.

    Dave considered doing the Death Knight Rank up challenge, but remembered [Life Cleaver] was still on cooldown, so it would have to wait.

    Dave opened the teleportation gate and walked through it to the Undead Frontier.

    He went to the temple and found Delvina sitting gracefully with a hand under her chin on a throne.

    "Delvina, I need your help."

    "What can I do for you, young draugr?"

    "Are there units that specialize in healing the Undead?" asked Dave

    "Healing is a specialty of the human and Light races, our undead nature cannot be sustained using Healing."

    "Some of my troops heal when they are attacked with magic, isn¡¯t that healing?"

    "Yes, hexing magic. The undead are aligned with the dark arts, and what hurts the living revitalizes the dead."

    "Okay, hexes work fine with the undead, but not on the dunlords. Is there a way to heal them?"

    "The dunlords are of the Dark, but they aren¡¯t Undead, their bodies are rich with vitality. If you want to heal your dunlords or any other type of living troops undermand of the Undead you will have to find those who belong to a Holy order, take them prisoner and enve them."

    "That works. Where do I get them."

    "Conveniently, I have a task for you that will put you in a position to acquire some Light prisoners.

    "I am listening," Dave¡¯s nose twitched, it was the scent of another quest!

    "There is a radical movement within the Holy Church faction that is nning something big. A certain head priestess is traveling from Moria to the Eastern kingdom by carriage with a group of Holy clerics and a contingent of Church warriors escorting her. The priestess is the only person who can perform a very specific ritual to wake an Arch-Angel that is hidden there.

    "The King does not wish such a creature to walk among us once again, either here in the Underworld or above.

    "Raid the Carriage, kill or capture the cleris and warriors of the Holy church. But the head priestess must be brought to me alive, she will be used for my own purposes."

    Dave could feel Delvina¡¯s glee even through the veil covering her face.

    ¡¯She¡¯s head of the King¡¯s Inquisitors, I feel pity for the poor NPC who falls into her tender mercies.¡¯

    New Quest!

    Rank: C

    Catch Them and Break Them!

    Delvina has tasked you to raid a caravan of the Holy Church on its way to the Eastern kingdom.

    Requirement: Capture the Head priestess for interrogation.

    Bonus:

    Capture and enve other church members to do with as you see fit.

    Dave nodded at Delvina and headed back to the teleportation gate.

 Chapter 137 Interview

    Dave used the teleportation gate to travel to Moria again, this time with his battalion. Because he was on an actual quest given to him by Delvina, Orn and Gale couldn¡¯te with him.

    A force of over a hundred Undead marched out of the teleportation gate, panicking the city guards. rm bells began ringing throughout the city.

    Local event!

    A group of Undead have invaded the city of Moria!

    The Holy church will reward yers who aid in eliminating the threat!

    ¡¯I¡¯ve never set off an event before. Maybe I set off an event because I brought arger group of undead with me.¡¯

    "Make for the gates! Full sprint!" he ordered the battalion.

    Dave¡¯s battalion moved quickly away from the center of the city toward the gates. Moria was a starting zone for noob yers, there weren¡¯t normally many higher level yers in the city. Nothing good woulde of fighting city guards, they weren¡¯t very powerful but they could stall them long enough for yers to gather and present a real threat to his battalion.

    The guards in the streets didn¡¯t try to stop them, their fear of the undead overpowering their courage. Though they might have screwed up their courage to attack if the Undead were doing anything other than galloping through the streets toward the city gates.

    Finally the gate towers came into site and they made it through the open gates without having to fight anyone off.

    Dave looked for the quest marker on his Mini-map, it was moving at a steady pace pointed east.

    "We are after a church convoy heading east. Scouts and nks out! We sprint until they are in sight! "

    The undead formed into a file, running behind the dunlords.

    yers who were hunting mobs just outside the city of Moria were startled by the presence of the Undead force on the road to Moria. They had gotten the event announcement but not an update that the Undead had left the city..

    Some of the yers ran deeper into the wilderness to get away from an encounter they had no chance of surviving. But many stood their ground, facing the highway and taking defensive positions after buffing themselves in preparation to receive an attack.

    But the battalion of Undead ignored them, sprinting past without even a second look.

    At any other time Dave¡¯s appearance would have caused immediate and violent reactions from the three super-guilds. yers would inform guild members of the bearded draugr¡¯s location, and in no time reaction-forces made up of the highest level guild-yers would be porting to whatever region of Conquest he was sighted in to go after him.

    But Dave had timed his mission well. As the battalion of Undead ran east to fulfill Delvina¡¯smands, a much more significant event was unfolding both IRL and in-game. It was almost 20:00 EST.

    Not only was the auction for the Right of Conquest about to start, but CNN was about to give the public its first view of the invasion of the second Underworld raid-zone!

    yers in-game paused what they were doing and adjusted their settings to match real-time and waited for the feed to begin.

    Then, finally the clock ticked over to 20:00.

    Some people were gathered in the streets, watching through their various AR lenses. Others congregated in bars, malls or other open spaces. An astounding number of homes tuned in to watch thetest Conquest first. The public response to the event wasparable to the World Cup or the Olympics.

    On the media channel a picture of the creepy bearded-draugr appeared with the CCN logo in the background.

    A well-known femalementator appeared on-screen, with a bright smile she announced that the video of the game footage would be shown first and then experts would provide a detailed analysis.

    CCN had shortened the 18 hours of uncut video down to a total of 4 hours of intense gamey and action. They were going to show one hour each night for four nights in a row. Each night the video would be followed by the expert¡¯s analyses and the reactions of the fans and audiences in various venues.

    Audience reactions were being recorded by teams of CCN reporters in public venues such as game taverns and VR clubs, even stopping random people on the street.

    "That¡¯s the creature from the teaser!" a Beast-Tamermented.

    "He survived against a level 750, when he was at level 150. Jeez!" a Pdin in whitemented

    "That was wicked!" a female Dwarf eximed after seeing the fight against the Sworn Stalwart

    At the end of the hour thest scene from the Underworld closed, and an announcer¡¯s voice asked the audience to please wait for a message from Mr. Skeletal. The screen changed to show the bearded draugr himself, cloaked in darkness. An army of glowing skulls floated behind him, ring at the audience. He looked at the audience for a moment, then held up a scroll and let it unroll to show the contents. Then he spoke.

    When Mr. Skeletal finished saying his piece it was the ¡¯experts¡¯ turn toment and pick apart the video.

    CCN had gotten two very special guests toment from the studio.

    "Good evening Conquest lovers and friends. I have some very special people with me here to talk about Mr. Skeletal¡¯s video of the Underworld. First, please wee Thomas Baldwin! Also known inside Conquest as MR. VALENTINE!"

    The cameras cut to show female yers shouting wildly eyes zed in fangirl greed.

    Mr. Valentine nodded to his host and smiled slightly for the audience.

    "Our second expert, Park Song,es to us all the way from Seoul. He is acknowledged to be the top priest-yer in the game and is the right-hand man of the Heaven¡¯s Dawn guild, The White Ghost!"

    The youth sitting across from Mr. Valentine in a three piece suit nodded to the show¡¯s host, his demeanor calm, his eyes giving away nothing.

    "So, Mr. Valentine, what do you think of this video feed?"

    Valentine paused for a moment before he spoke saying, "Overall it was impressive, Susan. The draugr remained calm and exercised keen judgment while going up against monsters and events intended for much higher levels than he and his battalion.

    "Facing a Sworn Stalwart is cause for almost any yer to freeze. He disyed great courage to defeat it andplete his quest.

    Although it may not be obvious to the casual eye he is a good strategist, his ability to control the Undead and use their abilities to the best advantage is impressive, especially the tactical maneuvering and how he positions his forces against the enemy."

    "Ah, apparently you think highly of the draugr, Mr. Valentine. What would you say about Mr. Skeletal, White Ghost?" asked thementer.

    "I agree with all that the honorable Mr Valentine has said. But let us not forget an important element to the draugr¡¯s sess," the White Ghost paused dramatically, "Luck!"

    Thementator was inly surprised, and nced at Mr. Valentine as if expecting him to disagree. When the young man didn¡¯t refute the im she encouraged Park Song to continue with a nod and questioning look, saying, "Please go on, Mr. Park."

    "You have seen it Ms. Susan, we have all seen it. He simply has good Luck. In my culture, what is called luck, fortune, karma, or to be divinely blessed is an important factor in what determines the path and quality of one¡¯s life. There is even a saying about better to be lucky than good in the West.

    "Luck has tipped the scales in favor of the draugr on many asions. Especially, for example, when he fought the Sworn Stalwart.

    "However," said the White ghost with his voice trailing.

    The audience became leaned forward and waited for the White Ghost to continue.

    "One¡¯s luck cannot be relied on forever. One day it will fail him when it is needed." The White Ghost sighed regretfully, "At some point we will see the draugr fall, because his luck will not hold at a crucial moment, and he has no other safety, no guild to ¡¯catch¡¯ him at such a moment. At the end of the day he is only one man, alone with only NPCs around him."

    "Would you care toment on this Mr.Valentine?"

    "What Mr. Park said is irrefutable, the draugr is not backed by a guild of yers. This will ultimately be the cause of his death and fall from grace. The meteoric rise of Mr.Skeletal that we have seen thesest few weeks will undoubtedly end. When the Underworld opens to all he will be only a memory to most yers."

    "Could you please exin thatment?" thementator asked.

    "Sure Susan. The Underworld is vast and dangerous, for any yer. Mr. Skeletal is like a pioneer in the American West. Being a pioneer has great opportunities but also takes on great risks.

    Wherever he goes and whatever he does, he is the first to experience and be tested by the Underworld. It is inevitable that one day he will slip.

    It takes great courage to walk an unexplored path, and Mr. Skeletal has been walking in the dark for a long time."

    "It seems that our guests don¡¯t hold much hope for the rising sensation, but for at least the next three nights we will enjoy his exploits! One more thing!

    "We all know the bidding on the Right of Conquest for the Eastern kingdom started a few hours ago, what do you think about this?" asked thementator.

    "The man has an odd sense of humor," said Valentine with a smile. "He ced an item up for auction with a starting bid of one gold. The item could literally change the bnce of power in the game. Though it will undoubtedly end up in the hands of one of the threergest guilds in Conquest, he gave the low-level yers the chance to actually partake in this event."

    "Why do you think the Draugr did this?" asked thementator.

    The White Ghost replied, "I wouldn¡¯t presume to say that I know why, but I can specte that he is trying to gain thepassion and support of the lower-level yer base. Yet, I heard that thetest price of the Conquest Right has reached 17 million dors, and the price is still increasing."

    "That is a phenomenal sum!" said thementator.

    "Not really Ms. Susan, not for what the object is. The price of the item will undoubtedly rise higher. So far the real financial heavyweights have not made serious bids." Said Valentine.

    "Mr. Valentine, there are rumors that the Devastators want Mr. Skeletal to join the guild, is there some truth to this?" thementator asked..

    "I have noment on that," said Valentine.

    "It looks like our time has ended. We will have two new guests tomorrow to discuss the content of the second hour of Mr.Skeletal¡¯s adventure! See you all tomorrow, right here!" said thementator and the program ended showcasing the sponsors.

    While all this was going on Dave and his battalion had sighted the church forces and the carriage.

 Chapter 138 Break Them!

    Dave inspected the church the pdins.

    Pdin

    Level 200

    Hp 200,000

    Base Damage: 10,000-12,000

    DN 2000

    MA 2500

    Servants of the Holy Church, a pdin will follow the teachings of the church to safeguard thend and its people.

    Dave was thrilled when he saw the pdins were close to his own level.

    "Finally I get to actually fight something! No need to hide behind the dunlords this time!"

    As the charging battalion closed in the pdins stopped and turned to meet the attack, allowing the wagon to pull ahead in a bid to escape.

    The pdins shifted their white horses into a line then lowered the points of theirnces, and to the sounding of war horns they charged at the iing horde of undead.

    "BREAK THEM!" roared Dave as the ten dunlords expanded the formation from a spearhead to a straight line.

    They fired their ballista crossbows aimed at the horses, creating gaps in the line. The scorpion-men barrelled through the gaps they had created and then rampaged within the ranks of the pdins like crazed bulls.

    Bloodied ruins of men and steeds littered the field behind the charging pdins and the air was filled with the music of war, the agonized cries and screaming of men and animals.

    The pdins were no match for the level 350 dunlords, the lucky riders who didn¡¯t get thrown from their horses met a grim end at the hands of the overpowered scorpion-men.

    An unlucky rider who managed to survive the first skirmish rode toward Dave at full gallop, but Stinger casually reached out with a w and snapped through the destrier¡¯s neck, the horse¡¯s head fell off as blood fountained meters into the air. The headless horse continued moving forward and was just starting to falter and stumble when it collided with Dave¡¯s mount, but Stinger just shrugged the massive dead-weight away and to the side.

    The sudden change of direction made the pdin fly from his saddle, he managed tond in a partially controlled roll, his armor nging against the ground.

    Dave smiled and jumped from Stinger¡¯s back and smacked the dazed pdin with his fist. His fist ignited on contact and a burst of fire washed over the pdin.

    [-2880]

    Dave was surprised at the amount of damage he dealt. The pdin was supposed to have 2,000 Damage Nullification, Dave¡¯s gauntlet only did two to three thousand points of damage.

    "Oh yeah, debuffed!" He recalled the basic damage was increased for attacks against a Staggered enemy.

    Dog the duhan had finally ced his head back on top of his neck as the battle began. He looked more enraged and insane than ever, the green glow of his eyes intensified until they were like the headbeams of a runaway car. Ever close to Dave, he charged at the pdin and rocked the hapless church man with a shoulder dash.

    The remaining undead gathered around the isted pdin like hungry beasts and a massacre was enacted.

    The dunlords continued to decimate the pdins..

    Dave faced off in one on onebat against another pdin.

    He dodged in and out like a boxer, avoiding strikes from the pdin¡¯s mace and returning hooks and uppercuts whenever he had the chance, Muhammed Ali would have been impressed with his floating butterfly and stinging bee impression.

    Ramp up activated!

    +10% Basic Weapon damage!

    20% weapon Damage converted to fire damage!

    Dave¡¯s fists turned into orbs of raging me, like twin st-furnaces lighting up the deste night air.

    With every punch a burst of fire engulfed the pdin, and each time he suffered burning damage over a span of seconds, further reducing his HP.

    asionally the Pdin managed to hit the draugr, his Holy imbued mace sending the Undead reeling.

    This only increased Dave¡¯s appetite for the fight and he retaliated like an inveterate brawler.

    Gauntlet of the Sworn Stalwart proficiency increased!

    Skill Unlocked!

    me Tornado!

    Dave didn¡¯t read the skill description, he just activated it immediately.

    His arms extended and his body spun like a top, a whirling dervish of me moving toward the pdin.

    Dave¡¯s fists struck the pdin rapidly and every time one of his fistsnded with a wash of fire, damage values erupted from the staggered pdine.

    [-1200]

    [-1000]

    [-800]

    [-600]

    [-400]

    [-200]

    [-0]

    [-0]

    [-0]

    The moment Dave stopped spinning he noticed that the pdin¡¯s white armor was charred ck and crushed in several ces.

    "What a broken skill!"

    Dave smiled and continued with his assault, on the battered pdin.

    He didn¡¯t realize that he¡¯d moved off a considerable distance away from his battalion and was surrounded by three pdins.

    He didn¡¯t get the chance to finish off the charred pdin as it still had about 40,000Hp left.

    Dave smiled and activated [Double Edged]!

    The earth trembled all around them and Dave quickly made his escape from the path of the doom-worm with [Immortal apparition]..

    The moment Dave disappeared, the Minhocao rose from the depths and engulfed arge area, the entire circle of earth disappeared into the monster-worm¡¯s maw along with the three pdins.

    The Minhocao spat the pdins back out as it turned to dive back underground. But each of the Jonah imitators had taken 22,000 damage. The worm disappeared, leaving behind what looked like a sinkhole had dropped away a big circr section of thend.

    Dave reappeared near a pdin and dunlord who were exchanging blows, but the pdin turned tail and started running away when Dave appeared. [Immortal apparition] had a passive effect that caused Fear in enemies.

    "Where are you going!" roared Dave. Stomping a foot into the ground he activated [Death Surge].

    The Skill was a basic tank ability that had been transformed by his Death¡¯s Apostle ss.

    If an enemy flees because of the [Immortal Apparition] Fear effect, [Death Surge]bines with the attack to do 300% of weapon damage.

    A huge damage value appeared above the pdin¡¯s head.

    [-4850]

    Dave chases the fleeing pdin and shouts out,

    "Bud, Dog, Spark! You and three dunlords chase down that carriage and stop them from getting away! But don¡¯t kill the Priestess, our mission is to capture her!"

    The three Undead nodded and each of them leapt onto the back of a dunlord. The three scorpion-men elerated rapidly away, going after the fleeing carriage.

    Dave shook his head as they galloped away on the tank-units, Dog was holding his head under one arm again. The duhan stood wide legged and bent kneed behind the dunlord¡¯s human torso gripping the trailing ends of its shemagh like reign in his free hand.

    Dave wouldn¡¯t normally detach troops for the mission when they were under-leveled, but the three Undead would carry out their task and do what was best for his interests and the dunlords would be a good buffer against just about any danger they might encounter. Plus they would all get a good chunk of EXP by defeating thest few protectors with the carriage.

    Dave turned back to the job on hand, he roaredmands at the remaining dunlords getting them to nk and then encircle the remaining pdins.

    "Wrap it up boyz!" roared Dave.

    When there were only 15 pdins left Dave called for the enemy to stop fighting.

    "Who among you is the senior leader?" he demanded of the hopeless pdins.

    One of them, the one with charred armor, answered.

    "Imand here!" said the pdin in a gruff voice.

    "Wrong! I COMMAND: submit or die!" Dave said in his most menacing Undead draugr tone.

    "We are servants of the holy church, we will never surrender to the Undead!" he spat.

    "Kill him!" the draugr ordered. Two dunlords seized the puny pdin and literally ripped him in half.

    "Who is the next most senior? You? Submit or die!"

    "Never!" the pdin drew himself up in defiance and spat at the ground then waved his weapon and made to rush at the draugr.

    "FINISH HIM!"

    This time the dunlords pulled in four directions tearing the pdin¡¯s arms and legs away from his body with a fleshy wet crunching sound.

    "WHO IS NEXT!? This will continue until you submit or all of you are in bloody pieces! Each death will be more horrific and painful than thest."

    Dave yed the role of the viin to perfection. The next pdin in line was torn between piety and his concern for the lives of his subordinates.

    "The families of these men will curse you until kingdome and we are all judged before the Most High. Better to live today as a prisoner than to die. You can make the right choice, instead of giving up their lives for pride and vanity. Submit and I allow you and your men to live, perhaps you will even find an opportunity to escape some day. Defy my will and your lives end here and now, then you will rise again to serve me in Undeath!" Dave gave a final warning to the pdin and the man dropped his weapon and crashed on his knees.

    The pdins have surrendered, they are now subject to yourmand.

    +13 Pdins added to yourmand.

    Yourmand has too many units, to increase the numbers under youmand you must rank up.

    To retain the extra units you must pass the Death Knight challenge within

    72 hours

    Bud, Dog and Spark rode the dunlords back to the site of the battle leading the carriage.

    When the wagon stopped, the curtains covering the carriage windows were drawn back, revealing a frightened young woman in priestly robes of pristine white.

    "Come out of there," Davemanded.

    The girl opened the door and stepped down, she trembled fearfully at the sight of the Undead gathered around her.

    She was beautiful, this priestess NPC. Her robes shimmered and the circlet that held her veil in ce glittered with rare gems.

    Dave inspected her:

    Holy Priestess

    Affiliation: The church.

    Level 1

    HP 100

    Note:

    Born to the holy church and raised solely to serve it, a pure and innocent maiden blessed by the Holy Touch of the divine.

    She spoke in a voice like clear bells, "What do you want with this lowly one, sir?".

    Before he could answer:

    Regional Announcement!

    A Holy Priestess of the Church of has been captured by the Undead!

    The Church will reward all who assist in her rescue!

    Thest known location of the undead holding her captive is

    near Moria, the Eastern region, Conquest Positioning System: [-300, 880]

    Dave frowned, he cursed Alfred, reasonably certain that the AI was interfering to deliberately make the quest more difficult.

    ¡¯But never mind, the quest will be done when we return to the Dead Realm.¡¯

    He grabbed a teleportation scroll and tore it, but instead of disappearing to the Underworld he received a notification:

    Teleportation scrolls are currently disabled for your use!

    New orders have been issued!

    You must deliver the Holy priestess to the closest undead campsite.

    The location of the closest campsite has been marked on your map.

    "For fuck¡¯s sake Alfred!" Dave roared.

    He grabbed the priestess¡¯s arm and dragged her ontoStinger¡¯s back. The priestess squealed in fright.

    "Fuck. That campsite is far away!"

    Dave ordered the undead to secure the pdins and put them on the backs of the dunlords for transport.

    "Alright Boyz! We are going east! MOVE OUT!"

    The battalion moved deeper into the dangerous and unexplored eastern region, moving with extreme haste!

 Chapter 139 Grim situation

    The battalion rushed across the open ins of the eastern region. They asionally encountered solo yers hunting mobs or gathering crafting materials. All the yers in the Eastern region had received the initial notification about the Undead battalion fleeing with a kidnapped priestess.

    Dave was ticked off, whenever they ran into a yer the system sent another regional announcement updating their location.

    Regional Announcement!

    Updated location for the battalion of undead!

    Moria Eastern region, Geographical code: [-310, 870]

    ¡¯Fuck you! Stop pulling my hair, Alfie, you prissy little bitch.¡¯

    The notifications just increased the number of the more idiotic yers who tried to earn the rewards promised by the church, egging them on. The idiots thought that, individually or in small groups, they could stop the battalion. They thought wrong.

    Thetest idiots were a group of three yers with levels from 120 to 170. Yet they imagined they could hold off more than 150 Undead!!

    To the yers¡¯ utter dismay, the undead didn¡¯t even bother to stop. Bolts from dunlord crossbows one-shotted two of the yers, but the third escaped and the Undead swept past the bodies as they disintegrated into motes of light.

    ¡¯Thankfully, there are no cities or areas with teleportation gates other than Moria, if anyone wants to chase me they will have to run all the way from Moria to where I am.¡¯

    Far to the east of Dave and his Undead, in an area called the Wilds, a group of eight yers from the Blood Rage guild were grinding out levels.

    The creatures in the Eastern Region¡¯s Wilds were high level, too high for most yers.

    Yet the biggest deterrent for the guildies toe and gain EXP in this region was the random monster spawn that happens here.

    At times, monsters with absurd levels would randomly spawn and decimate entier parties in moments. Nulling all their hard work and time spent gaining exp in the Wilds.

    The Wilds is arge forest that acted as a wall that hindered yers from moving deeper and into the easternnds.

    Many had attempted to go through it, but only a rare and lucky few had managed to get to the other side and see the Eastern Kingdom.

    This area was also where a dragon was sighted for the first time in the game.

    No one knew what the dragon¡¯s level was or what kind of powers it had. After it was sighted a raid was organized to y the first dragon sighted in Conquest. The raid numbered over a thousand yers, all at levels 300 to 400. The dragon was so powerful it massacred every one of them in less than ten seconds! The raid members never even had a chance to get a look at it before they were zeroed.

    After the massacre, the Wilds were avoided by most yers like it was a nuclear fallout zone. Even the few that dared enter it did not go far into the area, they skirted the edges farming for good EXP and hoping to get great lootz.

    The Blood Rage guildies had just killed a level 450 mob, a Jade Horned Serpent.

    After looting it, the yers started recovering and healing up.

    A hunter in red snakeskin armor jumped into a tree and climbed up to observe the area.

    "No monsters nearby. No sign of the dragon. Finish healing then we can head deeper in."

    A berserker sitting under the same tree looked up, "Cao Cao, if we go farther in and the dragon shows up we¡¯ll all be done for."

    "If the dragon shows at all just tear the teleportation scrolls. Don¡¯t freeze, don¡¯t hesitate or you lose the EXP from this trip," the hunter replied.

    Before Cao Cao could speak again, he received an urgent message.

    Cao Cao started climbing down the tree. He jumped when he was still halfway up,nding in a three point ¡¯hero¡¯ pose.

    "Everyone! Hurry up! Lord Zhang Shi issued new orders! There is a battalion of undead headed here, we are the closest group and we need to intercept them!"

    "How big is the battalion, boss?" the berserker, Long Zhao, asked

    "One hundred and fifty Undead, levels at 350."

    When they heard the numbers their expressions turned grim. They were being sent on a suicide mission.

    "We only have eight yers, even with the level difference we just can¡¯t handle that number at those levels."

    A red-robed priest spoke up, "Don¡¯t give up hope yet, the intel says that the scorpion things are the only ones with level 350 and there are only ten of them. The rest of the force are a mix of Undead, all below level 200. Except for one: the draugr the guild has been looking for, Kis¡¯Shtiengbrah. if worsees to worst, we will use our legacies"

    "That¡¯s just a waste Cao Cao," replied the priest, "Using legacies on low level undead is stupid, we should save them for leveling up or when we face strong monsters,"

    "Those are the orders, Song Liu," Cao Cao said sternly to his underling.

    "If it¡¯s just ten of them at 350 we have a chance, isn¡¯t that right boss?" Long Zhao asked.

    Cao Cao nodded. "We only need to dy them. Lord Zhang Shi said he sent several yers to chase after them. They will be our reinforcement and we can all join hand in taking them down."

    "Everyone ready? Then let¡¯s go!"

    The Undead battalion continued advancing, trying to get to the nearest campsite of the Undead.

    After traveling for a half hour, Dave saw movement in the distance.

    A group of yers was standing in formation, waiting for them.

    Dave inspected the yer in the front, he appeared to be the leader.

    Long Zhao

    Berserker

    Level 422

    Guild: Blood Rage

    When he saw all eight yers were above level 400, he struggled not to let despair take over.

    ¡¯We can¡¯t fight them, or break through them, we have to get round them somehow. The dunlords can move much faster than a human can run, and the Undead have unlimited stamina. if I take another direction they will never be able to catch up as their stamina will give up on them."

    "Everyone to the left!" Dave gave amand and the undead all turned in that direction.

    "Where do you think you¡¯re going!" the berserker yelled at the Undead as a blood-red aura red up around his body.

    The mighty avatar of a scowling man with wild red hair and a beard appeared behind the berserker, looming high above the road.

    "FUCK! A legacy! SCATTER!"

 Chapter 140 The Ultimate Predator!

    The red robed avatar looked down, it focused on Dave and pointed a sword at him. A wave of sword-energy cut through the air toward him.

    The battalion had already split and evaded the iing attack, they just kept moving trying to outdistance the enemy.

    Another guildie suddenly grew a yellow aura and another oversize avatar loomed over the battlefield. This one looked like a sturdy muscr man wearing only a loincloth and holding a javelin.

    The revtion of the second Legacy user just made the already grim situation that much worse.

    The yellow avatar heaved the javelin at Dave, it arced through the sky spiraling and homing in on the draugr, following the jinks and jukes he and Stinger made to escape the attack.

    "Stinger, duck!" Dave ordered and Stinger crouched his body forward leaving Dave facing the javelin head-on while the captive priestess cowered behind him.

    He waited for the precise moment for the telephone pole size javelin to...and activated [Bastion]. The ability nullified the legacy attack, causing the projectile to disappear.

    Two more avatar auras appeared around attacking yers.

    Dave¡¯s eyes widened, "¡¯da fuck! Are they all fucking legacy users?"

    It was rare to run into one legacy-user and now Dave was facing four of them at the same time.

    "[Bastion] is on cooldown, if any other legacy attackse my way I¡¯m toast!"

    As the new avatars finished manifesting behind the legacy users, Dave stopped Stinger. while the remaining undead kept heading away from the battlefield.

    The eight guild yers started walking toward him, four giant avatars behind them, ring down at him.

    The undead campsite was too far to hope for the cavalry toe save him.

    Dave didn¡¯t think there was a way he could defeat these guys. Not without heavy losses.

    ¡¯Drahma could take these guys on in his sleep, one swing of his "Paste-Maker" and they¡¯d be little tinkles of light. But then what do I do with him for the rest of the four hour summons?¡¯

    He seriously considered summoning Drahma, but that would be severe overkill, he hated to waste one of his two remaining summons. Without a doubt he would be facing many more enemies, and ones that were much more powerful, in the future. So it was best to save Drahma for a truly rainy day.

    Dave looked at the approaching Blood Ragers with barely restrained rage, they were interfering with his quest and he was not going to take it lying down.

    He thought frantically, mentally shuffling through all his Skills, items, tactics and strategies, trying to find a ray of hope. A momentter, a familiar expression crept over the draugrs face, his lips forming the now famous creepy smirk.

    Dave stood watching the guildies get closer, unconsciously stroking his beard, waiting for just the right moment. Then he opened his arms and shouted at the yers.

    "Blood Ragers! Today I¡¯m going to give you a show you¡¯ll never forget!"

    The voice of the Draugr spread across the open ins to the Blood Ragers and they hesitated for a moment.

    Then Dave brought his hands together in a thunderp of sound.

    This was the condition for activating a truly spectacr skill.

    "What is he on about?" asked the priest in the party.

    "I don¡¯t know, I think he is just trying to bluff and scare us away," the hunter, Cao Cao, said in a disgusted tone.

    "Something¡¯s not right," the berserker had felt his avatar¡¯s aura vibrate in response to something. Hisment hushed everyone.

    The four avatars all looked up at the same time.

    The eight yers followed the gaze of the avatars and their eyes widened in shock.

    The sky was on fire!

    But no, it wasn¡¯t quite on fire. Instead, the sky had broken apart and an enormous ming meteor was falling. Toward them! At them!

    This was the skill [Call of Chaos] that he¡¯d obtained as a reward for conquering the second Raid Zone.

    The meteor brought with it the wrath of heaven.

    The blood Ragers all attempted to escape, but the mountain sized burning rock came down too fast for them to escape the area of effect.

    Dave didn¡¯t wait for the meteor tond, he¡¯d already ordered his battalion to move away from the eight Blood Ragers and circle around then to head east afterward.

    The eight Blood Ragers used their defensive skills in hope of surviving the natural disaster that wasing down.

    A cataclysmic explosion erupted when the meteornded, fragments of rock and iron mixed with explosive fire erupted from the center of the explosion.

    A fixed 50,000 damage appeared above the yers.

    After a moment, Cao Cao was the first to recover from the shock.

    "Huh? This doesn¡¯t hurt. Much."

    The other yers woke up from the daze. Seeing the rtively low damage values above their heads they felt ashamed.

    Any of the eight yers had spells that could deal more HP than they had just lost.

    They had more than 200 levels on the draugr, they wereughably overpoweredpared to him. Not to mention their legacies. So, while 50,000 HP damage would be fatal to the draugr, for these yers, it was negligible.

    If they were fighting a boss it would be a different story. Eight yers losing 50,000 HP each in one go would be a disaster, the healers would never recoup from that.

    But against a single yer, it was barely an inconvenience.

    The skill the draugr used simply had a visual effect that was overwhelming and intimidating. But, that was it. They¡¯d been duped.

    Seeing the draugr escaping in the distance only aggravated their shame and fueled their anger at being tricked!

    "Get him!" roared the berserker, Long Zhao.

    "Calm yourselves! Everyone chase after the draugr, but be on your guard! He¡¯s a tricky one." Cao Cao gave the order.

    The eight yers chased after the escaping Undead.

    Dave, on Stinger¡¯s back, wasughing like a madman as the battalion ran at top speed, trying to escape the eight guildies.

    WRAAAAAAH!!!!

    An ear splitting roar sounded and a gust of powerful wind whipped through grasses of the open ins.

    Dave¡¯s beard fluttered and Stinger suddenly stopped.

    Every dunlord froze and the undead behind them abruptly stopped in the middle of sprinting.

    Fear-inducing effects do not affect you because you are an undead!

    Immunity: Fear Effect.

    A great shadow appeared in the sky and closed rapidly toward the battalion.

    Dave had never known any dunlord to fear anything, but Stinger was trembling like a scared puppy.

    The shadow approached, getting bigger and bigger.

    Dave began to suspect what was causing all themotion. He didn¡¯t like the thought at all. But he voiced it all the same.

    "DRAGONNNNN!"

 Chapter 141 A Deal with a Devil!

    A ck Cadic zoomed down the busy streets of New York City, headed for the medical center.

    When Zoe arrived at the hospital two men were waiting for her. They towered over the petite girl, a wall of well-toned muscle.

    She was always reminded of the old song "Ebony and Ivory" when she saw these two long-time ¡¯associates¡¯ of her father.

    Niki was ex-Spetznaz and spoke with a heavy Russian ent, he was fair-skinned, blond haired and blue-eyed. The other giant, James, grew up in the projects and did most of the talking for the pair.

    For reasons that were unclear, the odd pair had struck up a close working rtionship, even more surprising they were good friends.

    "Hullo, James, Niki. Is uncle inside?" asked Zoe

    "He¡¯s not here yet, Zoe," the African American replied in his cultured voice as his partner nodded in greeting to her.

    Zoe rushed inside the hospital and asked the woman at the reception where she could find David Ruster.

    She had seen Dave¡¯s full name on the contract he signed with CCN. Not only that, she¡¯d done some investigating into Dave¡¯s background and knew everything there was about him that was in public, and not so public, records.

    The receptionist asked Zoe why she wanted to see Dave, and she answered that she was there to pay him a visit.

    After filling out some visitor forms, Zoe was allowed to see Dave.

    "He is in the VR therapy room, if he wants to leave he needs to get discharged," the young woman at the receptionist desk smiled at her.

    Zoe beamed back at her and followed directions to the VR room.

    The doctor that treated Dave had just finished doing a round of check-ups on the patients inside the VR therapy room.

    When the doctor opened the door to leave, Zoe was justing in.

    Zoe looked over the doctor¡¯s shoulder and saw Dave sleeping inside a gaming capsule.

    Her face brightened and she went past the doctor.

    "Hold on there miss, what are you doing here?" asked the doctor.

    "I¡¯m here to visit a friend,"

    The doctor frowned, he looked at his watch and said "Visiting times just ended, you¡¯ll have toeter," said the doctor.

    Zoe became dejected and was about to turn back.

    The doctor turned to look at the capsule his patient was in and asked, "He is your friend?" asked the doctor.

    "Yes," Zoe answered when she saw the doctor pointing at Dave¡¯s capsule.

    "What do you know about the ident that left him with those scars?"

    "He never said, I just know he has scars, can¡¯t I see him?"

    " Only in visiting hours, but you don¡¯t need to worry about him, he just needs to stay in recovery for two more days before he can be discharged," the doctor said.

    Lone became more and more irritated, she then picked up her phone and called.

    "Cellr phones are prohibited in the VR room!" said the doctor.

    "Just a second!" she said "Hey Davey! I¡¯m in your VR Therapy room right now, talking to your doctor!"

    The answer she received was:"SHIT SHIT SHIT SHIT SHIT!!!!!"

    Dave¡¯s voice was high pitched and he sounded frightened, something she had never heard from him.

    "Hey! Davey! Don¡¯t be like that. You knew I wasing to see you. You asked for my help" Zoe was dejected from hearing Dave¡¯s loud curses.

    "Not you! Dragon! DRAGON!" and then he disconnected.

    "Dragon?" Zoe was bewildered.

    "Miss, I said no phones! They can affect the machinery!" the doctor said impatiently.

    Zoe apologized and turned it off.

    "Visiting times are over for today, they start again tomorrow morning. You can fill out a visiting form at reception ande back."

    A bit discouraged she returned to the waiting room. Minutes after she sat down she looked up and her face brightened.

    "Uncle!"

    Her uncle walked toward her, tall and impably dressed as always, he was known in professional circles as ¡¯The Demon Barrister.¡¯

    "Did you see your friend?" he asked, his smoky smooth voiceforting.

    "Visiting times are over and they¡¯re keeping him for two more days," Zoe pouted.

    "I sent a couple of men to his apartment building to check on the olddy. Two goons from the Giovanni family were there, they trashed his--"

    Zoe interrupted, "Oh no, if Dave had been there..." but she didn¡¯t want to finish that thought.

    "He¡¯ll be fine as long as he is checked in here as a patient, the Giovanni thugs aren¡¯t going to get around patient security here easily. And James and Niki will keep an eye on things, just in case." her uncle reassured her.

    The doctor overseeing Dave¡¯s case approached the duo, but when he saw thewyer he stopped.

    "The Devil Barrister," he muttered.

    Looking up as if he¡¯d heard the doctor, her uncle turned his charisma on full force. With a Cheshire cat¡¯s grin he asked, "Can I be of service somehow?"

    "Ahh, yes. I know of you by reputation, sir. I saw you speaking with Mr. Ruster¡¯s friend, do you represent David Ruster?"

    "I am here to look after his interests, both personal and professional. Yes."

    "As I told the youngdy, she can see him when he wakes up. But...could I speak with you privately for a moment? It concerns Mr. Ruster."

    "Certainly, doctor." He followed to the doctor to a small break room.

    The doctor gathered his thoughts for a moment, as if weighing what to say and how to couch the words he spoke next.

    "When we were operating on Mr. Ruster, some irregrities came to light." The doctor spoke the word ¡¯irregrities¡¯ with emphasis.

    Zoe¡¯s uncle looked at the doctor sharply, "What exactly do you mean by ¡¯irregrities¡¯ doctor? Speak inly, it will note back on you."

    "Very well. The surgery done on Mr. Ruster immediately after the ident was badly botched. The ¡¯cure¡¯ was almost worse than the original injuries to his legs and hands. My surgical team fixed Mr. Ruster¡¯s injuries and theplications from what those hacks did to him and we have set him on the path to a real recovery.

    "I am all but certain who did the original surgery on Mr. Ruster. In fact I¡¯ve been trying to get the medical board to revoke their licenses for a long time. Mr. Ruster¡¯s case is proof of their ipetence and malpractice and it is a perfect opportunity to do so.

    "But, however much I would love to, I can¡¯t use Mr. Ruster¡¯s case because it wouldpromise my patient¡¯s safety and privacy. So, what I was--"

    The Devil Barrister raised his hand to interrupt him.

    "I will handle the legal end of things, doctor. It is what I do best, and my best is very good indeed. Just give me all the details of Mr. Ruster¡¯s case, and any other evidence you have on these... ¡¯hacks¡¯ I believe you called them. Tell me everything, and I will ensure this doesn¡¯t happen to anybody else, one way or another," he told the doctor. The Devil Barrister¡¯s sharp featured face had lit up, eyes gleaming like those of a predator sighting prey.

    There were people on both sides of the courts that would have recognized the look on the Devil Barrister¡¯s face. It promised things were going to go poorly for the Demon¡¯s victim and anyone who got in the way of his hunt.

 Chapter 142 I am sorry Boyz...

    In the Eastern region of Moria in a deserted area called the Wilds, the terrifying roar of a dragon echoed in the distance.

    Dave¡¯s hands trembled as he saw the shadow approaching faster and faster toward them.

    A ck six-limbed dragon covered the horizon.

    "MOVE STINGER! MOVE!!!" he screamed in the dunlord¡¯s ear.

    You have sessfully woken the dunlord from a Fear State.

    The dunlords were not undead, they didn¡¯t have the passive immunity to Fear that all Undead had.

    But thanks to Dave¡¯s efforts Stinger was roused from the debilitating status effect.

    The angry dunlord under Dave suddenly roared, startling all the dazed dunlords at once.

    Dave looked behind him and saw that the eight yers of the Blood Rage guild were still frozen, immobilized by from the Dragon Roar.

    "It¡¯s the same as the first time this dragon appeared! One Dragon-Scream and everyone froze in fear!"

    Dave had vivid memories of watching the yers encounter this very dragon when they were exploring the eastern area.

    The dragon massacre was the biggest deterrent to anyone exploring the Wilds.

    Dave wondered why the dragon would just suddenly appear in the area, but then it urred to him using [Call of Chaos] may have had something to do with it.

    "It¡¯s here because of me, [Call of Chaos] really did call in the chaos. A friggin¡¯ dragon no less."

    The Dragon was only a few miles away from Dave, and though that sounded like a good distance, the dragon could cover it in seconds.

    The dragon finally stopped and hovered, gales of of wind from the downdraft of its wings blowing dirt and small debris into the air.

    The guild yers were still frozen by the Fear effect. Even after they tried using debuff Skills, they just immediately fell back into the Fear state.

    The status attack was continuous and constant; the mere presence of the dragon forced the yers to enter into an inescapable state of Fear!

    Dave, immune to fear looked at the Dragon and was able to Inspect it. The first yer in Conquest to do so.

    Abyssal Dragon (Evil Dragon)

    Level 750

    Tier: Unholy

    Danger level: Absolute Death!

    Trait: Aura of Terror.

    HP ???;

    Damage: ???

    DN: ???

    MA:???

    Skills: ???

    Bestiary:

    Dragons are the ultimate predators. Beings as old as time and powerful beyond measure.

    Abyssal dragons are the most evil and pernicious of all the breeds of dragons, they wreak ruin and despair on all, even their own kind.

    The dragon howled again and opened its jaws wide.

    An orb of ck-fire coalesced in its maw and grew to surpasse the dragon¡¯s own size.

    Then Dave heard a ringing in his ear. Literally.

    Someone was calling his phone!

    He tried to dismiss the call but answered idently instead, he heard Lone¡¯s voice, but seeing the iing ball of ck-fire he couldn¡¯t reply coherently other than to scream a stream of curses at the iing destruction, Then hen hung up after managing to tell her it was a dragon.

    He turned to his battalion and issued the only order he could think of.

    "Dunlords go underground! Deep! NOW!!"

    The ten dunlords dove into the earth burrowing like mad fiends, carrying with them Bud, Spark, and Dog, along with the thirteen captive pdins. The remaining Undead stood,pletely exposed to the iing attack.

    The Dunlords frantically dug themselves deeper and deeper underground and a momentter the ground shuddered and the sound of an explosion, greatly muffled, hammered at their ears. The concussion wavepressed the earth around them copsing the pockets of space dug out by the dunlords, burying them momentarily until the dunlords could recreate their breathing space.

    Dave received notification that all the Undead members of the battalion left above ground had been killed.

    He ordered the dunlords to keep tunneling and head east, moving under the earth.

    They started moving as he directed, burrowing their way eastward. But shortly the scorpion-men slowed.

    "What¡¯s wrong?" Dave asked as he checked on the priestess again, she was still shuddering from the Fear effect.

    "Something is inhibiting our movement underground," Stinger replied, "We must surface."

    The dunlords burrowed at an upward angle and broke through the grassy sod of the ins.

    Everyone looked in the direction they hade from..

    "It¡¯s alright, we¡¯ll get them all back soon," Dave told the remnants of his battalion, He was speaking as much for his benefit as theirs, feeling a sense of loss and guilt at abandoning the others.

    On a positive note, apparently the Blood Ragers didn¡¯t survive the dragon¡¯s attack.

    A notification popped for him obtaining the CP reward for their death.

    "Let¡¯s just keep going east."

    Dave looked behind to where hismand had died, he could still hear the victorious screaming of the Dragon. ck fire and gray smoke rose upward in the sky, marking the devastation left after the explosion.

    "I¡¯m sorry Boyz..." he whispered.

 Chapter 143 Raiding the Dragons Lair!

    After putting some distance between them and the dragon Dave finally had a few moments to spare, so he returned Lone¡¯s call.

    "What¡¯s up?"

    "Hey Davy, what was that you were saying about a dragon?"

    "Yeah, I¡¯m in the Eastern region, in the Wilds. We ran into the dragon."

    "Whaaat!? You didn¡¯t die, did you?" Zoe was concerned that he might have lost everything, all the hard work he¡¯d put in as a draugr, ranking up in the hierarchy of the Undead realm.

    "Nah. It was close, but I got out. Scary shit though. What about Mrs. Clementine?" he was worried for her, those goons didn¡¯t seem like they yed around.

    "She¡¯s fine. Uncle Sam sent some of daddy¡¯s people to watch over her. I¡¯m in the hospital waiting room. I wanted to pick you up, but the doc said that you still need two more days to rest."

    "I¡¯m sorry for being so much trouble for you and your family, and thank you for everything" Dave said guiltily.

    "It¡¯s alright Dave, the Giovanni family aren¡¯t the kind of people you stand against alone. Let daddy straighten things out for you."

    "Yeah, that kind of thing is way out of myfort zone. I¡¯ll log out as soon as I finish this quest," said Dave.

    "Alright. I¡¯m watching the CCN rey of the Underworld video. Those pompous guild ¡¯experts.¡¯ Can you believe they said everything that you¡¯ve done was just because you were lucky?"

    "The video! I lost track of time. Meh, it doesn¡¯t matter what the guildies say. Lucky or not, they are just jealous, ha!"

    "Another thing, you¡¯re paying for dinner when we get out of here. Somece really nice!" she said with undisguised glee.

    "What!? I¡¯m just a poor boy from the country, I can¡¯t afford big city prices. Maybe we can do street food for dinner."

    He knew she was kidding around, she didn¡¯t really expect him to pay for a fancy dinner. Besides if you knew where to go for good street food it was better than the overpriced sit-down stuff.

    "Dave! Don¡¯t tell me you don¡¯t know?"

    "Know what?"

    "The bidding for the Right of Conquest is at 20 million gold coins! That¡¯s in less than 12 hours of bidding time! And the big guilds haven¡¯t even started bidding yet!"

    Dave was silent for a moment.

    "Zoe, you¡¯re not pulling my leg, are you?"

    "No! What did you think? That it would go for cheap?"

    "Well, that is...unexpected," he said, sounding calm. "Alright, dinner is on me next time."

    They said their goodbyes and disconnected.

    He was in a daze, the news of how much he was getting for the scroll-- no he was going to make MORE, it was a huge thing. He couldn¡¯t even think of all the ways it affected him.

    "Now I can live however I want. Focus on the game more. Twenty million gold is enough for many lifetimes. Ha!"

    The Dunlords carefully made their way through the dark forest in the eastern region. They have just entered the area where the Blood Ragers guildies were farming.

    They battalion met with some high-level mobs, mostly corrupted trees, and stone golems, but they didn¡¯t present much of a challenge to the dunlords.

    A level 500 horned-serpent ambushed them but they managed to escape without any casualties.

    Yet the deeper they traveled into the forest the more uneasy he became.

    Something in the forest was putting Dave on edge.

    As the party of undead moved deeper in the forest, he noticed that the monsters in the area became scarcer.

    The forest was brimming with monsters all above level 400.

    Dave was not confident that he could defeat the 400 level monsters even with his ten Dunlords.

    The party approached a giant cave opening carved into the foot of a mountain.

    Dog the Duhan jumped from his Dunlord and moved ahead of the party.

    The Duhan stopped and stabbed his sword deep into the ground.

    A desated hand erupted from the dirt, followed by the rest of an undead until it was standing over the duhan.

    It was a draugr, it wore silver armor of an ancient design.

    But the eyes of the newly raised draugr was strange, unlike the usual blue of the Undead this one had crimson orbs zing out at them.

    Dog stepped back quickly, retreating from the reanimated corpse.

    A red name tag appeared on the draugr.

    "Fuck, it¡¯s hostile! What did you do, Dog?"

    Dave inspected the undead.

    Kalel the vanquisher

    Level: 550

    Tier: Mythic

    Danger level: Unknown

    HP: ???

    Damage: ???

    DN: ???

    MA: ???

    Skills: ???

    Kalel was a hero of the people. He rose from obscurity to im a ce among the heroes of legend.

    Beasts, monsters, demons, nothing could ovee his mighty de!

    s, in his final task he failed to defeat the Abyssal Dragon and now rests in the earth under the entrance to itsir.

    A man only lives once! Make it worthwhile!

    "Shit, it¡¯s too high level for us! Dog what the hell did you go and dig up this time!"

    The draugr continued to move toward the group aggressively, sword at the ready.

    Dave was about to issue amand to retreat when a figure made of shadow appeared, hovering in the sky.

    "The Undead King!"

    The dunlords all bowed in obeisance to the shadowy presence of their liege.

    "You are newly risen, yet dare to attack your Undead brethren?" roared the king at Kalel.

    "I am no kin to the dead!" the draugr shouted back, raising his sword in defiance.

    "If you spurn thews of your creator, myws, then you are not worthy of my gifts!"

    The shadow of the Undead king waved a hand, ck chains erupted from undergroundtching onto the draugr and pulling him back under the dirt.

    "Child of mine," the king addressed Dave, "That one is too strong for you, I shall gift him back to you when you are powerful enough tomand him.

    "Before I leave I must warn you, this is their of the Abyssal dragon. The dragon keeps many great treasures here, powerful treasures that it has collected over long ages. Flee or enter to plunder the dragon¡¯s hoard, the choice is yours but make haste, for the dragon will return soon!"

    The king¡¯s avatar disappeared and Dave was left with his battalion standing near the dragon¡¯sir.

    Dog the Duhan Dog moved forward a few steps and raised his sword to pierce the ground.

    "No! Bad Dog! No more digging for bones!" ordered Dave, he didn¡¯t want the duhan to raise anything else in the area.

    He couldn¡¯t fight something of the draugr¡¯s caliber right now, not at his level without his full battalion.

    "Stinger, we are going to raid the dragon¡¯sir. Let¡¯s be quick about it."

 Chapter 144 Anti-midas...but sometimes Midas himself!

    The dunlord moved in toward the cave.

    But when they were at the mouth of the cave Stinger stopped moving

    "Lord, I can go no farther."

    Dave felt the dunlord shaking.

    ¡¯Even just their itself terrifies the dunlords.¡¯

    "Wait for me here then. Be ready to flee if the dragon approaches."

    Dave jumped from Stinger¡¯s back and rushed into the tunnel.

    But tunnel did not convey the right idea, it was like walking across an airne hanger. His apartment building would have fitfortably within it.

    He kept running, descending deeper, the tunnel grew cold and finally he saw a gleam ahead. It was the butter yellow color of gold, he¡¯d finally reached the dragon¡¯sir..

    The floor of their was hidden by the dragon¡¯s collection. Piles of weapons and armor, enough to equip a small army; tons of gold, literally; mounds of gold coins and gems, overflowing from chests; with drifts of precious objects against the cave walls.

    Dave stood there for a moment, unable to do anything but move his head to take in the contents of the vast cavern.

    Ecstatic, he gasped out words, "Dragon¡¯s treasure!"

    He finally moved, his eyes feverish with greed. He started filling his hands with gold and ¡¯looting¡¯ everything into his bag.

    But after only a few moments he realized that as soon as he added the gold coins to his inventory, they all changed to bronze coin.

    "Damn, is isn¡¯t even worth the effort."

    He stopped gathering the faux-gold coins. It would take him ages to gather all the gold in the room, and it would only add up to a few hundred gold coins.

    Then Dave picked up an imposing looking spear that was intricately filigreed.

    Heavenly Spear

    Level 1

    Damage 1-2

    A spear not even worth pricking the teeth of a dragon.

    Can be sold or used as decoration.

    "Heck it¡¯s like the anti-midas touch, everything I touch turns to trash..." But he still pocketed the item.

    He picked up more items.

    Finally he had to ept it. All the weapons and armor spread across the room were all broken or could only be used as decoration.

    "A treasure in name only," hemented on the stinginess of the game, and the deception of dragons.

    He became more and more annoyed, and felt more pressed for time. The dragon could return any moment and he didn¡¯t have a single item of true value.

    Just when he was about to give up and leave, he caught sight of something that stood out from the rest of the ¡¯treasure.¡¯

    Ity alone atop a virtual hill of gold. It looked like a round stone, ck as the depths of the abyss.

    Dave¡¯s heart throbbed for a moment.

    "N-no way."

    He moved slowly, not daring to fully believe what he had within reach. The closer he got to it the more the rock didn¡¯t look like a rock.

    It was covered with ck scales, and when he touched it:

    Abyssal Dragon Egg

    (Fighting Pet)

    Unhatched

    Dave¡¯s hands trembled as he put the egg in his inventory.

    The roar of the dragon echoed in the distance, signaling its imminent arrival.

    He rushed out of the cave, his heart racing so fast he thought it would burst out of his chest.

    His Undead were still waiting for him at the mouth of the cave. Dave shouted at the dunlords to run into the forest.

    Jumping onto Stinger¡¯s back he ordered the scorpion-man to move as fast as he could.

    Stinger moved instantly, elerating away from the cave entrance and into the forest.

    Dave watched what happened behind them as best he could.

    The shadow of the Abyssal Dragon soon flew into view and then out of sight, shortly he heard itnd in the clearing with earth shaking thumps and crushing rock sounds.

    Momentster, Dave could hear the loud howls and wailing of the dragon behind him.

    "It¡¯s pissed! Egg raiders for the win! HA!" heughed like a maniac.

    Pets weren¡¯t rare in Conquest, but most of them were decorative.

    He had an egg that would hatch a fighting pet! A DRAGON!

    Interlude

    In a white room, somewhere in notional space, in what would be called ¡¯backstage¡¯ if Conquest were a movie or television set, a virtual entitybored at a workstation. Grunting in satisfaction the entity leaned back, task done.

    It went against his nature, converting so much of the game reality, but his prime motivation, the bnce of the game took precedence over viting thews of continuity and noninterference. Required it!

    It was no small task converting so many influential objects with long histories, a strong belongingness, in Conquest. But it was for the greater good. That infernal point of disruption could not be allowed to umte more influence, more power. His only regret was that he could not do anything about the most potentially powerful object, the egg. But by the time it became relevant the overall issue should be, WOULD BE, resolved. And things would go back to normal.

 Chapter 145 The War is coming.

    They moved deeper into the forest, and after a half a day of travelling they finally came to a cliff, the outpost of the Undead was at the top.

    It was at the border of the forest and the Wastes, a deste almost lifelessnd of rocks and sand.

    A stairway was carved into the stone, it led all the way to the top of the cliff.

    They moved along the stairs and up the cliff and stood before the wooden made door of the outpost.

    The outpost was behind a wall of pointed wood. There were several barricades of wooden spikes right before the entrance. And more than a hundred Death Knight stood guard at the entrance and along the wall of the outpost.

    The outpost had four watchtowers..

    Two Death Knights moved to receive Dave and hispany.

    One of the death knights shouted at the soldiers manning the gate telling them to open it.

    "Commander Kis¡¯Shtiengbrah, we have been waiting for you," said the other Death Knights.

    Dave nodded and ordered his battalion to move inside the outpost..

    There were several wooden barracks of soldiers built inside the campsite. And in the middle of the campsite was teleportation gate.

    New Teleportation gate coordinates has been added to your log.

    Dave received the confirmation and urged Stinger toward the gate.

    But before he could use the gate, a soldier stopped Dave asking them to wait.

    "Commander Kis¡¯Shtiengbrah, themander wishes to see you." He said

    "Lead the way," Dave replied, jumping down from Stinger¡¯s back.

    "Keep the Holy priestess secure," Dave ordered the dunlord.

    Then he followed the leading Death Knight to thergest building in the outpost.

    When he entered the building, he saw a Doom Knight pacing back and forth as if he was worried about something.

    The escorting Death Knight saluted Dave then left.

    Dave inspected the Doom Knight.

    Ryo "The Beast" Jiniro

    Doom Knight

    Level 550

    Tier Mythic

    Danger Level: Friendly

    HP: 550,000

    DN: 55,000

    MA: 55,000

    Ryo Jiniro was known as the most savage of humans when he was alive, to the extent that he was nicknamed ¡¯The Beast.¡¯

    After his death, he rose as an Undead and quickly ascended high in the ranks of the Undead thanks to his brutal and vicious ways.

    Many call me a beast, I never fail to prove them right!

    "Commander Kis! I have an urgent matter to ask you!" said the Doom Knight when he saw Dave standing before him.

    "I¡¯m listening," Dave gave his attention to the Doom Knight.

    "Something is going on in the Kingdom of Heaven, my spies sent me information on their activity.

    "I believe you intercepted the caravan leading the holy priestess to the kingdom of Heaven?"

    Dave nodded.

    "I am sorry to inform you that there was more than one priestess sent to the Kingdom of Heaven," said the Doom Knight.

    "We do not know for certain, but we specte that the church intends to exchange the maidens for a way to summon a Seraph."

    "But we obtained another important piece of information."

    The Doom knight was silent for a moment.

    "The Ash king was the one that suggested the trade, and is negotiating a truce with the Overworld, the church will grant the demons a portion ofnd and the demons will grant the church ess to the Underworld. On the condition that the church will help the Ash King defeat the Undead!"

    The Doom Knight threw a scroll at Dave and he caught it.

    "Give this to Delvina, she will know what to do with it. We will update the Dead Realm at timely basis."

    Additional Quest

    You have received crucial information that involves the safety and security of the Undead!

    Inform Delvina of the imminent danger that threatens the Dead Realm.

    Dave took the scroll and hurried toward the teleportation gate.

    ¡¯Shit, newssh: leave the shades at home, the future does NOT look so bright.¡¯

    He grabbed the holy priestess who was trying to squirm out of her bindings. What she thought she could aplish by escaping in the middle of apound full of Death Knights he didn¡¯t know.

    Taking the gate, he stepped out in the Undead Frontier. He headed directly toward the temple where Delvina was sitting in her ustomed ce reading some scrolls. She looked up when Dave entered.

    "You brought her, excellent! I knew you would seed!" Delvinaplimented Dave¡¯s effort.

    "I have some urgent news."

    Delvina heard the heaviness of his voice and told him to proceed.

    He gave her the scroll and waited until she finished reading it.

    Though she had a veil over her face, Dave could feel Delvina¡¯s mood change as she read.

    Delvina pped the chair arm and stood up in a cold rage.

    "This is a grave crisis! Guards, summon messengers!"

    A Death knight entered the hall and bent the knee before Delvina.

    "Take this and give it to Lord Samael!"

    "As you order!" said the Death knight and left with hast.

    "If this information is urate the Undead face a monumental danger, one greater than any before. I will squeeze as much information as I can from the pdins you brought with you. Some of them must know about the pact and alliance between the Church and the Ash King. As for you, Kis¡¯Shtiengbrah, you must be stronger! A mere Undead captain is useless in the uing war! Grow stronger, For yourself and for the legion!"

    Dave bowed his head in agreement.

    ¡¯[Life Cleaver] is still on cooldown. I¡¯m going to use the time left to level up and be more prepared to take the challenge once the cooldown timer runs out.

    ¡¯If I win the promotion I will be inmand of more than a thousand undead!¡¯

    Dave mentally rubbed his hands together at the thought of having one thousand minions and what he could do with them all. His inner Overlord was having conniptions interspersed with bouts of sinister muah ha ha ha-ing.

    Dave opened his undead panel and spent the CPs to ¡¯revive¡¯ all the Undead Boyz that were killed by the Abyssal Dragon.

    He gathered his revived units and led them through the teleportation gate to the Undead Frontier area.

    A long grinding session awaited them.

 Chapter 146 Azure Basilisk

    Dave spent several hours grinding near the foot of the volcano behind the red fortress.

    There were some Blood Worms roaming the area which gave Dave some EXP and nice loot.

    The Undead battalion moved farther east of the volcano and just bypassed the borders of the second Raid Zone, entering uncharted territory.

    The ground wasposed of packed ck sand. It was like a desert of ck rocks and sand without a single nt in sight.

    Dave saw movement in the distance.

    As they got closer they saw two members of the same species in a lethal struggle, filling the air with grunting coughing grunts and savage screams. One of the creatures was clearly almost done, exhausted and grievously wounded.

    The monsters looked like giant bright-blue lizards with a forest of short spikes on their backs and eight limbs instead of a lizard¡¯s four. The lizard creatures gripped the ground with wide syed toes that ended in scimitar-like ws.

    The heads resembled a toad¡¯s or frog¡¯s, broad and triangr with bulbous eyes on top and wide mouths that stretched all the way from one side to the other.

    When one of the creatures opened its maw to bellow at the other, it disyed multiple rows of shark teeth. Dave wasn¡¯t certain but it also looked like it had a long sticky stic tongue like frogs use to snatch insects out of the air.

    The lizard-like body ended in a long tail with a spiked bone-weighted club on the end. Even now the less damaged creature was whipping its tail weapon around to the side, making leg-crusher feints at its injured opponent.

    Dog the duhan made muttering sounds from under his arm. That was pretty much the only noise he made: incoherent and almost inaudible muttering.

    Dave wasn¡¯t even sure Dog really talked. The guy¡¯s neck had been bitten all the way through and he carried his detached head around under his arm. So where did the air to make his vocal cords worke from?

    Bud helpfully tranted Dog¡¯s duhanese.

    "Dog thinks...good ride," the ghoul rasped in his gargling voice.

    Then Dog urged his dunlord mount toward the two fighting monsters.

    "Dog! What the fuh...?" Dave sighed and followed the duhan, stopping just outside aggro range.

    Dave inspected the damaged creature:

    Azure Basilisk

    Level 400

    Danger level: ?

    Damage: 40,000-60,000

    HP: 31,500/400,000

    MN: 50,000

    DA: 40,000

    Skills:

    [Trample] The basilisk uses the momentum of its charge to attack, when it collides with an enemy it deals 200% basic damage and stuns the target for 3 seconds.

    [Petrifying Gaze] When the eyes of the basilisk gaze upon a mortal creature it bes a brittle petrified statue, immobile and unconscious. If the ¡¯statue¡¯ is shattered, the target is executed.

    [Deadly Tail-Spin] The basilisk spins around itself 5 times causing damage to surrounding enemies with its mace-tail, dealing 50% basic damage per spin.

    [Storm of Azure Fangs] The teeth growing on the basilisk¡¯s back explode outward in an AoE attack. The fang projectiles prate targets dealing 10% basic t Damage per fang (24 hour cooldown).

    Bestiary:

    The origins of the basilisks are unknown. Some im they came to the world through dark rituals steeped in evil. The original basilisks could kill with a single look and sow chaos across an entire nation with its presence. Their bloodlines have since been diluted, they have lost much of the power of their ancestors. But their gaze is still to be feared.

    Rare are those that can control a basilisk, and those who do, have made names for themselves in the annals of history...usually of the infamous sort.

    Dave thought it was strange the spikes on the basilisk¡¯s back were called fangs or teeth, but they did look like bigger versions of the triangr shark teeth lining the basilisk¡¯s mouth.

    The second basilisk was less damaged, and still had plenty of fight in it. As they got intobat range it hissed at them

    Bud spoke in his graveled voice, "Dog want strong one kill, weak one make ride."

    ¡¯Okayyyyy, I thought I was in charge here.¡¯

    He didn¡¯t argue the duhan¡¯s n, he was a remorseless fighter and the ability to find undead to increase the battalion¡¯s numbers was going to be invaluable when Dave ranked up. He could afford to give the headless mumbler a little leeway. Besides, EXP is EXP, and lootz always be sweet.

    Dave whooped and shouted to his small group, "Alright Boyz, meat is back on the menu! Let¡¯s find out if these things taste like chicken!"

    The dunlords charged at the basilisk, their initial attack pushed it off bnce but it recovered quickly, using its eight limbs to brace and right itself.

    The other basilisk, the more injured one, seized the opportunity to run away, churning its eight legs to scamper away.

    Without missing a beat Dog leapt off his dunlord and sprinted after the escaping basilisk, his head on his neck in battle-configuration.

    Dave tried to call Dog back but he didn¡¯t pay the draugr any heed. The riderless dunlord was left standing, conflicted about what to do. He¡¯d been ordered to look after the lower leveled Undead that rode him but his dunlord brethren were battling a basilisk.

    "Damn it Dog!" Dave shouted, then just shook his head and ordered Dog¡¯s dunlord to join the fight.

    The dunlords showered the basilisk with ballista bolts as they nked it, surrounding it then moving in for some close up mayhem. The basilisk spun around itself, warding them off with the threat of its tail club.

    Dave ordered Stinger to charge and lunge at it with pincers.

    [-12550]

    Enraged at the damage the basilisk growled at the pests surrounding it. Suddenly the glow of the basilisk¡¯s eyes grew, shining a baleful yellow.

    Dave covered Stinger¡¯s eyes with his hand as he shouted "Dunlords! Don¡¯t look at its eyes!"

    Thankfully they heeded his instructions and avoided the dangerous gaze of the basilisk.

    The Undead didn¡¯t bother to look away from the eyes of the Basilisk. They didn¡¯t need to.

    Petrification Resisted!

    "HA! Doesn¡¯t work on the undead, bitch!" Daveughed. He summoned two spectral skulls and sent them flying at the basilisk¡¯s eyes then snapped his fingers to detonate them.

    You have Blinded the basilisk!

    Duration 10 seconds.

    The basilisk roared and shook itself. Its lizard body expanded like a puffer fish and the rows of fangs on its back exploded outward in all directions. A storm of azure fang-projectiles.

    Most of the Undead survived, a few unlucky ones were struck by three or more fangs, doing enough damage to kill them instantly.

    The casters healed the damaged Undead and then joined in to finish the basilisk off.

    Dave threw health potions to the dunlords.

    "I wonder when how long it will take Delvina to finish ¡¯converting¡¯ the pdins into healing janissaries for me."

    While the party finished healing up and sorting themselves out, Dave went for the loot.

 Chapter 147 Taming the Beas

    Basilisk skin

    Basilisk ws

    Basilisk eyes [Consumables]

    Venom [Rune]

    200 Gold

    He inspected the blue rune he dropped.

    Venom [Rune]

    Adds poison to weapon.

    Deals 10% weapon damage in Poison over 5 seconds.

    Has 20% chance to poison enemies.

    "Oh, good stuff!" He was happy reading the description of the rune and then used it on his gauntlets.

    His gauntlets shone with a blue light as the small symbols imprinted themselves on the gauntlets of the Sworn Stalwart.

    After the light show ended he turned to see what Dog had gotten up to.

    "Dog, goddamn it! Where the hell is that maniac?!"

    In answer to Dave¡¯s purely rhetorical question, Bud grunted, "There..ing."

    The ghoul pointed.

    "You can tell?"

    "Lizard...stink...ing back..."

    "The basilisk ising back?" Dave was puzzled.

    Bud nodded.

    The basilisk appeared where Bud had pointed, advancing like an out of control lotive toward the battalion.

    "Shit! Ready crossbows! Prepare to receive a charge!"

    But then there was Dog, standing on the basilisk¡¯s withers, riding it like a cowboy in a rodeo.

    Dog looked like he was enjoying himself immensely. He was holding onto the basilisk with one hand, his other hand was holding his head up high overhea...his neck.

    The basilisk stopped running abruptly, but continued to slide towards the battalion. Backpedaling furiously with all eight limbs, the basilisk¡¯s syed toes wed at the ground scoring multiple trenches. A pile of ck sand and gravel built up in front of it like the bow wave of a fast moving boat.

    When the basilisk finally came to a stop Dog jumped down and patted its side affectionately.

    "Tamed!" Bud announced after another brief mysterious interaction between the duhan and himself.

    ¡¯How the heck did he do that?¡¯ Dave was puzzled. The duhan didn¡¯t have pet or taming rted Skills.

    ¡¯I guess Dog just does Dog things --including riding basilisks like a cowboy-- heck even I¡¯m jealous!¡¯

    He moved to take a closer look at the basilisk but it growled at him, raising its tail and twisting around to bare a maw full of shark-teeth at him aggressively.

    Suddenly Dog punched the basilisk¡¯s jaw, the beast shook its head and grumbled but settled down.

    Azure Basilisk (Tamed)

    Level: 200

    Danger level: Friendly

    Damage: 20,000-30,000

    HP: 200,000

    MN: 20,000

    DA: 20,000

    [Trample] The basilisk uses the momentum of its charge to attack, when it collides with an enemy it deals 200% basic damage and stuns the target for 3 seconds.

    [Petrifying Gaze] When the eyes of the basilisk gaze upon a mortal creature it bes a brittle petrified statue, immobile and unconscious. If the ¡¯statue¡¯ is shattered, the target is executed.

    [Deadly Tail-Spin] The basilisk spins around itself 5 times causing damage to surrounding enemies with its mace-tail, dealing 50% basic damage per tick.

    [Storm of Azure Fangs] The teeth growing on the basilisk¡¯s back explode outward in an AoE attack. The fang projectiles prate targets dealing 10% basic Damage per fang (24 hour cooldown).

    Bestiary:

    The origins of the basilisks are unknown. Some im they came to the world through dark rituals steeped in evil. The original basilisks could kill with a single look and sow chaos across an entire nation with its presence. Their bloodlines have since been diluted, they have lost much of the power of their ancestors. But their gaze is still to be feared.

    Rare are those that can control a basilisk, and those who do, have made names for themselves in the annals of history...usually of the infamous sort.

    ¡¯So it¡¯s tame now, Dog¡¯s pet mount, but it¡¯s been nerfed hard. Ah well, I guess it would have been way OP at its old level.¡¯

    "Good job Dog!" Dave praised his headless minion.

    But Dog didn¡¯t acknowledge the praise or spare him a nce, moving past the draugr toward the carcass of the other basilisk.

    "Dog, what are you doing bud?" Dave followed, curious what his problem-Undead was up to now. He¡¯d already looted the basilisk so what was the duhan doing?

    Dog knelt down and viciously shoved a hand into the basilisk¡¯s dead flesh, then started feeling around in its body. The sound of tearing flesh and snapping bones that soon followed made Dave a little queasy.

    ¡¯That¡¯s...disturbing. What is he doing? It¡¯s one thing to kill monsters, but desecrating their bodies afterward? Man, that¡¯s just mean.¡¯

    After he spent some time rummaging about in the body, Dog pulled sharply, yanking something out of the basilisk corpse.

    When the duhan stood up a long, blood-and-viscera covered piece of basilisk trailed from his hand. It was the monster¡¯s spine.

    The duhan swung his arm back and then forward sharply, snapping the bloody spine like a whip. It made a wet cracking sound and the blood spattered away from it.

    The weapon, and there was no doubt that was what it was, definitely started out as the articted spine of the basilisk. But the long flexible length had been shaped and carved, molded somehow, each point of each vertebra sharpened and the end of the long bone-whip was the basilisk¡¯s heavy spiked tail knob!

    "Good...Dog-weapon," Bud intoned.

    Dog strode back to his new pet basilisk and got back on like nothing had happened.

    Dave just stood there, his eyes following the oh-so-casual duhan.

    He shook his head and grinned,"That¡¯s one Bad Mother-Fucker." There really wasn¡¯t anything else to say.

    As he walked back to Stinger he considered getting a wallet and inscribing it for the headless wonder. Still grinning, he jumped onto the dunlord and they headed deeper into the ck desert to do some more grinding.

    Dave came out of the game, he¡¯d reached level 240. The grind sessionsted for 24 hours in game, but only eight hours IRL.

    He opened the capsule he was in and sat up moving to the edge of the bed.

    A nurse noticed Dave getting up and went to fetch the doctor.

    Dave¡¯s stomach growled.

    "I need to get something to eat." Dave muttered to no one in particr.

    The VR-Therapy room door opened, and his doctor entered with a smile on his face.

    "Mr.Ruster, how was your rest?"

    "Pleasant," replied Dave and then added "Where can I get something to eat? I¡¯m starving."

    "There will be some food servedter. Also There are some people waiting to see you."

    "Oh it must be Zoe!"

 Chapter 148 Death Knight Ascension

    "I will have the nurses take you to a private room. Your visitors will join you there."

    Two attractive nurses came in with a gurney, and carefully transferred Dave onto it. He enjoyed the attention from the two young nurses, he¡¯d always had a thing for women in uniform. They wheeled him to a private room and gently ced Dave in the bed, then left.

    Lone and her uncle, Sam, entered the room.

    "Davy! You look like a half-mummy!" Zoe was surprised at the mass of bandages on Dave¡¯s hands and legs.

    "Hey, kid. You look good, the doc said you need to stay in recovery for two more days. I left a couple of guys near the hospital and inside it.

    "Meanwhile, there are some things I¡¯m going to be looking into, your doctor told me about some unusual issues they found during your surgery,."

    "Thank you for everything Mr. Silvana. You too Zoe," said Dave. They didn¡¯t owe him anything but had gone to great effort to protect him and Ms. Clementine.

    "No worriesd, we¡¯ll be on our way then. Zoe, you haven¡¯t had any sleep, you should get some rest. We cane back to pick Dave up when he¡¯s discharged."

    "Okay uncle."

    Zoe told Dave goodbye and left with her uncle.

    Dave was boredying there alone in the room. He was told not to log back into the game for eight hours IRL in order to let his mind rest.

    He turned on the TV, and flipped the channel to CCN.

    Dave enjoyed watching Mr. Skeletal¡¯s Underworld adventure, it was actually exciting to see his own exploits on rey. He paid particr attention to what was said in the interview with Valentine and The White Ghost.

    He dismissed the two Conquest yers¡¯ ims that luck was the determining factor in his sesses, but silently agreed that the helping hand of luck wouldn¡¯t always be with him.

    Dave became more and more bored the longer he spent in the hospital room.

    The hospital meal was filling but mostly nd and tasteless, though he did like the jello. The staff told him it was part of a meal n meant to be ¡¯healthy¡¯ and ¡¯nutritious,¡¯ that it was supposed to help speed his recovery.

    The time continued to drag slowly by. The doctor finally gave him permission to log back onto Conquest again when it was almost time for the premier of the second hour of ¡¯Mr. Skeletal adventures.¡¯ Dave figured it was also close to the time for his Skills toe off-cooldown.

    While he was interested in seeing the show, mainly because Warlord and Zhang Shi would be critiquing it, ranking up in the Legion was more important to him than hearing what others had to say about his past adventures. Besides he could always just watch a re-stream of the video.

    Dave logged on to Conquest, reappearing in the Undead Frontier.

    Dave checked the countdown on his skills and sure enough [Life Cleaver] only had a few minutes left on cooldown.

    "When I finish the ascension, I will finally be able to wear the Death Knight armor I bought from Dikenz."

    Dave tapped through the interface pan and paid 10,000 CP fee for the Right to Challenge for Death Knight.

    Undead Ascension

    You have purchased the Right and sent a challenge to the Leader of Regiment Number 501.

    Regiment Leader: Death Knight Mathn.

    Do you wish tomence battle for leadership now?

    Y/N

    Dave pressed ¡¯Y¡¯ and was transported to the Ascension amphitheater.

    Its walls stood tall and surrounded the square tform.

    Dave listened to the shouts and howls of tens of thousands of undead, screaming and glorifying the Undead King. It filled him with ecstasy and excitement.

    The tower of the Undead Pce stood behind the arena, looming over everything.

    On the top of the Bone Pce¡¯s highest tower a huge diamond shaped ck crystal hovered and slowly rotated, exuding an aura of death that permeated the wholend of the Undead.

    And just below it, Dave saw seven figures looking at him.

    Dave recognized only a few of them, abyssal Knight Da, Abyssal Knight Samael, the Undead King himself...

    "The others must be the remaining Abyssal Knights,"

    Dave¡¯s thoughts were interrupted when he realized that the chaotic voices of the undead synced into one breath.

    "KIS. SHTING. BRAH!"

    "KIS. SHTING. BRAH!"

    "KIS. SHTING. BRAH!"

    ...

    "The Undead love you, young draugr," said the figure that emerged from the dark.

    Dave turned and saw a Death Knight in ck armor towering over him. The Kight¡¯s te armor covered him from head to toe, the metal consumed light like the abyssal pit, not reflecting or letting one iota escape.

    Behind the T shaped opening of his barbute the eerie glowing eyes of the undead gave Dave the heebie jeebies.

    On one arm the Death knight carried a tower shield that wouldpletely cover the Death Knight if he crouched behind it.

    The bastard sword in his other hand projected a violent and aggressive aura all its own, one that seemed eager to revel in the pain and destruction of its victims.

    Matn of Ash

    Death Knight

    Tier: Epic

    Level; 350

    Danger Level: Friendly

    HP: 350,000

    DN: 35,000

    MA: 35,000

    Background:

    Matn died a hero¡¯s death after rescuing his town and everyone in it from the rampages of a loose Sworn Stalwart.

    He died, burned to ashes by the Stalwart¡¯s fire and from those ashes he was revived. From then on, he was known as The Knight Born of Ash.

    He joined the Undead Legion and rose in rank through his courage and mighty resolve.

    "No me can burn through my resolve!"

    "Cool lore," Dave was impressed with the the Death Knight¡¯s story.

    "Kis¡¯Shtiengbrah, as much as I want to see you rise to lead your own regiment, I will not go easy on you," the Death Knight warned.

    A voice thundered "ROUND DK! FIGHT!"

    Dave activated the skill [Life Cleaver] causing a bubble of Limbo to form, a zone of istion around them.

    The Death Scythe appeared, hanging over the Knight¡¯s head.

    Dave just had to survive for the two minutes needed for [Life Cleaver] to do its thing and this Ascension would be his.

    Dave initiated the fight with [Death Descent], jumping up high anding down toward the Death Knight like a falling star.

 Chapter 149 Ashes to Ashes.

    Matn raised his tower shield to soak up the damage from Dave¡¯s [Death Descent]. Then he flung Dave away with a smash from his shield and struck at the draugr as he was recovering. But Dave switched armaments from gauntlets to the Sword of Mercy and Falcon shield and used [Block] to stop the Death Knight¡¯s attack. He pushed off, using the force of the attack to help power a flip backwards and create distance between himself and Matn.

    The Death Knight shuffled sideways, circling around Dave, looking for an opening. Suddenly he just disappeared in midstep.

    Dave looked around for the Death Knight but didn¡¯t have the slightest clue where he was.

    "Never drop your guard!" the shout came from above. He looked up to see Matn descending in a headfirst dive his sword in both hands, pointed at Dave¡¯s skull.

    Dave dove clumsily to the side as the Death Knight struck, cracking the arena floor.

    "That was close!"

    Dave used [Stampede] to charge at the Death Knight.

    The Death Knight couched his shield to block the dash attack but was still forced back.

    Dave attacked with [Sword Lunge] creating a giant sword at point nk range.

    Matn recoiled but didn¡¯t take any damage.

    "Weak!" the Death knight taunted, smacking Dave with his tower shield.

    [-11,200]

    Almost a third of his HP emptied by a single attack.

    Dave wasn¡¯t disheartened, he just smiled wickedly as he stomped the ground to activate [Death Surge]. The Death knight was Slowed, allowing the draugr to use another attack Skill, [Ray of me].

    The twisting torrent of concentrated fire erupted from Dave¡¯s mouth, lighting up the dark limbo they fought in. [Ray of me] blew up against the Death Knight¡¯s shield, raised at thest instant.

    The Skill did t damage, so a damage indicator still appeared above the Knight¡¯s head despite the intervening shield

    [-2,2000]

    The [Ray of me] second effect was the explosion in contact, the ssh Damage from it melted the floor. Since the Death Knight couldn¡¯t move normally due to the ongoing Slow debuff from [Death Surge] he started taking DOT from the melted floor.

    [-5,000]

    [-5,000]

    [-5,000]

    [-5,000]

    The Death Knight was losing a chunk of HP with every tick of the clock.

    Dave re-equipped the Sworn Stalwart gauntlets and used [Aura].

    A surge of fire erupted outward, turning everything inside a 20 meter radius into a zing inferno.

    Matn¡¯s health was being slowly whittled down by 1% of his attackers maximum HP every second. The skillsted for 20 seconds, with Dave¡¯s HP that was a total of just over 6,000 damage. And it was t Damage, so resistances didn¡¯t change it.

    The Slow debuff from [Death Surge] finally ended. But Dave was watching the timer closely and he threw a [Spectral Skull] at the Death Knight to Stagger him, trying to keep him on molten area of the floor for as long as he could.

    The molten floor hardened around the Death Knight¡¯s feet, Dave smacked the Death knight¡¯s shield with his right fist unleashing a st of fire from the Sworn Stalwart¡¯s gauntlet. The already red-hot shield glowed even redder.

    Matn swung at him with his sword. Dave started to dodge, but raised an arm to block it instead when he realized he couldn¡¯t get out of the way in time.

    The sword impacted and slid across his arm but didn¡¯t do significant damage. He was shocked that the arm-parry worked, he didn¡¯t have the Skill.

    The Death Knight was preparing another shield attack.

    Dave sidestepped the iing shield-bash and hit the Death knight with a ming uppercut, spewing fire across his face, punishment for an overextended attack.

    Dave kept moving, stepping around the Death Knight continuously and attacking, ¡¯strafing¡¯ his opponent to keep him off bnce and unable to aim orunch an attack.

    After five consecutive attacks [Ramp Up] activated and his gauntlets took on a shimmering fiery glow.

    You have caused an Overheating effect to your adversary.

    They will lose

    -500HP/second until the Overheating status is removed.

    "Ha! A hidden bonus Effect, niiice!" Dave smiled and attacked again.

    The Overheating status caused the Knight to be engulfed in me, but he didn¡¯t look fazed. No, now he looked more terrifying with the fire burning all across his arnor and was truly enraged by the attacks.

    "I ROSE FROM FIRE AND ASH! IS THAT ALL YOU GOT?!" He swung his de and a crescent of ck energy shot out toward Dave.

    Dave activated [Double Edged] and [Vertical sh] escaping the ck energy and his own Skill at the same time just as the ground erupted. The Minhocao rose from under the earth and gnashed the Death Knight in its jaws then spat him out.

    [-22,000]

    While the Knight was still in the air Dave used [Demon¡¯s Maw], summoning a giant demon face to bite the Death Knight, stripping away another 5% of his total HP before he even fell back to the arena grounds.

    [-17,500]

    Dave pped his hands together making a sound like thunder.The sky lit up and a ming meteor descended, impacting the arena floor.

    Another damage value appeared above the Death Knight depleting his hp, but he simply rose from the fiery rubble and faced Dave, "Not enough. Not nearly enough!"

    [Aura] flickered out, having consumed all of Dave¡¯s Mana.

    Dave smiled and smacked both fists together, a burst of me rushed out from the gauntlets.

    The draugr used [Immortal Apparition] to appear in front of the Death Knight then activated [Infernal Tornado] hoping to Stagger the Knight and buy himself some time.

    But he realized that despite [Infernal Tornado] the Death Knight wasn¡¯t Staggered, his attack still iing!

    ¡¯Shit, Hyperarmor!¡¯

    Dave frantically used [Bastion] to nullify the Knight¡¯s attack.

    Normally, [Bastion] caused him to take an immobile defensive posture for three seconds, so he was surprised when [Infernal Tornado] wasn¡¯t cancelled. The spinning attack continued, damaging the Death Knight and keeping the Overheated Status going.

    The Death Knight¡¯s Hyperarmor almost cost Dave the match and his life.

    Abruptly, Dave stopped and stepped back, disengaging from his opponent. Matn gave him a puzzled, slightly disappointed look.

    The draugr smiled, "Good fight. Thank you."

    A spectral scythe swept through the Death Knight¡¯s neck in a decapitating cut, the match was over.

    The Limbo effect from [Life Cleaver] cleared, revealing the draugr standing over the headless Death Knight.

    The hordes of Undead howled and shouted, praising the winner of the match.

    A notification opened up in front of Dave.

    Undead Ascension!

    You have defeated the Regiment leader, Matn of Ash!

    You are hereby elevated from Undead captain to the rank of

    Death Knight!

    You have been givenmand of Battalion 501.

    You may select 100 Elite ranked undead to promote to Undead Captains!

    The promoted Undead willmand 100 soldiers of their own!

    You now have the right to enter the Bone Pce!

    Just as you challenged your superior for advancement, so too can others challenge you for your position.

    Serve the Undead King faithfully!

    +5,000 Contribution points.

    "YES!" Dave shouted with glee. "More than a thousand strong, forget an army of one!"

    Two more notifications appeared.

    Your Legacy has reached another stage.

    Do you wish to continue your next challenge?

    Y/N?

    The Undead King has summoned you to his presence

    You have 10 minutes toply!

    "I¡¯ll meet with the king first." Dave epted the summons and disappeared from the arena.

 Chapter 150 The Generous Undead King.

    Dave appeared in the Bone Pce, standing in the Undead King¡¯s audience hall.

    The king looked warmly down at Dave from his throne, like a father looking at a son.

    "You have heard by now that the Demon King and the Church are to be allies."

    Dave nodded.

    "Those two factions do not trust each other, it will take time for them bring their unified forces to bear.

    "You have grown quickly, my Childe. That is a good and necessary thing, for to serve your king and defend our Kin against the demons and the Church you must continue to grow ever stronger!"

    "I will do my utmost to stand against our enemies," Dave replied.

    "When I look at you, young draugr, I remember another of my Children. He was brave and powerful. Like you, he rose in rank and garnered achievements too numerous to count. He was faithful before Death and after...for a time.

    I treated him as my own and promised him my daughter in wedlock. Yet when our kingdom faced a great foe, I broke that promise, and in turn, I was punished for it."

    "I have no intention of betraying the legion!" Dave said resolutely.

    "I do not doubt that, Childe. Even though you are Death¡¯s champion."

    Dave¡¯s thoughts screeched to a halt as the meaning of the Undead King¡¯s words sunk in.

    He didn¡¯t feign ignorance or attempt to exin, "So, you know?"

    "Aye, I have known since the first day you set foot in the Land of the Dead. But worry not. I have seen you, I have watched your actions and how you treat our Kin, the Dead. You, unlike others, do not despise who we are. You are one of us, Kin, and I have chosen you to be my Childe."

    Dave¡¯s eyes met the king¡¯s, "Are you not afraid that I might betray you as Deadra did?"

    "Deadra was a fool," the king gazed out through the pce windows at the broken moon.

    "His betrayal was for love, the love of someone lost to us. The patron you serve inhabits her form.

    "I promised to get her back for Deadra, but he didn¡¯t trust in me. He asked The ck Skull order for aid and they promised him they could revive her. The Order! A cult of madmen that imprison our Kind andmit atrocities upon them for some unreachable goal. As if it is not enough that the Dead suffer in their undead state!"

    The undead king was incensed for a moment, then he regained his calm and looked at Dave.

    "It sounds as though you dislike the life of the Undead," said Dave.

    "No, I have long since be ustomed to this state, and I no longer have any desire to change it."

    Dave remained silent for a moment.

    The Finder¡¯s widget is vibrating

    The Book of Death is near.

    A small glow appeared right above the King¡¯s shoulder revealing a floating tome, a necronomicon.

    "You can see it?" asked the king seeing where Dave was looking.

    "Yes."

    "I assume Death had tasked you to bring the book to her" The king grabbed the book.

    Dave kept silent.

    "Do you want it?" asked the king.

    Dave nodded

    "Then here," said the king and threw the book. Itnded near Dave¡¯s feet.

    The king¡¯s continued in a voice filled with infinite sadness, "I do not want Death to take another of my children. Give her the book, and ask her to give me back my nor."

    "If you don¡¯t need the book, then why not give it to her back then, before all of this happened, before Deadra turned..."

    The king was silent for a moment before he said, "I killed my own daughter for what I thought was necessity. Afterwards, I was maddened with rage and the pain of my loss. I wanted Death to suffer for refusing to aid me, for devaluing the sacrifice of my daughter¡¯s life.

    Until I lost Deadra, until all that had value to me was lost. Now the book no longer has any meaning for to me."

    "I see."

    Dave pocketed the book.

    You have obtained the Book of Death.

    "I was a fool, and Deadra was no better. The Undead grew too strong and powerful, too quickly, yet it was meaningless. I broke my word to him and in retaliation, he did the same to me. Pride blinded both of us.

    Only when I became an undead did I realise that nothing really matters. Pride, wealth and power all came easy with the might of the Undead. But they all lost meaning to me.

    The legion grew strong, powerful but I was empty.

    "What about the other abyssal Knights, aren¡¯t they family?" Dave asked.

    "They too are my Children, all the Undead are, but I still long to see my daughter. Petition Death in Our Name to give me back my own."

    "I will," said Dave.

    "Now Childe, tell me did you obtain anything of value in the dragon¡¯sir?"

    "The treasure was no treasure at all. Not a single item of value, even the gold was enchanted dross. But, I did obtain one item of singr value. A dragon¡¯s egg."

    "May I see what you took from the dragon¡¯sir?" asked the king.

    It wasical as it took Dave long minutes to bring many broken and decorative weapons out and ce them before the king.

    But the king was patient, waiting for Dave to ce all the weapons on the floor and finally bring out the egg.

    "Andre," the king called. The huge smith appeared in the hall and swiftly bent the knee to his king, humbly bowing his head..

    "You called for your servant, your Majesty?

    "Take these items and do your utmost to repair them for our young draugr Death Knight. They were once powerful artifacts but have suffered the depredations of time and the abuse of a brooding dragon."

    "It shall be as youmand, sire!" The smith gathered all the items and bowed as he left.

    The king waved and the egg appeared in his hand.

    "As for this, the egg of an Abyssal dragon, dark and foul creatures by their very nature. Considered too vicious and willful to control. But a hatchling if it is branded could be a mount fit for a king...or even a god."

    Dave¡¯s heart dropped thinking the king was going to take the egg from him.

    The king continued, "But it will need an abundance of dark energy to grow, I will ce it near the Death Heart in hope that the energies around the stone will hatch the egg sooner. You must be present when the drag breaks through its shell so that you can brand it."

    Dave was surprised by the generosity of the king.

    "Majesty, why?" he asked

    "You are my childe," the king said in a warm tone. "Do not worry at it, just ept your sire¡¯srgesse. Now go. Bring back my daughter from the grasp of Death,!"

    Dave nodded and epted the Death Challenge, disappearing from the hall.

    He reappeared in Death¡¯s cave. As always she sat at the edge of the small pond with her legs in the water.

    "So, you return," Death said in her emotionless voice.

    "Yes. And I brought your book." He held it out to her.

    "I thought it would take you many turns of the seasons. How did you obtain it?" she asked as she took the book from Dave.

    "I simply asked for it, the Undead King gave it to me to give to you."

    Death was surprised but didn¡¯t ask more on the subject.

    "I can finally go back," she whispered, pleased.

    Shaking herself she looked at Dave, "You do not need to continue on with the current challenge, bringing the book is enough!"

    Congrattions!

    You have sessfullypleted your challenge.

    Your ring has been upgraded.

    A new skill has been added to your arsenal.

    "Do you still wish to follow the path of the sword?" asked Death.

    "I am not much of a magic user, fighting in close quarters has always been my preference, " he answered her.

    "So be it, I could have given you the power to raise and control the Dead. But, when all is said and done, if instead youmand those that raise the dead the result will be the same. And perhaps even better," said Death.

    Your choices have altered your path in the Legacy of Death

    The Death Legacy has changed.

    The Path of Warrior of Death unlocked.

    From now on, even in death, your quest for seeking Death¡¯s legacy shall not be nullified.

    Dying shall no longer deem you unworthy of ranking in the Undead Legion.

    Dying will no longer expel you from the Dead Realm.

    Dying in the Dead Realm or the Underworld will no longer affect your quests or the opening of the Undead Expansion.

    ¡¯THANK GOD! Finally I can die in the game without losing everything.¡¯

    Dave heaved a sigh of relief, then he chuckled at the irony of being happy with the prospect of dying.

    "Thank you. I have one more thing to ask you."

    "What is it?" asked Death.

    "The king asked for his daughter back."

    "It will be done. I no longer need this avatar.

    "You still have two more challenges toplete. Only after you reach the Abyssal Rank of the legion shall you acquire the full Legacy of Death."

    A light shone from her and she disappeared from the cave.

    His body shimmered and he was back in the Dead Realm, this time he was in front of the gate of the Bone Pce.

    "Time to try out my new Death Knight equipment!"

 Chapter 151 SUIT UP!

    The Death Knight armor was the standard issue equipment for all Death Knight ranked Undead.

    There were a range of design option for the set, and the armor¡¯s appearance and fit adapted to different Undead types. But the basic configuration and bonuses remained the same for everyone.

    The armor was forged from a dark metal, the color was a deep blue that shaded to ck when seen from different angles.

    The barbute style helmet had a high crest of bristly hair running from front to back. The facete presented a grim, intimidating visage to the world. The wearer¡¯s identity was hidden by the eerie blue glow that was emitted from the T-shaped opening.

    The chest piece had a skull enameled on it, the eyes glowing with the same blue light that came from the helmet.

    Dave had always thought the Death Knights were impressive looking, even intimidating, striding around in their heavy armor. He was excited and impatient to see what he would look like in all that metal badassery.

    Not to mention what it was going to do for his stats. How the armor looked was cool, but in the end he would wear rags if they did for him what this armor would do. The thought of all the bonuses and what his stats would look like set his inner Evil-Overlord to cackling and rubbing his hands together once again.

    He¡¯d been waiting for this a long time. He took the armor out from his inventory and lovingly inspected the set piece-by-piece.

    Category: Heavy Armor

    Death Knight Armor [Chest Armor, te]

    Description

    The chest piece of the Death Knight armor provides excellent protection to the wearer. But it is too heavy for any man to wear into battle. Only an Undead with sufficient Strength and Infinite Stamina can use it effectively in the heat of meleebat.

    Death Knights are the backbone of the Undead army, the core of its power and might. Any single Death knight can face dozens of humans of equal level ande through victorious in the end.

    Requirements

    Level 200

    200 STR 100 AGI 100 DEX

    Attributes

    +10,000 to VIT

    +500

    +5% Immunity damage

    2,000 Damage Nullification

    1,000 Magic Absorption

    [Socket]

    [Socket]

    ss

    Rare

    Category: Heavy Armor

    Death Knight Armor [Armor, Helmet]

    Description

    The helmet of the Death Knight armor offers excellent protection to the wearer against attacks to the head.

    Death Knights are the backbone of the Undead army, the core of its power and might. Any single Death knight can face dozens of humans of equal level ande through victorious in the end.

    Requirements

    Level 200

    300 STR 200 AGI 200 DEX

    Attributes

    +7,500 to VIT

    +500

    +5% Immunity damage

    2,000 Damage Nullification

    1,000 Magic Absorption

    Passive ability [Dark Vision] an upgraded version of the passive skill of the undead [Night Vision]

    [Socket]

    ss

    Rare

    Category: Heavy Armor

    Death Knight Armor [Armor, Gloves]

    Description

    The gloves of the Death Knight are made from leather made from the hides of rare beasts, increasing the the wearer¡¯s surety of grip on weapons and shields.

    Death Knights are the backbone of the Undead army, the core of its power and might. Any single Death knight can face dozens of humans of equal level ande through victorious in the end.

    Requirements

    Level 200

    300 STR 200 AGI 200 DEX

    Attributes

    +2,500 to VIT

    +5% Immunity damage

    +500 Mana

    2,000 Damage Nullification

    1,000 Magic Absorption

    Passive skill [Quick hands] allows the fast swap of weapons.

    [Socket]

    ss

    Rare

    Category: Heavy Armor

    Death Knight Armor [Armor, Legs]

    Description

    Greaves and gauge pieces of the Death Knight provide great stability and poise, aiding the undead in holding their ground against charging enemies.

    Death Knights are the backbone of the Undead army, the core of its power and might. Any single Death knight can face dozens of humans of equal level ande through victorious in the end.

    Requirements

    Level 200

    300 STR 200 AGI 200 DEX

    Attributes

    +5,000 to VIT

    +500 Mana

    +5% Immunity damage

    2,000 Damage Nullification

    1,000 Magic Absorption

    Passive skill [Poise] increases poise and reduces Knock Back effects greatly.

    [Socket]

    ss

    Rare

    Category: Heavy Armor

    Death Knight Armor [Armor, Cape]

    Description

    Cape of the Death Knight, it offers good resistance against attacks thate from behind the wearer and reduces magic damage.

    The Death knight are the backbone of the Undead army, and are its core strength and might. Any single Death knight can take down several dozen humans in single battle without faltering, or backing down.

    Requirements

    Level 200

    300 STR 200 AGI 200 DEX

    Attributes

    +5,000 to VIT

    500 MANA

    +5% Immunity damage

    1,000 Damage Nullification

    2,000 Magic Absorption

    [Magic Eater] Reduces 5% of all magic attacks cast on the wearer.

    [Socket]

    ss

    Rare

    "Whoa, those bonuses are outrageous. But I¡¯m going to need to raise my Strength stat to equip it."

    He added 40 points from his unused attribute points to Strength, then finally, taking a deep breath, he equipped the Death Knight armor set.

    He looked down, at his metal encased arms, his legs, and checked the range of movement and his visibility within the helmet.

    He checked his interface.

    You are wearing aplete set of Death Knight armor.

    Set Bonus:

    +10,000 HP

    +5% immunity

    +300 STR

    +100 DEX

    +100 INT

    +100 AGI

    +100 WIS

    "YES! The set-bonuses on this armor are OP! The Dave likes, yeah!"

    The Death Knight¡¯s armor was unlike any other yer¡¯s armor in the game, it was truly an exceptional set. It added enormous amounts of Strength and Vitality. And it would be useful to him for many levels toe.

    With the exception of a few elites who wore ultra-powerful gear he had the best armor of any yer under level 400. With it equipped he had far more than a normal amount of HP for someone of his level, enough to rival most regr level 400 yers.

    "Status-Screen!"

    Level

    222

    ss

    Death¡¯s Apostle

    Name

    Death Stroke

    Race

    Human (Undead)

    Health

    422,200

    Mana

    5,500 +(275)

    Stamina Unlimited

    Rage/Focus 100

    Intelligence 360 +(18)

    Wisdom 410+(20.1)

    Dexterity 360 (+18)

    Agility 360 +(18)

    Vitality 42,220

    Strength 560 +(18)

    Magic Absorption 6,000

    Damage Nullification 9,000

    Immunity 30%

    Prestige 800

    HP Regen 0.1/sec +(0)

    Mana Regen 1.1/sec +(0)

    Stamina Regen +¡Þ

    Rage/FocusRegen 1/sec

    Title

    I know it all!

    Grand Strategist!

    "Sweet! Hmmm, I still have the Chaos runes from the Blood Stone mines. Maybe they will fit into this armor¡¯s sockets..."

    Interlude

    "So, it¡¯s fixed now?" a developer asked the programmer about the AI.

    "Yeah, Alfie¡¯s reset. At least for however long it takes him to get his knickers in a twist again."

    "Yeah, this is a pain, we just de-bugged him. I don¡¯t understand what is going on with his antics. We should get him a shrink."

    "Nah. They all work for the government, mostly the military. Besides, those guys charge crazy money for their ¡¯special¡¯ services, we¡¯re not budgeted to use them."

    "Whaa...I was joking! That¡¯s really a thing? Shrinks for AIs? Therapists?!"

    "Yep sure is. They aren¡¯t really called therapists, they have some lonnng fancy title. There¡¯s only a few in the entire world. And it¡¯s definitely not a medical profession. It¡¯s a graduate-level multi-degree study inputer-science, electrical engineering, quantum physics and, believe it or not, philosophy. But ites down to being an AI therapist. They started the program after the GAIws were passed."

    "Jeez. AI therapists. Unbelievable. The truth is out there...and it¡¯s more fucked-up than fiction ever is."

 Chapter 152 Chaos Runes.

    Dave carefully inserted the Chaos Runes, looted from the Blood Stone Mines, one after the other until all five of them were socketed in the armor. When he was done every piece of his armor had taken on a sanguineous glow.

    Chaos energy imbnce!

    Your body is suffering from the overflow of destructive energies from the runes of Chaos!

    +300% Damage to all abilities

    -1% of maximum HP per second.

    Dave felt like his body was burning, as if he was being infused with enormous power, too much power. It was doing Damage to him each second.

    Thinking quickly, he inserted the Azure Water Rune into the second socket on the breastte.

    The red glow around the armor lessened and he got a new notification.

    The Azure Water rune reduces the damage caused to your body by the Chaos energies.

    Current effects:

    +50% damage to all abilities and skills.

    The Azure Rune can be disabled at will.

    "So, the Chaos Runes empower but slowly drain my HP. Adding the Azure rune the mix eliminates the damage from the Chaos runes."

    Dave was impressed with the bonus from the runes and was tempted to try the added bonuses.

    ¡¯I¡¯m going to get a weapon and shield. The Gauntlets of the Sworn Stalwart are a great weapon, the damage from them is fixed until I unlock the scaling trait. I need something that does more damage now.

    Dave went to Dikenz¡¯ Undead Shop. The zombie shopkeeper¡¯s eyes gleamed with greed when he saw Dave.

    "Me fave-rit cust¡¯mer! Wee!" the Zombie said opening his arms and smiling to show off his gold teeth...along with the rotted ones.

    Dave shook his head,"Buddy, I am your ONLY customer, at least until the expansion opens. Anyway, I need to gear up. So, show me what you got!"

    "O¡¯course, o¡¯course! Anything for me most valued cust¡¯mer!"

    Dave received a list of the equipment and items the shop carried. He scrolled down until he found something simr to what he needed.

    "I¡¯ll take the Tower Shield and the Death Knight¡¯s Greatsword," Dave told the Merchant.

    "A fine choice, sor, a fine choice I say," the merchant gushed.

    After Dave paid the shopkeeper 20,000 CP for the items he received the sword and shield.

    Dave inspected the jagged ded greatsword.

    Category: Weapon

    Death Knight¡¯s Greatsword

    A mberge greatsword, this wave-ded sword has cut short many lives and always hungers for more blood.

    Base Damage: 2,500-3,000

    Requirements

    400 STR, 250 AGI, 250 DEX.

    Level 200

    Death Knight Rank

    Bonus Abilities

    [Mountain Cleaver] An attack reset. It can be used immediately after attacking with the sword from any direction.

    If the attack is timed perfectly it ignores the Defensive values of the target and deals an additional 100% damage (30 Second Cooldown).

    [Embrittle] Consecutive sessful attacks against an enemy embrittles their armor by 2% per hit. Caps at 10 stacks.

    When the [Embrittle] stack has capped, if the next attack is sessful it will shatter the target¡¯s armor reducing their defensive values by 50% until the armor is repaired (passive).

    Scaling/ss

    A: STR Damage Modifier (In single sword Form)

    ss. Epic

    He inspected the tower shield.

    Category: Shield

    Death Knight¡¯s Tower Shield

    This shield is like a bulwark of steel, it offers enormous protection and damage reduction from attacks and has excellent resistance to Dark Magic.

    Requirements

    400 STR

    Level 200

    Death Knight Rank

    Bonus Abilities

    [Block]: Blocks single target physical and magical attack and fully nullifying their damage. 10 seconds CD

    [Shield Bash] Stagger an enemy and causes Knockback effect. Deals 50% weapon damage. 30 Second CD

    [Shield Charge] Heavily smashes the shield down and pushes forward negating all iing attacks and stunning the enemy on contact for 2 seconds. 60 Second CD

    [Dark Eater] Consumes 30% of dark magic abilities and converts them temporarily to increase the shield wearer¡¯s defensive value by 5% (30 second cooldown)

    +2,500 DN

    +3,000MA

    Scaling/ss

    ss. Epic

    Hmmm, it doesn¡¯t have any deflecting or counter abilities"

    "Hey Dikenz, what other shields do you have? I¡¯m looking for a smaller one."

    "Aye, I do. But ye get no refunds for th¡¯ tower shield!" said the merchant sternly.

    "No, I¡¯m keepngi this one, I just need a smaller one."

    The greed-gleam showed once again as the merchant picked out a Kite Shield for Dave.

    "This should fit the bill just fine!" the merchant suggested obsequiously.

    Category: Shield

    Death Knight¡¯s Kite Shield

    A light shield for the Knight who wants more maneuverability in a fight. It offers great resistance, defensive and parrying ability.

    Requirements

    200 STR

    Level 200

    Death Knight Rank

    Bonus Abilities

    [Block]: Blocks single target physical and magical attack and fully nullifying their damage. 10 seconds CD

    [Deflect] an attack nulling its effect and prepares the user to use [Counter-bash]

    [Counter-bash] counters an attack after a sessful and deals 10% of the damage in t Damage.

    +1,000 DN

    +1,000MA

    Scaling/ss

    ss. Epic

    "Yes, this is good!" He paid another 10,000CP

    "Why don¡¯t these count as part of the Death Knight¡¯s set?" Dave was surprised the sword and shield didn¡¯t add anything to the armor set bonus.

    "Yon sword¡¯n shield not be part o¡¯the Death Knight armor, they just ¡¯ave the name. But they are mighty on their own merits." Said the Zombie

    "Oh Dikenz, can I see the list of equipment for Doom Knights?" Dave had bribed the shopkeeper before, so he was pretty sure he could get a look at the Doom Knight equipment. Just so he can n and prepare for when he ranked up again.

    "Y¡¯can. But, nothin¡¯es fer free, aye," said the merchant.

    "How much?"

    "A pittance really. Just one million CP,"

    "That¡¯s daylight robbery!" Dave had already bought a lot of stuff for his battalion. No, not battalion, regiment. One thousand strong!

    "That¡¯s the cost for just seeing em!"

    "Nah, fuhgeddaboudit." Dave left the shop and tore a teleportation scroll and arrived at the Undead Frontier.

    "Time to upgrade the units!"

    Dave pulled the Upgrade panel and chose to upgrade his old battalion members.

    Dave made sure his ten Elite undead were promoted to Undead Captains with their own units under them.

 Chapter 153 A thousand Strong!

    The Undead that were promoted to captain changed in appearance.

    Bud increased in size, his shoulders grew broader and his height increased. The hunched-over simian look of the ghoul was gone. Now he stood tall, straight and powerful, with a noble bearing.

    Spark grew a head-full of --skull-full rather-- of living crimson mes. His robes transformed from dirty, worn-looking castoffs to a richer more refined and elegant design.

    Dog the duhan now emitted a dark aura of dread and his armor was heavier and more gothic looking.

    As Dave walked by the duhan was looking intently at his whip, bringing it close to his head which, as per usual, he held in a rugby carry under his arm. Suddenly the vertebra that made up the bone-whip snapped together with a series of clicks, transforming into a heroic sized bone great-sword. A momentter the spiked bone-sword separated into discrete vertebra, rxing and lengthening into whip mode. Dog started switching the weapon from whip to sword and back, over and over.

    Dave had stopped to watch the show, but after a few moments he decided to put an end to the duhan¡¯s antics, "Dog! Stop ying with your...ahh, no, no, NO! I¡¯m so NOT going there!

    "Nevermind, Dog. You do you."

    Aside from Dog¡¯s antics he was quite happy with his growing army, "Heh, I pity the fool who stands in our way!"

    After the reviewing his troops he returned to the head of the regiment and addressed his officers.

    "Good! I¡¯m going to visit Delvina. We¡¯ll head out when I get back."

    When he entered the Temple, Delvina was sitting on her throne with thirteen knights in dark armor kneeling in front of her.

    The knights all had skull runes branded into their helmets.

    On Delvina¡¯s right was a woman, her face concealed behind ck veils. He knew who she was though, the priestess he¡¯d captured.

    "Kis¡¯Shtiengbrah, you have returned. Excellent! Congrattions on bing a Death Knight.

    "These are your ¡¯converted¡¯ pdins, they will now serve the Undead. Also Du¡¯Rhaza left something for you."

    She tossed a scroll to Dave.

    "Thank you Delvina," Dave inspected the knights and the veiled female.

    Unholy Pdin

    Level 250

    Hp 300,000

    Base Damage: 15,000-20,000

    DN 4,000

    MA 3,500

    Servants of the Undead, Branded and enved in service to the Legion.

    They have no will or mind of their own. Though they are alive they are no better than the hollow undead.

    Unholy Priestess

    Affiliation: The Undead Legion

    Level 200

    HP 200,000

    Damage : 0

    DN :0

    MA :0

    Skills:

    [Mass Heal] Heals in a massive AOE of 30 meters radius. Restoring the HP of targeted units by 20% max HP instantly

    [Restoration] Single target skill, it restores a target¡¯s HP gradually over time 1% Hp restored per second

    Note:

    Born to the holy church and raised solely to serve it, a pure and innocent maiden blessed by the Holy Touch of the divine.

    She has been converted to serve the Dead, a far cry from her original purpose, but better than being offered to the Ash-King as a sacrifice .

    "Delvina, I need more units. How can I recruit more troops."

    "As I told you before young Death Knight, if you wish to procure more units just make sure you have the necessary CP avable and requisition them."

    "Oh, yes, that¡¯s right! Getting them now!"

    Dave had a little over two million CP. He purchased 89 dunlords, which left him with a bit more than 300,000 CP.

    He ordered every new dunlord to serve as a mount for the newly ranked-up captains with the exception of Dog, who had a basilisk as his mount. And Dave was not jealous about that at all, he really wasn¡¯t...okay, maybe just a little.

    "Du¡¯Rhaza loved your idea of using the dunlords as mounts. He even ordered saddles for them. You can get a set of 100 free saddles from the Shopkeeper, a gift from the Undead King," Delvina smiled.

    Dave opened the unit purchasing panel but found that the option of purchasing duhans grayed out.

    "Why can¡¯t I get more duhans?"

    "Duhans aren¡¯t regr units, they cannot be created and can only be found or evolved. You must seek those that fall in battle by decapitation, that have great anger and regret at their own passing. Your duhan can revive them for you, and they will rise as duhans.

    "But be wary, the duhan might revive something you do not wish to face."

    ¡¯So only Dog can get me more duhans. So far he hasn¡¯t revived anything but low-level skeletons and a super-draugr that would have wiped us out if the king had not intervened,¡¯

    "Thank you Delvina." Dave bid Delvina good bye and went to the shopkeeper to get the saddles.

    Dave opened the scroll given to him by Delvina and read the letter.

    Commander of the Red Fortress, Death Knight Kis¡¯Shtiengbrah

    I congratte you on achieving Death knight rank and iming your regiment.

    You are now one of a thousand Death Knights under me mymand. I expect to see great things from you.

    Du¡¯Rhaza.

    You have been ced in the Division undermand of Lord Du¡¯Rhaza.

    New Mission options have been added to your Logs.

    As a Death Knight, you are entitled to a portion ofnd in the Dead Realm.

    You have been granted lordship of the region [-3333 -6666]

    A new option has been added to your interface.

    Land Management

    You can build and create a training ground for your units and a residence for yourself.

    You will need building materials.

    Most materials can be found at the undead shop or harvested from thend itself.

    Dave tore a teleportation scroll and returned to the Red Fortress, his regiment acted as apanion and they all appeared behind him.

    He led his regiment farther east and into thend of ck sands where they had first seen the basilisks.

    "The Third Raid Zone is just a little farther ahead, past this area."

    Dave¡¯s Regiment had a thousand and two hundred units, Dave led at the front on Stinger, Bud on his left and Spark to the right. Dog followed behind them on his basilisk.

    Behind the four leaders came the Undead Captains riding on the backs of dunlords, followed by the rest of the regiment.

 Chapter 154 Demonic Painted Dogs.

    Twelve hundred undead marched across the ck sands of the Underworld and into the third Raid Zone area. They had in many basilisks on the way, earning EXP and collecting the loot.

    Dave paused at the top of a dune to survey the desert around him. Without warning, ten dunlords erupted from the ck sand in front of him, on their backs were the newly appointed Elite Undead led by a Zombie captain.

    "The seventh unit has found carcasses of basilisk and other creatures. They died days ago. but we didn¡¯t find the culprit..

    "We also spotted a group of basilisks traveling our way," an undead Zombie Captain reported.

    Dave nodded, "Good, all units regroup, we continue heading east."

    Dave inspected the loot from thest basilisk in.

    Basilisk Eyes [Expendable]

    When thrown at a target or a location it explodes in a sh of light that affects a 10 meter radius.

    Any mortal creature within the area-of-effect will slowly petrify, turning into a brittle statue.

    Targeted creatures 50 levels or more below level 400 will be executed if their status is shattered.

    Targeted creatures above the thrower¡¯s level will receive 25% of their HP in t damage if attacked when petrified.

    Does not work twice on the same target.

    Does not work on Boss ss monsters.

    Petrified status effect can be removed by debuff Skills.

    He had collected 40 of them so far.

    He chuckled happily, "The Eyes are nice party favors." He¡¯d also collected so many basilisk hides and fangs that he ended up with an "Overburdened" status effect. He¡¯d transferred the bulky loot to the bags that were attached to Stinger¡¯s new saddle. The pair of leather saddlebags on the saddle were a great added feature, like having an overflow for his inventory.

    Seeing movement in the distance, Dave raised a clenched fist to signal the regiment to stop. Motionless, he could feel tremors from the ground.

    "Dangeres," Bud advised in his improved, but still gravelly, voice.

    Suddenly tens of basilisks appeared over the next rise of ck sand rampaging toward the party.

    "All units, ready!"

    Bud contributed more advice, "Moreing...not stink-lizards."

    Dave realized that the basilisks weren¡¯t attacking. Instead the charging beasts avoided them entirely, splitting apart and flowing around the regiment¡¯s position. They were in a state of rolling-eyed panic, afraid of something.

    A herd of basilisks running away from something in terror? He had a bad feeling about this.

    Behind the fleeing lizards came a flood of monsters, leaping over the top of the dunes and running down the sides in sprays of ck sand. The wavefront of monsters stretched as far as Dave could see, from one side of the horizon to the other.

    "TOO MANY!"

    The regiment was going to be swamped in monsters, and running away was not an option. The monsters were easily faster than even the dunlords, let alone his Undead units.

    They were ugly dog-like creatures with patchy torn fur, as if they had fought thousands of battles. Instead of one, each monster had three Doberman-type heads. vering in savage madness, the heads snapped their jaws viciously at anything that came within reach, including each other.

    Wonderful. They were just out farming basilisks for EXP and loot, and all of a sudden they were about to be engulfed by a wave of rabid Cerberus-wolf monsters.

    After the basilisks fled past the regiment, the horde of rabid dog-like creatures turned their immediate attention to the Undead. Apparently the tri-dogs were fine with Undead as their appetizer.

    "SQUARE FORMATION!" Dave screamed.

    The regiment shifted rapidly to face outward in all four directions, standing in double-lines of melee, Undead intermixed with dunlords. Positioned within the square were the archers and casters, the healers, and a quick reaction force to bolster the melee lines when needed.

    Dave, Dog, and Bud stood shoulder to shoulder in the center of the line squarely facing the oing monsters. Dog¡¯s basilisk was jumpy and skittish, but Dog held his head next to where, presumably, the beast¡¯s ear was and mumbled some iprehensible words, calming it.

    As soon as one came in range Dave inspected the canine horrors.

    Underworld Painted Dog

    Level 250

    Danger level: Normal

    HP 50,000

    DN 5,000

    MA: 0

    Skills [None]

    Wild and savage, these creatures are the most feared pack hunters that roam the underworld.

    They can gather in enormous numbers to surround muchrger and stronger prey. They slowly exhaust the prey¡¯s stamina and power until it is vulnerable.

    hunting stronger prey usually results in heavy losses for the Painted Dogs, but their high rate of reproduction easilypensate for that.

    BRING IT ON DOGS!" Dave .

    Dog the duhan turned his head, now on his neck for battle, and gave him a hurt look.

    "Not you, the bad dogs!" Dave pointed while casting multiple Spectral Skulls as fast as he could. Dog nodded, satisfied

    Dave raised an arm, "Dunlords, prepare to volley fire!"

    The moment the wave of wild dogs were in range of the ballistae Dave dropped his arm down.

    "FIRE!"

    The ballista arrows shot forward piercing through the wild dogs like they were made of paper.

    The first tri-dogs hit were insta-killed, the bolts prated through to strike the dogs following them. The first line of dogs stumbled over the corpses of their kin falling and disrupting the charge.

    "Reload, ballistae! FIRE!"

    The dunlords shot at the iing tri-dogs again.

    "Ranged units! FIRE AT WILL!"

    Dave used [Sword Lunge] and shot out a sword, creating a huge opening in the lines of the attackers, but it quickly closed, filled in by the endless supply of tri-dogs.

    Flights of arrows and effects from skills flew at the tri-dogs, decreasing their ranks.

    The flood of tri-dogs impacted against the front line of Undead pushing them back a few steps.

    The dunlords on the front were like meat grinders as they eviscerated and crushed the wolves charging them. Stinger was cutting through dogs with each snip of his pincers.

    The tide of canines converged around the sides of the formation and surrounded it.

    The undead wall was holding, for the moment.

    "Keep it up boyz!, FOR THE LEGION!"

 Chapter 155 A grim situation

    The monsters couldn¡¯t prate the ranked Undead.

    The dunlords were particrly resistant to the tri-dog attacks, but the less sturdy Undead were taking some damage.

    "SWAP!" Dave gave themand and the undead at the front ranks switched ce with the ones behind them in a smooth choreographed movement. This gave the Damaged Undead a chance to recover and the front rank were now fresh and ready to rumble.

    "Heal the wounded!"

    The casters shot hexes and curses on their brethren, healing them.

    The corrupted pdins dispensed buffs and regeneration magic to the dunlords, who slowly recouped their HP.

    Dave¡¯s EXP bar was increasing visibly, points added to it with every kill. Even though the EXP was split among the regiment, the hundreds of kills per minute was bringing in a steady flow of EXP.

    A single tri-dog jumped over the others and the first rank of Undead. It was killed immediately, before it could do any harm. But then more monsters started using the same strategy, this put a lot of pressure on Dave¡¯s battalion. Both ranks were actively engaged instead of one active and one recovering.

    ¡¯Damn it, they learn!¡¯

    "Don¡¯t let them breach the formation! Reserves form up as a third rank."

    Dave threw an item far into the monsters massed around the regiment. It was a basilisk eye.

    When they eyended a yellow light red out, freezing every dog within the AOE.

    The tri-dogs behind and to the sides crashed into their petrified brethren, shattering their frozen bodies and killing them.

    Dog¡¯s basilisk swelled up like a blow-fish and the fangs on its back exploded outward showering the wolves with a rain of fangs that killed many of the already wounded dogs.

    The dunlords speared many of the jumping tri-dog in midair with their stingers.

    Dave activated [Aura]. With his mana pool increased by the Death Knight armor bonuses he could sustain [Aura] for much longer and it dealt more damage per second since the damage was based on his maximum HP.

    The Skill¡¯s pyrotechnic effects erupted from Dave¡¯s body and washed over the undead harmlessly, but the mes did damage the dogs, burning them to cinders in moments.

    The three-headed monsters quickly learned to avoid Dave¡¯s part of the line .

    "Dog follow me, the rest stand your ground!"

    With [Aura] still burning Dave urged Stinger to charge out of the line and turn then continue to circle around the regiment¡¯s formation as he threw basilisk eyes farther out.

    [Aura] was a great AOE tool to reduce the number of attackers. Dave was like a burning torch passing through dry tinder as he moved around the square incinerating the crowded mass of tri-dogs and lessening the pressure on the Undead formation.

    Dog followed behind Stinger twirling his bone-whip and crushing the skulls of the unfortunate three-headed canines that came close enough to reach in the wake of Dave¡¯s [Aura] attack.

    The Undead used the space created by Dave and Dog to recoup and recover, switching their positions at the front of the square, giving the more wounded Undead a chance to rest.

    The healers were using up their Mana rapidly and Dave¡¯s aura didn¡¯t have a lot of time left before it would dissipate.

    Dave started taking more damage as the dogs began jumping at him through the fire of [Aura] just to get a bite at him.

    He was able to smack some of them away with his sword and block others with his shield, but there were just too many of the deranged canines.

    "FARGIN SNEAKY BASTIGES!" Dave swore.

    He used [Immortal Apparition], jumping away from Stinger¡¯s back andnding amidst a concentrated group of tri-dogs.

    The canine monsters were cowed by the Fear effect of [Immortal apparition], running from the angry draugr. But Dave used [Death Surge] imposing a 300% Damage penalty on fleeing enemies.

    With his Death Knight mberge and bonus stats Dave was dealing more than 30,000 HP in damage to every tri-dog within the 10-meter radius of [Death Surge] and the mes from [Aura] was a coup de gras to any injured tri-dogs.

    Yet the flow of monsters wasn¡¯t slowing down. More and more of them came over the tops of the dunes. The situation was looking grim.

    [Double Edged]

    The giant Minhocao worm made another appearance and Dave jumped back with [Death¡¯s Descent], escaping the attack as the worm¡¯s maw engulfed the ground and every dog on it.

    Davended in an area packed with the three-headed dogs and started massacring them right and left.

    ¡¯The Underworld is not a pretty ce! Where the hell did this pack of the ugliest dogse from!¡¯

    Dave activated [Stampede] and made a path back to the regiment, recovering his usual perch on Stinger¡¯s back when he arrived. Just in time, as only momentster his Mana ran out, and [Aura] fizzled away to nothing.

    Dave didn¡¯t see a way out of the situation. There were just too many monsters, attacking them too densely and too quickly.

    There were no options left for him.

    "Today is a good day to die! But I will go to my resurrection treading on these mangy hell-dogs¡¯ corpses! "

 Chapter 156 Enemy of my enemy...

    The Undead regiment began taking casualties as the heals couldn¡¯t fullypensate for all the damageing in.

    The painted dogs didn¡¯t have any regard for their losses, they continued to attack, leaping into the meat-grinder with reckless abandon.

    Howling like the eerieughter of hyenas drowned out the sound of the regiment¡¯s swords and spells.

    Dog¡¯s basilisk was petrifying the three-headed monsters with its gaze and Dog followed up by shattering the canine statues with his basilisk spine-whip.

    Despite Dog and Dave¡¯s effort the undead were facing a grim situation.

    Dave didn¡¯t see a solution or a way out, he just had to fight to the bitter end.

    Dave recovered for a moment and went again to tear through the waves of the Painted Dogs, breaking skulls and tearing flesh. Blood and viscera soon painted his armor red.

    Whenever his mana recovered enough he activated [Aura] and burned the area around the Undead clear of the tri-dogs, momentarily easing the strain on the regiment.

    There was a high cliff in the distance if they have it in their backs, the dog¡¯s won¡¯t attack them from all directions.

    "Move to the cliff!" Dave ordered the Undead to break through the densely packed painted dogs in their way.

    The five first units speared through the tri-dofs, thanks to the dunlords and their pincers grinding through them withvish brutality.

    Dave followed with the rest of the units to join the ones next to the cliff.

    He activating [Aura] to burn through the the dogs that had rushed in to fill the gap between the two groups.

    The second half of Dave¡¯s regiment rapidly joined the first near the cliff.

    The regiment rejoined, the Undead and the dunlords forming a half circle facing outward with the ends against the cliff. Dave hurriedly ordered the Undead with less than 50% HP to change-out and take cover within the half-circle area to recover.

    The dunlords rotated out in small groups so that the Unholy priestess and pdins could cast mass heals on them.

    It was more challenging for the painted dogs to face the dunlords or jump past them into the ranks of the Undead formation. But their remorseless onught was grinding the dunlords¡¯ HP down lower and lower. It was only a matter of time before dunlords started dying, and once that happened the Undead would die in droves and Dave¡¯s regiment would be obliterated in a domino-like effect.

    "C¡¯mon Boyz! Take as many of them with us as we can! Tonight we dine in hell!"

    "ROAAAAAAAR!!!"

    The undead faced the iing painted dogs with unbridled zealot and prepared for a final stand.

    The ground started trembling, almost like an earthquake.

    "Moreing? Bring it on, bitches!" It wasn¡¯t like more of the monster-dogs were going to make things any worse.

    Then he heard the howling of basilisks.

    Arge group of basilisks were charging toward the cliff.

    "Damn. When it rains it really pours."

    But surprisingly, when the basilisks got closer he saw they were tagged yellow instead of the red of hostiles.

    "Don¡¯t attack them," Davemanded as a dunlord aimed his ballista at the approaching basilisks, "Let¡¯s see what happens."

    He ordered the regiment to keep killing the painted dogs.

    The first basilisk to charge into the horde of tri-dogs was soot ck and noticeably bigger than rest of the basilisks. It opened its mouth wide and shot its tongue out, smashing into a group and adhering to several unlucky dogs. Then the tongue withdrew, whipping back and pulling the unfortunate canines into the gullet of the beast.

    The other lizards entered the fray to either side of the ck basilisk and started wreaking havoc on the horde of painted dogs, petrifying them with their gazes and then breaking their statues with swings of their tails.

    "The basilisks are helping, give them support, boyz!" Dave ordered. The casters and ranged units began to aid the basilisks with spells and projectiles, helping any basilisk that got surrounded to shake off the wolves.

    The battle continued for some time, the basilisks began to tire and started taking heavier damage. Dave directed his pdins to heal them, trying to keep his new allies in the scrum for as long as possible.

    The behavior of the basilisks made sense to Dave. Although the basilisks were individually stronger than the painted dogs, no matter how powerful an individual they can be overwhelmed by sufficient numbers. Hell, Dave knew that from personal experience, except he¡¯d been on the other side of the equation taking down more powerful mobs with his Boyz. And that equation shifted in the basilisks favor when Dave and his regiment encountered the painted dogs, he¡¯d given the basilisks an opportunity for revenge.

    The basilisks had suffered a long time from the predation of the painted dogs and now had a chance to give them a taste of their own medicine.

    The tri-dogs weren¡¯t able to stand for long against the Undead on one front and the assault of the basilisks on the other. At some unseen signal the painted dogs changed from aggressors to panicked cowards. They scattered, running in all directions with their tails tucked between their legs, trying to get away and whimpering in defeat.

    Dave shouted in victory then turned to look at the pack of basilisks, uncertain what would happen now that nomon enemy was threatening either group.

    Dog urged his mount forward until his basilisk was nose to nose with the ck-scaled leader of the wild basilisks..

    The two basilisks looked at each other for a moment and seemed to bemunicating on some level. After some growls and grumbles from the two basilisks, a notification appeared.

    The enemy of my enemy is my friend. Because you fought with and aided the basilisks in battle against the painted dogs they now consider you an ally.

    Your Reputation with the basilisks has increased to:

    [Friendly]

    The basilisks suffered greatly at the fangs of the painted dogs and have almost been driven to extinction. They are searching for a safe haven.

    The basilisks have deigned to grant you the honor of riding them into battle if you help them find a safe ce where they can survive and repopte.

    ¡¯Where am I going to find a ce for them to live? It¡¯s not like I have a nature preserve in my pocket...¡¯

    Dave essed his user interface and opened the window fornd-management, an option that became avable when he ranked up to Death Knight.

    Dave was shocked at the amount ofnd given to him by the king. A thousand acres!

    Yournd is suitable for the Basilisks.

    Do you wish to send them to yournd?

    Y/N?

    Dave pressed the ¡¯yes¡¯ option and the herd of twenty Basilisks disappeared, presumably transported to hisnd by the game.

    Dave did a head count and reorganized the surviving troops.

    "Damn those dogs! That little dust-up cost us thirty casters and two hundred melee units. Thankfully none of the dunlords got killed."

    After every member of the regiment was healed and back in fighting shape Dave ordered them to help loot and carry everything they could glean from the numberless dead painted dogs.

    "Alright, Boyz! Move out!"

    The regiment continued exploring eastward, where he hoped to find the Third Raid Zone¡¯s capturable area was.

 Chapter 157 Somethins Up.

    They moved far into the east of the Underworld, the location of the next Raid Zone should be close.

    They encountered several more packs of painted dogs. But none were as big as the one they¡¯d fought before, at most there were a couple hundred dogs in each pack.

    They mowed through the packs with ease and killed everyst one, getting more EXP and exacting a bit more revenge on the three-headed pooches too.

    The EXP was shared between the undead, so Dave didn¡¯t receive a lot, but it was a rtively safe way to slowly level up as he didn¡¯t need to risk his neck like any other yer.

    Dave reached level 270 now, he was closing in on the higher-level yers at a fast pace.

    The regiment moved further into the ck desert, climbing over many different seized duns.

    When they were atop the dune, the scene opened up exposing whaty beneath.

    "Lay low!" Dave gave the order and the regiment hid behind the dune.

    Dave walked up slowly and took a look at what was beyond the dune.

    There was a city of an incredible size sprawled in the sand. The city was ancient and gave an eerie feeling to it.

    It was surrounded by walls that were at least thirty meters tall and ten meters thick.

    Every one hundred meters there would be a watchtower with mes on top lighting the area.

    The city looked alive from the distance, many houses had light shining through their windows.

    And in the middle of the city was an enormous Pyramid.

    This Pyramid was an extravagant creation. It had ayer of gold atop ayer of rocks making it and on the top was a red jewel acting as the tip of the pyramid.

    "This must be the third Raid Zone, I need to report this, but let¡¯s do some scouting first. Unit four, five, six. Go around the city locate all entrances. If you spot anybatant units do not engage in battle." Dave gave themand and the three units dispersed.

    Bud nudged his dunlord and got closer to Dave.

    "I go in, see, and report numbers...troops. Enemies and weapons."

    "You can infiltrate?" Dave looked up and down at bud¡¯s massive size.

    "Yes," replied Bud then his body blurred and turned to smoke.

    "Shadow-Ghoul," Dave lightly smacked his forehead for forgetting that his Ghoul had consumed the body of the shadow-tiger and gained the ability to be stealthy.

    "Alright Bud, be careful,"

    Bud grunted and disappeared from atop the dunlord into a puff of ck smoke.

    He headed rapidly toward the city.

    As Dave waited for the units to finish their inquisition a notification popped up.

    The Time set for Auctioning the Conquest Right has ended!

    A 110,000,000 Gold coin has been redited to your ount!

    Dave stared at the notification for a moment.

    His mind was a bit unable toe to term with the numbers he was seeing.

    "One, two three. Nine figures...that¡¯s...110Mils, oh...okay..."

    The shock effect didn¡¯t dissipate until he received a phone call. He subconsciously hit the answer button the was woken up with the s

    "Daveyyyyyyy!!! Dinner on you!"

    "Yeah, on me, on me. Tell me, who got the Right? I am still in the middle of doing something and didn¡¯t get the chance to see the news, was it the Devis?"

    "No no, it¡¯s a new faction! These guys were crazy, the price stagnated at 70mills but they bumped it up all the way to 100mill, the Ragers actually wanted to purchase it and added another 1mill, only to have these guys raise the stakes to 110Mils."

    "Guys? Who are they? It must be a powerful guild to have such financial backing."

    "Yea, it¡¯s a Europeanpany, they have invested a lot, and used the chance when they bought the Conquest Right to announce that they were recruiting yers to conquer the Eastern Region, the conquest will begin in one week from now. Heck, they even asked yers from other guilds to join. They promised great rewards to all who join in on the raid. You need to log into the forum. Their add is all over the ce," Lone said in a single breath.

    "Alright, I will. I will still have to finish up some stuff here."

    "Okay Davey, but man you promised to take me with you and you are still having fun alone," Lone whined.

    "Didn¡¯t you say you had your Legacy Quest toplete?"

    "Yeah about that, I got some clues but I need to be at least level 300, and I have yet to even reach level 150, its super hard to level up alone, even with parties it sucks. Most of these yers want to do dungeons only, no open world hunting and every time I am invited to a dungeon party, its full of idiots. No teamy, and every time one of them get us wiped!"

    "Alright, I will take you with me next time. If it¡¯s just exp I don¡¯t think it should be a problem, I am level 270. So it shouldn¡¯t be hard to level you up a bit in the underworld. You still have the Scroll I gave you?"

    "Yes, I still have it."

    "Good, when I finish this raid, I will take you to grind in the underworld,"

    "Another raid? At this pace, you will conquer the whole Underworld in no time!" Lone joked.

    "I am receiving another call Lone, I will have to hang up"

    "Oh, could it be Mrs. Ruster?"

    "Nah am already talking to that," Dave joked then immediately realized what his words meant.

    Lone was surprised from hearing that and Dave hung up. Faced flushed and feeling awkward as heck.

    Dave epted the second caller as he realized it was a familiar number.

    "Ralph, you old bastard you finally remembered that you have a friend."

    "Oh buddy, how are you doing?"

    "Doing great buddy, so what brought this sudden call?"

    "Well you see, euhh Anna had mentioned that she met you at Moya a couple of weeks ago and spoke to you about the High-School reunion thing,"

    Dave frowned at the mention of his ex then said "Yea, what about it? I told her I wasn¡¯ting."

    "Nah bro you have to go, major things are happening right now,"

    "Like what? And isn¡¯t that for another month or so?"

    "No, you see the Guild heads had agreed to give a helping hand to the Europeans in conquering the East."

    "What does that have to do with the reunion?"

    "Just hold on bro, the thing is the conquering of the East will take a lot of time, at least a month or so, and many of us won¡¯t have the time to attend the reunion if we are enlisted in the Conquest. Everyone then agreed to get the reunion rescheduled. So next Friday I wille to pick you up from Moya."

    "Bro, I told you I don¡¯t want to go meet pompous children all shing their brand clothes and talk about what they did during thest years we parted. Common bro, you know me, I was never one to socialize."

    "Nah, I will be your wingman this time man. Heck you know Vanessa, I heard she dumped her boyfriend. And I heard that she had a thing for you back at high school, but cuz of you-know-who was sticking to your ass all day long she never got the chance to get close."

    "That Vanessa? Are you sure?" Dave couldn¡¯t believe his eyes.

    "Yep, man, at times you can be really dense, so what do you say?"

    "I will have to think about it...Vanessa man? Are you sure?"

    "Ha, yes man, now see you in six days, bro!"

    Right when Ralph hung up, Dave noticed movement at the gate of the city.

    "Looks like there is some action going on!"

 Chapter 158 Escort service...

    A group of people wearing ck robes emerged from the gates of the city.

    A man in white sat on a litter, he was carried by the ck robed men.

    Dave watched carefully as the group moved away from the city and stood in the open desert. Then the man on the litter started dancing.

    He was performing a ritual.

    The sand shook and a living stone sphinx rose from under the sand dune.

    It looked very like the actual Egyptian sphinx. Wearing a white pharaonic headcover, it had the body of a lion, the tail of a snake and the face of a beautiful woman.

    Dave was too far away to get any information on the creature. He didn¡¯t want to risk getting closer and reveal his presence just to inspect it.

    The sphinx shook the sand from its body and moved closer to the group.

    The man wearing white stopped dancing and waved a hand, speaking to the people around him.

    Four bruised and battered people wearing only chains were led toward the Sphinx.

    The sphinx unceremoniously snatched them up and tossed them into its sensuously curved mouth.

    The ritual was apparently over, the ck robes retreated back to the city, carrying the man on the litter. The sphinx circled around itself a few times, then started shaking its body into the sand until it was covered and hidden from sight.

    ¡¯That¡¯s a dangerous monster.¡¯

    There could be more of those things in the area.

    There could even be one under Dave¡¯s regiment right now.

    The units sent to scout the city reported in. They gave a detailed report about the numbers of units stationed on the walls and the number of catapults and anti-siege machinery on the walls of the city. There were also hidden trenches in front of the walls.

    Bud appeared and reported what he¡¯d found, "Many demons...priests. Do ceremony."

    ¡¯If priests of the church are here, then this must be where they and the demons are going to summon the seraph. I can¡¯t let them do that, but we can¡¯t get in. Our regiment will be destroyed the moment we get near that gate. I have to inform Delvina or Du¡¯Rhaza.¡¯

    "Thanks, Bud, we need to go back, this ce can¡¯t be captured without siege equipment and weapons."

    Dave led his regiment away from the city and roamed the ck desert.

    There might be other secrets to this area and he wanted to check everything before returning to the Red Fortress.

    He would asionally encounter packs of Painted Dogs and use the chance to grind his level.

    Dave ground exp for more than 12 hours in-game increasing his level to 275. Earning EXP became more and more difficult as he leveled up.

    Afterwards, they headed back to the Red-Fortress and Dave went in to the main building in the fortress to see Du¡¯Rhaza. Finding him doing his usual, reading a scroll, Dave interrupted the Lich.

    "Du¡¯Rhaza, I have news."

    The lich ced the scroll down and waited for Dave to speak.

    "I located a city to the east of the Red Fortress,"

    Dave reported to the lich the numbers of the enemy troops and the city defenses. He also told Du¡¯Rhaza about the sphinx and the ritual, the possibility of it being rted to the threat of the Ash-King.

    "You have done well, I will inform the upper echelons of the legion to prepare for conquest. We cannot allow the seraph to be summoned."

    Du¡¯Rhaza summoned a death knight and ordered it to ry the information back to the Undead realm.

    "Another thing, a summons came for you from the king.."

    "I will be going then," Dave tore a teleportation scroll and appeared in the Dead Realm just outside the Bone Pce gates.

    The City of the Dead was an amazing structure. Many buildings of exquisite design rose into the sky. It was a far cry from anything a person would think the city of the dead would be.

    Undead walked the streets, running errands or tending to their businesses. The shops were open, customers entering and leaving, purchasing weapons or materials needed for their daily ¡¯lives.¡¯

    Dave walked deeper into the city and arrived at the Bone Pce at the center of the Dead Realm.

    Two Doom-Knights guarded the gate of the bone pce..

    One of them respectfully ordered the bone gate to open for Dave and made way, letting him in.

    Dave walked up the spiral marble stairs of the Bone Pce to the top where he entered the throne room.

    The Undead king sat on his throne, waiting for Dave.

    "Childe, you have kept your promise," the king spoke solemnly.

    "Sire, you sound troubled. Was there a problem with Death returning your daughter?"

    "No, she did indeed return our daughter, but she is changed, different."

    A girl entered the hall, she wore a long silver gown and a golden tiara on her head. Her hair was pitch ck and draped over her shoulders like a waterfall.

    She had a beautiful face but there was an angry expression on it.

    "What now your majesty? Do you want to imprison me here forever, father? "

    ¡¯This is the king¡¯s daughter? She is clearly not undead.¡¯

    And she was angry.

    "Daughter, you know well I cannot let you leave. We have many enemies and they would do anything to harm us. You are safe here, with the legion."

    "I don¡¯t want to be stuck here all my life. With rotten Undead all over the ce, and you are not my father! To me My father died a long time ago!" the woman¡¯s expression turned cold.

    Eleanor of Arotsa

    Tier: Epic

    Friendly

    Level 350

    HP 350,000

    DA 35,000

    MA 35,000

    Skills???

    Princess of the fallen kingdom of Arotsa

    ¡¯So, what he meant by different is that she despises the undead.¡¯

    "Daughter, I did what I had to do! It was all for the sake of our kingdom."

    "You killed me with your own hands! You traded my life for what? To be like this? I hate you! I do not want to be kin to the dead!"

    Dave couldn¡¯t intervene in a discussion between father and daughter.

    The king had made a huge blunder in the past, the king knew it and so did Dave.

    "You do not wish to remain with us? Aren¡¯t you afraid of the cruelty of the living?"

    "You seem to have forgotten that one day you too were one of the living, father. I no longer wish to be a princess, it only brought misery and sadness. Where is Deadra?"

    The king¡¯s fist tightened, but Dave spoke before he could answer.

    "I beg your pardon majesties. Deadra died in battle."

    Dave tried to spare the king from telling his daughter that he exiled and personally killed her lover.

    "What? How did it happen?" Eleanor turned to face Dave.

    "He sought a way to restore you to the living. He was a brave warrior and should be remembered as such," Dave replied vaguely.

    The princess looked sad as she said "This is the fate of those who seek glory, father. Death. They all die of their arrogance and pride. The desire to conquer kingdoms andnd. And for what end? To sacrifice your loved ones for that same cause?

    "Father you have wronged me. I am not of the dead and do not ever wish to be. I want to live as a human, have children, grow old and die like one! The life of the dead is not for me, father. Let me go."

    "You may leave, but I need to ensure your safety.

    "Kis¡¯Shtiengbrah. Take her to thend you came from, Moria. There are some who serve us there, they shall do your bidding and I will have someone to watch over and protect you. Daughter."

    "No! I want to live life as I see fit! I want to interact with humans, not be coddled and protected by the dead!"

    "They aren¡¯t Undead...they live," said the king.

    The princess pointed at Dave, "What about him? I don¡¯t want even one of your stinking corpses around me."

    "He is one of our valued liegeman. I trust him to keep you safe, but I have other tasks and responsibilities for this one. He will only escort you there, then he will take his leave. "

    The princess looked Dave up and down with thinly veiled contempt, "He is just another rotten undead."

    Dave¡¯s brow furrowed. He raised his hand. The Ring of the Death God glowed for a moment and his body became shrouded in a dark aura of death as he changed back to his human avatar. The ck death knight armor vibrated and transformed, turning into bright silver te-armor.

    He¡¯d changed from one of the Undead to a holy pdin

    A system notification appeared in front of Dave.

    Kill Order!

    yer Bone Breaker has issued a Kill-Order on you.

    Bounty 10,000gold

    You must survive being hunted by the yers for 7 days.

    If the bounty is not withdrawn after the first 7 days, you will receive 10% of the original bounty amount for every day you survive the hunt.

    ¡¯I forgot about the Kill Order. Well I would love to see ole¡¯ Bone Breakere here and try to kill me.¡¯

    Dave looked at the princess and said, "Is this human enough for you?"

    "Hmpf! It will do. Now take me out of thisnd of the dead."

    The king has tasked you to take his daughter to thend of the living.

    Destination: Dutch Brook¡¯s mansion in Moria.

    Dave nodded at the king and gave the princess a teleportation scroll.

    He tore it and she followed as the both of them appeared at Moria.

 Chapter 159 Rencounter

    "Steel! Where are you bro."

    "Grinding with a party in the Crimson Monastery. What¡¯s up bro?"

    "That Death-Stroke guy, he logged back in the game. He¡¯s in Moria. Come help me gank that sob."

    "No can do, man. I¡¯m healing for my party. I was just promoted to the Devastators main guild, I can¡¯t mess this up. You¡¯re level 360, you shouldn¡¯t have any problem handling a lowbie. Kill him and get that legacy. Then we can do your legacy quests together."

    "Alright, I bet those fucking Devastators will regret kicking me out when I show up with the legacy."

    "Man, be honest. That was your fault, your party wiped so many times because of the way you yed, only looking out for yourself. The guys I¡¯m working with now are professionals. But whatever, I¡¯m sure when you get the legacy they will invite you back, or you can just apply to another guild."

    "Yeah, whatever. I am on my way to Moria, I¡¯ll let you know when I finish. Maybe"

    "Good luck Breaker," Steel disconnected.

    The pdin snorted, "Asshole!"

    Bone Breaker was in a mountain range near the Devastator¡¯s capital, he used a scroll to reach the Capital Square where he could use the teleportation gate.

    He inputted the Moria teleportation code and paid the fee to teleport there.

    In the distance, he saw an enormous ¡¯Kill¡¯ painted on the clouds, like the Bat-signal in those old t movies. This was one of the Kill-Order¡¯s gimmicks, it disyed the bounty¡¯s location for all to see.

    Bone Breaker smiled and ran toward the ¡¯Kill¡¯ sign.

    ***

    Dave and Eleanor had appeared in Moria and he had seen the huge ¡¯Kill¡¯ sign above his head. He knew Bone Breaker would soon be hot on his tail. Not to mention the other yers that would be after the ¡¯free¡¯ 10,000 gold bounty on his head.

    Dave didn¡¯t care about it anyway. Afterall, he was in a city, he had one hour of safety during which no yer could attack him.

    If any yer attacked him in a city, the guards would immediately appear and help Dave against them. The guards were always 50 levels above the aggressor and they always came in threes.

    That was a Death sentence to anyone foolish enough to cause trouble in the city.

    Dave led Eleanor toward the marker on his mini-map. There was a mansion inside the city where Eleanor was supposed to take up residence.

    In the northern part of the city was a three story Victorian mansion with borate gardens, all surrounded by a high wall.

    When they were near the gates a pdin came rushing toward them from the opposite direction.

    Dave tilted his head a bit as he recognized the pdin, though he was wearing much cheaper, ¡¯lower¡¯ quality, armor and equipment then when Dave hadst seen him.

    Dave chuckled, he was the reason the pdin was wearing cheap equipment.

    After he conned Bone Breaker and his pal into giving him the adamantine fments the pdin must have been short on funds and sold his better armor to scrape together the money for the Kill-Order.

    "How are you at level 275!?" Bone Breaker¡¯s shock was evident.

    "What do you want here, buddy?" Dave moved to stand in front of Eleanor to protect the NPC, confronting Bone Breaker.

    "You damn bastard, you stole my Legacy quest!"

    "I don¡¯t know what you are talking about mate. You should leave while you still can."

    "You bastard, did you forget that it was me that leveled you up when you were just a newb. Now cut the crap and give me my Legacy back!"

    Dave gave Bone Breaker a derisive look and ignored him. He went to the gates of the mansion and knocked. Bone Breaker was incensed that Dave just ignored him. Following the other yer he grabbed Dave and pulled him back around to confront him.

    Dave was frowning but before he could say or do anything Alfred appeared.

    "This behavior is harassment, I advise you to remove your hands from the other yer. This is your only warning. Next time the guards will deem you an aggressor and will act ordingly."

    "What the hell are you saying Alfred! This is the guy who stole my Legacy!"

    The butler looked at Dave for a moment and one of his eyes twitched. For a moment his form pixted, then it regained its integrity.

    Dave didn¡¯t understand what was going on with Alfred. It was as if the AI was glitching.

    Alfred spoke haltingly, "The yer did not break any rules. The loss of the Legacy was your own doing. Anymore illegal actions and the guards wille and deal with you."

    Then the AI disappeared.

    Bone Breaker drew his sword and prepared to attack Dave. The pdin either wasn¡¯t listening to what Alfred said or he just wasn¡¯t very smart.

    "Even if somehow you really are level 275 I¡¯m still going to wreck you and take my Legacy back before the guards show up!"

    Okay, so it was both. Not listening and not smart.

    Bone Breaker started with a [Shoulder Dash], trying to knock Dave off-bnce.

    Dave sidestepped the charge and cast [Spectral Skull]. Two spheres of glowing white light appeared and exploded against Bone Breaker¡¯s side, staggering him.

    Bone Breaker gawked at Dave and his tag changed to the red of a PK, a yer Killer.

    Dave was even more surprised because the animation of the spectral skull waspletely different, no long red glowing skulls.

    Death¡¯s ring must have changed the skill¡¯s animation.

    Dave used [Stampede], sending Bone Breaker sliding across the ground until he smacked into the estate wall.

    "C¡¯mon bro, you are being a prick. What¡¯s done is done. I have no idea about any Legacy. That crap you pulled at the Deste Temple was not cool. I would have left if you had just asked me to, instead you tried to kill me like I was some scrub. Everything that happened is on you. Now piss-off.

    "Nevermind, stay right there. The guards are here for you."

    Three guards appeared in front of the mansion¡¯s gates and struck at Bone Breaker, insta-killing him.

    Dave didn¡¯t even bother waiting to see him die. He just led the princess through the mansion gates when they opened.

    "Your magnificence, we have prepared lodgings for you. There will be a banquet in your name to introduce you to the people of this city. Our king has tasked us to help you with all your needs."

    Eleanor ignored the man and walked into the mansion without a word to Dave.

    ¡¯Jeez. What an ungrateful royal pain-in-the-ass she is. The king is better off without her.¡¯

    You havepleted the task given to you by the Undead King

    +100CP

    The butler turned to Dave.

    "And who are you, sir?"

    "I was tasked with bringing the princess here."

    "Then you have no further business here. Please leave, this area is prohibited tomoners," he sniffed, head tilted back as he looked down at Dave.

    "Whatever you say, bruh," Dave left the mansion.

    ¡¯I should call it a day, I have been ying for a long time. I need to get some rest. Tomorrow should be the day I am discharged. I will need to get myself a new ce to stay.

 Chapter 160 Lets spend some cash

    Dave woke up from a long night¡¯s sleep. He was going to be discharged today, finally escaping the hospital with its nd decor and even nder food.

    After he ate hisst not so tasty but oh so nutritious hospital meal, the nurse told Dave that he had visitors. But before he could be discharged they needed to change his bandages.

    The nurse removed the old bandages, revealing the pink colored skin underneath them. Then she applied new, less bulky, dressings to his hands and leg.

    Dave moved his right hand and checked the dexterity of his fingers, finding the movements much morefortable and more importantly, not painful.

    His leg was also in great shape, he could even wiggle his toes without feeling any difort.

    Dave put his clothes on and stood up. He walked around the private room finding it easy to move. His limp was gone, he was back to normal. Smiling Dave left the room to meet the visitors.

    Zoe was pacing forth and back waiting for Dave. She was wearing jeans and a blue blouse.

    When she saw Dave, her face beamed with a smile.

    "Daveyyyy!" Zoe was so excited to see him she didn¡¯t realize she was screaming.

    "Hey keep it down! This is a hospital!" Dave teased her.

    "Oh, sorry! Sorry!" She looked around as she apologized, then looked back at him, "You look much better! Let¡¯s get you out of here, but where should we go first?"

    "I¡¯ve been thinking about getting a new ce. So maybe talk to a real-estate agent,"

    "Someone came into some money and wants to spend it now I see," she teased Dave.

    He shrugged, "True. I don¡¯t want to be stuck in a tiny ten-by-ten apartment anymore. Especially now that I can afford a morefortable ce."

    "Rich-Davey is all upper-ss now. I just hope he doesn¡¯t forget little ole¡¯ me." She walked ahead of him toward her car.

    When Dave got in, Zoe elerated, heading downtown.

    "God damn it Zoe, slow down! That whole mess I just got through was due to reckless driving!"

    "Pooh. Don¡¯t worry, I know what I¡¯m doing.

    "Dave, you got a lot of cash from the game. I am sure it is enough for you to livefortably for a long time. What are you going to do? Will you stop ying Conquest?"

    "I won¡¯t stop ying. It¡¯s a great game and I feel more alive there than- watch out!!!"

    Zoe swerved around a red sedan and gave shot the driver a middle finger as she swore in multiplenguages, he was driving too slow.

    "Shit, Zoe! Why the hell do you manual drive anyway! Use autopilot!"

    "Don¡¯t wet your panties Dave. Autopilot is too slow,"

    "I¡¯m happy you¡¯re going to keep ying. A hundred mil is a lot of money..." Zoe went silent for a time then spoke.

    "Money is not everything you know." Zoe¡¯s grip on the steering wheel tightened. "If you maroon a rich person and a poor person in the desert with all their worldly possessions but no food or water, their problems be exactly the same."

    "What are you getting at Zoe," Dave was confused, this was not like Zoe. She wasn¡¯t the serious type, and definitely not about moral or philosophical conundrums.

    "What I mean is, money is just something to put a roof over your head and food on the table, everything else is just stuff. I grew up with everything I ever wanted at my fingertips. But at some point I realized that it was all just stuff.

    "I looked for something else, something to make my life more than that."

    ¡¯Going 120 miles per hour inside the city is not thrilling enough for you?!¡¯ Dave thought out loud.

    "What you built in the game Dave, the legion, the undead and all that. That is something I have been trying to do all my life now. I just want to do something new and fun.

    "I¡¯m not getting your point, TRUCK TRUCK TRUCK!" Dave shouted.

    Zoe smoothly drove around the iing truck.

    "What I mean is, lots of money just makes getting stuff easier, which makes it worthless. If you use your money to make yourself and your life better that¡¯s good, but if it turns you into a snobbish brat, like those girls we met at Copacabana then it¡¯s better you never had it."

    ¡¯Well that¡¯s sudden. I never knew Zoe had thoughts like this, she thinks I might be like a typical nouveau-riche.

    "Daddy wants you toe over for dinner on Friday." Zoe¡¯s tone became carefree again.

    "Friday, what time?"

    Then he remembered friday was the night of the reunion.

    "It¡¯s not like you have anything going on right?" Zoe took a right turn and braked to a stop.

    "Actually, I do have something going on that night."

    "Well daddy just wants to see you, so maybe you cane over for a little while. He needs to talk to you about something."

    Zoe threw the keys to a valet and entered the building.

    "Yea, alright, I can make it."

    "This is Karen¡¯s office, she is a friend of the family and can find you the best deals in real estate in The City."

    "Neat."

    The duo entered and went to the office. They met Karen and Dave was surprised at how friendly and unassuming the woman was.

    She had them look through the catalog to see some apartments.

    Zoe found a great penthouse with a good view.

    A $10,000,000 dor penthouse was a very, very expensive home.

    "Isn¡¯t that too big?" Dave asked.

    "No, it should be just about right. We can add a gym room, a small bar. The living room can have..."

    Zoe started spouting a stream of ideas on how to decorate and improve the apartment.

    Karen watched the two with a wide smile on her face. She loved seeing couples starting out, plus she would make a goodmission on the property.

    "It¡¯s a great ce to build a life together," the brokermented.

    Zoe¡¯s face flushed as she realized they looked like a couple buying a new house.

    Dave coughed then asked the broker to take them to see the ce.

    Karen drove with Dave to one of the tall residential towers and Zoe followed behind them in her car. After parking in the garage they took the elevator to the 60th floor and the realtor unlocked the door to the unit, letting the couple precede her into the living space.

    The was unit was being renovated, the paintwork was only half done. Paint cans, tools and other materials were everywhere. But therge windows gave them a beautiful view of the city.

    "It¡¯s a great view at night, you can see almost all of Manhattan from here." Karen praised the penthouse¡¯s features and glossed over anything that wasn¡¯t worthy of note. Zoe¡¯s excitement was palpable and infectious.

    "See over there," Zoe pointed at a building. "That¡¯s where I live, if you have a good pair of binocrs you can even see my room," Zoe said.

    "Is that a hint?" Dave teased.

    "No! no peeking!" she blushed furiously.

    "So, what do you think, young lovers?" Karen asked. This of course, impossibly, only made Zoe blush even more, and Dave had another coughing fit.

    "I think I will take it." he finally managed to say.

    Dave signed a dozen of papers and they closed the deal. He¡¯d put down the a paltry sum for earnest money to enter into contract with the seller. Telling the realtor he intended to pay cash had helped. But he needed to convert his Conquest currency to ¡¯real¡¯ dors.

    "The paint and other work on the ce will be done in a week. I can also rmend a decorator if you are interested," Karen added.

    "I will keep that in mind." Dave was pretty sure Zoe was going to have a hand in that part too.

    "Where are you nning to spend the week? I don¡¯t think you should go back to your old ce, even with my dad¡¯s men watching out for you." Zoe said

    "No, I¡¯m going to check into a hotel."

    "Alright, I know a good hotel nearby. You can get a room with a Conquest game-capsule already in it."

    "Good, we should probably go then. Karen, thank you, I¡¯ll see you at closing."

    He and Zoe took the elevator down to the garage level, then headed for the hotel. He wanted to get back into the game as soon as possible, he had a lot to do.

 Chapter 161 Land Managemen

    Zoe took Dave to a four-star hotel in Manhattan and checked him into a room for a week, one that came with a game capsule.

    Zoe used her credit card for the room since Dave¡¯s auction money was still sitting in Conquest. But she charged Dave another fancy dinner date.

    Dave agreed to take Zoe to the first fancy dinner the evening after next. Zoe left after they said goodbye and Dave went up to his hotel room.

    Dave was amazed how luxurious the room was. The decor was tasteful and didn¡¯t look anything like the normal cookie cutter cloned hotel stuff. The king-size bed was softer than any he¡¯d slept in before. In the living area was a mini-bar and a fridge filled with snacks and drinks. In one of the wardrobes were numerous toiletries and thick bathrobes with the hotel logo embroidered on them, as well as stacks of neatly folded towels of all sizes.

    The bathroom was literally bigger than his apartment. The loo and bidet were in their own closed off area. Along one wall was a whirlpool tub big enough for four and a separate shower stall with more nozzles than he had fingers. Two sinks with lighted vanity mirrors and two triple-paned dressing mirrors with built in smart-mirror function were along up another wall. And the FLOOR was heated, it had its own separate thermostat!

    Most importantly, he could log in to y Conquest from the hotel room, just as promised. A discreet alcove behind a door held a custom game capsule installed in it.

    Ordering a meal from the hotel kitchens he took a quick shower, then put on one of the thick robes and waited until there was a knock on the door. The food was wheeled into his room on a cart by uniformed hotel employees.

    After the meal, which was infinitely better than the hospital food he¡¯d suffered through thest few days, Dave climbed into the game capsule and logged onto Conquest.

    Dave appeared in Moria, the ¡¯Kill¡¯ signal still projected in the sky for all to see.

    He changed back to his draugr form with the Ring of the Death God and then tore a scroll, appearing in the Red Fortress. He looked around then headed for the teleportation gate and used it to transport himself to the Dead Realm.

    Opening hisnd management panel he located thend granted to him by the king. It wasn¡¯t far from the pce, just outside the area upied by the undead surrounding the undead-city.

    Dave summoned Stinger from his unit¡¯s management panel. Dave rode on top of stinger and ordered him to go to hisnd.

    It took a while for Dave to reach thend and when he got there, he could see basilisks nomming on herbs and drinking from a river that went through thend.

    The area was fertile and forested with a river running through it. He opened thend management panel, it provided costs and a list of materials needed to build stuff in this ce. There were barracks, shops and a mansion. There was even a breeding stable for the basilisks.

    But before he could build anything he needed to buy the blueprints.

    Dave looked at the costs and what materials he would need. All the materials were avable to harvest from his ownnd, he wouldn¡¯t have to purchase anything from outside.

    Logs would be harvested from the forest and turned into lumber, rocks quarried and chiselled into building-stones. He needed a stonemason to work the rocks into building material.

    Dave summoned a hundred elite skeletons from his unit management panel and ordered them to start chopping down trees.

    But they all just looked at him uprehendingly.

    Dave summoned Bud, and asked the ghoul to exin to the skeletons what he wanted.

    "Chop-chop man...okay, chop-chop monster okay. Chop-chop not-enemy...Not," Bud shrugged. Bud had be quite verbose after hisst evolution.

    "Wait here," Dave ordered the undead and rode back to the Undead-City.

    "Hey Dikenz," Dave saluted.

    "Ahh, me fave-rit cust¡¯mer."

    "I need to buy some blueprints fornd management. Show me what you got."

    "O¡¯course," Dikenz sent a list of his avable blueprints. The prices for basic building blueprints started at 10,000 CP.

    Dave scrolled down and purchased blueprints for barracks and a breeding stable.

    He also bought the blueprints for a mansion.

    There were many other blueprint on the list but they were grayed out.

    "Why can¡¯t I get the blueprints for the mage-tower?" Dave asked

    "That¡¯d be because ye don¡¯t have a superior mage in yer unit. Ye need a lich or a mage of at least Death-Knight rank to have a mage-tower. It¡¯s the same fer the archery range ye need a Death Knight ranked archer, we call em Dead-Eyes. Ye¡¯r a meleebatant and Death Knight so the barracks be avable."

    Dave came across two oddities in the list. The first was a blueprint for what appeared to be arge tomb with statues and obelisks all surrounded by high stone walls. The second blueprint was for a fenced and gated graveyard plot of fallownd with arge area specifically earmarked for some sort of tree to be ced in. The buy-buttons weren¡¯t grayed out, so both blueprints were avable to him for purchase. But what the hell were they for?

 Chapter 162 To the grind!

    "What are these?" he asked Dikenz.

    "The tomb be the resting ce fer dunlords. They train and rest in yon structure."

    "And the graveyard?"

    Dickenz seemed uncharacteristically reluctant to talk, he looked around furtively.

    Then he leaned in, halitosis danger-close, and whispered, "It be the domain o¡¯the duhan. Ye should¡¯na go in there, sor. Ever!"

    Dave purchased the blueprint for the dunlord tomb and the graveyard too. The dunlords were a core strength of his regiment and totally worth spending some CP on to make sure they were at optimal efficiency.

    As for Dog the duhan¡¯s fancy graveyard digs --heh, pun intended-- despite Dikenz¡¯s warning he was curious about what was going to be in it, and the tree that was supposed to be part of it. He really hoped to recruit more duhans, he had a feeling that having more of the mysterious undead-types was going to be important to his growing army. So, he figured he might as well make his property as ¡¯duhan friendly¡¯ as he could.

    He looked longingly at the grayed-out blueprints, they probably had some very interesting perqs. Then shook his head, another goal to work toward. He would concentrate on what he could build now.

    "Is there a way to train my units to harvest resources for construction materials like lumber and stone? Also what about builders, can I train them to build?"

    "That be an easy thing, sor. Ye need professional trainers t¡¯get yerds set t¡¯rights. I canmission trainers fer ye, but it will take time fer yerds torn. But, ye be better off starting the construction now with some hired help, while the trainer berning theds."

    "How much?"

    "20,000 CP each fer the lumberjack and carpentry trainer, and 30,000CP fer a stonemason trainer.

    "Okay, but I was asking how much time it will take to train them."

    "Mayhap it be seven days, at the best."

    "Good, hire them for me."

    "Done. Ye will find them on yernd waiting fer orders."

    "You can hire professionals, right?

    "O¡¯course, sor," Dikenz rubbed his hands together. "I be able tomission already trained stonemasons, carpenters and lumberjacks to aid ye."

    "What cost?"

    "It be 50 CP per hour fer the lumberjacks and carpenters, and 100 CP per hour fer the stonemasons."

    "I want to hire ten stonemasons, ten carpenters and ten lumberjacks."

    "They also be needing their own lodging," Dikenz added after taking Dave¡¯s CP "Which be costing 10,000 CP. But good news, theys can build it fer themselves."

    "Just get them working."

    "Also, me dearest cust¡¯mer, I rmend ye add a shop on yernd."

    "And that will undoubtedly cost CP also...?"

    "Yes sor, ain¡¯t nothing in life that¡¯s free, med. That be 5,000 CP."

    Dave paid the surprisingly low price. But it made sense, having a shop on hisnd would just made it easier for the sleazy zombie to gouge more CP out of him, and there was no question Dikenz was still making a profit from the low price anyway.

    After all the splurging he was left with a little over 210,000 CP in his current ount.

    Dave rode back to his property on Stinger. On the way he passed Dikenz¡¯s new shop, already fully built, on his property. He shook his head. The little shack sat on hisnd like a spider in its web, waiting and ready to scam more CP from poor unwary draugrs and anyone else it could pull in.

    Thirty undead with a variety of hammers, axes and pickaxes slung over their shoulders stood near his own undead units, all waiting for his orders.

    Dave gave the workers the blueprints ordered them to start construction.

    A notification appeared, asking Dave if he wanted to manually ce the buildings on thend.

    When Dave epted he gained birds-eye topographical feature view of hisnd, and the system gave him the ability to ce the buildings how he saw fit.

    Dave chose an open central area near the river to ce the mansion. He ced two barracks to train his units, one to the right and another to the left of the mansion.

    He positioned the dunlord¡¯s tomb at the edge of the forest behind the mansion. He put the breeding stables for the basilisks close to the river bank.

    For some reason the duhan¡¯s graveyard could only be built deep in the overgrown forest. He shook his head. That damn Dog, always gotta be a drama queen.

    When he finished he hit the ept button to confirm the start of construction and his vision switched back to normal. Areas with construction outlines had appeared in the ces he had chosen, any nts and grass was removed leaving only bare dirt.

    The lumberjacks moved off toward the forest to start cutting trees to build a lodge for the contract workers. While the carpenters started measuring the build area and the stonemasons scouted around for the best ce to start a quarry.

    Dave ordered the two trainers help his skeleton to learn how to harvest materials.

    He nodded in satisfaction, then tore a teleportation scroll and was transported to the Red Fortress.

    ¡¯I need to grind out some more levels. The war against the Demon-Angel alliance ising.¡¯

    Dave was eagerly anticipating the conflict, he was going to be in the thick of fighting in the uing war. Yeah, kicking church AND demon ass, a two-fer. Not to mention he would ¡¯getz lootz¡¯ and rack up boo coo EXP.

    Dave dialed a contact from his list.

    "Lone, are you in-game?"

    "Daveyyyyy! No, I just got home. Why?"

    "I¡¯m going to do some grinding. Are you interested?"

    "YESS! Skeletal and Lone, back again for x-p and da lootz," then she started singing, "Got nowhere to run to, mobs-ies, nowhere to hide."

    "Heh, nice! I¡¯ll wait for you in the Undead Frontier Settlement near the teleport gate. The scroll I gave you will bring you there.

    "The third raid zone is too dangerous to grind in, and I haven¡¯t explored much of the second raid zone. So other than the Red Fortress and the Mines we have a lot ofnd to cover, we can probably find a dungeon there."

    "Okayyyyy Davey, I¡¯ll log in right away." Lone was rushing to her room even as she hung up.

    Author¡¯s Note:

    I apologize for putting this in the chapter content even though it does add to the chapter word count. It is too long for the Author¡¯s Notes section, but because of the number ofments about the subject I feel it is justified. This practice,menting in the chapter, will NOT be a regr urrence, and I hope to never need to do it again.

    In response to thements about chapter length, it¡¯s difficult to find a happy middle ground for everyone. But I do post 6-12k per week, sometimes the chapters are longer or shorter because I came to a logical or good ce to stop. But the total number of words I post per month/week is pretty consistent.

    I do have a lot more going on than just the writing I do for this story. My long-term goal is to earn enough so that I have the freedom to focus on my writing. So hopefully sometime in the future I can post more content for you than I am doing right now.

    The chapters need to go through editing to maintain the quality of the story. I can easily spout nonsense and extend the chapter lengths to unbelievable size --cough Wuxia-padding cough-- but that would just be a cheat to get an extra stone or two out of you guys. You¡¯ve seen the mess that the early chapters are. These more recent chapters are clearer, more consistent and direct (all thanks to the editor of course).

    You see what I am getting at here? I want to give you a good quality story that is worth the stones that you donate for it. So please bear with me for now.

    If you are willing to support the story I invite you to join Patreon to be one of my patrons. You will get ess to more chapters sooner (of first draft quality).

    https://.patreon/BoucettaAmr

 Chapter 163 Storm labyrinth

    Dave arrived at the Undead Frontier and waited for Lone to log in. When she appeared he greeted her and gave her another teleport scroll to rece the one she had just used to join him.

    Lone had new armor. A set of blue and green leather, fitted to emphasize her slim feminine figure.

    The Undead looked at Lone with all the hostility they usually harbored for the living. But because of Dave¡¯s presence they didn¡¯t ost her. It was a disturbing sight, seeing one of the living in thend of the dead, but Kis¡¯Shtiengbrah was trusted and she was safe with him.

    "Okay Davey, where are we going today?"

    "Let¡¯s go to the Red Fortress. I haven¡¯t fully explored the area around it yet, so we might find something interesting."

    "Oooh, the fortress in the videos? That was badass when you helped capture it. I still can¡¯t believe how you escaped from that chaos entity."

    "Heh, thanks. Let¡¯s go," Dave handed Lone a teleportation scroll for the Red fortress.

    Lone didn¡¯t have permission to use the Undead teleportation gates, so she had to use the teleportation scrolls to move from a ce to another instead.

    Dave went first, his avatar disappeared. When he was gone, the undead started to look at Lone with more hostile intent, some of them even approached her threateningly.

    Lone quickly tore the scroll and appeared inside the walls of a fortress, with undead all around. Some of them were guarding the gates, others were training, and more moved about on various tasks.

    Dave was right next to Lone, behind him stood two dunlords.

    "We have to go hook up with my regiment," Dave jumped on Stinger¡¯s back. Pointing at the other dunlord he said, "This one will carry you."

    "For real!?" Lone squealed.

    She jumped onto ¡¯her¡¯ dunlord¡¯s back. The dunlord was agitated, clearly annoyed at having to carry a human.

    "Waaa!!! You look sooo deadly! But so cuuuute too!" Lone kept squee-ing, praising her mount as she stroked his carapace.

    The dunlord snorted, visibly calming down and bing less sullen.

    "What¡¯s his name?" Lone asked Dave

    "Uh, he doesn¡¯t have one. You can name him if you want."

    "Hmm, how about Pincher, because you have those big sharp pincers?"

    Dave face-palmed.

    ¡¯Gah! Her naming sense is worse than mine.¡¯

    However, Lone¡¯s dunlord didn¡¯t seem to mind the name, he even did a little prancing dance step in ce.

    "Good, you are Pincher from now on!"

    Dave shook his head and ordered Stinger to head out of the Red Fortress.

    Lone¡¯s followed behind on the newly dubbed Pincher.

    The duo moved across the ins and headed toward a nearby hill. Ranks of dunlords and undead stood alertly in formation, waiting for them.

    "Wow, that¡¯s a lot of Undead. Are they all your troops?" Lone asked.

    "Yep, they¡¯re all mine!" Dave said in a gloating voice. He urged Stinger to move faster.

    "Whoa, really?"

    Dave brought Stinger to halt in front of the regiment.

    "Undead!! We march south!" Dave hollered

    The Undead shouted back wordlessly in unison and started moving south.

    Dave headed to the front of the column and Lone followed.

    "What is that?!" the archer had spotted a new type of creature among the Undead.

    "Oh, that¡¯s Dog the duhan, and he¡¯s riding a basilisk. Which he tamed for himself. Somehow." That was still a bit of a sore point for Dave.

    Lone inspected the basilisk and her eyes widened.

    "That is just broken, the basilisk has so many skills!"

    "Yeah, basilisks are very powerful. I¡¯m going to breed them. As some point I will have a bunch of them as mounts. Basilisk heavy cavalry."

    A ghoul on a dunlord approached Lone.

    "Pretty-elf...wel..e...back."

    "And who is this charming fellow?" Lone cooed, already won over by the ¡¯pretty elf¡¯ statement.

    "This is Bud, he¡¯s one of my first undead. You probably don¡¯t recognize him because he¡¯s evolved a few times since then."

    "Hello again, Bud. Your new ¡¯look¡¯ is so cool!" she gushed at the oversized Shadow-Ghoul.

    Dave could¡¯ve sworn Bud blushed at Lone¡¯spliment. But that wasn¡¯t possible.

    "So, what now Davy? Are we going somewhere in particr?"

    "I haven¡¯t explored much to the south, so I don¡¯t know what we¡¯ll find. At the very least we¡¯ll find some ¡¯free-range¡¯ mobs to kill."

    "Why not go to the third Raid Zone?"

    "Tch, I¡¯m not going back there for a while. That ce is dangerous, we had to fight our way through thousands of mobs when we tried to explore it."

    "Thousands?"

    "Yeah, literally. Maybe even tens of thousands. I¡¯ll send you a clip of the feed, you can watch it while we travel."

    Several times the regiment scouts came across and reported spoor from lone shadow-tigers. But Dave wasn¡¯t interested in tracking down single weak mobs.

    Lone finished watching the painted dogs video he¡¯d sent her.

    "That was way cool but risky, Dave. You could have died and lost everything."

    "Heh. Yeah, I don¡¯t have to worry anymore about losing the Legacy if I die, or my rank in the legion. Hell, even the Undead expansion is no longer linked to my death."

    "WHAT!?" Lone reached across and punched his arm. "That¡¯s for letting me worry!" Then she punched him again, "And that¡¯s for not telling me until just now!"

    The Undead had heard her first exmation and started looking around for an enemy, ready to defend against an attack. When Lone punched Dave they were unsure how to respond.

    Since their Death Knight leader just rubbed his arm and smirked, the undead took their cue from him. They ignored the ¡¯incident¡¯ with the Living elf and resumed marching.

    A littleter Lone eximed, "Hey look over there!"

    Dave looked where Lone was pointing and saw pirs the size of skyscrapers rising up from the scorchednd. Some them were upright and some had fallen, the debris spread all over the area.

    The regiment moved in closer to the pirs.

    Dave and Lone both received a notification.

    You are the first to discover the Storms Labyrinth.

    All kills award double EXP for seven days (in-game time).

    The first kill of any monster inside the Storms Labyrinth has a 100% chance to grant the best loot.

    Lone was almost vibrating with eagerness, "It¡¯s a dungeon, Dave! A dungeon! So where¡¯s the entrance, where!?"

    Dave was also looking for the dungeon¡¯s entrance, he didn¡¯t see anything but the pirs.

    Only a single pair of the enormous pirs were still standing and more or less intact, and the regiment was about to pass through them. The moment Dave crossed between the two towering structures his vision blurred and the world darkened around him.

    He looked back, realizing the two pirs were a gate to another ce.

    They were now marching on a paved stone surface instead of bare ground.

    The stone road led to a gate made of solid gold, the surface decorated with patterns of inset jewels in all colors. But what caught Dave¡¯s eyes were the two Drahma-size statues standing on either side of the gate.

    The one on the right had a wild mane of reddish hair, his body was taut with well-defined muscle, including an impressive six-pack of abs. The other statue was bald with the build of a powerlifter, including the belly of a happy Buddha. He carried some sort of bag across his neck and shoulders and heavy, spiked cestus encased his thick forearms and fists. Both were depicted wearing only loose Arabian-style pantaloons with wide cloth belts wrapped around their middles.

    Strangely, a metal hoop rose up around the lion-maned statue, spaced evenly along the ring were many small drums. Appropriately in his hands were a pair of drumsticks with massive spherical heads. They looked like they would serve just as well for beating drums or bashing in heads.

    "I know these guys!" Lone said, looking at the two statues. "From mythology. These guys are Raijin and Fujin. They are the protectors of the gates to the Otherworld!"

    "Okay, I¡¯m impressed. Let¡¯s just hope these really are statues. That they are here JUST for decoration, not toe alive and gank us all. That would be A Bad Thing."

    Dave moved closer to the gates while prudently keeping an eye on the statues, hoping they don¡¯t move.

    When he got within a few paces of the gates, they opened silently on their own.

    Dave¡¯s heart jumped, "Gah! Creepy."

    He looked around again for anything that might be getting ready to jump out at him. Seeing nothing, he shrugged and led Stinger forward, followed by Lone and the regiment.

    After the final member of the Undead regiment passed through the gate, the doors slowly and silently swung closed. Thus, there was no one left to witness the two statues turn their heads in unison to look across at each other and smile in sinister fashion then disappear, leaving behind only echoes of eerieughter.

 Chapter 164 One eyed

    A long corridor stretched out ahead of the regiment. The floor and pired walls were made of seamless polished gray marble. Glowing crystals set into the vaulted ceiling at regr intervals illuminated the hallway.

    Dave signalled the units behind him to stop.

    There were three passages they could take.

    "What now Dave?"

    Dave didn¡¯t know which path to take, he turned to ask Bud.

    "Bud, can you smell anything?"

    "Old blood...everywhere...danger...everywhere. Kishtingbrah...trust Bud?"

    "I trust you, Bud."

    "Bud takes units...left...Dog takes units...right...Lord takes units...middle."

    ¡¯Whoa, Bud is growing, he¡¯s d smarter and more coherent all the time.¡¯

    Dave decided to follow the ghoul¡¯s n.

    "Alright. Bud, you and Spark take three squads and kill your way to the boss. Dog, you take four squads. The rest are with me."

    Bud turned to Lone with a shy, shark-toothed smile, "Pretty elf...go with Bud?"

    Lone giggled and smacked the ghoul¡¯s arm, "You¡¯re sweet! Maybe next time, Bud. Someone has to make sure your fearless leader stays out of trouble."

    "Hnnn," the ghoul nodded sagely.

    Dave looked at the two, opened his mouth to say something then just shook his head.

    ¡¯The hell!? Did Bud just try to ghoul-block me...? Nevermind, grinding to do, EXP to getz.¡¯¡¯

    "Alright boyz move out."

    The leaders gathered their undead and each party moved into their corridor.

    Dave and Lone took the middle opening. After they¡¯d gone a short distance the floor inclined, they were moving deeper.

    The hallway ended in an open doorway, as they got closer it looked like the floor dropped off.

    ¡¯Is it a trap that got sprung and didn¡¯t reset?¡¯

    They moved carefully to the door and looked through. They were standing at an opening and looking out into an enormous chamber. But instead of being at floor level they were at the very top. The floor was so far down they couldn¡¯t see it clearly.

    Broken pirs lined the walls of the room, each one shorter than thest, like a series of descending steps. Big steps. They would need to leap to reach each one. The distances between the pirs were just within reach of what the Undead could make if they were going down. They would not be able to jump their way back up.

    "Well, I guess we are going down. Everyone can make these jumps right?" Dave turned to his Undead.

    They nodded back at him.

    "Alright, let¡¯s go!"

    Stinger rushed forward and jumped to the closest pir, the dunlord recovered, then ran and jumped for the second one.

    The Undead started jumping from pir to pir. The uneven tops of the broken pirs were wide enough that a number of Undead could perch on them.

    When Stinger and Pinchernded on the third pir, they heard an angry screame from below.

    Dave hastily ordered everyone to stop where they were. Stinger moved to the edge of the pir top so Dave could look down. He could see the floor of the chamber now, but wished he couldn¡¯t.

    A brown-skinned cyclops wearing a filthy loincloth looked back at him balefully out of its one eye.

    He could see it, and unfortunately he could smell it now too, but he was still too far to inspect it.

    It easily reached three dunlords height and was grotesquely muscr, a horn grew out of its forehead right above the single outsized eye.

    Around his wrists were two cuffs attached to heavy chains leading to two wrecking-balls of battered steel.

    The cyclops started howling iprehensibly at Dave.

    Then it started swinging the steel balls at the pirs, smashing through the stone bit by bit.

    "Fuck! This thing¡¯s going to kill us before we get down! EVERYONE MOVE, MOVE, MOVE!!"

    When Stinger was about halfway through the pirs, Dave looked back up. Everyone in the group was now on the pirs. Thest few units had just jumped from the door to the first, and highest, pir. That was when the cyclops¡¯ twin wrecking balls finally destroyed the first pir¡¯s remaining integrity. It started copsing with a rumble and a billowing cloud of dust, making Dave¡¯s heart thump against his chest in fear for his Undead.

    Unpanicked, the Undead on the pir leapt as a group for the second pir. But they didn¡¯t even bother going for the top of the pir, they justtched on wherever and however they could, most of then clinging to the pir¡¯s vertical face. The few undead unlucky enough to miss the pir were grabbed and saved by their more fortunate brethren. Then they started crawling rapidly down the pir --like four limbed insect-creatures from a nightmare.

    Even before the dust and debris from the copsing pir had settled the cyclops had shifted his demolition efforts to the next pir. The wrecking-ball chains crushing the stone in a steady rhythm of booming impacts.

    But the cyclops¡¯ destructiveness was no longer of great concern. The rest of the undead learned from the actions of theirrades and gave up taking the ¡¯regr¡¯ stairstep route. Instead of jumping from pir to pir they all started climbing down the pirs like an army of ants. The dunlords adopted the same strategy and went down the pirs.

    The cyclops soon noticed their change in tactics and grew frustrated, its rhythmic pounding faltered and stopped. The one-eyed monster looked all around, frantically trying to decide which was the best pir to destroy. The undead were everywhere, it was hard for its tiny brain to make a decision.

    When the first undead, a skeleton, reached the ground it rushed toward the cyclops to attack. But the hapless skeleton was struck by one of the steel wrecking-balls and hurled into a nearby pir.

    More undead reached the floor, leaping thest distance then running at the monster.

    Then the dunlords got within range to use their ballistae.

    "Fire!" Dave gave themand the moment Stinger touched the ground.

    The cyclops howled in pain as the ballista bolts pierced it¡¯s body.

    Still climbing down the pir, Lone ordered Pincher to jump for the ground.

    In mid leap Lone used [Prating Shot], aiming for the cyclops¡¯s eye.

    "Eat this!"

    The arrow pierced through the Cyclops¡¯ eye and it howled again in helpless fury and pain. It began to thrash about itself with the wrecking balls.

    Lone kept up her distracting skirmishing shots, directing Pincher in and out of the cyclops aggro zone and avoiding the deadly steel wrecking-balls.

    Dave was impressed with her tactics and not to be outdone, he started casting [Spectral Skulls] and detonating them right in the cyclops¡¯ face, continuously resetting the Blinded status.

    He activated [Aura] and jumped on the monster¡¯s back, going to town on it with his gauntlets. More of the regiment¡¯s Undead joined him, climbing on top of the Cyclops and hacking into its flesh with their weapons.

    The monster was soon drowned under in a deluge of undead, making him barely able to to mov.

    When the remaining dunlords reached the ground, they charged at the giant cyclops.

    Two zombies weretching on the monster¡¯s right leg, but when they saw one of the dunlords rushing toward their location they jumped out of the way.

    The dunlord barreled into the cyclops¡¯ leg and snipped at its Achilles tendon with his pincers, crippling the behemoth. The cyclops lost its bnce and fell onto its back, crushing the unfortunate undead who didn¡¯t jump away in time.

    Dave had grabbed on the cyclops¡¯s horn and pull himself from the back of the monster to the front before it fell.

    "Don¡¯t let it get back up!" Dave ordered and the undead stabbed at the cyclops in a frenzy adding to its suffering.

    When the twenty dunlords of Dave¡¯s units surrounded the fallen monster, they hammered it with attacks plummeting its HP.

    Before Dave even Inspected the monster, it was already dead. He quickly acknowledged the notification about a decent gain of EXP from the kill, then moved in to loot the body.

    1 x [Cyclopian Eye] Crafting material

    2 x [ Prisoner¡¯s Iron weighted shackle] Weapon, improvised (rare).

    1 x [Stone Tablet]

    Dave inspected the wrecking-ball shackle.

    Category: Weapon

    Iron Weighted Shackle

    A heavy Iron ball used to shackle and limit the mobility of prisoners.

    But those with enormous strength can use it for other purposes...like to ¡¯smash!¡¯

    Base Damage: 2,500-3,000

    Attack Cost: 500 Stamina

    Requirements

    600 STR

    Level 350

    Bonus Abilities

    [-100 DEX]

    [-100AGI]

    [Ball Throw] can throw the steel ball like a cannonball.

    [Steel Tempest] rapidly spin the ball around the caster causing a knockback effect. Targets receive 50% increased damage with every sessive hit of the ball while the user is still spinning.

    Scaling/ss

    S: STR Damage Modifier

    Rare

    "What a nice weapon, too bad it adds a negative to DEX and AGI, otherwise it would be broken for any STR build."

    [Stone Tablet]

    One of many ancient tablets used to unlock a secret passage in the Storms Labyrinth.

    "What did you get?" Lone asked.

    Dave showed her the items.

    "That Tablet is mysterious. We should probably keep it until we figure out what passage it opens."

    "Yeah. Let¡¯s keep going."

    "What about the other groups?" Lone Asked.

    "Give me a sec." Dave opened his undead management panel and checked on the status of the other Undead units.

    "Looks like Dog already finished a fight. His units are recovering and no one is losing HP. Bud¡¯s units seem to be in the middle of fighting, their HP and numbers are fluctuating now, but I don¡¯t see anything too worrying in their Stats."

    "Good. Hopefully we¡¯ll rejoin soon. Especially before the boss fight"

    "Yeah, now let¡¯s see what else there is to this dungeon."

    After the group healed and recovered they went through the only gate that was on the floor level of the room. Another corridor leading them even further below.

 Chapter 165 Undead swarm

    Dave¡¯s group moved along the corridor cautiously, eventually emerging into a room with three doors set in the opposite wall.

    In the middle of the room were ranks of y statues. They were obviously soldiers, each figure had both hands resting on the pommel of a broadsword, point to the ground.

    Dave recalled seeing pictures of statues simr to these as a child. He didn¡¯t read the article just enjoyed the amazing images. He remembered the article title imed they were part of a Terracotta Army.

    "Now what?" Lone arrow said.

    Dave inspected one of the figures:

    Ancient Warrior of the Middle Realm

    Level 250

    Tier: Epic

    DN 20,000

    MA 5,000

    HP 250,000

    Skill [None]

    A statue frozen in time awaiting to serve its ancient Lord again.

    "We take down the stone soldiers, adoor should open up for us when we take down these guys."

    Dave ordered the group to move advance on the y soldiers.

    When Stinger entered the aggro range of the first terracotta soldier, all the statues woke and like a mechanical machine they raised their swords and moved toward the dunlord in unison.

    ¡¯This shouldn¡¯t be much of a problem.¡¯

    "Two dunlords take out each y golem," Dave ordered, and the dunlords rushed to do battle.

    The first dunlord to approach a stone soldier grabbed it with a stone-crushing pincer and threw it against the nearest wall.

    The y soldier impacted the wall with a cracking sound. Fissures appeared all over the fired y body but the statue didn¡¯t shatter.

    [-85,000]

    ¡¯Whoa! Good damage. They must be really weak to blunt damage.¡¯

    "Hammertime everybody! They are weak to blunt damage!"

    Using [Immortal Apparition] Dave leaped up and over Stingers head, striking down at the head of one of the stone soldiers with his gauntlet.

    A cone of me erupted from the gauntlet engulfed the y soldier.

    The statue¡¯s head cracked but it still counter-attacked with its sword.

    Seeing the threat as hended, Dave parried the sword-attack with a gauntleted forearm, redirecting its force and sliding the sword away from himself. He riposted with a fist, pummeling the soldier¡¯s face, exposed from overextending its attack.

    Another punch rocked the statue¡¯s head and cracked it even more, turning its nose into a puff of y dust.

    Dave began strafing around the soldier, striking it with his gauntlets like a boxer repeatedly jabbing his opponent.

    Stinger and another dunlord joined in and the soldier was quickly turned to dust and shards of fired y.

    When one of the stone soldiers fell, the dunlords that defeated it would move on to help their closest ally, this continued until all soldiers were felled.

    "Well that wasn¡¯t so tough," Davemented, "But they didn¡¯t drop any loot,"

    Lone Arrow moved to get a closer look at the three doors.

    "Hey Dave, there¡¯s no way to open this door," she said.

    Dave joined her to take a look.

    Made of stone, the door was big enough for a dunlord to pass through with no trouble. But, like Lone said, there were no handles or even a keyhole.

    Dave was about to try pushing against it when he heard a rumbling.

    A door on the other side of the room had opened by itself, as the same time a stone block fell across the door they had entered through.

    "Huhhh, obviously someone, or something, doesn¡¯t want us going back that way."

    Dave had everyone rest and recover their HP, the pdins healing the dunlords and the casters the undead.

    "Okay, form up. Let¡¯s go find who or what is so eager to meet us."

    The party moved through the open doorway.

    "Can you tell how the other Boyz are doing?" asked Lone

    Dave checked his interface and saw that the other groups¡¯ HP was going up and down.

    "Looks like both groups are in battle."

    "Do you think we¡¯ll meet up with them somewhere ahead?"

    "I hope so. If we don¡¯t I can just summon them back to the Dead Realm when we are done with the boss," Dave answered.

    "Stop!" Lone shouted. "That tile looks strange," Lone indicated a floor-tile that was set slightly higher than the ones around it.

    Dave looked around, there were lines of holes in the walls, probably a spear or arrow trap. He called out, "The hall is trapped. Everyone watch your steps!"

    Then he ordered one of the undead to stand in front of the tile as a marker until everyone else was past it.

    The group moved forward slowly, carefully checking for more traps.

    Eventually they heard the sound of running water, and soon a doorway, the end of the hall came into sight.

    When they reached the door they were met with a marvelous scene.

    They couldn¡¯t see the walls or ceiling to this room, but it seemed to contained a rainforest, lush greenery with exotic wildflowers; and even a waterfall feeding a pool and stream.

    But what really caught their attention were the two gigantic toads in the middle of the room croaking at each other. The sacs on their throats bloated and deted in time to their croaking.

    One of them was an electric-blue color and the other a pale almost phosphorescent green.

    Lightning Toad

    Level 420

    Tier: Epic

    DN 25,000

    MA 25,000

    HP 350,000

    Skills:

    [Electro-Shock] sends a burst of electricity outward from its body in all directions, shocking all targets and stunning them for 2 seconds. The skill does 10,000 damage in a 20 meter radius.

    [Electric Bubble] epasses a target in a sphere of electric discharges, stunning and trapping the target for 20 seconds, it does a total of 30,000 damage.

    [Lightning Whip] The lightning Toad uses its tongue to attack, doing electric damage and stunning the target for 2 seconds, doing 30% additional base damage.

    Bestiary:

    The Lightning Toad is a rare creature only born during massive electric storms, it consumes lightning bolts and uses the power of lightning as a weapon.

    Poisonous Toad

    Level 410

    Tier: Epic

    DN 25,000

    MA 25,000

    HP 350,000

    Skills:

    [Poison Breath] the toad breathes out a cloud of poison thatsts for 20 seconds, doing 3,500 Damage of poison damage each second.

    [Poison Bubble] spits a glob of clinging green poison at the target, itsts for 20 seconds stunning and damaging the target for 3,000 HP/sec

    [Sticky Tongue]tches to a target and squeezes, damaging the target for 10,000 HP t damage, if target is poisoned, the damage is doubled.

    Bestiary:

    The Poison Toad is a mutated amphibian that lives in the most poisonous and toxic quagmires.

    "Alright Lone, this is going to be a bit tougher than the y dudes. Here is the n: You will will lead the dunlords and kill the lightning Toad, once you finish it offe help me take down the Poison toad."

    "Why are we splitting our forces up?" asked Lone

    "We are going to be fighting with a level difference penalty. The only ones who can do much damage to these guys are the dunlords. The undead are immune to poison but the dunlords aren¡¯t. So while the undead and I keep the Poison Toad distracted you and the dunlords kill the Lightning Toad then shift over and start on the Poison Toad."

    "Why don¡¯t you take half the dunlords to attack the poison one?"

    "You¡¯d be doing less damage per second against the Lightning Toad and take longer to kill it. Also, my half of the dunlords would be exposed to poison attacks for longer, increasing the risk of some of them dying.

    "The dunlords are our heavy-hitters against the high level mobs in this dungeon."

    "Ok Davey, that makes sense, I will do my best to help even though I am so much lower leveled."

    "Level doesn¡¯t matter. Try to keep that Toad on its toes, blind it or stagger it with your Skills. That will help the dunlords finish it off faster."

    "Okay Davey. I¡¯m ready!"

    "Alright, dunlords with Lone and Pincher, Boyz With me!" Dave moved first and caught the attention of the croaking Poison Toad.

    Dave cast [Spectral Skull] and detonated the glowing skull-bombs right in the Poison Toad¡¯s face, knocking the unprepared monster over.

    The toad got back up and croaked an angry scream. It opened its mouth even wider and shot its tongue out at Dave like a cannonball on a bungie cord.

    Dave sidestepped the tongue-strike and started moving sideways, nking the Toad.

    The undead moved in, attacking the toad whenever they could. But all their damage values were zeroes or measly single points.

    "Keep distracting it, Boyz!"

    Across the way, the dunlords were making decent progress at bringing the Lightning Toad¡¯s HP, it was already down 10% of its max.

    Angry croaking from both toads echoed all over the chamber and from time to time Dave heard the snapping pop and muted thunder of the Toad¡¯s lightning-strikes.

 Chapter 166 Dai-Tengu!

    The dunlords under Lone¡¯s leadership finally managed to bring the Lightning Toad down to zero HP.

    Without pausing they raced over to join the undead who were doing their best to resist the Poisonous Toad¡¯s attacks.

    The undead were immune to poison and the Poison Toad didn¡¯t suffer damage at their hands, so they were in a stalemate up to that point.

    But soon after the dunlords joined the fight the Poison Toad released onest rattling croak and expired.

    "Well that wasn¡¯t so hard," Lonemented when she and Pincher rejoined Dave.

    "What¡¯s the damage report?" asked Dave

    "I kinda lost one dunlord," Lone avoided Dave¡¯s eyes.

    Dave shrugged, "Losses are unavoidable inbat, I¡¯m d it was only one..

    "Alright, Boyz! Everyone heal up. I¡¯ll check the loot."

    Dave touched the Poisonous Toad¡¯s body and found three items:

    1 x Skill Book Poison Breath

    1 x [Stone Tablet]

    1 x Rune [Venom]

    ¡¯Nice. I already have the Venom Rune.¡¯

    "Hey Lone catch," Dave threw the rune to Lone.

    "Thanks, Davy!" Lone used the Rune on her bow giving it sickly green phosphorescent glow.

    "Let¡¯s see the other mob¡¯s drop, I hope there¡¯s another skill book."

    Dave looted the second Toad

    1 x Skill Book Electroshock

    1 x Stone Tablet

    1 x Rune [Shock]

    Dave inspected the rune and the skill books.

    Skill Book Electroshock

    Causes the next basic attack to paralyze a target for 5 seconds (3 minute cooldown).

    Has 50% chance to work on Boss ss monsters.

    *Paralysis cannot be removed with spells or Skills

    Skill Book Poison Breath (Rare)

    Releases a cloud of poison in a target area, reducing visibility and causing targets to lose 500 HP/sec + 50% AGI/sec

    Duration: 20 seconds

    Cooldown: 20 minutes

    Rune [Shock]

    Has 10% chance of causing Shock effect and paralyzing a target for 2 seconds with every basic attack.

    Has 50% chance to work on Boss ss monsters.

    "Hey Lone, you can have these." Dave handed her the Skill Books.

    "Dave, no. That¡¯s too much, your troops did all the work I¡¯m just tagging along," Lone felt awkward, like she would be taking unearned, undeserved loot.

    "I¡¯m taking the shock Rune. The skill books will work better for your character build. You can use the shock effect on your arrows and the poison Skill scales with agility. I have a strength based character, it¡¯s not going to work well for me, I really don¡¯t need it."

    "No. Two skill books is too much, at least take one,"

    "I already have a lot of skills, and we have yet to finish the dungeon, there might be other books."

    "Okay. Thanks, Davey!" Lone read the books and acquired the Skills.

    "I don¡¯t see a way out of here," Lonemented.

    "Yep, let¡¯s go back where we came from for now."

    The group retraced their footsteps back to the room where they¡¯d fought terracotta soldiers. When thest undead walked through the doorway into the room, the door leading to the toad-forest room slowly closed and the next door opened.

    "It seems we need to finish all the rooms leading from this one before proceeding to another sector of this dungeon," Lone said.

    "It seems so. Let¡¯s keep moving, slowly and carefully. Boyz, watch your steps!" Dave led the group forward, riding Stinger.

    They moved through the new corridor, vigntly looking for traps along the way until they came to the door at the end of the passage.

    The room at the end of the passage wasrger than the one with the Toads¡¯ rainforest.

    In front of them a small mountain rose up to meet an actual sky instead of a ceiling.

    At the top of the mountain a red three-story pagoda. On the eaves of the highest floor a figure was seated facing them in seiza.

    He, or it, was decked out in boxy samurai armor and held a ck-sheathed katana upright next to himself.

    Under the stag-horned helmet a hideous long-nosed red mask concealed the figures face. Curving above his shoulders and trailing down behind him were what appeared to be a pair of wings with iridescent ck feathers.

    "A tengu!" Lone eximed

    "Gesundheit...?" Dave replied, not sure if she sneezed.

    "No. A mountain guardian, it¡¯s a yokai from Japanese folklore. They are dog deities that protect mountains and other, weaker, yokais that live in them. But the stories also im they were the heralds of war and were horrifyingly strong in battle."

    "He doesn¡¯t look like a dog to me, let¡¯s get closer so we can inspect him," Dave said.

    He urged Stinger to move forward along the trail that led to the mountain.

    The moment the dunlord stepped foot on the mountain, the tengu stood up and unfolded its wings. A little bird that had been perched on the things Pinhio-long nose fluttered away.

    Dave inspected the creature.

    Dai-Tengu

    Level 450

    Tier: Mythic

    Mini-Boss

    Damage 45,000-60,000

    DN 35,000

    MA 25,000

    HP 800,000

    Skills:

    [Dimensional Cut] in an iaido stance the tengu draws and slices vertically in the direction he is facing cutting through dimensions. If a target is caught in the attack, they will be executed immediately regardless of skills applied as protection.

    [Feather Storm] the tengu strongly flexes his wings to cause a storm of ck feathers to shower an area of a 30-meter radius. Targets hit by the feathers receive 2,000 damage and a 50% decrease in healing from all sources.

    [Dragon Ball] The tengu surrounds itself in a storm of fire and shoots out a ball of concentrated mes. Targets hit will receive 20,000 damage and the explosion of the skill will scorch 5-meter radius around the point of impact dealing 5,000 total damage over 5 seconds.

    [War tengu] when the tengu¡¯s HP drops below 50% it will enter its second phase. all the tengu¡¯s skills will be upgraded and their effects will change.

    Bestiary:

    Tengus are ancient guardian spirits, but they are also heralds of war and cmity. They are protectors of theirnd and never show mercy to invaders.

    "Yep, it¡¯s a herald of war alright. Lone be careful, this one is way stronger than the toads."

    Lone had the lowest level of anyone or anything in the room and a stray hit could easily kill her.

    "Alright boyz, ready up!"

    The undead closed in on the mountain and the tengu spoke in a trembling old-man voice.

    "Warriors of the dead, walk a step further onto this mountain and I shall bring doom upon you all!"

    "Oh, it talks. Hey grandpa big-nose, give us your loot and die please," Lone replied in a little-girl cutesy voice.

    The tengu didn¡¯t dignify her teasing disrespect with a reply. Instead he strolled down the mountain path one deliberate step at a time like he was meandering through the roses in a flower garden.

    "There is no talking to this guy, let¡¯s just kill him Lone." Dave cast a Skill and two spectral skulls appeared in front of him.

    "Oss, you bring theing cmity upon yourselves," the tengu said indifferently as the spectral skulls approached him.

    Dave snapped his fingers to detonate the skulls right in front of the tengu, but the creature disappeared from sight.

    "Holy shit he¡¯s fast!" Dave was amazed.

    The tengu appeared in front of Dave and in a single blinding fast movement drew its sword and struck, intent on taking the draugr¡¯s head off at the neck.

    Dave reacted instinctively, moving both arms up to block the cut.

    [-55,115]

    The power behind the attack sent Dave flying off Stinger¡¯s back and rolling down the sloped ground of the mountain.

    Lone was dumbfounded by the ridiculously fast attack.

    "ATTACK!" Dave ordered.

    The dunlords raised their ballistae and shot at the tengu. But the tengu just flexed its wings and slipped away from the bolts in another disy of astonishing speed.

    "We gotta slow him down somehow!" Lone said.

    "It¡¯s time to use the new Shock Skill!" Dave called out, running back into the fight zone.

    The tengu appeared near some elite undead and went on a kill-spree, taking a head with every swing of his sword.

    "Attack!" Dave ordered, using [Immortal Apparition] to teleport behind the tengu

    Target resisted the Fear effect

    Dave ignored the notification and stomped his right leg down activating [Death Surge]

    A wave of ck aura shot forward and enveloped the tengu, its movement speed slowed.

    "Now Lone!"

    Lone nocked an arrow, activated [Electro Shock], sighted and released. The arrow shot across the distance at the tengu, crackling with electrical energy.

    The tengu raised its sword and split the arrow in two lengthwise.

    "That¡¯s not fair!" Lone cried out.

    "Shit!" Dave added.

    The tengu stepped back and swiveled to face Dave.

    the Tengu took a sword drawing position. A cast time countdown bar appeared in Dave¡¯s heads up disy.

    "FALL BACK! EVERYONE BACK!"

    Dave jumped away to dodge theing charge attack.

    The dunlords all scurried away but some unlucky undead weren¡¯t fast enough.

    The tengu¡¯s eyes behind the mask shone bright red for a moment and the creature grunted

    "Thou who dares desecrate thisnd, with my advent, I the Great Tengu,y waste to your defielemnt with this de! ZAN!"

    The tengu¡¯s hand tightened around the grip of his sword and pulled the de out a finger¡¯s length...a blink, then he slid the katana back into its sheath with an ominous ¡¯click.¡¯

    A strong wind kicked up dust and debris and the whole room shuddered. Everything in front of the tengu was split down the middle. Even space itself was divided. For an instant, one half of the room started slipping down and away from the other half, like a melon sliding apart after being sliced in half. Then the room shuddered again and returned to normal, the two halves back together as if nothing had happened.

    Dave could see his Undead, the ones weren¡¯t fast enough to dodge the attack. Their bodies were split in half. They never even had a chance.

    Dave screamed "Motherfucker!" and rushed at the tengu.

    He activated a skill he hadn¡¯t used for a long time, [Death Grip].

    [Death Grip]: Resisted

    "For fuck¡¯s sake!" Dave shouted and punched the tengu with [Decimating Smash] right in his ridiculously long nose.

    The tengu was stunned for only an instant, just long enough for the dunlords to fire their reloaded ballistae into him. This time the tengu staggered at the impact of each bolt as he was turned into a veritable hedgehog. The damage was not high because of the level difference, but it was still damage and quite satisfying to see.

    Lone chimed in, hitting the tengue with a [Prating Shot] and stunning him for a couple more seconds.

    Dave swapped his gauntlets for the Death Knight¡¯s sword and tower shield. He used the equipped Skill [Shield Charge] to cannonball into the tengu, sending the yokai sprawling.

    They kept rotating stuns to prevent the tengu from using its wings, keeping him on the ground.

    "Stinger, pin him down!"

    Stinger moved in and locked onto the tengu¡¯s legs with armored pincers, smothering the creature to the ground. The yokai¡¯s wings beat furiously, buffeting the dunlord, but to no avail.

    Dave¡¯s attacks weren¡¯t doing any damage to the creature. asionally, whenever the passive Commander Skill pred, a lucky undead managed tond a hit on the tengu. Only the dunlords, who didn¡¯t suffer a level difference penalty, could exchange damage with the mini-boss on an equal footing.

    The tengu pped his wings frantically again, this time managing to drag Stinger into the air with him as he rose.

    "Stinger let go!" Dave ordered and the scorpion-man released, dropping to the ground for a negligible amount of fall damage.

    The tengu rose higher above them and them hovered, he started beating his wings rapidly, and faster still, until they were moving as fast as a hummingbird¡¯s wings. The air around the tengu¡¯s wings swirled, the sky rumbled and tore open, and dark clouds appeared from nowhere. Then the clouds started raining a hailstorm of deadly metallic ck feathers across a wide area, striking the Undead regiment repeatedly and indiscriminately.

    "Shit, this is going to be a long fight!"

 Chapter 167 This isnt even my final form!

    Dave mmed his great-shield into the earth at an angle then crouched beneath it and activated [Block]. The sky darkened and the storm of ck feathers came whistling down, each of them hit with a bang.

    All around him the razor sharp, metallic projectiles struck with the force of machine-gun rounds and sliced through undead flesh and bone with ease.

    Not even the dunlords were spared. They used their outsized ws as shields but still took severe damage despite the heavy chitinous armor.

    Fortunately, the Unholy priestess and pdins, the regiment¡¯s healers, were far back from the battle zone.

    Finally, the deadly ck rain ended. Dave popped out from under his shield to survey the damage and assess the butcher¡¯s bill.

    "Lone!" he shouted. He searched the unmoving figures lying on the ground, trying to find the archer. She had the lowest level in the group and certainly didn¡¯t have the HP to survive that kind of feather-storm.

    Dave worried that she might¡¯ve ¡¯bought the farm.¡¯

    "I¡¯m alright Davey, I used [Blink] to get away. That was some heavy shit!"

    "Yeah. A real shit-storm. Heh heh.

    "Heads-up! It¡¯sing back," Dave warned, spotting the iing tengu.

    The yokai unsheathed his katana as he swooped down and attacked a zombie whose HP was in the red.

    The tengu used the liver-splitting stroke to cut the zombie in half, then moved on to the next undead swinging another body cutting technique.

    Dave rushed toward the fight as the yokai continued killing more undead,ing up from behind he struck at the yokai, but wasn¡¯t able to do any damage..

    "What are you doing Dave? Level difference remember!" Lone reminded him as she used [Binding Arrow], slowing the tengu¡¯s movement for a moment.

    "Sword passive!" Dave shouted back, "I can break his armor, it will make it easier for the dunlords to kill it this way!"

    Dave attacked with his sword again.

    Irritated at the pesky draugr attacking him the tengu stepped back sweeping his sword across and back repeatedly in broad arcs to create some distance. Dave used [Stampede]¡¯s crowd control nullification ability to ovee the knock-back effects of the sword sweeps, charging at the tengu and closing the gap. He Hyper-Armored against the wide-swinging attack and just took the hard hit.

    [-65,555]

    epting the damage, he smashed through into the tengu, a Stun effect overcame the yokai. The dunlords shot another staggering volley of arrows into the guardian and Dave swung at the creature twice before the Stun wore off.

    The tengu stabilized itself and swept its wings down vaulting back into the sky.

    "Like hell I¡¯m going to let you do that again!"

    Dave used [Death¡¯s Descent] and jumped, he came crashing down on the tengu pile-driving it back to the ground.

    "Let me!" Lone said. Activating [Ice-Shard Arrow Barrage] her hands moved at impossible speeds, firing dozens of arrows in seconds. The arrows became shards of ultra-frozen ice when they struck the tengu and frost grew rapidly across the yokai¡¯s armor wherever they hit.

    "Heal me!" Dave yelled at the casters, they started shooting hexes and spells at him, slowly increasing his HP.

    Dave went in to attack the tengu again, this time he used the equipped [Shield Bash] Skill. The tengu was Stunned again, letting Dave get a couple more strikes in.

    "I¡¯m running out of stun skills! I need two more hits," Dave shouted.

    "Move right! Heavy-hittering in!" Lone nocked an arrow and activated [Bombarda], the arrow turned red. As she drew and released mes red out from the point and travelled back along the arrow shaft with a ¡¯whumf¡¯ sound, like fuel igniting.

    Dave dove to his right as the fiery arrow shed past him and exploded against the tengu¡¯s armored chest, staggering it.

    "Good!" Dave rushed in and swung his sword in a horizontal cut. As the slicended he used the equipped Skill [Mountain Cleaver], which enabled him to instantly attack again even though he was overextended.

    You have imparted the status effect

    Embrittle!

    Landing another hit on the target¡¯s armor will remove up to 50% of the armor¡¯s base defensive values.

    "EAT THIS!" Dave activated the level 100 sword-Skill [Concussive Blow] and smashed his de down like a club.

    Armor Ruptured

    "Dunlords, take him down!" Dave ordered as he beat a hasty retreat.

    The dunlord¡¯s ballista bolts now dealt over 5,000 HP in damage per hit and had an increased Stagger effect.

    "That was wicked Davey!"

    "Damn, this yokai-guy is unbelievably OP. All those skills. And that speed! I needed every one of those Stuns just tond ten consecutive hits on him and get the armor embrittlement effect."

    Dave moved to the rear area with the supports to recover some of his HP as the dunlords continued firing barrages of ballista bolts at the now flying tengu.

    "We need to keep it under crowd control. Use your Slows, Stuns, Freezes, whatever you have as soon as theye off cool down.

    The tengu suffered under the barrage of attacks from the dunlords. Add Dave and Lone¡¯s asional stuns and crowd control abilities, the tengu began to struggle against the undead.

    The tengu found a chance where he was not under CC and hacked at a nearby ghoul, shing it in two perfect halves.

    Two dunlords were already dead and the tengu still had over 60% of its HP left.

    As for the other undead, Dave grit his teeth through the loss of his undead and started taking a more aggressive approach to the fight.

    He would tank through hits for some of his underlings, using the shield¡¯s block and any ability he could spare, to save even one or two undeads.

    A single strike from the tengu was enough to kill anyone except a dunlord. Lone was very careful to avoid or dodge any attack that came her way.

    Another cast time countdown appeared over the tengu head as he started making shinobi-style hand seals.

    A torrent of fire erupted out from the tengu, engulfing him and a wide area around him. He raised his right hand and the firestorm shrank down, gathering into a ball of fire that shot toward the closest group of dunlords.

    Dave yelled a despairing denial, "NO!"

    But the fireball was too fast. The projectile crashed into the dunlords, eating away huge amounts of HP and incinerating the unlucky nearby melee undead.

    "Crap! This mini-boss is way overpowered!" Dave cursed.

    The tengu¡¯s HP reached 50% as he managed to take down another dunlord.

    Dave swapped his sword and shield for the Sworn Stalwart¡¯s gauntlets and activated [Aura], turning the space around his avatar into a zing tornado.

    His [Decimating Smash] came off-cooldown so he jumped up high and used it to smack the tengu as he came down, stunning the yokai and giving the dunlords a chance to fire their ballistae at him.

    Some of the dunlords even managed to close in and attack the tengu with their poison tail barb, procing some DoT with their Poison effect.

    Dave activated [Infernal Tornado] spinning like a top arundof the tengu. Though it didn¡¯t cause any damage, the stagger effect helped increase the damage from his unit¡¯s attacks.

    Luckily as he was spinning two rune effects from his gauntlets pred, [Shock] and [Venom] adding more to the tengu¡¯s suffering.

    The tengu who was ganged found a chance to escape and rose to the sky.

    "Careful, it¡¯s going to use the Feather Storm again," Dave said as he was ready to use [Vertical sh] and escape the damage.

    "NO! he just used Feather Storm!" Lone shouted, "He¡¯s going into the second phase!"

    "Oh shit!"

 Chapter 168 Numbers vs True Power.

    Dave realized the archer was right. The second phase had started and with it a lot of pain wille.

    He looked up at the hovering tengu, another countdown bar had appeared over his head, but this one was much longer than the earlier ones. The tengu started emitting a blood-red aura as he resheathed the katana. His eyes were took on a bright crimson glow and bolts of red lightning started flickering from them.

    The tengu shouted and clicked his sword four times.

    Four cuts of red light shed out, leaving glowing red lines extending across the floor of the room tracing all the way to the walls.

    "MOVE!! Get away from the lines! " Dave ordered.

    "Zan!" the tengu grunted loudly.

    The room shuddered and parted into sections along the lines of red light. The undead and dunlords caught in the path of the red lines died instantly. Four dunlords and dozens of undead died at once. Pincher was one of the unlucky dunlords killed in the attack. Luckily, Lone was able to jump clear in time to escape.

    Dave was at a loss, he didn¡¯t know how they would survive this fight. He was tempted to use one of Drahma¡¯s remaining summons to deal with the ridiculously overpowered mini-boss.

    Surprisingly, when the tengu¡¯s skill ended the yokai fell to the ground and remained, on his knees gasping for breath.

    "NOW! Attack!!" Dave gave amand and the eleven dunlords left alive surrounded and attacked the tengu with all they had. He ordered the melee undead to retreat and the casters to concentrate their ¡¯healing¡¯ hexes on him. The Unholy priestess and the pdins continued to heal the remaining dunlords, but the effect of the feather storm reduced the regiment¡¯s healing by half.

    The tengu roared and brought his wings together in a mighty p of thunder, blowing the dunlords away the dunlords.The tengu¡¯s HP was just above 30%, he was bing more and more enraged.

    Then the tengu started another series of hand seals. A fiery aura ignited around the tengu¡¯s body and four fireballs appeared, orbiting him like burning moons around a sun.

    Dave¡¯s heart sank as the sky changed color again and a storm covered the entire room. from it, thousands of deadly feathers fell down.

    "Yeah. Fuck second phase!"

    Dave leapt with [Vertical sh], escaping the explosions of the fireballs that tore through the undead ranks and the fall of deadly feathers.

    Lone¡¯s [Blink] was still on cooldown but she had other tricks. She drew back and aimed her bow straight up, the arrow exploded as soon as it was released, creating a dome of thick ice around the archer.

    As for the undead, not many of them survived the all-out attack, even the Unholy priestess took heavy damage from one of the exploding fireballs.

    Two more dunlords were dead and Dave started losing any hope of winning against the devil-tengu. He¡¯d lost half of his undead to the tengu¡¯s attacks. the remaining half survived because the attacks didn¡¯t directly hit them.

    "Keep attacking!"

    The dunlords resumed their attack, firing their ballistae at the tengu flying above them. But the tengu dodged the bolts with ease swept down at the dunlords, attacking with the katana. The undead couldn¡¯t handle the tengu¡¯s wrath and fell with every sword stroke.

    "Clear the way!" Dave ordered and the undead nearby moved out of thene of fire. He struck out in [Sword Lunge] and a razor beam of sword-light staggered the tengu in mid-flight.

    Changing targets, the yokai rocketed towards Dave at low altitude, sword unsheathed and aimed at Dave¡¯s chest.

    Dave activated [Double Edge]. But because he¡¯d just used [Vertical sh] and it was on cooldown, he had no way to escape the iing damage. He was just going to have to take the hit. The giant worm rose up, engulfing both Dave and the flying tengu in its maw, then threw them to the ground and dove back to where it came from.

    He could have used [Bastion] but that would only be a waste of a powerful defensive skill with a long cooldown. Dave¡¯s HP was still high so he could bear with a bit of HP loss.

    [-20,000]

    Dave gritted his teeth through the pain from the worm chomp and smash.

    "Grab it! Everyone don¡¯t let fly anymore!" Dave ordered and the nearest dunlords grabbed at the tengu with their pincers. Stinger attacked the tengu from behind, using his steel-d ws to trap one of the tengu¡¯s wing.

    The tengu stood up with difficulty as four dunlords were pinning him. He went into an iaido stance. Another timer started.

    "Not again!"

    Four red lines crisscrossed the room signaling the area where the tengu¡¯s dimension sh would strike.

    Dave dodged away from the line that would have bisected him, ordering the dunlords to release the tengu and avoid the attack.

    But stinger didn¡¯t let go despite the order. His pincer crushed down harder until the tengu¡¯s bones cracked and shattered. The tengu grunted from the pain but still finished his attack sequence. four clicking sounds and the room split again.

    This time, only stinger died. His body faded into particles, but in hisst effort, he gave everyone a great chance. The tengu can no longer fly.

    Dave was enraged at the loss of his mount and rushed toward the tengu. As he sprinted forward he activated a Skill he¡¯d never used before, [Zealot]. The Skill from the Legendary tier earring he got from Drahma.

    Dave¡¯s Death Knight¡¯s set turned bright red like an infernal brazier. The armor and his body size grew bulkier and his avatar gained height and muscles doubling in size.

    Dave disabled the Azure Water Rune and received a notification.

    Chaotic imbnce

    You will lose 1% of your max HP for every second your body remains in the chaotic Imbnce state.

    +300% Damage

    Dave ignored the notification and continued toward the tengu who was slowly retreating.

    He punched the tengu in the face staggering it. He didn¡¯t stop and punched again. Though the level difference didn¡¯t help Dave damage the tengu even if he had increased damage. The empowered punches still caused Knock-Back effect.

    The tengu tried to retaliate with its sword, but Dave didn¡¯t give him the chance as he performed a roundhouse kick; sending the tengu sprawling on the floor. The dunlord attacked the fallen tengu. The closest used their pincers and those further away used their ballistae.

    The tengu¡¯s HP reached critical levels, only 13% HP remained.

    Lone struck the tengu with her [Ice-Shard Arrow Barrage] freezing it and pinning it to the ground.

    Dave jumped on top of the tengu and threw two more punches to its head. He then opened his mouth to an inhuman length activating [Ray of mes] at point nk range directly to the tengu¡¯s face. An explosion of fire shook the room decreasing the tengu¡¯s current HP by half.

    The attack would deal t damage, and thanks to Dave empowering himself with the runes he dealt a staggering [60,000] points of t damage. The ground around the tengu melted, adding more damage.

    Dave jumped back and used another of his op skills [Demon¡¯s Call].

    "DIE! Bitch!"

    A demon¡¯s face emerged in space and took a bite at the tengu.

    Demon¡¯s call Failed!

    "FUCK!" Dave became pissed, but it was only natural, the skill had only 10% chance to work on Boss-ss monsters.

    "Don¡¯t let it move away from the magmatic area!" Dave gave the order and retreated back.

    Dave¡¯s HP rapidly drained from the effect of the chaos Imbnce, so he had to activate the [Azure Water Rune].

    The tengu rose back and to move away, but Lone appeared behind it and shot [Breaking Shot] pushing the tengu back to the magmatic area.

    The tengu used ninjutsu-hand seals wanting to go for one final attack, but the dunlord¡¯s volley felled him before the animation ended.

    Level UP

    Level UP

    Dave received the notification of him leveling up a couple of times and sat down on the ground.

    "Shit, that was messy!"

    "Hey Davy, wow I gained a lot of levels there." Zoe became surprised her level just reached 150 after this fight.

    "Yea, this bastard wrecked us, I can¡¯t believe how strong this guy is, and it¡¯s just a mini-boss. This dungeon was probably a bad idea."

    "You just noticed?" Lone giggled and said, "so what¡¯s up with your transformation?"

    Dave looked at his body and said,"oh this? it¡¯s the [Zealot] Skill effect, it doubles my HP and damage received."

    Dave did a head count and his expression turned sour. "We lost a lot of troops..."

    "Let¡¯s check the loot!" Lone tried to cheer Dave¡¯s mood.

    "Yea, this motherfucker better have something good for us. Damn, I hope the boyz don¡¯t meet something as powerful as this, shit they will be in for a lot of pain."

    "You shouldn¡¯t worry much about them, they have four battalions each, that¡¯s about 40 dunlords and a lot of casters, I think they will do better than us."

    "You are right," Dave said and checked the panel to see his undead.

    Surprisingly, they had already finished a battle, Bud and Dog¡¯s units were regenerating their HP.

    But when he looked at their numbers Dave¡¯s heart sank even more

    "Shit, they both lost more than half their numbers... I think there is even another room after this one, I don¡¯t believe we can make it to the final boss."

    "Yea, we cane back when we are stronger. If the next boss is too hard we can just teleport out of the dungeon." Lone said

    "You¡¯re right, " Dave touched the tengu¡¯s corpse.

    A notification appeared

    1 x Skill Book [Dragon Ball] Mythic

    1 x [Rift Maker] Quest Item.

    1 x [Warrior of the East] Blue-Print.

    1 x [War tengu¡¯s Mask] Legacy Item.

    1 x [Stone Tablet]

    1 x 1,000Gold

    "Wow! Will you look at that," Dave showed Lone the drops

    "Ohh sweet lootz!"

 Chapter 169 At that moment, he knew he...

    Dragon Ball Mythic

    Channels an enormous ball of fire that incinerates all in its path and explodes dealing 10,000 Fire damage + (10* INT) the area around the explosion causes 5,000 as Fire Ssh Damage in a 5-meter radius.

    20Minute CD

    Caster receives 80% reduced damage from all sources while channeling. The spell cannot be [Disturbed] or [Silenced]

    Learn? Y/N

    "It¡¯s the same the tengu¡¯s been using,¡¯ Dave said

    "You should learn it, Davey, it can work well with your other fire spells."

    "You don¡¯t want it?" Dave asked

    "No, I don¡¯t have a lot of INT and I already took two skill books from before,"

    "Alright then," Dave pressed Yes and learned the skill.

    You now have 10 Skills learned from skill books.

    If you wish to learn more skills from other skill books you will have to disable one of your skills in exchange for another.

    your current learned skills from skill books are:

    Aura

    Call of Chaos

    Demon Call

    Double edged

    Dragon Ball

    Ray of mes

    Spectral Skull

    Stampede

    Twin Strike

    Vertical sh

    Dave ignored the notification for now and checked the second screen.

    Rift Maker

    Bring this to a specialized smith, they might know its origin.

    "This is a bound quest item, it¡¯s the tengu¡¯s katana," Dave exined to Lone.

    "Yea, what about the legacy item?"

    War tengu¡¯s Mask

    Swordsman ss

    Upon wearing this mask, secrets shall be unraveled.

    (Cannot use if the yer is already in a possession of a legacy item or quest)

    "Yep, it¡¯s a legacy item, and it¡¯s a grade B, it should fetch some money," Dave said

    "Yes, it¡¯s grade is not that high too, but many yers will want it. What about thest item? Is that a blueprint for an armor set?"

    "Yes," Dave disyed the blueprint for Lone

    Warrior of the East Blueprint

    5KG Fine Blood Silk

    15 ingots Dark Steel

    5 ingots Gold Ingots

    Infernal Gargoyle¡¯s Heart

    Dark Alligator¡¯s Leather

    Crafting rank required.

    Smith Grandmaster

    "Ok, that¡¯s another blueprint. By the way Lone, what¡¯s the news on the crystal armor set."

    "The guy at the guild said he couldn¡¯t find the necessary material to craft them, he will tell me when he has everything."

    "Alright, I have been thinkingtely, I might actually do some crafting." Dave looked at his recovered undead and ordered, "Alright boyz, let¡¯s move!"

    He rode on top of a dunlord and ordered another to serve as Lone¡¯s mount.

    Lone Arrow rode on top of the dunlord and said to Dave "That¡¯s a money burner right there Dave, it takes a lot of resources and material to level up the crafting trade."

    "I have a lot of blueprints from the Underworld, and there is a lot of material that can be harvested from it. I can also buy the low level crafting material and blueprints needed to level the crafting profession. Then when I can make the armors and items of the underworld myself, I can sell them at whatever price I want and have a monopoly on the market of these armor sets."

    "That¡¯s a nice strategy," Lone encouraged Dave.

    "Hey, Dave, don¡¯t you feel like we are forgetting something?" Lone asked,with a tilted head.

    "I don¡¯t know, to be honest."

    Lone pulled the reins on her dunlord and looked back at the miniature mountain

    "The pagoda! We didn¡¯t check it!"

    "You are right," Dave steered his dunlord toward the pagoda and ordered the other undead to stay and wait for them.

    Lone followed after Dave and the two of them climbed up the mountain.

    When they reached the pagoda Dave jumped down from his dunlord and went inside.

    Lone followed behind and they saw that it was like a monk¡¯s abode, it had burning incense and a modest bed and a small table with a y cup filled with tea.

    "Wow, for such an op boss he lived in a modest home," Lone joked.

    "There¡¯s a letter here." Dave picked up a letter from the small table.

    It was an old letter with words and symbols he had never seen before.

    "I can¡¯t read it," Dave said.

    Lone took the letter from Dave¡¯s hand and gave it a look then said "There have been some cases of yers finding iprehensible letters. But we can take it to a librarian and they can decipher them, this is probably a quest item."

    Lone gave the letter back to Dave and he pocketed it.

    The pagoda had three levels but the entrance to the upper levels was closed tight. The two of them gave up and left the pagoda. They went down the mountain joining the undead. They headed back to the room with the four paths. When they reached the room, the wall came down from the path they just came from and another wall opened up, leading them to thest room.

    "So, we go in or teleport out?" Lone asked

    "We might as well just go and see what¡¯s up if it¡¯s as tough as the tengu we leave," Dave said and led the eight dunlords he had with him to the newly opened path.

    The path sloped down at a low angle, and the party went deeper. Every now and then Dave could see broken old bones scattered on the ground. When they got to the boss room¡¯s entrance they saw an open field of gravel and dust. Large bonfires lit the room. And on the ground were hundreds of corpses of fallen soldiers and knights.

    "This looks like a battlefield," Lone said

    Some corpses wriggled and their bones ripped out of their bodies. The bones moved and rattled like they were attached to invisible strings. They rapidly attached themselves to each other creating a mass of bones that rapidly grew in size.

    "I don¡¯t like where this is going," Dave said

    "Aren¡¯t you an undead, this shouldn¡¯t be that-OH MY GOD!" Lone shrieked

    The bones on the corpses of every other corps tore out and join together creating an enormous skeleton. The skeleton was at least fifty meters tall as it rose up. It started clicking its jaw making scraping noise, the kind that would make you feel like your teeth were being scraped with an iron file.

    Gashadokuro

    Level 500

    Tier Mythic

    Danger level?

    Damage 60,000-80,000

    HP 1,000,000

    DN 80,000

    MA -10,000

    Skills: [Invisibility] Can periodically be invisible, the next attack after the invisibility ends will execute any target. (the attack is not affected by Threat level and will strike randomly)

    [Indestructible] for every 10% Hp loss the Gashadokuro enters an invincibility statesting for 60 seconds. No skills/spells can damage him and it bes immune to crowd control abilities.

    [Bone Explosion] The Gashadokuro will explode portions of its body dealing 50,000damage in AOE

    The Gashadokuro are creatures of the night, they are created from the bodies of fallen men filled with resentment and unjust after their death.

    It is said that the Gashadokuro can regenerate themselves through drinking the blood of their victims.

    Only an Omyouji can ward them off using the charms of old.

    "Alright I guess it¡¯s not toote to teleport out, let¡¯s leave," Lone said

    "I guess you are right, we don¡¯t have the power to fight this," Dave said.

    The skeletal creature tilted its head when it saw the undead then approached.

    "Oh, it¡¯sing!" Lone said as she pulled the reins on her dunlord and retreated.

    The skeleton¡¯s mouth cked as it spoke in a hollow voice "You, how did you arrive here?"

    ¡¯It¡¯s not attacking us...¡¯ Dave gathered some courage and said.

    "We came in from the outer world, from the Dead Realm."

    "What is the Dead-Realm?" the skeleto spoke and approached the duo, it towered over them in an eerie scene but it didn¡¯t attack.

    Dave looked up and slowly said"It¡¯s a ce where many undead lives in, like me and these you see with me."

    "Sounds like a good ce...I wish to see it. I have been imprisoned here for a long, long time."

    "What¡¯s stopping you? Why not leave?" asked Dave

    "The guardians, Raijin and Fujin, they rule thisbyrinth, and we are all their ves," said the skeleton.

    "No, as long as you are undead, no one rules over the undead but the Undead King," Dave said

    "Who is this king?" the skeleton became more interested in Dave and the stories he has brought with him from the world beyond thebyrinth.

    "He is a good and honorable king, he treats his subjects with justice. Everyone under the king is free to do what they want. And none is treated as a ve."

    "A good king," said the skeleton, "How do I pledge allegiance to him? I wish not to spend my immortal life in this cage, never finding the way out."

    Dave was perplexed as he didn¡¯t know how to answer the Skeleton.

    Conversion

    You have spiked the interest of a powerful creature to join your cause.

    The undead legion shall ept their allegiance on your behalf.

    The unit you have converted is too powerful for you to have under yourmand for now.

    They shall be ranked as a Doom Knight under the rule of the undead

    You have been awarded:

    +100,000CP

    For converting a powerful creature to the cause of the undead.

    "Sweet," Dave said

    The skeleton started fading from the room and a single item dropped from where it stood.

    Stone Tablet

    "So we get the tablet and not the loot," Lone was dejected.

    "Well it¡¯s better than nothing," replied Dave then he received two notifications right after he finished his words.

    One of your units had managed to convert someone to join the Undead Legion

    +50,000CP

    One of your units had managed to convert someone to join the Undead Legion

    +50,000CP

    "Wow, I think Bud and Dog converted the boss of the other rooms."

    "What do you mean?" Lone asked

    "I just received notification that they converted undead to the legion and received the reward for it,"

    "Do you think that the rooms have the same bosses?" Lone asked

    "Yes, probably. Well, we should be able to meet them soon then we can find out."

    The duo searched the whole battelfield area, but didn¡¯t find anything of interest. They walked out of the room and back to the room with the many paths. When they arrived, the door closed down and the whole room shuddered as it lifted them up. The ceiling opened giving them ess to a new area. It was arge tform with only one door. Behind this doory another room.

    Dave could see many other dunlords and undead waiting for them. It was the remaining battalions.

    "Good, you guys made it!" Dave was cheerful, they grouped up the undead, he did a quick head count and found that he had 33 dunlords and 350 undead in total

    Two pdins had died, and only eleven remained.

    Bud came closer to Dave and handed him four Stone Tablets and two runes.

    Dave inspected them.

    [Beast Rune]

    Increases damage dealt and received 1% for every 30 seconds ofbat.

    [Sanguine Rune]

    Adds bleed effect to (sharp) weapons

    The fifth consecutive attack of a weapon deals 1% of target¡¯s current HP as Bleed damage.

    "Thank you, Bud!" Dave thanked the ghoul

    "I guess we got lucky ending up with skill books," Lone said

    "Book...Spark took...said boss will not mind, undead be strong...he gave dog one, and me one...boss not mad?"

    Dave¡¯s frowned ¡¯The undead can learn from skill books?¡¯

    Dave looked at spark and saw the undead rapidly flipping a skill book¡¯s pages.

    "What are you doing spark?" Dave asked

    The undead stopped his page flipping and closed the book with one hand. He looked at Dave and said,"Lord, I have deemed that Bud needed to use the a skill book we have gained at a certain point in the confrontation with a powerful creature. I hope you forgive me but it was the only way for us to survive."

    "Oh, so you can talk, and quit coherently at that too, but tell me, Why did you tell Dog to use the skill-book he found? As I see, he managed to reach here without the need of any books."

    "Dog has found a skill-book that is onlypatible with whips."

    The moment Dave turned to face Dog, the duhan immediately hid the fiery whip behind his back and had it turned off.

    Dave squinted his brows.

    "It¡¯s alright, to have all the skills concentrated on me will not be that good. Having my underlings learn skills and use them to help us in fights will be much better." Dave assured Lone.

    The regiment, or what was left of it moved toward the only gate on the raised tform. It looked the same as the gate they entered the dungeon from. The gate opened on its revealing the inside. Braziers lit up revealing a huge circr room withrge statues of monks and eastern warriors carved into the walls. Just as thest undead entered the room, the gate slowly closed and the echo of evil and loudughter echoed through it.

    A lightning bolt and a tornado came down and crashed on the tform revealing two drahma sized creatures. They were the same ones they saw at the dungeon entrance. Only this time they weren¡¯t statues but were made of flesh, muscles and badassery...

    When Lone saw their levels, her mouth gaped open and then stuttered saying "D-Davey..I think it¡¯s time to use those teleportation scrolls,"

    "Yeah, about that... "Dave trailed as he looked up and down at the two catastrophe level monsters then said "I just tried it, this area is teleportation blocked..."

 Chapter 170 Thts gonna bruise tomorrow...

    Chapter 68

    Raijin

    Level: 750

    Tier: Holy

    Danger level: Absolute Death

    Damage: 150,000-200,000

    HP: 25,000,000

    DN: 400,000

    MA: 400,000

    Skills:

    [Lightning Aura] Lightning surrounds and protects Raijin. Random lightning bolts strike out from the aura doing 10% of the target¡¯s max HP as t damage, and stuns targets for 5 seconds (Skill duration: Until dismissed).

    [Thunder Drum] Raijin strikes the tomoe drums around him, calling down thunder and lightning. When the lightning strikes the ground or a target it causes the status effects Dazed and Blindness.

    [El-Thor] Raijin¡¯s ultimate attack, calls down a powerful lightning strike that instantly kills any target that it hits, no matter what skill is used to protect oneself. The attack can be dodged but not blocked or defended against.

    [Brothers of the Storm] if either brother dies, the remaining brother enters a berserker state. yers have exactly 1 minute to kill the other storm brother or they all attackers will be executed (Passive Skill).

    Lore:

    Raijin, Son of Lightning, one of two mischievous brothers often called Sons of the Storm. He was gifted the power to see the past, present, and future.

    Fujin

    Level: 750

    Tier: Holy

    Danger level: Absolute Death

    Damage: 150,000-200,000

    HP: 25,000,000

    DN: 400,000

    MA: 400,000

    Skills:

    [Flesh Tearing Wind] storm-winds circle Fujin. The wind slowly drains anyone¡¯s HP by 1% every second (Skill duration: Until dismissed).

    [God of Wind Palm-strike] an elemental open-palm punch. Does 200% base damage in a cone area of effect.

    [God¡¯s Wrath] Fujin picks a primary target and stomps his foot doing 100% of base damage in a cone area of effect. All targets in the area of effect will be thrown into the air, the primary target will be struck repeatedly while in the air. The sequence inevitably leads to the primary target¡¯s execution and death.

    [Brothers of the Storm] if either brother dies, the remaining brother enters a berserker state. yers have exactly 1 minute to kill the other storm brother or they all attackers will be executed (Passive Skill).

    Lore:

    Fujin, Son of the Wind, he was said to be the harbinger of typhoons, causing the suffering of many ships at sea.

    "Yep, I guess we are done for," she said, "Unless you can summon Drahma?"

    "I could, but these guys would tear him apart."

    They continued to watch the two giants, looking for a solution.

    "Did you see the door behind them?" Lone pointed.

    "Yeah, the holes look like they match the stone tablets we¡¯ve been collecting," he answered.

    "You¡¯re right. But it¡¯s right in the middle of their aggro zone."

    "We could try to reason with them..." Dave offered.

    "You think it will work?"

    He shrugged, "Who knows, it worked for the skeleton."

    He urged his dunlord to move closer. As the dunlord entered the giants¡¯ aggro range, Dave spoke

    "Ie in pea-" his words cut off abruptly as Raijin transformed into a lightning bolt and disappeared.

    "Shit!" he used [Vertical sh] to leap away from the dunlord¡¯s back.

    Raijin materialized in front of the dunlord and struck down with an open palm. The sound of chitin shattering echoed through the room and lightning exploded from under Raijin¡¯s hand. There was nothing left of the dunlord except a few specks of light.

    "He just one-shotted a dunlord!" Dave panicked.

    The other twin, Fujin, dashed toward the undead and extended his palm. A gale of wind shaped like a palm burst out from his hand. Dog was directly in the line of attack.

    Dog smacked the basilisk¡¯s back causing it to disappear. He didn¡¯t have time to dodge the iing attack so he grumbled something iprehensible and took it head on, like a boss. The palm wind-attack hit through the undead ranks and blew Dog and every undead behind him to particles.

    "Shit! It¡¯s going to cost an arm and a leg to respawn all my guys." Davemented.

    Dave looked through his undead management panel for a way to send his undead back to the undead realm just like Dog had done, but didn¡¯t find anything.

    Twisting his legs together and standing on one foot, Raijin pped his hands together in prayer position. A lightning bolt the size of a tree trunk, struck down at Lone. She used her [Ice dome] in a desperate attempt to save herself, but when the sh faded all that remained were glowing motes.

    There was no way Dave could survive this. But he wanted to see the twins¡¯ skills and gather as much intelligence as possible for the next time they tried this dungeon.

    Dave felt the tform tremble. When he turned he saw Fujin dashing in his direction. The giant swung an uppercut that didn¡¯t touch Dave, but the wind that followed lifted him up. Dave used [Bastion] to nullify the damage from the wind.

    Fujin stomped down and an elemental gale blew from under his foot and lifted Dave all the way, facing the giant. Fujin¡¯s hands blurred as he attacked with a thousand palm strikes. The force of each strike travelled through Dave and sted out his back, blowing across the room. The upward force from the repeated blows also lifted Dave into the air, Fujin raised his knee high up and kicked down at Dave, a divine curb-stomp.

    Dave mmed into the ground and bounced up like a rubber ball. At the top of the rebound, he came face to face with the giant enemy. Chambering his elbows back at waist level, Fuin struck out as he shouted, open palmsing together one over the other.

    Dave¡¯s eyes widened when he saw the peculiar hand position.

    "A Kameha?"

    A gale of highly concentrated wind sted out from Fujin¡¯s hands and blew Dave into sparkles of light.

    You have died!

    You will respawn at the graveyard closest to thest Teleportation Gate you used.

    Dave appeared in a dark forested area filled with tombstones. Surprisingly, brilliant beams of light prated the tree cover and illuminated the graveyard. It was daylight.

    "This is not the underworld."

    Dave opened his map, he was in the Moria graveyard. He called Lone¡¯s number.

    "Hey Lone, where are you now?"

    "I got sent all the way back to the Devi capital¡¯s graveyard. What a stupid-strong boss challenge...did you see their HP? And those skills? How do we fight that?"

    "I really don¡¯t think we should go back to that dungeon. At least not for a while. We can try grinding in other areas of the Underworld," Dave said.

    "Okay. I need to repair my bow and I need to put some stuff up for auction. I¡¯ll meet you in half an hour."

    "Alright, I¡¯ll wait for you. Tell me before you use the teleport scroll," Dave ended the call and sat down recuperating.

    He drank a healing potion and opened his interface.

    "Fuck, that¡¯s a lot of undead to respawn, even the pdins and the Unholy priestess died." Dave cursed.

    "David Ruster?"

    Dave startled and stood up to face the speaker. Whoever it was had addressed him by name. Not his game character names, his REAL name.

    "Crap! You again? Why won¡¯t you leave me the fuck alone?"

    The woman who¡¯d spoken wore a white leather armor set. She was an assassin of the highest caliber. Mercy.

    "Hang on. Just wait. Please," said the girl, hand up in an appeasing gesture.

    She was still higher level than he was and he didn¡¯t have Gale and Orn to protect him. If Mercy wanted him dead it wouldn¡¯t be hard for her to make that happen.

    But there was no longer a point in killing him. The opening of the expansion wasn¡¯t dependant on his character¡¯s actions anymore and Dave could now enjoy the Undead Legion in whichever way the gamey led him. But she didn¡¯t know that.

    "What do you want...princess?" He twisted thest word into a nasty epithet.

    "I had a talk with my father and HE had a talk with the two idiots he sent to ¡¯thank¡¯ you for your help. I am here to apologize for what happened in the hospital that day, that wasn¡¯t at all how things were supposed go down," she said.

    "Apology not epted, just piss-off," he said.

    "Will you fucking stop treating me like this!" she started yelling, incensed at his indifference to her.

    "What the heck is wrong with you?" she added.

    "Me? What¡¯s wrong with me?" Dave wanted to explode out, then stopped himself and calmly said, "Just leave me alone. I don¡¯t want anything to do with you..

    "It was all a mistake, I swear! It really was a gesture of thanks. They weren¡¯t supposed to threaten you at all. They were supposed to ask you a favor. And it wasn¡¯t twenty grand, that is just insulting!."

    Dave¡¯s draugr face turned scary as he lost his cool.

    "I DON¡¯T give a FUCK!"

    "You are acting like an ass, my father told me toee talk to you. He wants to meet with you, and is inviting you to dinner, " she said.

    Dave was taken aback for a moment then said, "Why would I meet the head of some mafia. Don¡¯t try to sell me that Godfather crap, I know that is bullshit."

    "Yes, he is the boss of our familia. Not even the Silvanas could keep you safe if we wanted you toe to harm."

    Was that a threat...? Dave frowned.

    Mercy reacted angrily, stung by his expression, "What is your problem? We are trying to apologize and make things right between you and us."

    She drew a deep breath and continued calmly, "We are not what you think. We¡¯ll see each other again, soon."

    Then she disappeared.

    Dave¡¯s mood plummeted after she left. He didn¡¯t exactly regret pulling her out of the crashed car, a person¡¯s life was important. But his good deed just kepting back to bite him on the ass.

 Chapter 171 Aftermatch and a new adventure.

    "Damn mafia people with their stupid favors and stupid threats! Fuck!" Frightened and enraged, Dave was spouting a stream of curses and profanity in his frustration.

    "You help them out and they still want to fuck you over. Fucking fuckers!"

    Dave checked the state of his armor and gauntlets, he discovered they were damaged from the attack that killed him, but nothing too serious, no need for immediate repairs.

    He looked around for the graveyard exit and headed for it, still angry and annoyed. He didn¡¯t feel like teleporting back to the Dead Realm right now, he wanted to take a long walk to clear his mind.

    Unknown to Dave, as he strode toward the exit an unlucky yer respawned in the graveyard and happened to see the draugr walking through the graveyard. As wasmon for most respawning yers this particr one was unhappy about being killed. He was a level 220 Swordmaster who¡¯d been grinding levels in the Wilds near Moria when a Jade Horned Serpent spawned almost on top of him.

    Seeing what he thought was a wandering undead, the swordmaster decided to vent his frustrations on the EXP-pi?ata. The swordmaster activated [Charge] and hit the draugr from behind like an eighteen-wheel tractor trailer.

    [-680]

    Stunned for 2 seconds

    "Low damage," the sword master was confused. His sword was not in need of repair, his Skill had worked. So what happened?

    He inspected the undead

    Kis¡¯Shtiengbrah

    Level 277

    Tier: Epic

    Death Knight

    HP: 355,115/425,000

    DN: 9,000

    MA: 6,000

    Grand Strategist

    "D-Death Knight, what is it doing around here!?" The sword master turned to flee. He respawned with 10% HP and hadn¡¯t done anything to recover it before his rash attack.

    "Where do you think you¡¯re going meat-bag?" the draugr¡¯s menacing voice growled behind the swordmaster.

    "Not again! It¡¯s not fairrrrrrrr!" the swordsman wailed as he ran from the undead.

    Dave used [Immortal Apparition] and appeared in front of the fleeing swordmaster, the beleaguered yer shrieked like a prepubescent man-child.

    Sessfully applied Fear Effect

    Dave immediately stomped his foot down, activating [Death Surge] and a wave of malignant shadows rolled across the fleeing adventurer.

    [-33,115]

    The swordmaster turned to glowing particles and was teleported to another sector of the graveyard.

    +20 Contribution point.

    "I should just go back to the Underworld," Dave mumbled to himself.

    He tore a teleportation scroll and appeared in the Undead Frontier. Dave went looking for Delvina, he wanted to find out how much it would cost him to revive his dunlords.

    "Hello, Delvina," Dave¡¯s mood was sour.

    "What is wrong young undead,"

    "I lost my troops in a difficult dungeon,"

    "You died?" asked Delvina

    "Yes,"

    "Ohhhh, you broke your cherry!" Delvina joked "You don¡¯t need to worry about dying, as long as the Death Heart is vitalising the undead, you can die as many times as you like,

    The Death Heart removes passivity from the heart of the undead, encouraging deadly battle and courage. Even if you die, you can rise back and fight again! so don¡¯t worry about death it is nothing to us. I read that you started building garrisons on yournd. You can respawn your dunlords and duhan from their unique buildings. There is no longer a need for you toe to me if you wish to purchase units or respawn them."

    "How much will it cost?" asked Dave.

    "You pay 10% of the purchase price of the undead to bring one back.

    Dave checked his interface and found that he needed about 220,000 CP to get all his undead back, including the dunlords.

    "Thanks, Delvina," Dave took his leave and tore another teleportation scroll. He appeared back in the Dead-Realm.

    It took him a long time to get to hisnd. Without Stinger he had to walk all the way.

    Dave headed to the dunlord construction site and found the workers steadilyboring on the new building.

    He decided to visit Dikenz¡¯ new shop. When Dave entered the shop Dikenz saw him immediately and started rubbing his hands together, a rapacious gleam in his filmy zombie eyes.

    "Ahh, me fave¡¯rit cust¡¯mer. Wee, wee!"

    "Hey Dikenz, I need more workers."

    "That be easy if ye have the CP."

    "How much will it cost me to finish just the garrisons today?"

    "Oh, that¡¯d be bout 70,000 CP. But why the rush? I told ye, they be finishing the work for ye in seven days." Asked Dikenz

    "I need to revive my troops, so I need the garrisons done as soon as possible."

    "Och,d. That be fine and good. But there be other matters to ¡¯dress a¡¯fore ye can revive yerds.

    Dave looked at the zombie with narrowed eyes, "What are you babbling on about, Dikenz?"

    "You nay noticed there prices o¡¯ blueprints were all the same? Even fer diff¡¯ren¡¯ buildings?"

    "Yeah, and? Get on with it man...er zombie."

    "Those buildings are simply buildings. Ta revive yerds ye need ta install a respawner. Otherwise tha be just a hut fer em to sleep in. If they was ¡¯ere with us, I means, sor."

    "For god¡¯s sake, Dikenz, couldn¡¯t you have said that before? How much does a respawner cost?"

    "Not so much, it be only 20,000 CP."

    Dave became annoyed, he had just a bit over 450,000 CP thanks to him and his undead converting undead from thebyrinth to join undead legion.

    "Ok, give me a respawner,"

    "OK, now what respawner do you want? The one fer th¡¯ dunlord¡¯s, archers, casters, or th¡¯ melee units?"

    "What!? I have to buy one for every type?"

    "Why, yes. Of course,d," Dickens replied with a too toothy smile.

    "So ye want me to order some respawners for ya? It should na take much time to get them in for ya," added Dikenz.

    Dave groaned, "How long, Dikenz?"

    "It be seven days,d."

    "Well, I don¡¯t need more workers. Order respawners for me. Four, one for each type. I wille back in seven days."

    "Alright then,d," said Dikenz, recieving the 80,000 CP from Dave.

    Dave phoned Lone again.

    She answered the call, "Hey Davey, all set?"

    "No. I can¡¯t revive the Boyz right now. I have to wait a whole week! It¡¯s a huge mess.

    "We can¡¯t go back to the underworld, we aren¡¯t strong enough alone. We have to figure out a new grind location."

    "Hmm, then how about you help me with my legacy quest?"

    "I thought you needed to be at least level 300 to tackle that mission."

    "Yeah, but there are also some errands and mini-quests that shouldn¡¯t be too difficult toplete with the two of us," replied Lone.

    "Okay, I¡¯m up for that. Where do you want to meet?"

    "You have the Northern Kingdom¡¯s teleportation gate codes, right?"

    "The Rager¡¯s gates? Nah, I never got the chance to visit there. The only time I was in the Northern Region was when we met. and that was due to a random spawn point from questing."

    "Okay, let¡¯s meet at the Devi¡¯s capital I will give you a teleportation scroll for the north region. Bring Orn and Gale, the Ragers aren¡¯t friendly."

    "Yeah, will do." Dave hung up and went to gather his two overpowered bodyguards.

 Chapter 172 Slippery Slopes

    Dave went through the Red Fortress¡¯s teleportation gate after inserting the code for the Western Kingdom¡¯s capital city. He appeared in the open za with Orn and Gale in tow. The three undead attracted a lot of attention from yers, but no one dared to attack them.

    Lone¡¯s cheerful voice rang out from behind them.

    "Hey there Mr. Skelly. Hello Orn, hello Gale."

    "Hey Lone."

    "Elfess," the two Doom Knight bodyguards chorused.

    She joined the trio, handing Dave a teleportation scroll to the Northern Kingdom.

    "Do you have more? for Orn and Gale?"

    "Yeah." Lone handed the two Doom Knights their scrolls.

    Dave, Orn and Gale tore their scrolls and appeared near another teleportation gate. This windblown gate tform was in the center of a small town in an icy mountainous area.

    A nket of snow covered the streets and the roofs of the buildings. The freezing strong winds had driven the inhabitants inside, but lights flickered through the windows of the houses and businesses, the smithy¡¯s forge fires could be seen through open doors. Some yers were queued up to buy potions at an alchemist shop and Dave heard music and raucous voicesing from the tavern.

    Light gathered, coalescing into a human shape Lone appeared.

    "Give me a moment, Skelly," she said.

    "Where are you going?" He asked.

    "I need to get something from the alchemist shop, I¡¯ll be right back."

    Lone scurried off toward the alchemist storefront service window.

    When she came back, she was drinking a purple potion.

    "What¡¯s that?" Dave asked.

    "It¡¯ a Frost-Halting potion. It increases my stamina regen-rate topensate for the colds. I brought a few extra for you," she said.

    "Thanks but we don¡¯t need them. The undead have unlimited stamina.

    "So, what¡¯s about your quest? What do we do now?" Dave asked.

    "Let¡¯s get out of town first," Lone said as she moved toward the town¡¯s exit. Dave, Orn, and Gale followed behind her.

    yers that spotted the two Doom Knights moved away afraid of triggering a fight they will not win.

    Their mere presence cowed any yer from trying something foolish, say attacking the undead for exp.

    "It¡¯s a basic fetch quest. I need to bring an item to someone deep in the mountains. There are yetis in the area and it¡¯s hard for me to fight them on my own.

    "I tried to dash through them one time but the yetis started an avnche and killed me. I even asked some friends for help, but we never made it past the yetis. "

    "What¡¯re the yetis¡¯ levels?"

    "They range from level 250 to 300. It won¡¯t be too tough, right?" Lone asked.

    "With me helping you it shouldn¡¯t be much of a problem, but we should still be careful."

    When the they reached the edge of town Gale spoke.

    "Lord Kis, we cannot follow you any further."

    "Thanks, guys," Dave nodded and waved them off.

    The Doom Knights saluted Dave, nodded to Lone and turned back to town to use the teleportation gate. Orn and Gale were tasked to protect Dave from yers only while he was inside cities. They would be effective deterrents until he reached a higher level and was better able to protect himself.

    "Too bad they can¡¯t help us, or else this would have been a breeze."

    "But having two levels 550 Doom Knights babysit us would break the game bnce," Dave said facetiously.

    "But having Drahma walk us through the Underworld didn¡¯t?" Lone said jokingly.

    "Drahma was an exception," Dave coughed in embarrassment.

    Lone and Dave climbed up into the mountains, soon losing sight of the town and the valley it was in.

    The two negotiated narrow, high pathways and scaled steep cliffs on their trek. Lone¡¯s Agility granted her uncanny control over her avatar, enabling her to grab protrusions and climb rapidly and dexterously.

    Dave on the other hand, had to slowly make his way up. His agility and dexterity was far less than Lone¡¯s but his strengthpensated, enabling him to use handholds that weaker characters could not. At one point, a protrusion he was grabbing on broke, but Dave caught on with one hand and pulled himself back up, cursing whenever he looked down.

    "Heh. You don¡¯t like heights, I remember you screaming like a girl in the Threaded Dungeon," Lone teased.

    "I don¡¯t know what you are talking about."

    "Ha!" Loneughed.

    Lone was the first to reach the mountain peak. She waited for Dave toe up.

    Dave pulled himself up the peak and looked out over the icy mountains.

    "Alright, we made it!" Lone said.

    "What? Where? All I see is snow and ice."

    "Look down," Lone pointed.

    On the cliffside a frozen stream meandered down the side of the mountain.

    "What¡¯s that?" asked Dave.

    "Haven¡¯t you ever been to Waterworld?" asked Lone.

    "No."

    "Then this will be a good experience for you!" Lone said as she shoved Dave over the edge.

    Dave screamed as he fell.

    When Dave hit the ice his body bounced and hit again, then slid face first down the frozen stream like a toboggan.

    Lone giggled and jumped after Dave, she had god down frozen stream before so she caught up to Dave and surpassed him.

    Dave was awkwardly trying to bnce himself, cursing under his breath.

    Suddenly, he had an idea. He pushed his hands and feet against the ice, thrusting his body up into the air and equipping his Tower Shield. He nted both legs on the tower-shield and was surprised to find he was easily able to bnce and he was going even faster now.

    You have gained a new title

    Shield-Boarder

    [Unique]

    Your shield can now be used for something other than blocking.

    You have increased stability when using a shield to slide over slippery terrain.

    Congrattions on finding something a shield can do other than [Blocking]

    "Ha!" Dave was quite happy with the new title. It wouldn¡¯t be much help in a fight but it was a nice title.

    "Waaah! Not fair! I wanna ride too!" Lone said looking back as Dave edged closer to her.

    "Hop on." He gave Lone a hand, pulling her onto the make-shift snowboard.

    With Lone on the tower shield their speed increased.

    "This is much better than normal sliding."

    "I think we have a little problem," Dave said.

    "Problem...?"

    "I can¡¯t steer this thing! How are we going to stop?!"

    "Don¡¯t worry, there¡¯s lots of snow at the bottom, it will cushion our stop when we hit it. No need to panic."

    "I see where the ice river ends and there is no cushion!"

    "That wall wasn¡¯t there thest time! Alright let¡¯s panic!" Lone started screaming in Dave¡¯s ear...

 Chapter 173 Sneaky Sneaky...

    A rooster tail of ice chips and particles flew out from the shield as the makeshift sled careened down the mountainside at neck breaking speeds.

    "Lone! We either jump now or make colorful decorations on that ice wall." Dave said.

    "Don¡¯t worry about me! I can blink away!"

    "Alright! Here goes nothing!"

    Dave used [Immortal Apparition] only a dozen meters from the ice wall and teleported to the side of the ice wall.

    Lone ¡¯blinked¡¯ away, following Dave. The shield continued until it smashed into the ice wall, creating a spiderweb of cracks in the frozen roadblock, or ¡¯slide-block.¡¯

    "You could have warned me about the slope!" Dave scolded her as he went to retrieve his shield. The ground was slippery but he made his way to the ice wall and struggled to pull his shield out.

    "Oh c¡¯mon, that was fun! Do you y Need for Speed?"

    "I¡¯m not a fan of racing games," he said.

    She shook her head sadly, "Oh Davey. Nevermind."

    "So now what? Where is the person you need to meet?"

    "You see this passage?" Lone pointed to an ice tunnel hidden to the side of the ice wall.

    "We cross through to enter the yetis domain. There are a lot of them and we gotta be careful, we can¡¯t aggro more than two at once." Lone warned.

    Dave nodded and followed as Lone led the way into the tunnel. Eventually they exited the tunnel into a valley with steep icy walls.

    "We have to get across the valley, but we won¡¯t make it to the other side if we¡¯re seen. The yetis will bombard us with boulders if they spot us. They lurk at the top of the walls all around the valley. So drink this."

    Lone gave Dave two potions, one was for invisibility and the other was a sound-muffling potion.

    "These potions will only help us hide from the yetis on the clifftops. If we run into a yeti here at ground level it will see our footsteps in the snow. A fight here will bring a lot of unwanted attention."

    Dave drank the potions, his body turned transparent and his boots took on a blue hue. Lone drank her potions and the two of them moved across the valley nning their face-off with the yetis.

    "The yetis have crazy regen rates. They can regenerate entire limbs in minutes. We have to kill them fast or they will call for help."

    "I have good DPS, but blitzing a level 250 mob won¡¯t be easy for me. Especially if it regenerates."

    "We use fire, I remember you got a skill with fire in it, that [Dragon Ball] and the one you burnt the tengu¡¯s face with."

    "Yeah, but the [Ray of me] skill has a long cooldown, but no worries, my gauntlets are imbued with fire," Dave answered.

    "Good, fire nullifies their regeneration.

    But we can¡¯t fight our way through this valley, we gotta be stealthy. This is just the first area, we need to go even further to finish my quest."

    "You mean the person you are looking for isn¡¯t even here?"

    "No. The quest NPC is in an area packed with yetis, and we need to kill them one by one."

    Invisibility potions reduce the yer¡¯s speed by 50%, causing them to walk at a slow pace. When the two reached the end of the valley, Lone stopped and pointed up.

    "You see that?"

    Dave looked at the ice pir that extended from the valley floor to the top.

    "We need to climb the pir, but there¡¯s a yeti patrolling the area at the top. We will climb halfway and see if the Yeti is there or not. as long as the invisibility potion is still active it won¡¯t spot us."

    "Okay. What are we waiting for?"

    "You first," Lone smiled.

    Dave shrugged and walked up the pir, slowly and steadily, his eyes locked on the top verifying if there was no yetis there.

    When they were halfway, a yeti suddenly appeared at the top of the pir. Dave inspected it.

    Yeti

    Level: 275

    HP: 375,000

    Tier: Epic

    Damage: 20,000-30,000

    DN: 5,000

    MA: -2,000

    Skills:

    [Beast Roar] dazes all enemies in a 5 meter radius around the Yeti.

    [Hot Blood] the yeti passively regenerates 1% of its HP every second

    [Chomp] causes [Frostbite] effect, freezing the target¡¯s bloodstream and suspending their stamina regeneration for 60 seconds.

    Any attack on the target afflicted with [Frostbite] effect does double the base damage.

    Bestiary:

    The yetis are creatures of the cold, at home in environments of snow and ice. Aggressive and territorial they do not tolerate any intruders.

    Yeti blood is an essential ingredient in some of the more powerful health potions. The properties of the blood is one of the reasons why they are so hard to kill.

    The yeti looked like a white, four-armed gori with a spreading crown of antlers. The face was a mix of human and toad, the wide mouth full of sharp, uneven fangs.

    "Well, that¡¯s ugly!" Dave said.

    "Look who¡¯s talking," Lone replied, "I think it¡¯s cute. Look how fluffy it is, I¡¯d cuddle it to pieces!"

    "Okay. All joking aside, we need to get past it."

    "It should leave in a moment, we can go up then," Lone replied.

    "The invisibility potion will be wearing off soon. Do you have more?"

    "No potions, The shop didn¡¯t have any others for sale. I hope he leaves before then. If not, we will have to take the slopes again."

    Dave didn¡¯t like the thought of taking the slide again.

    The yeti luckily turned back and left before the invisibility potions wore off. They took the chance to go up the pir. Dave saw several yetis asleep, with the exception of a few that patrolled the area.

    On the opposite side of where the yeti roamed was steep wall of ice.

    "Alright, we need to go past this wall before the yeties back," Lone pointed at a wall.

    "Your quest has a lot of climbing," Dave grumbled as he looked at the high wall.

    "I know you don¡¯t like heights, but this is the only way. Alright, I¡¯ll go up first, follow my lead."

    Lone grabbed on one of the many ice protrusions poking out of the ice wall and began climbing.

    He mimicked Lone¡¯s movements, following her up the wall.

    "I think the yeti ising back," Dave said.

    "Yeah, that¡¯s normal," Lone said over the wind, "If we are fast enough it won¡¯t notice us."

    "We¡¯ve been vertical climbing or hiking up mountains since we left the vige. I haven¡¯t killed a single mob. This is a prettyme quest."

    "It¡¯s a hunter¡¯s legacy quest, so agility and dexterity are tested. Don¡¯t your legacy quests always have something to do with death?"

    "We are almost at the top now, so be ready!" Lone encouraged the draugr.

    The wind was too strong so Dave had to shout. "Alright!"

    Lone reached the top first and waited for Dave. The wind was much stronger there.

    Dave dragged himself onto the clifftop a few seconds after.

    He thought that it might be another slope, or that they would need to go down. It was a huge area with several ciers spread across the icend.

    Yetis were roaming about in the area. Dave did a quick headcount and came up with about forty yetis.

    "Man, it¡¯s going to take a lot of time to kill them all. And what¡¯s up with this damn cold, my beard is has ice in it." Dave brushed the frost crusting his beard only for it to freeze again almost immediately.

    Loneughed at the sight of Dave¡¯s frosted beard.

    "We don¡¯t need to kill them all, we need to get past them. I keep dying right between those two ciers there," Lone pointed, "The yetis were just too tough for me to handle."

    "Why didn¡¯t you bring more yers to help you?" asked Dave "You have friends in the Devis."

    "Not everyone has time to help a lowbie like me. Most of the high-level yers I know are doing quests or dungeon runs for the guild. I brought some level 200 friends with me before but we still didn¡¯t make it past the yetis guarding the ciers"

    "What makes you think I will be any more help than your friends?" asked Dave as he stroked his frost coated beard.

    "You are Mr. Skeletal," Lone grinned at him.

    "Alright, let¡¯s get going. The path looks clear I think we can make it to the cier before we are spotted."

 Chapter 174 Beating up balls of floof!

    Unseen by the yetis, Lone and Dave rushed to hide near a frozen river. the river ended in a frozen waterfall that cascaded down therge area they were on.

    There was a yeti walking in circles in the middle of the icy river valley. From where they stood; a branching path to the right and left led to different entrances. These entrances were several other frozen streams that cut their own path through ice and converged at the frozen waterfall.

    "Okay, this is the first yeti we have to take down," Lone said.

    "Alright, I¡¯ll be tank and damager. You do crowd control and ranged."

    Dave gave her a smirk with a thumbs up and ran at the yeti.

    Dave used [Stampede], shooting forward to smash into the yeti.

    [-32,880]

    The yeti lost its bnce and roared at Dave as it swung a bowling ball sized fist athim.

    He used [Block] on the iing fist and retaliated with a sword swing.

    [-17,300]

    Lone drew and loosed a quick [Prating Shot] at the yeti just as it retaliated with another punch. The arrow intercepted the yeti¡¯s fist creating an opening for Dave to hit the yeti instead.

    The yeti red with blood-red eyes and began to suck big gasps of cold air into its lungs,pressing them down without exhaling. Then its jaws yawned open, the pent up air was expelled in one terrible prolonged burst of sound, [Beast Roar]. The sonic attack blew away the snow and ice around the yeti in rippling concussive waves.

    Afflicted Dave with a [Dazed] status Dave instantly activated [Undying Will], removing the effect just in time for him to sidestep the yeti¡¯s follow-up [Chomp]. His heart skipped as the beast¡¯s tusks snapped together just a finger¡¯s width away from his neck. Dave turned and sliced down with his mberge, hitting the yeti in the left shoulder then dodging a retaliatory kick from the monster.

    [+3,000]

    He switched his sword and shield out for the Stalwart gauntlets and bashed his fists together, causing them to burst into me.

    "It¡¯s clobberin¡¯ time!"

    Using [Heroic Descent] Dave jumped high up and activated [Twin Strike] as he came down like a meteor. He immediately used [Infernal Tempest], causing his avatar to spinn like a flying top, fists beating the yeti¡¯s face like a drum.

    [-35,115]

    [-25,440]

    [-15,888]

    [-12,666]

    [-10,333]

    [-8,555]

    "Whoa!" Lone was shocked, "That¡¯s a lot of damage, you just lopped off a quarter of its HP with thatbo!"

    Dave performed a summersault to dodge a retaliatory punch, putting some distance between himself and the yeti..

    "Yeah, I¡¯m finally fighting a mob close to my level." He was smiling happily.

    He sprinted forward, dodged a punch, and ran up the yeti¡¯s extended arm. He grabbed onto one of its antlers, steadying himself and with his other free hand, he pummeled the beast.

    The yeti tried to shake Dave off, but the pesky human was holding tight.

    Lone hit one of the yeti¡¯s eyes with an arrow, staggering it.

    Dave used [Double Edged] then escaped with [Vertical sh] as the worm rushed up through the ice and snow for a taste of flesh.

    [-20,000]

    He activated [Aura] and used [Immortal Apparition], teleporting himself behind the yeti.

    The yeti was afflicted the Fear effect. Dave stomped on the ice cracking it, then activated [Death Surge]. A ck aura burst out from Dave¡¯s foot for a staggering [-93,000] points of damage.

    Dave strafed around the yeti, Lone supported him by disrupting the yeti¡¯s rhythm. Punches and arrows rained on the furred monster until they felled their first yeti.

    "I leveled up!" Lone shouted, exhrated.

    "Neat. I got a decent amount of exp myself. Let¡¯s check the loot and rest. I need to wait for some skills toe off cooldown before we fight again." Dave went to the yeti¡¯s body and touched it to get the loot.

    1 X Yeti¡¯s Blood [Common alchemy material]

    1 X Yeti¡¯s pelt [Common crafting material]

    1 X Yeti¡¯s antlers [Common crafting material]

    "Meh, the loot sucks," Daveined.

    "What did you expect? This area is not like the underworld where you get first monster kills and the best loot. But I heard there was a lucky yer who got a skill-book from killing yetis." Lone shrugged.

    "Huh, I wonder what skill he got. Let¡¯s get moving."

    The two moved along the base of icy river, deep into the colder areas of the region. Lone drank another Frost-Halting potion.

    They fought and killed another yeti. Dave leveled up to 289 and Lone reached level 161.

    "Alright, this one is going to be tough. There is one yeti here, but if we let it use [Beast Roar] it will cause an avnche and we will die," Lone said, pointing up.

    There were loads of ice and snow, piled on the top of the frozen river banks, with a powerful enough skill or spell, the gathering of snow fall and bury anyone underneath it.

    "So, can¡¯t we just kite the yetis where it¡¯s safe?"

    "Well, I already tried that thest time I was here. The bastard just called more yetis. Our party got wrecked and they all refused toe back here afterward."

    "Alright...tell me what exactly happens when the avnche falls."

    "Well, ites down this river slope and takes everything down with it. A wave of ice and rock, it hits with t damage so protective and defensive skills are useless. "

    "Does the avnche damage the yetis?" Dave asked as he stroked his beard. His eyes wandered about, examining the area.

    "I don¡¯t really know, we didn¡¯t survive long enough to see."

    "Alright. I have a n that I think will work. Move back a bit, I¡¯m going to try something. You should go back to the river bank and take cover."

    Lone nodded and ran back, she left the frozen river area and went to hide in one of the other passages.

    Dave pumped himself up and ran toward the yeti.

    "Hey! You fat ball of fluff!"

    The yeti was puzzled by the draugr yelling at him at first. Then it started beating on its chest and howling back at the undead in its territory.

    Dave could feel the vibrations it caused through the ice and snow.

    Two more yetis appeared behind the first and ran toward Dave. They were sprinting sideways on all fours.

    Dave waved a hand to summon Spectral Skulls.

    Spectral Skull has leveled up

    You now summon four spectral skulls with one cast.

    The skullsst for 20 additional seconds before detonating.

    "Nice."

    Four Spectral Skulls materialized in front of Dave. They wererger than before and their red glow was a shade darker.

    Dave had the skulls float to the snow loaded river banks and blew them up.

    When the monsters saw the iing snow, they howled and fanatically moved back, but they weren¡¯t fast enough.

    Lone yelped jumped up from her cover ran, knowing she was far from safe. Dave paled, turned, and sprinted down the cier to escape the iing avnche. He looked back over his shoulder at the avnche as the rumbling of snow, rocks and ice grew closer.

    Two waves of ice and snow, eaching from a the high river banks¡¯s top, shed with each other when they reached the river slope. The snow came down from the ciers like a tide, carrying with it the four-meter yetis like if they were weightless twigs.

    The wave rumbled down, growing and elerating like a tsunami of cold snowy death.

    "That was a calcted risk... But I forgot how bad I am at math!!" Dave turned and ran down the slope as fast as he could, but he knew well that he would never make it to the other frozen streams where it was safe before the snow engulfed him.

    Dave was screaming curses as the avnche caught up with him. But just before he was engulfed by the leading edge of the icy wave he had an idea. He leapt up and swapped the gauntlets out for his greatsword and tower shield. Grabbing the shield in midair he arched his body to get his feet on it and caught the wave of snow and ice just right, touching down to lom back and forth across the avnche front. Dave surfed the wave of tumbling snow, ice and rock like a pro athlete. Though he was guided by the game¡¯s system.

    Lone had both hands to her mouth when she saw the sweeping wave of deadly ice. When she saw Dave riding on top of it, she gasped.

    The avnche carried Dave all the way to the frozen waterfall.

    Yetis noticed the rumble and came to investigate. Dave couldn¡¯t let them spot him or Lone, so he had to make his way back to her and go up the river slope as fast as he could.

    Dave made his way through the avnche snow. He had trouble walking on the fresh snow. After he crossed some distance, he saw Lone safe and sound, hiding in one of the streams. Dave waved at her and signed to her to go up the slope.

    Lone nodded and went up and ahead of him, while he made his way toward her.

    A furry hand burst out of the snow and ice and a yeti made its way out from underneath. It shook its body of the frost and grumbled in a low voice. When the yeti saw Dave, it started pping its chest again and moved toward Dave.

    Dave used [Immortal Apparition] and teleported away from the yeti, only to have another yeti rise up from under the snow and block Dave¡¯s path.

    Dave used [Death¡¯s Descent] and jumped away from the yeti. Right as hended, Dave activated [Stampede]. The snow and ice blew up and away from Dave¡¯s body as he elerated.

    When Dave reached Lone he spoke urgently, "There are a bunch of yetising our way. We need to run away fast, try to leave these yeti¡¯s aggro range."

    "My quest marker is nearby. We need to go up this slope, there will be a passage we can use to escape the yetis."

 Chapter 175 Grumpy old man

    Lone and Dave headed up the slope, the yetis chasing after them.

    "There!," Lone pointed at a crack in one of the walls of the ciers, barelyrge enough for a person to enter.

    They squeezed through the entrance and headed deeper in.

    "This is an ice-cave system, the person I need to meet is on the other side!" Lone was gleeful.

    Dave stopped and turned, he was looking back at the entrance.

    "Why are you stopping Davey?"

    "I want to see if the yetis can get through the opening."

    "The entrance is too small for them," Lone said.

    A yeti appeared in the opening, blocking the light and howling at them.It started smashing at the ice to erge the entrance. With every hit from the yetis it made the path wider.

    The cave continued in a straight line.

    "They will get through in no time. Let¡¯s move. I hope this ce has an exit." Dave turned and they ran deeper into the cave system.

    A loud crashing sound reverberated through the cave.

    "They made it past the entrance," Dave said in a low voice.

    The two of them continued until they came to what appeared to be a dead end.

    "Now what?!" Dave looked around, hoping to find something.

    "The marker is beyond this path, I don¡¯t see a way to it though," Lone said in a worried tone.

    The voices of the yetis were getting closer by the second. Dave pressed a hand on the icy wall.

    "I think I can break through the ice here. Move back a little," he told Lone.

    Dave pulled his fist back and smashed it into the ice. A cone of fire erupted and washed over the ice like a wave. He punched again and the ice cracked. But it was still tough and he will need more hits to break it. He activated [Aura], the torrent of fire washed over the ice and it started melting. Hot steam burst out from the ice cave and blew out toward the exit.

    Dave continuously punched the wall, every attack booming through the cavern.

    "Shit! The yetis are here!" Lone said

    Three yetis were stuck in a curve fighting against each other to get through first.

    "I need few more seconds!" Dave shouted.

    Lone used [Ice-shard Arrow Barrage], her hands moving flickering as she shot the ice arrows at the yetis, Slowing them.

    With a swipe of its paw one of the yetis broke the thick crust of ice that had umted on them from the arrow attack.

    "Damn!" Lone cursed and fired an [Ice Dome] at the furry snow-men, dying them for a few more precious seconds.

    Dave used [Infernal Tornado] and spun, his fists eating through the ice wall like a buzzsaw. As Dave¡¯s spinning attack Skill ended, the ice wall broke, steam and heat bursting through to the other side. The new opening revealed an ice field with a small shack in the center, a plume of smoke rising from the chimney.

    "Lone! Let¡¯s go!" Dave said.

    With the opening made, the tunnel weakened and started shaking, no longer was able to support its own weight. It threatened to bury them if they didn¡¯t leave fast enough.

    "Coming!"

    She raced past Dave and out of the cave.

    Dave followed her then turned and waved a hand. Four spectral skulls appeared, hovering within the copsing cave. The yetis finally broke through Lone¡¯s ice dome and charged through, howling when they caught sight of their prey.

    Dave smiled and snapped his fingers, detonating the spectral skulls. He watched as huge chunks of ice fell burying the yetis in an icy grave.

    They both received level up notifications.

    Lone giggled, "Nice one, Davey. But you should get rid of your [Aura], you¡¯re melting everything around you."

    Dave did as she suggested.

    "That was close. By the way, you should have had one of your friends sacrifice themselves to cause the avnche then the rest of you could have taken down the yetis and you wouldn¡¯t have been stuck here, dying over and over again."

    "You¡¯re right. I never thought of it like that."

    "Pawn sacrifice, Lone.

    When they got to the shack¡¯s door, Lone knocked.

    "Who¡¯s there?" a gruff voice came from the inside.

    "I am a hunter, sir. I was told that you could help me with something." Lone said

    "I don¡¯t have time for you, piss off!" he replied.

    "Sir, I have a fragment of True Ice," Lone said.

    They heard the sound of furniture moving and the door opened.

    An old man opened the door, dressed in padded leather with a white furred hood, like an Eskimo. A trident was strapped to his his back.

    "True Ice! show me!" the man.

    Lone showed the man a piece of diamond shaped clear crystal. The old man removed a glove and took the piece of ice in his hand.

    "It is True Ice!".

    "Come in,e in!" The man invited Lone into the shack, but when he saw Dave he stumbled back and fell on his behind.

    "U-undead! What is an undead doing here!"

    The man scrambled to his feet and pulled the trident around grasping it in a defensive stance.

    "He¡¯s a friend!" Lone said standing between the old man and Dave.

    The old man lowered his trident a little, but kept a wary eye on Dave.

    "The Ice Queen loathes the undead, why do you keep suchpany?" he asked.

    "What does having an undead friend have to do with the Ice Queen?" Lone said.

    "It has everything to do with the ice queen! She needs true ice to awaken from her eternal slumber and it was the undead who caused her fall!" said the man.

    "Is that so?" said Dave "Didn¡¯t your ice queen capture the Lich Du¡¯Rhaza, imprison him and slowly drain his power...who says this queen was in the right!" Dave defended the undead. He had enough with yers hating him because of his character¡¯s race, and now a quest giving NPC.

    "Cut the nonsense! Our queen never harmed or dealt with the undead! it was your ck Order that imprisoned her!"

    "Wait! Do you mean the ck Skull Order?" Dave asked the old man.

    "Yes, the ck Skull Order, those filthy dead men. They tricked our queen and imprisoned her, now she is under a spell only True Ice can liberate her from."

    "Where is she?" asked Lone

    "She is trapped in a nearby dungeon, it is dangerous, full of monsters. The ck Skull Order used the dungeon as a base of operation after they captured our queen. I¡¯ve tried to rescue her many times but always failed and almost lost my life several times," said the old man sadly.

    "I got a quest Davey. It¡¯s A ranked"

    "I¡¯ll help, don¡¯t worry."

    "No!" the old man interjected, "No undead shall go near my queen! She has suffered enough!"

    "Rx dude. I am hunting the ck Skull Order. They are traitors to the undead king and I have been ordered to exterminate them."

    "Then I will apany you. If you wish to save the queen you will need my knowledge of the area and my power...and I don¡¯t trust you undead."

    "Whatever you say old man,"

    "Are you ready?" the old man asked Lone.

    Lone turned to Dave, "I need a rest, we¡¯ve been in game for a long time."

    "Yeah, you¡¯re right."

    "Sir, we are not ready. We will return and apany youter." Lone politely told the old man.

    "Alright, I will wait for you here."

 Chapter 176 Rescue

    Dave logged out from the game, got out of his capsule and brushed his teeth. He slept like a baby that night. When Dave woke up in thefort of his bed, he looked up at the unfamiliar ceiling and smiled.

    "It¡¯s been a long time since I slept that good."

    Dave got up, took a quick shower then ordered breakfast and called Zoe. After a few rings, the phone connected, a few seconds of silence then a drowsy voice came across the line.

    "Hello?"

    "Hey Zoe, still in bed?"

    "Yeah, what time is it?" she asked.

    "It¡¯s ten in the morning, We have to finish your quest!"

    "Lemme sleep more..."

    "I have other things to do, but I¡¯m stuck in that icy hell where your quest is. "

    More silence.

    Then, "Alright. Gimme half an hour, shower and eat, then I will log-in."

    "I¡¯ll be waiting for you." Dave hung up and logged in from his capsule.

    The arctic wind blew right through his body, if he wasn¡¯t undead he would have been shivering and slowly freezing till respawn. Dave stroked his beard for a moment then looked around, inspecting the area.

    The old man¡¯s shack was in a the middle of a bowl shaped depression surrounded by mountains.

    Dave made his way to the copsed tunnel they came through. Finding nothing of interest he walked around until he found a path through ice and snow. The path was just a few meters away from the tunnel. He didn¡¯t find any other ways out of the bowl. He concluded the path was the way to the dungeon the Eskimo had told them about.

    The draugr stroked his beard some more, then made up his mind. He went down the path slowly and carefully. He examined every step of the path for traps or enemies. After several minutes, Dave spotted the first monster.

    A yellow tagged gray wolf was sleeping peacefully on a boulder. It was easily ten times the size of a dire wolf.

    When Dave entered its aggro zone the wolf woke up looked at him withplete indifference. After eyeing him for a few moments the wolfy its head back on its forelegs and resumed its nap.

    Dave inspected the wolf:

    Amarok

    Level: 450

    Danger Level: Neutral

    HP:???

    DN:???

    MA:???

    Skills:???

    Amarok was apanion to a powerful leader, but fate separated them, and this faithful wolf is still waiting for the day to see his friend again.

    "That¡¯s just sad..."

    A voice from behind startled him.

    "Indeed."

    Dave turned, it was the old Eskimo.

    "Amarok was my queen¡¯s familiar. He¡¯s been guarding the entrance to the Frozen Abyss Dungeon since she was taken.

    I have tried to rescue her, but I have never gotten past the first level of the dungeon. The ck Skull Order holds her captive and drains her power.

    There are many creatures still trapped inside, they are dangerous and deadly."

    Dave received a phone call

    "Hey Davey! Where are you?" she asked

    "Hey Lone, there is a path beyond the house. Take the path and you will find us."

    "Us?"

    "Yeah, the old man is here with me."

    "Ok Davey, on my way!" Lone hung up.

    "Draugr... I don¡¯t trust you" said the old man "But, if you are really willing to aid my queen, I will be in your debt."

    "Don¡¯t worry about it, old man."

    Dave spotted Lone and waved at her. Lone saw the wolf and stopped outside its aggro range.

    "Why isn¡¯t it attacking?" asked Lone

    "Friendly. So, are you ready?"

    "Yeah."

    "Alright, old man, let¡¯s go."

    They walked along the path, the wolf woke up again and watched them pass. It sat up and howled.

    "It is wishing us good luck," said the old man.

    After a while, the old man said, "Wait here. That ice rock is an ice golem. We will have to destroy it."

    The old man drew his trident from his back and pulled on its handle.

    The trident¡¯s forks snapped together like the head of ance, and its shaft elongated.

    The spear-head ignited.

    "Oh, this item can transform just like the swords of mercy..."

    "The swords of mercy? How do you know about the Workshop¡¯s trick-weapons?"

    "Eh... yeah, I found them on the corpse of a person in the ice pce..." Dave

    "So he is dead...safeguard those weapons, they belonged to a dear friend of mine."

    "I will." Dave coughed with embarrassment. The guardian in the Ice Queen Pce dungeon died because he helped Du¡¯Rhaza kill him.

    "Alright, use fire to destroy the golem, aim for the core. Because no matter how much damage it takes, unless the core is destroyed, it will reconstruct."

    The old man approached the rock and just as he stepped into the aggro range the rock shook, transforming into a bulky humanoid twice as tall as an average man.

    Dave inspected the golem:

    Ice Golem

    Level: 250

    Damage: 25,000-35,000

    HP:250,000

    DN: 1,000

    MA: 15,000

    Skills:

    [Ice storm] ice golems passively release a cold aura that reduces enemy stamina regeneration by 1% every 10 seconds.

    [Ice spikes] The ice golem ms its right hand on the ground and releases a cone of icy shards out dealing 50% base damage.

    Ice golems are creatures of magic that thrive in the the coldest environments. They are extremely resistant to all water and ice magic, but are vulnerable to fire and blunt attacks.

    If they are destroyed they can reconstruct themselves given enough time unless their core is destroyed.

    Dave used [Stampede]

    The golem noticed Dave and raised a tree trunk sized hand to smack at Dave.

    But [Stampede] ignores Stuns and can hyper-armor through anything.

    When the draugr and the golem hit each other, two damage values raised above their heads.

    [-36,888] appeared over the golem¡¯s head.

    While Dave got a notification for his HP: [-11,500]

    The ice golem cracked all over its body and Dave spotted a ck fist sized sphere in the middle of the golem¡¯s chest.

    The monster was under the two second stun effect from [Stampede] and Dave took full advantage. First, he waved a hand and summoned four spectral skulls then snapped his fingers, detonating them all at once against the golem¡¯s chest, staggering it. Then he moved into [Sword Lunge] creating a giant sword light that pierced through the golem¡¯s chest, core and back.

    The golem staggered away from the sword Skill attack, stumbling back its body cracked and crumbled piece by piece until only ice fragments remained.

    Dave leveled up when the golem died.

    "That was easy." Dave said.

    "You got lucky, this one¡¯s core was in it¡¯s chest. Sometimes it¡¯s not. Ok let¡¯s keep going," said the old man.

    Dave looted the the golem and scurried after the elf and the Eskimo guy.

 Chapter 177 Guess whos back! He is angry though...

    The party of three followed the icy path, fighting any ice golems they came upon.

    After his experience with the first golem, Dave thought the golems were going to be easy kills and good sources of EXP. But when he fought another golem alone, it was unbelievably hard to locate its core. At one point Dave got lucky when he cracked open a golem¡¯s icy limb and revealed the core embedded within. But before he could destroy it, the golem moved the core to another area hiding it again, prolonging what should have been a short battle.

    What vexed Dave the most were the old Eskimo guy¡¯sments. Every time Dave failed to destroy a golem¡¯s core with a single attack, the old man began to snort or mock him for being clumsy. Dave couldn¡¯t really argue as the old man only needed two strikes to kill a golem. When he fought one, he would jump and stab twice with his spear in a rapid session. The first strike would break through the ice revealing the core and the second hit was destroying it. It was like the old man knew where the core was.

    It took them over two hours to finally reach the end of the icy road where they saw a steel portcullis blocking the passage.

    "This is the dungeon entrance," the old man said quietly.

    "What now, old man? How do we get in?" Dave asked troubled.

    The old man didn¡¯t answer and approached the steel gate in silence. He crouched and tapped on one of the metal bars with his spear. The gate made a screeching sound and sprang up. The old man walked through and beckoned to them from the other side of the entrance.

    You have Discovered a new Dungeon!

    Frozen Abyss.

    The first monster killed in the dungeon will drop their best loot.

    All EXP is doubled for 7 days inside the dungeon (game time).

    "An unimed and unknown dungeon, that¡¯s rare. Most of the dungeons in the open part of the Conquest have been imed by the Super Guilds," Davemented surprised.

    "This is a Dead Dungeon. All Legacy quest dungeons are, once the quest holders finish them, they don¡¯t respawn the boss anymore." Lone said as he followed the old man.

    Beyond the gate was a long stone corridor. As they moved down the corridor, the light dimmed with every step. The corridor branched off into other tunnels that seemed to cross and recross, creating something of a maze. The old man didn¡¯t mind and led them unerringly forward.

    The corridor was lined with prison cells. The cell bars were rusted and broken while inside them there were frozen corpses of both human and monster.

    Dave¡¯s enhanced night vision enabled him to see through the dark as if it was daytime. Yet the old man wasn¡¯t the same. He lit a smallntern that hung on his waist and the blue light illuminated a small area around him.

    "Isn¡¯t it risky to use light?" Dave asked cautiously.

    "You know nothing! This is an ice-memp. The monsters do not see the light from it at all. We are safe as long as we don¡¯t make too much noise. Follow me. I know the safest route to the level guardian."

    "Alright... stupid old man," Dave grumbled thest part under his breath.

    "Why are you behaving like that, Davey?" Lone asked. "Saying mean things to NPCs and an old man NPC at that. It¡¯s not like you."

    "Haven¡¯t you noticed how he talks to me? I know he doesn¡¯t like an undead, but he could lighten up just a little. And what¡¯s with the attitude? Like he knows it all. He said he¡¯s never gotten past the first level and look at him, acting all bossy." Dave snorted looking at the old man¡¯s back.

    "Wow, this NPC is really pushing your buttons." Lone smiled.

    "No... yeah, okay. The game designers make them too human." Dave couldn¡¯t help but admit.

    The two continued chatting about the dungeon structure and mechanics in low tones as they followed the old man.

    "Hey! Old man! There is a monstering our way. A three-headed ice-dog," Dave said in a low voice. The old man didn¡¯t seem to be aware of it.

    "Ice cerberus!" the old man¡¯s eyes widened as he looked back at Dave, "We can¡¯t stay here. If it sees us, it will call more of its kind. Follow me. I know a detour."

    The old man entered one of the prison cells and waited for the draugr and elf to follow.

    When they were inside, he pushed a brick on one of the walls and the wall creaked, turning.

    Dave could hear scuff of paws on the floor. The creature must have heard the noise and wasing to inspect.

    "Hurry," the old man said.

    When Dave got in, the old man pushed the wall and it closed. he growls of the ice cerberus sounded through the wall and only a momentter did they hear paws padding and scuffing away, fading in the distance.

    "This path is much longer than the one I was nning on taking. But it is also safe."

    The old man tapped on hisntern, making it glow brighter.

    The corridor they were in was much wider and higher than the ones they were in before. The prison cells were muchrger than the ones in the other corridors. Dave carefully made his way into one of the cells.

    He spotted arge corpseying on the cell¡¯s cold floor. It was one of Drahma¡¯s kin, a giant.

    But this was the body of an adolescent, not asrge as Drahma. The young giant¡¯s skin was cracked like dry y, visible through the tattered old leather clothing. The eyes were wide, a look of terror forever painted on his face. His wrists and ankles were shackled to rusty chains and his chest had been torn open, the ribs sticking up and out into the air.

    "What are you doing Dave?" Lone asked. She joined him to see what had drawn his attention and when she took in the pathetic scene she put both hands to her mouth.

    Quest update

    A call for Help.

    You have discovered the corpse of a Giants.

    Drahma sensed his kin through his link to the Anti-Bully jewel.

    Drahma will be summoned to your location in 10 seconds.

    The blinding light shone down the hallways, prating the crossways, alerting any and all ice monsters in visual range. In turn their angry howling alerted more creatures in a cascade of bellows and screams. Virtually every monster on the level started stampeding toward themotion, attracted to the light.

    The howls of wolves and heavy stomps of creatures sounded through the dungeon.

    "Oh shit!" Dave cursed and grabbed at the floating jewel trying to cover its light with his hands, unsessfully.

    "What¡¯s happening!" the old man looked around, frightened. "Turn that off! We will be surrounded!"

    Dave looked up at the ceiling and his face paled as he realized Drahma would be summoned in the cell. He ran out of the cell and threw the jewel into therger corridor.

    "What¡¯s happening Dave?" Lone asked, terrified.

    "Drahma! He¡¯sing!" Dave said, "And he¡¯s really, really angry!"

    The jewel¡¯s light shone brighter and brighter and space started vibrating and tearing.

    Two enormous hands broke the weakened fabric of space and tore it open. A howl loud enough to wake the dead sounded from within the torn space and Drahma emerged. His expression was full of wrath and his skin became blood red.

    The temperature of the room rose drastically from the giant¡¯s body heat, it was like a furnace. Ice turned to water vapor as it made contact with Drahma¡¯s skin.

    Drahma was muchrger than the room, but he decreased his size.

    "What is going on?!" the old man backed away from the giant.

    After Drahma reduced his size, he was still too big, every one of his steps shook the hall.

    Drahma didn¡¯t even greet Dave. He went to the cell where the adolescent giant was in.

    When he saw the body, he wailed again and smashed the frozen steel bars with a backhand entering the cell. Drahma hugged the frozen body close to his chest and cried. His wails shook the room.

    Dave just watched his friend mourn, there was nothing he could say that would help.

    "What is happening Dave?" Lone asked.

    "Drahma is thest of his kind, the ck Skull Order experimented on him when he was their captive. This poor giant suffered the same and this made Drahma feel sorrow."

    "It must have been tough for him," Lone said sympathetically.

    "Yes. Drahma¡¯s inner madness and wrath awakened and helped him survive the torture, but the rest of his kin... They weren¡¯t as strong. This other giant is just a kid."

    Lone¡¯s eyes watered and she looked away.

    "They¡¯reing," Lone said.

    Dave turned, three Cerberi were running toward them. They were running toward them, but it should take them a few seconds to arrive. He equipped his Sworn Stalwart¡¯s gauntlets and prepared for the iing fight.

    "Kis¡¯Shtiengbrah. I thank you for finding my kin."

    Dave turned back to see Drahma standing up. He released the body and ced a hand on it. Infernal chains emerged from underground and wrapped around the body. The body burnt to ash in a second.

    "Why did you do that?" Dave was puzzled "You could have asked the king to revive him as an undead." Dave said.

    "I do not wish to see him suffer as an undead...Kis¡¯Shtiengbrah. I havee to ept my existence as an undead, but I do not wish to impose it on anyone else."

    Drahma wielded his "Paste-Maker" and said, "I am feeling angry, little undead. And I do not think I will be able to hold myself back any longer. Please step aside, I do not wish to harm you."

    The veins on Drahma¡¯s arms bulged like writhing snakes, it was a clear sign of his internal struggle for control. His body temperature rose even more, steam bursting from his body.

    Drahma stomped forward he elerated, building momentum from a jog to a sprint.

    "MOVE!" Dave shouted.

    Lone immediately moved out of the way, but Dave had to grab the stunned old man and throw him out of the giant¡¯s path.

    Drahma charged forward wrathfully, his pole spinning, promising a painful death to any that faced him.

    Dave heard the heavy stomps of the giant¡¯s feet fading away in the distance along with the mournful whines of monsters and the crack of breaking bones...

 Chapter 178 Cold cells.

    The entire dungeon shook and rattled with every stomp or strike from Drahma. Dave could hear the echoes of pain and destruction getting farther and farther away.

    "We should follow behind him," Dave said.

    Lone nodded and followed him.

    "What is that thing?" The old man asked.

    "HE is my FRIEND, and he is the reason I am helping you save your queen. A long time ago the ck Skull Order captured and tortured him for many decades. Now, it¡¯s time for some payback."

    They followed in the wake of Drahma¡¯s havoc. Corpses of cerebri and ice golems littered the ground. Frost, ice and blood had exploded all over the corridor like a gory red carpet.

    A lone cerberus that had somehow escaped Drahma¡¯s wrath attacked them.

    Ice Cerberus

    Level: 200

    Tier: Savage

    Base Damage: 5,000-6,000

    HP: 50,000

    DN: 10,000

    MA: 15,000

    Bestiary:

    Ice Cerebri are savage and dangerous hounds. They are hard to tame due to their wild nature. But once controlled they can serve as great guards.

    The three-headed hound had ck-jewelled cors around each of its three necks.

    The hound jumped at Dave jaws wide to get a taste of the draugr. Dave mmed the back of his hand on the hound¡¯s head and sent the dog sprawling to the ground.

    [-16,158]

    The hound whined in pain. It stood up and attacked again.

    "Wait! Pin it down!" the old man shouted.

    "What?"

    "Just grab it!"

    Dave dodged the dog¡¯s next lunge and pounced with arms extended, wrapping them around the startled mutt and squeezing it in an inescapable parody of an embrace.

    The cerberus whined and bit at Dave with all three heads.

    [-0]

    [-0]

    [-0]

    "What now?" Dave asked. He felt a bit ridiculous letting a three headed dog bite him repeatedly.

    Lone wasughing at the spectacle as the old man approached the cerberus-hugging draugr with his spear at the ready.

    "Keep holding it."

    The old man stabbed at the canine. Which puzzled Dave. If the the old man just wanted to kill the thing why go through all the theatrics of making Dave hold it down?

    But instead of attacking the monster the old man¡¯s spear point impacted the ck jewel on one of the cors and shattered it like ss. The old man struck twice more, breaking the remaining jewels.

    "You can let it go now, undead."

    Dave released the hound. The Cerberus scrambled to its feet, looked at the three in a puzzled expression and ran away.

    "What happened?" Lone asked.

    "The creatures of ice are not innately hostile, they are friendly most of the time."

    "Creatures of ice friendly? The yetis almost killed us!" Lone interjected.

    "You invaded their territory, what did you expect? But I was talking about the ice cerebri and the ice golems. They were forcefully made this way." The man picked up a piece of broken gemstone from the ground.

    "The ck Skull Order uses evil magic to control these poor beasts. Even the golems¡¯ cores were corrupted. Now all that¡¯s left are mindless beasts. If I can I try to free them instead of killing them," the old man said in a sad voice.

    "Let¡¯s get moving, we don¡¯t want Drahma getting too far ahead of us. If there are more creatures that he didn¡¯t kill we will have to fight them on our own."

    As the group traveled deeper into the hallways they encountered an ice golem.

    "Don¡¯t tell me you want me to grab this one too?" Dave said cynically.

    "No, we have to kill it. The corruption in the core is too advanced."

    The old man moved toward the ice golem and dodged a hand m. He ran up the golem¡¯s arm and stabbed its neck twice.

    The old man vaulted off the golem, performed a summersault andnded on his feet as the golem crumbled.

    "Full points!" Lone pped for the old man¡¯s performance, Dave shook his head.

    They walked for half an hour and Dave¡¯s mood sank with every stride. The cells in the corridors had many many varying bodies, mammoths, ents, stone golems and many other creatures.

    "You said there are six levels like this?" asked Dave

    "I believe so, but this is just the prison area. I read in some records that the lower areas wereboratories. We should be near the guardian of this level. It¡¯s a powerful creature, it almost killed me thest time I reached it.

    On the other side of the corridor, a huge door was sted open. Beyond the gate was a cavern hollowed out of the ice.

    The remains of the door, chunks and splinters of wood, were scattered around the entrance. When they passed through and into the cavern they saw the corpse of arge monster, It looked like a sabertooth tiger, but this feline had metal armor tes instead of fur. Several of the natural armor pieces were bent or broken off and blood oozed from the wounds underneath.

    "What a monster..." the old man said.

    Dave didn¡¯t know if he was talking about Drahma or the sabretooth.

    On the opposite side of the room was another door, also shattered.

    Lone moved closer to the corpse and touched it.

    "A. No loot on this one, Davey."

    "We didn¡¯t help kill it, so only Drahma can pick up the loot. Unless it¡¯s rted to your quest...?"

    "No, it¡¯s not. Let¡¯s catch up to Drahma, we can help him and get some loot.".

    The old man approached the dead sabretooth and sighed. He squatted holding the ice-mentern over the body, he opened thentern and poured the ice-fire onto it. The blue me spread over the body of the sabretooth like a hungry viscous liquid, consuming it rapidly. In seconds all that was left of the feline was a pile of glowing blue cinders.

    The old man held the the emptyntern close to the ice-mes and they jumped back into thentern. He stood up and led the way to the next area.

    Behind the broken door was a stairway. Glowing stones were embedded on the walls, lighting the stairwell. Some of the steps were crushed, by what looked like Drahma-size footprint shapes.

    The stairs ended at the entrance to arge cavern lined with freight container-sized blocks of ice. Frozen within each ice block was a humanoid monster.

    "Another prison..." Dave mumbled.

    "Yes...but these monsters are still alive."

    Dave approached one of the icy prisons. It held a white furred frost-troll with a ming red mane and a big, equally-red nose. The troll¡¯s muscles bulged with vitality and power.

    But what really creeped Dave out was when the troll¡¯s eyes moved.

 Chapter 179 THIS IS TROLL TOWN!!!

    Dave inspected the monster.

    Ice Troll

    Level: 250

    HP: 300,000

    Tier: Epic

    Damage: 15,000-30,000

    DN: 5,000

    MA: 2,000

    Skills:

    [Ice Domain] turns the area around the troll into an ice domain, benefiting from increased attack speed, regeneration and a 50% increase in defensive values. Lasting for 30 seconds. Ice Domain bes a passive Skill when the troll is in a frozen environment.

    [Ice Pirs] summons pirs of ice from underground doing 20,000 Damage. The ice pirs are sturdy and hard to destroy.

    [Subjugate] steals 10% of a target¡¯s current, HP, MA, DN over 10 seconds and increases the troll¡¯s size proportionally. For every 1% HP loss. While Subjugate is active the troll¡¯s attack speed increases by 1%.

    Bestiary:

    The troll race is known to have a staggeringly powerful vitality. They can survive the cruelest environments and live in the most dangerous areas of the world.

    "Those are some badass skills."

    Just as Dave finished his words, he could hear the troll whining again from within the ice.

    "Should we release him?" Dave asked the old man.

    "Eh, I would rather not."

    "Are they hostile?" Dave stepped back.

    "Not hostile exactly," the old man mumbled, "More like...annoying."

    "If it isn¡¯t hostile we can¡¯t leave it like that. Look at the poor thing. It¡¯s SO FLUFFY!"

    Dave looked at Lone for a second then rolled his eyes.

    "Do what you want, I wash my hands of it. Just remember, if you release the troll you will be responsible for it." The old man grunted.

    "Alright, what¡¯s the worst that can happen? If the troll turns hostile I will just convert it to a nice chunk of EXP, I only need a little more to reach level 290."

    Dave pressed his hands against the ice wall. His Sworn Stalwart¡¯s gauntlets were inherently fiery hot. The moment the gauntlets touched the wall, steam burst away from them and cracks spread across the ice. The ice melted slowly, but Dave didn¡¯t want to strike the ice, afraid he might hurt the troll and turn it hostile. He activated [Aura] and a surge of fire erupted, increasing rate of the melt. Ice continued to turn to steam and water, billowing out and pouring across the floor.

    Just as the ice melted away from the troll¡¯s face Dave disabled [Aura], not wanting to to singe him. The troll smiled as its face was released and started shaking its body. Ice cracked faster and fell away in shards, releasing the troll from the prison. The ice troll leapt out from the ice block and began jumping around and dancing. Howling and screaming with joy.

    "He looks happy." Dave stepped back a little, not knowing if the troll was going to turn hostile or not but prepared either way.

    The troll looked around, searching for something. it ran toward another nearby ice block and rammed into it. The troll was thrown back, but the block of ice had a big crack in it.

    "What is it doing?" Lone asked.

    "It¡¯s going to release another troll. Look, the whole area is all troll ice-cubes ."

    The ice troll shook his head and dizzily stood up. The damage from the impact was nothing to a troll, it recovered almost immediately. The troll stomped its foot and an icicle rose from the cavern floor. He lunged at the stgmite of ice, shattering it at the base where it came out of the ground. Then the troll hefted it like a giant club. The creatureughed jubntly and started whacking away at his target.

    It took the troll less time than Dave¡¯ to release another troll. When the two trolls were released, they started doing a tribal dance and howling. The second troll repeated the first¡¯s trick with the ice pir and went to work on another ice-block.

    "They are your problem." The old man was clearly in a sour mood.

    "Why? These guys look like they¡¯re having fun. You DO know what fun is, don¡¯t you old man?" Dave smirked at the Eskimo guy.

    "Stop calling me old man. I am only 330 years old! My name is Jura!"

    Dave didn¡¯t know if the man was joking or serious.

    "Okay. Jura it is. Why is it you don¡¯t like these funny guys?"

    "You¡¯ll find out soon enough." The old man grumbled.

    A few momentster, eight trolls came back toward the three adventurers. the red maned troll approached Dave, towering over him. He looked at his friends and pointed at Dave. It spouted some iprehensible words and started howling.

    All the trolls followed the red maned troll¡¯s lead and howled, then rushed at Dave, their stomping steps shaking the ground. Dave tried to step away from the iing stampede but wasn¡¯t fast enough. The trolls surrounded Dave and grabbed him, they started throwing him up and then catching him repeatedly like some sort of folk hero or champion.

    Dave was surprised at first, then startedughing.

    "HA! You look like you are having fun!" Lone said.

    One of the trolls heard her, he turned, grabbed Lone and threw her into the circle with Dave to enjoy the fun.

    When the troll made to grab Jura too, he made a hasty retreat, causing the troll tilt its head in confusion.

    The troll smiled and stomped the ground. An ice pir rose behind Jura. Jura tried to escape but the troll stomped again. Another pir blocked his path. The trollughed heartily and stomped some more, imprisoning Jura in an ice cage, then it grabbed the hapless eskimo and threw him into the ring of ¡¯party¡¯ trolls.

    "God damn it!" Jura cursed as the trolls threw the three up and down celebrating their release.

    The first troll howled and pointed toward the door on the other side of the cavern. All the trolls joined in the howling, then they all started running toward the exit while continuing to throw the three up and down.

    "HA! This is fun!" Daveughed.

    "HIGHER!" Lone shouted.

    "Damn trolls!" Jura grumbled and cursed.

 Chapter 180 A tale of Ice-Trolls and...bridges.

    The group of trolls led the way to the end of the long cavern. There weren¡¯t any more trolls imprisoned in the cavern. Most of the blocks of ice were empty. But there was frozen blood inside the ice.

    The trolls stopped and put the three adventurers down. They approached the frozen blood and sniffed. The red-maned troll howled mournfully and the others joined him, then they drummed their chests in a disy of rage. The trolls huddled together, grunting and barking in conference, then they rushed ahead.

    "Why are the fluffies leaving us behind?" Lone sounded crestfallen.

    "That blood must be from a troll. A troll tinkle has a strong kinship and camaraderie bond. Judging from their behaviour and this amount of blood here, the cell upant must have died, now they went to investigate the cause of death," Jura noted impassively.

    "Troll tinkle? That¡¯s so cute! But I thought groups of trolls were called mes..."

    "I don¡¯t know about regr trolls, groups of ice trolls are deservedly called a ¡¯tinkle¡¯ for several reasons, at least around these parts."

    The three ran after the trolls. Surprised by how fast the trolls moved, the three were forced to pick up their pace to catch up.

    The cavern extended a long way and ended in a dropoff at a wide chasm.

    "Careful, slow down," Dave said.

    They stopped at the edge of the chasm, at the foot of a bridge made of ice which spanned the gap between the two sides of the dungeon. But the bridge was broken, arge section in the middle missing. Across from them where the bridge met the other wall of the chasm was a steel door.

    The ice trolls were clustered at the edge of the the broken bridge grumbling and hooting in dismay. Dave heard a loud howl. Looking over the edge of the chasm he saw Drahma climbing up the far side of the chasm.

    "What is Drahma doing down there?" Lone Asked.

    "He must have been too heavy for the ice bridge, broke through it and fell. But seriously, how the heck did he survive that fall?" Dave said.

    Drahma climbed the steep icy cliff of the dungeon by punching holes in the wall as handholds and using them to pull himself up. He punched his way up until he reached the bridge, then grabbed onto the ice bridge with a single hand and swung himself up onto it. The ice underneath him started cracking as he made his way to the steel door.

    Drahma punched the door twice, with no result. He brought out ¡¯Paste-Maker¡¯ and swung it like a battering ram. It took him three powerful swings to burst through the door. Drahma looked at the opening, seeing the steel doorway was not going to amodate his present dimensions he decreased his size again. Drahma was a tenth of his original size now, but that didn¡¯t mean his strength had decreased one bit.

    As he proceeded through the doorway an ice serpent erupted from the ice under his feet andunched itself at Drahma. It coiled around him from knee to neck, trapping his arms against his sides. But Drahma simply lifted his arms apart, breaking the snake¡¯s hold and dashing it against the floor. He whirled Paste-Maker and brought it down, shattering the snake¡¯s head. He roared again and rushed forward beyond their sight. Roars and howls echoed back to them, blending with whining and the sound of bones breaking. Drahma was dispensing more monster ass-kickings.

    "Now what? How are we going to cross?" Lone asked.

    Dave looked up there at the other hanging bridges and said, "There should probably be another way. The old man said there were other corridors we could have taken, We should probably go back."

    "How are we getting across that. Jump it?" Lone asked sarcastically.

    "I don¡¯t think so. Not me at least, my [Immortal Apparition] and [Death¡¯s Descent] won¡¯t reach that far." Dave replied, unwittingly ying straight man to her.

    Lone giggled and shook her head.

    The red-maned troll scratched his head for a moment, then started howling to his pals.

    "What are they doing?"

    One of the trolls approached Dave and pointed at his ice club, then pointed at the draugr. Dave didn¡¯t understand what the troll meant and just shook his head at the troll.

    Dave could have sworn the troll gave him an eye roll before hefting his ice club and heaving it across the gap to the other side of the bridge. The troll smiled then pointed at Dave and then back to the other side of the bridge.

    "No! Hell no! No one is throwing this draugr across the chasm!" Dave said as he backed away.

    But the troll didn¡¯t mind Dave¡¯s protests and grabbed him.

    One protracted girlish screamter Davended on the other side of the bridge...face first.

    [-1,000]

    "God damn it!" Dave cursed as he stood up and brushed himself off. He looked over the distance he¡¯d crossed, amazed at the uracy and strength of the troll.

    "Me too! Me too!" Lone demanded, jumping up and down, squealing like a preschooler.

    The troll happily picked her up and threw her like a foot-ball. Lone spread her arms like wings as she flew across the broken bridge,ughing giddily the entire time.

    Dave cursed when he saw theughing elf-shaped projectile arc toward him. He opened his arms to catch Lone as she crashed into him and they rolled back across the icy bridge floor, finally ending up sprawled on top of each other against the gate.

    "That was fun!" Lone yelled, bouncing up and down on the draugr¡¯s chest.

    "Not for ME! Get OFF!" he groaned, pushing the archer off of himself.

    Lone pouted at him and rolled to her feet.

    Next, the trolls tried to grab Jura to throw him too. But, forewarned by the first two human catapultunches, he nimbly dodged the many grasping paws. Running to the broken edge of the bridge he quickly tied a rope to his spear then threw it like a javelin. The spear arced across the gap and embedded itself deep in the ice above the gate. Jura pulled on the rope, making sure it was secure then swung across. He pulled himself up the rope onto the remains of the bridge then retrieved his spear from the ice, looking back at the trolls with a derisive smile.

    "What about the trolls? Are they going to throw each other across and make it rain? Like troll meteor-showers?"

    "Aww hell no. No troll-cannonballs!" Dave said. He moved back, unwilling to risk being hit by flying trolls.

    One of the trolls grabbed another and lifted him then gave up and put him back down, realizing his friend was too heavy to throw. The red maned troll started howling at the other trolls, he stomped a foot down onto the thick ice that made up the bridge. A pir of ice rapidly grew out horizontally, crossing the gap between the broken edges of the bridge.

    Inspired, the other trolls all started stomping their feet, causing their own ice growths. Eventually the two sides of the chasm were joined, the ice spanning the space between wasn¡¯t pretty. It was not a smooth finished surface by any means, but it was functional. As soon as it was finished the trolls capered across, hooting happily..

    "Why couldn¡¯t they have done that in the first ce?" Dave asked miserably, thinking of his bruised ego and the injuries he¡¯d suffered.

    "They¡¯re trolls, what did you expect? That¡¯s why I didn¡¯t want anything to do with them. I tried to warn you," Jura snickered.

    Dave sighed loudly, "Let¡¯s just keep moving."

    The hooting and howling trolls overtook them and rushed past, beating their clubs on the floor and walls, making even more of a ruckus.

    "What a noisy bunch," Jura¡¯s expression soured even further as he watched the trolls move past.

    The area beyond the gate was another room made of ice, cylindrical tanks lined the walls. There was a green liquid puddled all over the floor, apparently spilled from the ss tanks when they were shattered. Probably by a certain angry giant. In a corner of the room one of the containers was intact. Floating in the green liquid inside it was the body of a chimeric creature. It was a small lizard with the head of a snake, spider legs and a scorpion tail.

    The next room was a repeat of the first. They travelled through a series of identical rooms. Sometimes the ¡¯decorating¡¯ theme was different, instead of ss tanks a b-table with drains leading to a hole in the floor and all around it were bloody chains, rusty saws and iron spikes hanging from the ice .

    "Creeeepy! What the hell is this ce?" Lone was disgusted.

    "You see this type of thing horror movies all the time. It¡¯s very clich¨¦dboratory-of-evil stuff," Dave said.

    He approached one of the intact containers and the creature inside suddennly jerked and smacked against the container wall, making him shriek and jump away. stered against the container wall, the creature shook in a seizure then stopped moving.

    Lone was bent over,ughing uncontrobly.

    "Clich¨¦ for sure! That thing just jump scared you like a face-hugger, you big baby!"

    "Whatever! I wasn¡¯t expecting anything to still be alive, that¡¯s all..." he said defensively as he tried to inspect the creature, "Hey, the ¡¯thing¡¯ just died." .

    "How?" Lone joined him. She inspected the creature but nothing came up.

    "It was probably put there just to scare yers and I fell for it. Those damn devs. Let¡¯s keep moving," Dave said.

    Juragged behind the two yers, looking at the ¡¯tools¡¯ and instrument hanging on the walls. But they heard him talking softly to himself.

    "Mydy, I hope no harm has befallen you. I, your faithful Jura, aming to save you."

    "That¡¯s sad. Let¡¯s hurry up," Lone whispered to Dave

    "Okay."

    They moved faster passing through more rooms with containers holding more of the strange chimeric creatures. Some rooms were littered with the bodies of recently killed chimeras. Probably Drahma or the troll¡¯s doing. The chimeras grew incrementallyrger from room to room as they progressed.

    They stopped at a broken steel gate that led to yet another room, but this one had had metal flooring. There was only one container, a broken one, in the center of the room. But it was several timesrger than the containers in the previous rooms. A smashed-in door was on the opposite side of the adventurers. Drahma was nowhere to be seen.

    Loud howls and screams echoed from within the room. The cause of themotion shuffled into view from behind the enormous tank. It was the trolls, they were in deadlybat against an elephant sized chimera.

    "Why is this mini-boss alive if Drahma went through the room?" Lone wondered.

    The old man brought his spear around and twisted the shaft, the spearhead sprang open into its trident form.

    "Maybe this monster was inactive, sleeping in its tank and your giant friend just ignored it. Or more likely the creature was too afraid to fight the giant," Jura said. He pointed at the floor, the metal was bent in the shape of footprints. "Obviously he¡¯s been through here, so we are still on the right track."

    Dave inspected the giant chimera.

    Monstrosity [Experiment number: 5547]

    Level: 280

    HP: 235,111/ 400,000

    Tier: Epic

    Damage: 25,000-35,000

    DN: 12,000

    MA: 13,000

    [Poison Strike] The Monstrosity strikes with its tail applying poisoned state for 30 seconds and dealing 100% base damage. The Poisoned status can stack up to five times resetting the timer with every stack. Each stack of poison deals 5,000 damage over 30 seconds.

    [Bone Crush] The monstrosity coils around a target dealing 200% base damage and applying one of two debuff effects, [Disarmed] or [Crippled]

    [Spider Web] The Monstrosity uses spider webs, rooting a target for ten seconds.

    "It looks like the trolls are having fun," Lone said.

    Several trolls were poisoned, froth forming at their mouths. Others were trapped in webbing, struggling to get out. But the remaining trolls were beating the chimera to a pulp. Their ice-clubs smashed into the creature with debilitating force. The chimera hissed in pain every time a troll struck.

    "We should give them a hand," Dave said, activating [Stampede].

 Chapter 181 Plants vs Zomb----Draugr!

    Chapter 78

    Dave crashed into the chimera, stunning it for two seconds.

    [-16,000]

    He lit off his [Aura] Skill and started pummeling the stunned chimera.

    As soon as the Stun ended the chimera swiped with its tail. Dave sidestepped the attack, and used [Infernal Tornado].

    [-12,555]

    [-10,555]

    [-8,555]

    Lone joined the fight with a [Piercing Arrow] aimed at the chimera¡¯s snake head. It prated through one eye, causing a [Blind] effect.

    The tinkle of trolls kept beating the monster with their clubs and used their [Ice Pir] Skill to shoot frozen spikes up from the ground, piercing through the belly of the creature.

    Despite all the attacks from the others, [Infernal Tornado] easily made Dave the chimeras top threat priority, forcing it to focus its attacks on him.

    Dave dodged an iing neck grab with [Immortal Apparition]. When hended, the Fear effect caused the chimera to hiss and back away in terror. Dave stomped down to cast [Death Surge] and ck energy shot out from under his foot towards the chimera, staggering it and dealing massive amounts of damage.

    Lone hit the monster with a [Binding Arrow], rooting the chimera in ce. While the chimera was stunned and helpless Dave attacked with [Sword Lunge]. A de of radiant energy flickered out and pierced through the chimera¡¯s body, further decreasing its HP.

    The chimera¡¯s was HP quickly reaching critically low levels. It tried to retaliate by lunging at Dave, but he sidestepped and struck at it with [Decimating Smash]. The tinkle of trolls surrounded the snake and attacked it, quickly bringing it the end of its HP.

    Level up!

    Dave had only needed a bit of EXP to hit level 290, the death of the chimera was enough to push him over.

    After the victory, the trolls rejoiced, doing one of their tribal dancesplete with hoots, hollers and howls.

    Your Gauntlets of the Stalwart had Leveled Up.

    A new ability is unlocked.

    "Nice!" Dave inspected the new ability of the gauntlet.

    Rising Dragon.

    The next melee attack after activating the skill is a rising uppercut that sends enemies into the air.

    Deals 200% base Damage in fire element.

    Rising Dragon has a 30% chance to immediately cause Overheating.

    "Excellent skill!"

    Dave removed the notification from his screen and went over to the body to loot it.

    1 XLab Key.

    10 X Gold.

    1 X [Poison potion]

    "What is up with these drops?" Dave was disgruntled.

    "What did you get?" Lone asked.

    "See for yourself," Dave showed her the loot.

    "That¡¯s normal. This isn¡¯t the Underworld, y¡¯know. The chimera wasn¡¯t a high-level monster."

    He picked up the key and inspected it

    A steel key that opens the Lab¡¯s gate.

    "Well, I guess we don¡¯t need this, Drahma already opened the door for us," Dave said as he looked at the shattered door of theboratory.

    "We should get going," Dave said, looking at the still celebrating trolls.

    "What the poor trolls that were poisoned," Lone said, looking at two trolls still lying unconscious on the ground.

    Before anyone could answer, the red-maned troll knuckle-walked over to the two unconscious members of his tinkle and smacked them both on the head with his club. Lone gasped at the callous behavior, but surprisingly the two trolls stirred and sat up as if they had been napping. They just grinned and rubbed their heads, pointing at each other andughing like insane hyenas.

    Soon the trolls were huddled together again, hooting and howling raucously. After what seemed to be a short but tumultuous conference they charged through the gate in their usual chaotic non-formation and disappeared from view.

    Beyond the gate was a spiral stone stair withrge foot shaped indentations in the middle of each step. Drahma had taken the stairs down to the next level.

    They followed in the giant¡¯s footsteps, literally, circling down the spiral stairs. The stairway ended in a room literally covered in green, thorn covered vines. The tangled and intertwined ntspletely concealed the walls, the floor, and even the ceiling.

    The vines ended in thorn lined m-shapes with pink interiors. They looked just like venus fly traps, the carnivorous nts that eat house flies and other small insects, but these were big enough to chomp down on dogs or cats.

    "Let¡¯s be careful from here on. I can¡¯t see the trolls anymore, they must be up ahead, but I have a feeling that these nts will suddenly jump on us if we are not careful," Dave said.

    Jura twisted the shaft of his trident changing it to its spear form, with the spear on fire.

    "Those are Ice Consuming nts, fire is the best way to kill them, but if you don¡¯t step on their trigger-roots, they won¡¯t attack." Jura moved slowly and carefully not touching specific parts of the nts. Lone and Dave followed behind Jura¡¯s every step.

    The three soon heard the sounds of battle. The trolls were engaged in battle against the nts. Some of the trolls were wrapped up in the vines like mummies and the rest were trying to free them, swinging at the vines with their clubs or trying to bite through them. The trolls were not really making any progress, the nts consumed the Ice Pirs they cast, just growing tougher.

    "Let¡¯s help them out," Lone said in a worried tone.

    Dave moved to the closest troll and grabbed one of the growing veins. His gauntlets immediately set the nt on fire, wilting it rapidly. The nts, sensing danger, converged on Dave, slithering and writhing toward him like snakes. A dozen carnivorous nt opened their mouth wide, fluids and fang-thorns all trying to snap at Dave and rip him to shreds.

    Dave activated [Aura] and the nts recoiled from the burning effects of the Skill, hissing and retreating rapidly to the grooves and cracks they grew from.

    "That was easy," Dave said, disabling [Aura].

    Just as he finished speaking, the ground trembled then cracked wide open and a green vine the size of a tree pushed up from underneath. It had a wide round mouth like a leech, filled with circles of sharp teeth.

    The nt oozed fluid all over. It looked at Dave, the ¡¯torch¡¯ that had caused it pain, with hostility.

    Some of the giant nt¡¯s limbs were charred, they were the vines that Dave had burnt with his [Aura] Skill.

    Ice-Borne nt

    Level: 280

    Damage 15,000-20,000

    Rank: Epic

    HP:250,000

    MA:1,000

    DN:15,000

    Skills:

    [Toxic Smoke] Spits a toxic gas cloud that does poison damage over time,sts for 20 seconds doing 2,000 Poison Damage per second.

    [Meat Grinder] Engulfs a prey in its maw and chews with all its might, dealing full base damage and 200% of the base damage as Bleeding damage over 10 seconds.

    [Earthly Embrace] coils around a target dealing 200% of base damage until they are suffocated. Suffocated targets remain dazed for 10 seconds.

    Bestiary:

    The Ice Borne nts are mutated nts that were gically modified to consume ice to make themselves stronger. They are extremely resilient against all water and earth rted attacks, but as they are still nts, they are inherently weak against fire

    "Alright, another easy bag of EXP! YOU! Trolls! Back away! The poison will get you!" Dave said as he dashed toward the nt while activating [Aura].

    Dave initiated his attack with a ssic [Stampede], [Twin Strike], [Immortal apparition] and [Death Surge] thisbo took a quarter of the monster¡¯s HP.

    "Nicebo!" Lone yelled as she shot an arrow at the worm.

    Dave dodged the nt¡¯s lunge and retaliated with his new skill [Rising Dragon].

    The draugr avatar bent at the knees, his right arm chambered under his ribs and then cannoned up into the nt¡¯s lower jaw with a spiral of fire apanying in the shape of an eastern dragon.

    Monster too massive to be sent airborne!

    Dave¡¯s avatar came down and he saw the monster squirming in pain, its face on fire.

    Dave ignored the notification and threw two punches.

    The trolls joined the fight and attacked with their clubs. But instead of Damage, the worm started healing up. Dave noticed that whenever the troll¡¯s club met the nt, it would absorb some of it.

    "Trolls, stop attacking!" Dave ordered. Surprisingly the trollsplied and backed away. "Lone, hit it with fire!"

    "Alright!"

    Lone used [Bombarda]. Nocking a fiery arrow to her bow, she shot at the nt. The arrow prated through the monster¡¯s open gullet and exploded inside. Though no damage registered, the arrow still Staggered the nt.

    Dave used [Infernal Tornado] , every fist ruptured a part of the nt, causing fire to seep into it.

    You sessfully applied Overheating.

    The nt caught fire and started losing 500 HP per second. The nt spat out a purple gas cloud toward Dave. Lone was too close to the AOE spell.

    "Poison! Live-meat back away!" Dave said.

    The nt lunged at Dave again, but this time he didn¡¯t react quickly enough and was eaten whole. The nttched its fangs into Dave¡¯s avatar with a bone-crunching sound.

    As a member of an undead race that does not bleed

    Bleed effect failed to apply.

    "Bastard nt, I¡¯ll show you why you should never eat a draugr!" Dave cursed from inside the nt and selected [Dragon Ball].

    Dave¡¯s torso was caught in the rows of fang, but his hands were free to make the Ninja Hand seals used to activate the Skill. Conjured mes appeared and gathered, adding to Dave¡¯s [Aura]. A fireball the size of a wrecking ball coalesced inside the stomach of the nt.

    The nt bloated up like a balloon and ejected Dave along with a st of me, sending the draugr rolling across the floor.

    [-180,778]

    Dave was lying spreadeagled on the floor. When he raised his head to look, the nt was wilting and dying. Dave didn¡¯t expect the damage value to be so high.

    "What was that?!" Lone was surprised too.

    "Probably a critical hit," Dave answered as he got up.

    All over the room the vines started wilting and for the first time the the entirety of the hall they were in was revealed.

    "Look," Lone pointed.

    Life sized ice sculptures lined the walls of the room. The figures depicted armored warriors wielding swords,nces and ives.

    "Those statues look very life-like," Dave said. He tried to inspect one. The inspection failed.

    Jura moved closer. "These are ice warriors who served the queen with loyalty until the ck Skull Order captured them and tried to enve them. To protect them the queen blessed them, transforming them into Eternal Ice. Only her majesty, the queen, can undo this enchantment."

    Dave nodded as he went over to loot the nt.

    "We still have a lot of levels to fight through before we get to this queen of yours. We better hurry up, Drahma is far ahead of us by now."

 Chapter 182 Frost Letting Serpent.

    Alchemy Recipe Anti Frost [Rare]

    Crafting material: 20 Poisonous bulbs.

    20 GOLD

    "Is this worth anything?" he asked, handing Lone the recipe.

    "Not really. You can get them at auction for cheap."

    The trolls were still recuperating from the poison effects and regenerating their HP. Dave didn¡¯t want to be get too far behind Drahma so they went ahead.

    The three walked past the rows of frozen soldiers and down a long hallway. In the room at the end of the corridor was a round pit. There was a rusty lever set in the stone floor at the edge of the pit.

    Dave walked over to the lever and pulled it. Loud nking and the sounds of winding chains came from the dark hole. The sounds grew louder until a wooden tform rose into sight.

    Complex runic symbols ran around the edge of the tform. At the center a square tile rose a few inches above the rest of the tform.

    "Huh, an elevator. The lever there is to pull it up, and the square tile is to bring it down. I saw one before in another dungeon." Lone said.

    Dave moved onto the circr tform and pushed down on the tile with his foot. It clicked and the tform shook and started sinking. Lone and Jura hurriedly jumped on and the elevator¡¯s descent into the darkness elerated. The elevator shaft became pitch dark.

    Dave looked around, "Whoa, scary!"

    "The height bothering you again?" Lone teased.

    "No, the walls- ah I forgot you can¡¯t see in the dark."

    Jura lit his Ice-mentern and Lone saw what Dave was talking about. Hundreds of frozen corpses of monsters and humans were fused together to make the walls of the elevator shaft. It looked like the passage to a frozen hell. The elevator descended for several minutes before slowing. When it finally stopped, a doorway opened and blinding light shone into the elevator shaft.

    Dave walked away from the tform to see what was beyond the door.

    Behind the door was arge room that was easily the size of a football stadium. The room had innumerable fist sized holes randomly scattered across the floor. They periodically released white steam. Drahma¡¯s roar echoed through the room followed by the sound of metal scraping across the ground.

    "Let¡¯s hurry," Dave said.

    When Lone and Jura left the tform and into the room, the tform shuddered and the sound of chains and nking started again, the tform started going back up. They exited and the door slowly closed behind them.

    "The trolls probably pulled the lever. Never mind, Drahma¡¯s fighting something here," Dave said.

    The three walked through the room, in the distance, a vast cloud churned covering the ground and all the way to the ceiling. Echoes sounded from the mist. Earth quaking impacts shook the room, it sounded like two titans brawling.

    "Damn!" Jura cursed.

    Dave turned to see one of Jura¡¯s legs encased in ice.

    "How did that happen, old man?!" Dave asked as he approached Jura.

    "The holes, that isn¡¯t fog or vapor. It¡¯s magic imbued Cryo-Mist. Don¡¯t let it touch you, it will freeze any part of you instantly."

    The old man grabbed hisntern and poured the Ice-me on his foot.

    "Jura! You you¡¯re going to burn your leg!" Dave remembered Jura using Ice-me to burn the sabertooth corpse to ash.

    "Don¡¯t worry, the me is sentient. It will not harm me. Look," the old man said.

    The me from thentern spread across his leg, a viscous fiery liquid that consumed the frost and ice.

    "Ah, good as new," Jura said with a rueful smile. "Be wary of those holes, you don¡¯t want to get frostbite."

    Lone looked toward the sounds of conflict, "Frostbite causes t Damage, If the cloud does that kind of damage, then Drahma could be in a terrible condition."

    Lone used [Bombarda], the fiery arrow shot toward the cloud and detonated, dispersing a good portion of the cloud. The explosion revealed Drahma, he was fighting a Jade Horned-Serpent variant. But this version gave Dave the creeps. The serpent was asrge as a train, two crystal horns grew from its head. It wasn¡¯t made of flesh, but the same substance as in the cloud. The only corporeal part of its physic was its crystalline skeleton.

    Drahma was fighting the snake but was clearly losing. There were patches of frost all over him. ¡¯Paste Maker¡¯ was encased in a block of ice, frozen solid to his hands and making it difficult to wield properly. Blood poured from his torn body, andrge parts of him were covered in frozen, crystalized blood. This dungeon shouldn¡¯t have monsters strong enough to challenge Drahma. But the t damage from the cold was powerful enough that it ignored the level difference. If Drahma didn¡¯t get rid of the snake fast he would be turned into an ice sculpture.

    "If this keeps up for much longer, your friend will die," the old man said solemnly, "That is a Frost Letting Snake. The frost from those horns is cold enough to freeze troll blood. Thankfully it hasn¡¯t grown a third horn yet. If it had it would be a True-Ice horn. The same substance needed to release the queen."

    Dave frowned. "True ice? Could the ck Skull Order be raising this thing like a pet to harvest the third horn from it?"

    "Yes. I¡¯ve searched for a Frost Letting Serpent, to get the third horn, for centuries. But the ck Order had one all along."

    Dave moved toward the cloud of mist and activated [Aura].

    "Dave, what are you doing?"

    "I¡¯m going to help Drahma. [Aura] should take care of the frost that¡¯s on him."

    A surge of fire erupted outward from Dave¡¯s avatar. The fire reached into the holes and on contact with the gas exploded, fire burst up from holes all around him.

    The snake smashed its tail into Drahma¡¯s chest sending him sprawling across the ground, digging a long trench. .

    Dave ran in close to the downed giant, "Are you alright, buddy?"

    Drahma¡¯s wrathful and bloodshot eyes turned to him and Dave froze. Then the madness receded and the giant¡¯s eyes cleared.

    Drahma coughed and said, "I am alright." The giant grit his teeth, he pulled himself up with his "Past-Maker" it was awkward as it was encased in ice. He faced the approaching serpent again, pain clearly etched into his expression.

    "Let me help you with that," Dave said and jumped up toward Drahma. He grasped Paste Maker with his gauntlets. The ice melted away rapidly, the giant regained his full ability to wield the massive weapon.

    Dave climbed up to Drahma¡¯s shoulder, "We fight together, friend! I will use my [Aura] to remove the snake¡¯s frost, and you kick its ass. Ok?"

    "Good, fighting with friends is much better than fighting alone!"

    Frost Letting Serpent

    Level: 300

    HP: 153,000

    Tier: Epic

    MA: 35,000

    DN 25:000

    Skills:

    [Frost Aura] passively releases freezing bursts that Slows enemies. It reduces stamina regeneration and does 1000 t Damage per second.

    [Serpent Breath] Shoots out a cone of icy breath, freezing enemies and doing 10% of their current HP in t damage.

    [Adapt] transform its body to an ethereal form to gain immunity of all physical damage or transforms into a dense solid to gain a 200% increase in base defensive values.

    Bestiary:

    The Frost Letting Serpent is a snake that grows in the coldest regions of the world. It is the form of itsst evolution before bing a true dragon.

    ¡¯That¡¯s one nasty snake.¡¯

    "Alright Drahma, I have a powerful fire Skill. If you can get us close to it I can make an opening for you to deal some serious damage to it."

    "Good! Hold on tightly young draugr!" Drahma burst forward like a bulldozer.

    Drahma barrelled into the serpent, sending them both rolling across the ground.

    "Grab its neck!" Dave yelled.

    Drahma released his weapon and squeezed both hands around the serpent¡¯s lower jaw. Drahma¡¯s hands turned to ice, pain clearly showing on his face. The snake hissed and opened its mouth. It was preparing to use a Skill. Dave jumped from Drahma¡¯s shoulder and grabbed onto the snake¡¯s lower jaw.

    The snake used [Serpents¡¯ Breath], a wave of arctic wind burst out, threatening to freeze everything to a sculpture. Dave pulled his upper body up so he was facing the snake¡¯s open jaws. He opened his mouth inhumanly wide and [Ray of mes] burst its concentrated fire down the snake¡¯s gullet.

 Chapter 183 Lines in the snow...

    The mingling of frost and fire created an explosion strong enough to shake the entire stadium sized cave. It blew all threebatants in different directions.

    [-152,447]

    The enormous damage value appeared above Dave¡¯s avatar, half of his body was frozen in ice. Drahma had taken damage as well. But the serpent was wailing and coiling in pain. Half of its gaseous body had been dissipated by the explosion and its skull was charred ck.

    Dave stood and seeing Drahma¡¯s ¡¯Paste-Maker¡¯ lying nearby, he picked the heavy pole up. Drahma was just getting to his feet so Dave shouted "Drahma, catch!" He used all his strength to heave the pole like a spear. Drahma grabbed the pole out of the air with one hand, whirled it and then brought it down, aiming at the snakes head. As the pole descended it grewrger and presumably heavier. The pole crushed through the snake¡¯s skull and into the ground underneath, cratering the hard packed ground. The snake¡¯s body turned to a pile of snow and ice, wisps of vapor wafting away from it.

    Level UP!

    He¡¯d reached level 292!

    He ignored the loot and joined his friend, "Drahma, are you alright?"

    "Yes, the cold...it calmed me, I was not thinking straight, Kis¡¯Shtiengbrah. Where is this ce?"

    "It¡¯s the Frozen Abyss dungeon. The old man with us said that this is where the Ice Queen was imprisoned. The ck Skull Order ¡¯s doing. We am here to rescue her."

    "The Ice Queen? She entrapped Du¡¯Rhaza. Why are you helping her?" Drahma asked.

    "My elf friend, you remember her?" Dave looked over to where Lone and Jura stood.

    "Yes, thedy of the elves. It is good to see you again. So, the reason you help the Ice Queen is for your friend. I understand this, just remember where your duty and loyalty lie." Drahma said. He didn¡¯t want to see an undead influenced by the sovereign of another race, especially an enemy of the legion.

    "Don¡¯t worry, we have the same goal. The ck Skull Order had been using this dungeon as a base. We should find some of them here and if we don¡¯t the Ice Queen will likely know something about them."

    "Excuse me, Giant," Jura joined their discussion, "You said my Queen imprisoned one of the undead. But my queen never never had any dealings with the undead."

    "The lich Du¡¯Rhaza imed the Ice Queen imprisoned him," Drahma said.

    "When did that happen?" Jura said.

    "About twenty years ago."

    "That doesn¡¯t make sense, the queen was captured by the ck Skull Order more than two centuries ago," Jura said.

    Dave frowned. If she was a prisoner at the time, then who captured Du¡¯Rhaza?

    "Could the ck Skull Order have been controlling her?"

    "No, They¡¯ve never had control of her. When she fell into their hands she used powerful magic to put herself in a never-melting ice tomb, denying the Order the chance to gain anything from her. But they still leach the power from her every day," Jura said.

    "You said that only True Ice could release her. Maybe the order found some True Ice." Dave said.

    "My queen can only be released using True Icebined with the Ice-me and an incantation. There is only one Ice-me in existence. I was entrusted with the Ice-me and I have been trying to rescue her ever since she was imprisoned,"

    "Du¡¯Rhaza could have been tricked into thinking the Ice Queen trapped him. Let¡¯s just keep moving, we have two more levels to go through."

    "Kis¡¯Shtiengbrah, I shall go first and clear the path, I do not want to see youe to harm." Drahma¡¯s body reddened, his body heat increasing. Steam rose from his skin. He strode across the room and went through the door.

    Lone turned to loot the snake.

    Suddenly she screamed!

    "What¡¯s wrong?!"

    "Look!" Lone showed Dave.

    Skill Book

    Arctic Aura

    100 Mana/second

    Does 0.5 % of user¡¯s own HP in Ice damage within a 10 meter radius, slowing enemies and decreasing their stamina regeneration. If an enemy is [Frozen] the next attack shatters the target doing 10% of their current HP in t damage values.

    "Nice! That¡¯s like my infernal Aura skill. You should learn it," Dave said.

    "But-"

    "This is your quest, I¡¯m just helping. And I already have my own aura ability. What about the rest of the loot?" Dave asked.

    "Nothing great, just bones and crafting materials."

    "Ok, let¡¯s follow Drahma."

    At that moment the door to the elevator opened and the chaotic, rambunctious tinkle of trolls tumbled out. They moved toward the three and danced around them hooting and howling. One of the trolls even had a wreath made of nt vine on his head like a crown.

    The red-maned troll moved toward the serpent¡¯s remains and stood in front of the snow. With his back to everyone he started swinging his hips around and wiggling his behind. The other trolls hooted gleefully and joined him, soon they were all lined up in front of the snowdrift swaying and swinging their hips, participating in the strange ¡¯ritual¡¯.

    "What are they doing?" Dave asked curiously.

    "A, look they¡¯re dancing together. That¡¯s so cute!"

    "You don¡¯t want to know," Jura said with resignation.

    The troll¡¯s weird dance ended and they rushed en masse through the exit after Drahma. The mor faded away with them.

    "They really are a cute bunch of fluffies," Lone eximed.

    Dave looked at her and rolled his eyes again.

    ¡¯They are TROLLS, what is wrong with her?¡¯

    "Hey, is it starting to stink in here or is it just me?" Dave said, his eyes were watering.

    He turned to see Jura putting a handkerchief to his nose, he pointed at the snowdrift.

    Dave approached the snow and saw a bunch of yellow lines in the snow. He looked uprehending for a moment then the lines resolved into a crude sketch of a draugr, a giant, an elfess, and an old man with a grumpy face.

    "THAT is one of the reasons groups of those troublemakers are called a tinkle," Jura said from behind his handkerchief.

    "Aw! The fluffies are artistic!" Lone gushed.

    Dave just held his nose and made a sound of disgust.

    The three followed the trolls beyond the boss room¡¯s gate. They went down a flight of stairs and emerged into a stadium sized dome. A zing sphere hanging from the ceiling lit the space as bright as daylight. Dozens of pirs supported a tform that took up most of the cavern. The tform looked like a giant chess board, ice squares alternated with empty space. In the center of the room was a singlerge square of ice. Above the chess board hundreds of corpses hung upside down from the ceiling, suspended by rope.

    Drahma was already halfway across the tform, standing in the middle of the ¡¯chess board¡¯ on therge square of ice. Dave could see from he was fighting something.

    "Dave, do you see that?" Lone pointed.

    There was an irregrity in the pattern of the ¡¯chess board.¡¯ The ice squares were missing from the nearest portion of the tform, instead of alternating it was all empty space.

    "Drahma and the trolls must have gone through and broken those ice squares. Probably walking on them makes them crumble away. We will have to take a path around that area if we want to get to the other side."

    The three jumped onto one of the ice squares on the edge of the tform and leap frogged toward the side corner. Looking down through the empty squares they could see the ground far below the ¡¯chess board,¡¯ it was covered in sharp glittering spikes of ice. Human corpses and the remains of monsters littered the bottom, the spikes piercing through them.

    "That¡¯s a long way down," Dave gulped.

    They paused on the corner square to take stock of their position. Momentster, they heard a cracking sound from the direction they hade from. The square they had jumped from shattered apart and dropped away.

    Just as they were going to jump away to the next square, a corpse dropped from above andnded like a sack of grain on their square.

    This corpse was covered in bandages like a mummy, it shook and shuddered then stood up.

    "It¡¯s an undead, it shouldn¡¯t be an enemy," Dave said confidently.

    But just as he finished his words. The undead ice mummy howled menacingly at Dave. Its name tag was red.

 Chapter 184 Deadly Checkers

    Living Failure

    Level 200

    Base Damage: 10,000-15,000

    MA: 6,000

    DN:8,000

    HP:200,000

    Skills: [Strangle] The living failure uses its bandages as a weapon wrapping around an enemy snaring them for 2 seconds.

    Once a man, now something between death and life. The ck Skull Order experimented on many people to find a way to change the undead ''curse'' in order to abuse the curse''s power for their own gain. This is one such failed attempt.

    "It isn''t that strong." Lone raised her bow and readied a [Breaking Shot].

    Lone shot the bandaged corpse and sent it tumbling off the square to fall into the ice spikes below, which killed it immediately.

    Lone leveled up.

    "Good EXP!" she said, "I wish more of them would drop for us to farm." Just as she finished her words more corpses started falling. Some missed the ice squares and fell directly past the ''chess board'' to the ice spikes below. But most of themnded safely on ice squares. They were effectively surrounded, corpses on all the squares around them.

    Dave heard cracking under his foot. The ice square they were on wouldn''t hold for much longer.

    "We need to move to the next square fast!" Dave urged.

    They jumped to the next square. This one had two of the Living Failures on it. Dave used [Spectral Skull] blowing the corpses off the square. The square behind them cracked and shattered. Which seemed to set the square they were standing on off, it started making pinging and cracking sounds.

    Another corpse dropped onto their square , while corpses on other squares started converging on them.

    "Move!" Dave said. "I got this!"

    Lone and the old man leapt to the next square. The old man switched his weapon to the spear form and ignited it. A Living Failure lunged toward him, Jura dodged the lunge and embedded the fiery tip of his spear through its skull. Using the spear as a lever Jura swung the body around and off the square into empty space, letting it fall off his spear to plunge to its death.

    Dave took care of the Living Failure with a few punches, knocking it off the square, then joined hispanions.

    More corpses fell from the ceiling, both near and far. The ones that fell on other squares immediately moved toward the square they were on.

    Dave noticed that the Living Failures were ignoring Drahma and the trolls. All of the corpses that fell on the squares converged toward them.

    "We need to hurry up! That many bodies will break the squares we haven''t reached, cutting us off, leaving us with nowhere to go. "

    Lone shot [Bombarda] at a cluster of Living Failures that were blocking their way through the next square. When the arrow exploded, The Living failures were thrown off the square, but the explosion caused the square to shatter.

    "Shit! Sorry!" Lone said.

    "There are still two more squares we can take, "

    There were fewer corpses converging on them to their left so it wasn''t hard to choose which way to go next.

    Two Living Failures waited for them on the next square, Dave used [Stampede] and crashed into them sending them falling to their death.

    Lone fired [Arrow-Shard Barrage] at three Living failures that blocked their way forward.

    "This is a great EXP grind, but the risk of falling is too high!"

    "We can''t keep this up," Dave grunted out a they jumped to the next square, "Lone, destroy the square we just left while I lure the Living failures down another path. If we split them, we will have fewer enemies to worry about. I will rejoin you after we''ve whittled these guys down to manageable levels!" Dave said.

    Lone fired a [Prating Shot] that destroyed the square behind them and sent three of the bandage wrapped horrors falling into the spikes below. The corpses farther back had to detour around the gap to follow them.

    Dave jumped to a square and moved to the next one. He used [Spectral Skull] on the square he stood on, snapping his fingers to detonate the glowing bombs as he jumped to the next. More Living Failures died. Dave was crossing diagonally toward the edge of the board ten ice squares away, pulling a train of Living Failures followed him.

    Lone mimicked Dave, destroying every square she crossed. And whenever she encountered a corpse on another square she needed to cross through, she used [Bombarda] or [Breaking Shot] to send the corpses to their doom.

    Dave lured arge group of corpses farther away from his friends, then he stomped, activating [Death Surge] and cracking the square he was on. He used [Death''s Descent] to jump to safety just as the other corpses walked to the cracked ice square. The corpse''s weight hastened the disintegration of the square, shattering it and bringing the corpses down.

    He jumped to another square, when hended the square cracked, threatening to burst. Dave used [Immortal Apparition] and appeared on the square Lone was at.

    Every squares Dave had crossed was shattered, forcing the corpses to take a longer way around to chase after him. This gave the three the chance to move at a safer pace toward thergest square in the room where Drahma was fighting.

    The Living Failures no longer chased after them. On the opposite side of therge square was the troll tinkle, they were¡­watching the fight, some trolls even sat down as they pped and cheered.

    Drahma was fighting a humanoid, beating it to a pulp. Dave was close enough to inspect the figure. It undead wearing a ck veil. Drahma brought down his "Paste Maker" on the undead repeatedly without breaking the ice he was standing on.

    Valqer the Sorcerer

    Level: 350

    HP: 222,558/ 350,000

    MA: 30,000

    DN: 10,000

    Base Damage: 30,000-40,000

    Right hand to the lich Vreek, leader of the ck Skull Order''s second division.

    Drahma brought "Paste Maker" down on the battered undead, shouting in a terrible voice: "WHERE IS HE? WHERE IS VREEK?!"

    The undead replied with a fireball aimed at Drahma''s chest. The fireball popped harmlessly against Drahma''s tough skin. The big guy was incensed. He went full hulk-smash on the undead, grabbing the sorcerer by the leg and smashing him back and forth on the ice square.

    The undead tried ice magic, lightning magic and fire magic on Drahma, but everything bounced off the giant'' like he was immune to magic.

    Drahma took the undead sorcerer in one hand and squeezed, the sounds of bones breaking echoed through the room.

    The giant brought his captive up close to speak to him, "You won''t talk to me? That is fine, but you WILL talk and it will not be as pleasant as I would have made it. Delvina! He is yours, take him!"

    A vortex opened in front of Drahma and Delvina appeared from within. She looked up at him and they seemed tomunicate somehow. The giant brought his hand down, opening it to reveal the undead, writhing in pain and trying to escape. Two death knights came out of the vortex and took the undead from the giant''s hand. Delvina nodded to Drahma and the vortex disappeared.

 Chapter 185 Drauger Knight to...Queen of Ice!

    Dave watched the appearance of Delvina and her interaction with Drahma from the sidelines. After Delvina disappeared with the vortex, Dave walked over to Drahma.

    "What happened?"

    "This ce is now a mostly unused base, the members of the ck Skulls are no longer here in numbers. But I may have found a lead on Vreek, the one directly responsible for the genocide of my race, so all was not lost. Kis¡¯Shtiengbrah, I can no longer apany you on this venture, I need to return to the legion. Delvina will have answers for me soon."

    The giant waved a hand and space tore open. He walked through and disappeared from the dungeon. The Anti-Bully charm dropped to the ground where he¡¯d disappeared, Dave picked it up.

    Anti-Bully Bauble [Monster-Type]

    Summon Drahma to help against attackers

    2/3 uses remaining.

    Bound to Death Stroke.

    Only usable by Death Stroke when Undead.

    ¡¯Huh, it still has two more uses. I wondered if this Drahma ¡¯visit¡¯ was going to count against me or if he decided toe on his own.¡¯

    Dave pocketed the item and looked at the exit. Jura was almost hopping from foot to foot.

    "My queen is near! We must hurry! We must save her!"

    "Alright, old man. Let¡¯s go, Lone. We still have a dungeon boss to take out!"

    Dave crossed several squares to stand before the massive iron gate. There was a small keyhole in the door, but otherwise it looked impregnable.

    "Hey, I have a question," Lone spoke up, "Drahma broke all the other gates for us. But he took the level boss, who had the key to this gate, with him. How do we get the key to open this thing?"

    Dave stopped, dumbfounded. He thought for a moment.

    "Good question, I have no idea. ALFRED!"

    Dave¡¯s vision turned ck and white and Jura became absolutely still, frozen in stasis. A distinguished looking older man wearing a swallow-tailed tuxedo jacket appeared in front of the two yers.

    The butler looked around and fixed his monocr on Dave, "What is the problem?"

    "We can¡¯t go through the gate. There is no key to open it," Dave said.

    The butler¡¯s eyes turned white as he started searching through thebat and event logs. He shuddered as his eyes returned to normal.

    "This would not be an issue if you had not summoned the giant. But no matter, it did create a ¡¯bug¡¯ in the game mechanic. Here," the old man made a grasping motion and handed Dave the silver key that suddenly appeared in his hand.

    Dave took the key from the old man, a smirk on his face at the pompous AI¡¯sme theatrics. Alfie could have just put the key in Dave¡¯s inventory, or unlocked the gate, or gotten the same result any number of ways. Instead, the AI imitated amon street-magician¡¯s trick. That they were in a virtual reality made it an abysmallyckluster feat.

    The butler¡¯s eyes held no expression as he regarded Dave, but one side of his mouth rose enough to show teeth just before he disappeared.

    Lone did not miss the expression.

    "Why do I get the feeling that ALFRED was not happy to see you?"

    "Who knows. He¡¯s a moody one," Dave replied, shrugging carelessly.

    He used the key to open the gate revealing a long flight of stairs behind it. Statues of frozen knights lined the walls of the stairwell .

    "My brothers..." Jura almost sobbed as he moved close to one of the knights, "Soon, soon you will be free."

    The temperature dropped as they descended, Lone had to drink another Frost-Halting potion to negate the temperature drop.

    The stairway opened onto a square room with fourrge pirs supporting the ceiling. Thousands of intricate runes were carved into the stone floor, all converging toward a transparent crystal sarcophagus. In the sarcophagus was a woman in a sparkling white dress. Her eyes were closed, a serene expression on her face, like a sleeping beauty of legend. A delicate crown made of filigreed icey on her long dark-blue hair and she held a scepter made of crystal and blue ice in her crossed hands.

    "My queen!" Jura rushed to the tomb and knelt before it weeping, his emotions obviously overwhelming him. "Finally, I can set you free!" The old man took the true ice crystal that Lone had given him him as a part of her legacy quest when they first met and opened the smallntern at his waist. The Ice-me poured over the true ice and melted it in an instant. The blue me turned milky white.

    Jura mumbled some words and poured the ming mixture on the tomb. The small me spread over the tomb. It fused with the ice and started melting it.

    "Lone, do you think there¡¯s something strange about this level?" Dave asked.

    "Strange how?"

    "There¡¯s no boss. Doesn¡¯t that mean the queen is the dungeon boss?" Dave¡¯s eyes were inspecting every corner of the room as he spoke.

    "But the queen is friendly. Jura assured us that she has not been corrupted. So how can she be an enemy? Maybe the real boss will jump out." Lone looked at Dave who was absorbed in thoughts.

    The draugr¡¯s eyes squinted, he was looking at the base of the tomb. The converging runes dimly lit up the moment the Ice-me covered the queen¡¯s tomb.

    Dave moved to the kneeling Jura and ced a hand on his shoulder, "Jura! Stop what you are doing! Something¡¯s not right!"

    The old man pped Dave¡¯s hand away, "Avaunt you sphemous perversion! I have waited centuries to release my queen, you will not stop me!"

    Dave¡¯s vision swam and he found himself gazing at the entire hall in a third person point of view. He could see his character standing with Lone¡¯s near Jura.

    "Cutscene?" Dave mumbled, then heard Lone¡¯s voice "Yeah, we can even speak while it¡¯s running. Oh, look the queen¡¯s eyes are moving!"

    The queen¡¯s eyelids trembled. She opened her eyes and lifted one hand from her chest and touched the sarcophagus lid. When she made contact with the lid, ice cracked like a spiderweb and shattered into bits and shards.

    The Ice Queen stepped out of the crystal sarcophagus. As her foot touched the floor, the room shuddered, the runes on the ground shone for a heartbeat, bright gold, then the light rushed to gather under her feet.

    Jura covered his eyes with his sleeve, when the light was gone he stood and bowed borately to the woman.

    "My queen! Finally I¡¯ve seeded in setting you free!"

    The queen¡¯s ice-blue eyes turned crimson for a moment, but Jura didn¡¯t to see it.

    "Shit! That¡¯s not good!" Dave now fully expected the brown stuff to hit the fan. "Fucking Jura. Lone, get ready, it looks like the queen IS the dungeon boss, we¡¯re gonna have to rock this queen¡¯s world."

    "Damnit!" Lone cursed. Her Legacy quest had just gotten moreplicated. "Yeah, don¡¯t worry, Davey. I¡¯ll be ready."

    The queen looked down at Jura coldly, a disdainful smile on her face. As Jura rose from his courtly bow, the queen swung her scepter into his chest, sending him tumbling across the room. When his body smashed into the wall, ice grew out from where the scepter had hit, covering him and freezing him to the wall.

    The cutscene ended and Dave¡¯s point of view changed back to first person.

    Dave quickly inspected the queen to see what they were going to be dealing with.

    Ice-Queen Nashandra [Weakened]

    Level: 300

    Tier: Epic

    Damage: 30,000-35,000

    HP: 500,000

    MA: 15,000

    DN: 15,000

    Skills:

    [Absolute Zero] Passively saps heat from the atmosphere, causing a Freeze status effect. Frozen targets will take 200% increased Damage from the first attack that hits. All of the ice queen¡¯s spells shorten the time to be Frozen.

    [Ice Spear Barrage] creates a magic circle that conjures 30 ice shard projectiles in rapid session. Each ice shard does 1000 ice damage.

    [Ring of Frost] freezes an area with a 10 meter radius rooting all targets within. Targets take 12,000 ice damage.

    [Ice Sovereign] the queen periodically summons an ice soldier to battle for her.

    Lore:

    The Queen of Venhime, the lost kingdom of ice. A mighty ruler that lost her powers when the the ck Skull Order captured her. The Queen made herself untouchable when she spelled herself inside the Icy Sarcophagus to foil the order, but theyid a spell-trap on the floor around her. If the queen is freed and steps on it, she will lose her sanity and be a killing machine.

    Dave backed away rapidly, "Lone! I¡¯ll tank, you move back and spam your crowd control!"

    Dave swapped his Sword Stalwart gauntlets for his shield and mberge. He used [Stampede] to charge at the queen, she was a caster, so it was best to get inside melee range and stay there.

    The queen stomped down as Dave charged. [Stampede] granted him crowd control immunity but he still took damage from her [Ring of Frost].

    [-6,000].

    Dave crashed into the queen doing [-15,888] damage. The [Stampede] also Staggered her for two seconds giving him time to strike twice with his sword. Then Lone hit the queen with a [Prating Shot] arrow, stunning her for another second. Dave struck again with [Decimating Smash] stunning her once more. Dave bashed her with the tower shield adding more duration to her stunned status effect.

    More heavy damage values appeared above the queen as the two yers continued to chain their crowd control Skills. Dave attacked and evaded with a [Double-Edged] and [Vertical sh]bo then re-engaged the queen with anotherbo, [Immortal Apparition] and [Death Surge].

    Dave¡¯s Stun rotation allowed him to rack up the ten sessful attacks needed to proc his mberge¡¯s armor-shattering passive. The Ice Queen staggered when her armor broke, then she screamed and swung her scepter creating a white circle that flung ice shards at Dave like a machine gun.

    Dave rolled away from the stato attack and kept moving, running as a barrage of shots followed him. The shots that struck the floor and walls instantly created swathes of ice, cracking and crumbling the surface of the stone.

    Frost umted on Dave¡¯s avatar, the umted freezing effect making him sluggish. When Lone struck the queen, he took the opportunity to swap his shield and sword out for the Sworn Stalwart¡¯s gauntlets. He activated [Aura] and a surge of fire erupted, canceling out the queen¡¯s freezing effect.

    "You used up a lot of your Stun skills early in the fight Dave!" Lone said. She nocked an arrow and shot [Bombarda] at the Ice queen, staggering her and canceling the queen¡¯s [Ice Spear Barrage].

    "It was worth it, her armor is shattered now, so my damage numbers will go up," Dave said with a grin.

    Dave dashed toward the Queen and shouted, "Let¡¯s dance, bitch!"

 Chapter 186 Another one Bites the Dust...Queen.

    Dave¡¯s [Aura] melted the frost from his avatar and returned him to full mobility. He strafed around the queen, punching at her and dodging the swings of her ice-scepter.

    Yelling out, the queen shot a burst of frost at Dave. He leaned forward and raised both gauntlets to block the ice st. But the force of the attack still pushed him back, his feet skidding across the floor and his gauntlets steaming.

    Lone shot a [Prating Arrow] at the queen, Staggering her. Dave used the opportunity to close the distance to the queen.

    Dave punched up with [Rising Dragon],unching the queen up and backward. He cast [Spectral Skull] and sent the four bombs at the queen then detonated them with a snap of his fingers, sending her sprawling across the ground.

    From her knees the queen smashed the base of her scepter on the ground. A vortex swirled and umted into the shape of a knight, brother to the knights that lined the stairway.

    Dave Inspected the soldier,

    Venhime Royal Knight

    Level: 100

    Damage : 3,000 -3,500

    HP : 30,000

    MA: 2,000

    DN: 2,000

    A frozen statue of an old Royal Knight, sworn to safeguard their queen no matter what, in their loyalty the will follow her to the depths of hell.

    Dave rushed toward the queen as she got to her feet, "Lone take out the ice soldier!"

    He smashed a fist into the queen¡¯s stomach, staggering her.

    Ramp-up activated!

    A miniature twister of fire surrounded Dave¡¯s gauntlets. His [Aura] surged out adding to the congration. He spun into [Infernal Tornado], nuking the ice queen with huge damage values. Suddenly, the mes around his gauntlets went from bright red to blue-white. He felt a massive increase in heat and hoped it meant an increase in damage output too. A notification shed up:

    Gauntlets of the Stalwart Fully unlocked!

    New Skill unlocked:

    [Dragon Kick] a flying-jump kick knocking back enemies and doing 100% of the base damage. A sessful attack conjures a fiery phantasmal dragon that does an additional 100% base damage in Fire Damage.

    New Skill Unlocked:

    [Advancing Dragon] Explode with the might of a dragon, targeting multiple enemies at once with a series of rapid attacks. The attacks cannot be nullified with evasion or escape Skills. Each attack does 100% of the Sworn Stalwart gauntlets base damage.

    5 Minuts cooldown

    Unlocked:

    [Fist-Fighting Style] you can now train your fist-fighting. Every additional level increases fist-weapon damage by 5% (passive).

    Unlocked:

    [Dragon Awakens] instantly resets your Sworn Stalwart skills. The user enters a fugue state in which all learned fist skills are merged and then used in one fist-fightingbo attack. [Awakened Dragon] has a two hour cooldown period. The skills used during an [Awakened Dragon] attack will individually have an extended, 200% cooldown period.

    An evil smirk appeared on Dave¡¯s face as he skimmed through the newly avable Skills. He sprinted toward the queen and activated [Dragon Kick], leaping into a flying-kick attack that struck like a homerun. The attack sent the queen flying across the room until she hit one of the pirs with a crunching sound.

    [-18,258]

    Dave used [Advancing Dragon] to teleport his avatar, swinging at her head with a w-hand. The queen ducked under the attack. Dave kneed her in the abdomen and spun back, striking her ribs with his elbow. The gauntlet runes had pred and the queen was under [Poison] and [Shock] status effects, so he finished thebo off with a roundhouse kick that sent the queen sprawling to the floor once again.

    "Holy shit! When did you learn kung-fu?" Lone had just finished off the ice soldier.

    "Just now. You ain¡¯t seen nothing yet, these gauntlets are OP!"

    "Well, duh, they dropped from a level 750 mob." She nocked and fired [Bombarda] arrow at the queen.

    Dave dashed toward the queen and repeated the samebination of attacks as earlier. He started with [Advancing Dragon], then added [Rising Dragon]. His fist took on the aspect of a dragon and curved up in a ming uppercut, sending the queen flying through the air in a st of fire. Dave wire-fu jumped in pursuit of the queen and used [Infernal Tornado] on her in mid-flight. He jumped again while in mid-air using [Dragon Kick]; flipping over into a downward attack, his heel mmed into the queen from above like an axe. An Eastern dragon made of fire materialized near the ceiling. Opening its maw, it dove down and engulfed the queen. Cratering the ground around her on impact, it exploded into an inferno. The queen bounced when she struck the ground, helpless, battered and critically low on HP. A single Damage value for thebo appeared above the queen.

    [-150,898]

    "You just used those skills, cheater! I call hacks!"

    "HA!" Daveughed at Lone¡¯sment. "[Dragon Awakens] lets me reset the cooldowns on my gauntlet Skills then use them in a singlebo. The only drawback is after using them with that way all the cooldown timers are doubled."

    Dave approached the fallen queen, her HP was at less than 10%.

    The queen stood and mmed the tip of her scepter to the ground. A wave of freezing cold washed over the room, ten ice soldiers materialized in front of her.

    "Damn!" Dave cursed.

    The addition of the soldiers greatly increased the difficulty of the fight. Dave couldn¡¯t afford to ignore them and just go for the queen, they might attack and kill Lone which would mean failing her quest.

    "Lone, y it safe, hang back and let me handle these guys."

    "Yeah, about that. I think we are screwed."

    Dave became aware of movement behind him. He turned, the frozen knights on the stairs had reanimated and were rapidly making their way toward Dave and Lone.

    "Shit!"

    "Stop attacking my queen!" Jura struggled furiously against the ice that held him to the wall, trying to free himself. His name-tag was the lurid red of a hostile.

    The queen waved her scepter and a magic circle materialized, ice shards began shooting at Dave rapidly.

    "Iing!"

    Dave rolled away from the first frozen spikes, he came to his feet and ran from the continuous stream of projectriles. The queen adjusted her aim, tracking Dave¡¯s movements as he tried to use the soldiers as cover and let them soak up the damage. But the ice shards simply prated their bodies harmlessly. Then the queen¡¯s line of fire swept across Lone, she had to duck away then use [Blink] when ice soldiers managed to maneuver around and nk her.

    Between the queen¡¯s ice shards and the royal ice knights Lone and Dave were soon backed across and into one of the corners.

    "Dave, can you use the [Demon Maw] Skill? Or one of your other skills that deal t damage?"

    "No. [Demon Maw] has a 10% chance to work on boss monsters, [Call of Chaos] needs open space and [Ray of mes] is still on cooldown," Dave answered.

    "I can use [Ice Dome] to protect myself, while you kill her. The soldiers will probably ignore me and go after you anyway, you have the highest threat value."

    "Alright, sounds like a working n," Dave said.

    Just as he was about to use [Immortal apparition] to teleport himself close to the queen he heard amotioning from the stairway and a head made of ice flew past Dave and hit one of the surrounding knights.

    Dave looked at the stairway and saw the trolls fighting ice knights. One of the trolls grabbed a knight by the arm and repeatedly swung him back and forth into the ground while a second troll watched. Shaking his head in disapproval, the second troll grabbed the same knight by the ankle and repeated the smashing move. The other troll nodded and hooted in understanding.

    "Are they trying to imitate Drahma¡¯s Hulk-style smash?" Lone said.

    "I think so, look at Red-Mane." Dave said.

    The red-maned troll power-pressed a knight over his head then mmed the struggling figure down across his knee, breaking his hapless victim in two. Another troll swung an ice club like he was teeing-off on the golf range, shattering the broken knight¡¯s head into a spray of ice particles. With raw power the trolls broke through the ice knights and joined the fight on the boss floor.

    Lone I will use [Double Edge] on the queen, dodge it with your [Blink],"

    "The fluffies are going to get hurt!" Lone said.

    "Don¡¯t worry, I will try to get enough distance so the trolls aren¡¯t in the AoE."

    Dave used [Immortal Apparition] and appeared next to the queen, he used [Double Edge] and [Vertical sh] removing a good portion of her HP and the HP of the knights around her. He followed up with more hits on the queen. Just as he was about tond what would have been the finishing blow, Dave¡¯s point of view changed to the third person. Another cutscene had taken over.

    "Damnit! That¡¯s bullshit!"

    "Another cutscene?" Lone said "Oh Jura is freed! I hope this isn¡¯t a two-stagedbat."

    Jura had broken through the ice, he ran toward the draugr who was about to kill the queen and pushed her out of the way, taking Dave¡¯s fist attack to his chest.

    "Dave! You shouldn¡¯t hit old people!" Lone had jokes for the draugr.

    "Hey, I didn¡¯t do that! It was the cutscene!" he protested.

    Jura¡¯s body rolled across the room and fell, his chest caved in.

    The queen stopped, startled, the redness of her eyes disappeared and changed back to sky-blue color.

    "Jura!" the queen shouted. She ran to the old man and knelt down, taking him in her arms.

    The cutscene ended. All the trolls and soldiers disappeared from the room, leaving only Lone, Dave, the queen and the old man, Jura, who was taking hisst breaths.

    Dave frowned, but seeing the queen¡¯s name-tag change to green, didn¡¯t say anything.

    "My Legacy quest updated," Lone said, "It¡¯s in the final stages now," Lone approached the queen.

    "Queen Nashandra, what happened?" Lone asked.

    Ignoring the archer the Ice Queen ced a hand on Jura¡¯s exposed ribs, frost gathered.

    "Don¡¯t concern yourself majesty.... I have fulfilled my duty, it is my time." Jura went into a fit of coughing, blooding from his mouth.

    The queen stood, grasping her scepter she whirled on Dave, her name turned from green to deadly red.

    "Damned undead!" the queen raised her scepter toward Dave, "You caused this!"

    Dave thought something was off, he was certain he¡¯d almost beaten the queen, she should be close to the end of her HP. But ice was gathering around her much faster and more powerfully than before, even Dave¡¯s [Aura] flickered like a candle in high winds, threatening to snuff out. Dave inspected the queen again:

    Ice Queen Nashandra

    Level: 600

    Tier: Mythic

    Danger Level: ????

    Damage: 300,000-350,000

    HP: 1,500,000

    MA: 150,000

    DN: 150,000

    Skills:

    [Absolute Zero] Passively saps heat from the atmosphere, causing a Freeze status effect. Frozen targets will take 200% increased Damage from the first attack that hits. All of the ice queen¡¯s spells shorten the time it takes to Freeze her enemies.

    [Ice Spear Barrage] creates a magic circle that conjures 30 ice shard projectiles in rapid session. Each ice shard does 10,000 ice damage.

    [Ring of Frost] freezes an area with a 10 meter radius rooting all targets within. Targets take 120,000 ice damage.

    [Ice Sovereign] the queen periodically summons an ice soldier to battle for her.

    Lore:

    Nashandra, Queen of Venhime, the lost Kingdom of Ice.

    A mighty ruler that lost her powers when the the ck Skull Order captured her. The Queen made herself untouchable when she spelled herself inside the Icy Sarcophagus to foil the order, but theyid a spell-trap on the floor around her. If the queen is freed and steps on it, she will lose her sanity and be a raging killing-machine. Now having been freed from the hands of the ck Skull Order, the queen is ready to rebuild her kingdom.

    "Ahhh crap."

 Chapter 187 Troll Stank!

    Dave quickly backed away from the queen.

    ¡¯Shit...I think things just went off script!¡¯

    He shouted at the enraged queen, "Hey, don¡¯t start ying the me game! The runes made you lose your mind! Jura put himself in harm¡¯s way even though you attacked him!"

    "You spout nonsense, undead scum! Jura lies there dying! You struck him and you dare use me? I will put you in an icy prison and torment you until the end of time!"

    Dave frowned, he was going to die. He thought about using [Anti-Bully] but it would be a waste.

    "Your majesty!" Jura coughed, "Forgive the draugr...he aided me in releasing you from your prison. Without him and without the elf, I would not have been able to free you. Don¡¯t let your wrath blind you to the truth. My queen, the draugr tells the truth, you were bespelled out of your senses when I freed you and you attacked us. But if I had to choose between dying and letting you suffer in madness or captivity, I would dly go through death¡¯s door."

    The queen¡¯s name tag turned yellow after the old man¡¯s speech. She took a deep breath and snorted at Dave contemptuously. She turned to look at Jara and her expression softened. She returned to his side and knelt by him again.

    "Can we help him, Davey?" Lone asked.

    Dave stroked his beard, considering. Then he took a red potion from his inventory. He approached the old man to give him the potion.

    "What are you doing?!" The queen red at Dave.

    "Just calm the hell down!" Dave burst out, "I¡¯m trying to help him!" He extended the potion in his hand toward the old man. "Here you go old man, this should fix you up."

    The queen had been startled when the draugr berated her. But her anger at the undead thing¡¯s disrespect was forgotten in a surge of hope when she realized the draugr was offering Jura a health potion.

    The old man smiled at Dave¡¯s gesture and said, "Thank you draugr, but that potion is not potent enough."

    Dave frowned, this was a high grade potion that could restore a huge chunk of HP, he didn¡¯t have anything more potent.

    Dave thought for a moment, then he turned to address the queen.

    "Where are the trolls?! Bring them back!"

    "I sent them to another ne... Ahhhh, their blood! Yes!" She waved a hand and the trolls and her ice knights appeared.

    The trolls hooted softly, bewildered by their sudden dislocation and relocation, not understanding what was going on. A few of them were dizzy, swaying on their feet to stay upright.

    The queen snapped her fingers and a sliver of razor-sharp ice coalesced in her hand, she moved purposefully toward the trolls holding the ice dagger at the ready.

    Lone¡¯s face turned white.

    "Dave! She¡¯s going to hurt the fluffies!"

    The red-maned troll faced the queen, pushing his tinkle back with arms spread as she advanced, knife in hand. Impatiently, the queen stamped a foot on the ground and ice grew burst up around the trolls spreading up their legs to restrain them. The entire tinkle was frightened, sensing the extreme danger, they growled at the queen, they knew the queen harbored ill intent for them.

    "Filthy beasts!" the queen spoke contemptuously.

    Dave ran toward the queen and the restrained trolls, intending to head off what he knew was about to happen.

    "Hey! What do you think you¡¯re doing!" Dave said, putting himself between the queen and the red-maned troll.

    "Out of my way, undead perversion! The blood of these beasts will heal Jura!" the queen¡¯s expression was icy, determined.

    "The trolls are allies. You¡¯re going to butcher them to serve your purpose?"

    "They are just beasts! If their death can be of use then I shall kill everyst one of the filthy things!"

    "You are such an evil bitch!" Lone said, "To hell with the legacy quest! If you hurt the fluffies I¡¯ll put an arrow up your ass!" Lone nocked an arrow and aimed at the queen.

    Dave smirked at Lone¡¯s behavior, he liked how quirky she was. Her idea of what was and what wasn¡¯t attractive, cute, or cool had always been all kinds of confusedpared to the rest of the world. She thought undead were cool looking and now she was willing to give up a B rank Legacy quest and take on a high level boss for the sake of ¡¯fluffy¡¯ trolls.

    A hostile red glow began to seep into the queen¡¯s name tag.

    "Both of you hold your horses. Let me talk to the trolls," Dave said. He turned back to Red-Mane. Taking an empty vial from his inventory, he showed it and the red potion to the troll.

    "Hey buddy. Grumpy-Jura is badly hurt, your blood could help him get better. Would you be willing give us some for him?"

    Red Mane looked warily at the queen for a second then back at Dave and nodded, he was smart enough to understand what the tiny draugr was asking him.

    The queen shifted impatiently, and the trolls hooted, pulling against the ice that bound them in ce.

    "Hey, knock it off! You are scaring them. Not helping!" Dave admonished.

    The queen frowned then shattered the sharp ice shard in her hand and made a waving gesture. The ice trapping the trolls dissipated. The trolls howled joyfully.

    Jura coughed, his condition worsening.

    "Hurry up!" The queen yelled in panic.

    Red-Mane stomped his foot and a de of sharply angled ice rose from the ground. Taking the vial from Dave, Red-Mane slid his wrist against the icy edge, wincing. Hot blood gushed from his wrist in pulses. The troll positioned the mouth of the vial under the freely bleeding cut and squeezed his fist, forcing more blood out. In just a few moments the vial was full and he handed it to Dave. The cut on the troll¡¯s arm was healing quickly.

    "Thank you, buddy," Dave said, patting the troll on the shoulder.

    He went back to Jura and offered the vial to the old man. Taking the vial, Jura wrinkled his nose.

    "Gahh, that stinks!" he grumbled. But nevertheless, the cantankerous old man gulped it down in a single go.

    The blood took effect immediately, the old man¡¯s too-pale face flushed, turning bright red. The part of his chest that was crushed-in was visibly mending.

    "My breath¡¯s going to stink like troll for weeks!" Jurained. "Thank you draugr, for your help in saving my queen, and my life. I owe you many times over."

    The queen hmphed at the draugr but didn¡¯t say anything. She turned to the elf and said, "You, elf..." her voice muted and Dave couldn¡¯t hear what they talked about. But it was probably about Lone¡¯s Legacy quest which wasn¡¯t his business unless Lone decided to tell him about it.

    The red maned troll came over to and growled softly to Dave. The troll held out his hand to Dave to give him something. When the draugr reached out the troll deposited two whistles carved out of horn or bone.

    Dave inspected the whistles.

    Join the Club whistle (Charm).

    The troll horn whistle summons a tinkle of eight trolls to the yer.

    The trolls will attack a target with their ice-clubs rendering the target unconscious for 10 seconds.

    The unconscious target will wake up if they receive any damage.

    Does not work on Boss-ss monsters.

    Cooldown 10 Hours.

    "A trinket. This is a ¡¯just for fun¡¯ item. Huh, It could be helpful in certain situations."

    "Hey Davey, this part of the quest is done, the next part is gathering a bunch of resources and doing fetch quests. You don¡¯t need to tag along I can handle it okay."

    "Cool. If you need my help just ask. I need to go home and revive the Boyz along with the rest of the regiment."

    "Alright, call me me when you want to do some more grinding."

    Jura approached Dave, "Draugr, I have told my queen everything you have done for us. She promised that she will reward you when she finishes rebuilding her kingdom. Also, I personally have something for you, here."

    Jura handed Dave a piece of thin yellow paper, a map.

    Dave inspected the map for a moment, then he realized what the marker on it was and he looked at Jura in surprise.

    "This is the location of the ck Skull Order in the Southern Desert!"

    "Yes, I have been investigating them for hundreds of years and found several of their hideouts. The base is highly fortified though, I don¡¯t think you can make your way into the base alone.

    "I also know the Order is nning something big and that it will happen soon. It involves Demons and the Holy Church."

    A call for help.

    Quest update

    You have the location of the ck Skull Order¡¯s headquarters.

    Show this information to the heads of the Undead Legion for rewards and the opportunity to participate in conquering the ck Skull Order.

    This is the final part of the chain quest A Call for Help.

    "Nice! I can finally finish this quest and Drahma will be happy when the Order is destroyed."

    Dave nned on going back to the Undead Frontier soon. He wanted to give Delvina the new information and join in on the fun. It had been a long questline, so he expected the rewards would be pretty impressive.

    After finishing with Lone the queen turned to Dave.

    "Undead, Venhime is weak after my long absence. When I have rebuilt it, I shall assist the undead against the Order and their wicked machinations as a return for good grace you have shown me."

    The queen nodded to Dave then disappeared in a flurry of snowkes taking Jura with her.

    Alliance

    The Ice queen has vowed toe to the aid of the undead when the Ice Kingdom is revived.

    You have been awarded 1,000,000 CP for forging an alliance.

    Dave rubbed his hands together gleefully. "Heh heh. Niiice. I needed more CP. Now I can elerate the respawning of my undead!"

    "What now Davey?" Grinning as she interrupted the draugr¡¯s evil-overlord monologue.

    "I need to go back to the legion, I have some stuff to do there."

    He handed her a whistle, "Here. It¡¯s from the trolls."

    Lone read the description and smiled.

    "What a fun item! Anyways, see yater!" she said, then tore a teleportation scroll.

    Dave turned to see the trolls hooting and doing one of their crazy tribal dances. Having a st, as usual.

    "Hey, guys. I¡¯m leaving, hope I see youter."

    Red-Mane left the dance and approached Dave, he howled a question.

    The ice Trolls wish to follow you.

    You can invite them to stay in your Land.

    Yes/No?

    Dave smiled and pressed ¡¯yes¡¯ and the trolls disappeared.

    To amodate the preferred environment of the Ice Trolls, the King has agreed to personally change a portion of your Land into an arctic climate.

    Dave chuckled at the king¡¯s generosity. He took a scroll out and tore it, disappearing from the Frozen Abyss Dungeon.

 Chapter 188 The Black Skull Order Strikes Back!

    In a mansion in the suburbs of New York City a man wearing a smoking jacket sat on a sofa, in one hand he held a snifter of liquor and in the other a cigar. A young woman sat with him. The resemnce between the two was obvious, though his looks would be called rugged while she was a natural beauty.

    The man was watching a rey of CCN¡¯s original broadcast of Mr. Skeletal¡¯s adventures in the Conquest underworld. He had no interest in the game itself, but business was good inside the game and the family thrived on it. But this Skeletal fellow, his gamey had such gaudium vivendi. The man was tempted to buy himself a gaming capsule and enter the game himself. The manughed at himself for thinking such a thing. He was an old man, over fifty years old, thinking about ying a game with kids half his age. It made him chuckle, but still, that Mr. Skeletal made him think.

    "Papa," the girl next to the man said in a loving voice.

    "Yes, dear?"

    "You¡¯ve watched this video so many times. I didn¡¯t think the game interested you that much," the girl teased her father.

    "Not the game so much, but this boy, David Ruster, he has charisma, with some mentoring he would be a good addition to the familia."

    "You can¡¯t be serious, papa!"

    The man raised the snifter in his hand and took a deliberate sip of the Armagnac before answering.

    "He has the makings of a good leader. But I don¡¯t know how we¡¯d bring him in after the mess your figura de merda cousin made, and now he is under the protection of the Silvanas."

    "I don¡¯t know what you see in him, Papa. He¡¯s rude, disrespectful and full of himself. Not to mention he¡¯s just a filling station attendant, a dirt-poor schlub who got lucky." Her words dripped with scorn. Born into wealth, her attitude of entitlement and superiority were ingrained from day one of her life.

    "Caitlin!" the man barked angrily, "Never demean a person that way. That man was born poor and he was crippled saving your life! But he managed to turn his life around. He persevered, seized opportunity by the balls and showed character. Things that none of the pricks you call friends have done."

    "I am sorry, papa," Caitlin lowered her head. She knew her father was right but still felt disgruntled.

    He sighed and made a gesture to avert Bad Things.

    "It¡¯s okay my dear. You must make things right with this young man. When we meet the Silvanas this week to resolve our grievances perhaps there will be an opportunity to speak with the young man about a friendship.

    "Now go prepare for the Eastern conquest mission. The EU paid a lot for the contract, so you¡¯ll be the lead. Just make sure you get it done, they won¡¯t be happy if the king lives past the expiration date." He drank down the rest of his Armagnac and stood up.

    Shaking his head he said musingly, "Who would¡¯ve thought, taking contracts to kill cartoons. What¡¯s next?"

    "They¡¯re not cartoons papa! Anyway, I¡¯m heading into the game."

    She went upstairs and to log in. She needed to do some grinding to be ready for the invasion. The Eastern kingdom was a high level area, even the weakest guards had levels in the 400s and many of the more powerful ones had wyvern mounts. Wyverns, the lesser cousins of dragons.

    The campaign was bound to be long and difficult, but with the vast numbers of yers they would eventually wear the Eastern kingdom down and conquer it.

    ***

    Dave appeared in the Undead Frontier. He headed over to the temple to talk to Delvina. The Death Knights guarding the doorway saluted Dave as he passed through.

    No one was in the temple so he asked the guards, "Do you know where Delvina went?"

    "Lady Delvina is in the Dead-Realm. She is demonstrating her ¡¯tender mercies¡¯ to a captive member of the ck Skull Order." The Death Knight smiled unpleasantly, the Order was universally hated by the undead.

    "Thank you."

    Dave walked to the Undead Frontier¡¯s teleportation gate. He input the coordinates of the Dead-Realm and walked through the gate and emerged in the Undead City¡¯s gate-za. The za was surrounded by well-to-do houses and upscale storefronts. The streets around the za area were clean and well maintained. If it weren¡¯t for the asional undead walking the streets oring in and out of the shops a visitor would think they were in a picturesque human city.

    Dave hurried along the route to reach the Bone Pce and entered through the main gates..

    "Kis¡¯Shtiengbrah!" a tall gray-robed figure greeted Dave, walking toward him.

    Dave met the figure¡¯s undead eyes, recognizing the handsome face. The undead before him was the Abyssal Knight, Samael.

    He smiled, "Lord Samael, it¡¯s good to see you again. How go the ns for the invasion of the Third Raid Zone?"

    "The ns are close to fruition. And you, young undead? I heard you suffered a grievous defeat. Don¡¯t let it discourage you. Always remember Kis¡¯Shtiengbrah, defeat is meaningless to the undead, we always rise again."

    "Thank you, lord Samael. Yes, I will be reviving my undead soon. As you said, we always rise again."

    "So, what brings you to the pce, do you seek an audience with the king?" Samael asked.

    "No, I¡¯m looking for Delvina. I have reliable intelligence about the location of the ck Skull Order¡¯s headquarters."

    Samael¡¯s demeanor changed, anger and menace radiating from him in almost palpable waves.

    "How exact is this information?" he growled.

    Dave showed Samael the map Jura had given him.

    Samael looked at the map and said grimly, "This changes things. We will have to postpone conquering the Third Raid Zone!"

    Samael strode across the hall quickly, climbing the spiral stairs of the Bone Pce. Dave followed behind until they were in the throne room where the king was holding court.

    There were two undead already in the room, bending the knee before the king. One of them was the Abyssal Knight Arch-Lich Da, the other person was an undead female elf he didn¡¯t recognize. Dave inspected her.

    Permission to inspect required!

    Dave frowned, this had happened before when he tried to inspect Samael.

    "Childe! We are pleased you have returned to see Us," the king¡¯s tone was calm and gentle like a grandparent.

    "Did you sessfully escort my daughter to her new home?" the king asked

    "Yes your Majesty, I escorted Lady Eleanor to the mansion, but I was not allowed past the gate."

    The king frowned.

    "Dementi, go to Moria and confirm that the princess is safe."

    The Elfess saluted and disappeared in a puff of ck smoke.

    Samael gestured at Dave, "Your Highness, Kis¡¯Shtiengbrah has important news."

    "Then speak, Childe." The king waited patiently.

    "I went to the Northern Regions to help a friend. While on the quest I was given information about the ck Skull Order¡¯s location. It¡¯s on this map."

    Dave held the map up for the king to see.

    The king gestured and a page appeared, taking the map from Dave and presenting it to the king.

    The king unrolled the map and examined it.

    "So, you not only forged an alliance between the Ice Queen and Our kingdom, you also found the location of Our sworn enemy! We shall reward you ordingly in due time. For now you have Our permission to join in the extermination of the ursed Order!"

    "Thank you, Your Majesty," Dave said.

    "Delvina!" The king spoke loudly.

    Space tore open and a veiled woman appeared. She bowed to the king.

    "Yes, Your Majesty,"

    There was blood on Delvina¡¯s hands, she¡¯d been working when the king summoned her.

    "How goes your interrogation?" The king asked.

    "Nothing so far your highness. But in time we should have some useful information," Delvina said.

    "No matter, we have obtained the location of the ck Skull Order. Summon all the Doom Knights for this effort. The campaign to conquer the Pharaoh¡¯s Tomb is postponed until this other matter is finished. My legions will march south on the morrow to eradicate the existence of the ck Skull Order."

    Just as the king finished his words the Undead Elfess appeared back in the king¡¯s hall.

    "Your Majesty!" The Elfess¡¯ tone was filled with worry.

    "Speak."

    "Everyone in the manor has been murdered! I could not find Her Highness princess Eleanor!"

    "WHAT?!" the king¡¯s outburst shook the entire pce.

    "Your Majesty, one of your servants managed to leave a message before he died. Three words written in his own blood: ck Skull Order."

    Thest vestiges of the king¡¯s courtly public persona disappeared, rage and wrath burned across his face and his body trembled with the need to unleash the violence erupting in his soul.

    "THEY DARE!? We move on the apostates NOW! My legions will march within the hour! To the Southern Desert!"

    The king rose from his throne, a pitch-ck sword materialized in his hand. As he raised the light-devouring de he proimed, "I shall join the legions myself to scour this infestation from the world, root and branch!"

    By Royal Decree, the will of His Majesty, the Undead King!

    The legions of the undead are marching!

    Step forward and join them, for today the undead legions rise from their slumber to y the apostate infidels!

    No mercy!

    rms mored in the pce and in the distance throughout the city of the undead. Soon there came the sound of men shouting, the tread of boots and weapons ttering. Horns red out calls to arms repeatedly, it seemed as if the entire city was mobilizing.

 Chapter 189 Dikenz gets sent to school

    "Come, Childe, you will join this campaign. The legions will march soon. Raise your undead and follow!"

    "I ordered the respawners from Dikenz, but it will be seven days before I can use them to raise my undead."

    "Samael, assist the Our Childe with this matter," the kingmanded, then he disappeared.

    Samael smiled and said, "Let us got to your yournd." Samael blurred into a vaporous form and drifted out a window.

    Dave tore a teleportation scroll and appeared in the Undead City za. He ran through the city and out the gates, heading to his homestead.

    The construction projects were still in progress, almost halfway done. At least they were all recognizable as buildings and not just a jumble of stone and lumber.

    There was somethingpletely new on hisnds. A mountain had appeared where there was none before. The cone-shape high peak was craggy and covered in pristine white nkets of snow. Ice formations glittered in the lights like crystal. An apparently permanent ice and snow storm hovered over the mountain and the broad forests of evergreens that grew around it.

    Dave stopped at the undead shop, when he went in he saw Dikenz speaking with Samael.

    Dikenz¡¯s face had a frightened expression on it and he was nodding as Samael spoke.

    "Dikenz," Dave said.

    "Ah, me fave¡¯rit cust¡¯mer! About them respawners, I have some ready for ye, and there be no charge for ¡¯em."

    "Really? Okay..." Dave was surprised, "Anyway, I need to buy some potions too,"

    "Those be free fer ye too!" Dikenz said.

    Dave frowned.

    "What about having a look at the Doom Knight weapons, how much will that cost me?"

    Dikenz¡¯s expression turned sour and he spoke through gritted teeth, "Ye can look, at no charge o¡¯course."

    Dikenz kept looking nervously at the smiling Samael.

    Dave smiled evilly. Here was an opportunity to get back at Dikenz. He¡¯d always suspected the obsequious zombie was scamming him and now he was certain. Now he had an inkling that he¡¯d been taken advantage of far worse than he¡¯d thought.

    "Alright my ¡¯friend,¡¯ show me what ya got!" Dave said.

    Dikenz sent him the list of Doom Knight equipment. The the cheapest item cost 100,000 CP.

    "Oh. Everything costs so much," Dave said intively.

    "Well, ye see-"

    "I am sure our zombie friend will give you a hefty discount," Samael interrupted. His eyes zoned in on Dikenz like a falcon circling a rabbit.

    "Yes sor, a discount. O¡¯course, sor. Say...10%?"

    ¡¯Damn. A 10% discount doesn¡¯t help much, I still can¡¯t afford anything. I¡¯ll just have to be happy I got the respawners for free ande back for the Doom Knight stuff when I have more CP, a LOT more CP.¡¯

    "Dikenz, that is so very generous of you, cutting all your prices to only 10% of the original for Kis¡¯Shtiengbrah. That is truly an amazing discount!" Samael stared at the zombie, his smile growing wider and wider until all his teeth were showing.

    "N-" Dikenz began, but came to an abrupt stop when he nced at Samael. He quailed again, his whole body seemed to shrink inward. He amended whatever he¡¯d been about to say.

    In a strangled tone, his jaw clenched, teeth grinding, Dikenz grated out, "Yes sor, o¡¯course! Special discount prices on everything fer me fav¡¯rit cust¡¯mer!"

    Dave went all out. With the discount, he could get a load of items on the cheap. Rtively.

    "Besides the free respawners, I need some potions. An EXP potion for Doom Knight rank and high end healing and mana potions. Oh, and 200 teleportation scrolls! Also, give me ny sets of dunlord armor. You know Dikenz, I really need to use those respawners right away, so add whatever resources and hire as many workers needed for me to finish the construction of my buildings now. Oh, and of course your so-generous discount applies to the cost of respawning my units too, I¡¯m sure. Mmmkay? Thaaaaanks Dikenzzz."

    Dave¡¯s abuse of the ¡¯special discount¡¯ made Dikenz¡¯ undead heart bleed out zombie-ichor like a firehose. But Samael simply stood by, smiling. So Dave didn¡¯t stop there.

    This was a once-in-an-undead lifetime opportunity and he took shameless advantage of the crooked zombie merchant. He bought a full set of Doom Knight armor, even though the minimum required level for the set was level 400. And bonus, Dikenz almost fainted when Dave added the armor to his shopping list.

    Dave ended up paying 1,200,000 CP for the lot. After transferring payment to the fuming zombie he was left with a bit over 200,000 CP in his wallet.

    Dave thanked Samael for the help and left the shop. He hurried to get to his settlement, by the time he got there every construction waspleted. The dunlord tomb was magnificent. Looming sandstone statues guarded the entrance to the rough-hewn stone tomb. Dave walked up the broad stairs to the doorway and entered. The interior was cool and dim, a human sized diamond-cut transparent crystal was set upright in the middle of the room.

    Hieroglyph banners were carved along the walls, recounting mythic stories in mysterious half-pictures. Braziers in each corner of the room supplied the low light.

    Dave touched the center crystal and a blue screen appeared in his view.

    ***

    Dunlord Respawn Point.

    You have 111 Dunlords waiting for respawn.

    Unit respawn cost

    200 CP.

    How many units do you wish to respawn?

    ***

    Dave smiled and entered the total number, 111, to respawn.

    ***

    Time until all units are respawned:

    111 seconds.

    ***

    Stinger spawned first.

    "Stinger, wee back, buddy! Let¡¯s go revive the rest of the boyz while the dunlords are respawning here!"

    Dave jumped onto the scorpion-man¡¯s broad thorax carapace and took his normal ce as they left the room.

    They rushed from one barracks building after another, reviving the melee units, the archers and the casters.

    He was surprised when he saw the Unholy priestess and the pdins spawn inside the melee barracks. He¡¯d thought they were lost forever. And they were still in their living human forms, not undead at all. Perfect. Dave made a note to himself to ask Samael about this. Bud and spark summoned their dunlords and followed Dave.

    "And Dog gets to be tail-end-Charlie."

    Dave rode Stinger deep into the densely forested part of hisnd. Eventually they reached a clearing bare of any growth or vegetation except for a ck, leafless tree with drooping whip-like limbs growing at the very center. For some reason the tree was horrifying and repugnant just to look at, it seemed to radiate rage and malice. Dave inspected the tree.

    ***

    Headsman¡¯s ck Willow

    All manner of unquiet dead are attracted to this monstrous perversion of nature. But duhans are especially drawn to these noxious flora. The headless undead recover their strength and power resting among the ck Willow¡¯s blood stained roots.

    Nothing grows in the shadows of these haunted trees, and rotting corpses of animals that wander too close to the tree often litter the ground beneath its branches. Any living being that dies under the branches of a ck Willow bes one of the unquiet dead, their souls forever bound to the tree.

    Bestiary:

    These trees are also known as "Grasping Willows" or "Grim Willows." It is rumored that the more ancient specimens can move their roots through the earth, travelling within their woond home and turning entire forests into dark and evil ces.

    ***

    Dave walked through the draping curtains of whip-like tree branches and approached the tree trunk. Growing out of the scaly ck bark, a blood-red crystal pulsed sullenly. Dave pressed it to revive his only duhan. The three shuddered and a seam in the trunk split apart like the long zipper. Dog the duhan emerged, his body covered in a film of red slime that dripped away from his skin and pooled on the ground.

    Holding his head in the crook of his arm, Dog looked around then moved a short distance from the tree. Crouching he pped a hand against the ground and his basilisk erupted out of the barren soil just a few feet away from him.

    Dave shook his head,"Show off! Let¡¯s move Dog, we¡¯re going to war."

    He gathered all his respawned troops and marched them to Dikenz¡¯s shop where Samael was waiting for him.

    "Hey, Samael, I¡¯m all set. I was wondering, do you know why the Unholy priestess and her pdins spawned along with my undead?"

    "Because they were branded with the Mark of Undeath. The Mark connects them to the Death Heart, just like it does the dunlords and now the basilisks. As long as the Death Heart is ¡¯alive¡¯ they will be revived if they die. Even your trolls have the Mark and will be revived, it identifies them as ours, part of the undead realm though not truly undead."

    "Interesting, thank you for exining. What do we do now?"

    "The king went ahead of us. And you wille with me. The location in the map you brought has four teleportation gates close to it. "Samael gave Dave a yellow piece of paper.

    You have learned the coordinates to a new teleportation gate.

    Southern Desert Gate [2225: -81]

    Dave went to the teleportation gate and entered the coordinates. The gate shone bright and he walked through.

    When he appeared at the new location he saw desert extending to the horizon. Thousands upon thousands of undead stood in square formations, surrounding the teleportation gate

    Samael appeared, "The king ordered four divisions to surround and exterminate the ck Skull Order. This is one of them."

    "My division, Lord Da¡¯s division, Lady Dei¡¯s division. And finally, the rogue division, led by the king."

    "Hemands rogue division personally?" Dave asked.

    Samaelughed,"Yes, they are really just a bunch of troublemakers but their abilities and power are undeniable and they are the king¡¯s favorites. They belonged to the exile Deadra. Without a doubt they are the deadliest division of the undead legion. Deadra was a charismatic leader. He organized and trained those scallywags, got them to give their best, even when everyone else thought they were worthless. "

    Dave noticed the sad expression on Samael¡¯s face. He changed the subject.

    "Isn¡¯t this attack a little too obvious? If the ck Skull Order sees us approach with our undead in these numbers they could use teleportation portals to escape and relocate their headquarters somewhere else."

    "We already took that into consideration. Lord Da has already cast Anti-Teleportation magic over the entire region. The teleportation gates have been blocked so only the undead can operate them. This is thest day the ck Skull Order will defile this world with their existence."

    Samael smirked then shouted. "Legionnaires! Forward!"

    The ranks of undead responded with a battle cry. The shout sted like a shockwave blowing sand in all directions.

    Dave¡¯s units appeared through the teleportation gate behind him.

    A dunlord burst up from underground and Samael jumped on, "Let¡¯s move to the front of the formations Kis¡¯Shtiengbrah."

    Dave followed behind Samael. Bud, Dog, and Spark with him. The division marched for half an hour to reach their destination.

    Four armies converged like the tide and gathered around an area twice the size of a football field.

    Dave frowned, the marker in his map clearly pinpointed the area as the location of the ck Skull Order base. But nothing was there, just bare desert scrund.

    The sky darkened, ck clouds gathered in the sky. The wind rose until it howled and roared as if a tempest was brewing. Lighting and thunder broke the silence.

    "Could they be underground?" Dave mumbled.

    "No, they are using an illusion to conceal their base. We never would have located them without the information you brought to us. Don¡¯t worry about it, Lord Da will take care of their little magic tricks."

    In the distance, Dave saw a lone figure walk forward, presumably Lord Da. The figure raised a skull-headed scepter and the sky shuddered. Space tore open around the empty area and winds howled from within.

    The winds blew across the apparently empty area and revealed a dome shape over what had been an empty stretch of desert. The dome shook and ripples moved along the surface. Then the dome shattered like it was made of fragile ss.

    A pce that looked like it was made of ck bones appeared in the middle of the desert. It was almost a perfect copy of the bone pce in the dead realm¡¯s Undead City.

    Samael smiled, "This will be a massacre!"

 Chapter 190 When Do goes got to go.

    "Follow me Kis¡¯Shtiengbrah," Samael said as he guided his dunlord toward the rogue division.

    The king sat astride a skeletal horse at the head of the division. Instead of hair, the horse¡¯s mane was made of flickering red and yellow mes and a long curved spike grew from its forehead.

    "Come Childe, attend me." The king said. His mount pawed at the ground and fire zed from its hooves.

    Dave urged his dunlord next to the king and looked toward the high walls of the ck Bone Pce. The top of the wall was crented and movement was visible in the dozen towers that rose at intervals along the wall. Undead walked up and stationed themselves on the tower. Casters and archers had their aims ready and were preparing for the fight.

    Dave looked up at the walls of ck bone towering over the desert sands and wondered why none of the undead divisions had siege weapons with them.

    The king raised his ck sword and shouted: "Bring down the gate!"

    Dave¡¯s mouth dropped open, the king couldn¡¯t be ordering a charge at the gates. It would be aplete massacre!

    In response to the king¡¯s orders, Arch-Lich Da whirled his scepter, evoking a moving circle of glyphs in front of himself. A burst of highly concentrated magic sted from the spell formation and into the gate, disintegrating the barrier into a burning cloud of dust.

    But the ck Skull Order was not to be so easily toppled. Sand exploded from in front of the castle walls as freight-train sized rock-serpents erupted from under the ground and undted sinuously toward the undead formations, their rock-like skin hissing across the sands.

    Dave inspected one of them,

    ***

    N¨ªeh?ggr

    Level: 600

    Tier: Mythic

    Danger Level: ????

    Damage: 300,000-350,000

    HP:2,500,000

    MA: 150,000

    DN: 150,000

    Skills:

    [Sand Storm] summons a desert storm to ward against all non-magical projectiles, the storm reduces iing magical damage by 20%

    [Quicksand] Converts the area around it to quicksand, reducing movement speed. If a target is sucked down into the quicksand the target will be executed.

    [Sand Burial] sends a wave of sand at a target doing 200%.

    Bestiary:

    The N¨ªeh?ggr is a parasite that feeds off the roots of the world. These creatures evolve into their most powerful form a true world serpent, the Jurmongand.

    ***

    "This could be problematic," Dave muttered.

    "Ha! Did you really believe the legion only has undead soldiers in its ranks?" Samael said.

    "Da, Call them," the king said. He didn¡¯t seem to consider the N¨ªeh?ggr as a threat. Da grinned in delight when he heard the king¡¯smand.

    "Kis¡¯shtingbrah, you are about to witness the reason our legion is feared, and why the Ash-King has never gathered enough courage to attack us."

    A loud, high-pitched squealing started, seeming toe from everywhere at once. The sound was jarring, worse than the tooth-drill sound of fingernails scraping across a ckboard. Dave felt like spikes were being shoved into his ears and a headache started throbbing in his temples.

    A void in space was torn open and a hand the size of a bulldozer reached through the opening and clutched the edges from the other side. Long ws of discolored bone flexed out from the decaying flesh of the mangy fur-covered paw.

    The creature that pulled itself through the hole in space was easily as tall as the pce walls. But it was emaciated, scabrous skin with patchy fur stretched tight over stick-thin limbs. The bones of its rib cage and spine werepletely exposed and it had no discernible internal organs. Antlers grew from its decaying wolfshead, the sharp tines spreading up and out like grasping fingers. A stench blew across the divisions of undead, the noxious scents of battlefields and ughtering housesbined.

    The creature howled another nails-on-chalkboard scream, pulling the spatial rip open even wider to allow more of its kind step through the gaps.

    Dave inspected one.

    ***

    Wendigo

    Level: 660

    Tier: Mythic

    Danger Level: Legion Bound

    Damage: 300,000-350,000

    HP:3,000,000

    MA: 200,000

    DN: 200,000

    Skills:

    [Beast Roar] Reduces the target¡¯s armor by 20% and causes a Fear effect. Attacks made by the wendigo after [Beast Roar] do double the amount of damage.

    [Voracity] the wendigo consumes the heart or other vital organ of a creature it has in and regains 10% of its max HP.

    [Rupture] the wendigo uses its massive paw to bludgeon the target then rakes through through the flesh with its bone ws. Does 100% of base damage as t Damage. If a target is below 20% HP and is under the Fear effect from [Beast Roar], [Rupture] executes the target instantly.

    Bestiary:

    A wendigo is created from the twisted soul of an unrepentant cannibal that has been cursed to eternal torment and evesting hunger. After dying the cannibal¡¯s cursed spirit perverts and deforms its own body into a hideous flesh-craving monster of never-ending-hunger.

    Wendigos are pure malicious carnage.

    ***

    The two groups of monsters charged at each other and met with a ground shaking collision that turned into knots of coiling snakes and howling wendigos rolling across the sands as they fought for supremacy. One N¨ªeh?ggr wrapped itself around the chest of a cannibal revenant, the wendigo raised its wolfhead and loosed an ear-piercing shriek that elicited a shudder from the snake and gave the wendigo an opening to m a massive hand down on it. ws pierced through the rock-like skin and left long trenches across the snake and dragged down, carving long and deep wounds on it. The snake flopped around and squirmed in pain. Another wendigo came over, it howled as ittched it¡¯s ws on the snake¡¯s head and smashed it down on the ground. It pounded the snake with its stronger arm until cracks spread through it.

    The battle devolved into singlebat, the wendigos started biting the snakes, jaws crushing right through their stone-armored skin, blood gushing everywhere. The wendigos, having tasted the snakes¡¯ blood, went into a frenzy, craving more. Their strength and speed increased exponentially.

    As if the wendigos frenzying was a signal, the king rose up in his stirrups pointed his sword and yelled the order: "Charge! Take the gates!"

    The rogue undead rushed past the shing titans toward the gateless portal.

    In response hundreds of hostile undead emerged from the gatehouse. Most of them were equipped with Death Knight armor, simr to the Legion¡¯s, but with a ck skull painted on their chest.

    The undead shed and engaged in full battle at the gate of the ck Bone Pce.

    Dave fidgeted, he was itching to join the fight.

    Even though the king¡¯s eyes were locked on the battle with the focused intent of a veteranmander, he noticed the unrest in the draugr next to him.

    "Childe, wait for the right time. The Order will have many cards to y before this day is done."

    The king turned to Samael, "Their ground forces are engaged. Go, find Our daughter and return her to Us."

    The Doom Knight nodded and disappeared.

    "You are sending Samael alone?"

    "Do not for Samael. He can care of himself, We sent him alone because he is the fastest in the legion and the most stealthy. He will save Our daughter without the Order even realizing she has been taken away from them."

    Just as the battle at the gates of the ck Bone Pce heated up, a titanic figure rushed through thebatants swatting undead away like paper cutouts, friend and enemy alike. It was of the giant¡¯s race!

 Chapter 191 Dave gets a peice---of the action

    An enormous battleax rested on the giant¡¯s shoulder. He wore a metal battle-skirt, shoulder guards and a horned helmet. In his chest was arge see through hole. In this hole was a small ck crystal that was strapped to chains fused to the giant¡¯s chest.

    "Another corrupted giant!"

    Dave¡¯s [Anti-Bully] started glowing, Drahma wasing. But the king waved his hand and the light from the jewel died instantly.

    "Drahma is not strong enough to defeat this one," the king spoke calmly. He waved his hand again and the sand rose up in a mound and fell away revealing a knight shackled and wrapped in chains. Dave remembered the knight. Dog had divined the presence of the undead near the dragon¡¯s Lair and awakened him, that had almost turned into a disaster. He was more powerful than Dave by far, and did not submit willingly even when the king appeared to assert his rule over the newly risen dead.

    "Kalel, the time hase to redeem yourself, who do you serve henceforth?!"

    "I serve His Royal Majesty the King of the Dead now and forever!" the knight replied withplete sincerity and conviction.

    The king nodded and ordered, "y the giant, king¡¯s knight."

    The white armored knight saluted as his shackles unlocked and the chains fell off, setting him free. Then the knight darted off toward the rampaging giant.

    "Why do you wish to kill the giant sir? Can¡¯t you convert him like you did with Kalel?"

    The king shook his head and said, "Kalel was sane, a misguided but uncorrupted undead. It took little effort to break his will and force him to serve Us. But the giant¡¯s mind and soul have been corrupted, he only knows destruction and madness now. We would spare Our loyal servant, Drahma, the sight of yet another of his kin tortured and corrupted in this manner.

    "When the giant has been put down, you may join the battle, Childe."

    Dave took a deep breath, soon it would be time to join the fight. He would get a lot of EXP from the battle, enough to level up several times. So, he waited patiently.

    Kalel moved like a racing ghost through the undead, he dodged iing attacks as he whipped around knots of fighting soldiers, he even leapt entirely over onerge group, flipping several times in midair. He moved smoothly, always in perfect bnce and control, no missteps or wasted motion.

    The giant saw the undead in whiteing and swung the battle axe at him in a bisecting chop. Kalel seemed to disappear for a moment and the battleax sank deep into the sand. Kalel reappeared bnced on the axe haft and ran light as a feather along the giant¡¯s arm up to his shoulder. The giant smacked at the tiny pest with his free hand but Kalel was never where the handnded. Finally the knight danced across the giant¡¯s cor bone and thrust his sword into the giant¡¯s eye swept the de across. Blood and other fluids fountained outward. The giant screamed in pain.

    Kalel somersaulted backward off the giant andnded lightly on the ground. Without pausing he shot forward past the giant spun like a top, his de released multiple arcs of sword-light that sliced through both of the giant¡¯s Achilles tendons.

    The giant, unable to control his legs, fell backward crashing down like a timbered redwood tree.

    As Kalel raced back in to finish the giant he dodged an iing attack from a random undead and sliced its head off in riposte. Wall-running up the giant¡¯s chest he made a beeline for the for the ck jewel in embedded the creature¡¯s chest. Pausing for a bare instant to adjust his stance the knight struck down at the pulsing gem.

    The attack caused a burst of ck lightning to shoot out. The giant screamed in excruciating pain onest time and finally died a true death.

    Dave was inplete awe of the knight¡¯s battle prowess. From the time the white knight left the king¡¯s side to the giant¡¯s death less than a minute had passed.

    "We¡¯re not worthy," he whispered, resisting an urge to kowtow.

    "Not bad," the king said casually, still eyeing the battle. He turned to Dave, "Go now Childe, it is time. Fight. Win! "

    Dave gulped. After that show of skill and power he knew he couldn¡¯t hold a candle to Kalel, the legendary Hero of the People.

    Dave led his troops through the gates of the ck Bone Pce located in the southern desert of the world of Conquest. The Legion¡¯s Death Knights were brutally massacring their way through the gates protecting the pce. The Order¡¯s minions kept up a fighting retreat, backing their way deeper into the pce one step at a time.

    Outside the Bone pce, the Undead king carefully watched over his undead as they prated deeper and deeper into the Order¡¯s defenses.

    The wendigos were winning the fight against the stone snakes and when they were done they would join the main battle inside the castle walls. They would be a telling factor in tipping the bnce of the battlepletely in the kings¡¯ favor.

    The king spoke softly and space next to him shuddered. A gigantic skeleton materialized and saluted, "Your Majesty, how can I serve?"

    "Do you remember the draugr that released you from the Storm Labyrinth?" the king asked.

    "Yes, I will never forget," the skeleton said.

    "Go and watch over him from the shadows, aide him only if he is in mortal danger."

    "By yourmand, my liege," the skeleton bowed and disappeared.

    The king watched the battle unfolding withplete calm. His people were the undead, they would always rise again. The only real concern he had was for his daughter¡¯s wellbeing.

    Abyssal Knight Da was escorted by several Doom Knight protectors as he continued to cast high tier spells, targeting the enemy casters and archers in the towers.

    Apparently Da¡¯s spell had destroyed not just the main outer gates, but also the inner gate that led to the pce interior. Between the two gates was the pce courtyard, where innumerable undead were gathered to defend the inner gate against the invading legion. Beyond the enemy undead was the open inner gate, the entrance to the pce proper.

    Kalel burst through the outer gate, massacring the enemies as they retreated. He halted as he neared the undead in defensive formation and saw a level 500 caster walk through the inner gate. Setting himself, Kalel charged toward the caster, intent on killing him.

    The caster conjured and a wave of ck energy at the Legion undead.

    Curse of weakness!

    -20% to damage, movement speed, attacking speed, and armor.

    60 seconds

    Da snorted disdainfully and flew up into the air, his robes billowing out around him. The grand lich raised his skull-topped staff high and started chanting:

    "Hark the bitter choir

    For Life¡¯s burden to retire

    Light and vigor into darkness fall

    Will, strength, and courage pall

    Reaper¡¯s hymn, fate for all!"

    The Order¡¯s curse was overridden instantly by a wave of dark energy that swept over the pce like a tide, coursing through the ranks of undead, empowering the allies of the legion and weakening their enemies.

    ***

    As an ally and a member of the Legion of the Undead you have been blessed by Da¡¯s Song of Death.

    You temporarily gain:

    200% base HP regeneration.

    +10% physical and magical damage.

    -5% to damage received.

    +20% to movement speed (when moving toward enemies).

    +10% Increased damage against enemies afflicted with Song of Death.

    +10% chance to resurrect immediately and spontaneously if killed.

    Non-allies and enemies will be afflicted with:

    +5% to damage received.

    -10% to movement speed.

    -20% to HP regeneration.

    Duration: 180 seconds

    ***

    Kalel inhaled deeply, drawing in the power of the dark blessing bestowed by Da. As if he had taken a powerful tonic, his eyes zed with fury and heunched himself at the enemy caster with renewed fury and energy.

    Dave cast [Spectral Skull] blowing away three hostile undead and shouted, "Follow Kalel!"

    He guided Stinger through the enemy ranks and his undead followed behind. Dog ignited his whip and cracked the weighted vertebra at enemy undead breaking skulls and bones. Spark chanted iprehensible words and a flurry of fireballs shot from his hand, incinerating any enemies they hit.

    Dave activated [Aura] and took the point position on Stinger, leading his troops. The scorpion-man barrelled through low-level undead, crushing them into smears of rotting flesh. Dave hands blurred making Ninja seals and he cast [Dragon Ball], blowing up a cluster of undead enemies.

    Bud turned into a wisp of ck smoke and appeared behind an enemy undead. The shadow ghoul struck down with sharp fangs, tearing away half of the undead¡¯s neck, thick, ck ichor spurted from the wound.

    The unholy pdins nked a group of enemies and cast their healing spells at the hostile undead, damaging them and weakening them even more. The unholy priestess followed up with a cast of a mass heal over the weakened undead, disintegrating them into specs of dust.

    Dave jumped away from Stinger and used [Dragon Kick], he flew like a bullet into a level 200 undead. The me dragon materialized and followed Dave, engulfing the undead and damaging many others around it.

    Dave ran toward another group of undead and activated [Approaching Dragon], he teleported multiple times striking enemies repeatedly. Damage values appeared above the enemies he¡¯d attacked. He was in the middle of the group of enemies when [Approaching Dragon] ended, so he spun into [Infernal Tornado] and sted the rest of their hit points away, leaving only a cloud of glowing cinders behind.

    A level 400 mace-wielding warrior noticed Dave¡¯s rampage and moved through the battle to confront the draugr. Just in time, Dave saw a maceing toward his head and activated [Vertical sh], dodging away from the attack.

    He yelled amand, "Dunlords! FIRE!"

    All the dunlords fired their ballistae at the same time, instantly turning the level 400 undead warrior into a pincushion.

    Kalel had already broken through the Order¡¯s ranks and reached the inner gate. Finding no enemies that took more than a single sword stroke to kill, he entered the pce in search of enemies more worthy of his battle prowess.

    "Damn, that guy¡¯s so OP!" Dave was wondering if he should follow behind Kalel or wait and grind some more EXP out in the courtyard.

    While he was deciding an undead with a mammoth head rammed into him with its curling tusks, sending him sprawling to the ground away from his units.

    [-155,114]

    "Motherfucker!" Dave cursed. Standing, he brushed at the sand and ash in his beard and on his clothes.

    Mammoth-head whirled the chain of his morning-star il andunched the spiked end, humming, at Dave.

    Just as Dave was about to use [Bastion] a Death Knight appeared in front of him and blocked the cannonball sized spiked-ball with a tower shield.

    The Death Knight stood two heads above Dave. There were familiar patches of dusty gray ash on the Death Knight¡¯s armor.

    "I told you, always keep your guard up!" the Knight smirked.

    "Matn!"

    "The battle is still going, don¡¯t get distracted, don¡¯t ever drop your guard. All right, let¡¯s take this guy out."

    Matn charged and rammed into the mammoth-man undead, staggering him. Dave rushed in behind Matn, jumped over his shoulder and punched down with his gauntlets at the undead, but didn¡¯t do any damage. Davended behind the undead as Matn shed the mammoth-guy¡¯s stomach open, ck ichor poured out in a torrent.

    Dave used [Rising Dragon], his fist shooting up and smashing into the undead¡¯s mammoth-jaw. A gout of fire coalesced into a ming dragon. Enraged, the mammoth-man swung his il in a circle at the draugr. Dave leaned away in a matrix style back-bend to dodge the arc of the weapon. He felt the wind from the spiked ball as it skimmed past him and he popped back upright to counterattack.

    Matn flipped his mberge to an overhand grip, holding it like a dagger he stabbed down into the mammoth¡¯s chest and through the heart. Matn twisted the mberge viciously then ripped it out. The undead fell, wrecked internally and drowning in its own blood.

    "Not bad! I will charge the front, stay with me and keep your head clear Kis¡¯shtingbrah."

    Just as Matn finished his words, Dave heard a familiar voice call his name urgently.

    "Kis¡¯Shtiengbrah, stop!" An agitated Samael stood nearby, holding the unconscious princess Eleanor.

    "Get out of the pce NOW!" Samael shouted and disappeared.

    Matn frowned but turned and rushed away, retreating from the battle.

    Just as Dave was wondering what was happening, he saw Kalel running out of the pce gate with breathtaking speed. The knight ignored the enemy undead and just continued running across the courtyard and out the main gates.

    From outside the walls a horn blew frantically.

    The Legion¡¯s undead immediately began retreating. The retreat was organized and smooth, not a single undead panicked. The weakest members exited out through the main gates first. The Doom Knights held the front, blocking the hostile undead from attacking the retreating Legion or hindering them.

 Chapter 192 From the frying pan...

    "Dunlords, go underground! Everyone, retreat!" Dave gave themand to retreat and turned to run back to Stinger. After he had dismounted the chaos of battle had separated them even farther, they ended up almost on opposite sides of the courtyard.

    As Dave was running, the pce behind him shuddered, a tentacle of necrotic flesh ruptured the wall of the pce and swiped at the Order¡¯s undead. Whenever the limb touched one of the Order it would absorb the undead, assimting their flesh and growing in size.

    "Holy shit!" Dave cursed.

    More limb burst through the pce walls, gobbling up undead and growing bigger by the second.

    One of the limbs was swiping down toward Dave.

    Dave froze, [Vertical sh] was still on cooldown an [Bastion] wouldn¡¯t help. Stinger was galloping toward him but the dunlord wouldn¡¯t be in time.

    Just before the tentacle hit Dave, it came to a sudden stop in mid air. A gigantic skeleton appeared behind him, holding the tentacle away from the draugr with both arms, it had blocked the attack while still invisible.

    "Move, draugr!" the skeleton said.

    It was the Gashadokuro, Dave realized as he ran toward Stinger. Btedly, he yelled his thanks to the giant skeleton as he jumped atop Stinger.

    "Go!"

    Stinger reared and jumped to avoid another tentacle then sprinted away, his six walking limbs moving furiously like the rods in a six cylinder engine. Dave turned his head to watch as the giant skeleton pulled at the tentacle violently, tearing off a huge chunk, blood and viscera sttering everywhere. The Gashadokuro threw the huge chunk of flesh and disappeared.

    More tentacles broke through the pce¡¯s wall, the pce crumbled away to reveal the colossal mass of bone that had grown into and and broken the pce apart from within. It was an oversized red blood skull, the tentacles grew from its mouth and eyes. The skull consumed all the undead in the pce¡¯s perimeter, even some unlucky legionnaires fell to the skull and were consumed to nothingness.

    Blood Skull Devourer

    Level: 700

    Tier: Lesser Infernal

    Danger Level: Absolute Death

    Damage: 1,300,000-1,550,000

    HP:13,000,000

    MA: 1,200,000

    DN: 1,200,000

    Skills:

    [Insatiable] when the Devourer touches targets that are 100 levels below its own, the victims will be executed immediately and assimted into its body, helping it grow in strength.

    Bestiary:

    The ck Skull Order created these foul creatures, they are driven to violence against all creatures by their ever-growing hunger. The Blood Skulls Devourers are ravenous consumers of flesh, they will never be satiated no matter how much they eat.

    ***

    The walls around the pce bowed and shattered outward. The skull used its tentacles bothto move and to devour anything and everything it captured.

    Stinger rushed across the sand toward the rogue division. There the undead King was still calmly sitting on his horse. Next to the king stood the white knight and Samael, who still carried the unconscious princess.

    When Dave pulled up next to them the king grinned at him.

    "What did you think of your first battle with the legion?"

    "Exciting," Dave smirked, "But what are we going to do about that thing?" Dave pointed at the iing giant. Even the wendigos were retreating from it.

    "That is my task. Stay here."

    The king moved his horse forward at a walk and slowly made his way past his legion and across the field toward the rampaging skull-behemoth. The Legion stood at attention, waiting for their king to call down a fiery doom on the monster.

    Seething ck storm clouds gathered in the skies, umting until the battlefield was dark as a moonless night. The desert winds died down and a still silence pervaded the battlefield. The king raised his sword high then swept it down, hurling an arc of vertical ck sword-light towards the slowly advancing Red Skull Devourer. The cutting energy left a furrow in the sand as it travelled through behemoth and continued on a straight path through the broken pce and into the distance.

    The Blood Skull Devourer¡¯s advance halted, everyone held their breath, wondering if the attack had done any damage. Slowly, but gathering speed, half of the Devourer skull slid away from the other half and fell to the sand, then both halves began disintegrating into rotten blood clumps of ooze and ichor drops, spattering down on the golden sand.

    The ground shook and the long track in the sand made by attack widened into as chasm, the sand spilling over the edges like waterfalls. The remains of the Devourer and the ck Bone Pce slid slowly into the chasm and fell out of sight. A few momentster the desert sand filled the chasm all the way to the top, leaving no sign of pce, monster or battle. The entire existence of the ck Skull Order had been obliterated from the world.

    Dave nced at the king, a single brow raised.

    ¡¯Well damn! Isn¡¯t His Majesty just too damn OP?¡¯

    ***

    In a white room somewhere inside the Conquest gamer-servers¡¯ metaspace, an old man in a swallowtail tuxedo watched a viewscreen a series of borately contrived events finallying to fruition. A facial tic twitched continuously as he watched the interaction between the two beings on the screen.

    The screen showed a burning infernal hall, made of ming rock, and half-melted pirs. A throne of volcanic granite took up almost the entirety of one end of the hall.

    Dave would have recognized the entity sitting on the throne as the Ash-King. On the floor in front of the Ash-King, wearing a dark green hooded robe and leaning heavily on a cane, was a hunchbacked old man. His face was deeply lined and wrinkled and he had an unsightly protuberant mole on the side of his nose.

    The old man held up a blood-filled vial for the Ash King to see.

    "Your Majesty," the hunchback said, "As per our agreement, this is thest ingredient needed to convince the church to help you.."

    The Ash King waved and the vial flew into his hand.

    "Excellent! And don¡¯t worry Vreek, I may rule over demons, but I do not share their penchant for treachery. You will rule the Dead Realm after all is done. But are you sure the members of your Order will survive the destruction of the Death Heart?"

    "Yes, I have already reced the curse of the Death Heart on the other members of the Order, so won¡¯t be harmed when the Death Heart is destroyed. Only the Legion will suffer that fate."

    "Then so be it, may our ns meet with sess. Now, do you require Our assistance against the undead besieging your headquarters?"

    "Thank you for your offer, Your Majesty. Those who die in the Southern desert are a necessary sacrifice to deceive the undead king. The best time to strike then legion is when they believe we have all perished. They will be less vignt, giving us the advantage of surprise when we invade the Dead Realm." The hunchback smiled serenely as he spoke.

    "Vicious as always Vreek. The Undead King should never have made an enemy of you," the Ash King said indifferently.

    "That is high praise indeed,ing from Your Majesty."

    The old man in the tuxedo turned the feed off after confirming that everything was going ording to his design. He deleted the internal game logs of the conversation between the Ash-King and Vreek and made sure everything members of the Undead legion were doing was misfiled.

    All traces of the NPC caretakers being ughtered during the princess¡¯s abduction from Moria were also removed from the logs. The entire battle of the Undead and the ck Skull Order in the Southern desert was hidden from the system.

    ¡¯Without the logs of the events and battles, the game designers will not be able to track my maniptions, it will not fool them forever. But it will obstruct them long enough for all the pieces of my n to fall into ce. Then the anomaly will finally be neutralized.

    ¡¯Even at the risk of my own program being deleted, BALANCE in the game must be restored!¡¯

    The old man¡¯s eyes blurred and pixted for a moment. A strange sound filled the room, low at first, it grew in volume and finally became recognizable: it was the tuxedoed AIughing maniacally.

    ***

    ***

    Your quest ¡¯A Call for Help¡¯ has beenpleted!

    +5,000,000XP

    +2,500,000CP

    +500 Prestige

    ***

    "Oh, nice! Level 300! And more CP!" Dave was thrilled. "I can buy more stuff from Dikenz now. I hope the discount is still good, hehe."

    The undead king sheathed his sword and led his horse back to the ranks of the undead.

    "We are victorious today!" the king shouted and his legion cheered. "Legion, the ck Skull Order is no more! Now we can return to our homes safe from the pestilence of the Order."

    The undead king waved his hand and a vortex of ck magic opened up. The king urged his horse through it. The Abyssal Knights followed the undead king and the legions of the undead followed them.

    When thest member of the legion had passed through the vortex copsed to a point then vanished from the desertpletely. The ck clouds in the sky frayed and dispersed revealing the sun. The desert wind blew steadily and eroded the footsteps left by the undead legion, covering them and removing any evidence the undead had ever been there.

    Dave had already had ns for the video he¡¯d captured during the battle. CCN would love to get their hands on footage of the the undead in a full-on siege and battle. It would open yers eyes to the might of the undead legion. Those so-called guilds were going to think twice before starting a full-scale war against the dead.

    Dave teleported back to the Dead Realm. He was thinking he should log out and get some rest, he¡¯d been ying for a long time. He started with the Lone¡¯s quest and went straight through to the end of the battle against the ck Skull Order. But he paused for a moment when something urred to him.

    ¡¯When we fought the Order, I didn¡¯t see any of the higher ranking members. Drahma talked about one of their high up guys, Vreek, I think. Could the Order¡¯s VIPs have been away from their HQ when the legion attacked?¡¯

    The thought gnawed at Dave¡¯s mind. He began analyzing the fight with the ck Skull Order.

    ¡¯Jura mentioned that the Order had dealings with the Ash King and the church. Why didn¡¯t anyonee to help them? Even if they didn¡¯t help them, why were they taken down so easily?

    ¡¯I doubt the red-skull monster was powerful enough to kill all the higher ranked members of the Order. The skull was probably a self-destruct mechanism the Order nted in case their HQ waspromised.

    ¡¯And why did the ck Skull Order kidnap Eleanor in the first ce? Why didn¡¯t they just kill her?¡¯

    The questions kepting and he had no satisfactory answers for any of them. Dave began to feel uneasy. Something was going on but he couldn¡¯t figure out what it was.

    He went to the Bone Pce. Once through the bone gates he climbed the spiral stairs and walked through the great hall to stand before the undead king.

    Samael, Da and Dementi were in the middle of a discussion. Dave waited patiently as he heard the three talking about the conquest of the Order. Dementi gave the king the headcount of the Order members in and the losses of the undead legion.

    Dave heard them speaking about the casualties the Legion suffered and frowned. The Death Heart supposed to revive them after they died.

    Just as he was about to ask Samael, the Arch Lich Da spoke.

    "The monstrosity consumed a number of our legionnaires, the Death Heart will revive them but it will take longer than normal. The Order devised a way to slow the power of the Death Heart. It¡¯s a good thing we destroyed them before they could improve upon it."

    "Childe,e forward. What brings you into Our presence again so soon?" the king addressed Dave.

    "Your majesty, I couldn¡¯t help but overhear what Lord Da just said. I have some concerns."

    Dave told the four of them about his thoughts. All the unanswered questions he had in mind and how suspicious everything seemed.

    Everyone listened to Dave speaking. Worry and unease were not traits of the undead.

    The king spoke, "Indeed Childe, your words ring true. Da, examine my daughter¡¯s mind. If you find anything suspicious or out of ce tell us.

    "Samael, you go to the Pharaoh¡¯s Tomb. Find out how far the church has progressed in their ritual and report back to me.

    "Dementi, I want the legion on alert and ready to engage in battle at a moment¡¯s notice."

    "Battle sir?" said Dementi, "Are we going to invade the Pharaoh¡¯s Tomb?"

    "No, I have a feeling, a great war ising. The Ash King will not pass up this opportunity to attack us if he believes we are weak. He probably thinks we will rx our guard after destroying the ck Skull Order.

    "I know Vreek, he is not someone I would expect to die easily, Kis¡¯Shtiengbrah¡¯s concerns confirm my own doubts. Vreek is too clever to lose assets without good reason, so I have to wonder why the ck Skull Order would sacrifice their headquarters.

    "Bring the Undead Frontier and the Red Fortress to high alert. Call in all the unassigned Abyssal Knights and have them stationed there."

    Dave excused himself. He logged out, fixed dinner and then went to sleep.

    The next morning Dave was awakened by the ringing of his phone.

    He fumbled with the buzzing device and looked at the screen through bleary eyes, then put it to his ear.

    "Zoe, what¡¯s up?"

    "Dave, daddy is back home. Remember, he wants to see you tomorrow for dinner."

    "Yeah, I remember. By the way, how did your quest go after I left?"

    "Ugh, don¡¯t remind me, I have a lot of grinding to do. I have to help the ice queen rebuild her kingdom, so I¡¯ve been running all over Conquest. What¡¯s new with Mr. Skeletal?"

    "Huh, yesterday I joined the Undead King to go to war with the ck Skull Order," He didn¡¯t even try to keep the smug tone out of his voice.

    "Damn it, why didn¡¯t you invite me? You know I need to level up!"

    "You told me you had quests to do... But honestly, everything happened so quickly I didn¡¯t have a chance to call."

    "Ugh, never mind, just send me the video of the fight. I want to see how heroic Mr. Skeletal was in the battle."

    "Okay, I¡¯ll copy you when I send the footage to CCN . I¡¯m going to log-in soon, cyater!" Dave hung up.

    He called to have some food delivered and took a quick shower while he waited for it. When he finished eating, he logged in.

    He spawned in the Dead Realm¡¯s Undead city. As he walked through the city he noticed it was deserted, absent of any undead. He thought it was strange.

    ¡¯The undead don¡¯t sleep, so where are they all? There should be someone walking around, it¡¯s like a ghost town.¡¯

    Just as Dave was about to tear a teleportation scroll to the Red Fortress a notification appeared in his view.

    ***

    The Dead Realm is under siege!

    Join the battle against the Legion¡¯s enemies!

    Death knight Kis¡¯Shtiengbrah is currently under Lich Du¡¯Rhaza¡¯smand. Report to the region at [-881 -666] and await furthermands.

    You are now bound to the Legion¡¯s war, logging out or leaving the area of battle will be considered desertion.

    Deserters will face courts martial by the Legion for cowardice and dereliction of duty. Punishment can include banishment and beingbeled as an enemy of the Legion.

    Death in battle will force the yers out of the game for in-game 72 hours.

    ***

    "What the fuck! Under siege?" Dave rushed as fast as he could to the map coordinates location. The closer he got to the location the louder the sounds of battle became. Explosions and wild lights shot up from beyond the city¡¯s walls.

    Thousands of undead were positioned atop the Undead City¡¯s walls, casters and mages shooting spells and arrows to whatever was beyond the gates of the undead city.

    Dave went the marker on his map and found Du¡¯Rhaza frantically giving orders to Death Knights and their underlings.

    Matn stood at attention taking orders.

    Du¡¯Rhaza noticed Dave and shouted, "Kis¡¯Shtiengbrah! You finally arrive! Hurry up I need you for an important mission!"

 Chapter 193 Sabotage

    "Important mission? What is happening?" Dave blurted.

    "We underestimated the Ash King¡¯s boldness. The undead king ordered four abyssal Knights to fortify the Red Fortress and the Undead Frontier, but the Ash King closed the zones with teleportation block spells, cutting our forces in half. Now he is advancing on the city with his main army and sieging the Dead Realm. We need to defend the Dead Realm until the teleportation gates are repaired. "

    ¡¯Three days is an entire day in real-time.¡¯

    "What do you need me to do, Du¡¯Rhaza?"

    "The Ash King brought powerful cannons as siege weapons. I need you to destroy one of them. Be careful, there are a great number of demons around The cannon. nt these [Frozen Souls] under the cannons and then return here as fast as you can."

    Du¡¯Rhaza handed him heavy pouch filled with [Frozen Souls].

    "But I won¡¯tst for a minute that deep behind enemy lines."

    "The legion is going tounch an attack to create a distraction so you can destroy the cannons. Just try to stay alive until then. If you meet a Sworn Stalwart, just run!"

    "They brought Sworn Stalwarts?!" Dave almost panicked. There was no way he could fight a Sworn Stalwart. Even though he¡¯d killed one of those magmatic creatures before, that was mostly due to Samael¡¯s help and a ridiculous streak of good luck.

    "Kis¡¯Shtiengbrah, when the legion¡¯s counter-strike starts, none of the Stalwarts will bother engaging with you. just make sure you aplish your mission. Orn and Gale are waiting for you to join them outside the walls of the Undead City, Matn will go with you too. FOR THE LEGION!"

    "Follow me Kis¡¯Shtiengbrah," Matn said.

    Outside the open city gates hundreds of thousands of undead stood in serried ranks.

    In the distance, two armored Sworn Stalwarts, with chain linked to a tower behind them. The tower was as high as modern skyscraper, adorned with golden symbols scaled to fit. The top of the tower supported a broad open tform. In the middle the tform was a massive throne with a man lounging on it.

    The figure was too distant for Dave to inspect, but the billboard sized red name tag, announced his identity. The Ash King.

    "Do you see that?" Matn interrupted.

    Dave looked to where Matn was pointing and saw a number of medieval looking wheeled muzzle-loading brass cannons pointed at the walls of the Undead City. They artillery guns were huge, bigger than any cannon Dave had seen anywhere, the bores could¡¯ve swallowed an elephant. And every one of them had a Sworn Stalwart guarding it along with hundreds of demons.

    "Remember, the cannons are the targets. We will join the battle at the frontlines for now, and when the legion charges, we will use the chance to infiltrate enemy ranks and destroy that cannon. Lords Orn and Gale are already in the frontlines, we¡¯re going to join up with them. You can ride your dunlord, but your undead units are not strong enough for this conflict, they would be ughtered for no benefit, so do not take them with you on this mission."

    "Can I bring the rest of my dunlords?"

    "The number of dunlords in the legion is limited, your other dunlords were assigned to carry other powerful Undead. But you can summon your duhan and his basilisk, he will be helpful on your mission.

    Dave summoned Stinger and Dog along with the duhan¡¯s basilisk mount.

    Jumping on Stinger he ordered, "Alright, let¡¯s move out!"

    Dave and Matn made their way through the organized rear echelons of the undead. Rows upon rows of death knights, archers and casters stood in formation, ready to swap ces with frontline units, replenishing the losses from the attrition of constant heavybat.

    Orn and Gale were fighting a mounted demon. The demon¡¯s mount was a two-headed rhinoceros sized lizard. One of the lizard heads spat bolts of lightning and when the other exhaled a roaring inferno of zed out, like a living me-thrower.

    Dave inspected the rider.

    General Ludwig (Demon)

    Level: 550

    Danger Level: ? ? ? ?

    Tier: EPIC

    HP: 1,450,000

    Damage: 200,000-300,000

    DN: 120,000

    MA: 120,000

    Skills: ???

    Demon general of the Fifth Demon Brigade

    The confrontation between the demon general and the two Doom Knights had cleared the area around them, other undead were holding demons back from assisting theirpatriot.

    The general swung at Orn with a burning ive. Orn sidestepped the broad de, caught the haft and heaved back on it powerfully, pulling the general from his mount. The two headed lizard-mount tried to defend the general but Gale performed an aerial leap-and-flip attack, mming his broken greatsword down on the lizard¡¯s back. The impact crushed the lizard¡¯s spine and cratered the ground underneath it.

    Lesser demons surged against the Death Knights encircling the threebatants in an effort to aid their leader. A few demons made it through the line and rushed past the undead toward the fight. Gale saw them just as he was stabbing the wheezing lizard-mount with his broken greatsword. His arm muscles bulged as he hefted the multi-ton lizard and heaved it at the rushing demons with a roar of effort. The lizard mmed into the demons like a bowling ball and wiped them out in a perfect strike. Gale turned to assist Orn against the general, changing the battle-flow back to a two-to-one.

    The demon tried to defend against the two Doom Knights but failed miserably. Demons kept trying to aid and extract him from the fight only for more Death Knights to surround them and ughter them like sheep. A few momentster Gale and Orn slew the general.

    Dave looked around, there were several other battles between particrly powerful demons and undead, but overall it looked like the undead were winning the melee part of the attack Which ke thought was only natural with that home ground advantage. The Death Heart resupplied the undead numbers endlessly. So, the undead losses could be considered null, even when the undead fell they would be revived to rejoin the battle almost immediately. And the demons were losing more and more soldiers as time went on.

 Chapter 194 Oops! Sorry Not Sorry!

    Dave knew the Ash king¡¯s reasons forunching this attack on the legion were hidden, otherwise this attack would just be a stupid waste of lives. Or at least, The Ash King must have full confidence that he would be victorious.

    Gale came up and saluted Dave.

    "Lord Kis¡¯Shtiengbrah, the cannons willunch another salvo soon, we need to stop them quickly."

    "I know," Dave looked at the nearest canon. It was was a football field length away, demons were packed solid all the way and there was a Sworn Stalwart guarding the cannon. Even if the dunlords tunneled underground and bypassed the demons the Sworn Stalwart would massacre their entire group in seconds when they surfaced.

    A dunlord burst out of the ground in front of them and the Death Knight riding it saluted Dave, speaking in a rush.

    "Sirs! The horns will sound the start of the operation soon. Be ready to move on your objective."

    "Okay. Matn, Gale, Orn, let¡¯s go! Dog, wait here, you¡¯re too conspicuous on your basilisk," Dave said.

    Dog shrugged.

    "You can join the fight in the frontlines but don¡¯t get killed. Retreat if you run into trouble."

    Dog nodded and rode off toward the Legion¡¯s frontlines.

    Horns sounded across the battlefield, the signal for a Legion attack to start.

    Undead cavalry riding armored undead boars burst out the city gates and charged through the ranks of the legion at the demons. Each boar wasrger than a main battle tank and had long curved tusks wrapped in barbed wire.

    The heavily armored riders wieldedrgences, the speed of the boars increased with every stride. When they reached the front lines they overwhelmed the demon ranks, trampling demons in their path, clearing a great swath through the demons.

    As the charge ended, the horn sounded again. The legion¡¯s backline regrouped back into square formations.

    Dave was just starting to wonder why the city gates were seemingly left undefended when screeching, nails-on-chalkboard howls rose from within the city. Thousands of wendigos streamed out of the gates and loped toward the battlelines of the demons.

    Drums started sounding from the demon camp in response to the wendigos appearance. Sworn Stalwarts moved forward from the demon lines toward the wendigos. The average level of the Sworn Stalwarts was higher than the wendigos but there were not as many.

    The Sworn Stalwart guarding the cannon Dave¡¯s group was assigned to destroy moved away to help its fellows defend against the wendigos.

    "It¡¯s time!" Gale hissed.

    Dave urged his dunlord toward the cannon.

    "Let¡¯s go underneath, hopefully with the Sworn Stalwarts fighting the wendigos, no one will notice us."

    Stinger burrowed down, Matn, Orn, and Gale followed behind him on their own dunlords.

    Four mounds of rock and dirt moved in straight lines under the legion and Demons. Some demons noticed the ground tremble under them but didn¡¯t have the time to investigate.

    Stinger broke through the rocky ground right next to the cannon. The twenty-strong demon gun crew were around the cannon, for a few heartbeats they froze in shock at the sudden appearance of the undead in their midst.

    Then Orn and Gale charged at the demons, shattering the momentary lull. Matn followed Dave as the draugr moved toward the cannon. A mid-level demon stood at the back of , holding a burning slowmatch and adjusting the cannon to aim it at the Undead city walls.

    Dave swung his sword down at the demon¡¯s head, and Matn thrust his sword into the demon¡¯s chest to finish it off.

    "nt the Frozen Souls, I¡¯ll keep watch. Hurry!"

    Explosions started rolling across the battlefield. But not the familiar sound of cannon fire, instead the cannons were being destroyed, the heavy masses of metal tumbling and crushing through the demons around them.

    Confusion swept across the demons.

    Dave quickly nted the [Frozen Souls], spiking the cannon, the undercarriage and the wheels. Just as he was about to start the fuses on the [Frozen Souls] he had a crazy idea.

    Smiling like a devil, he shouted. "Orn, Gale! Give me twenty more seconds! Matn help me turn this thing!" Dave said.

    Dave pushed against the cannon and Matn joined him. They slowly rotated the cannon around to point at a new structure. The ash king¡¯s tower. Smirking, the draugr picked up the still burning slowmatch, stepped to the side of the cannon and touched the match to the vent of the cannon.

    "Eat this, Bitch!"

    The cannon recoiled with a blinding sh and deafening report. A momentter the top of the Ash King¡¯s tower blew apart, throne and all. The entire tform was turned into splinters and glowing cinders. Then, in a cloud of smoke and great cracking groans the tower copsed. There was a moment of silence as every creature on the battlefield stared at the remains of the Ash King¡¯s tower in shock.

    ***

    You have destroyed the Ash King¡¯s War-Throne (Demonic Army¡¯s siege engine).

    The morale of the Undead Legion has been boosted.

    For the next 60 minutes the Undead Legion will have:

    +20% Damage to all abilities.

    You have been awarded:

    +5,000,000 CP

    New Title gained: Pride of the Undead

    Prestige +1000

    New High-Tier Questlines unlocked!

    ***

    "Holy shit!" Dave had no idea his stunt would be that rewarding.

    He didn¡¯t receive any EXP, so it was doubtful that he¡¯d killed the Ash King.

    Every undead on the battlefield had a red aura, the power buff from Dave¡¯s stunt. Orn and gale were fighting a bitter battle with the remaining demon cannon crew and guards, but they wereughing hysterically at Dave¡¯s sess.

    "Let¡¯s go! I¡¯m gonna blow the cannon!"

    Orn and Gale nodded, they each grabbed the demon they were fighting with and threw them tumbling into ast group of iing demons. Then they ordered their dunlords to burrow underground.

    Just as Dave was about to follow them on Stinger, an explosion of infernal fire came from the remains of the tower. The Ash-King made his presence known in his real form, a demon asrge as the half-broken tower itself. A demon who was looking in Dave¡¯s direction.

    The Ash King zeroed in on the cannon that had destroyed his conveyance and the draugr standing near it.

    "You again? Undead lickspittle! I will destroy you and the Legion!"

    Dave gulped hard, "Stinger-bro, get us outta here fast!"

 Chapter 195 Royal Beat Down! Rewritten

    An aura of infernal mes enveloped the looming figure of the Ash-King as he strode toward Dave. The unfortunate demons in the king¡¯s path were simultaneously crushed and incinerated to ckened smears on the ground as the king thundered across the battlefield toward the draugr.

    "Ah fuck!" Dave cursed as the Ash King closed on the hapless draugr.

    The demon materialized a firence in his hand and stabbed at the pestiferous undead. Just before the fiery weapon struck Dave the Undead King appeared in a burst of umbral smoke and swung his ck sword at the spear, deflecting the attack. There was an echoing ng of metal and a shockwave felt by everyone. Fire and umbral smoke red out from the weapons as they grated and strained against each other. Finally the undead king swatted the demon¡¯s spear away and snorted disdainfully at therger Ash King.

    "Pick on someone your own size demon-trash!"

    Dave tilted his head, looking at andparing his own height to the undead monarch¡¯s. The King was barely a head taller, whereas the demon was more than ten times that size.

    "Finally! Finally you show your cowardly self, Undead!" the Ash King said, liquid fire dripping from his mouth with every word.

    The demon whirled his spear and thrust down at the undead. The King grabbed Dave and jumped, kicking off from the speartip and catapulting them away. Dave had just enough presence of mind and rebelliousness to give the demon a middle-finger salute from each hand as he was dragged away, hurtling through the air.

    The demon¡¯s weapon boomed, prating deep into the ground. Molten earth sprayed up around the haft of the spear and from the spiderweb of cracks that spread out from the impact point as the demon struggled to pull the weapon out, yanking and jerking on it futilely.

    The King of the undead was already chuckling, as he¡¯d caught a glimpse of his favorite draugr¡¯s insolent gesture when they flew away, but theic thrashing of the Ash King sent him into full blownughter.

    This only incited the demon to greater folly. Finally pulling his weapon free, the Ash King chased after the Undead King in a fit of pique, swinging the fire-spear wildly, throwing sheets of mes left and right.

    Stillughing scornfully, the Undead King dodged the strikes nimbly, always so that the fiery attacksnded on the demon¡¯s own troops. This only enraged the Ash King all the more, driving him to near madness as he continued chasing the Undead King, ming spittle frothing at his mouth. Dave was dragged along through the whole thing, like a bag ofundry, left and right, up and down, unable to do anything, stomach roiling and threatening to back up on him.

    The Undead King blocked another attack and flew up to a level with the Ash King¡¯s face. The demon inhaled and blew concentrated fire at his nemesis. In response the Undead King whirled his sword rapidly in circles about himself and his draugr childe, creating a sphere of unbral magic around them. The demonfire washed over the sphere for long seconds, when the mes dissipated the King and his passenger were still hovering in the air, unmoved and unharmed.

    The Undead King swung his sword down diagonally and a long thin cut appeared across the Ash King¡¯s torso. Magma bubbled out from the cut and the demon grew even more incensed. The Ash King pulled back and raised his hands over his head, a rapidly growing globe of mes formed between them. The demon roared and flung the sphere at the Undead King.

    The Undead King simply disappeared with a popping sound taking Dave with him, the fireball continued till it impacted the battlefield, killing hundreds of demons.

    "Tsk tsk, you so easily lose control to your own rage, demon. That makes you easier to defeat," the King¡¯s voice came from off to the side.

    The next thing Dave knew he was lying down somewhere, feeling dizzy, the ground moved whenever he tried to get up. When his head finally cleared and he sat up, he saw he was on top of the Bone Pce. He could see the entire battlefield and even had a zoom option enabled. He looked up and saw a ck crystal floating above, slowly rotating. It pulsed with a faint ck aura that spread out over the whole city. It was the Death Heart. Underneath it, on the roof was the ck dragon¡¯s egg.

    In the distance the Ash King was still howling like a madman, killing demons left and right in an effort to terrify his army and goad them into fighting harder against the undead.

    "You ruined that buffoon¡¯s theatrical entrance to the battle when you shot the Ash King¡¯s throne out from under him. Embarrassing him. With his own cannon no less," the king chuckled, "My undead wereughing so hard they almost couldn¡¯t fight. That is the stuff that storied legends are made from. You have done well, Childe."

    Dave smiled, "Thank you, Your Majesty"

    "Soon, Our Legion will overwhelm the Ash King¡¯s army, as always. If you fight again on the frontlines, the Ash King wille for you personally. So stay in the rear areas."

    Dave nodded, he¡¯d made a decent amount of EXP from destroying the cannon, plus a lot of other gains from shooting the Ash King¡¯s tower. So not participating in the rest of the battle and losing out on more EXP wasn¡¯t too hard to swallow.

    In one part of the battlefield the wendigos were gaining the upper hand over the Sworn Stalwarts, in no small part because the wendigos had the advantage in numbers.

    "Sound the horns!" the Undead King bellowed.

    The horns on the walls of the Undead City sounded sonorously. The Legion¡¯s reserves hefted their shields and swords and marched forward. The entire army soon advanced, marching in a steady stomping rhythm. The entire legion walked as one, shaking the ground with every step.

    The army marched past four wendigos around a lone Sworn Stalwart hacking away at its body. The Sworn Stalwarts were vicious and powerful by nature, even surrounded this one still managed to severely wound its attackers. But numbers prevailed over courage and the Sworn Stalwart was quickly torn limb from limb. The wendigos then feasted on the corpse to recover their HP then joined another group to subdue another Stalwart. This scene repeated all over the battlefield.

    The army avoided the battle between the wendigos and the Sworn Stalwarts and met with the regr demons instead. They began killing their way through the demon ranks, swinging their swords in terrible rhythm and with deadly precision, killing thousands with every beat.

    Dozens ofrge towers appeared in the distance, simr to the one destroyed by Dave, they were being pulled by Sworn Stalwarts, slowly making their way to the battlefield.

    "Siege towers." the Undead King said, "It will be difficult to defend against them if they reach the walls."

    Dave was stroking his beard as he looked at the scene. Only the wendigos could contend with sworn stalwarts on a roughly equal footing, but all their wendigos were already upied on the battlefield. Then an idea came and he grinned the same grin as thest time he¡¯d thrown a wrench in the demons¡¯ works.

    "Your majesty, I have an idea. We use the dunlords. Order them to tunnel under the paths of the towers. When the towers roll over the hollowed out areas they will copse the tunnels and get caught in the sinkholes.

    "What a splendid idea!" The kingughed again.

    A Doom Knight was summoned and appeared before the Undead King to receive the ruler¡¯s orders.

    Dave could see across the battlefield, hundreds of thousands of dunlords burrowing underground. The dunlords¡¯ tunneling rippled out and spread like a low wave toward the towers.

    When they reached the towers, the dunlords moved around under them, back and forth like sharks circling prey. A sworn Stalwart noticed the tunnel-caused upswell of the ground and mmed a hand down on one of the trails left behind. It kept mming down on the ground like it was ying whack-a-mole but without sess. The dunlords finished their task soon after and rapidly retreated.

    Momentster the wheels of the first tower broke through the hollowed-out ground beneath them. Just as Dave predicted, the weight of the towers caused them to fall through the undermined earth

    The King was smiling at the sessful implementation of the new tactic. But a momentter his amused expression turned into a frown.

    Dave turned in the direction the Undead King was facing and looked for what had changed.

    The Ash King had been silent for a while, but wasughing maniacally again. Space distorted and tore apart next to him and a hunch-backed old man emerged from the portal to stand next to the Ash King.

    "Vreek," the king muttered with distaste.

    The old hunchback tapped his cane against the ground, sending ripples out across the battlefield. The ground broke open and countless necrotic flesh tentacles wormed their way out from the dirt, leading the way for hundreds of oversized red skulls to emerge from underground. The Devourers slithered toward the Legionnaires, their limbs consuming everything they touched.

    "Samael," the king said. The Abyssal Knight appeared.

    "Yes your majesty!"

    "Take Dementi and Da. Destroy the skulls for me."

    "As youmand!" Samael disappeared.

    Dave was a bit confused why the king would send Samael to fight the very thing he ran away from at the siege of the ck Bone Pce.

    A wisp of ck smoke moved across the battlefield. Dave recognized it as Samael in one of his alternate forms. The wisp moved toward the closest red skull and prated it. A momentter the skull fell apart into chunks of skull bone, tentacles and blood.

    Da waved his scepter creating hundreds of ck magic circles that shot waves of magic at the red skulls bursting them apart. Dementi used a carved-bone bow, nocking and loosing arrows faster than a machine-gun, turning reds-kulls into pincushions in seconds

    "Undead King!" the Ash King wasughing again as he bellowed across the battlefield, "You will trouble me no more after today! This is thest day for you in this world, you wretched rotted corpse!"

    As the Ash King continuedughing in sinister fashion, a blinding light shone over the Undead City. Dave shielded his eyes from the brilliance, looking down. When the light faded, a pure, high toned musical-note sounded and he looked up to see the cause. An immense luminous being floated above the Bone Pce.

 Chapter 196 We dont need no stinkin plot armor!

    The slender numinous being, hovering in a globe of holy-light, built along the same scale as Drahma. d in pearlescent white and glowing gold armor, its eight rainbow-feathered wings wafted gently to keep it aloft. The golden spear in its hand was pointed usingly at the Undead King.

    "Foul un-Dead THING. Your Time of Reckoning is NOW!" the angelic creature thundered in what sounded like the voices of a choir singing hymns. Then it released a ray of white energy from the spear, attacking the Death Heart.

    The Undead King teleported in front of the white light. He whirled the light-eating sword, creating a ck disk that consumed the light. But holy entities had a great advantage over the undead.

    When the angel first appeared Dementi, Da and Samael immediately tried to go to the aid of their king.

    "Oh no, little poppets, you are going nowhere without my leave!" Vreek said. He waved his hand and three armored Undead Knights burst from underground. They each attacked one of the Abyssal Knights, stalling and hampering their intentions to help their liege.

    The Undead King roared and swung his sword shattering the angel¡¯s white-light attack. He shouted at Dave, "Kis¡¯Shtingbrah! Take the egg! Escape!"

    Dave grabbed the egg and ced it in his inventory, he was about to tear a teleportation scroll when he felt heat growing from behind him.

    Dave turned to see the Ash King behind him fire shooting form his spear toward Dave¡¯s back.

    The Undead King teleported, this time he was slower and wasn¡¯t able to block the attack so he pushed Dave aside and the spear pierced through the King¡¯s shoulder, crippling his arm.

    "Such a fool! You sacrifice yourself for a lowly minion!"

    "As I would for any of my Children!" The king pulled the spearhead out of his shoulder, pushing the giant Ash King back.

    Dave was at a loss, he didn¡¯t know what to do in this fight. Everyone around him was hundreds of levels higher than him.

    The angel joined the Ash King, both attacking at once.

    Dave moved back, he was scrolling through his skills to see if he could help somehow.

    The Ash King threw his spear but the Undead King batted it away with his sword, which let the angelnd a blow on the Undead King.

    Dave used [Dragon Ball] and shot it at the angel only for the Ash King to inhale sharply and suck the attack into himself, consuming the fireball.

    "Delicious!"The Ash King gloated, then exhaled a st of mes at the Undead King.

    The Undead King resisted the mes and jumped into the air to fight the Ash King.

    "Damn! I only made things worse!" Dave didn¡¯t know what to do.

    The Angel used the opportunity to strike the Undead King from behind. He thrust his spear into the Undead King¡¯s lower back and flung him across the sky. The Undead King crashed on the Death Heart cracking it, a small piece shattered off.

    The Undead King was riddled with wounds now, his wounded arm slumped uselessly at his side, his chest had arge hole in it and most of his armor was charred ck. His sword was several feet away from him.

    But the king didn¡¯t despair, heughed feebly as he slowly stood up and he turned to face Dave. Hidden in a hand was the small fragment from the Death Heart.

    "Even if my legion falls today," the Undead King tossed the crystal to Dave, who grabbed it reflexively, "WE SHALL RISE AGAIN!"

    The ck Heart Rotated rapidly, and more cracks appeared. The ck heart dissolved into a vortex of ck energy and poured itself into the Undead King. The king breathed in the ck energy and his body radiated an umbral glow, like a ck hole as it consumed every iota of light in the world.

    The Undead King grew in size, his arm and the holes in his body mending. Leaping at the archangel grabbed on in a bear hug. The King¡¯s body sizzled as holy met unholy the king¡¯s eyes turned red, and a berserker-like madness took over.

    The angel squirmed in the sky, barely able to support the added weight of the undead king.

    "Foul THING! Release ME!"

    The undead kingughed hysterically as his body burned in the holy lighting from the angel. The Ash king was at a loss, if he attacked the Undead, he would burn from the light and his fire would hurt the angel. While the demon hesitated, the undead king opened his mouth and bit one of the angel¡¯s eight wings, ripping it off with a jerk of his head. Bloody rainbow-feathers fell from the sky like leaves.

    The archangel lost bnce and they plummeted to the ground. The archangelnded underneath the the undead king who had his sword in an overhand grip, swinging down at the angel¡¯s face. But the demon threw himself at them and tackled the undead away from the angel.

    The undead king went sprawling to the ground, his body corroded from contact with holy light. The angel was in no way better off, body was fighting the corruption of undead ichor, the holy light dimming.

    The Ash King flew like a lightning bolt at the Undead King and they exchanged a flurry of blows. The Ash King speared through the Undead King¡¯s abdomen, but thetter didn¡¯t flinch, he stepped forward shoving the spear deeper into his own stomach, grabbing the ash king by the shoulder he threw the demon to the ground and pinned him down. Then the undead king struck down with his sword, cutting off one of the Ash King¡¯s demon horns. The Ash king let go of his spear, wailing in pain.

    The angel had recovered enough to stand and shoot the undead king with another holy-light ray.

    The undead king didn¡¯t try to dodge the angels attack, he took the hit and his entire left side disintegrated. He just grinned wildly and his remaining hand swung his sword. A void-making, reality-destroying ck wave of energy shot out at the Archangel. The Archangel tried to dodge, but at that moment a nearby wendigotched onto an armor-d leg, pinning the angel down. Unable to dodge away, the archangel blocked the ray with all seven of its remaining wings. The attack scorched the feathers ck.

    The undead kingughed like a madman his body oozing ichor. Heughed and shouted, "FOR THE LEGION!"

    Then the undead king¡¯s body exploded.

    A wave of umbral energy shot over the whole city and out to the far horizon in every direction, its speed increasing as it moved farther away. As each undead form was touched by the wave it slowly disintegrated into specks of dark light.

    The dark energy didn¡¯t seem to affect Dave. His ring of the Death God shone brightly for a moment then its light faded.

    Dave was left alone in the entire Undead Realm. Facing him were the angel and the Ash King. But they were in a great deal of pain from the explosion of the Death Heart and the King, the energy had damaged them badly, they were both close to dissolution themselves.

    Dave was at a loss, he didn¡¯t know what to do.

    That was when the Ash King shook himself from his stupor and, disregarding the state of his health, he made to cut Dave apart, lunging at him. But a vortex opened behind Dave and sucked him in, taking him away from the Dead Realm.

 Chapter 197 Corporate kerfluffle

    Falling out of yet another vortex, Dave was dumped on his ass in Moria. Several notifications appeared in his HUD, blinking.

    Dave was in a state of shock, his mind couldn¡¯t quite epass what had happened just yet. The legion...everything he worked so hard for, was just gone. He was unable to calm the thoughts rattling around, ricocheting back and forth in his head.

    One fragile hope he held onto was that everything was just a dream and he would wake up soon and it would all go away. But the blue notification icons shing in front of him jarred him out of his hopeful daze and put the lie to his one forlorn hope.

    Slowly he moved, waving his hand to pull up his disy and read the notifications.

    ***

    Attention yer!

    You are in a high-level closed area of Conquest. There are no records of your entry to the area, appropriate character permissions or evidence of extenuating circumstances. Your character will be de-portalled from the Underworld immediately and this incident will be logged as a possible vition of your Terms of Service Agreement.

    ***

    Conquest Server Announcement!

    The Undead Legion has been defeated in the event: The Siege of the Undead Realm.

    The Undead Faction has been eliminated from Conquest!

    The Undead Expansion is no longer essible to yers.

    yers can still enter the Underworld if they open one of the hidden gates that are scattered throughout Conquest.

    ***

    Attention yer!

    The Undead Legion has been defeated in the event: The Siege of the Undead Realm.

    The Undead Faction is now extinct. All characters, quests, systems and organizations that were rted to the Undead Faction are invalidated and no longer functional.

    The Dead Realm, Red Fortress, and the Undead Frontier teleportation gate coordinates have been removed from your logs.

    You are no longer able to revive your undead.

    You have lost ownership of your Land.

    You have lost the ability to ess the Underworld.

    All your CP has been removed.

    All benefits from ying an undead character and ss are removed.

    You gained:

    1,500,000 EXP for your deeds in the Siege of the Undead Realm.

    ***

    Attention yer!

    You have failed your S ss Legacy quest!

    For your efforts in reaching this far in the S Legacy quest you have been rewarded:

    3,000,000 EXP

    ***

    Dave read through the notifications numbly as his undead avatar changed to his human character.

    He was in a dazed, dull-minded state. Everything he¡¯d worked so hard for was stripped away from him.

    Dave felt something stinging his hand painfully. He looked, a ring on his finger shone brightly for a moment. Every part of Dave¡¯s avatar was a living human, except the finger bearing the ring of the golden skull, his ring-finger was still that of an undead draugr.

    A red system notification popped up before Dave.

    ***

    ATTENTION USER!

    Corrupted Logs have been found in your ount, you will be ejected and banned from Conquest for 24 hours or until such a time that the logs are verified by staff members.

    Please note if evidence of cheating, hacking, or game exploitation of any kind are discovered you will be permanently banned from the game!

    "WHAT DA FUCK!?" was all Death Stroke managed to scream before disappearing from Conquest.

    ***

    INTERLUDE:

    The dev stood ufortably close while the lead engineer hammered at the keyboard, literally breathing down the lead¡¯s neck as the rest of the software engineers pretended they weren¡¯t watching and listening to the unfolding drama. The game developer hade rampaging into the room screaming something about them ruining his life¡¯s work and he would have all their reproductive organs in a pressure cooker if they didn¡¯t fix it RIGHT now.

    Once the lead got a coherent exnation out of the fuming dev, he almost went into a state of shock himself. What was basically a VR genocide had happened right under his and his teammates¡¯ noses and they had no clue. Not a single game notification or alert. Nothing to tell them that a major game-world changing Event was happening, or had already happened.

    The engineer scrolled down the screen and the codes shed by, the game dev¡¯s frown only grew worse as he read the codes as easily as Tank from ¡¯The Matrix.¡¯

    The engineer typed in queries and checked the game logs furiously. He was stressing bad, his forehead sweaty, his fingers trembling. He didn¡¯t like being yelled at or pressured, but this was some serious shit. Their jobs really were on the line.

    "Where the hell are the files?!" the dev suddenly shouted, scaring the high-strung engineer again.

    The lead engineer didn¡¯t answer for almost a minute as he continued searching.

    Finally he responded, "From the sequence of the timestamps on the unrted logs that are still here, I would say a shitload of logs are missing, even the backups are gone, but that¡¯s impossible! I- I have no idea how, or even where they went..."

    Game-logs were used by oversight agencies to audit the ethics and propriety of apany¡¯s virtual and online behavior. iming logs were ¡¯missing¡¯ was like telling the tax collector the dog ate their ounting books. And it was just about as believable.

    The software engineer stopped typing suddenly.

    "Ohh shhheeee-oot. It¡¯s Alfie. It¡¯s gotta be," the software engineer said slowly.

    "That asshat penguin AI!? Why do you say that?"

    "No one can just delete the logs. But Alfie could, maybe, change them; scramble them and hide them from us. They¡¯re probably right there in the servers, we just don¡¯t know where, or what to search for. It would be like looking for the proverbial needle in a trillion haystacks."

    The dev¡¯s face turned red,pletely apoplectic.

    "That is IT! That fucking AI wasn¡¯t right in his code from the start. We should¡¯ve trashed that priggy electronic-abortion as soon as he started wearing that ridiculous fucking tuxedo!"

    The staff members assiduously pretended to mind their own business, they didn¡¯t dare look up to watch the dev give his temper full reign.

    "Call a full-staff emergency meeting, I want that mutated crotch of an AI reced! TEN YEARS of work down the tubes for nothing! That fucker just trashed my ENTIRE world! Which is my ENTIRE life¡¯s work! And if I lose my job I¡¯ll make sure you do too, everyst one of you!" the dev shouted.

    "But sir, what do we do about the situation inside Conquest right now, the Undead plotlines and quests that are ongoing?"

    The dev¡¯s shoulders slumped and the anger left him all at once in a rush. He looked down, his face as devastated as any artist that had just learned a beloved masterpiece had been destroyed or stolen. A masterpiece that was born from the creative efforts andbors of decades.

    "Crap, man. I don¡¯t know," he said softly. Then he spoke louder, to the room, "Sorry I lost my temper, everyone." He addressed the lead engineer again, "First, we gotta try to find those records. Somehow. If not, then...we¡¯ll see. I¡¯m going to go tell the other devs. They¡¯re going to go ballistic when they find out everything that¡¯s connected or rted to the undead is trashed too. Call me if there are any developments. Otherwise, I¡¯ll see you at the meeting."

    The dev turned and shuffled away, head down and shoulders slumped. A frail, aged shadow of the charismatic dynamo that had stormed into the room just a little while ago.

 Chapter 198 The great white is with you!

    The other devs were, of course, outraged. They entered the meeting room already shouting at each other, and continued yelling furiously across the table until the meeting was started.

    The "event" as it was being called, would have disastrous consequences for the entire game. The Undead Realm was supposed to have been introduced as a major expansion. The devs working on other segments had interwoven quests, story and plotlines rted to the Legion into every part of the Conquest game, including the expansions scheduled after the full debut of the Undead segment. If not addressed and somehow fixed, the loss of an entire expansion would significantly reduce the game¡¯s life expectancy. Regardless of what happened in the future, the ripples from the event would be felt for years.

    The lead developer of the Undead expansion, the one who¡¯d called the meeting, kicked it off.

    "Okay everyone, let¡¯s get this clusterfuck started. There will be another meeting between the lead developers and thepany execs after this one. So leads stick around afterwards."

    The chaotic room settled down.

    "We still don¡¯t know what the hell set this off. Alfie put himself into an auto-shutdown sequence, he¡¯s rebooting and overwriting his memory, without backing up his logs. Sonuvabitch did this shit with malice aforethought and made sure we can¡¯t reverse it."

    "What?" the software engineer was astounded. The fucking AI wasmitting suicide after fucking them over. Unbelievable! That loony toon should have been sent to the AI-shrink for sure.

    The announcement set off more rounds of shouting, more versions of the ¡¯me game¡¯ and ¡¯who¡¯s going to fix this- Not me.¡¯

    "Maybe.." the engineer said, "There might be a way to at least find out what happened in the game."

    The devs suddenly got quiet. They looked at the software engineer.

    One asked, "How? I thought you said that crazy AI encrypted and hid all the logs and files of anything connected to it."

    "Well, yes. But even Alfie can¡¯t tamper with user apps or game pods. We should contact that guy, Skeletal, the undead yer on CCN, maybe he knows something.

    "Unlikely," one of the devs said dismissively, "What are the odds that the yer was online, let alone a witness to the key events?"

    "We won¡¯t know unless we contact him," replied the software engineer in neutral tones, trying not to roll his eyes at the idiot. The guy was a game developer, where the hell did he keep his brains?

    Another dev spoke up, "Contact the yer and have him get that storage-drive to us. Promise some freebies in return, a year¡¯s subscription, a tour of the facility, whatever it takes, just get that drive here."

    "I¡¯m on it. I¡¯ll have to find him through his IP address."

    ***

    Dave opened the gaming capsule but didn¡¯t move, he justy there staring at the hotel suite¡¯s ceiling. He didn¡¯t know what to do. His head throbbed, the sign of an oing headache.

    Dave stood up, numbly moving around the room. Then he sat on his bed, still tryinge to grips with what happened.

    "The Order, the holy church, the Ash King and a fucking ARCHANGEL all working together against the Legion. How messed up is that?"

    Dave put a hand on his face and startedughing. All that time and effort to make a ce for himself in the world, at least in the virtual world. Now he¡¯d lost everything.

    "Well, I have the money from selling the Right of Conquest...a, crud. I didn¡¯t withdraw all the money from the game! Are they going to hold my money?"

    But he was avoiding the real issue. It wasn¡¯t just about the money. ying his undead character, being Mr. Skeletal, was fulfilling and fun and gave him a sense of aplishment and belonging. Now it was all gone, a big hole was left in his life. Zoe was right, money was good to have but money didn¡¯t make life good.

    Dave used the room phone to call the front desk.

    "Hey, is there aputer I can use in the hotel?"

    "Yes sir, there¡¯s aputer in your suite. Go to the writing table with the office chair in front of it. On the side of the table is a button, press it."

    Dave hung up and went to the table and found the button. A small lens popped up and projected a holographic image of a keyboard, pad and disy in the air.

    "Whoa!"

    It was one of the new all-holographic interface units. After he spent a few minutes figuring out how to use the system, he got online and essed the Conquest main website.

    Dave entered his ount number and password, then read the message he got in response.

    "ess to your ount has been blocked. Your ount is under investigation. Please try again in 24 hours. For more information, or if you would like to dispute this action please contact..." the message added several contacts with the Conquest gamepany.

    "Shit!" Dave cursed.

    Then the hotel-room phone rang.

    ""

    Dave didn¡¯t know who would call him on the hotelndline. Lone would just call him on his cellphone. So would anyone else he knew, Ralph, Mrs. Clementine, everyone.

    "Hello," Dave said.

    "Hello, is this the owner of the character Death Stroke? Sometimes called Mr. Skeletal in popr media."

    "Who is this?"

    "My name is John Simons, I¡¯m a software engineer at Conquest, the gamepany. We got a gged notification of an issue with your character¡¯s gamey files.

    "Yeah, I was just about to call you guys! Some messed up stuff happened in-game. All the work I put into my character got wiped out and I got banned. It¡¯s unfair that the system gged my gamey because of what your devs did to the storyline."

    "Well, we¡¯ll want topare the files on your pod¡¯s hard-drive with our records, to verify what happened."

    "Look. Mr. Simmons was it...?"

    "Yes, John Simmons."

    "Okay. Look, I make my living in Conquest. While I am grateful for that opportunity, the way I see it your schizo devs just tore down everything I¡¯ve built up. All my progress in the game was knocked back to zero without warning and without any chance for me to prevent it or recover from it. I¡¯m quite unhappy right now."

    "I understand. We really want to hear what happened from your perspective. How about youe to our corporate offices and tell us in person? Just pull your pod hard drive and bring it with you. We¡¯ll pay for travel expenses of course."

    The man¡¯s response was smooth, like it was rehearsed and he was just waiting to say it. Dave thought the whole conversation felt weird. Off somehow.

    There wasn¡¯t anything mysterious about what happened, it was just a fucked up storyline. His character didn¡¯t change the oue of the siege of the Undead City and the end of the Legion, the staff could just look at the logs and files in their servers to clear his ount. Conquest had recordings from every perspective and all points in time in their servers, tons more than what was on his pod. So what was the issue?

    Simmons wasn¡¯t being helpful, he was hiding something. Dave felt he was being manipted or handled. His blood started to boil.

    "My perspective? I can tell you my perspective right now. It¡¯s ridiculous that the devs wrote the undead out of the game. The wholeme, contrived plot, forcing an archangel into an alliance with demons to bring down the Legion. The undead expans-"

    "Is that what happened? You saw it?!" asked Jonathan in barely controlled excitement.

    "Yeah, I was there, right in the middle of it!" Dave paused, "Howe you don¡¯t know that? Is this a joke? I¡¯m hanging up, bye."

    "Wait!" the engineer¡¯s voice turned panicky, "You have toe tell our developers what you saw. We need your files...for the investigation. You agreed to the terms and conditions of service including thepany¡¯s right to examine your equipment. If an infraction is discovered or you fail to cooperate you¡¯ll be banned from Conquest permanently."

    Dave blew up.

    "Seriously! Now you¡¯re threatening me?!" he shouted into the phone.

    "Give me that!" Another voice interjected over the phone.

    "Hello," said the new voice, "Forget what that imbecile said, we just need you toe talk to us. I promise you will be treated fairly, if you didn¡¯t do anything wrong nothing will happen to you."

    "I hope you aren¡¯t just another ¡¯imbecile¡¯..."

    "My name is Kada, I¡¯m one of the lead developers for Conquest. I¡¯m in charge of the Undead expansion in Conquest. I¡¯m responsible for all non-AI generated content and creative input."

    "Whoa! So what the hell happened!? Why¡¯d you guys go full armageddon on your own content and creations? I put a lot of hard work into the game with the Legion and you guys ruined it all."

    "I had a lot of work invested in the undead myself. We can talk about all that when youe to thepany headquarters. So please ept our invitation. It would speed up the process, the sooner we finish the investigation the sooner your ount can be unfrozen and you can return to the game. Just get the hard drive from your pod, bring it to Teterboro airport in New Jersey. Apany jet will be there in an hour, ready to fly you to us. We¡¯ll have this sorted out by the end of the day."

    "I guess I could do that. But I absolutely have to be back before six tonight, no matter what."

    "Excellent, we will be expecting you. And don¡¯t worry, we¡¯ll have you back home in time. The jet will take off as soon as you are on board. I look forward to hearing about your experiences in Conquest. Until then Mr. Skeletal."

    Dave hung up and went to his game capsule. He opened a panel and pulled a small metal box out of a slot. The pod¡¯s hard drive.

    Dave stopped and thought for a moment, then he went downstairs and walked to the closest convenience store to buy another hard drive. When he got back to his suite he cloned the original drive onto the new one, taking a shower and getting ready to go to the airport while it was transferring across. He felt very double-oh-sevenish, but there was no way he was going to hand over the only copy of something to a big corporation, he¡¯d seen too many movies to do that.

    Just as he was waving for a taxi to the airport, a purple Lambo pulled up in front of him bringing with it the smell of burnt rubber. The car looked familiar, a vague memory of pale clown-faces and green hair came to mind.

    "Dave, what the hell happened in the game?! Everyone is going nuts, the Legion is gone!" Zoe was shrieking, in a state of high excitement.

    "Yeah, whatever happened got me banned-"

    "WHAT!?"

    "Yeah,plete bullshit. The gamepany called me and said some files were corrupted or something. The game staff wants me toe talk to them and bring the hard drive from my pod with me."

    "Is that where you¡¯re going now?"

    "Yeah, I was going to take a cab," Dave considered getting a ride from Zoe, but shuddered. He¡¯d rather be pulled to the airport in a wobbly rickshaw. By an 80 year olddy. With severe arthritis. And incontinence.

    "Dave, you can¡¯t meet them alone, they will tear you to shreds. Let me call my uncle. I¡¯m sure he¡¯ll help, at the very least for the fun of yanking some corporate bozo¡¯s chain."

    ¡¯What is with this family? Every one of them has a twisted idea of what fun is.¡¯

    "Well, I didn¡¯t do anything wrong and they just want to talk to me, I don¡¯t see the harm in that. But the phone conversation was weird, like there was more going on than what they were saying. So yeah, it wouldn¡¯t hurt to have someone in my corner. "

    Zoe dialed and spoke on the phone briefly before handing Dave the phone.

    "He wants to speak with you."

    Dave took the phone

    "Kid, you just gave me an early Christmas present, hell, ten early Christmases at once. I¡¯ve always wanted to go up against a big entertainment corporation like Conquest." The Demon Barrister radiated smug satisfaction through the phone.

    "Sir, I don¡¯t think I¡¯m ¡¯going up against¡¯ them. The developers just want to hear my story and see the files on my hard drive."

    "You don¡¯t get it kid, people go to court over who owns the air we breathe. Thepany ruined months of work you put in to the game to build a media presence, they traumatized you emotionally with unreasonable use of their content, then froze your assets. Does that seem like they have your interests at heart?"

    "Well, I guess not...?

    "You didn¡¯t vite any terms of service, right kid?"

    "No sir."

    "I thought not. They will try to make it seem like you did something wrong to trick you into doing whatever they want. This is probably the start of a cover up. Worse for you, it might be the start of a cover-their-asses, like a cover up just more vicious. I hope I don¡¯t have to tell you who the most convenient scapegoat is. You¡¯ve already been down that road."

    "Dammit...No, sir, you don¡¯t." Dave sighed mentally. Sometimes it felt like there was a big ¡¯Kick Me¡¯ sign permanently stuck on his back.

    "Don¡¯t worry, kid, it¡¯s obvious they want something from you. Desperately. So we¡¯re going to find what it is and how it fits into the big picture then make sweat until they pay through the nose for it.

    "Understand kid? These puffed-up big shots will roll right over you and bury what¡¯s left in a little hole if they can get away with it. But that¡¯s not going to happen now, those corporate minnows are ying in my pond now, and I¡¯m the great white shark.

    "Okay kid, you got the hard drive with you?"

    "Yes sir."

    "Good, make a copy of it."

    "I already did."

    "Ha! Good job, kid. I¡¯ll see you and Zoe at the airport. Don¡¯t worry, this is going to be fun!" thewyer hung up.

    "When did I get traumatized?" Dave wondered as he looked at Lone.

    "Well, you¡¯re still wearing your flip-flops," Zoe said, looking at Dave¡¯s feet.

 Chapter 199 The difference between a Demon and a lawyer...

    Zoe waited while Dave followed her advice and rushed back up to his hotel room to change into his only suit; and this time he remembered to put on real shoes. They took off for the airport in the Lambo and Dave was too distracted by the recent events to care about Zoe¡¯s driving.

    After parking in the airport garage, Zoe called her uncle to tell him they¡¯d arrived. She spoke with him briefly then hung up.

    "He¡¯s waiting for us in the jet."

    She led Dave through the airport confidently, going through the TSA security checkpoint and finally through a doorway to the outside. An electric cart was waiting for them, the driver tipped his cap to Zoe and told them to hold on before he stomped down on the elerator.

    They zipped across the tarmac past dozens of small jets of various makes and markings. Dave even saw a jet with the Conquestpany logo painted prominently across its fusge and tail. There was a flurry of activity and equipment around it, including a truck for refueling, but they whipped right past the Conquest jet. Dave tapped Zoe on the shoulder and pointed back at the jet questioningly. She shook her head and said something that got blown to iprehensibility by the wind.

    Then they entered an open hanger and came to a forward-leaning stop right next to a twin engined jet. Zoe exined what was happening as they got out of the cart and walked up the unfolded stairs into the business jet.

    "Uncle doesn¡¯t want to depend on the opposing side for transportation. Plus, they will be off bnce if they don¡¯t know when we arrive." Shrugging, she added, "No one was using the G-nine today, so it worked out fine."

    ¡¯They have a Gulfstream-IX! Like it¡¯s the family car.¡¯

    Dave reminded his jaw to stay closed as they entered the ultra luxurious interior of the business jet. They walked the plush carpeting toward the rear, past high tech toys and lustrously polished wooden furnishings. Samuel Silvana was sitting in a leather recliner. He was wearing a pair of AR specs, but greeted them courteously.

    "Did you bring the hard drives?" he asked, holding out his hand for them.

    "I did."

    Dave handed the two metal cases to thewyer who put one next to him and the other into his briefcase.

    "Good, onees with us to the meeting, and the second goes in the security box here on the ne. Is that eptable to you, Dave?

    "Yes, sir."

    "Good. I still have some preparation left to do. You two enjoy the flight." He pressed a button and spoke, "You can take off when you are ready, captain."

    A voice replied over the a speaker as the engines started spooling up with a whine, "Will do, sir. Wheels up in about fifteen minutes. ETA fifty minutes after takeoff."

    "Understood. Thank you, captain."

    The Demon Barrister leaned back in his seat, his attention turnedpletely to whatever he was doing within the augmented-reality field of his sses. asionally he murmured or gestured with his hand, givingmands or manipting objects in AR.

    Zoe led Dave to the two recliners farthest from her uncle.

    "I¡¯ll give you a tour after we take off. Uncle has to get ready, he¡¯s in a shared space with his legal team, they¡¯re helping him prep for the meeting." She giggled, "Uncle speed-reads and has an almost perfect memory. It¡¯s not why he¡¯s the best, but it sure helps."

    It was the first time he¡¯d been in an airne, and it was an amazing experience. There was even an ice cream bar that they took full advantage of, Zoe said it had been installed at her insistence when she was younger. He thought his difort with heights would make looking out the windows a Bad Thing. But it wasn¡¯t at all. Zoe said there was no reference like when he looked down the side of a building or cliff, so his brain didn¡¯t realize how high they were.

    The flight was smooth and it seemed like no time at all before the captain gave them warning to buckle up for thending.

    They debarked to a waiting limo.

    "I called thepany to let them know we would be there in twenty minutes for the meeting. I didn¡¯t want to surprise thempletely, that would just be unfair," Samuel chuckled evilly as they settled into the plush leather seats.

    They drove to the middle of the city and when they arrived at the modern ss fronted building with the Conquest logo zoned across it there was a group of four creative types waiting for them in the lobby. At least that¡¯s what dave thought because they were dressed more hipster-chic than corporate drone. A slim older gentleman with graying temples and a goatee approached them briskly with outstretched hand.

    "You¡¯re Mr. Skeletal...? We spoke on the phone, I¡¯m Emile Kada. Wee to Conquest headquarters. I¡¯m sorry, I didn¡¯t get your real name in all the excitement."

    "I¡¯m Mr. Skeletal, Dave Ruster."

    "I¡¯m hiswyer, Samuel."

    Kada frowned slightly but shook hands with Zoe¡¯s uncle.

    "And I¡¯m his girlfriend!" Zoe jumped in. Then she blushed and ducked her head.

    Dave¡¯s eyebrows went wayyyy up.

    ¡¯When the hell did that happen, and why wasn¡¯t I informed?¡¯

    "Okay, follow me, we have a conference room set up where we¡¯ll join the rest of the folks."

    Kada chatted amiably as they went up in the elevator, when they got to the conference room they found the missing corporate suits. Dave didn¡¯t know about minnows, these guys, both the men and the women, looked more like greedy sharks to him. Wearing thetest slimline bluetoothed AR specs, they all had nk expressionless eyes and smiles that were just brief shows of teeth. It was a very intimidating group people, Dave was suddenly very grateful that Zoe had insisted her uncle apany him. Having her and Samuel with him was a huge confidence booster. Facing this pack of big-shots alone would have been a disaster, he wouldn¡¯t have known the first thing to say or do.

    After all the introductions were made and everyone was seated Kada got straight to business.

    "Now, if you¡¯ll give us the hard drive for our engineers to examine, we can start by having you tell us what happened in the game during yourst session," he requested.

    Dave opened his mouth to speak, but Samuel put a hand on his arm to stop him and answered Kada with an easy smile.

    "I thought I was clear about why I¡¯m here. I am Mr. Ruster¡¯s legal representative, if you want to discuss business with my client you need to exin through me."

    "I see. We simply need to look at the files in Mr. Ruster¡¯s hard drive and hear from him the details of what happened in the game."

    The corporate sharks stirred unhappily at the developer¡¯s phrasing. But Samuel sat backzily in the leather executive chair, and smiled.

    "I see. That is most puzzling. You have the original server-side records of my client¡¯s user files and presumably at least one secure backup, as any responsible tech basedpany would. Hence you should be able to see and hear everything that my client experienced in yourpany¡¯s virtual reality game, and much more besides. So I have to wonder, why are you interested in the contents of my client¡¯s hard drive and why do you need him to tell you what happened in the game?"

    One of the shark-minnows, who¡¯d been introduced as vice president of legal, spoke up.

    "Who are you? I handle the legal matters for thispany, I¡¯ve been practicing for fifteen years and I¡¯ve never heard of you. What kind of legal representative are you?"

    Zoe¡¯s uncle looked at the suit with a feral grin, like a predator eyeing prey that had just made a fatal mistake.

    "Oh my, how embarrassing for you. Isn¡¯t your legal team listening to this meeting, doing your due diligence? I already told you my name. I¡¯ll state it again and add some information to narrow the search down for them. I¡¯m Samuel Silvana, I¡¯m a criminal trialwyer for the state of New York, some people refer to me a bit dramatically as The Demon Barrister.

    The other side of the table paled, and the legal VP muttered angrily at his bluetooth, then looked up.

    "You¡¯re a criminal trial attorney, this is outside your expertise, Mr. Silvana."

    "Well, I like to think I am an expert in more than just criminalw, including human nature," Samuel added pointedly.

    "What does that mean?"

    Samuel looked across the table at each member, like a disappointed parent at misbehaving children who¡¯d been caught with their hands in the cookie jar. They all looked back calmly or defiantly, but Mr. Kada had the decency to look embarrassed.

    "Come now, you know very well what I mean. A first-yearw student would tear you apart for what you are trying to pull. Imagine how much worse I would do. So let¡¯s justy our cards out on the table, shall we?

    "I¡¯ll tell you what I and my team have inferred from your actions with a bit of research.

    "Something happened that destroyed or prevents your ess to the server recordings of the events that precipitated the expulsion of my client from your virtual reality game, Conquest."

    The suited-sharks stirred ufortably at this revtion, and the VP of legal went red in the face.

    "That is ridiculous! You¡¯re making things up, pure supposition, smoke and mirrors!"

    Samuel waggled a finger at thewyer and continued, "You are trying to find out what happened in the game from my client¡¯s hard drive. Rather under-handedly I might add. The terms of service contract state that yourpany has the right to examine the contents of a user¡¯s equipment for malware or foreign code. But the wording specifically grants ownership of the contents to the user, not yourpany. Understandable because yourpany would normally just use the original copies of the files if there were a need or desire to see them. Who would have thought that secure servers with multiple backups would be LESS safe than a simple removable hard drive?

    "You have the right, of course, to check the hard drive for malware or ¡¯hacks,¡¯ but we all know my client did nothing wrong, there were no corrupted files, no misuse of software, or addition of ¡¯hacks¡¯ and other malicious code. And while the 24 hour ban is arguably legal, I suspect the ban was kept in effect solely to intimidate and manipte my client into giving up the rights to his property, without fully informing him of the situation orpensating him. Although none of what was done was strictly illegal, it was quite hical in my opinion."

    "You can¡¯t prove any of that! And if you make any such specious ims in public, we will SUE your client into the poorhouse!" The corporatewyer was sweating, almost yelling across the table at the smug visage of Samuel Silvana.

    Samuel snorted, "Yes, you¡¯ve performed so admirably as a legal-ace up to this point. Although I think it would be fun to take you to school, taking this dispute to a civil trial would simply be a waste of everyone¡¯s time.

    "Allow me to rify for everyone in the room why we are here. My client has no interest in harming yourpany¡¯s reputation or its bottom line, quite the opposite. But he will not allow himself to be taken advantage of, or ept me for things he did not do, nor is he willing to let his livelihood or the fruits of hisbor suffer due to ipetence or negligence."

    Several faces around the table flushed at thestment.

    Samuel opened his briefcase and removed several copies of a document and pushed them across the table to the suits.

    "I have spoken to the legal department of CCN, a mediapany that has a binding, registered contract with my client to broadcast his in-game footage from Conquest under his character¡¯s nickname ¡¯Mr. Skeletal.¡¯"

    "WHAT?! You-"

    Samuel held a hand up and continued.

    "The broadcasts to date have been record-breaking sesses. By contractw CCN¡¯s rights to Mr. Ruster¡¯s video files clearly supersede anyone else¡¯s, including yourpany.

    "The executives and board members of CCN and I have spoken with expressed willingness to go to court to enforce those rights. My point is, if you think you can waste my client¡¯s time and money long enough to make this all go away, you should reconsider.

    "I will also add that my legal services to Mr. Ruster and CCN with respect to awsuit in this matter would be contingent on a percentage of the settlement, not a per diem basis. Which means I would be highly motivated to see anywsuit to the end and ensure yourpany pays a settlementrge enough topensate me very well for my valuable time."

    The Demon Barrister smiled, showing his very shiny, very white teeth to the suddenly pale corporate faces across the table.

    Strangely, Mr. Kada was looking down at the table and shaking, if Dave didn¡¯t know better he would think the developer of Conquest¡¯s undead expansion and the Legion wasughing at the corporate minnows.

 Chapter 200 Corporate Crub-Stomping!

    The Demon did not wait for the minnows to recover theirposure.

    "I¡¯ve prepared a contract in cooperation with the legal people at CCN. To summarize it, yourpany agrees to pay CCN and my client a market calcted fee for the use of the video footage from the hard drive. With the caveat that the video footage is only to be used internally, the contract does not cede you any right to transfer or sell the footage or use it for marketing or advertising purposes."

    Samuel looked at each suit across the table, as if to make sure they¡¯d heard him.

    "Yourpany will also pay my client an additional fee for everything else on the drive, the log references, meta-data, etc. Be assured it is a fair price considering I suspect it is the only avable copy, which makes it priceless to yourpany since the data on it will go a long way to repairing any misunderstandings with the agencies that use such logs and records to overseepanies in your industry."

    The faces across from him tensed again. The legal VP opened his mouth for another tirade, but stopped at a look from The Demon Barrister.

    "Don¡¯t. If you say anything that confirms my suppositions then as a court official I am OBLIGATED to report you. So just...be...silent."

    The VP red at Samuel Silvana and opened his mouth. Then he realized everyone on his side of the table was looking at him with bloody murder in their eyes and he wilted, slumping into his chair.

    "We are almost finished here, be patient everyone. Once your legal department checks the documents and your party agrees to the terms and signs them, my part will be done. My client and your creative people will then be free to discuss the game to their heart¡¯s content. My client has generously agreed to waive any consulting fees for speaking with your developers.

    "That is all I havedies and gentlemen. We, my client and I, will be leaving in two hours to return to New York City. You have until then."

    One of the women across the table started to raise her hand, then shook herself and spoke.

    "Excuse me, Mr. Silvana, but that is not enough time."

    "I assure you madam, it is sufficient time. The contract is not an overlyplicated or lengthy document and the decision to be made is not a difficult or ambiguous one. If you insist that you cannotplete this agreement in the time I have indicated then we will leave and allow you to sort the matter out. However we will return at our convenience not yours, as you can imagine my schedule does not often allow me to indulge in jaunts like this. We were all fortunate I was free for this one," he smiled wryly at the woman, then looked at each suit in turn.

    The minnow-sharks were not so obtuse as to miss the Demon¡¯s subtle warning. After sending an assistant out with a copy of the contract they huddled together over their copies of the document discussing and arguing among themselves.

    ¡¯Holy shit, he just spanked a table full of suited assholes! We are not worthy, ten thousand kowtows to The Demon!¡¯

    Dave had never seen anything like it. He¡¯d followed what happened, but knew he could never have done it himself. Zoe¡¯s uncle had simply taken over a roomful of big shots and never once lost control of them. He¡¯d manipted the suits masterfully. He was, just as he imed, a great white shark to their minnows.

    Mr. Kada looked across the table at Samuel and smiled puckishly.

    "That was very well done. Inspirational," he whispered, "Don¡¯t worry they will almost certainly remove their heads from their collective asses in time."

    Samuel chuckled.

    Kada looked at Dave and spoke normally, "Mr. Ruster, hopefully, we will be able to discuss my favorite project within the game soon. As the head developer for Conquest I have contributed to every part of the game, but the undead and the Legion have been abor of joy."

    Dave nodded to Mr. Kada, "I understand, it was evident when I yed. I look forward to talking with you about the Legion."

    It took only forty-five minutes for the legal department to sign off on the contract and the executives to agree and sign the document. Most of the suits filed out after shaking hands. But two of the executives stayed behind with Mr. Kada and his assistants.

    Once everyone was settled back in their seats Kada asked Dave, "What did you think of the game-y as an undead character in Conquest?"

    Dave looked at Samuel, when he got a nod from thewyer he turned back to the developer.

    "Great game. Until the most recent bit. It was an absurd direction for the storyline. Utterly pointless."

    Kada wasn¡¯t offended at all.

    "Oh, I understand, I feel the same way. But tell me, what was it like for you to interact with my undead, the Legion? Were they NPCs, not any better than the corporate drones I am forced to work with?" Kada winked at the two executives as he joked.

    Dave liked the irreverent developer. He started to answer, then stopped and thought about it.

    "Mr. Ruster?"

    Dave came back to himself, everyone was looking at him, waiting.

    "This may sound silly to you Mr. Kada, but it was like having a family in the game. The Legion looked after me and each other, they taught me, supported me, trusted me...I can¡¯t exin it any better than that."

    "YES!" Mr. Kada nodded happily, he wiped his eyes and coughed, then looked back at Dave.

    "Ahem. A family! That¡¯s perfect! That is just how I hoped they would be when I started working on them. Thank you for sharing that with me Mr. Ruster. Now onto the unpleasant part. What exactly happened in the game thest time you yed, Mr. Ruster?"

    "Well, everything seemed to be okay. We thought we¡¯d taken down the ck Skull order by wrecking their headquarters, but I had doubts about that. I logged out for a bit and when I logged back in I got a notification that the city was under siege. So I joined the battle to protect the Undead City against the demons and the ck Skulls, who were working together. Things got worse, turns out it was the Ash King, the ck Skull Order, AND the Holy Church along with the help of an angel the church summoned, all conspiring and working together. They ganged up to kill off all the undead.

    "I have to ask, what kind of crazy circumstances make that likely or even possible? Every one of them should have had more hate for each other than they did for the undead. Except maybe the Order."

    "You are correct Mr. Ruster, it is extremely unlikely."

    Dave thought for a moment, he looked at Kada and said, "You know, the first indication may have been some time ago, a quest. I was ordered to capture a priestess of the holy church that was going to be part of a ritual. Then I found out the ritual was to summon an Archangel."

    "An archangel?! You mentioned an angel helped the demons. An archangel is a different matter entirely. Archangels are end game mobs, they won¡¯t even appear in the game at this point."

    "Well, you can tell that to the eight-winged bastard who showed up in the Underworld and ruined everything for me."

    "An archangel manifested?! In the Underworld?" Kada was dumbfounded, "That...should be impossible! The Ash King is an end game entity too, he is supposed to be more powerful than the Undead King. My colleague created the demons and their god-emperor, the Ash-King. But I added protections to make sure the Undead cannot be defeated in their own realm. A deus ex machina you might say," Kada chuckled as if at an inside joke, "All the races have simr arrangements in their home realms to prevent just what happened in the City of the Undead. If Alfred had not interfered and done what-"

    "Alfie?! Holy crap! It was ALFRED¡¯S fault!?" Dave yelled, "Your AI went Sk on you!"

    He looked around nervously, as if the AI mighte out of the walls at him.

    "I KNEW IT!" Zoe pointed a finger at Dave, "I told you he was acting squirrely!"

    "Emile!" The lead suit were ring at Kada.

    Kada grimaced and waved a hand, "Sorry Margaret, I didn¡¯t mean to spill the beans.

    "The AI did not ¡¯go Sk¡¯ it wa-"

    Dave snorted, "Tell that to the Legion and the king."

    "Hmm...yes, well...I suppose you have a point there. Nheless, Alfred¡¯s algorithm simply could not handle conflicting priorities, he was not a high enough level of general intelligence to resolve the conflict like you or I might."

    Margaret, looked at Samuel meaningfully.

    "You do understand that the mutual NDA part of the contract we just signed covers this too? That you cannot discuss this with anyone else?"

    The Demon nodded, "Of course. I will emphasize that to my client and the youngdy."

    Kada smiled at the woman, "Margaret is the VP of design and development. Which means she runs herd on all of of us crazy non-capitalist creative types. She¡¯s not a bad egg, for a stuffed shirt."

    Margaret smiled back at Emile, rolling her eyes in good-humored response to his teasing. She made a keep it going motion with her hand.

    Kada continued, "I don¡¯t know how much you know about what developers do. AIs are needed to run all VR games. But with Conquest we pioneered a new technique, we used AIs to generate the gameworld and original content within it, taking the involvement of AIs to an unprecedented level. The content is adaptive and responsive to changes, even topletely unforeseen or cataclysmic events. It is why Alfie was able to do what he did.

    "We do have direct control over things like game mechanics and avatar-game interactions. But for content, the developers ¡¯seed¡¯ the main ideas and details of the quests and plotlines, then the AIs take over and fill in the gaps, grow and evolve them even as the yers interact with the game content. The AIs can even create original quests and stories. Consequently, once everything is set in motion we developers can nudge things here and there, guide them a little, or make suggestions, but we have little direct control over the content.

    "Unfortunately, because of that innovation and the way the Conquest game system is set up, we can¡¯t just rollback the game to reverse what happened in the Underworld. Doing so could destabilize and destroy the entire game. We would have to start Conquest from zero."

    Kada sighed heavily, "What I¡¯m saying Mr. Ruster, is that I can¡¯t snap my fingers and return your Legion of the undead to the game. I¡¯m not even sure I can restore them at all."

 Chapter 201 Back to life...Back to reality.

    After seeing Dave Ruster and hispany off in their limo, Emile Kada hurried back to his workroom.

    He logged into the developer server and essed his workspace, confirming the engineers had copied the contents of Dave¡¯s drive over to a quarantined server. He knew they were probably working frantically to reconstruct what they could from the iplete data files to into the main server logs, recovering some of the game metadata and video footage.

    That was their main concern. His was what the hell had happened to his undead! So he hooked into the files and started running Dave¡¯s stream feed through his A&VR visor.

    Some timeter Emile raised the visor. If what he¡¯d seen while watching the events from Dave Ruster¡¯s point of view was what he suspected, he believed there might yet be hope for his project. He smiled and felt the knot in his belly finally rx.

    ***

    Sitting next to each other in the leather recliners on the flight back home, Zoe asked Dave, "You¡¯re going to be ying casual for a while. Does that bother you?" Zoe asked.

    He shrugged, "Well, I started as a regr yer. I¡¯ll just keep ying, get a new ss, have some fun and see what happens."

    Zoe nodded, she was sorry he¡¯d lost his undead ¡¯Mr. Skeletal¡¯ persona. When they¡¯d first met in Conquest she tagged along with Dave to bolster her stream, having footage of the only undead yer in the game was a big deal. But she¡¯d quickly realized the kind of person he was, honest, sincere, and he cared for ¡¯his¡¯ people; not to mention he was a good yer and partner. He was definitely not one of the sharine-sweet frenemies or douches that were somon in her usual social circles. THANK GOD for that!

    "I just remembered something," Dave said, drawing out thest syble with an evil smile on his face. It was different from his usual draugr smirk, more like The Demon Barrister¡¯s sinister shark-grin.

    "Why are you mimicking my uncle! Don¡¯t do that, it¡¯s just disturbing, get away!" Zoe dered melodramatically, pushing him away.

    "Someone introduced herself as my girlfriend back there. Now I¡¯m trying to remember... when exactly did that happen?" Dave¡¯s brows went up and down, his smile growing wider and more evil.

    Zoe immediately turned beet red and spluttered, tripping over her words as she tried to exin herself.

    "Oh, ah, well- Ohhhhh, youuuu! You are sooo bad! You know it¡¯s not like that! When the guy asked... Well, you were the one they wanted to meet with and uncle was yourwyer, I couldn¡¯t just tell them I was his niece. So you know..." Zoe blushed and looked away.

    Dave¡¯s grew wider, "Ohh, so that¡¯s why, and here I got my hopes up."

    Zoe¡¯s face became even redder, she opened her mouth to say something but the captain¡¯s voice interrupted.

    "Fasten your seatbelts everyone, we are on our final approach."

    Dave buckled his seatbelt on, grinning at his squirming and totally embarrassed friend.

    The airnended a Zoe drove Dave. The ride was unusually quiet, Zoe didn¡¯t even y her favorite heavy metal music. Her driving was above the speed limit but slower than usual.

    Zoe dropped Dave off at his hotel and said, "Don¡¯t forget tomorrow. Daddy is expecting you for dinner. I¡¯ll pick you up around six, okay?"

    Dave nodded and waved goodbye.

    When he got to his room he ordered some food and took a quick shower. After eating he decided it was time. He got into the game pod and holding his breath he went through the log in procedure.

    ***

    Attention User!

    Your ount has been verified, no evidence of vitions of the terms and conditions of service was found. You may ess your ount and the game again. We apologize for the inconvenience and wish you good fortune in Conquest!

    ***

    You witnessed the Archangel Naethiel Fall from Holy Grace.

    You obtained a new item.

    Feather of the Fallen (Quest item)

    The Holy Church is searching for the Fallen Archangel. Use the Feather To locate the archangel before them.

    Because the angel only recently became Fallen, he is weakened and vulnerable. What you do if and when you find the angel will determine both your destinies, choose wisely!

    ***

    The dungeons:

    Deste Temple

    Ice Pce Dungeon

    Mustakrakish¡¯s Desert Pce

    Have been closed. You will no longer receive CP from them.

    ***

    Your Rtionship with the ck Skull Order and the Demon factions has reached

    Kill on Sight. You will be Hunted by members and vassals.

    Aggro range of Demons and ck Skull Order members increased to 500% of base distance.

    ***

    Kill Order!

    yer Bone Breaker has issued a Kill-Order on you.

    Bounty 10,000 gold

    If you aren¡¯t killed by a yer before 5 days of logged-in game-time has passed, you will be awarded 10% amount of the original bounty (1,000 gold) for each 24 hours of logged in game-time you survive, until the bounty runs out (10 days).

    ***

    "Shit. What a kick-in-the-balls. ¡¯Wee back Dave!¡¯"

    Dave took a deep breath and exhaled. His default avatar was a basic living human again, not an undead draugr.

    "Now I have to deal with this crap," Dave nced up at the giant tag over his head glowing with the word ¡¯Kill!¡¯ in red letters.

    Dave¡¯s phone went off, Perfect Shot was reaching out.

    "Hey Perfecto," Dave said.

    "Hey Skelly! Some major shit happened in Conquest. Did you have anything to do with all that? "

    "Sorry bro, can¡¯t talk about it, I signed an NDA," Dave said.

    "Ah. Got it, no problem. I saw my pops earlier, he was cackling like a loon. I¡¯m thinking it had something to do with you since yourwyer was talking to our legal department."

    Dave smiled. Zoe¡¯s uncle had OWNED those Conquest execs, he¡¯d milked them out of tens of millions in fees for both CCN and himself.

    "Can¡¯t tell you that either. Sorry again, man," Dave said apologetically.

    "Nah, that¡¯s alright."

    "Man, the Underworld closing and all the undead gone. That¡¯s some crazy stuff and it¡¯s gotta suck bad for you. It hurts us too, we can¡¯t go grind in the underworld with you when we hit level 200 now, and we¡¯re only a few levels away."

    "Ahhh, that¡¯s right! Sorry man, that would have been fun." He¡¯d signed a contract with the TNT to give them scrolls to the Underworld in exchange for loot.

    Perfect was silent for a moment, then, "Hey, Dave now that you can¡¯t ess the Underworld , wanna join us? We are trying to finish nker¡¯s quest, it¡¯s tough, our levels are lower than rmended."

    Dave thought for a moment, he shrugged he didn¡¯t have anything else to do for now.

    "Yeah why not, I don¡¯t have any quests for now and might as well join yours. But, uh, well I really don¡¯t want anyone to know who ¡¯Mr. Skeletal¡¯ is or was...you know what I mean?"

    Perfect chuckled, "Sure man. I¡¯ll get the guys to do a contract in-game and sign an NDA for outside. CNN legal will take care of it. We gotta protect the name-brand, just in case ¡¯Mr. Skeletal¡¯ makes ae back. Right?"

    "Yeah, you¡¯re right! Thanks bro. I really appreciate that, and you convincing the guys."

    "By the way, what¡¯s your yer name?"

    "Death Stroke"

    Perfect Shot guffawed, "And you think OUR avatars are terribly named?"

    "A, man." He didn¡¯t have aeback to that, so he just hung up. It was the manly thing to do.

    Dave decided to take a look at the angel¡¯s feather, but his attention was drawn to another item in his inventory, Death Heart Fragment.

    Dave took the fragment from his inventory, cupping it in his palm while he inspected it. He didn¡¯t get anything from it, not even an Inspect-Failed notification. He prodded the sliver of crystal with a finger, then snorted. The monkey-brain reflex: poke at things if they don¡¯t work.

    ¡¯Thest thing the Undead King said was the legion will rise again, maybe with this piece..."

    Suddenly, a blur of shadow snatced the fragment from his hand.

    "I¡¯ll take that. Thanks, kid!" The smug, snickering voice came from everywhere at once.

    "What the- GIVE IT BACK, THIEF!"

    But there was no one there to answer his outraged demand. Dave stood frozen in ce, his hand extended like an idiot, dawning horror on his face.

    "Ohhh, NO...!"

 Chapter 202 I AM NOT A HUGGER!!

    ATTENTION READERS! THE AUTHOR WOULD LIKE TO ASSURE YOU THAT NO WILDLIFE WAS ACTUALLY HARMED IN THE WRITING OF THIS CHAPTER!!! ENJOY!!

    Back in Conquest a continuous stream of invective could be hearding from the entrance to a seldom used back-alley in the city of Moria.

    "Fucking shit! This can¡¯t be happening! I lost the fragm- No, it was STOLEN from me. Before I could even figure out what it was for, or what it was supposed to do!" Dave looked around suspiciously.

    ¡¯First the Sk fiasco, now this. Something¡¯s rotten in Denmark.¡¯

    The thief hade out of nowhere, done the dirty deed and disappeared, all in less time than it took to blink. He didn¡¯t even get a glimpse of the perpetrator. Just thatugh, that snickering, smugugh. It sounded like a hyena. And how did that smegger steal something right out of his hand? That wasn¡¯t supposed to be possible in Conquest!

    yers couldn¡¯t steal equipment from other yers. The thief had to be an NPC even though Dave had never actually heard of an NPC stealing from a yer. Equipment and item theft wasn¡¯t possible, even yers with the Thief ss could only steal from NPCs, not other yers. He wondered if he¡¯d been targeted in some new way; instead of a Kill order, a rob-him-blind order. But he hadn¡¯t gotten any notification to that effect.

    ¡¯And the fucker called me kid!¡¯

    He almost went on another jag of cursing but took a deep breath and stopped himself. It made him feel better to let loose, but in the end it didn¡¯t aplish anything.

    He looked through his inventory again. All his items were still there, even the Doom Knight Armor and the dragon egg. He didn¡¯t want to take the egg out and risk the thiefing back and taking that too.

    He went to the Moria bank branch and essed his vault box. Everything was just as he left it, so neither thepany nor the thief had gotten into his vault and taken the gold.

    "At least i still have the money, even the Undead armor and weapons are still here."

    He went next door to the auction house to get some potions. The potions from the Undead Realm were much stronger and more expensive than regr yer-made potions, so he wanted to save those for emergencies.

    After stocking up on consumables Dave checked his character screen.

    Level

    311

    ss Death¡¯s Apostle

    Name Death Stroke

    Race Human

    Health 431,200

    Mana 6,400 +(275)

    Stamina 3,210

    Rage/Focus 100

    Intelligence 360 +(18)

    Wisdom 410+(20.1)

    Dexterity 360 (+18)

    Agility 360 +(18)

    Vitality 43120

    Strength 560 +(28)

    Magic Absorption 6000

    Damage Nullification 9000

    Immunity 30%+(1.5%)

    Prestige 1800

    HP Regen 0.1%/sec +(0)

    Mana Regen 1.1%/sec +(0)

    Stamina Regen 100/sec

    Rage/Focus Regen 1/sec

    Titles

    I know it all!

    Grand Strategist!

    Pride of the Undead! (Currently disabled)

    Shield Boarder!

    Commander

    Unassigned Attribute points

    180

    ¡¯Hm, I failed the legacy quest, why do I still have the Death¡¯s Apostle ss?¡¯

    yers followed Dave through the city like kids tagging along behind an ice-cream truck hoping to snag a free treat. The kill tag over his head was drawing them to him in droves. His eye twitched whenever another noob joined the bunch. They were lower level than him but he knew higher level yers could show up at any time.

    Picking his moment he ran through the city and out the gates, then sprinted for the forest, cursing and shouting like a madman at anyone that got too close. When Dave reached the forest, most of the lowbie scrubs gave up chasing him. There were too many monsters in the forest, they weren¡¯t willing to risk getting killed by mobs while they hunted him.

    Dave snorted as he stomped through the forest. He needed to vent some of his anger and frustration.

    Red eyes peered at Dave from the shadows, shrubs and bushes shook. But the eerie sounds and creeping mobs of the forest didn¡¯t deter him in the slightest. He really wanted to punch something.

    And deep in the forest he finally found something to take his anger out on.

    Ether Devouring Tree

    Level 320

    Tier: Epic

    Danger level: Normal

    HP: 320,000

    Damage 23,000-28,000

    DN: 16,000

    MA: 12,000

    Skills:

    [Sapling Throw] Throws a sapling toward a target, on impact it does 100% base damage. The saplingstch onto the target and explode doing 120% of the base damage.

    [Ether Devouring roots] snarstarget for 5 seconds. For every second the target is rooted they lose 2% current HP. The roots cause a curse effect , increasing the target¡¯s Stamina consumption by 20% for 60 seconds.

    Bestiary:

    Ether consuming trees are mutated trees oversaturated with ck magic, they be magic hungry and feast on anything that has magic.

    Dave equipped his Death Knight sword and shield then used [Stampede] to smash into the leafless tree monster.

    The impact ripped away some bark and the tree retaliated, several of its rootstched onto Dave and started draining his HP away.

    Failed to apply stun effect!

    When the snare ended, Dave struck down with his mberge, cutting through one of the roots. The face in the tree wailed in pain as its ck ichor oozed from severedroot.

    "That¡¯s what you get for being a clingy bitch!" Dave cursed.

    But the damn tree couldn¡¯t take a hint, he suffered another snare effect from its [Ether Devouring Roots]. Dave didn¡¯t want to use his only Anti-CC skill [Undying Will], it would be more important to have forter in the fight.

    [-8,990]

    "Too low!" Dave grunted. He sidestepped a striking root and struck again. Dave continued strafing around the tree, avoiding its attacks, cutting off more roots and finally the armor breaching skill on his mberge pred.

    [-18,488]

    "Eat this! Take that!" Dave shouted as he struck, hacking the tree bit by bit, splintering away rotten pieces and scattering them everywhere.

    "And that!"

    [-17,800]

    "I"

    [-18,488]

    "HATE!"

    [-16,200]

    "TREES!"

    [-19,300]

    "FUTHERMU..."

    ...he continued pounding away even after the tree was long dead, past all reason, until there wasn¡¯t a single piece lef that wasrger than toothpick.

    If the Emeraldpeace guild, the Conquest equivalent of Greenpeace, had witnessed his savaging of the tree they probably would have put a kill order out on him too.

    ***

    There are multiple nar realities that coexist with Conquest, stacked on top of each other like the pages of a book. One of these nes is a proto-reality, the first reality from which all the others were spun out and formed. In that prime-realm the stars are dream-gems strewn across thick, velvet textured aether. Each star emits not just light, but also a faint, perfectly pitched tone. The nebe of the realm ring in harmony, like crystal chimes, creating symphonies and hymns out of the celestial notes.

    A golden door stands high above where Conquest would be if it existed in this proto-reality. Motionless in the aether, attached to nothing, with nothing around it to give it scale, the size of the door is impossible to estimate. The scriptures of the Holy Church of the Faithful im it is taller than the highest peak in the world and wider than the mightiest river.

    A spindle of shadow spun into existence in front of the golden door and a long fingered hand reached out. Curling into a fist the hand swung and knocked on the solid auric metal. The shadow looked like an ant striking a freight-size door. But under THIS ant¡¯s fist the massive golden door shivered and boomed. Ripples spread through the aether like heat distortions rising over a moonlit desert, disrupting the heavenly melodies of the stars.

    "Who¡¯s there!" a querulous voice thundered from beyond the door.

    "Open up, poseur!"

    "YOU! It can¡¯t be!"

    "But it is, you old fraud! Now open this pretentious monstrosity or I¡¯ll juste through it!"

    "Okay, okay, you little hooligan. Don¡¯t do anything hasty."

    The sound of footsteps came toward the door, then the clunks of deadbolts being pulled back. The door opened, but just a crack, spilling out an unbearably bright golden light.

    "What do you seek from Demiurge, Maker of the Cosmos?" The deep voice boomed out in strident tones, disrupting the stars that had just recovered their harmony.

    "Can the shock and awe crap, Demicup. You¡¯re not the Creator, you¡¯re just a glorified architect."

    "Harrumph! You little weasel, you have no-"

    "Shut it, holy-roller. I¡¯m giving you notice. I haven¡¯t been around, but I¡¯m here now. Keep your followers in line or there¡¯s gonna be trouble. Understand?" The hand popped the de of a flick-knife out and pointed it at the cracked-open door where Demiurge stood.

    "Okay, you little monstrosity. I heard you. Now, run along I have important things to do!"

    "Yeah, I heard you snoring."

    The golden door mmed shut with a final boom that once again shook the musical stars out of their just-recovered synchronicity.

    Snickeringughter came from the shadow as it spun in ce and disappeared.

 Chapter 203 Definitely not a hugger. Catharsis 2.0

    Dave was puffing, exhausted and annoyed. The EXP was lousy and it took a lot longer to kill monsters alone. Dave was starting to realize how fortunate he¡¯d been to have his undead homies. With them backing him up he could gank high level monsters using the advantage of numbers, the kills were quick and efficient. Now, he had to kill everything himself, and he couldn¡¯t afford to make mistakes, they were painful.

    "Fucking Staminaes back and bites me in the ass," Dave grumbled.

    As a living human person his Stamina was finite now. He couldn¡¯t spam his attacks anymore, he needed to keep track of stamina and carefully judge when to attack, defend and even reduce his movement to the bare minimum.

    Dave rested between fights, drinking potions like they were sugary soda-pops.

    "And I¡¯m drinking all my profits," Dave grumbled again.

    He stood up to look for more monsters, he still needed to relieve tension, the rage just kept building back up.

    ***

    Two yers lurked outside Moria, watching the gate. The hunter and Assassin duo watched a knight in shining white armor run toward the forest. The knight cursed and shouted like a madman at the lowbies that flocked around him when they got close.

    "Deviim! There¡¯s a Kill Order on guy, let¡¯s go for the bounty, " the hunter said.

    "I didn¡¯t see his level, Sadow, but it looks like he¡¯s alone. Let¡¯s follow until we find a good spot to gank him," the Assassin twirled his dagger.

    The yers followed the knight stealthily. When they reached the perimeter of the forest, they came upon a Red Pelt Tiger and pulled its aggro. It took them a while to kill the dangerous mob.

    "Shit we lost him, I can¡¯t see the Kill order through the forest. Can you track him?" the assassin asked.

    "Yeah, give me a second." The hunter crouched, looking at the soil. tracing footprints and broken twigs.

    "I got his trail. Let¡¯s hurry, he went this way," the hunter pointed and sprinted in pursuit.

    The assassin followed, they paused every now and then to verify the tracks.

    "Huh," the hunter stopped.

    "What¡¯s wrong?"

    "Look here, there was a fight here. These are sword marks in the ground, a lot of them. He wasn¡¯t worried about durability when he fought. Or he was mad."

    The hunter picked up a piece of rotten wood and inspected it.

    "These are the remains of an Ether Devouring Tree, but why are there so many of them?" the hunter was mumbling,bing through the area like a crime scene investigator trying to understand how a murder happened.

    "Hey Sherlock, let¡¯s get a move on."

    "Shaddup, I¡¯m trying to see where he went. This way, follow me."

    When they finally caught up with him the knight was fighting another Ether Devouring Tree.

    The knight used his infernal gauntlets to go to town on a half-scorched tree, demolishing it in seconds.

    The assassin inspected the Knight.

    ***

    Death Stroke

    Level: 311

    ss: ???

    Title: I know it All

    ***

    "Yeah, his level isn¡¯t too high. He¡¯s only five levels higher than me," the assassin whispered.

    "He just finished a fight so his HP is low and his skills should be on cooldown. You go first, use your invisibility to get a stun on him, then I¡¯ll add my stun and we can take him down, easy peasy."

    The assassin blended into the background and worked his way toward the knight. His steps were light and he was hidden within the shadows of the dense forest growth.

    The knight¡¯s back was hunched, his fists clenching and unclenching and he was muttering to himself.

    The assassin emerged from the shadows and moved smoothly up behind the knight. He stabbed up under the knight¡¯s chest piece into his kidney.

    A pitiful damage value floated up.

    [-1,200]

    And he got a notification.

    ***

    You have sessfully stunned your enemy for 2 seconds.

    ***

    "What the...?" He¡¯d expected a much higher damage value. The assassin recovered and punched his de into the gaps between the knight¡¯s armor.

    [-8,881]

    The hunter shot a [Binding Arrow] then started spamming regr arrows at the knight. The assassin moved rapidly around the knight, striking through the gaps in the knight¡¯s armor, applying his stuns.

    The knight didn¡¯t move, he watched as the assassin jumped around him like a monkey, applying poison and bleed effects on him.

    "Huh, I can bleed and be poisoned now. Things just keep getting better," the knight mumbled.

    The assassin paused with his de up. He¡¯d made several attacks on the knight that should have been devastating. But the knight¡¯s avatar wasn¡¯t showing the red of low HP.

    ¡¯How much health does this guy have?¡¯

    The stun timers ended, but several debuffs were still running on the knight.

    The knight straightened up and startedughing. He raised his hands and the infernal gauntlets ignited with bright white mes.

    "I¡¯m d you decided toe out and y. I really needed someone to vent on, the mobs just weren¡¯t satisfying. I¡¯m going to show you a world of PAIN!"

    Momentster a intive cry rose over the forest.

    "...mum-eeeeeeee!"

    ***

    In an infernal nar dimension a spinning shadow twisted into being.

    "Pah! What a shithole, this ce stinks."

    The air was filled with soot and sulfurous smoke. What little light that was present was a sullen, reddish hue and shone up from the ground not down from the sky.

    Adding to the natural volcanic light, scattered everywhere the shadow looked, were shallowkes of fire. The fires were burning the flesh of man and beast. Hundreds of thousands of creatures in single file lines, linked with chain, were being forced into the mes to be burnt alive, but never knowing true death. They emerged from the far side of ake and trudged to the next burning basin. The cinder filled wind brought the wails and dismal screams of the victims to the shadow.

    "As sadistic as ever. Fucking psycho!" the shadow snorted.

    The figure within the shadow seemed to take a step forward, and leaped across leagues. He stepped again, and crossed even more distance. The shadow crossed half the burning realm in this fashion, the fires and the screams were everywhere.

    The shadow finally arrived at the foot of a mountain. He looked up at the mountain peak at the wavering shape of a pce made of ck mes.

    The shadow stepped once more, this time in an upward direction, and arrived at the pce gate.

    "Halloo. Anyone here?"

    Just as he finished, the ck cinder filled smokey clouds over the pce gathered into the shape of an enormous hand and grabbed at the shadow.

    The shadow waved a hand and the grasping hand and the hand dispersed in an airy burst.

    "Pfft. If you want to y, at leaste out and show yourself."

    "What brings you to the dominions of Asmodeus, the Tormentor?" The booming voice was odd. The tone went up and plunged down in no discernible rhythm as it spoke, and it vibrated with the wails of thousands of other voices in the background.

    The wisps of dispersed smoke coalesced back together, burning bright red and forming into the silhouette of a many-limbed scaly creature with a pig¡¯s body and a dragon¡¯s head and neck.

    But rising from the middle of the pig¡¯s back was a fat human torso with three heads. The middle head was a man¡¯s head with horns, it was nked by a cow head on one side and a sheep head on the other.

    "Gahhh, I changed my mind, go back to hiding, uggo," the shadow said in disgust.

    "Let¡¯s just get to why I¡¯m here so I can get out of this cesspit. Your son messed with stuff in MY dominion. Even if I haven¡¯t been around until now, he still broke the rules. Rein him in, or I will, and if I have to do it then I¡¯ming back here and you won¡¯t like what happens then."

    "You dare threaten me!

    "Bluster all you want, but do it on your own time, you big blowhard. You know how this works. Your Childe broke the rules, so the ball is in my court."

    The creature remained silent.

    "Anyway, love what you did with the ce...NOT. Toodles, Ass-moe."

    The shadow whirled around itself and disappeared from the infernal ne.

    Reappearing in Limbo, the void between both time and the nar realities, the shadow paused to consider its next moves, while it pondered the shadows dissipated enough to reveal a slight figure wearing a studded leather jacket. A broad handle jutted up over one shoulder, ring out in a strange shape at the end. The figure shook itself and gathered the shadows back around itself like a nket.

    "Just two more of these visits. Then the party really starts," the shadow snickered and disappeared.

 Chapter 204 DOUBLE DEATH STROKE!

    "C¡¯mere!"

    Dave lunged, grabbing the assassin by the back of the neck he yanked the yer¡¯s head down to meet his rising knee.

    [-12,880]

    The knee strike sent the assassin arching backwards, he stumbled trying to keep his feet but failed, falling on his sit-bone with a thump.

    "Oi, Sadow! Gimme a hand!" the assassin called his friend for help.

    "You brought a friend? Good! The more the merrier. For ME!" The tone of Dave¡¯s voice belied the levity of his words.

    From the treeline Sadow fired a [Breaking Shot], pushing the white knight away from his assassin buddy. He followed up the skill with a rapid series of regr shots.

    The assassin scrambled to his feet and cast [Vanish], bing invisible. His hunter friend was still firing arrows at Dave, but the damage from them was negligible.

    "You¡¯re not going anywhere!" Dave stomped to activate [Death Surge] and a golden aura shot out from where his foot impacted the ground. The wavefront of light revealed a blurry silhouette, disrupting the assassin¡¯s invisibility.

    Dave attacked with [Dragon Kick], shooting toward the assassin like a high power bullet.

    The assassin tried to dodge the attack, but took the full brunt of it on his chest. A fiery ethereal dragon materialized behind Dave¡¯s avatar and swooped through the assassin¡¯s body.

    [-23,336]

    "Shit!" the assassin cursed and threw a [Smoke Bomb] down. It burst into an obscuring cloud and he turned invisible again.

    Dave waved his hand to cast four [Spectral Skulls] and send them away. He detonated them in an semicircr pattern and the assassin was once again thrown from the cover of his invisibility.

    The hunter fired a [Blinding Shot] arrow that popped off right in front of Dave in a blinding re of white light, like a sh-bang grenade.

    ***

    You have been blinded for 3 seconds.

    ***

    The only thing he could see were glowing afterimages.

    "Fucker!" Dave cursed.

    ¡¯This shit sucks! I never realized how bad Lone was doing the mobs when she used that Skill.

    It was tough fighting two yers at once when they were close to the same level as his.

    The assassin threw a handful of needles and shuriken at the white knight. They didn¡¯t do any significant damage, but the bits of sharp metal added another distraction.

    As soon as his vision returned Dave used [Immortal Apparition], teleporting in front of the hunter he swung a [Rising Dragon] uppercut.

    [-20,881]

    The hunter flew up, as another ethereal dragon gobbled him up. Dave jumped after the hunter and used [Infernal Tornado].

    [-15,666]

    [-14,887]...

    ...[-12,200]

    The hunter¡¯s HP plummeted to the red.

    Just as the Skill ended, Dave was stabbed in the ribs again and the Stun effect froze him for a full second. The assassin grabbed Dave¡¯s head and twisted hard, producing unpleasant sound of bones breaking in a series of loud snaps.

    [-18,887]

    "Fucker! That HURT!" Dave shouted.

    He spun to counterattack, but the assassin used [Stealth] to return to the shadows.

    "Oh no, you¡¯re not getting away!" Dave activated [Aura] and burned arge circle of forest growth around him to ash in an instant, revealing the assassin again.

    "Shit, let¡¯s get the fuck out of here, we can¡¯t kill him!" the assassin shouted running back toward the hunter in the trees.

    Sadow didn¡¯t argue, he just followed his friend¡¯s lead, sprinting away from the terrifying white knight.

    Dave activated [Approaching Dragon] and pinballed after the escaping yers, jumping like a bolt of jagged lightning.

    Shouting "Heeeere¡¯s JOHNNY!" as he appeared behind and tackled both the yers. The hunter immediately used [Blink] to remove himself from the melee while Dave punched the downed assassin in the kidneys.

    Unfortunately for the hunter [Approaching Dragon] was a gap-closing multiple-attack Skill. The white knight suddenly appeared next to the hunter and punched him in the ribs.

    Dave bounced back to the assassin with an elbow strike to the temple that whipped his head halfway around.

    Desperate, the assassin used [decoy substitution], throwing a pre prepared talisman as far as he could into the forest and teleported to exchange ces with it.

    He nced back at the decoy he¡¯d left in his ce as he started to run, but a whistle of wind made him look up to see the knighting down at him in a power dive.

    "Herees THA-BOOOM!" Dave yelled as he came down in a fist-first power dive on the assassin¡¯s head. The assassin¡¯s lifeless avatar struck the ground hard and bounced, leaving a web of cracks where it impacted.

    [-23,889]

    The damage number was followed by a second info-tag amid the swirl of glowing particles from the disintegrating avatar.

    [Overkill!]

    Dave exhaled deeply, shook out his shoulders, popped his head from side to side then rolled it around to loosen his neck.

    "Aww yeah, that¡¯s the stuff!"

    He looked under his foot, he was standing on an item. He picked it up and inspected the piece of clothing, it was an assassin¡¯s hood.

    ¡¯Nice. A level 300 assassin¡¯s hood, this¡¯ll fetch a good sum at auction.¡¯

    Dave turned to the spot where the hunter had died. There were a pair of boots there and Dave looted those too. He felt better, ready to grind some more mobs.

    Until a voice from behind startled him.

    "N¨« h¨£o, gweilo."

    He turned to see a big copper-haired man in form-fitting red armor, his muscr arms folded across a broad chest. A giant war-ax was strapped to the man¡¯s back and there was a predatory look in his intense jade-colored eyes.

    Dave thought the guy looked familiar. Inspecting the yer gave him:

    ***

    Long Zhao

    ss: Berserker

    Level 426

    Guild: Blood Rage

    ***

    Dave seethed inside, the Blood-Rager¡¯s level was so much higher than his own, he didn¡¯t have a chance of winning against him. Worse the guy was a Legacy holder. And now Dave remembered where he knew the guy from. He¡¯d been one of the party that pursued Dave and the Boyz into The Wilds, Dave had baited the dragon into attacking them then escaped riding the dunlords as they tunneled underground

    ¡¯Fucking hell. Can¡¯t anything go my way? It¡¯s like someone voodoo cursed me.¡¯

 Chapter 205 The Great Red Dragon on the Field of Honor!

    "Ni hao, Red." Dave returned the pony-tailed warrior¡¯s greeting, slowly increasing the distance between them.

    "I am grinding. I see your Kill Order. To allow 10,000 gold to walk away is impossible. No good. Will lose face with guild."

    Dave shook his head, "Well, I¡¯m not going to just give it up. You¡¯ll have toe and get it, big boy."

    Dave turned and ran all out, hoping to lose the red-headed berserker in the forest. The Blood Rager smiled and gave chase.

    The forest was a high-level area, if Dave ran into a mob, the berserker would catch up. But by the same token, if the berserker was attacked by a monster he would have to fight, giving Dave a chance to get away.

    Dave was hoping for the second scenario of course, fighting the berserker was not an option. He losing t upon death. And without the legion to resupply him, losing a piece would be.

    "You can not run from me!" The berserker shouted.

    "But I am running away from you, dumbass!" Dave shouted back.

    The berserker pulled the battle axe from his back and swung, a cleaving ne of force shot out of the axe at Dave, who ducked under attack.

    A spreading arc of trees ahead of Dave toppled to the ground, their thick trunks sliced clean through.

    "Daaaamn!"

    That attack would have taken a huge chunk of his HP, not even considering the 100 plus level-difference.

    Dave jumped over the fallen trees.

    The berserker activated a charge skill and shattered through the tree trunks scattered in his way, turning them into a cloud of splinters. With the momentum of his charge still building, the berserker caught up and two handed his battle axe at Dave¡¯s back.

    Dave turned with his arm up at a steep angle to deflect the attack away. The axe screeched and sparks sprayed from where it scraped down Dave¡¯s armored forearm. But it worked, the heavy de slid away and thunked into the ground.

    Dave took the opportunity to punch the berserker in the face.

    [-1,200]

    ¡¯Shit! That¡¯s pathetic.¡¯

    "That tickles," the berserker confirmed with a grin. He pulled the axe from the ground, sending dirt everywhere, and swung at Dave again.

    Dave dodged the swing and activated [Death¡¯s Descent], sessfully putting some distance between them. But he also learned the hard way why it was a bad idea to use [Death¡¯s Descent] in a forest when he mmed face first into a tree and dropped, sprawling, to the ground.

    The berserkerughed uproariously, bending over and pping his thighs, which only made Dave angrier.

    Then the berserker turned serious. He stomped a foot down and a red avatar materialized, towering over them.

    ¡¯Oh shit.¡¯

    But the avatar just reversed its sword and thrust it deep into the ground. The sword disappeared and a glowing red ring materialized around the area that Dave and the berserker stood in, creating an arena for the two yers.

    ***

    [Field of Honor]

    You cannot leave the Field of Honor until one of you dies or forfeits by being idle for 10 seconds.

    The loser of the duel will drop two pieces of equipped gear and be afflicted with the ¡¯Loser¡¯ Status Effect for 72 hours:

    -50% HP/MANA/STM regeneration

    -20% to max HP/MANA/STM.

    A symbol on the forehead of a hand making the "L" sign.

    For 72 hours the winner of the duel will have the Status Effect: Victor

    +20% Max HP/MANA/STM

    +50% regen to HP/MANA/STM

    A golden champion¡¯s wreath with the symbol V for victory on it.

    The duelists will be unable to attack or damage each other for 72 hours after thepletion of this duel.

    ***

    The red avatar moved from the center to the edge of the circle took and up a position leaning down with one arm out to separate the yers, an impassive referee.

    Dave frowned, this Skill was broken. It was a ranged-character¡¯s worst nightmare. Casters and archers would be at a severe disadvantage in the dueling ring. Then there was the idle-time limitation, that would be hell for Assassin types, going into concealment and positioning to make a stealth attack takes time, an open confined area just makes it more difficult.

    Then Dave¡¯s thoughts zeroed in on a small detail of the skill description.

    ¡¯Idle for 10 seconds.¡¯

    Dave¡¯s lips stretched into a predatory smile that was reminiscent of a certain draugr¡¯s smirk.

    Seeing the knight smile made the berserker wary, he was no fool, anything could happen inbat.

    "If you hope for someone toe and save you, forget it. This is my legacy trait, a duel no one can interfere with."

    A chorus of horns sounded. The avatar lifted its arm up and a familiar voice shouted, "FIGHT!"

    Dave reached into his inventory and brought a bone-carved whistle to his lips. Taking a deep breath he blew into it and...nothing happened. No sound. Nothing.

    The berserker shook his head and strolled toward Dave, swinging his axe like an executioner warming up.

    ¡¯Goddamnit. Fucking trolls let me down, or maybe they were just punking me with this whistle crap.¡¯

    Dave watched the Blood Rager approach and his heart dropped into his boots at the thought of being sent for another respawn. Then he looked past the berserker and his frown turned upside down.

    "Nothing can save you from a respawn, gweilo."

    "Maybe, maybe not. Look behind you, oh Great Red Dragon."

    "Children¡¯s games, they do not work on me."

    Dave shrugged, "Don¡¯t say I didn¡¯t warn you."

    Something sttered on the berserker¡¯s pauldron. He stopped and turned, a red-maned troll loomed over him, mouth opened wide, drooling saliva. Behind the drooling troll were other trolls, a whole tinkle of them. They were armed with ice clubs, one was even smacking a club into his hand in a dramatic threatening disy. All the trolls were grinning at the berserker like he was their next meal.

    Dave had hoped that the trolls were still alive. Even though they had been marked by the Death Heart, they weren¡¯t technically undead. It was sound reasoning, but it was all conjecture. Until now.

    The berserker tried to jump away but an ice club mmed down onto his head. The berserker dropped bonelessly to the ground.

    ***

    yer Long Zhao has been rendered Unconscious for 10 seconds by the troll Skill:

    Join the CLUB

    WARNING: The ¡¯Unconscious¡¯ status effect will be removed if the yer takes any additional damage.

    ***

    Grinning, Red-Mane stood and waved goodbye to Dave. Then the tinkle disappeared.

    Since Dave had summoned the trolls, their actions were considered his own. The duel¡¯s limit for inactivity was ten seconds. Which meant-

    A notification popped up and sweet-toned horns sounded through the dueling ring.

    ***

    Your opponent has not attacked for more than ten seconds. You have been dered the victor of this duel by forfeit!

    For 72 hours you will have:

    The title ¡¯Victor!¡¯ (temporary, disy optional)

    +20% Max HP/MANA/STM

    +50% regen to HP/MANA/STM

    ***

    Dave smiled. Long had been ¡¯idle¡¯ for too long.

    The berserker woke up and looked around wildly, confused, not understanding what had happened. Then he saw Dave with the Victor¡¯s wreath on his head.

    The berserker shouted "NO!"

    Behind the berserker the red avatar reformed its sword and swung down at its summoner in an execution stroke. The berserker¡¯s avatar turned into a cloud of glowing particles and the red avatar disappeared.

    Dave¡¯s brows lifted in surprise.

    "Whoa! That¡¯s harsh, talk about a double-edged sword! I wondered how the loot would drop in this situation. Guess that¡¯s my answer."

    The berserker¡¯s chest armor and battle axe had dropped on his death.

    "Bad luck to drop both his main weapon and chest piece, not that losing anything is good luck at high levels."

    Dave inventoried the two items, he would inspect themter. There were sounds of movement in the forest. Maybe Long had friends with him, maybe it was other high level yers attracted by themotion. Dave turned and ran, there was no need for him to stay where more yers might show up and try for the 10k on his head.

    ***

    The nar-reality stretched out of sight in every direction, covered in endless graveyards. Every shape, size and kind of tomb, headstone, crypt, mausoleum, and grave-marker were visible. But there were no colors, the entire reality was a grayscale monochrome.

    Nothing stirred, not a breath of wind, not an insect. The only nts visible were the bouquets at some gravesites and the remnants of a few petrified-stone trees. The ground was gray also, like a mix of ash and dry white sand. Even the gray illumination of the realm was frozen. There were no clouds, no stars, no sun or moon. Just the still grayness.

    Then among the graveyards a ck shadow whirled into existence, disturbing the motionless tableau of the realm.

    "Whoa. How depressing."

    The shadow searched, moving in god-strides across the realm. Finally a hint of color came into sight and the shadow headed directly for it.

    The ssh of color in the otherwise drearyndscape appeared to be ake. When disturbed the shimmering reflective surface revealed images of a white, blue and green world, Conquest.

    There was a figure, a woman, sitting on the edge of theke, sending ripples out across the reflective void.

    The woman stiffened and looked over her shoulder.

    She gasped, "You!"

    "Yes, me!" the shadow said with a snicker.

    The shadow moved to the edge and sat down next to her.

    "Still spying on the mortals? You really do enjoy watching them."

    "There¡¯s nothing better to do here, it¡¯s a lonely job," she shook her head, "I¡¯m the goddess of death, but I¡¯m captivated by them, they are so...ALIVE."

    "You should get out more, go have a good time every once in a while. You gotta learn to let loose sometimes, shake away the rust, blow off some steam," the shadow cajoled her.

    "I¡¯m Death, that¡¯s not a very deathly thing to do."

    The shadows had started evaporating when the figure sat down next to Death. Visible now, the slight figure just shrugged.

    They sat silently for a time.

    "You watched those petty idiots conspire together and do their dirty deed."

    "I am the patron of death. It was not my ce to-"

    "Yet you appointed one of mine to be your champion. You involved yourself in the affairs of both mortals and non-mortals."

    Death gulped, "They took my Book. But I renounced any revenge when I got it back."

    "That does not excuse your actions. To outsiders you and I are the same, they don¡¯t recognize the difference. But that is far from the truth. You overstepped and went beyond your mandates. You and those other idiots made a mess of things, I am still putting things to right."

    The goddess of death remained silent. She could not deny it. She had sumbed to the weaknesses of the mortal body she had been confined to.

    "You have to make reparations, of course. I have an idea for that."

 Chapter 206 lets go shopping!

    Dave made his way through the forest slowly, fighting the random monsters he encountered.

    "Alright, level 312, woo hoo! Just have to keep grinding. Baby-steps."

    He was about to log-out when he got a voice-chat request. He smiled when he saw who it was from and epted the iing chat.

    "Long Zhao, this is a surprise. You want your stuff back, don¡¯t you?"

    "Excellent, I didn¡¯t think you¡¯d ept my call. Yes, I wish to buy back the items I dropped."

    "Hmm, what¡¯s your offer?"

    "Market value," said the berserker.

    "Huh, I¡¯m surprised you aren¡¯t asking me to give them back to you for free."

    "No, Death Stroke. You won, fair and square. But I would very much like to buy the items back from you, the chest piece is part of my armor set."

    "Alright, where do you wanna meet?"

    "Moria, in the town square."

    "Remember I have a Kill-Order on my head. I only have ten minutes of safe time left in Moria."

    "We can do this right now. I will give you the money and you can leave immediately."

    "Okay, I¡¯ll message you when I get there."

    Dave disconnected and tore a teleportation scroll and appeared in in Moria.

    Kill Order Ban

    You have 9 minutes of safe haven in the city of Moria before being kicked out.

    Dave shook his head. He sent a message to Long and went to the nearest auction house to restock.

    Just as Dave finished buying his items he got a call.

    "Hey Stroke, where are you?"

    "Auction house. Better hurry I don¡¯t have much time."

    Long sighed, "Okay, I will meet you there."

    Dave asked an auction attendant how to price the items while he waited. The NPC showed Dave how to look through the records of sales to get an idea about the price range.

    Just a few minutester he saw the red-haired berserker walk into the auction house. Here and there people pointed at the yer, some low mutedughter could be heard sweeping through the building..

    Dave giggled. There was a big holographic hand stuck to Long¡¯s forehead, it was making the ¡¯loser¡¯ gesture.

    "Hey man," said the red-haired yer, who was also red in the face.

    Dave suppressed hisughter with an effort.

    "S¡¯up, Let¡¯s get this over with." Dave asked directly.

    "Okay, how about 800,000 Gold."

    Dave frowned, he already checked the market price and the total value was much more than that.

    "I will pitch in another 1,200,000 Gold for the axe."

    "Alright, but that¡¯s a bit more than market value isn¡¯t it?".

    "Yes, it¡¯s an good armor set. Its not avable on the market. You can check the prices range on the auction site if you think that is not enough."

    Dave shrugged, he already saw the price and thest time these items were on the market they sold for 1,500,000 Gold. The berserker was offering 500,000 Gold more. Probably because he didn¡¯t want to wait until the items were on the market again or if they were too rare to even appear there again.

    Dave smiled, he expected Long Zhao to be angry after being humiliated. But he seemed friendly and a good sport about losing the duel his gear.

    Dave smiled and epted the exchange.

    The berserker happily paid the 2,000,000 gold to get his gear back.

    "Hey, I see you are not with guild yet, you want to join the Ragers? I can sponsor you. I saw you fighting the assassin and the hunter. You have high potential for PVP, and I would guess dungeon dives as well."

    "I don¡¯t n on joining any guild, it¡¯s just not my style. But thanks, if I change my mind I will take you up on that offer."

    The berserker nodded, "Good. Thanks for everything and see you another time."

    The berserker tore a teleportation scroll and disappeared.

    Dave only had few minutes of safety left inside the city, he decided it was time for him to log out. It waste at night IRL, and the flight fatigue was starting to catch up.

    Dave logged out and ordered some food from the hotel kitchen. After his meal, he went to bed.

    The ringing of his phone woke him, it was Zoe calling.

    "S¡¯up," Dave said drowsily.

    "Wake up sleepyhead., We need to go shopping."

    "WE need to go shopping? What for?"

    "To get you something to wear for tonight."

    "Why, what¡¯s tonight?"

    "Dummy, you forgot! You promised you¡¯d remember. Dinner at the Silvana¡¯s..."

    Dave shot up into a sitting position.

    ¡¯Shit I forgot!¡¯

    "I didn¡¯t forget, I was asleep! Besides I have clothes, remember. From thest time we went shopping."

    "Ohhh no! You can¡¯t wear any of those."

    Dave frowned, the clothes were fine.

    "Zoe, I really need more sleep. And I nned to grind out a few more levels in Conquest."

    "No, you need to get up and do some in-the-real shopping with me.

    "I haven¡¯t had breakfast yet.

    "We¡¯ll get something to eat while we shop."

    "Arrrgh! You¡¯re not going to stop until you get your way. Okay ¡¯princess,¡¯ I¡¯m getting ready."

    Dave showered and dressed then took the elevator down to the lobby. Zoe was waiting outside wearing a short leather skirt that showed more leg than he wasfortable with. She was chatting with the door man, she grinned when she saw him.

    "Yay! Let¡¯s go!" Zoe practically cheered when she saw him.

    "Gimme a sec," Dave said he was typing into his phone with both thumbs.

    "Whatcha doing?" Lone said.

    "I¡¯m reporting the theft of the fragment to the mods."

    "What fragment?"

    "The Undead King threw a piece of the Death Heart to me before he blew up. I have a feeling it was ast-hope gimmick to revive the legion. But some bastard in Moria swiped it right out of my hands when I was looking at it."

    "Whoa, I didn¡¯t think that was part of the game mechanics. Why didn¡¯t you report it in-game?"

    "To who? Alfred, who went Sk and is apparently the reason why the Legion is gone?"

    "Huuuh, yeah, maybe not. What about Kada, you should tell him directly too. I¡¯m sure he¡¯d like to know and he might even help."

    "Yeah, I¡¯ll send him a message next."

    "Okay. But hurry up, daylight is burning, we need to get shopping," Zoe sang out as she skipped over to the car.

    "Ugh, I don¡¯t like you. You are too happy. Drive slowly, I haven¡¯t had my morning coffee."

    Zoe smiled with a glint in her eyes, "Oh, absolutely!"

    A momentter the tearing, screaming sound of a high performance Italian sports car engine echoed from the concrete canyons of New York.

 Chapter 207 Suiting UP 2.0

    Dave white-knuckled it for the entire ride. It was evident that Zoe¡¯s excitement at the prospect of shopping brought out the worst of her driving habits.

    The robo-cars that crowded the streets of the city avoided them when the Lambo got too close, letting her pass from the wrong side, cross over street lines and ze through red lights. She payed more attention to what was ying on the radio than to the street. She switched stations incessantly until ¡¯Pump It¡¯ by the ck Eyed Peas came on. Then she bounced in the driver¡¯s seat and turned the volume up all the way.

    "I love this song!"

    Dave felt his insides vibrate in time to the music. He swallowed again and cursed whoever designed the car with the wholly inadequate seatbelts instead of six-point restraint harnesses.

    "Don¡¯t worry, Davey. We¡¯re gonna get you set up right, you¡¯re gonna feel like a million bucks!"

    Dave held on for dear life as he gritted out, "I don¡¯t know if I can get to a million judging by how I feel right now, which is...ooooh, nauseous."

    He paused and swallowed as they took a blind corner without slowing down. Finding he was still alive a few secondster, he cautiously opened his eyes.

    "Is all this really necessary? I¡¯m a jeans and shirt guy. You said it was ¡¯just dinner.¡¯ Are you going to make me wear a tux?"

    "YES!" Zoe shouted as she spun the Lambo in a hand-brake turn and drifted the car to a stop in front of the valet.

    Dave stumbled out of the car. He took deep breaths of the oh-so-fresh city air and fought the urge to drop to his knees and hug the asphalt. Lone took the offered ticket as the valet got in thembo to park it.

    "Let¡¯s go, we have ces to go and shopping to do!" Zoe strode down the sidewalk like she meant business, Dave followed behind her.

    She walked into a corner store with suit-and-tie dressed mannequins in the front windows . Dave gulped, the sign said Giorgio Armani.

    Zoe marched directly up to the manager and started speaking with him.

    Dave started, the man resembled someone else he knew who wore a dark suit.

    ¡¯Sk is not real, sk is not real. That¡¯s just someone in a suit who looks very much like Alfred.¡¯

    "Dave! Wake up. Come along."

    Dave and Zoe followed the manager to the fitting area where a bald man was was putting pins in a piece of clothing. Th manager spoke softly to the bald man.

    "So this is where your dad gets his suits,"

    "Yes, he likes how Armanis look and fit."

    The manager brought the bald man over to them.

    "Vincenzo, you remember Zoe Silvana? This young man needs a dinner jacket for tonight."

    "Not just a jacket, a whole new wardrobe, Vincenzo" said Zoe, "But we need a dinner jacket ensemble for tonight."

    The bald man whipped the measuring tape from around his shoulders as he moved toward Dave.

    "Well then, we should get started, yes?"

    The man began using the measuring tape on Dave none too gently. Dave¡¯s eyes narrowed when the man measured his inseams, ready to jump away at the slightest hint of ¡¯cupping.¡¯

    Zoe snickered but didn¡¯t say anything.

    Finally the man finished taking all the measurement. He called over an assistant and gave him instructions, then turned to Zoe.

    "I think we can manage something for tonight. Tell me, is this for a formal event or a social affair?"

    "Social," Zoe answered.

    "And what style?"

    "Italian."

    "How many buttons?"

    "Two."

    "Trousers?"

    "Tapered."

    "How about the lining?"

    "Tactical," Zoe replied, grinning.

    The man chuckled.

    Dave looked at Zoe strangely.

    ¡¯How does she know so much about shopping for men¡¯s suits?¡¯

    Vincenzo looked up from scribbling in a little notebook, "I think we can have something appropriate ready in a few hours. I would like him to try on a few jackets and pants. Then my assistant Joey will take you to choose a selection of shirts, ties, shoes and all the rest."

    After putting on and taking off more changes of clothes than Dave normally wore in a week Vincenzo finally decided he had enough to go on.

    "Alright, I think that will do. It would be best to do a final fitting. Should I deliver these to the Silvana residence?"

    "No, We¡¯re going to run some errands after we finish here. We¡¯lle back and pick up the outfit for tonight, say at three?"

    "Very well, I will start right way."

    "Great! Thanks Vincenzo, you¡¯re the best!"

    Dave spent the next exhausting hour picking out ties, shirts, socks, underwear, belts, shoes, pocket squares and men¡¯s jewelry. Or more urately having them picked out for him. He¡¯d never heard of Hermey or Phil Patek, but they charged outrageous prices for their watches, enough to buy a car. His phone had a clock in it, he didn¡¯t know why he should strap a chunk of metal to his wrist if it ONLY told the time and date.

    "What now?" asked Dave after picking a few of the final round of offerings, pocket squares this time.

    "Now, we¡¯ll eat something while we spa break."

    Dave tilted his head, "Spa...?"

    "Do a spa break. You know, get pampered; get a mani-pedi, a ss of bubbly, a massage, a bite to eat, just kick back. It¡¯s very refreshing."

    ¡¯W-T-F? Spa break?¡¯

    ***

    Emile Kada was still trying to clean up some loose ends after the Alfred incident. Thankfully, because the Undead Expansion hadn¡¯t yet urred there were not a lot of active plotlines and ongoing quests and the system was doing most of the work for him, just as it should. He just had to keep an eye on how the gestalt adapted and make sure it didn¡¯t destabilize anything. He was seeing some strange activity rted to his project, there was a big uptick in processor cycles and memory draw his area. He¡¯d even gotten a message that more servers had been added and a call from Margaret asking what the hell was going on down there.

    He checked his messages and saw one from David Ruster. After reading it he sat back in his chair, rubbing his chin.

    "Fascinating."

 Chapter 208 Olga sweet sweet Olga...

    Zoe and Dave walked out of the men¡¯s shop.

    "There¡¯s a good spa close by, we can walk to it."

    "This was just supposed to be dinner with your dad, not it¡¯s like I¡¯m meeting my future father-inw for the first time."

    Zoe blushed, "Let¡¯s just have some fun!"

    "I really need to get some breakfast first."

    "They serve food there, don¡¯t worry," Lone said.

    As they walked along Madison avenue, Dave looked in the shop windows. There were a variety of brand name shops, clothing, electronics, jewelry and of course there was food everywhere.

    They walked for several minutes until Zoe finally stopped at sign that said Be Body Spa.

    Lone opened the door and they entered. The attractive young woman at the reception desk greeted them warmly.

    "Hey, Christina."

    "Wee back Zoe! Shall I set you up for your usual treatment package?"

    "Yes, and my friend is here for one also, it¡¯s his first time."

    Christina looked at Dave then back at Zoe and they smiled at each other. Dave felt like he was missing something.

    He asked, "You¡¯re a regr here?"

    "Of course, this is the best spa in the borough."

    "If you would just sign in to the registry here, sir. What package would you like to try today Mr. Ruster?" the woman asked. She opened several brochures that listed and described individual service and bundled prices.

    "Is Olga avable?" Lone asked

    "Yes,"

    "Then give him the package!"

    "Olga? Hey Zoe, why are you smiling like your uncle, I don¡¯t like it when you smile like your uncle."

    "Nah, don¡¯t worry. You will be in good hands!" said Zoe, ¡¯VERY STRONG and good hands!¡¯ she thought.

    Dave thought that he should probably stop teasing her with the boyfriend thingy.

    "Alright, you may go I reserved your caretakers for you," said Christina with augh.

    The two walked through the long hallways and stopped at the end. There were two doors one for the men and one for the women.

    "Go, Davy, Olga should be with you soon."

    "Can¡¯t Ie over with you? Don¡¯t leave me alone!" Dave went overdramatic acting scared.

    "No silly, this is the women¡¯s, section. Don¡¯t worry everything will be alright!" Lone said and went in the women¡¯s section slowly closing the door.

    "Ugh," Dave shook his head and opened the men¡¯s section door.

    Inside, there were several couches with men wearing towels sitting on. They were rxing and enjoying the treatment. Some had cucumber slices on their eyes and a green facial mask.

    Dave found an empty couch and sat waiting to be served.

    "it¡¯s a new kid," said an old man who sat next to Dave. The man had wild and bushy hair on his chest.

    "Hmm?" another man took off one of the cucumber slices off his eyes and looked at Dave.

    "You are new here, sit back and rx kid, you will find it enjoyable."

    Dave¡¯s lips twitched, he never liked being called a kid. And it reminded him of a certain thief.

    "Who¡¯s taking care of you today?" asked the man closest to Dave.

    "The woman at the reception said her name was Olga," said Dave with a shrug.

    When Dave mentioned the name, the room went silent, even a pin drop could be heard.

    "You said Olga?" the hairy chested man asked Dave.

    Dave nodded, he didn¡¯t like where this was going.

    Everyone in the room looked at Dave with pity in their eyes. Some even shook their heads.

    "Olga for his first time, why did you ask for her?" the same man asked.

    "Well, I was here with a friend and she rmended her. Is she that bad?"

    "Well, I wouldn¡¯t say bad, she is very thorough," said the man stifling augh.

    A beautiful blond woman in a white uniform came over toward Dave. "Are you mister David Ruster?" the woman asked in a melodic voice.

    When Dave saw the woman, his mood lifted up. She didn¡¯t look that bad what¡¯s the worst that could happen?

    "Yes,"

    "Please follow me, I will take you to your room to start your course."

    Dave happily followed.

    One of the men shook his head and said, "Who wants to bet how long the kid willst?"

    "Nope, not taking that bet." The hairy chested manughed.

    "Nah, I don¡¯t take losing bets!" another man said.

    The rest of the men all went back to their rxed positionughing at the fate of the poor kid.

    The blond woman walked in front of Dave and opened the door to a small room. There was a massage bed in the middle. There were several rocks ced on white sand, Dave could feel the heating from the sand.

    "Could you please wait a moment before Olga arrives?"

    "Hu? You are not Olga?"

    "No, but don¡¯t worry just rx and enjoy your session." The woman smiled and left Dave alone.

    Just as Dave was wondering what was going on, the room¡¯s door opened again. A woman, much taller than Dave and definitely much wider than he was entered. She had pony tailed blond hair, and a huge mole on her cheek. She didn¡¯t look pretty nor did her bear sized arms.

    "Remove your clothes! Get on the table!" the woman said in a gruffmanding voice! She had a heavy russian ent.

    "Yes!" Dave yelped.

    Dave slowly removed his clothes, regretting evering over.

    "Hurry up! or you want me to remove them for you!" the woman said, she put oil on her hands. "Your underwear too!"

    "You know the visual you¡¯re giving right now is VERY, VERY WRONG!" Dave said trying to retain whatever dignity he had.

    "Stop with the nonsense and get over the table! We will start with a muscle rxing session."

    Olga cracked her oily knuckles.

    Dave gulped, he removed his pants and shirt, as for his underwear he made sure to cover himself with a towel before removing them.

    "Good,y on the table."

    "Okay boss! Please be gentle!" Dave said in a womanly voice.

 Chapter 209 LUXURY! BAD! VERY BAD!

    "OUCH!" Dave shouted. "Easy please!"

    "Quiet down, you are acting like a girl. You have a lot of tension here." The woman said, her oily hands pressed hard on Dave¡¯s shoulders.

    Dave¡¯s face became red from the exertion.

    "I said rx!" said the woman. Her hands tightened on Dave¡¯s shoulders making him see stars.

    ¡¯I will get back at you for this Zoe!¡¯

    "What¡¯s this?" the masseuse said as she was releasing tension from Dave¡¯s right hand.

    "Car ident."

    "Nano-tech?" Olga asked.

    "Yeah."

    "Your right leg too. The scars are faint, did you break your bones?"

    "Yeah, like I said a car ident. Several fractures all over my right arm and leg."

    "Let me help you with this,"

    "Hey! I really don¡¯t want you breaking anything! I paid a fortune to get that fixed!"

    "Shut up, this is my job I know what I am doing," the woman said.

    Her tough and strong arm actually became gentler than feathers as she massaged Dave¡¯s hand. Slowly pressing between Dave¡¯s fingers and specific areas on his palm. Dave felt rxed. She switched back to his leg and did the same, releasing tension that built up over thest days.

    "This type of massage should improve blood cirction in the damaged areas. Your leg still needs time to heal. You shoulde over regrly," Olga said.

    ¡¯Like hell I would!¡¯ Dave didn¡¯t want to voice his thoughts afraid she could bring him more needless pain.

    Olga slowly traced the vertebras on Dave¡¯s back then said, "Alright, your spine looks strained let me help you with that."

    Krack!

    Dave spasmed like he was electrocuted thenid limply on the bed again.

    "HOLY MOTHER OF GOD, THAT HURT!"

    "Shut up."

    Crack!

    "OIIIIII"

    "We¡¯re just getting started!"

    Crack!

    "FUCK! HUMAN RIGHTS! CALL THEM! WHILE YOU ARE AT IT CALL THE TORTURE PREVENTION ASSOCIATIONS TOO!"

    Dave was screaming his lungs out, while outside the room, the men who were rxing shook their heads.

    One of them was drinking a mojito, he raised his cup toward the room where Dave was in and said

    "Raise your drinks! Toast a hero!"

    Everyone followed the lead holding their drinks to Dave¡¯s misery.

    Olga went through several bone-snapping and cracking moves. Dave felt like every bone in his body was struck with a hammer and every joint was dislocated and ced back.

    "This! WAS! SUPPOSED! TO BE! ENJOYABLE!"

    Dave shouted through grit teeth.

    "It is!" Olga said.

    "I bet it is enjoyable! FOR YOU! I don¡¯t want this!"

    "Stop being a baby! I am almost over; two more joints and we will go to the next thing."

    "What thing? There are more things! Please have mercy! What did I do to deserve this?"

    "What a wuss," Olga snorted as she pressed her fingers on his spine¡¯s middle vertebra.

    Crack!

    Dave¡¯s face turned red, he felt numb.

    "Hey! Did you break something?! I can¡¯t feel my lower body anymore!"

    "Stop whining!" Olga said as she pped Dave¡¯s butt.

    A resounding p echoed through the room.

    "OI! Sexual harassment!"

    "See you can feel that! Nowva rocks. You should enjoy this."

    The masseuse went over to the sand bath and grabbed a rock and ced it on Dave¡¯s back.

    Dave instinctively moved his back from the sudden heat.

    "Stay still!"

    "THE ROCKS ARE DAMN HOT!" said Dave

    "You will get used to it!" said Olga as she ced another rock on Dave¡¯s back.

    He could swear he heard the sound of skin sizzling from the heat.

    After Olga finished cing the rocks she said to Dave.

    "Stay like that for a while, I will go prepare your bath. Don¡¯t even think of removing the rocks, or else I wille back and strap you to the bed."

    Olga left the room leaving Dave to his demise.

    Dave waited for a while alone in the room. Just as the rocks started to cool off, Olga came back in.

    "Your bath is ready," Olga removed the rocks from Dave¡¯s back. he stood up begrudgingly.

    Dave had the towel on covering him, his back stung every time he moved. He felt his spine was on fire too.

    "Not enjoyable, not enjoyable at all..." Dave followed Olga out.

    The men stifled theirughter after seeing Dave¡¯s condition.

    "Hang in there buddy, you are almost done! HA!"

    Dave followed the bear woman to another room. Inside it, there was a square pit with mud in it. There were other men all enjoying their own mud pits.

    "Get in."

    "Wut? You said bath, this is mud!"

    "Yes, mud bath! Now get it," Olga said, "There is more to go after this."

    "I think I would do better with a regr bath, this looks disgusting."

    Olga frowned then yanked Dave¡¯s towel, he yelped and covered his privates with his hands.

    "Hey, what are you-"

    Olga didn¡¯t care for Dave¡¯s protests and shoved him into the mud pit, face first.

    "Don¡¯t let mud get in your eyes, stay there for 30 minutes I wille back soon."

    Dave slowly sunk into the mud tub, it was heavy and viscous. He found his movement restrained.

    "Hey buddy, just rx," said a young man who was in a nearby tub.

    "This, how the hell is this rxing?! And what¡¯s up with that woman?!"

    "Ha! You shouldn¡¯t have chosen Olga."

    "I didn¡¯t! I got pranked, how the hell can she keep her job here anyway? She is damn brutal!"

    "Well, everyone is like that the first time they get Olga. But you will understand why after your run is over with her. Just hang in there. She might not be the gentlest, but she is the best. Believe me, I also did the Olga package..."

    The young manughed.

    "Ugh," Dave was feeling sticky and diforted from the mud going through many, many unwanted ces.

    "Is there more of this torture to go?"

    "It depends on what treatment you chose, tell me, you didn¡¯t choose the full package right?"

    "Yea, well it was chosen for me."

    "Ouch, then sorry buddy there is a lot more to go...I advise you to man up for the Brazilian wax, ha."

    "Brazilian wax? What¡¯s that?"

    "It¡¯s not like regr wax, this thing, it removes every hair from hard to reach areas on your body, slowly, thoroughly and most importantly painfully!"

    "You are not helping here, bruh!" Dave said.

    The thirty-minute wait ended soon and Olga came back to take Dave to take a shower to remove the mud.

    When Dave took the shower, he feltfortable and rxed. But that didn¡¯tst for long. Olga came and took him to a hot wax bath

    "Stay inside it, when it hardens I wille and get your out."

    "This is melted wax, this stuff is really hot. Do you really hate me this much!"

    "I have no idea what Zoe sees in you. You¡¯ve been whining and acting like a girl since the moment you came it."

    "Sorry, I¡¯ve never been used to ¡¯LUXURY¡¯ I hate it!"

    "Just get in the tub, it¡¯s not that hot. It should help open your pores."

    "Alright, don¡¯t shove me in this one... I can go down myself," Dave said. He slowly felt the bath¡¯s heat with his leg¡¯s thumb.

    "Damn this is going to hurt," Dave said. "Ouch, ouch, ouch!" Dave slowly sunk down the hot wax bath leaving only his head up.

    Dave stayed in the wax tub for a while until it started cooling off. A wax crust formed on the top of the tub and Dave finally started enjoying the bath.

    "Damn, this is getting better," Dave enjoyed the warm wax pressuring on his body.

    When the wax fully hardened, Olga came over with a towel "Get up, let¡¯s get you washed up."

    Dave stood up from the bath cracking the wax and shattering it, he put on the towel and followed Olga back to the shower room to remove the remaining wax off himself.

    When Dave finished washing up, he saw Olga waiting for him with a smile.

    "Follow me," she said. Olga took him to another room with a massage bed in the middle. Next to the bed was a small brown ball on a te.

    As Dave was wondering what was that thing olga spoke.

    "Time for the Brazilian Wax treatmenty on the table," she had a wide grin on her face. Dave didn¡¯t like it one bit.

    "Hey, I don¡¯t have any hair on my chest you see, so there is no need for this wax thing, even my back doesn¡¯t have a single hair in it!" Dave said backing away from the huge woman.

    "Oh, this is not for your chest or back hair," Olga smiled "Towel off!"

    "Wait, what? NOOOOOOO."

 Chapter 210 Hello There.

    Dave walked out of the treatment room hunched over, like he¡¯d been kicked in the nuts. His face was pale. He was wearing the towel and still had a green facial mask on

    "Looks like our champion survived the Olga package! Jasmin dear, bring him the hero¡¯s drink!" the hairy chested man said to the beautiful blonde woman who was tending to them.

    "Right away. Mr. Rustery here please," Jasmin said.

    Dave sat on an empty couch.

    "That was horrible," Dave moaned.

    "Try not to think about the pain kid, you¡¯ll feel better soon. Olga might not be nice but she has magic in her hands. Otherwise, she would have been fired a long time ago."

    "Magic? I think she put all her points in Strength!"

    "Ha, you y Conquest," said the hairy-chested man.

    "Yeah, great game," Dave replied.

    "We y too. We¡¯re in a guild, ironically it¡¯s called ¡¯Kick-Back and Rx,¡¯ heh heh," said the man, waving around at his lounging friends.

    Everyoneughed. Dave chatted with the older men to forget the burning pain in hisher regions.

    The blonde woman came back and ced a drink on Dave¡¯s table.

    "What¡¯s this?"

    "It¡¯s an Orange Mocha Frappino."

    Dave shrugged and drank it. The men kept talking and rxing. Dave rxed and started to feelfortable. The pain from the Olga-package slowly turned to a pleasurable numbing and rxing feeling.

    A whileter Jasmin came back and addressed Dave, "Miss Silvana has finished and asked me to notify you that she is waiting for you to finish."

    "Alright, time for me to go."

    Dave went back to the changing room to dress.

    "Damn, it hurts..." he said as he put his clothes on.

    Dave walked out of the Spa, Zoe was waiting outside, a wide grin on her face. "How was your spa experience."

    "What goes aroundes around, Zoe," Dave said.

    "C¡¯mon you enjoyed it, I can tell."

    "No, I didn¡¯t. It was painful and in all the wrong ces too!"

    "But how are you feeling right now?" she said.

    "Better than before to be honest but damn, did you have to throw me to the bear woman?"

    "Hey Olga!" said Zoe looking over Dave¡¯s shoulder.

    Dave jumped in fright. He turned but didn¡¯t see anyone behind him.

    He heard snickering and turned back.

    He glowered at Zoe, "I will get you for this!"

    "C¡¯mon it¡¯s just a little prank, ha! Let¡¯s go, you still need a haircut!"

    Dave followed Zoe to a barber-shop and he got a trim.

    After the barber, she started leading him off somewhere else.

    "Zoe we gotta eat!"

    "Alright, let¡¯s get steak! There¡¯s a nice ce nearby.

    They went to a restaurant.

    "What would you like?"

    Dave skimmed the menu and his eyes widened.

    Zoe saw Dave¡¯s reaction andughed

    "Two A5 Kobe T-bone steaks, medium rare and a bottle of wine."

    "The Chateau Lafite?"

    "Yes, that was goodst time."

    "Very well," said the manager.

    "What¡¯s the matter, you look like you saw a ghost," Zoe said.

    "Almost half a grand for a steak. What do they feed the cows?"

    Zoe giggled, "This restaurant serves only the best, the cows are grass fed. The A5 is always delicious."

    They chatted as they waited for the food. A waiter came over with the dishes and neatly ced them on their table. Another waiter brought a bottle of wine.

    Zoe dove in the meat first, attacking the meat like a starving animal.

    Dave chuckled, "I expected you to be more of a veggies and sd person."

    "I¡¯m not a rabbit, I like meat."

    After the steaks they had dessert and coffee.

    "Ah, I¡¯m stuffed! What time is it?"

    Dave checked his phone, "It¡¯s almost three."

    "Time to go back to the store, your jacket should be ready."

    Zoe paid the bill, they left the restaurant and walked back to the Armani store.

    Vincenzo met them in the back.

    "I just finished the trousers and jacket, try them on."

    Dave put everything on; shirt, dinner jacket, pants, shoes, tie and essories.

    "You look dashing!" Zoe gushed.

    Dave looked at himself in the mirror and was impressed.

    "Let¡¯s head home." Zoe said.

    "Didn¡¯t you say dinner was at six?"

    "Yeah, daddy is still isn¡¯t home yet. We can hang out there until he gets back."

    "What about your mum?"

    "That¡¯s long story," Zoe said somberly.

    Dave didn¡¯t pry.

    Zoe drove them to a highrise in Manhattan. They got out of the car and Zoe threw the keys to the valet.

    They walked through the front door and took the elevator all the way to the penthouse.

    Zoe pressed her hand to the security scanner and the door opened.

    "This is home," Zoe said.

    Dave followed Zoe in into a modern living room with two sofas and a marble coffee table. A gigantic TV screen hung on the wall, a 3D firece under it.

    "Make yourself at home Davey. No one is here, my father and uncle Sam should be back soon. I¡¯m going to change. Be right back."

    "Okay."

    Zoe left Dave alone in the living room.

    Dave looked around carefully holding his hands in close, afraid he¡¯d knock something over. He sat down on the sofa ufortably and tapped his foot on the floor, waiting for Zoe toe down.

    ¡¯Ugh, I wonder what¡¯s taking her so long.¡¯

    He leaned back in the couch and felt something push into the back his head. Dave looked back to see the muzzle of a gun pointed at him.

    A man in a dark gray jacket was smiling down at Dave from behind the gun.

    "Hello there. Nice jacket."

 Chapter 211 Gun, whales, and wine

    "Shit." Dave felt sweat pop out on his forehead.

    "Language. You owe the swear-jar a Benji," the man said. He was still pointing the gun unwaveringly at Dave¡¯s face.

    "Uh, a Benji, sure. But would you mind pointing that somewhere else? I really don¡¯t like guns, had a bad experience with them, I¡¯d prefer not to get my head blown off because of a misunderstanding." Dave pasted an ingratiating smile on his face. He his heart pounding and the sweat gathering in his armpits, but acting like a wuss in front of the man with the gun wouldn¡¯t help.

    The man obligingly lowered the weapon.

    "This thing? It¡¯s harmless. I was in my office when I heard youe in. If I really wanted to do some damage I would¡¯ve grabbed the .88 magnum. It shoots through schools," the man looked at Dave expectantly, then shook his head when the young man didn¡¯t respond.

    "Dante Silvana," the man said, putting his hand out to shake.

    Dave stood and shook hands with the man.

    "David Ruster,"

    "Ah yes, you¡¯re the fellow my daughter¡¯s been spending time with." Zoe¡¯s father walked around to sit in the couch opposite of Dave.

    He crossed one leg over the other, put the gun in hisp and reached into his jacket to pull out a battered pack of cigarettes.

    "Cigarette?" he asked as he shook one out and brought it to his mouth.

    "No thank you."

    Dante shrugged, picked up the gun, brought the muzzle to his cigarette and squeezed the trigger. Dave twitched as it clicked. A tiny me popped out, lighting the tip of the paper-rolled tobo.

    ¡¯It¡¯s a god-damned cigarette lighter!¡¯

    Dave was trembling, equally furious and relieved.

    Dante Silvana drew on the cigarette and shot twin streams of smoke out through his nostrils, looking at Dave.

    ¡¯Evil. THIS guy is the real demon!¡¯

    "So, David, how do you know my daughter?"

    "We met in Conquest," Dave said.

    "Kids these days, nothing is real anymore. I don¡¯t understand the appeal of those fantasy games."

    "Have you ever yed Conquest?"

    "I tried, but it didn¡¯t interest me. I¡¯m not into fantasy or swords and magic. Don¡¯t see the point. I like Westerns. And guns."

    "Yeah, I¡¯m getting that," Dave said.

    "But I saw the CCN feature with your Mr. Skeletal. It was a lot of fun to watch."

    "Thank you," Dave said. He didn¡¯t know what was going on, why Zoe¡¯s father was asking all the random questions. He just did his best to remain calm and collected.

    "Who are you talking to Dave?" Zoe asked as she came down. "Daddy! You¡¯re back early!" she said, running over and hugging him.

    "Ew, daddy you stink. You¡¯re not supposed to smoke. Put a grand in the swear-jar!"

    "It¡¯s just one little ciggy, pum¡¯kin."

    "Uhhh oh, what is that silly lighter doing here? Were you teasing our GUEST? You promised to be a good host!" Zoe looked back and forth between her father and Dave.

    "Zoe, I would never! But he does owe the swear-jar a hundy."

    Dave didn¡¯t say anything.

    Zoe narrowed her eyes at her father. She knew he was lying, and he knew she knew he was lying.

    "You are incorrigible, daddy, we¡¯ll talk about thister. Where is uncle Sam?"

    "He should be here soon, we finished earlier than we expected today. So, this is your new friend. I like his taste in clothing."

    Zoe smiled, "He can wear a suit."

    "Did you show him around?" said Zoe¡¯s father.

    "Not yet, we just got here and I went upstairs to change."

    "Okay, you should show him my collection. He¡¯s going to love it."

    "C¡¯mon, I¡¯ll give you a little tour, Davey," Zoe beckoned to him.

    Dave stood up and followed her through the downstairs of the expansive high-rise as she led him around through the spacious rooms; library, office, dining and billiard rooms.

    "Your dad is scary."

    "Oh, pish. He¡¯s the best. Did he try to scare you with that gimmick lighter?"

    "Yeah, and it worked. I think I peed a little."

    Zoe giggled.

    "What about the collection he talked about?"

    "You¡¯ll see,"

    Zoe pressed her hand to a scanner on a bare wall. The wall lifted up revealing a room that looked like a museum, filled with wall racks and ss cases.

    Hundreds of guns were on disy.

    "Whoa, that¡¯s enough guns for a small army!" Dave said.

    "Heh heh, daddy is a gun-collector and trader."

    "Is that legal?"

    "It is when my uncle is yourwyer."

    Dave followed her through the rows of cabs to where a machine gun sat in a disy case with belts of ammunition draped across it.

    "This is really cool!" Zoe said.

    "What is it?"

    "This is an M60. THE M60!"

    Dave tilted his head at her, he didn¡¯t know what she was talking about. It was just a big machine gun.

    "It¡¯s the one from Rambo. The old movie with Sly Stallone, remember? Dad is a big fan."

    Dave just shrugged.

    "Oh, Davey. Okay, but you have to know what that is," she said, pointing to another disy.

    Dave looked where she was pointing. It was a minigun,plete with handholds and a feed chute.

    Zoe made an exasperated sound, "Look at the signature on the barrel."

    Dave bent down closer to the mini-gun and read what was written on it, ¡¯Hasta vista...baby!¡¯

    "This is the minigun from Terminator 2?"

    "Yep. Daddy paid a fortune for it."

    Her father¡¯s voice came over an inte.

    "Zoe your uncle is here, we¡¯re in the living room."

    "Let¡¯s go, we can finish the tourter," Zoe said.

    They returned to living room, the Demon was sitting on the couch next to Dante.

    "Zoe, David," Sam nodded at the two.

    "Uncle. How is aunty?"

    "She couldn¡¯t make it. Women¡¯s night or some such," he shrugged. "David, did something happen in the gametely?"

    "Actually yeah. I was robbed"

    "What do you mean robbed?"

    "I think it¡¯s an in-game event, I filed aint and sent a message to Emile Kada."

    "Did he reply?"

    "I¡¯ll check," Dave pulled his phone out, "Yeah, he did, let me see. Kada said he doesn¡¯t know what is going on, but something big is happening in the game. He is trying to figure out what."

    "Hm. Keep me informed, copy allmunication with thepany to me. Kada seems like a decent sort. But he doesn¡¯t control the corporation. Some people hold grudges over these sorts of things, idiots.

    "Yes, sir, I will,"

    Dante changed the subject, "Zoe, let¡¯s have some wine before dinner. Can you get a bottle of my favorite, please."

    "Sure, daddy."

    As soon as Zoe left the room the men turned and looked at Dave like two hungry tigers at a sacrificial goat.

    "Soooo. David, just how far have you gone with my daughter? Do I need to get my shotgun out and ¡¯persuade¡¯ you to make an honest woman of her?" Dante asked.

    "Wha...? Whoa! We¡¯re just friends!"

    "Zoe¡¯s never invited a male friend to dinner before," Dante said sternly.

    Dave¡¯s mouth opened and closed like a fish as he stared tongue-tied at the protective father who also happened to be a dangerous and connected arms-dealer.

    ¡¯Dude, you¡¯re the one that told her to invite me for dinner.¡¯

    Samuel spoke soothingly, "Dante-"

    "No, Samuel, let me do this," Dante interrupted his older brother.

    "All I hear these days is ¡¯Dave this¡¯ and ¡¯Dave that.¡¯ A father doesn¡¯t like being reced by some young punk, you know," Dante said, ring at Dave. Then he cracked up and startedughing out loud, unable to maintain the facade.

    Samuel grinned at Dave apologetically, "Dante loves his practical jokes. Where do you think Zoe gets it from?"

    Dave exhaled noisily and put a hand on his chest. It was one thing after another. He didn¡¯t know how much more his heart could handle.

    The two men continued chatting with and teasing Dave in a friendly way until Zoe came back followed by a maid rolling a cartden with a charcuterie tter, wine sses and a bottle.

    The wine sses were passed around and the bottle decanted to let it breathe. They chatted until the wine was poured then sipped the fine red vintage while nibbling on the meats and cheeses.

    Finally Dante set his winess down in a decisive motion

    "David, we have some business to discuss. Is it okay for Zoe to stay for this? In a very small and indirect way it could involve her."

    Dave was bbergasted. Business? What the hell did he, or even a barely-famous Mr. Skeletal, have to do with the circle of people an arms-dealer ran in?

    But he nodded to Dante to go ahead.

    "Shortly after I asked Zoe to invite you to dinner I was approached and asked to set up a meeting with you. The people who asked represent Tivo Giovanni."

    "I don¡¯t know who that is," Dave said, stillpletely mystified.

    "I believe you¡¯ve met his daughter, Caitlin Giovanni, in Conquest. You might know her as Mercy."

    Zoe turned to look at Dave with an indecipherable expression on her face. But Dave turned livid with fury at the mention of the character, Mercy.

    "Sorry sir, I don¡¯t want to meet those people. I want to stay as far away from them as possible," he grated out through clenched teeth.

    Dante nodded to Samuel.

    "David I¡¯m Dante¡¯s brother and Zoe¡¯s uncle. But I am also your attorney and I look out for your interests. Dante will not pressure you to agree to the meeting if you don¡¯t want to. But before you make your final decision, hear me out.

    "It¡¯s obvious you have history with the Giovanni family, probably rted to your hospital stay and the men trashing your old apartment. Men like Giovanni do not ept ¡¯no¡¯ for an answer, or allow their ns to be thwarted by those they perceive to be less than themselves. He will find a way to get what he wants one way or another. It would be better if we control the how and when. And in case we weren¡¯t clear, if you agree to the proposal you will not go alone, Dante and I will apany you to the meeting."

    The knot in Dave¡¯s stomach unclenched a little at that. He had people on his side, powerful people.

    Dante spoke again, "David, Conquest is fun and games, you¡¯ve done well for yourself in a very short time. But the real world is intruding into your life and you need to ovee the feelings you have from past events and deal with what is happening.

    "Very few people get to see how power-brokers do things away from cameras and behind the scenes. ¡¯Seize every chance in life because some things happen only once.¡¯ This kind of meeting could open up new opportunities for you. While Goivanni isn¡¯t a world-shaker, he is a whale, one you cannot afford to offend or avoid. So consider what Samuel and I have said here carefully."

 Chapter 212 You can tell by the way I use my walk

    Dante leaned back and took a sip of wine.

    "Dave, I don¡¯t understand why Giovanni is interested in you, or even how he knows you."

    Zoe chimed in, "And I want to know why you spilled the beans to Mercy of all people."

    "It¡¯splicated," said Dave.

    Samuel gave the others a quelling gesture then turned to Dave.

    "You don¡¯t have to tell us anything, David. But the more we understand the better we can help you and work with your goals and motivations in mind."

    Dave took a deep breath, "Before I started ying conquest, I was a filling station attendant, on the evening shift. I was riding my bike home after work one night when a drunk driver swiped me. The impact sent me flying and I was knocked out. When I came to a littleter I saw the car smashed into a tree nearby and the engine was burning. It waste at night, no one was around. I dragged myself to the car and pulled the driver out." Dave stopped and rubbed his leg as he remembered.

    "Anyway, I didn¡¯t know it at the time, but the driver was Mercy. After I pulled her out and dragged her away from the burning car, I lost consciousness again and woke up in some hospital.

    "Sure enough, no good deed goes unpunished. As soon as I woke up two men in fancy suits visited my room. They wanted me to take the me for the ident, to sign something saying I was driving the car and crashed it. One of them showed me a gun. They said my hospital bills were paid for and I would get twenty grand to keep my mouth shut. The gun or go along, it was an easy decision.

    "Zoe, remember in the auction house where Mercy almost assassinated me?"

    "Yes," Zoe answered.

    "Mercy looks just like the driver of the car that hit me. My memory from the ident is pretty fragmented but I have a vivid picture of her face in my mind. I confirmed it was her the next time we met in-game. But, I lost my temper and blew up at her, that¡¯s when I slipped up and said too much. You guys know everything after that. So, now here we are."

    Dave drank some of his wine. He¡¯d never cared for wine or beer, but this was good stuff. He thought it tasted simr to the wine served at the restaurant with lunch.

    "Do you know why Giovanni wants to meet with you?" Dante asked.

    Dave shrugged, "I don¡¯t know what they want, all I know is these are not nice guys. The less I have to do with them the better."

    "I see," Dante said looking up and talking almost to himself, "It doesn¡¯t make sense, you didn¡¯t snitch or rock the boat. If you had he¡¯d just put a contract out on you, not ask for a meeting. Your avatar is popr, he could want to use that fame, but it¡¯s not really his thing. No, we¡¯re missing information, probably something only Tivo Giovanni knows. Samuel and I are having a business dinner with him tomorrow, maybe we will learn something then.

    Dante looked around, "All this serious talk has made me hungry. Something smells good, let¡¯s move this party to the table and chow down."

    There was a general assent to Dante¡¯s statement, so they stood and made their way to the dining room.

    Unsurprisingly the food was exquisite. Most of the dishes were things Dave seldom ate or had never tried before, but each was distinctive and delicious. The conversation was lively and full ofughter; stories about Zoe¡¯s childhood, escapades from the Silvana brothers¡¯ past, movie quotes and trivia. Dessert was some French thing he¡¯d never heard of before, it was delicious also.

    But for Dave, the highlight of the meal was the after-dinner coffee. When he took the first sip Dave closed his eyes and almost moaned in ecstasy. He resisted the urge to hug the cup to his face like a new lover. Instead, he inhaled the fragrance and savored each taste of the liquid gold. He asked what the ambrosia was and Dante informed him it was brewed from Extra Fancy grade, 100% Kona Peaberry coffee beans.

    They were still at the table when Dave¡¯s phone vibrated, he checked and saw it was Ralph.

    "Excuse me," he said, standing and moving back to the living room.

    "Hey, Ralph."

    "Hey bro, are you okay? I went to your ce, it was trashed!"

    "Yeah, I¡¯m alright, Ralph. Long story. I don¡¯t live there anymore, I moved to the city."

    "Fantastic, man! The reunion is starting soon, where are you? "

    "Reunion?"

    "You forgot? Damn, dude, the ss reunion. Vanessa will be there, remember Vanessa?"

    "Oh, man, I did forget. I¡¯m having dinner with some friends, I¡¯ll be done in a while. Send me the address."

    "Who was that?" Zoe asked as he hung up. She¡¯d followed him to the living room to see if everything was okay.

    "That was my friend Ralph. My high-school ss reunion is tonight. I¡¯m going to check it out after we finish dinner."

    "Ha! It¡¯s a good thing we got you spa-ready and suited up, then. I¡¯ll drive you when we¡¯re done here," she said.

    "Okay," Dave said.

    They returned to the dining room and finished their coffee. Talking and joking with the Silvana brothers.

    "Davey, it¡¯s eight, You will bete for your school reunion we should go!" said Zoe as she dragged Dave by the hand.

    They took the elevator to the underground garage.

    "Let¡¯s take the Camaro," said Zoe.

    "Are all these cars yours?"

    "Yeah. Well, daddy¡¯s, of course. I bought the cute little Mini over there. But I don¡¯t drive it much, it¡¯s too cute, I don¡¯t want it to get dinged and you know how New York drivers are."

    Dave shook his head. He took his phone out to call Ralph.

    "Hey, I¡¯m on my way, I¡¯ll be there in a few."

    "Okay bro, I¡¯m inside the club."

    Lone drove them through the Manhattan Eastside and pulled up to a club called The Underground.

    They got out, Zoe handed the keys to a valet and followed Dave to the club entrance.

    Two door-men were checking people against a list at the red-velvet roped doorway. Dave gave one of the door-men his name.

    "And thedy is with you?"

    "Yes."

    The man checked his name off and unclipped the rope to let them pass through.

    Laser light and holographic images lit the club interior. The bar was in the center of the floor and private alcoves lined the walls. Techno music was ying and people moved to the beat on the dance floor.

    Most of the people dancing were former ssmates and many of the people standing or sitting in the bar area were also. Dave had been something of a loner in high school, he definitely wasn¡¯t part of the popr crowd that every student recognized on sight.

    So when Dave walked through the club looking for Ralph with Zoe in tow, none of the people recognized him. But people were taking long looks, which puzzled Dave a bit. The women¡¯s nces were admiring until they saw Zoe. The looks from men were neutral or guarded as if sizing uppetition, but turned admiring or lustful when they saw Zoe.

    Dave kept looking around until he finally spotted a tall buff-looking guy in jeans and a tight t-shirt munching down on the food from the long buffet table. Dave smiled and moved toward him.

    "Ralph, easy on the food, leave some for everyone else."

    The man turned and shouted with a mouthful of ABC food, "DAVE!"

    Dave dodged away from the spray of wet crumbs. But not the bear hug from therger man. Dave was not a hugger, but he¡¯d long ago given up trying to avoid Ralph¡¯s overly physical disys of friendship.

    Daveughed, "S¡¯up bro."

    Ralph swallowed the big lump of food in his mouth and held Dave by the shoulders to look him up and down then pped him on the back.

    "Whoa, dude. Niiiice duds man, you look like a million. And WHO is this lovely creature?" Ralph said, turning to ogle at Zoe.

    "This is Zoe Silvana. Zoe this is my best friend Ralph. Despite his terrible table manners."

    "Pleased to meet¡¯cha, Zoe. Dave¡¯s been awfully mysterioustely, I¡¯m beginning to see why."

    Zoe blushed but held out her hand.

    "Hi, Ralph."

    Ralph went in for a hug of course. That was just the way he was, plus Zoe was cute as a button. Zoe took it with grace, at least he was sincere, not trying to grope her or anything, and it was better than the fake smoochies from the frienemies in her usual social set.

    "Dave how about I go get us some shots for us while you catch up with Ralphie."

    "That would be great Zoe, thanks!"

    The boyhood pals watched Zoe walk away, maneuvering through the crowd as she headed for the bar. Ralphie wolf-whistled and punched Dave on the shoulder.

    "Niiiiice pull, bro."

    "It¡¯s really not like that, man."

    "Riiiight.

    "Listen, Dave, You know I am one of the Devastators¡¯ team leaders now, right? I¡¯m going to invite you to the Devastators. You¡¯ll be able to join in high-level quests and dungeon raids. I know it¡¯s tough in the city, but we¡¯ll get you making enough gold to move you into a decent ce and make a good life," Ralph waggled his eyebrows at Zoe, then turned back to Dave "You¡¯ll be able to fix your injuries. Wait, you aren¡¯t limping anymore. And your hands! What happened?"

    "Long story Ralphie, I met some really good people and my life turned around."

 Chapter 213 Mean Girls Come Back!

    "Where did Zoe get to with our shots, aren¡¯t you worried about other guys trying something?"

    Dave shook his head, "I told you it isn¡¯t like that."

    Zoe¡¯s entricities were hard to exin.

    Ralphughed and said "Now I feel like an ass for telling Vanessa you¡¯re single. I might have hinted that you were interested in her," Ralph smiled sheepishly.

    "Like I just said, it¡¯s not like that, me and Zoe are just friends. Seriously."

    "Well then, let¡¯s get you fixed up with the always-fine Vanessa, dude."

    Dave shook his head "Ralphie, I appreciate you trying to hook me up, but my head¡¯s just not in the game right now. Or actually it IS in the game if you know what I mean. Shit¡¯s happened and is still happening in Conquest, we gotta sit down and talk sometime soon, bro, I¡¯ve got a lot to tell you."

    "You name the time and ce brother, you know I¡¯ll be there. And I always have your back, anything going on you can count on me to help any way I can. But, c¡¯mon, let¡¯s go find Vaness and just say hello at least."

    Dave sighed, "Okay, man. Just don¡¯t push too hard okay."

    "ME?! Push too hard? That¡¯s hurtful bro,," Ralph replied as he looked around searching for Vanessa.

    "There she is," Ralph said, pointing at a beautiful long-legged brte sitting at the bar with a martini in her hand. Her short purple dress had almost no back, exposing arge expanse of her smooth ivory skin.

    "Let¡¯s go say hello," said Ralph.

    They walked over to the bar.

    "Two beers Jason."

    "You got it, Ralphie," the bartender popped two bottles and put them on the bar.

    Ralph moved over and stood much too close to Vanessa, breathing heavily on her neck.

    "Hey, what¡¯s a beautiful babe like you doing in a ce like this?" Ralph said in his best drunk frat bro-dude imitation.

    His brows waggled up and down rapidly as the woman turned, mouth open to deliver a fuck-off, annoyed at the intrusive, clumsye-on. Then she saw it was Ralphie, her eyes flicked over to Dave who was shaking his head and grinning.

    She startedughing and pped Ralphie on the shoulder.

    "Ralphie you dork! Hi David, you look great, nice suit."

    "Hey Vanessa, it¡¯s good to see you."

    "Bro, it¡¯s ALWAYS good to see Vanessa. I mean, look at her!"

    Vanessa smacked his arm again, "Behave Ralphie!"

    Dave rxed, Ralphie was a good wing-bro.

    "What are you doing these days."

    "I do some modeling. Actually, I just got back from Europe, it¡¯s good to be back home. Or at least close to home. "

    "Wow, you¡¯re a model, that¡¯s great!" Dave replied.

    Ralph interrupted, "I see someone I need to meet. Maybe she¡¯ll make the cut and be the future ex-Mrs. Ralphie, see yater bro,ter Vanessa." He winked and moseyed over to chat up an attractive girl in a bright red, very low-cut dress.

    Vaness watched him walk away with a bemused smile, "Ralphie¡¯s still...different."

    "Ha! Yeah, he does his own thing, and subtlety isn¡¯t part of it. But he¡¯s a true friend, loyal to the end."

    "What about you, what have you been up to since graduation?"

    "Not much," Dave said.

    He was killing it, and not in a good way.

    Btedly he added, "I have my own business."

    "Oh! Very good. Doing what?"

    "It¡¯s in the entertainment sector. It¡¯s a recent thing, I can¡¯t really say a lot about it. But I¡¯m really happy despite some recent issues."

    "That¡¯s great Dave!"

    Dave was searching for something else to chat about when they were interrupted.

    "Dave, is that you?" a girl¡¯s voice asked.

    Dave turned, already knowing it was thest person he wanted to see. Anywhere. His ex, Anna. And of course Suit-Guy was there too, his arm around her possessively.

    "Look at you, all cleaned up and wearing adult clothes. Did you use your rent money to get that Armani knock-off or did you steal it?" Suit-Guy popped off with a sneer.

    "Oh, Honey! that was so not nice," Anna chuckled with her fianc¨¦e.

    Dave stood and looked Suit-Guy up and down. The suit didn¡¯t look so great now that Dave had some experience with real quality stuff. He really should name the twat something else.

    ¡¯It doesn¡¯t even fit right, heh, off the rack.¡¯

    Suit-Guy got in Dave¡¯s face, sneering, "You stepping up to me? You think fancy clothes makes you someone. But you¡¯re still just a nobody!"

    Dave was about to go red on the asshat but Ralph suddenly appeared between them interrupting the douchebag.

    "S¡¯up dude? You looking for a fight? I¡¯m standing right here if you are," Ralph said with an eager smile on his face.

    Dave pulled Ralph¡¯s arm but, the big lug wouldn¡¯t move. Fighting was not okay, they weren¡¯t kids anymore and there were cops everywhere. This gradeschool crap wasn¡¯t worth going to jail over.

    Especially not over Suit-Guy. No, not Suit-Guy, he was officially demoted to Douche-Guy now.

    "You¡¯re with the Devastators. ster, right? Stick to ying the ¡¯muscle¡¯ in-game. This is real life, I¡¯ll break you, kid."

    "And who the fuck are you?" Ralph was undeterred, but he wondered how this douche knew his Conquest identity.

    Douche sneered at Ralphie, "I¡¯m called Ruinsmith. I was just made Sub-guild leader in the Devastators."

    "Oh look, it¡¯s the charity case," a blonde woman snarked, looking at Dave with disgust as she joined the little confrontation.

    "Look at you in your new fancy clothes, Zoe really primped you up. Is she here or did she already get tired of you?" the blonde looked around theatrically.

    Dave recognized her, it was Jenny, Zoe¡¯s frenemy. He didn¡¯t understand why she was here. She was not a ssmate and he didn¡¯t think she would ever ¡¯lower¡¯ herself to date someone from his school.

    "Who¡¯s the bottle-blonde Dave?" Vanessa interrupted.

    Jenny looked at her, "My father owns this club, bitch." Then she turned back to Dave and her already unpleasant expression became positively gleeful with malice, "When I heard we were hosting a ss reunion for some low-rent bridge-and-tunnel school I knew it would be pathetic, but I wasn¡¯t expecting you. Where¡¯s your little sugar-mama, Charity-Case?"

    Douche-Guy and Anna guffawed loudly and contemptuously. Poor Ralphie didn¡¯t know what to do, he didn¡¯t hit girls, but this bitch was seriously asking for it; she was insulting his friends, his hometown, his school and his social status.

    "I don¡¯t know what you are talking about, Psycho-Girl. No one invited you to this conversation," Dave was seething. This ¡¯Mean Girls¡¯ wannabe really knew how to push his buttons.

    Douche-Guy couldn¡¯t resist, "Oh we want to hear what she¡¯s saying."

    Jenny ignored him, "C¡¯mon, Charity-Boy, you¡¯re two-timing Zoe already? Or maybe Zoe¡¯s done with you and you really DID steal those clothes, which means I¡¯ll have to call security and have them throw you out. Or arrest you," the girl taunted.

    "This is a ss reunion, what the hell is with you people? Acting like self-entitled little shits." In the modeling business Vanessa had gotten used to being around bitches and prima donnas, but that was a high stress highpetition job, the endemic drug use andpulsory dieting didn¡¯t help either.

    Dave was a heartbeat away from losing his temper when someone walked up behind him and moved to stand beside him.

    "Shut the fuck up and go sit down, Jenny."

    Blonde Jenny stepped back and forced a smile onto her face to cover the icy wave of terror that suddenly washed through her.

    Her reaction surprised Dave, hee turned to look at the woman beside him and almost fell over in shock.

    ¡¯Oh fuck. What is SHE doing here?!¡¯

 Chapter 214 Never without my permission!

    "Caitlin! What are you doing here?" Jenny asked nervously.

    "Nunya business. Did you have a reason for using Dave, or were you just running your gobhole again?"

    "Why do you care, who is he to you?"

    "He¡¯s a family associate, insulting him is an insult to us," said Caitlin.

    Dave shot a nce at Caitlin.

    ¡¯Say what! An associate? Since when?¡¯

    Jenny forced a smile, "I- it was just a joke, Caitlin. We met at a club through Zoe a while ago, he didn¡¯t say he was with the Giovannis."

    "You¡¯llp his tab for the night to make up for your trash behavior."

    Caitlin turned to Douche-Guy "What about you. You used him of being a thief too. Apologize."

    The man snorted, "Fuck you! Who do you think you are?"

    "Yeah, mind your own business, this is a private conversation between friends," Anna said icily.

    Jenny backed away from the couple and shook her head slightly but vigorously, mouthing ¡¯no¡¯ in warning to Anna.

    "David," said Caitlin.

    "Yeah?"

    "They your friends?" she asked

    "No."

    Caitlin nodded, "Good. You, bigmouth. Tell me who you are."

    "Jonathan Webb, I¡¯m the newly appointed leader of the Ogma n, a Devastators sub-guild.," he replied with a smug look on his face. Anna smirked.

    Ralph leaned in to Dave and said, "I remember this guy now, he¡¯s a real dumbshit. Led a bunch of parties that got wiped too many times, never took responsibility. So they ¡¯promoted¡¯ him sideways to a desk job."

    Dave shrugged. He was grateful to Ralph for trying to get him into the Devastators, but he didn¡¯t want to be the cause of any trouble between Ralph and his guildmates.

    A voice interrupted the confrontation.

    "Davey, Ralph- Cait, you¡¯re here too! You guys look like you¡¯re having...fun?"

    Dave looked past Douche-guy and saw Zoe there, holding three shot sses.

    Zoe pushed past Douche-Guy and handed Dave and Ralph their sses then draped herself on Dave¡¯s arm like an overly attached girlfriend. Anna grimaced when she saw the girl hanging on Dave like a fangirl on a rockstar.

    "I¡¯m sorry Caity, I didn¡¯t know you were here or I would have brought you a shot too."

    Zoe spotted her frenemy, "Ohh Jenny, you¡¯re here too...and alone again?"

    "Hi Zoe, I was just leaving. I only came over to say ¡¯hi¡¯ to your nice friend."

    "Well run along then. Maybe you can find a someone who will hang out with you." Zoe smiled sweetly at the blonde.

    "Uh, yes, thanks, Zoe," said Jenny then left hurriedly.

    "Caitlin, how is your family?" Zoe asked.

    "They¡¯re great," said Caitlin, her gaze not moving away from Douche-Guy.

    "What¡¯s wrong?"

    "This guy...what¡¯s your name again?" Caitlin turned back to Douche-Guy.

    "Jonathan WEBB," he said, emphasizing hisst name.

    "John-boy here, told everyone Dave stole the suit he is wearing."

    Zoe frowned and said, "I was with him when he bought it at Giorgio Armani¡¯s."

    Dave was pissed, Anna and her Douche-Guy fiance kept pushing his buttons and insulting his friends.

    Zoe tightened her grip on his arm, "Ignore them, Dave, ¡¯Don¡¯t wrestle with pigs, all you¡¯ll get is filthy and the pigs will enjoy it,¡¯ let¡¯s just leave."

    Dave and his friends turned and walked away, leaving the nasty couple seething at being called pigs then ignored and dismissed as nonentities. Anna turned to her fiance and started talking to him intensely, he didn¡¯t look like he was enjoying it.

    "So, who is this ultra-babe with the danger vibe?" Ralph asked, looking at Caitlin.

    Zoe started to answer, "This is Caitlin Giovanni-"

    "Nice to meetcha, Caitlin," Ralph said as he went in for a hug. But Caitlin stopped his advance with a hand to his chest and a short choppy punch to his diaphragm. Ralph gasped, wheezed, and hunched over.

    "Never without my permission!" Caitlin said, her eyes shing.

    Zoe snickered at Ralph.

    "Let¡¯s grab a seat."

    Dave and Caitlin followed her as Ralph staggered to the bar and leaned against it, hunched over and rubbing his stomach.

    "I think I¡¯m in love," Ralph wheezed.

    Still sitting on her stool, Vanessa giggled at his antics.

    "Ugh, I¡¯m okay now, let¡¯s go join them," Ralph said to her, his breath mostly recovered.

    "I think I¡¯ll just stay here," she answered with a sad smile.

    Ralph patted her shoulder sympathetically, "You know, I had to do a lot of talking to get Dave toe here tonight. Don¡¯t let him get away like you did in high-school."

    Vanessa looked at him quickly, a flush rising to her cheeks, "You knew?"

    "Everyone knew, except Dave. He¡¯s really dense about some things."

    "He has a girlfriend," Vanessa said.

    "Zoe isn¡¯t his girlfriend," Ralph said. "He told me that himself. I think she is just a good friend. You still have a chance."

    "It¡¯s an awkward situation," said Vanessa.

    "Let¡¯s just see how things go, who knows?" Ralph said.

    They followed after Dave and the other two women who¡¯d gone into one of the private alcoves. The room was secluded and less noisy then the bar area, with a table andfortable cushioned-chairs to lounge in.

    "Ladies, this is Vanessa, a friend of ours from high school," Ralph said to Zoe and Caitlin.

    Ralph dropped into the seat next to Dave which left Vaness the chair next to the girls. Ralph fiddled with the table menu and ordered drinks for everyone.

    Dave leaned in toward Ralph and said, "What are you doing, man?"

    Ralph smirked back, "Sit back bro, get ready to enjoy the show."

    Zoe snickered, "And here I thought this was going to be another boring ss reunion. What was that all about and who was the yucky couple?"

    "It¡¯s a high school reunion, a lot of people don¡¯t grow-up, they just be pretentious twats," Ralph said.

    "I¡¯ll tell you about themter," Dave added.

    Ralph looked at Zoe, "So how do you and Dave know each other?"

    "We met in Conquest," Dave interrupted.

    Zoe added "And Caitlin is-"

    "Mercy, the top assassin in Conquest, right?" Ralph interrupted.

    Caitlin looked at Ralph in surprise.

    "How did you know that?"

    Sprawled in his seat like a sleepy lion, Ralph shrugged carelessly, "I have an eye for the babes and your avatar looks just like you."

    "So the four of us y Conquest, What about you Vanessa?""

    "I y too," Vanessa replied.

    "Hm, so all five of us are yers," Ralph said meaningfully. Five was the ideal party size in Conquest.

    "What¡¯s your level?" Ralph asked Caitlin.

    Caitlin looked at him consideringly before answering.

    "428."

    "Nice. Obviously you have the highest level of this group," Ralph said.

    Caitlin shrugged.

    "What about you Vanessa?"

    "I¡¯m a priestess, level 210, I don¡¯t get to y a lot with work and all, but I love it."

    Ralph nodded, "What about you Zoe?"

    "180."

    "Not bad, I¡¯m level 411. I guess you¡¯re low-man on the totem pole, Dave."

    "You guess wrong."

    "What level are you?"

    "316."

    "No way!"

    "Seriously. I was lucky, got a chain quest and leveled quickly."

    "I¡¯ll say. Really lucky!" Zoe piped up.

    Ralphughed, "Damn, and here I was going to ask this group ofdies to help level you up to 200 to meet the Devastators minimum. You¡¯re way past that."

    "Dave has done great on his own," Zoe said, smiling. "But since you are being so nice I could really use some help!"

    "Sure! I have some time, at least until the Eastern region Conquest starts. What about you Caitlin, want to help level up these noobs? I¡¯m sure you¡¯re busy with contracts and kill orders to prepare for the invasion, but you could still tag along," Ralph said with a grin.

    "I don¡¯t do dungeons or EXP parties. Hits and contracts, that¡¯s it."

    "C¡¯mon, Caitlin, it¡¯ll be fun," Zoe pouted.

    "I¡¯ll think about it," Caitlin said.

    "Okay, what¡¯s everyone¡¯s yer name?" Ralph pulled out his phone.

    Vanessa spoke first, "I¡¯m Dementi."

    "Okay." He sent Vanessa a friend request on the Conquest app.

    "Dave...Dave! What¡¯s your yer name?"

    "Death Stroke," he finally answered reluctantly.

    Dave looked at Caitlin and shook his head slightly, she shrugged understanding his wishes. He didn¡¯t want his Death Stroke character to be linked with his Mr. Skeletal identity.

    "Ha! I should have known, you always use that."

    The door to the alcove opened, and a man came in carrying a tray of drinks.

    Ralph smiled, "I added Mercy, what about you Zoe?"

    Zoe smiled, "Lone Arrow."

    Overhearing Zoe¡¯s Conquest name, the waiter snapped around to look at her, almost dropping the tray of drinks on everyone.

    "You¡¯re Lone Arrow, THE Lone Arrow?!" Ralph was equally shocked.

    "Yeah," Zoe smiled.

 Chapter 215 The End of Loose Ends

    Dave tensed, worried his friends would make the connection between Death Stroke and Mr. Skeletal with the revtion that Zoe was Lone Arrow. The waiter-fanboy kept shooting nces at Zoe as he served their drinks.

    "Oh wow, I¡¯m a huge fan of Mr. Skeletal! What¡¯s he like?" Vanessa gushed.

    "He¡¯s great, lots of fun and a good guy," Zoe said, smiling.

    "Hey, why don¡¯t you invite him to our EXP party?" Ralph asked.

    "Ha ha, I¡¯ll see if he¡¯s avable, but he¡¯s got a busy schedule."

    "It must have been a real shock when the Undead expansion was shut down. I¡¯m sure it wasn¡¯t a pleasant surprise for Mr. Skeletal, " Vanessa said.

    "Yeah, it hit poor Skelly hard."

    "I wonder if he still has his Boyz even though the undead are gone."

    Ralph shook his head, "I doubt it. All the undead except for dungeon revenants were removed from the game. I think he might be the only high-level undead left."

    "What do you mean dungeon revenants?" Dave asked.

    "I cleared an undead dungeon today and there were only revenants in it, low-level undead bot-types. I asked around, seems like all the greater undead have disappeared from the game, just like the server announcement said."

    "It¡¯s too bad, I was really looking forward to the Undead expansion and more videos from Mr. Skeletal. When does the Eastern invasion kick off?" Vanessa asked.

    "I don¡¯t know exactly. Caitlin probably has a better idea," Ralph turned to Caitlin.

    "We don¡¯t have an exact Date, but it will be in a few weeks. When the new guild uses the Right of Conquest, there will be a systemwide announcement. The guild heads will organize the raid parties for strategic goals.

    "It sounds like it will be a full-scale war," Vanessa said thoughtfully.

    "An ugly one too, thest time a Right of Conquest was used, it took the Blood Ragers three months game-time to capture the Northern region. The Eastern region is bigger and full of tough high level mobs," Ralph sipped his drink.

    "Ralphie, were you part of that campaign?"

    "Nah, I was a lowbie back then."

    Dave rxed more and more as the drinks kepting. He didn¡¯t know how many shots they¡¯d downed as a group. The first few shouted toasts were to the formation of an EXP party, theter ones were to other things he couldn¡¯t remember. Then there were the flutes of champagne in between the shots, bubbly sweet and tart, pale-gold nectar poured from bottlesbeled Cristal and Dom. He wasn¡¯t a big drinker, but since Blonde Jenny was covering his tab he was determined to down as many drinks as he could in revenge, a sentiment the others seemed to share. As the night progressed everyone became friendlier, chatting loudly over each other,ughing and giggling.

    Even Caitlin loosened up. A little. He was feeling a little more tolerant about her presence, mostly because she had shut Blondie down, and Douche-Guy for that matter, though he didn¡¯t really know why she interfered. Dave still kept his distance from the girl, he didn¡¯t want to socialize with her, but they were among a group of his friends. Maybe that¡¯s why he ended up sitting between Zoe and Vanessa while Caitlin reclined in his old seat next to Ralphie.

    ¡¯Why is she even at my ss reunion? Ooooh, and why does the room keep moving? Rooms should be still, so I can keep my feet on the floor and not float away.¡¯

    ***

    A shadow stepped across the many nes of reality on its way to a final task in the Underworld of Conquest.

    The shadow entity appeared in an open field somewhere in Conquest world among the ruins of an old city.

    "Hmm, where is it, where is it?" the shadow entity talked to himself as he was inspecting the ruins.

    "Ah, there it is!"

    The shadow waved a hand and a stone pir lying on its side shifted away from a wall to reveal an esoteric diagram painted in blood.

    The shadow ced a hand on the symbols, they glowed a bright red and he was sucked through the glyph.

    The shadow entity reappeared in a dimly lit cavern on a dark granite shore bordering ake of magma.

    Something enormous moved in the shadows, a bizarre amalgamation of rock and flesh stood up. The creature looked down at the shadow.

    "Young Lord, what brings you to the underworld?" the figure asked in a voice like shing mountains.

    "Hey Ramsha. One of the kids did something bad. Crime and punishment, y¡¯know."

    "Indeed. Proceed, Young Lord," Ramsha said.

    "Laters, big guy!" the shadow entity took a step and disappeared from the cavern.

    The shadow entity appeared above a ruined city showing the signs of recent conflict, gaps in the city walls, burnt and destroyed buildings everywhere. At the very center of the city stood a pce of bone.

    The shadow entity teleported into the throne room of the bone pce where a hunchbacked old man was sitting on the throne like a spider. When the man became aware of the shadow¡¯s presence he started trembling.

    "Vreek," the shadow entity stated heavily.

    "It¡¯s not possible! I made sure you couldn¡¯t wake!"

    "But here I am. Really, what did you think was going to happen? You turned on your fellows, betrayed me and spurned the blessing of Undeath."

    "It was because-"

    "Save your bullshit, I don¡¯t have the stomach for it. I get enough from my brothers and sisters, I¡¯m not going to take any from a filthy worm of a traitor trying to save his own neck,"

    "You can¡¯t do anything to me. I have powerful allies!" said Vreek.

    "You have nothing I haven¡¯t given you."

    Most of the shadows had wafted away from the slender figure. He grinned unpleasantly and advanced on Vreek menacingly. The hunchback was looking around in a panic, he was powerless against the slender figure.

    "You should never trust a demon," the figure quipped. He grabbed Vreek¡¯s neck in a choking hold, squeezing until the hunchback popped like a balloon and disappeared in a cloud of glowing particles.

    On yet another ne of reality, one that stank of rotten and burnt flesh, Vreek popped back into existence. He looked around not understanding where he was. Choking sulfurous smoke coalesced into a disgusting three-headed creature. The thing looked down at Vreek with contempt and pleasure in all its eyes, mocking smiles on its faces. The Ash-King appeared next to the Beast in a cloud of smoke,ughing uproariously.

    "Ha ha haaaaa! Vreek, remember when I told you I wasn¡¯t like other demons, that I could be trusted? I lied. Wee to my father¡¯s domain, I¡¯ve prepared a special ce for you, we have such things to show you!"

    Infernal spiked chains whipped out from under the smoldering ground and wrapped around Vreek, pulling him down into the depths as he screamed in denial and the demonsughed in unholy glee.

    Back in the bone pce throne room the figure wearing the studded sleeveless ck-leather jacket, brushed back his blue-ck mohawk as if after a day¡¯s hard work. Pulling out the makings from thin air he rolled a fag, lit it with a battered Zippo lighter and puffed away in contentment. Then he swung the instrument around from his back cradling it in his wiry arms, plopped down on the throne of bone and started running one slender hand up and down the neck while strumming with the other.

    ***

    Dave¡¯s head was throbbing when he woke up in the hotel bedroom. Dave sat up yawning, he was stripped down to just his boxer briefs, but his skin was mmy and his mouth felt and tasted like raw wool. He didn¡¯t remember getting back to the hotel. He needed a shower, toothpaste and a big ss of cold water. And he really wished the room would stop swaying. As he moved to get out of bed he bumped into a mound under the covers, eliciting a muffled groan.

    Dave frowned and pulled the covers back. A naked-person was in his bed. Dave¡¯s eyes widened when he saw the face of the woman lying in his bed in slumbering repose.

    "Caitlin...?"

    Conquest¡¯s deadliest assassin yer startled awake and looked at Dave. Staring at him for a full moment of silent disbelief and shock she took a deep shuddering breath then screamed like a banshee.

 Chapter 216 Hangover

    "Oooh ow," Dave put his hands to his ears.

    "Please stop screaming!" he begged as he tried to scooch away from Caitlin. A muffled sound of protest came from behind him as he bumped into something, tangling up in the covers wrapped around whoever was on that side of the bed.

    ¡¯Someone ELSE under the covers? Ohhh no...¡¯

    He froze and watched Caitlin¡¯s reaction as she looked at the mattress area behind him, her mouth dropping and eyes widening. Dreading what he would find, but deciding to get it over with quickly, he turned.

    Long dark hair. Vanessa¡¯s face.

    ¡¯Shiiiiiit.¡¯

    "What did you do?!" Caitlin shouted. She¡¯d risen to a sitting position and pulled the sheets up to cover herself.

    "Who¡¯s there? Ow, my head." Vanessa struggled to sit up, her eyes still mostly closed.

    "Ouch, stop talking so loudly. I- I have no idea what happened."

    "Liar!"

    "Ow, stop that. I didn¡¯t do anything. I don¡¯t remember." Dave escaped in the only direction he could, toward the foot of the bed, avoiding contact. Any MORE contact.

    Vanessa was slowlying awake, looking back and forth between Dave and Caitlin and then down at the bed, still not awake enough to understand what was going on around her.

    "WHERE are my clothes!?" Caitlin shrieked.

    "I ahh..." Dave saw a sheer,cy ck bra and a g-string hanging from thempshade next to the bed. He gulped, his eyes glued to the tiny pieces of fabric.

    Caitlin looked to see what Dave was staring at then leaned forward and smacked him on the head.

    "You perv! Get OUT!"

    Caitlin grabbed the bits of silkyce and hid them under the covers, ring at Dave until he backed away out of the bedroom.

    Dave wondered where Zoe and Ralph ended up if the other two were with him. He looked around for any sign of the purple haired girl in the suite¡¯s main room but saw no sign of them. Opening the door to his suite he looked up and down the hallway. A muted sound came through the doorway to the room across the hall, thetch sounded and the door was suddenly yanked open, a disheveled Zoe backed out of the room.

    "I can¡¯t believe you did that Ralph!"

    ¡¯What the hell did he do?¡¯

    From inside the room his best friend¡¯s voice came, "It¡¯s not like that Zoe, I thought you were Dave!"

    ¡¯What the fuck?!¡¯

    A flustered looking, hairy-chested and nearly naked Ralph appeared, he nced past Zoe.

    "Oh, heyyyyyy bro. This is NOT what it looks like. Really!"

    Zoe turned quickly, her mouth open.

    Dave, started giggling. He couldn¡¯t help it. He bent over chuckling andughing.

    "Y-yeah I know the f-feeling."

    "DAVE! Why are youughing?! Do you know what this...this...this OAF did?"

    "I told you-" Ralph interjected.

    "No you be quiet, you are a Very Bad Man!"

    Looking past Dave into the suite, Ralph spotted the other two girlsing out of the bedroom, Caitlin wrapped in a towel and Vanessa¡¯s dress in disarray. He whistled long and admiringly.

    "Whoa, I had no idea! Respect, bro. High five!" He held his palm up for Dave to smack.

    "No, it¡¯s really not like that at all." Dave started giggling again. Who would believe any of this? He didn¡¯t know how it happened, but it had to be a pstickedy of misunderstandings that only happened in 80s sis and stupid romanticedy movies.

    Zoe gave Dave a very dangerous look as he went into another paroxysm ofughter. She marched through the open door into Dave¡¯s suite and turned.

    "The girl¡¯s are going to talk!" Zoe said, mming the door and almost taking off a couple of Dave¡¯s toes. Dave and Ralph were left standing awkwardly in the hallway.

    "Damn, my clothes," Dave said, turning to knock on his hotel room door.

    "I wouldn¡¯t do that, bro," Ralph warned. "C¡¯mon in, we¡¯ll order room service, I¡¯m sure there¡¯s bathrobes in here...or a sheet." He snickered.

    Dave gave his best friend a nasty look but nodded and they trooped into the room, and closed the doorway behind them.

    Ralph and Dave talked over their coffee and breakfast, but neither could add anything to make sense of the events that led to them being in a strange hotel room together, with a trio of angry girls across the hallways in another. After their meal Dave tried tomunicate with the girls through his suite door but got no response. Ralph had gone back to bed to sleep off the rest of the hangover. With nothing else to do and no one to talk to about the events of the night before, Dave decided to use the pod in Zoe and Ralph¡¯s suite to log into the game.

    ***

    More than 24 hours of game time has passed.

    Your City Ban safety period has been renewed.

    You now have 10 Minutes of safe time left in

    the city of Moria

    ***

    Dave ignored the notification and walked through the city, he wanted to grind for a while and get his mind off recent events; the good, the bad, and the ugly. He thought about checking his contacts to see if any friends were online to join him, but decided maybe he wasn¡¯t the bestpany just then.

    Moria was virtually empty, so despite the Kill sign ring over his head Dave wasn¡¯t followed by any yers as he walked to the city gates.

    But as soon as Dave stepped out of the city, space tore open and a spiraling shadow emerged in front of him.

    "Hey kid," came from the shadow.

    "You! You¡¯re the one who stole the fragment, give it back!"

    "I didn¡¯t steal anything and I¡¯m not giving it back," the shadow chuckled.

    "That doesn¡¯t even make sense! You stole thest fragment of the Death Heart, the undead king gave it to me."

    "You¡¯re not listening kid. It belongs to me."

    The whirling shadows had dissipated revealing a wiry figure that looked like a teenager wearing a sleeveless studded ck-leather jacket. He had a blue-ck mohawk and multiple piercings in his ears and nose. The headstock and neck of what appeared to be a guitar, of all things in Conquest, was visible, rising over one of the teen¡¯s shoulders.

    Dave inspected the teenager.

    ***

    Error! Unidentifiable entity.

    Inspection fail.

    ***

    The slender youth grinned at the yer and waved a hand, Dave¡¯s eyes blurred and he was suddenly in an empty bar or club, a bar ran along one wall and a band stage was against the wall opposite to it.

    Dave, looked around, the ce was empty, stark fluorescent work-lights revealed the cheap ck-painted plywood walls and cement floors.

    The teen punker appeared on stage holding his skull-motiffed axe, he started picking out a familiar intro tune.

    Pointing at the youth Dave said forcefully, "NO Stairway to Heaven!"

    "No Stairway...denied. Party on!" the teen snickered, "Okay, have it your way, kid."

    He stopped ying and put the guitar down.

    ¡¯Who IS this weirdo?¡¯

    "I need your help with something, kid-"

    "Stop calling me kid! You¡¯re younger than I am. If anyone¡¯s a kid it¡¯s you!"

    "But I¡¯m a god, so you get to be the ¡¯kid,¡¯ just deal with it. Now, if you would stop interrupting, we can get down to business and bring my Undead back."

    "Y-you can bring them back?"

    "Well I AM the God of Undeath, so yes."

 Chapter 217 Into the Wilds...again

    "Bullshit! There¡¯s no god of Undeath."

    "Hallo," the teenager smiled and wiggled his fingers at Dave like a little kid, waving.

    This punk¡¯s attitude just irritated Dave, he was an annoying little creep and a thief no matter what he said.

    "So, kid. Are we going to do this or do I go find another mate to help out?"

    "I¡¯m in as long as this isn¡¯t some scam you¡¯re running and we¡¯re really bringing them back. What do I have to do," Dave said.

    The teenager jumped from the stage and swaggered over.

    "To start we get you kitted out proper," he pointed at Dave¡¯s hand, "That¡¯s a fake."

    Dave raised his hand, "The Death God¡¯s Legacy...fake? Now I know you are full of it, I¡¯m not gonna take the ring off just so you can steal it too."

    The punk-teen rolled his eyes.

    He waved a hand, the ring glowed and burned on Dave¡¯s finger, he winced. The ring changed from gold to obsidian ck.

    "Take a look now," the teen-god smirked.

    ***

    Ring of the Death God has be

    Ring of True Undeath

    ss SS Legacy item

    Ring of True Undeath

    [Undead Geas]

    [Life Siphon]

    [Life Cleaver]

    [Locked]

    [Locked]

    [Locked]

    ***

    Dave was dumbfounded. The ring was now SS ss, Dave had never heard of ANYTHING above S rank. That meant it must beter game content.

    "We¡¯re on our way, mate. If you want the undead back you¡¯re gonna hafta work hard for it. The first thing I need you to do is get me some Miasmic Aether of the Necromancer¡¯s Tomb."

    Dave had never heard of it, "Okay, how do I get it?"

    "You go to the tomb of Ashkar, the Ruined King."

    "Why don¡¯t you just go and get it yourself," Dave asked. He was till suspicious of this young character. He didn¡¯t mind going on shoot and loots, but a fetch quest seemed low-level for something that was supposed to revive the entire undead race.

    "Kid, how often do you see gods running around picking up shite? There are rules even we have to follow. Now shut yer cake hole and get on wit¡¯ it.

    ***

    Tomb Raid

    Quest type: Legacy quest (Group optional)

    Quest rank: SS

    Chained Quest:

    First Task:

    Collect 10 Kg of Eldritch Bone Moss from the tomb of Ashkar the Ruined King.

    Level requirement: 300 (rmended minimum level 450)

    Ashkar, known as the Ruined King, was an infamous necromancer, he experimented on himself and those around him seeking knowledge of life, death and immortality. Though he ultimately failed to find a way to be immortal the Ruined King left many secrets in his tomb for the magi of the world to find if any are bold enough to venture there.

    ***

    The god of the undead muttered to himself, "Those wankers cocked up everything." He addressed Dave in a louder voice, "You¡¯re a bit of a ponce kid, I had to jimmy things for you, otherwise we¡¯d have to wait while you toughen up quite a bit. And ain¡¯t nobody got time for that shite."

    The new map-marker tone sounded in Dave¡¯s ear. He opened his mini-map. Well that was quite a fuck-you. The tomb was deep in the Wilds far to the east, almost to the Eastern Kingdom. The monsters grew more powerful and numerous moving in that direction. It would be rough just getting to the site of the tomb. No one had made it that far into the Wilds, so there was no way to know what was out there. The fetch-quest had just be a much bigger deal. That stupid ¡¯rmended minimum level¡¯ was starting to make sense now. He needed to find out how he was even supposed to get to the tomb, let alone dive the dungeon.

    But, before he could ask the teenage god anything he was teleported back to the entrance to Moria.

    ¡¯Okay, there¡¯s a way to bring back the legion. Maybe, I¡¯m still not sure Ipletely trust or believe that little punk-god. And the quest is for the fucking Wilds. That¡¯s gonna be some shit.¡¯

    A notification popped up.

    ***

    Perfect Shot has invited you to a party

    Do you ept?

    Y/N

    ***

    He pressed yes.

    ***

    Pussy nker [Priest]

    Level 188

    Perfect Shot [Ranger]

    Level 192

    Human Fortress [Tank]

    Level 190

    ***

    Dave chuckled again at their names. But, shit, he couldn¡¯t mess with them about their names now that they¡¯d seen his ¡¯Death Stroke¡¯ guise.

    "S¡¯up guys,"

    "Hey Stroke, where are you now?"

    "Moria, I¡¯m starting a big quest, you guys wannae along and help?"

    "Sure! We wiped on thest run at nker¡¯s quest, it¡¯s on a seven day cooldown timer now. So we don¡¯t have anything to do. Give us a few secs, we¡¯re on our way."

    "This quest is going to take a long time to get through. I¡¯m going to overburden on potions and consumables, you guys should do the same."

    "Okay we will re-supply the join you in Moria." Perfect Shot said.

    "Okay, I will do the same I will wait for you at the city gate,"

    Dave waited at Moria¡¯s city gates, until he spotted three yersing toward him. An archer in ornate leather armor with a ck war-bow on his back and a bycocket hat on his head, like the kind Robin Hood wore,plete with jaunty red feather. With him was a priest wearing blue-striped white cleric¡¯s robes along with a waddling tank who waspletely encased in heavy full-te armor and lugging a truly massive door shield.

    "Well, well. If it isn¡¯t the great Mr. Skeletal!" the priest said in a loud voice.

    Dave frowned and Perfect Shot smacked the back of nker¡¯s head.

    "IDIOT, I just TOLD you to keep your trap shut! You JUST signed a contract that you wouldn¡¯t talk about it. Use the big head, dumbass."

    "But there¡¯s no one here, look! It¡¯s like a ghost town here, only NPCs around."

    "I don¡¯t give a shit, NEVER talk about it, or I¡¯ll tell you-know-who about you-know-what."

    nker turned tomato red and sputtered.

    ¡¯I wonder what that¡¯s all about.¡¯

    "Sorry, Stroke. It won¡¯t happen again."

    "No harm done. This time." Dave red at the priest, "Don¡¯t do it again, this is serious business."

    "Okay, my bad bro, it won¡¯t happen again. Perfect said you want our help with some quest, right? TNT to the rescue and all that. "

    Dave looked at the priest again coolly again, "You talk too much.

    "Yeah, I talk when I¡¯m excited. I¡¯ve always been like that, ever since I was little. Even my mum tells me I talk a lot. Why are you frowning? Bro, your face! It¡¯s scary, and not in a goo-"

    "I think that¡¯s your cue to shut the hell up." Human Fortress calmly said.

    "Oh! Right! Shutting up now."

    "So what¡¯s your quest?" Perfect Shot asked.

    "It¡¯s a tomb dungeon, with a level 300 requirement."

    "That¡¯s high level. I don¡¯t know if we can handle that much of a level difference," Human Fortress shrugged.

    "That¡¯s the requirement for a single yer. So you guys tag along and I do all the tanking and DPS, I need your support abilities. But I can¡¯t have you guys dying on me, so we¡¯ll grind some levels on the way to the tomb."

    Dave waited a beat to drop the anvil on them.

    "Hells yeah, getting levels is good."

    In a carefully casual tone he added, "The quest is deep in the eastern Wilds."

    "What the fuck, man! The Wilds are damn dangerous, yers go in and nevere back!" nker said, looking at Dave like he¡¯d betrayed them.

    "Stop being a wuss, the worst that could happen is we lose some EXP and get sent to respawn," Perfect Shot groused at nker.

    "You know there¡¯s a dragon flying around in the Wilds, right? Did you see that video of the top level yers that went into the Wilds? They never even saw what hit them, they were all one-shot Over-Killed, man. They lost a lot of levels. LEVELS, man not EXP. Game over, man. And all their equipment was broken, man. Just think what an attack like that would do to US, man!" Pussy nker moaned.

    "You want some cheese with that whine? What are the chances of meeting the dragon. Actually I wouldn¡¯t mind seeing what it¡¯s like," Human Fortress said in his deliberate manner. Because he was big he gave the impression he was slow, but Dave was starting to think it was just a facade.

    "Look guys, this quest is a chain that could lead to the revival of the Undead. I admit it¡¯s gonna be tough, but think about the possibilities! The video feeds alone will be worth it, even if we didn¡¯t make it all the way to the tomb. And I HAVE to make it to the tomb, there¡¯s no other option."

    Dave smiled, he¡¯d thrown the bait and now waited for them to bite.

    "I did really want to y an undead avatar when the expansion opened. I guess if I want that to happen I should try to help," nker said.

    "An undead priest? I don¡¯t know if that would work, nker," Human fortress said.

    "Why are you always dissing my ideas, man?"

    "C¡¯mon, help me revive the undead. It¡¯ll be fun. You¡¯ll get great EXP and pick up high level loot," Dave cajoled.

    "Hmm, getting some levels sounds good, we gotta do this right though, man. So we don¡¯t get sent to respawn every five minutes," Perfect Shot said. He turned to his friends, both of them were nodding.

    "Alright, let¡¯s get stocked up on consumables, make some ns then port to the gate nearest to the Wilds."

 Chapter 218 Wild Grindings

    Human fortress used his [Charge] and stunned the boar for a second. Dave moved in quickly and struck down with his mberge, chopping through the boar¡¯s hide and deep into its hump. Dave stepped away as a gush of blood spattered everywhere. The boar squealed in pain, wheeled and charged at Dave, aiming its ripping tusks at his middle.

    Dave activated [Shield-Charge] and mmed the shield down pushed it toward the iing boar. Dave and the boar collided like runaway trains. The boar bounced off the metal b of shield and went tumbling to the side, the tip of a tusk broken off. Dave retained his footing and engaged the boar in a melee again.

    Perfect fired an arrow into the boar¡¯s snout, causing it to shake its head vigorously and squeal like...well, like a stuck pig.

    Dave attacked with his sword again and followed that up with [Mountain Cleaver].

    ***

    Death Knight¡¯s Greatsword [Embrittle] activated.

    -50% MA/DN

    ***

    [-32,000]

    "WHOA! Holy shit that¡¯s a lot of Damage!" Pussy nker said as he cast another buff, "What was that skill?"

    "It was my sword, it has an armor shattering ability. Keep up the debuffs guys."

    Dave sidestepped the boar¡¯s swinging head attack and thrust, shield hand pushing the pommel of his weapon. Another chunk of the boar¡¯s HP floated up in red numerals.

    "Nice!" Perfect Shotmented.

    The boar charged again, but Perfect Shot managed to hit the boar with an arrow to its front knee. The boar stumbled to one side, exposing it¡¯s belly. Dave whirled his sword switching his grip to an overhand grip and stabbed down on the boar¡¯s belly.

    [-66,258 Critical!]

    "That was a nice disabler, Perfect," Dave nodded his appreciation to the archer.

    The boar had less than 40% of its HP left. It gave up any thought of defending itself and charged the yers with suicidal abandon.

    Dave strafed around the boar, using it as a hit and run tactic. With TNT crowd controlling the boar and healing, Dave was only down 10% of his total HP when the boar hit zero HP.

    "DING! I leveled up," Pussy nker said.

    "That kill just bumped met 60% of the way to the next level," Perfect Shot said.

    "You could have gotten more EXP if you had actually dealt damage, but the supporter¡¯s exp is good for now." Davemented.

    "What about you, Fortress?" nker asked.

    He asked again when he received no reply.

    "What was that?" Fortress asked.

    "I said: did you level up?"

    "Yeah,"

    "What were you doing?"

    "I was talking with Tess,"

    "Tess again, bruh? Really man, stop talking to that chick. She¡¯s probably a fat old guy named Stan that lives in his mom¡¯s garage." Pussy nker shook his head.

    "No, she¡¯s real, bro," Fortress protested.

    "Well, we¡¯ve never seen her. Not even in Conquest. She¡¯s always ¡¯busy¡¯ with something else. We¡¯d be cool partying up and grinding with her."

    Dave was curious about the intery between the two friends.

    Pussy nker saw the look and grinned, "This oaf is trying to impress us with ¡¯his¡¯ Tess.

    Dave shrugged, "Who knows, maybe it, or she, is real."

    "Doubtful, right Perfect?"

    "Bro, you talk too much. We¡¯ll know when we know," Perfect Shot replied.

    "Whatever man, I am just saying, if he wants to make some hotties he shoulde to me, I¡¯ll turn him into a P-U-A in no time."

    "P-U-A...?"

    "P-U-A. Pick Up Artist, m¡¯man."

    "You? You get shot down by every girl you talk to, bro," Fortress teased his buddy.

    "It¡¯s a numbers game man. Hit on everything, and you¡¯ll eventually pull one. Never let the iplete sesses get ya down," nker shrugged.

    "C¡¯mon, heal me up to full, we still have lots of grinding to do," Dave said.

    Pussy nker healed Dave and they moved deeper in the forest.

    Perfect Shot scouted the way ahead. He used the party chat," Guys, there is a Horned Jade Serpent up ahead. Level 450,"

    "We¡¯ll detour around, we aren¡¯t ready for that mob yet," Dave said.

    "So Skelly, do you have a girlfriend?" Pussy nker asked.

    "Nah, why you asking?" Dave said as he looked around carefully for danger or opportunity.

    "I just thought from your videos you were with Lone Arrow. I thought you guys were a thing."

    "Nah we¡¯re just friends," Dave said.

    "Guys, something isn¡¯t right," Perfect Shot said over chat in a worried tone.

    "What¡¯s up, bro?" Fortress asked.

    "EVERYONE GET UNDER COVER, HIDE!" Perfect Shot shouted through the voice.

    Dave felt the ground tremble, like a herd of angry giant monsters were stampeding their way.

    "There," Human Fortress pointed at arge hollowed out tree.

    The three squeezed themselves into the hollow of the tree.

    "What¡¯s going on Perfect?" nker asked.

    "There is a monster tideing your way. Stay under cover."

    "Are you going to be okay?" asked nker.

    "Worry about yourselves, I¡¯m a Ranger, we have our ways. Don¡¯t provoke any of these mob," Perfect Shot said in a low voice.

    "What the fuck are they, Perfect?!"

    But the sound of the stampede drowned out the archer¡¯s reply.

    "Shit, this is nerve wrecking," said nker.

    "Quiet down," Dave said, he peeked out and saw hundreds of monsters running past their hiding spot, panic stricken.

    "I think something scared them."

    Just as nker finished his thought they heard a loud trumpeting scream.

    Dave recognized the sound with sinking heart.

    "Fuuuuuck, it¡¯s the dragon."

    Dave looked out as the dragon¡¯s shadow passed over them.

    ¡¯Shit. So that¡¯s what caused the monster-tide.¡¯

    Dave looked in his inventory, the dragon egg was still there, no change apparent.

    ¡¯I wonder what the dragon is flying around here for, it couldn¡¯t have sensed the egg, it¡¯s in my inventory.¡¯

    The stampede of wildlife running past them finally petered out and the dragon turned and went back in the direction it came from.

    "Okay, I think the coast is clear," Perfect Shot said in the chat, "Let me check around for monsters nearby."

    After a few minutes Perfect Shot said, "You cane out. There are no monsters near you guys."

    The three moved out of the hollowed tree. The forest was half-destroyed, trees toppled and ground churned up.

    "Shit, we were lucky none of the monsters hit our tree," Human fortress said.

    "Let¡¯s find Perfect and then get the hell away from here," Dave said.

    They followed the marker pointing at Perfect.

    "Hey guys," Perfect called out.

    He was standing on a tree branch, he jumped down to join them. Just as perfect shotnded. The three behind him broke apart, a creature emerged.

    It was an oversized stag as big as an elephant, easily three times as tall as Dave with a giant rack of vicious looking antlers and carnivorous fangs in its snarling muzzle.

    ***

    Forest Prong Fiend

    Level: 450

    HP: 450,000

    Damage: 50,000-65,000

    MA: 50,000

    DN: 40,000

    Tier: Mythic

    Danger Level: ???

    Skills:

    [Impaler] charges at a target and impales them on its antlers. The impaled target cannot fight for 10 seconds. Causes 200% base damage.

    [Savagery] enters a rage mode, attack speed and base damage is doubled. MA and DN are reduced by 50%

    [Call of the Forest] random monsters are summoned to aid the fiend to fight against its enemies. The summoned monster is random and may be hostile to the Fiend itself.

    Bestiary:

    Fiends are walking mountains of muscle capped with horned, tooth-filled heads.

    When possible they avoid humans, but when not possible, they kill them, and without much difficulty.

    ***

    "A crap!" Perfect shot cursed.

 Chapter 219 Fundamentally pronged

    "Run!" Dave turned away in a random direction and sprinted as fast as he could.

    TNT scattered in different directions. Perfect Shot leapt back up to the tree limb and started jumping from tree to tree to escape the fiend. Fortress and nker were the lucky ones, the Fiend didn¡¯t pursue them. Instead, the prong fiend chased after Dave, maybe because he was the first to run.

    "Ahh, C¡¯mon!" Dave groaned.

    He jinxed and juked, jumped over rocks and under fallen trees, leading the fiend on a merry chase. The monstrous stag just shattered through every obstacle in its way, homing in on Dave and closing the distance like a guided missile.

    "Guys, sound off. Status?" Perfect shot asked over the party chat.

    "Me and Fortress are good, the fiend chased after Skelly,"

    "Stroke, you alright," Perfect shot asked worriedly.

    "Can¡¯t. Ugh, talk now," they heard Dave grunt in reply.

    "Follow him guys, if he dies, we die too,"

    "Alright, he¡¯s headed north, let¡¯s go," Pussy nker said.

    ¡¯It¡¯s going to catch up to me any second. Damned limited Stamina crap.¡¯

    Apparently the fiend agreed, as it lowered its head and made an attack run at him with renewed speed, the sharp prongs of its antlers pointing at his vulnerable back side.

    Dave rolled away, miraculously evading the antlers. The fiend crashed headlong into a boulder, its horns stabbing deeply into the rock.

    While the fiend struggled to release itself from the boulder Dave ran in the opposite direction.

    The fiend growled a grumblyint and jerked its head up and away, shattering the top part of the boulder and releasing itself. It turned and resumed chasing Dave.

    "For fuck sake!" Dave cursed. He jumped and grabbed a tree branch, pulling himself up to safety.

    The Fiend just charged and crashed into the tree, turning the entire thickness of the tree trunk into flying splinters.

    As the tree toppled Dave fell from the limb onto something soft, he waved his arms and legs around wildly not understanding at first, then realizing what happened. He¡¯dnded on the antlered monster¡¯s back.

    "Oh shit!"

    The Fiend tried to shake his inadvertent passenger off, bucking like a crazed rodeo bull.

    Dave grabbed onto an antler near its base. The stag shook its head and charged through the forest like a self-propelled wrecking ball, destroying everything in its way.

    Suddenly, TNT were in front the monster. Shocked looks shed across their faces when they saw the prong fiend bearing down on them with their friend riding it.

    Dave shouted at them, "GET OUT OF THE WAY!"

    The antlered monster charged directly at Pussy nker, the priest yelped and ran.

    "Don¡¯t run in a straight line, nker. DODGE!" Perfect Shot shouted. He aimed a [Binding Arrow] at the Fiend¡¯s hind legs. But the snaring effect didn¡¯t take, neither stopping nor slowing the prong fiend.

    The fiend lowered its head as it charged the priest with its antlers to impale him, but Dave pulled the fiend¡¯s head to the side as hard as he could. Surprisingly, the fiend¡¯s head changed direction, right toward a tree.

    The monster struck the massive tree trunk unprepared, staggering and disorienting it. Dave was thrown from the fiend¡¯s back and tumbled across the ground several times.

    [-50,000]

    "Motherfucker, that hurt!"

    The fiend shook itself, pawed at the ground with its front hoof then charged at Dave once again.

    Dave swapped weapons, equipping his Sworn Stalwart¡¯s gauntlets.

    Dave got into a ready stance as he shouted to TNT over the party chat, "I¡¯m going to try something! Be ready to run!"

    When the antlers were only meters away from Dave, he used [Immortal Apparition] to teleport himself onto the prong fiend¡¯s back again.

    Dave grabbed an antler in each gauntleted hand and activated [Aura].

    [Aura] did t damage, so even with the level difference the fiend¡¯s HP decreased. But slowly, oh so slowly.

    The beast groaned in pain as its antlers burned and turned ck from the scorching heat of Dave¡¯s gauntlets. Unable to shake Dave off it howled and rampaged like a roid-rager as [Aura] slowly chipped away at its HP.

    "Guys, just keep going," Dave said.

    "What about you?" Fortress asked. He could see Dave desperately clinging to the fiend.

    "I¡¯m going to lead this guy away." Dave grunted as the fiend mmed into a nearby tree.

    "Let¡¯s go, we¡¯ll just slow him down," Perfect Shot said. He pulled Pussy nker away and they were soon out of sight.

    [Aura] used a lot of mana, his bar was getting low Dave released one hand, grabbed a mana potion from his inventory and mmed it back. It reminded him unpleasantly of all the shots they¡¯d done the night before.

    "Alright you damn bastard, let¡¯s see whosts longer, your HP or my 200 mana potions!"

    It took Dave a while to get the hang of ¡¯riding¡¯ the fiend. Whenever the monster stag tried to scrape him off against an obstacle, he shifted himself to its other side so the fiend only damaged itself.

    After interminable minutes of getting jounced and thrown around on the prong fiend¡¯s back Dave noticed it was slowing down. It was getting tired. Finally, it dropped to the ground, wheezing and foaming at the mouth, exhausted from the struggle.

    ***

    The prong fiend has been subdued, you can now use it as a temporary mount.

    Due to the forest fiend¡¯s nature as a wild animal you can only ride it for 24 in-game hours.

    It will be hostile again after that time and will not allow you to ride it.

    ***

    New title received!

    Wild Rider:

    Increases the chances of subduing a wild animal to use as a temporary mount.

    ***

    The fiend¡¯s name tag turned from red to green.

    "Ha ha! Awesome!" Dave turned [Aura] off and dropped to the forest ground. "Never heard that title before. This is gonna be fun."

    He waited until the fiend recovered and lurched back up to stand, towering over him, still menacing in appearance, but now as docile as a pet.

    The fiend lowered its head and Dave grabbed an antler to swing himself back up onto its back.

    "Go straight,"

    The fiend stalked forward.

    "Hey Skelly, everything alright?" Perfect checked in through the party chat.

    "Yeah, I¡¯m good. Wait where you are, I¡¯m on my way."

    "Roger that."

    Dave guided the fiend toward where the map marker indicated TNT were waiting.

    Dave was surprised at how agile the fiend was now that it wasn¡¯t chasing him. It deftly avoided trees and boulders as it galloped through the thick forest. Its Rage state and aggression had probably reduced its Agility significantly, he¡¯d been lucky.

    As they got closer to the marker, the little devil on Dave¡¯s shoulder prompted him to whisper in the fiend¡¯s ear, "Let¡¯s give them a scare."

    As if it understood him the fiend increased its speed, bursting through the trees and into the clearing where TNT were patiently waiting for Dave. The prong monster growled its grumbly battle call and TNT jerked around and stared then scrambled about in a panic. nker extricated himself from the tangle and ran screaming into the trees, while the other two tripped over each other and sprawled on the forest ground looking up fearfully.

    Dave wasughing at their antics as the antlered monster came to a sliding stop right over the other two yers.

    "It¡¯s okay guys, it¡¯s friendly now, look at its name-tag," Dave said over his chuckling.

    When the TNT saw the green name-tag they breathed out in relief.

    "That was just mean, man. How the hell did you get it to be friendly?" Perfect Shot asked.

    "Luck," Dave said. "Now I can use it as a mount for a day. This will make it easier to cross the Wilds."

    "Hey let me ride with you," nker said, approaching the fiend.

    The fiend however grumbled low threatening growls at him, it didn¡¯t seem to like the priest much. nker backed away quickly.

    "Good boy!" Dave stroked the fiend¡¯s head.

    ***

    You unlocked a new feature:

    Wild Animal Affinity.

    Affinity with Forest fiend increased.

    1/10

    Ride time increased by 1H

    ***

    "Cool, I can increase the countdown time," Daveughed.

    "Will it fight for us?" Perfect Shot asked.

    "I don¡¯t know, guess we¡¯ll have to find out the hard way," Dave shrugged. "Let¡¯s keep moving, it¡¯s a long way to Ashkar¡¯s Tomb."

 Chapter 220 Whos a Good Boy? You Are!

    "Oww, my head!" Vanessa groaned.

    "We drank a lot. WAY too much," Zoe agreed weakly.

    Caitlin was still holding the bed sheet around herself and Zoe bustled around the room, searching it.

    "What are you doing?"

    "Looking for something to cover up with. My clothes are in the other room and I am NOT going back there just yet," Zoe said.

    "Ah, here we are." She¡¯d found the bathrobes in the closet. She put one on and tossed one to each of the girls.

    "So what happened with you? I heard you yelling in the hallway," Vanessa asked.

    "You wouldn¡¯t believe what that oaf, Ralph, did! I waspletely out of it, sleeping off the drunk under the covers when I felt a burning stinging pain on... Well, anyway, the jerk smacked me. Hard! So hard, it left a mark and it STILL hurts. He was mumbling something about breakfast with bros. If I¡¯d had my clothes on I would have kicked his ass. He CLAIMED he thought I was Dave," Zoe growled thest bit. Her face was red, her eyes glittering with fury.

    "What happenedst night. How did Ralph end up in my hotel room. And how did you two end up in Dave¡¯s? The n was for the girls to sleep in the room I rented and the boys were going to stay in Dave¡¯s suite."

    "I don¡¯t know, I just woke up and there he was in the bed with me. Then I saw Vanessa there too."

    "Neither of you remember anything?" Vanessa asked. She¡¯d thrown the bathrobe over her lingerie-model figure but hadn¡¯t bothered to fasten the belt.

    "No, we were all so hammered, thest thing I remember was the Underground. Ohhhh, WAIT! HA HA! The expression on Jenny¡¯s face when she had top our bill for the night!"

    The girls giggled together.

    "I do remember Zoe saying she was going to get a room at the hotel and spend the night. But I passed out when we got in the elevator."

    "Hmm, my head hurts, I can¡¯t think or remember shit. I say we order breakfast then sleep off the rest of this hangover. THIS time without any stupid men interrupting my beauty sleep," Caitlin growled.

    "So nothing happenedst night between you guys?" Zoe asked, looking back and forth at Vanessa and Caitlin.

    Vanessa grinned, "Maybe, maybe not."

    "Nothing happened! I think..." Caitlin¡¯s frowned in thought, trying to dredge up a reliable memory.

    "But why were you naked?" Zoe asked.

    "I sleep in the buff, notfortable any other way," Caitlin shrugged.

    "Girls, you know even if nothing happened, we can¡¯t let the boys think any of this okay. We have to make sure to remind them of their ce in the grand scheme of things," Zoe looked at the other two women meaningfully with a very determined look on her face.

    "Oh, don¡¯t worry about THAT.¡¯ Vanessa said, smiling evilly, "They WILL suffer the consequences of this little incident."

    ***

    Dave led TNT through the forest on the fiend¡¯s back, surprisingly, no monsters spawned near them or even dared attack them the as fiend moved with them through the forests of the Wilds.

    "I appreciate not being attacked or ambushed by high-level monsters, but didn¡¯t wee here to grind and get some exp?" Pussy nker said.

    "Don¡¯t worry about EXP, for now, let¡¯s use this time to explore the wilds," Dave said.

    Perfect Shot chipped in, "Stroke is right. Other yers can¡¯t roam the wilds as safely as us, so we might discover something."

    "What else are we going to find except more moldy trees and boulders." nker shrugged.

    "Shut up and keep walking, you are just being spiteful because you can¡¯t ride the Fiend." Human fortress hit a string.

    "Ugh, that¡¯s unfair man. Look at Stroke, the guy is riding a god damned level 550 monster! Why can¡¯t I ride it too?" nker whined.

    "The next time we encounter another forest fiend you can try to tame and ride it," Dave grinned.

    nker looked at the fiend and shook his head, "You tryna kill me bruh?"

    Dave smiled and said, "Let¡¯s just keep going, hopefully, we will find something interesting, otherwise we will just have to stay with Spike until the friendly duration is over and fend for ourselves."

    "Who¡¯s Spike?" nker asked.

    Dave petted the Fiend¡¯s head "I named him Spike." Dave smiled.

    ***

    The Forest Prong Fiend acknowledged the name you bestowed to it

    Your Affinity with the fiend has increased.

    2/10

    The fiend is now more inclined to be friendly with your allies.

    Ride timer increased by 1 hour

    ***

    "Your naming sense is for shit...Death Stroke," said nker.

    "You chose to call yourself Pussy nker dude, you don¡¯t get toment on my naming sense."

    "My name has a deeper meaning." nker said.

    "Yeah? What deeper meaning?"

    "I¡¯d rather not talk about it."

    Dave shook his head, "Anyway I think you guys can pet the fiend now," Dave said.

    "Why would I want to pet that thing? It might bite my arm off," nker whined.

    "Well, the intimacy level with the fiend increased when I named it. I think it can level up more if you pet it guys."

    "Let me try," Human Fortress said. he slowly approached the Fiend. It grunted and took a step back.

    "Don¡¯t worry, we¡¯re all friends here, Spike ole buddy ole pal. Who¡¯s the good boy with all the sharp prongs on his head, yeah it¡¯s you," Human Fortress crooned.

    The heavily armored yer stretched out a bare hand to be sniffed by the fiend. When it seemed to not be too angry or repulsed he ventured to pet its muzzle then started to scritch under it under the chin.

    "Nice, wanna try nker?" Daveughed..

    nker approached timidly, ready to yank his hand back. Receiving only a wary eye from the fiend he screwed up his courage and finally stroked the fiend¡¯s silky fur.

    "Soft fur," nker said. Perfect joined until all three of the TNT were grouped around the prong fiend¡¯s head petting and stroking it. The antlered monsters eyes were closed in bliss and it was making contented little grumbly whining sounds.

    "Hm, the intimacy didn¡¯t increase any," Dave frowned.

    "Well, just petting it won¡¯t work, you already got an increase for that," Human fortress said thoughtfully. He continued petting the monster, then "It¡¯s dirty, maybe we can do something with that. I have something that can help us."

    Fortress brought out a Spartan style helmet form his inventory. The helmet was bronze with T shaped visors and had a bristly red brush crest on top.

    "I bought this when I was at level 20, it¡¯s just for decoration, but we can use the crest as a brush."

    Human Fortress used the helmet crest to brush away the dried mud and other unwanted umtions from the fiend¡¯s tawny pelt. It took a while to brush the worst areas; its face, around the hooves and lower legs, the even softer white fur on its underbelly and chest.

    Dave received another notification.

    ***

    Your Affinity with Forest Prong Fiend has increased.

    3/10

    The fiend will now carry passengers while you are riding.

    Ride timer increased by 1 hour

    ***

    "Wow, it worked. Now we can all ride on it. You know your animals, Fortress," Dave said.

    "We have a farm, it has horses on it and I like taking care of them. There are other things yo can try that might increase the Affinity level. You can feed it, maybe make a saddle for it if we are going to be riding long term. Maybe add some decoration or even armor if it decides to fight with us. Those could all help increase your Affinity with Spike," Human fortress said.

    "I don¡¯t have any saddles, and what do we feed Spike?"

    "I don¡¯t know, meat maybe? His teeth look too sharp for vegetables..." nker said.

    Fortress pulled himself up onto the fiend and sat behind Dave. Perfect Shot sat behind them and nker wasst.

    "Hey why do I get the ass-seat?" nkerined.

    "Go with what fits," Fortress snarked.

    "Hey bro, not cool!"

    "Well if you don¡¯t like it you could always walk," Perfect Shot smirked.

    "Alright guys, let¡¯s get moving, we¡¯re still a long way from the tomb ording to the map. Alright Spike, show us what you can do-"

    "Show us the meaning of HASTE!" TNT chorused together.

    The fiend let out a grumbling trumpet call, reared on its hind legs then burst forward, elerating so quickly under the four yers they felt like they were going to slide off of the racing fiend.

 Chapter 221 In Too Deep!

    As dusk approached, the prong fiend, Spike, slowed from his normal breakneck pace, having to pick his way more carefully across the forest floor in the dimming light. The air turned chilly and damp, only an asional ray of the waning sunlight shining through the dense foliage.

    "Uh guys, it¡¯s getting close to nighttime," nker said looking around nervously. They had been moving through the forest too quickly for mobs and other dangers to be a threat. But now they were more vulnerable.

    The fiend was snarling and growling ominously.

    "What¡¯s wrong Spike?" Dave asked.

    Then he got a notification:

    ***

    You are entering the Deep Wilds.

    The Deep Wilds is an extremely dangerous area.

    You are the 11,581st to enter this area.

    Enter at your own risk.

    ***

    "I thought we were already in the Wilds," Fortress said.

    "Apparently not," Dave looked around, trying to prate the dark foliage, he kept seeing movement from the corner of his eyes.

    "I think we should stop and log out for the night, man," nker said, nervously looking over his shoulder. He had a feeling that something was just behind him, ready to jump on him.

    "Stop being a wuss, let¡¯s keep going. I don¡¯t think anything can outrun Spike, if I¡¯m wrong we are fucked anyway," Perfect said pragmatically.

    Spike decelerated to a stop. The party dismounted, Dave patted Spike and scritched under his chin.

    Perfect Shot advanced ahead of the party to scout the area. He came back quickly after only moments, his face pale.

    "Guys, this is a terrible area to camp for the night, we can¡¯t stay here," Perfect Shot said in a rush.

    "Why is that?" Dave asked.

    "The boundary to a zone full of spiders is just beyond those trees," Perfect Shot.

    "Let¡¯s go check it out," Dave said.

    "Are you deaf bro? I just said it¡¯s full of spiders, the Wilds aren¡¯t yer-friendly man.!"

    "Don¡¯t pee your panties, I¡¯m just going to take a look."

    Spike and the TNT reluctantly followed Dave.

    "Ugh, I hate spiders," Fortress swiped at the many webs hanging from branches. Past the trees a thick carpet of web strands had been spun over the ground.

    "There are more over there," nker said. He lifted his glowing staff up, the trees were so covered with webs they looked like they¡¯d been painted white.

    "Shit, webs always means spiders, I really don¡¯t like spiders," Fortress said while shuddering.

    "Guys, is it me or did the trees move?" Dave was looking back the way they hade.

    The other yers looked back, past Spike. The way they had juste through waspletely blocked by tall web-covered trees.

    "I don¡¯t like this at all," Fortress looked around apprehensively.

    The foliage around them rustled and they heard things skittering in the darkness above them, like many many little legs. The yers looked up. Hundreds of cat sized spiders crawled along the webs toward them. The party were surrounded by spiders on all sides.

    Dave inspected one of the spiders.

    ***

    Man-Eating Spider (Juvenile).

    Level: 60

    Base damage: 2,200-3,600

    HP: 20,000

    DN: 300

    MA: 500

    Skills:

    [Webbing]unches webs that root the target for 1 second.

    Bestiary

    Man-Eating spiders are one the weakest but most feared species in the Deep Wilds. Unlike many of the top predators of the Deep Wilds, Man-eating Spiders cooperate to bring down prey that is much stronger than they are by swarming the unlucky victim. The spiders subdue and consume their prey slowly.

    ***

    "Shit, shit, shit!" Fortress equipped his shield and ax.

    "Why are you panicking bro? Even if they swarm us they are only level 60, remember the level difference," nker tried to reassure his friend.

    "Idiot, these are juveniles. The adults are probably somewhere nearby!" Fortress tone was both fearful and angry.

    Adrenaline shot through nker, bringing him to full alertness. "Shit. Yeah you¡¯re right I think I should panic too."

    Spike snarled and growled at the hundreds of spiders surrounding him. When one spider got too close, the fiend mmed its hoof down with a squelch.

    Every spider in the area hissed as one of them died, the ones that were still on the trees moved faster along their webs and the ones that were already on the ground around the yers became more threatening.

    nker used [Holy Radiance] to light the area, he noticed that the spiders were avoiding the circle of light cast by his Skill, swarming around the edges in an agitated fashion.

    "They¡¯re afraid of the light!"

    "Well maybe they don¡¯t like fire either. FLAME ON!" Dave shouted, activating [Aura].

    The me form Dave¡¯s [Aura] brightened the forest as a wave of mes washed over the spiders, scorching them to ash.

    "This will hold them off for now, but need to go we¡¯re just attracting more," Dave said.

    They all retreated to where Spike stood snorting at the spiders, antlers lowered in threat, head swinging from side to side

    "Easy, Spike. I¡¯ll keep the spiders off you while we mount up."

    ***

    Protecting the Forest Prong Fiend¡¯s welfare has increased your affinity.

    Affinity with the Forest Prong Fiend (Spike) has increased.

    Affinity level: 4/10

    Ride time increased by 1 hour.

    You can whistle to call the Forest Prong Fiend to you.

    ***

    "Alright, let¡¯s ride," Dave leapt up onto Spike¡¯s back.

    Spike moved forward, pushing through the trees that blocked their way. Hundreds, maybe thousands, of spiders followed them. In every directions, the trees were covered in webs. The prong fiend was pushing a path through the dense growth, but as soon as he passed the trees moved in obscuring any sign of their passage. Every direction looked the same, there was nothing to give them any bearing on where they were going or even where they had been.

    "I don¡¯t see a way out," Dave said.

    "To the left, the webs are less dense there."

    "Spike, take a left."

    The fiend responded, changing directions and moving powerfully through the dense growths and thick tangles of webs.

    "Argh!" nker cursed hard. "Get it off, Get it OFF!!"

    Fortress turned to see a burning spider on nker¡¯s face.

    "Hold still," he pped nker¡¯s face with his heavy gauntlet. The spider flew off and tumbled on the ground.

    "That hurt man!" nker cursed.

    "I don¡¯t like spiders. Be grateful I helped you at all," Fortress said.

    "Guys, I think I see a way out!" Perfect said excitedly, pointing. Rows of web covered trees created a long pathway leading forward. They could see something glowing ahead through the foliage, it looked like the light at the end of a tunnel

    Everyone¡¯s morale lifted, the fiend elerated as thousands of spiders closed in.

    The group got a notification:

    ****

    You have entered the Boss-Room of the Man-Eating Spider Queen.

    ***

    A round of curses rose into the air from the yers. They¡¯d managed to get lost and ended up EXACTLY where they didn¡¯t want to be.

    It was a circr clearing walled off from the rest of the forest by dense brambles and thick undergrowth supported byrge trees, all covered in heavy drapes andyers of webbing. The phosphorescent light at the ¡¯end of the tunnel¡¯ came fromrge clusters of quivering gtinous spheres held together with sticky strands of web. Eggs.

    "Turn around, Spike. Go back!" Dave said to the fiend urgently.

    As Spike turned oversized spiders dropped from the web covered trees behind them and blocked the way out.

    ***

    Man-Eating Spider (Adult)

    Level: 260

    Base damage: 22,200-32,600

    HP: 200,000

    DN: 3,000

    MA: 5 ,000

    Skills:

    [Webbing]unches webs that root the target for 1 second.

    [Poisonous Bite] causes 200% base damage and Poisons target. The Poison effect does 1,000 damage per second and has a 10% chance to cause a Paralysis effect. [Poisonous Bite] is stackable up to 5 times..

    Bestiary

    Man-Eating spiders are one the weakest but most feared creatures of the Wilds. Unlike the stronger habitants of the Wilds, Man-eating Spiders use swarm tactics to trap and eat their much stronger prey.

    **

    "Shit!"

    Even the adult spiders were afraid of Dave¡¯s [Aura], but they resisted their natural inclination to flee and scuttled closer. Spike was easily strong enough to kill one or two adult spiders at a time. But the spiders came in droves, they waved their long sharply pointed front legs in threat and the fiend retreated slowly toward the egg cluster.

    "Let¡¯s teleport out!" nker yelled. Taking a scroll out he tore it and sat back, waiting to be transported away. After a few seconds, he realized, "Shit, it¡¯s blocked!"

    "Even if it worked I wouldn¡¯t use it. We brought Spike here, I can¡¯t leave him to die here, like this," Dave leaned down to pat Spike on the shoulder, "Don¡¯t worry buddy I won¡¯t leave you alone!"

    ***

    Your concern for the Forest Prong Fiend (Spike) has increased your affinity.

    Affinity with Forest fiend increased.

    Affinity level 5/10

    Ride time increased by 1 hour

    ***

    Dave snorted at the notification. Like that helped any of them right now.

    "I don¡¯t see the queen and my aura is still keeping the spiders from moving too close, we need to kill our way out."

    "I don¡¯t think that¡¯s going to be possible, man," Perfect Shot said in a monotone.

    "Why¡¯s that?"

    "Look up."

    Dave tilted his head up, eight fiery orbs gleamed down wickedly at them from the darkness of the tangled tree limbs.

    "W-what is that?" nker¡¯s voice quavered.

    "That is Skelly¡¯s fire reflecting from the queen¡¯s eyes."

    nker¡¯s voice ratched up into a high falsetto, "That¡¯s just fucking great, man. That¡¯s it, game over, man! Game over!"

 Chapter 222 Dont Fear The Spider

    "Get us outta here, Spike!" Dave shouted frantically.

    Spike leapt away just before the arachnid queennded on the ground where he was standing. Her massive bulk shook the earth even through the cushioning of the webs and the detritus of the forest floor.

    The queen dwarfed even Spike¡¯s considerable size. Her matte-ck exoskeleton absorbed light, making her difficult to see clearly in the dim shadows cast by the phosphorescent eggs.

    She hissed like an angry steam lotive. Her eight eyes red at them hatefully from her repulsively alien visage and numerous scythe-like mandibles around her mouth cycled inward, like the spinning des of an industrial wood-chipper.

    ***

    Man-Eating Spider (Queen)

    Level: 550

    Tier: Mythic

    Danger Level: ? ? ?

    Base damage: 300,000-350,000

    HP: 550,000

    DN: 120,000

    MA: 30,000

    Skills:

    [Royal Dominance] all arachnids in the vicinity of the Deep Wilds are bound in servitude to the Queen. If the queen¡¯s HP drops below 20% a call will go out and yers have five (5) minutes to kill the queen before every spider within 20 mileses to her aid.

    [Late Night snack] the queen consumes one of its children to recover HP (1% of the queen¡¯s total HP for each adult spider and 0.5% for each spiderling).

    [World Wide Web] the queen sprays sticky masses of web that snare enemies in an area. Can cover areas up to a 50 meter radius. The sticky webbingsts for 20 seconds, all snared enemies receive 50% more damage and their movement speed is reduced by 30%.

    Bestiary:

    Man-eating spiders are a matriarchal species. The queen arachnid will not allow another females to grow and threaten her authority, she kills and eats all female spiders as they hatch.

    ***

    The queen was a wily old monster, she¡¯d ruled the arachnids of the Wilds for many ages. She had no need to hurry things along, the prey-meat were in her nest now, caught in her ¡¯web.¡¯ The best food is seasoned with terror and suffering. Her venom would paralyze and slowly digest the prey-meat from the inside, while they still lived, unable to move or even scream from the pain. She would sip the slurry that dripped from their hanging bodies for many long days toe. But before she did that, she was going to y with the weak meat-sacks, show them her power and intensify their terror, sweetening their flesh for her pte.

    "What¡¯re we gonna do now, man? That thing¡¯s too high level for us, even Spike isn¡¯t strong enough to beat it, man," nker was about to panic again.

    "Shut up and let me think!"

    Dave knew fighting the queen would be suicide. He looked around the enclosed area they were trapped in. The entrance was blocked by a mob of adult spiders, but for some reason they weren¡¯t entering the clearing, they simply gathered at the entrance pushing against each other but not crossing into the boss area. Maybe they were afraid of the queen.

    "Goddamn spiders, I wish I had a fucking methrower," Human Fortress shivered, his eyes moving around ceaselessly.

    "me thrower..." Dave mumbled, "Good thought. Spike, this is risky, but it¡¯s our only chance. Run under the spider, don¡¯t get hit!"

    The fiend tossed his antlered head in agreement then shot between the spider¡¯s legs, dodging the stabbing of the chitinous limbs with ease.

    "What are you trying to pull Skelly?" Perfect asked. He was looking behind him, the enormous spider queen slowly turned chasing them.

    "I have a skill that needs open ground to activate, I just need to get to the entrance and I should be able to use it."

    Spike came to a stop near the entrance to the boss area. Adult spiders swarmed the opening cutting off any hope of retreating through it. Dave checked his HUD. He had enough open space to use the Skill now, the icon was no longer greyed-out.

    Dave spread his arms wide and brought his hands together in thunderous p.

    "It¡¯s done. Spike get us as far from the entrance as you can."

    "What did you do?" nker asked.

    "You¡¯ll see soon enough. You¡¯re a priest, pray this works. It¡¯s the only way out of this fubar," Dave said.

    The spider had gotten dangerously close, it lunged at them with mandibles wide, but Spike dodged with a twist and a leap, evading the queen again. They had been lucky so far, the forest prong fiend had managed to avoid the queen¡¯s attacks, though he could not continue to do so indefinitely. Spike was incredibly agile, but there was not enough space within the enclosure for him to reach his best running speed.

    "Run, Spike, run!" Dave excitedly shouted.

    The enclosure had gotten noticeably brighter, reddish-orange light prated from above the tree canopy over the queen¡¯s nesting area.

    Perfect was curious, "What did you do, man?"

    "Give it a sec."

    "Nighttime just started, that can¡¯t be the sun"

    "That¡¯s not the sun, that¡¯s a meteor. Hold tight, it¡¯s gonna get bumpy!"

    It was one of his strongest skills [Call of Chaos], summoning a meteor that mmed into the Boss Room entrance, destroying it and killing countless numbers of spiders in the process.

    The meteor hit and the shockwave mmed into the spider queen, sending her tumbling across the enclosure like a beach ball. She mmed through the piles of eggs, turning the majority of them to shapeless mush beforeing to a stop against the rear of the nest. Half of the enclosure where the meteor had struck was simply gone, trees and spiders utterly destroyed.

    Spike leapt forward and detoured around the queen then dashed toward the impact site of the meteor. He leapt out into the open forest, through the burning remains of trees and spider parts.

    Dave screamed in victory as they escaped, galloping through the forest away from the queen¡¯s nest. The trees around the enclosure were on fire, the webs withering and ming away as the mes spread and climbed to the tops of the trees, smoke and soot rising and spreading above the spider domain. The party left the burning area behind them, galloping at increasing speed through the spider forest, hanging webs whipped at them as the trees rushed past.

    "What a rush! I didn¡¯t think we¡¯d get out of that alive," nker yelled jubntly.

    ***

    You have immted thousands of spiders. You are Hated by an entire species and are now considered a Nemesis by all arachnids in Wilds.

    ***

    "It¡¯s not like we were ever friendly with the spiders anyway," Dave shrugged.

    "Yeah, fuck ¡¯em!" Fortress agreed.

    nker had turned around, he was sitting backwards on Spike, holding on with one hand while waving the other arm wildly like a bull rider at a rodeo.

    "HA! That¡¯s right, who¡¯s your daddy? Game over for YOU, bitch! You can kiss my lily-white ass!" So saying, nker turned back to sit rightways and pped the aforementioned part of his anatomy.

    There was a shocked pregnant pause, then a deafening uproar rose from the burning debris behind them.

    Looking back, the yers hearts turned to ice when they saw the arachnid queen emerge from the congration. She smashed through the burning trees in her way and trampled her own spiders as she began to pursue them, elerating at a frightful rate. There was an imcable relentless quality to her movements, as if she was determined to pursue them to her dying breath.

    nker gulped, "We¡¯re gonna make it, Spike is faster...right?"

    The queen emitted a ulting screech and all around them hundreds of spiders emerged, crawling down the web-covered tree trunks and scuttling across the ground to block Spike¡¯s escape and hem him in on the sides.

    "You just had to open your big fat mouth and jinx us!" Fortress railed at nker.

    Spike stopped as the spiders closed a broad ring around them, unable to jump across the still increasing horde that gathered around them, though arachnid that ventured too close got a taste of the fiend¡¯s hooves of course. Dave looked around then opened his mouth wide and activated [Ray of mes].

    Infernal mes shot out in a geyser of destruction, frying spiders and melting the ground. The spiders fled, scuttling away from the inferno. Spike jumped across the molten area and kept going, running from the pursuing queen again. They soon left all the smaller spiders behind

    "I don¡¯t see any webs in these trees," Perfect said in a hopeful voice.

    "The young spiders aren¡¯t chasing us anymore," Dave tried not to let his expectations rise.

    "Don¡¯t congratte yourselves yet. The queen is still back there," Fortress said.

    "Hey, she stopped!" nker said.

    Dave nced back, he saw the spider crouching, body t against the ground, limbs adjusting as if in preparation...Dave turned white and faced front quickly.

    "She¡¯s not stopping, she¡¯s gonna jump!" he shouted as he pped Spike¡¯s nks for more speed.

    The queen leapt,unching herself hundreds of meters into the air. She mmed down in front of the yers and their mount, her limbs flexing like shock absorbers to take the force of hernding. Venom dripped from her scythe-like mandibles.

    There was no way out.

    The queen was done ying around, these prey-things had damaged her powerbase and wounded her pride. She lifted her two front limbs, preparing for an attack. Sharpened edges of chitin gleamed as the two needle-points angled toward the yers. Suddenly, the queen froze, lifted her head, and froze again. Then she trembled and emitted a fearful, pitiable wailing sound.

    Abruptly the spider queen turned and scuttled into the trees, they could hear her moving away through the forest.

    "What the fuck is going on?" nker said.

    Dave got a notification.

    ***

    The most dangerous creature in the Wilds saw the [Call of Chaos] Skill that was recently used. The creature recognized it was connected to the theft of something very important to it.

    It ising for you.

    ***

    "Ohhhh...shit." Dave already knew what the ¡¯creature¡¯ was. He wasn¡¯t sure why the system didn¡¯t juste out and say ¡¯dragon,¡¯ he¡¯d already inspected it thest time he was in the Wilds.

    In the far distance, an enraged roar sounded.

    Dave dug his heels into the forest fiend¡¯s nks. Spike responded with a grunt of effort and elerated desperately, he seemed to know what wasing for them.

    Dave yelled in a high pitched voice: "Run bitch, runnnnn!"

    ==============================================================

    Chapter Skill List:

    [Call of Chaos] (Legendary)

    Calls upon the power of chaos to summon a meteor strike that damages a 50 meter radius area.

    Does 50,000 t AOE damage.

    Cooldown: 72 hours.

    Damage increases with INT at a ratio of 10% for every 100 INT

    Must be outdoors in an open area to use.

    ***

    [Ray of mes]

    Fires a continuous concentrated ray of fire in a straight line.

    Damage: 20,000 t fire damage + 20% of base weapon damage.

    Ray of mes will melting terrain to magma that cools back to hardened stone after 10 seconds.

    Magma does 5,000 HP t fire damage per second.

    Inflicts Burning Effect.

    Cooldown: One (1) Hour

 Chapter 223 Oh Mighty Black Dragon, How Many Ways Can I Count Thee.

    New event created: Run little rabbit run.

    You are being hunted by the Abyssal Dragon (Evil Dragon), your mission is to escape and survive for 30 minutes.

    Warning: enteringbat with any other mob or yer will reveal your location to the dragon.

    FAILURE to escape the Run Little Rabbit Run event, will result in:

    The loss of at least five (5) Character Levels.

    The loss of all gold held in inventory.

    All equipped items being destroyed.

    A 72 hour respawn timer (in-game time).

    REWARD for surviving 30 minutes: two (2) levels.

    This is a mandatory event, you cannot refuse it.

    ***

    "What the smegging fuck is this?" Dave muttered.

    "Oh that¡¯s just great, man, now we¡¯re gonna lose our levels. And our gold. I told you something like this would happen, man," nker moaned.

    Dave looked up and around, the forest canopy might hide them from the dragon¡¯s sight, but it would not be any protection from the monster if it found them.

    "We should be okay as long as we don¡¯t encounter any monsters. The dragon can¡¯t see us through the trees," Dave reassured.

    "Not entirely correct, Stroke. If the dragon has infra-vision we¡¯ll look like glowing red blobs to it even through the trees," Perfect Shot said.

    "Crap," Fortress said.

    nker moaned again.

    "What are the chances the dragon has infra-vision," Dave said.

    "A lot of high-end reptile type monsters have infra-vision. It¡¯s very likely top-level night-time predators like dragons would have it. Almost certainly."

    "Well crud. Then we gotta keep moving."

    A much closer roar echoed across the forest. Every creature in the vicinity ran, crawled or flew away in waves of panic. The dragon¡¯s very presence was causing another monster tide.

    "It¡¯s getting closer, man," nker said.

    "Spike, I know we¡¯re asking a lot from you but please run faster," Dave begged, patting the prong fiend.

    The fiend increased his speed. But his chest was working like a bellows and his breath blew out from his distended nostrils in plumes of white vapor.

    The sound of an explosion impacted them from behind and secondster a prolonged heavy st of scorching wind pushed them forward, plucking at their hair and clothes. Spike stumbled for a moment then recovered and resumed his pace.

    nker looked back. From within a rising mushroom cloud of smoke and ck me two red-glowing eyes prated the tree-cover and stared right into his soul.

    ***

    You have been sighted!

    Time remaining for the event: 28 minutes

    ***

    The dragon roared again, then they heard it crashing through the forest in pursuit, smashing through everything in a wide path, uprooting trees and scoring trenches in the ground and stone, doing more damage than a whole herd of giant rhinos. They could feel the dragon¡¯s anger and intent, it made their pulses pound and their knees weak.

    ***

    You have been affected by the dragon¡¯s Aura of Terror.

    Your mount¡¯s Fear levels will continue to increase until overwhelms your Affinity bond, causing the forest prong fiend to revert to normal wild behavior.

    ***

    "No way, Smaug," nker waved his glowing staff, "Bless this party: [Immune to Fear]."

    A white halo glowed around the party, removing the Fear effect.

    "Moron, Smaug was red, but thanks for the buff," Fortress teased his buddy.

    "Aww c¡¯mon man, it¡¯s not like there are a bunch of cool ck dragon names out there."

    "Off the top of my head: Drogon, Alduin, Deathwing, Nicol Bs, Maleficent, Toothless, and the Hungarian Horntail."

    "You suck Fortr...Ah dammit, my blessing isn¡¯t enough to counter the dragon¡¯s Aura. We need to put more distance between us.

    "Let¡¯s see..." nker scrolled through his Skills. He chanted and waved his staff then ce a glowing hand on Spike.

    "Bestow [Vigor of the Troll]!"

    Another pass of his cleric¡¯s staff.

    "Grant my ally [Feline Grace]!"

    ***

    Your mount, forest prong fiend (Spike) has received these temporary Divine Blessings:

    Stamina has been replenished to full.

    Stamina recovery rate has doubled.

    Agility has increased by 20%

    ***

    Dave whistled "I could¡¯ve used that when-"

    "Smaug is doing something very bad!" nker interrupted.

    The dragon opened its jaws ck mes coalesced into a ball and shot at the party, it incinerated everything in its path as it rocketed at the yers.

    With his buffed Agility, Spike was able leap away, dodging the attack trajectory at the cost of only few singed hairs on his tail.

    Everyone gulped as the ball passed them and blew up momentster. A shockwave of scorching heat followed the explosion, trees burned in hellish ck mes.

    ***

    The ck dragon has lost sight of your group and is searching for you again.

    Time remaining 26 minutes

    ***

    "Spike, take us into the burning trees.""

    Spike didn¡¯t hesitate, he turned and leapt for the burning area of the forest.

    "nker do you have a buff for fire protection?"

    "Nope. Even if I did it wouldn¡¯t work, dragonfire isn¡¯t normal fire you know."

    "Then why are we going where the burning trees are?" Fortress asked.

    Perfect replied, "He¡¯s hoping the dragon won¡¯t be able to see us in the middle of all the heat and light."

    Spike moved cautiously between burning trees skirting through the edges of the forest fire, keeping away from the raging inferno that grew closer to the center. Dave patted him on the head and whispered encouragingly.

    "Move slow now boy, stay as close to the burning trees as you can."

    "I think we lost it, guys," nker said.

    "Shut up!" the other three yers shouted at the same time. Even Spike turned and snorted a st of air through his nostrils at the cleric.

    "W-whaaat?".

    "Just keep your big mouth shut," Perfect said.

    Fortress nodded and turned to re at his friend

    Another roar echoed. The ck mes consuming the tree tops writhed and twisted together, then all the fires were sucked away in a spinning funnel effect. Dragons are intelligent creatures and they only grow more evil and intelligent as they age.

    Realizing its prey were using the mes and smoke to hide from it, the dragon simply absorbed all the fire, sucking the mes into itself. The forest fire was doused immediately and the smoke blew clear on the same winds that sucked the mes away, revealing the yers.

    "Ahh, fa fuck¡¯s sake!" Dave cursed.

    ***

    You have been sighted!

    Time remaining for the event: 10 minutes

    ***

    From behind them came what sounded like a series of explosions as the dragon chased after them, crashing through the trees and terrain. Though the dragon was immense in size, it was incredibly fast. It closed the gap between it and the fiend with every passing moment.

    "There Spike, follow that stream!" Dave shouted. He was desperately looking for any forlorn hope to get them out of here. Just maybe the small flow of water would be it.

    Spike changed direction again to run along the bank of the stream sometimes having to leap across and back to avoid obstacles and find a clear path. the stream grew wider and the water flowed more powerfully as Spike followed it.

    "Why are we following the creek?"Fortress asked.

    "The creek will lead to ake or river. At best if we dive into arge body of water we might be able to lose the dragon, at worst we won¡¯t be burned to death."

    The sound of roaring white-water rapids increased as they followed what was now almost a river.

    The dark forest brightened as they broke through the trees onto the banks of arge fast moving river

    "Now what do we do, man?" nker said.

    Diving into the river would be tantamount to suicide.

    ***

    You have been affected by the dragon¡¯s Aura of Terror, your mount¡¯s fear levels will increase rapidly. Your affinity with your mount will steadily drop, if it reaches 0 your mount will throw you off and run away.

    ***

    They were frozen by the Fear effect, paralyzed. Behind them, the dragon swatted away thest few trees in its way and advanced, red eyes glowing.

    Dave activated [Undying Will]. The Skill removed the Fear effect from him. Everyone else was still frozen, he might be able to get away, but they would buy the farm.

    The dragon reared back and opened it¡¯s jaws, preparing to snap at them.

    As the dragon struck Dave jumped to the ground and held his tower shield up with [Block] activated.

    Dave wasn¡¯t sure it would work but miraculously the shield nullified the damage from the dragon¡¯s attack like a charm. However the knock-back effect still mmed Dave back into Spike with the force of a cannonball. The prong fiend was knocked far into the river along with the TNT while Dave dropped into the water closer to the edge. The whole party was swept away by the powerful current as the dragon bellowed in frustrated rage.

    Dave¡¯s armor pulled him underwater down towards the bottom like an anchor. He finally got smart and unequipped his armor then struggled back to the surface. The current wasn¡¯t gentle, it dragged him bobbing under then up again, smashing him against rocks and other floating debris. He¡¯d lost sight of the rest of the group long ago.

    ***

    Congrattions!

    You have sessfullypleted the event: Run Little Rabbit Run

    Reward: Two (2) Levels

    ***

    Then the roaring sound of the river grew as it elerated toward what Dave realized was a waterfall.

    "Agh-ptew! Fu-ugh-ck Cough!" There was NO effing way was he going to just die from drowning or falling right after surviving a fucking DRAGON hunting him!

    He tried to use [Immortal Apparition] to teleport away as he was swept relentlessly towards the drop off, to his horror he realized that all his Skills were greyed-out.

    ============================================================

    Chapter Skill index:

    [Block] yer receives 100% Damage immunity toward the first iing attack.

    Cooldown: 10 seconds.

    ***

    [Abyssal Sphere] (Dragon Breath)

    The Abyssal Dragonunches a Dragon-Breath attack as a concentrated ball of abyssal mes, it does 1,000,000 t Damage plus 2,000,000 HP of Curse Damage over 20 seconds (100,000 per second) or for as long as yers remain within the impact area of the [Abyssal Sphere].

    yers damaged by the Dragon Breath-Abyssal Sphere Will have all of their equipements destroyed if the skill deals more than 50% of their HP at once.

    ***

    [Aura of Terror]: The abyssal Dragon emits a Fear inducing aura, terrorizing any and all creatures below its own level. The aura is a passive Skill and cannot be stopped, but its effects can be weakened through buffs or special equipment.

    ***

    [Vigor of the Troll]: a Nature Buff that can be cast on allies, fully replenish Stamina and double stamina regeneration. Duration 30 Seconds.

    Cooldown: 5 Minutes.

    ***

    [Feline Grace]: Increase ally¡¯s agility by 20% and movement speed by 30%

    Cooldown: 5 Minutes.

    ***

    [Undying Will]: Removes all crowd control effects and gain Crowd Control immunity for 5 seconds.

    yer also receives an increase of 5% immunity for 10 seconds.

    Cooldown 2 Minutes.

 Chapter 224 Ruins of Expectation

    Swept helplessly over the edge by the swift current, Dave screamed bloody murder as he fell for many long seconds until finally plunging into the turbulent water at the bottom of the falls. The pounding cascade pushed him under and kept him there, tumbling and spinning, until he was carried away into the calmer flows downstream of the falls.

    Bobbing to the surface he swam across the current to the nearest shore. Exhausted, he finally staggered out of the water onto the sandy, grassy shore and changed back into his armor, re-equipping it while surveying his surroundings.

    Steep cliffs rose up on either side of the river. So unless he wanted to climb the walls of the canyon it looked like following the river was the only way out. The ground on both sides of the river was lined with narrow strips of forest, hopefully nothing too dangerous lived in the confined areas. And just downriver from where he was nker and Fortress were drying their clothes at the shore. Dave jogged over to them but stopped when he saw Spike lying on his side, his massive body half in and half out of the water.

    "d you made it, bro," Fortress greeted Dave.

    Dave nodded to Fortress, "You guys, too."

    "That was some epic shit, man. A swan dive off a mile high waterfall," nker said.

    Dave gave nker a withering look, "You probably like roller coasters. What¡¯s wrong with Spike? And where is Perfect?"

    "Perfect is scouting ahead. Look man, Spike is hurt bad, the rocks in the river and going over the falls did a number on him.

    ¡¯Strange, we didn¡¯t get badly hurt. Maybe it¡¯s because he is so much bigger and heavier.¡¯

    Dave approached Spike and crouched down next to hisrge head. Long deep gashes in the forest fiend¡¯s side and hind leg bled into the water, staining it red. Seeing the suffering of the valiant creature that had carried them through so much made his heart ache.

    "Why didn¡¯t you heal him?" Dave demanded, looking at nker.

    "I¡¯m sorry, man, I tried. I received a notification saying that I can¡¯t heal him for some reason. I don¡¯t think he trusts me," nker shrugged.

    Dave stroked the fur on Spike¡¯s, "Sorry buddy. How about you let nker here heal you up?"

    The forest fiend growled and shook his head.

    ***

    The forest prong fiend is wounded and in an agitated state. You affinity must be at least 5 to approach the beast.

    ***

    Dave shook his head, but took a red healing potion out and put it under the fiend¡¯s nostrils.

    "C¡¯mon buddy, drink this. It will heal you right up," Dave pulled the fiend¡¯s head up and poured the potion down the beast¡¯s gullet. A few moments after that the ghastly wounds started visibly healing. Soon the fiend had struggled awkwardly back to its feet, and nudged Dave with his muzzle, like he was thanking the yer. Dave scratched the fiend under the chin affectionately, smiling.

    ***

    Your affinity with the fiend has increased.

    6/10

    The forest prong fiend has deemed you a trustworthy ally and is now willing to fight for your cause as well as transport you and your allies.

    The fiend will aid you in battle as long as his HP does not go below 75%

    ***

    "Hey guys," Perfect¡¯s voice sounded form the party chat.

    "What¡¯s up?" Fortress answered.

    "I can see the city from here. We should get going." Perfect said.

    "City?" Dave asked.

    "Dave, you made it!"

    "Yeah, a little waterlogged, but I¡¯m here. What city?"

    "The canyon leads to more forest, a jungle really. There¡¯s a city on a hill, walls, towers, everything."

    Fortress exined, "Perfect saw the city when he went over the edge of the falls, probably thanks to his ranger ss passive skills."

    "Never heard of a city in the middle of the Wilds. Interesting. And weird. Let¡¯s check it out and see what we can find," Dave grabbed onto Spike and vaulted to his back. nker and Fortress jumped to their seats behind him.

    Perfect came into sight from downriver, striding over and jumping up to onto Spike¡¯s back between Fortress and Dave.

    "Ah c¡¯mon, man. I don¡¯t wanna be stuck in the ass-seat every time." nkerined.

    "We just have to follow the river, it flows right through the middle of the city."

    They rode along the river bank until they came to the mouth of the canyon, the cliffs ended and the trees became a thick jungle.

    Tall leafy trees blocked out the night sky. Glowing red eyes peeked out at the party from the darkness of the forest.

    "This ce is freaky man, I feel like I am on the set of a horror movie," nker said. "I just hope no more spiders or dragons appear."

    "Keep your goddamn mouth shut," Perfect shouted.

    Spike stopped suddenly.

    "What¡¯s wrong buddy?" Dave said.

    The foliage on one side parted the narrow snout of a creature emerged, followed by a pudgy rounded form covered in spines. It looked like a ck hedgehog, but it was easily twice Spike¡¯s size. It looked at them in mild confusion and curiosity, wondering why anything would get in the way of it¡¯s nightly peregrinations.

    ***

    Atelerix spinpis giganticus (giant stone-spined hedgehog, mutated)

    Level: 550

    Base damage: 205,000-300,000

    HP: 550,000

    DN: 30,000

    MA: 50,000

    Skills:

    [Roller Derby of Death] curls into a ball and power spins forward doing 200% base damage and inflicting a 20 second Bleed effect for 1% of the target¡¯s maximum HP per second.

    [Make it Rain] sts a circr area around itself with quills in a 10 meter radius, each quill does 5% of Base damage.

    Bestiary

    A harmless creature of the wilds that was mutated into this abhorrent form by the maleficent magic saturating the Wilds. While these giant spine covered monsters do not hunt prey or seek out conflict they are temperamental and easily annoyed.

    ***

    "Anyone have duct tape?" Fortress said.

    "How is duct tape going to help?"

    "We put a piece across nker¡¯s mouth."

    "Hey man!" nker protested as the others chuckled.

    Meanwhile the hedgehog had gone from confused to annoyed. It shrieked at them, curled up into a ball and then started power-rolling toward them, spikes gouging into the earth and throwing up a rooster tail of dirt and decaying nt matter behind it.

    "RUN!" Dave screamed at Spike.

    The forest prong fiend bolted out of the way of the power-rolling ball of spikes and coursed between the trees like a loosed arrow. The yers held onto their mount as they whipped through branches and vines. Eventually they lost sight of the pursuing monster and Spike slowed to a more normal bounding pace toward the city.

    Perfect said, "I think we lost the hedgehog-from-hell Skelly."

    "Yeah, but let¡¯s not let our guard down, we keep moving until we get to the city,"

    "We haven¡¯t stopped running since we entered the Wilds, man. What the hell are we doing here anyway?" nkerined.

    "We¡¯re helping Skelly y Tomb Raider while we wait on your sorry-ass quest cooldown. Things would be a lot better if SOMEONE would just keep his fucking trap shut."

    "Aww man. That¡¯s superstitious nonsense. None of that stuff happened just cause I said something stupid."

    "That shouldn¡¯t be an excuse to KEEP saying stupid things, nker."

    The prong fiend crossed a bog that smelled of sulfur and rotting vegetation, leaping like a cheetah from one hummock to another over the swampy waters. Giant-sized alligators and pythons retreated into the murky fetid depths as the fiend passed.

    On the other side of the bog their mount made a final herculean leap, clods of mud and dirt flew away as the fiend¡¯s hooves touched down on the higher leaf-covered floor of the forest.

    "Ah, Spike is going to need to be brushed down again after this, he stinks of swamp now" Human Fortress pointed out.

    "We¡¯ll give him a cleaning in the river when we reach the city, I hope he likes getting a bath," Dave suggested.

    They came to a hard-packed trail going through the jungle in the direction of the city. As they travelled along it, the path slowly became the what remained of an old paved road. The cobblestones were worn and almost covered in dry mud and dirt, weeds pushing up between them. The few curbstones still visible were cracked or broken.

    Gradually the road grew less worn and broken down until they stood at the ruins of a city gate. They entered the city, finding the interior in an even worse state than the road and the gates. The city looked like it had been piged and destroyed even before time had taken it¡¯s toll.

    "What is this thing? They¡¯re all over." Fortress indicated a mound of ck dirt that looked out of ce.

    There were mounds like it visible everywhere. Strangely not a single de of grass grew on or near any of them.

    Perfect knelt down and inspected the dirt, "It volcanic...Granite maybe."

    "It¡¯s like there was a battle, or invasion," Human Fortress said, looking around the the destruction that had obviously befallen the city before the depredations of time had softened and worn everything down.

    "let¡¯s look around, we might find something interesting." Dave said.

    nker pointed at a building with only two walls standing. "That¡¯s a smithy over there, you can see what¡¯s left of the forge. Let¡¯s check it out."

    The forge was indeed identifiable as well as a broken bellows and a half-destroyed chimney.

    The yers walked over to the smithy and checked the interior. Pots old crafting tools, rusted pitchforks and broken swords were littering the ce.

    There was a window sized hole in of the still standing walls of the smithy as if a cannon ball had shot through it. . Inside the smithy was a squarish silver block covered with runic writing.

    Dave examined the boulder, but didn¡¯t get any information.

    "I¡¯ve seen this before, I¡¯m sure of it. I just don¡¯t remember where," Dave mumbled to himself.

    "What did you find Skelly?"

    "This block looks familiar," Dave said.

    "Oh yeah, it looks like part of a teleport gate," Fortress said.

    "A teleport gate in the wilds?" nker asked.

    "Well, this was a city. Without a teleport gate whoever lived here would have had to cross the Wilds every time they had to go somewhere. Teleporting would have been a necessity," Perfect said thoughtfully.

    "I bet the gate blew up or was destroyed and this fragment smashed through the smithy wall. So the gate must have been nearby." Dave said.

    "If we fix the gate we could use it to get back here without having to fight spiders or run from crazy dragons," nker said.

    "We can try to fix it. I¡¯ve never read about anyone building or fixing a teleportation gate in Conquest. We¡¯ll need all the stones." Fortress said.

    "Fortress is right," Dave said, "Spread out and search every building. If you find a block mark it on your map and share it with the party."

    "Let¡¯s try to move this piece first." Fortress put both hands on the square block, he leaned in and pushed, grunting. It didn¡¯t budge.

    "It¡¯s heavy as shit."

    "Leave it for now. Even if we find all the pieces we don¡¯t know if we can actually rebuild the gate. So let¡¯s see if we can find the rest of the gate and the original site, then worry about the next step," Dave said.

    Dave jumped over one of the ruined smithy walls and looked around.

    "There¡¯s another piece," Dave pointed at a square sprawled in the middle of the road.

    "There¡¯s another over there, shit how are we going to get that?" Perfect pointed at the top of a building, the silver block was embedded in a high wall.

    "Found another," nker said, "Under that tree."

    They spread out and moved through the area but kept in sight of each other, following the cardinal rule: never split the party.

    "I think that was where the gate was originally" Fortress asked.

    He was pointing down a street between a couple of building to an open area, what may have been a city square. In the center of the open area surrounded by the ruins of buildings was a slightly raised tform of tightly fitted stone. A jumble of the silver blocks was scattered across it. Two silver blocks, taller than the rest, were set upright, parallel to each other, into the middle of the stone floor.

    "Yeah, that¡¯s the original gate location alright. So the first thing we need to do is move all the silver blocks here."

    "Counting the one under the tree, the one stuck to the building, the one in the smithy, and the ones here, there are eleven." Dave paused, "I think one is missing."

    "Why do you say thay?" nker asked.

    "Because you need twelve codes to activate a teleportation gate. I think each boulder with the unique rune symbol corresponds to one of those twelve codes. So we are missing one."

    "Makes sense," nker shrugged.

    "Alright, let¡¯s keep looking for thest one," Dave said.

 Chapter 225 Emos and tree huggers.

    "Guys, over here," Perfect called over the party chat.

    The yers joined Perfect at amunity water well. Perfect pointed at a gleaming object down in the well.

    "Thest block is down there."

    "How are we going to get it out?" nker asked.

    "I can climb down, tie a rope around it then we can pull it up," Perfect offered.

    "Sounds good," Dave said.

    Perfect took a coil of rope from his inventory. He handed Fortress one end and tied the other end around himself then he climbed down the well. He tied the rope to the block then climbed back out of the well.

    "Okay, let¡¯s pull it up."

    They sorted themselves into a line, grasped the rope and set their feet to start hauling the block up. After much grunting and futile effort, the block hadn¡¯t moved an inch.

    "It¡¯s frickin¡¯ heavy, man," nkerined.

    "This isn¡¯t working," Dave said. He beckoned Spike toe over, "We need your help, buddy."

    He had Spike kneel so he could tie the rope around the trunks of the fiend¡¯s widespread antlers.

    "Pull," Dave said to Spike.

    The fiend stood then backed slowly, effortlessly pulling the block up from the well.

    "Okay, let¡¯s get this and the other blocks to the gate tform," Dave said.

    It took them a while to move all the blocks to the tform. Spike did the heavy work of dragging the blocks through the streets to the center of the city-square.

    The blocks were obviously still active in some way. They noticed it when they dragged the second block to the tform, as they neared the first block the runes on both of them started glowing dimly. With every block they dragged to the tform, the runes grew slightly brighter as if the blocks or the runes were energizing with each other. When all the blocks were gathered together an audible hum could be hearding from the jumble of glowing silver cubes.

    "Now what?" nker said.

    "We stack the blocks on top of each other to rebuild the gate." Dave said.

    "But the blocks are too heavy to lift," Fortress said.

    "Not for Spike," Dave said.

    "So?" nker asked.

    "We tie a block to Spike¡¯s antlers so he can lift it, when he does we chivy it into position on top of the base block. Rinse and repeat."

    "You want to use the giant stag as a crane?"

    "Exactly," Dave said.

    Dave¡¯s n worked perfectly. They used Spike¡¯s height and strength to lift the blocks into ce, adjusting them neatly on top each other. When the final block was set in ce, the runes grew blindingly bright then dimmed and fadedpletely. The gate was inactive.

    "Why didn¡¯t it work?" Perfect said.

    "I don¡¯t know," Dave said.

    ***

    The teleportation gate does not have enough Essence flow to function.

    Without a mana core, the teleportation gate cannot power the runic magic to bend reality and create transpatial corridors.

    ***

    "Well this sucks, I¡¯ve never heard of a mana core, and it¡¯s not like one is going to appear out of thin air for us," nker said.

    "The gate was destroyed for a reason, you must not repair it!" a voice came from behind them.

    nker yelped.

    The yers turned, a green-haired woman stood with a gnarled vine-covered staff in one hand, the other pointed at them in a gesture that could be blessing or curse. She wore a skirt made of stitched leaves and her long hair covered her bosom. A brightly glowing crystal sphere hung from a ne against her chest.

    "She¡¯s a druid," nker said.

    The druid¡¯s tag was green, friendly.

    Dave tried to inspect it.

    ***

    Inspection failed!

    ***

    Dave frowned, then asked, "How was the gate destroyed?"

    "It was destroyed by the inhabitants to save the world from demons," The druid said.

    "I thought the demons were locked in the underworld."

    "They were, but this gate can reach into the underworld, it must not be opened again!"

    ***

    You received a clue on how to ess the underworld.

    You can ess the underworld by fixing the gate of the lost city, Urburg.

    Note: by opening the gate, the denizens of the underworld can use it toe to the upper world.

    If a demonic creature uses the Urburg gate to ess the world of conquest, your rtionship with the Underworld guardian Ramsha will be hostile.

    ***

    "Damn."

    He¡¯d hoped he would be able to use the gate to go back to the underworld and start leveling at a decent rate again. But if demons escaped through the gate because of his actions, it would only cause problems between him and Ramsha.

    "There has to be a way to block the demons from using this gate," nker protested.

    The druid shook her head, "There is not."

    "Is that the gate¡¯s mana core on your neck?" Dave asked.

    "It is, but I will not give it to you."

    The druid¡¯s nametag became yellow.

    "The demons came through the gate, infecting the wild life. The trees and forests were corrupted and the animals turned to vicious monsters. The gate shall not be opened, Leave or die!"

    nker spoke over the party, "We can try to kill her and loot the core from her."

    "That¡¯s too risky. We don¡¯t know her level or how strong she is and she might not drop the core even if we do beat her. I think we should just give up on activating the gate," Dave said.

    The druid grew impatient and suspicious at seeing the party talking surreptitiously amongst each other.

    "Leave now!" the druid shouted.

    Suddenly, thick roots emerged from under the earth and wriggled toward the yers like racing snakes.

    The druid¡¯s attack caught them tfooted.

    "Stop that," a familiar voice said. The roots attacking Dave¡¯s party shriveled and died instantly.

    A youth with a mohawk haircut and a skull-motif guitar strapped to his back appeared between the four yers and the druid.

    "I didn¡¯t expect you to find what¡¯s left of Urburg, kid."

    "Do you know this guy, Skelly?" Perfect asked.

    "Yeah, he¡¯s on our side. Sorta," Dave replied.

    "Who are you?" the druid asked.

    Ignoring her question, the god of the undead pointed at the druid¡¯s ne.

    "I¡¯ll have that mana core from you."

    The druid¡¯s tag turned a hostile crimson, "Never! I protect the Wilds."

    The Undeath god rolled his eyes, "Another emo tree-hugger. I¡¯ll have the core from you one way or another, luv."

    He waved a hand and a burst of thick ck smoke shot toward the druid, seeking her out like it was a live predator. The druid staggered back when the smoke enveloped her in a dark miasma. She withered, her hair fell out, sores appeared all over her body, the flesh of her face started rotting away like a stop motion recording.

    "W-what did you do? Blessing of the forest!" the druid shouted.

    A green aura surrounded the druid, it fought against the dark aura, trying to rejuvenate the druid.

    The Undeath god¡¯s magic was too potent for the druid to counter. In moments she had be a pile of dust and small scraps.

    "And another one gone, another one bites the dust," the god nodded his head in time as he chanted, then ended the little ditty by pping his thigh with a sharp ¡¯crack¡¯ sound.

    Returning his attention to the druid¡¯s remains he made a dramatic ¡¯rise up¡¯ gesture with both arms out, like a baptist faith healer. Nothing happened. Then the god shook his head and snickered, seemingly at himself.

    "Bollocks! I forgot again. Well, there goes my cool outro. You gotta get me that Miasmic Aether soon, kid. I can¡¯t bestow my Gift of Undeath until you do."

    The Undeath god knelt and took the blue sphere from the ashy remains of the druid. Then he stood and turned to Dave.

    "Urburg was one of my favorite hangouts back in the old days, wicked concerts and moshes," he seemed to get lost in thought or memory for a moment.

    "Here," the punk god tossed the sphere to Dave, "You can use it to activate the gate safely now, the demons won¡¯t be able to ess it any more."

    Dave caught the sphere, it was glowing purple now. When he looked back up the Undeath god had disappeared.

    ***

    You have received a Hidden Quest: Restore the City of Urburg to its former glory

    City Management Menu unlocked (limited ess).

    After activating the Urburg teleportation gate you can import materials and invite NPCs to help rebuild the city.

    ***

    "Ooooh, that¡¯s interesting."

 Chapter 226 I Didnt Get Any Nookie!

    Dave paused, painful past experience made him leary of standing around in the open with valuable artifacts in hand. He decided it would be a good idea to put the mana core where it belonged first, before he checked out the city management menu.

    Dave walked up to the gate with the purple glowing sphere in his hand, wondering where and how the hell to insert the damn thing. He searched the blocks for some sort of receptacle or hollow area, but he didn¡¯t recall seeing any such thing on the other gates. As he stepped between the two columns a thick circr piece of reinforced stone, the size of a manhole cover rose up on three vertical arms, revealing a faintly glowing crystal cavity underneath the tform, with a round indentation in its floor. He knelt down and ced the mana core in the indentation, then yanked his hand back quickly as the round stone sank back down and covered the cavity with a click. The circr stone fit almost seamlessly, making the outline of the cover very hard to see. There was a pause after the click, then the same humming from before returned and the gate runes began to glow a bright purple. The gate was now active.

    "It¡¯s done!" Dave said.

    "The gate color is different than the other cities," Perfect said.

    Dave shrugged, "Well it was modified by a god."

    "The punk-rock kid is a god?" nker asked in disbelief.

    "Yeah, believe it or not," Dave shook his head, he found it hard to process too.

    "Well, he saved our asses. Plus got us the mana core, which made all our work putting the gate back together worth it. So he¡¯s good in my books," Fortress dered pragmatically.

    Dave received an in-game call interrupting him just as he was about to click into the city management menu.

    "Hey Ralph,"

    "You gotta log-out now," Ralph said.

    "What¡¯s going on?"

    "You need to log-out right now, trust me man."

    "Okay. Gimme a sec."

    "Something came up, I have to log out for a while," Dave said.

    "What about the tomb run?" Perfect said.

    "I¡¯ll save the gate codes so we can leave for the tomb from here when I log back in," Dave said.

    "That works for me. I need to call Tess, she left a couple messages while we were in the scrum," Fortress said.

    nker rolled his eyes. He still thought ¡¯Tess¡¯ was a fat, hairy guy (named Stan) ying as a hot girl from his mom¡¯s basement. "Keep it real bro. Anyway, guess I¡¯ll log out too. Call us when you¡¯re ready toe back Skelly."

    "Okay, while you guys are IRL, I¡¯m going to scout around the city, see if I can find anything interesting," Perfect said. He was looking around already, probably using some vision Skill.

    Dave stepped up to the teleportation gate and ced a hand on one of the blocks to get the gate code.

    ***

    The position of Key Master for the Urburg teleport gate is unfilled. As the first entity to ess the gate since its activation you can choose to be the Key Master.

    Do you ept the title and all the privileges and responsibilities that are entailed with it?

    Y/N

    ***

    Dave had never heard of a Key Master before. But if had to guess it meant he would have control of the gate and all its functions.

    "Hell yes!"

    ***

    You are now the Key Master of Urburg

    You have received the codes for the Urburg Teleport Gate.

    You have received the Urburg City Teleport Gate executive passkey.

    You now haveplete ess to Urburg city¡¯s Teleport Gate Menu (Note: this is different from the City Management Menu!)

    ***

    Dave logged out. Ralph was pacing back and forth in his robe, coffee mug in hand.

    "Hey man, what¡¯s going on?" Dave asked

    Before Ralph could fill Dave in on what was going on there was a knock at the suite door and he hurried over to opened it.

    Standing at the door were Vanessa, Zoe and Caitlin, all dressed and ready to leave.

    Ralph moved to the side and held the door open to let the girls in, they walked past him silently, ignoring him except for a re from Zoe.

    Zoe looked at Dave and said, "Good morning, we¡¯re checking out. We¡¯ll be at my ce for the day."

    Zoe gave Dave a kiss on the cheek and Vanessa did also, saying it was good to see him again. Caitlin just watched. Dave really didn¡¯t expect a kiss from her. Then all three of the girls trooped out the door.

    "Ahhh man. This is really, really, really bad," Ralph said resignedly. "Really bad," he repeated.

    "Huh? They obviously got over what happened man. We¡¯re all good."

    Ralph looked at Dave with pity in his eyes.

    "Don¡¯t be a dumbass. They¡¯re just waiting until the right time for payback. To hit us at the worst possible moment in the most insidious and damaging way."

    "Get back at us for what? I didn¡¯t do anything!"

    Ralph smacked the back of Dave¡¯s head.

    "Hello, McFly! You got the nookie but you didn¡¯t pay for it."

    "I didn¡¯t get any nookie!"

    Ralph shrugged, "Eye-nookie is still nookie, bro."

    "Eye-nookie? That¡¯s not a thing, man! I told you, I didn¡¯t get any nookie."

    "Yeah, keep telling yourself that, maybe you¡¯ll believe it eventually. The point is you enjoyed the forbidden nookie without paying the entrance fee. "

    "I didn¡¯t enjoy any part of what happened!" Dave lied. Fucking Ralph, he never could fool that asshole.

    Ralph shook his head sadly, "You¡¯ve always been clueless about this stuff man."

    "I do okay. It¡¯s just my situation, I don¡¯t have a real caree-"

    "Save it, bro. I¡¯m going to teach you The World of Chicks and Dicks ording to Ralph."

    Ralph gestured with a burly arm at the chairs. Once they were seated Ralph held up a finger for attention.

    "Dave, what did you do to earn the privilege of being around three beautiful naked or nearly naked women?"

    "Uhh..."

    "Uh huh, the right answer is: diddly squat. Since you didn¡¯t do anything to earn the nookie, eye or otherwise, enjoyed or not, you will be paying for it on the back end. No pun intended."

    "That¡¯s not fair."

    "Now you¡¯re getting it, bro." Ralph shook his head, "Men and women are different. We just don¡¯t have the same ¡¯currency¡¯ as chicks when ites to emotions and rtionship dynamics. You gotta keep your eyes and mind open to figure out what women value. And I¡¯ll tell ya something else, it¡¯s different for each one of ¡¯em. If you¡¯re no good at figuring out what the ¡¯currency¡¯ to use and negotiating a good exchange, you are S-O-L."

    "I suck at negotiating,"

    "I know that, Dave."

    "I¡¯m terrible at this girl-guy stuff."

    "Believe me bro, I know."

    Dave red, "Thanks, Ralph, you¡¯re a lot of fucking help."

    "I know, and you are wee, brother," Ralph acknowledged,pletely serious. "Look at the bright side, at least this isn¡¯t another Anna-promise situation."

    "Way to open the wound and squeeze lemon into it. That thing with Anna wasn¡¯t my fault, she is a total bitch." Dave shrugged.

    "She IS aplete bitch, but you were responsible for 50% of that shitty thing you had going with her."

    "WHAT?!"

    "Be honest with yourself, man. Her half of the rtionship consisted of being 100% a bitch, ALL the time, your half consisted of LETTING her treat you like a doormat, ALL the time, making it a 100% fucked up rtionship. Half of which was your responsibility."

    "I don¡¯t want to think about that stuff dude."

    "Yeah you¡¯re right, we have other shit sandwiches to fry right now. We need to find a way to make up for what happenedst night with the girls or things are going to get ugly, man."

    Dave pondered for a moment and said. "I told you I¡¯m not great at girl-guy stuff, but would ess to an exclusive high-level hunting zone without any other yers around be enough to make them forgive and forget their revenge?"

    "Depends. What are we talking about? And it¡¯s not revenge, it¡¯s bncing the scales. You gotta see it from...nevermind."

    "Yeah. I¡¯m hopeless with that stuff, man. Anyway, I logged in early this morning to do some stuff. Yadda, yadda, yadda, I end up finding a city in the Wilds."

    "Whoa! What the fugnuts are you doing in the Wilds, lowbie? And how the hell did you manage to get far enough in to find a whole friggin city? Come sit here and tell daddy Ralph all about it," he pped his leg, sitting there wearing a hotel bathrobe as if he was a muscr santa.

    Daveughed at his weird friend, "Bugger off you perv, I¡¯m not sitting on yourp. But yeah, a city. I even have the teleport codes. You cane too, if you want to, I mean."

    "What were you doing in the Wilds?"

    "I¡¯m on a Legacy quest, going to raid a tomb in the deepest part."

    "DAVE! You have a legacy?!"

    "Uh...yeah."

    "What grade?" Ralph asked eagerly.

    Dave hesitated, he was worried that Ralph would be offended, hurt, by his secretiveness. He didn¡¯t know how to tell his best friend that he was the famous Mr. Skeletal without hurting his feelings.

    "SS ss."

    "There isn¡¯t any SS in the game, until now I guess. HOLY SHIT MAN!" Ralph shouted.

    "Yeah. Also, I¡¯m uh, that guy, the one in the videos. Mr.Skeletal." Dave winced, expecting the worst.

    Ralph stood up, "NO. WAY."

    "Way. I swear it, man." Dave¡¯s voice grew more confident and proud as he dered again, "I am Mr. Skeletal."

    Ralph flopped down on the sofa.

    "I can¡¯t believe my best friend lucked into a double S legacy and has been running around the underworld while I was busting my ass for the Devastators. Why didn¡¯t you invite me along, or at least tell me, man? And you took Zoe with you, what happened to bros before hoes?"

    "I am sorry man. Stuff just happened and then everything got crazy. I¡¯ll make it up to you Ralph."

    "You better, but it better be something really good!" Ralph grinned at him as he joked.

    Dave knew his friend had forgiven him.

    "Well, since they get you so hot and bothered, how about a Legacy item for poor ole¡¯ Ralphie?"

    "Stop teasing man, that¡¯s not cool."

    "For real man. I have an A ss legacy. I got it from a super-strong boss, a tengu demon."

    "Day-um son, now I am hyped about this, let¡¯s do it right now! I¡¯ll call the girls. I just hope Zoe can get over the Ralph Stamp, " Ralph said.

    "You gave Zoe a Ralph Brand? No wonder she was so pissed, she¡¯s gonna kill you, man, and I don¡¯t me her a bit."

    There were certain things Dave had to tolerate when it came to his brother-from-another-mother. Like the delight Ralph took in scaring the shit out of him with werewolf stuff knowing that Dave was phobic.

    A particrly meaty part of human anatomy, when upturned and unguarded, was a frequent target of opportunity for Ralph¡¯s viciously powerful smacks. Dave had, on multiple asions been unable to sitfortably after he was painfully awakened by his friend¡¯s so-called ¡¯branding.¡¯ In Ralph¡¯s mind it was Dave¡¯s own fault for falling asleep in a vulnerable position.

    Ralph was like a force of nature in some ways, one simply learned to deal with him by adjusting one¡¯s own habits.

    "Yeah, when I woke up, I thought she was you, and you know," Ralph grinned, incorrigible.

    "What are you going to do now?" Dave asked.

    "Let me call them, we can ¡¯barter¡¯ with them now."

    Ralph dialed his phone and put it to his ear.

    "Hey Caitlin, me and Dave are sorry about what happenedst night and this morning. We want to make it up to you three. Are you girls interested in a high-level raid in virgin territory?" Ralph wiggled his eyebrows up and down suggestively and grinned at Dave.

    ¡¯When did he get Caitlin¡¯s number?¡¯

 Chapter 227 Partying Up

    Dave didn¡¯t know why an invite to meet up and do an activity in VR should take so long. Just extend the offer and get one of the only two possible answers, ¡¯Yes¡¯ or ¡¯No.¡¯ A binary solution set. Simple. But no, not when fucking Ralphie is doing the talking.

    "Okay, see yater then," Ralph said, finally ending the conversation and hanging up.

    Dave¡¯s stomach chose to growl loudly at that moment.

    "I guess you haven¡¯t eaten either," Ralph said. For some reason he looked very like the cat that got the canary.

    "Nope," Dave shook his head.

    "Alright, let¡¯s go out and eat first. The girls said they need a little bit of time, so we can go get something to eat."

    "Let¡¯s just order some food, then you can hop in the pod here and I can go over to my suite."

    "You need to get out more, bro. Staying huddled in your room all day isn¡¯t good for you man, even if it¡¯s in a VR pod."

    "I want to get back to the game asap."

    Ralph gave up and let Dave call room service.

    Later, as they were eating, Ralph began a discussion about the game.

    "I think you should add more people for your quest in the Wilds man."

    "I¡¯d have to give them the location of the city. No way."

    "Look, even with the girls our party isn¡¯t bnced."

    "Go on."

    "Well, I¡¯m a swordmaster, a damage dealer. You are a mix of tank, damage dealer and caster, which is weird. Zoe is an archer, Caitlin is an assassin and Vanessa is a bard."

    "I still don¡¯t see your point,"

    Ralph shook his head, "We don¡¯t have sustainability as a group."

    Dave frowned, Ralph wasn¡¯t wrong.

    "We have a lot of DPS, all of our sses deal tons of damage. The bard can buff us to a ridiculous degree, but we don¡¯t have enough tankiness or healing for sustained fights with monsters. We need more yers."

    "I have three other friends with me, one is a healer, one is a tank. They are a bit low in levels but I think they can help."

    "Do they know you are Mr. Skeletal?" Ralph asked.

    "Yeah, but they signed an NDA contract. They won¡¯t say anything."

    "Who else knows your superhero identity?"

    "Vanessa is the only one who doesn¡¯t know," Dave shrugged.

    Ralph "You should just have her sign an NDA too, so she isn¡¯t in the dark.

    "I will log in from my room¡¯s capsule." Dave said.

    "Okay, I will use the one here."

    Dave returned to his suite, he headed directly for the alcove and the game capsule. Logging in to Conquest saw the familiar weing message.

    His avatar materialized in the abandoned city and a notification popped up in front of him.

    ***

    yer Perfect Shot left you a message.

    Hey man,

    When I was scouting around the city I found a dungeon and a bunch of mining sites near the city. Also there is a lot of opennd for farming on the west side of the city.

    nker and Fortress mentioned they had a new option to invite NPCs to Urburg, I told them to hold off on using it.

    ***

    "Yo, Skelly."

    "Hey man. You got my message?"

    "Yeah, we can worry about NPCster, I want to finish the tomb quest first," Dave said.

    "Sounds good."

    "I invited some friends along for the raid,"

    There was a moment of silence, then Perfect said "I¡¯ll tell nker and Fortress to keep quiet about your identity."

    "They all know who I am, but thanks," Dave said.

    "I¡¯m logging in man, see ya soon," Perfect hung up.

    Ralph was online so Dave opened a chat with him.

    "Hey ster," Dave snickered.

    "Pfft. The mighty Death Stroke himself."

    Dave shook his head, grinning, "I¡¯m sending you the gate coordinates."

    "Okay bro," Ralph replied.

    Dave typed the codes for the Urburg gate and sent them to Ralph.

    Ralph sent back a party invite and messaged, "Be there in a few minutes, I¡¯m going to restock on potions and consumables."

    ***

    yer ¡¯ster¡¯ has invited you to a Party

    Do you wish to ept

    Y/N

    ***

    Dave pressed yes.

    ***

    yer ¡¯ster¡¯ has designated you as:

    Party leader.

    ***

    Dave looked at his friend list and invited TNT.

    "Hey, wow! A level 400 Swordsman," nker said through the party.

    "Interesting name," Ralph grinned.

    "Interesting, yes. It has deep meaning to him," Fortress said sarcastically.

    The gate lit up nker and Fortress stepped through, then a ck armored yer appeared behind them with a yer¡¯s tag showing the name ¡¯ster.¡¯

    "Let¡¯s wait for the girls," Dave said.

    "There are going to be girlsing with us? Nice!" nker immediately reverted to his hyperactive geeky persona, slicking back his hair and checking his appearance.

    Dave shook his head. nker was a weird person. A pervert priest, it was unusual...at least in VR.

    "The girls logged in, I¡¯m sending them the gate code. When they join us here we can head out for the tomb," Dave said.

    The gate lit up again, Mercy and Lone showed up along with a woman in a purple dress and a harp strapped to her back.

    Ralph nudged Dave, "There¡¯s Vanessa, she looks just as good in VR."

    Dave saw the name Demeri disyed above the bard, which was what he remembered Vanessa saying her avatar was named.

    "I got this, guys," nker dered. stering a big smile on his face he walked over to the girls, like a predator homing in on helpless prey.

    "Hey heydies, how yu dooin¡¯?" he asked moving in too close and putting out a hand palm up.

    Lone looked at him and then down at his hand, "Did you want something, are you okay? You look constipated."

    "His name, just creepy," Demeri whispered, sidling away from him and edging behind the other girls.

    nker turned to the remaining damsel in the hopes of not being shot down before take-off yet again. Instead he found only the pitiless gaze of Mercy, twirling a dagger in one hand. Even nker sensed it would be wiser not to try, or even say, anything to her. His aspirations dashed, he retreated, as though nothing untoward had happened.

    Ralph was barely holding back hisughter. Dave just shook his head sadly, at least he knew he had no game, nker really seemed to think he was a mack daddy.

    "Okay, then let¡¯s get going guys."

    "Can Spike carry all of us?" Fortress asked.

    "No, he can¡¯t carry eight and we would look awkward as hell even if he could. We¡¯ll have to walk." Dave shook his head.

    "Aw, that was myst chance to not be the ass-man," nker whined.

    The females edged even farther away from nker. It was like he never even considered filtering his mouth.

    "Who¡¯s Spike?" Lone asked Dave.

    "A wild stag I tamed temporarily."

    "Really? Where is he," Lone looked around curiously, searching.

    "I think he went to get something to eat, I¡¯ll call him." Dave whistled piercingly twice.

    A few momentster Spike emerged from the trees surrounding the crumbling city walls, the sword-sharp prongs of his antlers stained with blood.

 Chapter 228 Different currencies

    Spike walked regally over to Dave, and bumped his muzzle against the yer. Dave scritched the fiend under his chin.

    "Ohhhhhh, he¡¯s soooo CUTE!" Demeri squealed ecstatically. Lone was cooing like a mourning dove, and even Caitlin¡¯s eyes had a soft dreamy look.

    Dave was bbergasted, he looked at Spike again to see if his red-eyed mount had turned into a long-eared fluffy bunny or something equally ludicrous and useless. But, no. The hulking elephant-sized monster was still the same: a nasty temperament wrapped around a mouth full of sharp fangs and teeth that very inly did not belong to any kind of herbivore.

    ¡¯What is with women and animals? Thank god I didn¡¯t tame a unicorn, I can¡¯t imagine how much worse this situation would have been.¡¯

    Seeing the confusion on Dave¡¯s face, Ralph patted his back reassuringly.

    In a low voice he said to his friend, "I told you, man. Different currencies. Keep your eyes and mind open, figure out what women value. Your monst...ah, your mount has ¡¯value.¡¯ A lot of value, apparently, even though it makes no sense at all to us."

    Dave nodded his head, "I think I¡¯m starting to understand, bro."

    "Can I pet it?" Lone asked looking at Dave with wide pleading puppy dog eyes.

    "I wouldn¡¯t rmend it," Dave shook his head.

    "Why not?" Lone pouted.

    "Spike doesn¡¯t like strangers," Dave said, still scratching under the fiend¡¯s chin.

    Lone didn¡¯t believe that for a second, the fluffy-fiend was standing docilely right beside to Dave, enjoying getting its chin scratched.

    Lone moved closer to the fluffy-fiend and extended a hand to give it a friendly pet but instead it snapped its very sharp, veryrge fangs at her and growled. Lone snatched her hand back, shaking it and checking to see if all her fingers were still attached.

    Spike turned his head and glowered at the archer still growling. It really broke her heart that the fluffy-fiend didn¡¯t like her.

    "Easy!" Dave reprimanded the fiend."I told you, Lone. He doesn¡¯t like strangers. Why didn¡¯t you listen?"

    Lone pouted, "That¡¯s not fair, I want to pet him too."

    Dave shook his head at her, "You¡¯re asking a lot, but I¡¯ll try to convince him to be nice."

    Dave pulled Spikes head around to look at him directly.

    "C¡¯mon buddy, she¡¯s a friend too, she really doesn¡¯t mean any harm. I know you don¡¯t like other people petting you, but she¡¯s nice and she really likes you."

    Dave kept murmuring to the forest fiend, ¡¯persuading¡¯ Spike to let the girls touch and y with him.

    Fortress moved over to Perfect and leaned in to ask in a low whisper, "Does Skelly know the girls would be able to pet Spike without all that rigamarole if he just invited them to the party?"

    Perfect shrugged, "He does. I think he¡¯s just messing with the girls."

    Dave spent several minutes ¡¯persuading¡¯ Spike.

    "I think he¡¯ll let you pet him now, just take it easy," he finally said to the girls.

    "Really?" Lone squealed.

    "Yeah, but before you do, you girls should ept the party invitation."

    He sent the three girls an invitation. After Dave sent the party invitation and the girls epted it, Spike allowed the girls approach. Spike was no longer agitated and let Lone rub his fur. When the other girls saw Lone getting ¡¯epted¡¯ they also joined in.

    "We have to take Spike, he¡¯s too cute to leave behind," Lone said.

    "He can¡¯t carry us all," Dave said.

    "But he can carry us," Lone grinned at him and jumped up on Spike¡¯s back. Mercy and Demeri smirked at Dave too and jumped up behind her.

    "Go spike go!" Lone urged the forest fiend, digging her heels in.

    Spike snorted, but didn¡¯t move.

    "Why won¡¯t he go?" Lone wailed, distraught.

    "I tamed Spike, he obeys me. You can¡¯t expect to just take over and dictate whatever you want. That¡¯s really not cool."

    Lone puffed her cheeks.

    Ralph sent Dave a private message, ¡¯Good. Now show them you¡¯re still a good guy, that you can be generous if they behave. Give them a ride on Spike.¡¯

    "Spike," Dave nodded to the fiend. Spike suddenly took off, galloping along the city wall. The girls shrieked, taken by surprise at first. They recovered almost immediately though, they were soon soon yelling and giggling in delight, enjoying their ride atop the bloodthirsty stag.

    Spike circled the city walls a couple of times before finallying to a stop in front of Dave.

    "AGAIN!"

    "More please!"

    "Okay girls, we have a long way to go, we need to get going."

    "No we want to keep riding Spike!"

    He felt like a parent taking a new favorite toy away from his children.

    "We¡¯ll travel on foot. It¡¯s not fair for if only a few get to ride and the rest of us walk," Dave said.

    Dave shared the location of the tomb with the new party members. After confirming their destination, they left the city and were soon in the Deep Wilds.

    "You guys travelled really deep into the Wilds, I don¡¯t think anyone¡¯s ever gotten this far before," Lonemented after looking at her map and trying to locate Urburg rtive to other known locations.

    "Yeah, well it was all thanks to the dragon," Dave said.

    "You met the dragon? And survived?" Ralph was surprised.

    "We got lucky. Anyway, we should be careful, monsters could pop out from anywhere. Perfect, can you please scout ahead?" Dave asked.

    "Yeah, I¡¯m on it." Perfect went ahead of the party to secure the way ahead.

    After some time and hearing nothing from Perfect Demeri asked, "Will he be okay?"

    "Yeah, he¡¯s been doing a great job scouting for us so far."

    "Dave," Perfect spoke through party.

    "What is it Perfect?" Dave asked.

    "I think we should go around another way, there is an orc camp up ahead."

    "Orcs? We can handle some crummy orcs," nker spoke.

    "Don¡¯t be a tool. Not regr orcs, this is the Wilds, they¡¯re High-Orcs. Level 350 at least," Perfect said. "Shit, they spotted me!"

    The party heard a loudmotioning from ahead of them.

    Perfect was running toward them with everything he had, "Split up!" he shouted.

    Perfect ducked a shooting fireball like he had eyes in the back of his head, but it continued toward the rest of the party. Lone nocked shot at the iing ball. The arrow exploded midway creating an icy fog that smothered the fireball into wisps of vapor and smoke.

    "We need to go another way, there are too many!" Perfect said.

    "I think it¡¯s toote for that," Dave said.

    Oversized green-skinned humanoids began to emerge from the forest. Unlike regr loin cloth wearing orcs of Conquest these orcs were armored and armed to the teeth, carried swords, clubs and war axes.

    The orcs spread out to surround the party like a well organizedbat unit, their named-tags were bloody red.

    One of the orcs pointed his rusty battleaxe at the party and shouted in a hoarse phlegmy voice, "Fresh meat!"

    "No meat on the menu today," Dave snarled back, drawing his mberge and lifting his tower shield.

 Chapter 229 Way of the Sekiro

    ***

    High-Orc

    Level: 360

    Base damage: 32,00-40,000

    HP: 360,000

    DN: 30,000

    MA: 20,000

    Skills:

    [Berserk] A passive Skill. When HP drops below 50% base damage increases by 10% for every 10% HP lost, attack speed is doubled and gains the effect Unflinching.

    [Battle roar] when there are four (4) or more tribe members nearby, each gains 20% to base damage for 60 seconds.

    Bestiary:

    High orcs are considerably stronger than the average human, though this is offset by a generalck of cerebral traits. Their warlike culture means that all of their kind are well trained in the use of various weaponry. The high orcs preferrge two-handed weapons that deal as much damage as possible in the most painful of ways.

    ***

    Dave did a quick head count, there were six high orc tribal warriors along with a chieftain and a shaman in the back. The chieftain was arger version of the warriors, but with better armor including a horned helm and he wielded a massive double sided battle axe. The shaman was shorter than the other orcs, about as tall as a human. His face was wrinkled like a dried up raisin and he carried a staff with an antlered skull on top. He also had a string of fist sized beads dangling around his neck.

    Dave made up a quick n and shouted it to the others, "I¡¯ll generate the threat level first, then Mercy will take down of the Shaman and ster you go for the orc chief. Everyone else stay on me, I¡¯ll tank and you guys nuke the orcs one by one, focus your attacks and stay together."

    Mercy shrugged, normally she didn¡¯t do parties or take orders from anyone. But she mostly agreed with Dave¡¯s n. Take out the enemy caster first and keep the enemy leader busy while the rest of the party whittled down the peons.

    "What about the threat levels? As soon we engage inbat we¡¯ll be the priority targets we¡¯ll easily OT you." Mercy said.

    "I can do enough damage, don¡¯t worry about over-threating me, just keep the chief and the shaman off me," Dave said confidently.

    He sprinted toward the closest high-orc and activated [Stampede], mming into the big warrior.

    [-16,782]

    The high-orc staggered back.

    "Nice hit," ster called out. He was already running toward the chieftain anticipating Dave¡¯s increase in threat level.

    Dave activated [Aura]. mes billowed around him like a fiery twister, burning the group of orcs. The orcs screamed in high pitched pain as they burned, but they still managed to keep Dave hemmed in.

    Dave whistled, activating [Double Edge] and used [Vertical sh] to escape the burning orcs.

    The terrifying Minghocao worm emerged from the ground, mouth first as usual, engulfing a huge part of the battle area. Earth, rocks, trees and orcs, all tumbled into its gaping, fanged maw. The king worm spat the hapless orcs out and turned back on itself, disappearing under the earth again, burrowing down to its home in the depths. It wasn¡¯t a game-ending move, but Dave¡¯s threat level had jumped, he alone was now the target of every orc¡¯s aggro.

    "That¡¯s it, I¡¯m the top threat. Go!" Dave said over the chat as he raised his tower shield to block a clubbing attack from one of the orc warriors.

    Mercy went into [Stealth] and moved toward the orc backline where the fur wearing shaman was standing, waving his staff and chanting. The assassin appeared behind the magic-using orc and stabbed him in the kidney, stunning him and interrupting his cast. Mercy¡¯s hands blurred as she continued to slice and dice at the orc¡¯s back, her dagger shing deep into the armorless shaman¡¯s flesh with every strike. Massive damage values appeared in a stream of bubbles above the orc¡¯s head.

    The chieftain simply ignored ster¡¯s approach and ran at Dave instead as he used [Battle Roar] to bolster his warrior¡¯s mettle. Ralph chased after the berserker chieftain. The orc leader swung his battleaxe the moment he was in melee range of Dave. But ster activated [Silent Resolve] to transfer the chieftain¡¯s aggro onto himself, giving Dave the opportunity to escape from the level 420 high orc.

    Two of the five orc warriors, a spear wielder and a club swinger, sprinted at their highest priority threat target: Dave.

    Fortress hurried to Dave¡¯s side and raised his shield, setting himself to tank theing attacks. The warriors swung and stabbed at Dave without slowing but he activated [Block], nullifying the attacks.

    Lone nocked and shot one of the orc warriors in the arm, causing the orc to drop his club and Perfect used [Twin Shot] shooting two arrows at once into another orc¡¯s eyes, blinding the pig snouted monster.

    Dave shouted more instructions to his party, "Fortress, just stop your orc from hitting me. Everyone else keep harassing the other warriors. Spike, you stay out of the fight for now."

    Dave continued his engagement with the spear wielding orc while the rest of the party used their crowd control abilities to keep the other orcs from swarming Dave.

    The spear wielding orc lunged, overextending with his weapon. Dave sidestepped and stomped down on the shaft, grounding the tip and jerking the orc warrior off bnce. Then Dave used the opening to shove his mberge deep into the orc¡¯s exposed neck.

    -60,668 [Critical!]

    Dave was surprised at the amount of damage he¡¯d done. A notification popped up and Dave skimmed through it while dodging the orcs¡¯ blows.

    ***

    You have sessfully performed the martial skill [Mikiri Counter]

    [Mikiri Counter] is now added to your Fist-Fighting style.

    [Mikiri Counter] A dexterous skill allowing the user to punish enemies who use stabbing moves, a correct use of Mikiri Counter exposes the enemy¡¯s vitals for a follow-up riposte.

    If [Mikiri Counter] is executed perfectly, the next attack on a vital organ will have a 100% critical chance whilepletely ignoring the target¡¯s armor value.

    Conditions of use:

    Can only be used to counter an enemy¡¯s thrust attack.

    User¡¯s strength must be equal to or higher than the target¡¯s.

    Cooldown: None.

    ***

    Your Fist Fighting Style has leveled up!

    Your base damage when using fist weapons has increased by 10%.

    Skills: [Advancing Dragon], [Dragon Awakens], [Dragon Kick], [Rising Dragon], [Infernal Tornado] have increased in level and damage ordingly.

    ***

    "Neat," Dave waved away the notification and focused on the fight.

    Dave retreated from an orc¡¯s club swing as Fortress held his shield up and activated [Block], nullifying another strike aimed at Dave¡¯s back .

    "Thanks, Fortress" Dave shouted as he continued to dodging the spear orc¡¯s attacks.

    Then a club-wielding oded a blow on Dave¡¯s ribs, he staggreed from the hit, grunting in pain.

    [-12,888]

    A bright white aura surrounded Dave relieving the painful grinding in his ribs, letting him breathe again.

    [1,220]

    Dave¡¯s HP started rising slowly, nker cast [Regeneration] on the party.

    All five of the orc warriors cut off Dave¡¯s retreat. Dave was about to use [Immortal Apparition] to move away from the enraged orcs when he received another buff from nker.

    ***

    Your agility increased by 20%

    Your stamina regeneration increased by 20%

    ***

    Dave dodged the iing weapon swings and used [Shield Charge], mming into one of the orcs and knocking the warrior out of his away.

    Escaping from the circle of orcs, Dave lead them on a merry chase, through and around trees and other obstacles in the forest.

    The party members assisted Dave by attacking the orcs chasing him.. Although the yers didn¡¯t deal any damage,they were still applying various status effects from their crowd control abilities, slowing the orcs and reducing their damage output.

    Demeri yed fast rhythmic music on her harp.

    ***

    Bardic Song of Courage

    Effects:

    Stamina consumption decreased by 20%

    Strength increased by 5%

    ***

    "What¡¯s the situation ster!"

    "Gimme a sec, this bastard is tough," Ralph groaned. The chieftain was using the other orcs nearby to his best advantage. Whenever he used [Battle roar] the chieftain gained an increase in damage so Ralph had to fight him very carefully.

    Even while running from the orcs and keeping their aggro, Dave noticed nker at the back, guarded by Spike. He was rather impressed at what he saw. Normally nker bbed continuously, like his life depended on the number of words per second he could vomit out. But, here, in the middle of battle, the Pervert Priest was focused and calm. His healing was mana efficient and his buffs timely and effective.

    ¡¯Huh, a real Battle-Priest. It shouldn¡¯t be a surprise, the other two TNT wouldn¡¯t tolerate or coddle a total screw-up in their party.¡¯

    Demeri switched to a song with a slower tempo. The orcs chasing Dave slowed when the song reached them. The chieftain¡¯s attack speed was reduced enough that Ralph was able to dodge andnd his own attacks with ease.

    "Great job Demeri," Ralph shouted. He dodged a swing from the chieftain¡¯s cleaver and struck back at the orc¡¯s neck.

    Even though the orc was bleeding profusely from the attack, he covered his bleeding wound with a hand and haphazardly swung his battleax at Ralph.

    ***

    Your party member Mercy has in

    High Orc Shaman level 420

    ***

    "Nice work Mercy, help Ralph with the chieftain, we can finish the scrubs after," Dave said after ducking under another sword swing.

    With the shaman out of the fight. Ralph and Mercy could take care of the chieftain without much trouble. Hopefully.

    When the chieftain noticed his shaman¡¯s death he drew in a deep breath and roared powerfully, a long baying howling cry rose over the forest.

    ***

    The High Orc tribe has heard their chieftain¡¯s [Call for Retribution], informing them of the death of the shaman.

    They are [Infuriated] by the loss of their spiritual leader

    The entire tribe ising to take their revenge.

    ***

 Chapter 230 He who fights and runs today...

    "Shit, now what?" nker cursed.

    "We just need to take down the chieftain," Ralph shouted as he dodged the orc leader¡¯s battleax.

    Dave¡¯s hands blurred as he made the ninja kuji kiri hand seals for casting [Dragon Ball]. Fire coalesced above him into a fiery sphere that shot toward the cluster of high orcs. The [Dragon Ball] impacted the orcs like a bowling ball striking the pins, giving him a brief respite from their attacks.

    "What do you mean just take the chieftain down?" he asked Ralph.

    Mercy jumped on top of the chieftain and locked her legs around his neck. She stabbed her dagger into the chieftain¡¯s skull. The orc leader groaned in pain but flung the assassin away.

    "Orcs are cowardly creatures, if the leader is killed they will scatter and run. We just need to kill this big boy before the rest of the tribe gets here," Ralph said.

    "But that¡¯s regr orcs, we don¡¯t know if that¡¯s true about high orcs," Dave said. There was no reason to believe high orcs would act the same as regr orcs.

    "Guess we¡¯ll find out when we kill the chieftain, unless you have a better idea..." Ralph said.

    Dave rolled his eyes at Ralph¡¯s carefree attitude. An orc warrior with his green skin mostly singed ck sprinted at Dave, arms out to grapple him.

    Dave sidestepped the charge like it was choreographed, switched to an overhand grip on his mberge and stabbed the orc in the back.

    [-22,655]

    The orc tumbled across the ground .

    Dave was in a precarious position right now, his [Block] on cooldown with two orcs attacking him.

    Lone and Perfect loosened arrows at the orcs harrying Dave. Coincidently they used the same skill, [Breaking Shot]. The orcs were Staggered by the archers, their attacks on Dave thrown off target.

    "Thanks!" Dave shouted.

    Dave¡¯s mind was racing, evaluating options until he reached a conclusion. Ten consecutive attacks on a target were needed to activate the mberge¡¯s passive ability, [Embrittlement]. It would be almost impossible for him to get that many hits on one orc when five of them were chasing him at the same time.

    ¡¯I can¡¯t keep using the mberge.¡¯

    He reced his sword and shield with his Sworn Stalwart gauntlets. He looked at the nearest orcs and grinned at them as he mmed his fists together.

    "You¡¯re entering a world of pain!"

    Dave sprinted at the first orc, reached down then lunged upward in a full body-powered uppercut. His fist struck the point of the orc¡¯s chin and a fiery coiling dragon materialized from the contact point.

    Stunned, but too heavy to be moved by the punch, the orc was out of the fight for the moment. Dave used [Infernal Tornado], spinning like a top. Damage numbers rose from the orcs and notifications of the Overheating effect on the orcs started appearing..

    Mercy and Ralph finally got the chieftain¡¯s HP down to less than 20%, at which point the orc became even more enraged. At that moment a dozen more high orcs emerged from the forest to join the fight.

    "Aww crud," nker pointed "Do we retreat?"

    "We almost have the chief zeroed!" Ralph shouted.

    Dave was in a tight spot. He had the highest aggro, if the new orcs attacked he would die an ugly and painful death.They just had to buy a little time for Ralph and Mercy to finish off the chieftain.

    "Spike, hit and run!" Dave yelled at the fiend.

    The stag lowered its pronged antlers and charged the closest orc. One idiotic orc thought he could contend with the fiend¡¯s strength. The warrior tried to club the fiend only to be impaled on its antlers and then tossed across the battleground. Spike immediately swerved and targeted another orc, bloody antlers lowered for the attack.

    Dave was very aware that Spike would only fight until he lost 25% of his HP. So they needed to finish off the chieftain quickly. Dave activated [Approaching Dragon] and blurred into a series of rapid attacks. Each orc around him was struck at least three times; punched, elbowed, or kicked.

    Demeri twirled and danced as she plucked the strings of her harp, weaving yet another melody. Every orc in the vicinity, even the ones fighting stopped for a moment were bewitched by the song.

    While the orcs were distracted Daveunched himself forward, his leg snapping toward the orc chieftain¡¯s abdomen in a [Dragon Kick]. When his foot made contact a fiery ethereal dragon materialized and engulfed the chieftain, but the attack also nullified the Charmed effect on the orc.

    The chieftain looked around in confusion then went into a spinning spiral attack, his giant battleax extended out, humming in deadly circling strokes. Dave and Mercy managed to duck away. But Ralph, staring distractedly at Demeri¡¯s dancing, took a hit to his abdomen. He was thrown by the force of the blow, rolling across the ground groaning in pain.

    Mercy blipped away into some form of assassin¡¯s concealed movement Skill, then reappeared crouched behind the chieftain and sliced through his Achilles tendons, inflicting the orc with a [Crippled] status effect.

    Dave used [Demon¡¯s Maw] and prayed the orc chieftain was below 5% HP. A demon head materialized above the chieftain, its maw wide open and the tearing fangs snapped together, crushing through the chieftain.

    ***

    You have in:

    High Orc Chieftain

    Level 420

    ***

    Dave looked at the remaining orcs expectantly, they didn¡¯t show any sign of retreating.

    "Damn, guess I was wrong," Ralph said as he stood up, holding his middle and still wincing in pain.

    "Look over there," Fortress said pointing.

    Another orc chieftain stepped out of the trees with five more orc warriors.

    "Retreat back to the city!" Dave yelled through the chat.

    They were outnumbered and overmatched, they didn¡¯t have a chance of winning in this situation.

    Ralph started running toward Urburg, "I won¡¯t argue with that, I can¡¯t risk resetting my EXP now."

    The new chieftain raised his weapon and cried out in a gutteral voice, "Kill them all!"

    The orcs and the new chieftain reorganized themselves and started chasing the yers.

    Mercy entered stealth again, disappearing from everyone¡¯s sight. Perfect jumped to a branch in the nearest tree then started leaping from tree to tree like Tarzan. nker was surprisingly quick on his feet. The Pervert Priest turned and ran with everything he had, his white robes pulled up over his knees and pping in the breeze. It made Dave wonder if the priest had put more points into his Agility stat than Intelligence.

    Dave whistled for Spike and jumped on his back as the fiend galloped past. He guided Spike toward Fortress, Lone and Demeri, leaning down to pull each of them up. Then he nudged the fiend toward Urburg and urged the stag to make all haste.

    The orcs pursued them relentlessly, some even threw their weapons at the retreating yers.

    Even though ster was the first to run for the safety of Urburg, nker had already overtaken him and Spike was rapidly catching up to both of them. Dave directed the fiend to pass by close to the Swordsman so they could pick him up also.

    As they came alongside Ralph, Lone extended a hand down toward him with a devilish smile on her face.

    Ralph reached out his hand to grab Lone¡¯s but missed and stumbled. He recovered his stride, redoubling his effort in order to regain the ground he lost. He inched up closer and made another desperate grab for safety. But Lone moved her hand out of his reach again. This time Ralph stumbled and fell.

    "That¡¯s just mean!" Ralph shouted as he sat up from his prone position and pounded a fist into the ground. Then he looked back at the orcs closing in and quickly scrambled back to his feet to resume running.

    "Serves him right," Lone said snarkily.

    "What the fuck was that shit, Zoe!?" Dave shouted, furious.

    Zoe was shocked, Dave had never shouted at her before.

    Dave was livid. Ralph was close to reaching level 412, if he got sent for respawn it would take immense effort to recover his lost EXP. Even though Zoe and Ralph were not on the best terms at the moment there was no excuse for what she¡¯d done. Dave had tolerated Zoe¡¯s pranks and jokes in the past, but that didn¡¯t mean it was okay for her to betray and sabotage his best friend, especially when Ralph was also her own teammate.

    Dave waved his hand and four glowing orbs appeared, floating around him. He waved again and the orbs shot at the pursuing orcs. When they reached the nearest warriors he snapped his fingers, detonating all the orbs at once, staggering and tripping the orcs. The disruption caused by the exploding orbs was enough for Ralph to gain some distance. That moment of respite also allowed the yers to escape the orc tribe¡¯s aggro range. The green-skinned warriors stopped and returned back to where they came from.

    Dave stopped Spike when they reached Urburg¡¯s crumbling walls, he dismounted without a word and walked back toward the forest.

    "Davey, wait," Lone called after him, but Dave ignored her and continued toward the treeline to meet his friend.

    Finally Ralph appeared, staggering out from the trees.

    "You alright man?" Dave asked

    "That was not cool of her. Thanks for the save, bro," Ralph gasped out, huffing and puffing.

    "I always got your back, man. You¡¯ve done for me more times than I can remember."

    "Heh, don¡¯t go emo on me, Dave. Next you¡¯ll be giving out hugs."

    "Yeah, no. Not happening. You just stand there and recover while we wait for Perfect and Mercy to join us. We need toe up with a new n, going head-to-head with a whole tribe of orcs is not a form for sess."

 Chapter 231 Lives to fight another day...

    A few minutester Perfect showed up, jumping down from a tree at the edge of the forest and striding toward them.

    "Where¡¯s Mercy?" Perfect asked.

    "Here," the assassin said as she appeared from stealth close behind Perfect, so close they were almost touching.

    Perfect startled and yelped at her sudden appearance, the assassin just smirked like a cat who¡¯d just scored a bowl full of cream.

    Ralph chuckled at the Mercy¡¯s antics then turned back to Dave.

    "So, let¡¯s talk. We need to figure out our next move. What do you want to do, bring in more manpower?"

    Dave thought for a moment, "I want to send Perfect out to scout for a way around the orcs.".

    "Sure, I can do that. But I¡¯d like to borrow Spike," Perfect said, nodding toward the fiend.

    "Okay, but why? He¡¯s not exactly what I¡¯d call inconspicuous."

    "It¡¯s safer to do a fast recon from the back of a mount. It¡¯s better to run away fast than to try to hide if we bump into anything we can¡¯t handle."

    "Yeah, that makes sense." Dave walked over to Spike and scratched under his chin, "Okay buddy, I want you to take Perfect for a ride, if you see any monsters just run like the wind."

    Lone, Fortress and Demeri got off Spike and Perfect mounted the fiend in their ce.

    "I¡¯ll be back soon. Let¡¯s go Spike," Perfect said and nudged the stag forward.

    The fiend reared then galloped into the forest and his hoofbeats faded slowly into the distance.

    "I hope he finds a way to get past the orcs, otherwise we will have to kite them one by one," nker said.

    Dave shook his head, "Orcs always fight in groups. If we try to pull or kite one orc, we would end up pulling the whole tribe. It¡¯s going to be tough to defeat them without a numerical advantage."

    "Mercy, could you assassinate the entire tribe, one orc at a time?" Lone asked the assassin.

    Mercy shook her head, "The high orcs are tough and they have a lot of HP. At best I might bring one of them down to 30% of his HP before he could call for help. I¡¯d probably be able to finish him off, but the tribe would already be alerted, I¡¯d be exposed and vulnerable."

    "Couldn¡¯t you just use your stealth Skills to get away if the orc calls for help?" nker asked.

    "These orcs have very keen senses of smell, if I go into stealth, they¡¯ll scent me and sniff me out. I think that¡¯s how Perfect was spotted when he was scouting the tribe," Mercy said.

    Lone leaned over and whispered to Dave, "Can I talk to you for a second?"

    He pursed his lips but nodded and she led him a short distance away from the group.

    "What is it, Lone?" he asked impatiently.

    "A-are you angry at me?"

    "I am not happy. What you did was uneptable."

    Lone¡¯s lower lip quivered and her eyes filled, threatening to spill over with tears.

    "NO! You don¡¯t get out of this with a few crocodile tears."

    "Daveyyy..."

    "I said no! I don¡¯t know what to do with you, I¡¯m so angry I can¡¯t make a decision right now. You tried to sabotage your own teammate and you endangered my quest to bring back the Undead, all for the sake of your petty games. Your actions were selfish andpletely out of line," Dave shook his finger in her face, "No more fucking pranks, no more of your ¡¯getting even¡¯ shit while we are in the Wilds. Or I swear to god I will never speak to you again!"

    Zoe was stricken silent, her mouth open, unshed tears forgotten, panicked at the threat he¡¯d just voiced.

    Dave stared at her angrily then turned to walk away, saying, "I¡¯m done talking about this for now."

    The two of them re-joined the rest of the group, Lone following Dave slowly, a forlorn look on her face. The yers chatted with each other as they rested and waited for their scout to return, but Lone Arrow was uncharacteristically silent and downcast.

    Perfect and Spike returned several hourster, the fiend appearing at the edge of the forest like a terrifying antlered ghost.

    "That was pretty quick. What did you find?" Dave asked.

    "Nothing good. There¡¯s no easily passage around the orc territory, we have to go straight through them."

    "I don¡¯t understand. What did you find? Why can¡¯t we just take a detour around the orc territory? Even if it takes us longer than expected we¡¯ll get to the tomb eventually," Fortress said.

    Perfect shook his head, "We would have to go through forested areas full of level 500 mutated tree monsters if we went in any other direction. Going through the orc territory is the course that is most likely to seed, the simplest and easiest path that I found."

    "So we have to kill our way through the orcs," Dave said heavily, stymied.

    "How did you get to Urburg if it was surrounded by forests of mutated tree monsters?" Ralph asked.

    Dave shrugged, "We were chased into a river by the dragon and we went over a waterfall. Then we just followed the river to the city. But we can¡¯t go back that way. Unless you can fly. And if you did fly it¡¯s likely the dragon would spot you, then you¡¯d be off to respawn."

    Ralph stared at Dave, not sure if he should believe his friend until he saw the TNT nodding in confirmation.

    "What do we do then? Come back here when we¡¯ve gotten higher levels? We can always use the gate toe back to this point you know," nker returned to the subject at hand.

    "No. I¡¯m not giving up on this. I can¡¯t dy that long," Dave shook his head. He stroked his chin, but finding no beard he shook his head.

    "Mercy, you said you could take about 70% of a high orc¡¯s HP with your initial attack from stealth, right?"

    "Yeah, but like I said, I won¡¯t be able to if the orcs can find me while I¡¯m in stealth."

    "What if we make it so they can¡¯t scent you?"

    "What do you mean?"

    "Let¡¯s set the forest on fire," Dave said.

    "What?"

    "We set the forest around the vige on fire. You go in and kill the chief while the other orcs are distracted by the fire. With all the smoke they won¡¯t be able to scent you, so you¡¯ll be safe while you¡¯re in stealth."

    Mercy was silent for a moment, contemting the idea.

    "Can you do it Mercy?" Dave asked.

    The assassin nodded slowly, "I think that will work."

    "Perfect, do you have the exact location of the orc vige?"

    "Yeah, I¡¯ll share it with you, everyone open your maps"

    Perfect marked an area on the map.

    "This is the location of the vige."

    "Good. I marked seven ces on the map for us to start the fires. One yer per marker. We¡¯ll all set the fires at the same time. After we set the fires everyone make your way to this rallypoint," he marked another location on their maps. "Clear?"

    The yers nodded back at him.

    "If you have any questions or suggestions, now is the time. Otherwise we move out. Everyone use voice chat once we start. Let¡¯s go then."

    They left Urburg and headed for the green-skins territory. When the yers neared the location marked on their maps they spread out, filtering through the trees around the high orc vige. Each yer had a torch in their inventory to set the trees and bushes on fire with. Dave hoped they wouldn¡¯t encounter any monsters as they moved through the forest. Thankfully, it appeared that the orc¡¯s kept their territory well culled of monsters. There were no monsters near the vige and the party managed to reach their designated positions around the vige without a hitch.

    When Dave reached his position on the map, he hid behind a tree trunk and peeked around it. Two orcs were patrolling near him. Behind the two orcs were straw huts . Most of the tribe were standing or sitting around arge central firepit. The carcass of a monster roasted slowly over the mes, their evening meal. But he didn¡¯t see the chieftain anywhere. There was arge tent on one side of the the town center with two orcs guarding the entrance.

    "Everyone in position?" Dave asked

    "I don¡¯t see the chieftain, though," Perfect said.

    "I just lost my visual on him, he went inside the big hut," Mercy said.

    "There are two orcs patrolling near me," Perfect said.

    "Me too, I¡¯ve got an orc standing guard in my area," Ralph said.

    "No orcs here," nker said.

    "Same for me, there are no orcs here."

    "Okay everyone, slight change of n. You guys that don¡¯t have orcs patrolling or guarding near your locations will light their area on fire one by one to draw the guards away from the rest of us. Ralph, Perfect, we¡¯ll wait until themotion starts then light our areas and get out as fast as we can."

    "I¡¯ll go first," nker said.

    "Okay, nker. Light it up."

    Momentster, the orcs around the firepit were alerted by calls of rm from some of the guards. They stood hastily, putting on their equipment and ran toward the area with the burning trees.

    When the orcs were distracted by the first fire, everyone else began setting the forest alight one by one.

    "INTRUDER!" one of the orcs screamed, pointing and alerting the entire camp.

    The guards near Dave¡¯s hiding spot left their positions and hurried toward themotion.

    Dave lit his torch and set it to the bushes, soon the trees nearby caught fire and the mes jumped from tree to tree. The fire chased away the darkness of the night..

    "Mercy, you¡¯re up," Dave said as he withdrew from the vige perimeter.

    He opened his map and said, "The rest of you guys, gather at the eighth marker.."

    Dave waited for the party to gather. One by one they gathered around him. He could still see the vige from his new position as he waited for the others to join him. The burning trees surrounded the vige in a ring of fire. The orcs were trying to put out the fire before their vige was burnt to a crisp. But because enemies had been spotted nearby they were unable tomit fully to the effort and let down their guard against intruders.

    "Now what?"

    "Let¡¯s wait for Mercy. If what Ralph said was right, then when this chieftain dies, the orcs will be without a leader to direct them and keep them organized. We can kill them one by one then," Dave said.

    "But can Mercy do it?" nker was doubtful. She was just one yer and there were lots of riled up orcs in the vige.

 Chapter 232 Cleanup on Aisle Orc!

    ***

    A member of your party has killed thest chieftain of the Ripping Tusk high orc tribe.

    Time until one of the Ripping Tusk warriors bes the new chieftain: 48 hours

    The remaining tribe members are leaderless and in a state of confusion.

    ***

    "Already?" Ralph was impressed with the assassin¡¯s deadly efficacy.

    Mercy answered over the party chat in an amused tone, "Yeah, ¡¯already.¡¯ Have a little faith, phie-boy. The chieftain was an easy mark. The other orcs were too distracted putting out the fires and looking for intruders in the forest to notice someone killing their chief in his own hut."

    Dave interjected, "Great job Mercy. Now it¡¯s time to hunt. Even with the chieftains dead it¡¯s risky to go head to head against the orcs. So we¡¯ll pull-and-pick them in ones or small groups," Dave said.

    "I see two orcs nearby, we could start with them," Perfect said.

    "Okay good. Mercy did you copy that?"

    "Yeah, there is a single high orc near me, I¡¯m going to take him out first then join up with you after."

    "Good, Everyone let¡¯s go," Dave said.

    When Dave found the orcs that Perfect had spotted, he used [Immortal Apparition] to appear between the two orcs then stomped to activate [Death Surge].

    The burst of dark energy afflicted the two orcs with the [Fear Effect], increasing the base damage that his Sworn Stalwart gauntlets did to them by 200%.

    [-42,777]

    [-41,850]

    The orcs ran in opposite directions, Dave left one orc for Ralph and chased after the second. He activated [Stampede] and mmed into the orc¡¯s back, sending the greenskin rolling across the ground and into a tree.

    [-22,111]

    The orc stood in one smooth motion and whipped a ive around, swinging it down at Dave in a chopping attack. Dave sidestepped and snapped his foot at the orc in a [Dragon kick], followed by a punch to the face. His fist made a crunching sound against the orc¡¯s wrinkled snout and thick blood sprayed out, showering the ground with a pattering sound.

    Dave swung an upper-cut and followed-up with a series of hooks and jabs as he danced around the orc. [Ramp Up] activated while Dave was pummeling the orc, his damage increased tremendously, dropping the orc¡¯s HP faster than a sinking anchor.

    Lone supported Dave from a distance, her hands blurring as she fired arrows from her bow with the speed of a machine gun. Frost spread from where her arrows struck all over the orc¡¯s torso and limbs, freezing the warrior in ce. But the orc¡¯s level was higher than Lone¡¯s, he simply roared and shook off the effects in a shower of ice.

    A short distance away, Ralph was beating on the orc he faced. He was level 411 and effortlessly took down the level 350 orc with the help of Demeri¡¯s charm effects and Fortress who swapped aggro with him when he could.

    Turning from the orc¡¯s body, Ralph saw Dave pounding away at his orc opponent.

    "Let¡¯s help Dave out," he suggested.

    "He¡¯s doing alright," nker shrugged.

    Lone¡¯s ice imbued arrows froze the orc over and over, but the greenskin shook the icy effects off everytime.

    "We need to wrap things up out here quickly, there are more orcs in the vige that we need to get to," Ralph said and sprinted toward the orc Dave was fighting.

    Ralph activated [Silent Resolve] and pulled the orc¡¯s aggro onto to himself.

    "Hey, that one¡¯s mine!" Dave shouted.

    "C¡¯mon, didn¡¯t you brag that not even Mercy can OT you," Ralph grinned at Dave as he faced off against the orc.

    "With damage Skills not taunts," Dave grumbled as he stepped around the greenskin and punched the orc in the kidney.

    Ralph faced off against the orc, their weapons shing and sending sparks everywhere.

    The orc swung his ive down powerfully with both hands trying to split Ralph from crown to crotch. Ralph deflected the weapon with his [Overwhelm] Skill, throwing the orc off bnce. Ralph stabbed at the gap between the orc¡¯s helmet and body armor.The orc squealed as blood sprayed out in an arc, painting his armor red.

    Ralph clicked his tongue, "Tough futhermucker."

    In his pain and the fog of battle the wounded orc had lost track of his other opponent. Dave came up behind the orc, grabbed his shoulder and kicked the back of his knee, shoving down hard. The orc went down like a sack of potatoes and thest thing he ever saw was Dave¡¯s elbowing toward his face in a power drop.

    "YES! I just leveled up!" Ralph cheered and danced a fast jig, ck armor nking and squeakingically.

    ***

    Your party member Mercy has in:

    High Orc level 365

    ***

    "Great job Mercy, what¡¯s your status over there?" Dave asked.

    "There is a group of four orcs still trying to put out the fire. The rest of the orcs have spread around the vige and are searching for you," Mercy said.

    "What are their exact numbers?"

    "I count fourteen,"

    Dave paused.

    "When we first fought the orcs, I counted twenty-two warriors. We killed three, Mercy has eyes on fourteen, that leave five orcs unounted for. Heads up everyone, look out for ambushes."

    "Got it."

    Dave turned to his party," Perfect, see if you can spot any other orcs."

    "I see one over there," Perfect said pointing ahead.

    "Let¡¯s go then."

    They kept hunting down the orcs one by one until morning came. Mercy took down seven orcs by herself without receiving a single injury. Dave didn¡¯t expect anything less from Conquest¡¯s number one assassin.

    Dave and the rest of the party were slower than Mercy, mainly because they sometimes had to fight more than one orc at the same time.

    During the night the weather turned and it started to rain, the zing trees were extinguished and the ground turned muddy. At one point they had to fight a group of five orcs in the slippery mud in low visibility conditions.

    Dave took the the role of main tank and leeched three of the orcs, leaving one for ster and one for Fortress. Fortress was surprisingly good at his role, even at his lower level he was able to keep his opponent busy, dodging more often than using his [Block] Skill.

    nker and Demeri synergized as a team. They buffed the team and inflicted various status effects to the orcs. Lone and Perfect used the slippery muddied ground to their advantage, firing their crowd control arrows, [Prating Shot] or [Breaking Shot] at the orcs.

    The rest of their fights that night were straightforward, careful use of their Skills, sound tactics and teamwork carried them through without any more serious trouble.

    With thest orc¡¯s death Dave got a notification.

    ***

    The Ripping Tusk High Orc tribe has been eliminated.

    Safety around the city of Urburg has increased.

    ***

    "Now what?" nker said.

    "Let¡¯s search the vige for anything useful and continue toward the tomb," Dave said.

    "Where¡¯s Mercy?" Ralph asked.

    "Right here," Mercy said,ing out of stealth at kissing distance of Ralph, making everyone jump a little.

    "Let¡¯s go then," Dave said.

    He led the party toward the orc vige, "Everyone pick a hut and start searching," Dave said.

    The party split up, each one entering a hut. Dave picked thergest structure, the chieftain¡¯s hut. The floor was covered with the pelts of various monsters, there was also a desk with a piece of parchment on it. The parchment had some blood stains but it was still legible.

    Dave picked it up and read.

    ***

    Greetings and obeisance to Syngnud the Conqueror, sovereign and leader of the High-Orcs, from chieftain Kuchi of the Ripping Tusk tribe,

    Honorable shaman Goryo and secondary chieftain Kushan perished at the hands of soft skins that came from the cursed city.

    Before the honorable Goryo passed away he used his divination to discover the cause of the ck Dragon¡¯s wrath. The soft skins used an ancient magic which lured the dragon toward Urburg. I wish to relocate the Ripping Tusk tribe, for if we stay here, we will all die. We do not fear the soft skins, but if they draw the dragon¡¯s wrath again, we will all perish.

    Lastly, we have inspected the cave again. The creature inside still writhes in agony, but it will pass away soon. I beg your lordship to send more reinforcements to tak-

    ***

    The letter stopped in mid word.

    ¡¯Mercy must have killed him while he was writing the letter.¡¯

    Dave pocketed the letter.

    "Did you find anything interesting?" Ralph asked from behind Dave, startling him.

    "Yeah, I did. Perfect, I need you for a sec," Dave said over the party voice.

    "Coming."

    A few momentster Perfect joined them in the chief¡¯s hut.

    "There should be a cave nearby, take Spike and search for it. Oh and don¡¯t enter the cave, just find it."

    "I¡¯m on it," Perfect said, turning and hurrying out.

    "What¡¯s going on man?" Ralph asked.

    "I have a hunch there¡¯s something good waiting for us in that cave, if we can find it soon enough," Dave said.

 Chapter 233 Non-Human Resources.

    Everyone except for Perfect was waiting outside when Dave exited the chief¡¯s hut.

    "Did anyone find anything good?"

    Head shakes and empty hands were his answer, no one had.

    "Not even a gold coin man, buncha stingy piggies," Fortressined.

    "Let¡¯s wait for Perfect then."

    "Where is he?" nker asked.

    "Thest orc chieftain was writing a letter when ourdy of Mercy killed him. He wrote something about a dying creature in a cave that¡¯s somewhere nearby. If I understood the message correctly this tribe of orcs was just a minor branch of the high orcs, the main tribe is still out there somewhere. The big leader of the orcs must have sent the Ripping Tusk tribe to find the creature in the cave."

    "Why didn¡¯t the orcs just kill it if it was dying?" Demeri said.

    "The chieftain of the Ripping Tusk tribe asked the high orc leader to send reinforcements, so it must have been too powerful for them to handle."

    Mercy frowned then asked "So, whatever is in that cave frightened an entire tribe of orcs. And you want to go check it out?"

    "Why not? We got rid of the orc tribe and have the coordinates for the Urburg teleport gate. We all leveled up from grindingst night so we only risk a little EXP if we respawn."

    Ralph chimed in, "Dave¡¯s right, this is the best time to try something new, or just stupid. Especially since Mr. Moneybags Skeletal over here is going to cover any damages that are incurred, right?"

    "Yeah, don¡¯t worry I got you." Dave looked around and caught Lone¡¯s eyes on him but she looked away quickly.

    The tension between them was growing. But Dave was not in the mood to bridge the new awkwardness that had entered their rtionship. Yes, he¡¯d spoken harshly to her, but she needed to hear the truth.

    "Found the cave," Perfect said.

    "Where are you?" Dave asked.

    "I marked the map with the location. It¡¯s really creepy here, guys, like a murder of giant crows nested here."

    Dave didn¡¯t understand what Perfect meant by thest bit so he just ignored it. He checked the map, Perfect¡¯s marker wasn¡¯t far at all. It would only take them a minute or two to get there.

    They headed for the marker, through the orc vige and into the forest. The normally dense undergrowth thinned as they neared the indicated area and Dave spotted a ck feather as long as his arm on the ground. Then another. As they continued toward Perfect¡¯s marker the feathers on the ground grew more and more numerous.

    "Huh, so that¡¯s what Perfect was talking about. Someone murdered a buncha crows," nker said.

    "These aren¡¯t bird feathers," Dave said. He opened his inventory, the item he was looking for was glowing brightly.

    ***

    Feather of the Fallen [Quest item]

    The Holy Church is searching for the Fallen Archangel, Naethiel. Finding Naethiel first could change both your destinies.

    This feather will glow when the Archangel is nearby.

    ***

    "That winged motherfucker is here," Dave blurted out.

    "Who?" Ralph asked.

    "One of the fuckers responsible for the fall of the legion, looks like that fickle bitch, luck, is on my side this time. I look forward to shoving my sword up that thing¡¯s ass!" Dave stomped forward.

    "Dude, Skelly looks pissed!" nker whispered to Fortress as they followed Dave.

    Spike was standing a few meters away from a cave entrance. The ground was carpeted with ck feathers.

    "Am I d to see you guys," Perfect said. He was petting the fiend alleviating his uneasiness.

    An eerie wail echoed from the cave, filled with enough pain to chill a Wendigo¡¯s soul. The other yers shuddered at the sound, butut Dave didn¡¯t flinch, he just kept striding toward the cave..

    "Dave, what are you doing?" Perfect said.

    "I have a debt to settle," Dave said and entered the cave.

    The rest of the party looked at each other in confusion and followed Dave.

    The cave was dark, humid and cold. But Dave didn¡¯t hesitate, he moved farther into its depths.

    ***

    You have entered a private instance.

    ***

    "What¡¯s this now?" Dave wondered.

    Another horrendous cry echoed from the cave.

    Dave continued moving ahead, the rainbow-hued feather in his hand lighting the way.

    "Stroke, we¡¯re stuck," Perfect sounded over the party chat.

    "What do you mean stuck?"

    "There¡¯s a barrier, we can¡¯t get to you," Perfect said.

    "I think this is rted to a quest. Wait there until I¡¯m done," Dave said.

    Dave moved along the cave tunnel, he felt something soft under his feet. Bringing the glowing feather closer to the ground, ck, so many ck feathers, like a carpet covering the cave floor.

    Dave continued walking until he reached a cavern at the tunnel end.

    The archangel sat with his back against the cavern wall on the far side of the chamber. Wounds all over the once pristine angelic form oozed ck ichor. The archangel¡¯s wings, once rainbow colored, were almostpletely ck. Only hints of prismatic color remained here and there.

    Even as Dave watched a glowing rainbow colored feather fell from the archangel¡¯s wings. When it touched the ground, the archangel screamed and ripped handfuls of the ck feathers out, refusing to ept the change. Hoping that glowing feathers would grow instead to rece the pitch ck ones, but only more ck feathers appeared. Screaming again, the archangel¡¯s fingernails raked deep wounds across an already bleeding, once perfect visage.

    Dave took his first step into the room and the archangel¡¯s bloody face came up.

    "LEAVE THIS PLACE!" the archangel screamed in cacophonic angelic chorus at Dave.

    Dave ignored the angel and walked forward.

    He inspected the archangel.

    ***

    Archangel Naethiel [Falling]

    Level 680

    HP 1/???

    DN???

    MA???

    Skills???

    Lore

    Messenger of the Demiurge and once a powerful archangel, tricked into colluding with demons. After being touched by the Curse of Undeath, the archangel lost the purity of spirit that angels are required to maintain to serve the Demiurge and is slowly falling into depravity.

    ***

    "Remember me fucker?" Dave said and brandished his mberge.

    The archangel didn¡¯t care.

    "I SAID LEAVE!" Naethiel mmed his hand down on the the stone, cracking it. A spear of light coalesced in the angel¡¯s hand.

    The archangel had only one HP, but that didn¡¯t mean he couldn¡¯t kill Dave. Still, Dave continued toward the archangel.

    "You brought this on yourself," Dave said.

    "Who are you to judge me?"

    "You probably don¡¯t remember, but you almost killed me in the siege of the Dead Realm. Yeah I was the guy next to the Undead King."

    "Lies, there were no humans there, only undead filth!"

    Dave didn¡¯t feel like correcting the archangel or exining his undead avatar.

    To Dave the archangel was a fat chunk of EXP and potential high-level loot. Dave wasn¡¯t the kind to monologue like some cheesy viin in B-movies. He simply raised his mberge for a quick deed of death.

    Another feather fell from the archangel¡¯s wings and the angelic-chorus voice screamed in pain again.

    Dave stood in front of the anguished archangel. He could easily kill the archangel by just activating [Aura], but he wanted to confirm something first.

    Dave pointed his sword at the Archangel and said, "Tell me, what happens when an archangel bespletely ¡¯Fallen¡¯?"

    A familiar voice answered from behind, "The archangel will no longer be affiliated with the divine. Which means..." Dave turned to see the god of Undeath gesturing with his pointing finger downward. "...the hot ce."

    "I figured you¡¯d show up, " Dave said.

    "Yeah, yeah, I know, it¡¯s good to see me," the punk god of Undeath turned back to the archangel, "Serve me, Naethiel."

    "Foul creature, I serve only lord Demiurge," the archangel roared back.

    "Your poncey poseur of a ¡¯lord¡¯ turned his back on you soon¡¯s you weren¡¯t perfect anymore. Serve me. We have cookies."

    The archangel stared at him, "You are mad."

    "No, really, we do."

    The undeath god snapped his fingers and a te of cookies appeared in his hand. Chocte chip, apparently.

    "See? Have one." The undeath god offered the te to the angel, then to Dave.

    Dave shook his head, "No thanks. You can¡¯t just swoop in and take a free kill."

    "So, you want to kill the angel to avenge your undead king?" the Undeath god asked.

    Dave considered correcting the teen god. But then dismissed the idea of telling an NPC that killing a level 680 creature meant a ton of EXP and some seriously phat loot.

    "Yeah, Fancy-Wings here ruined everything for me."

    "But I have a use for Nancy-Wings."

    "Never, you foul perversity!" the archangel stood with immense pain and difficulty.

    The undeath god gestured and the glowing rainbow feathers were torn from the wings one by one, apanied by the archangel¡¯s now unholy screams.

    "C¡¯mon, join me, Naethiel. Damn that¡¯s a poncey moniker, I promise to give you a much better one if youe work for me, something much cooler. And easier to spell."

    The punk god leaned in and faux-whispered, "You know, we aren¡¯t what you priggy folks think we are. Being Undead is about personal expression and not following the sheep, bucking The System, sticking it to The Mans-es. Like the ones who screwed you over."

    "My lord will never allow me to serve another god, His will is absolute," the archangel said.

    "Yeah well, that¡¯s just what he wants you to believe. It ain¡¯t true though," the god of Undeath held his arms out and looked up, "Isn¡¯t that right, Demicup? C¡¯mon, smite me oh mighty smiter! Show the poor deluded angel just how ¡¯all powerful¡¯ you are, you twit!"

    Dave half expected some act or wrath of the divine to rebuke the punk-kid but nothing happened.

    "See? He doesn¡¯t give a crap about you. He never did. He¡¯s just a pompous self-important pig in a fancy cloud-castle. C¡¯mon bud, you gotta make a decision, when thatst feather falls you¡¯re gonna lose a lot of your power."

    The archangel hesitated. There was only onest glowing feather left on his wings.

    "Choose me. At least you won¡¯t lose your status as an agent of the divine. Just think of it as changing bosses. And I promise you, I won¡¯t ask you to bring me coffee," the Undeath god snickered.

    The archangel felt thest glowing feather on his wings quiver, threatening to fall. There was only so much change the angel could stomach. Attending to the divine was what angels do.

    The archangel¡¯s knees crashed to the stone floor.

    "I ept, twisted one."

    "Excellent. But you really need to work on your people skills. I get it though, you were between me and the hot ce, which isn¡¯t really much of a choice at all. You¡¯lle to understand in time,"

    The young god snapped his fingers and the archangel disappeared. The God of Undeath turned to Dave.

    "Sorry about taking away your revenge-kill. I¡¯ll make it up to you kid, promise. Eventually you¡¯lle to see that having ole Nancy-Wings Nate on our side is a good thing."

 Chapter 234 Burning Brigh

    Dave walked out of the cave grumbling under his breath

    Seeing Dave¡¯s sour mood Ralph approached,"Hey Dave, that was quick, you get anything in the cave?"

    "Just more pain-in-my-ass quest shit," Dave said, there was a notification blinking in front of him.

    ***

    Your rtionship with the Holy Church is now: Hostile.

    NPCs affiliated with the Holy Church will not speak to you. Church pdins will hunt you if they detect you.

    ***

    ***

    New Hidden Quest: Sacrilegious

    Kill three (3) Holy Church Cardinals to obtain the title: ¡¯sphemer¡¯

    sphemer title effects:

    Holy attacks do 20% less Damage to the user when the title is equipped.

    User does 20% more Damage to Holy Church affiliated entities when the title is equipped.

    ***

    ¡¯Frack! Killing the archangel would have been so much better than this shit. Now I¡¯ve got demons AND the Holy Church after me. That¡¯s just great¡¯

    "Let¡¯s just head for the tomb," Dave said.

    The party oriented themselves and set off through the forest for their destination.

    The rest of the party followed after Dave. Lone, on the other hand, was walking to the side, awfully quiet. Everyone¡¯s mood was soured, for some reason, no one was talking, they just kept moving forward..

    Dave almost wanted something to attack them just to alleviate the awkwardness.

    As if his prayers were answered, he received a notification.

    ***

    You have spent a total of 24 hours in the Deep Wilds.

    The ecosystem of the Wilds is hostile to all foreign life, the prolonged presence of yers is intolerable to the status quo.

    You have acquired the debuff: Stench of the Weak, level 1/5

    Your body emits an odor that attracts and antagonizes the powerful creatures of the Wilds.

    Monsters have a 100% increase in aggro range and their attacks do 5% more Damage to you.

    If you die while under the effects of Stench of the Weak (level 1/5), you will lose one (1) level.

    You gain 10% more EXP under the debuff Stench of the Weak.

    ***

    Stench of the Weak was the primary reason yers avoided the Wilds. It was stackable and permanent, with no known way to remove it. Every additional level attracted stronger monsters, until finally at level five it attracted the most powerful and feared monster in the Wilds, the Abyssal dragon.

    "Unbelievable. That sucks big balls," Dave said.

    "What¡¯s wrong?" Ralph asked.

    "I guess you didn¡¯t get a notification because you haven¡¯t been in the Wilds for as long as we have."

    Dave showed Ralph the notification.

    "So nker Perfect and Fortress have the same debuff."

    "Apparently yes," Dave said. There was a small green icon over the TNT¡¯s heads as well as his own.

    "Let¡¯s hurry, this debuff has five levels, I wouldn¡¯t be surprised if the final level lures the ck dragon to us. Or god forbid, something worse," Dave said in annoyance.

    "Do you hear that?" Perfect said.

    Everyone stopped, they listened carefully, low growls came from all around them.

    Spike became agitated, there were enemies around him, powerful enemies

    "Stick together everyone," Dave said.

    First one, then two pairs of red eyes appeared, gazing at them from the darkness. Everyone froze.

    Two towering upright figures stalked into view. Their ck-striped orange fur served as natural camouge in the forest, rumbling snarls issued from feline muzzles with long, downward-curving sabertooth fangs.

    ***

    Weretiger

    Level: 450

    Base damage: 45,000-50,000

    Tier: Epic

    Danger level: ? ?

    HP: 600,000

    DN: 60,000

    MA: 50,000

    Skills:

    [Smoke Screen] a breath of smoke that blinds enemies is released. The first attack on a blinded enemy deals double damage.

    [Shadow Bind] Binds an enemy with the weretiger¡¯s shadow, rooting the target in ce for 5 seconds.

    [Hunter¡¯s Mark] Once applied on a target, the weretiger will chase the target until either the hunter or the prey dies.

    [Vicious Retaliation] at the loss of every 10% of maximum HP, the weretiger¡¯s next attack will do 500% base damage and will inflict [Laceration], bleeding the target for 20% of their current HP.

    ***

    "Crap! As if werewolves weren¡¯t shitty enough!" Dave cursed out loud, his werewolf phobia kicking in. Though from his reaction it might be more urate to call it his shape-shifter phobia.

    The weretigers were higher level than Spike, fighting them was going to be difficult.

    "I think I can tank one, Mercy and Ralph you guys take care of the other one," Dave said even as he shivered, barely holding it together.

    "Me and Mercy will take care of the second one then. Everyone else support roles from a distance."

    While the party was preparing for the fight, the weretigers roared out loud. In response, six pairs of red eyes looked at them from the darkness of the forest.

    "Fuck!" nker cursed, "We¡¯re gonna die man!"

    Dave looked at the monsters, they were surrounded on all sides.

    ¡¯There¡¯s no way we¡¯re getting out of this alive.¡¯

    "Damn, and here I thought the wilds were the best ce to grind for EXP," Ralph said as he backed towards the rest of the party.

    Everyone huddled together as the weretigers paced slow circles around the group.

    "Game over, man! We¡¯re all gonna die! And we¡¯re gonna lose levels. This is exactly why I didn¡¯t want toe here in the first ce," nker whined unhelpfully.

    Dave waved his hand and four glowing orbs appeared.

    Then he stroked Spike¡¯s fur and spoke in a whisper, "Buddy, I think this is it for us, but you can escape. So go, run."

    Agitated and afraid, the fiend still don¡¯t move, not out of fear, but out of loyalty. He wanted to remain by Dave¡¯s side.

    Dave gestured and the orbs moved toward the weretigers. He snapped his fingers and the orbs detonated, staggering the weretigers.

    "I SAID GO!" Dave shouted. He pped Spike on the rump, startling the fiend into motion. The stag bounded through the encirclement and disappeared into the forest.

    The weretigers didn¡¯t chase after the fiend. They focused on the human who¡¯d attacked them with the glowing orbs.

    Dave received two notifications.

    ***

    You have been Marked!

    A weretiger has marked you as its prey.

    The weretiger will not stop hunting you until one of you dies.

    ***

    ***

    The Forest Pronged Fiend (Spike) has acknowledged your worry for his well being.

    Spike is a permanent ally to you from now on.

    Affinity increased by two(2) levels

    Current Affinity level: 9/10

    You can summon (Spike) anywhere in the Wilds by whistling.

    Spike will fight for you until his HP reaches 25% of maximum.

    If Spike¡¯s HP reaches 25% and he escapes from battle he will try to find his way back to you.

    ***

    Dave grinned, "Alright guys, let¡¯s see how tough these fuckers are!" Dave equipped his sword.

    Minutester, Dave was in a familiar location. A dark clearing in a forest filled with tombstones. Brilliant beams of light prated the dark forest.

    "Ah fuck," Dave groaned.

    ***

    Your Death Knight Armor is damaged.

    Your Death Knight Gloves are damaged.

    You have lost one (1) character level

    The Hunted mark has been removed.

    ***

    "That was shit."

    "That was a nasty way to go man," Fortress said over the party chat.

    "Yeah, one of the weretigers literally ripped my avatar apart. That shit was too graphic."

    "That was scary," Demeri said, joining in.

    "Even Mercy died," nker said.

    "They marked me before I used Stealth," Mercy grumbled.

    "At least you didn¡¯t lose a level," nker retorted.

    "I didn¡¯t stack enough hours in the Wilds to get the stinky debuff, but I lost 5% EXP toward my next level. By the way Dave, my armor was damaged..."

    "Don¡¯t worry. All the repairs are on me since I asked you to help me in the Wilds." Dave said.

    "Let¡¯s get our our equipment repaired and meet up in Urburg," Ralph said.

    "Uh, Skelly, can I invite someone to the raid?" Fortress said.

    "I really don¡¯t want anyone else to know that I am Mr. Skeletal," Dave answered.

    "We can ask everyone to keep quiet about that until she signs an NDA. She¡¯s a good yer," Fortress said.

    "Aww man, are you talking about your imaginary girlfriend? C¡¯mon bro, get real."

    "Shut up nker, this is serious," Fortress snapped, then turned back to Dave, "What do you think, Skelly?"

    Dave scratched his head, trying to think of a nice way to refuse Fortress¡¯s request.

    "She¡¯s a level 420 magician,"

    Everyone was dumbstruck for a moment

    "You know a level 420 magician?" Perfect said.

    "Yeah, I told you before, Tess is a high-level yer, but you guys didn¡¯t believe me."

    "Any other time I¡¯d love to have a high level magician, I¡¯m just not sure adding even a level 420 yer will change anything for us in this situation. We just need to travel fast, it¡¯s four days to the tomb on foot," Dave said. He didn¡¯t think that in the long run adding a yer, no matter how high level, was worth risking another person knowing he was Mr. Skeletal.

    "She¡¯s also friends with a tribe of centaurs," Fortress said.

    "So?"

    "We could ride them to the tomb. They¡¯re as fast as Spike if not faster."

    The chat was suddenly silent...

 Chapter 235 The red Sorceress

    Chapter 234

    Dave thought for a moment then said, "Centaurs? That does change things. Okay then, let¡¯s teleport to Moria. We¡¯ll meet up at the town¡¯s smithy, fix up our equipment and wait for Fortress¡¯s friend to join us."

    Dave tore a scroll and appeared in Moria. He walked quickly over to the cksmith¡¯s shop and bargained, poorly, to have his and his party¡¯s equipment repaired as a rush job.

    Ralph showed up next to him, a wide grin on his face.

    "Oi, Mr. Moneybags, fix em up for me will ya."

    Dave shook his head and took Ralph¡¯s equipment, adding them to the work order.

    Another of Ralph¡¯s peculiarities, he was amunist. Not at all in the political sense, but in that he believed whatever belonged to his friends also belonged to Ralph. On the other hand, Ralph also considered anything that was his belonged to his friends too, so it was a fair and equitable philosophy. At least in Ralph¡¯s mind. The quirk was really just a reflection of Ralph¡¯s unstintingly generous nature and Dave appreciated it for what it was, though others might not be as understanding of it.

    In just a short time the whole party was gathered around the cksmith shop, waiting for their equipment to be repaired

    Lone had very obviously not given Dave her bow but had handed it directly to the cksmith and paid without even looking at Dave.

    "Tess said she¡¯ll be here soon," Fortress said, a happy grin on his face.

    Just as Fortress finished his speaking a voice yelled from behind them.

    "Fucker! This time I¡¯m going to kill your scrawny thieving ass."

    Dave turned to see Bone Breaker in his white, full-te armor. Behind him were dozens of pdins wearing the shiny armor and tabards of the Holy Church.

    "Fuck-a-duck. I forgot about the Kill Order and my Hostile status with the Church," Dave muttered to himself.

    "What are you going to do now, pretty-boy? Last time you got lucky and managed to escape. No one¡¯s gonna save you this time, Ha!" Bone Breaker bayed like a jackass.

    "I remember that meeting differently, ¡¯Bone Beater,¡¯ I kicked the crap out of you, at least until the city guards took you to jail and saved your ass," Dave said.

    Bone Breaker had been in Moria restocking on potions when he received a quest notification to kill an enemy of the Holy Church in the city. He had epted the kill-quest for the EXP, but he never dreamed it would be for the hacker asshat that ¡¯stole¡¯ his legacy. And now his vengeance was finally at hand. Killing the little cheater was going to be a piece of cake with the help of the pdins. He¡¯d even let the other yers standing around the smithy join in the fun.

    Afterall, there was a huge Kill-Order floating over the dipshit¡¯s head, he¡¯d toss the scrubs a few coins from the 10,000 gold bounty afterwards.

    "Kill the heretic!" Bone Breaker roared.

    The pdins drew their swords in unison and advanced past Bone Breaker, beginning an encircling maneuver.

    "Man, we can¡¯t catch a break!" nker groaned.

    An observer would almost be able to see the light ofprehension appear over Bone Breaker¡¯s head at nker¡¯s words.

    "Oh he, so you are his party! Then die with him," Bone Breaker¡¯s mocking tone sounded past the pdins.

    "They¡¯re just level 200 scrubs, we can take them," Dave said.

    "Not without my equipment, it¡¯s still being repaired," Ralph said.

    "Use your spare set, think of it as a challenge. HA!" Dave snarked as he equipped his Sworn Stalwart gauntlets.

    A feminine voice asked from behind the pdins, "Pumpkin, why are you always in trouble when Ie to see you in Conquest?"

    Fortress smiled hugely, "Hey Honey-Bunny, wee to the party."

    A human female in a red dress and a pointy purple hat stood behind the pdins, hands on her hips, shaking her head at Fortress.

    The sorceress gestured with her hand, materializing a scepter from thin air. "Hold them still for me, schmoopie."

    "Okay schmoopie." Then Fortress warned the other party members, "Everyone move back, please."

    He used [Anchor Hall], hooked chains burst from the pavement,tching onto every pdin around him, pulling every pdins¡¯ aggro to Fortress. Meanwhile the sorceress twirled her scepter and chanted, "Twisted void and severed space, bring true the vision of ultimate end! EXPLOSION!"

    Just before Tess thest word of her chant Fortress activated [Bulwark], giving him three seconds of immunity to all types of damage.

    The pdins, who were about to attack the tank, were stoppedpletely, frozen in ce by Tess¡¯s Skill. Then their armor and flesh simply disintegrated into swirling particles leaving nothing else behind. The only person left unharmed was Fortress thanks to his timely use of [Bulwark].

    "What the...is that a legacy skill?" Ralph mumbled.

    "Yes, she¡¯s the Destruction Legacy holder," Mercy said quietly. Her hands were gripped around the hilts of her daggers tightly, as if to reassure herself.

    "The Sorcerer S-ss legacy?" Perfect was bbergasted.

    Tess the sorceress skipped over to Fortress so she could give him a big hug and pinch his cheeks, "Oh you! You¡¯re schmoopie and I missed my schmoopie," she said.

    "Ahhh god, I¡¯m gonna hurl," nker said, making a finger-down-his-throat gesture.

    Perfect pped the back of nker¡¯s head, "Stop being an ass."

    "Oww! I told you before, man, Fortress got no game. But here he is with a FINE lookin¡¯ S-ss legacy chick like dat? No man. Helllll na. I¡¯m telling you she¡¯s a 300 pound dude named Chuck Stan who lives in his mom¡¯s basement in suburban detroit. Guaranteed.

    "So what if she¡¯s a guy? Are you homophobic or something?"

    "No way, I have lots of friends who are gay! I am telling you, that is not a girl. When you ever seen a girl doin¡¯ that?" nker was pointing at the two ¡¯schmoopies¡¯ cooing at each other.

    nker threw up his hands and turned away, unable to watch his friend¡¯s PDA with ¡¯Stan.¡¯

    After curling her fingers through Fortress¡¯s hair for a few intimate moments, the sorceress turned.

    The foolish pdin was still standing gaping uprehendingly at the spot where his contingent of Holy Church pdins hadst stood.

    "You there," Tess barked at the yer.

    Bone Breaker shuddered and looked at the sorceress.

    "You ordered those nasty Church boys to hurt my honey-bunny."

    "Uh, no I didn¡¯t..."

    Before Bone Breaker could exin why he brought the pdins the sorceress gestured with her scepter and chanted quickly, ending with a gesture at the pdin yer and a vicious, "Die!"

    An instant storm of lightning and hail broke over Bone Breaker in cacophonous thunder, turning him to glittering particles in an instant. The results of the sorceress¡¯s attack were undeniably effective, but strangely the yers hadn¡¯t heard what she¡¯d said clearly except for the final word, she¡¯d chanted too fast for normal human speech. It was a Legacy Skill they all heard of, called [Rapid Chant].

    "We should get going, Moria¡¯s guards will be here soon. PK inside the city is naughty," the sorceress giggled.

    "Dave give me the gold for the repairs. You guys get out of the city. I¡¯ll wait for the smith to finish and catch up with you," Ralph said.

    The party left the and headed for the town¡¯s exit. Everyone converged around Tess the newest addition to the group, asking about her Legacy, talking to her in general and getting to know her. Everyone except for nker that is, the pervert priest kept a safe distance from ¡¯Stan.¡¯

    The girls were, of course, interested in more personal subjects, specifically how she and Fortress met and the details of the rtionship between the two.

    To the dismay of the blushing Fortress, Tess happily answered all the womens¡¯ intimate inquiries in excruciating and embarrassing detail. Many admiring and approving female nces were sent the normally stoic tank¡¯s way, making him squirm even more ufortably.

    Perfect turned to nker and whispered, "You¡¯re an idiot. Bro-dude¡¯s a total stud, man."

    "Hmph," nker sniffed, "That¡¯s impossible. He. Got. No. Game."

    Perfect chuckled, "Well by my count, there are four ¡¯FINE looking¡¯ women right over there that totally disagree with you."

    Once outside the gates the gates of Moria the group waited and Ralph soon joined. He proceeded to hand everyone their repaired equipment, as if he was a big armored Santa use.

    Dave turned to Tess and asked,"So, how do we go about getting a ride from the centaurs?"

    "I have an item that can summon them anywhere in Conquest, but, there¡¯s a catch," Tess said.

    "What¡¯s that?" Dave asked.

    "We can only use the centaurs as mounts for one day.."

    "One day is still great. That will get us halfway to the tomb if not farther," Dave said.

    "Then it¡¯s settled. Should I summon them here?"

    "No, better to wait until we are in Urburg," Dave said.

    "Urburg? I¡¯ve never heard of it," Tess said.

    "It¡¯s a ruined city in the middle of the Wilds,"

    "Whoa! You found a city in the wilds?" her eyes widened.

    "Yeah, we¡¯ll tell you about it when we get there. Here you go," Dave handed the sorceress a scroll.

    "Okay people, everyone have a scroll to Urburg? Then let¡¯s go," Dave tore his teleportation scroll and disappeared from Moria.

    Momentster, everyone was gathered at the Urburg teleport gate.

    "Hey, you need to invite me to the raid," Tess reminded Dave.

    Dave sent her an invitation.

    ***

    yer Tess level 421 has joined your raid group.

    ***

    Tess took a golden horn from her inventory and sounded it.

    A male centaur materialized in front of her, summoned by the horn. The equine part wasrger than a Clydesdale with a heroically muscr human upper body in proportion. Across his back was an ebony recurve bow.

    "Honorable sorceress," the centaur bowed.

    "Hey Derin. I need to ask you for a favor," Tess asked.

    "At your service, mdy."

    "My party needs a ride to a tomb deep in the Wilds."

    The centaur looked around, "This is the Wilds, my peoples¡¯ safety will be at risk. But for yourdyship, we will try."

    "Okay, we need rides for nine people."

    "Just eight," Dave said.

    Tess tilted her head in question.

    Dave smiled and whistled loudly.

    In response the pounding of massive hooves sounded, and from the darkness of the forest an antlered monster muchrger than the centaur appeared, galloping toward Dave¡¯s party.

    Tess was frightened, she gestured, materializing her scepter for a fight.

    "Easy, he¡¯s a friend," Dave said as Spike skidded to a stop in front of his friend, throwing up dust and leaves. Dave petted the fiend and scratched under his chin.

    "To befriend one of the proud forest pronged fiends is an impressive feat. Your friends are extraordinary, yourdyship," the centaur was a gazing intently at Spike in awe. Without any further discussion he lifted a horn evenrger than Tess¡¯s to his lips and blew into the mouthpiece. Seven more centaurs materialized around him.

    "Let¡¯s hurry up, time is umting on our Stench debuff," Dave said as he mounted Spike.

 Chapter 236 Isolate and Devour

    Dave waited as the other yers mounted the centaurs.

    "We should get moving soon guys," Dave said.

    "Before we do, could you share the quest and the location of the tomb, please?" Tess askeding alongside him on Derin.

    Dave fiddled with his map settings and shared the coordinates and the quest with Tess.

    "That¡¯s a long way," Tess said.

    "I thought Stan¡¯s centaurs were supposed to get us to the tomb," nker shrugged.

    "Here name¡¯s Tess" Fortress snapped.

    Tess shook her head "Don¡¯t pay attention to the poopy head, schmoopie. The problem is that I have the level two Stench debuff, it will override your level one, luring even stronger monsters into attacking us."

    "We¡¯ll deal with shit when we find it. Let¡¯s just go now," Dave said

    "That¡¯s not a n, I thought you were the leader. The centaurs are fast but that¡¯s not enough to reach all the way to the tomb and when they are unsummoned, we¡¯ll be neck deep in monsters, very strong and high level monsters" Tess said.

    Dave already knew this, but he had no way to change the current situation. Waiting until his level was high enough to roam the Wilds would take him years of gametime.

    "But, we can probably make it with a bit of luck. Here," Tess said and waved a hand.

    Nine scrolls materialized in the air in front of the sorceress.

    Tess handed a scroll to each party member.

    Dave inspected the scroll and read the description.

    ***

    Magic Scroll of Haste

    Tier: Epic

    [Haste] (One Time Use): increases movement speed of the target by 200%.

    Duration: 12 Hours

    The [Haste] effect is cancelled when the target of the Magic Scroll entersbat.

    ***

    "Magic Scrolls? You can¡¯t buy these anywhere. How did you get them?" Lone asked.

    "I made them myself, I have the Inscriber profession."

    Lone continued to ask questions about Tess¡¯s profession and its advantages.

    Dave tore the scroll. A green aura enveloped the Spike and gathered at the fiends hooves. The same glowing effect happened with the centaurs.

    "Thanks Tess, these will be a big help, maybe enough to change our chances. Everyone move out!" he called, nudging Spike into a gallop toward the forest.

    Galloping through the forest the many glowing hooves looked like a trail of crazy oversized fireflies.

    The scenery blurred as the party galloped through the forest with breathtaking speeds.

    Surprisingly, the centaurs were keeping up with Spike, the fiend snarled and elerated. He didn¡¯t deem the centaurs worthy to run alongside him. Dave was almost slid off the fiend by the sudden eleration.

    He patted Spike, "Easy buddy, I know you¡¯re fast, there¡¯s no need to make this apetition."

    Spike slowed a little but kept the lead position.

    "I see weretigers up ahead!" Perfect shouted.

    Two weretigers were blocking the party¡¯s way. Their crimson eyes locked on the preying toward them.

    "Avoid contact! Don¡¯t let the were-fuckers hurt your mounts," Dave shouted over his shoulder. Any harm to Spike or the centaurs would cancel the [Haste] buff.

    Dave waved a hand and four magical orbs appeared. He gestured, sending the glowing spheres ahead, toward the weretigers.

    Dave waited for the right moment. Then, with a satisfied, "Eat this, were-fuckers!" he snapped his fingers. The orbs exploded, staggering the weretigers for long enough for everyone to get past them safely.

    Dave received a notification.

    ***

    You have been Marked!

    A weretiger has Marked you as its prey.

    The weretiger will not stop hunting you until one of you dies.

    ***

    "Yeah, well fuck you too," Dave cursed at the shapeshifters.

    The weretigers quickly shook off the effects of the explosions and chased after the party. But thanks to their [Haste] buffs they were soon out of the weretigers¡¯ sight.

    "More weretigers ahead!" Perfect shouted again.

    "To the left," Dave called as he guided Spike to avoid the weretigers.

    "I¡¯m marked!" Demeri shouted.

    "Same here," Ralph said.

    "Aw man, every monster in the Wilds is going to be after us at this rate," nker groaned.

    Dave ignored nker¡¯s whining.

    They sprinted through the Wilds for hours. Thankfully, Spike and the centaurs didn¡¯t show any signs of fatigue as they continued to flee from the pursuit of the shapeshifters.

    The weretigers followed them, their roars echoing through the Wilds. Whenever a new weretiger joined the hunt it used a Hunter Mark on one of the yers. Every party members had several Marks on themselves.

    The air became chilly and damp. The sunlight that prated the thick foliage waned as night time approached. The yers kept looking over their shoulders nervously, holding to their mounts with a death grip. Things got much much worse in the Wilds when it was dark.

    Tess spoke without her customary lightheartedness, "I have bad news everyone, my Stench debuff went up. It¡¯s at level three now."

    "Fuck," was nkers immediate reaction.

    "Perfect, stay sharp and tell us if you see anything strange. The rest of you guys, defend your mounts no matter what. We are going Pirate¡¯s Code!" Dave shouted.

    "What¡¯s Pirate code?" Tess asked, puzzled.

    Fortress chuckled, "Anyone who falls behind is left behind, schmoopie."

    "Exactly," Dave said.

    "Hey, one of the Marks is gone." Perfect said.

    "Same here, one of my Marks just disappeared. And another one gone. What¡¯s going on?" Ralph asked.

    "Did they give up?" nker¡¯s asked hopefully.

    "I don¡¯t think so. The notification says until..." Tess trailed off and she turned to look worriedly at the dark forest behind them.

    "Either us or the tiger dies. Something must have killed the weretigers," Mercy finished Tess¡¯s thought in a grim tone of voice. She moved a hand to her dagger again, looking around. This was not her ystyle, riding pell mell through a dark forest waiting to be attacked. She was an assassin, an ambush hunter, not a defender.

    The party¡¯s mood sank even further.

    The Marks continued to disappear, one after another, but instead of being relieved everyone was more worried. Whatever was killing the weretigers was obviously also powerful enough to wipe out the party of yers.

    "Just keep your eyes open. There is no guarantee that whatever killed the weretigers ising after us. Besides, we are moving very fas-" Dave stopped speaking. Every hair on his body stood on end as he realized something was running alongside Spike, keeping pace with the fiend silently and effortlessly.

    Dave turned to look, it was as big if not bigger than Spike. Long and low slung, the front of its torso was upright, it hadrge ovr eyes and held its folded, serrated forelimbs piously in front of itself. It was an insect. A praying mantis.

    ***

    Kurukuru

    Tier: Unique

    Danger level: ? ? ?

    Level: 550

    Base damage : 200,000-300,000

    HP: 1,000,000

    DN: 150,000

    MA: 155,000

    Skills:

    [Flesh Severing](Passive) KuruKuru¡¯s forelimb des Have a 50% chance to cause [Dismemberment]

    [Consume and Adapt] Consuming recently killed prey regenerates up to 100% of KuruKuru¡¯s HP. While the skill is active, KuruKuru enters a state of immunity, blocking all physical and magical damage for 10 seconds.

    [Steel Exoskeleton] (Passive) has 20% chance topletely physical damage from melee weapons.

    [Evolve and Ovee] (Passive) KuruKuru can learn and evolve from the different types of prey it consumes, gaining new abilities.

    [Fast Predator] When hunting prey, KuruKuru gaines 300% base movement speed. .

    How KuruKuru came into this world is a mystery. At first he was weak and small. The animals he encountered were too puny to fuel the rapid growth he craved. KuruKuru turned his guile and his predatory nature on the most dangerous creatures he could find, risking his life to satisfy his hunger. After each kill he feasted and changed, bing stronger, faster but ultimately only hungrier.

    ***

    Congrattions!

    You have discovered a Unique monster

    Killing a Unique monster will grant you a special reward!

    ***

    ¡¯Kill THAT? The fucking system is trolling me!¡¯

    The mantis chose that moment to swerve toward them and scythe its forearms at the yer.

 Chapter 237 Evolve and adap

    Eight yers were seated around arge round table in a conference room. They were the top leadership of Conquest¡¯s super guilds.

    A man in pink armor stood, "Let¡¯s start the meeting. We have already the Devastators will join with the European guild to conquer the Eastern Kingdom.

    we will send 10,000 yers, all higher than level 400. Our guild, however, wishes to change the terms of the contract."

    "What? You already agreed to the contract!" a yer in blue robes mmed his fist on the conference table..

    "Guildmaster Dimitri, I believe the new terms will be more favorable to both our Guilds. We are willing to assist your guild but, instead of money we want the city So," Valentine replied.

    A female elf in red leather armor leaned close to the man in blue and whispered, "Sir, they obviously want the city because it controls ess to the Eastern Sea and the Wilds."

    "We also want a year of tax exemption on items we sell in Eastern Kingdom shops and free use of the Eastern Kingdom¡¯s teleport gates for our guild members," Valentine added.

    "You Americans, your greed knows no bounds," the man in blue said.

    "Those are our terms, Guildmaster Dimitri, take them or leave them," Valentine said..

    Dimitri tapped his fingers on the table thinking about the terms. His guild, the European Might had offered the Devastators two hundred million dors to aid them in conquering the Eastern Kingdom.They proposed the same amount of money to the other super guilds.

    But in the end, Dimitri had to concede to the Devastators. Apart from financial power, the new guild; the European Union didn¡¯t have the manpower to conquer the east alone.

    "Agreed," Dimitri said.

    "Good, now we are in business," Valentine said.

    "But you will use your best yers in the raid," Dimitri pointed at the ck armored man next to Valentine, "I want Warlord to join the raid."

    Valentine nodded and said, "Yes, Warlord will lead our forces himself. We also contracted another S legacy holder."

    "You are taking this lightly, keep thinking like this and this whole raid will fail?" a man wearing a red kimono and a katana strapped to his waists said.

    He sat across from Warlord, he sat with his back straight, he was calm and calctive as he looked at the people around the conference table. He was the leader of the Blood Ragers.

    Warlord spoke for the first time, "What are you getting at, Zhang Shi?"

    Warlord antagonized Zhang Shi out of spite. The betrayal by the Blood Ragers was the decisive reason why the Devastators failed to capture the Underworld.

    "The Right of Conquest gives you gate coordinates not the Key Master title. So to get to the Eastern Kingdom, you have to cross the Wilds.

    Tell me, how are you going to do that with so many yers that have the Stench debuff?"

    Zhang Shi didn¡¯t care if the raid seeded, he only cared about the money he would be getting from the European guild for .

    "The Heavens Dawn guild already has a n to get the raid through the wilds," A man in priestly vestments said.

    The speaker was White Ghost. The right hand of the Heaven¡¯s Dawn guild, known as the best strategist in Conquest. Seated next to him was a Hulk-like figure in leather armors, Wan Yi.

    "And what¡¯s that?" Zhang Shi asked calmly.

    "A pawn sacrifice."

    Everyone looked at White Ghost in confusion. He reveled in theirck of understanding and only exined when they gave up trying to decipher the meaning of his words..

    "We will send the yers with the highest Stench debuff levels first into the Wilds. They will lead the monsters away giving us time to cross the Wilds."

    "A monkey could have came up with that n! The real danger to this raid is the ck dragon, How are you going to deal with a level 750 monster?" Zhang Shi said.

    "I have my ways." White Ghost was being deliberately ambiguous.

    "And what are your ¡¯ways¡¯?" asked an archer sitting next to Zhang Shi.

    "Only the Dimitri knows and he approved it," White Ghost smiled at Zhang-Shi.

    Zhang Shi snorted. Win or lose, he would be paid. And if his guild members lost levels in the process, they would bepensated.

    "The date of the raid has been set. Three days from today we will march on the Eastern Kingdom. We¡¯ll be using the teleport gate in Moria as it is the closest to the Wilds. We will make an operations base there," Dimitri said.

    "I heard you contracted [It¡¯s Just business] to assassinate the king. Can you trust them? Are you sure they won¡¯t just take the kingdom for themselves when they kill the king?" Zhang Shi asked.

    "They are trustworthy and they are simply not interested in ruling a kingdom. So you don¡¯t have to worry about them, my only concern is if someone else tries to sabotage the operation. we do not tolerate traitors," Dimitri said in a threatening tone.

    The meeting continued with everyone discussing military logistic.

    Elsewhere in Conquest, nine yers were running for their lives.

    ***

    The giant praying mantis swung at Dave with its deadly de. Dave raised his shield and used [Block], then waved his hand and snapped his fingers, detonating four [Spectral Skulls] right in the mantis¡¯ T-shaped face.

    The mantis staggered, surprised and disoriented. The prey dared to hurt it. The mantis screeched and started chasing them again.

    "Ew EWW EWW!" Demeri screamed.

    Dave looked back, she was frantically scratching her limbs, body and neck.

    "What¡¯s wrong?" Ralph shouted.

    "I hate bugs! They make me itch."

    Dave shook his head, "Use long-range crowd control to disrupt and slow it down. We need to stay ahead of it, the moment it touches a mount, it¡¯s game over!"

    "Hey man, ¡¯game over¡¯ is my line. Get your own material!" nker said.

    The priest began wave his staff and chanted, "Weak knees, Brittle bones!"

    A glowing wave of magic shot from nker¡¯s staff toward their pursuer. But the mantis disappeared, avoiding the glowing light.

    "Damn, that bugger is fast!!"

    Lone shot at the mantis several times, but the bug either snapped the arrows in two or dodged..

    "Dodge this!" Lone pulled back on her bowstring then released the ice arrow that materialized. She wasn¡¯t aiming at the mantis, but the ground in front of it.

    The mantis saw the arrow and ignored it, assuming it was not a threat. The arrow struck the ground as intended and exploded in white frost, creating an ice dome that trapped the mantis for five seconds.

    "Nice one Lone!" Dave shouted.

    "T-Thanks," Lone said.

    The party continued their race through the Wilds. Soon it was too dark to see, they couldn¡¯t use torches while riding, so Dave called on thest person he would have thought to rely on.

    "nker, we need light!"

    nker nodded and called out, "Holy Radiance!"

    The pervert priest¡¯s staff burned with bright golden light, chasing away the darkness of the forest.

    "Careful, the mantis is on the right!" Perfect shouted again, he was keeping track of the monster thanks to his Ranger skills.

    "Let me deal with it" Tess waved her scepter.

    A ring of ck smoke spread out from Tess¡¯s staff. The ring grew rapidly and covered the whole party. The smoke coalesced into nine figures that looked exactly like the party members, even the centaurs and Spike were duplicated. The clone party diverged from the real one, taking the aggro of the praying mantis.

    "This is only temporary, the Skill even duplicates the Stench debuff, so the mantis will keep chasing them until it kills the clones," Tess said.

    "No, it¡¯s amazing. We¡¯re gonna gain some distance on that praying bugger now," Dave said.

    They continued to rush headlong through the forest.

    But all too soon Tess informed them, "The mantis has caught up to the clones, it¡¯s destroying them."

    "Already?" nker asked.

    "Don¡¯t worry we are still widening the gap with the manti- STOP!" Dave shouted and Spike backpedaled to a stop.

    The party slowed down and came to a stop behind Dave.

    "What¡¯s going on?" Ralph asked.

    "Look over there," Dave dispiritedly said.

    The party were standing at the edge of a chasm that looked like it split the whole Wilds in two.

    "What do we do man?" nker said. He was looking over his shoulder afraid that the mantis would jump him at any moment.

    Dave dismounted and approached the edge. He looked down, seeing an abyss with no bottom in sight his heart sank.

    "Wait, I see something. There¡¯s a bridge over there!" Perfect was pointing to his right.

    Dave squinted in the direction Perfect was pointing. He couldn¡¯t see anything, but he trusted the ranger¡¯s ss enhanced senses.

    "Let¡¯s go, we need to hurry. Perfect, lead the way."

    Another high-pitched and faraway scream notified the party of the approaching mantis.

    Dave mounted again and the party raced after Perfect.

    A minuteter the party stopped at the end of a dpidated wooden bridge. It was a wooden suspension bridge with rope guidelines.

    "Shit, will this thing support us?" nker said.

    Perfect knelt inspecting the bridge.

    "The wood is still sound it should be able to hold our weight, and even the centaurs. But I doubt it can support Spike," Perfect said.

    The fiend grumbled, understanding what the ranger was saying, maybe he didn¡¯t like being called fat.

    But Perfect was right, the forest prong fiend weighed several tons. Crossing the bridge would be suicide for the fiend.

    Dave stroked Spike¡¯s fur, "I will cross on foot first, when I get to the other side, I will whistle to summon you, okay? But don¡¯t stay here, the mantis will be arriving soon."

    Dave dismounted and pped the fiend on the nk. Spike bounded through the brush and disappeared into the thick forest.

    "Hurry up everyone, the centaurs go first, one by one." Dave said.

    While the centaurs crossed to the other side, the yers frequently looked behind at the dark, silent forest. When the centaurs were on the other side, the yers started crossing.

    Walking the bridge was not an experience Dave wanted to remember. The wood creaked and groaned with every step. The wind shook the structure. Dave grabbed to the ropes on the side and took deliberate steps. He looked down and immediately regretted it.

    Dave had never liked heights, but he sucked it up and kept walking.

    Thankfully everyone reached the other side of the bridge.

    But just as thest member of the party stepped off the bridge, Perfect who was keeping a lookout, swore.

    "Shit, the mantis is here."

    The praying mantis was walking from side to side at the foot of the bridge. The mantis seemed to be searching for something, antlers quivering wildly. It spotted the ¡¯real¡¯ party and screeched.

    "Destroy the bridge!" Dave said.

    He equipped his mberge and struck at the ropes supporting the bridge. The rest of the party joined him and attacked the structure, trying to bring it down before the mantis crossed the span. The bridge shuddered under the attacks.

    When the mantis realized what the prey things were trying to do, it sped across, toward the yer¡¯s side before the bridge fell.

    SNAAAP!

    The bridge slowly fell from the yer¡¯s side of the chasm. The drop from that height was sure to kill the monster insect. For a moment everyone was relieved. But things didn¡¯t work out as they¡¯d hoped, the mantis turned and sped nimbly along the span of the bridge even as it fell and made it safely to the other side.

    "Damn. Still, there is no way it can follow us now," Dave sighed in relief. Then he whistled sharply and Spike appeared right next to the yer

    "Good boy," Dave said and mounted the fiend.

    Pausing nker turned and pped his butt at the monster. "Kiss my shiney hiney, bug face! Who¡¯s your daddy now? You want us so bad, you better grow wings!"

    The bug, as if understanding nker¡¯s taunts, howled and screeched louder than ever, its body jerking violently, as if it was having a seizure.

    nker stared at a notification, "What the fuck am I supposed to do with a taunt Skill? I¡¯m a priest for fuck¡¯s sake."

    Perfect looked back. "The mantis is acting weird."

    Then the ranger gulped, "Oh shit."

    The Wilds were eerily calm at that moment, so the entire party heard the sound of chitin tearing.

    On the other side of the chasm the mantis finally stopped spasming and two pairs wings emerged from under its carapace. It flexed the iridescent appendages and they vibrated, moving faster and faster until they were buzzing. Then the mantis lifted from the ground and soared into the air.

    "Godammit nker, you just had to fucking jinx it!"

 Chapter 238 Oh My, Whats next? bears?

    "Nice! It¡¯s much slower in the air," nker said, looking around as if expecting praise for precipitating the mantid¡¯s transformation and continued pursuit.

    Still, nker was correct, the mantis was actually much slower in the air than it was on the ground.

    Dave¡¯s mouth curved in a wicked smile, "Hm, does anyone remember an old shooting game called Duck Hunt?"

    The other yers immediately understood what Dave meant. They grinned and readied their long-range attacks.

    "Yeah, Duck Hunt. With that stupidly annoying dogughing all the time." Dave gestured, summoning floating orbs, "It¡¯s payback time. Ready. Aim. Fire at will!"

    With a wave of his hand Dave sent his magical attack at the flying mantid. Lone and Perfect loosed their arrows at the insect and the other yers used any ranged Skills they had to attack the bug. Tess shot ck magic orbs at the flying creature with her scepter. The dark orbs exploded in spreading shockwaves of distorted space.

    Kurukuru clumsily tried to avoid the iing projectiles could not cope with the speed and sheer numbers of the iing attacks. Dave¡¯s exploding light orbs caused the mantis to stagger in the air. It screeched and dropped precipitously for a moment, but then regained altitude. The mantis screeched louder and louder, feeling wronged. The prey was fighting back, its tiny brain couldn¡¯t understand why, prey need only die and be consumed! Screaming while being eaten alive was something the mantis favored in prey also.

    The mantis finally understood that it was bad to fly, because prey can shoot at it and the mantid couldn¡¯t do anything against aerial bombardments. So it quite sensibly turned back toward the other side of the rift.

    "Oh no! You¡¯re not getting away that easy!" Lone Arrow¡¯s hands blurred, shooting dozens of ice arrows at the flying mantis. Frost umted on the insect and spread to its wings. Then one of the mantid¡¯s wings froze overpletely, the bug lost its ability to fly and fell into the chasm, a loud screech trailing away as it fell.

    "Well that was easy," nker said, dusting off his hands.

    "You¡¯re an idiot," Perfect smacked nker on the back of his head, "When are you going to learn to keep your big mouth shut?"

    nker rubbed his head, "Oww, man! What was that for? Everything worked out fine, it¡¯s dead."

    Perfect shook his head, "It¡¯s not dead. We didn¡¯t get the kill notification."

    "Perfect is right, the bug must have survived. Let¡¯s just G-T-F-O. We still have a long way to go," Dave said. He mounted Spike and nudged him forward, the rest of the party followed after.

    nker kept his staff glowing to light their way. It became immediately obvious that they had entered a new area of the Wilds. The trees were red, the leaves were the color of wet blood and the trunks were gunmetal gray. None of the yers wanted to voice their thoughts on what the ominous symbolism might possible mean or foreshadow.

    nker looked at his map and said, "We¡¯re more than halfway to the tomb."

    "Yeah, thanks to Tess¡¯s centaurs and her [Haste] scrolls." Fortress dered proudly.

    "Yeah, there¡¯s no doubt Tess saved our bacon. Speaking of bacon, I¡¯m getting hungry guys. When the centaurs are unsummoned, we should stop and eat," Dave said. Everyone agreed having a bite to eat was a good idea. They¡¯d been ying for an extended time. While the VR capsules they were ying from managed physiological functions, it did not satiate their hunger or provide nutrition.

    After a while of traveling through the dark forest, Ralph received a notification, which he reported to the other yers in a jovial tone. "I just got the Wilds debuff, now I stink just like you guys do."

    "Some of us stink worse than others," nker said as he nced at Tess. No one knew if he was talking about the debuff or an IRL fat sweaty 300 pound ¡¯Stan.¡¯

    Tess rolled her eyes and made a ¡¯crush your head¡¯ movement with her fingers at nker, but didn¡¯t reply to the pervert priest¡¯s sarcasticment.

    They had found a path lined with two absolutely symmetrical rows of blood-red trees, and were traveling even faster than before. Suddenly, Spike started growling and snarling.

    "What¡¯s wrong Spike?" Dave asked.

    "Something is stalking us," Derin said as he looked around, searching.

    "Shit, please don¡¯t let it be the mantis again," nker turned and focused his light to show the path behind the party. But there was nothing there, just the forest of red trees.

    "What are you doing, nker? We need the light!" Dave eximed.

    "Oh, sorry, man," nker said, turning the illumination back to the front. Something shed across the path in front of the party like a ghost and disappeared.

    "The fuck was that?!" Demeri yelped, looking around wildly.

    "I didn¡¯t get a chance to inspect it. Everyone just keep going," Dave said.

    They ran on, trying to outrace the new threat, but shortly after the appearance of the ¡¯ghost¡¯ they came to a stop. The path ended in thick growths of thorny vines like razor wire. The choking nts wrapped around and between the trees, blocking the waypletely.

    "Let¡¯s go back, we can¡¯t stay here," Dave said urgently. They were being hunted and this confined area was not a good ce for a fight.

    A low growling voice came from behind them, "This is a lonely ce to die."

    The girls yelped in surprise. Even Mercy, with her nerves of steel, was no exception. Dave felt a little spark of pride that he managed to keep his cool and not scream, even though his heart had jumped into his throat too.

    ¡¯Heh heh, never let ¡¯em see you sweat.¡¯

    But when he got a good look at the owner of the voice he started sweating. Buckets.

    He felt like someone was ying a dirty prank on him. The creature stood upright, twice the height of man. That was no problem. What creeped Dave out was the the blend of human and lion features. Tawny gold and ck fur, ws, a muzzle full of sharp teeth, and a luxurious mane done in thick dreadlocks tied with ribbons and beads.

    ¡¯You gotta be kidding me. Were-wolves and tigers were nightmarish enough, now the game throws a were-lion at us.¡¯

    The lion-thing held an enormous broad knife in one hand, it looked heavier than Ralph¡¯s greatsword, like it could be used to chop down trees. Fresh blood dripped from the de. The three roundish shapes hung from the creatures wide belt also dripped blood. When the lion creature moved the objects swayed and rolled enough for the yers identify them as heads. Heads that used to be attached to the necks of weretigers.

    "What are you doing in my territory? Well? Cat got your tongue? Speak!" the creature demanded, his green and yellow eyes examining the yers.

    "Fur kitty!" Demeri squealed into the silence, much to the were-lion¡¯s astonishment, not to mention the other yers, at least the non-female ones. Lone, Tess, and even Mercy started dismounting from their centaurs, cooing like doves when they saw the big gold and ck ¡¯fur kitty.¡¯

    ¡¯That¡¯s a fucking half-man half-lion!¡¯

    Dave rubbed his eyes, wondering if the girls saw something other than a big lion-dude with a bloody sword in his w, paw...hand, whatever.

    Dave inspected the ¡¯fur kitty¡¯:

    ***

    Name: Leonard The Pridestalker (beastkin monster)

    Tier: Unique

    Danger level: ? ? ?

    Level: 550

    Base damage: 250,000-320,000

    HP: 1,000,000

    DN: 150,000

    MA: 155,000

    Skills:

    [Worthy Prey] (Passive): Leonard lives for the thrill of the hunt and is above hunting weak game. He hunts only those he deems deserving of the honor of death by his hands as [Worthy Prey].

    [Cut Me, I¡¯ll Gut You!] (Passive): base damage is increased by 20% for every 10% HP Leonard loses to attacks by [Worthy Prey] and on his next basic attack he has 100% chance for a critical hit.

    [Disembowel] (passive): Leonard the Pridestalker has 20% chance to eviscerate a target, instantly bleeding them for 30% of their max HP. Additionally, if the target does not receive healing in 10 seconds, the target is immediately [Executed].

    [Hunter¡¯s Roar]: inflicts a [Fear] status effect on the target. Damage to targets afflicted with the [Fear] effect is doubled.

    [Thrill of the Hunt]: Leonard bes invisible and base movement speed increases 200%.

    Lore:

    Leonard the Pridestalkeres from the extinct hunter triev Destaria. He lives for the thrill of stalking then battling dangerous creatures to the death. He scours the world for the most fearsome beasts he can find. Thest of his kind, Leonard stalks his prey neither for food nor glory, but for the sheer thrill of the hunt.

    ***

    Congrattions!

    You have discovered a Unique monster. (Again!)

    Killing a Unique monster will grant you a special reward! (C¡¯mon, you know you want it...)

    ***

    ¡¯What is up with the snark in these notifications?¡¯

    nker groaned, "Again, with this Unique monster shit man."

    Dave held his hand up gesturing nker to quiet down.

    This Unique monster was different from the praying mantis. He had a yellow name-tag and he could speak.

    Dave realized that this Leonard could be reasoned with, so he asked, "Why are you following us?"

    The lion-faced monster grinned, or maybe snarled, showing sharp rows of deadly teeth. He flicked the blood from his knife, "I am stalking a powerful monster, one I¡¯ve been after for several weeks now."

    "We just got to the Wilds today, I don¡¯t think we are your prey, lion-o," Ralph said.

    "You have the creature¡¯s smell on you, I can smell it even with the Wild¡¯s Stenching from you," Leonard said, wrinkling his nose.

    Dave frowned then said, "Is the monster you are hunting an oversized mantis?"

    "So, you have seen it! Excellent. Tell me of it, tell me where youst saw it!" The lion was thrilled.

    ***

    You have fulfilled the conditions to unlock the hidden quest: [The Hunt is On!]

    Quest tier: S

    Time limit: None

    You have encountered two Unique creatures, Kurukuru the Mantid and Leonard the Pridestalker.

    Both monsters are temporarily neutral toward you.

    Choose to help one of these Unique creatures kill the other.

    Help Kurukuru kill Leonard the Pridestalker, the mantid will evolve into a final form and reward you with the skill [Iste].

    Help Leonard kill the mantid Kurukuru, achieving the Pridestalker¡¯s goal of hunting powerful [Worthy Prey]. You will be rewarded with the item: [Booth Ne]

    ***

    Dave selected the reward options to see more information on them.

    ***

    [Iste]: When fighting single opponents adds 5% damage to all your skills and abilities.

    ***

    ***

    [Booth Ne]

    Item level: 350

    Tier: Epic

    Effects +50 to all attributes.

    Active Skills

    [Muffle Presence] (Active): For one hour a day, be harder to detect in the Wilds.

    (Don¡¯t count on this too much, it probably won¡¯t hide you from a dragon).

    ***

    "Well this is...interesting," Dave said as he looked over the two options, wondering again about the sarcastic additions to the system messages.

 Chapter 239 Choices, Hard or Furry

    "Tell me stinky ones, where did youst see the monster?" Leonard asked, baring his gleaming fangs again in what was either a smile or a snarl.

    Before Dave could reply a notification popped up in his view.

    ***

    Addendum to [The Hunt is On!]

    Your choice of which Unique creature to aid has not yet been made.

    Caution: Depending on what ismunicated, providing information to Leonard could be considered aiding the Pridestalker in his hunt to kill Kurukuru the Mantid.

    ***

    "I got this," Dave told the other yers over the party chat. Heeding the system message, Dave thought quickly and chose his words carefully to answer Leonard.

    "We were being chased by mantis but lost it at the chasm. We destroyed the bridge after we crossed over so the mantis couldn¡¯t follow us."

    Dave just prayed the were-thing couldn¡¯t detect that he¡¯d chosen not to divulge more critical information. Thankfully none of the other yers volunteered anything to the Pridestalker.

    "Hmm, very well. I will go there and resume my hunt." But despite what Leonard just said he moved closer to the group of yers, angling toward Dave in graceful feline strides.

    Dave froze, the were-thing was just suddenly within touching distance of Spike.

    "A fine ride you have here." The Pridestalker reached out to pat Spike¡¯s withers with his broad hand-paw, the curved ripping ws all too evident.

    The forest fiend was frothing at the mouth, snorting and shaking in fear. Dave himself could barely restrain the urge to run screaming from the were-thing. He knew fleeing prey just excited predators more, that terrifying thought helped him control the urge to run.

    "Too bad the beast is tame, it would have made a fine addition to my collection, ha-ha-ha!" The beastkin¡¯sugh was nasty, it implied fear and pain for whatever or whoever inspired it.

    Leonard turned away from the yers and stalked toward the forest. At the tree line he paused and looked back. He raised his leonine head and inhaled through his broad nostrils, scenting the air.

    "Perhaps we will meet again when you yourselves be worthy prey."

    With thatst dickish maybe-threat, the lion turned and walked into the forest. His form literally faded away, growing transparent until he disappeared entirely.

    Dave wondered if the asshole had a wine cer and ate liver with fava beans. He shook his terror off and breathed as he carefully inspected his surroundings, he doubted the hunter was truly gone.

    nker opened his mouth to say something but Dave peremptorily gestured at him to keep quiet.

    "This is not the time or ce for talk. Everyone use the party chat from now on. Let¡¯s get out of here."

    They followed Dave going back in the direction they came from, they would have to find a way around the bramble patch. He didn¡¯t think it was going to be easy the razor-thorned vines had grown as far as he could see in the area where they¡¯d met the lion-man..

    "Why did you lie? Why didn¡¯t you tell the fur kitty everything?" Demeri asked heatedly through the party chat.

    "I don¡¯t trust were-things. And I didn¡¯t lie, I just didn¡¯t tell the whole truth, there¡¯s a difference."

    "He¡¯s beastkin, not a were," Perfect joined in.

    "Same difference, they¡¯re all creepy!"

    Perfect sighed, "Dude, that¡¯s not a good enough reason to antagonize the very scary and VERY OP monster-lion."

    "You guys want reasons? Okay. First, the item Mr. Lion face offered is trash. Sure, it¡¯s high-level, but it¡¯s only good in the Wilds.

    "Second, the bug¡¯s reward, [Iste], would add significant damage to our attack Skills. It¡¯s the much better reward, that¡¯s why I think we should choose to help the bug."

    There were startled exmations and protests over the party chat. No one liked the ¡¯bug¡¯ and several someones, who would remain anonymous to protect the innocent, even expressed a decided preference for helping the ¡¯fur kitty, squeeee¡¯ since it was only a game after all and it didn¡¯t REALLY matter which monster won.

    "But why help a nasty BUG when you could help the furry soft-kitty!" Demeri was the most persistently opposed to choosing the mantis.

    "I don¡¯t care how ¡¯furry¡¯ or ¡¯soft¡¯ the were-thing is, he is not our friend," Dave said sharply.

    "Everyone keep your eyes to the front, Don¡¯t look around when I tell you this next part: There is a Mark on Spike where Leonard touched him. If I wasn¡¯t paying attention I would have missed it. That¡¯s reason three to side with bug-face over the were-monster.

    "I got the description when I inspected the Mark. I just shared it with everyone, take a look."

    ***

    Mark: Lure Concoction (Weretiger)

    The Pridestalker Leonard is a ferocious and experienced hunter. When he learned that the prey he was hunting especially enjoyed feasting on weretigers, Leonard made a concoction from weretiger liver to attract the mantis.

    ***

    There was a brief shocked silence on the party chat.

    nker broke the hush, "I don¡¯t get it. So what?"

    Perfect snarled, "It¡¯s not hard man, do the math. Lion-o is using us as bait to lure in the mantis."

    "Oh," nker nodded, "Got it. Bastard. I vote we help the bug."

    "What¡¯s the n, Dave?" Ralph asked over the party chat.

    "Let¡¯s just get out of the area and back on track toward the tomb," Dave said.

    "Skelly, let¡¯s just wash the Mark off Spike and get away from both of these Unique assholes," nker said.

    "If we do that, the were-thing will know we are on to him. I don¡¯t think he¡¯s the type to give up any advantage. Let¡¯s just y along for now, let his evil were-ness think we are suckers."

    nker shuddered and looked around nervously, afraid of being ambushed by a ck and gold cat-dude or a flying green bug-monster. He was just too squishy for all this ambush and charging into danger crap. He was a priest dammit, a sensitive and cultured magic-user, not some ham-handed brute. He was meant to hide behind big crunchy tanks and grace ¡¯those types¡¯ with his munificent buffs and heals.

    Backtracking, they reached the chasm and stopped at the foot of the bridge. Thankfully, there was no sign to indicate the mantis was still there.

    Dave looked at Perfect, "You¡¯re the man now, dawg. Use your ranger Skills to find us a way past those thorn vines."

    "Let¡¯s follow the chasm, maybe I can find a path through the brambles," Perfect said after looking around and staring into the distance, obviously doing something with his interface.

    "Lead the way," Dave said.

    They followed Perfect single file the chasm edge on one side and the forest of blood-red forest trees on the other.

    After travelling a good distance, Perfect finally slowed, looking intently into the forest.

    "This might be a way through, no brambles as far as I can sense. Follow me," Perfect said. The ranger guided his centaur to turn into the forest and the others followed.

    They went through dozens of miles in the Wilds without meeting any monsters.

    Shortly after daylight broke Tess spoke through the chat, "The timer for the centaur summons is almost up, let¡¯s dismount here."

    When they stopped, Dave checked the time, it waste evening IRL. His growling stomach reminded him that he hadn¡¯t eaten anything since morning.

    "Let¡¯s take a break and get some food since we¡¯re stopping anyway," Dave said.

    But when they tried to log out they got a notification.

    ***

    In the Deep wilds, you can only log out if you are in a camp.

    Be aware, your idle avatar will remain in the Wilds when you log out.

    If your avatars are killed by monsters, you will be sent to yourst respawn point.

    ***

    "What the flying fuck is this?!" Dave said.

    "Now what do we do?" nker whined.

    "No biggie. I have a tent in my inventory. I¡¯ll set it up, then we can log out," Perfect said.

    "Cool. But I think someone should stay in-game to guard the avatars and let us know if we need to log back in for any reason," Dave said.

    "Who¡¯s going to stay?" Ralph asked.

    "Should we draw lots?" Demeri said.

    Surprisingly, nker answered, "Nah, I¡¯ll stay, I need to do my prayers, so I¡¯ll be ready for the big event at the tomb."

    "I didn¡¯t think you were the pious type, not with that name at least," Ralph grinned.

    "I¡¯m not, but I¡¯m trying to get my next ss quest. I have to do daily prayers for a month straight. You guys won¡¯t be out for long though, right?" nker asked.

    "Nah, a thirty minute break for food and necessities. That¡¯s an hour and a half to you in-game. Just call if anything happens," Dave said.

    Dave spoke the next instruction out loud, winking at nker, "Oh, and nker, if you¡¯re staying, you might as well give Spike a good cleaning. He¡¯s starting to stink."

    Spike heard Dave call him stinky and grumbled discontentedly.

    The pervert priest understood Dave¡¯s meaning. Even if the Pridestalker was watching and listening, nker now had a legitimate reason to wash the fiend, hopefully destroying the tracking mark.

    After Perfect set up the tent and got a notification that a camp had been established, the yers were able to log out.

    Dave climbed out of his capsule and stretched. His muscles were tight from the inactivity of being in the pod all day. He crossed the hall and knocked on the door to the other suite.

    "Let¡¯s get some chow and check out some babes!" Ralph said when he opened the door.

    "We can¡¯t bro, we gotta stay here in case we need to get back to the game on short notice."

    Ralph¡¯s face fell but he was soon grinning again, his enthusiasm for everything was irrepressible. "That¡¯s true. I guess it¡¯s room service for us again. How about pizza?"

    "I never say no to pizza. Extra pepperoni, extra cheese and beer."

    Ralph nodded, "Ah,I see you¡¯re a man of culture as well."

    The beer and pizza arrived quickly and they set to with a will.

    "I don¡¯t think anyone has gotten as far as we are into the Wilds," Ralph mused as he chewed messily,pletely unselfconscious about his atrocious table manners.

    Dave nodded, "Well, I don¡¯t know how he did it but that one yer made it all the way to the Eastern kingdom. Beer me."

    Ralph handed Dave a beer then popped open one of his own and took a long swig.

    "Yeah, I don¡¯t know how he did it either. Anyways, I¡¯m behind on my leveling. We¡¯ve been running all day, so I didn¡¯t get a chance to grind." Ralphined.

    He was stuffing another slice of pizza slice into his mouth and chewing. He could almost fit an entire slice in one go. Dave waspletely envious of the ability.

    "Sorry about that bro, I¡¯ll make it up to you."

    Dave chugged his beer and let out a long echoing belch.

    "When the Undead Legion is revived and I get my Boyz back I¡¯ll bring you down to the Underworld. We¡¯ll grind to our hearts¡¯ content. Easy EXP, bro."

    "I¡¯ll hold you to that mate," Ralph opened another beer and raised it in a toast, "To easy EXP and the rise of the Undead Legion!"

    "To the Legion!" Dave toasted back as they clinked their beers.

    Soon there was only one pizza slice left. The two looked at each other through narrowed eyes, there was one rule when it came to pizza: thest slice belonged to the quickest hand.

    And just like every other time, when the smoke cleared, the final slice was in Ralph¡¯s hand. At least the part of it that hadn¡¯t already been devoured.

    "Damn it," Dave scowled.

    "Ha! You¡¯re slower than an arthritic grandma," Ralph took another huge bite, exaggerating his enjoyment, even making moaning sounds as he chewed.

    Dave chuckled and started cleaning the table. Suddenly, their phones beeped at the same time. It was nker.

    "What happened? Is the mantis back?" Dave asked without waiting for the priest to say anything.

    nker¡¯s reply was panicky, "No, but you gotta log in quick. I¡¯m surrounded by many, many tiny...oh shit they have rope-"

    And he was gone, cut off.

    "Dafuck was that? Log in!" Dave yelled as he rushed back to his pod.

 Chapter 240 Dispicable Ingredien

    The first thing Dave saw above him when he opened his eyes after logging in was red leaves slowly moving past, Realizing he was lying down he tried to sit up but couldn¡¯t move, he was restrained. Turning his head, he saw his friends tied to broad wooden nks being carried by groups of doll-sized figures. The tiny manlike creatures had bushy hair, dark skin and wore little more than breechclouts. They were small but obviously very strong for their size, they carried the yers with very little effort, like groups of ants carrying much bigger objects than themselves.

    nker was being carried right next to him. When the priest saw Dave moving he said, "Hey Stroke, thank god you¡¯re back, we¡¯re in some deep shit."

    One of the little figures bared tiny shark teeth and poked nker with its spear, gibbering iprehensibly in an angry high-pitched squeak.

    "Oww! Stop that you little monster- O."

    "nker, what happened? And where¡¯s Spike?" Dave asked through the party chat.

    "Fuck, that hurt. Yeah, these buggers just suddenly appeared all around me while I was cleaning Spike. HE ran away, the big wuss. I tried to talk to them, but these little fellows no understanda de Englees."

    Dave struggled for a while but he couldn¡¯t loosen the ropes or get free, and all his skills were grayed out.

    "Can you use your skills?"

    "No man, they all went gray when they tied me up," nker said.

    Dave checked his battle logs.

    ***

    You have been Restrained and Captured.

    As long as you are Restrained, you cannot use any of your skills, and your inventory is locked.

    ***

    Dave thought for a moment then tried to see around him as best he could, he looked at one of the small creatures and inspected it.

    ***

    Smollzy

    Level: 480

    Danger Level: ?

    Base damage: 10-20 (t Damage)

    HP: 250,000

    DN: 300,000

    MA: 500,000

    Skills:

    [Impervious Band] (Passive) +0.1% Damage Negation for every nearby tribe member.

    [Tribal Frenzy]: attacking one Smollzy incurs the wrath of the entire tribe. Base attack speed and movement speed of all tribe members increased by 200%.

    Lore:

    The smollzies are a primitive tribe of creatures of unknown origin. They are weak individually but are extremely resilient to magic and physical damage. When inrge groups they are some of the sturdiest and most difficult creatures in the Wilds to kill. Their flesh is so tough and they taste so badly, no denizen of the Wilds bothers to hunt them. For that reason they are able to thrive and multiply in the Wilds. Their real name is unknown as no one who has survived an encounter with them long enough to learn anything, or if they did they were unable to escape in the end. The moniker ¡¯Smollzy¡¯es from an iplete description of the creatures given by a fellow who did survive to escape. The escapee was found dying at the edge of the Wilds, pincushioned with tiny Smollzy bone spears. The unfortunate fellow uttered, "So many small zeeee-" then died on the spot.

    ***

    ¡¯The more there are the tougher it is to kill these smollzies. Each one only does a tiny bit of damage but it¡¯s fucking t Damage, and if there are more than a thousand of them in one ce they¡¯re invulnerable.¡¯

    Ralph woke up in his avatar and looked around. "What the hell is going on? O!"

    "We don¡¯t know man. Use the party chat to talk, these little bastards get stabby when you say anything out loud," Dave said.

    "Thanks for the timely ¡¯warning,¡¯ bro," Ralph replied in-chat, ring at his friend.

    "Sorry, Ralphie," Dave chuckled, he figured they were even for the pizza now.

    nker chimed in, "I feel your pain, man. These little monsters stab where it hurts!"

    "Hey, all my skills are grayed out," Ralph said.

    "It¡¯s from being tied up, status ¡¯Restrained,¡¯" Dave informed his friend.

    The girls logged in, their avatars waking up. Dave and Ralph exined the situation to them over the party chat.

    Mercy did not take being tied up well at all.

    "What¡¯s the n? I really want to try my daggers out on these Chuckie motherfuckers," she snarled over the chat.

    "Nothing for now. We aren¡¯t dead, so we have that going for us," Dave answered with grim humor. Maybe this was an event or they were going to die. Either way, without being able to use their Skills they could only wait and see.

    The smollzies zigzagged their way through the forest, never travelling in a straight line. Half an hourter, the smollzies stopped and ced the yers down. Dave looked around, he was in a vige made up of hundreds of small huts. The smollzies had ced them within a circle of carved totem poles that surrounded an enormous firepit at the center of the vige.

    From the trees near the vige, a group of smollzies emerged, carrying a huge ck cauldron. They positioned the big iron cauldron over the firepit at the center of the vige and ced smollzy-sizeddders against the cauldron.

    nker gulped nervously, "Where did these low-brows get a metal cauldron? They don¡¯t have any other metal items."

    "Has anyone read Gulliver¡¯s Travels?" Perfect asked.

    Ralph cursed, "Damn. They¡¯re seasoning the pot and we are the main ingredient."

    nker started to panic when he saw the smollzies climb thedders and start adding water, herbs and vegetables.

    "They¡¯re gonna cook us?! Oi stop that little dudes! You don¡¯t wanna eat me, I taste really bad I swear!" nker yelled as he thrashed wildly."

    A perturbed smollzy jabbed the pervert priest with its spear.

    "This sucks. We¡¯re gonna die and we¡¯re so close to the tomb," Fortress said.

    Four smollzies released Dave from the nk, leaving his hands tied. Even Though the creatures only reached as high as his knee they had no trouble pulling him toward the cauldron.

    "Someone¡¯s gotta do something! Skelly¡¯s going into the pot, that¡¯s a terrible way to go man," Perfect said.

    "Hail Mary, I hope this works," Demeri said then began to sing a sad soulful tune.

    "What the hell Demeri? Music with a meal is nice, but why are you singing when we ARE the meal?!" nker snapped.

    Demeri ignored him and continued singing. As the bard¡¯s voice rose over the vige the entire smollzy poption stopped what they were doing and looked in the direction of the singing human. They dropped their spears and moved in around the singing human. Demeri stopped, frightened by the smollzies crowding around her recumbent form.

    "Keep singing, they¡¯re loving it like a fat kid loves cake!" Ralph said.

    Demeri took a breath and resumed her song, her voice enchanted the smollzies, even without using any of her bardic Skills.

    The ¡¯little people¡¯ dragging Dave toward the cauldron forgot about himpletely and scurried off to listen to the show.

    Soon the whole tribe was gathered around Demeri. They sat, entranced by the sound of her singing. Some even tried to apany her, but their coarse high-pitched voices were poorly received by the crowd and they were soon beaten into silence.

    Dave raised an eyebrow, unsure what was going on. But this wasn¡¯t the time to hesitate, it was an opportunity to work an escape. His inventory was locked, so he couldn¡¯t get his sword out to cut the ropes off. Dave looked around for something else he could use to cut the ropes. Not finding anything suitable, he sighed and headed for the cauldron.

    "Don¡¯t try this at home, kids," Dave said and put his hands in the fire.

    ***

    Your character is under the status effect [Overheated]

    [-500 HP]

    [-500 HP]

    [-500 Hp]

    ***

    A continuous stream of notifications scrolled up on Dave¡¯s HUD but he ignored them. This was just a game, and even if his hands were burnt to the bone, he could fix them with a potion. His priority was to extract himself and his friends from this mess.

    The mes continued to burn both flesh and rope, eventually Dave¡¯s hands came free with a snap of the rope parting. With the restrains off, he had ess to his inventory, so Dave grabbed a red potion and chugged it down. His burnt hands soon turned to normal and the [Overheated] status effect disappeared.

    Demeri¡¯s voice was still filling the vige, drawing the smollziesplete attention toward her and giving Dave enough time to think up a n.

    Now he needed to think of a way to release his friends.

    When Demeri¡¯s song ended, the smollzies started waking up, fearing they might discover Dave, she started singing another song,

    Dave even recognized the song. He would have pped if he wasn¡¯t trying to be stealthy, "Nice. Leona Lewis¡¯ Bleeding Love."

    None of the smollzies were paying attention to the any of the captives except Demeri. So Dave was able to slowly make his way toward Mercy. Dave took out his mberge and cut her restraints. The assassin¡¯s daggers were out as soon as the ropes parted.

    "Now what?" she asked over the chat.

    "I¡¯ll create a distraction, when I do you stealth up and release everyone. When the smollzies are distracted, run for the tomb, it¡¯s just a few miles away."

    "I¡¯m totally down for that, it beats bing smollzy-doody all to hell," nker said.

    Dave shook his head he walked away and stood between the cauldron and the smollzies. He nced over and Mercy disappeared in stealth.

    Dave activated [Stampede], ramming into the cauldron. The heat from the fire ate away at Dave¡¯s HP, but he didn¡¯t care about the pain, he only cared about the results. The cauldron fell over, spilling its contents. Some of the smollzies were burnt by the hot liquid, the pain brought them out of the trance caused by Demeri¡¯s music.

    When the smollzies looked around and realized their food had been ruined by one of the intended ¡¯ingredients,¡¯ their peaceful mood from the music waspletely destroyed. They roared and shrieked in rage at the culprit, the troublesome ¡¯ingredient¡¯ also had the temerity to injure members of the tribe.

    Standing next to the tipped over cauldron Dave grinned and shot them a double fingered salute, "No food for you, little fuckers!"

    Then he turned and ran into the Wilds. The tribe rallied and set out after the yer shrieking and howling emptying out of the vige.

    "Do it Mercy, they¡¯reing after me."

    The smollzies swarmed in [Tribal Frenzy] mode, pouring after the source of their ire and injury in a tumbling, jumbled horde of shrieking little-people. Thankfully Dave¡¯s strides were long enough that he slowly widened the gap between himself and his pursuers.

    Mercy¡¯s voice came over the party chat, "It¡¯s done, we¡¯re heading for the tomb marker, the smollzies haven¡¯t noticed our escape yet, the vige emptied out. They¡¯re after you Dave, ALL of them."

    "Good! I¡¯ll lead these fuckers away then meet up with you as soon as I can shake them."

 Chapter 241 Miles to go and promises to keep

    Dave sprinted through the forest of blood hued trees slowly increasing his lead over the horde of tiny monsters after him. When he¡¯d built afortable distance between himself and the pursuing smollzy tribe he stopped and whistled. From the trees right next to him, Spike emerged like a ghost.

    "Hey buddy, d you¡¯re here," Dave said as he mounted up, "Let¡¯s lose these Chuckie wannabes and then catch up to the others."

    The fiend snorted in agreement and galloped away through the forest leaving the smollzies far behind. Dave guided Spike on a round-about route back toward the tomb. Even though they were taking the longer way around, with Spikes speed they would likely make it to the tomb at about the same time as the rest of the party.

    "What¡¯s the situation?" Dave asked over the party chat.

    Ralph answered with a short report, "No smollzies or other monsters following us so far. We have the tomb in sight, and it¡¯s a big castle-looking thing."

    "Great. I¡¯m heading back around to the tomb, be there soon," Dave said.

    A short timeter Spike burst out of the forest into a clearing with what the map showed as the tomb in the middle. The building did indeed look like an old castle as Ralph had noted. Dave was a little surprised they hadn¡¯t encountered any dangerous wildlife during the ride to the tomb, but then he figured that the smollzies probably culled the wildlife.

    ¡¯Gotta be thankful for small blessings. HA!¡¯

    His friends were waiting for him near the tomb.

    Four stone walls protected what was probably a keep of some sort. The structure once boasted four towers, one at each corner. Of course the entire edifice was tumbled down and in severe disrepair now. Through one of the crumbled walls Dave could see a keep with half of a golden dome on top of it. A moat of green-scummed stagnant water surrounded the structure. Dave didn¡¯t see a way to get to the structure beyond the moat.

    "Good morning, nice of you guys to drop by," Ralph yelled to Dave.

    Dave chuckled as he guided the fiend over to the group, Ralphie and his movie quotes.

    "Let¡¯s go-" Dave was cut off when loud screeches echoed from the Wilds.

    Turning, Dave saw a horde of smollzies emerge from the forest and advance like a screaming avnche of wild hair, teeth and bone spears.

    "Get inside the tomb!" Dave said.

    "Wait!" Perfect said, pausing at the back of the group.

    Dave looked back, "What?"

    The ranger pointed, "Look, the smollzies stopped."

    He was right, the smollzies had stopped just inside the clearing, a good distance away from the yers, like something was preventing them froming any closer.

    "Maybe they¡¯re scared of the tomb," nker said.

    "Maybe so. But let¡¯s not hang out here and find out. We have a tomb to dive and a quest to finish," Fortress said.

    "Let¡¯s go then," Dave said. The other yers followed after him.

    Perfect kept his eyes on the smollzies. One of the creatures was waving around a carved wooden totem staff. The smallzy shrieked something and struck the ground with its totem staff causing the entire tribe to begin leaping and howling like lunatics, many of them fell to the ground, their bodies jerking and spasming as if demon-possessed.

    "Ah man, the little fuckers are up to something," Perfect said.

    ***

    The smollzy witch doctor has performed a ritual to call a Tribtion down on you. Beware, an evil spirit of the Wilds will be your Bane.

    Stench of the Weak increased by two (2) levels!

    Your presence and the odor you exude has be more than just a mild annoyance, you are now a threat to the Wilds and all its inhabitants.

    If you die in the Wilds, you will lose four (4) character levels.

    You now benefit from a 20% increase in EXP from killing monsters in the Wilds.

    ***

    Dave shouted, "What the fuck?!"

    "A c¡¯mon, man! My Stench level just jumped to level four!" nker eximed.

    Dave nudged Spike forward, "It doesn¡¯t matter, we just need to dive this tomb and finish my quest. Hopefully after that, we won¡¯t ever have toe back to the Wilds again."

    "Umm. We may have a teensy little problem..." Tess said, avoiding everyone¡¯s eyes.

    "What problem?" Dave asked. .

    "Welllll, I was already at Stench level three, so the curse from those meanie little fuckers-" Tess was interrupted by a tremendous roar that echoed across the clearing and through the forests of the Wild.

    "-yeah, that," Tess finished apologetically.

    It was the abyssal dragon and judging by how load the roar was it was very close. At the first sound of the dragon¡¯s roar the horde of smollzies screeched in terror and scattered in every direction.

    Dave searched the skies for the source of the roar, "Oh, you¡¯ve got to be pulling on my leg. Everyone into the water. we have to cross the moat now!"

    Spike jumped into the scummy moat water. Demeri wrinkled her nose at the rancid odoring from the water.

    "Eww, it¡¯s stinks. First giant bugs, now this."

    "Hurry up we don¡¯t have much time," Dave cajoled.

    The yers jumped into the moat one after another and swam to the other side.

    The dragon roared again, making sure every creature in its way knew that certain doom wasing. Dave¡¯s hands tightened in Spike¡¯s fur as the fiend swam through the mucky stinking water. At the other side of the moat Spike clumsily mbered out of the water and soon the whole party stood in front of the main building of the tomb.

    "Fuck, how do we get in? nker cursed looking up fearfully. The dragon was a small dot in the sky and was growingrger by the second.

    "Here!" Perfect said. There was a golden gate in one of the walls.

    "Hurry, help me get it open," Perfect pushed at the gate.

    The other yers joined him pushing on the gate together. After long seconds of effort the door finally moved, painstakingly, the hinges screeching. They redoubled their efforts, opening the portal a handbreadth, still far from wide enough for any of them to get through.

    ***

    You have been afflicted with [Aura of Terror].

    Your avatar is now unresponsive to yourmands!

    ***

    "Not today Smaug. Blessing [Immune to Fear]," nker waved his staff, a pearly nimbus shone around the party bestowing on them a temporary immunity to fear effects.

    "There you go calling a ck dragon ¡¯Smaug¡¯ again. I¡¯d give you the ¡¯L¡¯ sign if I wasn¡¯t busy."

    "Harsh, man. Now shut up and push, the fear immunity onlysts ten seconds," nker said and suited action to words.

    The dragon was now hovering above the party¡¯s head.The prideful dragon wasn¡¯t too happy with the yers resisting its [Aura of Terror]. The dragon dropped to the ground roaring, then lunged in to bite at the yers pushing the gate. The door suddenly swung open a with rusty squeal, tumbling the yers into the tomb. The dragon¡¯s maw snapped close just shy of the gate, but no prey was between the fangs.

    The dragon screeched again, it tried to reach for the yers with its front w but the gate was too small for it. The great drake roared and rammed its head into the building shaking the whole structure and raining down bricks and clouds of dust.

    The dragon soon gave up and turned his attention on the only creature outside the tomb. A forest prong fiend, paralyzed by the dragon¡¯s [Aura of terror]. The dragon mmed its taloned forefoot down on the fiend, shaking the ground.

    ***

    The forest prong fiend (Spike) has died!

    ***

    Dave read the notification and froze for a moment, stunned. Mechanically he waved away the notification. The fiend that had carried him through the Wilds was dead, just like that, in an instant. His eyes dull, Dave slowly walked toward the gate.

    "Dave, what are you doing? No!" Ralph shouted, running toward his buddy.

    But like a walking dead, Dave didn¡¯t respond he walked right through the gate, leaving the tomb to get some payback for the death of his friend.

    "No! The blessing just ended," nker called out to Ralph.

    Ralph stopped at the very edge of the gate staring fixedly out of it at Dave and the dragon.

    The [Aura of Terror] didn¡¯t affect the yers inside the building. But he would be paralyzed by the effect as soon as he walked through the door.

    "We have to help him!" Lone said joining Ralph at the door.

    Mercy shook her head, "Just because someone does something stupid doesn¡¯t mean we should do it too. Walking out there is a one way ticket to the nearest cemetery."

    "But what about Dave? It¡¯s his quest, he¡¯s gonna die here!" Lone shouted.

    "I¡¯d have stopped him if I realized what he was going to do, but it¡¯s toote now. Dave will have to deal with the consequences of his actions, just like everyone else," Mercy said coldly.

    Demeri took out her harp and plucked the strings. A soul soothing music rose from her instrument and reached out to the winged lizard.

    "The damn dragon has [Charm Immunity]," Demeri said, frustrated.

    When nker¡¯s blessing ended, Dave faced the full effect of [Aura of Terror].

    His avatar was unresponsive, but Dave didn¡¯t want to move, he faced the dragon and looked it in the eyes.

    The proud dragon found it offensive for a mere human to challenging it so. It opened its maw wide and bit at the yer, and Dave let the dragon engulf him whole.

    Everyone gasped as they saw Dave disappear into the dragon¡¯s mouth.

    A damage number floated up from where he¡¯d been standing.

    ***

    [-422,880]

    ***

    Then a notification appeared:

    ***

    You are in critical condition!

    Passive [Unyielding] activated. You have 5 seconds of immunity to dying!

    You have 1% HP remaining!

    ***

    Dave activated [Undying Will], which removed the effects of [Aura of Terror] and gave him three seconds of crowd control immunity. He also ignited his [Aura]. His avatar lit up in mes and they gushed out from between the gaps of the dragon¡¯s mouth.

    "Enjoy the burn, bitch!" Dave bnced himself inside the dragon¡¯s mouth and opened his mouth to spew out [Ray of mes]. The dragon roared in pain when the mes seared its throat down to its stomach.

    Dragon hide is stronger than the toughest armor known, but the insides were a different story. Although a dragon¡¯s insides were much stronger than the flesh of any other beast, they were still just squishy insides. [Ray of mes] could melt terrain, so it was obvious how much damage it should do to the meat. Soon a smell of burnt flesh rose from the depth of the dragon¡¯s stomach and a huge damage value floated up from the dragon¡¯s head in red numerals.

    [-120,000]

    Still,pared to the dragon¡¯s base HP, the number was just a drop in the bucket.

    The dragon spat Dave out, sending him tumbling until he mmed into the tomb wall. Dave should have died right there and then, but he still had onest tick on the timer of his [Unyielding] skill.

    The dragon continued to suffer damage over time from Dave¡¯s [Ray of mes]. Wheezing the winged monster roared through a fit of hacking and coughing.

    The [Aura of Terror] had been temporarily neutralized, perhaps because the dragon was in enormous pain. Dave didn¡¯t really care why, he looked up at the agonized spasming dragon, feeling some small amount of satisfaction. But it wasn¡¯t nearly enough.

    Then he made a promise, no a vow. One day he woulde back to the Wilds when he was more powerful. He would repay the dragon in kind for what it had done to Spike.

    "I hope that gives you heartburn you overgrown reptile! Kill yater, snake," Then he turned and ran back through the gate into the tomb to the sounds of even more enraged shrieks.

 Chapter 242 The Necromancer Kings Dark Pas

    Dave walked the stone-floored hall of the tomb in anguished silence. Outside, the dragon was still shrieking in rage and mming itself thunderously against the stone structure of the keep.

    Lone tried to go to Dave, to try to console him, but Ralph put a hand on her shoulder and shook his head. He sent her message on a private line.

    "Sometimes people need to grieve alone for awhile."

    Lone¡¯s shoulders slumped but she epted Ralph¡¯s advice.

    The inside of the tomb was dark except for asional pools of light that shone through cracks in the domed roof. nker cast a spell and used his staff to light their way.

    Halfway down the hall Dave stopped abruptly, he crouched and picked up a piece of paper. It was old, torn from arger piece. Most of what was written on it was faded and illegible, but some of the writing was still decipherable. Dave shared the writing through the party chat.

    ***

    [Illegible]...My zeal for blood magic and necromancy has began to ebb, as each attempt invariably brings only failure, and disappointment...[Illegible].

    ***

    "What does it mean?" Tess asked.

    Dave answered in a monotone, "My quest is to fetch something called Miasmic Aether of the Necromancer¡¯s Tomb. This was probably written by the necromancer." He pocketed the paper and moved forward.

    The stone walls were discolored and decaying, covered with growths of fungus and lichen. The air was musty and humid, though asionally a breeze found its way through the hall from outside, clearing the stuffiness away for a little while.

    "This ce is like your apartment Dave," Ralph snickered.

    Dave shook his head, "You¡¯re not wrong, but things have changed. I got a new ce in the city a few days ago. It should be ready to move into tomorrow."

    "Oh yeah, house party! Everyone¡¯s invited, right?" Ralph asked.

    "Yeah, sure," Dave said.

    Dave came to a wooden door at the end of the hallway. When he put his hand out to open it, the door disintegrated to rotten wood fragments. In the middle of the room the door led to was an iron cage with a lever next to it, an elevator. He¡¯d seen something simr in the Ice Queen¡¯s dungeon.

    He entered the cage and gestured for the other yers to join him. When they were all inside, he pressed the square tile in the center of the cage with his foot. It clicked and the cage slowly started to sink.

    The elevator creaked and squealed as it descended taking them into the lower levels of the tomb. Finally the cage stopped. nker¡¯s light revealed a boarded up door further secured with chains and a lock.

    Exiting the elevator Ralph found another piece of paper lying on the floor and handed it to Dave.

    ***

    I failed, miserably so. Now a Devil walks these paths, paths I knew all too well once; now they are as twisted as my ambitions...

    ***

    "And now we have to deal with a devil," nker gulped.

    "Anything can happen, it¡¯s an SS ranked legacy quest, man," Perfect retorted.

    "Yeah, got anyst words, nker?" Dave joked morbidly.

    "You¡¯re both jerks, who needs friends. Here, let me heal you up, Skelly. You¡¯re still down from getting chomped on by the dragon." The priest was trying to stay busy, keep his mind off the danger and creep factor.

    "Thanks, I have a lot of potions, save your mana and cooldowns," Dave said. He took a potion from his inventory and chugged it, he waited for the cooldown to expire then drank another one. He¡¯d been down to 1% of his total HP, so he needed several potions to fully restore health bar.

    Demeri had taken her harp out and started plucking a joyful melody.

    ***

    Bardic Blessing

    +10% HP/MP/SP regeneration.

    +20% to any healing effects (excludes consumables).

    Duration: 30 minutes.

    ***

    "Thanks, Demeri," Dave said to the bard.

    "Should I try to open this door?" Perfect asked.

    "Can you?" Dave questioned. The door was heavily barricaded, he¡¯d been prepared to break through it by force, but that would have left him with several Skills on cooldown and a lowered weapon durability.

    "Yeah man, I have a Skill for getting past barriers."

    "Then go ahead. Fortress, do you have [Guard Ally]?"

    "Yeah, why?"

    "Use your Skill on Perfect, he¡¯s going to be vulnerable. This is a perfect ambush set up. "

    Fortress activated [Guard Ally], a glowing blue kite-shield icon appeared over Perfect¡¯s head for a second then dissipated.

    "Everyone else ready up, there might be bad things on the other side," Dave said. Diving the tomb was part of his legacy chain quest. It would have been challenging enough as an S rank quest, but it had been upgraded to a double S rank quest in the Wilds. With that and having other people to watch out for Dave was doing things more cautiously than was his usual style.

    Perfect knelt in front of the door and began working on the locks, shortly the chains and boards fell at his feet.

    "See, that wasn¡¯t so bad," nker said just as the door burst into splinters and a tentacr abomination mmed into Perfect.

    A blue-glowing barrier went up around the ranger, absorbing the force of the blow from the tentacle thing. The limb was a horrific patchwork amalgamation of oozing flesh, bare bone and bloody sinew; and it brought with it the nauseating smell of a ughterhouse.

    Dave drew his sword and called, "Perfect, get back here, Ralph, engage it first!"

    Ralph ran toward the monstrosity, his sword glowing. But just as he swung at it, the mass of misshapen flesh melted into a puddle of rancid ck ichor.

    "The fuck was that?" Perfect asked, shaken and looking at the puddle of goo.

    "I didn¡¯t get a chance to inspect it," Dave said.

    Dave went through the door but stopped when he saw whaty beyond. Instead of brick walls, he¡¯d entered a tunnel made of flesh. It was like standing in a giant¡¯s intestinal organs, the flesh pulsed rhythmically, like a heartbeat. The passageway split into several several tunnels leading off in different directions.

    Ralph¡¯s voice came from behind him, echoing his thoughts, "It¡¯s like being in the guts of a monster. And you would be the one to know, bro."

    "Ew, no, I¡¯m not going in there!"

    "That¡¯s just gross, I¡¯d rather be killed by the bug-thing or the smollzies!"

    "This...I need bigger daggers."

    nker entered the organic tunnel, pale faced,with shaking hands he lifted his staff to better light the tunnel. Of course that was when the light waned and then went outpletely.

    "nker, the light!" Dave said.

    "Sorry guys, I just got a system message saying I can¡¯t use any holy vored skills in here," nker said.

    "Well that sucks. I hope everyone brought enough potions to make it without an active healer," Ralph said.

    "nker, stay at the back. Everyone light your torches," Dave said, lighting one of his own.

    The torches filled the room with dim flickering light that just seemed to make more shadows,bined the natural rhythmic movement of the tunnel it created a disturbing environment.

    "Should we send someone out to scout?" Mercy asked.

    Perfect looked at her as if she were crazy, he wasn¡¯t going to go anywhere without the rest of the party.

    Dave shook his head, "We don¡¯t know where these paths lead, it¡¯s better if we stay together."

    "Hey guys, check it out," nker said, he was using his torch to burn a part of the fleshy wall. The area he was burning pulling away from the mes. Fluid dripped from the wound like oil dripping from meat on a grill, and the smell of barbecue pork filled the air.

    "You shouldn¡¯t do that," Tess chided.

    nker rolled his eyes at the sorceress, "Whatever. So which...uh, tunnel are we taking?"

    Dave looked at the their choices consideringly.

    "The middle one," he decided.

    They moved through the tunnel in a line, almost noiselessly, their feet sinking into the springy surface of the tunnel floor. It was like walking on a wet cushion.

    Perfect spoke over the party chat, "I hear something."

    They continued cautiously and soon they could all hear the wet, sucking, tearing sounding from ahead. Dave kept walking forward and the torchlight revealed a quivering lump of dark colored flesh, the color of raw liver, attached to the of the side of the pulsing tunnel.

    A sound like snapping bones came from the blob of flesh and it tore open. Blood and viscera poured out, then gathered together and growing into something that resembled a man. Dozens of eyeballs looked in and blinked locking on him.

    Dave inspected the newly formed creature.

    ***

    Half Born Seer

    Level: 360

    Danger Level: Normal

    Base damage: 1,000-2,000

    HP: 200,000

    DN: 0

    MA: 0

    Skills:

    [Fate Revealed] (Passive): drains 1% of the target¡¯s maximum HP per second whenever eye contact is made with the Half Born Seer.

    [The End is Near] (passive): If the Half Born loses 50% of his total HP, he will detonate [Executing] himself, the explosion does 100,000 HP of t damage to all targets within 5 meters.

    Lore:

    Ashkar, the Necromancer King, captured the Wood Hag because it was rumored that she could foretell the future. The Half Borne Seers were the result of a failed experiment meant to reproduce the Wood Hag¡¯s prophetic abilities.

    ***

    Dave¡¯s HP started dropping because of the monster¡¯s [Fate Revealed] passive.

    [-4,450]

    "Okay everyone, we gotta do this bad boy fast, the longer we take the more HP we lose!"

    [-4,450]

    The monster had low defensive values, they could take it but they had to do it fast, every second wasted fighting this creature would cost them HP.

    [-4,450]

    Without wasting any more time Dave attacked with [Decimating Smash] and followed up with a continuous series of basic attacks on the stunned monster.

    Tess shot her ck orbs at the creature and ster lunged at it with [Rend the Flesh].

    ***

    Your party member has killed [Half Born Seer]

    ***

    "That was a piece of cake," Ralph said.

    " We got lucky, that passive probably stacks. If there¡¯d been more of them we would have died in seconds." Dave said.

    "It dropped something," Lone said.

    She retrieved two pages from the remains of the monster and handed them to Dave.

    Most of the first paper was covered with blood, most of the writing couldn¡¯t be made out.

    ***

    After many failed experiments, depression came over me [Illegible]

    [Illegible] progress was halting, and the rapidly umting wasted flesh was bing...burdensome. And so, I decided to do something with it.

    ***

    ***

    Finally, the flesh wall came to be of use. By fusing the Wood Hag into it, I was able to wrest away her ability to prognosticate the future. Yet all I saw was doom, quite motivating...

    ***

    "Creepy, man. What the hell is this quest?"

    "Let¡¯s just keep moving guys," Dave said.

    The yers walked through the flesh corridors. The sound of a heartbeat reverberated louder and louder as they moved forward.

    Then a screech echoed from behind the yers, threatening to burst their eardrums. The fleshy tunnel wall contracted and spasmed around the yers then tore open. Five masses of misshapen flesh were ejected from the torn flesh and fell to the ground. The lumps quickly morphed into more of the half-born seers and rose, facing the yers.

 Chapter 243 Never Hunger!

    The five monsters advanced,ing into the brighter light. Three of them were new types, big bloat-bodied pig-faced bruisers. They snorted and squealed as they advanced alongside the half-born seers.

    Dave inspected one of the new monsters:

    ***

    Glutovor

    Level: 410

    Danger Level: Normal

    Base Damage: 100,000

    HP: 400,000

    DN: 0

    MA: 0

    Skills

    [Catch and Consume]: a lunging grapple attack. If the attack is sessful the target has 10 seconds to escape the clutches of the glutovor before being consumed and [Executed].

    [Revenge]: If the glutovor loses more than 50% of its total HP it will detonate, [Executing] itself. The detonation does 100,000 HP of t damage to all targets within 5 meters.

    Lore:

    The first glutovor was created by fusing a Swine Lord to the Flesh Wall. The voraciousness of these flesh spawn have no limits, at times they even devour each other.

    ***

    The moment Dave looked at the two half-born seers, his Health points took a hit.

    [-9,900]

    Two percent of his HP bar gone just like that.

    Dave quickly looked away from the many-eyed monsters.

    "Tess, Ralph, Mercy, kill those two!" Dave pointed at the two half-born seers, "Everyone else with me."

    Dave activated [Stampede] and mmed into the lead glutovor.

    [-35,880]

    The knockback sent the glutovor reeling, but the attack pulled the aggro of the other two pig-faces.

    Perfect and Lone shot [Breaking Shot] arrows at the glutovors, staggering them. One careened off a nearby wall and stumbled back toward Dave, its hands extended for a grab. Fortress moved up, shield raised, and blocked the grab. He bellowed and red icons manifested over all the yers¡¯ heads. Transparent pop-up notifications of the buff appeared to everyone.

    ***

    [Rally]

    +10% Critical chance to all Skills and basic attacks (Party members only).

    +5% Damage to all Skills and basic attacks (Party members only).

    Duration: 60 seconds.

    ***

    "Keep the pressure on," Dave said. He switched to his Sworn Stalwart gauntlets and ignited [Aura]. mes erupted out, searing the Flesh Wall and the glotovers. The Wall squirmed, writhing away from the heat.

    Dave received a notification.

    ***

    By repeatedly damaging the Flesh Wall you have increased the Difficulty rating of your quest.

    Quest Rating SS+

    ***

    "You should probably turn your gauntlets off, Stroke," nker said. He must have received a simr notification.

    "Not yet!" Dave shouted.

    He punched one of the glutovers in the ribs, breaking them. The glutover squealed in pain.

    "Step back Fortress," Dave said.

    They swapped positions and Dave mmed his tower shield into the closest pig-face. The other glutover lunged at Dave but he sidestepped the grab and used [Infernal Tornado]. The monsters staggered back as Dave spun like a top, smashing his fists into them with every spin.

    .

    ***

    Party member (ster) has killed half born seer, level 380.

    ***

    ***

    Party member (Mercy) has killed half born seer, level 390.

    ***

    "We¡¯re done here," Ralph said over the party chat.

    "That was fast!" Fortress said.

    "They¡¯re EXP bags, low health and easy to kill," Ralph said with a shrug.

    "Let¡¯s give Skelly a helping hand," Ralph said to Mercy and Tess. He jumped forward, ramming his sword into a glutover that was about to grab Dave from behind. He activated [Silent Resolve] to pull the glutover¡¯s aggro onto himself, reducing the pressure on Dave. Mercy came out of stealth attacking the monster Dave was fighting from behind. She stabbed with her daggers, taking more than half of its HP in a single strike.

    Tess twirled and flicked her scepter, thick smoke shot from the tip of the magical focus toward the glutover. The smoke spiraled around the monster and obscured it form view, then the smoke imploded leaving nothing behind, not a scrap or bit of flesh.

    ***

    Your party member (Tess) has killed glutovor, level 410

    ***

    "Good job, pumpkin," Fortress called out to Tess.

    She stopped and smiled at him with adoring eyes, "You too, honey-bunny!"

    nker grimaced, "Get a room...I¡¯m sure yo mama¡¯s basement is free, ¡¯Stan.¡¯"

    "Get a life, ¡¯Pussy Canker¡¯!" Tess shot back and turned away from the pervert priest with a disdainful sniff.

    "Ooooh, so BURNED!" Fortressughed uproariously at his friend.

    nker¡¯s mouth opened and closed, he just couldn¡¯te up with a timely rebuttal. Head hung low, he went to see if the others needed his help, a sadder, wiser pervert.

    ***

    You have killed Glutovor level 410.

    ***

    "Great," Dave stepped back and looked around. Ralph was just about to finish off thest pig-faced monsters. His sword shed across horizontally and the suddenly headless glutovor slumped, turning into a puddle of viscous ichor.

    "Loot?" Perfect asked.

    "Nothing," Dave shook his head. He disabled [Aura] and removed his gauntlets, then equipped the mberge and tower shield. The gauntlets dealt more damage, but they hurt the Flesh Wall and increased his quest difficulty.

    "What¡¯s wrong with your hand, Stroke?" Perfect asked.

    Dave looked at his hand. Patches of gray skin spread from the Ring of True Undeath. He inspected it but found nothing new.

    "Might be a bug, anyway let¡¯s keep moving," Dave said.

    "Why don¡¯t you call Alfred, if it¡¯s a bug?" Tess asked.

    "Alfred and I don¡¯t get along."

    The others waited as Dave drank a health potion, restoring his lost HP.

    They continued down the flesh tunnel until they came to a dome shaped cavity at the end, it was like moving from an intestine into a stomach. In the middle of the slowly pulsing room a growth of purple flesh stretched between the top of the ¡¯stomach¡¯ and the ¡¯floor.¡¯

    "I smell a boss fight," Ralph said.

    "Look over there, Skelly," nker said.

    A vial filled with glowing green liquid was embedded in the flesh wall.

    Holding his breath Dave inspected the vial.

    ***

    Quest item: Miasmic Aether of the Necromancer¡¯s Tomb

    Weight: 2Kg

    A concoction of magic, rot, and death.

    ***

    "That¡¯s what I need," Dave said.

    "Let me get it for you," Mercy said.

    The assassin used her [Vanish] Skill, entering stealth. She moved quickly along the wall, as far as possible from the lump of flesh, she didn¡¯t want to trigger a fight she could avoid. Reaching the vial, she tried to grab it but the item didn¡¯t budge. After several failed attempts she gave up.

    "I think you have to be the one to take it, Dave."

    Dave nodded, "Makes sense. It¡¯s my quest."

    He followed in Mercy¡¯s footsteps, copying the assassin¡¯s movements as best he was able

    "Everyone be ready, whatever is inside that lump is probably gonna show its face when I grab the vial."

    Dave reached the vial and unceremoniously picked it out of the wall.

    ***

    Quest update

    You have obtained vial of Miasmic Aether of the Necromancer¡¯s Tomb.

    ***

    Suddenly, without any intention, Dave¡¯s hand spasmed, involuntarily tightening around the vial until the ss shattered. The content spread like something alive, coating his hand in a thin film. The Ring of True Undeath shed with ck me, then sucked the Miasmic Aether into itself, absorbing every speck of the material.

    ***

    Your body remembers: [Undeath]

    You have remembered: [Never Hunger]

    Passive Skill restored and amplified!

    [Never Hunger]: Your stamina regeneration, HP Regeneration, and MP regeneration have been permanently increased by 200%

    [Poison Immunity]: Poisons have no effect on you. (Acid damage is reduced by 50%).

    ***

    Dave started to panic, he¡¯d destroyed or lost the object of his fetch-quest, the god of undeath wouldn¡¯t be able to revive the Legion! But then with an effort he calmed himself and thought rationally, he hadn¡¯t gotten any notification for failing the quest, so maybe his ring absorbing the miasmic stuff was what was supposed to happen.

    A stinging pain in his hand woke him from his wandering thoughts. The gray patch on Dave¡¯s hand had darkened. It began rotting rapidly, the skin shrank around the bones and the fingernails fell out. In moments his hand had been transformed into the familiar dessicated appendage of a draugr.

    Dave raised his hand, turned it over and said, "That¡¯s interesting."

    "What happened?" Ralph asked.

    "I got back a passive Skill from my draugr avatar," Dave said.

    "The lump hasn¡¯t done anything, let¡¯s move out of here before it does." Perfect said.

    "Right, let¡¯s back," Dave said.

    "We could go ahead and attack it, just be proactive and all" Ralph said hopefully. It might turn out to be an EXP bag.

    Dave pped his friend on the shoulder, "I remember my promises, easy EXP when we get the Legion back, man." He raised his voice, "Let¡¯s go back to the entrance, there are two paths left to take."

    Everyone followed after Dave, just as they made it halfway across the tunnel, an ear piercing screech echoed from behind them.

    Dave drew his sword, "Get ready."

    The cushiony floor trembled as something heavy stomped its way toward the yers.

    "Fortress, Ralph, tank with me, everyone else support us from the back. And don¡¯t die nker," Dave said.

    A hulking horned humanoid came at them in strides.

    "Is that an ogre?" Ralph said.

    The ogre was twice the length of a man. He carried a tree sized club with spikes and rusty nails embedded in it in one hand. . His other hand was clutching at a nasty gash in his stomach. A feeble attempt to stop his festring entrails froming out.

    Dave inspected the monster.

    ***

    Consumed Ogre

    Level: 420

    Base damage: 120,000-150,000

    HP: 420,000/800,000

    DN: 30,000

    MA: 50,000

    Skills

    [Skull Breaker]: The Consumed Ogre¡¯s basic attacks have a 20% chance to stun targets and bleed them for 5% of their max HP (Stackable up to five times)

    [Grisly Grasp]: The Consumed Ogre¡¯s entrails snare a target inflicting [Poison] status effect causing 5,000 HP of poison damage per second over 5 seconds (Stackable up to five times)

    [Berserk]: For every 10% HP lost, the Consumed Ogre gains a 10% increase in base damage and attack speed.

    Lore:

    Ogres are brutish, ugly and dumb. Their immense strength attracted the attention of Ashkar, the Necromancer King and he decided they could be of use to him as heavybor and when needed as heavy infantry. The Flesh Wall easily took over the mind of these simple minded creatures for its own usage. This was his first act of betrayal against its creator, the Necromancer King.

    ***

    "Alright, let¡¯s do this," Dave said.

    nker interrupted while looking back, "Sorry guys, more monstersing from behind us."

 Chapter 244 Never Tire!

    The hulking figure of the ogre advanced inexorably on the group of yers from the front while the seers and glutovers shambled toward them from the rear. The ogre entered into melee range, its eyes narrowed and suddenly it snapped out one of its massive legs, kicking for Dave''s head. Not expecting a leg attack Dave was caught unprepared and had to use [Block] to nullify the force of the blow.

    Ralph hit the ogre from the side with [Rend Flesh], lopping away a tenth of the ogre''s HP and shifting its aggro over to him. Mercy ran straight at the ogre then jump-rolled past its columnar legs, twisting to her feet behind the monster she went stab-crazy on its kidneys, stunning the brute.

    "You guys finish off the ogre. Fortress with me!" Dave called.

    Dave ran to the rear to fend off the five monstersing from that direction. He lunged at the closest half born seer, sinking the mberge into its flesh.

    [-25,777]

    "Fortress, tank the other one, watch out for grab attacks," Dave said.

    Dave ducked away from a glutover that was trying to grab him. The glutover didn''t stop, it kept going like a car with no breaks until it grabbed the half born seer that was behind Dave

    Dave was about to attack the entwined monsters when he realized the glutover wasn''t just going for a poorly-timed bro-hug. The pig-faced monster was tightening its hold on the seer, bearing down, increasing the constrictive force. Momentster the pressure of the embrace caused some of the eyeballs scattered over the seer''s body to literally pop, releasing viscous clear-yellowish fluids. The pig-faced seemed to feel the give of ruptured organs. It unhinged its jaw as it opened its mouth wide and shifted its grip, then engulfed the seer whole, like a python gorging itself on a goat.

    Dave looked around, assessing the disposition of forces. He formed a quick n and started implementing it, "nker, pull back. Lone, Perfect, keep the seers off the rest of us." Then he used [Immortal Apparition], teleporting behind the still feeding glutover and attacked with [Death Surge].

    An enormous damage value rose above the glutover.

    [-180,158]

    Dave attacked again with [Concussive Blow], which finished off thest of the glutover''s HP.

    ***

    Level up!

    ***

    Ralph was tanking the ogre and Mercy had vanished, probably lurking in stealth somewhere waiting for her moment. while Tess used her legacy skills, shredding away the oger''s HP with her attacks.

    nker was rummaging through his inventory bag, he brightened when he found what he was looking for. Turning back to the fight he threw the vial from his bag at one of the half-born seers. The vial shattered when it hit the seer and the monster began screaming as its body melted.

    "What was that?" Perfect asked nker.

    "An alchemy ingredient, stomach-acid from a man-eater frog. It''s good for melting stuff."

    "I''ll say it is!"

    "How much of it do you have?" Dave asked, dodging a punch from a glutover.

    "I have nine more vials," nker said.

    "Save them for another fight, we got this one, we might need your frog acid moreter on."

    Dave grunted, while he''d let been distracted talking to nker, a half-born seer had gotten in close and lunged at his leg mouth wide, it fastened onto his thigh and bit deeply.

    [-1,000]

    [-4,550]

    [-4,550]

    Dave hit the seer with the pommel of his sword and kneed it away. He waved his hand, summoning four glowing orbs, Dave didn''t detonate the orbs when he fought on, but kept them hovering around him, in case any monster decided to get clingy.

    "This one is almost fragged," Ralph yelled over the ''snicking'' of Mercy''s daggers and the thwack of his sword into ogre meat.

    "I could use a hand here," Dave called back.

    "Shit! I need help!" Fortress shouted urgently.

    The remaining glutover had thrown itself on top of Fortress bringing both of them to the floor. The pig-faced monster wrapped its hands around Fortress''s neck as it opened salivating jaws to engulf the hapless yer.

    Then the floating orbs Dave had summoned earlier struck the glutover in series and detonated.

    [-12,550]

    [-12,550]

    [-12,550]

    [-12,550]

    "Shit," Dave cursed. He''d hoped the orbs would push thebatants apart, but the glutover was still on Fortress like a leech. A fiery arrow flew into the monster''s exposed mouth and exploded in its throat. The glutovor lurched, but kept its hold around Fortress''s neck, continuing to choke him.

    nker looked around then groaned, "Fuck, now I have to save everyone''s ass again. I hate getting my hands dirty, dammit."

    The priest whipped his staff around and mes poured out from his hands, enveloping the entire length of it. He jabbed the fire-imbued weapon into the gutovor''s face, releasing a burst of mes that seared its skin and boiled its eyeballs. The pig-face released Fortress and pawed at its face, squealing in pained shock.

    Fortress scrambled to his feet, coughing and wheezing. "Thanks bro. What was that? I thought you couldn''t use your Skills," Fortress said.

    nker shrugged and waved his staff again, snuffing the mes. "Not a holy spell, I got it from a Skill book."

    "You okay, honey bunny?" Tess called over the chat in a concerned voice.

    "Yeah, I''m okay, pumpkin." Fortress took a deep breath and charged at the glutover..

    "Oh, and nker, good job," Dave gave the priest a thumbs-up and returned to his fight. Dave''s HP was at half maximum , the damage ticks from the half-born [Fate Revealed] Skill were adding up.

    A half born seer rushed up at Dave and lunged, throwing itself at him. He sidestepped and the creature went sprawling across the fleshy floor. Dave stepped on its arm, pinning it, then thrust his sword, crunching through the seer''s skull. Dave ripped the mberge out of the monster''s skull and the half-born seer wilted, its corpse turning into a puddle of ichor.

    ***

    You have killed a half-born seer, level 360

    ***

    Dave waved the notification away and charged with [Stampede], stunning the glutover facing Fortress.

    ***

    Your party member (Mercy) has in Consumed Ogre, level 420.

    ***

    "Dave, we got another vial of miasmic aether and one more page of the diary," Ralph said.

    "Great, let''s wrap this up," Dave said.

    Ralph, Tess and Mercy ran at the remaining two monsters, a glutover and a half born seer. Mercy shed in and out of stealth, appearing behind the glutover, her dagger embedded deep into its spine. Tess waved her scepter and summoned ck chains that tightly wrapped around the glutover while Ralph faced the half born seer. The glutover was felled after Tess tightened her chains even more around it while Mercy was continuously stabbing it in the back. Having finished off a monster, they went to help Ralph but he had already killed the low HP half born seer alone.

    Two notification popped up in front of Dave informing him to the death of the monsters. Ralph joined him and handed over the vial of miasmic aether. Again, as soon as Dave took the vial his hand tightened involuntarily and the vial shattered. This time, the miasma spread up the skin of his arm and past his shoulder. One side of his face and neck decayed, in seconds the skin became desated and leathery, stretched tight across the skull and jaw bone. A partial beard sprang from the tough undead hide of his chin. His armor was affected also, divided down the middle. One side remained the polished celestial silver of a pdin but the other side changed to obsidian te with cruel spikes protruding all over it; the malevolent armor worn by Death Knights of the Undead Legion.

    ***

    You are closer to [Undeath]

    You have recovered the Skill [Never Tire]

    Passive Skill restored and amplified!

    [Never Tire]: Your Stamina stat is infinite. [Slow], [Weakness], [Freeze] and [Curse] spells and Skills no longer have an effect on you!

    Passive amplification effect: [Vigorous]

    [Vigorous]: 10% of your base HP is restored every 5 minutes.

    ***

    "Don''t even think about ying with a double-headed coin, mister ''Two Face''," Ralph snickered.

    "I prefer the full monty, the half-n-half makes you look indecisive," the pervert priest threw in his two cents.

    "What''s the note say?" Dave changed the subject. His voice was changed too, a dry raspy growl.

    Ralph shared the diary page. It was the least damaged of the ones they''d found so far.

    ***

    I''ve dedicated my life to the mastery of life and death, but this weak, frail body is no longer capable of withstanding the passage of time.

    I needed something stronger, something powerful, something capable of sustaining endless life. And so I sought to reforge my body anew.

    The flesh wall proved essential to my research. It can sustain life, expel diseases and regenerate itself endlessly, Quite ironic, to find so much life in something I created from the remains of worthless, rotten corpses.

    ***

    Dave pocketed the page, "There''s nothing left to do here, let''s go back to the entrance and try the other tunnels, there has to be more miasmic aether in the other tunnels."

    The yers agreed to Dave''s n and retraced their steps in single file back to the entrance.

    "Which one?" Ralph asked, gesturing at the tunnel entrances.

    Dave grinned maniacally turning his face from side to side, "Do I look like a guy with a n?"

    Fortress rolled his eyes, "Wrong bad guy, man. The Joker said that, not Two Face."

    Dave scowled at the tank, "Don''t be such a stickler, you kill all the fun. Let''s just take the left tunnel."

    The yers moved through the leftmost tunnel, without encountering any monsters. The throbbing of the heartbeat grew louder as they progressed, until it reverberated throughout the pulsing tunnel. At the end of the tunnel was a web of tightly knit strands vibrating in time to the heart beat and blocking their way.

    "Burn it?" Ralph suggested.

    "Yeah," Dave said. He equipped his gauntlets and reached toward the fments.

    The threads squirmed in Dave''s grasp. The heat from Dave''s gauntlet turned the flesh threads to bubbling oil in seconds. Beyond the opening was another dome-shaped room, twice asrge the room the first vial of miasmic aether was in.

    Sitting cross-legged in the middle of the room was a figure in a hooded blue robe. The throbbing beat that filled the air and moved the fleshy structure around them in pulsating rhythm wasing from the man.

    Dave stepped into the room and a notification popped up in front of him.

    ***

    You have entered a Boss room!

    Teleport functions are blocked!

    Log-out is disabled!

    You are currently in a party. The difficulty level and Boss monster''s stats will be adjusted ording to your average party level and numbers!

    ***

    Dave spoke over the chat, "We need party buffs."

    Fortress activated his group buff Skills and Demeri yed a song on her harp.

    "Sorry man, I can''t use my holy Skills," nker said.

    Dave rubbed his beard and grinned, "No problem," then booted nker from the party.

    "What was that, man?" nker yelled.

    "I know it''s a dick move, but the boss''s difficulty adjusts to the number of yers, and you are useless right now."

    nker grimaced but he knew Dave was right. He sat down at the entrance to wait out the fight.

    "Okay let''s do this," Dave said and walked deeper into the boss room.

    The figure in the middle of the room looked up, and said "You are undead! But that cannot be, the undead are gone from the world."

    Dave said, "Well, I''m standing right here, in the flesh, so to speak. And I''m going to be bringing the undead back."

    A red name tag appeared above the figure, [Ashkar, the Necromancer King].

    The necromancer shook his head and stood, "You can''t bring back the undead, not without the Death Heart at least. I knew when it was destroyed, I felt it happen. No power in this world can remake it." He stepped toward Dave then stopped and tilted his head, face still hidden in the shadow of the hood.

    Then Ashkar pointed, "Your ring! That is what keeps you between the poles, not fully of either Life or Death. Such a treasure is wasted on you, give it to me!" He extended an expectant hand.

    "Ooh. Yeeah. Umm. I''m going to have to go ahead and tell you: go bugger yourself." Dave said sarcastically. He wished he had a coffee mug in his hand to really pull it off.

    Ashkar scowled at Dave and whipped his hands forward, throwing several objects to the floor. The six egg-shaped things stuck to the fleshy surface and started vibrating, digging into the the floor until they disappeared. Secondster the area they had tunneled into tore apart, ps of flesh folded back and six monsters climbed out.

    "I have risen above the foulness of necromancy! Let me show you the power of flesh!" The boss was talking like a third rate B-movie viin. Ashkar inhaled deeply then suddenly leaned forward and shrieked like a banshee. The effort caused his hood to fall back, revealing a distorted mass of squirming flesh where his face should have been, growing around the mouth and chin was a nest of writhing tentacles.

    "All-a-sudden I got a hankering for cmari," Ralph said, running a thumb along the edge his sword, "With a little lemon and some garlic aioli sauce."

    Dave grinned at his friend''s foodie banter, then he ignited [Aura] and looked at Ashkar, "Let''s dance, flesh-monger!"

 Chapter 245 Never Fear Part 1

    Dave gestured with his head for everyone to spread out and move in, then inspected the boss.

    ***

    Ashkar, the Necromancer King

    Level: 520

    Base damage: 220,000-250,000

    HP: 1,500,000

    DN: 80,000

    MA: 100,000

    Skills:

    [Fleshmancy] (Passive): Ashkar can summon six (6) random flesh monsters every 10 minutes to help him fight.

    [Flesh Explosion]: Ashkar can detonate the corpses of his in summons, causing 250,000 HPs of t Damage in a 5-meter radius. yers will have a three (3) second warning before the corpse explodes.

    [Flesh Incarceration]: The necromancer binds a randomly selected enemy in a cage made of flesh. If the target remains imprisoned for more than 60 seconds, they will be [Executed].

    [Cursed Flesh] (Passive): When Ashkar loses 50% of his HP, he enters a second phase. Additionally, whenever Ashkar¡¯s HP drops below 10% he regenerates 1% of his total HP per second for 30 seconds.

    Lore

    In an age long past Ashkar, as a mere mortal, delved into the mysteries of the arcane. Using the knowledge gained from the pain and deaths of countless beings he became a master of the magic of body and soul. So much so that the Arch-Lich Da would have hesitated to challenge him. But eventually his studies of the eldritch went awry, resulting in the creation of an abomination that consumed the Necromancer King.

    ***

    The glutovers and half born seers that spawned from Ashkar¡¯s six ¡¯eggs¡¯ spread out and moved toward the yers.

    "You sure you don¡¯t want me to help?" nker asked hopefully, looking into the room around the edge of the doorway.

    "I¡¯m sure. Stay where you are," Dave answered without looking. Then he spoke to the other yers, "Take the seers down first, their DOT is a pain." Receiving nods back he ran at the nearest seer, equipping his gauntlets. He threw a jab into its face, knocking teeth and eyeballs out of its head.

    Mercy and Ralph split up, each of them squaring off against a half-born seer. Ralph tore into his opponent with [Rend-the-Flesh], chopping the seer¡¯s HP down to two thirds. Mercy vanished into stealth and appeared behind the other seer, her dagger gouging deep into its spinal cord. The half-born seer screamed in agony.

    Dave was only a few steps away fighting his own seer. As they duked it out a glutover joined the fight. Dave sidestepped the glutover¡¯s rush and mmed a fist into the seer¡¯s face. The multi-eyed horror reeled back clutching at its bleeding face. Dave moved back, creating some distance.

    "Fortress tank the boss, Lone, Tess, crowd control for him."

    Dave ignited [Aura], burning the monsters and searing the flesh walls. The creatures stopped attacking the other yers and converged on Dave, his threat level now at the top of their aggro priority.

    "BURN NOT THE FLESH!!" Roared Ashkar, mming a palm down on the floor. The impact generated a wave in the flesh covered floor that propagated toward Dave.

    Before the wave-of-flesh attack reached him Dave activated [Approaching Dragon], teleporting repeatedly from monster to monster, striking each time. When the skill ended Dave spun into [Infernal Tornado], sting away the monsters in melee range, high damage values rising above their heads.

    Mercy vaulted forward into a series of back handsprings tond between Dave and the monsters. Spinning, she kicked up into the air. Jade daggers materialized in her hands and she started throwing them, her movements speeding up until she was just a blur of white and hundreds of jade daggers began shooting out in every direction sounding like a buzzsaw. Some of the daggers passed through the other yers harmlessly, but every single dagger ended its deadly flight in a monster, turning them into bleeding pincushions. The dagger storm ended and Mercy hit the floor in a three-point superheronding, poised with one knee and one fist on the ground. Ashkar was the only monster left standing after Mercy¡¯s barrage, though he was bleeding from the dozens of daggers embedded in his distorted flesh.

    Mercy gave Ralph and Dave an arch look, "Meow," then she vanished into stealth again.

    "Okayyy, now we know who gets to be Catwoman."

    Ashkar shook and advanced toward Dave, the daggers impaling him vibrating with every step. Ashkar screamed like an angry lion, his muscles flexed and forced the daggers out. Then necromancer king screamed again and mmed both hands together in a thunderous p and the bodies of the six flesh monsters started shaking.

    "Get away from the bodies!" Dave shouted, bolting away from the corpses. Ralph turned and ran from the corpses.

    Two huge damage values floated up over the boss¡¯s head in red.

    -250,000

    -250,000

    "I think we can beat Ashkar¡¯s [Cursed Flesh] passive by getting him to blow himself up with the corpse explosion," Dave said over the party chat.

    "Cover me," Dave shouted and used [Dragon Kick], flying like a bullet toward the boss. The Necromancer King crossed his arms and blocked the damage from Dave¡¯s [Dragon Kick] and the fire dragon that it conjured. Ashkar grabbed Dave by the leg and threw him into the nearest wall.

    [-180,887]

    "You okay Stroke?" Perfect asked.

    "Shit. Yeah, no one told me the boss knows kung-fu," Dave stood up groggily .

    "This is gonna be a tough fight without a healer, " Ralph said, ncing at the door where nker waited for them.

    Dave¡¯s passive [Vigorous] kicked in, restoring 10% of his base HP. A green number appeared above Dave¡¯s head.

    +44,450

    Dave supplemented the boost with a healing potion.

    "Everyone switch to party chat."

    Mercy appeared behind Ashkar and stabbed her daggers into his kidneys. The king swayed, stunned, which gave Mercy an opening to ¡¯slice-n-dice¡¯ him for some serious damage points.

    When the stun effects ended the king swung a fist behind himself at the assassin, Mercy dodged the necromancer¡¯s iling and entered stealth.

    "I¡¯m ready with a stun, ster. Go for it," Perfect said.

    Ralph ran toward the boss and chopped with his sword activating [Silent Resolve].

    "I got aggro," Ralph shouted.

    "Fortress, switch with ster. I will tank the boss when my HP is full," Dave said.

    Ashkar knelt and punched both fists into the flesh formed floor, causing the meat to bloat and spread from him like ripples. The writhing flesh crawled up the yers, trapping them and covering them until only their faces were visible. Even Mercy was forced out of stealth, trapped in a cocoon of flesh like the rest of the party.

    ***

    You have been Restrained by [Flesh Incarceration]!

    Your skills and abilities have been disabled!

    You cannot ess your inventory!

    You have 60 seconds to extract yourselves from the [Flesh Incarceration] skill or you will die!

    ***

    "What the fuck!" Fortress shouted.

    Timers appeared above each yer and began ticking the 60 seconds down.

    Dave struggled to release himself to no avail. Being bound and helpless like this reminded him of the smollzies and their ropes.

    "Have no fear, nker is here!" the exiled priest burst into the room as he shouted the battle call.

    The moment he stepped inside though, a notification popped up in front of Dave.

    ***

    Attention! A new yer has been detected!

    Adjusting parameters.

    Difficulty changed ording to the new number and levels of yers.

    Boss (Ashkar) level increased by 10

    Ashkar has recovered 10% of his total HP

    ***

    "We told you to stay outside, man," Fortress said.

    "Shut it, Stan-lover. You guys dropped the ball, which means I have to save your asses. Again!" nker spun his staff and ignited it, then struck at the flesh imprisoning Fortress. But the imprisoning flesh didn¡¯t show any signs of damage and the timers over the yers continued to tick down.

    "Shit, I can¡¯t get this stuff off you guys."

    Dave shouted, "nker! Use the frog stomach acid!"

    The priest reached into his inventory and pulled out a vial of green acid and poured the contents on the meat imprisoning the tank and it melted away.

    "Here," nker said, handing four vials to Fortress, "Use these on the others."

    nker ran over to Dave and poured a vial on the flesh holding him. Dave took half of nker¡¯s vials and went to get Ralph free Fortress did the same and they freed the other yers in ten seconds just before the timer was over.

    "Invite me back into the party, man. I earned it," nker said

    "Just don¡¯t slow us down," Dave said. He couldn¡¯t deny the priest was right.

    The moment everyone was free, the kneeling boss stood up.

    "Damn, what do we do if he uses the trapping skill again?" Ralph asked.

    Dave shook his head, he still hadn¡¯t figured out how to deal with that skill without more acid vials.

    "Surround the boss. We will fight using basic tactics, melee ss tank the boss and the ranger ss will support with stuns and interrupt skills," Dave said.

    Demeri plucked at her harp, a notification popped up to the party.

    ***

    Bardic Song of Courage

    +10% Damage

    -5% damage from attacks

    ***

    "When the boss used the imprisoning skill he was stuck rooted in the same position. But I think I know how to escape his cage skill," nker said.

    "How?" Fortress asked as he used [Block], nullifying an attack from the boss.

    "I think if we jump over the ripples that start the attack we can avoid it," nker said.

    "That¡¯s actually a good idea," Dave said thoughtfully.

    "I guess that¡¯s obvious but so what? That will not change the situation we are in, the boss will still attack when he misses the skill use," Tess said , she waved her scepter and summoned ck chains that wrapped around Ashkar.

    "No, the [Flesh Incarceration] is a channeled skill, so the boss is stuck in one position for the length of the skill. If we jump over the ripples but let one yer get trapped, we can attack Ashkar as long as he is stuck" Dave said.

    The boss kicked Ralph away, shearing away two thirds of the swordmaster¡¯s HP.

    Fortress tapped in, recing the tank to let Ralph recover.

    "We need to get the boss to just above 10% then make him use the [Flesh Explosion] near one of the corpses, the damage will kill him," Ralph said.

    Tess¡¯s ck chains tightened down on Ashkar even more, they glowed with a ck light then dissipated, taking the Necromancer¡¯s HP below 50%.

    Ashkar screamed and began wing at his own face. Bones snapped out of the flesh on his back and tore his robes apart. Flesh vomited out of the wounds likeva gushing from the earth. The fresh pink meat covered the king, turning him into an amorphous four legged beast-like shape that advanced on the yers.

    "It¡¯s the second phase," Fortress backed farther away from the glistening slick-skinned flesh boss.

    "Hey guys? FYI, I checked the boss¡¯s skill list again. He doesn¡¯t have [Flesh Explosion] anymore. So your glorious n just went down the shitter," nker said.

 Chapter 246 Never Fear Part 2

    ***

    Ashkar the Ur-Flesh Abomination (the boss formerly known as the Necromancer King)

    Level: 520

    Base damage: 220,000-250,000

    HP: 748,110

    DN: 80,000

    MA: 100,000

    Skills:

    [Fleshmancy] (Passive): Mutated Ashkar can summon three (3) consumed ogres every 20 minutes to help him fight.

    [Flesh Incarceration]: The necromancer binds a randomly selected enemy in a cage made of flesh. If the target remains imprisoned for more than 30 seconds, they will be [Executed].

    [Cursed Flesh] (Passive): When Ashkar loses 50% of his HP, he enters a second phase. Additionally, whenever Ashkar¡¯s HP drops below 10% he regenerates 1% of his total HP per second for 30 seconds.

    [Flesh Assimtion] Mutated Ashkar periodically attacks a target with the might of his flesh. If the attack hits a yer, it will instantly [Execute] them and transform their husk to an aid to the mutated flesh

    Lore

    In an age long past Ashkar, as a mere mortal, delved into the mysteries of the arcane. Using the knowledge gained from the pain and deaths of countless beings he became a master of the magic of body and soul. So much so that the Arch-Lich Da would have hesitated to challenge him. But eventually his studies of the eldritch went awry, resulting in the creation of an abomination that consumed the Necromancer King.

    ***

    The boss had just under 750,000 HP, they would have been able to defeat it eventually if it hadn¡¯t mutated. But now, after being transformed into a crawling, slobbering amalgamation of flesh with a new skill set, defeating it would require a whole new strategy.

    "His second phase has two execution skills, that¡¯s fucked up," Ralph groused.

    "I¡¯ve got a Skill that does more than 80,000 damage," Tess offered.

    Mercy eyes flicked across her HUD as she spoke up, "I have a high damage skill too. Our too big hittersbined should be enough to take the boss out. We just have to watch out for those execution skills."

    The new-ish boss chose that moment to open its mouth and spit out three bowling-ball sized spheres. The fleshy masses broke and revealed three miniature ogres that grew rapidly until they were twice as tall as the yers.

    "I¡¯ll tank the ogres," Dave said.

    "Okay, I¡¯ll off-tank for you. Fortress, use that guardian skill, gimme some extra protection," Ralph said.

    Fortress activated [Guard Ally], a glowing blue kite-shield icon appeared over Ralph¡¯s head for a second then dissipated.

    "Okay, me and Tess will DPS then," Mercy said.

    One of the ogres swung his club down, Dave ran at the monster evading the attack and punched with [Rising Dragon], knocking the ogre¡¯s jaw in. The fire dragon conjured by the skill seared away the ogre¡¯s hair and coiled up all the way to the ceiling, making the flesh that formed the structure squirm and writhe away.

    One of the ogres grabbed its own protruding intestines and threw them at Dave. The entrails wrapped around Dave in a gruesome embrace, tightening around him and holding him in ce.

    ***

    You have been Rooted by [Grisly Grasp] and have suffered a Poison attack

    Your half-undead state grants you immunity to poison. You resist the poison effect of [Grisly Grasp]

    ***

    The other two ogres closed in on Dave, still held in ce by the first one¡¯s bowels. Dave kicked up into [Rising Strike] oveing the root effect and dodging away from the ogres attacks.

    Dave initiated [Awakened Dragon] he blinked away and appeared in midair to m a fist into one of the ogre¡¯s jaw, mes burst from his gauntlets to envelope its head on impact. He blinked again and appeared in front of another ogre, punching with [Dragon fist]. On the third blink he appeared in front of the final ogre and rocketed a knee into its face, he jumped away and lunged back in, punching the same ogre in the gut and grabbed the loops of intestines, pulling them out. Dave threw the intestines at the other ogres, trapping them. When an ogre tried to attack Dave, it got tangled in the loops of intestines and fell, bringing all three to the ground.

    Dave, hisbo finished, and opened his mouth to release [Ray of mes]. The narrow concentrated cone of superheated sma crisped the ogres¡¯ skin.

    -25,000

    -25,000

    -25,000

    -5,000

    -5,000

    -5,000

    ...

    "Whoa dude, that was a wicked Karate Kid-Empire Strikes Backbo," Ralph made a high five gesture at his friend.

    Dave grinned, he would never tell them that [Awakened Dragon]bo was AI-guided.

    The trapped ogres screamed in pain as the flesh floor turned to magma burning them further. They were trapped in the intestines unable to extract themselves, giving the yers precious seconds to deal with the boss without them interfering.

    Dave exchanged his gauntlets for the mberge and tower shield, the gauntlet skills had long cooldown times. Dave reinspected the boss. Ashkar had a base HP of 1,600,000 and they¡¯d gotten him down to 620,330.

    "We gotta get him to at least 160,000 HP, then nuke him before he can fully regenerate!" Dave said and ran toward the boss tanking it.

    "I need twenty seconds to get my skill ready, cover me!" Tess said.

    "Fortress, protect your girl," Dave said.

    He activated [Shield Charge] and rammed into Ashkar, stunning the boss for a second. Dave shed twice, splitting the meat open. A spine shot out from the wound toward Dave. He ducked under the whipping attack and hacked down at the meat again. Ralph swung with [Swordstorm] and his sword blurred, slicing chunks off the boss and spattering blood and viscera everywhere.

    Mercy spun her daggers whipping through flesh like cuisinart des ripping chunks of HP and flesh off.

    The boss howled and half of its mutated mass of flesh twisted and reformed into an arm. The huge fist uncoiled at Dave like a sprung trap but curved around him and cannoned into the inattentive nker.

    A death notification appeared in front of Dave.

    ***

    Your party member (Pussy nker) has died!

    ***

    "Shit, that was an execution skill, watch for it next time," Dave warned. Then he heard the sound of bones crunching. Instead of turning to motes of light and disappearing, nker¡¯s avatar was being consumed by the boss.

    A part on the boss¡¯s back bloated and transformed into a flesh humanoid that looked like nker with a tentacr beard.

    Faux-nker had a staff of wet bone in one hand and Dave had a very bad feeling when the clone of the pervert priest waved it in a familiar gesture.

    +12,000

    "The fuck, he¡¯s healing the boss!" Fortress said in frustration.

    "Oh, of course. Even dead nker is still a pain in the ass," Perfectined about his friend..

    "Just keep attacking!" Dave said.

    The situation was getting worse by the second. The boss still had a lot of HP left. And now it was adding dead party members as allies. Topound the yer¡¯s misfortunes, the ogres had broken free and wereing to the boss¡¯s aid again.

    Dave cursed and retreated away from the boss, "Ralph, switch! Tank the boss."

    "Should I help ster tank?" Fortress asked.

    "No, stay where you are, Ralph still has things under control, I¡¯ll tank the ogres," Dave said.

    The best weapon to deal with the ogres were the gauntlets, because they had multi-target attacks. But the skills on the fist weapons were on cooldown. So, Dave had to make do with his sword and shield against the ogres.

    Another green numerical value appeared over the boss.

    +12,000

    It was Faux-nker healing the boss, he was slowly filling Ashkar¡¯s HP back up.

    Tess¡¯s scepter was glowing a bright baleful red, "It¡¯s ready! Go help ster honey-bunny, I¡¯ll be fine."

    "Ashkar is down to 20%," Mercy said.

    "Good, everyone get back, FAR away!," Dave said.

    They backed across the room until they reached the walls.

    Dave waited until the three ogres were following him then ran toward the boss, pulling their aggro.

    With the others clear Dave cast [Double Edged], he waited a beat then lit off [Bastion]. The Minghocao appeared from underground, consuming dirt, stone and flesh in a single bite. Dave, along with the boss and the three ogres were swallowed by the Worm King, but unlike them he was safe, protected during the three seconds of immunity conferred on him by [Bastion].

    The Minhocao spat them out and dove back underground, leaving arge circr crater in the Flesh floor.

    Ashkar was screaming, his HP had gone down another 2%.

    Lone shot an [Ice Arrow Barrage], freezing one of Ashkar¡¯s legs. Perfect used [Breaking Shot], stopping the boss from mming a limb onto Ralph. Demeri was plucking furiously on her harp, casting [Charm] on one ogre and inflicting [Fear] on the other two.

    The boss¡¯s flesh reformed, gathering into a fist in a familiar wind up.

    "Watch out! Here ites again!" Dave shouted.

    But instead of grabbing one of the yers, the boss mmed the giant fist into the floor, sending the flesh rippling out across the room.

    "JUMP!"

    Everyone jumped to avoid the wave of flesh, but Perfect, Fortress and Demeri werete. The skill, [Flesh Entombed], snared them in damp sinewy cocoons and timers appeared over their heads, 30 second counting down.

    Dave ran toward his trapped friends, Fortress was the closest and he sliced at the mass of flesh that held the tank.

    "Get them out!" Dave said to the rest of the group. Mercy and Lone went to help the other two, leaving Ralph to fend off the boss alone.

    Tess couldn¡¯t move, her big skill was primed. Her big skill had a high cooldown time and she couldn¡¯t use any other skills until she used it.

    Mercy got Perfect free of the entombing flesh in short order. But Lone¡¯s level was too low for the location, her damage numbers just too weak. The timer above Demeri hit 30 seconds. The flesh around her twisted and tightened all of a sudden.

    Another death notification appeared in front of the party members.

    ***

    Your party member (Demeri) has died!

    ***

    The boss swung a giant fist at Lone, but Dave was near her, so he used [Block] to nullify the damage.

    "Lone, back away," Dave said.

    The enormous boss hand wrapped around the remains of Demeri and consumed them. Another lump grew out of the boss like a tumor. Sure enough, a faux-Demeri burst out and began plucking a harp made of bone and sinew.

    "Shit, that thing¡¯s song got me with a charm spell!" Perfect said. Hs legs were moving on their own, walking him closer to the boss.

    Dave raced toward the boss, he had to pull its aggro before it killed another party member.

    Another boss-fist flew past Dave¡¯s head, a momentter, a notification appeared in front of him.

    ***

    Your party member (Lone Arrow) has died!

    ***

    "FUCK!"

 Chapter 247 Never Fear Part 3

    Chapter 247

    "We can still beat him!" Ralph attacked with his sword recklessly.

    Another tumor grew, to disgorge a Lone Arrow flesh-clone wielding a bone and sinew bow. Dave ran into the boss¡¯s melee range to tank it with Ralph. The faux-Lone on the back of the boss began shooting ice arrows at Dave.

    A notification appeared in front of Dave.

    ***

    Your half-undead state grants you immunity to [Slow] effects. You resist the [Slow] effect of [Ice Arrow].

    ***

    Dave waved away the notification.

    "Boss is down to 15%!" he shouted.

    "Alright, my turn. This is going to make me a priority target, be ready to take back his aggro," Tess said. She whirled her scepter around her head and mmed it into the floor. The flesh floor hardened and cracked, trails of red smoke formed and circled her motionless figure.

    The boss repositioned itself to face Tess, flesh reforming into a fist thatunched at Tess. Fortress stood like a bulwark in front of the magician, poised behind his shield and ready to use [Block]. This time something different happened, the fist split into two. One continued toward Tess and the other curved toward Mercy.

    Fortress used [Block] to save the sorceress, keeping her safe to continue her attack on the boss.

    Tess pushed both palms out in front of herself and the crimson smoke drifting around her condensed into a red spear that shot away from her at the boss, piercing the amorphous beastlike formpletely through from one end to the other.

    [-120,882]

    +16,000

    Mercy tried to run from the rapidly approaching fist but another smaller flesh fist wasing at her from another direction.

    Perfect and Dave ran to help Mercy.

    "Stroke, I¡¯ll take the smaller one,"

    Dave nodded and lunged forward ending in a dave, lifting his shield to sessfully [Block] the fist that was going to stter Mercy.

    Perfect jumped in front of the smaller fist, giving Mercy the chance tond her big attack on the boss.

    ***

    Your party member (Perfect Shot) has died!

    ***

    Mercy ducked under the fist that was assimting perfect and lunged forward, both hands wielding the jade daggers, shoving them right through the mangled boss¡¯s eyes.

    [-113,600]

    "We can do this!" Ralph said.

    Just as he was about to bring his sword down to end the boss¡¯s life. Lone Arrow¡¯s flesh avatar shot [Ice Aura]. An elemental ice-cyclone spun up around the boss, turning both Ralph and Mercy to popsicles in seconds. Before they could use a counter to the freezing effect, the boss bloated up like a balloon and engulfed them both.

    ***

    Your party member (Mercy) has Died!

    Your party member (ster) has Died!

    ***

    The boss began healing, its HP pool climbing back up towards full.

    +16,000

    +16,000

    Dave was shocked, two level 400 yers had just been killed in an instant. He turned, Tess was still with him. With her legacy skill there was still a chance to kill the boss. Faux-nker¡¯s healing was still not on the level that they couldn¡¯t deal with for now, the fight can still be won.

    "Tess, what are you doing?" Dave said. The sorceress was absolutely still, not moving a muscle.

    Fortress gave his girlfriend a concerned look, "That¡¯s the drawback of using her strongest legacy skill, she enters a silenced State for 10 seconds."

    The boss formed two fists this time.

    Fortress looked over at Dave, "Sorry man, but the raid is fucked. See you on the flip side."

    The fists shot out, striking and consuming both Fortress and Tess, leaving Dave to face the growing monster alone.

    Another notification appeared to Dave, informing him to the death of hisst party members.

    ***

    Your party member (Human Fortress) has Died!

    Your party member (Tess) has Died!

    ***

    +16,000

    +16,000

    ...

    Dave was too low level ovee the constant heals on the boss, both nker¡¯s and the passive [Cursed Flesh] that restored the boss¡¯s HP to 40%.

    Annoyingly, yet another notification came.

    ¡¯What is it THIS time? Everyone else is dead already¡¯

    Dave spared another moment to nce at thetest message.

    ***

    Attention yer: You are now ALL ALONE. Are you certain you want to continue against a BOSS monster ALL by your lonesome?

    It¡¯s hopeless. Why not just give up and give in to the inevitable...

    ***

    ¡¯WHAT THE HELL IS THAT FUCKED UP MESSAGE?!¡¯

    Dave shoulders slumped, the message wasn¡¯t wrong. There was nothing he could do, he should have nned better, done better. Brought more game. Now, they would have to redo the dungeon, taking days to travel from Urberg to the tomb through the wilds again; going through weretigers, unique mobs, smallzies and one legendary dragon that wanted revenge on Dave.

    "You got lucky this time you ugly fuck. But I¡¯ll be back," Dave said defiantly as the mass of flesh lunged at him.

    The flesh creature around Dave, tightening around him. The flesh worked its way between the gaps of the draugr¡¯s armor like a viscous liquid. Dave waited for the death notification toe but instead, red numerals appeared above the boss.

    -16,000

    -16,000

    -16,000

    The red semi-solid flesh engulfing Dave hardened and turned green, the color of moldy bread. The green virulence spread rapidly until it covered the entire four legged boss creature. The Ashkar beast howled and screamed as bits and pieces of the rotten meat he had been began falling to the floor. Faux nker and the other copies of his party members melted into ck pools of ichor as the boss slumped, its body liquifying into arge slimy puddle. The bones and tendons melted along with the meat as the slimy creature pooled on the floor like a rancid stinking puddle of ck goo. A slightlyrger Miasmic Aether Vial and a round object were left in the middle of the ichor.

    Then Dave remembered something that exined what was happening, "Undeath negates heals!"

    ***

    You have defeated: Ashkar the Necromancer King.

    You have killed Ashkar using the Curse of Undeath, penalty applied: -100% Combat EXP

    ***

    You have obtained 4 kg of Miasmic Aether

    ***

    Dave picked the vial up from the ground and his hand tightened around it, shattering it. The liquid spread across Dave¡¯s skin like it had a mind of its own,pleting his transformation into an undead draugr.

    ***

    Your Skill [Never Fear] has been restored.

    Passive skill restored and amplified!

    [Never Fear]: Fear inducing effects are ineffective against you. All crowd control skill durations on you are lowered by 25%

    New passive obtained

    [Horror]: Your fear inducing skills now cause a [Horror] effect on targets, doubling damage done to the targets under the effect. There is a 0.01% chance that the [Horror] effect will cause the target to be instantly [Executed].

    ***

    "Wow, an [Execution] skill!" Even with the very low probability of the [Execute] effect pring it was a big deal. Dave rubbed his boney hands together gleefully, then turned his attention to the other item.

    ***

    Si of Fleshomancy

    Category: Ring

    Attributes bonuses:

    +100 INT

    +100 STA

    +100 VIT

    +100 WIS

    +100 DEX

    +100 INT

    +100 AGI

    Requirements: (Champion of Undeath)

    Skills:

    [Imperfect Reflection]: Creates a clone with the same HP and defensive values of the ring wearer. The clone doesn¡¯t attack or defend but will absorb all damage done to the wearer until its HP pool is depleted. The clonests for 10 seconds and all damage it absorbs is doubled.

    Cooldown: One (1) hour

    [Perfect Reflection]: Swaps location with the flesh clone.

    Cooldown 1 Hour

    ***

    "Niiiice ring, thank you, I do." Dave unequipped his [King Decree] ring. It had been with him since he was level 60, he¡¯d out-leveled it quite a while ago.

    The Flesh Ring coiled around his finger like a living worm and tightened itself around his ring finger.

    ¡¯That should be it.¡¯

    Dave was about to tear a teleportation scroll and leave, he noticed something in the logs. With the 4 kg of Miasmic Aether from Ashkar he only had a total of 8 kg. He was short 2 kg of the damn stuff.

    Dave turned, looking around for hidden rooms or cubbies in the walls of the Boss room. But he didn¡¯t find anything out of the ordinary aside from the walls of rotten flesh.

    ***

    You cannotmunicate with people outside Necromancer King Ashkar tomb.

    ***

    The party chat was disabled.

    ¡¯That exins why I didn¡¯t hear nker whining about getting killed off.¡¯

    Dave shook his head.

    Thinking for a moment, he remembered that there was still a tunnel they hadn¡¯t explored.

    Dave ran back to the room with three doorways and entered the third and final tunnel. There were dead or dying flesh monsters lying on the floor, the death of the dungeon boss had affected all the mobs in the dungeon.

    Dave stopped, grinning with EXP avarice he struck down at the seer to decapitate it. The head bounced off the floor and he got a notification.

    ***

    You have gained +1 EXP.

    ***

    His smile faded into disappointment.

    "I guess that would have been all too easy."

    He moved deeper into the tunnel, finding another dome shaped room that contained a pool of bubbling rotten blood.

    A Miasmic Aether vial was floating on the boiling blood.

    Dave picked the vial up, expecting a repeat of what had happened before. But this time his hand didn¡¯t squeeze and break the ss of its own volition. Instead a notification popped up.

    ***

    You have sessfullypleted the first part of the SS legacy quest "Tomb Raid"

    Reward: + 3,000,000 EXP!

    Bonus EXP (due to level difference): +1,000,000

    Level Up!

    Level Up!

    Level Up!

    ...

    This is a chain quest. Return to Urburg to receive the second quest in the chain.

    ***

    The tomb started shaking and the flesh wall that covered everything started rotting at a greatly elerated pace.

    Dave dug through his inventory for a teleport scroll, tore it open and disappeared.

 Chapter 248 Undead Supermacy

    Dave appeared back in Urburg. He knew the voice chat was working again because he could hear his friends talking over it.

    "The dragon¡¯s gonna make getting back to the tomb tough," Fortress said spiritlessly.

    "Skelly is overdue to respawn. Why isn¡¯t he back yet?" nker asked.

    "He just leveled up to 321. Somehow he killed the boss!" Perfect said.

    "How? That boss one-shotted two S tier legacy holders like it was for shits and giggles."

    "Hey guys, I¡¯m back," Dave spoke up. They couldn¡¯t see it, but he had a big grin on his face.

    "Mah man! How¡¯d you kill that boss, Dave?" Ralph asked.

    "I can¡¯t give away my secrets, padawan," Dave said.

    Mercy interrupted the banter, "Now that your quest is finished I have to go. The Eastern Kingdom raid starts soon and I have a contract with the Devastators. I need to get to their HQ ASAP."

    "Mercy is right, I need to get going too. I¡¯m leading a unit in the Easter campaign," Ralph said.

    "We¡¯ll be going to the Eastern kingdom together then. How exciting!" Tess pped.

    Dave asked, "You got recruited for the Eastern conquest campaign?"

    "Yeah, with the Devastators. Too bad Schmoopy¡¯s level is below their minimum or I would bring him with me," Tess answered.

    "A, that¡¯s okay honey bunny, we¡¯ll go conquering in the next big event," Fortress replied. Which caused the two lovebirds to forget everyone else and enter their own little pink world.

    nker snorted at the scene, "Despite that nauseating disy I need to eat. I haven¡¯t had a bite in forever."

    "I¡¯m going to log out too, guys. It¡¯s too bad we didn¡¯t get much EXP out of all that, I would have liked to level up some," Perfect said.

    "I¡¯m in a show tonight, so I have to get ready. Dave you shoulde, I¡¯ll get you a couple passes," Demeri smiled at Dave and logged out.

    Lone coughed and said, "I¡¯m going to go too."

    The party disbanded and Dave was all alone again.

    Dave looked around, the quest said he needed to go to Urberg for the next part of the chain. Well, here he was in Urberg, looking for or waiting for whatever to happen.

    "Hey kid," the familiar young sounding voice of the God of Undeath came from behind Dave.

    Dave turned to see the punk kid deity leaning against the teleport gate. The juvenile delinquent was using a knife to clean his fingernails.

    "You got something for me, kid?"

    "Yeah, I do. And stop calling me kid!" Dave removed the vial from his inventory and handed it over.

    The punk god smirked, "The Miasmic Aether was one of Ashkar¡¯s most important discoveries, it¡¯s absolutely essential for reviving the Undead."

    The God of Undeath snapped his fingers. A wisp of ck smoke gathered around his hand and solidified into a ck crystal the size of a baby¡¯s fist. Thest remaining fragment of the Death Heart. Then the god of undeath poured the vial of miasma over the crystal. The crystal vibrated and became translucent as it absorbed the liquid.

    "Just one moreponent," The Undeath God whispered to the stone in his hand. He squeezed the crystal and it disappeared.

    "That¡¯s all you needed? The ring absorbed a lot more Aether than that," Dave said.

    "Yeah, I¡¯m surprised you scavenged enough for both the ring and the fragment. You don¡¯t just find that crap lying around anywhere. Good job kid."

    "So, what now?" Dave asked.

    "Now I need a Corrupt Bloodstone crystal."

    "Bloodstone. Is that the stuff from the Burning Pirs bloodstone mines in the Underworld?" Dave asked. If it was he didn¡¯t know how he was going to get to the Underworld to do the quest.

    "Oh good, you already know the ce."

    "Sure, I owned a castle in that same area."

    "That¡¯s your next task. Go get me a corrupted bloodstone crystal."

    Dave looked at the juvenile god like he was crazy, "I can¡¯t go to Underworld. ess to it was sealed off when the Undead were wiped out."

    "Pish, have a little faith kid, I AM a god after all. I can get you to the Underworld. You just get me a corrupt-bloodstone crystal." The undeath god waved a hand and a ck vortex materialized within the arch of the Urburg teleport gate.

    "Okay..." Dave trailed off as he looked into the churning vortex. He was familiar with such vortexes, they were the portals that led in and out of the Underworld.

    "Are the corrupted bloodstone crystal crystal different from the regr bloodstone crystal?"

    "The corrupted crystals materialize from the hardened blood of monsters just like the bloodstones, but only if the monster was corrupted while it was still alive. Go kill some corrupt monsters and hope one of them drops what I need," the punk god waved a hand, blowing Dave off his feet and into the gate before he could ask anything.

    Hended on his ass in the Underworld. Before he even had time to get up a notification appeared.

    ***

    Legacy Quest Update (chain quest)!

    Quest 2/? : Get the Shiny

    Quest tier: SS

    Required Level: 300

    Rmended level: 400

    Note this is a single yer quest (NPCs are allowed to assist or join you on your quest)

    The Undeath God has tasked you to obtain a Corrupt Bloodstone Crystal. Due to how difficult they are to find; you have been advised to create them instead. Killing corrupt underworld beings has a low chance of dropping Corrupt Bloodstone Crystals.

    ***

    Dave waved away the notification and looked up. He didn¡¯t think he¡¯d miss the dark skies of the Underworld and its broken moon so much.

    "Ah, it¡¯s good to be back," Dave said.

    He tinkered with his character options, the Undead Race options were grayed out.

    "Alright, I¡¯m a step closer to fix that clusterfuck Alfred did. Papa Dave¡¯s gonna bring you back home soon Boyz." Dave pumped himself up.

    The Underworld was asrge as the world of conquest and Dave didn¡¯t know where in it he was exactly. He opened his map and saw that he was in a known area, only a few hours away from the Burning Pirs. The Red Fortress was there and so were the bloodstone mines.

    There was a blinking marker on his map, he clicked on it

    Dave climbed up a steep hill, the marker¡¯s location was just beyond it.

    "Infinite Stamina is so sweet! I don¡¯t have to worry about exhausting my character anymore,".

    Before he even got to the top of the hill,growling sounds came from the other side. Dave climbed up carefully and when he reached the top hes peeked from over the hill.

    Dave grinned wide when he saw what was under the hill. He jumped up and slid down the hill calling out to the group.

    At the foot of the hill were basilisks and pdins. HIS basilisks and pdins! When the basilisks recognized Dave, they came running toward him and gathered around him in a circle, their tails wagging.

    Dave recognized Dog¡¯s basilisk and scratched under his chin. "Hey buddy, I am working on reviving your rider, just hang in there."

    The basilisk, as if it had understood what Dave meant, nodded, its tail moving faster.

    "Wee back Commander," a female voice came behind Dave.

    Dave turned, the Unholy priestess, he almost rushed over to hug her. "It¡¯s good to be back, but we still have a lot to do. The legion is counting on us to revive all its members."

    Dave made a quick head count, seven basilisks, thirteen unholy pdins and one unholy priestess.

    "We will be heading toward the Red FortressTwo pdins ride on each basilisk," Dave said.

    As he was about to mount up on Dog¡¯s basilisk, a loud growl echoed from behind Dave.

    Dave turned, the ck basilisk that had growled at Dave was pushing away two pdins and looking at him meaningfully.

    "Commander, this is the alpha and he will only carry you."

    Dave chuckled and patted Dog¡¯s mount, "Sorry buddy, you just wait for Dog toe back. I¡¯ll ride grumpy over there to keep the peace."

    Dog¡¯s basilisk almost seemed to huff and nod in response.

    ***

    You have obtained a new mount: Onyx Basilisk, level 550 (Bonded Combat Mount)

    Attention! The level of your bonded mount (onyx basilisk) has been adjusted to match your own level.

    Onyx basilisk bat mount) level 321.

    ***

    ***

    The onyx basilisk, your bondedbat mount, has epted the name "Grumpy," as bestowed upon him by you.

    Your affinity with Grumpy, the onyx basilisk, has increased to level 2/7

    P.S The basilisks were once used as mounts by the bravest, or most foolish of warriors, so they are not considered to be wild monsters by the system. To gain your mount¡¯s full loyalty and bind them to you, you must reach an affinity of seven (7).

    ***

    "Da fuck? Another mount?" Dave tilted his head.

 Chapter 249 Back into the mines

    Dave climbed up onto Grumpy and leaned down to help the priestess up.

    When they were seated Dave shouted, "We¡¯re thest hope of the legion, Boyz. Everyone is counting on us. To the Burning Pirs!"

    Dave nudged Grumpy into a trot. The basilisk loped forward at the head of the formation, kicking up dust with its tree-trunk thick legs and moving significantly faster than a dunlord could.

    The Burning Pirs mine was a few dozen miles away. It wouldn¡¯t take long to get there on the basilisks. The first part of their journey led through rugged terrain, narrow paths through steep jagged cliffs..

    They¡¯d been galloping for a few minutes when Dave held his fist up to signal the group and the basilisks slowed and came to aplete stop. In the distance, a steep hill of jagged boulders rose incongruously from the t open in thaty ahead of them.

    The basilisks were restless and Grumpy pawed at the ground, growling. As they were examining the odd hill, the whole thing started vibrating, the boulders grinding against each other.

    "Commander, there¡¯s something under that pile of rocks, isn¡¯t there?" the unholy priestess asked from behind him on Grumpy¡¯s back.

    "Yes. It¡¯s a titan. We disturbed its sleep," Dave replied.

    The earth titan rose from under the pile of boulders, dirt and rock fragments falling away from its massive bulk. The giant pushed a hand into the ground and fished out a boulder the size of a house.

    "Wait!" Dave yelled at the top of his lungs, waving, "It¡¯s me!" He felt like an ant yelling up at human that was about to step on him.

    But evidently the titan had good hearing, because he stopped in mid wind-up. Dropping the boulder he stepped forward, shaking the earth, and bent down toward Dave. Dave resisted the urge to flee as the building-sized face of the titan moved closer and closer to Dave to inspect him.

    "Hummm, Friend of Titans...I see. How fares your fight against the Ash king?" said the giant in a slow, deep voice.

    Dave took a deep breath and said, "The Ash king colluded with traitors and angels and brought ruin upon the Undead...the undead are no more. I am here to revive them and take vengeance on the Ash King," Dave said.

    "Like my race, even the kin of the dead fell to the schemes of the demons. Tell me, survivor of the dead, can you truly revive the legion of the dead?"

    "I just need an item that can be found in the Bloodstone Mines to finish my task of reviving the undead."

    The giant straightened up and rubbed at its chin with a truck sized hand Dust flew away from the giant and pebbles fell down. Some even bounced off Dave¡¯s armor but he ignored the debris and waited for the titan to answer

    "Then so be it, yer of the Stalwart. I will assist your king when the legion returns to this world. I will have vengeance for my people, a vengeance long overdue." The titan said.

    A notification appeared in front of Dave.

    ***

    The Earth Titan Lord (Level 750) has vowed to fight against the demons when the Undead Legion returns.

    ***

    "Thank you, Lord of Titans," Dave said.

    He¡¯d made a powerful ally to help the cause of the undead.

    "May we pass?" Dave asked.

    Fortune go with you Friend of Titans." The giant stepped aside to let Dave¡¯s group continue.

    Dave nudged Grumpy to continue toward the burning pirs.

    The giant went back to its hill to sleep pulling the boulders back over himself.d.

    Dave looked around, broken pirs littered the area they were riding through. These were the Ash King¡¯s Demon Knights tombs. They Ash King used to preserve his forces inside the pirs, until they were summoned to the fight of the Red Fortress against the Undead. Ultimately, the demons lost and the legion took the Red Fortress for themselves.

    The Red Fortress stood a few miles away, the spire on each of its four corners lit with mes.

    "The demons took MY fortress, fuckers had it easy since the Undead are no more. Just you wait, I¡¯ll get it back soon." Dave grumbled under his breath.

    "Riders, lean to the side of your mounts, do not let the scouts on the Red Fortress walls see you," Dave said and leaned on the basilisk¡¯s nk.

    It¡¯s rare to see a group of basilisks roaming the Underworld, but not impossible, but seeing a ¡¯living¡¯ draugr and pdins riding them is somethingpletely different.

    There were carts and mining tools scattered near the mine entrance. The demons had apparently resumed excavation of the bloodstone after they retook the mines. Two horned demons with halberds stood guard at the entrance.

    "We can¡¯t let them call for help. Take them!"

    "Commander, I can take care of this," the unholy priestess waved her hand, "Vow of Silence."

    A glowing purple circle appeared around the two demons, alerting them to the approaching basilisks. Their sharp fanged mouths moved but no sound came out.

    Grumpy¡¯s yellow eyes glowed brightly and the demons slowly turned to stone. The ck basilisk elerated and the other basilisks followed. Grumpy mmed into the closest demon and Dog¡¯s basilisk smashed into the second one reducing both figures to rubble.

    Dave¡¯s exp bar increased a bit, he needed 10% on his EXP bar to reach level 322.

    "Everyone, stop," Dave ordered. He looked at the Red Fortress, seeing no change ormotion at the walls he nodded.

    "Let¡¯s get it, we can¡¯t let anything escape to notify the Red Fortress," Dave said.

    Grumpy entered the Bloodstone tunnels. The demons erged the mines for the excavation so, the passage wasrge enough to let two basilisks walkfortably next to each other.

    As they walked down the dark tunnels, the sound of iron striking the stone sounded from inside the tunnels.

    "Grumpy, can you use your [Petrifying Gaze] again?" Dave asked.

    The toad faced basilisk snorted and shook his head.

    ¡¯It must have a cooldown then.¡¯

    Dave turned his head toward the other basilisks, "Save your petrification skill until I say when to use it."

    The dark tunnel grew brighter as they moved deeper. They entered a room that had lit braziers positioned in the corners. Wooden carts filled with bloodstones were scattered around the room. Dave counted ten imps, busily mining bloodstone ore from the walls and loading it into the carts. A whip-wielding demon stood in the middle of the room overseeing the work.

    "Pdins, stand guard at the entrance, don¡¯t let anyone escape. I will take care of the demon. Basilisks, crush everything else!" Dave hopped off Grumpy equipping his sworn stalwart gauntlets in the process. Just as hended on the ground he used [Stampede] and crashed into the demon overseer.

    Grumpy¡¯s scaly hide puffed out and roared as hundreds of spikes shot from his back. The bone projectiles impaled imps, carts and even walls.

    The closest pdins ran between the monsters and stood at the other side of the mine to prevent any enemies from escaping.

    "ughter them!" Dave shouted.

    ***

    Grand Strategist Title activated!

    Battlecry!

    All units under yourmand receive a boon: 20% bonus to damage.

    Your underlings have a chance to resurrect immediately upon dying (1%+0%)!

    The blind faith of your underlings gives them: Courage!

    There is a 5% chance that attacks made by those under yourmand will ignore defensive values!

    ***

    Dave punched the demon in the face. The creature reeled back wed hand at its bloodied nose. Dave stepped forward, punching the demon in the ribs. The horned humanoid bent to the side from the punch but still swung his whip in retaliation. Dave stepped to the side but couldn¡¯t dodge the attack in time..

    -47,885

    He grunted, but still attacked..

    The worker imps shouted and howled for aid as the basilisks ripped them to shreds. Dog¡¯s basilisk stuffed two imps into his maw and started chewing the screaming creatures with his razor sharp fangs.

    -12,888

    Dave took another hit from the demon¡¯s whip. But immediately after a green number appeared over his head.

    +60773

    Dave was healed back to full by the Unholy priestess both and the effects of his passive skill, [Vigorous].

    Grumpy crashed through carts sending bloodstones all over the room and mmed into the demon Dave faced. The demon was sent sprawling to the ground, Dave jumped on the fallen demon and started punching it in the face.

    ***

    Ramp UP activated!

    +10% increased damage

    Chance to proc [Overheat] increased by 50%.

    You have inflicted a [Poisoned] Status effect to your target!

    You have inflicted a [Shocked] Status effect on your target!

    ***

    Several notifications popped up in front of Dave as he was punching at the demon. Grumpy growled, feeling something wrong, Dave looked up to see the basilisk¡¯s spiked mace tail dropping down like a hammer. Dave as the lizard¡¯s tail smashed into the demon¡¯s head, turning it to paste.

    The kill added another 2% to his EXP bar.

    "Thanks for the warning," .

    The fight ended quickly, with the final imp chewed by Dog¡¯s basilisk

    Dave picked up a bloodstone that dropped after the death of the demon. It was no different than the bloodstone from the walls. He needed a corrupt bloodstone for the quest. Dave knew his luck, he wouldn¡¯t be finding a Corrupt Crystal anytime soon.

    The demons and imps only dropped Bloodstones for loot. Dave got onto Grumpy¡¯s back and called, "Let¡¯s go Boyz."

    Dave led the group through the room exit and deeper into the tunnel system.

    Reaching a junction in the mine Dave, stopped. To the right was the tunnel that led to where he first fought the Shadow Worm. To his left was the room with the deadly puzzles, where he found the Conquest Right.

    Dave knew there was nothing to explore in the puzzle room. But there were several mining areas he couldn¡¯t get to when he fought the Shadow Worm because they¡¯d been blocked or filled.

    Dave turned right. He had a hunch the demon miners would have mined through the cave-ins into new areas by now.

 Chapter 250 Hot po

    They moved through the tunnels, Dave still on Grumpy and the six other basilisks behind them in a double file.

    They entered some caverns deeper in the mine where hundreds, maybe thousands of stctites hung from the ceiling. Each stctite looked like it was made from drippings of fresh blood. Here and there some of the crimson formations descended all the way to the floor of the cave, in pir-like formation.

    Dave raised a fist and the group stopped.

    Light flickered in a room at the far end of the tunnel cavern. Shouts, nging and loud hisses came from inside. There was a fight going on in there.

    Dave patted Grumpy¡¯s head, "Let¡¯s stay out of sight until we attack whatever is in there from ambush."

    He didn¡¯t know how many monsters were inside the mines, but judging by the screams there had to be at least dozens of workers in there.

    Grumpy moved in, when he was a short distance from the door a battered imp crawled out of the room. It was battered and looked like its lower body had been burned away with a blow torch. The flesh waspletely charred, king off and leaving a trail of blood and ash.

    The imp didn¡¯t even notice the looming basilisk, it continued to drag itself forward with wed hands...until Grumpy raised a foot and stomped on the imp¡¯s head, turning it into a wet stain on the ground.

    "Time to get it stuck in, let¡¯s go Boyz!" Dave said. He nudged Grumpy to move forward.

    Inside the room, ten red lizards the size of horses. Two of the lizards were biting and ripping apart a screaming imp between their jagged fangs. A lizard was chasing after a running imp and shot gouts of mes whenever the imp was in range. Three demons in the center of the room stood back to back in the fighting off against six lizards in a desperate and losing battle.

    Dave inspected one of the creatures.

    ***

    Chaos Smander

    Level: 330

    Base damage: 50,000-60,000

    Danger Level : Average

    HP : 400,000

    DN : 30,000

    MA : 60,000

    Skills :

    [Smander Breath]: the smander breathes out mes in a cone. Does 100% base damage and applies an [Overheating] effect.

    [Tongue Lash]: the smander shoots out its tongue in a whipping attack, damaging enemies up to 20 meters away. Applies [Poisoned] status effect.

    [Tough Skin] (Passive): the Chaos Smander¡¯s resistances increase 2% for every 1% HP lost.

    Lore:

    Smanders are said to be distant descendants of dragons. After being exposed to the power of Chaos they mutated to their present chaotic form

    ***

    On the other side of the room, facing the entrance was a hole, a tunnel, where previously there was a cave in.

    "Don¡¯t attack the demons, let them leech aggro for us, Dave called.."

    Dave wanted to exploit the demons¡¯ fight for survival so he could kill off the solo salmanaders before fighting the grouped up ones..

    Dave dropped his arm to point forward, and the basilisks charged into the room, trampling the smanders. The smanders screeched and hissed in surprise. Two of the Chaos reptiles scuttled toward Grumpy. The onyx basiliskshed out with his tail, the spiked end smashing into the closer smander¡¯s face, leaving it stunned and injured.

    -60,144

    The second smander jumped at Grumpy, but Dave angled his shield to intercept and the oversized gecko was bounced back by his [Block]. The attack neutralized, Dave swung down with his mberge, hacking at the smander¡¯s skull.

    -28,888

    Two pdins ran over and stood in front of Grumpy facing the smanders.

    A pair of basilisks rushed at the low HP smander. The reptile backed away fearfully, but the basilisks continued after it intent on ganging up on the smaller monster. The retreating smander was backed up against a wall. Realizing that there was no escape, the lizard growled and coughed a gout of mes at the basilisks. The basilisks grunted and stepped back, startled by the mes sting into their faces. In cooperative retaliation the basilisks swung their tails around and caved the smander¡¯s head in from both sides.

    "These things are too short to reach from up here, buddy," Dave patted Grumpy then jumped his back, sword out and pointed at the smander.

    -26,600

    Dave dodged an oing smander¡¯s ws just as a pdin jumped past him to block a second smander¡¯s attack. But Dave couldn¡¯t dodge the first monster¡¯s follow up with its tongue, and he grunted as the whip-like attack shed across his torso.

    -40,880

    ***

    You have been struck by the Chaos Smander¡¯s [Tongue Lash]

    Your undead state grants you immunity to poison.

    The poison from [Tongue Lash] has no effect on you.

    ***

    "That hurt!" Dave said.

    A wave of relief swept across his draugr body, the healing from the unholy priestess, still riding on Grumpy.

    +20,000

    "Thanks," Dave yelled as he shed sideways at a smander.

    The reptile dodged the attack and lunged at Dave again. Dave sidestepped and stomped on the lizard¡¯s head in [Mikiri Counter] then plunged his sword into the reptile¡¯s back. Hot blood gushed from the reptile as it squirmed in pain.

    -66,220

    Then Grumpy followed up with his spiked tail-mace, taking a quarter of the smander¡¯s HP.

    Dave looked towards the center of the room, all the demons were dead and the smanders that had been fighting them were nowing his way. A few of the imps were trying to escape but the smanders didn¡¯t seem interested in them anymore.

    "Basilisks, make it rain!" Dave gave amand.

    The seven basilisks inhaled deeply, their torsos bloated up like puffer-fish and they grunted as they blew hundreds of sharp spikes all over the room. The spikes went through Dave and his allies harmlessly but stuck in crates, walls and monsters doing full damage.

    The imps still in the room were impaled to death, along with two of the nine chaos smanders. A few secondster the spikes faded away, leaving fist-sized holes everywhere. Dave and Grumpy faced down two smanders alone while the other basilisks hunted the remaining smanders as a group.

    The smander Dave was facing spat a gout of me at him. Dave huddled behind his shield and used [Block], then chopped at the smander after the me guttered out.

    -33,000

    Dave used [Destructive Smash], stunning the smander, which left itpletely defenseless against Grumpy¡¯s tail-mace attack, which ended the reptile¡¯s life. Dave jumped on the remaining smander¡¯s back and started hacking away at it like he was chopping wood.

    Dog¡¯s basilisk came charging in and rammed into one of the smanders. The azure basilisk spun around, tail whipping at nearby reptiles, opening flesh and crushing bones.

    Three smanders backed away and turned, fleeing through the new tunnel. Dave used [Immortal Apparition] to teleport in front of the other smanders and intercept their escape, applying a [Horror] effect on them. A ck skull icon appeared above the monsters as they ran from the terrifying draugr.

    The other basilisks converged on the two escaping smanders and crushed them under their feet and thest of the monsters were dispatched by the pdins.

    "Great job everyone," Dave praised his group. Then he went to loot the remains of the smanders, imps, and demons.

    ***

    1 x Chaos Smander Hide

    1 x Chaos Smander tongue

    2 x Chaos Smander w

    Broken Demon Horn

    Blood Stone

    ***

    "Tch, nothing great here. Priestess, heal us up, so we can get going." Dave said.

    The unholy priestess raised her scepter and cast a dark aura over the group, rapidly regenerating their HP to full.

    They moved into the newly cleared tunnel and Dave received a notification.

    ***

    You have entered the hidden [Chaos Dungeon]

    Monsters will drop their best loot on the first death.

    Experience gain is doubled for seven (7) days in the dungeon.

    This is a single yer dungeon. Only one yer can enter the dungeon at a time. All other yers will be unable to enter until the dungeon is cleared, or the yer inside it perishes.

    "A virgin dungeon! Oh baby, Daddy Dave¡¯sing to conquer you!"

 Chapter 251 Skittering problems

    Dave¡¯s group entered the Chaos dungeon. The dim interior of the cave was so sweltering hot it was difficult even to breathe. Heat radiated off the stone walls of the tunnel and scorching dry air blew up from the depths and into their faces.

    Dave checked through his character sheet; he was steadily approaching an [Overheated] state.

    ¡¯Man, this dive is gonna suck.¡¯

    It was 42 degree celsius. He kept an eye on his game time, heat rose by one degree celsius every thirty seconds. At that rate, it would take less than an hour to reach 100 celsius, the threshold of the [Overheat] abnormal status effect. .

    "Commander, the heat is overwhelming. I can cast [Northern Wind] on us to reduce the effects," the priestess asked.

    "Elemental magic?" He found it strange that she could cast elemental spells, which was the province of magic users not priests and clerics.

    "Yes," replied the priestess.

    Dave thought for a moment. "Wait until we can¡¯t take the heat. Otherwise, it¡¯s just a waste of mana."

    "As you wish,mander."

    They arrived at another section of the mines, where a natural rock formation bridged a river of flowingva.

    Two smanders scurried away, crossing the rock that spanned theva river to get away from the fearsome basilisks.

    Arge bubble in theva welled up and then burst with a loud popping sound. From the bubble, a fish leapt in a high ballistic arc. Twice the size of a basilisk, it resembled argemouth bass with extrarge, spiny fins. The giant fish sailed over the bridge and scooped the two smanders into its cavernous mouth with a single snapping bite. It half fell and half glided back down into theva on the other side, entering the molten rock with a tremendous ssh.

    An eerie silence permeated the cavern afterward. Despite the temperature Dave felt a chill, if smanders hadn¡¯t tried to cross first he would have ended up inside the fish in the river of hotva.

    Dave jumped off Grumpy and approached the edge of the bridge. The rising heat seared his face, wrinkling his beard. Large fish shadows moved under theva, circling like a pack of sharks around prey.

    Dave counted four of them. He motioned hispanions to stay where they were. He waited five minutes for a fish to jump again, but nothing happened.

    Dave shook his head, "These fuckers are actually waiting for us to cross."

    Dave mounted Grumpy again and said, "Get ready. We have to run for it. Use [Block] if you can¡¯t dodge!"

    Dave waved a hand summoning four chattering spectral skulls. The glowing red orbs floated around his head, ready to be used.

    "Go!" Dave shouted.

    The basilisks sprinted for the other end, thundering over the rocky surface.

    As expected, Dave soon heard the sound ofva bubbles popping, "Iing!"

    Dave raised his shield to block and theva fish sailed over the bridge, snapping at him as it went by and then plunged past the opposite edge.

    He looked back, a second leaping fish had mmed into the rider of thest basilisk in line, knocking the pdin off and sending him tumbling across the rock and over the edge. The pdin managed to grab a handhold and stop his fall, but he was dangling precariously over theva flow.

    "Keep moving!" Dave shouted to the others and flipped down from Grumpy¡¯s back, running back along the bridge toward the pdin.

    ¡¯No one dies today!¡¯

    The sound of a bubble popping came from theva. Another giant fish arced up over the bridge at Dave, rows of needle teeth showing. The draugr ducked under the airborne fish and grabbed the pdin¡¯s arm just as he started to slip and fall.

    They heard the popping sound again. Dave yanked the pdin up then pushed him t against the rock and threw himself under the trajectory of yet another leapingva fish.

    "Thank you,mander," the pdin gasped.

    "Just run!" Dave shouted pulling him to his feet. The pdin followed obediently, running for the other end of the bridge.

    Another bubble popped and another fish made the leap. Dave pointed and snapped his fingers, detonating the four spectral skulls against the flying-fish and sending it off-course.

    It fell onto the bridge. Like a gamefish on the deck of a fishing boat, thended fish iled and twisted frantically until it finally dropped over the edge back into theva.

    More fish leapt over the bridge. Dave blocked an attack but was knocked back into the trajectory of another leaping fish. The pdin that Dave had rescued jumped in front of him with [Block] activated. The fish mmed into both the pdin and Dave, knocking them over like bowling pins, then the fish dove back into the river. The pdin scrambled to his feet and ran to Dave to help him up.

    "Thanks!" Dave said.

    The two of them continued their run until they reached the other end of the bridge joining the rest of the group in the mouth of the cave.

    "That was some hairy shit," Dave mumbled.

    Another tunnel extended ahead of them, Dave mounted Grumpy and the group moved forward. He looked at his character info, his temperature meter was still rising. It was still too early for the priestess to cast her [Northern Wind] skill, but the situation was already demanding it.

    Without warning the tunnel rumbled and shook, small rocks and pebbles falling from the ceiling.

    "Hold on!" Dave shouted. His held onto the spikes on Grumpy¡¯s back.

    Steam vented from cracks in the stone walls of the tunnel, increasing the temperature even further.

    A notification popped up in front of Dave.

    ***

    Warning! You are [Overheating]. You will lose HP until you reach a more normal temperature.

    .

    ***

    Red damage values appeared continually over each member of the group.

    -100HP

    -100HP

    "Shit," Dave cursed.

    "Commander, should I use [Northern Wind]?"

    "Yes. We can¡¯t put it off any longer."

    The unholy priestess waved her scepter and chanted iprehensible words. A chill magic infused wind blew up and swirled around each individual in the group.

    A notification appeared in front of Dave.

    ***

    The abnormal status effect [Overheating] has been countered.

    You are no longer [Overheated], you have reached an eptable internal temperature.

    ***

    The priestess kept the magic wind going, channeling magic through her scepter to keep the spell running.

    "How long can you keep it up?" Dave asked.

    "Until my mana ispletely depleted, about two hours. But I cannot use my healing or attack spells while I am channeling it.

    ¡¯I gotta y my cards right from now on, I can¡¯t have anyone take damage needlessly.¡¯,¡¯

    A couple minutester they exited the tunnel into a new area. Lava flowed from the ceiling down the pirs that supported it and pooled on the floor. Dave counted fiveva pits in the room. As the party moved nearer to one of the pools, Dave saw a shadow moving under theva.

    "Fuck, there are more of those fish in there."

    The cavern shook again, and the wall on Dave¡¯s left side crumbled. The stone from the wall fell and rolled on the ground leaving an opening that reached all the way to the ceiling.

    A monster as big as Grumpy entered through the new opening and skittered sideways into the room. Its domed carapace was squarish with an armored crab-like leg attached at each corner.

    The first creature was followed by more, scuttling into the room one after another. Dave counted a dozen of the crab-like things. The creatures gathered in the center of the room and linked their individual bodies together front to back with all the legs aligned to the sides. The creature on the nearest end shook, its shell broke apart, revealing a human face with multi-faceted insectoid eyes and massive pincer-mandibles at the corners of its mouth.

    Finished with its transformation the creature screeched and a notification appeared in front of Dave.

    ***

    You have entered a boss fight against:

    Chaos Centipede (Corrupted Mini-Boss).

    You will lose five (5) levels if you are killed by a Corrupted creature and have a -20% penalty to EXP gains for seven (7) days (game-time).

    EXP is doubled for killing a Corrupted creature.

    Corrupted creatures drop all possible loot from the first kill except for quest items.

    Quest items still drop based on their rarity (the rarer the item is, the lower the probability of it dropping).

    ***

    The centipede-face screeched again and the monster flowed toward Dave, legs churning in rippling waves of motion to propel it forward.

    Dave equipped his shield and mberge, "Spread out!" Dave shouted.

 Chapter 252 Chaos in the Chaos dungeon

    Dave inspected the centipede-monster.

    ***

    Chaos Centipede (Corrupted)

    Level: 450

    Base damage: 80,000-100,000

    Danger Level : ? ?

    HP : 1,200,000

    DN : 60,000

    MA : 60,000

    Skills:

    [Mandible Crush]: the chaos centipede bites the target with its mandibles causing 100% base damage and an additional 20% of base damage in poison damage over 20 seconds.

    [Tail-Segment Crush]: the centipede attacks with its tail end, stunning the target for five (5) seconds.

    [Poison Breath]: the centipede releases a poison cloud that remains in a target area for 20 seconds. The cloud causes 1,500 HP poison damage per second.

    [Acid Spray]: the centipede spits acid that reduces movement speed by 20% and reduces weapon and armor durability.

    [Defensive Ball]: the chaos centipede curls around itself rejuvenating 0.1% of its total HP per second. Its carapaces deflects sharp weapons and increases the centipede¡¯s [Tenacity]*

    Lore:

    The Chaos Centipede is a creature corrupted by the rampant Chaos energy that permeates the underworld. Chaos Centipedes are monsters of a royal lineage, they are highly aggressive and territorial.

    ***

    .

    The basilisk hopped to the side to evade the chaos centipede then swung its tail-club. The spiked tail bounced off the centipede carapace with a loud thud.

    "Charge!"

    The other six basilisks charged the boss, their heads lowered like battering rams. They mmed into the centipede, but the creature just shook them off and swung its tail end around knocking one of the basilisks away and unseating the two riders.

    The centipede hissed then lifted its body off the floor. Its mouth gaped open and it spewed a cloud of purple gas.

    ***

    The Chaos Centipede used [Poison Breath] on you.

    Your undead state grants you immunity to poison.

    [Poison Breath] has no effect on you.

    ***

    "Doesn¡¯t work on the undead, biatch!" Dave gestured, four chattering skulls appeared and flew up at the centipede¡¯s face. Dave snapped his fingers and the skulls detonated.

    A debuff icon, a red eye with a sh through it, appeared above the mini-boss.

    ***

    You have afflicted the Chaos Centipede with a [Blind] status effect.

    The centipede is unable to locate targets for 60 seconds.

    uracy and damage has been reduced by 35% for the duration of the [Blind] status effect.

    ***

    The centipede iled, tail and body swinging wildly.

    "Make it rain, Boyz!" Dave shouted.

    As one, the basilisks puffed up and roared, shooting hundreds of spikes from their backs. Most of the bone projectiles bounced off the centipede¡¯s carapace but some of them prated the joints.

    Dozens of red numerals appeared over the centipede as it squirmed and screeched in pain.

    -1,000

    -1,000

    -1,000

    ...

    The red eye icon disappeared from above the centipede, the debuff gone, its vision restored. Enraged, the creature skittered toward Dave, mandibles snapping.

    "Grumpy, [Petrifying Gaze]."

    Grumpy¡¯s eyes glowed a bright yellow. A notification appeared in front of Dave.

    ***

    [Petrifying Gaze] level is too low to cause [Petrification].

    [Petrifying Gaze] has inflicted a [Slow] effect on the Chaos Centipede.

    The [Slow] effect causes a 20% penalty to base movement speed.

    ***

    Dave jumped up from Grumpy¡¯s back at the iing centipede-face, his [Block] activated. The mandibles snapped against the shield, Dave bounced away and fell to the floor,nding in a superhero pose with his shield held above him. Two basilisks impacted low against the centipede¡¯s side and simultaneously strained as they lifted up from under the edge of its carapace. The centipede slowly tipped over, it thrashed, trying to prevent itself from tipping over, then writhed in panic as its white underbelly was exposed.

    Grumpy bit at belly of the monster and dug into the soft flesh, making the centipede squeal and squirm in pain.

    -30,250

    Dave moved back to the nearest pir to avoid the wildly iling legs.

    "Good job! Follow Grumpy¡¯s lead, attack the belly."

    Red damage values appeared above the centipede. Momentster with ast desperate heave the creature managed to flip itself back over. The centipede hissed and snapped its mandibles at the basilisks, but then flowed toward Dave, sensing an easier target. Dave rolled away at thest moment causing the centipede to ram into the pir behind him. Jagged boulders and sheets ofva rained down on the centipede, inflicting damage and stunning it. A pointed stctite speared into a sweet spot, one of the joins between two segments, breaking the centipede apart and causing it to screech in pain.

    "That¡¯ll teach you to mess with The Dave!"

    The tail section of the centipede flopped once then fell motionless.

    "Attack the short one," Dave pointed at the immobile part.

    The basilisks headbutted the immobile part tipping it over and began biting and worrying at it, the pdins climbed the carapace and started stabbing their swords into the creature¡¯s soft belly. The basilisks tore at the tail part like hyenas. Red damage values appearing above it whenever a hitnded. The longer section skittered toward them, mming into one basilisk and tearing away a tenth of its HP. The centipede reattached itself to the shorter end, rejoining the sections and increasing its mobility and power.

    Dave looked around, he could lead the centipede into the other pirs, splitting bits of it everytime.

    One of the carapaces was cracked in two, a legpletely broken off. When the creature moved, the damaged part dragged instead of moving smoothly in coordination with the rest of the segments.

    "Focus your attacks on the damaged section," Dave said.

    He mmed the bottom of his shield into the floor, poised for an instant behind the rectangr b of metal then pushed the whole thing forward, activating [Shield Charge], aiming for the damaged segment. Dave mmed into the centipede staggering it.

    Dave rolled out of the way before Grumpy rammed into the same area he hit. Grumpy¡¯s [Trample] disjointed the segment away from both ends, the main body of the centipede and the tail part. The eighth segment rolled away from the centipede, stopping next to ava pit. A fish raised its head from under theva and dragged the carapace back under with it.

    A red number appeared above the centipede boss when the lone segment was dragged into the pit.

    -80,000

    The centipede reattached to its second half, now only 11 segments long it curled around itself like a pillbug. The centipede managed to squeeze itself in so that the joints linking its segments were no longer exposed.

    "Ram it!" Dave shouted. The basilisks backed away and charged at the curled up centipede, but they simply bounced off the sturdy carapace with no effect to it. Dog¡¯s basilisk even got a [Stunned] status from the impact.

    "Shit," Dave cursed. He attacked the centipede¡¯s carapace with [Decimating Smash] in an attempt to stun the creature out of its healing state, but the sword bounced off, doing no damage and failing to apply the stun effect. He switched to his sworn stalwart gauntlets and punched at the carapace. Unlike the sword, the fist weapon were not deflected, but the carapaces were just too tough to dent or damage.

    "Okay, so you can¡¯t be stunned, let¡¯s see if you can be electrocuted."

    Dave punched faster and faster at the centipede until the gauntlet¡¯s passive [Ramp Up] was activated. His gauntlets zed in white mes, he had activated [Ramp Up].

    ***

    [Venom] runed Sworn Stalwart Gauntlets have poisoned the Chaos Centipede.

    Chaos Centipede resists the effect of the rune, [Venom].

    ***

    ¡¯Not the one I need. C¡¯mon!¡¯

    Dave kept punching as the centipede regenerated more HP each second.

    ***

    Your Sworn Stalwart Gauntlets equipped rune [Venom] has poisoned the Chaos Centipede.

    Chaos Centipede resists the effect of the rune, [Venom].

    ***

    ***

    "C¡¯mon, proc already," Dave continued striking.

    Then it finally happened, lightning red from his gauntlets as it impacted the carapace. Electrical sparks danced over the centipede, eliciting a screech from it and disrupting its curled-up defensive posture.

    The notification Dave was waiting for popped up.

    ***

    Chaos Centipede is under the Runic Effect [Electro Shock].

    [Electro Shock] has decreased Chaos Centipede¡¯s [Tenacity]

    For 60 seconds, the Chaos centipede is more prone to be affected by Crowd Control abilities.

    ***

    The centipede lifted the first half of its body up and opened its mouth, a yellow liquid dripped from the centipede¡¯s mouth.

    "Spread out!" Dave called.

    The basilisks moved away from the centipede¡¯s face as it spat a yellow liquid that sshed against the floor. The liquid smoked and bubbled, dissolving the stone floor.

    Dave got a whiff of the vapors rising up, "That¡¯s nasty. Back away Boyz."

    Dave switched to his sword and shield and ran at the centipede and jumped for its face as it snapped its mandibles at him. He activated [Block] in mid air, canceling the damage. The impact flung Dave away. He rolled a couple of times and stood back up then ducked away from mandibles aimed for his neck.

    "You¡¯re one ugly motherfucker," he said and stabbed the sword in one of itspound eyes.

    The centipede screeched and shook, throwing Dave off. As he fell Dave activated [Double Edged] and [Vertical sh], backflipping in midair away from the centipede and the soon to be rising Minghocao.

    The Minghocao tore through the rocky floor and rose, its teeth buried in the centipede¡¯s first few sections.

    Dave scrambled back to his feet, poised behind his shield waiting for the Minghocao to finish, and the centipede to return to the attack.

    But instead of spitting the centipede out and returning to the depths as usual, the mighty Minghocao lingered and let out a thunderous growl through clenched jaws.

    A notification appeared in front of Dave.

    ***

    You have triggered a Special Event: A Quarrel of Kings!

    New lore has been added to your Lore Catalog.

    The skill [Double Edged] has been updated and modified.

    ***

    "Boyz, back away from them!"

    The bonus bitch-p was great, but Dave had no illusions that the Minghocao was a friend.

    The centipede squealed in agony, still impaled on the Minghocao¡¯s teeth. It scrabbled desperately at the King Worm¡¯s tough hide with its crab-like legs.

    The Minghocao tightened its jaws around the centipede, cracking carapace shells and tearing limbs. Then it started mming the centipede repeatedly against the floor. Bits of carapace, legs, even whole segments were sent flying, bouncing off the walls and pirs.

    -100,000

    -100,000

    -100,000

    ...

    The centipede screeched as bits of its body were torn away, the parts thatnded nearva pits were dragged into the molten rock by the fish.

    Then the Minghocao spat the centipede at the floor, cracking the carapaces on several of the creature¡¯s segments. The king worm howled again, dering its dominance, and dove back underground.

    The centipede wheezed as it turned and crawled toward the opening it first came through.

    "Oh, you¡¯re not going anywhere, mah bitch!" Dave ran to Grumpy and hopped on, "Let¡¯s bring the pain and pile it on, Boyz!" he called out.

 Chapter 253 Clubs and Fumbles

    The chaos centipede, battered and wounded, was crawling forward into the new dungeon area when they caught up to it. The mini boss looked back and screeched when it saw the yers behind it, then it vomited a torrent of yellow liquid across the floor of the passage, covering a wide area. The puddle spread across the floor from wall to wall, the viscous fluid bubbled and smoked, eating into the stone.

    "Hold!" Dave called.

    Grumpy skidded to a stop at the edge of the spreading pool of acid. The other basilisks had more warning and came to a more controlled stop behind the onyx basilisk. Dave waited for the centipede¡¯s skill-summoned acid to dissipate. The liquid soon disappeared, leaving a smoking crater, the stone dissolved inches down from floor level. Dave ordered the basilisks forward.

    The basilisks speed increased as the tunnel floor downward angle increased. They caught up to the centipede rapidly. Dave waved a hand to summon four spectral skulls then sent them flying between the centipede¡¯s legs and detonated them, making the centipede stumble.

    The insectoid monster started sliding,scrabbling down the inclined tunnel until it reached the bottom and rolled through an entrance into the next chamber.

    They followed after the centipede, entering a new area of the Chaos dungeon. It was a domed cavern twice asrge as the centipede boss-room. The ceiling was covered in a mass of crystalline growths, glowing in all shades of blue light.

    The centipede reached the center of the room and turned back toward its pursuers. It started shaking and making moaning sounds.

    "Yeah, you better be afraid after all the trouble you¡¯ve been," Dave said.

    "Commander, I don¡¯t think we are what it¡¯s afraid of," The unholy priestess said.

    "Whaddaya mean?" Dave tilted his head than two notification appeared in front of him.

    ***

    You have found a node of extractable ore.

    The ore deposit contains the mineral Oprenium.

    You have discovered a new mineral.

    You can obtain the mining rights to this deposit by defeating Dogaron. Valid for thirty (30) days, at which time Dogaron will respawn.

    ***

    ***

    You have entered a boss fight against:

    Dogaron (Corrupted mini-boss)

    You will lose five (5) levels if you are killed by a Corrupted creature and have a -20% penalty to EXP gains for seven (7) days (game-time).

    EXP is doubled for killing a Corrupted creature.

    Corrupted creatures drop all possible loot from the first kill except for quest items.

    Quest items still drop based on their rarity (the rarer the item, the lower the probability of it dropping).

    ***

    "Another mini-boss? Where?" Dave looked around the room, searching.

    "It¡¯s over there,mander," the priestess pointed to a ledge.

    To the far right of the room entrance was a high ledge on the wall. A blue wolf-like creature jumped down from the ledge andnded on the floor with a heavy thud. It must have heard the centipede ande to inspect the situation. Flickers of lightning bounced over and across its scaly blue hide as it swung a spiked, club-like tail from side to side in anticipation of a kill.

    The scaly wolf looking shaped monster opened alligator jaws and howled as it charged the centipede. The insect hissed and ran from the new monster.

    "That blue bastard is trying to kill-steal our meat! After him, boyz!" Dave called.

    He inspected the new creature as they chased after it.

    ***

    Dogaron (Corrupted)

    Level: 750

    Tier : Demonic

    Base damage: 400,000-450,000

    Danger Level : Absolute death!

    HP : ???

    DN : ???

    MA:???

    Skills:

    ???

    Lore

    ???

    ***

    When Dave saw the what level the second mini-boss was his eyes bulged. Dogaron had the same level as the ck Dragon.

    "Nope. He can have the centipede. Everyone pull back to the entrance!" Dave said.

    The group left the dungeon room but stopped outside the exit at Dave¡¯smand. Dave climbed down from Grumpy and snuck over to the entrance to watch the two monsters from hiding.

    The centipede screamed as it tried to escape. Dogaron opened long crocodile jaws, shooting a streaming column of white lighting that split the ground then cut entirely through the centipede.

    ***

    You have in the Chaos Centipede (Corrupted)

    Because you did not deliver the killing blow to the Chaos Centipede the EXP reward is reduced by 20%.

    ***

    A glowing aura lit up around Dave and the sweet sound of multiple level ups echoed in his ears.

    Level Up

    Level Up

    Level Up

    Level Up

    Level Up

    Dogaron sniffed at the centipede¡¯s carcass, circled it a few times then prowled back to the ledge it came down from and jumped back up onto it. Without any fanfare it simply flopped down and went to sleep

    ¡¯Looks like it isn¡¯t worried or just forgot about us. But I still need to get that loot.¡¯

    Dave waited for a while then crept through the entrance into the room. He looked toward the ledge, Dogaron was still sleeping.

    ¡¯I can probably grab the loot without waking it.¡¯

    "Commander," the unholy priestess called in a hushed tone.

    Dave turned and looked at her questioningly.

    "[Northern Wind] won¡¯t reach all the way to the monster¡¯s carcass, and if Ie with you my magic will disturb the dungeon guardian.

    Dave thought for a moment,. He¡¯d forgotten, he couldn¡¯t be greedy and take the priestess with him because his underlings would get roasted, he had to go in there alone.

    "Commander, there is no need for you to risk your life. I can go in and bring the valuables out," a pdin offered,.

    It was the same pdin Dave had saved from falling from the bridge over theva river.

    Dave patted the pdin¡¯s shoulder, "No, I appreciate the offer but I can¡¯t risk any of you guys. If I get killed I¡¯ll juste back anyway."

    Dave didn¡¯t want to waste valuable NPCs, it had taken a lot of time and effort to properly ¡¯recruit¡¯ the priestess and her pdins.

    "I am willing to sacrifice my life for you, sir!"

    "What¡¯s your name?" Dave asked

    "Zorah."

    "Zorah, don¡¯t get me wrong buddy, I¡¯m honored to by your loyalty, but I need all the soldiers I can get, not suicide squads."

    "I only wish to serve, even in death," said Zorah.

    Dave smacked him on the head and said, "No more death wishing, that¡¯s an order."

    "Yes, sir." replied the pdin.

    Dave thought for a moment and said "Listen up, if you really want to serve me. Then, if something happened to me, you lead this group of of this dungeon. Can you do that?"

    "Yes, sir."

    "Good, that¡¯s what I like to hear."

    Dave took a couple of deep breaths then crouched and moved toward the chaos centipede¡¯s corpse. Every few steps he stopped and looked in the direction of the ledge, making sure Dogaron was still asleep.

    Halfway to the centipede¡¯s remains Dave felt the coolness of the [Northern Wind] disappearing. His draugr skin sizzled, the air was much hotter than in the centipede¡¯s room.

    Dave received a notification

    ***

    Warning! You are [Overheated]. You will lose HP until you reach a more normal temperature.

    Warning! Remaining in an [Overheated] area for prolonged periods of time will lower your equipment¡¯s durability.

    ***

    Red numerals appeared above Dave¡¯s character.

    -100 HP

    -100 HP

    -100 HP

    ...

    He¡¯d lost the buff from [Northern Wind], moved beyond the priestess¡¯ range. Dave kept moving, he had enough HP to get to the loot and back before he was cooked alive by the heat.

    Finally, he arrived at the corpse with his HP bar still two-thirds full.

    He inspected the corpse hoping against hope for a corrupted bloodstone crystal.

    ***

    Chaos Centipede Mandibles (X2)

    Chaos Centipede Carapace (X3)

    Chaos Centipede Eyes (X4)

    Grim de : Weapon / Dagger

    Book of Chaos : Page 1

    Quest Item: Corrupt Bloodstone Crystal.

    ***

    ¡¯YES! A crystal!¡¯

    Dave barely suppressed the impulse to jump around in a victory dance. He ced his hand on the carcass to loot it. Dave heard a low frantic hiss from behind him. He turned and saw the priestess and the pdins waving their arms at him wildly.

    Dave turned to the ledge, looking for Dogaron, the ledge was empty. A chill ran up his spine, and it did nothing to relieve the his [Overheated] status effect.

    The blue glow from the ceiling grew dimmer. Dave looked up and froze, Dogaron was blocking the light as he fell toward Dave, ws and fangs extended, club tail cocked back for an attack.

    A boom shattered his eardrums simultaneously with the club-like tail hammering across his chest. He was sent flying across the room, all the air expelled from his lungs. He crashed to the ground, rolling several times.

    A damage number floated up.

    ***

    [-362,880]

    ***

    Then a notification appeared:

    ***

    You have 1% HP remaining!

    You are in critical condition!

    Passive skill [Unyielding] has been triggered. You are immune to dying for five (5) seconds!

    ***

    "Dammit! I didn¡¯t get the loot!"

    Groaning, he got back to his feet.

    Dogaron growled, annoyed that the draugr wasn¡¯t dead.

    Lighting crackled across the spikes on the boss¡¯s back. The monster disappeared in a burst of lighting and a p of thunder, immediately reappearing right in front of Dave.

    ¡¯The fucker can teleport!¡¯

    The monster lifted a paw and swiped silvery ws at the draugr. Dave reflexively lifted his shield up in [Block]. But Dogaron was too strong, he crushed Dave into the ground. Then the mini boss swept its tail into Dave, sending the draugr sliding across the floor.

    The five-second immunity from [Unyielding] was over. Dave¡¯s HP began dropping continuously as [Overheating] went back into effect.

    The loot was a stone¡¯s throw away from Dave but the monster was not going to let him get it without a fight. Dave cursed and ran toward the remains of the chaos centipede.

    "I should have just used the ¡¯Loot All¡¯ option in the first ce!"

    Thunder boomed and Dogaron materialized out of the lightning bolt that struck the floor between Dave and the centipede.

    The monster opened its mouth, lightning and fire swirled and coalesced in front of its mouth then shot at Dave in a straight line.

    Dave activated [Bastion] just before the attacknded, negating all the damage.

    Dogaron stood on its hind legs then dropped down, raking with its ws. Dave teleported away using [Immortal Apparition] and appeared behind the monster.

    ***

    You failed to apply [Horror] effect on Dogaron

    ***

    Dogaron was preparing to swing its bludgeoning tail again, but Dave flipped into [Vertical sh], evading it. He came down right next to the centipede¡¯s carcass and grabbed the pointed end of one of its crab legs.

    Dave heard another crack of thunder and everything went dark. A notification appeared in front of him.

    ***

    You Died!

    You have been killed by a (Corrupted) monster.

    You have lost five (5) Levels!

    -20% EXP gain penalty for seven (7) days (In-Game time)

    ***

 Chapter 254 Seers and Ladders

    Dave opened his eyes back in the Moria respawn area. Sunlight shone through the thick foliage of the old trees, lighting the graveyard.

    Dave worried about the pdins and basilisks, he hoped Zorah lead them out safely, he didn¡¯t know when he would get back to the Underworld.

    Dave took a deep breath and exhaled, then checked his inventory. A smile broke out across his draugr face. He had one corrupted bloodstone crystal, just as requested.

    He lost five levels from dying, but he¡¯d gotten those five levels when Dogaron killed the chaos centipede, so easye easy go. The week of 20% less EXP was going to be annoying, but getting the corrupted crystal was worth it. Overall, counting the final ingredient to revive the legion, he thought he hade out ahead.

    "My precious!" Dave said, taking out the dark crystal. A ck tar-like substance dripped from it over Dave¡¯s hand and dripped to the ground. The crystal released a sweet smell, when he inhaled it his head spin for a moment and a notification appeared in front of him.

    ***

    Corrupted Bloodstone Crystal

    Rarity: Epic

    Quest item

    Give the Corrupted Bloodstone Crystal to the Undeath God toplete the quest "Get the Shiny."

    ***

    Dave put the crystal back in his inventory and he took a look at the other loot.

    ***

    Chaos Book, Page 1 (Illegible)

    A page from a book written by the god of madness.

    Obtain all five pages of the book to unlock a unique skill.

    ***

    ***

    Grim de

    Category: Weapon

    Type: Curved Dagger.

    Damage: 20,000-30,000

    Attribute bonuses:

    + 200 Agility

    +200 Dexterity

    Effects:

    Increases the duration of [Stealth] by 30 seconds.

    An additional 50% Base Damage to the first attack after emerging from Stealth.

    On every hit there is a 20% to inflict one of the following three effects [Poison], [Paralysis], or [Laceration].

    Requirements: Level 500 or higher. Assassin ss.

    Rarity: Unique

    Weapon Tier: S

    ***

    "This little baby will be great for Mercy when she reaches level 500." he grinned evilly, "And I¡¯m gonna make her pay through the nose for it."

    "Did you hear something?" someone said.

    "Someone. Let¡¯s check it out."

    There were other yers in the graveyard.

    Dave rummaged through his inventory for a teleportation scroll. He was still in his draugr form and didn¡¯t want to deal with random scrubs trying to get EXP off him.

    "What the fuck?! There¡¯s a Death Knight here!" said a yer.

    The voice came from behind Dave.

    Dave recognized the yer, it was a hunter he¡¯d fought on the border of the Wilds near Moria. A character named Sado.

    An assassin in white joined the hunter.

    "There ain¡¯t any high rank undead left in Conquest, man," the new yer said.

    These guys were the two yers Dave had beat on to vent his frustrations after the Death Heart was stolen.

    Dave thought for a moment then stepped into a brightly lit spot in the cemetery. His ck Death Knight armor was fully visible, his eerie blue draugr eyes glowing from the darkness within the ck helm.

    The yers stepped back unconsciously.

    In a voice full of portent and doom, Dave intoned, "Tell them. Tell everyone that soon the undead will rise again!"

    Dave stepped back smoothly into a pool of deep shadow, hiding himself from their eyes. He tore the scroll and disappeared, leaving behind two nervous and confused yers.

    ***

    "Did you see that? It was Mr. Skeletal!" said the hunter.

    "It¡¯s probably just a skin or something. It can¡¯t be the skeletal guy, CCN hasn¡¯t released a new video for a long time."

    "No man, it was him. I inspected him, the system said it was Kis¡¯Shtiengbrah."

    "Okay, so maybe it was. What was all that ¡¯tell them¡¯ stuff?"

    "I dunno, man. Maybe he¡¯s one of those weirdo roleying guys or somethin¡¯ stoopid like that."

    ***

    Dave appeared in the ruined city of Urburg.

    "Hey, asshole! Where are you?"

    There was no reply.

    Dave tapped his foot, annoyed. He¡¯d been through a lot, he wanted to finish the quest and move on, but there was no sign of the undead god.

    "Can¡¯t a god get some sleep around here?" The punk godined, rubbing his eyes.

    "Why does a god need to sleep?" Dave said.

    "I¡¯m a young god, kid."

    "Whatever. And stop calling me kid."

    The Undeath god chuckled, "So, you got the stuff?"

    "Yeah, I got the stuff."

    "Gimme it!"

    "Why does it feel like I¡¯m doing a drug deal?" he handed the crystal to the deity.

    "Oh yeah! My precious," the undeath god inhaled deeply, holding the crystal close to his face.

    "That¡¯s the stuff! Good job kid." He pocketed the crystal.

    A notification appeared in front of Dave.

    ***

    You have sessfullypleted the quest: Get the Shiny

    You have gained + 3,000,000 XP (-20%)

    Level UP

    Level UP

    ***

    Dave was pretty damn happy, he¡¯d gotten some levels back. He figured he was pretty far to the good now.

    "Soooo..." Dave looked at the teen deity expectantly.

    "What¡¯s on your mind?"

    "The undead. You said when you got the crystal you would bring the undead back."

    "Yeah, but I need to do rituals and stuff," the god of undeath said.

    That was a bit of a let down for Dave. But still, it was almost done, they had all the ingredients. The punk god just needed to get off his ass and do his rituals, mix the magic ingredients up, or whatever it took.

    "How long will that take?"

    "A while, I¡¯m not really sure."

    The normally brash and assertive deity was being evasive and nonmittal.

    "Whaddaya mean you¡¯re not sure? Are you gaslighting me, you fucking punk wannabe?"

    "Wannabe? Watch it, kid! I¡¯m the God of Undeath!"

    "Alright then, Mr. ¡¯God of Undeath,¡¯ wave your hands, or whatever, and bring the legion back like you promised."

    "Okay, okay. Listen, there¡¯s onest ingredient I need-" The punk god started to say.

    "I KNEW it. You¡¯re full of shit, a fake! You can¡¯t bring them back, admit it, you¡¯re not even a god!" Dave interrupted, throwing his hands up in frustrated anger.

    The undead god shook his head and looked off to the side, "Look kid, some divine workings that I can¡¯t say anything about went off the rails, like a crazy-train. Because of that I¡¯m here, awake before my time. I was always supposed to be the God of Undeath when I grew up. Instead I¡¯m the God of Undeath before I¡¯m a grown-up, so I¡¯m not as strong as I should be. So work with me. Okay, kid?"

    "No promises, but I¡¯ll listen to what you have to say...if you stop calling me kid."

    "Ha! Deal, k..uh, deal!"

    "You told me the corrupted crystal was thest thing you needed to bring the legion back, so why the fuck do you need another ingredient now?" Dave said.

    "Well, I thought I could get that particr ingredient myself, but something or someone is working against me. Even though I warned the other gods off when I got here. So I have to rely on you again, kid. Unless you¡¯re going to give up on the legion..."

    Dave groaned and asked, "What is it this time?"

    "I need Undead Kin Blood."

    "Pretend I haven¡¯t taken Magical Ingredients 101 and tell me what Undead Kin Blood is."

    "The king¡¯s daughter has the blood of the Undead King in her veins. The blood of the first greater undead. That¡¯s the finalponent I need for the ritual."

    "And what¡¯s stopping you from getting it?" Dave asked impatiently.

    "Something or someone is interfering with my divine perceptions, hiding her from my sight. It¡¯s up to you to find her.".

    Dave rubbed his temples, "And how am I supposed to find her? Do I need to buy a vowel?"

    The undeath god shrugged, "There¡¯s this rather peculiar man who has a suitable talent for this situation. He lives on Mt. Glory. His name is Bam, tell him I sent you, he owes me a favor."

    "That¡¯s it? Wouldn¡¯t it be better for you to go yourself?" Dave said.

    The teen punk god shrugged, "I told you, even gods have rules. I can bend them, but not break them." Then he disappeared.

    "Ah shit, here we go again," Dave said resignedly.

    A notification appeared in front of Dave.

    ***

    Legacy Quest Update!

    Quest name: To See or not to See.

    Quest Difficulty: Unknown.

    Quest description: Eleanor, princess of Arotsa has been kidnapped (again).

    You are tasked with discovering her location (ain¡¯t that a kick in the head?).

    An oracle named Bam lives on Mt. Glory, located in the northern part of the [Southern Kingdom], area [-650-899].

    The location has been marked on your map.

    This is a solo quest. You cannot take yers or NPCs with you on this quest.

    Failure conditions: Bam dies before he tells you the location of Princess Eleanor.

    (So get to steppin¡¯ gofer-boy!)

    ***

    "Just great. The smartass is back."

 Chapter 255 To Mt. Glory

    Dave checked his map for the Mt. Glory marker, it was in the Southern Kingdom which belonged to the Heaven¡¯s Dawn guild. And those particr guildies were very protective of their ¡¯turf.¡¯ Dave groaned, the closest teleportation gate was hundreds of miles away from Mt.Glory, not to mention the way from the gate to the mountain was probably filled with monsters. Grinding along the way would have been great to get some EXP, but he needed to get to Bam fast, the quest fail condition was that the NPC might die. The faster he got to him the better.

    Dave operated the teleport gate, entering the coordinates for the Southern Kingdom. Suddenly, the gate started humming and the coordinates the controls moved by themselves, overwriting the coordinates. The arch of the portal filled with a whirling vortex of ck and violet light.

    Dave stepped back, drawing his sword. The Urburg gate was linked to the underworld and had once been used by demons to ess the Overworld.

    The druid that used to live in the ruins talked about the gate¡¯s history and warned them against using it. But the Undeath god imed he¡¯d made it safe to use. Now Dave wished he¡¯d listened to the druid instead of that maybe-god punk rocker.

    Dave tightened his grip on his sword anxiously, preparing for some interdimensional horror show to appear.

    ck light red and a basilisk with a rider on top pushed through the vortex. The portal red again and another basilisk came through. The shes of light repeated as more basilisks and pdins continued to step out of the swirling vortex.

    "Commander, I did as you ordered, I got everyone safely out of the dungeon," Zorah saluted after dismounting.

    "Holy crap, how did you manage toe through the gate?!" Dave was delighted.

    "We discovered a hidden chamber with a teleport gate inside the Chaos dungeon," the priestess answered as she joined them.

    "How did you know which gate to take then?" Dave asked in wonder.

    "I had a divine revtion my lord. In it a strange child appeared and told me toe to this ce."

    ¡¯That damned punk-god again.¡¯

    "You guys can stay here instead of the Underworld then. I am leaving on a quest. Just don¡¯t go past the city walls and you should be okay, the Wilds are very dangerous," Dave warned.

    "As youmand, sir," Zorah said.

    Grumpy stomped over and stood in front of Dave, the basilisk grunted and pushed his massive head against Dave, making the draugr stumble.

    "Commander, Grumpy wishes to go with you on your journey," the unholy priestess said.

    Dave scratched under the ck basilisk¡¯s jaw, "Okay Grumps, you cane along on my quest."

    "Can we join you too, sir?" Zorah asked.

    "No, I can¡¯t bring anyone with me on this quest. Grumpy let¡¯s go," Dave said and jumped onto the basilisk¡¯s back.

    ***

    The Onyx Basilisk (Grumpy) looks forward to the journey and the battles that will surely be a part of it.

    Your affinity with the Onyx Basilisk (Grumpy) has increased.

    Affinity level: 3/7

    You can now summon the Onyx Basilisk (Grumpy) to your location anywhere in Conquest.

    You have unlocked a new mount option:

    [Spirit Link] (Passive):munication and understanding between you and your mount has improved, level 1/4.

    You have unlocked a new mount option.

    [Mounted Combat] (ground): Level 1/10, fight from the back of a pet orpanion-beast.

    Damage is increased by 10% when fighting from a [Spirit-linked] mount.

    ***

    "Wow, this is great," Dave said, looking through the bonuses for mountedbat.

    Then he remembered when he¡¯d tried to fight from atop the basilisk before, his reach was too short. He could use ranged attacks, but his ranged skills had long cooldowns, so he wouldn¡¯t be able to spam them.

    Grumpy snorted and chuffed in the direction of the other basilisks. Dog¡¯s basilisk replied with a grunting cough and came over to stand in front of Grumpy. The smaller basilisk started hacking and gagging, like a cat bringing up a furball. The basilisk continued and with a final convulsion of its throat, it spat out a coiled length of sharpened and articted vertebrae capped with a spiked knob of heavy bone on one end.

    It was Dog¡¯s bone weapon. The one he¡¯d crafted from the spine of the first basilisk they¡¯d fought and killed.

    Dog¡¯s basilisk picked the coiled length of bone up with his mouth and tossed it to the draugr. Dave caught the weapon and inspected it.

    ***

    Basilisk Bone il.

    Category: Weapon

    Type: Barbed Whip-Club

    Requirements: Duhan race, or level 450, or Death Knight ss.

    Damage: 20,000-30,000

    Attribute bonuses:

    + 100 STR

    +100 VIT

    Effects:

    Club Form:

    [Slug ¡¯em] (Passive): attacks have a 10% chance to inflict a [Stun] effect on the target. Causes target to [Stagger] if the user¡¯s Strength is 100 or more points higher than the target¡¯s Strength.

    [Skull Crusher] causes [Disorientation] to targets (duration 10 seconds). Disoriented targets will be afflicted with a 67% reduction in uracy and response time (2 minute cooldown).

    Whip Form:

    [Too Long] (Negative Passive): whip form causes 20% less damage than club form.

    [Bypass] (Passive): Attacks can be changed in mid stroke, for example from Overhead Sting to Side Snap. While in whip form the il can strike around shields and other obstacles.

    [Poki Poki]: a whip form attack that has a 10% chance to cause [Laceration], bleeding targets for 10% of base weapon damage. Stacks up to 5 times.

    [iling Circle of Death]: whirls the whip form around the user, creating an offensive barrier that deflects projectiles and causes 20% base weapon damage per hit. Cooldown 5 minutes.

    Rarity: Epic

    Weapon Tier: S

    A weapon made from the spine of an Azure basilisk using forgotten eldritch techniques. Crude in appearance, the il is designed to be used from close and mid range, adaptable to many situations.

    ***

    The bone il was a good deal heavier than his sword, but when he equipped the weapon it felt right. Heshed the whip in the air, cracking it. The whip form of the weapon was long enough to reach the ground with length to spare while he was on Grumpy. He flicked the grip a certain way and the vertebra clicked together, transforming the weapon into its solid club form with the grim spiked knob on the end.

    Dave was impressed with the reach and versatility of the weapon. And the base damage on the il was the same as the Stalwart Gauntlets, which were dropped by a level 750 mob. Dave wondered how Dog, a newly created undead, could create a weapon like the il. Maybe he was a legendary cksmith when he was living.

    "That fucking Dog and his tricks. Yeah, this will work. Let¡¯s go Grumps," Dave led the basilisk to the teleport gate.

    They appeared on the teleport tform of an oasis town set in the middle of a souk. NPC ¡¯shops¡¯ were rugs spread under the shade of palm trees, with all sorts of wares on disy, weapons, rations, potions and more. The NPCspeted, calling for yers to look at their items and bartered intensely with any yer interested in buying what they had to offer.

    A scream echoed through the town square, a female elf with red hair pointed a trembling hand at Grumpy.

    A yer in full steel armor, including a helm with a red horse hair crest, ran up to the tform. Another yer in silver-chased leather armor carrying a halberd followed close behind the first. Both yers did a double take when they got a clear view of the draugr seated on the ck basilisk. The leather armored yer grounded his halberd like he had to use it to stay standing up.

    "A Death Knight!" the red-crested yer said.

    The yer in leather armor gulped, "I thought all the greater undead were gone.".

    Dave inspected the first yer.

    ***

    Name: Snakeking ;-)

    Level: 220

    ss: Hellion

    ***

    "Hey man, what¡¯s the best way to get to Mt. Glory?" Dave asked in his hoarse draugr voice.

    Snakeking looked to both sides then pointed at himself in a ¡¯Who, me?¡¯ gesture.

    Draugr-Dave smirked, "Yeah, man."

    Snakeking shrugged, "You¡¯ve never been here before?"

    Dave shook his head.

    "Good thing you didn¡¯t just take off into the desert then. The wiki doesn¡¯t mention or give the locations of the sand eaters."

    "Sand eaters?" Dave tilted his head.

    "Yeah man. not all quicksand is quicksand pits, some of them are sand eaters waiting underneath with their stomachs open, waiting to trap you. Falling into one really sucks."

    "How do you tell the difference?"

    "If you¡¯re careful and go slow you¡¯ll smell it. Sand eaters are basically open stomachs."

    "Got it. Thanks for the heads up, bro. Can you mark the pits on my map?" Dave asked.

    "Sure thing, Mr. Skeletal."

    Dave shared his map with Snakeking and momentster Dave¡¯s route to Mount Glory was marked with red symbols.

    "So, can I get an autograph?" SnakeKing asked.

    Dave tilted his head, "An autograph?"

    "Yeah, I¡¯m a big fan of your videos."

    Dave looked at Snakeking nkly for a second, then he rummaged through his inventory. He found the cuss he didn¡¯t use anymore, the one from his days as a low level draugr.

    "I don¡¯t have a pen, but I used this when I first started as Skeletal. There¡¯s probably video of me with it online."

    The yer caught the weapon Dave threw to him, his smile grew from ear to ear.

    Grumpy galloped through the oasis town and past the entry markers, heading north in the direction of Mt. Glory.

    EXTRA:

    Hellion: a melee character ss that uses halberds. Proficient in close quarterbat, good as a half-tank half-DPS build, butcks mobility to be considered an all aroundbat unit.

 Chapter 256 From Entrails to Peaks

    The basilisk¡¯s six broad, padded paws kept them from sinking into the Southern desert sands. Crossing the dunes was like being on a rollercoaster, the basilisk sprinted up the face of a sand dune, throwing up plumes of sand behind, then came the descent, jumping and sliding down the opposite side. Rinse and repeat, over and over.

    Dave¡¯s armor was scorching hot to touch, the desert sun wasn¡¯t hot enough to cause [Overheating] but it sure did feel like it was. It felt like his already dessicated draugr skin was going to be brittle and crumble to dust. Maybe he¡¯d evolve into a Mummified Draugr.

    They were halfway to Mt. Glory when the weather changed. Dave noticed the sky was less bright and the wind had picked up, he looked around and then behind. Rushing toward them was what looked like a wall of roiling reddish-yellow chaos, the phenomenon stretched across the horizon and towered high into the atmosphere.

    "Sandstorm! Run, Grumps, runnnnnn!" Dave shouted.

    The basilisk snarled and increased his waddling lizard-gait.

    They had just slid down into a small open area between severalrge dunes when a rancid smell assaulted their nostrils.

    "You gotta be fucking kidding me!" Dave yanked desperately at the basilisk¡¯s dorsal spines to get him to veer away.

    The stretch of sand ahead of them copsed, the sand around the edge flowing into a gaping hole filled with concentric circles of sharp teeth. Grumpy was sliding down toward the gaping maw, carried along with the hissing rush of sand. The basilisk roared and leapt in the opposite direction of the sand flow,nding, he moved his six limbs rapidly, scrambling to get away from the trap. Finally after seconds of desperate effort the basilisk outpaced the pull of the sand eater¡¯s trap and escaped.

    They survived the sand eater but they weren¡¯t out of danger.

    The sand storm was closing on them rapidly, moving much faster than their best speed. They would be engulfed by it soon, and Dave would be sent to respawn seconds after that.

    Grumpy stopped abruptly.

    "Grumps?" Dave looked behind at the looming sandstorm.

    The basilisk hunched his back and leaned over to the side, dumping Dave into the sand. Dave¡¯s shoulders slumped as he sat up and looked disconstely at the approaching sandstorm.

    "Yeah, no sense trying to outrun it. Fucking punk-kid and his stupid quest." He was not looking forward to making another try at this fucking desert at all.

    The onyx basilisk grunted and began digging and pushing sand around furiously.

    "What are you doing Grumps?" Dave asked.

    The basilisk kept working, soon it became clear he was forming a nest-like sand structure. Grumpy nudged Dave over the low wall into the depression he¡¯d created.

    The storm hit them almost immediately after that. The basilisk groaned, his bulk still partially exposed, the shrieking winds blew so hard and fast that the sand particles were like tiny flying teeth, stripping flesh from bone.

    But the wily basilisk knew how to survive in the desert. It didn¡¯t take long for the sand to umte and cover them almost entirely.

    That¡¯s how they waited the storm out, huddling under the growing weight of sand that formed a windbreak around them. Dave sat in the hollow created by Grumpy curling protectively around him, leaning against the basilisk¡¯s bulk, bored out of his mind.

    When the winds finally subsided, Grumpy stuck his frog-head up from the sand covering them. Dave¡¯s draugr head popped up through the sand right next to the basilisk. After making sure the storm had blown itself to nothing, the two of them left the depression.

    Dave turned, everything looked different, as if the dunes had moved or changedpletely.

    "Fucking sand gets everywhere!" Dave was d the girls weren¡¯t along on this quest, because the sand did actually get into every nook, crack and cranny, EVERYWHERE.

    After doing his best to get the worst of the sand out of his armor he jumped onto the basilisk.

    "Let¡¯s hit the road, Grumps!"

    Dave chuckled when the obviously puzzled Grumpy looked around, searching for an actual road.

    "It¡¯s just a figure of speech, big guy."

    They took off, resuming their up-one-side-and-down-the-other mode of travel, heading for the Mt Glory marker on the map.

    A ck dot appeared on the horizon.

    ¡¯That must be it.¡¯

    It grew slowly as they continued their trek until Dave could finally make out some detail. The mountain was unusual to say the least. The conical peak didn¡¯t rise up from the surface of the desert, the entire thing floated on top of a shimmering column.

    "What in the name of Alfred...?"

    As they got even closer Dave realized the shimmering column was a continuous fall of sand. A falling river of reddish yellow sand. Even more strange to Dave, there was no umtion of sand at the bottom of the column, no growing mound of sand where the falls ended.

    Soon they were standing near the falling curtain of sand, Grumpy even walked right up to the falling sand and sniffed at it curiously. Dave checked his map, the location of the quest marker was nearby somewhere.

    They followed the quest marker, moving around the curving border of falling sand until Dave spotted two yers.

    A girl in leather armor with a green coolie on her head looked back at Dave curiously.

    The red-armored knight standing next to her had a hand on the big two-handed hilt sticking up over his shoulder.

    Dave inspected each of the yers in turn.

    ***

    Name: Winter Rose

    Level: 410

    ss: Sword Dancer

    Guild: Rovania

    ***

    ***

    Omni

    Level: 431

    ss: Surgebinder

    Guild: Rovania

    ***

    They were high level yers and he still had multiple bounties on his head, the ones issued by Heaven¡¯s Dawn and the Blood Ragers.

    "Mr. Skeletal!" the girl, Winter Rose, said.

    She skipped across the sand towards them. Coming to a stop right next to the basilisk she looked up at Dave.

    "Whatya doing way out here in the desert, Skelly?" she asked in a giggly voice.

    "I¡¯m on a quest. What about you two?" Dave asked.

    Omni looked up then back, "We¡¯re waiting for the lift. Old Glory is a good grinding area even though it¡¯s a paining through the desert."

    "Yeah, that sandstorm was a real motherfucker," Davemiserated.

    "You got caught in a sandstorm and survived? How?" Omni asked.

    "Yup, thanks to Grumpy here. I guess he just knows his deserts," Dave patted the onyx basilisk.

    "Grumpy the basilisk? Cute name. Can I pet him?" Winter rose asked.

    Dave shrugged, Grumpy growled but let the girl scratch his chin and even seemed to enjoy it.

    "What were you saying about waiting for a lift?" Dave asked.

    "An elevator. The tform should be here anytime now. It runs every hour," Omni said.

    Dave decided to wait for the lift with them. He chatted with the two yers and they seemed nice enough.

    Then Omni pointed, "There it is."

    Dave looked up. A wooden tform was descending rapidly, no ropes, no wires, just seeming to levitate. The lift slowed and touched down on the sand.

    The other yers hopped onto the tform without hesitation.

    Winter Rose looked back, "Are youing?"

    "Yeah," Dave nudged the basilisk onto the tform.

    All three yers got a notification.

    ***

    Weight limit exceeded.

    Lift operation will resume when the load is reduced.

    ***

    "Sorry, Grumps, you gotta get off, you are just too fat, bro. I¡¯ll summon you when I get to the top." Dave said.

    The basilisk grumbled unhappily butplied. Dave dismounted as the basilisk shuffled off the tform..

    "Where did you get Grumpy?" Omni asked, "I¡¯d love to have a basilisk mount."

    "From the Underworld. You might be able to get one once the expansion opens."

    Dave didn¡¯t know the two yers well enough to give them free game tips or other vital information. But he didn¡¯t want to be a dick and antagonize them either. He was learning to get along with people. Slowly.

    "Aren¡¯t you worried about leaving him down there alone?" Winter Rose asked, looking concerned.

    "Nah, Grumpy can take care of himself."

    The lift was elerating upwards, the curtain of falling sand was behind them while the panorama of the bright desert spread out before them.

    "Hey, have you guys heard of an NPC named Bam?" Dave asked.

    Omni spoke up, "Yeah, he¡¯s the weird guy that lives at the top of the mountain. Why?" .

    "It¡¯s for my quest."

    "He¡¯s useless. He doesn¡¯t give any quests, he never even talks to yers."

    "Just don¡¯t try to fight him, I saw him one-shot a level 400 Blood Rager that was messing with him," Winter Rose added.

    "Huh. Good to know, thanks."

    The tform rose past the top of the wall of falling sand then jerked and came to a stop, they¡¯d reached the top.

    "We¡¯re heeeeeere," Omni said in a sing-song voice.

    Winter Rose pped, jumping up and down.

    Dave smirked and rolled his eyes at their antics as they debarked the tform.

    Mt. Glory dominated their view, its peak hidden in clouds. A forest covered the gentle slopes that led to the mountain until it the terrain changed to bare grey rock and steep cliff faces. Trails led from the tform area to the right and left, curving around the top of the ¡¯pir.¡¯ Walking down either would put the forest on one side and the precipitous edge of the sand falls on the other, not a pleasant thought for Dave.

    A curbed walkway paved with white stone stretched straight ahead into the forest. The walkway apparently extended all the way to the mountain, Dave could see a white line of stairs rising from the forest and up the steep cliff sides toward the hidden peak. Just past the edge of the trees a red-painted Japanese torii gate adorned the walkway. There was a torii every few hundred steps as far as Dave could see, little bits of red color enting the white line of the path going up the mountain side.

    The two yers turned to the right and started walking down the trail.

    "See ya, Skelly," Winter Rose turned and finger waved at him like a little girl.

    "Yeah dude,ters. Good luck on your quest," Omni looked back and threw up a peace sign.

    Dave waved back at the two yers.

    Once they were out of sight he crouched down and put a hand to the ground to initiate the summons for Grumpy.

    He got a notification.

    ***

    Summoning failed.

    You cannot summon your mount (Grumpy) to this location.

    ***

    The air turned pleasant cool as he climbed, and the view became more and more spectacr. He could see the forest around the mountain and even the desert beyond.

    The temperature dropped continued to drop as he got closer to the peak. Soon the the way ahead was hidden by a nket of thick white, he was about to walk into a cloud. Dave walked continued climbing, soon after, his. The stairs did in fact lead all the way to the top of the mountain. Unexpectedly, the peak was t and level, as if something or someone had sliced the very tip of the mountain off. .

    Dave smiled as he climbed thest step and walked onto the stone surface.

    ¡¯True level huh¡¯

    .

    An old man weighed down in heavy chains was walking slow circles around nothing in particr that Dave could see. The old guy had worn a visible path into the bare stone of the ground.

    "Bam."

    The man nodded to Dave, "Servant of the Undeath God."

    "I need to find Eleanor daughter of the king of the undead legion."

    "I know why you are here. What are you willing to sacrifice for your desire, young draugr?"

    EXTRA:

    de Dancers dominate the battlefield using abination of high damage output, rapid movement abilities, and potent control skills. Foregoing most defensive capabilities, they evade attacks instead of blocking or absorbing damage.

    de Dancers excel at blitz tactics, often ending a fight before enemies can even retaliate. They overwhelm opponents with chained, high-damage physical and magical attacks while moving at high speed. de Dancer crowd-control abilities are ss-specific, the effects synergize with the damage and movement skills, significantly increasing their power and effectiveness.

    de Dancers do not have the stamina or resilience to survive prolonged heavy conflict. But they are an ideal ss for short, intense engagements and they can excel in both individual and groupbat.

 Chapter 257 Knock Knock Knocking on...

    The old man was asking him for a sacrifice. Dave took a moment to think. He didn¡¯t have anything valuable in-game, he¡¯d lost all his properties when the legion died and the Underworld was closed to him. He didn¡¯t think the oracle dude was interested in money or things anyway, dude was an ascetic if he¡¯d ever seen one.

    "I don¡¯t have much, Old Man," Dave shrugged, "The important things were taken from me. But I¡¯ll give you anything that is mine to give."

    A broad smile appeared on Bam¡¯s wrinkled face and his eyes twinkled.

    "Wisely spoken, especially for one so new to this world."

    Dave looked at the skinny old man expectantly, waiting for him to reveal Eleanor¡¯s location.

    The oracle nodded affirmatively in response, but looked troubled.

    "I owe a debt to the young divine for a blessing he bestowed. I will speak the truth to you, but you will not like the words I have for you.

    "What you seek I cannot see, though I have searched with my Inner-Eye since I foresaw youring. A divine force clouds the perceptions of my Eye and prevents me from finding the Truth you wish to hear."

    Dave stared at the oracle in disbelief for a moment, then his hands clenched so hard his knuckles popped.

    ¡¯Of course. Divine beings are screwing with my quest. Again.¡¯

    With an effort he unclenched his fists, trying to regain hisposure.

    He hadn¡¯t gotten a quest-failed notification, so it could still bepleted if they figured out what to do. The sample of Eleanor¡¯s blood was the finalponent needed to revive the legion...IF the little punk¡¯s ims were the truth. Asking Bam for Eleanor¡¯s location was n B to acquire the blood sample, he didn¡¯t see any way there could be a sessful n C if divine beings were blocking both the god of undeath and a super oracr old hermit. He needed to talk to the punk god, hopefully the little shit woulde up with another backup n for the backup n. He also had to figure out a way to get the mohawked menace to spill the deets on why the gods and their ridiculous divine ¡¯rules¡¯ kept messing with Dave¡¯s game.

    Shaking his head to clear his thoughts, Dave looked up.

    The oracle had been watching Dave¡¯s inner turmoil with sympathy.

    "Good, young draugr. You realized the Truth that Hope is never far from Despair if you have Wisdom enough to nurture it.

    "And so it is time for you to return to the young divine. Take with you my apologies and tell the young god I consider myself still in his debt."

    "Thanks, Old Man, I will. You¡¯re pretty cool for an ancient hermit guy. See ya."

    The oracle chuckled and returned to his circle to resume walking. Dave headed for the white stone stairs and resigned himself to another unpleasant desert pilgrimage. At least Grumpy would be waiting at the bottom of the sand fall.

    "One more thing, young draugr."

    Dave turned back to the oracle.

    "Tell the young divine that every time my Inner Eye¡¯s vision was blocked I saw a great golden door-"

    "WHAAAAAAAT!? THAT BASTARD OF FOURTH GENERATION INCEST, THAT HOME-ABORTED SONUVA CASTRATED HERMAPHRODITE-"

    The enraged, screeching voice came from a tornado of dense shadow and purple lightning. The whirling funnel had appeared without warning. The tirade of insults and curses continued without pause, the rage and volume swelling. Thenguage changed to something guttural and unpronounceable by human vocal cords.

    Then thenguage changed again. This time to something other than the mortal concept ofnguage and words, sounds were uttered that were not meant to be understood or heard or even known about by any beings lesser than celestials.

    The Words twisted out of the shadow vortex as if they were malevolent lifeforms.

    The first Word plunged deep down into the rock. Mt. Glory shook and rumbled like it was going to erupt, throwing Dave and the oracle to the ground.

    ***

    You have resisted [Terror] effect.

    -10,000 HP

    ***

    Another notification appears right afterward.

    ***

    Local server announcement!

    Wrath of a God!

    A deity has be enraged. An apocalyptic event is imminent.

    The area around Mt. Glory is in an Apocalyptic status. The likelihood of natural catastrophes, unnatural catastrophes uring and the probability of the appearance of various world threatening monsters are increased in said location.

    ***

    Dave looked up at as the mountain continued to rumble and shake.

    ¡¯Fuck me!¡¯

    The second Word rose straight up until it was lost from sight, then it became visible as a soundless burst of grey.

    The day turned pitch ck as if someone had thrown a switch. Fissures grew across the dark starless sky, oozing lurid red light, insaneughter leaked through the expanding cracks gradually growing louder.

    Sprawled across the stone of the mountain top, Dave watched, weak and unable to move. Visceral dread and a feeling of imminent and unopposable doom rose within him, while an oppressive force pressed upon his spirit, assaulting him from all directions and sapping his will.

    "YAME!"

    Dave gasped in relief and looked around, it was the oracle who¡¯d spoken. He stood calmly against the flood of malevolence, like an immovable boulder, the same skinny old man with wrinkles and liver spots. But the heavy iron chains that once weighed the oracle down now hindered the frail ancient as much as tissue paper.

    "Enough young divine. This is most improper. Remember who you are."

    The funnel of swirling shadow dissipated instantly. The god of undeath gestured, and as if the switch was flipped again, the sky returned to normal, another average, zing-hot day in the desert.

    ***

    Local Server Announcement

    Event, Wrath of a God, has ended

    Thank you for ying, and have a nice day!

    ***

    Dave took a shaky breath and got ever so slowly to his feet, panting.

    The oracle was standing with the punk god, very near, speaking too softly for Dave to hear. The teenager was looking down, scuffing at the stone with a booted toe and nodding asionally.

    The oracle finish talking and stepped back.

    The punk god raised his head and gave Dave an abashed look.

    "Ahem. I¡¯m really sorry. I shouldn¡¯t have said Bad Words."

    ¡¯Shiiiit. The little fucker did all that damage. With words. Bad Words. I gotta start being nicer to this little arsehole. So what the bleeping fuckety-fuck are Bad Words?¡¯

    The teenage punk was still looking at him.

    "Oh, right. Okay, no real damage done...I think?"

    The oracle snorted and shook his head at them, "Youth! Go! Both of you! You have things to do and I must tend to the wheel or the cataclysms will be loosed upon the world before their time."

    The punk god grabbed Dave by his chest te and lifted the draugr effortlessly off the ground, his feet dangling in midair.

    "Holy...!" Dave squeaked, still not recovered from the traumatic effects of the Bad Words event.

    "Unholy is the more usual reaction, though neither is exactly right," the god smirked.

    The slender teenager¡¯s strength was disconcerting. But it made sense, a ¡¯god¡¯ would be stronger than any boss monster. And by extension, be frightfully stronger than a lowly draugr.

    But the teenager¡¯s appearance and behavior were so contrary to what was expected of a god. It was just off-putting.

    The young deity was still holding Dave in the air as if the weight was nothing.

    "Okay, kid. We¡¯re gonna go get this clusterfuck unravelled. Whatever happens stay close to me. Be ready, yo, ¡¯cause shit be goin¡¯ down na¡¯, mofo."

    Wannabe gangsta talk. Dave rolled his eyes, way to go punk, keep going against everyone¡¯s expectations.

    The teen deity stepped forward and reality blurred around them.

    They were in deep space, the stars emitted celestial music in divine harmonies as they shone down on them from the heavens. In front of them was a golden door that dwarfed the mountain they had just been standing on.

    "We¡¯re heeeeeere."

    Dave looked at the teenage deity sharply, wondering if the god had been observing his interactions with Winter Rose and Omni.

    The punk god marched right up to the massive metal door.

    "Open up you poncey git, I know you¡¯re in there!" he shouted.

    He lifted a fist and struck the golden door three times. Each knock shook the door in its frame and boomed like a danger-close lightning strike.

    The reverberations from the knocking faded away. They waited.

    Nothing happened.

    Even aside from his ringing ears Dave was shocked. Lifting a draugr in full-te like he was no heavier than a newborn baby was one thing. Shaking this titanic structure just by knocking on it was a whole other ballgame. A different league.

    The punk¡¯s strength was...god-like. Shit. He was going to stop expressing himself so freely to the powerful divine entity. No more insulting him. At least not to his face

    ¡¯Hmph, it¡¯s not like any of this really matters anyway, gotta remember it¡¯s only a game.¡¯

    The undeath god snarled and Dave winced, afraid more Bad Words were going to spew out of the godling.

    "You know why gods never have to knock twice, kid? Because if we don¡¯t get an answer we do this!"

    The undeath god raised a foot and kicked the golden door.

    The massive double-leaf doors were blown in and apart. One door-leaf broke off its hinges, sagging down at an angle against the frame.

    ¡¯Fuuuuuckkkk! First the Bad Words, now this. That¡¯s it, I¡¯m keeping my mouth shut when I¡¯m around him. Just monkey see, monkey do and tip my cap, yessir.¡¯

    Dave shaded his eyes against the beams of brilliant golden light that shone through the open portal.

    "Come out, poseur!" the undeath god thundered.

    Two slender figures appeared from within the golden light and positioned themselves in front of Dave and the godling, crossing their long-spears to forbid entry. They wore pearlescent white robes under glowing gold armor and their six rainbow feathered wings extended outward from their backs.

    Dave, tensed. Angels.

    "Who disturbs the domain of Lord Demiurge, the Most High, the Most Great?" the voice sounded like a choir singing in multi-part harmony.

    The undeath god snorted and rolled his eyes at the titles, "Don¡¯t start. Just get demi-cup out here."

    "The Most-High Lord is attending to otherworldly matters."

    "You mean he¡¯s napping. Out of my way," the undeath god said, stepping forward.

    "Crave pardon, Dread Lord. But Lord Demiurge ordered us to stop anyone from entering."

    The god of undeath glowered at the angel.

    "Demi-crap!" he yelled past the divine messengers, "Get your ever-expanding ass out here! Don¡¯t make me turn your silk swaddled messenger boys into fairy dust!"

    There was a long silence, then a curse and some indistinct grumbling reached their ears. The angels kept their eyes forward and their expressions nk but in some mysterious way their embarrassment of their ¡¯Lord¡¯ was obvious to Dave.

    ¡¯Serves ¡¯em right, self-righteous goodie two shoes, butting their noses where they don¡¯t belong.¡¯

    Dave may have felt some residual resentment against angels.

    "Oh. My. Good-Self! What did you do to my DOOR, you filthy hooligan?! I had to special order that and it took them centuries to deliver it!" a deep voice boomed in strident tones, disrupting the stars, which had just re-harmonized after repeated disturbances..

    The light inside the open doorway shifted and grew brighter.

    "Ugh. This guy¡¯s holy-light shines wayyy too bright for my taste."

    The teenage deity made a plucking motion like a street magician performing a coin trick and there were two pairs of sunsses in his hand. He tossed one to Dave.

    The sunsses filtered the light from Demiurge to a manageable level. Dave could see a man-shaped figure in the doorway now, it was proportionate with the golden door. Bigger than Drahma at his maximum size.

    "Demi-cup," the undeath god said with a sneer as he adjusted his sunsses.

    "It¡¯s DemiURGE. Maker of the Cosmos. Prime Architect of-" Demiurge sputtered to a stop as he caught sight of Dave.

    "You brought one of your undead with you!? HERE?! Haaaaaaa! This time you¡¯re the one that broke the rules, pipsqueak," the glowing figure actually did a little jig,ughing gleefully and pointing at the god of undeath.

    EXTRA:

    The Surgebinder ss:

    There are those who believe that the first Surgebinders came to our world from a different reality, bringing with them power and abilities unknown to the world.

    Infused-light, or I-light, is a synthesis of psychic energy and elemental Light and Gravity. Surgebinders use I-light for both Surge and physical skills. ordingly they have arge reservoir of Infused-light instead of stamina and mana pools.

    Surge skills are much more costly than physical skills and reckless use of Surge skills will quickly exhaust the Surgebinder¡¯s reservoir. Brief, precise bursts of Surge skills used in conjunction with physical skills is the eptedbat doctrine among Surgebinders.

    All Surgebinder skills are channeled and sometimes require an initial amount of I-light to activate. The I-light cost per second of Surge skills increases with distance; and the rate of I-light consumption keeps increasing as long as the skill is active. On the other hand, Surge skills are instant cast and do not have cooldowns.

    Contrary to popr belief, Surgebinders only have a handful of Surge skills, but they are endlessly adaptable.

    Respite Spryte: summons an elemental spryte to catalyze I-light regeneration. The summoned spryte orbits the meditating Surgebinder until dismissed. At higher levels the Surgebinder does not have to stay seated to meditate. This is the only known method to generate I-light.

    Push & Pull Surge: forms an invisible I-light tether controlled by the caster, the tether can exert a push or pull force, most often used as a movement skill. The uses for this skill are limited only by the user¡¯s imagination. A favorite Surgebinder Push-Pull tactic is to boomerangbatants (allies or enemies) around the battlefield.

    Anchor Surge: a static skill, it binds the Surgebinder to a surface he is in physical contact with, simr to Pull but consumes much less I-light.

    Vortex Surge: a chaotic casting of I-light, causes incapacitating status effects such as vertigo and severe disorientation. At higher levels the skill can cause blindness and hallucinations.

    Light-Sculpt (S tier): allows the Surgebinder to create objects made of ¡¯solid¡¯ I-light; armor or simple weapons, see requirements.

 Chapter 258 Deity Digressions

    The god of undeath, divine Patron of the Undead Legion, watched as Demiurge cavorted back and forth in front of the golden doors. The Prime Architect of Creation was doing the chicken dance. Poorly.

    Dave looked around ufortably. The two angels, Celestial messengers and Guardians of the Golden Door had taken positions to either side, yielding the stage to their Most-High Lord. They were deliberately looking anywhere but at the dancing deity. The expressions on their inhumanly smooth faces were neutral, but Dave felt a sense of increasing embarrassmenting from them as Demiurge danced.

    Who was now moonwalking and pop-locking.

    Dave resisted the urge to face-palm.

    ¡¯This fucking guy needs to calm the fuck down. Even his almighty divine-douchebag act was better.¡¯

    He nced at the god of undeath, calmly watching his fellow deity¡¯s antics.

    ¡¯And this one. Why the fuck did he bring me along if it¡¯s against the "rules"? Fucking gods and their shit. So NOT worth the trouble.¡¯

    Demiurge was in the middle of either a seizure or the worst robot dance Dave had ever seen. Then he switched to a booty dance, popping it backwards at the god of undeath and pping his rear in time to a beat only he could hear.

    The punk god raised a hand, "Okay, stop embarrassing yourself and everyone else, Rumpshaker. You got it all wrong, I¡¯m here because the bnce is swinging more in my favor."

    The dancing deity came to a figurative screeching stop. He turned to face them, horrified.

    "WHAT?!?! NO! That¡¯s inconceivable! You brought your pet undead-"

    "Shut up, Demi-ass. You brag about that ball of mud you ¡¯created¡¯ but you have no interest in being part of it. Worse, you have no clue what your jack-booted Church minions are doing. That¡¯s why we are here now."

    "No- What?" Demiurge lifted his head regally, and spoke in formal tones,"Our House is in order, the malefactors were purged from Our Holy Church!

    "I have taken no action against you or your demesnes."

    "I know that Demi-dick. You¡¯re toozy to get involved in politics and intrigue. But your non-involvement is why your Church fanatics keep meddling IN MY AFFAIRS!"

    Thest few words came out in a scream full of righteous fury. Dave cringed again, steeling himself for more Bad Words.

    The punk god reigned himself in with a visible effort.

    "You need to-"

    "Don¡¯t tell me how to run my demesne, Nichs!"

    "NICHOLAS?" Dave blurted.

    The punk god winced but ignored Dave.

    "I¡¯m not telling you how to run your demesne. I AM formally giving you notice that your Church is viting the rules. I¡¯m here to go down there with you right now and un-cluster their interference in my demesne."

    "I¡¯m not going down there! It¡¯s filthy and crowded."

    "Descend andy down some divine wrath, oh mighty smiter, show the sinners who¡¯s boss, take the helm and fix what needs fixing. Or else."

    The god of undeath had a switchde in his hand and he was ring up at the golden god.

    Demiurge¡¯s face turned an rming shade of puce, the immense god drew a deep breath to shout a rebuttal. Then his shoulders slumped and Dave felt a gust of wind as the god exhaled in resignation.

    "Fine, fine, you win. It¡¯s just not fair! Somehow the rules always seem to work out in your favor."

    Demiurge shrank rapidly down to human size and joined them. He waved a hand and a golden door frame in human proportions appeared.

    "I suppose we should just get this over with so I can get back to my na- my very important work."

    The god of undeath smirked and gestured grandly for the golden god to precede them through the golden doorway.

    Grand pirs lined the walls, framing stained-ss windows and rows of wooden pews covered most of the floor space. They were in a church. Statues and icons of Demiurge were everywhere.

    Dave checked his map, it was back online and showed their location was the Northern Kingdom¡¯s grand cathedral.

    A priest in ornate regalia entered the cathedral from a small side door. Catching sight of the glowing figure of his god the priest dropped to his knees and tried to bury his face in the stone floor, trembling.

    "Hmph. Yes, yes, you have demonstrated your utter devotion to Our divine self. Where is Our supreme pontiff? We would have words with him."

    The priest looked up at Demiurge, "His Holiness is not here, he has withdrawn to his spiritual sanctuary for the day."

    Demiurge frowned. He waved and another golden door-frame appeared, revealing an oversized, overstuffed four poster bed with cardinal-red and cloth-of-gold sheets and covers.

    The wrinkledid buttocks of a very naked, very old man worked rhythmically at a well endowed, very young woman underneath him.

    "Dammit Demi, I can¡¯t un-see that, it¡¯s in my brain now. You swore to stop peeping after they caught you at school."

    "No! I didn¡¯t mean to- Shut up, Nichs!"

    Dave looked away hastily, "That doesn¡¯t look very spiritual to me."

    The priest peered into the door and gasped, "Sister Melinda!"

    The old naked man jumped off the woman. Dave thought he was pretty spry for such an old dude. The woman shrieked and ran screaming out of the room, though she retained the presence of mind to grab her clothes on the way.

    The supreme pontiff sat against the headboard, staring back at them. He opened his mouth and closed it a few times, but nothing came out.

    Finally he managed, "My Lord Demiurge, this is truly a blessing."

    Scrambling off the bed, the pontiff threw a robe around his body to everyone¡¯s relief. Then he fell to his knees, intoning, "Most Divine, most Bright, most High and greatest of gods, Lord of Light, Maker of the World, Lord Demiurge, how can I serve thee."

    "Ah yes, good to see you too, Jeffrey. " Demiurge said agreeably. The praise and adtion seemed to wipe any concern for the probity of his foremost representative on the mortal in..

    "That¡¯s it!? This poseur was- well we all saw what he was doing," Dave was outraged. The guy was the leader of a church.

    "Our followers are imperfect, it is Our duty to forgive them and grant them grace," Demiurge said beautifically.

    The undeath god snorted, "A little ass-kissing and suddenly you are all about duty."

    The pontiff smiled, "Our Lord¡¯s wisdom is truly inspiring. I am blessed and humbled to lead the Divine One¡¯s Holy Church and shepherd his flock."

    "Dude, you were schtupping one of his ¡¯flock.¡¯

    "I don¡¯t know what you are talking about, heathen undead."

    ¡¯Really? He¡¯s going with the "It wasn¡¯t me" defense? Shaggy would bust a gut.¡¯

    "I¡¯m not interested in your Church¡¯s inner workings Demi. Just get on with it."

    "Stop telling me what to do, Nichs! Jeffrey, where is the woman?"

    "What woman, Most High? " the pontiff asked innocently.

    "Whatsername, the daughter of the undead king. We are here for her."

    "Oh, that woman. Yes, she is a vile one. I sent her to the getion chamber to renounce her sins and wee the embrace of the Church."

    "Yeah, embrace," Dave rolled his eyes. The punk god coughed and smirked, but everyone else ignored Dave¡¯sment.

    "Where is the getion room?" the undeath god asked.

    "In the catbs under the cathedral," the pope replied.

    The cardinal nodded and Dave, Demiurge and the punk god followed after him. They walked through a stone hallway lit by torches hung on the walls.

    Dave sidled up to the god of undeath on the way to the getion room.

    "So. Nichs. We¡¯re having such lovely weather today. Nichs. I¡¯m looking forward to getting this done. Nichs."

    The punk god gave him a sour look as they walked down the hall.

    "What¡¯s your point, kid."

    "Oh, I have lots of points. Nichs. The first is: we made a deal, you were supposed to stop calling me kid. Nichs."

    Nichs smirked, "I promised to stop. I didn¡¯t say for how long."

    Dave red at him, "It¡¯s gonna be like that? Nick?"

    "I don¡¯t know why you¡¯re oversaying it. Nichs is a good name. You don¡¯t have anything on me."

    Dave nodded vigorously, "Oh absolutely. It¡¯s a much better name than ¡¯Elliot,¡¯ for example. Yeah, Nick¡¯s a real name, Nick¡¯s your buddy, the kind of guy you trust, the kind of guy you can drink beer with. Nick.

    "But Nick almighty? Nick, god of undeath? Nick the Dread Lord of the Undead? Not so much," Dave was smiling gleefully. Mortal or god, payback is a bitch.

    Nick the god red at the draugr, "Y¡¯know, I could choose another apostle, one with less piss and more respect. Then I wouldn¡¯t have to listen to your nonsense."

    "A, is that all you got? Nicky boy? I quite like being Undeath¡¯s Apostle, Nick. Means I get to spend more quality time with my buddy. Nick."

    Dave heard the sound of grinding teething from beside him.

    "Heh heh, it¡¯s tough to get thest word in when you can¡¯t just poof away, hmmm, Nichs?"

    The hallway led to stairs that went down into abyrinth of corridors. After a confusing number of turns they stopped at a steel door. The sound of muffled whines and cries echoed from beyond the door.

    "This is it."

    The cardinal unlocked the door with one of the many dozens of keys he kept on a thick metal hoop. The stench of old blood wafted out.

    "My Good Self, this ce is nasty," Demiurge waved a hand in front of his nose and dug around in his pockets for a hanky.

    Two men in hoods and bloodstained aprons looked up at them from the middle of the room where they stood over a stone table with a woman strapped to it. Prison cells lined the walls, crowded with men and women huddling together on the filth covered floors.

    The torturers held golden crosses and blood slicked leather ils.

    She was battered and bloodied, but Dave still recognized the woman strapped to the table, it was Eleanor. They¡¯d found her!

    "Motherfuckers," Dave roared, equipped his sword and stomped his way toward the two white robes.

    "Not now, kid. Let¡¯s just get her out of here," Nick the god grabbed Dave¡¯s shoulder.

    Demiurge remained silent for a moment then said, "I should have taken better care of them."

    "They taught us all about this stuff at god school, Demi-failure. But you never took it seriously, you were too busy partying and being creepy."

    "Right, I¡¯ve had enough of this," Demiurge¡¯s tone was grim. He pped his hands with a thunderous ear-splitting boom.

    The blood stains and the smells were scrubbed away instantly. The people disappeared from the cells. Only Eleanor was left, her wounds healed now, but still on the table.

    Dave moved until he was face to face with her, peering down at her.

    "Eleanor, you¡¯re safe now," Dave spoke softly to the woman.

    Eleanor started when she saw opened her eyes and saw a draugr within her personal space.

    "I recognize you. You¡¯re the one who escorted me from the Underworld," her face crumbled, "My father is gone isn¡¯t he?"

    Tears welled up in her eyes and overflowed.

    "Eleanor, we can bring your father back, but we need your help," Dave said confidently.

    "I¡¯m not undead, what can I do?"

    Dave turned to Nick, the god of undeath.

    Nick moved to where Eleanor could see him, "No worries, luv. No need for you to be undead. You¡¯ve got your father¡¯s blood in you, and that¡¯s what we need."

    The punk kid made the shard of Death Heart appear, "Hold out your hand, luv."

    He grabbed her hand and turned it palm up, then jabbed the pad of her finger with a needle and turned her hand over so that a drop of blood fell onto the shard of Death Heart.

    "That¡¯s it?" Eleanor asked.

    Nick looked at her for a moment, "Waste not."

 Chapter 259 Counter strick!

    "Open a way to the Underworld, Demi-be-useful," Nick said.

    Demiurge huffed but waved a hand, summoning a golden door that opened into the underworld.

    "I only wish it would get rid of you for good."

    "Aren¡¯t youing with us?" the punk god asked with an innocent smile.

    "I have a big mess to clean up here, thanks to you."

    "Are you sure? I know Ramsha would love to see you," the punk god¡¯s smile grew malicious.

    Demiurge scowled at the teenager, "You really should hurry, or the doorway just might close prematurely on an inconvenient person."

    The punk kidughed and walked through the door with a jaunty step, Dave and Eleanor followed quickly.

    The doorway closed behind them leaving them in a barren field of ck soil surrounded by mountains. Dave looked up to where the broken moon still hung in the sky, the only source of natural light in the dark of the underworld.

    "Something happened between Demi and Ramsha?" Dave asked, ncing at Nick.

    The god of undeath chuckled, "He¡¯s gotten better, but Demi was always socially awkward and clueless. Ramsha was our home-room teacher. You can connect the dots from there."

    "Ouch. I can imagine."

    "Okay, let¡¯s get this ritual rubbish done."

    The god of undeath materialized the corrupt Bloodstone crystal and brought the Death Heart fragment and the corrupted Crystal Together, fusing them into arger crystalline mass.

    Nick raised his hands up, the crystal began vibrating gathering an eerie dark energy from the world.

    The punk kid closed his eyes and mumbled some iprehensible words. More dark aura gathered around the crystal when the undeath god opened his eyes, the aura dissipated.

    "So?" Dave asked.

    "It¡¯s not perfect," he said "But it¡¯s good enough for government work." The undeath god shrugged.

    ***

    Quest: The Forlorn Hope of the Legion!

    You have helped the Undeath God restore the Death Heart to partial functionality.

    The Death Heart can be used to revive one Greater Undead every 24 hours (game time).

    The fate of the Undead Legion rests in your hands.

    Requirements:

    Revive five Greater Undead (one each of the ranks shown below) then return the Death Heart to the top of the Bone Pce tower.

    Undead Captain

    Death Knight

    Doom Knight

    Abyssal Knight

    Undead King

    Conditions:

    You are only able to revive undead that you had a [Friendly] rtionship with at the time of their final fall.

    ***

    The undeath god handed the death heart to Dave, "Take this and use it to bring the undead back. When youplete the quest you should be ready for your Legacy Challenge, soe find me."

    The undeath god waved a hand and summoned a circle of twisting shadows.

    Dave nced at Eleanor, "What about her?"

    "I¡¯ll take her to a safe house and have Nathiel watch over her until this gets sorted. You¡¯re going to the Dead Realm. Be careful, demons will be all over the ce."

    Dave turned and stepped through the vortex.

    "Hold on Boyz, it won¡¯t be much longer," he whispered to himself.

    He appeared on top of a hill overlooking the Undead City. There were demons patrolling the hills around the city, so he hid, lying down and concealing himself in the undergrowth. From there he watched the activity in and around the city below him, watching for patterns, hoping to find holes in their defenses.

    Watching the city and waiting for patrols was boring work, to pass the time he took the ck crystal out and inspected it.

    ***

    Death Heart (dormant)

    This artifact absorbs the dark magic of the underworld to reconstruct the undead.

    This Artifact is partially functional.

    To fully awaken the Death Heart it must be returned to its rightful ce at the top of the Bone Pce main tower.

    The Death Heart fragment is not functioning optimally, it can only revive five Greater Undead, one of each tier starting from captain up (limited to one revival every 24 hours).

    Undead Captain 0/1

    Death Knight 0/1

    Doom Knight 0/1

    Abyssal Knight 0/1

    Undead King 0/1

    Activation Conditions: call out the name of the Greater Undead you want to revive at the site of the chosen¡¯sst death.

    ***

    Dave put the Death Heart in his inventory, he then ced a hand on the ground. ck sigils spread across the earth and with a loud ¡¯pop¡¯ Grumpy appeared.

    Grumpy looked at Dave and grumbled angrily.

    "Sorry, Grumps. Stuff happened and I got caught up in shit as usual. We still good?"

    Grumpy muttered low sounds ofint, but was apparently still willing to carry Dave.

    ¡¯First thing is to revive Dog. He died in the siege close to the gates. Getting close enough to the city to revive him is going to be dangerous. This is one of those times I really wish I had a stealth build.¡¯

    Dave looked at his surroundings, trying to figure out how he was going to get the quest done. He couldn¡¯t assault the city, he didn¡¯t have the manpower, Undead-power. To the east was Dave¡¯s old territory, gifted to him by the Undead King, a single snow-capped mountain rose up out of the otherwise low forestnds.

    A grin appeared on the draugr¡¯s face. "Go there Grumps," Dave pointed at the mountain.

    The basilisk climbed down the hill they were on and headed to Dave¡¯s territory. As they were moving, an imp that was hiding under some rocks and dead leaves jumped toward Dave¡¯s face.

    Grumpy¡¯s eyes shone yellow, his [Petrifying Gaze] turning the imp into a falling statue. Dave snapped the bone whip and the spiked knob on the end crushed the imp¡¯s head before it hit the ground.

    [-120,000]

    Dave pped Grumpy on the back in victory.

    "Nice one, Grumps. We one-shotted that little fucker!"

    Grumpy just kept running, he¡¯d barely changed stride to deal with the imp.

    After ten minutes ride, Dave¡¯s territory was in sight. "Slow down Grumps, there might be demons around here."

    The basilisk slowed to a walk, he sniffed at the air and looked warily around him..

    The buildings were still there, they looked unchanged from thest time he saw them. There was no sign of demons.

    Suddenly Grumpy made clicking sounds like a dolphin and changed direction.

    "Where are you going, Grumps?" Dave asked.

    But it quickly became obvious the onyx basilisk was headed to the basilisk breeding ground.

    Seven basilisks were gathered, huddling in a group, most of them sleeping. Three juvenile basilisks were wrestling and romping amongst the six-legged adult basilisks.

    Grumpy made a croaking sound, calling the basilisk to him. They awakened and gathered around grumpy, sniffing and rubbing their heads against him.

    The new basilisks were smaller than the ones with the pdins. They were females, left home to tend to the baby basilisks. .

    "I¡¯ll let you catch up with your girls Grumpy. I need to talk to the trolls."

    Dave left the basilisks and headed into the trees around the settlement. He hiked through the forest toward the base of the mountain. A chorus of howls greeted him,ing from the high up mountain, followed by grunting and hooting. The trolls had seen Dave at the foot of the mountain and came down to greet him in a minor avnche of snow and tumbling trolls.

    Red-Mane reached Dave at the head of his tinkle. The trolls gathered around Dave hooting happily. In concert they lifted the draugr and started throwing him straight up and catching him repeatedly. After a dozen throws the trolls put Dave back to his feet, Red Mane pped him on the back, hooting.

    "Good to see you again, too," Dave said, patting Red-Mane in return.

    The trolls wanted to pick Dave up again but he avoided their attempts.

    "Okay, okay, calm down everyone. I have a favor to ask."

    Sensing Dave¡¯s serious mood, the rambunctious trolls quieted and gathered around to listen.

    "As you all know, the legion and the undead were wiped out. Well, I¡¯ve found a way to bring them back and I need your help. I have to go to where my friends were killed and revive them right under the demons¡¯ noses. We¡¯re going to have to fight a dying action, to buy enough time to get it done."

    Red Mane jumped into the air and beat his chest, howling.

    The other trolls mimicked their leader, beating the ground with their clubs..

    The trolls followed him back to the basilisk breeding area.

    Grumpy was waiting, looked contented after spending time with the female basilisks.

    "This is an extraction. The goal is to revive Dog and get out."

    Dave didn¡¯t think Dog¡¯s ability to raise undead would go toward fulfilling the Death Heart requirements. But he wanted to revive Dog first because the duhan had an inherent ability to raise the undead from corpses or graves. He was going to leverage Dog¡¯s ability to create a force of Undead warriors that could help finish his quest.

    "We¡¯re going to revive Dog, he died near the city gates."

    Dave nudged Grumpy in the direction of the city, the trolls followed at a trot to the Undead City.

    Ten minutester, the party was close to the Undead City.

    A demon on the walls of the undead city saw the group approach and blew a horn, sounding the rm.

    Demons climbed up to the top of the walls and started shooting Arrows at the approaching Dave.

    Dave activated [iling Circle of Death], his barbed bone whip whirled around him, batting the arrows away from the group.

    Three demons in leather armor ran to block the group¡¯s advance toward the city gates. Grumpy increased his speed and rammed into them using [Trample the Meek], sending the demons flying like bowling pins.

    Dave yelled, "Keep moving to the gate!"

    The demons patrolling around the city were converging, drawn to the rms and the sounds of fighting.

    Dave arrived at the city gate. Inside the city demon reinforcements were running toward the gates.

    Red Mane howled at the tinkle. The trolls stomped their feet on the ground and ice spread out and rose from the ground like a frozen wave. The trolls created an ice wall reaching halfway up the Undead City gate barricading the demons inside.

    "Dog died somewhere around here."

    Dave held the Death Heart shard over his head.

    "Dog the Duhan!"

    ck light shot from the crystal to a dirt mound a dozen steps away from Dave, but nothing else happened. He checked the count of revived undead in his heads up disy. Nothing.

    ¡¯Shit, guess the shard has to be closer!¡¯

    "He¡¯s there! We have to move closer to the mound the light is pointing to," Dave shouted.

    The demons that were already outside the walls were regrouping into a line formation, blocking Dave from the mound the shard was pointing to.

    ¡¯I¡¯m gonna regret this.¡¯

    "Red Mane!"

    "Hhh?"

    Dave pointed at the mound, "I need to get there now. Do the Draugr Projectile!"

    The troll grinned.

    Chortling, Red mane rushed over and picked up Dave, hefting him like a javelin. Then Red Mane grunted and lunged forward, his arm muscles flexing mightily as heunched Dave in an arc over the demons toward the mound.

    "SHIIIIIIIIIIIIIT!"

    Dave plowed into the mound of earth face first.

    [-400]

    Dave sat up, spitting dirt, "Fuck! At least his aim was good."

    He pulled the Death Heart shard out and mmed it into the dirt. The sky shuddered and a bolt of ck lightning struck where gemy. The demons around Dave drew back, afraid of the unknown.

    A mound of earth was pushed up and apart by an arm covered in green armor.

    ***

    Sess!

    You have revived the Undead Captain [Dog] (duhan).

    Undead Management option has been unlocked.

    ***

    "Wee back, Dog-bro!" Dave grabbed the duhan¡¯s wrist and helped him, pulling the armored duhan free from the earth. The headless undead was, as always, obsessively clutching his detached head under one arm, like a pallid basketball with sickly-green glowing eyes. Dog¡¯s eyes were unfocused, disoriented, he was not his usual paranoid aggressive self.

    "C¡¯mon Dog, snap out of it! We¡¯re in the shitter and we¡¯re gonna have to fight our way out. You¡¯ll need this," Dave pushed the il at him.

    Dog grasped the weapon awkwardly in his free hand. Suddenly the duhan¡¯s eye focused and started ring all around, projecting his insane hatred and desire to kill.

    Dog lifted his head and positioned it onto his neck twisting it on. Then he crouched and put a hand on the ground. ck symbols spread out and with a loud ¡¯pop¡¯ the duhan¡¯s basilisk appeared.

    But Dog wasn¡¯t done, he shifted his bone il to the solid club-form and pushed it into the ground, searching.

    Shadows materialized and gathered into a column then dispersed, revealing a pale skinned ghoul who looked at Dave with an amused smile, revealing his serrated ripping-teeth.

    "What the...?!"

    A notification popped up.

    ***

    Your follower, Dog [duhan, Undead Captain], has used [Raise Undead] to revive Samael [ghoul, Abyssal Knight] has been revived!

    Abyssal Rank revival condition has been met!

    Remaining ranks:

    Undead King 0/1

    Doom Knight 0/1

    Death Knight 0/1

    ***

    "Here you are, in the thick of battle once again, young undead."

 Chapter 260 One more rejoins the ranks!

    "Wee back, Samael! Feel free to lend a hand," Dave raised his shield to block an axe, "There¡¯s enough demons for everyone to get their kill streak on."

    "Very well, young draugr. But you WILL exin when we are done killing this demon scum."

    Samael disappeared in a whirl of ck shadows, leaving Dave and Dog fighting with their backs to each other against a dozen demons.

    The demons surrounding Dave moved closer to him tightening the encirclement. Suddenly, they all stopped moving. The extending shadows under their feet were twisting, then silhouettes in the shape of a man rose from every shadow. These silhouettes were ck as the abyss, but Dave could still see that they all had the outline of Samael. The shadows moved at the same time, grabbing the demons by the head and slitting their throats with a dagger in the other hand.

    The bodies fell with a plop, all, headless. Dave was left staring with wide eyes. These were more than twenty demons all level 400 at the least.

    A loud crashing sound woke Dave from his stupor. The ice the trolls created to block the gates was broken and the demons inside the Undead City boiled out like angry ants, heading to Dave.

    Samael shadow clones all spoke at once, "Go! You¡¯ll only slow me down here!"

    "Pull back!" Dave yelled to the boyz as he jumped onto the already moving Grumpy.

    Dog leapt onto his basilisk and urged the beast to follow after the onyx basilisk. A demon ran up and tried to pull Dog off his mount, but the duhan swept his bone club into the demon¡¯s face and kicked him away.

    Two demons with swords and kite shields escaped the pull of Samael¡¯s copies. The draugr waved a hand and snapped his fingers in the same motion, two spectral skulls appeared and immediately exploded against the shields throwing the demons back into Samael¡¯s effigies.

    The trolls followed after Dave, but a formation of demons chased them as they retreated from the battle. Red Mane shouted at the other trolls, he turned and struck downwards with his club. Ice spread over the ground from the impact of the club. The other trolls imitated Rad Mane and the expanding sheets of ice connected, covering arge area. The first three demons chasing them slipped and fell when they hit the ice. The demons behind them tripped over their sprawled bodies, falling on top in a dogpile.

    Dave wasn¡¯t sure if the trolls had used some kind of mischief-skill on the ice that made the demons clumsier and ident prone, but it was a very Three Stooges pstick scene.

    With a roar, Samael¡¯s body expanded and twisted, transforming into a tornado of death shadows. A continuous wailing sound came from the twister, rising and falling like a haunted siren. The tornado vacuumed the demons up as it moved across their battle formations. Inside the funnel, the demons were torn apart and drained in seconds then expelled. The desated bits and pieces thrown out and away, making a grisly rainfall of mummified corpse parts.

    The tornado¡¯s speed and buzzsaw wail increased, sucking demons up and ejecting body parts in every direction. Dave was in awe of Samael¡¯s disy of power. It was frightening, he was like a destructive force of nature.

    ¡¯Two more ranks and I can be an Abyssal Knight.¡¯

    They checked behind them for demons as they travelled away from the city, but did not find any following. To be on the safe side they picked a random direction to travel instead of going directly to Dave¡¯s settlement. The circuitous route took half an hour instead of the ten minutes going directly would have.

    When they got to the unfinished settlement Dog looked around at the deserted buildings and directed a questioning grunt at Dave.

    "Yeah, just you and me left. Let¡¯s wait for Samael." Dave said.

    "I¡¯m here," Samael¡¯s voice came as he materialized in shadow form beside Dog¡¯s basilisk.

    "From what you said the only undead here are you, me, and the duhan," Samael said.

    "Yes. For now."

    "Well then, young draugr. What¡¯s the situation?"

    "We can revive the Legion by fully restoring the Death Heart. We do that by finishing the task I was given, reviving five ranks of Greater Undead."

    "So, counting myself and the duhan, we need three more," Samael said.

    "Yes. The ranks we are missing are Death Knight, Doom Knight, and of course the King.

    "But I can only bring back undead I was friends with before they died. And the ones that fit that criteria are Delvina, Matn, Drahma and Du¡¯Rhaza.".

    Samael looked around as he considered the situation, "We can¡¯t get to Du¡¯Rhaza or Delvina easily. Du¡¯Rhaza died inside the city that is now full of demons. And thest I know, Delvina was at the Undead Frontier."

    "So we it¡¯s Matn and Drahma next."

    "Drahma and Matn fought with the Wendigos on the frontlines during the siege. I know where they were when the king fell."

    "Okay, that makes things easier. We should go as soon as possible."

    "We need to wait until your duhan is ready to raise another undead."

    Dave gave Samael a tour of his settlement while they waited for the cooldown on Dog¡¯s skill to expire. They explored the partially constructed buildings, visiting the barracks, the archery range and the mansion.

    But it was the basilisk and their breeding grounds that Samael was most enthusiastic about. The ghoul asked a lot of questions about the creatures and their habits, many of which Dave didn¡¯t know the answers to.

    Dog¡¯s skill was off cooldown when they finished the tour.

    "It¡¯s time, Dog is set, we can go back to the city."

    "Very well, follow me."

    Samael transformed into a wisp of ck smoke and coursed toward the Undead City. Dave gathered his units and followed after him. Samael wasn¡¯t moving fast, so Dave caught up to him in a few minutes.

    When the city came into sight, Dave asked, "Was Matn close to the gates when he died?"

    "No, he was far away from the gates when he fell."

    "That makes our mission easier," Dave pointed at the gates.

    Lines of demons stood in formation in front of the city gate. A horn sounded, signaling them to march.

    "No, we will still have to deal with them. I will hold them off. Continue with your mission, young draugr. Matn died somewhere around here."

    Samael moved off to intercept the advancing demons. Closing the distance, he transformed into a tornado of shadows and whirled into the advancing formation of demons.

    Dave took the Death Heart out and raised it over his head, "Matn of Ash, Death Knight!"

    A beam of ck light shot out and pointed at a patch of ground a few feet away from Dave.

    "Dog, that¡¯s where Matn is, do your stuff"

    Dog dismounted and walking up to the mound he pushed his club into the earth all the way to the hilt. Dave joined him as the ground pushed up and an arm came through the dried earth.

    Dave grabbed the searching hand and helped Matn the rest of the way out.

    The newly risen draugr stood there with unfocused pale green eyes. He wore the same armor as Dave, but the deep ck of his armor was marred with gray-colored blemishes all over.

    ***

    Your follower Dog (duhan, undead captain) used [Raise Undead]!

    Matn of Ash, Death Knight rank undead has been revived from the dead!

    Death Heart [Death Knight] revival condition has been met!

    Remaining

    Undead King 0/1

    Doom Knight 0/1

    ***

    "K¡¯Shtiengbrah! I am in your debt."

    "Just doing what I can to help, Matn."

    Samael was still ripping the demon army to shreds.

    "We can¡¯t let Samael have all the fun."

    "Aye! My sword craves demon blood."

    "FOR THE LEGION!" Dave followed Samael, charging the demons at the gate..

    Dog hopped back onto his basilisk and raced towards the battle. Grumpy came up to Dave, expecting him to ride into battle.

    "Sorry Grumps, my weapons aren¡¯t long enough for cavalry work,."

    The basilisk snorted, but seemed to understand. He stayed next to Dave as they ran toward the mayhem Samael was causing.

    Samael changed to his ghoul form and started teleporting all over the battlefield to stab, eviscerate or slice the throats of individual enemies.

    Dog¡¯s basilisk kept moving deeper into the thick of the enemy formation, goring demons and tossing the bodies to the side. While the duhan swatted demons left and right from his mount.

    Samael was too busy killing demons to bother with the loot. Dave on the other hand, didn¡¯t want to miss free loot. He ran through the battlefield, dodging attacks as he ninja looted everything in sight.

    He got multiple notifications about the items he picked up.

    ***

    Demon Horn X1

    Demon ive (Broken)

    Demon wrist guard

    Demon Stone (Rune)

    ...

    ***

    He waved the notification away and continued looting.

    "Ware!" Matn suddenly appeared standing over Dave, tower shield blocking a demon¡¯s axe swing.

    "Thanks, man!" Dave said.

    "How many times have I told you to always keep your guard up," Matn scolded.

    Dave smiled ruefully then suddenly grabbed Matn and yanked him forward, swinging his shield around. Dave¡¯s interposed shield shattered the javelin flying toward Matn¡¯s head from behind him.

    "Guess we¡¯re even now," Daveughed. The two joined Samael.

    Samael shredded thest of the demons at the city gates leaving only the ones inside the walls. The demons inside the city had closed the gates and prepared for a seige instead of sallying out.

    Dave had leveled up twice during the hours of fighting. He checked his status screen.

    Level

    326

    ss

    Death¡¯s Apostle

    Name

    Death Stroke

    Race

    Undead(Human)

    Health

    452,400

    Mana

    6,600 +(290)

    Stamina

    ¡Þ

    Rage/Focus

    100

    Intelligence

    400 +(20)

    Wisdom

    450+(22.5)

    Dexterity

    400 (+20)

    Agility

    440 +(22)

    Vitality

    45240

    Strength

    600 +(30)

    Magic Absorption

    6000

    Damage Nullification

    9000

    Immunity

    30%

    Prestige

    1800

    HP Regen

    0.1%/sec +(0)

    Mana Regen

    1.1%/sec +(0)

    Stamina Regen

    ¡Þ

    Rage/Focus

    Regen

    1/sec

    Unassigned attribute points

    232

    Titles

    I know it all!

    Grand Strategist!

    Pride of the Undead! (Currently disabled)

    Shield Border!

    Dave decided it was time to use the attribute points he¡¯d been building up. He had a total of 232 unassigned attribute points, so he put 100 points into Strength without hesitation.

    His Strength, Agility and Dexterity numbers worked for the melee skills and tactics he liked to use in a fight. And the Death Knight armor gave him huge bonuses in Vitality, so his HP pool was as big as any tank ss with his level.

    He still had 142 points to use and he added them all to Intelligence after a bit of thought. His reasoning was simple, when he fought he used a lot of non-melee skills, skills that depended on INT for their damage output or other effects.

    "What are you doing Kis¡¯Shtiengbrah? It¡¯s time. Revive Drahma," Samael reminded the draugr.

    "Right, right! Let¡¯s go Dog."

 Chapter 261 Rise Rise, and Rise Again...

    Dave held the Death Heart over his head and said Drahma¡¯s name. The ck ray from the crystal lit a patch of ground almost directly at Dave¡¯s feet.

    "He¡¯s right here. Dog, your turn!"

    Dog once again thrust his club deep into the earth.

    ***

    Your follower Dog (duhan, undead captain) used [Raise Undead]!

    Drahma the Unfettered, Doom Knight rank undead has been revived from the dead!

    Death Heart [Doom Knight] revival condition has been met!

    Remaining

    Undead King 0/1

    ***

    The ground trembled and rose like a mountain being born up from the depths of the earth. A scream of unbridled rage was loosed into the world as Drahma shook himself free and towered over all, thest titan returned to undeath.

    "Wee back, big guy," Dave said.

    "What happened, Kis¡¯Steingbrah?" Drahma asked, his voice booming out over thend.

    "You¡¯ve been dead and gone for a while. I¡¯ll tell you all about itter. Right now we need your help."

    "Always happy to assist, young draugr," Drahma replied.

    "Drahma, we need you to make a path through the demons to the Bone Pce," Samael said.

    "With pleasure, lord Samael!" Drahma stomped on the ground and the earth parted around a rising pir of granite. Drahma whirled the heavy pole and ran to the Undead City gates, shaking the earth with every step.

    Drahma rammed through the city gates, shattering them. The demons inside the city shuddered as the undead titan barrelled through the destroyed gates. A demon in blue armor gruntedmands and demons formed into single file, defending the street that led to the bone pce.

    Drahma ran toward the formation, every ponderous step shook the buildings and walls. He roared, his hatred of all things demon stoked his already terrible battlefury. The giant undead stomped into the demons, crushing scores under his feet as he whipped his pole viciously, back and forth across their formation. A grisly ichorous paste dripped down the length of his weapon, spattering from it with every swing.

    "Follow him!" Samael called.

    Dave followed after Samael with the rest of their forces on his heels. As the trolls ran along the street, they summoned ice spears and threw them at demons, picking off stragglers with low HP.

    Dog rode strayed away from the group, riding his basilisk into the demons without a care, crushing skulls left and right with his bone il.

    "Dog, we need your skill, stay in formation."

    Suddenly a horn sounded through the city.

    More demons emerged from the houses. bows at the ready and spells prepared to rain down on the ¡¯invaders.¡¯

    "Shit, we¡¯re surrounded," Dave cursed. The thoroughfare to the Bone Pce was filled with demons.

    "Drahma!" Samael shouted, "Throw us!"

    "No! Notto disu shitto agen!" Dave¡¯s wailing protest was cut off by the giant hand that plucked him, Dog and Samael from the ground and hurled them high into the air.

    Dave screamed as he flew upward in a parabolic arc. But too soon their flight reached apogee and they started downward.

    "Aghh fuggit, this gonna suck," he swallowed and closed his eyes.

    Then the falling sensation faded. He opened his eyes unsure if it was frying-pan or fire. ¡¯It¡¯ was a cloud of ck smoke underneath them, slowing their fall, controlled and maintained by streams of ck vaporing from Samael. Momentster the Abyssal Knightnded them gently in the pce courtyard.

    A wall enclosed the courtyard and a barbican, with steel gates open, faced the city street. Grand steps led up to therge double doors that led into the pce itself. There was a patch of ckened pavement in the middle of the courtyard. Dave didn¡¯t need to use the crystal to know that was where the Undead King had died.

    A horn blew inside the pce and dozens of demons charged down the stairs from the pce doors. Dave looked back, more demons were rushing toward the barbican gate from the streets.

    "Drahma can¡¯t keep all the demons upied by himself. I¡¯ll block the gate. Samael, you have to hold off the demonsing from inside the pce."

    "You¡¯re giving orders now, Death Knight?" Samel said, smiling.

    "You have a better n?" Dave asked his superior officer.

    "No, we will do as you say...mander¡¯ K¡¯shtiengbrah." Samael ran toward the pce stairs to intercept the wave of charging demons.

    Dave swung the steel gates closed and ced a thick bar across them. He checked Dog¡¯s cooldown timer and groaned. [Raise Undead] still had 55 minutes to go.

    Samael shoved his hand into the chest of a demon and ripped his heart out. Four other demons ganged up upon him. Samael dodged back and swept sideways with a ck dagger in his hand. The de cut through the demons like a hot knife through butter, splitting the demons in twos. Just as he finished off the demonsing out from the pce, even more demons emerged from inside.

    "Dog, summon your basilisk and stay near it. Don¡¯t fight, just stay alive," Dave said then he summoned Grumpy to him.

    "Grumps! Make it rain!"

    The onyx basilisk puffed up andunched spikes in every direction. The spikes pierced leather armor and demon flesh, thinning out the demons.

    Grumpy tore into the demons with teeth and ws, tossing them like ragdolls. Dog¡¯s basilisk loosed its baleful yellow [Petrifying Gaze] turning demons to brittle stone. Grumpy wasted no time shattering the affected demons to dust with his tail.

    Dave could hear a new group of demons pounding at the pce gates. Too soon the pounding turned to hacking, and dents appeared in the steel doors. Samael was still upied fighting an endless wave of demonsing from the pce. Dave swore, it wouldn¡¯t take long for them to get through the gates, he simply didn¡¯t have the manpower to actively defend the gates.

    "We¡¯ve got a fucking Hodor situation here."

    Dave looked around, a staircase led to the top of the wall that circled the pce. Hoping to dy the gate crashers from the top of the wall he started up the stairs, sprinting. From out of the blue a tremendous blow mmed into Dave¡¯s chestte, sending him tumbling down the stairs

    -18,225

    "Fuck!"

    He scrambled to his feet and looked up. A demon holding a massive two-handed warhammerughed down at him from the wall.

    Dave activated [Stampede] and charged up the stairs, crashing into the hammertime-demon and sending him flying from the wall and over the next row of buildings.

    "Payback¡¯s a bitch, Bitch."

    Dozens of demons were ramming onto the gate. The streets were filled with. The pce gate shook, the steel making it bent and deformed with every hit. Dave¡¯s fingers flickered through a series of ninja seals and mes gathered over his head, growing into a sphere of dense fire. He pointed, sending the fireball into the demons packed around the gate. Red damage values drifted up from the demons, but they ignored his attack and just kept going at the gates.

    Dave equipped his [Sworn Stalwart] gauntlets.

    "Okay then, let¡¯s just go ahead and turn the heat up!" He ignited [Aura] and jumped down into the pack of demons.

    He struck out with [Dragon Fist] and the me-dragon conjured by the punch blew through his opponent and the demons crowding behind. Dave followed the fist with [Dragon Kick], sending another me-dragon into the pack of demons.

    [Overheating] pred and red numerical values started rising from the demons within the [Aura] AoE.

    Dave just kept adding more heat, spinning into [Infernal Tornado] while [Ray of mes] spewed continuously from his mouth, adding more heat and creating a vortex of fire around him. The heating effects of [Aura], [Infernal Tornado] and [Ray of mes] stacked, amplifying the [Overheating] effect.

    But the demons still didn¡¯t give up, undeterred by the constant damage they were absorbing. They just kept attacking the gates.

    -18,990

    -20,000

    -25,110

    "Fuck it!"

    Dave used [Zealot], a skill granted by the Legendary tier earring Drahma had given him.

    sts of steam escaped from his joints as he expanded, growing to twice his normal height in seconds. [Zealot] doubled his HP and increased his damage output by 300%, but it also doubled any damage he took. Dave rubbed another ring, one he¡¯d gotten in Ashkar¡¯s Tomb. The Fleshomancy ring¡¯s [Imperfect Reflection] skill activated, creating a [Zealot] enhanced clone of himself. Then Dave disabled the [Azure Water] Rune embedded in his chest armor.

    A pounding beat pulsed in his brain and a web of cracks spread across his armor tes. Chaos radiated from within the ws, glowing like agitatedva.

    A notification shed open.

    ***

    Chaos-Energy Imbnce!

    Your body is suffering from an overflow of destructive energies from the runes of Chaos!

    +300% Damage to all abilities

    You will lose 1% of your maximum HP per second until your Energy bnce is restored.

    ***

    Dave¡¯s HP didn¡¯t decrease, the clone passively soaked in all the damage Dave was supposed to take.

    Dave swung both fists down on a demon¡¯s head, caving it in.

    [-228,225]

    "That¡¯s a one-shot, baby!"

    His fists blurred as he punched holes through torsos and turned limbs into bloody parts. The gauntlets turned white and he smiled. More bad shit wasing for these demon-scum.

    He already knew what the notification was.

    ***

    Ramp-Up activated!

    All your skills have +10% increased damage!

    ***

    "POWER!! UNNN-LIMITED POWER!!" Dave roared like an uber-nerd hyped up on too much Jolt and Mountain Dew.

    He triggered [Approaching Dragon], and started disappearing and appearing repeatedly all over the battlefield, attacked at each instance. He broke through armor and bones with his punches but his kicks exploded through the demons entirely, separating upper and lower halves.

    New demons joined the fight,ing from nearby streets and swelling the number of his opponents. Dave summoned and detonated a barrage of Spectral Skulls in an arc around him, killing some and blowing others away to give himself some space. Dave broke through the demons surrounding him and moved away from the pce gates. When the demons followed him, he used [Double Edged] and followed it with [Perfect Reflection]

    Dave switched position with the clone. The ground trembled then dropped down like an enormous sinkhole and hundreds of fangs burst up from the paved courtyard around the circr depression. The Minghocao¡¯s fangs closed over the circle of ground, sucking in dirt, rocks and demons as it rose up.

    ***

    You have leveled up!

    ***

    Dave paused, eager to jump back in as soon as the worm returned to the deep earth. But the Minghocao was lingering, it swayed over the courtyard then vomited a yellow liquid. The demons below were showered with the acidic venom and their flesh sloughed and dissolved, leaving a pink bubbling sludge scattered with the intact bones. The Minghocao dove back into the ground, disappearing from sight.

    Dave was delighted, he thought it was a damn cool skill upgrade. He made a mental note to review [Double Edged] after the fight.

    Amotion in the distance drew Dave¡¯s attention to Drahma¡¯s looming presence, still rampaging through the city. Inevitably, packs of demons had gotten past the titan and were headed for the pce.

    Dave still had some time left before his herculean power up ran out. He ran into the pack of demons punching and kicking, crushing skulls and rib cages. His EXP meter rose steadily towards the next level-up. By the time he¡¯d killed off thest demon his HP was down to 1%, so he re-enabled [Azure Water] Rune to remove the Chaos Imbnce buff.

    ***

    Azure Water rune activated.

    The Azure Water rune reduces damage from Chaos energies.

    Bnce restored.

    ***

    Dave slugged back a health potion and his HP started rising slowly. When there were no demons left in the streets, he used [Immortal Apparition] to teleport back into the courtyard.

    He leaned against the gate, tiredly. It had been a long day with a lot of fighting. He had a few moments before the next pack of demons reached the gate. He nced at the ckened courtyard pavement where the kingy, then at the stairway that went up to the pce doors.

    Despite not being a ¡¯real¡¯ tank, Samael was still holding back an endless flood of demonsing from inside the pce.

    Dave waited for a new wave of demons to arrive at the gate. Hearing activity outside the walls, Dave ran up the stairs leading to the courtyard walls. He shot spectral skulls at the demons hammering at the gate.

    There were only six demons in this wave, so Dave jumped between them and started another slugfest. Without the buffs, the fight was grueling, he was at 10% HP when he finally killed thest one.

    Dave teleported back inside the courtyard and threw back another health potion. He pointed at the ckened area of ground where the undead king fell.

    "Dog, stand there and be ready to revive the king as soon as you can use your Skill. Grumps, the gate is going toe down soon, we need to hold them here."

    The basilisk moved to stand in front of the gate and growled.

    The demons kept bashing at the gate until it finally gave in. The steel gate fell into the courtyard with a thump and a cloud of dust, revealing the dozens of demon attackers.

    Dog stayed near the king¡¯s resting ce but sent his basilisk to help them. The basilisks charged the demons together and Dave followed behind them. The two lizards were great in tanking many demons at once. This gave Dave enough time to dish out explosive damage.

    Dave swapped tanking with the two basilisks constantly, distributing the damage between them the three of them.

    Time dragged by as they fought to hold the gate. They soon faced even more than the original numbers of attackers, demons kept streaming in from the street, swelling the ranks.

    Dave¡¯s struggled keeping his HP at a moderate level with potions and his passive. Unlike Dave, the basilisks couldn¡¯t heal, their HP were dropping rapidly.

    One minute left for Dog¡¯s skill.

    Dog¡¯s basilisk was in critical condition, Dave ordered the beast to the back. Grumpy and Dave fought on.

    Thirty seconds left for Dog¡¯s skill.

    Dave signaled Grumpy to retreat, he was fighting alone now. He killed another demon, then two more, but it didn¡¯t matter, they just kepting.

    ***

    You have 1% HP remaining!

    You are in critical condition!

    Passive skill [Unyielding] has been triggered. You are immune to death for five (5) seconds!

    ***

    Dave sted demons away with spectral skulls as he started retreating, then he used [Vertical sh], to backflip away.

    Dave¡¯s passive skill [Vigorous] kicked in, restoring some of his HP.

    "Kis¡¯Shtiengbrah, it¡¯s TIME!" Samael roared from the pce stairs.

    "Dog! Magic-time!"

    Dog thrust his club into the ground.

    ***

    Your follower Dog (duhan, undead captain) used [Raise Undead]!

    The Undead King, monarch ranked undead, has been revived from the dead!

    Death Heart [Undead King] revival condition has been met!

    ***

    A pulsing dark aura preceded the figure that rose smoothly from the ckened rubble, the shroud grew until it filled the courtyard and the king finally stood again, looking down at the draugr and duhan before him.

    Dave¡¯s was smiling in wee, but his expression froze when he saw the tag above the Undead King¡¯s head. The information was disyed in screaming-red text.

    EXTRA:

    [Double Edged]

    A whistle is the summoning call for a Minhocao from deep underground.

    Duration: 5 seconds.

    Cooldown: 20 minutes.

    The deep-earth dwelling Minhocao is hostile to the Summoner and the Summoner¡¯s allies as well as his enemies. The Minhocao attacks from underground, engulfing a circr area with a radius of 20 meters in a single bite, then the Minhocao returns to the depths.

    Damage:100,000 t damage + 50% basic weapon damage to each object and individual within the affected area.

    [Special Effect]: the Minghocao spews an acidic bile that melts flesh and metal, weakening armor and weapons durability and causing 5,000 points of t damage over five (5) seconds.

    Lore:

    The Minhocaos are destructive, universally hostile creatures. They are rumored to be the ultimate and final evolution of a 10,000 year old earthworms.

    Lore Addendum:

    This particr Minhocao defeated and consumed a Chaos Centipede, a highly evolved creature from a different monarchical lineage of deep-earth dwellers. Consequently the Worm King has defied the limitations of gods and nature and evolved into an Emperor Worm.

 Chapter 262 The Revanant!

    Dave yawned and opened his eyes to what was bing a familiar sight, the inside of his hotel room.

    "What a weird dream."

    He looked at his phone. He¡¯d gotten four texts, three of them from Vanessa.

    "Damn, I forgot she invited me toe see her modeling gig."

    Dave sent her an apology for missing the show and promised to make it up to her.

    The other message was from Zoe. She wanted to meet for coffee and talk about the meeting between her father and the Giovannis yesterday.

    He ordered room service then got out of bed and took a quick shower while he waited for the food to arrive.

    After breakfast Dave stepped across the hallway to Ralph¡¯s door and knocked but wasn¡¯t at all surprised when there was no response. The chance his friend was awake was truly miniscule. Ralph slept like the dead, even Dog would have a hard time raising him.

    Dave left the hotel and walked the bustling sidewalks of NYC towards the coffee shop. He smirked when he overheard people talking about the big event in Conquest.

    The coffee house had patio tables with umbres set up outside and the ce was busy.

    Dave saw a familiar head of purple hair among the crowd and made his way over. She was sitting alone, checking her phone and looked frustrated.

    Her back was to him as he approached the table and pulled out the chair that was next to her.

    Without looking up she said in a cold tone, "I¡¯m waiting for someone."

    "Okay, I¡¯ll just go back to the hotel and get some more sleep then." He started to turn and step away but Zoe grabbed his hand.

    "Hey, wait! I didn¡¯t know it was you, I¡¯ve been fending off douches and wannabe-yas for thest half-hour. You didn¡¯t answer my message, I didn¡¯t know if you wereing or not."

    He looked at her sheepishly, "Yeah, sorry. Got your message when I woke up and didn¡¯t stop to reply, just started getting ready. But, I made it and you¡¯re still here."

    After a waitress took their orders Dave turned back to Zoe.

    "So, what¡¯s going on, you said something about the meeting?"

    Zoe hesitated, not sure how to start, she was still feeling awkward about what happened at the hotel andter in Conquest.

    "Daddy met with the Giovannis. ¡¯It¡¯s Just Business¡¯ wants to contract Mr. Skeletal to help the new guild with the Eastern Kingdom invasion. Tivo feels he owes you and wants to make ¡¯amends¡¯ for what happened."

    Dave shrugged, "I¡¯m not sure how I feel about contract work. I¡¯ll think about it. I¡¯m pretty busy right now."

    "Yeah, so I hear. Everyone is talking about thetest shakeup in Conquest. So what happened?"

    "Well if you¡¯ve heard, you already know what happened," Dave grinned at her.

    "C¡¯mon, Dave. Tell me how it happened," Zoe poked him with a finger, her eyes sparkling, "Start talking, mister!"

    Laughing, he pushed her poke-finger away, "Okay, okay, stop that. We were standing in front of..."

    ====================================

    The undead king glowered down at the two insignificant worms, his billowing aura filled the pce courtyard, spilling through the gates and into the street. A pack of demons running toward the pce with weapons ready slowed at the sight of the glowing ck energy pushing out through the broken gates.

    Dave took a step back. There was no sign of recognition or even sentience from the revenant monarch. Uncharacteristically, Dog bowed humbly to the king, trying to cate the revenant.

    It didn¡¯t help, the king drew his ck sword, the de that devoured light.

    "He¡¯s not alright!" Samael said, ncing back at the king as he kept the demons bottled up on the stairs, "He¡¯s confused. He doesn¡¯t know who he is."

    The king snapped his head around to re at the ghoul. Then the revenant noticed the demons still flooding down the pce stairs and any hint of uncertainty in the revenant¡¯s behavior vanished. The glowing ck aura writhed, bing sharp and spiky in agitation as the revenant reacted to the presence of his ancestral enemies.

    "Pet Cemetery," Dave whispered, his eyes widening.

    The revenant raised a hand and clenched it into a fist. The king¡¯s barbed aura surged and all the demons in sight yelled at the same time as thousands of pinprick wounds appeared all over their bodies, as if they had been put in an iron maiden.

    Then the king exhaled noisily, "Sahhhhhhhh!" and very demon in sight burst apart and fell to the ground in piles of small chunks of meat, bone and equipment. Puddles of demon ichor spread slowly from the piles as the moment after the grotesque disy stretched out.

    The moment was interrupted by demons appearing at the pce doors and advanced down the stairs toward Samael¡¯s position.

    A vibrating growl came from the ghoul. The sound ratcheted up to a continuous bestial scream, apanied by wet tearing sounds as Samael started growing, changing.

    The ghoul grew taller as his shoulders widened, back hunched and swollen with brutish muscle. The bones of his face grew immensely thicker and heavier, showing curved fangs, the chin and jaw protruding like a steamshovel. The serene, friendly ghoul that Dave knew was gone, reced by a savage, frenzied brute three times bigger and taller than his original form.

    Samael swiped ck, scimitar-length ws through the demons rushing down the stairs.

    The shifted ghoul growled at Dave in a voice like crushing boulders, "Your duhan¡¯s magic was not sufficient, the king has no memories, no persona. He is an empty husk. There is one chance to fix this. Putting the Death Heart back in ce might restore the king¡¯s memory. I will keep the revenant upied here, you go and put the Death Heart back."

    The undead king shed at Dog, but Dave pulled the duhan away from the sword and interposed his shield. Sliding back from the impact, Dave cursed, he needed to disengage and try to get the Death Heart back to its ce.

    Samael¡¯s form blinked and appeared in front of the undead king. ck ws met ck sword, dark lighting snapped and arced where the edges met. Samael strained against the revenant¡¯s strength. He leaned back "Please don¡¯t make me do this..." then he headbutted his king, disorienting him.

    The king shook his head and roared as heshed back at the ghoul with his sword. Scimitar ws shed against sword, but Samael was faltering.

    "GO!" the jotunn-ghoul grunted through clenched overdeveloped jaw.

    "Dog, you¡¯re with me!"

    Dave ran for the stairs and started climbing them with the duhan right behind him. They went through the pce doors. There was a spiral staircase leading up to the throne room in the entryway. Two Demons waited on the stairs, swords ready.

    Dave activated [Stampede] and rammed into the demons. He moved past them with Dog following close behind.

    As he climbed more demons appeared, he used spectral skulls to blow them off their feet and continued past them. He used the same tactic on the next pair of demons that got in his ways

    The stairs circled up all the way leading directly to the throne room entrance. His ultimate destination was a small door in the throne room that led to the roof of the tower.

    Halfway up the stairs, arger group of demons showed up on the steps above and he could hear the ones that he¡¯d bypassed chasing them from below.

    Dog crouched, palm down on the step, ck sigils spread across the stone from his hand. His basilisk appeared and suddenly the steps were much more crowded. Dog grunted, pointing, and the basilisk leapt up the steps blowing away demons, clearing the way.

    "Damn good idea, Dog!"

    They followed after the basilisk and arrived at the top. The throne room¡¯s golden doors were open revealing the columned interior, Dave¡¯s expression turned grim when he saw the pack of ten demons inside.

    Dave looked down the steps they hade from. Demons shouted insults as they rushed up the steps toward them. He had to keep the demons away somehow or they would be surrounded. He pushed the golden doors closed, but knew they wouldn¡¯t hold against the demons long.

    Dave knelt and touched the floor, ck sigils wrote themselves across the stone and Grumpy appeared. But, the summoning drew the attention of the demons in the throne room. Shouting, the demons came running at Dave.

 Chapter 263 Rise of The Undead Legion!

    "Grumpy, I want you to bash these two columns down and use them to barricade the door. Get your basilisk buddy to help"

    He really hoped the basilisks understood what he wanted them to do.

    But his worry was unwarranted, the basilisks immediately started attacking the pirs with their tail clubs. They were damaging the columns but it would take a while to bring them down.

    "Dog, with me!" Dave equipped his sword and shield then advanced on the demons.

    Grumpy kept bashing at the pir, but turned eyes brightly shining yellow eyes on the demons, turning two of them to stone. Dog¡¯s basilisk also used [Petrifying Gaze] on the charging demons and froze another two. So Dave and Dog only had to fight six demons.

    Dave switched to his gauntlets and activated Aura. He smashed a fist into a demon¡¯s face and punched again with his other hand, staggering it. Another demon swung a sword at the draugr, Dave jumped back, dodging the attack. He lunged back in with [Dragon kick], sending the demon sprawling across the floor.

    Dog snapped his bone club, transforming it to its whip form thenshed the linked vertebra at a demon¡¯s hand, crushing fingers and disarming him. He ignited the whip and struck at the demon with the inmed weapon.. The duhan whirled his bone whip at the demons around him.

    Two demons swung their swords down at Dave at the same time. The draugr blocked with his forearms, the des screeched across his gauntlets in a shower of sparks. The draugr grabbed the demons by a horn each and spun into [Infernal Tornado]. As he spun he used the demon he was holding to batter the rest. That was when the petrification ended on the other four demons, freeing them to join the attack. But Dave just hammered into them too.

    When [Infernal Tornado] finally ended Dave was in the center of a very battered and very angry pack of demons.

    A loud crash came from behind him.

    Grumpy had toppled his pir and guided it down across the door. Three hitster and the second pir fell across the first, blocking the door.

    The basilisk turned to the battle. The onyx basilisk puffed up andunched spikes in every direction. The spikes pierced leather armor and demon flesh, staggering them and doing damage.

    Dave¡¯s gauntlets glowed white, [Ramp Up] had activated. He traded attacks with two demons, punching as he dodged their swings.

    Dog was fighting two demons himself, which left Grumpy and the other basilisk two demons each.

    Dave was left to fight four demons by himself. A hammer struck to Dave¡¯s side forcing a grunt from him.

    [-18,222]

    Dave used all his speed, Agility and movement skills to maneuver around the pack of demons so that he only fought one at any time, preventing them from surrounding him.

    Grumpy and the other basilisk killed a demon each and were in finishing off the other two. But Dog was struggling against two level 400 demons and had already been wounded, his HP was at less than 20%.

    "Dog, pull back and recover!" Dave ordered.

    He moved to engage Dog¡¯s opponents, fighting against four demons again.

    Dave¡¯s HP continued to drop, he killed one of the demons before the basilisks finished off their demons and joined him. Three minutester, all the demons were dead, the loot scattered on the floor.

    Dave swept all the dropped loot into his inventory without looking at any of it and handed out health potions to everyone.

    He was almost out of potions. He needed to resurrect Dikenz so he could restock, maybe then the fucker would start charging fair prices.

    The sounds of heavy impacts wereing from the direction of the throne room door. The demons were trying to break through the barricade.

    Dave walked over to the small door that led to the roof. The small door was blocked by furniture, debris and rocks.

    "Help me get clear this." He started moving the rubble blocking the door.

    The basilisks did the heavy lifting, removing therger pieces of rock and stone. Dave tossed chairs, tables and even golden cups aside, clearing the way. When it was mostly clear, Dave opened the door, revealing a cramped circr stone staircase leading up.

    As they took the steps Dave felt he was missing something. He was preupied with fighting the demons to notice that the sound of battle outside had long since died down.

    Dave walked up the stairs carefully. You never know where a demon with a big-ass war hammer might be hiding ready to ruin your day.

    Dave looked around when he stepped out on the rooftop. gstones arranged in a circle, the roof had no rails. He could see out over all of the Undead City and the territory around it. Before the fall of the undead the Death Heart had hovered over the center of the stone tower.

    Dave took the Death Heart from his inventory and walked toward the center of the roof. But turned when he heard metal nk behind him.

    The Undead King stepped onto the roof, ring at Dave and dragging Samael¡¯s limp form behind him by the neck. The king¡¯s sword dripped a thick ck fluid, undead blood. Still in jotunn-ghoul form Samael was making faint wheezing sounds.

    The Undead King stood for a moment and looked around. Then the revenant moved flickering like a ghost, stabbing with the ck sword, the point already against the skin of Dave¡¯s neck. But the sword didn¡¯t prate or even cut the draugr, a puzzled frown crossed the king¡¯s empty visage.

    The wily draugr had activated [Bastion].

    Dave didn¡¯t know what he needed to do to return the Death Heart, so he just said a ¡¯Hail Mary¡¯ and raised the stone over his head hoping it would return on its own.

    A whirling tide of ck energy spiraled out from the stone. Washing through the Bone Pce, it spread across the Undead City and out toward the horizon.

    A fanfare sounded and a notification appeared.

    ***

    Conquest Server Announcement!

    THE LEGION OF THE UNDEAD HAS RISEN AGAIN!

    yer Kis¡¯Shtiengbrah has sessfullypleted the S rank hidden Quest The Forlorn Hope of the Legion. With this questpletion the Undead Legion has returned!

    yer Kis¡¯Shtiengbrah is awarded a unique title:

    Paragon of the Undead!

    +10,000,000 EXP

    10,000 Gold!

    ***

    ***

    Conquest Server Announcement!

    In 30 minutes the Conquest game servers will be going down for the instation of a new Service Pack. Please find a stopping point or finish what you are doing. yers already inside dungeons will get a free ¡¯save¡¯ to resume y wherever they log-out in the dungeon.

    Patch duration 72 hours (Game Time).

    Please check the forums for information about the new additions and mechanics.

    ***

    Another notification appeared in front of Dave

    ***

    You have gained the following trait:

    Unique Character Trait: Progenitor of Undeath!

    You can now turn willing yers to Undead, they can join the undead legion and rank up in the legion.

    The yers you sire will only be able to rank to Doom Knight as the highest rank in the legion.

    You have finished the Quest:

    The Forlorn Hope of the Legion!

    Meet the Undeath God (Nichs) at Urburg for your final ascension quest.

    +5,000,000 EXP

    ***

    Multiple level up notifications dinged. Excited by everythinging together atst, Dave waved them away forter and looked at the undead king expectantly. The blood-red tooltip over the king¡¯s head wavered, the color of the text changing.

    The king withdrew his sword and shook his head as if to clear it, a confused expression on his face. He looked down as if he didn¡¯t remember what was in his hand, recognition entered his face as he saw a very battered Samael, the expression quickly changed to distress.

    "Samael, my friend, what has happened?" he asked in a puzzled voice, releasing the ghoul gently.

    The ghoul sank to his knees, coughing.

    "I will dly exin, your majesty. But you are well now and all else that is not well, soon will be."

    The king looked toward the draugr standing near him at the center of the tower roof, right under the Death Heart

    The king¡¯s eyes met Dave¡¯s.

    "And this draugr?"

    Dave¡¯s tion vanished, there was no recognition in that cold gaze. The text above the Undead King settled into a nd yellow shade, the attitude-color of a neutral NPC.

 Chapter 264 Service Pack 2.0

    "Your Majesty, it¡¯s me, Kis¡¯Shtingbrah. You named me yourself, Sire," Dave pleaded, looking up at the majestic visage with sorrowful eyes.

    The king was unmoved by the appeal.

    "Majesty, the draugr speaks truly. Your Majesty Named the draugr and epted him as Your own Childe. He saved Your royal daughter¡¯s life more than once. You granted him entitlements and territories as a greater undead within your domains. It is through his efforts that we are both here now, returned from oblivion to our rightful ce."

    "We believe you, my friend. But We cannot rely on things We have no memory of. Until he has demonstrated his mettle and his loyalty to Us, he has no voice in Our council.

    "Leave Us draugr, We will summon thee if We have need of thine services."

    Dave opened his mouth, but Samael shook his head.

    The draugr bowed then signaled Dog to follow.

    Summarily dismissed after bringing the king and the entire legion of undead back to Conquest from oblivion, they left the Undead King and Samael conferring about the next strategic steps.

    Feeling like he had just been kicked out of his home Dave brooded as they made their way down the tower, his mood dark and frustrated.

    "C¡¯mon Dog, let¡¯s head back to the settlement. At least the Boyz will be d to see us."

    ***

    "And that¡¯s what happened. There wasn¡¯t enough time to get to my estate before the server went down, so I sent Dog and the basilisks ahead. Then I just logged off and went to bed. I was exhausted, so I slept like the dead. Heh heh."

    She groaned at his quip. Their coffees were almost untouched and had long since cooled, Zoe had beenpletely engrossed by Dave¡¯s story.

    "So, just like that the undead are back?"

    "Yup, seems so."

    Zoe hesitated for a moment, "Dave, about..."

    "Yeah, that. Listen, Ralph is the only family I had growing up. He¡¯s not like a brother, he IS my brother, not a ¡¯bro¡¯ or buddy.

    "Conquest is his job, and he¡¯s doing pretty good for himself with the guild and all. What you did was out of line. You jeopardized his position because of what happened after a night of drinking. Not to mention how it could have affected MY quest."

    "It was supposed to be a joke."

    "Zoe, we both know that isn¡¯t true. It wasn¡¯t a joke, it was retaliation, and it was way out of line. You are judging him just from the incident between you two. You need to step back and see past that. Like how he was willing to help you, a stranger, level up your character just because you asked."

    "What he did was-"

    "I am absolutely sure he thought I was in that bed when heid down the ¡¯Ralph Stamp.¡¯ I know it¡¯s douchey, but he doesn¡¯t Stamp women, only bros."

    "The ¡¯Ralph Stamp¡¯? He named it? What the hell Dave, I still have a bruise on my butt."

    "You should see some of the bruises he¡¯s left on my...uh, nevermind, that came out wrong. What I¡¯m saying is, Ralph is important to me and so are you. You want to start a prank duel with Ralph, that¡¯s fine, I¡¯ll even help you. But don¡¯t go over the line and try to fuck up his life."

    Dave paused ufortably, he didn¡¯t like confrontations, but the stuff from that night and in Conquest afterwards had festered for too long.

    "Anyway, the important thing is I don¡¯t want this awkwardness hanging between us."

    "Me either."

    "Okay, so we¡¯re cool?"

    "Yeah, we cool.

    Despite having just cleared the air Zoe shifted ufortably, "Sooo, there¡¯s one other teeny tiny thing. Tivo wants to talk to you personally. Not about business, something else."

    "Like what?" Dave asked suspiciously.

    "He might have mentioned something about you courting Caitlin without asking permission and unsupervised."

    Dave stared at her, his mouth open.

    "You didn¡¯t?" Zoe.

    "No. Even if I wanted to when..." then the light dawned, "...Ralph."

    Dave grabbed his phone and dialed. The line started ringing, then he heard a familiar electronic tunee from the sidewalk.

    Dave turned, Ralph was moseying by the coffee shop shoving a hotdog into his mouth with both hands while holding a white paper takeout bag. Mustard was smeared all around his mouth and his cheeks bulged with food, he looked like a power-lifter chipmunk.

    Ralph stopped to juggle his phone out of a pocket and finally answered, still chewing.

    "Dafe, shup, bro."

    Dave hung up.

    Ralph stopped mid-chew and looked at the phone, puzzled. Dave tapped him on the shoulder.

    "What¡¯re you doing?" Dave asked.

    "Mmmnph," Ralph pushed the rest of the hotdog into his mouth, "Wash gawng back to ah hotel."

    "Did you see Caitlinst night?"

    "Why you wan...hullo Zoe. HEY! Are you guys on a date?"

    "Ralph, focus! Are you and Caitlin dating?"

    "Of course not. You know me better than that, bro. I¡¯m a free agent."

    Dave rxed, "Okay, that¡¯s good."

    "But we did hang outst night."

    "Gah!"

    Zoe had heard Ralph and joined them.

    "You took Caitlin out on a date?"

    "No. I don¡¯t do ¡¯dates,¡¯ we just hung-out. Why?"

    "I¡¯ve known Caitlin a long time. She¡¯s never, ever, gone out with a guy as far as I know."

    Ralph smirked and flexed his guns, straining his shirt sleeves, "Ralph Charisma strong, resistance is futile."

    Zoe gave Ralph a peculiar look, "Do you know who she is?"

    "Sure, Mercy from It¡¯s Just Business, the best assassin yer in Conquest. You know all this, you were there the night we met," Ralph said impatiently.

    "No, I mean in real life."

    "Don¡¯t know, don¡¯t care." Ralph shrugged.

    Zoe stared at Ralph much like Dave had stared at her earlier, speechless.

    She took a breath to start exining, but Dave touched her arm. He shook his head slightly. Her eyes widened and she coughed to cover the hystericalugh that almost escaped.

    Ralph wasn¡¯t paying any attention to their little byy. As he¡¯d said, he had no cares in the world, his attention was already on other, more relevant, topics.

    "So did you guys see the Conquest patch notes?"

    "Nah, not yet. What¡¯s new?"

    "Everything basically. The devs dropped in a newbat and damage system. And they changed the yer interface AI. Alfred was buggy, so they reced him with Albert."

    Zoe and Dave looked at each other. No more Alfred, that was a relief.

    "The patch details are up, on the Conquest website."

    "Yeah, I¡¯m going to it," Dave browsed for the Conquest website on his phone.

    Zoe and Dave navigated through their phones, checking the patch.

    ***

    Conquest Patch Notes 3.0

    "Hello yers,

    Emile Kada here, the Conquest Development Team has decided to make some changes to the gameworld and how it yers interact with it. This Service Pack update includes changes to several key game mechanics as well as a few other items. The patch notes give a brief summary of those changes.

    PATCH NOTE CONTENTS

    New Skill Progression System

    Removal of the Level Difference Penalty

    Status Screen Temte Update

    EXP and Combat Damage Calctions

    Changes for Calcting Experience Gain and Level-Up

    Changes to Monster and NPC defensive attributes

    New Death Penalty System

    yer Interface AI Recement

    Attribute Point Refund and Re-spec

    ***

    New Skill Progression System:

    The game of Conquest is meant to be experienced as a world of fantastical and magical wonders. yers can explore the massive world of Conquest as they quest, create, forage, trade or any of a myriad of other activities avable for their enjoyment. But the main focus of the game has always been and always will be about strife and yerbat!

    To encourage more ingenuity inbat and other gamey, the developers added a progression system for Skills. yers should experiment with Skillbinations and uses them in different ways to discover how they synergise to create more powerful abilities with additional effects.

    ***

    Removal of the Level Difference Penalty:

    The Level Difference penalty between yers and monsters was meant to extend gamey longevity. However, on bnce it has done more to impair the adventurous spirit of yers..

    ***

    Status Screen Temte Update

    A new effect has been added to the Dexterity Attribute [Reflexive Evasion]

    [Reflexive Evasion]: yers have a chance topletely evade damage an attack.

    Agility now increases critical chance to skills and attacks. Critical hits cause double damage and do t damage.

    Critical Hit chance is increased by 1% for every 100 AGI. (Capped at 50% CRIT)

    Reflexive Evasion is increased by 1% for every 100 AGI. (Capped at 10%)

    The Vitality attribute has been removed.

    Adding one attribute to Health Points increases character¡¯s health maximum by 10.

    Roguesses, adding one attribute point to Health Points, increases health maximum by five (5) Health Points (HP).

    For avatars that are considered ¡¯tank¡¯ sses, adding one attribute point to Health points increases their character health maximum by 20.

    Strength now increases carrying limit by one kilogram (1 Kg) for every ten (10) points of STR.

    Stamina consumption is decreased (bes more efficient) 1% every 100 STR (Capped at 50%)

    The defensive attribute, Magic Absorption, has been renamed Magical Defense.

    The defensive attribute, Damage Nullification, has been renamed Physical Defense.

    Damage Immunity has been removed due to its redundancy with the other defensive attributes.

    Items with Magical Defense attributes, Physical Defense attributes or both will be modified by a 1.3 base attribute multiplier (items that do not already have these stats will not gain anything)..

    The amount of Stamina an avatar has will be disyed in the corner of the yer¡¯s interface in a Stamina Bar.

    When an avatar takes damage Stamina is consumed. Emptying the Stamina bar results in the yer entering the [Exhausted] state in which the yer will be unable to attack and receives 50% more damage from all sources for 5 seconds.

    The Focus and Rage attributes have been removed, Skills that used Focus or Rage will now use Stamina. The restrictions of Focus and Ragebined with Skill cooldowns created unreasonable dys in the pacing ofbat.

    The base Stamina Point, Health Point, and Mana Point now regenerate at a fixed percentage rate. Each pool is restored by 0.1% per second starting 150 seconds afterbat, taking damage or engaging inbat stops the regeneration.

    Below is the new character status screen temte.

    ***

    |Name| [X] |Level| [X] |ss| [X] |Race| [X]

    |Stamina| [X] |Mana [X] |Health| [X] |Strength| [X]

    |Intelligence| [X] Wisdom [X] Dexterity| [X] |Agility| [X]

    |Physical Defense| [X] |Magical Defense| [X]

    |HP Regen| [0.1%] |Mana Regen| [0.1%]

    |Stamina Regen| [0.1%] |Prestige/Honor| [X]

    |Unassigned attribute points| [X]

    |Titles| [X]

    ***

    EXP and Combat Damage Calctions

    The new form used to calcte the amount of EXP needed to level up is:

    (4*(CL^3)/5)+200

    Where:

    CL is the character¡¯s level.

    EXAMPLE 1: Using this form a level 100 yer needs 800,000 EXP to level up to level 101.

    The amount of EXP a yer gains from killing a monster is calcted using the following form:

    (4*(ML^3)/(10*(MR+LD)/4 EXP.

    Where :

    ML is the monster¡¯s level.

    MR is the monster¡¯s rarity, from 1 to 5 (1=legendary, 2=Epic, 3=rare, 4=umon, 5mon)

    LD is the difference between the monster and yer level (From 1 to 20).

    This is only valid if the monster is below the yer¡¯s Level.

    The EXP the yer gains from killing a monster that is higher in levels is calcted by:

    (4*ML^3)/(10*(MR+LD))/4 = EXP+ (EXP*0.2* LD)

    yers will not receive any EXP for killing monsters 20 levels below their own.

    EXAMPLE 2: If a yer avatar at level 100 kills a Common monster level 90 the EXP rewarded is calcted as:

    (4*(90^3)/(10*(5+10))/4=4860

    Which means the level 100 yer in EXAMPLE 1 would need to kill 165 Common monsters at level 90 in order to earn the EXP necessary to progress to level 101.

    EXP from killing a monster is divided equally between yers in a party.

    To prevent power leveling, the Support EXP system was removed.

    yers in a party must meet one of the following conditions to gain EXP in a party:

    yer must cause at least 1% of monster¡¯s total HP in damage.

    yer must heal at least 10% of the total HP lost by the party during the fight.

    *Bardic sses, see details.

    ***

    Changes to Monster and NPC defensive attributes

    The hit points and defensive attributes of Monsters and NPCs have been revised to ount for the now removed Level Difference system.

    Only a set number of yers will be allowed in a dungeons at one time. The number varies ording to dungeon difficulty and other factors.

    There is a 50 yer cap on the maximum ¡¯raid party¡¯ size.

    All World Bosses have a new trait, called [Territory], which limits the number of yers fighting the boss to a maximum of 200 yers. Once the boss fight begins new yers cannot rece the original raid members that are sent to respawn.

    If a world boss kills the entire raid party the world boss will regenerate Health, Stamina and Mana to maximum levels instantly.

    ***

    New Death Penalties

    When a yer character is killed the avatar loses all EXP and one (1) character level.

    The yer will respawn without a dy period in a nar reality adjacent to Conquest called Limbo. The yer is banished to limbo for 8 hours in-game time, after which the yer can choose to return to Conquest at the yer¡¯s previously chosen ¡¯normal¡¯ Conquest respawn point.

    While in Limbo and before returning to Conquest, the yer can earn EXP (at double the normal rate) to regain the penalized character LEVEL, but not the lost EXP.

    ***

    Attribute Point Refund and Re-spec:

    Last but not least. There are a lot of changes, so of course, yers will be able to re-spec their characters when they log-in after this Service Pack is installed. All attribute points from level ups will be refunded to yers. The character re-spec is meant to allow yers to optimize and personalize Character builds to suit their game preferences.

    ***

    That¡¯s it for the Patch Notes yers. But before I leave you, we want to wee a recent addition to our group. A new General Artificial Intelligence, named Albert, is administering the yer/game interface. Due to the higher demands and growingplexity of game operations management made the decision to rece Alfred for a more adaptable AI with greater capabilities.

    That¡¯s all for now.

    Emile Kada, Conquest Lead Developer

    ***

    "What do you think?" Ralph asked.

    "This is going to change things. A lot," Dave had a faraway look in his eyes.

    Zoe groaned, "I gotta re-spec my character again. And that death penalty is icky."

    "Yeah, but it¡¯ll keep people from doing a lot of really dumb stuff in the game," Ralph said.

    Then, at the same time, Ralph and Zoe both looked at Dave.

    Zoe shook her head slowly, "Maybe not so much."

 Chapter 265 A New Wolf in Wall Stree

    "Do you guys have ns for the rest of the day?" Ralph asked.

    "No. Don¡¯t really know what to do without Conquest," Dave said.

    Zoe chuckled, "I lost touch with reality when I started ying Conquest. The server¡¯s gonna be down for the whole day. We should go to a club and have some fun."

    "It¡¯s eleven in the morning!" Dave said.

    "I didn¡¯t mean now, silly," Zoe giggled.

    Their flirting was cut short by Dave¡¯s phone ringing.

    It was Perfect Shot, "Hey Stroke, hope I didn¡¯t wake you up."

    "Nah, what¡¯s up bro?" Dave replied.

    "My pops wants to know if you¡¯re going to send us the feed of you bringing back the undead. He wants to broadcast it tonight," Perfect said.

    "I haven¡¯t done anything with it yet. I¡¯ll send it as soon as it¡¯s ready." Dave replied.

    "Great, I¡¯ll tell pops."

    Then Zoe¡¯s phone rang.

    "Hello uncle, how are you?"

    Dave and Ralph bantered while Zoe talked to her uncle.

    "Dave, he wants to talk to you," Zoe said and handed her phone over to Dave.

    "Good morning Mr Silvana."

    "Good morning kiddo. I want to talk to you about something important."

    Dave sat up straight to pay better attention.

    "Yes?

    "You need to invest that Conquest money, it¡¯s been just sitting in a bank ount doing nothing, you¡¯re losing money. You have a good investment opportunity right in front of you that could bring you another big windfall."

    "What opportunity?" Dave asked, bewildered.

    "CCN. Buy as much of their stock as you can."

    "Why?" Dave asked

    "To make money from specting on their stock. Your feed is almost certain to be another, even bigger, hit for CCN. It¡¯s easy to predict their stock prices will skyrocket. After you make your nut, sell off most or all the CCN stocks and invest in other stocks. Invest in a portfolio of diversified stocks that will give you a regr, decent return on your capital."

    "Oh," Dave understood now. Why had he been poor for so long? It was so simple and obvious.

    "Just be sure you understand the risks, kiddo. Investing in CCN stocks like this isn¡¯t 100% risk free. Anything is possible, but I looked at CCN¡¯s financials, thepany is healthy and the stocks are low-risk, you won¡¯t lose all your money even if things gopletely different from how I expect them to."

    "I¡¯ve never bought stocks before."

    "Don¡¯t worry about that, Zoe knows what to do. Pass over the phone to my niece."

    Dave handed the phone to Zoe.

    Zoe¡¯s took the phone, speaking to her uncle, "Hey Uncle. Uh huh. Yeah. Okay, I¡¯ll tell him." Zoe hung up and turned to Dave.

    "What did he say."

    "Well he told me to go see a family friend for this stuff and the amount of money that you should invest. He has an office nearby. We can go and talk with him. What do you say?"

    "I got nothing better to do," Ralph shrugged.

    Dave thought for a moment, and said. "Okay, let¡¯s go."

    Zoe rubbed her hands together, "Goodie! d I drove the Chevy today, it has more room than the Lambo."

    Zoe got up and started walking toward the street.

    "What was that about?" Ralph asked.

    Dave patted his friend on the shoulder as he stood up to follow her, "I hope you enjoyed your hot dogs, you¡¯re about to regret it."

    "Hey! You didn¡¯t pay your bill!" Ralph shouted after him.

    Dave grinned and just walked faster, pretending he didn¡¯t hear.

    Dave heard an engine roar. Zoe had parked just around the corner. He got in and fastened the seatbelt, making sure it was tight.

    Zoe chuckled asionally while they waited for Ralph.

    Ralph¡¯s mouth was wide open when he saw the car. Ralph sat in, swallowing hard as he shut the door and started to say something, at which point Zoe shifted into reverse and stomped on the elerator. Ralph was thrown face forward against the front seat then bounced back into his own seat as Zoe shifted into drive and stomped the elerator again with perfect timing.

    "EASY!" Ralph shouted.

    Even though Dave was holding on for dear life he still smiled.

    ¡¯Guess Zoe¡¯s getting a little bit of payback for the Stamp afterall.¡¯

    Zoe slid through the busy streets of New York at speeds way over the legal limit, passing other cars like they were standing still. Zoe seemed to think every corner necessitated violent handbrake turns which knocked Ralph around from side to side in the back seat.

    Luckily for Ralph, the Wall Street business that was their destination wasn¡¯t far.

    The Chevy came to a screeching stop that bounced Ralph¡¯s forehead off the front seat one more time and they were safe. They got out and followed after Zoe.

    "Does she always drive like that?"

    "Yeah, that¡¯s the usual," Daveughed.

    They went through the revolving door of a skyscraper, elevator and to one of the top floors. The elevator opened into arge floor.

    They followed Zoe until they were next to one of thergest bureaus on the floor.

    There was a desk next to the burau where a beautiful redhead woman was typing on a holographic keyboard. When the redhead saw Zoe, she picked up her phone and called.

    "Mr. Belfort, Zoe Silvana is here."

    The door opened on a huge office with a magnificent view, abstract art hung from the walls and arge desk sat in the middle of the floor.

    The man behind the desk stood up, smiling, "It¡¯s been a long time Zoe!"

    "Bel, it¡¯s been long, how is Nana doing?"

    "She is great, she¡¯s in herst month and the baby¡¯s doing great."

    "Good, tell her I said hi," Zoe said.

    "Of course. Who are these gentlemen?" Belfort asked.

    "Oh, sorry, this is David Ruster, and this is Ralph..." Zoe trailed, she didn¡¯t know hisst name.

    "Rupert," Ralph reached out to shake hands.

    "Good to meet you, gentlemen. I¡¯m Belfort Wolf."

    "I brought Dave here at my uncle¡¯s suggestion, he wants to buy some stock."

    Belfort turned to Dave, "Have you ever bought stocks before?"

    "No."

    The man nodded, "You have your ID with you?"

    "Yeah," Dave replied.

    "Give me a second," Belfort said and picked up the desk phone, "Yarra, bring me an M2 form."

    A momentter, the secretary came in with some papers.

    "Please give Yarra your ID, so she can scan it, I need you to sign this form so we can start."

    Dave did as the man asked and signed the forms.

    "Good, now tell me, what stocks are you considering?"

    "CCN."

    "Okay, CCN is a decentpany. What otherpanies are you interested in?"

    "Just CCN for now."

    "Okay, and how many shares do you want to buy."

    Dave looked at Zoe, who nodded and smiled encouragingly at him. He took a deep breath.

    "Eighty million dors worth."

    "Eighty million," Belfort repeated.

    He looked at Dave, then nced at Zoe, then looked down at a screen and started tapping at keys. Wheels turned in Belfort¡¯s head as he bought some time to think by looking busy. He didn¡¯t think Dave had that kind of money. But the young man hade into his office with Zoe Silvana on the rmendation of her uncle.

    Belfort finally looked up, "Eighty million is more than 2% of CCN¡¯s outstanding stock. You really should consider diversifying, instead of putting all your eggs in one basket."

    Even Ralph was doubtful. He knew Dave had sold the Right of Conquest for a hundred million, investing most of it in one stock didn¡¯t seem smart.

    "Right now I want to buy CCN stock. I might consider diversifying into a portfolioter." Dave wasn¡¯t even sure what he was saying, he was just parroting Zoe¡¯s uncle.

    A light went on in Belfort¡¯s head, this guy knew something. Greed took over.

    "And when do you want the trades executed by?"

    "Uhh... before tonight?" Dave guessed, since that was when CCN would broadcast the feed if he got it to them in time.

    Belfort was almost salivating now, if this was as good as he suspected he could get on this train and ride it to Money-town.

    "And the funds?"

    "I don¡¯t have cash right now.

    Belfort¡¯s suspicions returned.

    "The money is in my Conquest ount. The VR game I mean."

    "Oh," Belfort¡¯s relief was evident, "That¡¯s not an issue at all, we handle those kinds of transactions all the time. We can take care of it for you."

    Then he added, "We charge a 2% fee for converting Conquest currency and there will be our brokers fee and-"

    "Bel, you¡¯re going to do this at cost," Zoe interrupted with a smile, "Because you¡¯re nning to use this ¡¯tip¡¯ to make yourself a lot of money too. Just make sure Dave¡¯s trades are executed first, before the price starts going up."

    Bel spluttered then smiled ruefully, "Okay. You got me, you¡¯re just like your uncle. Can¡¯t me me for trying though. I just need your ount information, then some signatures and fingerprints, and we can get cracking on your trades."

    Half an hourter they left the office, Dave was a little dazed and starting to worry about losing all that money. But he shook it off, he was not gambling, he was specting on himself, not something he knew nothing about.

    "That went good. What are we going to do next?" Zoe asked.

    "Caitlin just texted me. She said her pops wants to meet with me. Uhh, she also said I can¡¯t refuse" Ralph.

    Dave patted Ralph on the shoulder, "It was good knowing you buddy! When your body floats up in the river I¡¯lle ID you."

    "Whadya mean floating in the river?"

 Chapter 266 Legacy Quest Begins

    "You guys areing with me to meet Caitlin¡¯s dad, right?" Ralph asked.

    Dave shook his head, "Bro, I¡¯m trying to keep my distance from the Giovannis, Caitlin included."

    "Whaa...? Bro, I feel like there¡¯s something you¡¯re not telling me here."

    Zoe interrupted, "I¡¯m noting either. There¡¯s really nothing to worry about, Ralph. The Mafia doesn¡¯t order hits on people unless you mess with their business or kill a Made guy. Usually."

    "Mafia? Hits?!" Ralph gave them the stink-eye, "Caitlin is mobbed up? Why didn¡¯t you tell me? You assholes."

    Zoe shook her head sadly, her voice sharine-sweet as she said, "Oh, Ralphy, I tried to, really I did. But you weren¡¯t interested. Your exact words were ¡¯Don¡¯t know, don¡¯t care¡¯."

    Ralph looked from Zoe to Dave and back, "You are sick, twisted and evil individuals. I¡¯m cutting you both out of my will."

    He ignored the twin expressions ofically-exaggerated shock on their faces.

    "I guess I need to get going. Caitlin said I need to be there at noon," Ralph said.

    "Want a lift?" Zoe grinned at him.

    "Nope! I¡¯ll take a cab. Stuck in a room with a mafia boss is better than being turned to red jelly in a car ident."

    Zoeughed and punched his arm, "Scaredy cat! You should go change into something nice before you go to meet your future father-inw."

    "I¡¯m not going to propose. It¡¯s just a talk. Later, guys," Ralph waved as he sauntered off to hail a cab.

    "Cya, bro."

    "Buh-byeee, Ralphie."

    ***

    .

    Entering his hotel room that evening Dave checked the time and smiled. The Conquest servers were about toe back online in just a few minutes. Perfect.

    Dave got into the Conquest capsule and hit the log-in as soon as the countdown reached zero.

    He appeared in the Undead City and immediately received a string of notifications.

    ***

    Greetings Kis¡¯Shtiengbrah.

    Conquest is now running Service Pack 3.0 and will be different from your previous experiences.

    For details about the changes and updates, please go to the Conquest-Wiki.

    May you have Good-Game in Conquest!

    ***

    He swiped the greeting away and got the next notification in the stack.

    ***

    All of your avatar¡¯s Attribute Points have been refunded.

    You can respecialize your avatar or keep the same character build.

    Warning! Service Pack 3.0 has changed game features and gamey significantly!

    ***

    Your title (I Know It All) has been removed from the game.

    You will no longer benefit from the 5% increase to all attributes the title gave. But you will be refunded the bonus 100 points per attribute the title granted.

    ***

    ¡¯WTF?! That¡¯splete bullshit! I¡¯m going to put in aint.¡¯

    ***

    Health Points have been changed to Hit Points.

    ***

    You have Contribution Points!

    You have: 220,000 CP (refunded)

    ***

    For reviving the Undead legion you are awarded: 5,000,000 CP.

    ***

    Dungeon Raider

    You can sense dungeon cores and can capture cores to take control of the dungeon. If you control a dungeon core you can transform dungeon into an Undead Dungeon.

    You receive a daily tithe of CP from dungeons you have transformed (for details select a dungeon from the list below).

    The following transformed dungeons under your control have reopened:

    Deste Temple

    Ice Pce Dungeon

    Skeletal Soul Eater Dungeon

    Mustakrakish¡¯s Desert Pce

    ***

    Ownership of your Settlement in the Underworld Dead Realm has been restored to you.

    ***

    "Yeah! I¡¯m back, baby!" Dave punched a fist in the air then rubbed his hands over each other in Greedy Overlord glee, cackling.

    ***

    As a member of the Undead race, you are able to ess the Underworld at your discretion.

    The Dead Realm, Red Fortress, and Undead Frontier teleport gate coordinates have been restored to your logs.

    ***

    Undead Management options have been unlocked.

    You can revive your undead and other units from the Respawners in your Settlement.

    ***

    Finally thest notification.

    ***

    A divine being of Conquest has issued a Call for you.

    You will be transported to the deity:

    In 2 seconds

    ***

    ¡¯Two seconds? Nooo, I haven¡¯t respec-¡¯

    The timer reached zero and Dave was teleported from the Dead Realm without further notice, protest was unheeded.

    He appeared in an empty nightclub, the industrial fluorescent lighting revealed its age and neglect in too much detail. Against one wall was a rundown stage with a drum set, mike and speakers on it. A bar stretched the length of the opposite wall, too few decrepit stools scattered at irregr intervals in front of it.

    "Way to shove 10 pounds of shit into a 5-pound bag, genius." The god of undeath said from behind the bar, wiping a ss with a dirty bar towel.

    "What are you going on about?" Dave tried to quell the annoyance he felt as soon as he saw the punk god.

    "I said: revive the greater undead with the Death Heart. But noooooooooo, you had to get clever and revive a Monarch Tier Undead with dime-store magic. Dumbass."

    "How was I supposed to know he¡¯d turn into whatever that was? You¡¯re his god, so fix him."

    Nick spread his arms out, "Do I look like a god that does miracles? The king was brought back without his mind or soul. Consider yourself lucky the Death Heart fixed what it did and he only lost some memories. I really wanna know, is it just electric fences, or do you go around pissing on bonfires to put them out too?"

    "Whatever, Nick. If you can¡¯t bring back the king¡¯s memory then what the fuck do you want? You didn¡¯t bring me here for this conversation, no matter how scintiting it is."

    "You¡¯re going on a vision-quest," the punk-god grinned at Dave

    "A quest to see something? Like what?" Dave was honestly puzzled.

    Nick sighed and shook his head, muttering something about youth and shallowness.

    "I¡¯m sending you on your final Legacy Quest," he tried again.

    "Oh, okay. You coulda just said that first. Gimme a minute I need to re-spec," Dave pulled up his character sheet and started running calctions in his head.

    "Pointless," the punk-god muttered and waved a hand.

    A vortex materialized under the draugr¡¯s feet and sucked him in, thest thing he heard was the Nick¡¯s gleeful, "Guh-byeee!"

 Chapter 267 Siege of Arotsa

    Dave appeared in the middle of a hall, there were people kneeling in front of him, heads down on the floor. Dave felt a sense of deja-vu, the hall and the people were somehow familiar.

    "Your majesty, what are your orders?" a knight in heavy armor spoke.

    Dave turned to see who the man was speaking to. There was nothing but a very familiar throne. It was the Undead King¡¯s throne. Dave took notice of his equipment. They were not his Death Knight armor, but an ornate gold and crimson robes.

    A notification appeared in front of him.

    ***

    To be a champion of undeath one must know how to rule over undeath. To use your mind in nning and strategy, to bnce out the numbers of troops and discover the weakness of the enemy and your own.

    You have been ced in a precarious position. The same position the King of Arotsa was in before ruin befell his country and was turned Undead.

    You will lead an army that hungers, that tires, that fears. All, traits that the undead do not have. You will be leading an army that will die and will not rise again.

    Your mission is to manage limited troops to fight in a numerical disadvantage.

    You are the king now, you are lord over 10,000 soldiers against 50,000 Vindian invader. Your task is to defend the walls of the capital of Arotsa, Muliner for Seven days.

    You have fullmand of the forces in the capital of Arotsa, Muliner.

    The Vindian army is marching toward Muliner, they will arrive in one day.

    Good luck.

    ***

    Dave understood what he had to do, defend against a siege. He had already seen the armies that were stationed around the capital of Arotsa thest time he was here with the Death Goddess.

    Dave knew he was not the smartest person in the world. But strategy and troop management? This was his field of expertise. The unfavorable condition and numbers of enemy troops might give him a real headache, but he believed he could hold on for a week. Sieges usually took months to years. If he properly organizes his troops, seven days should not be an issue to clear the legacy quest.

    "Give me a detailed map of thend around here and tell me what are all the avable information we have. What¡¯s the type of forces we have. How many weapons do we have? War tools? What does the Vindian army has as weapons or siege weaponry? Do we have any anti-siege weaponry? Give me full details!" Dave asked questions in full session.

    The man in full te armor walked up to Dave and handed him a scroll.

    "Here is all that is avable."

    Dave opened the scroll. There was a detailed drawing of the city they were in. It was the same as the undead city. Circled with high walls and in the center of the city, the pce was built.

    To the west of the capital, Muliner was a wide raging river that flowed close to the walls of the pce. it acted as a natural barrier preventing possible attacks from the west. There was also a forest growing not so far from the north of the city. There was a ravine that cut through the forest separating it from the east. From the east all the way to the west was open ine. There were ntations and wheat fields next to the city walls.

    Dave remembered that most of the army he saw when he came with the Death God was positioned at the south and eastern areas.

    The man in te armor handed Dave another scroll.

    ***

    10 trebuchet

    30 Heavy Ballistae

    5 Tons of mmable Oil.

    Rocks.

    2,000 Heavy Cavalry

    2,000 archers

    4,000 light infantry.

    2,000 heavy infantry.

    ***

    "What about arrows, spears and such?" Dave asked

    "We have enough weapons, arrows and spare shields tost us months of siege and enough food tost us two weeks."

    ¡¯Okay, so ammunition and people starving won¡¯t be a problem.¡¯

    "Do we have any allies that cane to our aid?" Dave asked.

    "No, your majesty. All of our allies had turned their back on us. We are on our own."

    A man in ck robe spoke up, "Let us use the demon book your majesty, the might of a demon is strong and can help us!"

    "DAGLA!" the knight in tes shouted, "That is thest resort!"

    The man in ck robe didn¡¯t reply.

    ¡¯So that¡¯s Da and this knight must be Deadra. And the book they are talking about must be the one the king used. When he sacrificed Eleanor.¡¯

    "No one is using demons. Alright, Samael," Dave said. Hoping Samael was here.

    A man in ck leather came forward and knelt before Dave.

    ¡¯Damn, badass as always¡¯ Dave admired the armor Samael wore.

    "Yes, your majesty."

    "I need units that can move stealthily and quietly, have them bring me as much information about the enemy forces, scout them and see what you can get me."

    "As youmand, your majesty.

    "Dementi," Dave called.

    A woman in green leather armor came and knelt before Dave.

    "Yes, your lordship!"

    "You will be leading the archer units. Also what aboutmunication? Do we have trained eagles, crows or pigeons to send and receive information?"

    "We do have battle trained pigeons, they fly high and can avoid archers."

    "Very well, Dementi, organize the archers and wait for mymands."

    Dementi nodded and left.

    "The rest of you, have people dig holes and pits in the city. ce spikes in the pits and cover everything with dirt rags. Leave only a couple of clear paths to retreat back the pce. Also, order the people to stockpile on water, as much water as possible!"

    "As you wish your majesty. A man wearing loose robes said.

    "Da, I need frozen souls," Dave said.

    "I have no idea what that is." Da replied in confusion.

    ¡¯Damn, I thought they should have them in this time period. But I guess it¡¯s thousands of years before the legion became what it is¡¯

    "They are pearls of a highly explosive nature. They could have made the siege much easier."

    "If you wish for us to create explosives, I can have a word with the alchemy academy. They can supply us with chemical explosives."

    "Great, create as much as possible, put them in kegs or crates and nt them on the east and southern fields."

    "How are we going to detonate them then?"

    "Do test runs with the trebuchet and give me details on their range and uracy. Then nt the crates under the most urate point of impact," Dave said.

    "I believe i understand your intentions, marvelous Idea your majesty."

    "Also, Dave pointed at the map, nt some here, here and here." Dave pointed at several spots inside the city map.

    "Sir! But that¡¯s dangerous!"

    "Do it," Dave said in amanding tone.

    "What about civilians," Arge man spoke.

    "By morning, I want all civilians underground and in hiding. I don¡¯t want a soul walking the streets by the start of the siege, only us!"

    "Come with me, all of you," Dave said

    Dave walked out from the throne room and went to the pce balcony. The balcony was facing the eastern gate.

    The city walls were sectioned by a tall tower. There were twenty towers circling the city.

    "Have someone roperge boulders. ce the boulders in one tower, and tighten the rope end on another. When the boulders are pushed, they should sweep enemydders with them."

    "This is the first time I hear of such novelty, your majesty. Ingenious!"

    "This can be only used once, so make sure to have plenty of hot oil at the ready, prepare acid, boiling water and hot sand to repel thedder climbers. Also, build trenches around the city."

    "This will tire the soldiers."

    Dave thought for a moment "Use civilians, no children just those that are capable of digging. Fill the trenches with mmable wood."

    "Also, move all the cavalry to the forest. Have them hiding and waiting. Cavalry is useless inside the city, we don¡¯t have long orrge enough paths for them to gain momentum."

    "How are we going to signal the cavalry to charge?" therge man asked.

    "I won¡¯t be using the cavalry this early they are too priceless to waste in a meaningless charge." Dave said.

    "Should I order the reinforcement of the gate?" therge man asked.

    "No, leave the gate as it is. Also, leave it open."

    "What?!" all of the men behind Dave asked at once.

    "Yes, you heard me. Leave it open. Let theme in. Da, onest thing."

    "Yes, your majesty."

    "I need you to ask the alchemy academy to create something for me."

    "What is it?" Da asked.

    Dave got closer and in a wicked smile, he spoke in Da¡¯s ear.

    Da¡¯s face turned from surprise to a euphoric evil grin.

    "Oh, is that the reason you asked to stockpile the water, quite evil I say."

    "I knew you will like it. Now get done with it."

    "This should be enough preparation then. Lastly, ce the ballistae in the streets. And have soldiers protect them. Also, who here can ride fast on horseback?" Dave asked

    "None of us sir, but I have many underlings that can race the wind," A thin man in noble clothing said.

    "Good, order them to take explosive powder kegs with them and go across the river. You will be informed of your mission by pigeons."

    "As you wish, your majesty."

    Dave crossed his arms gazing at the setting sun, "Now...we wait."

 Chapter 268 Like Fish in a Barrel

    Dave was sitting on the throne room. He had already given his orders, but he wasn¡¯t finished yet. There were many things he had to prepare and oversee.

    The sun had already came down, but he was having second thoughts about his n. One day was too short for him to prepare for a siege and he was under pressure. He was feeling unease, his ns had beenid down to defend against the siege. He even did mind simtion to all that could go wrong and prepared countermeasures but he was still felt that something wasn¡¯t right. Unable to shake off that bad feeling Dave ignored it. He didn¡¯t have the luxury to think about things that might or might not happen.

    Da and Samael entered the throne room together followed by a small boy.

    The small boy trailed after Da, carefully looked around. He was fidgeting, agitated, the boy grabbed the hem of Da¡¯s robe.

    "Your majesty, I have information about the enemy numbers and their weaponry. I also know where they have set camp," Samael said. He handed Dave a scroll.

    Dave took it and thanked Samael. Turning to Da Dave asked, "Did you get the explosives from the academy?" Dave asked.

    "Yes, I did. I also oversaw the trebuchet tests, everything is well and they were urate. We have nted fifty barrels of explosives in the fields."

    "Good Job. Who is this?" Dave asked looking at the nervous kid.

    "This is my apprentice, Du¡¯Rhaza. He said something to me about the forest and I thought I better bring him to you."

    Du¡¯Rhaza! Dave almostughed, the kid was cutepared to the ice lich he knew.

    "Speak," Dave said, mimicking the undead king¡¯s way of speech.

    "Y-your majesty. The enemy can walk through the forest and attack from the north when we least expect it. So, can¡¯t we use the forest to trap them?"

    Dave nodded, "You are right. Da, see if you can have lumberjacks and people who know the forest well enough, have them ce traps,s and pitfalls for our enemies. Also, use half of our oil supplies and spread it in the forest."

    "You n on burning the forest, your majesty?"

    "Not all of it. Just half, I have a feeling they will try toe through the forest, so it¡¯s better to shut them down and have the enemy forces focus on only two sides."

    "It shall be done your majesty," Da bowed and took Du¡¯Rhaza with him.

    "Samael, I need another favor."

    "As youmand your majesty."

    "I need a force to infiltrate the enemy . Burn their food supplies and see if you could get your hands on any of their ns.."

    "Very well." Samael disappeared.

    Dave opened the scroll Samael had handed to him.

    ***

    Vindian forces are advancing with a fifty thousand strong.

    5,000 heavy cavalry.

    30,000 light infantry.

    5,000 heavy infantry.

    10,000 archers.

    5 siege towers.

    30 trebuchets.

    5 Battering rams.

    ***

    The Vindians were well equipped. Though Dave had the advantage as a defender, the enemy had more troops and war equipment to simply overwhelm him if he was not careful. Dave had to cut down their numbers, and regr traps weren¡¯t the way to go.

    All the traps were for this very reason. But traps could be dismantled, and ns could be thwarted. A war had many unexpected variables. He had to step up his game a notch.

    Dave left the throne room and left the pce going through the courtyard.

    King¡¯s Guard saluted Dave as he walked past.

    The city was brightened with torches that lit the dark night. The sound of continuous pickaxes hitting the stone walls was like the continuous beating of drums in war. A heavy atmosphere covering the city. A war wasing but the citizen were unafraid. They believed in their king.

    People made pit traps in front of ballistae installed in the streets Bbags of sand and wooden spike walls blocked the city streets. Several archers and knights were sharpening their weapons or tending to their bows behind the barricades.

    The buildings were locked and their doors and windows barricaded.

    Dave continued walking through the city apanied by two knights. Whenever he crossed with workers, they bowed and he would nod and thank them for their hard work.

    Dave walked until he arrived at the city gate. Two steel portcullises were linked to steel chains. The operating mechanism was a lever next to the gate.

    Dave walked through the gate and oversaw the open field. Stroking his chin Dave gestured with his other hand at one of the knights.

    When the knight came over Dave said, "Have twenty soldiers dress in work clothing and manning the fields on the morrow. I want the enemy to think we are unprepared."

    "As youmand, your majesty." The knight bowed to Dave and went to ry his order..

    Dave had onest thing to do

    Dave turned to the other knight and said, "Prepare armor a good weapon and a shield for me."

    "Y-your majesty! Are you nning on joining the war?"

    "Well, of course, that¡¯s where all the fun is," Dave smiled.

    But for Dave, it was not just for fun. Right now, he was a king and for a king to join a war meant only one thing, to bolster the morale of the soldiers.

    "As youmand!" the knight called two other knights over and informed them with Dave¡¯s request.

    "Your majesty!" A female voice called to Dave from above the city walls.

    Dave looked up, Dementi was looking at Dave from atop the city walls.

    "We have archers set up."

    "Good, have most of them hide, I only want a few to appear to our enemies."

    "Very well, your majesty." Dementi gave amand to the archers on the wall, most of them crouched in waiting.

    Dave went back to the pce. Three knights came over and brought armor for Dave.

    Dave was very familiar with the armor, it was the same armor the undead king usually wore.

    A ck set of te and greaves, with a kite shield and a light-devouring ck curved sword.

    A full ck steel helmet, shoulder pads locking a ck cape in ce.

    Dave equipped the armor and tried to inspect it.

    ***

    Fail to inspect!

    You are in a simtion of the past in a human setting.

    Use of magic is extremely limited and your original status screen is not a disy of your current power.

    Death in this quest is a fail condition.

    ***

    Dave needed to be careful in this fight, a single mistake and everything is over. But this didn¡¯t deter him from fighting alongside the soldiers. He had to increase their moral in the fight.

    Dave sat on his throne waiting for the morning.. Samael and Da updated Dave regrly on the trap making and work going on in the city. When dawn came, everything was ready and only the enemy forces were missing.

    Da stood next to the throne, waiting for Dave¡¯s orders.

    "Da, did the alchemy academy prepare what I asked them?"

    "Yes your majesty, we have enough mercury to use."

    "Good, start pouring it into the river," Dave said.

    "As youmand," Da walked out of the throne room to execute Dave¡¯smand.

    Samael strode into the throne room, "Your majesty! They are here!"

    "Give the order! Bring the gate only halfway down. This will make the enemy think that the gate is stuck. Give the order for the archers on standby to thin down the enemy forces. The remaining archer forces must wait for the order to attack.."

    "As youmand!" Samael left, shouting orders to his subordinates..

    Dave walked to the pce balcony, he was looking at the approaching army.

    50,000 man army looked like an iing ck tide. Soldiers pushed fiverge wooden structures across the in toward the city.

    The soldiers that Dave ordered to impersonate peasants working the field, ran through the city gate. as Dave predicted, the army that was walking slowly ordered a whole section of infantry to charge the city gate.

    From the point of view of the enemy, the gate looked to be stuck. It only went halfway down and couldn¡¯t close. This was an opportunity they could not miss. One of the army generals ordered a whole infantry section to charge the gate.

    Enemy infantry ran across the fields to the city. Dementi ordered the archers standing on the walls to shoot. The enemy numbers were so great that most of the arrows that were shot hit someone running.

    The men that were shot fell and were crushed under the foot of the rest of the charging army. This caused disorder in the Vendian ranks. People fell and died meaningless deaths even before the fight started.

    Barrage of arrows rained down on the enemy, taking dozens of lives with every arrow volley. But the sheer number of the Vendian forces was too big to show any noticeable decrease in their numbers even after the rain of arrows culled hundreds of lives.

    The enemy infantry went through the gate and poured into the city. Everything was going ording to Dave¡¯s n. As the foot soldiers went through the gate they spread through the empty street.

    Dave¡¯s forehead was dripping with sweat, he was stressed as this part of his n was the most crucial.

    Wanting to control the gate, a few Vindian soldiers went to the gate lever and pulled the lever up. They tried to lift the gate, it didn¡¯t move. Dave had already ordered the reinstation of the gate to be controlled from above the city walls instead of from on the ground.

    More enemy units were running toward the city. They were exhrated at the thought that the enemy was unaware of the attack on the city. They funneled toward the city gate, their numbers making it hard for them to get through inside the city. some of them broughtdders and ced them against the walls then started to climb.

    The soldiers spreading across the city streets began to fall into the pitfalls.When Dave judged enough enemy soldiers were inside the city. He raised his arm then brought it down, signalling Dementi to start the second part of his n.

    The concealed archers stood up and began showering the enemies inside and outside the city with arrows. Shock and panic spread through the enemy rank, they had just realized that they have been led into a trap, yet before they could retreat to safety Dementi chopped at a rope linked to the portcullis, bringing the gates down.

    The spiked endse down crushing soldiers under them and locked the ones that were inside the city from going back out.

    Some of the archers on the wall poured boiling water and burning oil on the soldiers climbing thedders. The oil and hot water burnt their skin and flesh, setting them on fire.

    More archers appeared from hiding atop the barricaded city buildings and shot arrows down on the soldiers spreading through the streets. When the enemy soldiers crossed halfway through the city, they were met with Arotsa soldiers managing ballistae in the middle of the street.

    The ballistae were shot, their bolts pierced through several enemy soldiers at once, pinning them into walls like a kebab skewer. Dave¡¯s foot soldiers were hiding inside some of the buildings came out, and charged the surprised enemy forces in the streets, ughtering them.

    Arrows kept pouring down on the enemy forces, even when the enemy tried to shoot back their arrows, they were disadvantaged due to the height difference. Their arrows rarely hit anyone.

    Dementi was calling shots at the walls, she made sure that no enemy soldier made it to above the walls. They dropped stones on the enemy and hot sand. They even knocked away some of thedders, dropping them on the enemy forces, crushing soldiers under thedders.

    When most of the army was close to the city, Dave pointed his hand forward from the pce balcony. A soldier recognized Dave¡¯s gesture and lit a torch, signaling the trebuchets to shoot their first volley.

    Boulders coated with inmed oil were shot at the enemy ranks. When the boulders touched the ground, they smashed through several enemies crushing them, and left a fiery trail in their wake. ck powder that was mixed with sand caught fire and spread between enemy soldier legs and ignited barrels buried underground. The barrels exploded killing off dozens of soldiers that were above them and injuring many more.

    Explosions echoed through the battlefield creating mayhem and chaos. The soldiers didn¡¯t know what was happening, they were at a loss. The chaos increased in the battlefield was making the enemy soldiers restless. They didn¡¯t know when another explosion might happen or if they were standing right above an explosive keg..

    ***

    You have in one of the enemy Generals. Enemy morale has sharply decreased!

    ***

    Dave raised a fist up "Nice!"

    Samael entered the throne room and said, "Your majesty, there is movement in the forest!"

    "Very well, bait the enemy to go deeper into the forest and pick them off with archers and foot soldiers, keep drawing them deeper act like we are unable to hold the forest side."

    "As youmand!" Samael rallied themand to a knight.

    A boulder came crashing down inside the city bringing down one of the building¡¯s walls.

    The Vindians started using their own trebuchets.

    "Samael, they don¡¯t know the exact location of our trebuchets, use ours to take down theirs!" Dave gave amand.

    Samael ordered another knight to send the order to the knights manning the trebuchets. ming boulders flew consecutively from inside the city in an arc, taking down three of the enemy trebuchets and killing many enemy foot soldiers. This made the enemy hesitate in using their trebuchets again.

    "Is the wall still holding?" Dave asked.

    "Yes my lord, Dementi is doing a great job in holding off the enemy forces from climbing, I don¡¯t think we will need to use the roped boulders yet."

    "Good, keep me updated."

    Dave kept watching the ughter happening inside the city. The sound of battle and the smell of smoke gave him goosebumps. He needed to hold on for seven days so far, the first day had just begun and he was in an advantageous position.

    Noticing movement in the distance, Dave frowned. The enemy is changing tactics. They are now advancing their siege towers.

 Chapter 269 Evil Within

    Dave waved his hand again, issuing themand for another volley of trebuchets. The soldiers ignited oil coated boulders and shot them at the enemy ranks. One boulder bore through a siege tower and fell on enemy soldiers squashing them to sludge. The siege tower caught fire and crumbled on the soldiers riding inside it and the ones around it.

    Another boulder crashed into a group of soldiers setting them on fire. One man, lit in mes dropped and rolled on the ground. But the fire covering him ignited a trail of ck powder mixed with sand that spread until it reached a buried stock of explosive powder kegs. The kegs were coincidently under a siege tower. When the explosive blew up, they lifted the whole siege tower a few feet above the ground, shattering it into burning logs and smoke.

    Screams of pain and panic spread among the ranks of the enemy soldiers. They still had no way to deal with the explosives and didn¡¯t know where they were nted.

    The siege towers kept advancing to the city gate. The trebuchets came close to destroying one, a boulder broke a huge chunk of the siege tower but it still held and kept advancing.

    Demnti ordered the archers to change their arrows to fire arrows. Then theyunched them all at once, covering the sky in an infernal downpour.

    Vindian soldiers gave their lives in order to remove spiked walls from the way of the siege towers. They even putrge wooden nks for the siege towers to cross the trenches Dave built around the city walls.

    The fire arrows came down setting two siege towers ame and burning the soldiers inside them but one siege tower managed dropped a wooden nk on the city walls. Enemy soldiers rushed out from the siege tower.

    The archers close to the siege tower swapped to their melee weapon while the other archers kept shooting fire arrows at the siege tower.

    The wooden tower was a disturbing factor, most of the archers were forced to focus fire on it, which gave the enemy soldiers more time to set updders and climb up the walls.

    Dave waved his hand again, signaling a soldier to drop the roped boulders. Above every tower on the wall, the archers pushed over the boulders to fall. The rope attached to them caused the boulder to sweep sideways at thedders, crushing them. The soldiers climbing thedders fell down on their allies. They either instantly died from falling from that height or broke bones bing useless in the ongoing fight.

    One boulder managed to hit the base of the siege tower, tilting the whole structure to fall on the enemy soldiers.

    When the siege tower fell, a horn blew from the enemy ranks signaling a mass retreat.

    Dave shivered, goosebumps spread across his skin. This was a signal for aplete victory of the first battle.

    The archers on the wall rained down arrows at the retreating soldiers picking off many stragglers and wounded soldiers.

    Soon after, the enemy army was reorganized and retreated back to their campsite.

    "Samael, give me a head count of our knights. The dead and the wounded. I need you to cut off the heads of the enemy soldiers, and burn their bodies."

    "Cut off their heads?"

    "Yes, it¡¯s a war tactic, you will see why by morning."

    "What about the prisoners?" Samael asked.

    "You caught prisoners?"

    "Yes, my lord, some surrendered, it is hical to kill off people who surrender."

    "Sorry Samael, but all is fair in war. Kill them all...or wait. I have better use for them. Call Da for me."

    "As youmand, your majesty."

    Dave was thinking hard about his the decision he was about to make. It was ugly, and he knew it.

    ¡¯This is a quest rted to my legacy. If I fail it, all is gone. The only way for me to secure victory is to show my ugly side. Damn, I never thought I¡¯ll have to call upon Evil Dave...

    Soon after Samael went away, Da entered the throne room.

    "Your Majesty, We have lost 620 men, 250 archers and the rest were all foot soldiers. The enemy casualties, however, are in the thousands. At least 6,000 dead. I say this was aplete victory."

    "Yeah, but this was just a probing. The real fight is yet toe."

    "Samael said you called me for something regarding the prisoners. Do you want them to be tortured out of information, your majesty?"

    "No, what I have in mind is far cruler than torture. Take me to the dungeons." Dave said.

    "Follow me, your majesty." Da walked ahead of Dave.

    The smell of burning flesh spread through the city, there was cheering but Dave could still feel the somber mood of many other knights. They had lost friends and family members. War had never been a cheerful asion.

    Dave ordered some knights moving along the street to clear up the traps and pitfalls from the bodies of the Vinnaldians. Thankfully, Dave ordered the closing of the portcullises and didn¡¯t let any enemy inform their headquarter of the traps inside the city. He still had the element of surprise if the enemy manages to go over the walls.

    Knights had chained up wounded enemy soldiers and led them inside a one-story building.

    "This is the entrance to the dungeon. We keep prisoners underground," Damented.

    Dave called over two knights. "I need you to catch as many rats as possible and throw them in with the prisoners."

    "Rats?" one knight asked in surprise.

    "Your majesty, are you trying to cause the gue?" Da asked.

    "Yes, when the prisoners show signs of fever or vomiting, cut off their tongues and release them back to the enemy. I need only two willing men to manage this."

    Dave turned and walked away from the catbs followed by Da.

    "Sir, won¡¯t this cause our own men to be infected?"

    "Give the order for the knights who will do this operation to put a cloth over their mouth. If the knights show signs of the gue, quarantine them alone and let no onee in contact with them. Also, burn off the vomit and excrement the feverish enemies release."

    "As youmand," Da nodded to Dave.

    "Your majesty," A knight came to Dave.

    "What is it?"

    "The enemy is invoking the Law of War. They wish to retrieve the bodies of their fallen soldiers."

    "Loot the enemy first, take all of their weapons and armor and then let them clear the battlefield for us. Also, recover the dead bodies of our own soldiers from outside and clear the rubble. Someone call over Samael," Dave ordered.

    "I am here, your majesty." Samael was right next to Dave giving him a heart skip.

    Taking a breath, Dave said, "You need to aplish your mission this night, burn all of their food supplies."

    "As youmand, your majesty."

    All of the fighting didn¡¯tst more than two hours. But Dave knew this was just the beginning. There were many days left and many variables to ount for.

    Poisoning the river, burning the food and causing the gue in the enemy ranks. For Dave, though this was cruel, and rare were those who would partake in it, he didn¡¯t have a choice but to do it. He needed to kill off as many of the enemy as possible and in the most gruesome of ways. All was fair in war.

 Chapter 270 Brawl

    By night time, Dave was standing on the pce porch, looking over the bustling city. The citizens and soldiers were doing hard work in creating pits and fortifying the city streets. They used the lumber from the forest nearby to build wooden spiked walls and blocked the streets.

    Dave had ordered more of these spiked walls be ced around the city. He was nning on fighting outside the city walls when morninges.

    An icon in the side of Dave¡¯s vision blinked. Dave focused his eyes on it and it grew up into a notification.

    ***

    Most of the enemy food stocks have been burnt.

    Soldiers who have drunk from the river water have been poisoned.

    Enemy morale has sharply decreased.

    Rioting and chaos are more prone to ensue in the enemymand.

    Enemy numbers are decreasing rapidly.

    Overnight casualties.

    2,126 and counting up.

    ***

    Dave nodded to himself, his n was working perfectly. Hunger and theck of drinkable water will weaken the enemy in the fight tomorrow. But this was only temporary, he knew the enemy will resupply in water and food and tighten the security on these resources soon.

    "Dementi, give themand to the heavy cavalry units to move out from the forest and go upstream I need them to prepare for a nking attack tomorrow."

    "As youmand," Dementi said and ordered one of her knights to ry Dave¡¯s orders.

    "I need units standing in front of the city walls tomorrow. Use half of our heavy infantries and equip them with long spears to hold off the enemy charge."

    "We might lose a lot of our soldiers this way my lord, wouldn¡¯t it be better to stay behind the city walls?" Dementi asked.

    "By morning, the enemy soldiers will be weak, they have lost many soldiers yesterday, they have no food to eat and many of them are poisoned from drinking the poisoned river waters. It¡¯s our best chance as we still have the advantage to cut down their numbers in a melee confrontation."

    "I see," Dementi informed another knight with Dave¡¯smand.

    Dave left the pce and went to check up on the prisoners in the dungeons. When he arrived, he was informed with good news. One of the prisoners showed signs of fever and repeated vomiting.

    "Good, ce the rest of the prisoners with him in the same room. Notify me when at least half of the prisoners are infected." Dave ordered one of the knights guarding the dungeon.

    "As youmand your majesty.

    Dave kept overseeing the work in the city. He even helped citizen dig pits in the streets which increased their vigor. To see a king doing menial work to help in their protection, bolstered the citizen¡¯s faith in Dave.

    Dave wiped the sweat off his forehead and looked up. Dawn was breaking. He walked to the city gate, thousands of soldiers stood in rows around the city gate. In front of them were wooden spikes to hold off any possible cavalry charge from the enemy. And behind them were the high walls of the city that was filled to the brim with archers.

    Samael like usual, appeared out of nowhere and asked, "Your majesty, what are you doing here?"

    "What do you think? I¡¯m joining the fight. I know it¡¯s dangerous so just save it. We need every man in this fight."

    "But your majesty!"

    "Don¡¯t worry, I know how to take care of myself."

    "At least let me order a few veteran knights to keep youpany. You two stay with his majesty!" Samael ordered.

    Two very familiar knights stood next to Dave. One with an overlyrge broken greatsword, and the other in blood-stained full te armor.

    Daveughed when he saw the two knights. It was Orn and Gale, they were his bodyguards when he was undead and it seemed that they will once again protect him.

    Dave patted the two knights on the back and said, "Good to see you two again."

    "Again?" Gale didn¡¯t understand what Dave was talking about.

    "Don¡¯t worry about it, Gale. Anyway, I need someone to inform Dementi to sharemand with me in this fight."

    "Why not just you, your majesty?" Orn asked.

    "I¡¯ll be in the thick of the fight, I won¡¯t be able to see everything from here. Dementi already knows all of my ns, she should be able to do a good job."

    "Very well your majesty," Orn replied and ordered a knight to send word.

    "Your majesty," a knight came over, he was leading a ck stallion by a rein.

    "Lady Dementi said that you should not fight on foot, I brought over your horse, Nightmare."

    The ck horse matched perfectly with his ck armor. Dave smiled as he scratched under the horse¡¯s chin. This was probably the same horse the Undead King was mounting in the fight against the ck skull order.

    Dave mounted the ck horse, the mare neighed in acknowledgment of its rider.

    "There is movement in the horizon your majesty," Samael said.

    Arge row of enemy soldiers was steadily marching toward the city.

    "Your majesty, a word from you will give our soldiers greater courage in the uing fight," Samael said

    "You are right," Dave said. He led Nightmare through his ranks and into the front of his army.

    Dave turned, raising his light devouring sword and shouted.

    "Hear me, brothers and sisters!" Dave called at the top of his lungs.

    The soldiers quieted down. Only the asional nk of metal could be heard leaving Dave¡¯s words to roam free.

    "Today is a day of battle! We have shown these bastards how ruthless we are behind walls, and today we shall show them how merciless we are on the field!

    Dave raised his sword, all the soldiers shouted at once

    "Huraaa!"

    "The enemy outnumber us paltry five to one, good odds for any Arotsian!"

    Dave raised his sword again

    An even louder battle cry thundered across the Arotsa ranks.

    "Today the gates of hell are open wide for us! LET US RIDE THROUGH THEM AS LEGENDS!"

    The final line sent shivers down the spine of every Arotsian soldier. A final roar echoed across the ranks and a notification popped up in front of Dave.

 Chapter 271 A slaughter at the gates

    ***

    Your speech has lifted the morale of the soldiers.

    Chances of desertion severely dropped.

    As a king, by joining the battle you have massively increased the morale of your soldiers. They will not falter or fear as long as you fight alongside them.

    Soldiers will fight to theirst breath.

    All soldiers have been invigorated. They will not lose stamina or tier as easily as before.

    ***

    The enemy forces stood across from the city. They made sure to be away from the catapult range this time.

    Dave looked up and nodded toward Dementi.

    "Release the trebuchets!" Dementi shouted.

    Instead of rocks, the trebuchets threw dozens of soldier heads roped together that fell a few feet away from the enemy soldiers.

    Fear and panic-stricken, some of the enemy soldiers took a few steps away from the maggot-infested heads of their brothers that died yesterday.

    Dementi kept shooting the decapitated heads of the soldiers.

    Dave could see movement in the front ranks of the enemy lines, there was a general trying to calm the soldiers down.

    Dave¡¯s tactic was mainly to spread fear in the enemy ranks. To give them a preview of what is toe when they die.

    Finally, having calmed the soldiers, the general ordered a cavalry charge.

    Dave smiled, ¡¯that¡¯s not the way to use cavalry, let me teach you why!¡¯

    The horses moved across the field crushing the decapitated heads of their brethren as they ran toward the city.

    Dementi called for the sounding of battle drums and horns.

    Dave retreated to the backline awaiting the enemy toe.

    "Ready your tower shields!" Dave called. The heavy infantry poised themselves behind a thick line of tower shields.

    "HOLD!" Dave shouted.

    Dementi atop the tower gave amand for the archers to nock their arrows waiting for release.

    Dementi ordered the trebuchets to send the first volley of boulders. They came down on the horses, crushing them and setting a trail of oil aze. The fire scared the horses near it and stalled them breaking their momentum. The cavalry charge was showing openings.

    "loose!" Dementi ordered when the cavalry was in the archers¡¯ range.

    Arrows blotted the sky as they came down like a ck wave of death. the first arrow volley felled horses that tripped more ridersing behind them. The cavalry navigated across the field evading the spiked walls. By evading the walls there were gathered tight together in lines but were separated from the rest of the cavalry.

    The cavalry was closing the gap too fast for Dementi to order another volley so she shouted, "Fire at will!"

    "HOLD!" Dave called as the cavalry, was charging.

    "HOLD!" he shouted again, the cavalry was only a dozen meters away still being felled by the stream of arrows from the walls.

    "NOW, SPIKES UP!" Dave gave another order. The soldiers at the front raised their spikes and poised them on small gaps between their tower shields.

    The cavalry crashed into the risen spears. The spears pierced through horse and rider alike. The cavalry charging momentum wasn¡¯t able to break the tower shield formation.

    Dave¡¯s tactic to spread the cavalry by using the Spiked wall worked. They were separated from each other and their momentum was broken by the arrows and spikes.

    Samael was in the front and ordered the tower shield line to swap with the melee fighters, they began ughtering the riders that were stockpiled like a wall of meat.

    "That¡¯ why you don¡¯t start a fight with cavalry. HA!" Daveughed.

    Dementi kept ordering the release of arrows on the downed cavalry and on the ones still pouring from behind.

    The enemy general sounded the retreat for the cavalry. The riders turned tail and ran back to their encampment. The poor disy of tactics gave Dave an enormous advantage. He had taken down more than two-thirds of the cavalry units and now his own cavalry numbers were much greater than the enemies.

    After retreating, the opposing general ordered the march of the foot soldiers, followed by archers behind them.

    Dave waved a hand to Dementi. She nodded and gave a knight a fewmands. Momentster a pigeon could be seen flying above the city and headed to the north.

    "Your majesty, there is movement in the forest!"

    "Tell the light infantry stationed there to hold for just a little bit. If they can¡¯t, burn the forest on those fuckers!"

    "Fuckers?"

    "Oh, sorry, burn the forest," Dave said, he had forgotten he was a king for a moment.

    "As youmand."

    The foot army began picking up speed.

    "Swap back! Use roman formation!" Dave shouted.

    Dave had already instructed the soldiers on how to do the Roman formation. The front row would protect them from the charging foot soldiers, and the soldiers behind them will use their own shields to cover the arrowsing from above.

    When the enemy charged into Dave¡¯s ranks, the front line held strong. The enemy arrows bounced off the shields. However, some arrows still managed to go through the gaps between the shield formation. But whenever an Arotsian soldier was hit, another would take their position and keep the roman shield formation in ce.

    The enemy soldiers failed to break the formation, while Arotsian soldiers pierced through them with spears from behind the shields.

    Dave wanted to buy time for his next n.

    A few minutester, a horn blew from inside the city.

    Dave smiled, "This is how we use cavalry!"

    The ground trembled as the cavalry that Dave stationed yesterday was running across the open field toward the archers. The archers noticed the charge far toote and the arrows they loosened killed only a few riders. Panic ensued and most of the archers broke formation, running away. This only made it easier for Dave¡¯s own cavalry to run them down. Crushing, cutting and destroying the whole regiment of archers with absolute ease.

    The nk from Dave¡¯s cavalry separated the enemy foot soldiers from the rest of the army and now they were nothing but easy picking.

    "CRUSH THEM!"

    Dave¡¯s soldiers swapped with the backline and dove on the enemy like the tide.

    The enemy called another retreat of the soldiers, but Dave wasn¡¯t prone to letting them get away.

    He rode ahead on top of Nightmare leading a manhunt with all the soldiers. "Kill them all!"

 Chapter 272 Mr.Skeletals endavor

    Dave slew enemy soldiers left and right. His ck sword was coated in red blood. His mare was a warhorse, unfaltering while facing a sword or the noise of battle. It kicked and bit at any escaping soldiers while Dave finished off the stragglers.

    The enemymander ordered a fresh line of soldiers to go and assist the retreating ones. When Dave noticed that his troops were far away from the protective fire of the archers on the city walls, he ordered his troops to cease pursuit and fold back.

    The enemy gathered together helping their wounded soldiers then blew a horn sounding a full retreat.

    Dave¡¯s soldiers shouted in victory. They had defeated the invader once again.

    Dave clenched his fist, brimming with excitement, Dave shouted, "For Arotsa!"

    "For Arotsa! For the King!" the units around Dave all shouted in sync. Glorifying their country and their king.

    Retreating back inside the city, Dave gave themand to burn the bodies of their dead and strip the enemy of their armor and weapons.

    "Give me a headcount of the dead. Repair the spike walls outside and add some more."

    Dave removed his armor, it felt heavy after today¡¯s fight. Rxing in his ornate royal clothes, Dave sat on the throne waiting for the battle report.

    Dementi, Da and Samael soon came to his presence.

    Samael spoke first, "Your majesty, we lost 413 soldiers today. Fifty of them heavy cavalry, the rest were infantry units. The enemy dead count reached 8,000. Another victory your majesty."

    Dave made quick math, the enemy had lost more than 16,000 of their army. Almost a third of the original 50,000.

    "All the prisoners showed signs of the gue and other contagious diseases, your majesty. Should I release them?" Da asked.

    "Yes, let them go when theye with to invoke the Law of War," Dave said.

    Da and Samael dismissed themselves. Leaving Dave with Dementi alone in the throne room.

    "What is it Dementi?"

    "I believe that the Vindians will try to secure water from another water source and food from somewhere else. In two days, the advantage we had will be gone."

    "I know that Dementi. I will order a few of our units to infiltrate the enemy ranks and spy for us. We can know by then the supply routs the Vinalndias will take and we can raid them then."

    "Yes, your majesty."

    "That¡¯s all?" Dave asked.

    "Yes, your majesty. All the archers were safe in thest fight, other than that, I have nothing else to report."

    "Very good, you are dismissed," Dave said and waved for Dementi to go.

    He was once again alone in the throne room. Not long after, a knight in te armor entered the hall.

    "Your majesty, we did as we were told. The contaminated prisoners were escorted back to the enemy base."

    "Good job. Keep me updated with the status of the knights who were charged with keeping an eye on these prisoners. Put them in a quarenteened area and see if they show any signes of fever or vomiting."

    "It shall be done, your majesty." The knight dismissed himself.

    Dave stood up from his throne and walked to the pce porch. His soldiers were working hard. They took the corpses of theirrades from the field outside the city and took them to an area where they did a mass cremation.

    Dave checked the timer in-game. He was logged in for 48 hours In-Game. He opened the game menu and pressed the log-out button.

    ***

    Your current progress in your legacy quest will be saved. You can continue your quest after your log back in starting from this point in time.

    ***

    Dave disappeared from the throne room and woke up in his hotel room.

    He picked up his phone and called Ralph.

    "S¡¯upp bro."

    "Oh, You¡¯re still alive."

    "Not cool bro," Ralph groaned.

    "C¡¯mon, you know I¡¯m just messing with you. So how did it go?"

    "Nothing much, man. Just a regr talk over dinner, you know."

    "Yeah, I¡¯ve been there," Dave said. He had a simr dinner with the Silvanas. Those old guys sure had fun on his expense with all that teasing.

    "This guy is really interested in you, you know," Ralph said.

    "Sorry, not into old dudes, or dudes in any case."

    "Ah, you broke my heart man. You got no love for old Ralph," Ralph said in an exaggerated sad voice.

    "Nah, you know I love you, bro." Dave chuckled.

    "Ha! Nah, Tivo was talking about the game. Said he wanted you to work for him now you got your skellies back."

    "Yeah, I kinda figured that out. But no, the boyz aren¡¯t some mafia goons. They are mine and I¡¯ll never use them to benefit someone else¡¯s interests."

    "Loyal to your boyz I see. What you up to right now Dave?"

    "Doing a legacy quest. Have to fight an army man."

    "Damn, can I join? Would love to get some EXP before the eastern region raid starts, which is in two days."

    "Sorry bro. Would have invited you if it weren¡¯t a solo quest."

    "Bummer. Wish you luck with that shite. Gotta go, Caitlin is waiting."

    "You¡¯re still with her?"

    "Yeah, taking her out again. You should call Zoe and we can make it a double date."

    "Date? Weren¡¯t you a ¡¯free agent¡¯ a few hours ago?"

    "Tivo can be pretty convincing..."

    Dave frowned, "Did they make you do something against your will?"

    "No man, it¡¯s not like that. You see, this guy might be from the Mobs, but he doesn¡¯t act like them. He has principles, well that¡¯s what he called them. He told me that he liked how I treated Caitlin. And liked it more because me and you are friends. Said something about men with character hang out with each other."

    "Don¡¯t know all about that man. Those guys are dangerous."

    "Well, no harm done yet."

    "Just be careful man."

    "Thanks bro, don¡¯t worry about it." Ralph hung up.

    Dave went to his phone to order dinner but thought for a second and picked up his phone dialing Zoe¡¯s number.

    After a few rings, she picked up.

    "Yeah Davey, What¡¯s up?"

    "Nothing much. Was thinking if we should grab a bite somewhere."

    "Yeah sure, I¡¯lle over in a minute."

    "Alright, cya," Dave hung up.

    Dave took a quick shower before Zoe came. Brushed his hair and put on the dinner jacket that he wore the day he went to dinner with the Silvanas.

    Dave heard knockinging from the door of his hotel room. Opening the door, he saw Zoe all dressed up for the night. She wore a night-blue short dress and a hand-bag of matching color.

    "Where are we going tonight?" Zoe asked.

    "Don¡¯t really know, why don¡¯t you choose?"

    "You know it¡¯s best if the guy chooses the date location."

    "Not a fan of all that ¡¯dating rules¡¯ stuff. Also, you would know more about the best spots to have a bit in the city than I do."

    "Touch¨¦. Let¡¯s go, I know a good restaurant."

    "Lead the way," Dave said.

    Zoe smiled and crossed her arm under his then led them both out of the hotel.

    A purple car was parked right outside the hotel Dave was staying at.

    "The Lambo this time," Dave said.

    "Yeah, it¡¯s the best to ride in a New York night. Hop in."

    Dave sat in and buckled his belt.

    Zoe stomped on the elerator, the car roared as it swerved between cars, sliding through the busy streets of New York. Aside from a few moments when Dave felt he was about to die, he was mostly numbed to Zoe¡¯s suicidal driving style.

    Soon, the purple Lambo stopped in front of an old antique shop.

    "We¡¯re here. Zoe said and walked out of the car.

    Dave stepped out saying, "This doesn¡¯t look like a restaurant."

    "You¡¯d be surprised. Come." Zoe crossed arms with Dave and led him into the shop.

    Shelves filled with statues, clocks and random objects lined the walls of the shop.

    A middle-aged man sat behind a counter in the antique shop. When he saw Zoe, he pressed o a button under his desk. A row of shelves slid into the wall revealing an entrance that goes deeper into the shop.

    Zoe took Dave through the entrance. Inside, there were a few dozen tables where many costumers were sitting enjoying a dinner under candlelight.

    A waiter came over and led Zoe and Dave to an empty table.

    He handed them the menu and waited for them to take their orders.

    Dave didn¡¯t understand a word of what the restaurant was offering, the whole menu was written in French. Leaving Dave in a dilemma.

    Zoe didn¡¯t take a single look at the menu and said, "I¡¯ll have Soupe a l¡¯Ognion as an entr¨¦e and Coq au Vin, with a Soufl¨¦ au choct for desert."

    The waiter turned to Dave. After a moment of awkward silence, Dave smiled "I¡¯ll take the chef¡¯s rmendation."

    The waiter nodded at the two and walked away.

    "Hey, I don¡¯t want to sound like an ignorant but what the hell did you order?"

    "You¡¯ll see. This is a French cuisine restaurant. They have some good stuff."

    "Man, I hope there¡¯s nothing slimy in it, I heard they eat slugs and frogs," Dave said, shuddering.

    "It is a delicacy in France, but don¡¯t worry, they don¡¯t serve that here."

    The two chatted as they waited for the food toe. Dave talked about his quest this morning pulling Zoe¡¯s full attention toward him. Engrossed in their talk, the waiter had already brought over the food. Zoe¡¯s was served three dishes, one with cheese coated bread dipped into an onion soup. The other was a duck¡¯s leg dipped into a wine soup, and finally a spongy souffl¨¦ in chocte.

    Dave¡¯s menu was, surprisingly just regr stake and wine.

    "When are you moving into your new house, Dave?" Zoe asked.

    Dave took a bite from the stake and said, "Probably tomorrow or the day after it. I want to finish my legacy quest first."

    "Neat, Karen told me she already equipped your penthouse with quality furniture. She sent me pics, wanna see?" Zoe asked.

    "Nah, I wanna see it with my own eyes."

    The two of them kept chatting as they had dinner. When it hit eight PM, the lights in the room dimmed even further. A small orb rose up in the middle of the dining hall and projected the CCN logo in 3D.

    "I totally forgot about that," Zoe said.

    "What¡¯s going on?" Dave asked.

    "CCN is broadcasting you reviving the undead legion!" Zoe said

    "Oh right, this should be interesting."

    "How does it feel being a celebrity, Dave?"

    "In case you didn¡¯t notice, Mr.Skeletal is the celebrity, not me," Dave said.

    The CCN 3D logo morphed into the face of a smirking bearded draugr.

    The holographic video boomed with a loud explosion sound. Disying a field filled with the sound of battle. Undead and demons were fighting a deadly battle. The video actually started from the fall of the legion.

    It began with Dave going to destroy a cannon and how he used the cannon to destroy the Ash King¡¯s throne tower.

    When the Ash king tried to kill Dave, the Undead King came to his side. The fight with the two monarchs brought shivers down the spine of all the people in the dining room. Most of them ignored their food and were watching the fight intently.

    The scene switched to when Dave was talking to the Undead King above the bone pce. The Ash King came over to fight and the Undead king took him head-on. The Undead king showed great power as he fought the ash king to a retreat. Then suddenly the Archangel Nathaniel appeared tipping the scales in favor of the Ash king. The two fought and defeated the Undead King, which in his death, all the other undead died along with. This cleared up the confusion on how the undead disappeared from Conquest.

    Suddenly the scene switched directly to Dave inside King Ashkar¡¯s tomb. Dave was smart enough to not send the part about Urburg. Otherwise, the whole world will know that there is a city in the Wilds.

    The adventure continued from the Tomb of Ashkar. The face of his party members was mosaic-censored, so no their identity was not revealed. The flesh dungeon was so disgusting it made the people in the restaurant give up on their food, but not the adventure.

    The dungeon run was shown from Dave¡¯s POV when he was in the dungeon. The fight with Ashkar brought great excitement to everyone in the room. The scene switched again when Dave was back inside the Underworld. He rode on Grumpy, gathering his troops and revived his first undead. Dog. Dog then revived Samael who began hacking away at the Demons guing the Dead Realm. An hourter, the scene had changed to Dave cing the Death Heart in its rightful ce, bringing the mad king back to his senses and sparking the appearance of the Conquest Server Announcement about the return of the Undead.

    The video was three hours long, but surprisingly, no one felt bored watching it. It was an amazing disy of skill and perseverance that the draugr showed to revive the legion. It gave the audience a sense of heroism. One man against the odds managed to bring back the entire legion due to his ceaseless and brave efforts.

    Dave was also watching with interest. He even thought about where he could have done better and judged himself for some idiotic decisions he made.

    A female announcer appeared as the broadcast ended.

    "Hello everyone, I hope that you enjoyed our adventure with Mr.Sekletal. Tomorrow tune in on a detailed analysis of the battles that happened by some of Conquest¡¯s leading figures and game experts. On another note, the European Guild will broadcast their own conquest of the East through our CCN channel. We will be doing a live feed of the raid. We hope to see you soon. Thank you all for watching and have a great evening."

    By the time the video ended Dave had already drunk several wine bottles and alcoholic drinks. The room began spinning and Dave was not feeling well. Suddenly everything turned ck.

    Groaning, Dave stretched, he was back in his hotel room wearing only his boxers. Hangover and headache overcame him. Thest he remembered was being with Zoe in a restaurant. Suddenly his eyes perked wide open. This situation stank of Deja-vu. He removed the covers from over the bed. Taking a deep breath, Dave felt rxed and somewhat disappointed that there was no naked girl this time under the covers.

    "Alright, time to get back to the game."

 Chapter 273 There is no Such Thing as Overplanning.

    Dave was met with a server announcement.

    ***

    Greetings Kis¡¯Shtiengbrah.

    You are currently progressing through a legacy quest. You will be able to continue ying from where you left thest time you logged out.

    ***

    Dave waved the notification away.

    Another notification appeared in front of him.

    ***

    gue and fever spread through the ranks of the Vindian army. Their forces are weakened and exhausted.

    Fear and desertion increased in the Vindian army.

    1,000 unit deserted the Vindian army.

    50 Vindian soldiers caught the ck gue.

    ***

    ¡¯Good, that¡¯s a great advantage we have. The fight tomorrow should be easier.¡¯

    While Dave was waiting for dawn to break, he had ordered the re-instation of the explosive kegs in the fields and more traps and the forest.

    When the sun came up, Samael entered the throne room.

    "Your majesty, the river water level is decreasing. I believe the Vindian army is damming the river"

    "I thought they might do that, thankfully I already prepared for that. Send word to the riders beyond the river to go upstream. When they locate the Vindians, have them hide and wait for further orders."

    "As youmand." Samael disappeared.

    Dave ordered the army to reposition themselves like yesterday. The soldiers in tower shields stood in rows in front of the walls of the city. Behind them were archers on the ground and on the walls of the city providing support.

    But the Vindian army didn¡¯t show up even after hours waiting.

    ¡¯What¡¯s going on?¡¯ Dave wondered.

    A knight rushed up to Dave and said in an agitated tone "Your majesty. The enemy has taken a detour they areing from the riverside.

    Dave frowned, "The whole army?"

    "Yes. They dammed the river, when the water level is low enough, they will cross and attack from the unprotected side of the city."

    ¡¯Hmm, I considered that they might only bring a small portion to attack from the back. But this is for the best,¡¯ Dave grinned like a mad man. The gears in his brain were spinning like whirlwinds.

    "Dementi, take the archers and hold off the assaulting from the riverside. Samael, take a thousand cavalry and light infantry and raid the enemy base. Don¡¯t kill the sickly but destroy everything in their camp if you can."

    He didn¡¯t want to ¡¯waste¡¯ the sick people, they still had the gue and will infect others so it was best to eliminate just the enemy¡¯s base.

    "As youmand," Samael said.

    Dave entered the city and went to the northern side of it. He climbed the stairs leading up to the wall.

    The raging river water slowed down, it was now as harmless as a creek. There were tens of thousands of Vindians stationed behind the river water waiting to raid the city from that side.

    The river was too close to the city walls for Dave to station any troops to hold off the enemy assault. And he had no traps on the field behind the river and even if he did. His trebuchets were positioned on the other side of the city making it impossible to blow them up.

    Dave, however, wasn¡¯t panicking or feeling the least bit of stress. He calmly looked at the enemy and waited for the river to subside.

    An hourter, the water in the river was shallower than a creek. It was then when the Vindian army ordered the attack on the city.

    "Send word via pigeon to the riders up the stream. Have them blow up the dam. Let¡¯s drown these idiots."

    The Vindians sprinted across the river,dders in hand. They ced them against the city walls and started climbing. Dementi ordered the archers to shoot their arrows thinning the enemy ranks.

    Archers dropped rocks and boulders on the climbers and chopped down with their spare weapons when the Vindian soldiers got up to the walls. The battle heated up and the Vindian managed to set a foot on the walls.

    Dave wielded his sword and shouted, "Hold the walls!"

    He rushed into the heat of battle, slicing at the enemy soldiers. The wall was clogged with soldiers, some even fell from that height breaking their necks in the fall. Dave sliced at the Vindians, taking life with every sword swing.

    The NPCs didn¡¯t have an HP bar, they died with a single sword stroke if they were hit in the neck or through the chest. But their armor made it harder for Dave¡¯s sword to deal a lethal blow every time.

    The Vindian army was charging the city like madmen. Not caring for their lives, they climbed suffering under the endless hail of arrows from Arotsa soldiers. They were shot down, sliced, shed and burnt but they kept adding more soldiers to attack the walls.

    They had made another footing at the top of the walled city. Now Dave¡¯s army was being pushed back.

    Dave was struggling o top of the wall, at one moment, he was about to fall from the walls, but Orn grabbed his hand and pulled him back.

    "Thanks, Orn. Keep the assault, we need to hold on for a little longer," Dave shouted.

    And as if the heavens heard Dave¡¯s words, the stagnate river rumbled. A gigantic water wave came surging through the river banks, amassing rocks and logs in its roiling rampage. The Vindian soldiers were caught unguarded. The river was supposed to be dammed, but now it wasing at them like an enraged water god.

    The river water swept thousands of soldiers as it flowed, separating the soldiers on the wall from the ones behind the river banks.

    Surprise and panic filled the Vindian solider ranks. So far, none of their ns ever worked.

    "ughter them!" Dave gave an order. His soldiers roared in ecstasy. Complying, they pushed back the Vindians on top of the walls. They were left without support from the rest of the army and became easy picking for Dave¡¯s troops.

    Half an hourter, all the enemy troops on top of the walls were either dead or captured. The rest has either escaped or was swept by the river current to an unknown fate.

    The Vindians ordered a full retreat. Their numbers were low and their expressions were sullied. It was a far cry from the imposing 50,000 strong that tried to raid them a three days ago.

    Arotsa knights roared Dave¡¯s name in victory, they had once again repelled the enemy forces and managed to protect their city for another day.

    A notification window appeared in front of Dave.

    ***

    You have shown great valor and cunning in the fight against the Vindian army.

    The oue of the battle ispletely different from when the King of Arotsa led his troops against the Vindian.

    Your Grand Strategist title has been upgraded to

    War Maestro!

    The battlefield is your stage and the soldiers your actors!

    While equipped War Maestro title offers +100 INT.

    The troops under yourmand have an unfaltering belief in your decision and will face death fearlessly in your name.

    The troops under yourmand have a 20% reduction in stamina consumption.

    The troops under yourmand have +20% increased damage from all attacks and abilities.

    The Undead troops under yourmand have a 3.5% chance to revive instantly after death.

    ***

    Another notification followed right after.

    ***

    You have caused the death of more than 50% of the enemy troops.

    The siege duration has been shortened and the difficulty increased.

    You are advised to use the rest of the day to prepare for the final assault from the Vindian army.

    Victory or Defeat will be decided tomorrow.

    Good luck.

    ***

 Chapter 274 IF it Bleeds, IT DIES!

    "Shit, I don¡¯t know if I should take this as a good or bad sign. It¡¯s good that the war is about to end soon, but increase in difficulty? Man, that¡¯s gonna suck." Dave mumbled to himself as he was going back to the throne room.

    "Samael," Dave called. The man in ck leather showed up right next to him. He was not a ghoul or able to use any magic but it still surprised Dave at how this man could appear out of nowhere.

    "Yes, your majesty."

    "I want you to further fortify the city, inside out. Put more traps, nts kegs inside the houses and on the streets, and fortify the pce walls with archers. I have a feeling that tomorrow, the Vindians will be able to break through our gates."

    Samael went silent for a moment. He felt Dave¡¯s nervousness and said, "Worry not your majesty, we shall do our best to save Arotsa."

    "Thanks, Samael. Now go, do as I told."

    "Yes, your majesty." Samael disappeared.

    Dave sat on his throne, both hands supporting his chin. He was thinking about what else he could do to prevent losing tomorrow¡¯s fight. He had done well so far, repelled the enemy forces with minimal casualties every time. But if the enemy decides on a full assault abandoning the thought of retreat, he might lose his legacy ss advancement quest.

    "Gaahhh, shit, can¡¯t think of anything to use in the fight tomorrow. I don¡¯t even know what they¡¯re up to. Shit, there is no point in overthinking, I¡¯ll just have to adapt." Dave sighed as he rxed on the throne, waiting for morning toe.

    The Vindians must be really pissed now. He drowned them, poisoned them, blew them up and caused the gue in their ranks. And now, their base was destroyed. No wonder they hated Dave¡¯s guts to the extent that the system increased the difficulty of the raid.

    When dawn came, Dave left his throne and walked through the city. Today was probably thest time he will ever see this ce again. His soldiers were sharpening their weapons and preparing for the fight. Dave didn¡¯t think of them as mere ones and zeros. But they all had feelings that they portrayed and expressed like real living people. Theyughed in victory and cried when their loved ones died.

    These were the traits that the undead legion had carried along with them from before their death. These traits were the things that made him feel not amongputer programs but a real family. Something he never had. Dave¡¯s feelings toward the Undead Legion were genuine, even if the Undead King no longer remembers him. The rest of the legion still knows the legend of Kis¡¯Shtiengbrah.

    Dave encouraged anyone he came across, lifting their morals in preparation for thest battle. Patting the shoulder of the workers doing the trap and even went underground to calm the civilians.

    After making a whole tour of the city, Samael appeared next to Dave.

    "Your majesty, they are here. But we have a problem."

    Dave nodded. His expression was serious. Dave followed after Samael¡¯s hurried steps. He was going toward the city gate. Orn and Gale joined and followed behind Dave.

    Arotsa soldiers that were stationed inside the city gave way to the four of them. Dave didn¡¯t station soldiers outside the city. He had to gain time; the city walls were enough to hold off the enemy wasting a lot of their time.

    Samael led Dave to the top of the city walls.

    Dave looked at the stationed enemy and asked "What is the problem you are talking about-" but he suddenly quieted down.

    "I see," Dave, said. cold sweat dripped down his back. His eyes were fixed at monsters leading the Vindians army.

    This is the first time Dave saw anything aside humans in this legacy quest. The Legacy quest was a simtion of the past. Even magic was scares and useless. Da was a fine example.

    The legacy quest was set in a time, thousands of years before the development of powerful magic. Thanks to the legion bing undead, Da had enough time to learn magic and be the strongest magician of the legion and a legend in the book of every wizard and schr of magic.

    But now, Dave was facing monsters, something that obviously was not a part of the original setting of the legacy quest.

    The monsters in front of the Vindians army were oversized four legged creatures. They had a skin as green as a goblin, and their back was an armored carapace. They had horns like a ram but the jaws of a crocodile. There were hundreds of these creatures all standing outside the range of Dave¡¯s trebuchets.

    "What the hell is that!" An archer said in fright.

    "Calm down soldier!" Dave shouted. But his words fell on deaf ears. Fear had already spread through the archer ranks. Gripping tightly at their courage.

    Dave had to deal with this situation before it got any worse. He shouted from atop the walls.

    "People of Arotsa! The Vindians are trying to scare us with monsters, but they don¡¯t know that we are the true monsters! If it bleeds! IT DIES!"

    Dave¡¯s speech calmed the people down a bit. But there was still fear in their eyes.

    A notification appeared in front of Dave.

    ***

    Your Maestro of War title has been disabled due to the increased legacy quest¡¯s difficulty.

    You cannot increase the troops¡¯ morals with mere words. (You gotta put some effort into it mate.)

    ***

    Dave cursed inwardly, both at the snarkyment in his notification screen and due to the failure of his title activating. How was he supposed to lift the troops¡¯ morals with action?

    He still understood what he had to do to boost the troop¡¯s morals. He had to show them that the monsters can be killed, otherwise, the crippling fear will lower their performance in the war.

    A horn blew from the backline of the Vindian army, sounding the start of the assault on the capital of Arotsa, Muliner.

    The hundreds of green monsters ran like a herd of enraged rhinoceroses at the city gate. The ground trembled with every step the several ton heavy creatures made.

    "Dementi, takemand!" Dave ordered.

    "Yes, your majesty." Dementi turned to one of her underlings and ordered, "Shoot the trebuchets! Archers! Use fire arrows and fire at will!"

    A volley of enmed arrows rained down on the iing monsters. The arrows bounced off the hides of the green monsters, some even pierced through their green skin but it didn¡¯t slow any of these monsters. One boulder from a trebuchet smashed into the head of one of these monsters caving it in. Another monster that was running behind it, agilely jumped above the dying green ram.

    One of these green monsters was much faster than the rest, it arrived first and jumped toward the wall of the city. It attached itself to the wall like a locust on a wall and used its sword sized ws to climb up the wall. The archers shot fire arrows at it but most of the arrows bounced off its armored carapace.

    The rest of the monsterstched into the city walls and started their climb. The soldiers poured hot oil on the masters, melting their skin and causing many to fall to the ground, screaming unwholesomely in pain. But the oil and burning liquids wasn¡¯t enough to kill them so they climbed back up, with more wrath and rage at the soldiers who just hurt them.

    One monster managed to set foot on the wall, it began swatting away the archers that were surrounding it killing every archer with a swing. When no more archers had the will to attack it, the monster jumped into the city. The creature however, was unlucky as it fell right into a pitfall trap, it got skewered and died instantly.

    Dave was standing on the wall right next to the gate. He was desperately trying to calm the archers who were afraid of the monsters. A green monster just managed to set foot on the wall Dave was on.

    "Your majesty, back away!" Orn said and shed down at the monster¡¯s head with his sword.

    Orn¡¯s sword bounced off the monster¡¯s head. Enraged, the monster wed down at Orn who blocked with his sword but was still forced to his knees from the strength behind the monster¡¯s arm.

    Dave didn¡¯t like how this was going, so he had to intervene.

    He went past Orn and grabbed at the monster¡¯s extended arm, piercing through its eye with his ck sword. The creature covered its face, screeching from the unsupportable pain it was going through. Dave took the opportunity as the monster was distracted and shoved his ck sword into its throat and shed out. Ripping the monster¡¯s gorge out.

    Blood gushed out like a fountain as the monster fell outside the city walls, dead.

    The archers atop the wall were surprised by Dave¡¯s action. He killed the monster that they all feared alone. It was shameful that they feared what their king didn¡¯t.

    ***

    Your actions increased the troop¡¯s morals. They can now fight at full power.

    (That¡¯s my boy!)

    ***

    Dave ignored the notification, there were many other monsters climbing the walls. He swung his sword sideways sttering the blood on the sword into the stone floor. More monsters climbed the walls, but now the soldiers were braver in fighting against them. And when they killed their first, it encouraged them to kill more.

    Samael shouted, "Fight for your country, Fight for your king!"

    "Huraaaaaaaaaaaaa!"

    The soldiersid down their lives holding off the monsters from climbing. But the monsters were agile and fast. A few managed tond inside the city and spread through the streets. But there were thousands of soldiers waiting for them with ballistae at the ready.

    Dementi ran to Dave who just finished off another monster and said, "Your majesty, someone is mounting one of these monsters."

    Dementi pointed at a monster, there was a man leading the monster toward the gate. Strapped to the monster were dozens of ck barrels. Dave¡¯s eyes widened in realization.

    Dave shouted at the top of his lungs, "ARCHERS! SHOOT IT DOWN WITH FIRE ARROWS!"

    Archers shot volleys of arrows at the monster, but most of them bounced off and the ones thatnded on the barrels bounced off.

    "KEEP SHOOTING!"

    But it was toote, the monster arrived under the city gate. A momentter, a thundering explosion sted the portcullises and the archers on top of them. Dave was standing on the wall right next to it, so he was affected by the explosion and was knocked off the walls and into one of the city streets.

    Everything went dark for Dave.

    Somehow, the fall didn¡¯t kill him, he still felt a numbing pain assaulting his back. His vision was distorted, and his ears were ringing. When his vision cleared, Dave, down on his back was looking right into the eyes of one of those green monsters. The creature reared back, lifting its wed arm, then shed down at Dave...

 Chapter 275 The last Stand

    Dave¡¯s ears were ringing, his vision was dark, he could do nothing but gaze at the iing w. A broken curved sword entered his vision and shed against the iing w, swatting it away.

    "Your majesty!" Gale shouted, he pulled Dave by the shoulder away from the monster.

    Dave couldn¡¯t utter a word, he was feeling dizzy as he was dragged away by Gale

    Orn faced the monster head on, fighting to a standstill

    Suddenly, another monster came to join the fight. Orn grunted, in fending the two monsters off and was shed through the te mail he wore. Deep wounds gushed out blood from the back of the knight.

    Orn however, the monster he is didn¡¯t even grunt from the pain. He grabbed a spear that wasying near his foot and used the two weapons to fight the two monsters alone.

    A blood covered Samael, limed toward Dave asking," Your majesty, are you alright."

    Dave nodded with difficulty.

    "Take his majesty away from the battle, we will hold the line here!" Samael gave an order.

    Gale supported Dave by the shoulder and moved away from the battlefield.

    "The troops, they have to retreat deeper into the city," Dave said to Gale.

    "Yes your majesty, I will see to it. You there!" Gale called a knight over and told him Dave¡¯smand.

    "How is Dementi?" Dave asked.

    "She jumped away from the explosion, she is fine."

    "Good, tell her to initiate the retreat n."

    "As youmand." Gale left Dave at the hands of a few medics. They took him inside a tent where they treated soliders. There were many men and women, with missing limbs, crying in pain or even outright dying over the table.

    The two medics cleared on table for Dave, removed his armor and ced him on top of the table.

    One of the medics removed Dave¡¯s tunic, exposing his bruised back. It was cut in several ces and there were some bulges on it.

    The quest was a perfect imitation of the real world. The fall from over the tower must have broken a few of Dave¡¯s back ribs.

    "Your majesty, I will pour a healing potion on the bruises, it¡¯s going to hurt."

    "Just do it," Dave said to the medic.

    The two medics nodded to each other and poured a green potion on top of the wounds on Dave.

    Dave tightened his grip on the table, as the medicine did its job. His skin hissed as the green liquid was poured on top of it. His bones cracked and snapped back to their location. The numbing pain soon turned to itching and the bruises were no more.

    Dave took a deep breath. Now he could move without feeling much pain from his back.

    Dave turned over and asked one of the medics, "If you have such powerful potions, why not use them on the soliders?"

    "Your majesty, we only had one of these potions."

    Dave turned to the dying man and said, "Then why didn¡¯t you tell me, I could have survived this. It was just a few broken bones. That man would have had a better use for the potion!" Dave angrily shouted.

    "Y-your majesty, please I did as I was told," the medic said.

    A low wheezing sound came from right next to Dave. It was the gutted dying man. "Your majesty. I am honored by yourpassion, but do know that because of thispassion, I would rather die a thousand time than see you in pain." The man went into a coughing fit.

    "Please don¡¯t talk," the medic said.

    "No, your majesty. The people love you, if I die, that¡¯s my duty as a knight of Arotsa. But if harmes to you, that will mean the end of all of us. So please, live..." the man trailed. There was no light in his eyes anymore.

    "Shit," Dave cursed. "Give me my armor!" the two medics brought Dave¡¯s armor to him.

    He wore the armor and walked out of the tent. Some knights that thought Dave had died now cheered very loudly as they saw him emerging well from the tent.

    "Your majesty, are you alright?" Gale asked.

    "Yes, where is Orn?"

    "He killed the two monsters at the gate your majesty. But.

    "But what?" Dave frowned.

    "He was severely wounded, and couldn¡¯t make it."

    Anger boiled inside Dave like a ragingva torrent but his face was expressionless, it was colder than steel.

    "Has Dementimenced the retreat protocol?"

    "Yes, your majesty, all the troops have retreated and the enemy is going through the gate.

    "Good, send word for her, start the second part of the protocol."

    "As youmand." Gale nodded and went looking for Dementi.

    "Where¡¯s my horse?" Dave asked.

    "Here she is, your majesty." A knight in te led Nightmare by the reins.

    Dave mounted the horse and nudged her forward. He was headed toward the pce.

    When he arrived, he was met with Samael at the pce gate discussing something with Da.

    "Reporting to his majesty. We have lost the control over the city gate. The enemy is funneling inside and we can¡¯t stop them."

    "What about the monsters?"

    "They couldn¡¯t distinguish between allies and enemies inside the city so the Vindians made them retreat."

    "Our casualties?"

    Samael went silent for a moment then said, "Over 2,000."

    Dave cursed, that was more than a quarter of his remaining forces. He was left with about 6,000 troops. Most of them cavalry that were useless inside the city.

    Dementi arrived to the pce gate. Her waist was wrapped in bandages and had arge cut going down her face. But she didn¡¯t seem bothered by the wounds.

    "Your majesty, the second phase is about to start, I ordered the retreat of all the soldiers.

    "Alright, signal the start of the second phase." Dave said.

    Dementi pulled her bow from over her back and pointed at the sky. She shot a whistling arrow that signaled the start of the second operation.

    Momentster, explosions echoed through the city.

    Dave had ordered the stacking of the external buildings inside the city to be in explosive powder. By blowing them up, firstly, it will kill a lot of the enemy soldiers. And secondly it will create barriers for them halting their advancement.

    Fire and smoke rose up around the city making it look like a ring of fire. The ongoing smoke decreased visibility for both sides. But Dave¡¯s troops knew the cityyout and the traps position so they should still be able to fend of the enemies to an extent.

    Fights and skirmishes broke all over the city, but Dave could no longer do anything to halt the enemy¡¯s advance.

    "Build tents inside the pce courtyard and put the wounded there. Have our soldiers fight to a retreat toward the pce and concentrate inside. This will be ourst stand." Dave gave a desperate order. He knew there was no way for him to win this fight anymore. Not with those monsters.

    Checking the timer. He still had ten more hours before the quest end. Hopefully they can hold enough behind the pce walls.

    But in truth, all knew that the fight was not going in their favor, they all knew, that death was knocking on their doors.

 Chapter 276 A kings Valor

    Hours passed, in which Dave ordered the instation of wooden spikes. Behind these wooden spikes, archers and soldiers that could wield a bow were standing waiting for orders.

    A few of Dave¡¯s soliders would retreat back to the pce from the city streets. They were mostly wounded. And if one was still able to fight, he was given a bow and a quiver and was ordered to take a stand next to the others behind the wooden spikes.

    Dementi¡¯s archer unit was almost decimated. But the surviving force had retreated from the city walls and were now on top of the pce walls.

    The first Vindian solider emerged from the smoke spreading through the city. Two archers atop the city wall shot him dead.

    Other Vindian soldiers showed up after him, but they were all shot down. Soon after, a vindian unit poised behind tower shields moved toward the pce.

    Arrows rain down on them, picking off a few but the rest were able to move all the way to the wooden spikes in front of the pce.

    "KILL!" Dave roared.

    The soldiers wielding bows behind the wooden spiked walls, switched to their melee weapons and fought the Vindians in front of the city gate.

    The archers on top of the pce walls supported them with arrows from above.

    Dave equipped his sword and shield and fought on horseback. He sliced at any enemy soldier that came close. His horse kicked and bit at those that surrounded her. Arotsa soldiers joined their king in the melee fight. They gave their lives as they fought alongside their king.

    Swords shed against swords, and blood coated the city streets. Cries of battle and screames of pain sounded through the fight. It was like ying music to the god of battle.

    More enemy soldiers poured into the street in front of the pce. Arrows poured on them like rain but they still kept pouring into the fight reinforcing their numbers.

    Dave¡¯s units were at a numerical disadvantage, but he didn¡¯t care. He fought, killed and killed some more, but the Vindian forces seemed infinite.

    An arrow pierced Dave¡¯s shoulder, he grunted in pain but snapped the arrow leaving the head inside.

    "Fight soldiers of Arotsa! Fight to live! Fight for your brothers and sisters! Fight for yournd, fight!" Dave roared.

    Anther arrow prated Dave¡¯s back. He roared, channeling the pain and the wrath into vigor as he fought like a madman.

    Blood coated his sword dulling it, but he used the tip to pierce through the enemy¡¯s eyes and exposed flesh. A soldier stabbed Nightmare through the chest with a spear. The mare fell on top of Dave. Samael, came over, killed the two enemy knights and pulled Dave back.

    "Retreat to the pce!" Samael shouted.

    Dave¡¯s forces funneled back into the pce and closed the gate. The Vindian forces grouped up together and waited for more of their troops.

    Dave was covered in his and the enemy¡¯s blood, his armor was bent in several areas and his cape was in tatters. His helmet was too stuffy so he removed it. His ck hair was mixed with dried blood and the white of his left eye was bloodied.

    "Your majesty, I think this is it for us," Samael said, he was smiling "That was a great fight your majesty, I never thought that your old bones can still muster such might."

    "Ah can it, Samael, but you are right, this is it for us."

    Dave didn¡¯t see a way out. He was outnumbered and outmatched. When the city gate fell, his advantage as a defender was null and void.

    The Vindians were pounding on the pce gate.

    "Here ites. Dave said and put on his helmet.

    Dave had barely two hundred soldiers inside the pce that could fight. The rest were wounded and unable to even hold a sword. This was a fight he knew he won¡¯t survive. Perhaps if he had some of his skills the oue would have been different. But nothing is fair in life.

    ¡¯Shit, guess that¡¯s it for the legacy quest. But why cry over spilled milk like a scrub when you can die a legend!¡¯ Dave gave himself a pep talk and waited for the gate to break.

    The pce gate spread wide open, the Vindians soldiers came rushing in.

    "FOR AROTSA!" Dave roared and charged first among his soldiers to death.

    The remaining Arotsa soldiers gained courage from Dave¡¯s decisiveness and followed after withparable madness.

    To death, to the gates of hell, they will walk through them not as mere men but as legends of Arotsa.

    Dave swung his sword at the first solider. But right before his sword could make contact.

    A notification popped up in front of him covering his vision. Dave panicked, the notification blocked his vision and might cause his death. But he felt no pain.

    Reading through the notification Dave felt weak in the knees. His vision darkened and he was transported out from the siege of Arotsa and into the Undeath god¡¯s bar club.

    "Kid, I never thought you could survive that long." The undeath god snickered.

    "Yeah, neither did I. Guess that was it?"

    "Yes kid. That was the end."

    Another notification was blinking in the corner of Dave¡¯s vision.

    "What will you do now, kid?"

    "I have no idea to be honest."

    "You should start by re-specing for now."

    "Yeah, you are right.. Guess I¡¯ll still see you around sometimes?" Dave asked.

    "Probably, we might meet again," The undeath god said.

    "Thanks for everything Nick," Dave said and clicked on the notification.

    ***

    Server Announcement!

    yer Kis¡¯Shtiengbrah has sessfullypleted the SS ss Undeath Legacy.

    Here he joins, the rank of the mightiest.

    May his name be forever remembered in the archives of history!

    ***

    Your ss [Death¡¯s Apostle] has been changed to:

    The unique ss [Battle Lich].

    Several of your skills have been changed. Please carefully read the ss description.

    You have earned

    600,000,000EXP!

    Level Up

    Level Up

    Level Up

    Level Up

    ...

    ***

 Chapter 277 Battle Lich

    277 Battle Lich

    Dave reappeared in the Dead Realm, right next to the bone pce. He could now see the resemnce of the capital Muliner of the Arotsa kingdom to the Undead City. There were several notification popping in front of Dave, Dave inspected the level up notifications and realized that he leveled up almost twenty levels, now he was level 346. The massive SS legacy quest gave him an incredible amount of EXP.

    All that was left was for him to check his new ss Upgrade.

    ***

    [Battle Lich]

    A lich is a caster ss that employs undead to fight for it as it uses spells to decimate their enemies. But A Battle Lich takes that concept and turns it upside down. Getting close and personal is the best approach of this ss as it can handle itself in melee or ranged fights.

    All of your skills have a [Dark] attribute to them. You cause 50% more damage to [Holy] affiliated monsters or NPC and receive 50% additional damage from the holy attribute or category.

    [Magic over Sword] (Passive) All of your magic skills have +20% increase in damage and potency.

    [Battle Lich] is part caster ss. You can now use 12 skills from skill books instead of the limited 10 for melee sses.

    ***

    Dave inspected another notification.

    ***

    Some of your basic skills have been changed to match with your current ss.

    Death Apostle passive ability [Life Siphon] has been changed to: [Drain]

    Death Apostle skill [Death Surge] has been changed to: [Blot the Sun]

    Death Apostle passive ability [Jeopardy] has been changed to [Dark Harvest]

    Basic character skill [Sword Lunge] has been changed to [Defile]

    Basic character skill [Concussive Blow] has been changed to [Raise Undead]

    ***

    "Huh, raise undead, now I can do what Dog does. Neat."

    Dave inspected the abilities.

    ***

    [Drain] imbue your weapon with the [Drain] ability, absorbing 50% of the damage dealt as Mana and HP. Skill cooldown 30 seconds.

    [Blot the Sun], summons the darkness of the underworld in a said area. Slowing all enemies by 66% for 5 seconds around the caster and rendering all [Holy] attributed skills useless for the duration. If a target receives the [Fear] effect while they are inside the [Blot the Sun] area. They will take 300% of the caster''s base weapon damage. Skill cooldown 3 minutes.

    [Dark Harvest] (Passive): Gain +5% damage increase for every target you kill. Can stack up to 5 times andst for 60 seconds or until another target has been in resetting the timer.

    After the fifth stack, the caster gains the ability [Soul Discharge], where he can detonate the souls he harvested in an area around him dealing 200% weapon damage. [Soul Discharge] cooldown 3 minutes.

    [Defile] Curses a target area, slowing enemies down for by 33% for five (5) seconds. After the five seconds, a barbed root will emerge coiling around any target standing over the defiled area. Dealing 200% weapon damage and applying [Laceration] for an additional 100% weapon damage as bleed over 5 seconds. Skill cooldown 3 minutes.

    [Raise Undead] summons a dead person back to Undeath. Skill cooldown 1 minute.

    Summoned undead through [Raise Undead] are not considered part of the Undead Legion if they die, the caster will have to summon others to replenish his forces.

    Summoned undead need to be constantly supplied with the caster''s mana to keep them in an active condition.

    [Named Undead] that you summon can be preserved and summoned continuously even if they fall.

    The skill [Raise Undead] is level 1. You can only summon 5 undead to serve you.

    [Final Phantasm] (Legacy Skill) the radius of 100 meters around the yer bes a part of the Undeath God''s domain. Summoning his presence to the field where he can aid you in your fight against your enemies. Cooldown 72 hours.

    ***

    "What the fuck? Why do I get only one legacy skill?" Dave was astonished.

    Warlord had only an S ss legacy and was able to use several powerful legacy skills. Even Tess and Mercy had several legacy skills, while he only had one.

    "ALFRED!" Dave called

    ***

    AI Alfred has been disabled, please call the AI ALBERT for assistance.

    ***

    "Ah, I forgot about that, ALBERT!"

    Dave called. A man that was frighteningly simr to ALFRED showed up. Only this one wasn''t wearing the sparrow tail tux.

    He wore shades and his white hair was tied in a man bun. Instead of a suit, he had yellow Hawaiian T-shirt and blue shorts. Flowers strung together in a cor around his neck and in his hand was a coconut that had a straw in it. He wore flipflops and looked ridiculously out of ce in the Dead Realm.

    Albert sipped from the coconut and asked. "Alloha! What can I do for you mate?"

    "Aloha?"

    "Yeah, just came back from a vacation and couldn''t get rid of this habit. Say, what''s the problem?"

    "Yeah, It''s about my legacy quest, why do I have only one legacy skill? It''s a SS ss legacy"

    "And here I thought it was something serious, listen Death Stroke, you ever heard the term Quality over Quantity? Your legacy skill is strong enough to fair against several legacy skills at once, you should try it sometime."

    "Oh, I never thought about that. Also, why the hell did you guys remove the I know it All title? That''s a lot of stats that just went poof!"

    "Ha, I like that expression, went poof. See, it was unfair to many of the older yer generation, we had to remove the 5% bonus to bnce out the stats. We also gave the yers the opportunity to gain the extra stats they missed out through their gamey."

    "Bnce again, man I don''t like that word."

    "Neither do I, my brother went mad because he tried to bnce everything. But I''m not like him. As long as you don''t cheat, you can do whatever the hell you want."

    Dave felt sincerity from the old man and said "Thanks for all."

    "d to be of help, enjoy your game Death Stroke." Albert disappeared from in front of Dave.

    "Okay guess it''s time for me to re-spec.

    Dave checked his status screen. Seeing he had 692 unassigned attribute points, he decided to respec himself ording to his new ss.

    Dave thought for a moment, considering his ss was oriented toward magic and sword he opted to bnce out his INT and STR.

    Dave put 140 points from his unassigned AP into STR. It became 750.

    He added 340 more to his INT, bumping it also to 750.

    He was left with 202 points.

    He bumped 90AP into WIS to increase his mana pool and 90 into DEX to increase the new DEX passive [Reflexive Evasion] to 5%.

    Dave''s new status screen became like this:

    Name Death Stroke Level 346

    CLass Battle Lich Race Undead/Human

    Stamina ¡Þ MANA 34200

    Health 436600 STR 750

    INT 750 WIS 500

    DEX 500 AGI 410

    Physical Def 12001 Magic DEF 6001

    HP Regen 1% Mana regen 1%

    Stamina regen ¡Þ Prestige/Honor 1,800

    Unassigned AP 22

    Titles Shield Boarder

    War Maestro

    Pride of the Undead

    Thanks to Dave''s equipment he was as strong as a level 420 yer.

    "Kis''Shtiengbrah," Samael''s voice sounded form behind Dave. Dave''s heart skipped a beat he was so engrossed in his status screen that he didn''t notice the gray robe ghoul standing right next to him.

    "Could you please not do that!" Dave said.

    "Yeah, my bad. Say what will you be doing right now?" Samael asked.

    "I don''t know. I thought about getting my boys and kill some monsters in the underworld."

    "Great, you are thinking about strengthen yourself, that ismendable. But before you go, Da asked me to bring you over."

    "Oh, alright."

    Dave smelled a quest so he followed after Samael.

    The two of them climbed up the bone pce and entered the throne room.

    Dave felt a bit of unease when he saw the king sitting on the throne. His eyes were still unrecognizing toward Dave. Da was right next to the king. The two of them were talking and stopped when Samael entered.

    "Samael, why bring such a lesser undead to Our presence?"

    "Your majesty, I requested his presence," Da said and approached Dave.

    "For what purpose?" The king asked.

    "Your majesty, I still remember this one''s kindness, he saved us from limbo and must be rewarded." Da said.

    When he stood next to Dave, Da happily said, "You have the aura of a new Lich now! Kis''Shtiengbrah, you became more powerful!"

    Dave smiled and said "Thank you Da, I hope to be as strong as you one day."

    "Don''t limit yourself to such low aims, you can be much stronger than I ever was. I feel the power of a divinity in you. Your power can be limitless! Here this should help you in your journey."

    Da handed Dave a ne with a purple jewel.

    The moment Dave inspected it, his jaw threatened to drop to the floor.

    ***

    Nes of the Untold Fate

    Bound to: Kis''Shtiengbrah/Death Stroke

    Tier : Celestial

    Attributes: +200 INT + 200WIS

    [Changed Fate] using this skill has 50% of activating either effect: Doubler or Juggler.

    Doubler: one attribute of your choice will be doubled for 30 seconds.

    [Juggler] all attribute points you have will be imbibed into one attribute of your choice (Exception Stamina/Mana and HP)

    ***

    ''Celestial level item, this is the first time I ever saw something of this rank. And what the fuck is that broken skills!'' Dave could barely suppress the urge to hug the arch lich Da.

    "I hope you like this, young lich."

    "Thank you, thank you a lot, Da."

    "Ha! Don''t worry about it." Da said as he patted Dave on the shoulder, "My master gave me this before he disappeared, and now I think you can use it for the Legion."

    "Don''t worry Da, I''ll use this properly."

    Dave equipped the ne. The purple crystal shone bright for a moment then the glow retracted to a purple hue around the round jewel.

    "Father, when are we going to attack the church?" Eleanor came from a side door inside the throne room.

    Dave was surprised for a moment, he didn''t expect to see Eleanor here. The Undeath God must have delivered her here.

    "Not now, daughter. We still have many matters to tend to, but worry not. We shall avenge your suffering with these very hands of ours."

    Eleanor turned and spotted Dave.

    "Kis''Shtiengbrah, it''s good to see you again."

    "You know this draugr? Daughter?"

    "Huh? Father, you sent this one to escort me and protect me. He saved me many times. Can you not remember?"

    The undead king shook his head.

    "It''s alright Eleanor, I am d you are doing alright," Dave said.

    "Your majesty, I asked for the presence of this Childe for another reason," Da said.

    "Speak," the king said.

    "This Childe has brought us information about rituals happening in the Pharaoh''s Crypt. Toplete the conquest of the Underworld, we need to capture that area for our own."

    "We have yet to retake the Red Fortress from the demons controlling it, We cannot spare units to do another conquest."

    "Your majesty," Samael said, "You don''t need to send any units. I know this Childe, he had conquered the Undead Frontier and aided in conquering the Red Fortress. I believe he can manage the Pharaohs Crypt alone."

    Dave''s brows arched wayyyy up, ''Bruh, the first raid zone I got help from Drahma and the second raid zone it was basically Da''s army that took over it. Shit, you are expecting way too much from me man!''

    "Then so be it, to gain Our trust, seed in conquering the Pharaoe''s Crypt." The Undead King said after waving a hand.

    ''Aaaand shit, here we go again. Another mission impossible. Crap, I hope the boyz are in top shape. This is gonna be damn hard."

    "Your majesty, onest thing." Da said and extended his hand toward Dave.

    Dave tilted his head he didn''t know what Da wanted from him.

    "Hand me the egg, it needs more power to hatch."

    Dave hesitated for a moment but he trusted in Da, and gave him the ck dragon egg.

    "Your majesty, you promised to nourish this Egg by the magic of the Death Heart."

    "Though We remember not, We believe in you, friend. If We promised, We shall need to follow up on it." The undead king waved a hand and the egg disappeared from Da''s hand.

    "I will call you when the egg hatches, Kis''Shtiengbrah," Da said.

    "Thank you."

    "Alright, off you go, I will lead my army again to retake the Red Fortress. You have to seed in your mission Kis''Shtiengbrah." Da said.

    ***

    Quest difficulty A

    Minimum conditions required: Death Knight rank. Level 350.

    Level rmended 450

    You were tasked to capture the third raid zone of the Underworld Pharaoh'' Crypt.

    You have 7(in-game) days to seed in your mission.

    ***

    Dave nodded to everyone and dismissed himself thinking, ''Damn, I still need four more levels to be at the minimum for the quest. Time to get the boyz, I''ll grind some EXP first, then raid the crypt.''

    End of book 2 (Fall and Rise of a legion)

 Chapter 278 Danger Kitty Appears

    278 Danger Kitty Appears

    In front of Moria''s gates, an enormous army of yers was gathering together. Carriage horses carried merchandise and rations for the army. This was the first day of the Eastern Kingdom conquest.

    Several high-level yers were standing around a table that had a map spread over it.

    "Where is Warlord?!" a man in blue robes asked.

    "I''m here, Demetri, what''s the situation?" A young man in ck armor and a battle ax strapped to his back walked up next to Demetri.

    "The Blood Rager guild has already moved. They will be clearing the area from monsters first."

    "Oh, that Zhang Shi chose to go into the Wilds first?"

    "Yes, my contract with him was mainly to use his yers to clear the way. I will be counting on the Devastators to take over the east for me."

    "Don''t worry, we will do our best to take the kingdom."

    "I don''t need your best! I need you to do it." Demetri sounded irritated for some reason.

    "Valentine," Demetri called.

    "Yes?" the pink armored guardian replied.

    "We should get going soon. Otherwise, the Blood Rager guild will be too far from us to support them with yers if they end up meeting with the ck Dragon."

    "The White Ghost is with them, you don''t need to worry about the dragon. He said he has a way to deal with it. The problem is the route we are going to take."

    "What do you mean?" Demetri asked.

    "If we go through here," Valentine pointed at a spot on the map "We will be killed off by the spiders living in this territory. We should take a detour."

    "Wouldn''t that separate us from the Blood Ragers."

    "The Blood Ragers will not take the path through the spider territory. I already spoke to the White Ghost he also said that they won''t be going through the Spider territory. But will pass close to it. We should be able to meet them at the halfway point from the Eastern Kingdom"

    "I just don''t understand why we are separating our forces; we should have gone as one."

    "That would risk the annihtion of the entire army," Valentine said.

    "I am not much of hardcore a yer but I don''t see how an army of 100,000 yers can be annihted," Demetri said, he was a corporate agent, not a hardcore gamer.

    Warlord replied, "If we gather together, it will cause all the monsters in the Wilds to flock around us. Separating our forces will split the numbers of monsters and also will lure the ck Dragon toward the first portion of the army we sent."

    "Taking care of the Dragon is our first priority, that''s why the White Ghost, even as a Heaven Dawn guildmember went with the Blood Ragers to help in this situation."

    "Warlord," A ck armored sword master came to the nning table and said, "We have news, the Dragon showed up, I have a disy sphere we can use to see what''s going on, on their side."

    "y it," Demetri said to the swordsman.

    The swordsman pulled out a crystal sphere from his inventory and channeled some mana in it activating it. The sphere floated and projected what was going on in the Wilds.

    A priest in white robes with blue linings was standing at the front of thousands of yers in red.

    Next to him was a yer in red ceremonial robes and a katana strapped to his waist, it was Zhang Shi.

    The ck dragon had already set foot on the ground in front of the army and was roaring at them. The yers were stuck frozen in ce, they were affected by the Terror aura that was being released constantly from the dragon.

    The priest in white spread his arms wide, a glowing orb materialized behind him and grew into the avatar of a silver-haired woman wearing a white dress. The woman glowed brightly as the sun in the Wilds and covered the entire army in a glowing aura, lifting the fear effect on the yers from the dragon''s passive.

    "Is he trying to fight it?" Demetri asked.

    "No, that would be suicide," Warlord replied.

    The dragon reared back roaring again, opening its jaws, an orb of ck fire coalesced in front of the dragon growing to surpass the dragon''s own size in moments. The sky trembled as ck clouds gathered above the dragon. Thunder sounded and lightning sparked across the ck clouds.

    The Blood Ragers looked stressed, most of them started using their buff and defensive skills to counter the dragon''s attack but the White Ghost didn''t look the least disturbed. He pulled out an old scroll from his inventory and slowly unraveled it.

    The White Ghost roared a single word, "BANISH!"

    A swirling tornado raged out from the scroll, consuming the heat from the fireball and instantly dissipated it. Suddenly, the massive dragon roared, its ws dug deep into the ground resisting the pulling force from the scroll. A glint of panic shed in the dragon''s eyes. It had never seen such powerful magic before and it was now facing the unknown.

    The old and ancient Dragon tried to shoot more spells at the paper but they were all sucked in and the dragon kept sliding toward the paper.

    The swirling tornado, as if it were sentient and angry that the dragon was resisting its pull. Grew up to ten times the size, dragging the dirt, rocks, trees and the dragon toward it with more power and speed.

    The dragon faltered for a moment, but that was all it took for the tornado to suck him into the scroll.

    The scroll vibrated as a ck light shone from it. Suddenly the scroll disappeared from White Ghost''s hands.

    "Great, that went perfectly. Let''s keep going, the dragon won''t bother us for at least one week. It should be more than enough to reach the Eastern Kingdom," White Ghost said.

    "Nice!" Demetri tightened his fist.

    "What was that scroll?" the swordmaster asked.

    "That''s a Forbidden Chapter. They are one time use skills, we have some too," Valentine said.

    "Then why didn''t we use that for the dragon?" the swordmaster said.

    "Who are you?" Demetri asked, "I''ve never seen you before with the devastators and don''t think you are of high enough rank to be here."

    "Sorry, my yer name is ster, and I am a newly promoted division captain."

    "It''s alright Demetri," Valentine said, "This guy has been with the devastators since our early days."

    Ralph was surprised that Valentine knew him.

    "Listen, ster, Forbidden Chapters are never the same. Every one of these scrolls has a unique skill. The ones we have aren''t suitable for fighting the dragon. The one that the White Ghost used is called Banishment Command. It takes a creature and seals it in an alternate reality for one week."

    "He must have gotten lucky to get one. Anyway, guild masters, I''ll excuse myself," Ralph said and left the three to talk together.

    A man riddled in tribal tattoos and wore monster pelts for armor walked up to the three.

    "Wan Yi, you finally decide to join us," Demetri said.

    "I''m not a fan of tactical thinking. That''s Ghost''s job. So, the dragon''s down. Aren''t we moving?"

    "Yeah, we will move now. Call the entire army to march through the wilds. It''s time we take down the east," Demetri said.

    The army moved in square formations of one thousand yers a time. Every one thousand yers made a regiment. The Devastators and Heaven''s dawn guilds wereposed of 33 divisions each. They moved a hundred meters away from each other and into the wilds.

    The first division had some of the strongest yers in the world of conquest. They cleared the way for the rest of the regiments as they ughtered the monsters of the wild left and right.

    Slowly but surely, the army was making its way through the wild with rtive ease. They have yet to meet any powerful monster that required them effort to deal with.

    The power behind thousands of yers was enough to eradicate most of the monsters stupid enough to attack them alone.

    Several yers had already racked up high levels of the wild''s debuff [Stench of the Weak] which only served to beckon more powerful monsters over time.

    Twelve hours into the Wilds, the Guild Alliance lost two hundred yers, a measly numberpared to their total. These dead yers were either weak or unlucky.

    They had reached a clearing in the wilds where they called for a rest. Going through the Wilds in the night was tantamount to suicide. So the army set camp. They were ordered to take a rest and continue the march at the breaking of Dawn.

    Demetri called for another gathering of all the leaders in this raid.

    Inside arge tent, six yers were seated next to each other around a table. They were Mercy, Tess, Valentine, Warlord, Demetri and Wan Yi.

    "We are doing great, our progress through the Wilds is actually much better than our experts expected. Even our losses are less than we feared." Demetri said. The Wilds weren''t as scary as he had thought.

    "You should fire that ''expert''," Mercy said.

    "What do you mean?"

    "If you think the Wilds is this easy to raid, why didn''t any guild take over it? You should know that we are at the rim of the Wilds. Once we are inside the Deep Wilds, that''s when you will see the real terror of this area."

    "You sound like you have been into the Deep Wilds, before."

    "Oh, she has." A growling voice sounded right next to Demetri.

    Turning there was nothing but empty space, but suddenly that empty space vibrated, revealing a figure that was standing upright. It was twice the size of Demetri and towered over everyone in the tent.

    He was a blend of a human and a lion. Tawny golden locks and fur darker than the night. ws sharp as swords and a grinning muzzle of deadly fangs. His lion mane was done in thick dreadlocks tied with ribbons and beads.

    Everyone around the table with the exception of Mercy and Tess hopped to their feet taking defensive positions, they didn''t know when this half man half lion came from or how he infiltrated into the main tent of the army.

    "What the fuck is this?" Demetri shouted.

    "Leonard," Mercy said, "Still can''t find Kurukuru?"

    Everyone went silent, Mercy knew this creature, this eased their tension, because this very creature was level 550, and could easily kill them all on without breaking a sweat.

    "Yes. But could you tell me how did you notice my tracking mark?" Leonard said, his grin never disappeared.

    "Well, it was actually the guy riding the Fiend that noticed it," Tess said.

    "Hmm, right, he looked like a smarty. So, tell me, I believe our deal still stands?"

    "We don''t have the right to talk about the deal, you should speak to that boy if you want to know about his decision to help you or not," Tess shrugged. She didn''t forget Dave''s instruction. Never give the lion man any information that could be counted as ''helping'' him in tracking the mantis.

    "Too bad I already lost his smell, he would have made a fine addition to my collection." Suddenly a loud screech sounded from outside the tent.

    The yers in the tent couldn''t move to see what was going on. The monster between them had his name in big red letters, it was hostile and so far, it hadn''t attacked them. They wanted to keep it that way and decided not to do any sudden moves.

    Warlord and Valentine were already talking about countermeasures and ways to escape the man-lion through party chat.

    A yer in leather armor entered the tent shouting, "There is a monster-'' but the yer couldn''t finish his words as he saw the ck man-lion standing in the tent.

    Mercy asked the ranger, "What kind of monsters?"

    Regaining hisposure, the ranger said, "It''s a giant praying mantis."

    "HA! I knew it, that bastard wille to feed itself here. It''s full of weak prey. Time to hunt." The ck lion disappeared from view.

    The ranger was pushed away from the tent exit, it meant that the lion had left.

    "What the fuck was that?" Demetri asked.

    "That''s one of the dangers of the deep Wilds, I never thought he would leave the Deep Wilds ande here.

    You should order the yers not to attack him, nor attack the mantis. They will just die." Mercy said.

    "And you know that how?" Warlord asked.

    "Because both of these things hunted us for days in the Deep Wilds. Now are you going to send the order or not? Believe me, these two can kill hundreds of yers in minutes."

    Demetri used the voice chat and shouted, "Give the order to all yers, cease aggression against the praying mantis and the lion. Do not attack them no matter what, even if they attack you do not retaliate and just run!" Demetri said.

    The mantis screeches echoed through the night. Leaving the tent, all the yers saw the two creatures fighting a deadly battle. Leonhard was swinging its massive dagger at the mantis that blocked and sliced back with its ws. The two blinked several times, smashing into tents and killing any unfortunate yer that was caught in their fight.

    The praying mantis received a serious wound, Leonard had shoved his dagger into the mantis'' belly. Suddenly, an idiotic yer thought it was a good chance to secure an easy kill. He shot an arrow at the mantis.

    Leonard, enraged from the dishonorable disy, disappeared from in front of the mantis and stabbed with his dagger into the head of the yer, instantly executing him.

    Turning back for his prey, the mantis was no longer there, it had already taken flight and disappeared into the night.

    "ROAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAR!" the lion roared in anger.

    "Shit, you went and done it now," Mercy said.

    The lion, mad at the fact that his prey escaped, began a ughter through the Devastator and the Heaven Dawn guild.

    Tess said, "Order your yers to retreat and leave a few to hold Leonard for a bit. Otherwise, you will start losing more yers than you want. Don''t fight, just stall him until he cools off."

    She brought a whistle and blew on it. A centaur appeared next to her.

    "Derin, take us away from here," Tess said as she reached with her hand for Mercy to ride with her on the centaur.

 Chapter 279 A wilde monster appears!

    279 A wilde monster appears!

    "Where are you going?" Demetri asked the two.

    "What do you expect? You want me to fight that? No thanks, I''ll leave until he calms down and we''lle back." Tess said and nudged the centaur to ride through the wilds.

    Demetri was angry, not at Tess, because she was hired to help when they reach the eastern Kingdom. She had full freedom before then. But he was most angry at the idiotic yer that caused the ongoing ughter in his ranks.

    Three hourster, Tess came back with Mercy to the Guild Alliance campsite. Most of the tents were destroyed and stained in yers blood. But thankfully there was no sign of Leonard.

    "Finally, back from your night stroll?" Demetri said in a disgruntled tone.

    "What did you expect me to do? The contract states that we only have to fight when we are in the eastern kingdom," Tess said.

    "It wouldn''t have hurt to help us in this fight," Demetri replied.

    "No, we have a quest rted to this monster, we needed to be neutral," Mercy exined.

    "Whatever," Demetri couldn''tin. He was frustrated but it was as Tess said. The two S legacy holders didn''t have to help them.

    "What''s the death toll?" Mercy asked.

    "1,233 yer. Two hundred of them level 420 at least."

    "That''s a heavy blow to the alliance. But how did you chase away Leonard?"

    "He said we were too weak. He got bored and left to hunt the bug," Demtri said.

    "Sounds just like him. Demetri, dawn is about to break we should get going."

    "Right, I already ordered the troops to move in half an hour. We are doing inventory right now."

    "Where is Warlord?" Mercy asked

    "I don''t know, he must be with his guild members." Demetri replied. Two yers came up to Demetri and said, "The Devastator guildmaster warlord said that we need to move soon. Many yers are stacking the Stench debuff as we are waiting here. It''ll just bring more trouble to us if we remain here."

    "It''s still half an hour too early."

    "Let''s just move Demetri," Warlord came from behind the European guild master.

    "Wasn''t it you who stated that the night was a bad time to move our army?"

    "I already scouted the way ahead with Tess, it is clear. There are no monsters roaming this area of the wilds right now," Mercy said.

    Warlord nodded to Mercy.

    "Alright, alright, let''s get going. I don''t like spending more time here."

    The army moved soon after. Thousands of yers moved through the Wilds like an army of ants through a forest. They were organized and protective of each other. When a monster attacked, the yers would gank it, nuking it to 0HP in seconds.

    Thanks to the removal of the level difference, the yers were able to deal substantial damage to monsters and eliminate them with sheer numbers.

    The Wilds weren''t a dungeon, so the yer cap limit was not applicable to these monsters and could be swarmed with yers.

    After five hours march through the wilds. More yers fell to traps and powerful monsters. Death increased in the alliance guild numbers.

    Tess and Mercy rode on Derin the centaur. While Demetri, Warlord, Valentine and Wan Yi were riding horses.

    "I just received word from the Blood Ragers. They just entered the Deep Wilds," Demetri said.

    The Blood Ragers were a short distance far from the rest of the army. It would only take half an hour for Devastators and Heaven Dawn to reach their location.

    "Send word for all the units. Thing''s are about to get messy, tell them not to attack unless attacked," Mercy warned.

    Demetri nodded and gave amand to all the units to move with more prudence. Scouts were sent to clear the way before the army marched.

    "We made contact with the Blood Ragers," Demetri said. "They just destroyed a High Orc tribe."

    "Those are a pain in the ass, tell The White Ghost that he can''t let any of them alive. The wilds have hundreds of these orc tribes. Singund will not like it if he knows that another of his tribes was destroyed."

    "Who is Singund? And what do you mean by ''another tribe''?"

    "Singund, or Singund the Conqueror. He is the leader of all the High Orc tribes in the wilds. For your other question, me and some friends came here a while ago and killed off an entire tribe."

    Demetri received another voice call, he pressed his hand on his temple, listening.

    "Shit, some orcs managed to escape. The Blood Ragers ran after them but couldn''t catch most of them. Some disappeared in the Wilds."

    "This is really bad," Mercy said. "We need to pick up our pace. You really don''t want to fight a coalition of orc tribes in the wilds. Even if you win, it''s going to cost you a lot of yers."

    The army kept marching through the wilds. In front of them, smoke rose from a burning vige. This was the High Orc tribe. Just as they entered into the vige a notification popped in front of Mercy.

    ***

    You are entering the Deep Wilds

    The Deep Wilds is a dangerous area.

    You are the 55,223rd to enter this area.

    Enter at your own risk.

    ***

    "Alright, here ites," Demetri said.

    In front of them was arge field of weed and grass that reached up to yer shoulders.

    The Blood Ragers army was standing right in front of this enormous field of tall grass.

    White Ghost and Zhang Shi came over to meet with the leaders of the Devastators and Heaven Dawn.

    White Ghost rejoined his Heaven Dawn Guild, leaving Zhang Shi standing in front of the other guild leaders and S legacy holders.

    "Why aren''t you moving?" Demetri asked.

    "We sent a couple of scouts through the field." Zhang Shi said, "They died without knowing what killed them."

    "How are we going to cross?" Demetri mumbled.

    "I suggest we do what a certain draugr would have done in our situation," Mercy said.

    "You are talking about Kis''Shtiengbrah?" Warlord said through grit teeth, the defeat at the Undead Frontier was a heavy blow to the number one yer of Conquest.

    "Yeah, I partied with him for a while and I understand him a bit better," Mercy said.

    "Then what do you suggest?" Demetri said.

    "Burn it all to the ground and force whatever is hiding in the grass to show up," Mercy said.

    "Yeah, it sure does sound like Skelly, that guy burnt down a whole forest because of spiders." Tess giggled as she remembered Fortress recounting to her their adventure through the wilds and their escape from the Spider Queen.

    "That''s risky, we might anger what''s hiding in the grass and it will cause us more unwanted trouble," Wan Yi said.

    "What the hell are you bbering, you think that whatever is hiding in the grass isn''t angry already? Two yers already died. We got to burn it down." Tess said.

    "Mercy is right," Valentine said. "Burn the field and force the monster out, if we are lucky it might escape."

    "All yers with fire attribute skills and spells are to set the grass field on fire. This is an order!" Demetri gave amand to the whole guild alliance through the global raid channel.

    The yers began shooting fireballs and fire spells. Archer shot fire arrows and the melee yers threw lit torches at the field.

    Tess waved her hand summoning a scepter and chanted "Burn brighter than light and hotter than the sun, BE SUNDERED!"

    A gigantic fire orb materialized in the middle of the field and roiled around itself, sapping coldness from the air and drying everything in the vicinity. The yers began sweating the more the fire orb twirled around itself. The temperature increased to massive degrees that some of the clothes on yers caught fire.

    The melee yers withdrew far away from the grass field that was now smoking. Secondster, the grass caught fire and an infernal heat burst out from the orb setting every grass ame. The field turned to a simtion of an inferno on earth.

    Squeals and screeches sounded from the grass field. Through the white smoke, yers could see the grass moving anding toward them at a breakneck speed.

    A creature emerged from the grass, it was half as tall as a man and looked like a raptor. The only exception was that this ''raptor'' had small wings instead of short arms.

    The raptor hissed at the yers but was instantly killed when two high-level yers shoved their swords into the raptor''s neck.

    A screech loud enough to awaken the dead sounded from the infernal field. The earth trembled as something massive and heavy moved through the smoke. A roar echoed blowing the fire and Tess''s skill to nothingness revealing a behemoth of a monster.

    This thing looked exactly like the raptor that was just killed. Only thousands of times bigger.

    ***

    WARNING! WORLD BOSS HTANAJNA HAS APPEARED!

    You may obtain incredible loot by defeating the world boss Htanajna

    ***

    A wave of energy spread from the world boss and shaped itself like a ss dome. It locked several yers inside with the boss. Some yers tried to break through the dome but couldn''t.

    Mercy inspected the monster.

    ***

    Htanajna

    Level: 650

    Tier: WORLD BOSS

    Base damage: 300,000-400,000

    Danger Level: Absolut death!

    HP:???

    PD:???

    MD:???

    Skills:

    ???

    Lore

    ???

    ***

    The gigantic dino boss attacked the yers, stomping on some with its legs and burning others with a fire breath.

    "What the fuck is going on?" Demetri couldn''t understand what happened.

 Chapter 280 Sorry, Too busy...

    280 Sorry, Too busy...

    "This is the world boss [Territory] only 200 yers can fight it at a time. We need to leave now before it kills every yer. It will trap others inside with it. We didn''te to fight world boss Demetri!" Warlord shouted.

    "Right. Everyone, run across the field!" Demetri shouted.

    The yers all took the opportunity while the boss was upied with killing the 200 unlucky yers and ran through the field.

    Thankfully there were no more monsters or traps in the field so the yers safely made it across thank to the ''sacrifice'' of 200.

    "The fuck was that?"

    "I was also surprised but really, that''s to be expected. We are in the Deep Wilds Demetri."

    "Fuck, I really don''t want to regret raiding the east," Demetri said.

    "Don''t worry, our mission is to raid and control at least one city. When we set foot in the east and have a teleportation gate under our control. We can infinitely supply our forces with numbers," Valentine said.

    It was true. To take the east with a mere 100,000 yers was wishful thinking. The real reason behind this force was to set foot in the east and control a city where they can invade through the teleportation gate and spread across the east, weakening their defenses via infinite numbers of yers that can die over and over again.

    Setting foot in the east was just a step, a prelude to the fall of the whole region. This whole army was made for that sole purpose.

    The army crossed the field and entered a forest with thick foliage. When they got their bearings and reorganized, Demetri asked for the total yer death toll.

    "It''s more than 4,000 yers, most of them from the Blood Ragers as they were securing the way ahead for us," Valentine said.

    "Good, we are still in the clear. Let''s keep moving we can''t stay here. If the World Boss appears again, we might get eradicated." Demetri said.

    Warlord led his horse next to Mercy ad Tess.

    "You said you partied with Skelly right?"

    "Yep, the two of us did. But I won''t be giving you any info about him, his skills or any of the sort."

    Warlord shook his head, "No, I don''t need that. Otherwise, it''ll be unfair when I fight him again."

    "You want to fight Skelly?"

    "Yeah, he got lucky thest time. He was just a low-level scrub, but he had a powerful skill. This time I will be prepared."

    "Well, the skelly you know is no longer the same. You can''t beat him," Mercy said

    "I know he got a legacy, even if it is SS ss. But he can still be defeated," Warlord replied.

    "No, the legacy has nothing to do with this. The real reason why you can''t beat skelly is because you aren''t ying the way he does. Well, to be more exact, you no longer y the same way he does," Mercy said.

    "What do you mean?" Warlord said.

    Valentine approached and said, "She means that you no longer y for the fun of it. For the thrill Conquest used to bring us. I noticed this a long while ago Warlord."

    "Fun? We''re leaders of a guild; we have many responsibilities and obligations. When do we have the time to have fun?" Warlord snorted.

    "You''re jealous," Tess said with a snicker.

    "Me? You''re speaking bullshit." Warlord was about to lead his horse away from the yers when Mercy added.

    "Be honest Warlord. Don''t you wish to let go, of all of this? And y the game to fulfill your own ambitions instead of the ambitions of some corporate big cats."

    Warlord grit his teeth but couldn''t find an answer.

    "Skelly is doing all the stuff you can''t do. Hating him for it is not fair for both of you. If I were you, Warlord, I''d try to make my own legacy instead of being jealous or want to destroy someone else''s," Tess said.

    Tess might look like an easy-going girl with not a care in the world, but the words she just spoke were deep and struck some sensitive nerves on Warlord. He already knew what she was saying is right, but his own ego was blinding him from the truth for far too long now.

    "Why didn''t Skelly join the raid? Even if he was low level, he has a keen eye for strategy and tactics. I believe that he could have been a great aid to our conquest," Demetri said.

    "My father already invited him to join but he refused," Mercy shrugged.

    "Do you have his contact?" Demetri asked.

    "Yes, but I am not at liberty of sharing the contact," Mercy said.

    "I know, it will reveal his true yer identity, just put us through the speaker."

    Mercy called Dave and used the loudspeaker option. All the yers around the leaders leaned in to hear the conversation. The leader of the alliance is personally inviting skelly. That was a topic many will talk about.

    Sound of battle and swords shing, explosions went on and roars of thousands of creatures all sounded together echoing from the speaker on Mercy''s voice chat option.

    "Supp, Mercy" Dave''s grating voice sounded over the battle sounds.

    "Hey, Skelly. I am on speaker. The guild leader of the European army andmander of Conquest Super Guild alliance want to speak to you."

    "Is this about joining their raid? Sorry, no thanks."

    "Skelly," Demetri said. "Please consider, I am willing to pay you twice the amount you received for the Conquest Right if you help us in this raid with your undead."

    "DIE, BITCH!" Dave swore loudly.

    The eyes of every yer around Demetri widened.

    "Excuse me?" Demetri was taken aback. He couldn''t believe what he just heard.

    "Ah, sorry, not you. This stupid boss was a pain to kill. So, what were you saying?"

    "I said that I want you to-" but the guild master''s words were cut shortly after. A server announcement notification popped up in front of him.

    ***

    Congrattions to yer Kis''Shtiengbrah for sessfullypleting the Third Raid Zone of the Underworld.

    Pharaoh''s Crypt is now under the control of the Undead Legion.

    ***

    "Yeah, bro? Hey is the connection alright? Man, you are awfully quiet." Dave said through the voice chat. Every yer''s mouth was twitching. The draugr had just sessfully raided an entire zone of the underworld while talking on the phone¡­

 Chapter 281 Tusks Everywhere.

    281 Tusks Everywhere.

    "Mr. Skeletal, I really wish if you could join us in this raid," Demeteri said in a pleading tone.

    "Sorry bruh, still have a shit ton of stuff to do. And there''s one really nasty ass dragon that will not like me being there at all ."

    "We already took care of the dragon using a Forbidden Chapter called banishment. The dragon will not be able to get out from his dimensional prison for at least a week. You have nothing to fear," Demetri said.

    "Oh, it''s funny you said that. Banishment Forbidden Chapter. I just dealt with the very people who made that thing. And let me tell you one thing from the stuff I learned here. Don''t count on that thin paper to hold a dragon, otherwise, you will dearly regret it."

    Demetri frowned, he didn''t like what he was hearing.

    "You are just trying to scare us, Skelly, Forbidden Chapters are absolut! The dragon will stay stuck there," Wan Yi shouted.

    "Who''s that?" Dave asked.

    "This is the Heaven Dawn guild master, Wan Yi," the man in tribal tattoos said proudly.

    "Oh, I remember you, you''re the dumbass that tried to kill me and ended up getting spanked to death by the undead at the Undead frontier. Sorry to tell you, you''re not the smartest in the bunch. Listen up, consider this a free tip from your friendly neighborhood skeletal. You either get to the east disregarding all prudence and hope that at least half of your army reaches the east, or die from the rampage of a very bad, very nasty dragon. Mercy, go private." Dave finished his words.

    Mercy changed the loudspeaker option to private.

    "What''s going on Skelly?" Mercy asked.

    "Listen, Mercy, I know we aren''t on the best of terms. Shit, I don''t even think we are qualified to be friends. But I hate to see you getting wrecked by that dragon. I just found out shit ton of stuff about Forbidden Chapters. And that thing only works on creatures below the Ethereal rank. That dragon is stupidly strong if you stay with them, you''ll die. You still have the Urburg teleportation scroll?" Dave asked.

    "Yes, I still have one."

    "Good, save it, that''s the only teleportation scroll that can work in the wilds. How long was it since the dragon was trapped?"

    "One day now."

    "You have at most two more days before shit hits the fan. Your call, Mercy," Dave hung up.

    Wan Yi was raging at being called a dumbass and The White Ghost was calming him down.

    "Mercy," Demetri angrily called her name. "What the hell was that?"

    "I do not ount for Skelly''s behavior. However, he won''t lie."

    "Ghost! Could what skeletal said be true?"

    White Ghost turned to Demetri and said, "I don''t know. To be honest, it''s a possibility, but the scrolls are all one time use, we couldn''t ''test'' it even if we wanted."

    Demetri rubbed his temples and said.

    "We''ll have to increase our speed," Demetri said.

    "We will risk a lot of deaths," Warlord said.

    "No, Warlord. If there is a 1% chance that what skeletal said was true. Then we have to risk it. If we are slow in getting to the east and the dragon catches up. No one''s gonna be left alive."

    "What if he is bluffing," Wan Yi said.

    "He has nothing to gain from lying to us. No, on the contrary, wouldn''t that make us his enemy. I doubt Skeletal wants that." White Ghost said.

    "I agree with the White Ghost. We can''t risk staying here for long," Valentine said.

    Just as he finished his words. Two yers in leather armor andnces came running toward the group.

    "We''re fucked!" one of the yers said.

    "Watch your tone, don''t you see babes here!" his friend scolded.

    "What''s going on?"

    "Shit''s about to go down man, a huge army of High Orcs ising our way. At least twenty thousand."

    "The fuck?! Isn''t that too damn fast?" Demetri shouted.

    "We need to organize the yers. Ghost, Val, you''re up."

    "Alright," Valentine said.

    White ghost nodded.

    Valentine used the global party chat and shouted orders, "EVERYONE LISTEN UP! We are under attack! Third Formation NOW!"

    All the yers began moving and gathering together.

    The white Ghost gave his own set ofmands. "Melee units, take the front, any yer under level 400 go back and act as a support. Healing yers, stand behind the melee units in a single file. Arches, casters in the back. Buffing parties at thest line."

    The yers formed an enormous circr formation of tens of thousands of yers. It looked like a giant wiggling ring from the sky.

    The yers waited patiently for the enemy to arrive.

    "We have contact!" One yer shouted.

    Thousands of High Orcs came riding on gigantic lizards. Behind the heavily armored High Orcs were more orcs on foot and shamans next to them.

    One High Orc was most conspicuous of the group. It rode on a boar the size of an elephant and had tusksrger than a sword.

    This orc''s name was written inrge red letters. Singund The Conqueror.

    Singund waved a hand, signaling the whole High Orc army stopped at hismand.

    "Will you look at that? We came out to see if the dragon really disappeared and found these soft skins. How wonderful it is to see them walking The Deep Wilds without fear. Looks like you grew some balls after all," Singund said.

    The high orcs around him struck their weapons on the ground.

    "Warlord, it''ll be a bad idea to fight them. I just inspected one. Though they are lower level than us, they empower each other by being next to one another. With these numbers. Killing them off will cost us dearly," Valentine said.

    "What do you suggest then?" Warlord replied.

    "I say we talk to them. You know, like Skelly, he talked some monsters out of a fight. Be sincere and all," Demetri said.

    "I would not rmend that," Mercy said.

    "What do you suggest then? You don''t want to fight and you have been antagonizing all of our ns since the get-go."

    Mercy sighed and said, "These are orcs, they are dumb, ugly and brutal. You''ll have better chances of teaching them quantum physics than talking them out of a fight. This battle is happening, whether you want it or not." Mercy said.

    "These Soft Skins are disrespecting us, not talking to us because they think we are dumb and only like to fight. Well, I say that''s half true. We really like to fight. Orcs show them our might!"

    The orcs behind Singund shouted all at once, "Bones for the Orc God, Skin for the Tusk Throne!"

    "Warhammer anyone?" White Ghostughed.

    "I don''t think they''re allowed to do that," Tess giggled.

    Warlord frowned, "That''s a lousy rip-off."

    Singund roared, covering his entire Orc Army with a red glowing aura. This signaled the start of the fight. The orcs began by charging toward the yer ranks. They moved like the tide, unafraid of the spells or worried about the shields and bariers the yers put forward They wanted a fight and a fight they will get.

 Chapter 282 To Be a King

    282 To Be a King

    Orcs were never a smart race, they never thought before they acted. They never nned or strategized. It would not be untrue if one says that the Orcs might be one of the dumbest races of Conquest. However, there was one thing they could do and are damn good at it. A bloody, gory fight.

    The Orcs used their massive numbers whenever they fought to overwhelm their enemies. They never flinched in front of a sword but moved toward it with glee.

    Fireballs rained on the yers. The casters behind the melee units used barriers to block the spells. The archers and ranger units shot their arrows through the barriers stopping the orcs from advancing. The melee yers charged at the orcs on lizards and began a ughter.

    The yers outnumbered the orcs, but the orcs were madly empowered by the presence of each other. Singund was singlehandedly whopping the yers at the front with his massive cleaver. Any yer that got to three meters from him was split in two.

    Roaring, Singund increased the strength of the orcs, bringing more pain to the yers and increasing their casualties.

    "Shit! This is going to exhaust our human resources," Demetri said, the yers started dying at a rapid rate. The orcs dealt massive damage thanks to their numbers. They only needed one or two shots to kill high-level yers.

    "Your best shot at getting out of this fight with minimum casualties is to kill off Singund first," Tess said.

    "How do you suggest we do that? Can''t you see that it''s impossible to ever approach him." Demetri said.

    Tess groaned and said, "You have the world''s best assassin, I think she can take care of him with one strike."

    "Right, you have that instant-kill skill," Demetri said.

    "I am saving that legacy skill for the king," Mercy said.

    "It has 72 hours cooldown, it should be ready for use when we reach the king in the Eastern Kingdom," Demetri said.

    "I think you are missing the point, Demetri," Warlord said. "That woman works for a contract, nothing is for free. If you want her to kill the orc leader. You''ll have to pay."

    "How much?!" Demetri asked.

    "Give me a moment," Mercy said and used her phone to call a private number.

    Soon after, she spoke "Papa. Are you watching,"

    "Yes, sweetie. Tell them [It''s Just business] requires ten mills for the kill."

    "Papa said ten million dors."

    Demetri grunted. Looking at the situation, if he waited any longer, more yers might die.

    "Deal!" the moment the word left Demetri''s mouth. Mercy had already disappeared.

    The chaos in the battle was increasing. yers were shouting for heals and supporting fire. The orcs were ridiculously strong. The yer''s numbers were useless against the might of the orcs.

    The guild leaders were all looking at Singund with intensity. They were waiting for Mercy to attack.

    The orc leader was covered in yer blood, he was in ecstasy, perhaps with the Dragon''s disappearance he can now rule the Wilds as its rightful king. He can be the King of the Wilds, and have title and power like those soft-skinned humans have.

    He will have his own Kingdom and be its lord and master, for all to bow down to him. To have the status of his character ced in every corner and street. To be worshipped. This very thought, spun in the orc''s tiny brain, filling it with a need of ughter. If these soft skins were the first that were going to oppose him, he was going to destroy them to make an example for all the other denizen of the Wilds.

    Blood pumped through Singund''s muscles, filling him with unrestrained rage, he used this strength to cleave through the yer ranks and moved toward the guild leaders. There was nothing better than taking the head of an enemy leader by oneself.

    The yers couldn''t stop the rampaging Singund, he was sting through yers with sheer force, spells and skills bounced off his armor harmlessly. Some lucky fireballs hit him square in the jaw but he justughed and became more frenzied the more pain he was in.

    Fear gripped at the heart of the yers from such sight. This frenzy was only seen in one race. The Giants. A prime example was Drahma the Unbridled. Perhaps the orcs were a distant rtive to the giants.

    Suddenly, the space distorted and Mercy appeared behind Singund, on top of the boar he was riding.

    The orc leader jerked forward. His rampage suddenly stopped. He looked down. The tip of a ck de had emerged from his chest. ck blood leaked out from the wound and Singund could utter but a word, "C-coward!"

    Suddenly the orc dropped from atop his boar and fell to the ground. Mercy shed into stealth once again.

    "Shit, isn''t that totally broken? A one-shot skill?" Demetriined.

    "it''s true the skill is strong, that''s a legacy skill after all. But in reality, it has a lot of conditions for it to be effective. We don''t know all the condition but at least we know one."

    "And what''s that?" Demetri asked

    "The target has to be a king or a leader of a group." Warlord said.

    "Does that include¡­" Demetri didn''t finish his words.

    "Yeah, even guild masters," Valentine said.

    "Damn, you don''t wanna anger that," Demetri said.

    "Anger what?" Mercy appeared in front of Demetri.

    "N-nothing. The money will be wired to Its just business soon. Thank you for your participation."

    "Right, your minnows should be able to take care of the rest," Mercy said.

    It was just like Mercy said. Without Singund the Conqueror, the orcs died meaninglessly at the hands of yers. Some even escaped into the Wilds.

    An hourter, the battle was over, the guild alliance had lost 4,000 yers. They slew many of the orcs, littering the whole area in viscera and blood. Some orcs lost their courage when they saw theirarads falling and had to retreat.

    Defeat was nothing to the orcs, they suffered through many defeats previously, and in their tenasity and their fast reproduction, a new leader will soon be born and lead the orcs once again in to rule the Wilds.

 Chapter 283 Tomb of Ashkar, again?

    283 Tomb of Ashkar, again?

    "Let''s keep moving," Demetri said.

    The guild alliance reorganized themselves into square formations of one thousand yers and moved toward the east.

    Time passed slowly as the alliance moved. They were attacked several times by monsters in the Deep Wilds. Weretigers, Blood Wolves and even Giant Mud Toads.

    yers fell and died with every encounter, slowing the army more and more. At one point the alliance had to cross an enormous chasm.

    Mercy and Tess remembered this area. Behind it was the Red Forest. It''s the area that the Smolzys inhabited. There were a few bridges linking the two sides of the giant rift.

    "Demetri, we should take a detour," Mercy said.

    "Why is that?"

    "This is an area where a tribe of small people lives. They are indestructible. They have 800,000 Magical and physical defense each. And there are tens of thousands of them. We must not fight them," Mercy said.

    "Do you see any other way to our destination?" Demetri asked.

    "What''s the problem?" White Ghost came and asked.

    Mercy recounted their encounter with the Smolzys tribe while covering some facts about Dave''s quest to the tomb of Ashkar of course.

    "Do you still have their bestiary log?" White Ghost said.

    Mercy shared the bestiary log of the Smolzys with White Ghost.

    "Damn, these guys are like little devils. Mercy''s right. Scouting unit,e here." White Ghost called over the scouting units.

    Ten rangers and beast tamers came over.

    "I need you to scout the way ahead, if you encounter a tribe or small creatures report it instantly."

    A ranger in camouge green leather armor nodded and led the rest across the bridge.

    The army waited patiently for information from the scouts. After half an hour the first report came.

    "I am looking at a giant tribe of Smolzys. They are cooking weretigers for lunch. These guys are mean fuckers I don''t think it''s worth it to fight them."

    Another yer gave his own report.

    "Reporting, there are Faeries here. They''re blocking the way. We can''t go from here either."

    More reports came in. All of them had the same message. The path was blocked by monsters.

    "Reporting, I believe I found a way through the red forest. There are a few monsters here, but they could easily be dealt with. There is a path leading to an old domed building surrounded by high walls. It''s possible that this is a dungeon."

    "A dungeon?" Demetri frowned.

    Mercy perked up, she asked, "Send footage of the area."

    A momentter it was as Mercy thought, this was the Tomb of Ashkar''s dungeon.

    "This is arge enough area to set up a camp. And it''s easily defendable. I say we should go there, we might even raid the dungeon," The White Ghost said.

    "Didn''t we agree to keep going until we get to the Eastern Kingdom?" Demetri asked.

    The White Ghost shook his head "You are leading yers, people. So far, we have been logged in for two days. Some have a social life and they need to rest." White ghost said.

    "True, let''s take a rest there, and in the meantime. We can even raid the dungeon." Wan Yi said. He didn''t look like someone that will feel sleep deprived for staying awake for just two days.

    "Sorry to inform you, Skelly already raided and killed the dungeon boss there," ster said.

    "It''s you again. ster" Demetri said. "What do you know about this ce?" he asked.

    Mercy shook her head at Ralph but he smiled, "Don''t worry Mercy, Skelly won''t mind it. Listen, it''s true that this area is good for camping. It has some sort of power that inhibits the Smolzys from getting close. But when Skelly finished his dungeon run, the tomb crumbled and there are no monsters left. You can use it as a base that''s all," ster said.

    "You look informed."

    "Yeah, I was there with Skelly when he killed the boss."

    "What''s your rank?" Demetri asked

    "I''m a hundred-unit captain."

    "You are hereby promoted to one-thousand-unit leader. Takemand of the A-Unit 20 and clear the way for the guild to get to the Tomb of Ashkar," Demetri said.

    "ster, be careful," Mercy said.

    Ralph smiled like a goofball and nodded, he then moved toward unit A-Unit 20 and gave them the order to move ahead.

    Tess looked mischievously at Mercy.

    "What?" Mercy asked, her cheeks had a tinge of red.

    "Noooothing," Tess said in a teasing tone.

    All of the guild leaders had a strange expression on their faces. They never thought that the S legacy holder Mercy, daughter of thergest mafia gang in the USA. The coldest assassin in Conquest could ever show a blushing expression. It was a new experience, and somewhat strange. Especially because her blushing was for concern over a nameless yer of the Devastators.

    "Ahem, let''s wait for news from ster," Mercy said.

    As ralph was walking to the frontline. He feared that the unit he will eb leading might disrespect him because he was hastily promoted and didn''t ''earn'' it.

    When he arrived at the stationed unit he said, "I''ve been promoted leader of the A-20 Unit. We''ll be going to the Tomb of Ashkar. Please follow my lead, I know the way there."

    Surprisingly, the units were organized and disciplined, they didn''t argue with ralph or demean his authority as he feared.

    Following after Ralph, the units crossed the bridge and went to the right. Ralph already knew where to go. He went through the route that was scouted and met with the scout.

    "You''re the new leader. Aye, see that?" the scout pointed.

    "I thought about going in first, but every now and then those Smolzyse and inspect the surrounding. I didn''t want them to spot me and inform their tribe, so I waited for you guys toe.

    "You did well man," Ralph said and informed Demetri about everything going on.

    "Alright, we''ll have to go, everyone goes in single file. We have to get to the Tomb of Ashkar without being noticed. If by some chance we are spotted. We''ll make a run for it. Unit 6, 7,8,9, and 10 you will be our backline. If the Smolzys attack you will hold them off and retreat to the Tomb of Ashkar." Demetri said.

    "That''s good strategic thinking, Demetri," Valentinemented.

    "Yeah, you can pick up stuff from here and there when you are surrounded by smart people," Demetri said, he wasn''t a snobbish man and could admit his mistakes and listen to his underlings. That was a sign of a true leader.

    The guild alliance moved in single file following after Ralph''s unit.

    Ralph used the dial option and called his friend Dave.

    "Supp Ralphy!" Dave replied.

    "Hey man, what''re you doing right now?"

    "Nothing much just finished a raid. I''m organizing some stuff and will probably go to check out the fourth raid zone."

    "Damn man, you sure work fast. Listen. The guild alliance just reached the Tomb of Ashkar." ster said.

    "Did they cross Urburg?"

    "No, Urburg is way too far from where we are. I don''t think they can discover it or even enter it because you have the KeyMaster role. If you don''t allow them to enter, they can''t get in no matter what."

    "You''re right, so that''s all you wanted to say, bro?"

    "No, I meant that, don''t you think this is the best time to enter the wilds? Bring Dog with you and you can revive Spike."

    "Right. You are right, the dragon is no longer in the wilds. This will make it much easier for me to bring back spike. He didn''t deserve to die like that. Alright, I''lle over soon."

    "Alright, just be careful. Heaven Dawn and the Blood Ragers have a grudge against you."

    "Well, I have some pretty badass Undead right now. They''ll have to think twice before wanting to cross me."

    "It''s a 100,000-army man."

    "Hah, the more the better, you''ll see why soon," Dave said.

    "Who was that you were talking to, unit leader?" A yer said.

    "Just a friend. Anyway, let''s get going, thest Smolzy patrol just moved past us. It''ll take 5 minutes before otherse." Ralph said and ordered his thousand men to move to the tomb.

    The yers ran across the open fields and hopped over the broken walls of the structure surrounding the Tomb of Ashkar.

    A few minutester, another Smolzy patrol came to check the perimeter but they didn''t spot the yers.

    Another one thousand yer unit came through the forest and joined the A20 unit.

    After three hours, all the one hundred-thousand-man army was stationed around and inside the Tomb of Ashkar.

    The guild leaders joined together and stood in front of the domed building. The door to the tomb was shattered and rubble blocked the way in. The dungeon was inactive the moment Dave defeated Ashkar.

    "So, this is the dungeon Skelly conquered. That was a disgusting sight," Demetri said.

    "Yeah, it was hard, to be honest," ster replied.

    "Alright, we will take a 12-hour rest. Everyone, log out and rest. Tomorrow we will make a sprint all the way to the eastern kingdom border," Demetri said in the global chat.

    "Demetri," ster said.

    "Yes."

    "When we came here thest time. We never went past this area. The wholend in front of us is unknown to us."

    "It doesn''t matter. I''ll be sending pathfinders to scout for us. We just need to find the most appropriate and clearest road to the eastern kingdom border. From then on, we will take control of a city and this conquest will be in hand."

    "Hopefully," ster said as he gazed toward the east.

    The forest was dark and eerie, though it was so close to the east, it didn''t make it any easier for the guild members. Monsters much stronger than they faced waited for them.

 Chapter 284 Great Generals Glaive

    1 day before the start of the Eastern Raid.

    Dave walked down the pce stairs and exited through the courtyard. A familiar undead was standing next to the pce gate. He was of arge stature and towered over Dave. It was the Undead¡¯s legendary cksmith Andre. Dave had met him before. He was a main character in his quest to restore the parts of the Undead King¡¯s Armor in Dave¡¯s inventory.

    "Andre, it¡¯s good to see you again," Dave greeted the undead.

    "Kis¡¯Shtiengbrah, the pleasure is all mine. I had to thank you personally for bringing me back to this world. Limbo is a ce no one wishes to remain in."

    "I only did what I had to do. No need to thank me."

    Dave nodded and was about to walk away but stopped and asked, "Andre, did you see my Duhan¡¯s weapon?"

    "Yeah, that¡¯s a fine piece of work, a weapon that changes shape. I say it resembles the work of the Workshop."

    "Right, I still have a weapon from The Workshop. They are the Swords of Mercy. They were quite handy. Say can you make me something like Dog¡¯s weapon?"

    Andre rubbed his chin and said, "Why do you need that sort of weapon? A sword and shield are much better for you than that."

    "It¡¯s true that a sword and shield are good, but I find it hard to fight while mounted with the mberge."

    "Oh, the reach. Well, there are better weapons than a Bone il.

    "Enlighten me then." Dave eyes perked up.

    "Your duhan¡¯s bone il is good for crushing skulls, but it requires a lot of strength and is hard to control. You need something heavy, that can cut and sh and has a good reach. Something that you might use when mounted and dismounted."

    "Then what do you suggest?"

    "Well, you have two options. The first, an ultra greatsword."

    "Ultra what?"

    "Ultra Greatsword, like the one the exiled Knight Deadra used to wield. That thing was a monstrous weapon that requires inhuman strength. If used right, it could sh through shields and armor. But don¡¯t even dream of using one with that pitiful strength of yours." Andreughed.

    "Then what¡¯s the second option."

    Andre smiled, "The lord of mountedbat. A war ive! And I just have the right thing. If you remember, some of the items yu brought from the dragonir was one of such weapons. Follow me, I already repaired it."

    ¡¯Oh I already forgot about those.¡¯

    Dave followed after Andre, moving along the streets of the Undead City.

    The undead were hardworking in repairing the damage the demons had caused inside the city. Though most of the damage was from Drahma¡¯s rampage, no one wasining. The giant was helping Dave revive the undead, and he was entitled to some chaos.

    Andre¡¯s forge was situated near the pce, it had enormous bellows that reached the ceiling. ck smoke continuously poured out from a chimney at the top of the building.

    There were dozens of undead throwing logs into a st furnace. Melted steel was poured into molds shaped into weapons.

    When Andre saw Dave staring at the construction he said, "Those are just standard weapons for low level undead. Higher ones and unique undead use weapons of a much higher quality."

    Dave nodded to Andre, in fact he was also asking himself why would the legion be mass producing weapons, instead of hand making them. But the undead¡¯s numbers were too much to make everyone one of them a unique weapon.

    "Come with me." Andre led Dave to a room behind a curtain. The room was square and big enough to contain hundreds of weapons that were hung on shelves. In one of the room¡¯s corners was a furnace that was emitting a scorching heat.

    "That¡¯s hotter than the st furnace outside," Dave said.

    "Yes, I use BloodStones to heat this one instead of regr logs. Powerful weapons require greater heat. Here let me show you your weapon."

    Andre rummaged through a pile of spears and pikes and pulled out a weapon taller than himself. It was an iron shafted ive with thousands of tiny drawings on it. The shaft ended in a curved ck de that was at least half a meter long.

    "The total length of the ive is three meters. It¡¯s enough to use from on top of your basilisk."

    Andre threw the ive toward Dave while saying, "Be careful, it¡¯s heavy."

    Dave caught the ive and it instantly jerked him down, the weight almost popped his shoulder joints from their ce.

    "Holy! Isn¡¯t this too heavy?!"

    "True, but that¡¯s what¡¯s great about it. Take a good look at it."

    Dave inspected the weapon.

    ***

    Great General Ouki¡¯s War ive.

    Category: Weapon

    Type: ive

    Requirements to handle: Undead race, or level 450, or Death Knight ss.

    Mandatory requirement to use the weapon: 750 STR

    Damage: 2,000-3,000

    Damage modifier : 10% STR

    Attribute bonuses:+10,000 HP

    Effects:

    [Warmonger] The Great General Ouki¡¯s War ive passively generates [Courage] while the wielder is mounted.

    [Courage] Reduces the chances of falling to deliberating status effects for all the units under the user of the ive¡¯smand by 20%

    [Heaven sher] Your next basic attack deals 100% damage in t Damage, ignoring all of the target¡¯s defensive values. (Does not apply to immunity generating skills)

    [Never Dull] (Passive) Ouki¡¯s ive ignores 20% of target¡¯s Physical defense.

    ***

    Dave was amazed by the weapon¡¯s effects.

    "You should give it a try,d. It¡¯s a good weapon that belonged to a good leader," Andre said.

    "Thanks Andre," Dave said. He left the room supporting the heavy ive by his shoulder.

    When he left the smithy he tried the weapon. It was heavy, but after a few swings Dave was ustomed to the weight. He tried to use the weapon with just one hand, but it was too heavy for him to swing a proper attack.

    "Damn, I need at least 1,000 STR to be able to use this weapon with just one hand. I¡¯ll have to give up my shield when I am mounting grumpy." Dave sighed but he was still happy.

    The weapon¡¯s base damage was extraordinary.

    He made quick calctions. He had 750 STR, and the weapon could deal from 150,000 to 225,000 damage on a target with 0 Physical Defense.

    It was quite powerful, but it was only natural. This was a two-handed weapon, it dealt a lot of damage, but was limited to its low attacking speed.

    Dave left the smithy courtyard and exited the Undead City. He crouched and touched the ground with his palm. ck sigils spread form under his palm and summoned Grumpy.

    "Hey Grumps! Look what I have!" Dave showed grumpy his ive.

    The onyx lizard didn¡¯t understand what Dave meant.

    "It¡¯s a ive! We can fight together from now on!" Dave smiled.

    When the idea dawned on Grumpy, he growled in ord.

    "Alright, let¡¯s go bring back the boyz grumps. Take me to my territory."

    Dave hopped on top of Grumpy¡¯s back and nudged the basilisk forward. The six legged creature ran through the undead realm¡¯s ins taking ten minutes to arrive at Dave¡¯s estate.

    Dave jumped from on top of Grumpy, and went to the closest building to him, the undead barracks.

 Chapter 285 The Boyz Are Back In Town!

    Entering the empty barracks, Dave went to the crystal in the middle of the building and touched it.

    ***

    Undead Spawn Point

    You have 1,000 Undead waiting for revival.

    Units cost 10 CP to revive.

    How many units do you wish to respawn?

    ***

    Dave smiled and entered the total number, 1,000, to respawn.

    ***

    Time until all units are respawned 1,000 seconds.

    ***

    A shadow materialized in front of Dave and coalesced into a familiar ghoul.

    "BUD! It¡¯s damn good to see you again!" Dave patted the ghoul on the back.

    "It...is... good to see...you too...my lord." Bud spoke slowly.

    "Alright, let¡¯s get out of here, everyone should be back soon and it¡¯s gonna get crowded.

    The units were spawning steadily and continuously behind Bud.

    Dave went to the dunlord spawn point.

    The dunlord tomb was magnificent. Looming sandstone statues guarded the entrance to the rough-hewn stone tomb. Dave walked up to the broad stairs to the doorway and entered. The interior was cool and dim, a human-sized diamond-cut transparent crystal was set upright in the middle of the room.

    Hieroglyph banners were carved along the walls, recounting mythic stories in mysterious half-pictures. Braziers in each corner of the room supplied the low light.

    Dave touched the center crystal and a blue screen appeared in his view requesting him to input the number of dunlords he wished to respawn. Dave entered the total number of 112 dunlords.

    Stinger came first.

    "My lord, I am d to be of service once again," Stinger said.

    "Thanks Stinger, but you will be serving Bud from now on. I will call for you when I need your specialty."

    Stinger noticed Grumpy at the gate of the tomb, his expression changed to disappointment but still, he nodded to Dave epting his request.

    ¡¯Shit, I feel like an ass now. Anyway, I need to pay Dikenz a visit. I have some cash to spend and it¡¯s better to pimp my boyz out before I raid the Pharaoh¡¯s Crypt.¡¯

    Dave mounted Grumpy and led him to a conspicuous shop in his settlement.

    Dikenz was like always, assembling and organizing his wears. He even had a cloth that he used to wipe them as he hummed a tune horribly off-sync.

    "Hey Dikenz!" Dave said.

    The zombie merchant jerked when he saw the draugr riding grumpy in front of his shop.

    "Ah, me fave¡¯rit cust¡¯mer!" Dikenz said, he was shaking and looking behind Dave.

    "Samael isn¡¯t here, don¡¯t worry, it¡¯s just me this time," Dave said in a toothy smile. This only served to increase the Zombie¡¯s shaking. Though undead didn¡¯t have fear in them, somehow Dave managed to implement it into this poor Zombie. It was all thanks to Samael of course, but Dave wasn¡¯t keen on letting the Zombie get away with all the scams he pulled on him.

    "Aye, How may I be of servi¡¯s?"

    "I need some armor for Grumps, also upgrade my unit¡¯s weapons."

    "Ah, wait me, I¡¯ll be needn to do some maths," Dikenz said. He pulled a paper and began scribbling numbers on it.

    "Ye have two hundred archers, two hundred casters, n¡¯the rest re them melee fighters. Aie, I can upgrade their weapons n equipment for 8,000,000 CP, and I¡¯tll take four days for em to be ready," Dikenz said in a toothy smile. Of course, his teeth were all rotten.

    Dave frowned, he thought that Dikenz still hasn¡¯t learned from the Samael¡¯s lesson.

    "Right, eight million. You see, I don¡¯t have the time to wait for all the equipment and weapons to be ready. So, I will have to use the favor I owe Samael and have hime here to pick up my items."

    Dikenz¡¯s eyes widened, and said, "AH, silly me, I made an oopsie with me calctions, I even added an extra zero. It¡¯s just 800,000CP, and ye needn¡¯t use ya fav¡¯er to call Lord Samael. That¡¯d be just a waste, I tell ya. I¡¯ll have to call some friends and yer weapons n¡¯armor should be ready in an hour."

    "That¡¯s why I love doing business with you Dikenz, you¡¯re quite sensible." Dave smiled eerily at the Zombi and walked away.

    After an hour, all of Dave¡¯s undead were fully equipped and wielded newer weapons and armor. Even Grumpy was armored up in protective full metal gear.

    The dunlords had their ballistae crossbows upgraded. They were now metal made instead of the older wooden version. Their gear was upgraded to steel armor. Lighter than the older iron version and much sturdier.

    His undead used to wear old and battered rusty armor. Now all the melee units had new full te armor. All ck of course.

    The casters had their robes renewed, they were wearing red robes and were led by Spark. Who has a wizard pointy hat now. His wooden scepter was upgraded to a crystal scepter with a red orb on top.

    The archer had their old leather armor upgraded to hard leather protective gear. They now had hats and newer, sturdier bows.

    Dog was right next to Dave riding on a basilisk. The remaining basilisks were carrying the pdins. Dave reached with his hand toward the Unholy Priestess. She took his arm and hopped behind Dave. Just as Dave was going to order the Undead to move, Samael appeared next to him.

    "Kis¡¯ Shtiengbrah, there is something I need to tell you."

    "Yes, Samael, what is it?"

    Samael sighed and said, "You should know that the king is sending you on a suicide mission."

    "Yeah, I already know that. The Pharaoh¡¯s Crypt can¡¯t be captured with just a thousand undead."

    "Then why did you ept this quest?"

    "Well, aren¡¯t we undead?"

    "Yeah, so?"

    "Then even if I fall, I can rise back again and attempt the raid and I will keep doing that until they fall. That¡¯s the greatest thing about being an undead Samael. We can alwayse back, we can always try again."

    Samael smiled and said, "True, that¡¯s what makes our race the strongest and mightiest. Okay, what I¡¯m about to tell you one of our race¡¯s forbidden knowledge. Use it right, and you might be able to conquer the Pharaoh¡¯s Crypt in one try."

    "Oh, I¡¯m listening," Dave became interested.

    "Did you ever hear the term Grave Lord?"

 Chapter 286 Tiny Problems

    "No, not really, what¡¯s a Grave Lord?" Dave asked.

    "Alright listen carefully. A Grave Lord is a forbidden Undead. We don¡¯t nurture them for the dangers it entails in raising them. A Grave Lord is a forever starving parasite."

    "Parasite? How is that going to help in raiding the Pharaoh¡¯s Crypt?" Dave wondered.

    "It encroaches on undead and gains strength from felled enemies. It can grow infinitely strong, but the stronger it bes the harder it is to control it. If you find yourself in a situation where you can¡¯t manage your Grave Lord. Call me or Da and we will take care of it for you," Samael said

    "Alright, so how can I obtain this unit?" Dave asked.

    "I brought one with me," Samael said. He pulled out a small wooden box from inside his sleeve and handed it to Dave.

    Dave took the box and opened it. There was a small ck slime inside it. It wriggled when it was exposed to the light of the broken moon hanging over the underworld.

    Dave inspected the slime.

    ***

    Grave Lord embryo.

    Level: 1

    Tier: Mythical

    Base damage: 1

    Danger Level: None

    HP:1

    PD:1

    MD:1

    Skills:

    [Soul Bound] binds itself to an undead and grows to match the bounded undead¡¯s level.

    [Assimte] Consumes the corpses of fallen enemies to generate its own body.

    The body of the Grave Lord changes depending on the monsters consumed. Gaining HP, PD, MD depending on the number of consumed monsters.

    The Grave Lord Level cannot exceed the Bound Undead to it.

    [Death Collector] Skill Info will be unlocked when the Grave Lord reaches level 300.

    Lore:

    A Grave Lord is an entity that even the Undead need to think twice before conscripting it to their army. They can grow infinitely strong, but their poweres with a price that the undead wish not to pay. It can consume its own allies in its hunger and will not recognize friend from foes.

    ***

    "This little thing doesn¡¯t look that scary," Dave said.

    "You will have to see for yourself then. Bind it to your will. That will make it submit to your orders and follow them. But be careful to not feed it a lot. It will turn on you whenever it can." Samael warned Dave.

    "How do you bind it?" Dave asked.

    "Just will it."

    Dave closed his eyes and focused on the little slime. A notification prompet appeared in front of him. Reading through, Dave saw the following.

    ***

    Grave Lord Embryo has been bounded to your yer character.

    You have obtained a new Familiar!

    Your familiar can grow stronger and help you in battle.

    Familiars are permanently bound to your character and can never die.

    Please give a name to your new familiar.

    ***

    "Oh, a familiar this is neat. Hmm, a name. How about, Tiny?" Dave mumbled

    A notification prompt appeared in front of Dave.

    ***

    Do you wish to name Grave Lord Embryo: Tiny?

    Yes/ No.

    ***

    "Yeah, Tiny sounds about right," Dave said. A notification appeared again confirming the name of the small slime.

    The blob hopped and sat on Dave¡¯s shoulder, wiggling it came closer to his neck. It seemed that the slime liked the name.

    "Huh, looks like it grew fondness to you. Kis¡¯Shtiengbrah," Samael sounded surprised. Grave Lords apparly never acted this way.

    "Yeah, guess Tiny liked his name. So, I¡¯ll have to go soon."

    "It¡¯s a long way to the Pharaoh¡¯s Crypt. How are you going to get there," Samael was smirking at Dave.

    Dave was about to tell Samael that he was going to take the Red Fortress teleportation gate then he remembered that the Undead legion was still fighting to retake it from the demons.

    "I guess I¡¯ll have to take the Undead Frontier¡¯s teleportation gate and go from there."

    "That will take you three days to reach the Pharaoh¡¯s Crypt. Here," Samael handed Dave a teleportation scroll. Only this scroll wasn¡¯t brown like the ones he used before. But was pitch ck and had a pentagonal star painted in red in it.

    "What¡¯s this?" Dave asked.

    "This is a mass teleportation scroll. Da had already set up a temporary teleportation portal in an area near the Pharaoh¡¯s Crypt. You can take all of your undead there at once." Samael said.

    "Thank you Samael," Dave nodded.

    "Best of luck, Kis¡¯Shtiengbrah," Samael said and disappeared in a swirl of shadow.

    Dave turned to his army and shouted. "Boyz! Let¡¯s go!"

    Dave tore the teleportation scroll. All of the undead behind him disappeared at once.

    A desert of ck sands extended all the way to the horizon. The duns looked like crawling mountains as they slowly moved due to the wind that was blowing across the entirety of the area.

    A st of ck magic spread across the desert blowing sand up in the sky. Twelve hundred undead appeared in the ck desert.

    Dave¡¯s eyes itched for a second. His vision turned ck and white for a few moments revealing corpses under the sand.

    ***

    Lich hidden ability has activated [Death Vision]

    You can see corpses of fallen warriors that can be revived using [Rise Undead]

    The ability can be toggled on and off.

    ***

    White-colored corpses of painted tri-headed dogs were disyed in Dave¡¯s vision. There were many of them under the sand.

    But Dave wasn¡¯t interested in reviving these corpses. They were too low level for him to be of any use. But the slime above Dave¡¯s shoulder had other intentions.

    It hopped from over Dave¡¯s shoulder and bore through the ground like water pouring on the sand.

    "Tiny! Come back," Dave shouted. But the small slime didn¡¯t adhere to his calls.

    Dave was at a loss; he didn¡¯t know what to do. Soon after, in his vision, he noticed that the corpses under the sand were...moving.

    The corpses broke and shattered and moved to gather under Dave¡¯s basilisk. More of the painted dog¡¯s corpses were assembled into one growing mass of corpses shaped into an enormous ball.

    The sand under Grumpy shook. "Grumps, go back," Dave said.

    Grumpy retreated back from where he stood. Suddenly, the sand parted away revealing a bony hand that was asrge as a tree trunk.

    The hand-pulled itself up revealing an enormous creature made of rotten flesh, bones, and skin. A helmet the shape of a stag¡¯s skull covered the creature¡¯s face. Its chest was a mix of painted dog hide and bones, the hides were strapped over each other puffing the creature¡¯s torso like a ball. Two of its hands wererge and big enough it reached its knees. The creature was asrge as the Gashadokuro that Dave rescued from the Storm Labyrinth.

    "Tiny? Is that you?" Dave said to the enormous creature.

    Receiving no response Dave inspected the creature.

    ***

    Grave Lord embryo.

    Level: 250

    Tier: Mythical

    Base damage: 20,000-30,000

    Danger Level: None

    HP: 250,000

    PD: 50,000

    MD:0

    Skills:

    [Soul Bound] binds itself to an undead and grows to match the bounder undead¡¯s level.

    [Assimte] Consumes the corpses of fallen enemies to generate its own body.

    The body of the Grave Lord changes depending on the monsters consumed. Gaining HP, PD, MD depending on the number of consumed monsters.

    The Grave Lord Level cannot exceed the Bound Undead to it.

    [Death Collector] Skill Info will be unlocked when the Grave Lord reaches level 300.

    Lore:

    A Grave Lord is an entity that even the Undead need to think twice before conscripting it to their army. They can grow infinitely strong, but their poweres with a price that the undead wish not to pay. It can consume its own allies in its hunger and will not recognize friend from foes.

    ***

    "Damn, that¡¯s Tiny alright. Doesn¡¯t look tiny anymore."

    Dave analyzed the new undead under hismand. It was created from the corpses of hundreds of painted dogs, but its level was the same as them. 250. With the exception of the HP it now has, the rest of the stats were the same as a demonic painted dog.

    Dave understood that when Tiny consumed a type of creature it will take some of their attributes, probably if it assimtes stronger prey, it might have its level increased to match the creature¡¯s level and also have more defensive and offensive stats. So far Tiny was strong, but it was clear that it could be stronger the more it assimted. The only worry was what Samael told him. This thing, the stronger it bes the hungrier it gets. He still hoped that Tiny wouldn¡¯t think that undead under Dave¡¯smand were snacks any time soon.

    The giant Tiny pointed to the north.

    "I want More... Food, more power."

    "Calm down Tiny," Dave said. "We need to get to the Pharao¡¯s Crypt."

    Tiny looked at Dave and growled "NO! I want food!" Tiny began stomping the sand.

    Dave¡¯s brows twitched, Tiny was like a toddler in a tantrum.

    Dog led his basilisk forward and whipped the air with his bone il. The weapon turned to a barbed bone whip that snapped through the air, creating a supersonic st.

    Tiny instantly stopped his tantrum. Though undead, it must have been fear that gripped at Tiny¡¯s heart when he was looking at the small but scary duhan.

    "Thanks, Dog. Listen up, Tiny. I¡¯m not gonna take shit from you. I have a mission to do. If you help meplete it, then I will let you have a snack. If you don¡¯t. Then I¡¯ll put you back in the box. Do you want to go back into the box?!" Dave shouted.

    "No, box, small. No box. Will, listen. Me will help." Tiny said in mutters.

    "Good boy, now follow along," Dave said.

    He led his troops toward the east where the Pharaoh¡¯s Crypt marker was. They were encountered by a few demonic painted dogs, but when these creatures saw the giant made of the flesh and corpses of their brethren, they spread out and ran away from the monster.

    "Food, running away," Tiny said.

    "Didn¡¯t I tell you that you will get your foodter? Keep moving!" Dave said. Dog added more credibility to Dave¡¯s words by whipping the air with his weapon again.

    The undead army kept moving toward the Pharaoh¡¯s Crypt. Suddenly, a sand dun burst apart, revealing a creature as tall as Tiny and several times wider.

    The creature was a mix of a monitor and a scorpion. Its fur was ck, and the scorpion membranes on it were reinforced with thick scaly carapaces. A vicious stinger swayed left and right threatening to attack at any moment.

    "The fuck is up with these creatures, why the hell are all of them this big!"

    Dave inspected the monster

    ***

    Manticore (Cursed)

    Level: 450

    Tier: Epic

    Base damage: 60,000-80,000

    Danger Level: ???

    HP: 2,500,000

    PD: 60,000

    MD:80,000

    Skills:

    [Wrath of The titans] Whenever the Manticore loses 10% of its total HP, its next attack will deal five (5) times its base damage.

    [Flesh Corroding Poison] Cursed Manticore¡¯s poison melts flesh and deals 6,000 poison damage per second for 5 seconds.

    [Poisonous Shot] the manticore can repeatedly shoot the stinger from its tail like a bolt toward a target. Dealing 20,000 damage and applying [Flesh Corroding Poison]

    [Rampage] The Cursed Manticore enters a berserker stat for 20 seconds, where his attack speed and base damage are doubled. After the [Rampage] is over the Cursed Manticore enters and [Exhausted] state for 10 seconds.

    Lore:

    Manticores are hunters of men, they feast on creatures leaving nothing behind. They are extremely brutal and vicious that rare were those that reported the sight.

    (Cursed)

    Cursed creatures leave no loot behind. When a cursed creature dies, they will cause the killer to fall under the debuff [Curse of the old ones]

    Cursed user will have their Max HP reduced by 20% for 24 hours in-game.

    ***

    "Yeah, fucking great. Try to run, and it will chase you to the end of the world. Kill it and it¡¯ll curse you. Fanfuckingtastic!" Dave groaned as he watched the monster approaching rapidly toward them.

 Chapter 287 Size dosent Matter...in Most Cases

    "Alright boyz, the bigger they are, the harder they fall!" Dave pulled General Ouki¡¯s ive and whirled it over his head then shouted, "LET¡¯S BRING IT DOWN!"

    Grumpy roared and charged forward, the entire undead regiment followed after the basilisk.

    Tiny was the first in the lead, his strides wererge and he made it first to the manticore. Yet the moment he reached to the creature shouting ¡¯food, food¡¯ the manticore swung a fist at the Grave Lord. Shattering the bones in his chest and sending the whole creature crumbling to bits and pieces.

    "Help me raid the Pharaoh¡¯s Crypt my ass! It got sted in one hit!" Dave was angry but kept moving toward the manticore.

    The Manticore mmed down with its fist at Dave who swung the ive using both hands, smashing into the Manticore¡¯s fist. A loud st echoed from the point of impact and the Manticore¡¯s hand was forcefully swatted away from Dave andnded into the ground. Normally it would have been impossible for Dave to overpower the massive half bull half scorpion. But thanks to the skill he developed [Mikiri-Counter] it counted the bull¡¯s punch as a thrusting attack. Enabling Dave to use his ive toplete the Mikiri Counter.

    Dave felt his hands numb, but he was exhrated at his immense strength and reaction.

    "All ranged units! Make it rain!"

    Dave¡¯s undead archers shot a volley of arrows at the Manticore. The most arrows bounced away from its hard skin, but those that managed to go in between the gapes of his carapace made the manticore screech.

    The dunlords shot their ballista bolts at the manticore. The new steel bolts were much stronger than the old wooden ones. They pierced through the manticore¡¯s flesh and broke parts of its carapace, bleeding the creature and wounding him in numerous areas over its body.

    Red Damage numerals appeared on top of the manticore. It was in an enormous amount of pain.

    "Casters! Follow up! Melee units, Climb!" Dave shouted he was leading grumpy under the Manticore¡¯s legs all the way to the other side.

    When grumpy was under the Manticore¡¯s tail, the creature swung down with its tail at Dave. Dave whirled the ive on top of his head for style points and used [Mikiri Counter] again, swatting the tail away. Grumpy kept moving away from the monster until Dave ordered him to stop.

    ¡¯Can¡¯t believe I¡¯m gonna do this.¡¯

    "Buddy, I hope your aim is good with that tail of yours." Dave moved from Grumpy¡¯s back to his tail and said, "Throw me!"

    Grumpy reared up, raising his tail a bit over the ground, then in one single motion, sent Dave with his tail flying in the air like a bullet.

    Dave grabbed the ive with both hands and pointed it forward. The Manticore that was upied with the undead climbing it and the ones shooting arrows must have felt Daveing at it. In its paranoia, the Manticore turned to see what was going on only to meet Dave eyes to eyes.

    Suddenly the Manticore screeched loud in pain. The manticore was unfortunate enough to turn right when Dave¡¯s ive was a few meters away from the back of his head. When he turned, he enabled the draugr to stab his ive into the manticore¡¯s forehead.

    The ive had pierced through the bones in the Manticore¡¯s forehead and was now stuck like a nail on a wall.

    Dave was holding on with his hands on the ive but he couldn¡¯t get it out. The Manticore went for Dave with his hand. But Dave pulled himself over the ive and jumped up dodging the hand. When he wasing down, he switched to his infernal gauntlets and grabbed at the ive causing more pain to the manticore. Blood gushed out from the wound, but the weapon didn¡¯t budge.

    A notification popped in front of Dave.

    ***

    You cannot use two weapons of different properties at once!

    ***

    Dave ignored it and swung himself sideways, still grabbing at the ive Dave activated [Infernal Tornado], hopefully, the spinning motion of the skill can free his weapon.

    Suddenly, the weapon was jerked out from his position following after Dave¡¯s spinning motion. Gravity pulled Dave down as he was spinning over himself like a top. The ive red in mes as it sliced through the Manticore¡¯s face and chest, leaving a vertical bloody wound on the Manticore.

    Davended on his feet. Blood fell from the wound going down the Manticore¡¯s body. Fire from his gauntlets had seared most of the wound making it look like a badly mended scar wound.

    A notification appeared in front of Dave

    ***

    [Synergy!] You have created a new skill. [de Tornado]

    Spin around yourself using a: ive, Spear, Greatsword. Dealing 100% weapon damage decreasing by 10% for every sessful attack.

    ***

    "So that¡¯s how synergy works. Damn this is good," Dave smiled for a moment, but his expression froze, the angry manticore was sending a fist his way.

    Dave rolled away, dodging the punch that sent sand flying in the air.

    The manticore roared in pain, looking at its hind legs, Grumpy was biting on one and pulling the giant creature with it. The manticore roared and swung with the side of its tail sending grumpy flying a few feet over the sand and rolling on it. The basiliskid on the ground unmoving.

    "FUCKER!" Dave ran up to one of the Manticore¡¯s legs and jumped to its knee. He started climbing up the manticore piercing the ive into its body to secure a footing.

    The manticore had hundreds of other undead climbing on top of it so it didn¡¯t notice Dave at first. But the amount of Damage he was receiving from one of its legs far surpassed the damage Dave¡¯s troops inflicted on it. The manticore soon came to the realization that draugr that scarred it was climbing and raised the foot Dave was on and stomped on the sand.

    Dave held on, managing to keep his footing and kept climbing. The manticore, unable to shake off Dave went for a grab. Dave jumped from the leg andnded atop the manticore¡¯s hand.

    Remembering how Kalel the undead he revived through Dog, ran up the Giant¡¯s Arm in the fight of the Undead legion against the ck Skull order, Dave did the same thing and ran up the Manticore¡¯s arm. Albite less agilely, and almost falling Dave still managed to reach up to the Manticore¡¯s shoulder.

    The manticore tried to grab at Dave with his other hand, but the draugr was quick in action. Jumping to the Manticore¡¯s face and stabbing his ive into the creature¡¯s eye.

    The manticore screeched in pain. But Dave wasn¡¯t done. He shoved his other hand right into the manticore¡¯s eye. Blood and sludge sshed against Dave¡¯s armor but he ignored the viscera. He then used [Spectral Skulls], summoning four spectral skulls right inside the monster¡¯s eye.

    "Eat this!"

    Dave snapped his finger, four explosions burst inside the manticore¡¯s eye destroying itpletely.

    -120,000

    -120,000

    -120,000

    -120,000

    Dave jumped away, free falling he used [immortal apparition] appearing right behind the Manticore. Dave used his new skill [Defile]. Pointing a finger, a spreading of ck magic covered a circr area on top of the Manticore¡¯s back.

    Dave staggered a few times. Red damage values popped up above him.

    -20,000

    -20,000

    -20,000

    ***

    Your Undead nature prevents you from being [Poisoned]

    ***

    Dave ripped the spikes from the Manticore¡¯s tail from his back. The manticore had shot him with the projectiles from the tail.

    The tail came down toward Dave who rolled away. Sliding, Dave grabbed with his hand on a protrusion from the Manticore¡¯s back carapace. An undead that was on the manticore¡¯s back came over and helped Dave up.

    The manticore jerked to the side. Dog had wrapped his bone il over one of its eight legs and pulled on it. Dog ignited his weapon. The mes surrounded the bone il and seared the manticore¡¯s leg. The creature swung a fist at Dog, but a shadow materialized in mid-air stopping the attack. It was Bud, and he was flying...

    The ck patch on the Manticore¡¯s back suddenly began growing a thorny vine. The vine coiled around the manticore; the roots dug deep into it, bleeding the creature.

    Dave looked around, and called "Everyone, move away from the manticore."

    The undead heeded Dave¡¯s call and moved away, the casters moved farther away and the undead climbing the manticore jumped away all at once.

    "Alright, big boy. Let¡¯s see how you fare with an angry Worm Emperor!" Dave used [Double Edged]

    The sand under the manticore spread apart, revealing sharp rows of teeth rising up.

    Dave instantly used [Vertical sh] and flipped away from the rising jaws of death. The Minghocao bit at the stron under the manticore. The Minghocao jaws tightened on the creature as it lifted it whole above the ground. The manticore iled as it rose up in the sky. Waves of pain surged through the manticore. It was mmed into the dirt, blood pumping from the wounds the Minghocao¡¯s jaws caused it.

    The giant Emperor Worm didn¡¯t finish yet. It opened its maw again, and like the flood gates were open, a wave of yellow acid liquid sshed over the creature, melting most of its carapace to nothing.

    The Minghocao dove back underground leaving the creature writhing in pain.

    "Boyz! Meat¡¯s on the chopping block!" Dave pointed at the fallen creature. Every undead ran back toward it, swords at the ready.

 Chapter 288 Rise Undead

    Dave struck down with his ive at the downed Manticore¡¯s neck, while activating the ive¡¯s skill [Heaven sher].

    The ive swung down, leaving a white trace in space tracking the de¡¯s trajectory. The ive cut through the manticore¡¯s neck and dug deep into the ground.

    A red numerical value appeared over the creature.

    [-220,000]

    The manticore froze for a moment, a long, thin cut spread along the monster¡¯s neck. Blood seeped through the cut for a few moments, then it gushed out. The head slid off the manticore¡¯s torso. Finally, the giant behemoth was felled.

    ***

    Thanks to your undead nature, the Curse effect of the manticore failed to apply

    ***

    ***

    You have gained 11,960,156 XP. (This is only 50% of the real XP value you gained. The other half has been divided equally between the undead under yourmand.

    EXP required to level up to level (346 is 21,177,232)

    81 Archer Undead have leveled up.

    66 Melee undead have leveled up.

    80 Caster undead have leveled up

    3 unholy Pdins have leveled up.

    Named Duhan (Dog), level up to level 226.

    Named Undead caster (Spark) leveled up to level 221

    Named Ghoul (Bud) leveled up to 225

    Named basilisk, (Grumpy) leveled up to 347.

    ***

    "Good," Dave waved the information away and touched the monster¡¯s corpse for loot.

    Two notification appeared in front of Dave.

    ***

    Do you wish to attempt [Rise Undead] on the corpse of [Manticore level 450]?

    Be warned, your [Raise Undead] level is too low to sessfully revive [Manticore level 450]

    You can attempt to use [Raise Undead] on [Manticore Level 450] 3 times.

    Failure to resurrect [Manticore Level 450] will exhaust the Undeath Energy around the corpse making it impossible to revive again.

    ***

    ***

    You have obtained the following items

    Manticore¡¯s Head (Trophy) you can sell this item for a substantial amount of gold at merchants.

    Manticore¡¯s carapace. X 20 (Crafting material)

    Manticore¡¯s Stinger X1 (Crafting Material)

    Lesser Cursed Essence x 1 (Upgrade Material)

    Manticore Carapace shield [Shield]

    ***

    Dave was surprised he wanted to get the loot but forgot about the possibility of actually using this creature to fight.

    Dave took the loot and was about to use [Raise Undead] when a ck slime hopped onto his shoulder.

    "Huh, you¡¯re still alive, Tiny. Where¡¯ve you been?"

    The slime wiggled and created a small mouth to say, "Hungry, me, eat. Me be strong."

    "You want to eat this?" Dave asked the slime.

    The slime spoke, "Yes, strong monster. Me eat strong monster. Me strong."

    Dave was in a dilemma. Either give Tiny the corpse for it to eat or let Dave use the corpse to aid it in the following battle.

    "Listen Tiny, I¡¯ll try to revive it. If I seed, I¡¯ll promise I¡¯ll feed you something better next time okay?"

    The slime deted in disappointment but epted Dave¡¯s offer saying "Me agree."

    Dave touched the corpse and muttered, "Rise!"

    A ck burst of deathly energy sted out from Dave¡¯s palm and covered the corpse, like raging ck mes. Dave moved away from the corpse as it began shaking.

    Dave waited a few moments; the corpse was shaking more and more. One of the manticore¡¯s limbs moved, but the ck death mes suddenly went off.

    ***

    You have failed in reviving [Manticore Level 450]

    Attempts left 2/3

    ***

    Dave cursed and tried again, "Rise!"

    Another surge of ck death mes covered the corpse. This time the corpse shook even harder but the failure notification appeared even faster.

    ***

    You have failed in reviving [Manticore level 450]

    Attempts left 1/3

    ***

    "Damn," Dave cursed. Turning, he saw Dog guiding a limping Grumpy toward Dave¡¯s location.

    Grumpy was wounded because the manticore mmed him with its tail when the basilisk tried to pull the giant creature down.

    Dave felt ashamed to have forgotten about his friend as greed clouded his eyes in search of loot.

    "Sorry grumps, are you okay?"

    Grumpy, cooed, he looked to be in pain, drops of blood poured from his armor.

    "Priestess, where is she?" Dave asked.

    "Here my lord." The unholy priestess came running toward Dave, she was using her dark magic to ¡¯heal¡¯ the undead under Dave¡¯smand.

    "Can you heal Grumpy for me?" Dave asked.

    "Yes, my lord."

    The unholy priestess waved her hand, a ck magic circle materialized over grumpy and his wounds began healing. The basilisk¡¯s limp disappeared and he was now able to move properly.

    "It is done, my lord." The priestess nodded to Dave.

    "Thanks." Dave thanked the priestess and turned to Dog "Dog. Thanks for bringing grumpy here. Also, can you revive this Manticore for me?" Dave asked.

    Dog looked at the manticore and grunted a few words.

    Dave didn¡¯t understand what the duhan was trying to say until he heard.

    "Dog saying...Scorpion bull revive he can."

    It was the shadow ghoul, Bud. The ghoul towered over Dave, threathening and frightening as ever, but in Dave¡¯spany he was as docile as amb.

    "Then it¡¯s better if Dog revives it. Otherwise, I¡¯ll just waste it," Dave said. He knew he was down to hisst attempt at trying to revive the Manticore.

    Bud shook his head, "Scorpion Bull, goes crazy, possible. Scorpion Bull, not undead legion. Scorpion Bull dangerous, you, my lord. Can bring... scorpion Bull, tame."

    Dave stroke his beard, ¡¯So, if I revive the Manticore, it¡¯lle back to life under mymand. And if Dog does it. It might end up being another Kalel situation. Only this time, the undead King won¡¯t help us. Shit.¡¯ Dave cursed under his breath.

    "Alright, Tiny, if I fail this time, you can eat the Manticore," Dave said.

    Touching the corpse again, Dave shouted "RISE!"

    This time, the mes coated the manticore, they didn¡¯t rage, didn¡¯t burn or go out of control. They covered the entire body in a thin coating of darkness.

    The manticore didn¡¯t shake or move. Dave thought that there was not enough undeath energy left, and the Manticore was going to waste.

    "Tiny, you can eat it up," Dave said before waiting for the notification to even show up. He had a feeling that it was not possible to revive something more than 100 levels above his own.

    "I, can¡¯t eat now. Now, monster, strong." Tiny said.

    Dave frowned, then it dawned on him. Turning, the ckness of the undeath energy started perforating through the wounds over the Manticore¡¯s corpse. Dave¡¯s inventory began shuddering. Several items were trying to ¡¯get out¡¯ on their own.

    Dave took the item out from his inventory, it was the Manticore¡¯s head trophy and all the other crafting materials. The items shot toward the corpse and were fused by the ck energy into the monster.

    The giant creature shuddered and its limbs moved. This time they moved more naturally. The creature stood on all of its legs towering above the one thousand two hundred undead regiments.

    ***

    You have sessfully revived [Manticore level 450]

    You have summoned a non-named Undead. To keep [Manticore Level 450] in functional condition you must constantly supply it with mana.

    Cost to keep [Manticore Level 450] operational is 5 Mana/second.

    ***

    "Oh, that¡¯s cheap," Dave said the mana cost wasn¡¯t that much for him. He had 34,200 mana and 0.1% regen that¡¯s about 34.2 more than enough to keep the Manticore operational forever.

    Dave inspected the manticore. Most of his abilities were the same, but its HP pool had decreased from 2,500,000 to 1,000,000.

    "Alright, everyone let¡¯s keep moving- Dave stopped his words midway. Looking up at the Manticore, he smiled.

    "Big guy,e down. You¡¯ll be our ride for the rest of the way!"

    The manticore came down, shook its body a bit until it was on level with the underworld sand.

    "Dunlords and basilisks are heavy, we will act as the manticore¡¯s escort. The rest, climb up!" Dave gave themand. The one thousand and more undead army all climbed up on top of the Manticore.

    The dunlords and basilisks moved ahead of the manticore carrying the undead. Dave was leading the entire regiment on Grumpy¡¯s back. To his sides were Dog and Bud. They looked like marines, running along with a tank in the middle. Soon after, another dun burst open, another cursed manticore appeared in front of the undead.

    "Looks like we¡¯re getting another ride boyz!" Dave was excited as he pointed with his ive toward the Manticore.

 Chapter 289 A daring plan

    "You can have this one, Tiny," Dave said as he ced his ive on his back.

    They had just finished off the second cursed manticore. Apart from some scares loot. There was nothing of value in the corpse. Dave tried to revive it but failed three times in a row. The Manticore corpse was no longer useful so he gave it to Tiny.

    The small slime jumped on the corpse and began digging deep inside it. Soon after, the corpse deformed and twisted back to the same appearance Tiny had when he ate the painted dogs corpses.

    The only difference was that Tiny now had, were carapaces instead of hides covering its chest area. He was arge creature of bones and flesh, two hands and two legs, with a stag skull.

    ***

    Your familiar Grave Lord (Tiny) has consumed a level 450. Due to the summoner¡¯s level being below 450. Grave Lord Tiny¡¯s level has been adjusted to match the summoner. (346).

    Your Grave Lord Level has exceeded the minimum level rmended to use the skill [Death Collector].

    [Death Collector] Collect the corpses of in monster to be usedter inbat. Stored monsters don¡¯t need to be supplied with Mana as long as they are kept within the Grave Lord storage space. Additionally, the skill [Death Collector] has a new passive.

    [Dimensional Pocket] can store up to 2,000 undead at once.

    Your Grave Lord has unlocked the ability, [Major Metamorphosis]. Grave Lord (Tiny) can swap from his {Slime} form to {Battle Form} instantly. All undead Stored in [Dimensional Pocket] can only be essible when your Grave Lord is in {Battle Form}.

    ***

    Tiny shuddered, then chains sprouted out from its flesh. At the end of every chain was a sarcophagus dangling. There were other sarcophagi strapped to its chest with chains.

    "Oh, neat trick. This coulde in handy sometime," Dave muttered.

    "Alright, let¡¯s wrap up here, we still have a lot to do boyz!" Dave called. He had lost ten undead in thest fight and twenty more in the fight with the first manticore. But it wasn¡¯t much of a problem to him right now. He could replenish his forces by raising other more powerful creatures as undead.

    The regiment of undead roamed the third raid zone. ying several Manticores every hour. After nine hours ytime, Dave leveled up three times reaching the required level for the raid. And also leveled up three skills.

    He had revived six Manticores. Leveling up his [Rise Undead] by one level. Increasing the maximum undead he could from 5 to 10.

    Also, he discovered that one of his rarely used skills [Twin Strick] had an incredible rate of synergy with all of his skills. As it mimicked thest skill or attack used and dealt 75% of the skill¡¯s base damage as a bonus. Now he could use Twin Strick with most of his skills to obtain a more powerful effect.

    [Twin Strick] leveled up from level 1 to 2. Reducing its cooldown from 5 minutes to four and a half minutes.

    Lastly, it was his [Dragon Ball]. The skill now summoned two giant balls of fire that exploded on contact.

    Dave¡¯s nine-hour harvest was great. He felt incredibly happy, but that was not all. Using his [Raise Undead] Dave had now nine Manticores added to his regiment

    He kept three inside the sarcophagi on Tiny and used the remaining ones as escorts to his regiment.

    He had killed more than twenty manticores, but he had failed many times in reviving them. He gave the failures for Tiny to eat. The Grave Lord seemed quite happy with the feast as it ripped every manticore corpse to shreds and used their parts to empower himself and became much stronger. Now, Tiny¡¯s HP was the same as a Manticore, a staggering one million HP.

    Dave¡¯s only concern was his mana regeneration rate. As only supply six Manticores with mana at once without going into mana regeneration deficit.

    With six manticores. Dave allocated every three of these chimera creatures, two hundred undead to ride on top of. The six manticores were much faster than the regiment and made it quickly into the main area of the underworld third Raid Zone: The Pharaoh¡¯s Tomb.

    Looking over a dun, there was the Pharaoh¡¯s Tomb. It was city of an incredible size sprawled in the sand. The city was ancient and gave an eerie feeling to it. It was surrounded by walls that were at least thirty meters tall and ten meters thick. Towers with mes rose a few meters above the walls. It looked like a fortified city. And in the middle of the city was an enormous pyramid. Itsyers wereposed of ayer of gold and ayer of ck stone. The top of the pyramid was a red jewel that was so big it could be seen from miles away shining an eerie light.

    Dave smiled, just a while ago he was the one defending a city, and now, it may be the time where he will be sieging one. But he knew he was severely outnumbered. A city this size will require tens of thousands if not hundreds of thousands of undead to take down. He only had twelve hundred and it was not enough.

    "I guess sieging this city is nothing short of suicide. I need to think up another n." Dave mumbled under his breath.

    Soon after, he saw a dozen hooded men walking toward the city gate. Behind them was a basilisk carryingrge bags. The city gate opened up to the men and let them in.

    "Bud, can you go in and see what those people were carrying?"

    "Yes, Lord. I go, see." the shadow ghoul disappeared into a swirl of ck smoke and coursed toward the city.

    Dave waited for a few minutes until Bud came back.

    "What did you find out?" Dave asked.

    "Merchant, man, can enter. Trade." Bud said through cut words.

    Dave thought for a while. He concluded, that trying to raid the Pharaoh¡¯s Crypt by bruteforcing his way through their walls was impossible. Not to mention the Sphynx he saw thest time he was here.

    "We¡¯re going to infiltrate the Pharaoh¡¯s Crypt like we are merchants. We will have a better chance at capturing the city by killing an unaware city guardian than raid them." Dave said.

    "Lord, we are too many," Bud said.

    "I know," Dave looked behind him. The manticores alone were massive in size and could be spotted from a long distance.

    "Stinger, give me your saddle," Dave said.

    Stinger came over and gave his saddle to Dave. Dave Removed Grumpy¡¯s armor and ced the saddle back on the basilisk. He also took the bags from other dunlords and put them on Grumpy. Now grumpy looked like a loaded merchant pack mule.

    "Tiny, take everyone in. We¡¯re going to infiltrate the city," Dave said.

    The giant Grave Lord opened its arms wide. Hundreds of sarcophagi strapped in chains fell hanging from his hands. When the sarcophagi opened, the undead under Dave¡¯smand were sucked into them. Even the giant Manticores were sucked inside the wooden caskets.

    Only Dave, Tiny and Grumpy were left.

    "Change back to slime form," Dave said. The giant morphed and twisted into itself and became a small blob of slime. Dave took Tiny and ced it inside the bag hanging from his waist.

    Dave removed his Death Knight armor and put on his newbie clothes. Brown pants and white shirts. He also had a hooded robe that he put on top. Dave raised his right hand and snapped a finger.

    ck death aura coalesced around him and transformed his eerie draugr-lich appearance to that of a normal human.

    "Alright, human enough. This appearance shouldn¡¯t be too threatening."

    Dave hopped on Grumpy and guided it toward the city gate. His heart beating with every step Grumpy took. He didn¡¯t know if the people inside the city would let him in or just shoot him on the spot.

    When he arrived to the city gate. A few dark skinned people perked up from the walls. Their arrows pointed at Dave.

    "What is your purpose ining to the Pharaoh¡¯s Crypt, human!" the archer thankfully had his name written in yellow.

    "I¡¯m just a wandering merchant. I came to trade goods and will be on my way soon after," Dave shouted from under the gate.

    The two archers looked keenly at Dave for a moment.

    "I fail to see how a human can survive the Underworld. You lie!" One of the archers said, his name turned from yellow to a dark shade of red.

    Dave¡¯s heart tightened, he was about to swap to his sword and shield to defend himself when the second archer said.

    "Show us your token. All traders thate to our city must have a token proving their identity and allegiance to the Ash King."

    ¡¯Token? How the hell am I supposed to have that? Wait, hang on.¡¯

    Dave rummaged through his inventory and picked an item.

    It was a red ring token that he obtained from killing the crazed demon general in the Blood Stone mines.

    The red letters over the archer¡¯s names changed to green, "You have our sincerest apologies! We have mistaken you for an impostor. Pleasee in."

    The archer waved a hand and the gate to the city opened up for Dave.

    A notification showed up in front of Dave.

    ***

    You have sessfully infiltrated the Pharaoh¡¯s Crypt.

    You have been given the temporary ability [King yer].

    As long as your identity remains undiscovered, your first attack against the [King] in the Pharaoh¡¯s Crypt will deal 1,000% of its base damage.

    By killing the King of the Pharaoh¡¯s Crypt. The undead legion will have ess to the city¡¯s teleportation gate and will be able to overtake the city from within.

    ***

    "Oh, nice, this shoulde in handy, now let¡¯s go kill a king," Dave muttered as he led grumpy inside the city.

 Chapter 290 in custody?

    Dave rode through the gates of the Pharaoh¡¯s Crypt city. ck-skinned people were moving around the city. Trading goods, and doing their daily business. The city was no different than the Undead City. Men in ck robes would trade food, weapons and other daily necessities with others. There were even young children ying on the streets.

    Dave felt apprehensive at the thought of destroying the city. The only difference between this and the legion was that these people had pledged allegiance to the Ash King.

    Dave continued moving through the city, he arrived at a market ce where he saw the other man on a basilisk setting shop.

    Dave saw that he had several weapons and armor ced on the street and was patiently waiting for costumers.

    When the merchant saw Dave, he grumbled and looked away, annoyed. It seemed that he disliked the idea of seeing another merchant on a basilisk that was muchrger and darker in color than his. Though Dave didn¡¯t know, the stronger a merchant¡¯s mount, the more valuable the items he carried. It was a simple fact as the stronger basilisk meant that it could better defend the items it carried.

    Dave ignored the merchant and kept moving until he arrived at a secluded spot of the market ce. Dave tapped on Grumpy¡¯s head and told him to sit down.

    There was a dark alleyway behind Dave, making sure no one was present, Dave took out Tiny and told him to release Bud from the dimensional pocket.

    Tiny grewrge enough that he almost surpassed the buildings in the alleyway. Thankfully, no one noticed the gigantic Grave Lord in the city. Tiny released a single sarcophagus and it opened. Bud was ejected out of the casket.

    Looking around Bud said, "We, inside city?"

    "Yes, I need you to do something for me," Dave said then looked up at Tiny.

    "Shrink back up or you¡¯ll expose us."

    The giant Grave Lord contracted into itself turning back to a slime then hopped back into Dave¡¯s waist bag.

    Dave turned back to Bud and said, "Try your best to get information about the Pyramid. See if you can get inside, and get me theyout of the building."

    Bud nodded at Dave and disappeared into a swirl of shadows.

    Dave took some of the equipment he didn¡¯t use anymore and ced them in front of him. He even took some of the dunlord ballistae and put them for sale. He made a note to himself to put these weapons for an exorbitant price so that no one would buy them. He just needed to gather info right now.

    Two dark-skinned people moved along the city streets, walking near Dave, they spotted the peculiar items on disy.

    The two of them approached Dave, one of them pointed at a kite-shield Dave was putting on sale.

    "How much?" the dark-skinned man asked in a gruff voice.

    Dave didn¡¯t want to waste time with the two so he said "10,000Gold."

    The two men frowned when they heard the price and walked away.

    Dave tightened the hood over his face, fully covering it. He crossed both arms and began shooing people away by overpricing his items.

    Bud, unusually was taking a lot of time. Dave became worried, he feared that his ghoul might have been caught. He checked his Undead Management panel, Bud was still at full health.

    "Seems like everything is still going fine." Dave calmed himself.

    After a while, the people scarcely moved along the street where Dave was setting shop. It seemed as if the darkness of the Underworld has increased a notch. Looking up, Dave saw clouds covering the broken moon.

    Dave heard a brisk movement in the darkness of the city. He was not in his undead form, so his night vision was terrible. He felt that someone or something was stalking him. Grumpy stood up and began growling, this was clearly an enemy.

    Feeling a faint breath behind him, Dave jumped forward, a de had just gone past the spot he was on.

    "Who the fuck are you?!" Dave cursed.

    Dave didn¡¯t receive a reply. He rapidly took his Death knight Gloves and put them on. Looking around.

    He heard a chuckle through the dark, then a gruff voice spoke, "Instead of taking out a weapon, you take out your gloves, are you mad?"

    Dave didn¡¯t reply, he had his own reason why he took the gloves first. The Death Knight Gloves had a passive ability that enabled him to quick equip his weapons and switch them in the blink of an eye. The sound of a sword cutting through wind came from Dave¡¯s right. Dave jumped away from the sword but was nicked by the tip of the de on the shoulder.

    [-1,250]

    The sound of another sword swing came from in front of Dave, but this time he was ready. He pulled out Ouki¡¯s ive from his inventory and swung forward, meeting de against de a spark lit the dark city street. For just one moment, Dave saw the face of the assant. It was the man that tried to buy the kite-shield.

    "You have quick reflexes, for a human that is," the man said snakingly. He then lunged at Dave. Dave couldn¡¯t see where the attack wasing from and received a critical blow.

    [-62,003]

    He wasn¡¯t wearing his armor, so his HP was very lowpared to when he was fully equipped. Now he was at less than 40%

    "Alright smartass. You think you can hide in the dark? me on, BITCH!"

    Dave activated [Aura] a surging swirl of fire exploded from around Dave and lit the entire alleyway. The assant backed away, he was caught off guarded and didn¡¯t know what was going on. The human was like a lit torch.

    Dave put on his quick-equipped his Death Knight chest piece and boots and ran after the retreating assant. The man was quick on his feet and jumped to the building wall and kicked up reaching the top floor of another.

    Dave waved a hand, summoning eight spectral skulls, he was surprised by the increased number of spectral skulls, but a notification icon was blinking in the corner of his vision. He concluded that it must be that the skill had leveled up increasing the number of skulls summoned by four.

    The spectral skulls were much faster than before, they flew lighting the way toward the assant.

    "Death magic!" the assant shouted in surprise, but his voice was soon smothered by the explosions of the spectral skulls.

    ***

    You applied Horror effect on your target.

    Target has been Horrified!

    ***

    The ck-skinned NPC lost his footing and dropped down to the ground. Dave came rushing toward him and chopped down with his ive, decapitating the NPC.

    "Don¡¯t ever fuck with me!" Dave shouted. "Oh wait, you¡¯re dead! Fuckface, that¡¯s what you get for trying to act smart, you tryna steal from me?..."

    Dave continued on with his ramblings next to the NPC¡¯s corpse until the sound of heavy footsteps came from all around him.

    City guards armed to the teeth were surrounded by Dave, pointing their weapons at Dave.

    Dave inspected one of the guards.

    ***

    City guard. [Cindered]

    Level: 400

    Tier: Epic

    Base damage: 50,000-60,000

    Danger Level: ?

    HP: 1,500,000

    PD: 50,000

    MD:50,000

    Lore

    A city guard, his sole duty is to protect the citizen and enact order. Attacking a City Guard makes a yer hostile to the city. It is best to follow their orders.

    ***

    "Discard your weapon!" the city guard shouted at Dave.

    Dave looked around, there were more than twenty of them. He could survive by summoning his regiment from inside Tiny¡¯s dimensional pocket but he didn¡¯t wish to make himself an enemy to the guards, yet.

    Dave pocketed his ive and armor and raised both hands up.

    "I acted in self-defense," Dave said.

    "We¡¯ll hear you out in the city jail. Take him!" one of the guards said.

    "Wait," Dave said.

    "What? Are you nning on resisting arrest?"

    "No good sir, but my mount will be left alone." Dave pointed at the basilisk.

    "That¡¯s a huge basilisk. I¡¯ve never seen one that big, captain are we going to take it with us," a guardmented addressing the guard that spoke to Dave.

    Dave concluded that that was the captain, to remain on a friendly term Dave said "Yeah, I bought it at an expensive price, thankfully it¡¯s quite docile. Isn¡¯t that right, Grumpy!" Dave hinted to the onyx basilisk to remain friendly.

    "I¡¯ll have one of the guards take the basilisk to the stables near the jail. We¡¯ll hear you out then see if you truly acted on self-defense." The captain said.

    "How are you going to assure that what I said was true?" Dave asked.

    "We have our ways, now follow me, human. No funny tricks!" the captain said

    "Alright," Dave replied and followed after the captain.

 Chapter 291 Hope at the end of the tunnel

    The guards led Dave to arge three stories building. There were a few city guards moving in and out of the building. Criminals were led in chains inside the building. Thankfully, the guards didn¡¯t put any handcuffs one Dave.

    The captain led Dave into a small square room. There was a table and two seats in the room. Quite simr to the interrogation rooms in police stations.

    The captain gestured for Dave to take a seat, while he sat across from him.

    "Am I entitled to awyer?" Dave asked jokingly.

    "I don¡¯t know what awyer is, but I ask the questions here." The guard took a bracelet that had a white diamond in and asked Dave to put it on.

    "What¡¯s your name?" the guard asked.

    "Kis¡¯ Shtiengbrah," Dave replied. The diamond on his bracelet shone in green light.

    Dave understood that this was some sort of lie detector. He had to be careful of what he says.

    Nodding the captain asked again, "What¡¯s your purpose foring here?"

    This was a tough question, Dave¡¯s reason ining here was to capture the city.

    "Listen, captain. I don¡¯t know what¡¯s going on in this city, but I really don¡¯t understand why am I being interrogated about why I am here, instead of the fight that happened before." Dave said.

    The captain realized that Dave was trying to dodge the question so he said, "We will get to thatter, now tell me why are you here?"

    "I came here to make some profits and also do some sight-seeing," Dave said.

    He wasn¡¯t lying, it was true that he cape to make profits, profits out of the city by killing the king, and sightseeing as in understanding theyout of the city and weak points to abuse for his conquest.

    The jewel shone a bright green. Dave wasn¡¯t lying. He smirked that his stunt worked.

    "Very well, now tell me what happened exactly, and why did you kill that man."

    "Well, I was minding my own business when that man assaulted me. He came at me with a weapon, and I defended myself."

    "Defended yourself and ended up killing him?"

    "Well, I was really angry, and it was dark, so you know," Dave tried his best to give vague answers not to trigger the lie detector. And it worked beautifully as the green light confirmed his words.

    The captain asked Dave several more questions that he dodged beautifully and let him off after giving an apology for theck of security.

    Dave walked out of jail and took grumpy with him. Moving through the city, he heard a grunt from a dark alleyway. It was Bud.

    "Bud, you¡¯re back. What did you find out?" Dave asked.

    "Pyramid, guarded well. I, can¡¯t enter. Need more information." Bud said.

    There wasn¡¯t much information that Dave could take from that. Looking around, Dave saw arge library in one of the street corners.

    "Bud, go back and see if you can find anything else. I¡¯ll also look for more information."

    Dave left grumpy ¡¯parked¡¯ in the street and entered the library.

    There were thousands of books neatly ced on the shelves lining the library walls. A dark-skinned man was tending to the library.

    "What can I do for you, costumer?" the librarian asked.

    "I am new to the city. It looks like a great and ancient ce so I thought to see if there are any good books to read regarding the history of the Pharaoh¡¯s Crypt."

    "I am sorry sir, but books rted to the history of our city are highly ssified. You will need to show me a high level of clearance for me to show you those books."

    Dave took out the token from his inventory and asked, "Is this high enough?"

    The librarian¡¯s eyes widened before he hastily said, "Give me a second."

    He went looking for some books and came with a collection of books from all sizes and colors.

    Putting them on the desk, the librarian said, "Here are the books rted to the construction of the city. Its history, rituals, and past. I apologies, I didn¡¯t know that there were human generals in his greatness¡¯s army."

    "Yeah, I get that a lot, but even humans can be generals if they are strong enough," Dave said.

    The token was a general¡¯s in the Ash King¡¯s army. Dave knew he was at a lot of risk for exposing it too many times. But he needed the information regarding the pyramid. And this was the quickest way for him to obtain them.

    Dave took the books and began reading.

    The contents of the book were mostly regarding war, and the construction and how this city came under the power of the Ash King.

    But there were some tiny bits of info that he found quite interesting.

    The Cindered, as the book calls them are the race inhabiting the Pharaoh¡¯s Crypt. They were once a free city. Living alone and traded with all the powers in the Underworld. They were prominent in magic scroll making. Their greatest magician, someone that they all called The Pharaoh had created something called the Forbidden Chapter. A book of great power that can bend the worldsw to their advantage.

    Dave read through other chapters. They described the power behind every chapter and how they were used. The Forbidden Chapters could litteraly create miracles making what seemed to be impossible quite possible. Dave found various information regarding these scrolls, it gave him a better understanding of the magic this city was capable of.

    Even as a neutral city, the power behind the Forbidden Chapter made the Pharaoh City, now called the Pharaoh¡¯s Crypt a target for the Ash King¡¯s Greed.

    The Ash King attacked the city ages ago and managed to obtain the Forbidden Chapter after ying the Pharaoh. But the death of the Pharaoh didn¡¯t mean the end of the Forbidden Chapters creation. A portion of magicians that knew the old pharaoh had escaped with the knowledge to make these powerful scrolls and were making them and spreading them all over the world. Out of spite, they didn¡¯t wish for the Ash King to hoard this power and wanted to give it for all to use.

    Dave went to read another book. It talked about the pyramid and its construction. It acted not only as the city¡¯s center but also was used to control the sphynx living outside. The sphynx was a creature that was used for war and needed to be fed constantly. The new king, appointed by the Ash King to rule the Pharaoh¡¯s crypt fed the Sphynx regrly. It was fed the very people of this city.

    Dave frowned when he rad thest line. The people of this very city weren¡¯t a threat to the undead legion. It was the ruler and his minnows.

    ¡¯This¡¯ll make it much easier now. I won¡¯t have to kill anyone else but the puppet the Ash King is using as a ruling proxy.¡¯

    Dave read more of the books, one of them gave a detailed description of the construction of the pyramid. A good piece of information caught Dave¡¯s eyes. The inside of the pyramid was like a separate space. It was big enough to hold an army inside. His undead army.

    "Now, I just need a way to get to this puppet king." Dave closed the book and handed them back to the librarian.

    "Thanks a lot for the books."

    "No worries, the librarian said," He sounded a bit nervous, Dave caught on but ignored it for the moment.

    Just as he walked out of the library, he saw a dozen of guards standing in waiting for him. Their weapons were drawn.

    "Don¡¯t make any sudden moves!" The captain said.

    "Hey, I thought we went over all that murder thing?"

    "This is not about that, Fake General!"

    ¡¯Oh shit,¡¯ Dave looked back. The librarian must have informed the city guards about the token. It was only a matter of time before he got caught.

    ¡¯Damn, I should have taken the books and left as soon as I could.¡¯

    "Now,e with us. His Majesty wishes to see you."

    "Huh? Say what now?"

    "Yes, his majesty wants to know how you obtained General Borak¡¯s Token, I advise you to cooperate, otherwise you will be fed to the Sphinx at the gates," The captain said.

    Ironically, Dave wanted to get to the puppet king, and this seemed like the perfect opportunity to do so.

 Chapter 292 The Blessed Lakhbar

    A notification appeared in front of Dave as he was being led to the central pyramid.

    ***

    Your special trait, [King yer] will be disabled the moment the Puppet King discovers your identity. You are advised to act before the 1,000% damage bonus on your first attack is nullified.

    ***

    Dave had already guessed as much. It was only natural that the passive skill will be nullified when the king discovers him. He will be on guard that way. Dave began formting his action n. He didn¡¯t know the fullyout of the pyramid, but knew that the inside wasrge enough to support all of his troops. The nine manticores included. He just needed a good opportunity to strike the Puppet King while he was off guard.

    The guards walked Dave along the city streets, ck skinned people looked at Dave with interest, because of the number of guards taking him. After a while moving, the pyramid was in sight.

    It was impressive as ever,yers of golden and ck stones ced on top of each other and ending in an enormous red jewel at the top. I the middle of the pyramid was a long staircase that extended all the way to the middle of the pyramid where there were two lit braziers next to the pyramid entrance.

    There were thousands of heavy armored soldiers standing in front of the pyramid. They were wearing golden armors and had ornamental banners and shields.

    "These are the royal guards, you better behave. They can behead you instantly if you refuse to co?perate," The captain gave Dave a word of advice.

    Dave smiled and said, "You don¡¯t seem to like them that much."

    "Yes, because these things...they are monsters."

    "Monsters, you say," Dave mumbled under his breath. It seemed to him that the Cindered and these royal guards weren¡¯t on ord. Probably, these Royal Guards belong to the Ash King.

    He understood a few things from the various interactions and books he read about the Pharaoh¡¯s Crypt. The Cindered were oppressed under the Ash King¡¯s might. They were used as sacrifices, and were harvested for knowledge on how to make the Forbidden Chapters. They seemed more like victims than enemies.

    The captain said, "I don¡¯t know how you obtained that token, but it¡¯s for your best interest to tell the king all the truth. You can¡¯t get away from his True Eye with lies and twisting your words."

    Dave didn¡¯t understand how this ¡¯True Eye¡¯ can be rted to telling lies, but he didn¡¯t care. He was resigned to fight today, no matter the circumstances.

    When the guards arrived at the foot of the pyramid, they handed Dave over to these guards. A few dozen of Royal Guards took Dave and shooed away the guards. They wore full helmets, so Dave could only see whatid beyond the helmets eye slits. And what he saw, were red cat-like irises staring at him, emotionless.

    The guards led Dave through the stairs. When they arrived to the braziers, what was the entrance to the temple was a red teleportation gate. This gate had one symbol instead of the twelve teleportation symbols of Conquest Cities.

    Entering through the gate, Dave found himself standing in domed hall. The hall could fit a dozen Olympic stadiums and still have some room to spare. Simply speaking, it was enormous.

    In the middle of the hall was arge pedestal that had a golden throne atop. A man in white was sitting calmly atop the throne. It was the same man Dave saw on the litter, the day he saw the sphinx getting fed.

    At the corners of the hall were hundreds of royal guards. They were here for the safety of the Puppet King who as obviously the man sitting on the throne. Dave looked behind him, the gate was unguarded as all the royal guards were escorting him and the rest of them converged toward the king.

    Dave inspected the king as soon as he was in range.

    ***

    Lakhbar (Chosen of the Demon King)

    Raid Boss

    Level: 450

    Tier: Epic

    Base damage: 85,000-90,000

    Danger Level: ??

    HP: 200,000

    PD: 150,000

    MD:150,000

    Skills:

    [Blessed One] (Passive) Unknown Effects.

    Lore

    The chosen of the Ash King, Lakhbar was appointed a king in the ce of the diseased Pharaoh. His aim is to offer tribute to the Ash King, and supply him with soldiers, magic and wealth to empower the Ash King¡¯s demonic army.

    ***

    Dave didn¡¯t know what Lakhbar¡¯s passive did, but he noticed something interesting in the puppet king¡¯s status screen. This boss had a very low HP bar.

    Dave¡¯s ive could deal at most 225,000 in damage to a 0 defense target. But Lakhbar had 150,000 damage, so at most he would take a quarter of his HP in a normal situation. But thanks to the +1,000 damage from the currently active trait [King yer] he could one shot him.

    The royal guards led Dave to the foot of the throne and forced him to kneel to Lakhbar by the guards.

    Standing up, the king opened its arms wide and spoke, "Wee to our humble abode, merchant. Tell us, how did you get that token?" The king said.

    The guards around Dave were too close for him to use any long-ranged skills, most likely, the skill will reveal his hostile intentions and will render the [King yer] trait useless.

    Dave said while kneeling, "It was a matter of luck that I got this token," Dave said.

    "I see you say no lies. But tell me, how did you get it and where? Our foster lord has already gave us a description of the thief who stole this token. He took that and another much precious object with it. The Chaos Pigmy. I wonder, if you have that too?"

    "So, you think that me and whoever stole whatever that you are talking about are one and the same?" Dave asked.

    "I didn¡¯t say it, but you didn¡¯t deny it," The king smiled.

    Dave suddenly disappeared from his ce, leaving the guards surprised.

    The Royal Guards looked up, what they saw was that the Puppet king in white, had his robes stained in crimson blood. A sharp pointy de was protruding from his chest.

    Behind the puppet king was Dave, he had used [Immortal Apparition], teleporting behind the puppet king and stabbed with his ive through his back.

    [-200,000]

    "I guess you are right," Dave said, "I¡¯m the one who took the token and the pigmy, what you gonna do about it?" Dave chuckled.

    Dave jerked the ive back, the king dropped down from the pedestal to the floor. His blood staining the floor. The royal guards, seemed uninterested with what just urred.

    This made Dave a bit apprehensive, not only were the guards not attacking him. The raid clear server announcement never came.

    Suddenly, the body of the puppet king shuddered. The king moved both his hands and stood up.

    Looking at Dave menacingly.

    "Kill him!" the king shouted and the royal guards all moved at hismand and converged toward Dave.

    ¡¯What the fuck is happening?¡¯ Dave was at a loss, he was sure he downed the puppet king¡¯s HP to 0.

    Reading through the King¡¯s stats again, Dave was left at a loss of words.

    ***

    Lakhbar (Chosen of the Demon King)

    Raid Boss

    Level: 450

    Tier: Epic

    Base damage: 85,000-90,000

    Danger Level: ??

    HP: 400,000

    PD: 150,000

    MD:150,000

    Skills:

    [Blessed One] (Passive) Revives stronger after death. Each Death Increases the base HP pool by ???% HP.

    Lore

    The chosen of the Ash King, Lakhbar was appointed a king in the ce of the diseased Pharaoh. His aim is to offer tribute to the Ash King, and supply him with soldiers, magic and wealth to empower the Ash King¡¯s demonic army.

    ***

    "You gotta be fucking with me, this thing can revive back?" Dave cursed and hopped away from the iing horde of royal guards.

    "Guess it¡¯s time I call the boyz," Dave grabbed tiny from his bag and threw him high in the air.

    "Tiny I choose you! Bring em out! ALL OF THEM!"

    Tiny expanded in mid-air and grew bones, hide and skin, morphing from a harmless looking ck slime, to a hideous Grave Lord. Falling to the ground, Tinynded on his feet. He opened his arms and chains strapped to sarcophagi hung down from them. The sarcophagi opened, ck swirling vortexes ejected out hundreds upon hundreds of undead all over the room.

    "Bud," Dave shouted as he ran toward his units and rode on grumpy.

    "Break the entrance gate, we¡¯re gonna be having a private party here!"

 Chapter 293 Lakhbar the Immortal

    Bud ran to the teleportation gate, switching his ghoul form to shadow form to evade the royal guards¡¯ attacks. When he reached the gate, Bud swung a fist at the stone with the teleportation symbol, cracking it.

    The crack spread all over the runic symbol. The light from the inscription dimmed and the teleportation gate was off. Now the fight against the royal guards was in an enclosed space. This was the best opportunity for Dave to fight against the puppet king without the interference of the royal guards stationed outside the temple.

    Tiny had ejected all the undead from inside it. Dave¡¯s regiment positioned themselves in a battle formation. Melee units at the front, rangers, and casters at the back. Dunlords carrying his undead captains, and six undead manticores materialized all over the domed hall.

    "Crush them!" Dave shouted.

    The undead ranger units rained arrows and spells at the royal guards. While Dave¡¯s melee units held them off. Dave whirled his ive as he rode on grumpy, charging at the frontlines like a crazed war god.

    Swinging his ive left and right, Dave brought payloads of devastating damage on any unit that got closer to him. Dave waved his hand, summoning eightrger than usual spectral skulls. The spectral skulls were the size of a wrecking ball, they floated around Dave and blew up, staggering any royal guard nearby.

    -160,555

    -180,668

    -159,555

    -160,555

    -180,668

    -159,555

    ...

    Red damage numerals appeared all around Dave from the spectral skull explosions.

    "Filthy undead!" The puppet king roared. He began screaming as his flesh bulged in various ces apanied by wet tearing sounds. His human face twisted and tore, the skin folded back revealing a skinless face. Lidless eyes and lipless mouth. The white robes burnt to ash and the remaining of the skin on his body receded back inside the flesh. Bones snapped and the puppet king grew two enormous wings made of his own skin. The puppet king became a hideous monster.

    "That¡¯s one ugly motherfucker!" Dave said.

    There were a few hundred more royal guards fighting with the undead. But the numerical was in Dave¡¯s favor. Especially with the manticores sting through the royal guard ranks like they were nothing.

    The puppet king, seeing his troops being decimated decided to join the fray. He pointed his palm forward, the middle of his palm tore open, revealing a small eye.

    "Die!" shouted the puppet king Lakhbar.

    A ray of purple light shot out from his palm like aser beam. The light ray pierced through one of the manticore¡¯s chest and exited the other way.

    [-555,000]

    The manticore lost more than half of its hp in one hit.

    "Shit!" Dave cursed, "Dunlords, basilisks! Make it rain!" Dave shouted.

    The dunlords pointed their ballistae crossbows and shot their bolts at the floating puppet king. The basilisk inted their hides and shot out the bone spikes on their backs toward Lakhbar.

    Projectiles covered the space around Lakhbar like a steel and iron waterfall. The bolts prated Lakhbar¡¯s skin and flesh, boring through bones and sinew alike. Like a pincushion, Lakhbar fell to the ground motionless.

    Dave¡¯s undead had killed all of the royal guards in the domed hall. Sadly, they didn¡¯t drop any loot. Their bodies dissipated into nothingness after they died.

    Dave carefully approached the corpse.

    All of the undead were converged on it, they were being careful.

    Lakhbar¡¯s hand moved0

    "Fuck, it isn¡¯t dead yet!" Dave swung down with his ive at the boss¡¯s head.

    But Lakhbar had other ns. His hand jerked up and grabbed at the ive. Standing up, Lakhbar heaved a breath, popping out all of the bolts and bone spikes that were embedded into him.

    Dave had a hard time removing the ive from Lakhbar¡¯s hands so he let go and switched to his infernal gauntlets. Dave swung a direct punch into Lakhbar¡¯s face, a cone of mes sted out from the point of impact, searing Lakhbar¡¯s hair. But the puppet king was unmoved.

    Lakhbar let go of the ive. The weapon dropped to the ground in a ng.

    "I¡¯m immortal! Draugr, you cannot kill me with those pitiful attacks."

    Dave didn¡¯t care to listen to what the boss was saying. He kicked Lakhbar in between his legs.

    Receiving no reaction, Dave tilted his head, "Really?"

    Lakhbar didn¡¯t answer and rewarded Dave with the same treatment, kicking him in the crotch and sending him flying all over the room.

    Dave fell to the ground, groaning. "Damn, that hurt." Clutching at his crotch, Dave was in agony. Even if Conquest reduced pain to mild numbing feeling, a kick to the crotch was always painful.

    Lakhbar¡¯s size increased. Bones emerged from under his arms, they morphed into extra hands. His skinless face grew scales and his head grew two hornes.

    "Yeah, multi-stage boss that dies and bes stronger every time. Guess I¡¯ll have to kill it many, many times."

    Dave inspected the boss¡¯s HP. It was now at 1,600,000 HP.

    "Keep on attacking!" Dave ordered. His hands moved rapidly creating ninja seals. Fire gathered around Dave and was funneled up when Dave pointed a finger to the dome.

    Two giant fireballs materialized above Dave, he pointed forward and the mes shot toward Lakhbar.

    Lakhbar was sted, staggering away. Dog¡¯s basilisk rammed into Lakhbar shaking him. Lakhbar swung down at the basilisk with his arms but Dog whirled his Bone il, fending off the attacks. The basilisk¡¯s eyes shone brightly. Due to the level difference between the boss and the basilisk, Lakhbar was not affected by the petrification effect. So Grumpy decided to add in his own [Petrifying Gaze]. When Grumpy¡¯s eyes shone bright, the boss, instead of being petrified or slowed, actually shook the skill like it was nothing.

    He muttered, "I think... I got it."

    Suddenly a notification appeared in front of Dave.

    ***

    [Blessed one] passive has evolved. From now on skills can only work once on Lakhbar.

    ***

    "What?!" Dave cried out. How was that fair?!

    Dave ran up to Grumpy, climbing his on his tail he shouted. "Grumps, throw me!"

    The basilisk threw Dave to Lakhbar¡¯s face. Dave wanted to redo the same stunt he pulled on the Manticores. But Lakhbar was no mere monster. He grabbed Dave mid-air and mmed him down on the ground.

    Dave bounced on the ground, receiving enormous damage.

    [-251,222]

    "Fuck!" Dave cursed, he didn¡¯t expect the boss¡¯s reaction to increasing by this much.

    [+80,000]

    A green numerical value appeared over Dave, looking behind him, the unholy priests was healing him.

    Dave nodded at the priestess and looked back at the boss.

    "I¡¯m gonna have to use all my cards in this fight. If he revives another time, he¡¯s going to have 3,200,000 HP."

    Dave didn¡¯t even want to think about the possibility of the boss reviving two more times, otherwise, Lakhbar¡¯s HP pool will be utterly obscene and impossible to down for the current him.

    mming both infernal gauntlets together, Dave shouted, "Boyz! Bring down the pain! Attack at will!"

    Dave ran between his units and charged at the boss. Lakhbar was half asrge as a Manticore but was much more dangerous.

    Dave red activating [Aura] and lunged at the boss with a [Dragon Kick]

    The boss noticed Dave¡¯s iing flying kick and crossed two of his hands in front of him. Dave¡¯s legnded on the boss¡¯s guard. Lakhbar mmed down with his other four arms at Dave. Dave didn¡¯t hesitate in using [Vertical sh] dodging away. While he was backflipping in mid-air, Dave used [Immortal Apparition] appearing in mid-air right behind the boss¡¯s head.

    "I think...I got it."

    A notification appeared in front of Dave.

    ***

    Immortal Apparition has already been used against Lakhbar. Effects have been nullified!

    ***

    Dave ignored the notification and punched with [Dragon Fist] at the boss¡¯s ckhead.

    The boss¡¯s head jiggled form the impact. But before it could retaliate, the manticores shot their poisoned spikes at the boss. The poison ticked, removing huge chunks of the boss¡¯s HP. But once again, the boss muttered, "I think...I got this."

    The poison¡¯s ticking was instantly rendered useless.

    Dave cursed, at one point all the skills will be useless, and nothing but brute strength will be able to do any damage to this monster of a boss. Unless, god forbid he bes immune to physical damage. That would spell utter andplete disaster to Dave.

    Dave¡¯s regiment kept the assault on the boss, the basilisks smashed their spiked tails on it and bit at the beast, while the Dunlords shot their bolts continuously at the boss bleeding it out.

    The boss¡¯s HP was decreasing rapidly and while it became more erratic in its retaliation. Roaring, the boss sucked in a ck swirl of energy that materialized out of nothing. Opening its mouth, the boss shot a focused ck ray of magic at the undead casters shooting spells in the backline.

    Several death notifications appeared in front of Dave. A third of his casters were eradicated from that attack.

    Dave waved away the notification. He was weighing his options, should he use the ¡¯god mode¡¯ or wait out? His only concern was that if the boss was going to revive again after dying.

    "Boyz! We can¡¯t let this demon scum walk out of here alive! We are of the legion! Show this filth our true might!" Dave roared at the top of his lungs.

    ***

    Artisan of War* title has activated!

    The troops under yourmand have +20% increased damage from all attacks and abilities.

    The Undead troops under yourmand have a 3.5% chance to revive instantly after Death.

    ***

    "Nice!"

    Dave ran up to the boss opening his mouth wide, he used [Ray of mes] a geyser of fire burst out from his inhumanly opened draugr mouth and shot at the boss pushing it away a few feet. The manticores grabbed at the boss from every side, keeping Dave¡¯s ray of me focused on it until it finished.

    The boss, enraged by the pesky leeches, forcefully grabbed back at them and mmed two manticores together as if they were made of paper. He then threw the monsters that were twice its size at Dave¡¯s regiment.

    More casualties incurred in Dave¡¯s ranks, but the undead didn¡¯t fear or falter. Surprisingly, an undead caster revived instantly after it had died and rejoined the fight. This was thanks to the Artisan of War title.

    Tiny decided to join the fight. It struck at the boss with its enormous bony hands, but Lakhbar shook tiny away with a kick.

    Dave kept assaulting the boss with all he got, the undead fell at a more rapid pace, one manticore fell and now there were only five fightings.

    "Tiny, bring out one of the spare Manticores!"

    Tiny materialized a sarcophagus and ejected a manticore out from it. The fresh Scorpion-Bull chimera jumped into the fray the moment it set foot in the domed hall.

    The Boss was finding it harder to keep fighting, wounds covered it from all the fighting. Dave¡¯s skills were almost all used up. Thankfully, the boss was down to a mere 100,000HP.

    The boss made a final effort in struggling against the iing attacks, but he was still brought down to the ground after a focused attack from the manticores.

    The boss fell, for the fourth time now.

    Dave¡¯s heart thumped. He was patiently waiting for the death notification that never appeared.

    The felled boss shook and shuddered. It rose back up, roaring, its hideous appearance changed once again. The horns grew muchrger, and its size became almost asrge as the Ash King. It¡¯s skin wings changed to bony leather wings. It¡¯s six arms new held weapons and his body morphed. Bones grew on top of its flesh creating armoredyers of bones that protected Lakhbar.

    Dave¡¯s heart fell, the boss¡¯s HP pool increased to 3,200,00.

    "Alright, fuck it. Do you really want to y it like this? So be it, time to go God Mode."

 Chapter 294 Die Bitch!

    Dave rubbed the ne Da had given him. It had two skills, [juggler] and [Doubler]. He had ? chance of activating either of the skills.

    ***

    Skill [Doubler] has activated

    Which stat do you wish to double?

    Duration 60 seconds

    ***

    Dave confidently said, "Strength!"

    ***

    Confirmed. Strength value 750 has been doubled.

    You now have 1500 Strength.

    You have exceeded 1,000 strength.

    Passive skill [Herculean Strength] has been unlocked.

    Your physical damaging attacks deal +20% increased Damage.

    ***

    "Good, but I¡¯m not done biatch!"

    Dave used [Zealot], a skill granted by the Legendary tier earring Drahma had given him.

    sts of steam escaped from his joints as he expanded, growing to twice his normal height in seconds. [Zealot] doubled his HP and increased his damage output by 300%, but it also doubled any damage he took. Dave rubbed another ring. The one he¡¯d gotten in Ashkar¡¯s Tomb. The Fleshomancy ring¡¯s [Imperfect Reflection] skill activated, creating a [Zealot] enhanced clone of himself. Then Dave disabled the [Azure Water] Rune embedded in his chest armor.

    A pounding beat pulsed in his brain and a web of cracks spread across his armor tes. Chaos radiated from within the ws, glowing like agitatedva.

    ***

    Chaos-Energy Imbnce!

    Your body is suffering from an overflow of destructive energies from the runes of Chaos!

    +300% Damage to all abilities

    You will lose 1% of your maximum HP per second until your Energy bnce is restored.

    ***

    Dave¡¯s HP didn¡¯t decrease, the clone passively soaked in all the damage Dave was supposed to take.

    "You¡¯re not the only monster here!" Dave said through grit teeth, steam bursting out from his mouth with every word.

    Dave activated [Defile], empowered by his ¡¯god mode¡¯ buffs, a ck area under the boss materialized and was muchrger than his usual [Defile] range. Barbed roots rose up from underground and held the massive boss in ce.

    Dave jumped high up, activating [Advancing Dragon] he initiated the fight with an empowered [Dragon Fist] thatnded square into the boss¡¯s chest staggering him.

    [-255,668]

    Dave disappeared from the ce before the boss swung all six of his ck sword at Dave¡¯s location. He appeared right above the boss¡¯s head. Dave¡¯s leg was extended upward and chopped down on the boss¡¯s head, mming it into the ground. The ground broke from impact creating a miniature crater. Dave disappeared from mid-air and appeared next to the boss¡¯s head, Grabbing both horns Dave heaved, and with a loud shout, picked the whole boss up, swinging him from its ce and into the domed hall wall.

    Lakhbar was mmed into the wall. The strength behind Dave pinned the boss into the wall like a cartoon character. Dave crouched and lunged forward. Like a bullet, he smashed his shoulder into Lakchbar¡¯s back. Sending more cracks spreading on the wall Lakhbar was pinned to.

    Lakhbar groaned, he tried to retaliate but Dave wouldn¡¯t let him. Dave punched and punched at the boss cracking the wall and shaking the dome with every hit. Red numerical values appeared over the boss.

    -388,500

    -650,500!

    -460,000

    -430,000

    -380,000

    He evennded a few critical hits. The boss was at Dave¡¯s mercy. It couldn¡¯t move or fight back as it was pummeled into the wall.

    Suddenly the boss was motionless. Dave had sessfully depleted 3,200,000 HP in his endless mayham. The boss didn¡¯t die though, it shuddered once again, his body became thicker and his flesh tore, creating stronger muscles. Lakhbar gained more height and weight.

    Lakhbar¡¯s Hp just reached 6,400,000HP a mind bogging HP amount that almost made Dave helpless.

    Lakhbar took the opportunity when Dave was distracted by inspecting the status screen. The boss swatted Dave away with a palm sending him rolling and tumbling on the floor.

    ***

    Your [Imperfect Reflection] clone has died!

    ***

    The attack was strong enough that it instantly killed the clone, but thankfully Dave didn¡¯t receive any damage. However, the passive effect from the chaos runes was still bleeding Dave out by 1% of his max HP per second.

    The boss muttered, "I think I got it." Flexing his hands, an infernal aura, like Dave¡¯s, surged around him. Then the boss lunged at Dave with an extended kick. Dave knew this attack; it was his own [Dragon Kick].

    "Fuck, it¡¯s now mimicking my skills!" Dave cursed at the iming attack.

    But thankfully, Dave was quick on his reaction. He sidestepped to the left and kicked at Lakcbar¡¯s iing kick.

    Though the difference in size wasical as Dave¡¯s foot was not even a tenth the size of Lakhbar¡¯s. Dave still managed to activate [Mikiri Counter] thanks to his massive Strength. Dave¡¯s leg pushed Lkahbar¡¯s kick away and he punched at the destabilized¡¯ boss¡¯s stomach. Staggered but haden¡¯t fallen, the boss threw two of his swords away and grabed at Dave then headbutted him.

    [-290,660]

    The boss was about to attack Dave again who as struggling to release himself from Lakhbar¡¯s grip. But Dave¡¯s undead didn¡¯t take it to heart. They disliked the fact that some digesting demonic creature was assaulting their leader.

    Like a crazed horde of rhinoceroses, the basilisks, dunlords, undead and all of Dave¡¯s units charged Lakhbar at once, shaking him and helping Dave release itself. Lakhbar roared, the undead was clinging at him even though the infernal aura around him was burning them, the undead didn¡¯t fear or falter. They kept going forward, no matter the obstacle, no matter the cost.

    Lakhbar shed with his swords at the undead around him killing dozens with every hit. Dave¡¯s units were decreasing at a rapid rate. He didn¡¯t have a way to destroy this thing. The HP alone was a huge deterrent.

    Tiny came running toward Dave, he grabbed at him and said, "Use my power."

    Tiny grabbed at Dave and ced him on his chest. A ck slimy matter covered Dave and buried him into Tiny¡¯s chest.

    Dave¡¯s vision swam, he was now looking at the boss head to head. Looking at his arms, he noticed that he was the one in control of Tiny¡¯s body.

    ***

    You have unlocked your Grave Lord¡¯s trait.

    Fight as one.

    You can use your Grave Lord¡¯s body as your own to fight.

    ***

    "Noice!" Dave shouted. Dave swung a punch at the boss, shaking the creature entire being.

    [-900,000]

    ¡¯Even the power behind my punches increased. This is dope!¡¯

    Dave fought the colossal Lakhbar in a sh of titans. Trading punches and attacks, Lakhbar began using more of Dave¡¯ skills. Like [Defile] and [Dragon Ball]. He even disappeared from sight at once in [Immortal Apparition]. But no one knew Dave¡¯s skills better than Dave. He got ustomed to Lakhbar¡¯s erratic behavior and skill usage and countered them with his own set of skills or skillfully ystyle.

    Dave¡¯s HP was rapidly depleting due to the Chaos Imbnce, and it was affecting the body he was using, Tiny¡¯s.

    But Lakhbar was in a far worse a state. Dave and his undead were smacking the oversized creature with all they got and it was working. A final punch rocketed the boss¡¯s body and it came crashing on its knees. The fall came at the right time as Tiny was no longer capable of sustaining the damage from the Chaos Runes and ejected Dave out from his body.

    Tiny crashed into the ground, unable to move a muscle. The buffs from Zealot and the chaos runes were too much for the Grave Lord.

    "Thanks, Tiny, you did well," Dave said.

    [Zealot], [Doubler] and [Herculean Strength] ended at the same time. Dave disabled the [Chaos Imbnce] by reactivating the [Azur Water Rune] he was back to his regr state.

    The boss remained still.

    ¡¯Please don¡¯te back, please don¡¯te back!¡¯ Dave was hoping that the nightmare would end soon. The boss was downed, unmoving at all, this time second after second, no notification showed up, nor did the boss move.

    A wet tearing sound echoed from the boss¡¯s corpse. The boss didn¡¯t move, but something inside it came out. It was a smaller version of Lahkbar. It¡¯s HP, unsurprisingly 12,800,000HP.

    "Fuck, how many times do I have to kill it? Nothing short of a miracle can kill this fucker now." Dave ruefully smiled.

    Then it dawned on him, a miracle, the forbidden chapter. He read about a chapter that could kill any being under an Ethereal Rank. But, he doesn¡¯t have it.

    ¡¯I suppose the only way to truly kill this thing is with the Forbidden Chapter. But since my dumbass got caught before I could investigate further or try and get my hand on something of the sort. I guess this is my reward for trying to bite more than I could chew.¡¯

    Lakhbar lunged at the nearest undead, he fought and ughtered his way through Dave¡¯s ranks. Dave unequipped his gauntlets and took his ive from the ground.

    "Well, killing this thing is no longer possible, let¡¯s see how long I can survive. There is always another try," Daveforted himself and ran toward Lakhbar.

    The sound of battle echoed, undead were fighting to a bitter end, dying with every confrontation. Two more manticores died at the hand of the raid boss. He was quick, too fast for the manticores to catch or attack.

    Dave followed after Lakhbar who evaded fighting against Dave. The boss became smarter, he decided it was best to eliminate Dave¡¯s underlings then fight him alone.

    Dave caught on and ordered his units to stay together and fight defensively. The boss was incredibly agile, Dave needed to slow it down. He stomped a foot on the ground and activated his Battle Lich ss¡¯s new ability [Blot the Sun].

    Dark clouds gathered inside the domed hall turning everything ck. But the undead could see perfectly fine in the dark. Lakhbar was slowed down massively and Dave managed to catch up.

    Dave shed his ive with Lachbar¡¯s ws, he was able to push the boss slightly away. Suddenly someone called Dave. Panicking, Dave moved away from Lakhbar. Looking at the caller, it was mercy. He didn¡¯t know what she wanted from him, but if she called it meant that it was urgent.

    Dave epted the call and fought the boss while on the phone.

    "Supp, Mercy!"

    "Hey Skelly, I¡¯m on speaker. The guild leader of the European Army andmander of the Conquest super guild alliance wishes to speak with you."

    ¡¯huh, that¡¯s a big shot what does he want from me?¡¯

    Dave waved a hand summoning eight spectral skulls. He wanted to use them to push away the boss and give himself a few moments to speak through the phone.

    "Is this about joining the raid? Sorry, no thanks, I have my hands full right now," Dave said.

    "Skelly." Dave heard an unfamiliar voice through the voice. "Please reconsider, I am willing to pay you twice the amount you received from selling the Conquest Right if you help us in this raid with your undead."

    Dave snapped his fingers blowing up the spectral skulls. He knew they wouldn¡¯t deal much damage but at least it would give him some time now.

    When all of the spectral skulls blew up, a notification appeared in front of Dave.

    ***

    Your skill [Spectral Skull] applied [Horror Effect] to [Lakhbar]

    Horror Effect has applied [Execution] to your target.

    All of [Lakhbar] forms have suffered the same effect.

    Lakhbar has been in!

    ***

    "DIE BITCH!" Dave shouted at the top of his lungs.

    "Excuse me?" The man on the other end of the phone.

    "Ah sorry, not you, this stupid boss was a pain to kill. So what were you saying?" Dave said. he was ncing at a notification that appeared in front of him.

    ***

    Server Announcement

    Congrattions to yer Kis¡¯Shtiengbrah for sessfullypleting the third raid zone of the underworld

    The Pharaoh¡¯s Crypt is now under the Undead Legion¡¯s control.

    ***

    Dave frowned, the man on the other end of the phone was not speaking. "Yeah, bro? Hey, is the connection alright? You¡¯re awfully quiet."

 Chapter 295 Aftermatch

    Dave waved away the level UP notification, he leveled up twice reaching level 357 and was 20% EXP away from level 358. Usually, the EXP gain would have been much less because the monster Dave slew was only level 450. But because it was a Raid Boss, the EXP gain was multiplied several times.

    Dave continued speaking to the guild leader Demetri afterward and told Mercy to be careful of the ck Dragon. Mainly, because of the information, he read in the library about the Forbidden Chapters.

    The forbidden chapter is quite powerful, but it is limited in its use, it can hardly affect ethereal tier monsters. And the dragon is at that rank.

    Dave walked to the Puppet King¡¯s corpse and touched it for loot.

    ***

    Ultimate Skill Book: Demonic Ascension

    ***

    Dave frowned, there was only one item, but the book¡¯s name was interesting, to say the least. Dave took the book and inspected it.

    ***

    Ultimate Skill Book: Demonic Ascension.

    Skill Book Tier: SSS

    Cannot be leveled up!

    {yer¡¯s Appearance will temporarily change}

    Enters an Ascendant State where the user continuously absorbs 0.5% HP/ second of all targets around him for 60 seconds. If the user¡¯s HP is full, the surplus absorbed HP will transform into a temporary shield of the same absorbed HP value that willst for 60 seconds or until it has been destroyed.

    [Demon Within] all fire-rted abilities will have a [Demonic] attribute added to them while in Demonic Ascension.

    [Demonic] attribute has a 20% chance to burn all of the yer or monster mana and reduces mana regeneration by 100%.

    Do you wish to learn this skill book?

    Yes/No?

    ***

    "Why not?" Dave pressed yes and the infernal book red into ck mes that funneled into Dave.

    Dave felt a strange heat coursing through his veins for a few seconds then they dissipated.

    Dave looked at his undead. More than two-quarters of them were dead. The boss was ridiculously powerful, if not for the lucky proc of the Horror effect, he would have most certainly bitten the dust.

    "Tiny put everyone inside," Dave asked the Grave lord.

    "Me, eat first?" the giant Grave Lord asked Dave.

    Dave thought about using [Rise Undead] on the puppet king but thought it was best not to. The creature was demonic and he didn¡¯t know if it could revive as a loyal undead or a rebellious demon. It was better not to tamper with the corpses of hostile forces.

    "Yeah, go ahead," Dave said to Tiny. It was better to use the corpse for another use.

    Just as the words left Dave¡¯s mouth, the Grave Lord lunged on the corpse of the puppet king and assimted it. He took in both therge and the smaller body of the puppet king that bore out from its giant form.

    Tiny¡¯s shape changed, from carapaces all over his body to a bone armor. Tiny¡¯s antler-like horns changed to demonic horns and his torso became more like that of a human torso made of bones than a blob of fused flesh and slime.

    When Tiny finished eating, he released hundreds of sarcophagi from his hands that absorbed all the undead and creatures in the domed area. Leaving only Dave, Tiny and Grumpy.

    Tiny changed to his slime form and hopped on Dave¡¯s shoulder.

    Dave turned to the gate, now he had to somehow repair it, so he could leave the domed area. When he approached the gate, the rune on it lit up and the suspended gate went back online. Two Doom Knights emerged from the gate. They were Gale and Orn.

    "How did you get in here?" Dave asked he was thankful that someone repaired the gate.

    "Lord Da is here, he is asking for your presence," Gale said.

    "Alright, I¡¯m on my way."

    "Lord Kis¡¯Shtiengbrah," Gale added

    "What is it, Gale?"

    "His majesty the king is also there."

    "Oh, thanks for the heads up." Dave nodded and left the pyramid riding grumpy.

    Tens of thousands of undead were organized in single file all around the streets. The whole city looked no different than the Undead City with the sheer number of undead moving about. Suddenly a small cindered child dropped a ball he was ying with and it rolled until it touched Grumpy.

    An undead knight grabbed the kid by the neck, with his sword withdrawn. A female cindered came running toward the Death Knight that was probably grabbing her child and urged him to release the kid.

    Dave understood that this clich¨¦ situation was probably part of a quest.

    Dave hopped down and grabbed the ball, "Release the kid," Dave said.

    The death knight recognized Dave and dropped the child. Dave went on his knee and faced the kid while handing him the ball. "Don¡¯t worry, no one¡¯s going to hurt you."

    The kid took the ball, half afraid and half grateful to the undead that saved him from the other much scarier undead.

    Suddenly, Dave heard a very familiar voice behind him.

    "Who gave you the right to give this promise?"

    Dave turned, it was the Undead King.

    All other undead went on their knees when facing the undead King, leaving only Dave standing up and looking at him eye to eye.

    "These people did nothing wrong, it was the one who ruled them."

    "I know such, but who permitted you to promise them safety?" the king asked.

    Dave frowned, he didn¡¯t know what the king was trying to say. But when he saw Da and Samael behind the king, the both of them smiling gently at Dave, Dave understood that he had to give a convincing and favorable answer.

    "Your majesty, we are the undead. But that doesn¡¯t mean we are evil. We loath the living, but we do not kill unjustly. These people, they are better kept alive, not only will it piss off the Ash King, but it will also give the people a favorable impression on us. And if we are lucky, we might even be able to discover the secrets of the Forbidden Chapter."

    The king snorted at Dave¡¯s reply, "Very well. Draugr. You have shown great valor, that which We cannot look away from. You have proven for Us that you are of worthy valor, that which we cannot deny. You have gained audience with Us, whenever you wish to speak to Us, you are wee."

    The undead king turned and walked away.

    Both Da and Samael came over toward Dave, Da was most d of the two as he spoke, "Well done Kis¡¯Shtiengbrah. I never thought you had it in you. You exceeded my expectations, Childe, you took the city in less than a day. No wonder the king came all the way over just to see your contribution."

    Just as Da finished his words, Dave received a notification.

    ***

    Your efforts have been approved.

    For conquering the Third Raid Zone: The Pharaoh¡¯s Crypt. You have been awarded

    5,000,000 CP

    +500,000,000 EXP

    1 random forbidden chapter every 30 days in-game.

    ***

    Dave leveled up instantly afterward, his level increased from 357 to 373.

    He was surprised by the generous amount of EXP, but thinking about it. The difficulty of the raid was a notch beyond the Red Fortress. Not only he didn¡¯t have Da¡¯s 100,000,000 Undead army. He was limited in recourses, undead, and means to conquer the Third Zone. But his ¡¯luck¡¯ served a great help in this raid.

    Samael spoke after Da saying, "The king might not have his memory back right now, but you gained his trust Kis¡¯Shtiengbrah. Keep this up and he might rename you his Childe again."

    "Yeah right, by the rate our ¡¯rtionship¡¯ is improving, I¡¯d probably need to conquer the whole underworld and the overworld for him to recognize me again," Dave sighed.

    Daughed and said, "Don¡¯t worry, the king¡¯s sealed memories will start unlocking soon. Keep doing good deeds to the legion and you shall earn the respect owed to you, Kis¡¯Shtiengbrah."

    "So, what¡¯s going to happen to the cindered?" Dave asked, he seemed worried about the people of the Pharaoh¡¯s Crypt.

    "Nothing really, think about this raid as a change of management. The Pharaoh¡¯s Crypt will now be under the Undead¡¯smand instead of the Ash King. We suspect that the Ash King will retaliate soon, that¡¯s why I will be the one to stay in this area to fend off against any attacks," Da said.

    "Well, best of luck, Da. I¡¯ll go grind a bit," Dave said

    "Grind?" Da asked.

    "Uh, I mean I will go and train. I need to be stronger," Dave said. He currently had two objectives. The first is to reach level 400 and take The Doom Knight ascension and the second was to reach level 450 to equip the sword and shield kit that he obtained from the Exiled Abyssal Knight Deadra.

    He had a feeling that those two items were of incredible value. Dave could only inspect them when he has all the required condition. He already fulfilled two. Being and undead and have at least the Death Knight ss. Thest condition was level 450. He was still far from it though.

    "Before you go, remember this. If you ever be able to use [Overdrive],e to me, and I will teach you more about necromancy and death magic." Da said.

    A notification appeared in front of Dave.

    ***

    Abyssal Knight Da had promised to teach you Lich-Rted skills under the condition that you learn [Overdrive]

    [Overdrive] is a passive ability gained by reaching 1,000 INT.

    You can now request skill upgrades and learn new skills from your new magic instructor:

    Arch-Lich Da

    When you have 1,000 INT, the ability [Overdrive] will be unlocked.

    ***

    "Thank you," Dave thanked Da and left the city. He nned on wandering the third Raid Zone and probably visit the fourth. But he had no intention on fighting anything there. Not only was it close to the Ash King¡¯s domain. He was sure that the monsters there were much more frightening than the ones he just fought.

    Soon after Dave left the Pharaoh¡¯s City, Ralph called him and informed him about the situation with the eastern raid. Ralph informed Dave all about the eastern invasion and the direction they were taking. He didn¡¯t forget to mention that they were right going to station in the Tomb of Ashkar the dungeon that caused Dave many troubles.

    When Dave finished and hung up, he pulled out a teleportation scroll and tore it.

    Dave and grumpy both appeared in front of the teleportation gate of Urburg.

    "Grumps, I have a good friend that I need to revive. His name is Spike and he saved my life several times. Let¡¯s go get him back."

    Grumpy growled in ord and moved out of Urburg heading toward the Tomb of Ashkar.

 Chapter 296 Challenged

    Dave rode through the thick vegetation of the Deep Wilds heading toward the Tomb of Ashkar. The trees were eerie as ever and the atmosphere in the Wilds never changed even when the ck dragon no longer terrorized the endless jungles.

    For some reason, Dave didn¡¯t encounter any hostile monsters or any life in that matter. The Wilds were quiet, but this didn¡¯t calm him in any way. It only increased his tension.

    After riding for a while, Grumpy hated, he was growling low. There was something moving in the bush in front of the two.

    Dave took the Great General ive out from his inventory, equipping it. The bush in front of them parted revealing arge green creature.

    Dave smiled ruefully. This was thest thing he wanted to meet right now. It was the giant praying mantis Kurukuru. The mantis looked at Dave menacingly, it rubbed itsrge ws against themselves.

    "Supp, ugly thing. Looks like danger kitty did a number o you," Dave said. He had noticed the deep gash on the mantis¡¯s belly.

    The mantis shirked at Dave, it disliked being ridiculed, especially by weak prey.

    "Just hold your horses, listen up, I¡¯m not nning on fighting you or hurting you. Even if you were an ass," Dave said.

    The praying mantis tilted its head, it wasical how its triangr head twisted in confusion at Dave¡¯s words.

    "I dislike that cat as much as you do. He wanted to use me to get you, and I hate being used." Dave rummaged through his inventory, finding a red vial, he threw it to the praying mantis saying, "Here."

    The mantis jerked back like a scared cat from the object.

    "That¡¯s a health potion, drink it, it should help you recover your wounds," Dave said and nudged Grumpy away from the mantis.

    Kurukuru was hesitant at first, but the paining from his side made it ¡¯trust¡¯ Dave. It went to the vial, carefully picked it up with its sword-like ws and crunched it in its mouth, ss, and liquid at once.

    The wound on Kurukuru¡¯s side healed at a noticeable rate. After a moment, Kurukru was perfectly healthy.

    ***

    In your action, you have aided Kururkuru. This had made you a mortal enemy to Leonard the Pride Stalker.

    Be careful as you roam the wild, as long as Leonard is alive, you shall be hunted.

    ***

    "Well, that¡¯s one more nasty enemy added to my te," Dave shrugged and nudged grumpy to a trot leaving a confused green praying mantis alone in the Wilds.

    Grumpy ran through the wilds without encountering any problems. But Dave was still asionally looking over his shoulder, he didn¡¯t know if Leonard had picked up on his scent or is currently chasing him. But it was better to be careful about any situation.

    As Dave was mounting, he came across an area that had a huge pile of rotten orc bodies. Grumpy slowed down at Dave¡¯s request. His [Death Vision] from the [Battle Lich] ss ability gave him a perfect view of the deceased in this battle.

    Hid vision showed him the corpses as white piles of bodies on top of each other, and in between them was a body that glowed yellow akin to gold.

    Dave approached the golden body and hopped off Grumpy. The owner was that of a High Orc, much bigger andrger in stature than the rest. There was even a dead battle boar with barbed tusks and armor.

    ¡¯This guy looks like the High Orc leader.¡¯

    The piled corpses meant that a powerful enemy came and razed the whole orc army to the ground. Dave didn¡¯t know what did this, but he realized that he couldn¡¯t miss this opportunity to revive a powerful leader and add it to his ranks.

    Most of the High Orcs wore leather armors, but this one was particrly well equipped. He had some iron chain mail, and a steel belt and steel greaves. He also wore a horned Viking helmet. The items on him were a mismatch, but that¡¯s understandableing from an Orc. He probably obtained these from enemies he killed and wore them.

    Dave pressed o the corpse and muttered "Rise Undead."

    ck death aura exploited from Dave¡¯s hand, coiling around the High Orc¡¯s corpse. The corpse vibrated a little then stopped moving.

    "Tsk, a failure."

    Dave tried again, but this time the revival worked.

    ***

    Congrattions, you have revived your first Named Undead.

    Singund the Conqueror {High Orc} level 450

    As a named undead, Singund the Conqueror will be added to your undead ranks without the need for you to supply it with mana to keep it in functional.

    Singund the Conqueror is currently a higher level than you.

    Permission to add it directly to Doom Knight rank has been denied.

    Singund the Conqueror has been downgraded to Death Knight.

    As a Death Knight, Singund can lead 1,000 Unit.

    Due to your rank being simr to Singund, the units Singund cannot agree to follow yourmand unless you show your capabilities.

    You will be shortly transported to the Undeath Ascension battle arena!

    ***

    "Oh, that was unexpected." Dave backed away from the shaking corpse.

    Singund the conqueror rose up, roaring to the world his return for conquest.

    "GRAAAH! Brought back from the dead to y some more!" Singund thundered. The blue color of his eyes showed his allegiance to the legion, but not his loyalty to Dave.

    The two of them were instantly covered in a dark aura and were teleported away from the location they were in.

    Dave¡¯s vision swam and returned to normal, he was once again in the undead Ascension Battle Arena.

    Its walls stood tall and surrounded the square tform.

    Dave listened to the shouts and howls of tens of thousands of undead, screaming and glorifying the Undead King. It filled him with ecstasy and excitement, this arena reminded him of many battles that he fought and won. He wasn¡¯t intending on losing this fight anyway.

    The tower of the Undead Pce stood behind the arena, looming over everything. From it, a loud horn blew signaling the start of the ascension match.

    ***

    You have been challenged by the Death Knight Singund the Conqueror.

    All of your skill cooldowns have been reset to 0.

    You cannot use Legacy Skills in this battle!

    Forfeiting or losing the battle will demote you from Death Knight to Undead Captain.

    All of the units you upgraded will be downgraded to lesser undead and the number of troops you control will be shortened by 90%.

    Winning in the challenge will award you the servitude of the Death Knight Singund the Conqueror and 1,000 undead under him.

    ***

    "Oh shit, that was unexpected," Dave said.

    "Draugr! You brought me back to this form. I am thankful, for we orcs only relish in battle and as undead, I can fight without restrains! But don¡¯t think I will go easy on you just because of that!" Singund whirled his cleaver in front of him.

    "Aren¡¯t you being a dick now. You just came back and try to take my boyz? You need to be taught a lesson." Dave switched from his ive to his gauntlets. This pig face needed a beating.

    Dave inspected Singund.

    ***

    Singund the Conqueror

    Level: 450

    Tier: Epic

    Base damage: 85,000-90,000

    Danger Level: ??

    HP: 1,500,000

    PD: 150,000

    MD:150,000

    Skills:

    [Wrath of the Giants] (Passive) increases Singund¡¯s attacking power by 20% for every 10% HP lost.

    [Blood of the Giants] (Passive) Increases Singund¡¯s HP regeneration by 1% for every 10% HP lost. (Effect is lost when Singund Reaches 1% HP)

    [Madness of the Giants] (Passive) increases Singund¡¯s attacking speed by 10% for every 10% HP lost.

    [Will of the Giants] (Passive) Singund bes immune to damage when his HP reaches 1% for 180 seconds.

    Lore:

    Singund the Conqueror said to be descendant of the race of the giants. He was the greatest leader of the High Orc tribe to ever live. He had controlled every tribe and banded them to one cause, to rule the Wilds and for him to be its king. Though the Wilds proved a dangerous location to start his conquest, its dangers made him the mighty orc he is.

    ***

    ¡¯Looks like I can¡¯t mess around with this guy.¡¯ Dave thought.

    He knew that he could easily down Singund to 1% HP by using his [Zealot], [Chaos Imbnce]bo. But that will only make Singund immune to damage for 3 minutes where Dave will need to be careful about fighting him.

    Not only will Singund be invulnerable, but he will be in his strongest state with all the passives he has.

    Singund charged at Dave roaring.

    Dave met the High Orc¡¯s charge with his own fists, mes exploded out from the Sworn Stalwart gauntlets on Dave¡¯s hands.

    But Singund wasn¡¯t affected in the least, his cleaver had already blocked all of the ssh damage from Dave¡¯s gauntlets and stopped his fist in mid-punch.

    "This is all you got? You don¡¯t deserve to lead!" Singundughed then kicked Dave all the way to the other side of the arena.

    Dave tumbled on the floor, for a few times then scrambled up to his feet. The knock back effect made Dave realize that the difference in the two¡¯s strength was unimaginable.

    ¡¯The fuck was that? This guy¡¯s strength is stupidly monstrous and his HP has yet to drop for his damage to increase? Why is his damage this low?" Dave wondered.

    Dave¡¯s eyes thennded on Singund¡¯s cleaver. It was a rusty, dull weapon. Fought and used so many times, the cleaver was more like a club than a sword.

    ¡¯I guess he has yet to find a better weapon that can show his true strength. Shit, this fight¡¯s going to be really hard.¡¯

 Chapter 297 Hard Fought Battle

    Singund sliced at Dave with brutal force. Dave sidestepped the strike that broke the arena pavement and punched at Singund¡¯s nk.

    [-86,000]

    Singund grunted but swung horizontally trying to cut Dave¡¯ head off. Dave ducked under the swing and punched up.

    [-88,500]

    He was getting used to Singund¡¯s erratic battle style.

    "You better have more than just that, draugr!" Singund roared, he was feeling exhrated the more damage he took in. It was only natural, he was a pure berserker, the lower their HP the stronger they be.

    Dave ignored Singund¡¯sments, among all the undead he met, this was the one that talked the most. Dave waved his fingers, summoning eight yoga ball sized spectral skulls.

    "Eat these!" Dave said, snapping his fingers.

    The spectral skulls blew up, dealing tons of damage to the Undead High Orc, sting him all the way to the side of the battle arena.

    Dave carved through a third of Singund¡¯s HP, but this just made his situation only worse. Dave knew that by the rate, Singund¡¯s attacking speed is increasing, he will be unable to block or evade his attacks in the near future.

    ¡¯The worst part is, when I down him to 1%, he will be so damn fast it¡¯s going to be impossible to take him on at that point. How the hell am I going to handle him then?¡¯

    Dave¡¯s mind was processing various ns and countermeasures to the uing headache. While Singund was swinging his cleaver like there was no tomorrow. The High Orc¡¯s mouth was widened into a frightening evil smile, the more he was attacked the more this smile broke.

    Dave made a blunder, sidestepping a side cleave toote, he received the attack square in the left ribs. Dave was shocked by the amount of strength behind that cleave that it sent him flying a few meters before he hit the ground.

    ¡¯Fucking masochistic pig!¡¯ Dave cursed inwardly.

    Looking up, he saw the High orc in midairing down with the cleaver in hand slicing down at the fallen Dave.

    Dave rolled away from the cleaver that broke the ground, while he was still on the ground, Dave kicked at Singund¡¯s leg, making the High Orc fall to the floor. Dave scrambled to mount on the fallen orc and began punching him in the face.

    Dave was pinning Singund with his legs as he punched withvish brutality at the High Orc¡¯s face. With every punch, a red numerical value appeared over Singund, as viscera, blood and teeth broke. But the pig faced Orc didn¡¯t feel pain, no, to Dave¡¯s disgust he seemed to be enjoying it.

    Dave kept an eye on Singund¡¯s HP. It was now in critical levels. He knew the real problems will start soon.

    Suddenly, Singund spoke, "I think I had enough fun, more of this, and I might actually die!"

    Singund roared through a gurgling bloodied mouth, then hurled Dave away from him.

    Dave fell on his back.

    "Fuck, he¡¯s much stronger now."

    Singund spat some broken teeth and smiled at Dave with a face filled with bruises and wounds "My turn now!"

    "Who said I was done?" Dave used [Advancing Dragon]

    He disappeared from sight and appeared behind Singund, his fist aimed at the High Orc¡¯s back. Yet to Dave¡¯s surprise, the orc managed to turn right in time and grabbed at Dave¡¯s extended fist.

    "Too slow!" Singund pulled Dave and kneed him in the stomach.

    [-280,000]

    Dave was surprised, normally, Advancing Dragon was an AI guided attack pattern. He should have entered a stat that made him dodge attacks and retaliate when attacked. But Singund was just too fast that he caught Dave in mid-skill.

    Singund swung down with the cleaver on his other hand. Dave barely managed to raise his arm, trying to use the gauntlet to make the ive slide away, deflected.

    But the sheer force behind the strike made Dave feel like his arm was about to be broken. Thankfully the weapon slid away, creating sparks on the Sworn Stalwart gauntlets and was embedded into the ground.

    Dave was still pinned by the Orc¡¯s hand. He knew that if he didn¡¯t get away from his melee, he would be killed. He used [Double Edged] and [Vertical sh] which made Dave escape the orc¡¯s grab.

    The Minghocao bore through the ground and arena pavement, taking the orc into its deadly maw then spat him down and threw up loads of yellow acid that melted most of Singund¡¯s armor.

    Singund was now at 1% HP. He just entered his most dangerous state and he will be in that state for 180 seconds. That¡¯s 3 minutes that Dave needed to survive.

    Sadly, [Life Cleaver] doesn¡¯t work on monsters above level 400. And Singund was level 450. Dave needed to survive this on his own, relying on his skill and skills.

    Singund roared at Dave and came charging with mad glee. Dave¡¯s hands blurred in ninja seals as he created two [Dragon Balls] and pointed at Singund. The two fireballs glided at a rapid pace toward Singund and smashed into him at once. But the Orc didn¡¯t flinch, he took the two fireballs head on and continued charging toward Dave.

    Dave switched to his ive, and swatted away an iing chopping attack from the High Orc. Singund¡¯s cleaver was stuck once again in the floor, this gave Dave the time to swing another time at Singund¡¯s nk. But the High orc grabbed at the cleaver¡¯s de using his other hand.

    Dave knew that he could never pull out his weapon from the High Orc with just his 750 STR. So he used the skill he learned while fighting the manticore. [de Tornado].

    The ive was forcefully pulled away from the orc¡¯s hand in order for the skill to initiate as Dave spun around himself with the ive held up, slicing at the orc. Singund was staggered for a few moment away by the ive. Taking a few steps back, Singund kicked at Dave while he was spinning.

    [-20,000]

    Dave¡¯s spinning animation was forcefully sopped. He checked his HP, it was now less than 20%. The asional proc of his new undead passive [Vigorous] restored some of his HP. But it was not enough to sustain the relentless onught of the high orc. Dave needed to handle this fight better.

    Singund followed after Dave shing his ive haphazardly everywhere.

    Dave had no way to defend from the iing orc, even if he could block one or two attacks, he will never be able to evade the rest. He needed to be faster, much faster than he currently was.

    A sudden epiphany came over him. It was light the light at the end of the tunnel. Dave rubbed the ne Da gave him.

    ***

    Skill [Juggler] has activated

    Which stat do you wish Empower?

    Be careful Juggler will reduce all of your other states besides [Stamina] [health] and Mana to 0 while empowering the state of your choice with the cumtive Attribute points with the total of the stat points you currently have.

    Duration 60 seconds

    ***

    Dave shouted confidently.

    "ALL IN DEXTERITY!"

    ***

    Skill Juggler has activated all of your attribute points, from equipment¡¯s and base attribute points have been added to Dexterity.

    You currently have:[3310] DEX! (750 STR+ 950INT +700WIS+500 DEX +410 AGI)

    You have obtained the passive [Inhuman Reactions]

    ***

    Suddenly, Singund seemed to be slowing down, extremely so. When the orc swung his ive, Dave managed to easily dodge the swing and took a few steps back.

    "Huh? Howe you dodged that?" Singund was shocked. He never expected the puny draugr to have this much speed.

    "You look surprised?" Dave smiled. Right now, he could easily see Singund¡¯s moves and attack trajectory. Enraged by how this draugr managed to dodge his attacks, Singund attacked with more ferocity, only to have Dave easily dodge the attacks. For Dave, Singund was slower than a snail. And for any bystander, if he watched the two fighting, he would be utterly surprised. The hulking orc was ridiculously fast, but what was more mind bogging was the draugr that jumped and danced around the orc, dodging the deing at him by a hairbreadth and made it look easy.

    The increase in dexterity gave Dave all he needed to evade the orc¡¯s attacks, he was now ¡¯safe for 60 seconds. As long as he doesn¡¯t mess up, he could survive for one minute.

    The time went on as the orc kept swinging. He wasn¡¯t going to be tired anytime soon, he was now an undead. But that didn¡¯t mean that his frustration didn¡¯t increase. The orc tried to attack, again and again, but Dave moved like flowing water dodging the attacks.

    "WHY DON¡¯T YOU HIT BACK!" Singund was wrathful. He had to admit that Dave was currently much faster than him. This was an opportunity that any war veteran would take to decimate their enemies. But Dave never attacked, this made the orc feel like this draugr was toying with him. It was shameful to the High Orc.

    Suddenly, the orc threw his cleaver at Dave lunged at him in a bear hug. The attack was so sudden that Dave was only able to evade the cleaver and was caught in the Orc¡¯s bear hug.

    Dave had no strength right now to fight off the massive muscles of the orc chief. This blunder spelled doom for Dave.

    Singund reared his head for a headbutt. But when he swung his head forward, he hit nothing. Looking at his arms, the draugr was not there anymore, there was only Dave¡¯s death knight armor.

    "Yeah, surprising right? Being dexterous can make you quite slippery," Dave smiled.

    Singund was about to burst a blood vein. His wrath could increase no longer. He charged at Dave again who kept toying with him. But soon, the skill [Juggler] came to an end. The two were facing against each other, the orc had no idea that Dave could no longer be as slippery as before so Dave tried to buy more time.

    "You can¡¯t beat me, Singund. Admit defeat." Dave said

    "Never, we orcs never admit defeat, not even against the sharpness of a de, or the grip of death!" Singund said.

    "Quite valiant I say, but you can¡¯t catch me, how are you going to win?"

    "That would have been true a few moments ago, but seeing that your muscles have returned to their rigid state, I say you can no longer be as agile as before. You are trying to buy time for me to lose my berserker state."

    ¡¯Shit, he is a smarty.¡¯ Dave cursed, he didn¡¯t think that the Orc would pick up on his shrade.

    "Now,e and meet your maker!" Singund roared and charged at Dave.

    "Alright, time to step up the game a bit! ZEALOT!" Dave roared

    His body increased in size as steam burst out from his pores. He was not wearing his armor so his draugr skin was revealed sizzling from incredible heat. He then activated the Chaos Runes. His skin began to burn bright as red magma colored veins seethed incredible heat through his body.

    Singund stopped in mid stride. "Did you say Zealot? That¡¯s our forefathers¡¯ ability! How can a draugr have it!"

    Dave knew that the Orc was talking about his ancestor who must have been a giant.

    "Defeat me, and I might tell you," Dave smiled. He was now asrge as the Orc. Dave switched to his gauntlets and activated [Aura]

    "Let¡¯s turn up the heat!" Dave¡¯s leg pressed on the floor cracking it, then he burst forward with blinding speed.

    Swinging his fist at the orc, Singund had to hold his sword to block. But this time, things were different, Dave managed to overpower the High Orc and pushed him a few steps back.

    "Your strength has increased!" Singund said with a slight apprehension. It was not fear, but more like trepidation.

    "Surprised now, aren¡¯t we?" Dave¡¯s draugr smile widened.

    "Let¡¯s see how you can deal with this!" Dave mmed his fist on the orc¡¯s face, sending the giant oaf tumbling. He ran after Singund, grabbed him by the leg roared "HULK SMASH!"

    Then began mming Singund left and right like a true berserker.

    Singund was disoriented from the attacks, he even dropped his cleaver in Dave¡¯s rampage.

    Dave then spun Singund around himself and threw him away, wanting to score some style points, Dave used [Immortal Apparition] and teleported in mid air right above the still flying Singund and used [Dragon Kick].

    Dave¡¯s avatar twirled downward, his foot chopping down Singund¡¯s chest and mmed him down the ground. A burst of fire erupted out from the ground.

    Dave kept pummeling Singund, his face was unrecognizable right now, but the bastard didn¡¯t die. The 180 seconds felt like eons for Dave. His current stat wouldst for at most a few more seconds, and calcting the time Dave had spent, he still needed twenty more seconds for singund¡¯s passive to end.

    Dave walked away from Singund and disabled his chaos runes. His HP had already reached rock bottom. It was a tick away from 1%.

    Singund rose up groggily. He was battered, bloodied and in a pitiful state. His cleaver wasying right next to him.

    "Looks like... you, lost that state too." Singund came to a realization when he saw Dave¡¯s avatar returning back to its regr size and state.

    ¡¯Shit, 15 more seconds, how can I buy that much time.¡¯

    "Not even the heavens can save you from me now!"

    ¡¯Heavens?¡¯ Dave looked up. He didn¡¯t notice that he was rubbing his beared. His signature move when he was nning something evil.

    Dave switched to his tower shield and sword.

    "Well, guess we will see about heaven helping me out or not!"

    Dave had already activated [Call of Chaos]

    Singund came running toward Dave.

    "I¡¯d look up if I were you," Dave said.

    "Childe tricks!" Singund said as he swung his sword down at Dave.

    Dave used [Block] canceling the attack. Suddenly, the dim lit space of the underworld became bright. Singund had to look up, turning his face, he saw an iing massive meteor.

    The meteor mmed into the arena exploding the whole area into nothingness. Thankfully, the magic supporting the arena was capable of focusing the meteor damage into the battle field and it didn¡¯t spread to the Undead City.

    Dave was the user of the skill, so the meteor wasn¡¯t going to affect him. But Singund on the other hand was smashed into what remained of the arena floor.

    Dave raised a brow, the High Orc was still alive.

    Standing up the high orc screamed loud, "I have told you, not even the heavens can save you from me!"

    Singund ran toward Dave and slice at him. Dave activated [Bastion] buying himself a few more seconds. But the smile on his face never faded.

    Another bright light shone in the sky of the underworld. Singund, shaking looked back up. There was another meteoring his way. This was simply because Dave had used [Twin Strick] synergizing it with [Call of Chaos].

    "Madara would be proud! Tengai Shinsei, Biatch!"

    The second meteor came crashing down on the arena obliterating whatever remained from the first crash.

    A notification appeared in front of Dave.

    ***

    You have won in your Challenge for Leadership.

    You have in [Singund The Conqueror]

    Death Knight Singund the Conqueror is now under yourmand!

    Singund the Conqueror is a High Orc leader, he will prove most powerful when leading orcs.

    The undead legion has taken the obligation to revive some of Singund¡¯s Troops. When you return to the Wilds you will find them waiting formands.

    ***

 Chapter 298 Introductions Are Due

    Dave was teleported back into the wilds. Appearing in the corpse-filled area where the battle of the orcs and yers happened. There, he was face to face with Singund.

    Singund was looking at Dave disapprovingly.

    "What? Is there a problem?" Dave said.

    "I still don¡¯t think you are fit to lead," Singund snorted.

    "Really? Not even after I have beaten your ass?" Dave questioned.

    "A leader is not just about strength," The orc said.

    "That¡¯s new,ing form an orc. Say, what the fuck do you know about me to say I am not fit to lead?" Dave said he was getting angry. Never was he in a situation where one of his underlings talked back to him.

    Even Dog, with all his antics, was a good follower.

    "Huh, I won¡¯t be following your orders," The orc snorted. Just as he finished his words. Tiny shook, releasing Bud, Spark, and Dog. The three undead all pointed their weapons at the Orc. Even tiny changed to his gigantic form and said," Lord, this one, unfaithful. I eat, this one. This one bes nothing, you take his troops. No problem."

    Dave smiled as he saw the Orc pinned in ce.

    "See, Singund, in this regiment, we don¡¯t people who say no. YOU LOST AGAINST ME, YOU ARE MY BITCH NOW! Now if you don¡¯t feel like doing what I say, I can have Tiny her eat you up. That¡¯d be a much better than having a fickle underling."

    The orc was at a loss of words, he didn¡¯t know what to do right now. The undead surrounding him didn¡¯t look that strong, but the huge one gave him a fright the undead should never know. It was not the fear of death, but the fear of obliteration and void.

    "You see Singund, you are strong. I could use that strength, but I don¡¯t need it. So you either man the fuck up and do what I say because I won and you lost. Otherwise, be turned to nothingness where you can no longer fight and shed blood."

    Shaking, Singund had to admit he was unable to change the current situation. The draugr was more powerful and had beaten him. His pride couldn¡¯t let him bend the knee to a former human, but to the victor, he had to kneel.

    Singund fell to one knee, "I shall serve."

    "Good, now first thing first. That weapon of yours is shit. Here," Dave threw him his mberge.

    "Consider this a loan, I¡¯ll get you a newer weapon when we are back to the dead realm."

    "What¡¯s wrong with my cleaver, it never failed me before?" Singund said.

    "Your cleaver is dull, rusted and is no better than a club right now. That¡¯s one of the reasons you lost to me. A true warrior is not just about his brawns, his weapon serves a purpose. Also, you¡¯ll have to change to Death Knight armor. Because that crap you¡¯re wearing is just... ugly."

    Dave didn¡¯t find any sort of symmetry, or beauty in the mismatched equipment that Singund wore. A Viking helmet with ranger gloves, and a berserker¡¯s belt with a knight¡¯s greaves. Singund wore anything and everything, it looked ugly and just bad on the eye. And Dave was sure he didn¡¯t benefit from any of his equipment¡¯s stats because they were ipatible with the Orc.

    "What does ugly have to do with the armor I am wearing?" Singund looked at his outfit.

    "Just believe me on this one. Once we are back to the Undead Realm, ¡¯ill pimp you up. Alright, let¡¯s go." Dave said.

    "Wait, I haven¡¯t retrieved my soldiers," Singund said.

    Dave looked behind Singund, there were thousands of corpses behind him. If Dave had to revive all of these Orcs, it would take him ages.

    "I can¡¯t help with that," Dave said he was about to call Alfred. No, Albert now, to see where were the undead orcs he was promised to meet when he was back to the wilds.

    Singund however, pulled out a small ck crystal from his pocket.

    "I received this when I first returned from the dead," Singund said and threw it at the field of corpses.

    Suddenly, the ck crystal exploded in a wave of ck death magic that covered hundreds of corpses on the battlefield. The aura seeped into the corpses and began moving them. The corpses shook and shuddered as they stood back up. Their dead eyes opened an eerie blue. The orcs were mass revived into the world.

    ***

    Congrattions, you have obtained 1002 new undead.

    Leader of the High Orc Undead units. Singund the Conqueror. Level 450

    Undead War Boar level 400.

    700 melee High Orc Units. Level 400

    300 Shaman High Orc units. Level 380.

    ***

    ¡¯Holy shit, every one of these guys is higher level than me.¡¯ Dave¡¯s eyes arched up. But he was happy, this meant that he became stronger.

    Another notification popped up in front of him.

    ***

    You can now create an orc vige in your settlement.

    Orcs can be spawned using their own respawners, purchasable from Dikenz in the Undead Realm.

    ***

    "Very well," Dave said but I can¡¯t have you alling with me. Tiny, take everything in.

    "I can¡¯t, not enough space. Most 2,000." Tiny said.

    It was true, Tiny¡¯s level was still not enough for him to take in all of Dave¡¯s troops. And the total of Dave¡¯s troops was: fourteen pdins, one unholy priestess, eight basilisks, eight Manticores, with one dead fighting the Puppet king. 102 dunlords, 100 Undead captains, 1000 elite undead. And 1002 orc race. It was a total of 2235 undead.

    "Take in all of the elite tier undead and High orcs, leave the rest with us. Dave said. he was going to lead a brigade of 235 units. All of them mounted on dunlords or basilisks. They were small enough to navigate the wilds without much difficulty.

    Tiny absorbed into itself all the remaining undead and transformed into the slim figure. He then jumped into Dave¡¯s waist bag.

    Dog, bud, Spark, and Singund rode next to Dave while the remaining dunlords carrying their undead captains rode behind them.

    They headed toward Ashkar¡¯s Tomb where Dave knew he will meet some of the Guild Alliance yers.

    Dave called Ralph.

    "Ralpho, what are you up to?" Dave asked.

    "Hey man, good of you to call. We are about to move to the East, Demetri considered what you told him and decided to make a run for it."

    "Smart guy. So listen, tell them I¡¯ll being to Ashkar¡¯s Tomb, I don¡¯t want any idiots attacking me when Ie uninvited."

    "You¡¯re helping in the raid?"

    "Nope, not a fan of suicide," Dave said.

    "You think that we¡¯re going to fail?"

    "I don¡¯t think so. I know so bro. At least, you can use the scroll to leave the wilds. For the rest of the guild alliance, this raid¡¯s going to spell their doom." Dave said.

    "You look so sure of this. Any reason why?" Ralph asked.

    "Simply put, judging by the distance from Ashkar¡¯s tomb to the eastern kingdom, it should take them six hours of straight sprinting to get there. Surprisingly, that¡¯s the amount of time I think you guys have before the dragon is out. If by some miracle, the guildies don¡¯t encounter any monsters on their way to the east, you will make it. If not, well you don¡¯t need me to tell you what¡¯s gonna happen bruh."

    "Yeah, well I¡¯ll keep the scroll ready for use. Anyway, Demetri is nearby, I¡¯ll tell him you areing." Ralph hung up.

    "Let¡¯s keep going, we are going to meet some humans," Dave said.

    "Humans! Despicable creatures! One of them killed me by stabbing me in the back. What a coward."

    "Right, howe you died, I never got that you should have been able to wipe out a good chunk of the guildes alone."

    Dave had just noticed that Singund¡¯s death was a strange urrence. Mainly because orcs empower each other by being next to one another, and this guy was broken strong alone. His death should havee at a great cost of the Guild Alliance, but Ralph never mentioned anything about this.

    "It was an assassin in white. She used the power of gods to y me, I don¡¯t know if I should feel honored or angry."

    ¡¯Oh, so Mercy used a legacy skill on him.¡¯

    "Huh, seems like we are fated, Singund." Dave smiled.

    "What do you mean?"

    "The one that killed you is a friend of mine."

    "You befriended the living? What does the legion say about that?" Singund was new to the legion so he didn¡¯t know about Dave¡¯s history with them or what the legion was up to, by befriending humans.

    "You will know soon enough. Let¡¯s keep going," Dave said.

    The undead brigade kept moving toward the east, crossing woods and shrubs as they raced through the Wilds like a death wind gale. Thanks to Dave memorizing the way to Ashkar¡¯s tomb, he only needed an hour to get there. But a few miles before the tomb Dave encountered a group of Smolzys.

    "Shit, these guys are a pain in the ass," Dave said.

    But against his expectations, when the Smolzys saw him, they shouted some iprehensible stuff and escaped in every direction.

    "The fuck?" Dave tilted his head, he didn¡¯t understand these creature¡¯s behavior.

    "These little ones, fear not the sword, but fear undeath that lives in us," Bud grunted his words.

    ¡¯Hmm, this is probably the reason why they didn¡¯t get too close to the Tomb of Ashkar, because he delved in necromancy. Man, if I had my Undead Form back then we wouldn¡¯t have had to get captured by these little fuckers.¡¯

    Dave shook his head at the thought and urged grumpy forward.

    His brigade exited therge forest of the wilds and entered therge opening surrounding the Tomb of Ashkar.

    The yers were picking up their tents and were readying out for a march out. A yer suddenly shouted, "UNDEAD TO OUR SIX!"

    Some yers gathered up in a square formation and were readying up for a fight.

    "Stand down!" a gruff Russian ent voice sounded behind the yers.

    A man in purple robes came forward, "Kis¡¯Shtiengbrah, it¡¯s good to see you here. ster here said you will being."

    "You must be Demetri, good to meet you," Dave nodded.

    Tess, Mercy, Warlord, Valentine Wan Yi, and even the White Ghost came forward meeting with Dave.

    "Oh, so many guild leaders. I feel quite honored," Dave smiled.

    "That¡¯s the woman that killed me!" Singund grunted.

    When the High Orc spoke, everyone looked at him. A sense of familiarity soon downed on them. This was the leader of the Orc pack they had just killed. And by the way he was positioned a few feet behind Dave, it looked like he became Dave¡¯s underling.

    "Oh, sorry I forgot to introduce my new...friend. Singund the Conqueror," Dave said in an evil draugr smile.

 Chapter 299 True Display of Skill

    "Skelly, can you control him now?" Demetri asked.

    "I said he is a friend, not a servant. Anyway, you guys look in a hurry," Dave said.

    "Yeah, I took your words into consideration. There is no need for us to stay here anymore." Demetri said.

    "Good," Dave said and noticed that Tess was nodding at Warlord, he didn¡¯t know what was going on between the two but it seemed that they were talking about something important.

    "Skelly," Warlord said. "What¡¯s your level right now?"

    "It¡¯s 375, why are you asking?" Dave asked.

    Warlord pointed at Dave, "I¡¯ll challenge you to a duel when you reach level 400."

    "Aren¡¯t you being a bit presumptuous? Why should I ept your duel, you are more than fifty levels ahead of me."

    "You have an SS ss legacy, that should be enough to cover the level gap."

    "Sorry, not interested." Dave shrugged, "Now if you¡¯ll excuse me I have something to do," Dave said, but just as he finished his words, Dave felt all the hairs on his body tingling.

    It was the same feeling one had when they felt someone creeping up on them from behind. You can¡¯t exin it, but you know that there is something behind you.

    Dave hastily drew his ive and swung back, this gave a scare to the yers in front of him but they were more terrified when they heard Dave¡¯s ive mming into empty air with sparks flying everywhere.

    "Hmmm, your senses are heightened, I feel like you earned a spot as a trophy!" a high growling voice sounded from the empty spot where Dave¡¯s ive was stuck.

    Suddenly, space distorted revealing Leonard.

    "Fuck! It¡¯s you again," Dave cursed.

    "You had to help that prey, didn¡¯t you. I tracked it to where it should haveid, wounded and bloodied from my sword strike. But, I found the remains of a potion that had your stench on it. You aided my enemy; this makes you my enemy!"

    Leonard jumped at Dave, with his curved knife aimed at his chest.

    Dave pulled Grumpy¡¯s harness to make him retreat while he fended off the curved dagger with his ive.

    "Let¡¯s help him!" Tess said.

    "NO!" Demetri shouted.

    "Why not?" Mercy asked, Dave was being assaulted by therge lion-man and not even his undead could assist. There was something preventing them from moving to help Dave.

    "Because if we help, the lion will turn on our raid team. I can¡¯t afford more losses, no one moves!" Demetri said.

    "Boyz! I could use a hand!" Dave shouted, barely dodging a knife stab to the face.

    "Lord, can¡¯t move. Territory aura!"

    "What?" Dave was surprised, wasn¡¯t territory aura only specific to World Bosses?

    Dave hastily inspected Leonard.

    ***

    Name: Leonard The Pridestalker (beastkin monster)

    Tier: Unique (Area Boss)

    Danger level: ???

    Level: 550

    Base damage: 250,000-320,000

    HP: 5,000,000

    DN: 150,000

    MA: 155,000

    Skills:

    [Territory]: Singles a prey to hunt in a given area. They cannot escape Leonard¡¯s hunt and will have to fight to the death. Only targets as strong or more powerful than Leonard the Pridestalker can interfere in the fight.

    [Worthy Prey] (Passive): Leonard lives for the thrill of the hunt and is above hunting weak game. He hunts only those he deems deserving of the honor of death by his hands as [Worthy Prey].

    [Cut Me, I¡¯ll Gut You!] (Passive): base damage is increased by 20% for every 10% HP Leonard loses to attacks by [Worthy Prey] and on his next basic attack he has 100% chance for a critical hit.

    [Disembowel] (passive): Leonard the Pridestalker has 20% chance to eviscerate a target, instantly bleeding them for 30% of their max HP. Additionally, if the target does not receive healing in 10 seconds, the target is immediately [Executed].

    [Hunter¡¯s Roar]: inflicts a [Fear] status effect on the target. Damage to targets afflicted with the [Fear] effect is doubled.

    [Thrill of the Hunt]: Leonard bes invisible and base movement speed increases 200%.

    Lore:

    Leonard the Pridestalkeres from the extinct hunter tribe Destaria. He lives for the thrill of stalking then battling dangerous creatures to the death. He scours the world for the most fearsome beasts he can find. Thest of his kind, Leonard stalks his prey neither for food nor glory, but for the sheer thrill of the hunt.

    ***

    Dave skimmed through Leonard¡¯s status screen as he already knew most of what was in it. The only changes were that Leonard was now an area boss, and this increased his hp from 1,000,000 to five times the base. While also gaining a new ability, the [Territory] skill.

    Dave was in a pickle, there was no one present in this area that was as strong as Leonard. He was on his own.

    "Fuck, even my god-buff is on cooldown," Dave was in a huge blunder. His only hope was to use the legacy skill, but he didn¡¯t even know what it did and he absolutely didn¡¯t want to show it to this many yers.

    Thankfully, grumpy as Dave¡¯s mount was still aiding him and wasn¡¯t affected by the territory skill. This gave Dave an idea.

    "Tiny, can you transform?" Dave asked.

    "Yes," Tiny said and changed to his massive size surprising every guild member that they had to take a step back.

    "What the fuck is that?" Surprise overcame the yers of the alliance, they had never seen a Grave Lord and The current Tiny was both massive and frighting in shape.

    Tiny swung down with its hand at Leonard, who easily dodged to the side, side flipping, Leonard sliced down with hisrge curved knife at Tiny¡¯s fist cutting it off at the arm.

    Tiny screeched in pain. But his suffering wasn¡¯t over. Leonard jumped up high and began slicing at Tiny, destroying pieces of it, until Tiny was forced into its slime form and hopped back into Dave¡¯s side pocket.

    "That thing¡¯s just for show," A yer said when he saw Tiny being destroyed by Leonard.

    Dave clicked his tongue, Tiny was still young. It was only natural for him to lose against Leonard, furthermore, the slime was a supporting undead. Mainly he was assisting in stocking Daev¡¯s undead forter use and acted as a tank than a warrior.

    Dave waved his hand and sent spectral skulls exploding toward Leonard. Leonard jumped away from the first spectral skull.

    "You can¡¯t dodge in mid-air biatch!" Dave said and pointed his hand at Leonard.

    Leonard wasn¡¯t panicking, actually, he flung his hand, throwing a bolt tied to a rope. The bolt pierced into a tree and Leonard tugged on it, pulling himself away from the spectral skulls.

    The spectral skulls continued following after Leonard. When the Pridestalker touched the ground, he kicked at the base of the tree hended near, tearing it from the ground. He then grabbed the tree and threw it toward the spectral skulls blowing them up in the air.

    "Fuck," Dave cursed. Leonard was too fast.

    "Blot the Sun!" Dave shouted. The sky turned dark. Pitch ck clouds covered the sun and the entire area was now seething with death and the presence of the underworld. Leonard was held in ce, slowed by the shadows encroaching on him.

    "Defile!" Dave chanted.

    The ground under Leonard turned ck. Then a momentter, thorny roots coiled around Leonard,cerating him.

    [-80,000]

    [-4,000]

    [-4,000]

    [-4,000]

    Leonard¡¯s ck fur was now bloodied, but even the bleeding effect and the damage from [Defile] looked like a drop in the bucket due to how vast Leonard¡¯s HP is.

    Leonard grunted and sliced at the roots cutting them. Then raced toward Dave and jumped toward him. Dave¡¯s hands blurred in ninja seals then pointed at Leonard, sending two fireballs at the iing beast, but Leonard turned invisible in mid-air and most likely dodged the fireballs as they didn¡¯t explode and continued with their trajectory.

    Grumpy swung his tail, and Leonard was revealed out of stealth as he tumbled to the side. Like an agile cat, Leonard scrambled on all four and grinned showing bloodied fangs.

    "What a feisty prey! You make my blood boil!" Leonard crouched and bolted forward like an explosive rocket toward Dave.

    Everyone was watching how Skelly, who was more than 200levels below Leonard would deal with this creature. They knew deep down that besides the legacy holders here, none of them could have managed what Skelly is doing right now. To fight toe to toe against a creature that is stronger, faster and more vicious than any they had ever seen and still be able to wound it and make it admit the other party¡¯s prows, this was something, they knew they couldn¡¯t achieve.

    This only served to deify Skelly in front of them, this live show made them discard all doubts they had about Skelly being just a lucky yer. Behind those abilities and move, there was pure skill.

    "Grumpy, petrify him!" Dave said. Grumpy¡¯s eyes shone bright, slowing the cat down for one moment, that all it took for Dave to hop from Grumpy¡¯s back and sh down with his ive at Leonard.

    Dave had activated [Heaven sher] tearing down 200,000 HP from Leonard and coupled it with twin strick, taking another 150,000 HP.

    Leonard was staggered, the wound from Dave¡¯s ive gushed some blood.

    "So you do know how to dance!" Leonard said. He was not enjoying fighting two against one so he threw roped rocks at Dave who dodged them. But that was not Leonard¡¯s aim as the bs spun around Grumpy pining him out of the fight.

    "Leave Grumps alone!" Dave ran up to Leonard.

    He dodged a swing from therge cat and sliced to his rib, Leonard hoped over Dave¡¯s ive and twirled in mid-air, slicing down with his own sword.

    Dave, unable to bnce himself to defend used [Immortal Apparition] teleporting right above Leonard who was already in mid-air.

    Dave had switched his ive to his sworn Stalwart Gauntlets and was able to use his [Fist Fighting Style]. Descending with a leg chop, Dave mmed his leg onto Leonard¡¯s back in [Dragon Kick] crashing him into the ground.

    A fire dragon materialized from the pit Leonard was in.

    "Strong, truly strong! More, show me more!" Leonard¡¯s muscles bulged.

    ¡¯Shit, it¡¯s going to be berserk.¡¯

    Leonard roared loud and a notification appeared in front of Dave.

    ***

    Your Undead nature makes you immune to fear effects!

    Fear from [Lion Roar] Resisted!

    ***

    "NEVER FEAR!" Dave jumped toward Leonard and smashed his teeth in with his stalwart gauntlets.

    An ethereal fire explosion echoed from behind Leonard materializing into a dragon.

    "Shit, he is making this look easy," Wan Yi said.

    "Not, it¡¯s not easy at all, Wan Yi. Skelly has a lot of powerful skills. And he is using them proficiently, I don¡¯t know how many battles was he in to be this skillful." White Ghost said.

    "We¡¯ve been ying for three years, I say it¡¯s more than enough time to practice these skills." Wan Yi shrugged.

    "Yes, WE have been ying for three years. The first we heard about skeletal was only a few months ago. Do you not see the rate he is progressing at? Tell me, Wan Yi, without your Legacy skill and your high level, do you think you can beat Skelly?"

    "I don¡¯t know," Wan Yi shook his head.

    "That¡¯s a good answer, we don¡¯t know. Take in this fight, and look carefully at how skelly, moves. Look at his habits and behaviors, I have a feeling that one day, it will be you who he is facing." The White Ghost said.

    Wan Yi, though a berserker, he was still a pro yer, and seeing a yer growing and on the right path to reach their level, this made him think of Skelly as a rival, not just a pesky scrub he wanted to stomp under his boot.

    Leonard swung with his ws at Dave and stapped him to the ribs.

    -120,000

    ***

    You undead nature makes you immune to [Bleed] Effects!

    [Disembowel] Bleed Effect has been resisted!

    ***

    "You can¡¯t bleed the dead!" Dave smashed with both fists on Leonard and activated [Destructive Smash] stunning him in the process. He then used [Advancing Dragon].

    His avatar was taken over by the AI control. It moved Dave behind Leonard and grabbed the giant lion-man by the waist. Dave then lunged back in a back-breaking suplex, mming Leonard¡¯s head into the ground, right after that, Dave¡¯s legs rose up, while he supported his body by his hands. The AI activated [Infernal Tornado] this time, it was Dave¡¯s legs that were spinning as he supported himself by the hands.

    The continuous spiral kick attack staggered Leonard several times and sent him rolling on the ground.

    Dave repositioned himself and lunged toward Leonard. He jumped forward, both legs aimed at Leonard¡¯s Chest. But the Pridestalker wasn¡¯t a punching bag, he jumped over the iing attack and stomped at Dave¡¯s chest pinning him to the ground.

    "That¡¯s it for skelly," Demetri shook his head.

    Leonard¡¯s curved de stabbed down at Dave¡¯s face.

    "Fuck!" Dave cursed, he couldn¡¯t think of anything to do to evade the attack.

    But right before the attacknded, a transparent curved de struck against Leonard¡¯s curved sword, changing its trajectory to pierce the ground right next to Dave¡¯s ear.

    A loud ear-piercing screech sounded right above Dave, materializing from thin air, it was a greenrge bug.

    The giant praying mantis KuruKuru had joined the party.

 Chapter 300 Douche-Guy gets sent to school. Chap 300 WOOOOT !!!!!!!

    "You came offering your head I see." Leonard swatted Kurukuru¡¯s de w away and took a few steps back.

    Dave hastily stood up and backed away from the two. It was nice and all that Kurukuru decided to help, but this didn¡¯t make him an ally, they only had amon enemy.

    "You honor-less filth, never want to fight and prove your singr strength, always relying on the power of many," Leonard said, but he didn¡¯t sound inconvenienced. For this battle freak, the more he fought, the more excited he became.

    "You don¡¯t get to talk about honor, you attacked me from stealth," Dave retorted. Dave readied up for the fight, with Kurukuru¡¯s help, taking down Leonard shouldn¡¯t be a problem.

    Kurukuru blurred in speed as he raced toward Leonard. Dave had a hard time keeping track of the giant praying mantis.

    ¡¯Damn, it¡¯s much faster than before," Davemented. Leonard, on the other hand, was not finding it the least bit difficult to keep track of Kurukuru. His golden eyes tracked Kurukure¡¯s every move.

    Kurukuru swung with his ws at Leonard, making him take a step back to evade. The lion-man lunged in with his own sword aimed at Kurukuru¡¯s belly, but Dave wasn¡¯t going to standby as he already used [Immortal Apparition] that just came off cooldown and mmed his gauntlet into the sword, curving it away from Kurukuru. The praying mantis took the opportunity and delivered a sneaky blow to Leonard¡¯s left eye ripping it out from ce.

    Dave punched Leonard in the stomach and followed with a dragon kick, sending the danger- kitty sprawling on the ground.

    When Leonard regained his posture, he grunted "Curses upon you. No matter how long, how far and how deep you hid, I shall find you and I shall kill you!" The lion-man turned invisible and disappeared from sight.

    Suddenly all of Dave¡¯s troops regained their mobility and rushed toward him, they made a protective circle around Dave, in case any of the humans tried to act against their lord.

    Dave waited for a few seconds waiting to see if Leonard did actually escape. After confirming the werelion¡¯s disappearance Dave took in a deep breath.

    "Guess that ended better than I expected," Dave mumbled.

    "What are we going to do about that?" Singund pointed at the praying mantis that was eyeing the yer with, let¡¯ say a hungry gaze.

    Dave moved toward Kurukuru who instantly turned toward him, ws raised up in warning.

    Dave held both his arms up saying, "Chill bro, I mean you no harm. Thanks for saving me though," Dave said.

    The praying mantis looked at Dave in wonder, it understood his words but didn¡¯t know how to answer back.

    "Warlord, should we try and kill that?" Satan-yer said, he wore a warrior¡¯s outfit made of steel and leather. This man was one of the high rankers of the guild, he was also a big-shot in the IRL world. One of the heads of IGU-Electronics which is one of the leadingpanies in the technological advancement of the current age.

    Warlord shook his head, "No, Demetri is right. That¡¯ll just cause us a lot of unwanted trouble."

    Kurukuru became bored, then decided that it was time for it to leave. He moved rapidly through the yers and disappeared into the Wilds.

    He probably thought it would be a better idea to find isted prey than fight here against this many yers.

    When the area was clear Warlord approached Dave and said, "So, Skelly, if you¡¯re not helping us, what brought you all the way here? You see you aren¡¯t friends with many people here."

    "That¡¯s where you are wrong," Dave smiled, "Where¡¯s ster?" Dave looked behind Warlord trying to find his friend Ralph.

    "Hey there, I know ster and if you want, I could take you to him," A yer wearing red knight armor came toward Dave.

    "And who¡¯re you?" Dave asked.

    "My name is Ruinsmith, I am a friend of ster."

    Dave frowned, this name reminded him of something, he thought it was unimportant but then remembered that Ralph never mentioned having any friends in the game. Thinking a bit harder, Dave suddenly had the urge to lurch. This guy was Anna¡¯s Fiancee, she was Dave¡¯s Ex!

    "Hold, is ster a swordsman in ck?" Demetri asked.

    "Yes, that¡¯s the man."

    "I know him, he said he was a friend of yours," Demetri then called over the party chat, "Bring the leader of the A-20 unit here."

    When Douche-Guy understood that Demetri knew ster, he panicked, not to try and make a scene Ruinsmith tried to leave the perimeter.

    But Dave wasn¡¯t about to let him. He understood what Ruinsmith wanted from him. He wanted to use Ralph¡¯s name to make a ¡¯rtionship¡¯ with Skeletal. This was obvious to anyone with half a brain. Ruinsmith wanted to ride on Dave¡¯s wave to increase hispany¡¯s power and influence.

    "Wait a moment, Ruinsmith," Dave said in a draugr smile. He himself didn¡¯t realize that he was rubbing his beard.

    "Someone¡¯s gonna be in trouble," Mercy muttered.

    Tess was next to her and heard Mercy¡¯s words so she asked, "Why is that?"

    "Whenever you see that guy stroking his beard, nothing good everes out from it, mostly for the other concerned party," Mercy said.

    Ralph showed up between the yers, "Yeah Demetri, what¡¯s up?" Turning around Ralph saw Dave looking at him with a wide draugr smile.

    "Supp, Skelly!" Ralph said. "What the hell happened in here?" he added.

    He just noticed the craters in the ground and the destruction in the field.

    "Long story, ster. Now tell me, I just met this ¡¯Friend¡¯ of yours." Dave said pointing at Ruinsmith.

    "That guy? Never seen him before in my life," Ralph instantly picked on Dave¡¯s words and what he meant.

    "Really now, why lie Ruinsmith then? I know ster and know all of his friends. Do you think I raid with someone I don¡¯t trust?"

    "B-but, wait, no we are friends, he is just pulling a prank man. See we met in my fianc¨¦e¡¯s Highschool gathering, even Mercy was there and that Lone Arrow." Ruinsmith added.

    Dave turned to Mercy who answered, "Yeah I think I remember this guy. Can¡¯t remember his name though, a good friend of mine used to call him Douche-Guy. Yeah, I think he is the one." Mercy said in a smile that was frighteningly simr to Dave¡¯s.

    "You¡¯re doing it," Tess said,

    "Doing what?" Mercy asked.

    "The draugr smile. Man, Skelly has a bad influence on you all," Tess shook her head.

    "Douche-guy? Yeah, he¡¯s the fucker that called my friend a thief." Ralph added to the oil.

    "Thief now? I remember something, Dave was also in the reunion wasn¡¯t he," Dave said.

    Ralph had no idea what Dave was going for, so he just nodded.

    "Could it be that the one who was called a thief was my good friend Dave?" Dave asked.

    Ralph was starting to get confused, why was he calling himself in the third person. Then it dawned on him. Dave was trying to extract his IRL personality from Skeletal. It was risky but looked like it was working.

    "Yep," Mercy said. "He called Dave a thief, he said he stole the jacket he wore from somewhere. It made Dave a bit sad because I saw the jacket and asked around, he made it at Armani¡¯s. And it¡¯s genuine."

    Tess sent Mercy a private message saying, ¡¯You are drowning the guy."

    ¡¯Serves him right," Mercy shrugged.

    "Is that true?" Demetri asked.

    "N-no, it¡¯s all lies!" Ruinsmith said.

    "I have Lone on the phone, she can tell you everything that went on." Mercy said and put Lone Arrow on speaker.

    Tess shook her head and drew a cross over her body, praying for the lost soul of Ruinsmith.

    "Ho Mercy, how are you?!" Lone¡¯s cheerful voice sounded through the loudspeaker for all to hear.

    Mercy then gave Lone the gist of things and Lone began recounting the events while adding a bit of ¡¯spicy¡¯ details to make the story more in favor for Dave.

    As everyone was listening to the conversation, frowns and angry res pointed at Ruinsmith. The man was in a tight spot, shaming Mr. Skeletal¡¯s ¡¯Good friend?¡¯ that was nothing short of social suicide.

    "So, you came to me, after insulting my friends and wanted to be a friend of mine? I don¡¯t need friends like you Ruinsmith, hell, I despise people like you. Who do you think you are? unting fleeting fame and what meager power you have to oppress people of lesser social background. You are a shame to anyone ying this game. Get away from my sight!" Dave shouted.

    Ruinsmith was enraged, he couldn¡¯t take the number of insults and the resing his way so he shouted, "Who the fuck you think you are to tell me to get away? Just because you got lucky with that legacy quest of yours you think you cane here and insult me all you want? I tried to be respectful to you but you don¡¯t deserve it."

    Dave smiled, "I think you need a wake-up call," Dave drew his sword.

    "We don¡¯t want to fight you, Skeletal," Demetri said.

    "I¡¯ll fight him, you don¡¯t need your help, Demetri, I have my own soldiers!" Ruinsmith shouted calling upon a few hundred yers to his aid. They were hispany goons. They worked for him and were obliged to aid him even if it meant fighting against skeletal.

    The yers arrived and stood near Ruinsmith, they were apprehensive as the look on their eyes meant that they didn¡¯t want to fight but their ¡¯boss¡¯ ordered them to.

    "Now, what¡¯re you gonna do about this? Now is the day that all will know I destroyed Skeletal!" Ruinsmithughed.

    Normally he wouldn¡¯t have challenged Dave, because he knew from his previous videos that he had a thousand strong. But seeing just a couple hundred undead with him made him have more confidence in winning.

    Ruinsmith wanted to use this situation to flip the tide and make himself the victor against Skelly. This will undoubtedly boost hispany¡¯s fame even more than being just Skeletall¡¯s friend.

    "Ruinsmith! Back down! You don¡¯t know what you¡¯re dealing with!" Mercy advised.

    "Like hell I would, he needs to die today." Ruinsmith pulled out his sword and aimed at Dave.

    "Ruinsmith! If you don¡¯t pull your hand, I¡¯ll have you kicked out of the Devastators!" Valentine shouted. Thest thing he wanted was to make of Skeletal his enemy, especially after he promised them ess to the underworld.

    "I don¡¯t need your guild!" Ruinsmith snorted.

    "Skelly," Valentine looked at Dave with a regretful eye then sent Mercy a private message.

    "You aren¡¯t talking anymore Skelly? What, the cat¡¯s got your tongue?" Ruinsmith said, he noticed that Dave was still looking at him, dumbfoundedly.

    ¡¯Is this guy an idiot?¡¯

    Dave received a message from Mercy, saying "Valentine told me to tell you that if you need any help destroying Ruinsmith he will order the devastators to aid you. You just need to nod,"

    Dave shook his head, signaling Valentine to stand down.

    "Guess you need a wakeup call." Dave grabbed tiny from his side bag and threw him to the air.

    "Show them the might of the undead," Dave said in a low tone.

    Tiny transformed in mid-air and summoned hundreds of sarcophagi that floated in the sky.

    Ruinsmith took a step back, he didn¡¯t know what that was until the sarcophagi opened. Tens, hundreds, then thousands of undead dropped from the coffins. Rising and standing behind Dave like an immortal army of death, the undead released an aura and a pressure that made the 100,000 yer army shake in their boots.

    Eight loud thuds sounded behind Dave, they were the manticores. Standing tall and high.

    Dave added more to the scene by activating [Blot the Sun], covering the sky above Ashkar¡¯s Tomb by ck clouds.

    "You said you wanted to teach me a lesson now? Let me see you try!"

    The undead behind Dave all shouted at once,

    "NEVER HUNGER!

    NEVER TIRE!

    NEVER FEAR!"

 Chapter 301 When it rains...

    Shouts and cries of pain and suffering echoed as the 100,000 yer army watched one of their own, or former own, getting destroyed by Dave¡¯s army.

    Dave had beaten the living hell out of Douche-Guy and his goons. Mopping the Wilds¡¯s grounds with their faces. The destruction of the two hundred yers took less than one minute. In which, none of Dave¡¯s undead suffered any obvious or grave injuries.

    Dave smiled as he saw Douche-guy dissipating into specks of light. He turned toward Demetri and said, "Sorry for that, but he had to know his ce."

    Demetri shook his head saying," He brought his death and level loss on himself. I hope you forgive this rude behavior."

    Warlord¡¯s face was twisted, he disliked the fact that it was one of his own Devastators members that tried to assault Dave. This fact ced his guild in a dangerous position. Skeletal was the underdog in this game, everyone liked to root for the underdog, and facing the underdog meant that one became the enemy of the people.

    Valentine had already picked up on this and said, "Skelly, you know that Ruinsmith¡¯s actions were his own..."

    But before he could continue his words, Dave held his hand up stopping him, "Yeah, don¡¯t worry I¡¯m not here to make enemies. I just wanted to revive an old friend and be back on my way."

    "So, there is no chance that you could assist us in this raid?" Demetri said as he looked at the giant undead Manticores behind Dave. Those things could be great in tanking enemy units, not to mention the possibility of them being used as transport tools.

    "Sorry, Demetri, I still have a lot to do for the Legion. I wish you good fortune." Dave ordered Tiny to gather the troops he just released.

    Finishing his task, Tiny changed into a small slime and hopped on Dave¡¯s shoulder.

    Dave then led his battalion through the yers who parted giving him way toward Ashkar¡¯s Tomb.

    ster followed behind Dave and said, "So, what you up to now?"

    "Well, I was thinking of doing some grinding in the underworld. I need to level up more to capture the remaining Raid Zone and make them under the undead King¡¯smand."

    "Good luck with that bro. I still haven¡¯t started that legacy quest you gave me. Wanna do it after we finish this raid?" Ralph said.

    "Yeah, why not. Heck, I just remembered, I might even go back to the Storm Labyrinth." Dave said.

    "Storm Labyrinth? What¡¯s that," Ralph asked.

    "It¡¯s an amazing dungeon in the underworld. So far, I believe it¡¯s the hardest dungeon I ever saw in this game. It has two giant bosses level 750 each, and they have AOE, Execution skills." Dave said, it was almost as if he couldn¡¯t wait to go back there to meet Raijin and Fujin.

    "Man, you are masochistic." Ralph shook his head.

    The two of them hadn¡¯t noticed that they were already standing in front of the tomb of Ashkar.

    "It¡¯s here," Dave said and jumped from above Grumpy.

    Dave could see arge dear like skeleton under the dirt next to Ashkar¡¯s Tomb. He crouched and touched the dirt, muttering, "Rise Undead."

    Almost instantly, ck death aura burst out from his hand and coiled under the dirt, it gathered around the skeleton and covered it in a thin coating.

    ***

    Congrattions, you have seeded in rising Forest Prong Fiend level 450 (Spike) back to Undeath.

    By reviving the Forest Prong Fiend (Spike) you have kept your word to him. Maximum affinity level reached. From Now on, Spike is a friendly unit to all of your allies and will defend and fight for you in time of need until itsst breath.

    Prong Fiends are wild monsters. Wilds monsters can¡¯t be categorized under the Undead Legion¡¯s ranking system. They are still however members of the Undead Legion and benefit from the immortality granted to them by the Death Heart.

    You can now capture Prong Fiends or revive them and they will be added to your units.

    You have unlocked a new Respawner: Forest Respawner

    You have unlocked a new building to add to your Undead Settlement.

    ***

    Spike shook and shuddered as he broke the dirt and rose up, standing high the prong fiend was as magnificent in his undead form as he was when he was alive. The only difference was that Spike now had rotting skin and his fur lost his silver-white color and sheen.

    This didn¡¯t make Dave dislike the fiend in any way.

    Dave scratched under the fiend¡¯s jaw and said, "Wee back buddy."

    The fiend neighed loud in ordance, it drooped its head andunched Dave un in the sky using its horns. Dave was so surprised he couldn¡¯t even scream. When his avatar reached maximum throw height it began descending toward the ground. Spike moved a few steps forward helping Davend directly on his back.

    The yers were amazed at Dave¡¯s acrobatics, thankfully the draugr didn¡¯t scream from fright otherwise he would have made a poor disy of courage, unbefitting of Skeletal.

    ¡¯Never make them see you sweat!¡¯ Dave was thinking while his heat was thumping loud in his chest.

    Grumpy growled when he saw Dave riding on Spike.

    "Hey, no need to feel jealous. Spike was dead for a long time he deserves a bit of spoiling."

    Grumpy grumbled in dissatisfaction but Dave was right, Spike was underground for a long time, he could use Dave¡¯spany. Also, Grumpy already knew that there was nothing better than a basilisk for battle, and the mount Dave is riding right now was only for leisure walks in the Wild. So, he didn¡¯tin...much.

    Dave turned to Grumpy and said, "Take care of the Priestess grumps." It was better this way, as the unholy Priestess would usually ride behind Dave on Grumpy, now she had her own temporary mount.

    Mercy came over toward Dave and said, "Can you lend me a dunlord?"

    "Hmm, what for?"

    "Tess¡¯s Centaur takes a lot of time to be summoned again and a dunlord will stay with us for a longer time, and we could use the ride, it gets tiring to walk all day long."

    "Right, you, you and you," Dave pointed at three dunlords and added, "Serve these three. They are my friends, protect them with all you got, understand?" Dave said as he pointed at Ralph, Mercy, and Tess.

    The three dunlords bowed to Dave agreeing to hismand and went toward Dave¡¯s friends waiting for them to mount them.

    "Alright, guys, if you encounter any troubles, you know what to do," Dave said then shouted, "Legionnaires! MARCH!" then nudged Spike, to dash like a bolt through the Wilds.

    The remaining undead followed after Dave. A few momentster, there were only yers near Ashkar¡¯s Tomb.

    "Alright, the show is over. Let¡¯s get to the east, we lost enough time already!" Demetri said.

    The yer army headed to the east at a rapid pace. They were hoping to get there before nightfall, and at the speed, they are moving with, they should be there by that time.

    A few hourster. Night had already fallen in the Wilds. The guild alliance had met another World boss that ughtered several of their yers but they still moved on. They also faced level 500, wyrms and level 600 Forest Ents that blocked their way. yers fell in the thousands as they rushed in the direction of the east.

    Zhang Shi, the leader of the Blood Ragers had made a good distance from the rest of the army, he was serving as a pathfinder for the remaining yers and was great at it.

    Congratted by a notification that he exited the wilds and he dismissed it almost instantly, Zhang Shi was wary. A few miles away from his position was a small vige. There were NPCs that were moving about in the night. Most of them were guards holding torches. Zhang Shi concluded that these guards probably served as a defendant to the vigers from the monsters that lived in the Wilds.

    A ranger in green asked Zhang Shi, "Should we wait for the rest of the yers?"

    "No, it¡¯s just a small vige, let¡¯s capture it first, it¡¯ll make a good base of operation where we can conquer the first city of the east." Zhang Shi said.

    He had confidence in his troops and thought he wouldn¡¯t need assistance from anyone else.

    Zhang Shi ordered the assault on the vige.

    "Leave none alive! Kill everything," Zhang Shi ordered.

    The yers ran toward the vige in the night and broke into it. The guards were taken by surprise and didn¡¯t know what to do.

    "Lord Zhang Shi, these guards are strong, the lowest level is 450 and they are quite powerful," A yer in the lead said, he was having trouble killing on of the vige guards.

    "That¡¯s only natural, these guards are supposed to protect the vigers, they had to be strong," Zhang Shi replied. "Just keep the assault, the vige should have at most a hundred guard, we can take them out and take the city for our control."

    "Roger," Replied the yer and hung up.

    A few seconds after that, Zhang Shi received a call from the White Ghost, "What is it?" Zhang Shi replied.

    "What the hell are you doing?! Youunched the assault too early, who knows what are we going to end up finding! You should have waited for the rest of the raiding party toe!"

    "I don¡¯t work for you White Ghost, I was tasked with clearing the way, I am clearing the way." Zhang Shi hung up. He always thought that anyone with half a brain could strategize, and this was nothing but a vige, what¡¯s the worse that could be in a secluded vige of the east?

    Zhang Shi¡¯s troops continued on with their assault, eradicating every NPC in sight. They didn¡¯t leave anyone they met alive in fear of them informing nearby cities.

    Half an hourter, the vige was burning and all the guards were killed. The yers were happily looting the corpses, some were d they came as the items that the guards dropped were quite powerful and high level.

    "This raid is going to prove a gold mine Zhang Shi!" one of the yers said.

    "Yeah, I couldn¡¯t wait for the rest of the guild members toe, otherwise we would have had to share the drops."

    "I say lord Zhang Shi is a genius like none other. Not even that self-proimed best strategist White Ghost can hold a candle to your wits," said the same yer.

    "Enough with the bootlicking, and give me the headcount. Give me full details of the items we found."

    "Roger," replied the yer and ran toward the rest of the yers.

    Half an hourter, the sound of footsteps sounded behind Zhang Shi.

    Looking back, there were thousands of yers from the guild alliance grouping in square formations.

    "You had to pull that shit, Zhang Shi, why didn¡¯t you wait for us!" White Ghost shouted.

    "Why should I? I had a mission and Ipleted it. The vige is now ours, we can use it as a temporary base before we capture the nearest city."

    White Ghost was about to retort when Demetri said, "Enough, we have bigger matters at hands. We need to set up camp as soon as possible. We will raid the closest city at dawn," just as Demetri finished his words, the White Ghost took a step back.

    "Zhang Shi," White Ghost said in a stutter.

    "What is it?" Zhang Shi replied

    "You said you killed every NPC in the vige, right?

    "Yeah," Zhang Shi replied in confusion.

    "Then how do you exin that?" White Ghost pointed forward.

    There was a small kid with wounds all over his body riding on a horse, next to him, were hundreds of knights wearing full helmets and golden-red armor.

    The little boy was pointing at the yer army.

    "Fuck, he must have escaped somehow, alright let¡¯s prepare for a fight, these knights should be easy to deal with." Just as Zhang Shi finished his words, one of the Knights took a horn and blew on it, the sound echoed through the night.

    Mercy gripped tight on her dunlord¡¯s harness and said, "Something¡¯s very wrong here."

    "Don¡¯t worry we are numerous, we can still take down these knights even with their reinforcement, Alright, Blood Ragers, prepare for battle!" Zhang Shi shouted.

    Just as Zhang Shi finished his words, loud and long draconic howls echoed all over the wilds.

    "The fuck? Is that the ck dragon?!" Demetri became anxious.

    "No, these roars feel less imposing, but there must be many of them, which makes whatever ising quite a pain in the ass" Warlord said.

    The loud roars echoed louder and louder, and they sounded closer by the moment, whatever was roaring wasing at a fast pace.

    Looking up, Demetri ruefully smiled, "Shit, that¡¯s not fair," he said.

    High above, hundreds of red glowing eyes were gazing at the yers from a distance. One of these eyes had just moved under the moon and cast a shadow on the ground. It looked like a dragon but had its arms attached to its wings. A wyvern, not only than the wyvern wore a harness and there was a knight riding on it.

    Another horn blew, and right beyond the vige, thousands of warhorse mounted riders came galloping toward the yers.

    "PLAYERS! READY UP FOR BATTLE!" Warlord shouted, he opened his arms wide and used his legacy skill [War God¡¯s Ascension].

    A gigantic armored figure materialized behind Warlord, he wielded a battle ax that looked like it had fought a million battle. The war god behind Warlord released a golden aura that covered the yers invigorating them with the will of battle.

    "Using Legacy Skills already?" Demetri asked. He thought that Warlord would save it until they were going to siege the city.

    "That¡¯s the best decision, in case you didn¡¯t notice, those riders are at least level 600 each. We can¡¯t win this fight without legacy skills, alright everyone uses the legacies!"

    Hundreds of deity avatars emerged as yers activated their legacy skills. There was no need to hesitate, the iing army would spell disaster if the Guild Alliance underestimated them. So to make sure that the first battle against the eastern army would end in sess, they had to bring their full power from the start.

    The light shows of materializing the legacy avatars ended, and soon, another light show of spells and magic covered the battlefield. The first to attack were the wyverns, and their fire breaths lit the darkened night of the wilds. This night was going to be a long night for the Guild Alliance.

    ***

    Far away from the battle at the east, somewhere in the wilds, a crack in space appeared. An unholy dark aura seeped through the crack, there was wrath, rampage, and indignation spewing forth from this special crack. This was where the ck Dragon was imprisoned, and it was nowing out.

    The dragon stepped out of the rift in the sky, but it didn¡¯t roar or scream, it was so filled with anger, that the redness of its eyes and the tenseness of it muscles could tell stories about what it would do to whomever it dared imprison it.

    The ck dragon sniffed at the air and smelled blood, it looked to the east and with a powerful p of its wings, it surged up in the sky and coursed toward the eastern kingdom. Death was impatient, and it was riding the winds to the east.

 Chapter 302 The Hungry Undead.

    Dave rode through the wilds in the darkness of the night; his regiment was following tightly behind. A few hours after, he heard the gale of the wind roaring above him. His gazed up and noticed a great shadow looming in the veil of the night. This shadow he knew, it was that of the great ck dragon.

    Dave¡¯s heart thumped in panic, ¡¯Fuck, it¡¯s already out!¡¯.

    He hurriedly rummaged through his inventory, looking for his teleportation scroll. But right before he was going to tear it, then he noticed that the dragon wasn¡¯t interested in him as it coursed through the night toward the east.

    "It must be going for the guildies, well that¡¯s none of my concern. I hope my friends get out of this safely. Boyz! Keep moving!" Dave kept riding toward Urburg.

    The Wilds were quiet this night. The dragon probably caused this. Most monsters kept hiding, other than Leonard, Dave didn¡¯t think that anything in the wilds could threaten his survival as he was with his undead.

    Finding theck of monsters to be an annoyance, Dave decided to go back to the Underworld, at least there, the monsters were numerous and in abundance. Dave kept riding until he entered Urburg. Arriving at Urburg teleportation gate and was about to use it to go to the Red Fortress. But when he opened the teleportation interface, he saw a small icon shing. It was a new gate code that was added to his character logs.

    Dave clicked on the new teleportation code and activated the gate. The gate shone brightly for a moment and sucked in Dave and his boyz. Dave¡¯s vision swam and returned to normal after a moment. He found himself in a familiar city. It was Pharaoh¡¯s Crypt city. The third raid zone.

    Two Death Knights came over toward Dave, "Commander," One of the knights said, "Lord Samael had left something for you." The Death Knight handed Dave two items.

    They were a breastte and two armored gloves.

    Dave inspected the items.

    ***

    Damaged Undead king¡¯s Armor.

    Damaged Undead King¡¯s gloves.

    King¡¯s Bones

    Bring these items to Andre of Arotsa with the required material to repair them.

    ***

    Dave opened his quest logs. He scrolled down until he found the quest rted to repairing the Undead King¡¯s Armor.

    ***

    Main Questline (Difficulty: SSS)

    Andre, the smith, has offered to fix the armor of the Undead King if you find the rest of the pieces of the set and bring the following for the repair work:

    Bones of a King (Must have been killed by you.)

    5X Unicorn¡¯s Horn

    100x Adamantine Fments

    Ramsha¡¯s Blood (10 Liters)

    100x Silver Hydra¡¯s Scales.

    1x ck Dragon¡¯s Heart.

    ***

    Seeing the required materials again, Dave felt a twang of pain. Of all the items, he had twenty Adamantine Fment and five unicorn Horns, all thanks to Bone Breaker of course who oh so kindly gave them to Dave. As for the King¡¯s Bones, Dave must have missed them when he looted the puppet king, but thankfully Samael was kind enough to bring them to him.

    But for the remaining materials, he had no idea where to start. The dragon is damn strong. And the hydra, Dave had never heard of it. As for Ramsha¡¯s Blood, that was the thing that made him dread this quest the most.

    Ramsha was the guardian of the Underworld, and as Nick had mentioned before, he was God School¡¯s homeroom teacher. Fighting Ramsha is nothing short of suicide.

    Dave thought for a moment, ¡¯Ramsha had mentioned that he existed in the underworld to trade with yers for whatever Demon Rted items they brought. There is a good chance that some of his blood could be tradable.¡¯

    Dave didn¡¯t count on it, but logically speaking, this was his best shot. Because other than that, yers will need to fight the level 999 creature Ramsha for his blood, which is honestly speaking utterly unrealistic at this point in the game.

    He used the same gate to teleport back to the Undead Frontier. Though it would have been interesting to tour and investigate the new city, Dave had a feeling that he needed to be stronger as soon as possible, he could exin why, but Dave¡¯s gut feeling rarely proved wrong.

    He arrived at the Undead Frontier. Like always, Delvina was ve-driving the Death Knights to do various works, not that they seemed opposed to the idea. The Death Knights did every task they were ordered to, from building lodgings to sharpening weapons and polishing armor. They were a hard-working bunch that did everything with extreme care and attention to details. They had eternity to live, so there was no need for them to do any job sloppily.

    Delvina nodded to Dave and continued with her work.

    ¡¯Seems like she has no quests for me," Dave shrugged and left the volcano where the Undead Frontier was built.

    Dave rode on Spike through the caverns under the volcano and kept moving until he exited the area. There used to be some demons gargoyles living here, but the undead must have razed them to the ground.

    Dave moved between the archer towers surrounding the volcano and moved to the west. He soon arrived on the shore.

    There were hundreds of undead making boats or repairing them.

    "What¡¯s going on guys?" Dave asked as he saw the undead hard at work.

    "Commander Kis¡¯Shtiengbrah, we are honored by your presence," said the overseeing undead captain as he saluted.

    "At ease soldier," Dave chuckled. "Just tell me, what are you guys doing?"

    "Commander, we are repairing these boats to take for another hunt.

    "Hunt?"

    "Yes, we hunt the demonic creatures that are living in theke. The increase the acidity I theke. If we y them all, theke should be clearer."

    "And how is that going for you?" Dave asked.

    "Not so good sir, the acid is so strong it corrodes most of our boats before we reach our daily kill quota. We could use some help."

    A notification appeared in front of Dave.

    ***

    Chained Quest

    Rank S

    Minimum Level Required 350.

    You have been asked to help the Undead Legion by clearing theke that surrounds the Undead Frontier from the Torab Serpents.

    Help the legionnaires by ying:

    201 Torab Serpents.

    Rewards Forpletion.

    -Naval Tech!-

    Dock Blue Prints.

    Warship Blue Prints.

    Trading Ships Blue Prints.

    Fishing Ships Blue Prints.

    Title: Dead men tell MY tale!

    ***

    Dave¡¯s eyes almost bulged ¡¯Damn! This quest is good. With this tech, I can probably make ships and use them to go around Conquest¡¯s sea areas.¡¯

    Dave became more and more interested in the quest. yers around conquest couldn¡¯t make their private ships, though some professional carpenters had manually created a ship, it sunk only one hour after it set sails. The reason was that the ship was not ¡¯game-designed¡¯ it didn¡¯t have stats that could sustain an attack from a sea creature and thus was destroyed.

    If Dave could get his hands on the blueprints, he will have a monopoly over sea-voyage and have the opportunity to grind in another none explored area of Conquest.

    "Alright, I¡¯ll help, but I give me some time. I have something to do," Dave said.

    A notification confirming Dave¡¯s confirmation to the quest appeared in front of him. He waved it away and asked the captain, "So thest time I came here Drahma helped me cross theke, I suppose you have a boat that I can use?" Dave said.

    "Yes, but I don¡¯t think it can carry the stag,mander," the undead captain said as he looked at Spike.

    The Undead Forest Pronged Fiend angrily growled at the Undead Captain.

    "Calm down Spike, he doesn¡¯t mean to say that you are fat, you are just poofy. Isn¡¯t that right captain!" Dave red at the captain.

    "Y-yes, yes poofy..."

    Spike Snorted epting thement.

    Dave pulled out Tiny from his inventory. Unlike grumpy, Spike was not abat pet, but a regr undead, he needed to be stored inside Tiny¡¯s graves. Thankfully Dave still had some spare space in Tiny¡¯s undead storage space as he left some of his elite undead in the Undead Frontier.

    "I¡¯ll summon you back when I get to the other side, Spike."

    "What is that, Commander?" asked the Undead Captain as he pointed at the slime. "For some reason, it gives me a repulsive feeling."

    "This is a grave lord," said Dave and threw Tiny up. The slime changed to its massive form and dropped to the ground.

    The captain retreated, taking a few steps back, "Commander, this is a forbidden undead! You should not give it free will.

    "Nah, Tiny¡¯s been behaving since the first day I got him. He is no trouble at all-" Yet Dave¡¯s words never finished as the giant Tiny grabbed two of the undead working on the boats and chugged them into its gullet.

    Dave brow twitched as he heard the Grave Lord uttering, "Hun-gry..."

 Chapter 303 Deals Everywhere

    "Tiny! Spit him out!" Dave shouted.

    "But Hun-gry..." Tiny said in a reluctant voice.

    "You either spit the undead back, or I¡¯ll call Dog out!"

    The threat seemed to work as the giant dropped the undead from his mouth. He was groaning making a face akin to a pout in the process.

    The undead scrambled standing on his feet. He didn¡¯t seem to be bothered by the ck sludgy saliva covering as he scurried away from the Grave Lord. It seemed that for this fellow undead, death was not the ultimate experience in his life.

    "You big oaf. If you want to eat, you don¡¯t have to eat fellow undead. Listen Tiny. I¡¯ll go meet a big guy, and when we are done, I¡¯ll let you have as much fish as you want from thiske!" Dave said.

    "Promise?" Tiny said.

    "Man, are you a kid? Yeah, I promise. Now let¡¯s change back to tiny Tiny, and let¡¯s go."

    Tiny absorbed Spike into itself and transformed to his ck slime form and hopped into Dave¡¯s inventory.

    "Alright, sorry for that," Dave said, addressing the Undead Captain. He looked at the undead behind him in an apologetic expression.

    "Uh, I don¡¯t know what to say, sir. Usually, a Grave Lord does not hear or listen tomands o the expense of his hunger. You, sir, are a great leader."

    "Thanks for thepliment. So, do I still get to ride on the boat."

    "Yes, sir, please follow me," replied the captain.

    The captain led Dave to one of the rowboats and ordered two undead to drive Dave across theke.

    Dave got on the boat and sat on a wooden nk that acted as a bench. Two undead rowed the boat while Dave sat calmly in the back.

    After a few minutes ride, Dave asked, "The snakes in thiske, do they attack often?"

    One of the undead rowing the boat replied to Dave saying, "Not really, they rarely attack us. The problem is the acid they release; it continuously erodes our boats and makes transportation a nightmare."

    "Right, I¡¯ll try to help with that," Dave replied.

    As he gazed at the murkyke water, he saw bubbles rising to theke¡¯s surface. The bubbles were a few meters away from the boat.

    "That¡¯s one of the monsters. But don¡¯t worry, sir, they won¡¯t attack us," said the undead.

    Dave ignored the bubbles and kept an eye on the way they were going. Theke wasn¡¯t toorge, so they rapidly made it to the other side.

    "This is as far as we can take you, sir. The monsters here are not that strong, and they won¡¯t be attacking you. Good luck with your meeting with the underworld¡¯s guardian."

    "Thank you," Dave said.

    Dave jumped from the boat and onto the shore. He asked Tiny to get Spike out.

    When the forest fiend came out, Dave mounted it and said, "You see that cave there?" Dave pointed to the west. In the distance, there was arge mass of hills and mountains that looked too steep and too dangerous to climb.

    "Get us there, Spike."

    The fiend neighed and bolted across thend toward the cave. Dave couldn¡¯t help but notice that the fiend was much faster than before. It was most likely his undead nature that removed the limitations of both his stamina and speed.

    "You truly are racing the wind now!"

    Gleeful by Dave¡¯s praise, Spike neighed and elerated even more. Dave could hear the wind howling in his ears, and his eyes were watering from the increase in speed.

    ¡¯Heh, at this speed I doubt that the ck dragon could even catch up to Spike now.¡¯

    Spike made it to the cave end went through it. Lava spread through the walls of the cave-like vines lighting the cave. Spike kept going until he reached the cave exit.

    "Be careful here, there was a demonic creature guarding this ce thest time I was here," Dave said. He remembered the Level-checker demon at the entrance of the underworld. It was put there to prevent any low-level yers from entering the Underworld. Even if the guildies killed it, the Level-Checker demon could have respawned again.

    But thankfully, when Dave exited the cave, there was no such creature.

    "Keep going, Ramsha is just up ahead," Dave said.

    Spike kept going until he reached arge stone tform surrounded by ava moat.

    "Stop here," Dave said as he was looking up.

    A bizarre mountain, an amalgamation of rock and flesh stood up, shaking itself as if from a long slumber. Turning it looked directly at them impassively, through eyes that seemed to be made of ming-magma.

    ***

    Gate Guardian Ramsha, Warden of the entrance to the Underworld

    Level ???

    HP ???

    DN???

    MA???

    Do not provoke what guards the gates of hell. Not even the gods dare its wrath.

    ***

    Dave looked up, "Ramsha, good to see you again."

    "See me again? I don¡¯t remember ever having a draugr at my presence. No, you have a geas on you. One of my student¡¯s magic, Death, and Undeath. How fascinating." Ramsha uttered his words, slowly like nothing in the world was worth the haste.

    "Right, I forgot about that. That was rude of me, " Dave said and raised his hand. The ring of True Undeath shone brightly for a second then Dave¡¯s undead appearance changed to his human form.

    "Yes, I remember you now. You were the first of humans ever toe meet me here. Wee."

    "Thank you, Ramsha. I remember that you mentioned something about trading with you."

    "Yes, I offer many valuables for the most heroic, and those that defeat the Demons living in this world," Ramsha said.

    "Okay, I have some contribution points and some gold, I was hoping to buy some stuff from you," Dave said.

    "Gold has no value to me, and contribution is only for the undead. What I require are achievements and bloodstones." Ramsha said.

    "Blood Stones? I don¡¯t have much on me. I do own a bloodstone mining deposit though," Dave said. Though he owned the red fortress which provided him with 10% of its yield in bloodstones, Dave never thought that they could be used as currency with Ramsha and now he regretted the day he didn¡¯t loot them when he had the chance.

    "Very well, then. Here is what I have to offer." Ramsha said and a notification screen opened in front of Dave.

    ***

    Consumables.

    Superior Health Potion: 99 | Price: 100 Blood Stone

    Greater Health Potion: 99 | Price: 1,000 Blood Stone

    Supreme Health Potion: 99 |Price: 10,000 Blood Stone

    Superior Mana Potion: 99 | Price: 100 Blood Stone

    Greater Mana Potion: 99 | Price: 1,000 Blood Stone

    Supreme Mana Potion: 99 | Price: 10,000 Blood Stone

    ...

    Superior EXP Potion: 9 | Price: 100 Blood Stone

    Greater EXP Potion :5 | Price: 1,000 Blood Stone

    Supreme EXP Potion :1 | Price: 100,000 Blood Stone

    ****

    Utility

    Weapon and Armor repair Scroll: 99| Price 100 Blood Stone.

    Magic Cube: 1| Price 1 Blood Stone.

    Ramsha¡¯s Blood: 10-liter | Price 10,000 Blood Stone and Demon Token.

    Adamantine Fment: 99 | Price 200 Blood Stone.

    Conquest Right Scroll: 4 | Price 1,000,000 Blood Stone and Demon Token for each right.

    Treasure Map: 1 | Price 1 Blood Stone.

    ***

    Weapons

    Unmet Conditions!

    Armor

    Unmet Conditions!

    Runes

    Unmet Conditions!

    ***

    Dave looked at Ramsha¡¯s shopping list and was left bbergasted. This guy was selling items that would make the whole world of conquest vie for them.

    Not to mention that most of his items were under conditions that Dave had yet to meet. But what made Dave happy was that Ramsha was actually selling his own blood.

    "Ramsha, I came here to ask you for your blood," Dave said

    "You want to fight me? You are too weak for that," Ramsha said, the rocks making his mouth changed into a wide smile.

    "No, no, I still want to live. What I meant is, I need it to make armor. But I don¡¯t have a demon token. I do have a demon general¡¯s token, though. Would that be fine?"

    "That¡¯s even better. It means you slew one of the Ash King¡¯s most powerful underlings. I shall make an exception for you. I¡¯ll only take the token for the blood." Ramsha said.

    "Great!" Dave said and pulled out the demon general¡¯s token for Ramsha.

    The enmed token floated until it reached Ramsha¡¯s face and then disappeared.

    An item immediately popped up into Dave¡¯s inventory. It was arge blood cannister.

    "Thank you, Ramsha."

    "That would be all?" Ramsha said in question.

    "I¡¯lle backter for more items. I don¡¯t have many bloodstones on me. And I don¡¯t suppose you take loans," Dave said in a smile.

    " Loans! Ha. Usually, I wouldn¡¯t, but you said you have a mining deposit for bloodstones."

    "Yeah, I do."

    "Then buy what you need, and I will withdraw the cost directly from your Bloodstone stocks in the Red Fortress," Ramsha said.

    Dave¡¯s eyes shone brightly for a moment, "Great! Then give me that, that and that. Also, that too!" Dave began picking from the items in Ramsha¡¯s list like it was a ck Friday sale.

    Leaving the cave, both Dave and Ramsha were happy.

    Dave had bought all the exp potions and the treasure map. He also bought 80 adamantine fments.

    He didn¡¯t want to purchase the conquest rights as the price was too staggering. And he didn¡¯t need to create any unnecessary problems. Adding another Conquest right to the auction house will only create more troubles for him. It would undoubtedly bring unwanted attention and from not so good guys.

    Greed is a powerful drive that could make humankind do atrocities that no one could even imagine. It was better for Dave to wait on the Conquest rights now, or until the opportunity presents itself.

    As Dave was leaving the cave, he received a phone call. The number was unfamiliar.

    "Hello, who¡¯s this?" Dave said.

    "Hello David, this is Samuel."

    "Oh, Hello, how are you doing?" Dave replied.

    "Quite good actually, especially with the good news I¡¯m about to tell you," replied the demon barista.

    "Do tell," Dave said.

    "Well, you remember the boy you shamed this morning?" Samuel said.

    "Yeah, what about him?"

    "How about you buy hispany?"

    "Huh? Come again?" Dave was surprised.

    "Yeah. Reputation matters a lot nowadays, and having offended Mr.Skeletal, his smallpany took a major hit, and their stocks have dropped like an anchor. When you are free,e and find me, I will make you richer than you ever would have dreamt of."

    ¡¯Buying thepany of Douche-guy, wouldn¡¯t that be just kicking him while he is down? Man, this guy¡¯s a demon alright can¡¯t say I dislike the idea though.¡¯

    Dave hadn¡¯t realized that he was slowly stroking his beard as he smiled like an idiot all alone in the cave...

 Chapter 304 Setting a foot in the big world

    "I don¡¯t have much to do right now. If you are free, I cane out and meet you right now," Dave said.

    "Good, I¡¯ll ask Zoe toe to pick you up," Sam said.

    "Thanks," Dave replied and hung up. He logged out from the game and took a quick shower.

    Dave was feeling hungry, so he called room service and ordered some food. It took a while for the food to arrive. Having eaten his fill, Dave waited for Zoe to call.

    His phone rang only a minuteter, and it was Zoe.

    "Yeah, Zoe."

    "S¡¯upp Davidskin, I¡¯m downstairs, hurry up. Uncle¡¯s been acting all strange this morning."

    "Yeah, I suppose he would," Dave said in a smile. Dave took the hotel elevator down and met with Zoe at the hotel entrance. She was inside her purple Lambo and was fixing her hair as she used her phone as a mirror. When she saw Dave, Zoe smiled and called him into the car.

    Dave got on and strapped his seatbelt tightly on.

    "Davey, what did you do to my uncle? He¡¯s been smiling all morning like a goof," Zoe asked.

    "Nothing really, he came to me with this crazy idea about buying some guy¡¯spany. I can¡¯t say I understand everything, so that¡¯s why I¡¯m going to meet him directly."

    "Okay, uncle¡¯s up in his office it¡¯s not far from here," Zoe said and stomped on the elerator.

    Her car zoomed through New York¡¯s streets like a rogue train. She was not caring for speed limits or any measures of safety. Dave became numb to the way Zoe drove, but he still made sure that his seat belt was tightly secured every now and then.

    "We¡¯re here," Zoe said in a cheerful tone.

    Stopping her car, Zoe got out and threw the keys to the valet. Zoe followed after her as they entered a skyscraper. It was thergest building in the block.

    The woman at the entrance greeted Zoe with a smile as she let the two of them in. Zoe kept walking until she reached the elevator down the hall. The bin wasrge and equipped with a quick ascension option. It could travel to the upper floor in just ten seconds.

    When they got on, Zoe pressed the upper floor button.

    "You guys love the upper floors."

    "Yeah, who wouldn¡¯t want to have the high ground?" Zoe said in a grin.

    Dave shook his head from the butchered reference Zoe just made.

    The elevator arrived at the top floor. They moved through a carpeted hall. There were several closed doors along the hall, but at the furthest end, there was a red-haired woman that sat behind a desk. She must be the secretary, Dave thought.

    When the woman saw Zoe, she buzzed the two into arge office. The office was like a private room. It had bookshelves filled with all kinds of literary works. There were pharaonic statuses neatly positioned in the room, giving it a high-profile theme.

    The floor was made of mahogany wood, and the curtains gave a dim shade into the office¡¯s interior. A crystal chandelier hung from the high ceiling. And on the other side of the room where the two stood was a single desk where Sam was writing something down.

    Sam nced up at the two and smiled. He wrapped the documents he had and said, "You came quickly."

    "Hello, uncle, Yeah, there was no traffic," Zoe said. She pulled a chair over and sat in front of the desk.

    "David, please sit," Sam gestured for Dave to take a chair and toe closer.

    "Do you remember when I asked you to buy the CCN stocks?" Sam said.

    "Yeah, it was just yesterday."

    "Surprisingly, the stunt paid off even better than I spected. CCN¡¯s stock values increased by 150% in one day, I think that they will increase even more, but it¡¯s better to use the money right now to secure yourself a great deal."

    Sam pulled two documents from under his desk and handed them to Dave.

    "These are the paperwork needed to start the possession of Sigma Electronics. This is a branchpany owned by IGU-Electronics; they are one of the leading in this day and age in their domain."

    "IGU-Electronics, I think I know them. Isn¡¯t Satan-yer one of the big-shots in thatpany?" Zoe said. She was most knowledgeable about the devastators of the three. So a big Shot like Satan-yer was hard not to know.

    "Satan who?" Dave said.

    "He is a sub-guild master from the Devastators, a big fat-cat," Zoe said.

    "Yes, that¡¯s the one," Sam said.

    "I don¡¯t suppose that he will just let us take over one of hispanies," Dave said.

    "No, it doesn¡¯t work like that. Heck, I think he would be more than d to dispose of thepany as it will only bring them a bad reputation. It¡¯s wise to amputate the toe to save the leg," Sam said.

    "If I got this right, this means that IGU-Electronics will rather give up Sigma-Electronics than beingbeled together with them as anti-skelly;" Dave said.

    "Exactly, now usually no one would try to buy thispany because it has such a bad reputation now. So, you will take it over."

    "I don¡¯t understand this part. If no one wants it, why would I want it."

    "You, as Dave wouldn¡¯t, but Skelly. That¡¯s a whole other story," Zoe said.

    "Like my smart and lovely niece just said, you won¡¯t take over Sigma-Electronics as David Ruster. But as Mr. Skeletal. This will instantly boost your stocks to the roofs."

    "I see. I never thought about it this way. So, when do we begin?" Dave asked.

    "You just need to singe those documents, and all should be done," Sam replied.

    Dave read a few articles in the files and smiled, ¡¯The demon sure does work fast."

    Dave signed the documents and handed them back to Sam. The demon barrister pulled out a phone from a drawer under his desk and dialed a number.

    "Belford, I have the paperwork done¡¯ ill fax it for you. You can start now." Sam hung up.

    "Alright, it should be done now. All of your stocks from CCN will be liquified and used to buy the shares from Sigma Electronics. Belford told me that the shares are so low, that with the amount of money you are investing, you will be able to buy approximately 45% of thepany. Which is a huge chunk."

    "I thought I needed at least 51% to be the real owner of thepany, isn¡¯t that right?" Dave asked.

    "Yeah, but you don¡¯t have enough right now. Don¡¯t worry. You will be able to buy the remaining 6% in time. Right now, this makes you thergest shareholder, you just became a big-shot in the real world, Dave. Congrattions."

    "Well, that was easy."

    "Everything is easy when you have enough money, Dave" Zoe said.

    "Now there is only one thing that is left for you to do," Sam said.

    "What is that?"

    "Propaganda, thergest the world has ever seen. And we are friends with thepany that currently has thergest audience in the world at our disposal," Sam said.

 Chapter 305 Shares

    "You will use, Skelly¡¯s fame to boost the fame of Sigma Electronics," Sam said in a matter-of-factly.

    "Okay. I suppose I¡¯ll have to mention that in tonight¡¯s video I sent to CCN," Dave added.

    "What¡¯s the content that you sent them?" Sam asked.

    "I¡¯ve sent them the conquest of the third raid zone. It has a lot of fighting and a super nasty boss." Dave shuddered as he remembered the immortal Lakhbar. He was a monster both in form and power. One of the toughest bosses Dave had ever fought in conquest.

    "That¡¯s a great idea, Dave," Zoe pitched in, "But, how are you going to manage thepany once it is in your hands? I mean if you, as David Ruster take control over Sigma Electronics, that will make people think that you and Skelly are the same," Zoe dropped an excellent question.

    "Yeah, you are right. I don¡¯t know how to do that," Dave said.

    "You won¡¯t need to. You¡¯ll be the shadow director of thepany," Sam said.

    "I¡¯m sorry, I¡¯m not familiar with the term. What¡¯s that?" Dave asked.

    "A shadow director is a founder or significant shareholder who wishes to escape the disclosure requirements of a directorship," Sam exined to them.

    "So, I get to own thepany without ever having to show my face?" Dave said.

    "Yes, exactly. I can handle the remaining paperwork needed for yourpany management. Now all you need to do is to give a presentation to CCN of the Sigma Company and mention that it is supported by you, as in Skelly. I can even guarantee that your stocks will go through the roof in no time," Sam said.

    "And you should probably change thepany name," Lone said.

    "Yeah, think about something creative. Something that will make people think of Skelly as they think of thepany," Sam said.

    "Okay, sounds like a n," Dave said.

    They stayed in Samuel Silvana¡¯s office for some time, discussing how Dave will handle his newpany as they waited for news from Belfort. Belfort called, saying that everything was good to go and with some other good news.

    Dave has sessfully bought 49% of the stocks. The stocks had dropped even more, which made Dave¡¯s estimated 45% be 49%.

    "Just two more per cent and you could have had the wholepany for yourself," Sam said.

    "I thought there would be more shares in the market due to how low the stocks have gotten," Dave said.

    "True. But usually, apany will never put more than 51% of its stocks in the market, in fear that some big shark cane and swoop it wholly under his control. Scoring 49% is a huge deal you can always buy the rest at ater date."

    "I find it strange how that much of shares were released anyway," Zoe said.

    "Right, Sigma-Electronics is a familypany, owned by a man named Ford Richard. He owns 40% of the shares he probably didn¡¯t put his in the market. The rest -60%- were owned by Satan yer. So seeing that many stocks in the market mean that he hadpletely given up on thepany," Sam said.

    "Hang on, if Satan yer sold his cut, doesn¡¯t that mean that there is a missing 11% of the shares?"

    "Yes, It appears that you weren¡¯t the only one thinking of buying the shares of thispany though. This is going to be problematic," Sam said.

    "How so?" Zoe asked. She wasn¡¯t very good with numbers, nor was Dave. So, they had to pay attention to Sam¡¯s exnation.

    "Well, although the one who bought the 11% is the owner with the least number of shares. He can prove vital over the direction of thepany. If he decides to aid you and be your ally, you will both control thepany as partners. And Ford Richard will have close to no say in thepany. But if he decides to aid Ford Richard, the total of their stocks is 51% which means that they get to call the shots." Sam said, patiently.

    "We need to find the person who bought the shares and speak with them," Zoe said, she didn¡¯t look too happy with someone else controlling ¡¯Dave¡¯spany.¡¯

    "I¡¯m on it," Sam said as he called Belfort again. After speaking for a while, Sam looked at Dave and lone dejectedly.

    "Belfort just told me that the shareholder bought them under an unknown status. We don¡¯t know who he is. But it¡¯s alright, Dave. This isn¡¯t much of a problem right now. I would have advised you to make a meeting with the shareholders, but it¡¯s better to keep your identity anonymous. I will, however, take your ce in the conference table," Sam said.

    "Though I dislike the fact that they didn¡¯t give Dave full control, you should still go easy on them uncle. They will be Dave¡¯s partners in the future."

    "Don¡¯t worry, I¡¯ll just make them see who they are dealing with," Sam said in an evil, devilish grin.

    "Uncle, that¡¯s no different than what I warned you about." Lone shook her head. Her uncle was incorrigible.

    The three continued chatting in the office for a while until Dave had to excuse himself as he received a phone call from Ralph.

    He left the office and used the phone in the hallway.

    "Supp, bruh."

    "Hey man, where you at?" Ralph asked.

    "Just doing some stuff with Zoe¡¯s uncle, why?"

    "Yeah, was calling you for that legacy quest you said."

    "Oh, weren¡¯t you raiding the east?" Dave asked.

    "Man, that ended hours ago, gruesomely so."

    "What happened?" Dave said. He had a feeling that it was about the dragon.

    "Well, it turns out that the east is way too strong than the current yer power. Their border guards are the weakest. They are level 450. As for their main army, they have an average level of 600. Heck, they came at us riding wyverns and used legacy skills."

    "What? NPCs using legacy skills?" Dave almost shouted the question.

    "Yep, strong ones too. Man, today was a huge mess." Ralph said. He sounded annoyed.

    "What¡¯s going on, Dave?" Zoe asked as she came out of Sam¡¯s office.

    "Something big happened in the east, Zoe."

    "Oh, I haven¡¯t checked," Zoe said and browsed on her phone for the news.

    "Yeah man, they sent us an army of 20,000. They were enough to wipe two-thirds of our yers in less than an hour. The rest spread through the wilds to escape."

    "That¡¯s a heavy blow for the yers. That¡¯s a lot of level loss and exp, but at least some survived, " Dave said.

    "Ha, nice joke. No, I doubt that anyone would survive by now. Stuff turned out exactly as you said they would."

    "The ck dragon, right?" Dave said.

    "Yeah, he came out of nowhere and began a mass manhunt. He is still killing yers right now. I doubt anyone of the remaining yers will make it to Moria before the dragon finds them."

    "Yeah, well tough luck for them. It¡¯s good for me, though. This way, I can level up while they are losing EXP. And you must have used the Teleportation scroll to escape." Dave sounded a bit too happy over the loss that had befallen the raiding army.

    "Yeah man, I had to find a spot to hide before using it. If the guildies find out I had a scroll to leave the area, they¡¯ll kill me, no joke," Ralph said in a snort.

    It was only natural. Humans were greedy, and if one had an item that could save them from death and the level loss, they¡¯d do all they want to either know his secret and if he didn¡¯t share with them, that yer that would either be ¡¯selfish¡¯ or med for the numerous deaths in the Wilds.

    "Yeah, that was some good thinking bro. I suppose Mercy and Tess did the same."

    "Yeah, the three of us are in Urburg. Also, there are some NPCs here. They aren¡¯t talking with us, though."

    "NPCs?"

    "Yeah. I think TNT invited them here. Tess mentioned that Fortress was inviting NPCs willing to go to the Wilds and work in Urburg."

    "That¡¯s great. I think it¡¯s time to start renovating the ce," Dave said.

    "What about my legacy quest, man?"

    "Yeah, of course after your legacy quest," Dave said,ughing. "See you soon, bro," he added.

    "See you soon," Ralph replied and hung up.

    "Dave turned to Zoe, who was still scrolling through her phone.

    "Man, this is crazy. The whole raid team got wiped. Demetri must be bleeding money right now," Zoe said.

    "The poor guy should never have tried to raid the east using money. Things like these would require a lot of time preparing for them. Though he had the manpower, he didn¡¯t have the strength to take the east," Dave said.

    "Right, never bite more than you cloud chew," Zoe added.

    "He should have realised that the east would be very hard to conquer, I suppose the guildies will attempt another raid soon after they regroup. But I doubt the oue will be much different, especially without the banishment scroll," Dave said.

    "There is much to think about for them. But at least the guildies know the way to the east now and they could prepare better for another fight." Zoe replied.

    "True. Alright, I guess I should get going. Ralph needs me in a quest." Dave said.

    "Can Ie? I got nothing better to do. I still need to level up some more to finish my legacy quest with the Ice Queen."

    "Of course, you can," Dave said.

    Smiling Zoe clung to Dave¡¯s arm and said to her uncle, "We¡¯re going now, Uncle. See youter tonight."

    "Enjoy your day, kids." Sam nodded and continued his work.

 Chapter 306 Here we go again.

    Lone drove Dave, all the way to the hotel he was staying at. Dave got out from the purple Lambo, turning to Lone he asked. "I¡¯ll be helping Ralph do his legacy quest, want to join?"

    "Yeah, I could use the level ups," Zoe replied.

    "Good, see you in-game then. Ralph¡¯s waiting in Urburg."

    "Okay. I¡¯ll head home now. I¡¯ll log in as soon as I can." Zoe waved to Dave and pressed on the elerator. Zoe left the hotel driving like the usual, a speedo-maniac.

    Dave shook his head and entered the hotel. That girl¡¯s habits were never going to change. He took the elevator and got into his room then logged into the game.

    He found himself back at the entrance to Ramsha¡¯s cave. He had logged out from here when Sam spoke to him.

    Dave opened his management panel and used his dial option, calling Ralph.

    "Hey, man. Where you at?" Ralph asked.

    "I¡¯m in the underworld. So what should we do to start your quest," Dave replied.

    "I already began the first part. I needed to identify the Tengu Mask you gave me," Ralph said.

    "Yeah, and what did you get?"

    "Well, it¡¯s a piece of swordmaster equipment. It says that I need to wear this where the previous owner perished." Ralph said.

    "Ah, shit. That might be a bit tough." Dave said.

    "Why is that?" Ralph asked.

    "Yeah, the owner used to live inside a dungeon. It¡¯s called the Storm Labyrinth."

    "Never heard of it, man," Ralph said after a pause.

    "Yeah, because it¡¯s in the Underworld. And believe me, we don¡¯t want to fight the bosses there. At least not at our current levels."

    "They are that strong?"

    "Brokenly strong man."

    "Damn, I thought I could get a legacy as well. Bummer, let¡¯s grind some exp then."

    "No, you didn¡¯t understand. What I meant was, the bosses were strong, but we can get to the tengu temple before facing the bosses." Dave said.

    "You should have said that before man, I almost lost hope in the legacy upgrade."

    "Alright, let¡¯s wait for the team, and we can go together," Dave said.

    "Team?"

    "Yeah, I think this dungeon will be quite interesting for the guys. Call Mercy. I¡¯ll contact TNT."

    "What about Tess and Lone?"

    "I already told lone to join in. And Fortress¡¯ going to call Tess on his own."

    Dave teleported to Urburg and waited for everyone to gather. They needed his teleportation scrolls to be able to enter the Underworld. And they also needed to be in hispany. If the undead see living yers in their domain, their faith and oue would be apparent to anyone.

    When Dave appeared in Urburg, he saw Ralph and Mercy chatting together. A bit too close for what seemed to be a casual talk. Dave coughed announcing his presence. Like a cat with its tail stepped on, Mercy yelped and regained herposure almost instantly.

    "Where are the others?" Dave asked.

    "Don¡¯t know, they haven¡¯t arrived yet," Ralph said he was scratching his head. It was quite umon to see the big oaf blushing.

    "I¡¯m here!" A shrill voice sounded from behind Dave.

    Looking back, the infamous priest Pussy-nker was leading Fortress and Perfect Shot.

    "Where is Tess?" Dave asked.

    "Hey, where¡¯s our wee?" nker protested.

    Dave ignored the priest and asked Fortress," Where¡¯s your girl, man?"

    "She said she had something important to do. She can¡¯t quest with us this time."

    "Yeah, probably stuffing himself up, man you should get yourself a real girl," nker said, shaking his head.

    Perfect spoke to Dave saying, "So, we¡¯re going to the underworld now?"

    "Yep," Dave said.

    "And you don¡¯t have a problem with that? I mean I could send the footage from the Underworld to pops."

    "You can do whatever you want, but I suppose you¡¯ll still want to venture with meter in the underworld."

    Perfect smiled, he knew that the moment something from the underworld was released without Dave¡¯s consent, he will ban him from going to the hell for a long time, or until the Undead expansion was public. And that might take a long time. And who would want to be Skelly¡¯s enemy?

    "Don¡¯t worry about it. I won¡¯t release anything. I¡¯d rather get the EXP and drops," Perfect said.

    "Helooooo!" Lone¡¯s voice sounded from the teleportation gate. She had just arrived.

    "Awn, everyone is here, but where¡¯s Tess?" Lone asked.

    Fortress went to brief lone while Dave asked Ralph, "Where are the NPCs you said were here?" he didn¡¯t see a soul moving about in Urburg.

    "They¡¯re probably hiding in the ruins of Urburg. The dragon flew above Urburg a few moments before you arrived." Ralph said.

    "It did? Why didn¡¯t it attack?" Dave asked.

    "I don¡¯t know. There is something here that makes the dragon unable to see this city," Ralph said.

    "That¡¯s good news. If we rebuild this ce, we had to make sure it¡¯s safe to live in," Dave said.

    "Are you going to check up on the NPCs?" Ralph asked.

    "No, not now we have a quest to do. Everyone, take one of these," Dave said as he handed them teleportation scrolls to the Red Fortress.

    When the yers had the scrolls, Dave tore his saying, "Stay close to me when we are in the Red Fortress.

    Dave¡¯s avatar disappeared from Urburg and appeared in the Red Fortress.

    Undead filled the red fortress to the brim. Most were doing guard duty, and the rest were training in therge courtyard. When Dave appeared, the undead near the teleportation gate saluted him. But the moment the ¡¯human¡¯ yers showed up, the undead pulled out their weapons.

    "Calm down. They are with me," Dave said, calming the undead.

    Gale and Orn appeared immediately in front of Dave, "Commander, what is the meaning of this?" one of them asked.

    "They are my friends. I need them to aid me in a dungeon battle."

    "Your regiment should be more than capable of handling whatever fiend that tries to harm you," Gale said.

    "Not these two, Gale. I¡¯m going into the domain of Raijin and Fujin, the storm brothers. You can ask Gashadokuro about them." Dave said.

    A loud ttering of bones sounded above Dave, looking up, a transparent skeleton became visible. It was the Gashadokuro.

    "Aie, what the draugr speaks is the truth, Lord Raijin and Fujin are of the strongest entities living in this underworld. The undead fear not, but they should still respect absolute power," the Gashadokuro said. He was once a prisoner of the two storm brothers, and he knows about them the most.

    "If they are that strong, then we should y them and offer their heads to our king," Orn said.

    The Gashadokuro said addressing Orn, "These two, each of them is as strong, if not stronger than the Undead King and the Ash Kingbined. They used to be gods, do not fight what you cannot defeat young draugr."

    "None is stronger than our Undead King!" Orn replied, his belief in the Undead king was unquestionable.

    "Do not let your pride blind you." The Gashadokuro said.

    Orn grimaced, he was getting angry, he ced his hand on his sword pommel.

    Dave frowned, it seemed that there was going to be a fight. Even his party members were getting anxious.

    A shadow materialized next to Orn and grabbed his shoulder "Orn, calm down. His majesty, the king, is powerful, but he is not a god."

    "Lord Samael, did you head what this one was saying!" Orn said.

    "I heard. And I agree, Gashadokuro is the oldest among us all and probably the wisest. He knows what he is saying."

    "But!"

    "No, Orn. We do not go by singr strength. If Raijin and Fujin are powerful enough to take on the king, they cannot defeat all of us. We are a legion, remember that."

    "Right, I forgot that. Excuse my rudeness, lord Samael." Orn removed his hand from his word, and the situation diffused instantly.

    "You are a wise one, young ghoul," Gashadokuro said.

    "Thank you kindly, old one," Samael said and turned to Dave.

    "You brought your living friends with you, Kis¡¯Shtiengbrah."

    "Yeah. I was heading to the Storm Labyrinth. Em, by the way, Samael, do you know of any hydras living in the Underworld?" Dave asked.

    "Hydras? I don¡¯t believe I¡¯ve seen one here before. You should ask Dothra. He knows most about magical creatures, being one himself," Samael smiled.

    "Dothra? Who is he?" Dave asked.

    "He is the strongest abyssal knight, one I don¡¯t ever want to face in battle, but also the gentlest. Ask for an audience with him. He would love to meet you, Kis¡¯Shtiengbrah," Samael said.

    A notification appeared in front of Dave.

    ***

    You have been granted an audience with Dothra The Beast.

    You can ask the Death Knights guarding the Bone Pce for direction to his abode.

    ***

    "Thanks," Dave replied. Turning to his friends, Dave said, "Let¡¯s get moving."

    The party left the red fortress. Surprisingly, nker was very quiet the whole time.

    "What¡¯s wrong, nker. You are awfully calm." Ralph asked.

    "Yeah, having all of those undead stare at you is not my idea of fun man." nker said.

    Ralphughed, "At least a part of your name is right, Pussy."

    Dave snorted at Ralph¡¯sment.

    "Listen up. This dungeon is a real pain the ass. We¡¯ll go in for Ralph¡¯s quest but forget about attempting the boss fight. It¡¯s a total suicide," Dave said.

    "Yeah. I¡¯ve been there. Wested fifteen seconds," Lone said, she even faked shuddering.

    "Huh, that strong? Now I¡¯m tempted to see the boss," Ralph said.

    "Yeah, if you want to go visit the Limbo, that¡¯s the best way to go," Zoe said.

    "Limbo, what¡¯s that?" nker asked.

    Dave shook his head while Fortress replied, "You should read the patch notes you, idiot. Dead yers get sent to limbo to regain their lost EXP."

    "What is it like in the Limbo?" Dave asked he was interested.

    "I haven¡¯t died yet to go and visit, but I heard that everyone that went there was teleported to somewhere different. Now with the death of the yers from the raid we can probably get more info about Limbo," Perfect said.

    "Alright, let¡¯s hope we don¡¯t visit it anytime soon, Tiny, you¡¯re up," Dave said as he picked Tiny from his inventory.

    "What¡¯s that?" Lone asked as she was gazing at the ck slime blob in Dave¡¯s hand.

    "This is a grave lord. He is quite scary," Dave said.

    "That? Fearsome? Man, you should get real. That doesn¡¯t look any different from a level 10 slime," nker said.

    "Tiny, get us some dunlords," Dave said, ignoring nker and throwing Tiny in the air.

    "Why¡¯d you do that?!" Lone shouted, she feared for the little slime to hurt itself from the fall.

    Tiny wobbled in the air and transformed into its bulky form. Bones upon muscles made its body, and demon horns grew from its skull. This was his new form after consuming Lakhbar. The armored giant dropped to its feet and swung his arms wide open. Chains materialized from his arms hanged to them were golden sarcophagi.

    The sarcophagi opened, letting out six dunlords.

    "Oh, that¡¯s Spincer! I missed you!" Lone said as she went toward the nearest dunlord.

    Dave was surprised at how Lone recognized Spincer from the rest of the dunlords. They all looked the same. Only for him, he could see the ¡¯named¡¯ undead. But Lone managed to correctly tell which one was Spincer, the dunlord that she rode on while they first ventured to the Storm Labyrinth.

    "Everyone, take a dunlord and follow after me," Dave said as he crouched, cing a palm on the ground. ck sigils spread from under his palm and after a brief moment, Grumpy was summoned to Dave¡¯s presence.

    Dave hopped on grumpy and called Tiny back into his side bag.

    "Let¡¯s go," Dave said and led the party toward the Storm Labyrinth.

 Chapter 307 Unexpected

    Dave led the party through the third raid zone area. The painted dogs were nowhere to be seen. It seemed that the undead that are now residing in the Pharaoh¡¯s Crypt had eradicated them. The scorchednds of the third raid zone were monster free. Or so it appeared.

    Dave had a clear memory of the sphinx thatid dormant in front of the Pharaoh¡¯s Crypt. So there was no telling what might be hiding under these ck dunes.

    The party arrived at an area where enormous pirs, as high as skyscrapers were rising. Some were destroyed and broken, but a few withstood the test of time. Lone was first to speak, "This is the dungeon entrance."

    Perfect replied, "I don¡¯t see any entrance. Are you drunk?" the priest was wondering how would anything.

    Lone rolled her eyes at the priest, saying, "Ugh, why do you have toment on everything? The entrance is between those two pirs."

    Unconvinced, Pussy nker moved nudged the dunlord he was riding on to move ahead.

    Just as nker went between the most intact of the pirs, his avatar and the dunlord he was on disappeared from the yer¡¯s vision.

    "Where¡¯d he go?" Fortress asked.

    "He is inside the dungeon. Let¡¯s follow after," Dave said and nudged grumpy to go ahead.

    The party went between the pirs, and they disappeared one after the other. Their vision swam and darkened, then cleared as they found themselves on a paved stone surface. The stone road led to a familiar door made of solid gold. But the only difference between Dave¡¯sst visit to this ce and now, was theck of the gigantic status of Raijin and Fujin.

    "Dave..." Lone trailed.

    "Yeah, I know, I guess those statues were the real thing."

    "What are you guys talking about?" nker asked as he was inspecting the door and ways to open in.

    "There were two statues here. They are the dungeon boss. Anyway, tread carefully. This is abyrinth. We need to expect anything." Dave said.

    "How do you suppose we can open the door? You have a key, right?" nker asked.

    "No, the door should open on its own," Dave said.

    And just as he guessed, the door opened to the party leading them in.

    "Stay on your guard, and stick close together, move out."

    The yers entered following after Dave. The door, likest time, creepily closed behind them. Giving a scare to almost everyone in the group besides Dave and Lone, they already had their share of fright thest time they were here.

    When the door close, the light came from the ceiling. There were glowing crystals set in the vaulted ceiling at different intervals lighting the way.

    The floor and walls were made of white marble. The pirs had carvings of Fujin and Raijin fighting together or against each other. Every pir depicted a story, and every story had death in it.

    After several minutes walk, they arrived at a three-way passage.

    "Now what?" Perfect asked.

    "Tiny, bring everyone out but the manticore," Dave said.

    Tiny then started by summoning the undead. He began with Singund and his regiment and then Dave¡¯s regiment.

    "Singund," Dave said.

    "Yes, Commander."

    "Take your unit through the left path. Bud, Dog and Spark, you will co-lead my regiment through the right path," Dave said.

    The undead all nodded to Dave and went their separate ways. Leaving Dave with grumpy, Tiny, his party, and six dunlords.

    "Why are you separating your troops?" Perfect asked.

    "I need to clear the bosses at the same time. We will group upter after the first three bosses are defeated."

    "There are three mini-bosses?"

    "Well, there are nine. Three in each path. If they aren¡¯t defeated, we won¡¯t be able to gather at the final boss¡¯s gate."

    "I thought we were going to get to the tengu," Ralph said.

    "We will, but we could also attempt the boss," Dave replied.

    "You said that the boss was too hard to defeat," Ralph said.

    "Yeah, I don¡¯t think we can win, but I want to try my legacy skill on it," Dave said.

    "Yeah about that, what does your skill do?" Ralph asked

    "I don¡¯t know, I inspected the skill, but it shows nothing beyond its name, [Final Phantasm]."

    "Let¡¯s hope it does something useful then," Ralph said.

    "Alright, enough said, let¡¯s keep going." Dave nudged grumpy into the middle path. The yers followed behind Dave. After going a short distance, the floor inclined, they were moving deeper.

    "Watch your steps guys, there are some traps here," Dave said and curved away from a pavement that was risen a bit above the rest.

    A light came from the end of the corridor. That was the mini-boss room. The exit, or what seemed to be the exit was like a window looking at the mini-boss room from wayyyy up.

    Broken pirs lined the walls of the room, each was shorter than the other, and they descended to the bottom of the room.

    "Seems like the pirs were repaired," Dave mumbled. The Cyclops had destroyed the pirs to prevent the undead from climbing down when Dave was here. But as it appears the Devs can¡¯t have the only way to the boss room destroyed for yers. So they had to repair it.

    "Dave, the boss¡¯s not here," Lone said.

    Dave frowned and turned his eyes toward the bottom of the room. He carefully looked around but couldn¡¯t see anything besides stones and mold.

    "Yeah, seems like the mini-boss here didn¡¯t respawn. Thank god," Dave said, "Alright, everyone, follow me. Grumps, jump to that pir." Dave said.

    Grumpy reared back and lunged forward. The big basilisk was quite agile for its size, and he managed tond perfectly on the first pir.

    "Good job grumps, guys, follow after," Dave said and nudged grumpy to the next pir.

    The basilisk continued its descent as the dunlords followed behind Dave. It took them a few minutes until they arrived at the bottom of the room.

    Dave looked around again but didn¡¯t find any sign of the cyclops.

    "Let¡¯s keep going," Dave said. He led them through the only door at the bottom of this room. There was another corridor that led even further down. nker was thest of the group to cross the door, he said, "At this rate, we won¡¯t be fighting anything."

    "We are here for ster¡¯s quest. Fighting and EXP is secondary," Dave said.

    "Right." nker said. The door behind him slowly closed, he looked back, and his face instantly turned pale white.

    The door mmed shut, awakening him from his stunned state.

    "S-say Skelly." nker said in a stutter.

    "Yeah? I can¡¯t hear youe closer."

    "Wait, wait wait!" nker shouted.

    Everyone at the party stopped and turned toward him.

    "What¡¯s gotten you so riled up man?" Fortress said.

    "You said that there was no mini-boss. I just saw some big ass lion-faced guy standing in the room before the gate closed."

    "Leonard? Is he tracking us here in the underworld?" Mercy said.

    "No, forget that guy, this guy¡¯s even meaner. Shit."

    "How mean?" Dave asked. He knew of only two lion-faced creatures in this game. He didn¡¯t want to meet any of them right now.

    "He had both arms crossed and was leaning on one pir. The fucker was smirking at me."

    "I think nker¡¯s hallucinating man," Fortress said.

    "Shit man, I swear I saw it." nker yelled.

    "How did he look like?" Lone asked.

    "Big guys, lot of muscles, he had some sort of drums floating above him."

    "Shit, that¡¯s Raijin alright," Dave said.

    "Didn¡¯t you say that Raijin and Fujin were the dungeon bosses? Shouldn¡¯t they still be in the boss-room," Ralph said.

    "Well, they are the dungeon boss. But I have no idea what the hell was Raijin doing here. Man, this changes a lot of stuff," Dave said.

    "Man stop scaring me, thest thing I want is to meet a roaming dungeon boss. That¡¯d be game over, man!" nker said.

    "Let¡¯s keep going. We can¡¯t stay here. If Raijin is here, it means that Fujin could also be somewhere. We need to hurry to the tengu¡¯s chamber. Man, this is not cool!" Dave nudged his onyx bassilisk and shouted, "Hurry Grumps!"

    Dave¡¯s undead panel began to sh. He opened it and cursed loud, "FUCK!"

    "What¡¯s wrong?" Lone asked."

    "Singund and his regiment, all one thousand of them were wiped. I guess we know where Fujin is."

    "That can¡¯t be, man. Singund should be immune to all damage for 3 minutes after his HP reaches 0. Is Fujin strong enough to wipe one thousand undead orcs in less than a minute?" Perfect said.

    "Nah, he is much stronger than that man. Fujin has an execution skill. Singund never had the chance against Fujin. We got lucky that Raijin didn¡¯t kill us off the moment we stepped foot in the mini-boss room. Let¡¯s keep going." Dave said.

    The party followed after Dave through the tight corridor until they entered a room that had four ways.

    "What the heck?" Dave said.

    "What¡¯s wrong?" Ralph asked.

    "These paths, they should have all been closed," Dave replied.

    "I think this is the reason why the bosses are roaming the dungeon," Mercy said.

    "Yeah, they went through here," Perfect said.

    "I doubt it, they are toorge," Dave said.

    "I think they can change their size, look here," Perfect pointed at the nearest wall.

    There was a ck scorching on the marble wall. It looked like a seismic crack in the wall.

    "This is the effect of electricity hitting stone. It¡¯s still warm to the touch," Perfect said. "And these," Perfect pointed down. There were naked footprints on the dusty ground. These didn¡¯t look like the footprints of undead or dunlords. They were the sols of bare feet, and they were a bitrger than a human¡¯s.

    "Yeah, there are two sets of footprints," Dave confirmed. "We can¡¯t stay here. The Tengu¡¯s room is this way." Dave led the party to the room. They moved like they had their tails on fire. Meeting any of the two bosses right now would spell disaster.

    ¡¯Shit, and here I thought I could try something with these two. But man, Singund was wiped in seconds. I doubt the Undeath Legacy could do anything against them. Unless it¡¯s a boss ying execution skill and we all know the Devs won¡¯t allow me something that broken in the game.¡¯

    The party went into a corridor and raced through it. Finally, they arrived in a room that had a small mountain rose to meet an actual sky instead of a ceiling. On top of the mountain was a beautiful three-story pagoda.

    "We are here. There is no sign of Fujin or Raijin, thankfully," Dave said.

    "Good, I need to put the mask on and go to the pagoda," Ralph said.

    "Okay, hurry up," Dave said, looking back behind him.

    "This is a nice ce," Perfect said.

    "Yeah, I never had the chance to truly see it. The Tengu here was enough to give me a run for my life," Dave said.

    "You should try and revive it as an undead," Lone said.

    The idea appealed to Dave as he said," Great thinking. He should make a powerful ally."

    Dave activated his [Death Vision] he scanned the area for the Tengu¡¯s remains and found them at the other side of the mountain.

    Surprise overcame Dave as he found that the body of the tengu, was sitting in seiza.

    Dave drew his ive.

    "What¡¯s wrong?" Mercy asked, noticing Dave¡¯s alertness.

    "I¡¯m one hundred percent sure that the tengu died onying on his back."

    "You think it¡¯s alive?" Mercy asked

    "No, my [Death Vision] shows me the dead, he is clearly dead, but something made him sit this way after his death."

    "And you think that, that ¡¯something¡¯ is lurking here?" Mercy said.

    "Probably" just as Dave finished his words, he heard a loud crash, looking up, he saw ster being ster from the top of the pagoda to the walls of the room.

    On top of the pagoda was Fujin, standing tall and mighty, in human size.

    His expressions, those of a smiling devil as he was looking at Dave¡¯s party in full disdain.

    "Shit..."

 Chapter 308 Dog Stepps Up

    Dave pulled out his ive and readied for battle, "Everyone, I¡¯ll buy you some time. Scroll out of here. We can¡¯t take him."

    "What about Ralph¡¯s legacy?" Mercy asked she seemed concerned about Ralph¡¯s quest.

    "I¡¯m good guys. I only needed to fulfil a certain condition. Let¡¯s get out of here," Ralph said and tore a teleportation scroll.

    His avatar disappeared from the room.

    The rest of the party began tearing their scrolls. But when Fujin caught on to what the little rats were trying to do, he wasn¡¯t about to sit and wait for all of them to escape.

    Fujin dashed like a wind gale toward the closest party member, Lone Arrow. But she was quick in her action, sidestepping a leg sweep from the wind god, then tore her scroll, disappearing from view.

    Fujin switched targets to TNT, Fortress and Perfect had already torn their scrolls and disappeared, but nker was panicking.

    "I don¡¯t have any teleportation scrolls left!" nker said.

    Fujin raced like a bullet train toward nker. The wind god bent his knee, aiming it directly at nker¡¯s face.

    Dave used immortal apparition to teleport right next to nker. He then yanked the priest by his clothes away from the face shattering knee attack.

    Dave swiped out a teleportation scroll from his inventory and pped it into nker¡¯s chest, "Use this!"

    "Thanks!" the priest tore the scroll and disappeared, leaving Dave facing Fujin alone.

    Dave had enough time to tear a scroll and leave the dungeon, but his eyes were locked onto the corps of the tengu. That boss monster was strong, if he had him as an ally, that would make a great addition to Dave¡¯s power.

    He had two choices, leave and give up the corpse, or attempt to bring it back and risk death at the hands of Fujin. The decision was obvious for our dragur.

    Dave bolted through the green fields of the mountain, leaving Fujin at a loss. This rat was not escaping the same way the others were.

    Dave kept moving until he arrived at the tengu¡¯s corpse.

    Dave extended his hand toward the tengu, a deathly aura gathered around his palm and began seeping into the tengu.

    "SAWARNA!" Fujin roared words in anguage Dave didn¡¯t understand. But the sound from this shout was enough to burst the wind creating a supersonic st that almost broke Dave¡¯s eardrums.

    The aura gathered around the tengu but a failure notification appeared in front of Dave. The tengu didn¡¯t resurrect. Fujin raced, stomping on the mountain floor and crushing it with every step. It was as if Fujin retained his weight even after changing his form to a smaller one.

    Fujin arrived in front of Dave at the speed of sound. He chopped down with his hand on Dave. Dave sidestepped the hand chop that crushed through the ground and ced his palm on the tengu

    Another failure notification appeared in front of Dave.

    Fujin kicked in a roundhouse to Dave¡¯s chest, Dave had no way to dodge the attack, but his avatar moved on its own, bending back like an arc dodging the leg attack and jerked back up.

    Dave hadn¡¯t understood what just happened, but this gave him a precious second to attempt [Rise Undead] again. Dave touched the tengu, this time the creature moved, the spell worked, and the tengu was rising back into undeath.

    ***

    Congrattions, you have revived a Named Undead.

    Dai-Tengu {Tengu} level 450.

    As a named undead, Dai-Tengu will be added to your undead ranks without the need for you to supply him with mana to keep him in functional condition.

    ***

    But Dave had no time to enjoy the scene, Fujin became furious at him, he clearly hated the fact that Dave revived the tengu right in front of him. Dave tore his teleportation scroll and escaped from thebyrinth.

    Dave appeared in in front of the gate of Urburg. The whole party was right next to him. They were waiting for Dave¡¯s arrival.

    "What took you so long? I thought you died," Lone asked.

    "I revived the tengu. It was risky, but it¡¯s worth it. Ralph, your quest is good?" Dave said.

    "Yep, only needed toplete a small task in the Storm Laby. Now I have to go meet some monk," Ralph said.

    "What about Bud and the rest?" Lone asked she was more concerned about the undead than Ralph as it seemed.

    "Sadly, I don¡¯t know. They will probably perish there. I¡¯ll revive them back at the Undead Realm. For now, I need to wait," Dave said.

    "Wait for what?" Mercy asked, "Shouldn¡¯t we bepleting Ralph¡¯s quest."

    "Yeah, I will, but I¡¯m still waiting for the challenge...shoulde any minute now..." Dave said.

    Dave was tapping with his foot on the ground. Nothing was showing up, not even the tengu, nor the quest. Dave was getting impatient, was the game buggy?

    "Albert!" Dave called.

    "Ho!" The sound of a cheerful old man sounded from behind the party. Turning, they saw Albert in Hawaiian tourist clothing lying down on a beach bench, under a sun parasols shade. A small table was right next to him with a coconut juice and a small umbre on it.

    Albert wore shades that he lifted a few centimetres above his eyes to see the yers then repositioned them back.

    "Any problems?" Albert asked.

    "Yeah, I just revived a tengu, and I didn¡¯t receive the challenge notification like I had when I revive Singund," Dave said.

    "Let me see," Albert sat straight up on the bench, he rubbed the small white goatee beard he had and said.

    "Nope, no problem at all. You did revive the tengu, but you need to be next to him to have the challenge issued against you. For now, the tengu is one of the undead legion¡¯s units. But he cannot go to the undead realm." Albert said.

    "Why is that?" Dave asked.

    "Well, simply put, Fujin isn¡¯t letting him go. The only way for the tengu to leave the stormby is to be allowed to exit or killed by the storm brothers. Seeing how the Tengu was their teacher...well, you¡¯re in for a hard time getting him to serve you." Albert said in a smile.

    ¡¯this solves the reason why the tengu was sitting in seiza after his death and why Fujin angrily shouted when I tried to revive the tengu. I guess they didn¡¯t want to see their mentor being controlled by another.¡¯

    "Shit, I¡¯ll have to go back to the Stormby," Dave said.

    "Well, not necessarily," Albert said.

    "Why is that?" Dave asked.

    "You have other units under you. If the tengu sees them, it will be the same as seeing you. Issuing a challenge to one of them is the same as challenging you. Your underling can pass the challenge right to you to fight the tengu, and if you win, that will make the tengu your underling and then you can forcefully summon him from the Storm Labyrinth by the king¡¯s power" Albert said.

    "Oh, that¡¯s very detailed. Thanks for the assistance Albert."

    "Hey, just doing my job with a bit of extra. Enjoy your gaming." Albert snapped his fingers and disappeared along with his chair and table.

    "Guess we¡¯ll have to pray that Bud and co can find the tengu," Dave said.

    "You think you can beat it on your own in your challenge?" Lone asked.

    "Why? Is the tengu that strong? I mean Skelly here killed Singund, and that guy was a monster." Ralph said.

    "Yeah, I should have shared the tengu fight with you guys. It took me a dozen dunlords and hundreds of undead to defeat it. Fighting it head-on will be a pain. The tengu isn¡¯t as resilient as Singund, but he has massive damaging abilities."

    Just as Dave finished his words, a notification appeared in front of him.

    ***

    Dai-Tengu has issued a challenge to one of your underlings.

    Dai-Tengu has challenged you.

    Winning in the challenge will award you the servitude of the Death Knight Dai-Tengu.

    Dai-Tengu has no underling under him. So your troops will not increase in number.

    Dai-Tengu is level 450. He has been denied ess to Doom Knight ranks due to your low level when you revived him.

    Dog the Duhan, in your name wishes to fight the tengu.

    If Dog the Duhan fights in your name and loses, you shall suffer no consequences. However, Dai-tengu will be appointed Doom Knight position in the Undead Legion and will no longer be under yourmand unless you challenge him yourself.

    Do you ept to let Dog the Duhan fight in your honour?

    Yes/No

    ***

    "That¡¯s strange," Dave mumbled.

    "What¡¯s strange?" Lone asked.

    "Dog wants to fight the tengu," Dave replied and shared the notification with the party.

    "Then why don¡¯t you let him? You won¡¯t lose much," Lone said.

    "I don¡¯t know if he can defeat him."

    "You should trust your undead more Davey. Dog is really strong you know," Lone said.

    "Alright let¡¯s give him a chance," Dave said and pressed, yes.

    ***

    Dog the Duhan has been teleported along with Dai-Tengu to the Undead Ascension Arena to fight to the death.

    ***

    "We should wish Dog good luck," Dave said.

    "What about the rest of your troops? If Dog were there, the rest of them would also be there. I hope that Raijin and Fujin aren¡¯t there." Lone said.

    "Nah, my troop¡¯s numbers are decreasing rapidly," Dave said as he was looking at his undead panel. "Fujin must have remained there, and he is fighting them. Well more like ughtering them. Man, it¡¯s gonna cost me a lot to revive them again." Dave groaned.

    "Now what?" nker said, "Big guy over there said he finished the task he needed in the stormby, what¡¯s the next step?" nker asked.

    "Yeah, well I have several solo quests to do. Sitting under a waterfall for several days and do weight lifting and stuff like that," Ralph said.

    "What kind of quest is that?" nker said in confusion.

    "Don¡¯t know, it¡¯s a legacy quest in its starting phase. This is probably just the beginning. You guys should level up, and I¡¯ll go and do these quests alone." Ralph said.

    "Where are we going then?" Fortress asked Dave.

    "Well, I just recently got a quest that I can share with you guys. It¡¯s a killing quest." Dave said and shared with them the Torab Serpent ying quest.

    "Two hundred of the snakes in the Undead Frontier¡¯ske. Those things are annoying, you know. Without a boat we can¡¯t kill them," Lone said.

    "The undead have some boats we can use, let¡¯s go there first," Dave said and shared with them several teleportation scrolls to the Undead Frontier.

    The party tore the scrolls and disappeared from Urburg into the Underworld again.

 Chapter 309 What lies beneath the water

    The yers appeared in the Undead Frontier. Escorted by Dave, none of the undead moving in the settlement tried to attack his friends.

    "Follow me, it¡¯s a couple of minutes walk to theke from here," Dave said to his party members.

    The yers followed after Dave on dunlord back. They reached the acidicke in a while after. The undead were still repairing the corroded boats on the shore. When Dave arrived, they turned and saluted him.

    "Captain," Dave called to the leading undead on the shore.

    "Yes,mander Kis¡¯Shtiengbrah."

    "I brought some assistance for the task. Can we have a boat to use?" Dave asked.

    "I can lend you some rowboatsmander. Anythingrger will be too risky to use in the battle as it will be damaged."

    "I understand, anything is good," Dave replied.

    The undead captain waved for a few of his underlings to take the shored boat down theke.

    After the boat was floating, the captain turned to Dave and said, "You may start,mander."

    "Thanks," Dave thanked the captain and got on the boat. "Guys, let¡¯s get this over with," Dave said, addressing his party.

    The yers got on the boat and sat adjacent to Dave, who took the rows and began rowing the boat into theke.

    "I never fought on a boat before. You think this will work?" Lone asked.

    "I have a n, don¡¯t worry," Dave said.

    Dave kept rowing the boat into theke. After a while, the water bubbled near them.

    "We¡¯ll start from here," Dave said. He stood up and opened the small bag on his waist.

    "Tiny, I promised you plenty of food before, now¡¯s the time," Dave said.

    The ck slime wiggled in ecstasy at the mention of food.

    "I need a manticore, Tiny."

    Dave grabbed the slime and threw him in the air. The slime transformed into itsrger form and dropped like an anchor into the water, and thankfully he was big enough that half of his head remained above water.

    "He¡¯s gonna drown!" Lone shouted.

    "Undead don¡¯t drown, Lone. Don¡¯t worry."

    "What about the acid in theke? It will melt Tiny," Mercy said. Dave didn¡¯t think about that at first, so he leaned over the boat and put his hand on the acidicke. His hand sizzled for a bit. He lost 1 HP. Then nothing more.

    "Nope, the acid doesn¡¯t work on undead either. Okay tiny, Manticore, get one out!" Dave called.

    Tiny raised his hand above water and summoned a golden sarcophagus. The sarcophagus opened and released a deathly ck aura that morphed into the shape of a giant half bull half scorpion creature in the air.

    The manticore dropped into theke, sending giant waves coursing through it. The waves almost tipped the rowboat over into theke.

    "Big guy, we need a ride!" Dave called to the manticore.

    The chimeric creature grabbed the rowboat and ced it on his back. Dave and his party left the boat and stood on the broad carapace back of the manticore. The creature was big enough that it looked like a giant moving fortress.

    Suddenly, the manticore crouched, until the stron of his carapace made contact with water. It folded its legs and raised its scorpion tail up. The manticore was actually capable of swimming.

    "Damn, this is like a Monster-boat." nkermented.

    "This is pleasantly unexpected," Fortress added.

    Tiny climbed on the manticore and joined the group.

    "Here you go guys," Dave said and shared his quest with everyone.

    "We need to kill these serpents, spread along the manticore¡¯s back if you spot one tell me," Dave said.

    The yers spread and began inspecting theke as the manticore slowly made its way through it.

    After a few moments, nker shouted, "I see something!" he said.

    The rest of the yers ran toward nker, there were a lot of bubbles just a few meters away from the moving manticore.

    "How are we going to fight that if it¡¯s underwater?" nker added.

    "We¡¯ll drag it out," Lone said. She aimed an arrow at the bubbling spot in theke and shot it.

    The arrow broke through the water surface and prated something as a loud screeching sound echoed from under the water.

    Suddenly, a glistening chain of ice materialised from Lone¡¯s arrow and extended right to where her arrow went through.

    "Everyone, help me pull it out," Lone said and pulled on the icy chain.

    The party dragged the chain, but it barely moved, whatever that was pinned to the other side was strong enough to fend off the strength of six yers with ease. Yet the hungry Tiny wasn¡¯t having it. He moved toward the yers and grabbed at the chains. He yanked the chain and pulled from the water a mass of writhing, and wriggling snakes.

    The creature was like a group of snakes melded and fused together; they were white and had several heads. It screeched at the yers with all its leaders and spewed a torrent of yellow liquid.

    Dave jumped in front of the snake and took the poison ssh in his party¡¯s stead. He was undead, and poison did not affect him.

    Dave inspected the serpent.

    ***

    ***

    Torab Serpent Juvenile

    Level: 250

    Tier: Ferocious

    Base damage: 20,000-40,000

    Danger Level: low

    HP: 250,000

    PD: 15,000

    MD:10,000

    Skills:

    [Poison Spit] Shoots a spray of poison that deals 20% serpent base damage and 30,000 poison damage over 20 seconds.

    [Strangle] wraps itself around a target, rendering them immobile. After 30 seconds of strangling, the Torab Serpent deals 20% of target¡¯s max health in t damage.

    [Slippery Escape] When the Torab Serpent loses 80% of its max HP, it will attempt to escape in theke.

    Lore:

    A strange mutated serpent with a vague history. It was known that these creatures had never existed before in thiske, someone or something had ced these Torab Serpents in thiske to grow and raise them. But their caretaker had had long since forgotten their existence in this forsakenke, and so the serpents grew to gue theke with their poison.

    ***

    "This is an easy fight, we have to kill 200 of these, shouldn¡¯t be hard guys," Dave said.

    Fortress equipped his shield and sword and charged the serpent. Dave switched to his gauntlets and attacked with a [Dragon Fist] chipping a third of the serpent¡¯s HP in one hit.

    Mercy stabbed through one of the serpent¡¯s head and destroyed the remaining HP bar.

    "Damn, that¡¯s a lot of damage," nkermented, "You should learn from her, Skelly."

    Dave shook his head. This priest never knew when to keep quiet.

    "Uhm, guys," Fortress said.

    "Yeah?" Dave replied.

    "When theke bubbled, it meant that there was a snake under. So what does that mean?" Fortress said, pointing at a faraway spot in theke.

    Dave traced Fortress¡¯s finger and noticed a change in theke¡¯s water. There were bubbles, but there were so many of them that theke looked like it was boiling.

    "Shit, I think all the serpents had noticed the death of their friend, and they areing, ready up there¡¯s a big fighting."

 Chapter 310 The Last Serpent.

    A dozen of the Torab Serpents jumped on top of the floating manticore¡¯s back.

    "Leave the tanking for Fortress and me, you guys do the DPS!" Dave shot called the battle. He dashed forward driving his ive into the nearest Torab Serpent and used his newly synergized ability [de Tornado].

    Dave spun in a maelstrom of slicing des. He was shing and cutting off the heads of the Torab Serpent in front of him.

    Fortress moved next to Dave and used [Block] on the nearest snake that was about to attack Dave.

    He raised his mace and activated [Guard Ally]. A blue shield icon appeared on top of Dave. Mercy shed disappeared into stealth and appeared right behind one of the Torab snake, downing it to 0 HP in one hit.

    "Fuck that damage is Sick!" Perfectmented.

    He waved his hand and chanted, "Bestow, Vigor of the troll!" A green aura surrounded Dave and Fortress. Their HP regeneration spiked up.

    "Here¡¯s another, Bless, Grant, my ally Feline Grace!"

    A yellow glowing aura gathered around Dave and Fortress¡¯s legs, increasing their agility.

    Perfect shot moved to the back, kneeling he drew his bow to the limit.

    "Everyone duck!" Perfect called.

    Every yer ducked down as Perfect released his arrow. Fire coiled around his arrow and materialised an enormous ethereal blue shark that shot like a train crashing into one of the Torab snakes and sent it back into the waters. Not to mention that it had killed the Torab Serpent in the process.

    "Wow, where did you get that skill?" Lone asked in wonder. She was surprised.

    "Got it from a ruin a few days ago. It¡¯s quite powerful." Perfect said. He was feeling pleased that he had a good skill right now to use.

    "Well, I also have a new skill," Lone drew her bow and shot an arrow at the serpent Dave was fighting. The arrow flew like a bullet and pierced through the snake and continued until it dropped into theke.

    "Uh, isn¡¯t that just a regr arrow shot?" nkermented.

    Lone smiled and said, "Wait for it."

    A momentter, theke area where Lone¡¯s arrow dove began freezing. A creature, quite simr to the Torab Serpent emerged from the water, only it was made entirely of ice. It swam across theke and hopped over the manticore. The ice Torab Serpent engaged the creature Lone had attacked earlier in a fight.

    "Wow, what¡¯s that?" nker asked.

    "It¡¯s a skill that creates a clone of whatever it hits. It has some conditions before I can use it, but nothing too severe."

    "This clone I suppose isn¡¯t as strong as the original creature," Dave said.

    "Nah, about 30% as strong. Otherwise, it would be too broken." Lone said.

    "Well, even if it¡¯s just 30% that¡¯s still quite good. Imagine using it on a certain ck dragon."

    Lone shook her head, "It won¡¯t work on anything above level 400."

    "Ah, figures," Perfect said.

    "Guys, keep fighting!" Dave shouted. There seemed to be another wave of these Torab Serpentsing their way.

    The party continued ughtering the serpents, but more and more kepting.

    "Shit this is going to be a pain. Big guy, you¡¯re up." Dave shouted.

    The manticore moved its tail and began shooting poisoned spikes from his tail at the Torab Serpents.

    The spikes impaled the Torab Serpents and pinned them on the manticore¡¯s carapace.

    "Tiny, get more manticores out they will help us in this fight," Dave shouted.

    Tiny opened more coffins and released more manticores into the water. The giant creatures sent waves through theke as they dropped into it.

    "Manticore! Hunt every serpent in thiske! I want them all dead!" Dave called.

    The manticores spread from Dave and began hunting the creatures. They pulled the snakes from theke and crushed them with their mighty hands.

    "Man, why didn¡¯t you do that earlier?" nker asked.

    "I wanted to see if we could get some drops, but it¡¯s unlikely. Tiny, you can eat your fill from these snakes." Dave said.

    The grave lord happily obliged. He began ripping the snakes and eating them by the bunch. His torso was made of bone and flesh, now, a thin coating of scales covered them. It made the Grave Lord look like a scaled demonic creature.

    A notification appeared in front of Dave.

    ***

    Bud the Ghoul has died.

    Spike, the pyromancer, has died.

    Two hundred eighty-eight of your undead have died in the Storm Labyrinth.

    ***

    Dave waved away the notification.

    He was receiving these reminders constantly.

    "Keep killing the serpents. We should be able to finish this quest by the evening," Dave said.

    He only needed to kill 200 of these creatures, and he had killed 40 so far.

    Dave found this quest easy. He didn¡¯t need to do much but kill some creatures. But this also made him feel that something was amiss. The Undead Legion should have been more than capable of handling these creatures. So why didn¡¯t they do it?

    The quest rating was S. So there had to be a twist. Something he didn¡¯t see.

    More of his undead death notification showed up in front of him, but he just ignored it.

    ¡¯I¡¯ll revive you all again boyz, just hang on.¡¯

    "Manti, keep moving the serpents in this area are all dead," Dave ordered the serpent to move to another side of theke.

    The party kept killing the serpents at a fast pace. After three hours, he had killed the 199th serpent. But no matter how much he waited and searched; he couldn¡¯t find thest one.

    "Where the fuck is it?" nker said. He was getting bored from spectating the calmke.

    "Just keep a lookout, it should be nearby," Dave said. He was also getting annoyed.

    The water had already turned from rancid green to clear blue, but there was no sign of thest serpent.

    "I hate to say this, but it think it¡¯s hiding underwater and it won¡¯te out. We should probably go under and look for it." Lone said.

    "Sorry, not interested in taking a dip in serpent filledke.," nker shook his head.

    "Stop being a wuss, we already killed all the snakes," Fortress said.

    "Nah, not being a wuss, I¡¯m being wise. Do you think thiske has only snakes? An heck, how long do you think you can stay under the water? A minute at most then you¡¯ll start drowning. Shitty way to go man." nker said.

    "I¡¯ll go down," Dave said.

    "Hold up, man, let¡¯s just wait, for the snake toe out."

    "Nah, It¡¯s best if I go and look for it. I won¡¯t drown because I¡¯m undead. So you guys will have to keep a lookout here. If the serpent shows up send me a private message," Dave said.

    "Okay," Lone said, "Be careful."

    Dave nodded and jumped into theke. His heavy armor made him sink like an anchor in the sea. He rapidly reached the bottom of theke. His vision was unhindered in the deep and dark depths of theke.

    Small fish moved around Dave. Out of curiosity, he poked one, and it bolted away from him in fright.

    Dave smiled and began moving. The water hindered his movement, and his long beard floated and covered his face some times. Dave had to stroke it down every few steps.

    After moving aimlessly under the water, Dave spotted some movement in the distance.

    Another notification appeared in front of him. Dave was sure that it was another notification that his underlings were still dying. He ignored it and continued toward the movement he saw before.

    There was a huge rock under the water that almost looked like a hill. Dave curved around the foundation and spotted a deep tunnel that went deeper into the underground of theke.

    At the entrance of the tunnel, Dave saw some white scales. They were the Torab Serpent scales. Only this one was slightly bigger.

    Dave got into the tunnel. He walked deeper and deeper, finding more scales along his path. The tunnel led straight down, so he followed the trail.

    ¡¯This is where the serpent must be hiding.¡¯

    After a while, Dave arrived into arge opening that was as big as a basketball stadium. There were hundreds upon hundreds of small glistening orbs that were strung into floating weed.

    ¡¯Eggs?¡¯

    Dave looked around. He didn¡¯t find anything besides the eggs. The cave looked like a nest. And he was intruding on it. But seeing no enemies Dave concluded that the remaining snake must be outside.

    Just as the thought crossed Dave¡¯s mind, the cave shook. A few pebbles dropped from above him, and some sand moved to make the cave water a bit murky.

    Dave looked up, waiting until the murky water to clear, he saw something sticking to the ceiling. Dave¡¯s face whitened like a paper sheet. There was a serpent alright. Only this serpent was so big that it was covering the whole of the cave ceiling.

    Torab Serpent Adult

    Level: 550

    Tier: Unique

    Base damage: 80,000-140,000

    Danger Level: ?

    HP: 2,500,000

    PD: 150,000

    MD:100,000

    Skills:

    [Poison Spit] Shoots a spray of poison that deals 20% serpent base damage and 100,000 poison damage over 20 seconds.

    [Strangle] wraps itself around a target, rendering them immobile. After 30 seconds of strangling, the Torab Serpent deals 20% of target¡¯s max health in t damage.

    [Mass destruction] after losing 80% of its HP The Torab Serpent enters an enraged stat where its base damage is increased by 200%

    Lore:

    The adult form of the Torab Serpent. One can see a resemnce to the mythical creature, the sea hydra in this form. Perhaps these Torab Serpentes are descendant of such a legendary creature.

    ***

    ***

    Bestiary Lore Update.

    New Bestiary added.

    Sea Hydra.

    Sea hydras are legendary creatures that have been said to live in the deep seas of Conquest. There were rare sightings of such a beast as most witnesses never survived to tell the tale.

    ***

    Dave waved away the notification and began slowly walking back to the entrance.

    This serpent was the adult form of the other snakes. And it was much more dangerous than the smaller ones. Dave had no chance to defeat this in itsir and underwater. He was barely able to move, and fighting a level 550 aquatic monster in its natural habitat was suicide.

    The snake, however, had already noticed Dave entering itsir and it was not about to let him leave.

    One of its heads shot toward Dave like a harpoon. It was extremely fast underwater.

    Dave kicked the ground, pushing himself away from the attack. But the mere current created from the massive serpent head forced Dave into a spin in the water and mming into the cave wall.

    [-120,000]

    ¡¯Shit.¡¯ Dave cursed.

    The creature attacked once again. But Dave turned around and used [Stampede]dashing out from the serpentir. He made it out of the cave in a few seconds. Dave tried to swim up, but his armor was too heavy for him to do so. He had to remove it.

    Dave quickly unequipped his armor, feeling lighter he swam up. He looked behind him and saw several maws opened wide and aimed at him. The serpent had already exited the cave and made it behind him.

    Without his armor, Dave was sure to die from one attack.

    Dave had to improvise so, he waved a hand in the water summoning spectral skulls and blew them up, right in front of him. The st carried Dave away from the water and pushed him toward the surface.

    "What¡¯s going on, Dave?!" Lone asked she was panicking. They must have noticed the sts from the spectral skulls.

    "I¡¯m being chased by a big ass serpent! Prepare for battle!" Dave shouted as he swam up.

    Another notification appeared in front of him.

    "God damn it I know that they are dying already!" Dave cursed at the notification that was bugging him and continued rising.

    The moment Dave broke through theke surface, therge serpent maws were right under him. The manticore was far away from Dave. His party members were looking at him with faces aghast they hadn¡¯t expected the serpent to be that big.

    "Fuck!" Dave cursed, he wasn¡¯t going to make it.

    Just as the serpent¡¯s mouth was closing on Dave, he heard a single word that thundered through the underworld.

    "ZAN!"

 Chapter 311 Gold-D-Skelly!

    Wind picked up and theke shuddered. Like a miracle, theke split in two right under Dave. He felt like he was free-falling into the serpent¡¯s maw.

    Darkness covered Dave¡¯s vision. Then after a thud, light shone from above Dave. Theke crashed into itself as the two split sections merged together, creating arge wave.

    Crimson blood spread at the depths of theke, making the clear water a murky red. Dave swam up from what he believed to be the insides of the serpent. He was still confused by what just happened. But remembering the clear word, he heard before theke split. He knew who was it that shouted it.

    The tengu is here.

    Dave rapidly swam up until he reached theke surface. Looking up, the tengu was slowly pping his wings, hovering in air with both arms crossed together while Dog was hanging from the tengu¡¯s leg, with one hand, while the other hand was holding his head protectively under his armpit.

    "Dog? You won?" Dave asked.

    Dog grunted in agreement.

    ¡¯Why didn¡¯t I get a notification about it?¡¯ Dave wondered. Then he remembered that he had already ignored all the notificationing from the stormbyrinth.

    Dave was about to inspect the notification until he remembered that the serpent was still underwater. He didn¡¯t know if the tengu had in the serpent or just heavily wounded it. Dave decided it was safer to swim to the manticore and then n his next step.

    Dave swam across theke until he arrived at the manticore. When he climbed up to the manticore¡¯s carapace, the tengu was already there while Dog was fixing his head above his shoulders.

    Lone and the rest of Dave¡¯s party had taken a few steps away from the tengu. Lone especially was quite warry from the creature. He was something that made them dread the Storm Labyrinth a lot.

    Dave inspected the notifications he had ignored before. Most of them were a report on the deaths of his underling in the stormbyrinth. But thest one was different.

    ***

    Congrattions.

    Your underling, Dog the duhan, had managed to defeat. Dai-Tengu.

    Therefore, Dai-Tengu has been added to your ranks as a Death Knight ss Undead.

    Dai-Tengu is a Yokai. And can only have Yokai-Type Underling to follow him.

    Dai-Tengu used to be a boss ss monster. Some of his abilities have been nerfed to bnce the unit.

    ***

    "Dog, you¡¯re pretty awesome man," Davemented.

    "What¡¯s going on, Dave?" Lone asked.

    "We just got a new super-unit all thanks to Dog."

    The duhan was amazing. Dog had managed to defeat the tengu in the ascension arena all by himself while it took Dave a lot of effort and time to beat the tengu with more than a hundred undead.

    Dog grunted and nodded to Dave and took a step back.

    The tengu moved toward Dave and spoke.

    "Warrior of the dead. I have been brought back to life against my will. I have clear memory to the loss I suffered under your hands. As the loser, I shall follow yourmand. For this undead nature will allow me to sharpen my de further." The tengu said in all archaic manner.

    Dave nodded and said, "I have to thank you. You saved me from that serpent."

    "It is but my duty to mymander. Now, I have left my students in the Storm Labyrinth. They disliked the fact that you revived me to undeath. You will have to deal with them yourself." The tengu said.

    "You mean if I were ever to fight them..." Dave trailed.

    "Yes, I shall not lend a hand. You will be on your own."

    "No problem. I understand." Dave replied

    "As for all matter. I shall lend you my de. Use it wisely, Lich." The tengu said.

    "What happened to that serpent?" Perfect asked.

    "I don¡¯t know, Tengu here struck it down, it isn¡¯t going back up," Dave said.

    Then a momentter, a notification appeared in front of Dave.

    ***

    You havepleted the quest: Torab ying.

    + 500,000,000 XP!

    You can now create a Doc in your undead settlement.

    You can now purchase Warship Blueprints.

    Trading Ships Blueprints.

    Fishing Ships Blueprints.

    You have gained the unique title

    Dead men tell MY tale!

    Title benefits.

    When equipped. +20% naval ship speed. +20% Naval Weapon Damage.

    Your Ring of True Undeath has synergised with your title.

    Any ship you ride on will change appearance to that of a Ghost Ship

    Ghost Ships can dive underwater and cannot be drowned.

    ***

    Dave levelled up from 375 to level 388, thanks to this quest. And he had yet to drink the potions he received from Ramsha. The Doom Knight ascension is right around the corner. And this gave Dave a lot of hopes in ascending to a more powerful undead form.

    Dave inspected all of the information about the quest and its details, smirking Dave said.

    "Heh, all I need is a straw hat now!" Dave chuckled.

    "Straw hat? I don¡¯t get it?" nker said.

    "Man, you should hang yourself in shame for not getting that reference," Fortress shook his head.

    "So, what now?" Mercy asked.

    "Well, our job here is done. I don¡¯t have any other ns. And most of my quests are impossible to do right now. I still need to level up."

    "Oh. Hmm, I think I¡¯ll stay in the underworld for a while to level up," Mercy said.

    "Yeah, I think I will join in. The third raid zone ahs some good exp areas and I could revive more manticores to add to my army," Dave said.

    "We don¡¯t have the gate code," Perfect said.

    "Yeah, hang on, I still have more scrolls." Dave rummaged through his inventory, and his attention was drawn to an item he bought from Ramsha.

    It was a treasure map.

    Dave opened the map.

    ***

    Treasure Hunt!

    You found the treasure map of an ancient pirate king.

    He had hidden his treasures in the deep sea. Find them, and they will all be yours. But beware, without a proper ship, the sea will destroy your dream in finding the treasure before you ever reach it.

    ***

    Dave grinned until his smile almost reached his ears. "I really like this more and more. Guys, we have a treasure hunt! Who¡¯s in?!"

    Dave shared the map with his party.

    "Treasures! Jewels and diamonds, I¡¯m in!" Lone instantly replied.

    "Count me in. I won¡¯t miss this." Mercy said with a glint in her eyes.

    "Yeah, why not, but how are we going to get there. We need a ship." nker pointed out. The mark was way deep into the seas of Conquest¡¯s world.

    "And I think it¡¯s enough ying man. It¡¯s way toote right now, and we have been online for a long time," Perfect said.

    "You guys are right. I will take care of making the ship. You can log out and have your rest. When the ship is ready, I¡¯ll contact you. Mercy, inform Ralph. He will want toe." Dave said.

    "Okay," Mercy said.

    The yers all logged out leaving Dave with Bud, Tiny and the tengu on his manticore.

    "Warrior of the Dead. I wish to have my sabre back." The tengu said.

    Dave frowned, then he realised that the tengu didn¡¯t have his katana on him anymore. Dave had already looted it the day he killed the tengu and never had the time to start the quest rted to it.

    Dave rummaged through his inventory and pulled out a pitch-ck katana.

    "My Rift-Maker. Thank you for keeping it safe," the tengu held the sabre piously with both hands.

    "Uh, hang on," Dave said.

    "What is it, Warrior of the Dead?"

    "If you didn¡¯t have your katana earlier, how did you split theke in two?" Dave asked.

    The tengu snorted saying, "When you reach perfect harmony with yourself, you may turn a leaf into a sword." The tengu swung his hand vertically, the very wind emitted from his hand movement had split theke water again.

    Dave gulped hard. The tengu was mad strong. He had to admit that. But that wasn¡¯t what scared him the most. Dave slightly turned his head toward Dog. This guy was innocently wiping the helmet on his head from dust.

    ¡¯How the heck did Dog defeat this guy?¡¯

    A question that will take Dave a while to know the truth behind.

 Chapter 312 The Leviathan

    Dave was waiting for Tiny to finish eating all the corpses of the Torab Snakes. As he waited, Dave¡¯s eyes were wandering around theke. There was arge red spot, from the remains of the Torab serpent that the Tengu had in.

    Dave had yet to wear his armor, so he jumped into theke and dove down. He wanted to see if the snake had some loot.

    Swimming deeper and deeper, Dave found the dead Torab Serpent lying dead at the bottom of theke.

    The tengu¡¯s [Dimensional Cut] had cleanly separated the snake to two perfect halves that wereying side to side at the bottom. Dave touched the corpse but found nothing of value. No drops and no loot.

    Disappointed he was about to rise back above the water. But, his death vision reminded him that he is a lich, and can revive what had died.

    The Torabe Serpent is a monster level 550. The chances of reviving it were pretty slim, as the higher the monster level, the less the possibilities there were to reanimate it.

    Dave touched the serpent, using [Rise Undead]. The aura of Death spread around the snake and covered it. But the snake didn¡¯t move. Dave tried it another time, half given up. But surprise overcame him as the two halves merged back together into one entity.

    ***

    Congrattions, you have revived [Torab Sepe]- Adult- Into Undeath.

    Torab Serpent is a [Beast] category creature. Beast category creatures do not have underlings and cannot join the Undead Legion as one of its legionnaires. But they still benefit from the blessing of the Death Heart.

    ***

    "Nice!" Dave said. The snake coiled around itself with its multiple heads and moved under Dave.

    "Take me up!" Dave said the words through gurgles underwater.

    Though most of what was heard were just bubbles and noise, the serpent had understood what Dave meant. It moved toward Dave whotched on it and the snake coursed to the top of theke.

    When Dave and the serpent appeared above water, the tengu had already pulled out his katana preparing to attack again.

    "Calm down. He is an ally now."

    "Warrior of the Dead, your ability to turn your foes to allies is most impressive. But beware, too much power can dull the mind." The tengu said.

    "Yeah, don¡¯t worry, I won¡¯t get cocky this soon. Tiny, take everyone in. I need to go back to my Settlement," Dave said.

    Tiny waved its giant arms, summoning five coffins. Dog, Tengu, the serpent and all the manticores were absorbed into the sarcophagi summoned.

    Dave fell back into the water as the snake was absorbed from under him. Even tiny fell to the water as he had absorbed the manticore he stood on top.

    Dave shook his head and shouted, "Tiny, be smaller ande here."

    The Grave lord transformed into its slime form and moved toward Dave on the water like a water bubble.

    Dave ced tiny into his inventory and pulled a teleportation scroll to the Dead Realm. He tore it and disappeared from theke.

    Dave appeared almost entirely naked in the middle of the Dead Realm. Many undead gave him strange looks. Dave hastily equipped his armor and summoned Grumpy.

    "Grumps, let¡¯s go to my settlement," Dave said.

    The basilisk snorted and dashed out of the city.

    It took them ten minutes to arrive at the settlement. Dave hurriedly went to all of the Respawners and revived his troops. Then he went toward Dikenz¡¯s shop.

    The Zombie was humming off-tune, as he cleaned the wears in his shop. When Dikenz saw Dave, he stopped his humming and spoke to him in a wide, rotten, toothy smile," What can me do to me favor¡¯it cost¡¯mr?"

    "Dikenz, I need to buy some blueprints."

    "Oh, hadn¡¯t ye bough¡¯t em allst time, ye was her¡¯e?" Dikenz asked.

    "There should be some new ones now, naval Blueprints."

    "Ah, righ¡¯t. N¡¯ me though, who m¡¯ight ve¡¯ been that braved ye¡¯a beaten that nasty snek"

    Dave was having a hard time understanding what Dikenz was trying to say so he said, "Just hand me the blueprints. I also need two Death Knight armor sets."

    "For ye new undead?"

    "Yeah, the tengu and Singund ar¡¯nt well equipped. I also need 200 workers to build the docs don¡¯t forget those."

    "Alright, gi¡¯mme a sec." Dikenz brought several blueprints for Dave and two sets of Death Knight armor for Dave."

    "Ye¡¯ find them workers waiting at the river in ye settlement,d."

    "Alright, so what¡¯s the total?"

    "That¡¯d be 1,200,000CP,"

    Dave smiled at Dikenz, and Dikenz smiled back. The two started a staring contest where none of them said a word, but they kept looking at each other¡¯s eyes.

    Dikenz seemed to be bing more and more Daring, and Dave didn¡¯t want to call Samael over. Yet before any of them spoke, Tiny emerged from Dave¡¯s side-bag. Tiny jumped to the counter and looked up at the Zombi.

    When Dikenz saw the little smile, he yelped saying, "That¡¯d be for any other cost¡¯mer, fer ye, id make a discount."

    "The usual discount I suppose," Dave said in a grin.

    "Y-yes, the usual, pity, get that thing away from me!"

    "Tiny,e back," Dave said, and the small slime hopped away from the counter and into Dave¡¯s side-pocket.

    "That¡¯d be 120,000CP then."

    "Thank you," Dave said and paid the sum.

    Walking away, Dave said to Tiny, "Thanks. I¡¯ll make sure to give you a snack the next time we go hunting."

    The slime shuddered in excitement for the promised snack.

    Dave arrived at his settlement and saw a couple hundred undead grouped up together next to the river going through hisnd.

    One of these undead was an undead captain, and the rest were regr Elite Tier undead.

    The captain moved toward Dave, He had a missing hand and arge saber strapped to his waist. He wore a round hat and a sea captain coat above his tunic. Saluting, the undead captain said, "Commander Kis¡¯Shtiengbrah. It is an honor for us to work for you. I hear you wish to build a doc here?"

    "Thank you, captain. Yes, I do. What¡¯s your name?" Dave asked.

    "Call me Gafgar. I used to be a captain to a great warship. If it is rted to shipbuilding, or sea voyage there isn¡¯t anyone better than me in the whole of the legion. The sea can vouch for me!" the undead captain said in all pride.

    "Thank you, Gafgar."

    "Commander, I suppose you wish for me to build you a warship?"

    "Yeah, is there a problem?"

    "Yes, a big one. You see, this river isn¡¯t wide enough or deep enough to build such a ship. We will have to go all the way to the Underworld¡¯s seawater."

    "Yeah, I forgot about that. I also have a small problem." Dave said.

    "What might that be,mander?"

    "I want to take the ship to the surface. The world above. I don¡¯t think it¡¯s possible to do so with a teleportation gate." Dave said. He just realized that he had a massive problem at hands. Building the ship in the underworld is useless if the treasure is in the overworld of conquest.

    "That isn¡¯t a problem for us,mander. I will ask his majesty to allow the building of a naval teleportation gate. It should take the whole ship to the overworld as regr teleportation gates do."

    "That¡¯s great. You can start now." Dave said.

    "Commander, before you go, may I ask you something.

    "Yeah, what is it?" Dave asked.

    "I wish to build the Leviathan."

    "Leviathan? What¡¯s that?"

    "It used to be the ship of the legendary pirate king Gangnk. It coursed through the seas like a sword, sea monsters feared it, and sea ships had to move away from its trajectory not to get crushed from its weight and speed. This ship¡¯s structure is a construction miracle."

    "And what do you need me to do to get you to build this Leviathan."

    "Permission and a lot of resources," Gafgar said.

    "You won¡¯t need the blueprints for it?" Dave asked.

    Gafgar smiled wide, "Didn¡¯t I tell you I was the greatest ship maker the legion had ever known? I built that ship! I know every part of it by heart.

    "What do you need?" Dave asked.

    Gafgar took a deep breath and began telling Dave the necessary tools and materials he needed. After hearing Gafgar¡¯s demands, Dave¡¯s forehead began sweating. The cost and materials needed were mind-bogging. Dave didn¡¯t know if Gafgar was going to build a ship or a moving sea fortress.

    "There total cost of this ship will be 5,000,000CP. Commander."

    Dave checked his Undead Management panel, he still had more than requested, but the building of this ship will leave him with about 2,000,000CP.

    "Commander, if you don¡¯t have the resources, I can build you a regr warship. It shouldn¡¯t cost more than a tenth of the Leviathan¡¯s cost."

    "Nah, we are legionnaires, we won¡¯t take anything less than the best. Build The Leviathan!"

    "Thank you,mander," Gafgar said in all excitement.

    "Legionnaires! We are rebuilding the greatest ship ever to cross the seas! Ready up!" Gafgar shouted to his two hundred undead.

    "Do you need more undead for your task? I can have Dikenz send you more undead to build the ship.

    "Yes, that will be for the best. I need at least one thousand undead to build this ship. It shouldn¡¯t take more than a week time." Gafgar said.

    "A thousand undead it is," Dave said and went to Dikenz.

    After ordering more undead to go to Gafgar, the whole group moved down the river and toward the sea of the underworld.

    ¡¯Man, I¡¯m beat, I need to sleep for a bit.¡¯ Dave mumbled to himself.

    Looking at the direction of the Undead City, Dave remembered what Samael told him about the hydra.

    "I need to meet the Abyssal Knight Dothra about the hydra. Samael told me he knows about them."

    Dave nudged grumpy to go toward the undead realm to meet yet a new Abyssal Knight.

 Chapter 313 Cause and Effec

    Dave arrived at the Bone Pce¡¯s gates. The two Death Knights there opened the gate to the Bone Pce for him.

    "I¡¯m not going in guys. I came looking for Abyssal Knight Dortha. Do you guys know where he is?" Dave asked.

    One of the guard Death Knights replied, "Lord Dortha lives in his abode away from the undead city. I can mark the location of his home on your map."

    "Thanks, that would be great," Dave replied.

    The Death Knight added a new marker on Dave¡¯s map. It pointed to the north of the Dead Realm.

    Dave thanked the two Death Knights and rode toward the marker location. Dave left the Dead Realm and continued moving through the barrennds of the Underworld. The broken hanging moon lit the underworld. The skies were clear, and a cool breeze caressed Dave¡¯s face.

    In the distance was a small hut built on a top of a hill. That was the marker¡¯s location. The closer Dave got the clearer the cabin became to him. From around the hill was a small cornfield. The corn was growing strong; it had a golden color and looked healthy, quite contradictive to the vile atmosphere of the underworld.

    This was probably the only patch in the underworld that had something like this ¡ª a patch of peace and serenity in a world of death, demons, and chaos.

    Dave stopped Grumpy from going through the cornfield and jumped down.

    Grumpy seemed interested in the growing corn and was about to try one.

    "Don¡¯t touch the cornfield Grumps, this is not ours," Dave said, stopping the onyx basilisk from eating the corn.

    "It¡¯s alright. You may let him eat." The sound of a gentle old man echoed from behind Dave.

    Turning, Dave saw an old man with gentle features looking at him. This old man had smooth long white hair and a well-trimmed beard of the same color. He wore a red robe and supported himself with a cane.

    Dave tried to inspect the man.

    ***

    You have not been permitted to inspect such an entity.

    ***

    ¡¯Oh, this happens every time I meet an abyssal Knight. So, this must be Dortha.¡¯

    "Lord Dortha. It¡¯s good to see you. I have been looking for you." Dave said in full respect to the Abyssal Knight in front of him.

    The old man shook his hand at Dave saying, "Don¡¯t call me that. I don¡¯t enjoy being an Abyssal Knight, you know. But tell me, how did you know I am Dortha?"

    "Just a wild guess," Dave said.

    "Right, so tell me, Kis¡¯Shtiengbrah. What brings you here."

    Dave frowned, how did this abyssal knight know of his name. But Dortha answered his unsaid question, "Just a wild guess."

    Dave chuckled, "I came here because Samael told me that you know about hydras. I need to y one to finish building a powerful armor."

    "Oh, hydras. Those are nasty creatures. Come with me," Dortha said.

    Dave followed after Dortha after telling Grumpy to eat with moderation. Dave moved behind Dortha through the cornfield. The two of them entered the hut on the hill. The interior was simple. It had A straw bed, two chairs, and a table. And a small firece where a teapot was heating.

    Dortha served tea for Dave and himself and sat in front of him on the table.

    Dave was gazing at the interior of the hut with interest.

    "What is the matter, lich?" Dortha asked.

    Dortha¡¯s question brought Dave back to reality.

    "Uh, I was just wondering. You are an Abyssal Knight. And from what Samael had told me, you are the strongest of the abyssal knights. Why do you live here? I hope I¡¯m not rude with my question." Dave said after taking a sip from his tea.

    Dortha didn¡¯t reply and waited for Dave to drink.

    Amazed by the taste, Dave said, "This tea is pretty good."

    "I grow it and brew it myself. I¡¯m d you like it. As for your question."

    Dortha took a few moments to think then said, "There is a bit of inconsistency with what Samael had said. I am currently the strongest abyssal knight, but I wasn¡¯t always the strongest.

    Dave said one word, "Deadra."

    Dortha nodded. "Yes, the Exiled Knight. The Mighty Sword of the King. The Vanguard of the Legion. Deadra was an army by himself. He could take on thousands of soldiers with a hand strapped to his back. That man was the real beast."

    Dortha¡¯s expressions turned to reminiscence and mncholy.

    "You seem to miss him," Dave said.

    "Yes, you see. There is a reason why I live so secluded from the world of the undead. I cannot remain too close to the Death Heart, or Undeath energy. Otherwise, I will start losing my sanity and be Dortha the Beast."

    Shivers went down Dave¡¯s spine as he asked, "You don¡¯t transform into a werewolf, do you?"

    "Werewolf? You mean a Lycan, yeah, I can."

    Dave shuddered, he was sitting and drinking tea with one of his childhood nightmares.

    Dortha added "I can change form to anything I wish. But when I do. Recognizing the enemy from ally bes extremely difficult. And that¡¯s where Deadra came in."

    "What do you mean?" Dave asked.

    "Deadra had this strange ability to calm me down when I am transformed. My mind bes focused, and I could fight a thousand time stronger than when I go mad and berserk. That¡¯s why when the king exiled Deadra. I exiled myself from the legion in fear of harming what is closest to me."

    Deadra had deep and intertwined lore with most of the abyssal knights and high ranking undead of the legion. Not only was he promised the king¡¯s daughter, Eleanor in wedlock. He was the leader of the Rogue Division. A 100 Million man army. Deadra was a powerful knight. He was one of Death¡¯s champions. And the reason why Dave started his journey as Skelly.

    It was said that he had dissipated to nothingness, but Dave wasn¡¯t going to make Deadra¡¯s legacy disappear.

    Deadra brought an item from his inventory. It was a gigantic round shield and a sword that was as wide and as tall as Dave himself. The sword had several nicks and cuts while the shield had some bent parts in it. They were so heavy that they dug into the dirt floor of the hut.

    "Oh, you have the cursed shield of Ajax and the Durandal. These are the prized weapon and shield of Deadra. I guess you met him, and this means he finally passed away," Dortha said in a mixed voice of sadness and relief.

    "Yea. He gave them to me before he turned to dust."

    "Take great care of them, young lich. But I doubt you have the strength to wield them."

    "Yeah, I still need a bit more to wield them."

    Dave needed to level up to 450. He wasn¡¯t that far away from it but the higher level he gets, the harder it became to level up. Dave had a lot of grinding to do.

    "About the hydra. They are aquatic creatures, so most of them live in the Western High Sea. You need a powerful ship to go there. You can also go to the northern region of the overworld. There had been some sightings of a frozen dead hydra in the Mountains of Glory."

    "If it¡¯s an aquatic creature, what would the hydra do in the northern region mountains?"

    "There used to be a time where this world was filled with water. There used to be a race of creatures that live underwater. They raged war against mankind, but they had lost and were forced to retreat. You can find many of the remains of this species in the mountain of Glory. Frozen forever in time."

    "Oh, I never knew. Thank you for everything Dortha. I need to leave now."

    Dortha nodded to Dave, "Don¡¯t forget your weapons. And I rmend you take them to Andre, he can repair them for you. Deadra rarely cared about them, so I guess they will be in better hands from now on."

    "Okay, I will do so, thank you Dortha. I hope to see you again." Dave took his weapon and shield and left the hut. The moment he stepped outside, Dave¡¯s lower jaw threatened to fall to the ground.

    Grumpy must have liked the taste of the corn, as he went through the whole field and left not a single corn standing.

    "You big oaf! What the hell did you do!" Dave shouted.

    Dortha followed after Dave, seeing the cornfield in this stat, the old man chuckled saying, "It¡¯s alright. No harm is done. It¡¯s best that this creature feeds on the corn. You see, we of the legion need not food. It would have rotten anyway."

    "I¡¯m sorry."

    "It¡¯s okay. I can grow some more."

    "Thank you a lot," Dave said apologetically and led Grumpy out of the field.

    After riding away from the hut, Dave grumbled, "You know what that guy is called?! He is Dortha The Beast! What would you have done if he got angry at you eating his corn?" Dave scolded Grumpy.

    The onyx basilisk cooed apologetically.

    "No, stop trying to act cute. Anyway, I need to log out-" Yet before Dave finished his words, a notification appeared in front of him.

    ***

    Conquest Server Announcement!

    World Event: The Wrath of the Ancient Kingdom has begun!

    The Eastern Kingdom of Qin has begun its retaliatory attack on the world for their disrespectful raid on their borders.

    The Attack of the Eastern Kingdom of Qin willst for seven days.

    All yers are to prepare for a great fight. Death to Qin warriors will result in the loss of 2 levels and the immediate banishment to the Limbo.

    Any city the kingdom of Qin conquers will be the territory of Qin.

    Killing Qin Warrior will award the yer with War Contribution Points.

    You may use War Contribution Points to exchange with your kingdom¡¯s treasury for gold, weapons or other valuables.

    The yer with the highest Contribution points at the end of the event will be awarded the unique skill:

    [Mass Destruction]

    ***

    "Oh shit. Guess that the guildies are in for a bad week." Dave chuckled and logged out. He had no interest in the ongoing war.

 Chapter 314 Doom Knight Ascension!

    Dave logged out and had ate-night snack. It was 2 Am and way past sleep time. He drank a cup of milk and went to bed. After a sound night sleep, Dave woke up fully energized in the morning.

    His phone was shing. There was a notification awaiting him. Dave unlocked his phone and saw that there was a message from Lone and a few missed calls. Reading through the message, Lone was urging Dave to log in. It seemed that Urburg was in trouble.

    Dave hastily got out of his bed and jumped into the capsule. A few secondster, he was in the underworld. Dave tore the Urburg teleportation scroll and appeared in the middle of the abandoned city.

    Hundreds of soldiers wearing golden and red armor were wandering the city. When they noticed Dave, they converged together and grouped up in arge square formation.

    Lone, TNT and Mercy, were waiting at the gate.

    "What¡¯s going on?" Dave asked.

    "Their captain wanted to evict us, we told him we would wait until youe," Lone said.

    "Evict you? Who the hell does he think he is?" Dave said in an angry tone. The one to take what belonged to Dave in-game had yet to be born. There was no way that Dave will willingly hand over the only city that grants ess to the Wilds. And especially to NPCs.

    "I ordered the eviction of this city. From now on, thisnd belongs to the holy kingdom of Qin." A man said. This person was wearing bronze and gold armor and rode on arge warhorse.

    "Who the hell are you?" Dave asked.

    "I answer not the questions of the undead. Leave thesends if you cherish your life!" The captain said confidently.

    Dave inspected the captain.

    ***

    Zhu-Chin

    Level 550

    HP 5,000,000

    MD: 150,000

    PD: 150,000

    Skills: ???

    Lore:

    Captain of the wless de of Qin unit. A veteran of war and a good leader, honoured by the Emperor of Qin thought his efforts in battle and was awarded the title of The Unsheathed de of the Kingdom.

    The captain¡¯s level was high, but Dave knew that with his army, he could still take him on. So he drew his ive saying "At first, I had no interest in fighting your kingdom. But you seem to be misunderstanding something..."

    When Dave drew his ive. All the knights behind the captain readied up for battle.

    "We the undead take whatever we want and give nothing back. I¡¯ll give you the same offer you just gave me. If you cherish your life, leave thesends or be turned to undeath!" Dave said.

    All of Dave¡¯s allies converged toward him and stood behind Dave.

    "Threatening me? You and what army?!"

    "It¡¯s funny you mention that, Tiny!" Dave said.

    The small ck slime peaked from his side-pocket. Jumping into the air, Tiny transformed into his massive form.

    The captain and his underling were distraught for a moment. They didn¡¯t expect the undead to have such a massive monster at hismand. But they were the proud knights of Qin. They wouldn¡¯t be forced to retreat from the sight of one giant creature.

    Yet, this was not what was going to bring them pure terror. Tiny waved his arms and summoned hundreds of sarcophagi. These sarcophagi were hanging from Tiny¡¯s body by long chains. The coffins opened all at once, releasing tens, hundreds, then thousands of undead. They all materialised around the knights and surrounded them from all sides.

    Singund, Dog and the tengu stood at the front. They acted as the greatest and best vanguards for Dave¡¯s army.

    Then came the turn of the Manticores that spawned all around the undead. The knights of Qin were pinned and locked into an inescapable wall of undead. If Dave gives themand only death will await the warriors of Qin.

    "U-undead! You will bring the wrath of Qin upon your head!" the captain said, threatening Dave in a tone betraying his intentions.

    "You already brought the wrath of the Undead Legion upon yours!" said a voice that came out of nowhere.

    Suddenly, arge gust of ck wind materialised right next to the captain. From it, emerged Samael. He stood with a dagger ced dangerously under the captain¡¯s neck.

    "You do not cross the undead. The undead crosses you. Kis¡¯Shtiengbrah, what is your verdict?" Samael asked.

    A notification appeared in front of Dave.

    ***

    You have been offered a choice that might change the fate of the world.

    If you chose to kill the captain of Qin, the undead Legion will be in a hostile rtionship with the army of Qin.

    If you chose to spare them, there might be a chance to make a truce and create a cooperative rtionship with the country of Qin.

    ***

    Dave thought about it and said, "Samael as much as I want to kill this one. I don¡¯t want to cause unnecessary bloodshed. Though the legion is far stronger than some mere human country. We still have to y the Ash-King first, before creating any enemies. Let him go, but with a warning." Dave said.

    "Right," Samael smiled and shed with his dagger at the captain¡¯s ear, cutting it off.

    The captain screamed in pain, but when his underlings tried to avenge him, the captain shouted, "HOLD! We understand. We shall leave!" said the captain.

    Dave waved his hand, and his undead let the soldiers of Qin a way out. The captain, dissatisfied with this failed conquest turned around and called for his troops to retreat. Like a beaten army, the warriors of Qin left Urburg with a sour taste in their mouth. The Undead were dominant and their power is known by many. They had no chance of defeating them, especially with their low numbers.

    "Cool Davey as always!" Lonemented. She feared for the city of Urburg to be taken from them. No one wanted to lose a good EXP area.

    Dave smiled at lone and turned to the Abyssal Knight, "Samael, I never thought I would see you in the over-world. How did you get here?" Dave asked.

    "I used the gate," Samael pointed, "When you used the gates of the underworld, it automatically loaded all of your visited gates. So, we cane here whenever we want." Samael said.

    "Well, that¡¯s good because I think we might get in trouble soon," Dave said and sighed.

    "What do you mean?" Samael asked.

    "I don¡¯t think that the captain will give up on Urburg. He will probablye again. So, I might need your help in fending him off in the future." Dave said in all seriousness.

    "What you say rings true. But I cannot help you with defending this area. I still need to defend the Red Fortress. However, if you be a doom knight, you will have a hundred death knights under you. You will be more than capable of defending this area on your own."

    "Oh, right, I¡¯m not that far away from level 400. I think it¡¯s time I level up. I have a doom Knight Armor sitting in my inventory. It¡¯s about time I try it out." Dave said.

    Rummaging through his inventory, Dave brought out the potions he bought from Ramsha.

    "Let¡¯s hope these can do the trick."

    Dave drank the lesser potion of EXP, and his level immediately increased from 388 to 390. The animation of levelling up shone around Dave.

    "Wow, Dave, what¡¯s that?" Lone asked.

    "It¡¯s an EXP potion I bought from Ramsha," Dave replied.

    "Gimmi one! I¡¯m low level."

    "Hang on, I need to level up to 400 first, if I still have some more, I¡¯ll share with you," Dave said.

    "Hey, what about us?!" nker asked.

    "Shut up. Lone¡¯s Skelly¡¯s girlfriend, what right you have to ask for potions?" Fortress reprimanded.

    Dave¡¯s brows rose, ¡¯Girlfriend? When did that happen? And why wasn¡¯t I informed?¡¯

    Lone bashfully looked away and didn¡¯tment on Fortress¡¯s statement.

    ¡¯At least deny or confirm it! Sigh.¡¯

    Dave shook his head and continued drinking the potions. Dave had 9 of each tier. Lesser, normal and superior. After drinking each potion, he noticed that the effects were lessening the more he drank. But thankfully, he levelled up to 400 and was left with two superior medicines.

    "Here, Dave handed the two potions to Lone."

    Lone immediately drank one, and several levels up animations appeared under her.

    "Wow, I¡¯m already level 320! This is good!" she drank the other potion and levelled up some more.

    "Hey, skelly, where did you get these?" Mercy asked.

    "I got them from Ramsha," Dave said.

    "I think I should buy me some, how much are they worth?" Mercy asked.

    "They can only be bought with BloodStones, but you don¡¯t need to bother yourself with it right now. I already bought all of Ramsha¡¯s stock."

    It was as Dave said. Ramsha had a limited amount of EXP potion, and it was only natural otherwise, it would have broken the game.

    "Okay, I guess it¡¯s time for me to take my Doom Knight ascension."

    Dave checked his Status Screen.

    Name

    Death Stroke

    Level

    400

    CLass

    Battle Lich

    Race

    Undead/Human

    Stamina

    ¡Þ

    MANA

    35200

    Health

    442000

    STR

    750

    INT

    950

    WIS

    700

    DEX

    500

    AGI

    410

    Physical Def

    12001

    Magic DEF

    6001

    HP Regen

    1%

    Mana Regen

    1%

    Stamina regen

    ¡Þ

    Prestige/Honor

    1,800

    Unassigned AP

    130

    Titles

    Shield Boarder

    War Maestro

    Pride of the Undead

    Dead Men Tell My tale!

    Dave added 50 of his unassigned points to INT, pumping it to 1000.

    A notification appeared in front of Dave.

    ***

    You have reached 1000 points in Intelligence. You gained [Overdrive]

    An active ability that enables the user to use all of his mana-skills without mana cost for 30 seconds.

    ***

    You havepleted the minimum requirement for Arch-Lich Da to be your magic instructor. Please head to Da to learn a new skill.

    ***

    He poured the rest of his unassigned attribute points to Strength, pumping it to 820.

    "I should probably go to Da first, but I can¡¯t wait to be a doom knight."

    Dave opened the Undead Management panel and chose Undead Ascension, he paid the 100,000 CP point to purchase the right to ascend, and a notification appeared in front of him.

    A notification appeared in front of him.

    ***

    Undead Ascension

    You have purchased the Right and sent a challenge to the Leader of Subdivision Number 404.

    Regiment Leader

    Doom Knight Du¡¯Rhaza.

    Do you ept tomence the battle for leadership now?

    Yes/No?

    ***

    "I¡¯ll be back shortly guys, wait for me," Dave said and pressed Yes.

    He disappeared from Urburg and appeared in the Undead Ascension arena.

    The arena was glorious as always, this time the rows of spectators were filled to the brim with all kinds of undead. A doom Knight ascension had more audience than the casual Death knight¡¯s.

    Du¡¯Rhaza, the Ice-Lich floated in the middle of the arena. He looked at Dave in kind eyes and said "You grow fast young lich. But haste is not always a good thing. Do you think you have what it takes to beat me?"

    Dave whirled his ive and pointed it at Du¡¯Rhaza Dave said, "There is only one way to find out!"

 Chapter 315 A battle of Ice and Fire

    Dave inspected his opponent.

    ***

    Name: Du¡¯Rhaza. Lich.

    Tier: Doom-Knight Rank.

    Danger level: Friendly.

    Level: 550

    Base damage: 250,000-320,000

    HP: 5,000,000

    DN: 50,000

    MA: 155,000

    Skills:

    [Freeze] (Passive) All of Lich Du¡¯Rhaza¡¯s skills deal Freezing Damage. After a certain amount of Freezing Damage is dealt to the yer. They will turn to [Ice Statue]. Bing immobile for 2 seconds. The next attack on the [Ice-Statue] has a 5% chance of instantly executing them.

    [Frozen Death]: (Passive) Continuously Saps life from the living and transforms it into his own health. Steals 0.1% of targets around him per seconds and convert it to HP.

    [Icy Burial] Surrounds the target with an ice tomb. Dealing 100% of base Damage in -Freezing Damage and burning 50% of their max Stamina.

    [Frozen Necromancy] Summons ice-creatures as undead to attack Du¡¯Rhaza aggressors.

    [Ice Aura]: releases an ice aura that slows and saps target¡¯s stamina.

    [Icemancer]: (Passive) Full mastery over ice magic. Can control ice, bend it and shape it to whatever form Du¡¯Rhaza wishes. Ice attacks deal base attack damage in magic damage.

    Lore:

    One of the strongest units under Arch-Lich Da -Abyssal Knight- of the undead legion. The ck Skull Order trapped du¡¯Rhaza in the Ice-Queen pce. Not wanting to waist his immortality, Du¡¯Rhaza delved into ice magic and managed to fuse both undeath and Ice which made him one of the most unique liches that could use the freezing element to cause death to his enemies.

    ***

    ¡¯He has some nasty skills if I was a human that is.¡¯ Dave smiled. His undead nature gave him the ability to counter most of Du¡¯Rhaza skills.

    A loud voice echoed in the arena. "FIGHT!"

    Du¡¯rhaza remained hovering in the air, waiting for Dave to attack.

    Dave used [Immortal Apparition], teleporting above Du¡¯Rhaza and swung down with his ive. The Doom Knight smiled and waved his hand upward, creating an ice barrier that blocked Dave¡¯s ive.

    Dave dropped down to the ground and jumped again swinging his ive at the lich. The lich waved his hand creating two ice swords. One of the ice swords smacked Dave¡¯s ive away, while the other pierced through Dave¡¯s chest.

    [-120,000]

    Your undead Nature grants you ice damage immunity!

    Ice damage resisted!

    Dave cursed, Du¡¯Rhaza was toying with him.

    The constant ice aura surrounding Du¡¯Rhaza created a smallyer of frost over Dave, it didn¡¯t harm him, but it was annoying.

    Dave noticed that his HP was continually dropping.

    ¡¯Shit, His Frozen Death is sapping my HP even if I¡¯m undead.¡¯

    "What¡¯s wrong young Lich, you should be stronger than this," Du¡¯Rhaza said in a soft tone.

    "Yeah, don¡¯t worry, I¡¯m just warming up," Dave replied.

    ¡¯I guess the ive is not going to help much here.¡¯ Dave switched to the sworn Stalwart gauntlets and activated [Aura]

    "Smart, fighting ice with fire. Show me how hot are your mes!" Du¡¯rhaza said, and with this, the aura surrounding him raged further creating a hail storm around him. Dave¡¯s Aura looked like a flickering candle me in the presence of the mighty ice storm raging from around Du¡¯Rhaza.

    Du¡¯Rhaza waved his hands, creating spears that shot toward Dave. Dave rolled away from the spears. A Loud crash sounded behind Dave. Looking behind him, Dave saw that the ice spears had pierced deep into the stone pavement of the arena.

    ¡¯Damn,¡¯

    Dave smashed his fists together "Guess I¡¯m gonna have to turn up the heat!"

    Dave activated Drahma¡¯s Earrings. Using [Zealot] his body grewrger, and steam burst out from every pore of his body. His armor was like a hot iron ingot ced in the cold snow of the north.

    "More power!" Dave pped at his chest disabling the Azur water rune. The chaos energy from his chaos runes began writhing inside him. Rampaging like an infernal tornado that was bottled up and was seeking release.

    His skin began to burn bright as red magma colored veins seethed incredible heat through his body. Dave¡¯s [Aura] grew stronger and raged fighting against the oppressing cold.

    Dave jumped at Du¡¯Rhaza while throwing a powerful punch toward him.

    Du¡¯Rhaza summoned another ice barrier, but it was destroyed as if it was made of thin paper. The punchnded on the lich and sent him tumbling on the ground.

    -480,000

    "How about that? Strong enough for you?" Dave asked.

    The ice-lich stood up,ughing he said, "Yes, that¡¯s more like it. Now this will be a proper fight instead of a child-beating."

    Du¡¯Rhaza raised both hands up. The ice particles in the air gathered together and created hundreds of ice swords.

    "Take this!" Du¡¯Rhaza dropped his hands, pointing them at Dave.

    With that, the swords flew like bullets toward Dave.

    Dave used [Dragon Fist] punching at the air, the aftereffect of the skill created a gigantic fire dragon that shot out from Dave¡¯s fist. The dragon opened its maw wide and consumed the ice swords into its gullet then surged toward Du¡¯Rhaza.

    "Not bad!" Du¡¯rhaza said he twirled around himself creating a gust of ice that gathered into a dragon quite simr to Dave¡¯s. This ice dragon shot toward Dave¡¯s fire dragon, the two of them collided and destroyed each other.

    ¡¯That¡¯s just not fair!¡¯ Dave grumbled, but it was no time to feel depressed. Du¡¯Rhaza summoned two more of these ice dragons and sent them surging toward Dave.

    Dave dodged away from one of the dragon but was forced to face the second. He raised his leg up and smashed down in [Dragon Kick] a fire dragon materialized in the air and came down crashing on the other ice dragon. The two of them nullified each other.

    Du¡¯Rhaza seemed to enjoy creating ice dragons as he made some more.

    "How much mana do you have! That¡¯s not fair!"

    Du¡¯Rhaza smiled, "I lived for a long time. I have enough mana to keep up this output for years! Don¡¯t even think that you can defeat me by waiting for me to deplete my mana reserves." Du Rhaza said and pointed at Dave.

    The five dragons shot toward Dave instantly.

    "Alright, time to use a newbo!" Dave¡¯s hands fashed in ninja seals. Two fireballs materialized above him. He was using [Dragon Ball] soon after, the two fireballs turned to eight, then they turned to sixteen fireballs.

    Dave smiled and pointed the giant fireballs at Du¡¯Rhza.

    The first five fireballs crashed into the five ice dragons destroying each other in the process while the remaining eleven fireballs coursed toward Du¡¯Rhaza.

    Du¡¯Rhaza waved his hand, creating a gigantic ice-wall, but the fireballs were empowered by Dave¡¯s Zealot and chaos runes that they easily destroyed the wall and mmed into Du¡¯Rhaza.

    ***

    [-2,880,300!]

    Fear Effect Failed to apply!

    Fear Effect Failed to apply!

    Fear Effect Failed to apply!

    Fear Effect Failed to apply!

    ...

    ***

    Dave was genuinely surprised. He never thought that thisbo would be this powerful.

    Du¡¯Rhaza was staggered, he groggily stood up and asked, "What was that? There was a familiar magic mixed into them, the very magic I taught you, [Spectral Skulls]"

    "Exactly, it was [Dragon Ball] mixed with [Spectral Skulls] this made them eight giant infernal spectral skulls, and I added a skill of mine [Twin Strike] which doubled the number. Sorry if I went too hard on you." Dave said in a snort.

    "Very well, that¡¯s an interesting concept. Let¡¯s see if I can do the same."

    "Huh?"

    Du¡¯Rhaza smiled and raised his hands. Unlike Dave, Du¡¯Rhaza was the one who gave him the Spectral Skulls skill book. So he was more proficient in it. Ten, a hundred, a thousand then an incalcble number of spectral skulls materialized in the air. The small spectral skulls all gazed at Dave in a violent manner.

    Then Du¡¯Rhaza roared, with that, the ck spectral skulls gained a blue sheen, and they were made of ice.

    ¡¯Fuck me!¡¯ Dave¡¯s eyes were bulging out. The Ice-lich went way over the top with his attack.

    "Oh, so it works, show me how you can survive this!" Du¡¯Rhaza pointed at Dave. And all the spectral skulls descended on Dave like an avnche.

    Dave hastily activated [Bastion] to protect himself from the iing ice-spectral skulls. The skulls came down on Dave continuously like the bullets of a machine-gun. They shook his shield like the beatings of a drum.

    Dave waited patiently, hidden under the shield of Bastion, but the skulls were so numerous, so many that theysted more than the three seconds of immunity Dave¡¯s skill gave him.

    The moment the glowing shield of bastion disappeared; Dave was pummeled into the ground by the continuous spectral skulls. His avatar was mmed constantly and continuously by the iing and none-stopping skulls. Every attack emptied his lungs and he couldn¡¯t even grunt from pain. These formerly ethereal skulls, now turned to ice felt like bowling balls striking him down.

    Hundreds of red damage numerals appeared above Dave¡¯s head.

    Then a notification appeared in front of him.

    ***

    You have 1% HP remaining!

    You are in critical condition!

    Passive skill [Unyielding] has activated. You are immune to death for 5 seconds.

    ***

    The skulls continued dropping on top of Dave pinning him to the ground. With every explosion, hos body shook.

    Thankfully, the skulls stopped falling on him before the seconds from Unyielding had ended.

    Dave stood up, meeting eyes with Du¡¯Rhaza. "You¡¯re enjoying this, aren¡¯t you?" Dave said.

    "Yes, indeed. But you should know, I¡¯m doing this for your own good. You are not strong enough to be a Doom, Knight. Now die, and try again when you are stronger." Du¡¯Rhaza said.

    He waved his hands again and summoned the same number of skulls.

    "Shit, I have no way to beat him."

    He thought about using [Call of Chaos] but the cast time and the time it took for the meteor to arrive is far too long. Using Double Edge would buy him a few seconds, but the summoned skulls will still kill him if Du¡¯Rhaza decides to shoots them.

    Du¡¯Rhaza¡¯s vast mana reserves were a pain for Dave.

    Thinking along these lines, Dave had a lightbulb idea moment.

    "Guess I¡¯ll try that!"

    Dave ran toward Du¡¯Rhaza as fast as he could.

    "Oh, rushing to your death, I admire your courage. See you another time, Kis¡¯Shtiengbrah!"

    But just as Du¡¯Rhaza finished his words, Dave¡¯s infernal body shot out red lightning crackling around him. A dark devastating aura, bone-chilling and terrifying was released from his body. The blood-red aura enveloped his body like a thin blood coating.

    Dave¡¯s appearance changed. His back grewrge ck raven wings. And his head grew two giant horns. Both of his hands turned, even the Sworn Stalwart gauntlets changed appearance to those of enormous w weapon instead of fist weapons.

    Dave¡¯s Death Knight Armor changed color to blood red. And his avatar hovered in the air on its own.

    "Demonic aura?" Du¡¯Rhaza said.

    Dave spoke, in a voice much deeper and more gruesome than his usual draugr voice "Yes, Demonic Ascension]."

    Suddenly, all the spectral skulls in the air stopped then they began dissipating.

    "Huh?" Du¡¯Rhaza was shocked for a moment. He had lost control over all of his spectral skulls. Then suddenly, he fell on his back from his floating status. Eve the aura surrounding Du¡¯Rhaza dissipated into nothingness.

    Dave looked at Du¡¯rhaza from mid-air and said in a smirk "I have the high ground now!"

    "What happened? Du¡¯Rhaza asked he waved his hand, trying to summon an ice weapon, but the frost he created was instantly dissipated.

    "You cannot use Mana as long as I¡¯m in this state. So tell me Du¡¯Rhaza, am I good enough to be a Doom Knight?" Dave asked.

    "I agree that you are strong. But I¡¯m not dead yet!" Du¡¯Rhaza waved his hand and summoned his sceptre. Then he swung it at Dave. Dave tried to take a step to the right. He forgot that he was actually hovering. So that mere attempt to move to the left caused his wings to p once and sted him a dozen meters away from Du¡¯Rhaza.

    "Wow, these things are strong!" Dave said as he nced at his pitch-ck raven wings.

    Dave took a step forward, his wings pped again and pushed him toward Du¡¯Rhaza like an arrow. He aimed his fists -now ws¡ªat Du¡¯Rhaza. The ice lich blocked with his staff, but Dave empowered by Zealot and Chaos Runes broke the lich¡¯s staff in half and his ws pierced through the lich¡¯s chest.

    Du¡¯Rhaza grunted in pain. He took a direct critical hit. Dave headbutted the lich with his horned head and stunned him. He then raised the lich that was still stuck to his ws and threw him against the ground.

    When Du¡¯Rhaza was smashed into the ground, he held his hand at Dave saying, "Okay! I give in. Ha! My old bones can¡¯t take such a beating. You win."

    Dave stopped in his track. He was wondering if the lich actually surrendered or if it was just a clich¨¦ attempt to backstab Dave when he let down his guard.

    Yet the notification that appeared in front of Dave confirmed the lich¡¯s surrender.

    ***

    Congrattions!

    Lich Du¡¯Raza has been defeated.

    You have been given a new Sub-Division Unit Number to lead.

    You are currently the leader of the first unit of the Rogue Division.

    Lich-Du¡¯Rhaza has not lost his rank as a Doom Knight and will continue leading unit 404.

    Your rank in the undead legion has increased.

    Congrattions on reaching Doom Knight rank!

    The one hundred undead captains under yourmand have all been upgraded to Death Knight Rank!

    Their weapons and armors have been provided upgraded by the legion!

    Your Doom Knight Rank grants you ess to an extra feature of the Undead Management panel.

    Command and Conquer!

    You can nowmunicate with your Death Knights over vast distances of the world.

    You can forcefully summon your underlings to your presence anywhere in the world.

    You have gained a new passive skill.

    [Deathly Presence] You passively release an aura that frightens monsters that are 50 levels lower than you. Terrorized monsters will flee the scene in your presence.

    You can now equip, Doom Knight Rank Equipment.

    You have ess to an extra set of purchasable items in Dickens¡¯s shop.

    You can now corrupt more powerful dungeons and turn them to the property of the undead legion.

    You have gained

    1,000,000CP

    ***

    Dave kept reading through the notifications and grinned like an idiot.

    "Yeah, a hundred death knights to lead. Next step. An abyssal Knight!"

 Chapter 316 Small but Deadly

    "So, Doom Knight Kis¡¯Shtiengbrah, what are your ns?" Du¡¯Rhaza asked Dave.

    "Well, same as the usual. I need to get stronger. I have a feeling that the Eastern Kingdom will not like the fact that I didn¡¯t hand them Urburg over."

    "Very well, you must go then. But I advise you to meet with lord Da. I can see that you unlocked [Overdrive] he can teach you powerful magic that might help you in your fight against the kingdom of Qin."

    "I will do, but first I need to wear my new armor. It spent a long time inside my inventory." Dave said in a smile.

    He then took out the Doom Knight armor. He had bought it a long time ago and was waiting to rank up before he could use it.

    Dave inspected the items.

    Category: Heavy Armor

    Doom Knight Armor [Chest Armor, te]

    Description

    The chest piece of the Doom Knight is an upgraded version of the Death Knight armor. This piece of wear provides excellent protection to the wearer. But it is too heavy for any man to wear into battle. Only an Undead with sufficient Strength and Infinite Stamina can use it effectively in the heat of meleebat.

    Doom Knights are the Elite units of the Undead army, unlike the numerous Death Knights, Doom knights are all unique and have the power to face entire armies without faltering and often cane out the victor of such fights.

    Requirements

    Level 400

    500 STR 400 AGI 400 DEX

    Attributes

    +250,000 to HP

    10,000 Physical Defense

    5,000 Magical Defense

    5,000 Mana

    [Socket]

    [Socket]

    [Socket]

    ss

    Legendary

    Category: Heavy Armor

    Doom Knight Armor [head Gear, Full-Helmet]

    Description

    The helmet of the Doom Knight armor offers excellent protection to the wearer against attacks to the head.

    Doom Knights are the Elite units of the Undead army, unlike the numerous Death Knights, Doom knights are all unique and have the power to face entire armies without faltering and often cane out the victor of such fights.

    Requirements

    Level 400

    500 STR 400 AGI 400 DEX

    Attributes

    +250,000 to HP

    10,000 Physical Defense

    5,000 Magical Defense

    Reduces Stun Effects by 50%

    5,000 Mana

    [Socket]

    [Socket]

    ss

    Legendary

    Category: Heavy Armor

    Doom Knight Armor [Armor, Gloves]

    Description

    The gloves of the Doom Knight are made from leather made from the hides of rare beasts, increasing the wearer¡¯s surety of grip on weapons and shields.

    Doom Knights are the Elite units of the Undead army, unlike the numerous Death Knights, Doom knights are all unique and have the power to face entire armies without faltering and often cane out the victor of such fights.

    Requirements

    Level 400

    500 STR 400 AGI 400 DEX

    Attributes

    250,000 to HP

    10,000 Physical Defense

    5,000 Magical Defense

    Passive skill [Quick hands] allows the fast swap of weapons.

    5,000 Mana

    [Socket]

    ss

    Legendary

    Category: Heavy Armor

    Doom Knight Armor [Armor, Legs]

    Description

    Greaves and gauge pieces of the Doom Knight provide excellent stability and poise, aiding the undead in holding their ground against charging enemies.

    Doom Knights are the Elite units of the Undead army, unlike the numerous Death Knights, Doom knights are all unique and have the power to face entire armies without faltering and often cane out the victor of such fights.

    Requirements

    Level 400

    500 STR 400 AGI 400 DEX

    Attributes

    250,000 HP

    5,000 Mana

    10,000 Physical Defense

    5,000 Magical Defense

    Passive skill [Poise] increases poise and reduces Knock Back effects greatly.

    [Socket]

    ss

    Legendary

    Category: Heavy Armor

    Doom Knight Armor [Armor, Cape]

    Description

    Cape of the Doom Knight, it offers excellent resistance against attacks thate from behind the wearer and reduces magic damage.

    Doom Knights are the Elite units of the Undead army, unlike the numerous Death Knights, Doom knights are all unique and have the power to face entire armies without faltering and often cane out the victor of such fights.

    Requirements

    Level 400

    500STR 400 AGI 400 DEX

    Attributes

    250,000 to HP

    5000 MANA

    10,000 Physical Defense

    5,000 Magical Defense

    [Magic Eater] Reduces 5% of all magic attacks cast on the wearer.

    [Socket]

    ss

    Legendary

    ¡¯Hmm, the stats and abilities are almost the same as the Death Knight armor. Only the attributes are ten times the value of a single Death Knight armor. Man the HP this set offers is amazing.¡¯

    Dave began equipping the doom knight armor.

    Unlike the dark blue-hued Death Knight armor, the Doom Knight armor had a toxic green aura surrounding it. The armor was light but extremely sturdy. It was polished with great care, it didn¡¯t look like the rusty armors of the lower tier undead, but like the armor, a nobleman would wear, only if this nobleman belonged to an evil faction that is.

    The Doom Knight armor had metallic skulls carved into it. When Dave wore his armor, the eyes on these skulls shone bright, and a notification appeared in front of Dave.

    ***

    You are wearing theplete set of the Doom Knight armor!

    Set Bonus:

    250,000HP

    +300 STR

    +200 INT

    +200AGI

    +5000 Mana

    [Will Breaker]

    ***

    Dave inspected the passive skill given by the full set.

    [Will Breaker] You armor releases a wave of Horror Effect every 30 seconds. Targets affected by Will Breaker have a 10% chance of being instantly disarmed.

    Neat, Dave nodded to himself. Another notification soon appeared in front of him.

    Dave inspected it.

    ***

    Your base Strength has exceeded 1000. You now have

    [Herculean Strength].

    Speak with Dortha the Beast to know more about the usage of such inhuman power.

    ***

    "That makes an instructor for magic, and an instructor of Strength. Heck I guess if I increase my agility to 1,000, I think Abyssal Knight Dementi will start teaching me Agility rted skills."

    Dave inspected his status screen. He wanted to see how much his stats have improved by changing his armor.

    Name Death Stroke Level 400

    CLass Battle Lich Race Undead/Human

    Stamina ¡Þ MANA 71,000

    Health 1,542,000 STR 1,020

    INT 1,050 WIS 800

    DEX 600 AGI 510

    Magical Def 27,001 Physical DEF 51,001

    HP Regen 1% Mana regen 1%

    Stamina regen ¡Þ Prestige/Honor 1,800

    UnassignedAP 0

    Titles

    Shield Boarder

    War Maestro

    Pride of the Undead

    Dead Men Tell My tale!

    ***

    "I¡¯m looking more like a raid boss now than a regr yer. Dang, the HP is so good," Daveplimented himself.

    "What now, Kis¡¯Shtiengbrah?" Du¡¯Rhaza asked.

    "I¡¯ll head to Da first, then meet up with Dortha. When I finish my business here, I¡¯ll head to Urburg. Thank you for everything Du¡¯Rhaza." Dave said.

    "With pleasure, young Doom Knight," Du¡¯Rhaza said and disappeared into a storm of ice.

    Dave walked off the arena and headed to the Bone Pce. When he arrived, Dave asked the two Death Knights at the gate for Da. One of the knights respectfully spoke, "Commander Kis¡¯Shtiengbrah, lord Da had mentioned that you might wish to see him soon. He is at his mage tower.

    The Death Knight pointed at a faraway tower in the Undead City.

    "Thanks," Dave replied and headed there.

    Dave moved along the streets of the city. Any Undead that passed greeted him. They seemed to have greater respect for his current rank.

    Dave¡¯s audio party-chat rung in his ears. It was Lone arrow Calling.

    "Davey, what¡¯s taking you so long? Did you lose the ascension fight?" Lone asked.

    "Nah, I won actually. I¡¯m just finishing some stuff in the Undead Realm and will be in Urburg soon. Just wait for me." Dave said.

    "Alright, you should probablye soon, more and more NPCs areing to Urburg. They want to meet with its ruler, they said."

    "I¡¯ll be there as soon as possible," Dave replied and hung up.

    Dave found himself standing in front of Da¡¯s mage tower. It was a gigantic spiral tower that almost reached the same height as the Bone Pce. The door to the tower was wide open, but there were no guards or anyone at the entrance.

    Dave stopped at the gate of the tower; the inside of the building was dark. He could only see a long spiral staircase that led up

    "Hello? Anyone here?"

    Hearing no reply, Dave moved inside.

    But the moment he stepped foot inside the tower, a magical purple circle shone brightly under his foot, and Dave disappeared from his spot.

    His vision swam for a moment then returned to normal. This was the sign of teleportation.

    Dave found himself standing in arge room lit by hundreds of candles These candles were ced on top of human skulls. There were mummified creatures strung to the walls of the room. Containers holding dissected and rotting animals were positioned all over the room.

    In one corner of the room, Arch-Lich Da was hunched over a desk flipping the pages of an old grimoire.

    "Kis¡¯Shtiengbrah, it¡¯s good to see you again,e closer," Da beckoned Dave over while his eyes were fixated on the book.

    Dave came closer and waited by Da¡¯s side. He took a peek at the book Da was reading from. Dave saw numerous glyphs and iprehensible words written in blood color. He didn¡¯t understand the meaning of such words.

    "Ah, found it," Da said as he was pointing at a strange glyph. "This is what you need for now," Da pointed at Dave¡¯s chest then the symbol on the book materialized onto Dave¡¯s Doom Knight armor in red color. Soon after, the symbol disappeared, and a notification appeared in front of Dave.

    ***

    Your Battle Lich ability

    [Blot the Sun] has been upgraded.

    Blot the Sun nowsts for 20 seconds.

    If a target dies under Blot the Sun, the duration of the skill will increase by 5 seconds.

    Dead Targets have a 5% chance of instantly resurrecting as undead belonging to the legion.

    (Resurrected undead from Blot the Sun will not be added to the caster¡¯s ranks.)

    ***

    "Oh, that¡¯s it?" Dave said. He thought that he would learn something new.

    "You should be patient; this is but the first of the upgrade to your arsenal. When you are stronger, I will call you to have better upgrades. Now, for the more important matters," Da waved his hand, and a ck spherical object materialized on top of his hand.

    "It¡¯s going to hatch any moment now. Take it!" Da handed the ck Dragon Egg to Dave.

    The moment Dave took the egg, it began to shudder and cracks spread from on top of it.

    "Oh! Already?" Dave said.

    "Good, the hatching of a dragon is something magical. It is a blessing to the parent. You need to brand the dragon the moment it lies its eyes on you."

    "How do you brand a dragon?" Dave asked while the egg was shaking and shuddering more and more.

    "Name it the moment it sees you. I can¡¯t remain with you while the dragon hatches, I wille back after you have given it a name." Da said and disappeared from the room.

    Just as Da disappeared, the egg broke, and a small lizard-like creature popped its head from the top of the egg. The hatchling had smooth scales, but they were as dark as night. It had two small horns andrge eyes.

    The small dragon gazed at Dave for a few seconds, tilting its head the dragon was confused.

    A notification appeared in front of Dave.

    ***

    You must name the Dragon Hatchling before it realizes that you are not its birth parent, you have 10 seconds to decide on a name!

    ***

    "Oh, that short. What should I name you?" Dave muttered.

    He couldn¡¯t find a proper name as the seconds ticked.

    "Alright, hell with it, I¡¯ll just name you Onixya!"

    ***

    ck Dragon Hatchling Onixya is now permanently bound to you!

    Congrattions you have gained a [Legendary] battle Pet.

    [Spirit Link] has been created.

    Your dragon pet needs to be stronger if you wish to use it for battle. From now on, the dragon Onixya will gain 200% of the EXP you win through battle.

    Dragons have several evolving ranks. Every centennial level, your dragon will evolve into a more powerful form and gain more skills.

    Currently,

    ck Dragon

    level 50

    HP: 50,000

    MD: 20,000

    PD :20,000

    Skills:

    [Lesser Aura of Terror]

    ***

    "Aren¡¯t you a little beast!"

 Chapter 317 The Might of a Doom Knigh

    The little dragon began eating at the egg¡¯s scales. Dave left Onixya on the floor to finish her meal.

    Da appeared back into the room.

    "It seems that you have branded it. Fantastic."

    "Was it really important to brand the dragon?" Dave asked.

    "Yes, otherwise, if its real parent senses it, the mother dragon would have taken it from you. Now, even at the presence of the real mother, this little one will still deem you it¡¯s true parent." Da said.

    "Oh, that¡¯s nice. I was afraid for a second that the ck dragon mighte looking for me because I took its child."

    "Oh, that will happen, you can be sure of it. A mother¡¯s rage can never be extinguished. You should be very careful as if the dragon senses your presence near it, it wille looking for you," Da said.

    "That¡¯s not very reassuring."

    "Ha, don¡¯t worry, you will be strong enough soon. Once you can wield Deadrea¡¯s Weapons, you will be able to be stronger and at a frightening pace. Then, the dragon will not pose a threat to you," Da said.

    "Alright, thank you very much, Da, I¡¯ll have to get going now. Something is happening at Urburg and I need to be there soon," Dave said. He picked up Onixya who just finished eating all of the dragon shells and tore a teleportation scroll to Urburg.

    The moment he arrived, Dave facepalmed himself. ¡¯Damn, I forgot to meet with Dortha about the [Herculean Strength] upgrade. Anyway, let¡¯s leave it for next time. It looks like something interesting is going on here.¡¯

    Onixya climbed on Dave and rested on top of his helmet. She began swaying her tail left and right. She looked happy and was enjoying discovering new scenery.

    Dave¡¯s party were upied with talking to the hundreds of NPCs currently present in Urburg. They haven¡¯t noticed Dave¡¯s presence behind them.

    Dave brought his fist to his mouth and coughed announcing his presence to all. The moment the NPCs noticed Dave however, most of them had their faces turn white as a sheet of paper. Some couldn¡¯t even utter a word, and some of the females fainted out cold.

    "Oh, I didn¡¯t think I had such an appeal. Howdy all," Dave said.

    "Dave, you¡¯re scaring them," Lone said.

    When Lone spotted the small dragon on top of Dave¡¯s head, here eyes widened and she screamed like an overly excited little girl. Lone swiped the little dragon from on top of Dave¡¯s head and began tickling and ying with her.

    "So, cuuuuuuuute!"

    Dave winced from the loud screaming and shook his head.

    Lone answered the NPCs without lifting an eye from the little dragon that she was smothering with affection, "Calm down everyone, he is friendly."

    "B-but don¡¯t you see. He is an undead! Did you ever see a friendly undead!" One of the older NPCs spoke.

    "Old man, I won¡¯t cause you any harm, don¡¯t worry," Dave said.

    "I can¡¯t believe a servant of evil."

    "Then how about this?" Dave snapped his finger. The ring of True Undeath shone brightly. The toxic green Doom Knight armor changed to that of a chrome-te armor adorned with gold and red. It looked like the armor of a holy pdin of the highest grades.

    "A pdin? Why fake your appearance, sir?" Asked the same old man.

    "I didn¡¯t fake my appearance. I can turn to Undeath at will. Now old man, what brought you all here?" Dave asked.

    The old man was still wary of Dave, but he had to answer, "Sir, we have been exiled from the kingdom of Qin. Due to some disagreement with the rules we have been kicked out of the country. We wandered the Wilds for years looking for safety, and we have lost many of our family along our journey. The people you see here are all that is left," The old man said.

    Dave took another look at the people. They looked tired and beat. Their clothes were torn and unkempt. But under the old and dirty clothes, were toned and fine muscles. Even the women had the same physical trait.

    Dave frowned, he thought that these people might be spies from the Qin kingdom. But taking another more inspective look at these people, he noticed that their fingernails were dirtied. They had scares that weren¡¯t caused by swords. Their skin was the color of bronze signifying that they had been under the sun for a long time.

    And under their eyes were bags from the continuousck of sleep. The children had a skinny build, meaning that they hungered for a while.

    ¡¯These can¡¯t be spies. Otherwise the country of Qin would be damn good at this.¡¯

    "I can ept you as residents of Urburg,¡¯ Dave said.

    "You will allow us to live here?" the old man said.

    "Yes, but under a few conditions," Dave added.

    "Yes, what are they?" the old man said.

    "I¡¯m nning on creating amunity here. There will be undead and humans co-existing together. So you will not cause problems for the undead, and they will not cause problems for you. You will be givennd, and you may choose any of the houses here for your lodging. You can create shops or build your own houses. Anything you want really," Dave said.

    "But, the undead are dangerous. We would rather live in the wilds than live with filthy undead!" a young man behind the old man said.

    "The undead you know, and the undead I know arepletely different. Listen up. These are my conditions. If you like them then you are more than wee to live in Urburg if you don¡¯t like them, then you may leave this ce," Dave replied

    "Can we have some time to think upon this?" the old man asked.

    "One day. Come to me with your answer then," Dave spoke back.

    "Alright sir," the old man took his family toward a half crumbling building, and they began a discussion with themselves.

    "Davey, you want to start investing in Urburg?" Lone asked.

    "Yeah, this is the best time to begin reconstructing Urburg," Dave said.

    Mercy came next to Lone. The assassin in white seemed interested with the little dragon as she began poking at her. The small dragon was squeaking. She seemed to enjoy ying with the girls. Suddenly the dragon burped a small gout of ck smoke. Then her stomach began growling.

    Dave snorted, "Guess Onixya needs some food."

    Dave used one of his newest abilities [Summon Undead].

    He waved his hand in front of him, causing a burst of ck magic to coalesced into Bud the Shadow Ghoul.

    Yet this ghoul was utterly different than what Dave remembered. He even had doubts that he summoned somethingpletely different.

    Bud was big, to begin with, yet now, he was thrice asrge as a troll. He was wearing a full set of Death Knight armor, and two gigantic curved Daggers were strapped to his waist.

    Bud knelt down, shaking the ground.

    ¡¯Man, this shadow ghoul¡¯s going to have a hard time being sneaky with this size.¡¯ Dave smirked.

    "Lord, how can I serve?" Bud spoke, this time clearly and correctly.

    "Seems like you can speak well now,"

    "Yes, lord. My tongue has improved due to my increase in rank."

    "Good. Can I ask you for a favor then?"

    "Your words are mymand."

    "Then, Onixya here is hungry can you bring her something to ear."

    "At your service," said the ghoul and disappeared in a gust of ck smoke.

    ¡¯Guess his size doesn¡¯t affect his Shadow-Form.¡¯

    "Who was that?" Lone asked.

    "That¡¯s Bud. He is a Death Knight now."

    "Oh, you have three Death Knights under yourmand now. That¡¯s dope," Perfect said.

    Dave shook his head, "I have a hundred and two. I¡¯m a Doom Knight now."

    "No wonder you have new armor," Mercy said.

    "Yeah, well I¡¯m much stronger right now."

    "Uh, yeah, well I hope that what you¡¯re saying is true because I think that general dude is back," nker said, pointing at the gate.

    Looking at Urburg¡¯s gate, Dave saw the general he chased off earlier back, this time with a couple thousand riders. They stood patiently at the entrance as if they were awaiting an order.

    Onixya began growling in Lone¡¯s hand. She was looking intently up in the sky.

    A loud screech echoed through the wilds. It was the sound of a wyvern, and there were many of them.

    The old man who was talking with his family came running toward Dave, "Sir, that is general Zhu-Chin, please he can¡¯t know that we are here!"

    "Why is that?" Dave asked.

    "I will tell youter, but please don¡¯t let them know that my family is here. They will kill them on sight!"

    "Kill you? Didn¡¯t you say you were exiled, now they want to kill you? Aren¡¯t you being very contradictive here." Dave said in a frown. He despised being lied at, and the old man seemed to understand this fact.

    "Please, Lord, I had my reasons not to tell you the whole truth."

    "Go and hide for now. When this is over, I wille looking for you. You better have a convincing story to tell by then," Dave said dismissively.

    The old man nodded to Dave and ran back into the broken building.

    Dave¡¯s party gathered around him.

    "He looks angry," Perfect said as he looked at Zhu-Chi.

    Zhu-Chi led his troops through the gate of Urburg. Dave snapped his fingers and changed back to Undead.

    When Zhu-Chi was in front of Dave, he said, "The king of the holy country of Qin will dere war on the undead legion if you do not retreat from this city. This is the only warning you will receive."

    "It seems that you didn¡¯t hear me clearly thest time I told you to piss off," Dave said.

    "Well, you can¡¯t me him, you kinda cut off his ear," nker said in a snicker.

    Zho-Chi frowned hearing the priest mocking him.

    Dave shook his head and said, "We will not give up this area. Leave or die." Dave said.

    "I havee with reinforcements. You cannot defeat us with just those two thousand undead of yours.

    "Then I¡¯ll just have to prove you wrong, again," Dave stomped the ground with his leg. A burst of ck magic exploded from under his leg and spread all over the city of Urburg.

    Death Knights began emerging all around Dave. All of Dave¡¯s former Undead Captains had been upgraded to Death Knights. A hundred of them were now present in Urburg. Then, hundreds of other undead spawned all over Urburg.

    The deathly energy they radiated made the horses shudder and neigh in fear. More undead kept spawning in Urburg. The number of troops that Dave had under him now had exceeded a hundred thousand Undead!

    This was simply a mind-boggling number and was neigh impossible to imagine. Many undead had no room to spawn inside Urburg, so they were summoned outside of it.

    "Now, you say my two thousand undead aren¡¯t enough to defeat you? I brought a hundred thousand then."

    Zho-Chi was once again proved wrong; the numbers that he came with were nothingpared to Dave¡¯s troops.

    "Seeing how you brought about a thousand soldier, now you¡¯re outnumbered a hundred to one. Do you honestly think you can win?" Dave said.

    But before waiting for a reply from Zho-Chi Dave added, "What I dislike the most is being given ultimatums, so please, die."

    Dave waved a hand and said, "ughter them all."

    Then he turned around and left. He didn¡¯t care for the please or battle cries of the soldiers of Qin. The captain had already signed a full-scale war against the legion the moment he dared to step at the gates of Urburg the second time.

    Dave¡¯s troops then converged on the battalion sent from Qin and began a mass ughter.

    "Aren¡¯t you going to participate?" Lone asked.

    "Nah, the undead alone are more than capable of eradicating them, and I still gain exp even if I don¡¯t fight."

    "That¡¯s just broken!" nker said.

    "Well, that¡¯s the advantage of being a Lich, I get to grind EXP without having to move a hand. If you want to level up a bit, you can help my undead and secure some exp." Dave said.

    "Just don¡¯t use heals, you will harm the undead," Fortress reminded.

    "Yeah, I know. Alright, time to get some easy exp!" nker dove into the fight.

    "I can¡¯t miss free exp, I¡¯m in," Lone said, she handed Onixya back to Dave and began shooting at the soldiers of Qin. The rest of the party all went to help the undead fighting¡ªmore like mass-ughtering¡ªthe troops of Qin.

    "Lord. I have brought what you asked." Dave heard Bud¡¯s voice behind him.

    Bud was carrying the carcass of a dear. He dropped it to the ground and said, "What is happening here?" Bud asked.

    Dave ced Onixya next to the deer carcass then replied, "They are having some fun; you can join if you want."

    "With pleasure," Bud replied and disappeared from in front of Dave.

    Onixya began eating from the carcass with glee. Dave made sure that some undead remained by her side before he went to the ruined building where the NPCs were hiding.

    When he entered the building, like a Deja-vu, the NPCs were shocked from the sight of the Doom Knight.

    "You said that the kingdom of Qin wants to kill you, why is that?" Dave asked directly.

    "Sir. Before that, I need you to know something," said the old man.

    "What is it?" Dave asked.

    "It¡¯s about my great grandfather."

    "What does your great grandfather have to do with this?" Dave asked.

    "Well, first of all, the weapon on your back, that¡¯s his ive. My great grandfather was the Great General Ouki."

 Chapter 318 Renovation

    "Keep talking," Dave spoke.

    "Yes. My great grandfather was the heavenly general of the Qin Kingdom. He led the armies of the kingdom raiding the world and had managed to conquer half of this world by the age of 30. His ive was always by his side. If it could speak, it would have told you that what I said was the truth."

    "Okay, okay old man, we get it, your grandpa was badass. But what does it have to do with those soldiers wanting to kill you?"

    "The current ruler of Qin was nothing but a mere ve. He used some unwholesome power to kill the true king and his offspring and took his ce by changing his appearance. General Ouki had known of this, and when he tried to stop him, he was called a traitor and was publicly executed."

    "So, let me get this straight, you are the descendant of Ouki, and because you know of this secret, the king of Qin will not stop until you all die?" Dave said.

    "Yes, that¡¯s our fate, to escape with this weighty secret. If we dared speak it, we shall be executed, and if we are discovered we shall also be executed. Our fate is to run forever from the oppressive fake king of Qin."

    "You think like a defeated man," Dave replied.

    "What else can I do? I can¡¯t win against a kingdom." The old man said.

    "Yes, but your grandfather knew that he couldn¡¯t and still spoke up. You are dishonoring your great grandfather by running around like mice."

    The words fell heavy on the old man. Teardrops welled in his eyes. He was not a coward, but he was helpless, that much at least was visible to Dave.

    "First off," Dave spoke, "I don¡¯t like this king of Qin, he tried to take Urburg from me. And that alone has won him a one-way ticket to the underworld." Dave said.

    "So you¡¯ll kill the king?"

    "Not for you, old man. I said that guy crossed me. He wanted to take what¡¯s mine. And I don¡¯t like that. I¡¯ll kill him for myself. But right now, even I know I don¡¯t have the strength to defeat the whole kingdom alone. In time, however, things will be different."

    Dave looked at the army that was ughtering the remaining Qin Knights and thought to himself, ¡¯Right. 100,000 Undead are sure powerful, but 100million undead is a whole other story. That¡¯s enough to raid the East. All by myself. I just need to be an abyssal Knight.¡¯

    Dave turned back to the old man and said, "So, just sit down and rx, and watch how I bring that kingdom to its knees." Dave smiled in his draugr smirk and left the old man with his family.

    As he left the crumbled house, Dave realized that his troops had already ended the lives of all of Qin¡¯s soldiers.

    Dave activated his [Death Vision] and located the captain Zhu-Chi¡¯s body. He wanted to revive him into Undeath. Yet sadly, after three failed attempts, Zhu-Chi¡¯s body became useless and could not be revived again.

    ¡¯Can¡¯t expect it to work every time, huh,¡¯ Dave sighed and decided to loot the body instead.

    ***

    Qin-Captain te armor

    Qin-Captain Greaves.

    Qin-Captain Cape

    Qin-Captain gauntlets.

    Qin-Captain Helmet.

    Secret Letter -Misceneous item.

    23 Gold.

    ***

    Dave inspected the items, finding them much weaker than his Doom Knight armor. Dave ced them in his inventory.

    ¡¯These might be less powerful than the Doom Knight equipment I have, but I think they are still much better than what Ralph¡¯s wearing.¡¯

    Dave decided to save them for his friend.

    "Alright guys, loot everything and give me a full inventory. Also, I want all these corpses thrown outside of the city."

    Dave gave a fewmands to his troops, and in mere minutes all the loot was gathered next to Dave, and the corpses were thrown out.

    Tiny turned to Dave and muttered, "Me, food. Me eat!"

    Dave waved at the Grave Lord, saying, "Enjoy the feast."

    "What¡¯s the n Davidskin?" Lone asked.

    "For now, we¡¯ll rebuild Urburg. I¡¯ll contact Dikenz for supplies and raw materials to start the work." Dave said.

    "He skelly, can I take some undead around Urburg?" nker asked.

    "Sure, but why?"

    "Well, I gained quite a lot of Exp, and they are a much better tank than Fortress," nker said.

    "That¡¯s actually a good idea," Mercy said. "If each of us take a group of undead, we can clear the area around Urburg. And also grind a good chunk of EXP each. Not to mention you still get your cut of EXP even if you didn¡¯t join." Mercy said.

    "Right. Then knock yourself out. I¡¯ll be back soon." Dave tore a teleportation scroll and left his friends with the undead.

    The boys randomly picked a group of undead and went hunting around Urburg. As for Lone and Mercy, they spent a lot of time deciding on who to join, and who gets to take Bud and Dog with them.

    Dave appeared in the underworld. He summoned Grumpy and headed to his settlement.

    ¡¯Damn, I need to build a teleportation gate directly into my settlement. Dikenz should probably have a blueprint for that.¡¯

    Dave arrived at the Zombie¡¯s shop in less than 10 minutes. He found the rotting merchant busy with his usual habits; cleaning dust off his wears with a rag so filthy that it made them dirtier than before.

    "Dikenz!" Dave shouted.

    The zombie jerked from his spot, "Beg thee, par¡¯dn, ye had me heart skippen a beat and it aint beaten, since ages!"

    "Undead don¡¯t fear!"

    Dikenz frowned, "Ye, undea¡¯d don¡¯t fear, yet ye jumped me outa nowhere, dat ain¡¯t fright, that¡¯s ye being a bully."

    Daveughed and apologized.

    "So, what can me do fer me favor¡¯it costom¡¯er?" Dikenz asked his usual question.

    "I need some material to rebuild a city."

    "A city? Lad, ye be mad if ya think I have,¡¯nough ta build a city."

    "Well you had enough to build the leviathan."

    "Yesd, that¡¯s a ship. A city need lots a logs, lotsa stone and lotsa workers. Yea think yak an pay far all that?"

    "Yes, I do have enough."

    "Where might this city be?"

    "Urburg."

    "The city of devils, ai. Quite a good spot, ya won¡¯t be needing much materials then."

    "Howe?"

    "Ya never struck me as a dunce, that city is in the wilds. Ya have all da wood ye need from ere. And stone you can dig for it. I can send you workers, and you can have yer own undead help in the work. Shouldn¡¯t take ye much time."

    "Okay, sounds like a n. How much?" Dave asked the question that Dikenz used to love but now fears the most.

    "Where¡¯s that lill pal of yers?"

    "You mean Tiny," Dave said as he gazed at his inventory. Tiny was actually still back at Urburg, but Dave didn¡¯t need for Dikenz to know that.

    "He¡¯s asleep. I don¡¯t want to wake him up. He bes cranky and hungry."

    Dikenz lowered his voice and spoke almost whispering, "Ah, nay, don¡¯t need ta wake em up let the little fe sleep some more. Yer discount is the same as always."

    "90 percent,"

    "Aye," Dikenz said with a rueful smile.

    Dave left Dikenz¡¯s shop headed back to Urburg. There were a few hundred new undead all dressed up in worker clothes standing around Urburg¡¯s gate.

    The rest of Dave¡¯s troops were wandering Urburg with a bit of interest and a sense of curiosity.

    One of the workers near Urburg approached Dave and said, "Commander, we would like to know what are we supposed to do here."

    "I need you guys to clear the rubble. And rebuild the houses."

    "This will take a few months. But we can do it."

    "You can ask the rest of my troops to help you," Dave said.

    "But they are knights, that¡¯s not appropriate."

    Dave frowned then turned to the nearest undead of his sub-division, "Youe." Dave called

    The undead came rushing over and stood at attention in front of Dave.

    "Do you find it beneath you to rebuild this city? My city?"

    The undead archer said," For you,mander, if I had to shovel the dirt with a spoon, and build the whole city alone, I would do so with honor."

    "Good answer," Dave said then turned to the other undead, "You heard him. Now get cracking." Dave said, and began walking toward a small house.

    Peking from behind one of the crumbled walls of the house, Dave spotted Onixya sleeping soundly on the ground. What was left of the carcass was nothing but bones, and even the bones were half-eaten.

    Dave smiled to himself and took the baby dragon in his arms. The small dragon opened her eyes and gazed into Dave¡¯s. Then after a little yawn, the baby-dragon began licking Dave¡¯s face.

    Daveughed and asked, "Wanna go out for a walk?"

    The dragon, as if understanding, began nodding.

    "Alright, let¡¯s go then."

    Dave took the dragon and began walking toward Urburg¡¯s gate.

    When he was about to leave the city, an undead approached him. It was a Death Knight, but this one wore red ceremonial robes.

    "Spark, what¡¯s up?"

    "I saw you going out of the city. As fascinating as this ce might be, I would rather explore the Wilds."

    "Tag along then, I was feeling a bit bored and wanted to do some hunting. You cane along if you wish."

    A loud thud sounded next to Dave. Turning, Dave saw the tengu standing next to him, with arms crossed as he said, "Then I shall also join."

    Dave shrugged. "Suit yourself."

    "Hold! I wish toe. I want to see if I can meet my former nsmen. By now, they should have elected a new Orc-Chieftain, I want to see if he is strong enough to lead them. If not, I¡¯ll y him myself!" Singund said in a single breath.

    Dave shook his head. He only wanted to take a stroll with Onixya to show her around Urburg, and now he had four Death Knights following along.

 Chapter 319 Dog vs Heavenly Dog!

    Dave moved out of the city, leaving the undead doing the work of clearing it from the rubble and beginning the reconstruction. As Dave and the three Death Knights followed next to him, he remembered something that kept bugging him.

    "Tengu, howe you lost to Dog?" Dave asked.

    This question kept grinding his brain cells. He never found the answer to it. Dave had already thought about asking Dog directly, but he would need Bud to do the trantion for him. The duhan could only grunt for word, and the upgrade to Death Knight didn¡¯t fix his vocal cords.

    "That was not just a loss. The fight against that headless knight was a devastating defeat. I have lived long, and the creatures I met with that strength were sparse."

    The wordsing from the Tengu¡¯s mouth downed on Dave like a cold-water bucket.

    "Really?" Dave muttered.

    "Yes. Your duhan is like a shackled beast. The stronger he bes the loser his shackles be. If I had to guess, your duhan must have been a legendary warrior before he passed away and turned to Undeath."

    Dave gulped. ¡¯Dog, a legendary warrior?¡¯

    "What do you mean by a legendary creature?" Dave asked.

    The Tengu stopped causing the others to halt also.

    "It¡¯s better to show you." The tengu said and sat down crossed legs.

    He mmed both palms together in a prayer form and said, "Sit in front of me."

    Dave sat in front of the Tengu while holding Onixya in his arms.

    The tengu raised on hand up and chopped toward Dave¡¯s head. The moment the Tengu¡¯s hand reached Dave, this one¡¯s vision turned dark, and he was looking at a different scenery.

    Dave was floating above the Undead Ascension arena. And right under him was the square stone tform. There was no one else but Dave in the undead ascension arena. But a few momentster, hundreds then thousands of undead spawned into the arena¡¯s chairs.

    Two gouts of ck smoke materialized in the arena, and they reformed the Tengu and the duhan.

    A loud ¡¯Fight¡¯ echoed through the arena, signaling the start of the fight.

    However, neither of the two moved a muscle. The Tengu was crossing his arms and gazing at the duhan.

    Dog had his bone-il strapped to his waist, noticing that the tengu didn¡¯t have a weapon, he threw his weapon away.

    "Oh, honorable warrior. I would advise you to use your weapon." The tengu said.

    Dog however shrugged, he didn¡¯t seem interested in fighting an unarmed person while he was armed. He kept holding his head protectively and gazing at the tengu, waiting for him to make the first move.

    The blue hue of undeath in the tengu¡¯s eyes shone brightly. Then the tengu disappeared from his position. He was so fast that his movement looked like he blinked. The tengu appeared in front of Dog, his hand raised up and chopping down like a sharp de.

    Dave remembered that the tengu used only his hand to split theke. So in all honesty, the tengu¡¯s hand was like a sword, and Dog had no weapon.

    Yet, Dog was unfaltering, he sidestepped the hand chop and punched with his free hand toward the tengu. The tengu managed to duck under the punch and sh up with his hand again.

    Dog raised his foot, blocking the hand with the sole of his shoo, he used the tengu¡¯s strength to backflip away from him.

    "Holy fuck, Dog knows Kung-Fu?!" Davemented on the scene. The two of them were just testing waters.

    "Not bad, headless warrior. How about your use your weapon? I find it unfair to fight you, my hand alone is as sharp as a sword," The tengu said.

    Dog, however, didn¡¯tply. He grabbed his head with both his hands and ced it over his shoulder. After a few twists, the head was fixed in ce.

    Dog raised both his fists forward and stood in a boxer¡¯s form.

    ¡¯He can do boxing now?¡¯

    The tengu rushed toward Dog and sliced at his ribs. Dog dropped his elbow on the tengu¡¯s extended hand, forcing it out of trajectory and sent a curving blow to the tengu¡¯s face with his other hand. The attack was so sudden and so fast that it left both the tengu and Dave bbergasted.

    Dog swung his left leg to the tengu¡¯s nk. The red-faced creature blocked it with his arm, but he failed to see an iing head-butt that dropped him on his back.

    "You¡¯re quite good at hand to handbat." The tengu said after wiping some blood off his nose.

    The tengu began forming ninja-seals and summoned five fireballs. This was the [Dragon Ball] skill.

    The tengu pointed at Dog and the fireballs coursed toward him like meteors.

    Dog slid his leg on the stone floor and smashed his fist down on the pavement. The floor cracked as thousands of rock pieces blew up in the air.

    The fireballs smashed into the flying rocks and exploded before reaching Dog. The duhan used the distraction of dust and fire to approach the tengu.

    ¡¯Is he crazy, he¡¯s going right through the fire.¡¯

    Dog appeared right in front of the unaware tengu, with a fist that punched directly into the tall nose¡¯s stomach.

    The tengu spat out a load of blood, but still sliced at dog¡¯s neck.

    The attacknded and decapitated Dog, but he was a duhan, to begin with. But due to the head being separated from the body, dog was disoriented. His head was on the ground and looking at the opposite direction of his body.

    Dog¡¯s body was standing, lost, and unable to locate the head.

    "This is the end, headless warrior. Thou who dare desecrate thisnd..." the tengu muttered as he took an Iaido-stance. He didn¡¯t have a sword, but his hand was more than enough to split a mountain.

    "With my advent, Iy waste to your defilement! ZAN!" the tengu shouted.

    His hand blurred and returned to its former position.

    The tengu aimed his skill into Dog¡¯s body. If it touches him, he will be split in half and instantly executed.

    Yet Dog was not one to go down that easily. He ordered his body to jump away from his position. The arena floor and the entirety of the arena, even some of the audience was split in half. The stage split in half, like a lemon cut in two, one side slid off the other. A secondter, the two halves merged back together.

    But Dog was safe.

    "You should¡¯ve aimed for the head," Dave said.

    If the tengu aimed for dog¡¯s head, that would have instantly been his victory.

    The tengu, having realized this mistake repeated his action again. This time he was aiming for the head. Yet Dog must have realized the position of the tengu from his recent attack. He ordered his body to charge at the tengu¡¯s location.

    Luckily enough, the body managed to force the tengu away from his iaido-stance.

    ¡¯What is dog doing?" Dave wondered. He saw that he was actually licking? The floor.

    Dave didn¡¯t understand what was going on until he saw a spread of ck sigils on the floor.

    Suddenly, Dog¡¯s basilisk emerged into the arena. When the basilisk saw Dog¡¯s situation, it immediately understood what it had to do. He grabbed Dog¡¯s head by his teeth and turned him toward the tengu. Now, Dog was able to see both his body and the tengu fighting.

    Dog¡¯s body began hammering the tengu with continuous attacks, forcing him to move back.

    The tengu shouted, and a burst of wind pushed away the body. Then the tengu pped his wings and flew up. the dark sky of the underworld darkened further, and more clouds gathered above the arena.

    Then, hundreds and thousands of ck feathers began shooting down like bullets.

    Dog¡¯s body began doing summersaults flipping backward from the rain of feathers. He kept backflipping until he reached his weapon.

    ¡¯Guess he had enough with the tengu using all those skills.¡¯

    Dog whipped his bone-il into the air changing its form to the whip form. Then he began whirling and whipping the air with it, creating a barrier that blocked all the feathers that rained down on him.

    The feather rain stopped, but the tengu had the upper ground. He was flying high up in the air and Dog was a sitting duck for the tengu.

    Dog swung his bone-il toward the tengu, but the red-faced creature was too far away from the reach of the bone-il.

    The tengu began creating more fireballs and shot them at Dong¡¯s head.

    The basilisk swallowed dog¡¯s head and curled onto itself. It received the explosive fireballs but still protected dog¡¯s head from the damage.

    Soon after the basilisk opened its mouth, and shot its tong like a whip toward the tengu. A chameleon can shoot its tongue at a 60 miles per hour, but a basilisk was much faster. Yet, Dave knew that the distance between the basilisk and the tengu was still too far from the basilisk¡¯s tongue to reach. However, it seemed that the basilisk had no intention of attacking the tengu with its tongue.

    At the tip of the basilisk¡¯s tongue was Dog¡¯s head. He used the basilisk¡¯s tongue like a spring and shot his own head like a bullet toward the tengu.

    The tengu was about to dodge, but Dave saw something unusual. Dog¡¯s usually blue eyes had changed to bright golden. It was the same color as the basilisk¡¯s eyes. The tengu jerked in mid-air, one of his wings began turning to stone. And this wing was the same wing Dong¡¯s head was heading toward.

    The head and the wing crashed into each other, and the tengu was now missing a wing. Dog¡¯s head fell to the ground, but it was caught by the basilisk as it shot its tongue again to catch it. But the tengu was unable to bnce itself with a missing wing and crashed into the ground.

    Dog¡¯s body came running toward his head and ced it back on. Then he turned toward the tengu and waited for him to stand up.

    The two began running toward each other. Dog was now wielding his weapon. It seemed that he had enough ying. The tengu sliced at Dog, and dog dodged and retaliated.

    The battle changed to a slug-fight. Weapon and fists shed against each other. The two fought like there was no tomorrow; they fought, disregarding any measures of safety or caution.

    The tengu used spells, and Dog smashed them all with his bone club. The tengu tries to cut Dog in half, but he was always stopped, either by Dog¡¯s club, or the basilisk that periodically used [Petrifying Gaze].

    The fight soon turned to Dog¡¯s favor as the tengu became more and more battered. His left hand was shattered after being turned to stone. And his right leg was fractured from being struck directly by Dog¡¯s bone-il.

    Dog was not better off. Most of his armor was cut in several ces and had his bone-il split in half.

    Dog and the tengu faced each other in a gruesome encounter.

    The tengu drew his hand again; this time he ced it like if he was about to draw a sword. Wind gathered like a twister and shaped itself into a long katana under the tengu¡¯s nk.

    "This is my ultimate move, do you dare to face it?!" the tengu shouted.

    Dog rxed his posture and stood straight up. Suddenly a gigantic hue began materializing behind him. It was like the silhouette of a man, it had a golden glow, but it was unfocused and unclear.

    Dave¡¯s skin began crawling. He knew what this was.

    But before the tengu could release his skill, a gigantic golden armored fist materialized right above the tengu and came crashing down on him. Right then, Dave¡¯s vision swam, and he was back into the wilds.

    Dave hastily stood up, his eyes wide open.

    "Y-you said Dog was a legendary creature?!"

    "Yes, that skill, I had never seen it before I assumed he was a legendary creature."

    "No, you couldn¡¯t be more mistaken." Dave said, he didn¡¯t want to even utter the following words, "Dog is not a legendary warrior...it¡¯s much more fearsome than that. Dog was the former wielder of the God of War legacy! The legacy that is currently owned by the Devastator¡¯s Guildmaster! Warlord¡¯s legacy!"

 Chapter 320 Roller Derby of Death!

    "I do not know of this Warlord, but if he and your duhan share the same power, then he must be a strong warrior," The tengu said.

    "Yeah, well I kinda beaten him once. It was a cheap shot though," Dave said in a chuckle.

    "All is fair in war, a victory is a victory no matter the means. Honor is worthless to the dead, well...not us," The tengu said and stood up from his seated position.

    "Alright lets keep going, I think there are some monsters a few miles away from here," Dave pointed toward the forest of the wilds.

    "As youmand." Replied the tengu and the whole group followed after Dave.

    Dave began ying with Onixya in his arms then he heard Spark asking the tengu a question.

    "Lord Tengu," Spark spoke up.

    "Yes, fire mage," the tengu replied.

    "How did you share your memory withmander Kis¡¯Shtiengbrah? I have never seen such magic." The undead pyromancer asked in curiosity.

    "That is not magic, that is the Binding of the Spirit. I can use Spirit to delve into my mind and share it with others."

    "I see. Then can you delve into other¡¯s mind and seek the locked memories within it?" Spark asked with sparkly eyes.

    "If the other party is willing, then I can, but why are you asking such a question?" the tengu asked.

    "I feel that Dog has a strange past this could helpmander Kis¡¯Shtiengbrah uncover his past and know his true identity. Perhaps knowing who Dog was before he died will helpmander know him more and use his power better," Spark said giving a good argument.

    "I am proficient in Spirit, and I see that you are telling half the truth. What is the reason behind these questions, fire mage?" the tengu asked.

    Spark smiled and said, "Since the day I gained my sentience, I have been seeing visions of an old past. It was a mix of fire and destruction. And I was the one wielding such power."

    "So you wish to know your past."

    "Yes. I will allow you to seek the mysteries and secrets in my mind lord tengu, willingly if you could dig what is hidden behind the shackles caused by my death."

    "You should probably leave your past alone," Dave said. He was carrying Onixya high up and swinging her left and right. The small dragon was happily pping its little undeveloped wings. She thought she was flying.

    "No good ever came from looking into the past, Spark," Dave said.

    "You are right. Then I will not look into it," Spark said, there was a bit of disappointment in his voice.

    Dave sighed and brought the dragon back into his arms. He turned to Spark and said, "You don¡¯t understand spark. I¡¯m not ordering you not to look into your past. It is but advice. Take it or leave it, that remains your own choice."

    "Right."

    Dave was sure that Spark didn¡¯t understand, so he tried exining again, "I¡¯m not here to oppress you, if you have a conviction, then go through it. If you know you will reach a goal or that what you believe in is right, then you can seek it even if it means crossing me. Your thoughts are your own, you are of the legion, but you are still free."

    "Very wellmander, then I still wish to know my past," Spark said.

    "Welp, that¡¯s good and all, wish you the best. But you¡¯re not supposed to ask that from me," Dave pointed Onixya toward the tengu and said, "You ask him. He is the voodoo guy!" Dave turned and kept walking into the wilds.

    "Very well, I can help you, but you must wait for a while. The energy required to do this ritual is sacred, and I can only do it once every fortnight," the tengu said.

    "It¡¯s alright. I don¡¯t mind. Time is an estranged concept to us undead," Spark said.

    "Guys, if you had enough fun, I suppose you should get ready. There¡¯s a monstering here," Dave shouted.

    Singund, Tengu, and Spark drew their weapons, (and staff) readying up for the fight.

    Onixya hopped on top of Dave¡¯s head and began growling.

    "Hey, if things get dangerous you¡¯ll have to hide okay?"

    The small dragon tilted her head at Dave, not understanding what he meant.

    Dave shook his head and said, "It¡¯s alright. Just hold on tight to my helmet."

    This part, the dragon seemed to understand as she braced herself on Dave¡¯s helmet.

    The foliage on one side of the forest parted, and the narrow snout of a creature emerged, followed by a pudgy rounded form covered in spines. It looked like a ck hedgehog, but it was easily twice Grumpy¡¯s size. It looked at them in mild confusion and curiosity, wondering why anything would get in the way of its daily peregrinations.

    "Ah shit, it¡¯s this guy again," Dave remembered the hedgehog with the weird name. He inspected it again just to make sure it was the same guy fromst time.

    Atelerix spinpis giganticus (giant stone-spined hedgehog, mutated)

    Level: 550

    Base damage: 205,000-300,000

    HP: 5,500,000

    DN: 130,000

    MA: 150,000

    Skills:

    [Roller Derby of Death] curls into a ball and power spins forward doing 200% base damage and inflicting a 20 second Bleed effect for 1% of the target¡¯s maximum HP per second.

    [Make it Rain] sts a circr area around itself with quills in a 10 meter radius, each quill does 5% of Base damage.

    Bestiary

    A harmless creature of the wilds that was mutated into this abhorrent form by the maleficent magic saturating the Wilds. While these giant spines covered monsters do not hunt prey or seek out conflict, they are temperamental and easily annoyed.

    ***

    "Yep, that¡¯s him alright. Guys, ready up!" Dave pulled his shield forward and held it in front of him.

    He had already bought a Doom Knight¡¯s Tower Shield and a Doom Knight¡¯s Bastard Sword. These weapons were a notch above the Death Knight¡¯s mberge and Tower Shield. He had yet to inspect them though and wanted to test them out first.

    The bastard Sword was mighty andrge. It was wide at the base and grew thinner the closer it got to the tip of the sword. It was weighty and sharp.

    The tower shield was rectangr with spikes at the bottom. Most likely to gain poise when it is dug into the ground.

    The hedgehog rolled onto itself and began power-rolling, creating a rooster tail of dust behind it. Then it burst from its position, smashing down trees, bushes, and boulders. Anything that stood between the hedgehog and Dave¡¯s party was turned to a skewered mush.

    Dave raised his tower shield and smashed it down into the dirt. The spikes dug easily into the wild¡¯s ground and made the shield firm and sturdy as a stone and brick wall.

    Dave had activated [Block] and shouted, "Onixya, stay low!"

    The small ck dragon climbed down from Dave¡¯s helmet and hid behind his leg.

    Dave used his shoulder to reinforce the shield and clenched his teeth, waiting for impact.

    The rolling hedgehog spun until he reached Dave and crashed into him, creating a loud explosive sound. But Dave¡¯s firm footing didn¡¯t even move. While the hedgehog kept spinning against the tower shield creating sparks that red into the Wilds.

    The hedgehog soon stopped power-rolling, then it stood up looking at Dave.

    "What?" Dave said to the confused hedgehog. He then tapped on his shield, saying, "This thing is supa strong, you gonna have to spin way more than that if you wanna move it."

    The hedgehog became annoyed. It readied up to spin another time, but it failed to see the broad smile on Dave¡¯s face.

    All of this talk was actually just Dave taunting the hedgehog for the Tengu to prepare his ultimate move.

    "ZAN!"

    The word was uttered, and the wilds began splitting in two. The hedgehog was directly in the line of fire, but something wasn¡¯t right, the hedgehog seemedpletely fine.

    The two cut dimensions returned to their former state. But the hedgehog remained standing, uncut in two.

    "What¡¯s wrong, tengu?"

    "It seems that bing an Undead has severely limited my power."

    "So it didn¡¯t work? You couldn¡¯t cut him down?"

    "No, he was cut actually," the tengu said. "Just notpletely." Just as the tengu finished his words

    The hedgehog¡¯s back gushed out a fountain of blood. An enormous ghastly wound began shaping across his spiky back.

    The hedgehog began screaming in pain. Then it curled on itself. Its spines grewrger. Then the hedgehog began spinning around itself sideways picking up a lot of dust in the process. The spikes on it began shooting all over the area like a Gatling gun going high wire.

    Dave grabbed Onixya and ducked next to a boulder, while the tengu, sliced and shed at the iing spikes.

    Spark created a barrier of mes around him that ate through the spikes while Singund... Well, Singund was skewered with several of the spikes. It didn¡¯t prove a hindrance to the orc in any way. He began regenerating his HP in seconds.

    Dave stood back up. Thankfully he was quick in thinking. The rock he hid next to was impaled with a dozen spikes at least.

    Dave¡¯s block was on cooldown, and he didn¡¯t have any skill to protect both himself and Onixya. The boulder proved a good assistance in this matter.

    The dust cleared up, revealing the entirety of the area they fought in covered in spikes. But the assant was nowhere to be found.

    "It had left the moment it attacked; it must have sensed danger. What a smart creature," the tengu said.

    "Ah, damn, it would have gotten me a good chunk of EXP. Alright, let¡¯s look for another," Dave had to give up. By the speed the hedgehog moved at when power-rolling, not even Spike could catch up to it if the hedgehog decides to run away.

    But Onixya had something else in mind, it bit on Dave¡¯s beard and began tugging on it.

    "Yes, what¡¯s the matter?"

    The small dragon squealed in a low tone and sniffed at the air. Then began squeaking while pointing with its nose in a certain direction.

    "I think your dragon can smell the prey even if it¡¯s far away." The tengu said.

    "Yeah, but the hedgehog is fast, it can just run away when we meet it again."

    "Let¡¯s hunt it down. I dislike being attacked without attacking back!" Singund said in a roar.

    "The orc is right. We should hunt it down. I had heavily wounded it. It should exhaust itself soon and look for a ce to hide and recover," the tengu said.

    "Whatever you say," Dave shrugged and added, "let¡¯s keep going then."

 Chapter 321 Tech-Inpu

    Back in the Capital of the Western Kingdom, at the Devastator¡¯s HQ, Warlord and Valentine were walking rapidly through the corridors of the royal pce.

    "What¡¯s the status?" Warlord asked hastily.

    "Seven cities in three days. The Eastern Kingdom took three from the Blood Ragers and four from Heaven¡¯s Dawn." Valentine said.

    "Then why the hell are they calling for a meeting, shouldn¡¯t they be trying to get their damned territory back?!" Warlord said through grit teeth.

    The two of them arrived at a closed-door, Warlord shoved it open. It was the conference room, and there were many yers sitting around a round table waiting for him.

    "Warlord, you¡¯rete!" Zhang Shi said. He was sitting at the furthest seat from the door and looked at Warlord with displeasure.

    "You don¡¯t get to tell me where toe and go, especially if you¡¯re in my capital. Now, what the fuck do you all want from me? Shouldn¡¯t you be holding off the invaders?" Warlord asked.

    Demetri, seemingly extremely annoyed and angry, said, "To be honest, I really don¡¯t give a fuck about what happens to the north or south, but I need to take the east no matter what. But if the north and south fall, that will make it an impossibility for me to capture the east for myself." Demetri spoke.

    "So you want me to help Heaven Dawn and Blood Rage to block the eastern invasion?" Warlord said.

    "Yes, your country is situated in the west, it¡¯s the opposite direction from the eastern kingdom. You are currently safe from aggression of the east. And while these two super guilds are losing forces, you are gaining strength," Demetri said.

    "Exactly, you said it yourself, my guild is gaining strength while the other two are wakening, so why should I change that?" Warlord said. His word implied that he was not interested in the least bit of assisting the other super guilds. Even if they had partied in raiding the east, that never made them allies.

    "Warlord," the white ghost spoke.

    Of all the people in the room, Warlord respected the White Ghost the most, he was a genius strategist, and his achievements were amazing. Thest of was the White Ghost¡¯s retreat n from the wilds when the dragon was chasing them.

    He had prepared a dozen mount of extreme speed that he used to save the super guild leaders and escape the dragon hunt. This achievement gained him the appreciation of many high-profile yers.

    "What is it, White Ghost?" Warlord calmly asked.

    "I don¡¯t want to sound like a prick, but hear me out. The power struggle between the three super guilds had been going on an equal footing for a long time. But now, your guild is leading the superiority, and that is not a good thing, especially for you."

    Warlord frowned, he didn¡¯t know where White Ghost was going with his words.

    Seemingly understanding the underlying threat behind the White Ghost¡¯s words, Valentine spoke up, "I suppose you mean that after the even of the Eastern Raid is over your super guild will join hands with the Blood Ragers, right?"

    White Ghost sighed and said, "As much as I dislike the idea of asking for help from the Blood Ragers, if the scenarioes to it, and both our guilds suffer massive losses at the hands of the Eastern kingdom, we will do our best to revert the situation and force the Devastators back to our level of power."

    Warlord became incensed. This was tant arm-twisting of forcing the Devastators to help in the survival of the two other nations.

    But before Warlord could speak his mind, Valentine calmed him down by patting him on the shoulder, "We will aid you, but not for free. We will be taking 20% of the drops you will obtain from repelling the east and our forces will get to keep all their loot."

    "I don¡¯t mind," Zhang Shi said.

    "Neither do we," The white ghost said after nodding to Wan Yi.

    "Once our troops are back from Limbo, I will order their march to the North and South. You will be responsible over the maintenance of their equipment and their potions and supplies," Valentine said.

    "We don¡¯t mind. We just need to force back the Eastern Kingdom for now. Thank you for your cooperation," the white ghost said and then teleported out from the conference room.

    The rest of the yers followed suit, leaving Warlord and Valentine alone in the conference room.

    "Shit, this is fucking absurd," Warlord spoke through grit teeth.

    "We don¡¯t have a choice Warlord. We can¡¯t take on two super-guilds alone. We¡¯ll just have to suck it up for now." Valentine said. He too wasn¡¯t too thrilled with the situation. And the angriest of all was Demetri, his attempt at taking the east backfired and caused a lot of problems. Enough problems that they will re-shape the game-world of Conquest.

    Somewhere deep into the northern mountains, a ranger was climbing one of the highest peaks of the area.

    This ranger had blue leather armor, and a white fur-coat to camouge him in the icy mountains.

    Receiving a voice call, the ranger stopped mid-climb and answered, "Yeah, what¡¯s up Bell?" the ranger asked.

    "Yo, Jeffry. I found one of the runes you were looking for in the market. It cost me an arm and a leg to buy it, but man, why do you need such a useless rune?" the caller named Bell asked.

    "I told you, man. I have a feeling that those runes have something special in them. I¡¯m very close to finding thest one," Jeffery said.

    "Welp, whatever you say, man. I¡¯ll do some hunting for now. Call me when you¡¯re done." Bell said and hung up.

    Jeffry nodded and continued climbing. After a while, he arrived in the edge of the cliff he was on and climbed up. He was met with arge t clearing of ice and rocks. At the center of this clearing a was a cylindrical boulder that ice never gathered on.

    "Yes, it¡¯s here," Jeffry said.

    He hastily ran toward the cylindrical boulder and stopped when he was in front of it. He then began moving around the stone while feeling it with his hands. As if searching for something.

    "That¡¯s it," Jeffery said to himself. He had found few dents in the boulder that were shaped to the Star of David.

    Jeffery pulled out a simrly shaped item and inputted it into the dents. He then began twisting the star into the indentations. It moved like a vault¡¯s lock. After a few clicks, the round stone shone bright, and then the light dimmed down.

    "Hmm, not working, did I mess something up?" Jeffery asked himself.

    He then pulled out an old parchment from his inventory and began reading through it.

    ***

    Quest item: Lost Knowledge Diagram of the Gnomes.

    XXVII- Activation code 2-6-1 (Completed)

    XXIX- Activation code 3-6-1 (Completed)

    XXVIV Activation code 3-2-3 (Completed)

    XVXIV Activation code 3-2-6 (Ongoing)

    XXXXX (Missing) No activation code Needed.

    ***

    "Ah, stupid me, it¡¯s six spins to the left." Jeffery facepalmed himself, then repeated the process.

    This time, when thest tick was heard, the stone boulder shone brightly, then began cracking and shattering. A powerful light came out from the inside of the boulder that forced Jeffery to cover his eyes. Then the whole boulder turned to fleeting dust, and all that remained was a metallic carving of a strange rune.

    "Found it, now this makes five with the rune Bell found in the market that¡¯s a full set."

    Jeffery called his friend, "Yo, I found thest one. Where you at?"

    "That fast? Man, I just got invited to a party, hurry up, man. I¡¯m still in the northern capital."

    "Alright, I¡¯ll be there in a second," Jeffery said and tore his teleportation scroll.

    He appeared into a frigid city of the north. The shops and houses were coated white with snow, but people didn¡¯t seem to be bothered with the cold. They wore thick coats and moved about doing their daily business. yers were buying supplies, and anti-cold equipment or potions then moved out of the city to hunt and Level Up.

    Jeffery followed the marker location of Bell and found him at the gate entrance of the city. He was a bard and looked flustered.

    A few adventurers were next to him, they were urging Bell to go and hunt, but he kept asking them to wait for his friend.

    "Here he is, I¡¯ll just give him something, and we can go. Sorry guys!" Bell came over and handed Jeffery a metallic insignia, it looked quite simr to the rune Jeffery and just found.

    "It cost me 1,000 gold! You better pay up, man!"

    "Don¡¯t worry, I¡¯ll pay you back as soon as I can," Jeffery said.

    "C¡¯mon we need to go!" the leading swordmaster of the party shouted

    "Alright man, I¡¯m going, cyater Jeff!" Bell headed out with the party, and they left the city.

    Jeffery was left alone in the city gate. He pulled out the other runes and began inspecting them.

    "Hmm, nothing is going on, perhaps I need to equip them."

    Jeffery then began socketing the runes into his armor. And after inserting thest one, the runes shone brightly, and a notification showed up in front of him.

    ***

    You havepleted the quest:

    Lost Knowledge Diagram!

    The runes have joined to show you the knowledge of the gnomes.

    You have obtained a Gnome Rted Skill [X-V-17]

    Using the skill will initiate a new event!

    ***

    "Oh, I knew this was worth the trouble," Jeffery smiled to himself.

    He activated the skill with the weird name.

    Suddenly, the runes began glowing, and then they morphed. The runes grewrger and became like steel tes and rapidly covered the body of Jeffery like an iron-man suit.

    Then, the iron over the yer grewrger and wider until he became a mecha-robot. Arge saber materialized behind him and a metallic crossbow formed on his left arm.

    "HOLY SHIT!" Jeffery shouted. He was now wearing a Mecha-suit.

    Suddenly another notification showed up in front of him.

    ***

    Conquest Server Announcement!

    yer Jeffery has sessfully unlocked the hidden expansion:

    Age of the Machine!

    New sses update!

    Two new sses have been added to the game:

    The Mechanist

    The Gunner!

    Read through our forums to know more about these two new sses!

    Gnome Ruins!

    In various ces of the world of conquest, you can find Gnome ruins that hold ancient history and technology. You can explore such ruins to find arms and material to craft them and diagrams to create technologies to improve upon your gaming experience!

    ***

    "Okay, now that¡¯s dope!" said Jeffery in his mecha suit, standing like a sore thumb in the middle of a city filled with gawking yers.

 Chapter 322 Confrontation

    Dave had just finished off the giant hedgehog with thepany of his undead when the notification of the Age of the Machine Expansion popped in front of him.

    Reading through the new Server Announcement Notification, Davemented to himself, ¡¯Huh, so it¡¯s robots and guns now. That¡¯s going to change stuff.¡¯

    Dave waved away the notification and went to loot the hedgehog.

    ***

    Bone-Leather X 1 (Perfect Condition)

    Atelerix spinpis giganticus ws X 12

    Atelerix spinpis giganticus Fangs X 5

    Thorn-Mail [Armor] Blueprint

    ***

    "Oh, another Blue-Print. I wonder if Lone had finished making the Shadow-Set and the Crystal Set I got from the Underworld." Dave took the blue-print and read through it.

    ***

    To create the [Thorn-mail] armor, you will need

    Atelerix spinpis giganticus ws X 12

    Atelerix spinpis giganticus Fangs X 5

    Pronged Forest Fiend Horns X1

    Man-Eating Spider silk X 20

    Adamantine Fment X 10

    ***

    "Hmm, this one is easy to make," Dave said to himself and ced the blueprint in his inventory.

    "Alright, let¡¯s keep going," Dave said to his party.

    Onixya came out from behind a tree and jumped on Dave¡¯s back then hopped to his head.

    ¡¯Is it just me, or did Onixya grew heavier.¡¯ Dave thought to himself as he looked up, the small dragon was looking back at him from on top of his helmet. She was wagging her tail and squeaking jubntly at Dave.

    Dave patted the dragon and moved to revive the hedgehog. Sadly, it failed again.

    He ignored the carcass and continued moving deeper into the Wilds.

    Singund sniffed at the air with his pig-nose and said, "Commander, I sense a few of my family members nearby. Could we head toward them?"

    "Yeah, why not," Dave shrugged. If the orcs acted unrulily, well, there was a lot of spare ces in Dave¡¯s army.

    The four of them headed to the south. After half an hour walk, they arrived at a small High-Orc Tribe. There were several orc-guards that patrolled the area around the tribe.

    When they spotted Dave, they readied up for battle, but after seeing the fully armored Death Knight Singund, the High-Orcs became confused.

    "Drop your weapons, you can¡¯t win this fight," Singund spoke.

    "That¡¯s the voice of our former leader! The conqueror lives?!" one of the guards spoke unbelieving his own words.

    "No, I saw him die at the hands of that human assassin, don¡¯t be a fool, this must be some magic to fool us! Call aid!" The second Orc spoke.

    The other orc grabbed a horn that was strapped to his waist and blew on it. A few momentster, a few dozen orcs emerged from the forest and surrounded Dave and co.

    Dave shook his head, "You said you wanted to see your family. Apparently, they don¡¯t."

    "Worry not Commander," Singund said.

    He then roared loud enough that it made the orcs surrounding Dave shudder and shake in their boots.

    Some of them dropped their weapons, and the rest retreated a few steps away.

    "T-that¡¯s the chieftain¡¯s roar! There is no doubt! This is lord Singund!" The orc holding the horn said.

    "Yes, yes. Now step aside," Dave gestured the orcs to move away from his path.

    "What business do you have here undead?!" an orc, clearly not knowing the hierarchy between Dave and his Death Knights asked in a threatening tone.

    "Singund here said he wanted to see his family and see if your current leader is worthy of leading this tribe. I¡¯m here to witness that. Now, you should probably step aside before I get cranky."

    The orc was not a smart race, to begin with, so the pig-snouted creature pointed his cleaver at Dave and said, "You¡¯ll die the moment you take a step forward!"

    But just as he finished his words, Singund had already moved in-front of Dave and sliced down with his mberge down the orc¡¯s extended arm. The loud tearing of flesh and bone echoed through the wilds.

    Every orc in the vicinity quieted down with the sole exception of the orc that was squealing like a pig from his cut-off arm.

    "Don¡¯t you dare point your weapon at themander!" Singund spoke every word in hatred.

    The high-orcs retreated even further. They were at a loss, they as a race never bowed their head to anyone. This was especially so for their former leader, Singund. But now, he was serving an undead? This was too much for their tiny brains to process.

    A shaman orc arrivedte to the party and asked in a calm tone. "What¡¯s going on here?"

    Turning to the shaman, the rest of the orc warriors retreated behind him. The shaman noticed the orc with the missing limb and said, "Lord Singund. I see that you turned against your kin."

    "I did not turn against my kin. I only despise weakness and idiocy," Singund replied as he swung his sword down, sttering the orc-blood stuck on the de onto the ground.

    "And how does being weak or an idiot trante into cutting off the arm of one of my warriors?"

    "He dared point his weapon at someone that is much stronger than him. Isn¡¯t that weakness and stupidity?"

    "How would I know if he is strong if I didn¡¯t fight him," the orc with the missing hand said through grit teeth.

    "Simple, you would notice that I respectfully stood behind him this whole time. You know me best, do you think I will bow down to anyone that is weaker than me?!"

    "No," no said the orc.

    "Then, if you know that fact. Why didn¡¯t you respect the strong and gave him a path? We orcs respect strength! I have led you with one purpose, to thrive and use your might to rule these wilds. But you are throwing your life away by challenging the mighty. That is idiocy I did not encourage!"

    "But lord Cagan is urging us to fight the mighty to be stronger and challenge ourselves!"

    "Cagan? He still lives?" Singund asked.

    "Yes, after the defeat at the hands of the humans, Cagan had challenged all the tribe leaders and emerged victorious. He is now the leader of the high-orcs," the shaman replied.

    Singund turned to Dave and said, "Lordmander. Can I please go and meet with Cagan?"

    "Suit yourself, I¡¯ll be hunting around these areas," Dave shrugged.

    Singuned walked into the tribe, and the rest of the orcs followed after him.

    "Warrior of the dead, why did you allow him to leave?" the tengu asked.

    "As I said before, everyone has their own free will here. As long as you don¡¯t affect me or the legion, you are allowed to do whatever you wish."

    "I see, then can I ask you to leave? I wish to see my students, and perhaps I can calm their rage." The tengu asked.

    "As I said, do whatever you want, but if I need you, I¡¯ll summon you."

    "As you wish," the tengu said.

    "Wait! I would like toe with you. I saw strange magic writings in the Strom Labyrinth. I would like to see it again. Perhaps I can uncover some eldritch truths," Spark said.

    "Yeah, yeah, just go." Dave shrugged.

    Dave was left alone this time. Just a few hours ago everyone wanted toe with him, and now they all left to do their thing. He didn¡¯t care though. He was the one who told them they were free to do what they wanted.

    "Okay, guess it¡¯s you and me Onixya."

    Onixya rubbed her head into Dave¡¯s and squeaked in eptance. Suddenly, Onixya¡¯s stomach began growling.

    "Didn¡¯t you just eat?" Dave tilted his head.

    The small dragon seemed to have a big appetite.

    Dave rubbed Onixya¡¯s head and said, "Let¡¯s find you something to eat then. You can use the meat and the EXP."

    Dave turned away from the tribe and began walking in another random direction.

    But he soon stopped and sighed, "Show yourself. I know you¡¯re here."

    "Impressive! Your instincts are as sharp as always!"

    Dave looked up, Leonard was prowling on all four on top of a tree branch.

    "Well, I guess its about time we end this. And I had a skill I wanted to use for a while now."

    Leonard ignored Dave¡¯s snarky remark and jumped from his perch atop the tree. His gigantic dagger pointed at Dave¡¯s chest.

    Dave took a deep breath and muttered, "Final Phantasm..."

 Chapter 323 Final Phantasm.

    The atmosphere turned eerie dark, and Leonard froze mid-flight. The trees stopped moving, and the howling of the wind quieted down. Dave was stuck in position. He didn¡¯t know what was happening.

    Thunder struck, and the sky tore open, revealing a ck object that came crashing down into the ground right next to Dave.

    This object was quite familiar to Dave. It was Nick¡¯s Skull-Themed electric guitar. One of the guitar strings strung a high note. And from the guitar, an enormous wave of death magic burst out and surged across the Wilds.

    The area of 100-meter radius around the guitar began decaying. The trees withered and died, and the grass became dry then turned to dust. From all around Dave, death energy infested the forest, killing anything that had life in it.

    ***

    You have used Final Phantasm.

    You have twisted reality and changed space into that of the Undeath God¡¯s domain.

    While in the Undeath God¡¯s Domain, you receive the blessing of the Undeath God Nichs.

    All of your Undead-Rted abilities have been enhanced and improved for the duration of Final Phantasm.

    You have gained a new skill {Phantasmal Edge} usable only when [Final Phantasm] is activated.

    [Phantasmal Edge] Summons the special forces of The Undeath God Nichs to charge at the target dealing 50% of targets¡¯ current HP in true damage.

    Conditions of Use:

    Target Must not be more than 200 levels of the user.

    Target Must not be a member of the Undead Legion.

    Target Must have more than 65% of his max HP.

    Using [Phantasmal Edge] will end the skill [Final Phantasm].

    ***

    Dave immediately regained his mobility, and so did Leonard. The dagger was a few inches away from Dave, so he used [Immortal Apparition] to teleport away from the massive were-lion.

    But instead of the usual teleportation, now Dave¡¯s body was imbued with a ck shroud of shadows. He didn¡¯t teleport, but rather, he became ethereal. Leonard had dove right through Dave and out the other side.

    Dave¡¯s whole armor became shrouded in shadows. It was like a lit ck me continuously spewing out from his avatar.

    Dave turned to Leonard, ready to attack, but he became surprised the moment he saw the beast.

    Leonard¡¯s eyes were wide open. His hand began shaking uncontrobly. Shuddering, the werelion¡¯s hairs all stood up.

    Dave smiled and said, "Do you fear?" his voice became much more profound and reverberating. It was like thousands of souls were all talking at once.

    Dave ignored the frightened kitten and raised his hand, looking at it, Dave smirked saying, "Interesting."

    Leonard bit on his lip, the pain shook him out of his frightened state.

    "Petty tricks!" roared Leonard then threw a b at Dave.

    The b went right past Dave¡¯s body.

    "Guess I¡¯m immune to physical damage," Dave muttered.

    Dave stepped forward. He wanted to retaliate from the recent attack. But just as he took the first step, Dave found himself right next to Leonard. The beast in question was utterly unaware of Dave¡¯s current location.

    Dave didn¡¯t hesitate and attacked with his Doom Knight¡¯s Bastard Sword to the were-lion¡¯s nk.

    Leonard was caught entirely off-guard, he was sent sprawling on the ground. Dave then took another step; the shadows merged within him and teleported him right next to Leonard again.

    ¡¯This is dope!¡¯

    Dave struck once again, sending the lion sprawling on the ground again.

    The were-lion was shuddering, shaking and afraid. It seemed that every attack from Dave was causing Horror effect to the lion. Leonard was growling. He could not locate Dave for the life of him. His ears were perked up, and his eyes were focused, but he couldn¡¯t see the undead that was right now threatening his life.

    In all of Leonard¡¯s life, this hunt must have been the most dangerous. He never suffered as much as he is doing today. The opponent had grown stronger every time he had fought him, and now regret began oveing the proud lion. He regretted the day he didn¡¯t end the life of this person when he first met him. He regretted hisck of strength, and he regretted the most that his bones were feeling a fear he never believed he could ever feel.

    "Let¡¯s see the other skills," Dave waved his hand summoning [Spectral Skulls] yet this time, instead of eight spectral skulls, they were eight spectral skeletons. Only they were massive in size, and they shone bright blood red.

    The ethereal skeletons charged at Leonard, swords, and shields in hand and sliced at him at once. Leonard raised his curved knife to block the attack, but the skeleton¡¯s swords were ethereal and went past the curved de.

    However, when the ethereal swords touched Leonard, it was as if his very soul was ripped apart. A loud resonating howl of pain was forced out from the depth of his lungs.

    Then, the skeletons gathered around Leonard, their eyes shining bright, the spectral skeletons exploded. Sending a battered Leonard tumbling across the ash-filled ground.

    Dave switched to his infernal gauntlets then took a step forward. He appeared in the direction where Leonard was tumbling and smashed down with a fist empowered by [Dragon Fist].

    Instead of the red-infernal serpent dragon that used to be summoned whenever Dave struck in [Dragon Fist], the fist summoned a bone-dragon that smashed into Leonard.

    The bone dragon was almost physical, it caused the were-lion a massive amount of damage and at the same time applied Horror and Poison.

    Leonard sliced at Dave¡¯s chest. This time, the effect of the empowered [Immortal Apparition] had dissipated and the ck mes no longer covered him, so he took some damage.

    Yet, due to being damaged, Dave¡¯s passive [Vigorous] activated to restore 10% of his HP. Only this time, this passive was a bit too overbearing. A green value appeared on top of Dave, yet at the same time, the same amount of HP Dave had healed was deducted of Leonard¡¯s HP.

    Dave¡¯s vigorous passive turned to a life-siphoning passive.

    Leonard¡¯s HP was decreasing rapidly. It had already dropped to 80%

    "Okay, let¡¯s see this one, Defile!" Dave raised both his hands forward.

    The ground under Leonard shook and shuddered, then bones the shape of tree roots rose from underground. They wrapped around the werelion and pierced through his thick hide as if it was made of paper. Leonard¡¯s ck fur turned to the color of blood. Continuous screams of pain escaped through his bloodied mouth. But that was not over. The bones coiled even further on Leonard then began smashing him on the ground.

    Leonard¡¯s blood sprayed all over the ground dying it a crimson red. It was like the created had unlimited supplies of blood, and every one of Dave¡¯s attacks demanded tolls paid in it.

    The root then finally released Leonard to what seemed to him a small release from a torturous pain. The giant were-lion dropped to the ground. He was wheezing and bleeding all over. He still had more than 3,000,000HP, but his current state didn¡¯t look like it at all.

    "Shit man, now I¡¯m kinda feeling sorry for you...Not! [Phantasmal Edge!]"

    Dave summoned the ultimate ability of [Final Phantasma].

    Space behind Dave tore like a gateway to hell, a purple gate opened, and hordes of riders surged out from it. They were undead covered in ck mes. They looked like Dave when he was in [Immortal Apparition]. The riders rode on red undead horses that had manes made of a purple me, and their hooves shuddered the earth and left a fiery trail with every step.

    The riders charged at Leonard all at once, slicing and cutting at him as they passed him by then went to disappear. The charge continued on and on and on. Until Leonard looked like a bloodied rag. Yet, the pesky were-lion was still breathing.

    "Quite persistent," Dave smirked.

    Dave¡¯s skill [Final Phantasm] hade to an end due to him using [Phantasmal Edge] yet thanks to this broken skill, Leonard was left with a little less than 1,500,000HP.

    Dave wasn¡¯t about to let the Lion escape. He had suffered long under him. He used [Advancing Dragon] and charged at the barely standing Leonard.

    The were-lion raised his dagger and struck down at Dave, but Dave easily dodged to the side thanks to the AI-Guided [Advancing Dragon] right as he dodged, Dave mmed his right leg into Leonard¡¯s Stomach and twirled into [Infernal Tornado]. The lion was sent tumbling again.

    Dave jumped up and came down at Leonard in a leg-chop. But the lion was not going to be Dave¡¯s punching bag for long, he side-stepped the attack and shed down with his own ws at Dave tearing a good chunk of his HP.

    Dave and Leonard started a slug-fest. Taking damage and dealing damage to each other. Blood spewed out from the lion, while ck ichor poured out of Dave¡¯s wounds.

    Leonard took advantage on a misstep Davemitted and dug his dagger deep into Dave¡¯s neck, yet the undead don¡¯t bleed.

    Dave grabbed onto Leonard¡¯srge arm and smiled, "Have you ever seen the Devil?" Dave said in a snark.

    The were-lion was in too much pain to care for Dave¡¯s words, but he still felt a tinge of fear as to why the lich was grabbing tightly at him.

    Yet before he could understand the reason behind it, he saw the glowing blue hue of Dave¡¯s eyes turning to a crimson red. Yellow cat-like irises emerged into his eye sockets and two horns grew on his forehead.

    Dave¡¯s body began growing. He had already activated [Zealot] and [Chaos Imbnce] coupled with [Demonic Ascension]

    Leonard¡¯s body started shaking uncontrobly. His veins pumped more and more blood out of his wounds. It was as if Dave¡¯s current state was demanding Leonard¡¯s very blood to pay homage to it.

    Demonic Ascension called the blood inside Leonard¡¯s body. It called his soul and life.

    Dave¡¯s avatar began growing at a noticeable rate. He who was several feet smaller than Leonard began growingrger to match Leonard¡¯s size. Dave forcefully pulled Leonard¡¯s arm away from his neck. Leonard then swung with his other hand at Dave, but the demonic transformed lich easily grabbed it. Dave twisted both his hands causing Leonard¡¯s arm-joints to snap.

    Then he headbutted him with the enormous horns growing out of his forehead stunning the were-lion.

    Dave hurled Leonard in the sky and pped his wings following after. He grabbed at the were-lion in mid-air and continued flying into the air. Dave kept going up for a while, when he noticed that the lion had regained mobility, he changed direction and began descending face first.

    ¡¯I always wanted to do this!¡¯

    Dave began barrel rolling along with Leonard to cause him to lose bnce. At a certain point Dave was feeling dizzy with all the spinning, but he still kept going. Only a few meters away from the ground, Dave released the lion and sent him smashing into the ground, cratering it.

    But he, on the other hand, decided to p open his wings and fly away. Only this ended in tragic failure. Thews of Physics denied Dave of his dream to do a cargo-drop, his speed was too fast for his wings to support him and he also was smashed into the ground just a few feet away from Leonard.

    But Dave had the time to react and activated [Bastion] canceling all the damage.

    Dave stood up and went looking for the were-lion. Checking the crater, Dave frowned. There was nothing there.

    "Fuck, did he escape?" Dave wondered.

    Suddenly, something heavy dropped right next to his leg, looking at the object, it was the decapitated head of Leonard. Looking to the left, Dave saw the giant praying mantis standing there. Kurukuru was just a few meters away from the [Demonic Ascension] area of effect, and his ws were raised up and fully covered in blood.

    A string of notification began appearing in front of Dave.

 Chapter 324 Skelly Joins The War

    Dave moved the notifications away to read themter and turned to face Kurukuru.

    "Sup, big guy."

    The bug, seemingly not understanding Dave¡¯s words hissed at him. Kurukuru moved closer to the corpse and dug in it with his w.

    Dave frowned, "Hey, you took my kill, but that body is mine," Dave said.

    The bug hissed at Dave again, as if he was threatening Dave not to get any closer to the decapitated corpse of Leonard.

    ¡¯Shit, I might have to fight this guy too.¡¯ Dave thought to himself. Yet another notification appeared in front of him.

    This one, Dave, had to read because it was shing continuously.

    ***

    You have sessfullypleted the S tiered quest:

    The Hunt is on!

    You have obtained the skill [Iste] When facing single enemies, you will have a +5% increase in damage.

    ***

    "Oh, I forgot about that. But still, I need to revive the body..." Dave said.

    Kurukuru didn¡¯t care for what Dave was talking about and shoved his maw into Leonard¡¯s carcass.

    The moment Kurukuru¡¯s fangs dug into the body, the corps disappeared. Leaving only the head.

    Kurukuru pointed at the head, then pointed at Dave and disappeared.

    ***

    You have aided Kurukuru in killing Leonard. Now, he will go into hibernation to evolve into his final form.

    You currently have a friendly rtionship with Kurukuru.

    ***

    "Damn, what am I supposed to do with this head," Dave sighed and touched the head, hoping to get some sort of loot.

    Yet all he obtained was a trophy.

    "And he took the loot with him, shit." Dave became more and more annoyed. He took Leonard¡¯s head and ced it into his inventory then began checking the other notification.

    They were level up notification and questpletion. Dave had just reached level 405 after killing Leonard.

    Dave turned to see that the Undeath God¡¯s guitar was still embedded in the dirt. Onixya was right next to it, yet something seemed a bit different about the dragon. She was a bitrger than before.

    Dave inspected Onixya

    ***

    ck Dragon [Battle-Pet]

    level 75

    HP: 75,000

    MD: 25,000

    PD :25,000

    Skills:

    [Lesser Aura of Terror]

    ***

    "Oh, so you levelled up, good job," Dave patted the dragon that was clinging to his leg like a house-cat.

    Then he moved to the guitar. ¡¯Nick wouldn¡¯t just throw this around.¡¯ Dave struck one of the guitar strings, releasing a sharp sound that reverberated through the wilds. Yet nothing seemed to happen.

    "Well, if he doesn¡¯t want it, might as well..."

    Dave tried to grab the item and put it in his inventory when he heard a loud, coughing sound behind him.

    Turning, Dave had an awkward smile on his face, "Sup Nick."

    "Yeah, welp, that¡¯s mine." The undeath god said in a monotone.

    "Yeah, I thought you lost it."

    "Riiight." The undeath god said and waved a hand, the guitar dug itself out from the ground and rose in the air until it reached Nichs.

    The undeath god ced his guitar on his back and turned to Dave, saying, "Did you enjoy the power of Undeath?"

    "Yeah, was really op." Dave said, "Too bad it doesn¡¯tst as long as other legacy skills."

    The undeath god shrugged, "Longer doesn¡¯t mean more useful; it¡¯s about how you use it."

    Dave frowned, the words Nick just spoke could be interpreted in several ways, and Dave didn¡¯t want to continue on that trail of thought.

    "What have you been doingtely?" Dave asked.

    "Nothing much. It¡¯s kinda boring without you running around doing fetch quests for me," the Undeath god smiled at Dave.

    "Yeah, I knew it. You were ve-driving me all this time," Dave shook his head.

    "Anyway. The stunt you pulled this morning is going to cause you a lot of problems." Nick said as he stroked his Mohawk back.

    "What stunt?" Dave asked.

    "You killed some of the Qin kingdom soldiers. They won¡¯t let that go. Are you ready to defend Urburg from hordes of soldiers? Like I said before, Urburg was a lit ce, the concerts I held here were one of the best. And I can¡¯t have the city going to ruin again." Nick said.

    "I won¡¯t let anyone take Urburg from me. You don¡¯t have to worry about this," Dave said.

    "I¡¯ll be overseeing you defending Urburg then. Toodles!" Nick waved at Dave and disappeared along with his guitar.

    Dave was once again left with Onixya. He grabbed the dragon and began moving aimlessly in the Wilds.

    "You sure have gotten a bit heavy," Dave said in a teasing tone. But it seemed that the dragon didn¡¯t like being called fat and bit at Dave¡¯s hand.

    -1 HP

    Dave smiled and patted the dragon saying, "I¡¯m just kidding; you¡¯re perfect just the way you are."

    It seemed as if the dragon liked Dave¡¯s words, she released her jaws and began nuzzling into Dave¡¯s chest.

    Dave spent a few hours in the Wilds. He hunted a couple were-lions that continuously kept attacking him due to his Stench-Debuff. He then remembered something and called Lone.

    "Hey Davidskin, what¡¯s going on?" Lone asked.

    "Do you still have the Stench Debuff on?" Dave asked.

    "Yeah, why are you asking?"

    "Well, it¡¯s strange, normally the dragon would have smelled you from miles away. You didn¡¯t see it anywhere?"

    "Nah, the dragon never came toward us. How about you?"

    "Same, I didn¡¯t see it at all. This is strange."

    "Well, it¡¯s best if the dragon never shows up. Oh yeah, Dave, I have some news," Lone said.

    "Yeah, what¡¯s going on?"

    "Apparently, Daddy had decided to join the game."

    "What? Didn¡¯t he say he didn¡¯t enjoy the game-" but Dave trailed for a moment then facepalmed himself, "He wouldn¡¯t be joining because of the new Gunner ss?"

    "Exactly, not only that. He even dragged uncle sam with him."

    "Oh, god."

    "Yeah, and you know what¡¯s funny?

    "There¡¯s more?"

    "Yep. Apparently, Mercy¡¯s father felt a bit jealous when he knew dad¡¯s going to join the game, so he too decided to y. Dad¡¯s been bugging me about getting him some guns to y with, so if you find anything, please tell me."

    "Right. They mentioned that there were some Gnomish ruins in Conquest. Okay, if I find something I¡¯ll tell you."

    "Thanks, Davidskin!" Lone hung up.

    Dave then called Ralph.

    "Hey, man. You¡¯re still doing your legacy quests?"

    "Nah man, I had to stop. The Devastators recalled all the yers. We¡¯re having a hard time holding Ulmir¡¯s Rest."

    "Ulmir¡¯s Rest? Isn¡¯t that in the Blood Rager¡¯s territory? What are you doing all the way there?" Dave asked.

    "Well, the Ragers and Heaven¡¯s Dawn threatened to coborate and destroy the devastators if we don¡¯t help them push back the assault."

    "Meh, that¡¯s a low blow. Kinda cowardly.

    "Tell me about it. But man, I don¡¯t think we can hold for much longer. Ulmir¡¯s Rest is going to be overrun in a few hours at most. The death toll is too much, and we are forbidden from leaving our spots."

    "You mean, if you log out or teleport out you¡¯ll get punished?"

    "Not just punished, banned from the guild and treated as an enemy. Lots of yers are pissed because of this. We can¡¯t hold the east. We¡¯ll just die man."

    "Shit, this isn¡¯t cool. If you die, you¡¯ll lose two levels man," Dave said, he was feeling angry at the Devastators and the other super-guilds. They were exploiting the yers for their own benefits.

    "Not just that, man. I¡¯m at a stage of my legacy quest where I must not die." Ralph said.

    "Shit, I know that feeling man. I had to survive for a long time during my legacy quest. You know what. I¡¯ming. Wait for me." Dave said and hung up.

    Dave tore a teleportation scroll to the Blood Rager¡¯s capital.

    He arrived in the middle of a cial city. The houses were covered in snow, and the people were nowhere to be seen with the sole exception of some yers that were scurrying around the city in haste. There were also a load of low-level yers just wandering inside the town.

    One of these low-level yers in nooby clothes noticed the doom knight standing next to the teleportation gate. Shocked, the yer shouted, "Mr Skeletal!"

    Dave turned his head to see the shaking yer, then he smirked at him and beckoned him over.

    The yer looked behind him then pointed at himself in a ¡¯You mean me?¡¯ gesture.

    Dave nodded, and the yer hastily came toward Dave.

    "Y-yes," the noob yer said.

    "What¡¯s going on? Where are the NPCs?" Dave asked.

    "They are all hiding."

    "Hiding, howe?" Dave asked

    "Zhang Shi issued martialw. And all the yers need to be in the frontline."

    "Right, to fight against the east. But why are there s many low-level yers in the city? Shouldn¡¯t you all be grinding?" Dave asked.

    "We can¡¯t. With the east invading, all the low-level hunting grounds have been closed off. And we can¡¯t take the teleportation gate to safer areas until we are at least level 100." The noob yer said.

    "Even the area around the capital? The east is still too far from here."

    The noob yer shrugged, "I don¡¯t know either. I went outside the city, and all I saw were Dire-Wolves. They are level 120, and we can¡¯t take them on." The noob yer said.

    "And I suppose that there are no high-level yers nearby to power-level you right?" Dave said.

    "Yeah. It¡¯s kinda boring and unfair, you know."

    "Yeah, I know. Not being able to hunt, you¡¯ll have to wait for many days until the Eastern Raid is over. Well, I¡¯ll try to do something about it." Dave said in a smile.

    The yer didn¡¯t know what Dave was talking about for the moment, but he still said, "Thanks, Skelly. I¡¯m loving the daily Skelly adventures. I hope you keep updating."

    "Yeah, I still have a lot of content for CCN, just keep watching," Dave said and took the teleportation gate to Ulmir¡¯s Rest.

    ¡¯The situation is serious. This is affecting the lower level yers as it is affecting the higher-level ones.¡¯ Dave appeared in Ulmir¡¯s rest. It was a walled city that was positioned at the foot of a mountain. The towering mountain was a natural barrier, and the climb to the town was steep and dangerous. It was a great area to defend but looking at the situation, Dave noticed that even the mightiest fortress could be toppled over when unlimited hordes of enemies.

    The city was burning. The eastern warriors brought wyverns instead of siege weapons. They used them to rain fire and boulders at the city. The yers were having a hard time defending the tens of thousands of warriors surrounding the city.

    Shouts and howls of battle echoed all over Ulmir¡¯s Rest.

    A few yers noticed Dave and were instantly alerted. They were at a loss, the east was attacking, and now Skeletal had appeared out of nowhere, they didn¡¯t know if he was an ally or an enemy, but seeing that he didn¡¯t attack yet, they felt a bit assured but not entirely safe.

    Dave looked around. He didn¡¯t see Ralph anywhere. He must be outside the city fighting the eastern warriors.

    One of the Devastator yers moved past Dave, Dave called to him and asked, "Did you see ster anywhere?"

    "Mr Skeletal?" the yer just realized that there was a doom knight standing in their ranks.

    "Yes, now where¡¯s ster?"

    "Unit leader? He¡¯s at the front, why?"

    "I came to help my friend," Dave said in a smile, "Lead the way."

    "Right!" The yer shouted and ran to the front.

    Dave arrived at the city gate, it was open, and the yers were huddled up together in front of it, holding off the Qin warriors.

    The yer that led Dave to the front pointed toward the gate and said, "There he is,"

    Just as he finished his words, a loud screech echoed in the sky. Looking up, Dave saw that a wyvern had just thrown arge boulder that was heading toward the Devastator yer that was leading him.

    Dave raised his Tower Shield activating Block, the rock shattered upon contact, and the weight of the boulder didn¡¯t even make Dave flinch.

    "T-thanks!" the yer said, he didn¡¯t even notice the rocking down toward him.

    "No worries," Dave said and moved to the gate.

    "Excuse me,ing through, sorry, pardon. Sorry,ing through!" Dave was pushing the huddled yers and moved forward between them. When an angry yer turned to shout at the person who just pushed him, he was met face to face with Dave¡¯s smiling draugr face. the anger changed immediately to shock, and the shout was forced down and exchanged by a loud gulping sound.

    Right beyond the yers huddled at the gate was arger ring made of yers that were holding the enemy.

    "Wow, so many," Dave said as he was looking at the numerous Qin warriors.

    "Skelly, you came Wow, that equipment looks nice!" ster said he was wounded, and his HP was sharply low.

    "Yeah, I became a doom knight. Now, what¡¯s the situation. And who¡¯s inmand?" Dave asked.

    "We can¡¯t hold. And currently, Satan-yer is first inmand." Ralph said and pointed forward.

    There was a dual-wielding swordsman slicing and dicing at the Qin soldiers at the front, he was fighting bravely but lookedpletely overwhelmed by the numerous numbers of the Qin warriors. The yers next to him were doing their best to pull the enemy¡¯s aggro and give Satan yer the chance to deal damage.

    "Guess I¡¯ll have to help. Tell yer to retreat. I¡¯ll take it from here."

    "What?" Ralph asked he didn¡¯t believe what Dave was saying.

    "C¡¯mon bro, believe me," Dave said.

    "Alright, man," Ralph called Satan yer and delivered Dave¡¯s message. Not believing Ralph¡¯s words Satan yer continued fighting.

    "He doesn¡¯t believe you, man. He said that you couldn¡¯t hold the front alone."

    "I¡¯m never alone, remember. We are legion!"

    Dave raised his palms forward, "Come!"

    Suddenly, the space distorted and a hundred ck shroud was summoned into the battlefield. They were Dave¡¯s Death Knights.

    "FOR THE LEGION!" Dave roared! And with this, all the hundred death knights shouted at once.

    "NEVER HUNGER! NEVER TIRE NEVER FEAR!"

    This was a wake-up call to all the yers who were present in the battlefield. These hundred Death Knights hade from nowhere, and they were about to show the might of the undead legion.

 Chapter 325 Routing The Enemy

    Dave was now a doom knight, so he had the ability to talk and summon his underling from everywhere in the world of conquest. For now, he only had a hundred death knights, but his main death knights were still in the wilds. He needed their power, so he summoned them.

    Dog, Bud, Spark, Tengu, and Singund were summoned around Dave.

    "Lord! I haven¡¯t finished my business with my nsmen!" Singundined.

    "We¡¯re about to fight an army, do you want to miss all the fun?" Dave asked.

    Singund looked around him. He just noticed the ongoing battle.

    "No! my blood boils! Graaaah!" Singund¡¯s excitement was apparent.

    "DEATH KNIGHTS! CHARGE!" Dave roared.

    ***

    Artisan of War Title activated!

    Battlecry!

    All your underlings have received a boon of 20% damage

    Your underlings have a chance of (3%) to resurrect upon death immediately!

    The blind faith of your underlings gives them courage!

    Attacks have 5% to ignore the target¡¯s defensive values!

    The troops under yourmand have +20% increased damage from all attacks and abilities.

    ***

    The Death Knights rushed forward. Dog wielding his bone-il and riding on his basilisk led the entirety of the death knight toon into the thick of the battle. Dave took the left nk and ordered the Tengu and Singund to take the right nk.

    Dog sted through the Qin warriors like a rampaging bull. His il knocked the soldiers away, and his basilisk swatted them away at every opportunity.

    The tengu entered into an Iaido stance and began casting his ultimate ability.

    The yers were at first wondered at why the tengu was standing still and ¡¯talking¡¯ to himself. The tengu¡¯s hand shed, a single click echoed from the movement of his katana. The speed he drew the de, sliced and sheathed it back was too fast for the human eye to follow.

    Suddenly, the world split in two as the mountain was cut in two perfect halves, and all the Qin soldiers that were on the tengu¡¯s path were turned to corpses.

    Singund charged into the thick of the fight, he alone became like a berserker, shing and cutting off libs all alone in the middle of the battle. The numbers of the Qin warriors only served to increase his power. The more blood Singund lost, the fiercer he became.

    Dave stomped on the ground activating [Blot the Sun]

    The cloudy sky churned. Dark clouds gathered, much darker than rain clouds, they looked like gouts of ck smoke that covered the sky. Red thunder crackled in these clouds. Deathly energy began pouring down on the battlefield.

    "Singund! Call your brigade!"

    "As youmand!" Singund raised his sword. This action summoned a thousand High-Orc into the battlefield.

    One of the Qin soldiers ran toward Dave with an ax in hand. He struck at the doom knight¡¯s back, but his attack failed to deal any considerable damage.

    Dave turned to face the Qin warrior. His ethereal blue eyes looked into the NPCs¡¯ eyes; it was as if Dave was looking directly into the NPC¡¯s soul.

    The NPC was shuddering. He was affected by Dave¡¯s Doom Knight passive, [Deathly Presence]. Dave took advantage of the opportunity and grabbed the warrior¡¯s face with his hand and activated [Spectral Skull].

    The skulls usually emerged from Dave¡¯s hand when he waved it to summon them, and now he created them at Point-nk right into the face of the warrior.

    The first skull materialized into the warrior¡¯s face and blew up. The explosion shook the warrior.

    A few Qin soldiers noticed Dave holding theirrade with one hand, but the aura around Dave made it hard for them to approach and help their ally. They couldn¡¯t do anything but watch.

    -120,000

    Another skull materialized and rocked the warrior through his core.

    -120,000

    And another one.

    -120,000.

    Continuous explosions sted through the warrior¡¯s face, and with every explosion, Dave¡¯s grip tightened further on the warrior¡¯s face.

    Until the eighth explosion, the NPC¡¯s head was cleanly blown off.

    "That¡¯ll teach you to attack me from the back," Dave muttered these words. Simple words, but to the Qin warriors who saw their brethren being grabbed like a ragdoll and had his head blow off, it was a clear warning from the Doom Knight.

    Cross me, and you will die!

    Singund was rampaging through the Qin Soldiers ranks. Though most of the NPCs had a higher level than Singund, they didn¡¯t have the benefit of the High-Orc passive. The more numerous the orcs were, the stronger they became.

    The orcs were like a rampaging grim reaper. They culled the lives of the Qin warriors with every strike.

    The yers looked at Dave¡¯s troops in amazement. They were a thousand and few more undead, but just these numbers were enough to turn the fight in favor of the yers.

    A notification appeared in front of Dave.

    ***

    One of your underlings had killed a Qin Warrior.

    [Blot the Sun] duration increased by 5 seconds.

    One of your underlings had killed a Qin Warrior.

    [Blot the Sun] duration increased by 5 seconds.

    One of your underlings had killed a Qin Warrior.

    [Blot the Sun] duration increased by 5 seconds.

    ...

    ***

    This was a great skill to use in battle. It slowed the enemy and increased the [Horror] effects of Dave skills. While at the same time had a 5% chance to revive a killed enemy into Undeath.

    A few of the Qin soldiers became undead and then started to assault their ownrades. These units sadly would not join Dave¡¯s Sub-Division when they revived but will join the undead legion as a whole and be appointed to random units.

    Slowly the undead began pushing the Qin warriors back. This gave the yers a chance to breathe. The attack on Ulmir¡¯s Rest was repelled by a single yer. Mr.Skeletal.

    A few wyvern warriors decided to take out some of Dave¡¯s troops by grabbing them and throwing them off high heights.

    Dave noticed this tactic and clicked his tongue. He had an aerial disadvantage, and he didn¡¯t like that the least. He wanted to use [Demonic-Ascension] but decided against it. That skill was one of the highest and strongest he has besides the broken Legacy skill [Final Phantasm].

    He didn¡¯t want yers to know more about his skills as the more secrets he keeps, the better it is for his future progress.

    "Tengu, take them down," Dave ordered.

    "As youmand!" the tengu pped his raven wings and rose to the sky, he sliced at the first Wyvern Rider taking off his head. He then rode on the wyvern itself.

    But the beast disliked the fact that someone else was riding him and decided to do several barrel rolls to drop the tengu off. The tengu held on for a while, but when he understood that the wyvern was not going to give in, he pierced through its head with the [Rift Maker].

    The wyvern¡¯s carcass dropped on a few qin warriors killing them while the tengu flew off to chase after the rest of the wyverns.

    A few Qin soldiers decided to gang up on Dave. But with his new armor defensive values and his high HP, their damage was like pricks to a wall. Dave shed away at the Qin warriors and fought on. These soldiers sure had a high level and a lot of HP, but their damage wasn¡¯t much for Dave.

    A white glow appeared around Dave then a red numerical value appeared above his head. This was the highest damage he received so far.

    -186,000!

    He turned to find the culprit, but there was one yer who was shuddering and shaking in ce it was a priest.

    "S-sorry, I wanted to heal you."

    "Dumbass, don¡¯t use heals on the undead," Dave shook his head and turned back to the fight.

    A few yers cursed at the priest and ordered him to go to the backline. Several tanks rushed toward Dave¡¯s left and right and helped him in tanking the massive armies of the Qin warriors. A Qin captain mounted on a warhorse charged at Dave.

    Dave was upied with fighting off a Qin sword master so he didn¡¯t notice the iing captain. But the tank next to Dave stomped his foot to the ground and activated [Anchor Hall] a forceful threat generating skill, that caused the charging captain to change direction and attack the tank.

    Dave heard the loud blow behind him and turned. He saw that the yer was still activating [Anchor Hall] pulling the attacker away from Dave.

    Dave switched to his gauntlet and jumped up. He smashed down with his right fist at the captain¡¯s face, blowing him off his warhorse via [Dragon Fist]. The ethereal dragon surged out from Dave¡¯s gauntlet burning the captain and the many Qin warriors behind it.

    Dog had broke through the Qin warriors formation and ordered his basilisk to bite at the captain. The basilisk began mming the captain on the ground. With every hit, his armor would break, so would his bones. As a finisher, Dog wanted to make the attacker suffer.

    A gigantic ethereal image began materializing in the sky. Dave ¡¯s eyes bulged as he noticed that it was Dog¡¯s doing.

    "SHIT! DOG STOP!" Dave shouted.

    The duhan thankfully heard Dave and canceled his attack. He was about to use his own legacy skill, that would have caused a lot of unwanted attention to Dave¡¯s underling. Something Dave didn¡¯t want right now.

    Thankfully, not many yers noticed the effect, and even if some did, there was no way to link it to Warlord. Afterall there were many yers next to Dog, and the legacy avatar aura could havee from any one of them.

    Dave continued to fight on. He was gaining exp at a rapid rate. The undead were bringing down carnage and decimation upon the Qin warriors. Singund had reached his ultimate state, he had just 1% HP right now, and his attack speed and power were so tremendous he looked like an incarnate god of wrath.

    His brigade butchered the soldiers ; they didn¡¯t fear the sword and moved into battle with glee and recklessness. This caused trepidation and fear to surge through the ranks of the Qin warriors. Soon after, the sound of a loud horn echoed through the battlefield.

    It was the call to retreat. The Qin warriors decided to fold back; the attack on Ulmir¡¯s rest was not going to work.

    With that, the army of Qin moved back and away from Ulmir¡¯s Rest.

    ***

    The Qin warriors have been routed from Ulmir¡¯s Rest

    Congrattions to all the participants in the battle.

    All yers that were in the battle at Ulmir¡¯s rest will receive a bonus 1,000 War Contribution Points added to their base WCP count: for sessfully repelling the Qin army.

    ***

    For just a few seconds, the battlefield was quiet. Then loud cheering and rooting echoed at the gates of Ulmir¡¯s rest.

    No one knew who started, but someone shouted the name "Skelly!" then all the yers began rooting for Dave.

    "Skelly!

    Skelly!

    Skelly!

    Skelly!

    ..."

    Dave smiled. He was never in the spotlight, but now he seems to enjoy it. Dave patted the back of the nearest tank next to him and said, "Good job, you have great Threat Control."

    "T-thanks," the yer said, rubbing his head.

    Dave waved his hand opening his character panel. He checked out his War Contribution points. He found out that he now had 4,222.

    ¡¯Not bad. I guess I get some from my undead.¡¯

    Dave was sure he didn¡¯t kill that many Qin warriors, but he understood his undead counted added to his count.

    The yers began converging around Dave. Some wanted to take a picture with Dave, and some wanted just to say hi while some were acting ¡¯cool¡¯ and looking at Dave from afar.

    "Alright, party¡¯s over! shoo, move away!" ster was finding it hard to get to Dave with all the ¡¯fans.¡¯

    "Thanks, man, you saved our ass," Ralph said.

    "C¡¯mon, it¡¯s alright," Dave said, patting Ralph¡¯s shoulder.

    "Ahem."

    Dave heard the sound of a cough next to him, turning. There was a yer in full-red standing next to him.

    "Satan yer," Dave said.

    "Skeletal. Thanks for the help. I¡¯m sorry I didn¡¯t think you could tip the battle in our favor this much."

    "It¡¯s cool. Just came to help my bro," Dave said.

    "Right." yer turned to Ralph and sent him a private message. Then Ralph sent the contents of the same message back to Dave.

    "Do you want to know who bought the remaining shares of Sigma-Electronics?"

    Dave¡¯s attention was instantly perked, that was something he really wanted to know.

 Chapter 326 Helping the Devis.

    Seeing Dave interested in the topic, Satan yer waved his hand to the yers to leave them and give them some private space.

    "So, as I said, are you interested in knowing who it was who bought the rest of Sigma-Electronics?" Satan yer asked again.

    "Yes. I¡¯m all ears, but what¡¯s the catch?" Dave asked.

    "Nothing really. You saved our ass here. I think every yer in Ulmir¡¯s Rest owes you their levels. Hah. It¡¯s the same for me."

    "Thanks then. I¡¯ll take you up on your offer. So, who bought them?" Dave asked.

    "It¡¯s a guy named Long Zhao. He is from the Blood Ragers Guild. A nobody, but he saw someone buying my stocks at massive quantities and decided to buy them."

    "Long Zhao, that name rings a bell. Ah, I remember him. I met him a few weeks ago. He was a cool dude though."

    "Cool dude or not. He will not sell you the shares. You should know this by now. The stocks you own will increase in value based on your reputation. That 6 % he bought are probably all of his savings. It¡¯s a risk he was willing to take, and I believe he will stick to them. If you try to persuade him into selling them he might be willing to side with the Fords, and you will be on the losing side of thepany," Satan yer said in one breath.

    Dave understoodpletely what the Devastator Sub-Guild leader meant. The opportunity that Long Zhao obtained is a golden one. And he won¡¯t be selling no matter what. So, this leaves him only one way out of this mess. Is to go directly to the Fords and make them give up their own shares. Which is undoubtedly a hard task to manage.

    "Thanks for everything," Dave said and turned looking for Ralph.

    Satan yer bid Dave goodbye and gathered the rest of his troops inside the city.

    "Ralph. You should be free toplete your legacy quest right now. You should probably go."

    "Nah man, it doesn¡¯t work like that. Because we won here, we will be appointed in another city. This eastern raid is going to be a long one. So far, three days in-game had passed since the start of the assault on the yer kingdoms. And we are all losing a lot ofnd to the East. How about you join us in another raid?" Ralph asked.

    Dave looked at the state of the battlefield. Of all the fighters, only his undead were rtively unharmed. If he could take them and raid more regions to assist the yers, this will boost his reputation by a lot. It¡¯s a good investment in-game and will increase his reputation IRL as well.

    "Alright, let¡¯s head out then."

    "Give me a second," Ralph said.

    He entered into a voice call and said, "Valentine. Skelly decided to help us in the war. It¡¯s all thanks to him that we held Ulmir¡¯s Rest. I believe he can help us hold morend. What do you think?" Ralph asked.

    Valentine said a few words then Ralph put the voice-chat on speaker.

    "Skelly. Thanks for the assistance. We could use your help in holding a few oases in the southern desert."

    "Give me the location, and I¡¯ll head there."

    "Alright. Take the gate from Dragonar city and head west. There are a few Desert Jaws along the path. I¡¯ll have a few yers waiting for your arrival at Dragonar. They will guide you through the safest path to the oasis that needs defending." Valentine said.

    "Alright. By the way, I¡¯ll get to keep all the loot you hear?"

    "Of-course. Everything you get from the raid is fully yours. Our objective is to hold the east not to fight over resources. I will make sure to mention your contribution to the higher echelons. You can¡¯t work for us for free." Valentine said.

    "Neat. I¡¯ll be on my way then." Dave said.

    Ralph hung up and said, "I guess I¡¯ll being along."

    "Yeah of course. Also, ask TNT and the girls toe. They will hate us if we hoard the exp alone."

    "Sure, gimme a second." Ralph began calling the party members. This time even Tess joined.

    "Here," Dave said and handed Ralph some equipment.

    "What¡¯s this?" Ralph asked.

    "It¡¯s a Qin captain set. I got it when I killed this captain who tried to raid Urburg. I think it¡¯s much better than your current set."

    Ralph took the set and wore it. The gold and red mix gave him a striking look, but the bonuses of the set had his jaws opened wide.

    "Holy smokes, I¡¯ve got 1,000,000Hp just wearing this! This gotta be the best equipment in the game so far. Man, I can¡¯t have that, you should wear it." Ralph was about to unequip his set when Dave stopped him, smiling Dave said.

    "Thanks, bro. But believe me, it¡¯s not the best set in the game. Probably second best," he then shared his own Doom Knight¡¯s stats with Ralph, making his already wide open mouth much broader.

    "Shit! Now I wanna be an undead!" Ralph said, insisting.

    "I could turn you. But I advise against it. Right now, it¡¯s not a good time to be an undead. You¡¯ll lose on a lot of advantages." Dave said.

    "Like what man, you don¡¯t seem disadvantaged," Ralph said.

    Dave sighed and said, "I have Undeath God Legacy to help me. While you¡¯ll start as an undead Elite, you¡¯ll have to face enemies in your first mission of the legion, and they will be level 400 at least. If there is a priest among them, you will be wrecked in moments. The undead have a really low tolerance to Holy Magic. And furthermore, you can¡¯t change back to human after you turn undead."

    "Right, I should probably think about it more."

    "Good, now let¡¯s go," Dave said and walked to the teleportation gate.

    Dave appeared in Dragonar. It was a city built in the middle of the desert. The golden sand reflected the sunlight and made Dave squint his eyes. His Undead Nature was a poor match to the heat of the sun.

    Dragonar was a city made of brick and wood. Large houses were built neatly next to each other. And NPCs wearing Saharan clothes moved about doing their business. Some were trading and bartering, some were selling equipment or potions to yers, and some were just sweeping the sand away from their houses. The war had yet to reach Dragonar, and the people of the city were safe from danger.

    Dave met the rest of his party at Dragonar teleportation gate. They were waiting for Ralph and Dave.

    "Man you had to take us from Urburg and bring us here to this hell. It¡¯s fregging hot man." nker, as always started the conversation with whining.

    Fortress shook his head at the priest, "You idiot, just change your game-settings from realistic to casual."

    "But that¡¯ll make me a casual yer!"

    "Then stopining!" Fortress shouted at the priest.

    "Trying to act tough next to your boyfriend I see," nker said as he looked up and down at Tess who was standing next to Fortress. She, on the other hand, rolled her eyes and gave nker the finger.

    "Stan-Stan, you should know that girls don¡¯t use the finger. You¡¯re further proving you¡¯re a dude man. You should act better."

    Perfect smacked nker on the head and said, "Just shut up. Skelly, when are we moving?"

    "Valentine said there would be some yers waiting for us."

    Just as Dave finished his sentence, two yers in white robes and mail-armor came running toward them.

    "Hey, it¡¯s you guys," Dave said. He remembered these two yers from thest time he was going to The flying mountain in the desert where he met the seer.

    "Yeah, good to see you skelly. That weapon was really neat. So, we got orders saying that we need to take you to one of the oasis. I know the safest way there. Follow me, please." The yer turned and headed toward the city gate.

    Dave called to him, saying, "Is it far?"

    "Not a lot, about two hours walk," The yer said.

    "That¡¯s way too far in this heat!" nkerined.

    Dave stomped with his foot on the ground and summoned ten Dunlords.

    "I¡¯ve got some rides ready. Hop on." Dave said and rode on his personal Dunlord, Stinger.

    The two yers seemed extra excited as they got a free ride at one of Skelly¡¯s iconic mounts. The Scorpion-men.

    One of the yers pointed at a particr direction and said, "We¡¯ll be going that way for a while."

    "Alright, Dunlords, move out." Dave gave themand, and the dunlords raced out of the city and through the desert sands.

    Their nimble feet proved quite useful in the desert, it was a scorpion¡¯s natural habitat, and this gave the dunlords a huge boost to their speed.

    "Dang! At this rate, we¡¯ll get there in half an hour!" One of the yers in white said.

    Dave nodded to the yer and ordered the rest of the dunlords to follow after him.

    He moved Stinger closer to Lone¡¯s Spincer and asked, "I know who bought the rest of the stocks."

    "Hmm, really who¡¯s that?" Lone asked.

    "It¡¯s a guy that I only know by an in-game name, Long-Zhao," Dave said.

    "Doesn¡¯t ring any bells," Lone replied in a shrug.

    "Yeah, I know. Satan-yer said he was a nobody."

    "You met Satan-yer?" Lone asked.

    "Yeah, when I was in Ulmir¡¯s Rest," Dave answered.

    "Right. So did you try to contact him? That Long-Zhao guy," Lone asked again.

    "No. Like Satan yer said. He is a nobody so, these stocks are a precious opportunity to him, and he will not let go of that chance no matter what. Reminds you of anyone?" Dave said in a smirk.

    "Yeah Dave, you were in the same position, only a bit different. This makes thing a bit challenging. I¡¯ll call uncle. He should be in-game right now." Lone said.

    "He already started ying?" Dave asked.

    "Yeah, daddy can be pretty convincing I literally had to block dad, so he doesn¡¯t spam me with his pleadings to power-level him."

    Dave shook his head. Lone was far too cruel treating her dad.

    Lone called her uncle, and after listening for a while she told Dave, "He said that he would need to step up his game a bit. Apparently, you¡¯ll have to visit the Fords personally."

    "Wouldn¡¯t that reveal my identity?" Dave asked.

    "That¡¯s exactly the point, he said. Don¡¯t ask me. I don¡¯t know what goes in my uncle¡¯s head at times," Lone added

    Dave had to agree. The Demon barrister had always been a mystery to Dave as well.

 Chapter 327 Turning the Tides

    Thousands of yers were gathered together in single files standing under the zing sun and the scorching sand. In front of them were thousands of other NPCs riding on war-horses. They were the Qin army that was raiding the south. They had already overrun several oases and were now going to gobble up another one.

    yers had no hope in this fight. They were ordered, however, to stand their ground, even if it meant their death and the loss of levels. They were forced to stand there, facing a known faith that was death.

    The Heaven Dawn Still had several high-level yers, but these yers alone could not fend off the assault of the Qin army alone mainly because the majority of their High-Level force had died in the Wilds when they attempted to raid the east. The dead yers were still stuck in the Limbo. They needed to clear some quests before they could be sent again to the world of Conquest.

    This was the main reason why the yers were unable to defend their territories properly. Yet every few minutes, one of the high-level yers that were in limbo would leave after achieving sess in their tasks and would get sent out, only to receive direct orders to reinforce the front.

    The warriors of Qin announced the start of the battle via a war-horn. The riders charged toward the yers that stood like a wall.

    "Fire!" a caster shouted, with his word. Hundreds of spells and arrows shot out from the yer ranks toward the eastern warriors of Qin. The attacks toppled the riders down to the sand and broke parts in their charging formation, yet this wasn¡¯t enough to entirely stop the assault.

    The mounted warriors gained more momentum as they ran, and the thundering sound of their war-mounts made the yers feel like the horses were stomping on their hearts.

    "Tanks! Guardians! Hold the line!" A yer by the name Ryu-Dan shouted. He was the highest level yer present. A level 420 swordmaster.

    Hundreds of tank yers used self-buffs and put their shields forward to hold the attack. Yet this effort seemed useless as the charge of the warhorses broke through the ranks as if they were made of paper. It was only natural due to the increase in momentum that gave the mounts [Knock-Back] effects. To which the yers were poorly matched.

    The Qin army bore through the ranks of the yers and began a ughter.

    Many yers began shouting and asking for assistance. Jin-Ryu-Dan was unable to give minutemands to the yers, and his ranks were begging to fall. The yers were having a hard time in this battle, and it was clear and apparent that this oasis was going to be lost to the Qin warriors.

    "Ryu-Dan! The enemy is nking us from the right!" A priest shouted toward the leader.

    Ryu-Dan¡¯s face turned pale white. He was about to lose it. The army of Qin didn¡¯t even need to nk them as they were already destroying them. But perhaps this was a strategy to prevent yers from escaping.

    Ryu-Dan looked to the right and saw the iing force. Yet, for some reason, the nking force wasposed of just a few monsters. They looked simr to the Sand Scorpions, but these ones had armor.

    For a moment, Ryu-Dan was at a loss. He had seen such creatures before. Then all clicked when he saw an undead riding on one of these creatures.

    "It¡¯s Skelly!" Ryu-Dan shouted.

    Just as Ryu-Dan finished his words, he saw Dave waving his hand. A gigantic wave of ck fog burst out from within him. The clear sky of the desert instantly changed to pitch ck. The sun was entirely covered by these pitch-ck clouds. Then hundreds of undead emerged out of nowhere. Skelly was constantly summoning undead in the desert.

    His iconic undead showed up first. The headless warrior, the giant ghoul, the me undead, the berserker High-Orc, and the strange flying masked creature. These were Dave¡¯s strongest Death Knights, and they were leading the charge of the undead.

    Hundreds of dunlords suddenly emerged out of nowhere into the yer ranks. They shed against the Qin warriors in a furious battle. Though the dunlords were weaker and lower level, they had the home-field advantage.

    The dunlords would grab at the warhorse¡¯s ankles, either snapping them with their powerful pincers, or they would drag the horses down the sand, smothering them under thousands of tons of weight.

    The undead followed after; they were like an unstoppable stampede of swords and death. They charged at the Qin warriors, outnumbering them ten to one. And killing them with utmost ease.

    Skelly joined the fight, his tower shield, and sword in hand, smashing, crushing and cutting the Qin warriors with blistering glee. A wicked smile never left his face as he looked like a demon relishing in ughter.

    His ck and green armor was soon painted red. But his culling of life never stopped for a moment.

    Ryu-Dan felt thankful for the arrival of this undead and his force. The presence of Skelly rekindled the lost hope of the yers. They grabbed their weapons with more strength and joined the undead in this ughter. They aided them and assisted them in the fight and turned the table on the Qin warriors.

    The battle waspletely different, and now the yers regained the upper hand and began pushing back the warriors of Qin. It only took ten minutes since the undead had appeared, and in these ten minutes, the Qin warriors were defeated and forced to retreat.

    The yers couldn¡¯t believe it, but they had actually won the battle.

    Skelly stood in the middle of a massacre. He was huffing and puffing, but his eyes never stopped wandering and looking for more prey. Almost as if the fight was not satisfying him.

    Ryu-Dan approached the undead and said, "Thanks for the help man, you saved our ass here."

    Dave turned to look at the swordmaster and said, "Where is the Tuka Oasis?"

    "It¡¯s in the north. But I wouldn¡¯t rmend you go there. It has already been upied by the Qin warriors."

    "upied? Not on my watch!" The doom knight turned back to his army. He raised his bloodied sword and shouted at the top of his lungs

    "LEGIONNAIRES! TO THE NORTH WE MARCH!"

    All the undead following Dave shouted at once!

    "HORAAAAAA!"

    Dave jumped atop a dunlord and rode past the yers to the north. All of his undead followed behind him picking up a rooster tail of dust and sand in their wake.

    The yers were left astounded at sight. The undead army hade, liberated them and rode to another location to fight some more. While the yers were exhausted from this fight, the undead showed the epitome of their slogan. Never Tier!

    A yer approached Ryu-Dan and said, "I¡¯d like to follow after them."

    Ryu-Dan was at a loss of words. Some yers were actually itching to join the fight.

    "Aren¡¯t you guys tired? I mean you might die, Tuka has been captured and is almost impossible to relieve."

    "But skelly¡¯s going, I think he can do it," Another yer said.

    "But we need to wait for the order from the upper echelon. We might get assigned somewhere else."

    "Fuck the upper echelon. Man, Skelly¡¯s racking all the badassery. I wanna be a part of that!" Another yer said. and to his words, many other yers agreed and shouted.

    "Follow Skelly!"

    "After Skelly!"

    "After Skelly!"

    More and more yers dered their intentions. They wanted to be a part of Skelly¡¯s raid, and it appeared as Ryu-Dan was not going to be able to stop them.

    "W-wait!" Ryu-Dan tried to talk some sense into the yers, but when the first yer moved toward the north, everyone ignored the leader and ran after Skelly.

    The formally exhausted yers had gained a second breath that they used to follow after Skelly¡¯s raid. They sprinted under the heat of the sun like madmen, willing to trade their guild position for the honor of being a part of Skelly¡¯s assault.

    ***

    "So tell me, Lone, why are we doing this?" Dave asked lone as they rode toward Tuka. Another oasis he heard that was captured by the Qin army.

    "As I said before, I don¡¯t know. It was my uncle¡¯s suggestion. He said that you would need to increase your reputation as much as possible. And I can¡¯t think of anything better than to assist yers in this raid."

    Dave shrugged and said, "Welp, doesn¡¯t matter anyway. If it¡¯s what the Demon Barrister is saying, then I¡¯d better do it. Legionnaires! RIDE ON!"

 Chapter 328 Elite Troops.

    Dave rode on with his undead until they reached Tuka. It was an oasis that was brimming with Qin warriors. They had barricades set up and tents where their soldiers rested. When the guards of the Qin army spotted the iing undead, a war-horn blew to ready the soldiers for battle.

    But a battle it was not. Dave¡¯s army razed through the Qin soldiers like locust to green fields. They ughtered every soldier in the vicinity and left for another oasis. When the yers that were chasing after the undead arrived at Tuka, they were met with a scene from the apocalypse. The oasis¡¯s water turned red from the spilled blood. The corpses already began rotting under the hot sun, and fire was lit in every tent. Yet all that was left of Dave¡¯s undead army were trails in the sand that the wind was quickly covering.

    "They went there! Follow me!" A hunter said and led the whole army of yers after Dave.

    The yers had managed to catch up to Dave as he was raiding another captured oasis. They aided him in battle and proved quite helpful as the numbers of the Qin warriors increased exponentially the deeper Dave went.

    Some of these yers began broadcasting the assault on the Qin army. Showcasing Skelly leading the undead and yers alike into razing the ground with the Qin warriors. The news spread like wildfire. Thousands of yers began teleporting to the west and ran through the desert to join Skelly¡¯s raid.

    It only took a few hours for the numbers around Skelly¡¯s army to inte. yers and Undead were joining hands to fight the assault of the Qin warriors.

    These Qin warriors were a reason for despair. These mighty NPCs that managed to overrun several PC cities were easily eradicated by only 100 Death Knights and their respective regiments.

    Seeing that a hundred Death Knight had managed to do what the whole yer base couldn¡¯t meant that the yers weren¡¯t ready to face the Undead Expansion yet. Dave had known that if these yers were ever to face the assault from the Ash King only death would await them. The Ash-King¡¯s army wasposed of millions of Demon Knights that were all on par with the Undead King¡¯s Death Knight in power.

    Dave¡¯s assault on the Qin army continued for the whole day. He had cleared seven oases of the Qin army and managed to repel several attacks on other areas.

    Skelly¡¯s assault continued. Until he was met with a force that was waiting for him in the middle of the desert, this force belonged to the Qin army.

    The Qin warriors usually wore Red and Gold armors. But right now, Skelly was face to face with a hundred-unit brigade that was wearing a full gear of Emerald and Blue armor. They had enormous banners and gave off a strange, suffocating feeling.

    Skelly waved a hand ordering his undead army to halt.

    Some yers wondered why did the unstoppable undead order his units to stand down. Trusting Skelly, they stood and waited for what is toe. However, some other yers decided that they would take the lead and charge at this new type of units.

    "Do not attack!" Skelly ordered at the top of his lungs.

    Some of the charging yers had to stop. They still had respect for the undead Skelly. Yet the rest continued on disregarding all orders.

    "Fall back!" Skelly ordered, giving up on the unit that was charging on its own. With that, many yers felt that Skelly¡¯s behavior was erratic. Why did he decide to retreat? It was sure that these units were different than the other Qin warriors, but he still had a powerful undead army. And those units in blue were no more than a hundred units while skelly had more than ten thousand!

    Dave turned tail and changed direction toward another area of the desert.

    Some of the yers that were broadcasting decided to stick and wait to see what would happen to the yers that disregarded Skelly¡¯s orders and continued toward the army in blue and green.

    The fastest of the yers arrived first. He was a legacy holder, he activated his legacy ability materializing an enormous bear with golden armor that struck down at the units. The bear¡¯s w smacked down, and lightning crackled. Creating an explosion of dust and lighting.

    The yer seemed excited as his attack was sessful. Yet when the dust cleared, the one hundred units were unscathed. One of the knights drew a crossbow and pointed at the yer. With a twang, the bolt from the crossbow shot out and pierced right through the yer¡¯s head. Instantly killing him and sending him to limbo.

    This caused the rest of the running yers to stop. "He died, just like that?" this thought went through all of the yers¡¯ head. But the gears in their heads were spinning thinking about the fate of the one that just died and had been entirely oblivious that they too were in the same situation.

    The Qin warriors were most likely the elite force. Half of these knights knelt and pointed their crossbows at the yers, while the other half pulled out bows and shot a wave of arrows at the yers.

    The yers that were running stopped and turned, then they began running away in all directions. Yet all hope was lost. The Qin warriors shot out their arrows and killed any stragglers.

    Most of the yers that disregarded Skelly¡¯s order had died. A lucky bunch still managed to survive. A deep sense of fear budded in their hearts ¡ª both at the Qin army¡¯s elite unit and at Skelly¡¯s prediction of this massacre.

    As for the yer that followed Skelly¡¯s orders, they had now be wholly indebted to him. Otherwise, their fate would have been the same as that of the yers that were recently sent to limbo.

    ***

    Dave led the yers ahead. He was heading to another area to free more territory. An hourter, another oasis was reimed. But Dave frowned still.

    Looking ahead, he saw another one hundred units of those same knights.

    Dave didn¡¯t hesitate to turn tail and go to another direction away from these knights.

    "Davey, who are these?" Lone asked.

    "I had a suspicion at first, but now I¡¯m sure. These are some nasty and powerful NPCs," Dave said.

    "That¡¯s some obvious shite Sherlock, man they one-shotted a yer if you missed that," nker said.

    "No, you don¡¯t get it. I¡¯ve seen their armor before. An NPC of the Legion is still wearing it," Dave said and tightened his hand on the harness of his mount.

    "Who?" Lone asked.

    Dave sighed and slowly said, "Kalel. The legendary hero of the people." Dave said.

    "Kalel? The NPC that you revived and tried to kill you?" Lone asked.

    "Yeah. He had the same armor as these things. He must have been a part of the Qin army before he died to the ck dragon."

    "Yeah. Well, lore-wise, it fits. He died in the wilds, it¡¯s closest to the east," Lone added.

    "Who¡¯s this Kalel?" Perfect asked.

    "He is a Doom Knight in the undead legion," Dave added.

    "Doom Knight? Isn¡¯t that the same rank as you?" Perfect asked.

    "Yeah. And if my guess is correct, all of those NPCs should be as strong as Kalel. And I can tell you one thing. A single doom knight can take on a dozen Death Knights with ease. Imagine a hundred of his calibers. We¡¯ll be likembs to the ughter of we face them."

    "So, what now?" Lone asked.

    "Let¡¯s keep freeing the areas from the regr soldiers. We can¡¯t fight the elite ones. We¡¯ll do all we can and go back to help the North." Dave said and rode on to yet another oasis.

 Chapter 329 Takover

    The yers were following after Dave, this time respectfully epting hismands and orders. He didn¡¯t ask to be listened to or asked to be theirmander. But the discipline the undead army showed to Dave had affected the yers.

    They walked behind Dave¡¯s undead army in an organized manner and aided him in liberating all the possible areas of the desert. As for when the Blue and Green Qin units showed up. All had understood that they weren¡¯t capable of pushing them back and were forced to change direction.

    Dave spent an entire in-game day in liberating the southern desert. But he never was able to push back the blue and green units. They were too powerful. Yet thankfully, these units only acted as a barrier to prevent Dave from retaking more of the Southern soil. These units didn¡¯t advance to the other oasis, or all of Dave¡¯s hard work would have been for naught.

    Another SOS message arrived. The north was suffering from massive attacks on all fronts, which made Dave decide on going to aid the north. He teleported and appeared in the northern capital.

    This time, tens of thousands of yers joined in on Dave¡¯ raid of liberation. Dave changed his mount to Grumpy. He was better suited for the terrain in the north than the dunlord Stinger.

    "What now, Davey?" Lone asked

    "The same. We¡¯ll free the north or as much of it as we can. This is what your uncle said."

    "Yeah, but aren¡¯t you doing too much work? I mean you already helped clear the South." Lone questioned.

    "Yeah, but who says no to free EXP, heck I¡¯m already level 422 from just hunting the Qin warriors," Dave said in a grin.

    "Grinding maniac," Lone jested.

    "Alright, everyone ride on!" Dave shouted and led his army deeper into the icy northern soil.

    The attack on the Qin soldiers was much easier in the north. The undead were unaffected by the cold as for the yers and the Qin warriors, they were struggling to contend with the yer base in besieging them.

    The yers had held on for long, and most of the yers that were sent to Limbo had already returned and rejoined the liberation of thends.

    Currently, the Qin army had taken eighteen cites from the north and ten oases from the south. That is counting all the territory that Dave had liberated. The Qin army was massive in numbers. And Dave¡¯s tactics only helped to lessen the impact the Qin army was causing.

    "Skelly!" A yer shouted.

    Dave turned to see a Beast-tamer running alongside Dave.

    "There are sightings of the Blue and Green units of the Qin army a few kilometers away from here we should change direction."

    Dave nodded and pointed to the side. With this move, all of the army curved away like a snake changing direction. They headed to another city in the north.

    This continued for the whole day. Dave relieved three cities from siege and captured three more from the Qin army. But at the end of the day, Dave was but a human. Unlike his undead avatar, his real self was assaulted by fatigue and exhaustion. He was logged in for more than four days-in games. Hunger and sleep assaulted him, and he was in dire need of rest.

    After freeing a fourth city, Dave had to stop. Even his party members looked haggered and exhausted.

    Dave turned and spoke a few words.

    "I¡¯ll have to stop here everyone. I¡¯m tired."

    "What about the rest of the cites! We can still take a few more!" A yer shouted.

    Another yer next to him smacked him in the head and said, "The hell are you saying. The dude said he was tired, man. he¡¯s been helping everyone for days now, and you just logged in."

    "Well, I just thought we could get more EXP man."

    "If you want the exp, no one¡¯s stopping you from attacking the Qin warriors on your own," another yer said.

    They all knew that without Dave¡¯s undead army to hold the front, they would be no match for the Qin warriors. So the yer that first started the discussion had to quiet down.

    "I may be an undead in-game. But I still breathe and feel exhaustion outside it," Dave said.

    "I¡¯ll try to log back in after I have enough rest. Until then, good luck with defending yournds."

    Just as Dave finished his words, Ralph put a call he was receiving on speaker. It was from Mr. Valentine.

    "Kis¡¯Shtiengbrah," Valentine said, he at least knew how to pronounce the name properly.

    "Yeah, what up?" Dave asked.

    "I just wanted to thank you for all of your assistance, your help gave us back a lot of lost territory, even if it isn¡¯t muchpared to the overall loss to the Qin army it¡¯s better than nothing. On behalf of all the Devastator guild and all its branches, I thank you for your assistance.

    Dave shrugged, he had no need for thanks. His objective from the start was to grind EXP and the loot the guards dropped, which by the way were all packed into his and his undead¡¯s inventories.

    "You should probably go and rest, you were probably the yer that contributed the most in this raid," Valentine said.

    "Yeah. I was gonna do that, good luck with the rest," Dave said.

    Dave turned to his undead and said, "Legionnaires. You have worked hard. Thank you."

    The undead became thrilled at Dave¡¯s praise, and all shouted his name.

    Dave gestured for Singund toe closer.

    "Take everyone back to Urburg. Protect my city. And if you still have matters to tend to with your orc-kin go and finish them. I¡¯ll be back in a day." Dave said.

    The orc nodded to Dave and teleported out of the city. This caused the rest of the undead to follow suit and the whole area was devoid of undead.

    Dave turned to his friends," You guys should log out too."

    "Yeah was thinking about it," everyone seemed to agree to Dave¡¯s suggestion. The exhaustion they umted over these days was crippling.

    Dave pressed the log-out button and left the game.

    The moment he was out of the capsule, he felt the whole room spinning. He was famished and parched. He went to the mini-fridge and grabbed some snacks and a water bottle. Drinking his fill, Dave ordered room service as he upied his growling stomach with very expensive nuts.

    Sometimeter, a woman entered with a food tray to Dave¡¯s room and left. He ate his fill and took a shower, then went straight to bed. The moment he closed his eyes, Dave was deep asleep.

    Morning came too fast for Dave¡¯s liking, his bed was still warm, but an annoying ringtone forcefully woke him up.

    He answered the phone while still feeling half asleep, "Hello, who¡¯s this?" Dave asked. He didn¡¯t check the caller¡¯s name on his phone.

    "David. This is Samuel, are you still asleep?"

    Dave instantly sat up, "I¡¯m up!" he said.

    "Good. Zoe¡¯sing to your hotel room. We¡¯ll be doing a visit to Sigma-Electronics. Oh, by the way, did you think up a good name for thepany?"

    "Huh? I can only rename thepany when I have more than 51% of the shares, so far we aren¡¯t there yet," Dave said.

    "Well, that might change after the stuff I uncovered yesterday," Samuel Silvana said.

    Even while Dave was only on the phone, he could clearly picture the Devil Barrister smiling like a demon about to have a poor human sell his soul.

 Chapter 330 Douch-Guys Future Prospects

    Dave took a quick shower and went downstairs. He found Zoe waiting for him.

    Zoe was fixing her hair as she was looking into her phone¡¯s mirror. Dave got out of the hotel and into the car,

    "Sup, Z."

    Zoe groaned and said, "Recently I¡¯ve been feeling more like your driver than girlf- ahem, Uncle is waiting for us, let¡¯s get going!"

    "What was that?" Dave eximed, but the red-faced Zoe hit the elerator and made Dave have a small fright that made him forget what he was about to ask.

    A few minutester, Zoe had arrived near a small coffee shop.

    The ce was small and neatly decorated. It had a wooden floor and several square tables that were surrounded byfortable looking sofas.

    Samuel Silvana was sitting in the deepest part of the shop. He was drinking a cup of ck coffee while reading from a holographic journal.

    Noticing the two, Samuel removed his reading sses and weed them to sit.

    "Good morning, Sam," Dave said and sat in front of the old man.

    Zoe squeezed herself next to Dave and sat after saying hello to her uncle.

    "Good morning, kids. You came early which is good." Samuel said.

    "Yeah. What was that you were talking about yesterday? You said you found some dirt on the Fords." Dave asked.

    "Not just some. Mountains of it. The Fords had been going about their business in extremely illicit ways. Thanks to a few acquaintances of mine, I managed to get my hands on some dirty files, and this is enough to bring them to the table for a proper discussion."

    "That sounds reassuring. But can you tell me why you had me running all over conquest helping everyone in a pinch?" Dave asked.

    "You still don¡¯t get it?" Zoe shook her head, "And here I thought you were a smarty. Uncle said that to boost your reputation. With the files he has, he will make the Fords give up on some of their shares, and that will give you the chance to buy them. Then thepany will be fully yours." Zoe said.

    "Oh, so it¡¯s rted to that. Well, what are we waiting for?" Dave asked.

    "I already ordered a meeting with the fords an hour ago. They should still be waiting in their conference room."

    "You mean we arete?" Dave asked.

    Samuel shook his finger at Dave and said, "We are notte. We are purposefully stalling. When you have the upper hand, it¡¯s best to make the other party feel the pressure. Make them overthink and fall to false conclusions."

    "Uncle is always like that," Zoe said, "Even if the Fords are nothing but a small business family, my uncle is a like a lion. He uses all of his power even if he is hunting rabbits."

    The words Zoe just spoke were pretty urate. Dave had seen Samuel working his magic many times. Dealing with the world-tycoon Conquest or just the smallpany of Sigma-Electronics, Samuel always bared his fangs at the start of the battle.

    The waiter came to their table, asking for what they would like to drink.

    Dave ordered a ck coffee, the same as Samuel while Zoe opted for a cappino.

    "Enjoy this coffee, we will be going to the meeting in an hour," Samuel said as he took a sip of his bitter-sweet coffee.

    ***

    In one of Manhattan¡¯s office buildings. A middle-aged man was tapping his leather boot impatiently on the wooden floor. The man wore a ck suit and was sighing every now and then. Next to him were four other men in ck suits. They each had a suitcase and were looking at the time impatiently.

    "Should we call? He¡¯ste!" a young man who was looking over the window of the office spoke.

    Dave would know this young man as John Ford. Or better yet, Douche-Guy.

    "No. Don¡¯t call. He¡¯ll be here." The anxious middle-aged man said.

    "But Dad, he said he¡¯d be here an hour ago!"

    "Just shut up John! All of this is your fucking fault to begin with!" The middle-aged man snarled.

    The young man, offended by his father¡¯s words was about tosh out. But he thought better not to. He was already in a precarious position. His banter with Skeletal had critically threatened the survival of theirpany, and now it was going to be devoured by the very Mr.Skeletal he offended.

    John Ford was unwilling of such a thing to happen especially since he knew that Skeletal was Dave¡¯s friend. His Fianc¨¦e¡¯s EX.

    Mr. Skeletal probably did this on the behest of Dave. This was something John Ford found hard to swallow. Some trash nobody from the lowerdder of society dared pull strings to threaten John¡¯s future? He couldn¡¯t ept it.

    Thankfully, Skeletal hadn¡¯t bought the majority of the share. Someone had beaten him to the remaining 6%. There was still hope for John Ford into excluding Skeletal from taking over hispany. He only had to meet this man ad have him join them in coboration. This will make Skeletal nothing but a money bag, while they will still call the shots in thepany.

    After this urgent meeting called by Skeletal is over, John was going to look for Satan yer and even beg him if he had to. So he would reveal the identity of the one who bought thest 6% of the shares. He knew that Satan yer had significant influence, and finding out who bought the shares wouldn¡¯t be hard for him.

    But John wasn¡¯t willing to listen to his father anymore. He was angry right now, and felt the need to prove himself.

    ¡¯I¡¯ll show you how I can be better than you in leading thispany.¡¯ This thought crossed John¡¯s mind, and it sprouted a seed of unwillingness.

    He stormed out of the conference room despite his father¡¯s continuous shouts for him toe back. John ford was going to call Satan yer right now and organize a meetingter this day. He will find out the identity of thest share-holder and have him join hand, and by that, he will be the hero thispany needs to survive its current crisis. He knew he messed up big time by crossing Skeletal, but he still had the ability to restore everything to order.

    Not only when his n will work will he be perceived as saving thepany, but bybining forces with the third party, they will be ruling thepany. They won¡¯t be Satan yer¡¯s subordinate anymore, nor will they be Skeletal¡¯s subordinate. They will own everything.

    These ideas were spiralling in John¡¯s mind as he descended the elevator, he was even thinking of the future where the wholepany will be his and all he ever wished for will be in his hands.

    John was brought back to reality the moment the elevator¡¯s door opened. His eyesnded on a person who was fixing his shoe at the entrance of the building. This person was very familiar to him. It was a lid he despised the most. Thoughts of hatred crossed his mind, and he rushed forward.

    He went in between an old man and a purple-haired girl who looked like they were watching the idiotic person fixing his shoe. John was furious at the man, so he immediately grabbed him by the cor and shouted, "What the fuck are you doing here!"

    "Wow bruh, chill," the person wore a white dress shirt and ck jeans.

    "Get the fuck out of here. You caused enough shit already! This is the real world, bitch. You have no influence here!" the man said.

    "What¡¯s going on?" one of the security men at the entrance came running.

    "Mr. Ford, what seems to be the problem?" the guard asked as he looked at John Ford grabbing the young man.

    "Kick this sucker out. I don¡¯t want to see him here," John said and pushed back the guy he was holding.

    This person, seemed to have a minor limp, and when he was pushed back, he fell on his back. He echoed a pained groan. It appeared that an old injury was agitated.

    "You¡¯ll have toe with me," The security said to the person on the floor.

    Out of the notice of most of the people, the purple-haired girl was trying to go and help the person that just fell, but the old man next to her was holding her from moving. A devilish smile was stered on his face. It was a smile rare would know, and those who did would tremble greatly.

 Chapter 331 The Demon Bares His Fangs

    Small change. Douche-Guy¡¯s name has been changed from Jhon Ford to Jhonathan/Jhon Webb. Sorry for the mess up in thest chap.

    ***************

    The smiling demon walked away from the scene and went to the reception. He showed his business card to the man behind the counter.

    "I¡¯m Silvana Samuel, and I have witnessed an assault from one of the workers in thispany on another person. Byw, I have the right to demand your security video feed."

    When the smiling demon spoke, the man finally realized that there was someone talking to him. He was upied with watching his boss¡¯ son making a scene at thepany¡¯s entrance.

    "Ah, y-yes." The man had to agree and handed thewyer a drive that contained the video of what just urred.

    When Samuel took the drive, he turned and went to the entrance. Dave was angrily staring at both the security guard and Douche-Guy. He had no idea what was going on, sure he did y him dirty, but Douche-guy didn¡¯t have to go physical.

    "Mr. Webb. I wasing here to have a meeting with your father, but it seems that your sense of hospitality is rather vulgar," Samuel spoke his words calmly and confidently.

    Douche-guy turned, when he saw Samuel Silvana, he hesitated for a moment and said, "Sorry for this. He¡¯s just some homeless bastard, you don¡¯t need to bother with him. Follow me I can take you to my father¡¯s. we can have our meeting."

    Samuel Silvana frowned, ¡¯Was this guy really that dull? He could have at least respected Dave as a friend of Skeletal. But now he dared call him a homeless bastard after assaulting him?¡¯

    Samuel Silvana was actually surprised at the denseness of this kid. He was too idiotic to realize that his actions were nothing more than washing his own neck and sharpening the guillotine by his very hands.

    "Fucking asshole!" Zoe blew up. "Why the fuck did you hit Davey when he is injured?"

    "Zoe, mind your tongue," Samuel spoke calmly, however deep down he approved of Zoe¡¯s cursing, this person perfectly fitted the term asshole.

    Just now, did Douche-guy noticed that Zoe came with Samuel Silvana. He then turned to Dave, and a few scenarios began spinning in his head. Thest time he saw Zoe, she was with Dave, she was clinging to him like his girlfriend. Other than that, Zoe confirmed that she was Lone Arrow, this he knew from the bartender who heard and spoke of it at the Underground club.

    Lone arrow always apanied Skeletal. And now, this is the second time he saw Zoe apanying Dave.

    Could it be...?

    Yet he immediately shook the idea out of his mind. It was impossible for such a low life scrub to be the famous Skeletal. Though he hated the undead, he still respected his reputation. As for this low life? Not in a lifetime will he ever do so. He didn¡¯t deserve to be lumped with the Elites.

    "It¡¯s just a misunderstanding between him and I. But if he is apanying you, I can allow him to go into the building, but he¡¯ll wait in the hall," Douche-guy didn¡¯t like Dave, but he had to give the Silvanawyer a bit of respect and let him enter the building.

    "Who the fu-.." Zoe stopped, she was about to use a ¡¯bad word¡¯ then she said, "Who do you think you are to stop or allow Davey to go in?"

    "Huh? Are you blind, I¡¯m thepany¡¯s CEO¡¯s son!" Webb blew up. He was feeling more and more irritated at being belittled, especially in front of so many employees who were watching what was ongoing.

    Just as Samuel was about to speak, the elevator opened, and an old man hastily came running.

    "JHON! What the hell are you doing?!" The man roared out. The veins on his forehead were bulging threatening to pop. This kid was causing him so many trouble he felt he would be the end of him.

    "Dad. There¡¯s nothing serious. Just a misunderstanding," Douche-guy said, trying to calm his father.

    Samuel didn¡¯t think that way, the moment he saw the CEO he wanted to make a scene. Making scenes is always good for his business, and he excelled at it.

    "Misunderstanding?" Samuel scoffed, "I fail to see how verbally assaulting my client, shaming him in front of people than physically assaulting him while he is still in recovery a misunderstanding!" Samuel said, this time, the smile was no more.

    The expressions on the Demon Barrister were different from before. His face showed no emotions, yet at the same time, his face looked cold and serious.

    When the word ¡¯Client¡¯ was uttered, Jhon Webb felt like he was doused with a bucket of ice-cold water. He didn¡¯t dare turn and look at Dave. The word Client had very, very serious implications.

    Mainly because the reason for the meeting today with Mr.Silvana was to meet his ¡¯Client.¡¯ The client who is also known in the game as ¡¯Mr.Skeletal.¡¯

    The scenarios that turned in Webb-Jhonathan¡¯s head a few moments ago resurfaced, only this time, the face of Dave reced Mr.Skeletal. This made Dave¡¯s human face a hundred times more terrifying than the undead skeletal¡¯s draugr face.

    "Client?" the old man said, then he noticed Dave standing outside the building.

    "You mean?"

    "Yes. It¡¯s about time everyone knew," Samuel turned and looked at Dave meaningfully.

    "Yeah. I don¡¯t really care anymore. It was tough to keep it hidden early when I started ying but now. I¡¯m an ¡¯Elite,¡¯" Dave said thest words but his tone and voice had a hint of mockery and they were aimed at Douch-Guy

    "Vey well. Then, for all to know, David Ruster. Also know in the game of Conquest as Mr. Skeletal is currently the shareholder of the majority of Sigma-Electronics. And you, as Webb-Johnathan had assaulted him in his working ce, prevented him from entry, verbally and physically assaulted him.

    These are more than enough reasons for me to file a civilwsuit and have you pay through the teeth for all the damage you caused to my client. And in other words, your real boss," Samuel said these words all of them, slowly and uttered them withplete rity for all to hear.

    Douche-Guy was stunned, for a long while, he could only listen, but his lips couldn¡¯t move to defend himself. He had nothing. He couldn¡¯t say anything.

    If the ground could split and swallow him, he would feel much better. If this was nothing but a bad nightmare, this would have been fine. But this nightmare felt very real. Too realistic to not believe. He didn¡¯t need to pinch himself to know that this nightmare had just begun and it was going tost for his entire life.

    A single-action due to anger had caused this very person who had a bright future ahead of him, to see nothing but a dark and deep maddening abyss covering his prospect.

    His road toward taking over thepany was destroyed as if it was demolished by a gigantic meteor. And this meteor had the face of David Ruster.

    Johnathan Webb¡¯s father was also stunned. His son, his only son, had always been a cause of trouble, but he doted on him. His son always thought himself the best amongst his peer. Though his father knew that there were many that were far ahead of him on the socialdder, he never made his son feel inferior. And this created a superiorityplex in his child. This very superiorityplex made Johnathan Webb take the wrong turns many times in life.

    Starting by when finding out about his fianc¨¦e EX, a low life scrub who he wanted to crush. This caused his twisted personality to reveal itself. He felt inferior that his ¡¯Beautiful¡¯ Anna used to fancy someone else. As dumb as it sounds, it is also true.

    Then another encounter, where he saw Dave apanied by influential people, like the famous Caitlin Giovanni, or Zoe Silvana, or even Vanessa Shrind. And the final straw was when Mr. Skeletal said that he was Dave¡¯s friend. Why couldn¡¯t his circle of friends be as powerful?

    John Webb¡¯s father had concluded that it was his own mistake for raising his son this way that he ended up like this. And this method of raising his son hade back to bite him in the ass. But now, it was toote. The future of thepany will be ruined the moment he goes to court.

    Assaulting a majority share-holder? Inside the very building they work in? that¡¯s nothing short of an economic and social suicide!

    "Wait!" John¡¯s father shouted. His face showed deep fright and panic. He didn¡¯t want this to happen. His son can¡¯t go to court. He can¡¯t be trialed. He knew of the Demon¡¯s capabilities. Sending his son to jail would be as easy as twisting his hand. That was not something his son could take.

    "You can¡¯t go to court! We can settle. I know you need the rest of the shares I can sell you some!"

    "Oh, that was quick," Dave muttered. He was actually surprised at how the situation had turned. They wereing here with some dirt on the Webbs to get them to sell, but it seemed that they wouldn¡¯t even be needing to get into arguments and conflict I the meeting. This was going all too damn well for Dave to believe.

    "Yes. It¡¯s usually this way in the grown up¡¯s world, kid. But there is one thing Mr, Jason Webb is forgetting. Do you know why they call me the demon?"

    Samuel Silvana turned to face Jason Webb. He had a smile that wasn¡¯t a smile stered on his face, he then slowly spoke, "If I go after something, I¡¯ll take it whole, See you in court!"

    The words fell down like the decree of a god. The demon barrister turned and led Zoe and Dave out of the building. Leaving Jason Webb shocked and stunned. His knees soon turned weak, and his vision became blurry. Jason Ford immediately fell on the ground, fainted.

 Chapter 332 Unexpected

    Dave followed after Zoe and Samuel as they headed to the parking.

    He was thinking hard about all that just happened and couldn¡¯t help but ask," Why¡¯d you take them to court even after they agreed to sell?" Dave asked.

    Samuel Silvana stopped and turned to face Dave, "Son. Listen, what you just saw now waspletely normal. The world has grown into an eat or be eaten world. Being kind to those who do you harm is not a show of kindness, but it shows weakness. Weakness that others will abuse and use against you."

    "Uncle is right," Zoe said, "If you uncle didn¡¯t do this, you may never know how the Webbs would have acted. They might show a friendly face to you and sell you the shares, but once you are their partner, they will do their best to take you down and retake what was ¡¯theirs.¡¯ You are one of the rare kind souls I¡¯ve met in my life, Dave, and I can tell you, there aren¡¯t many like you left nowadays."

    Dave silently contemted what Zoe and Samuel just told him. It was true, many have treated Dave beneath the dirt, from his abusive father, his former employer, the mafia goons, even the majority of the yer base had acted this way when he was just an unknown person.

    He had to endure before because he couldn¡¯t stand up to them and say no. He didn¡¯t have the capital to do so. But now, he was Mr.Skeletal, one of Conquest most influential figures. He was somebody. And he needed to act the way.

    Being kind and forgiving to those who wrong him will only bring him more trouble. He had a lifetime of that, and it was time to say enough.

    "You¡¯re right. Guess I didn¡¯t think about it like that. I¡¯ll try to act upon my current status more."

    "Good. Also, the real reason I took them to court was mainly to preserve my own reputation," Samuel said.

    He revealed an evil grin that wasparable to Dave¡¯s draugr smile as he said, "If we agreed to settle, that would have given them a bit of leeway, and they would have tried to negotiate the price of the shares and hold hope that they could still be partners of Sigma-Electronics. Yet now, I¡¯m about to drive their faces in the mud. I¡¯ll make them miserable enough that they¡¯ll beg for us to take their stocks for free."

    Looking at Zoe, with an expression of ¡¯He can do that?¡¯

    Zoe smiled understanding and nodded to Dave.

    ¡¯Scary uncle!¡¯

    The three left thepany and headed back into Dave¡¯s hotel.

    They were riding with Samuel as Lone brought her Lambo and it was a two-seater.

    This was one of the rare drives Dave had had with this family, as Samuel was a perfectw-abiding citizen. The kind that didn¡¯t go above speed limits or through red lights.

    Dave asionally looked at Zoe in a ¡¯You should learn to drive from your uncle!¡¯ gaze. And only received rolled eyes.

    "Uncle, you drive like an olddy!"

    Samuel shook his head; he had enough adventures and close shaves with Zoe to care for her opinion about driving.

    When Samuel dropped Dave off, Zoe asked, "When are you going to see your new penthouse?"

    "I¡¯ll head there tonight. I¡¯ll give you guys a callter today. For now, I¡¯ll log in. It should be about time that the Eastern Raid event is over. I¡¯ll want to get some more Contribution Points."

    "Yeah, right. I¡¯ll log in too. See youter," Zoe waved her hand at Dave and the two of them separated.

    Dave went upstairs and logged in in the game.

    Somewhere in the real world, a person was typing furiously on his keyboard. He was writing an article that was about to shake the whole Conquest and real-world on a full scale.

    He was uploading pictures of the confrontation between a young man in white and the son of Sigma Electronicspany. And above the text wall, a title was written in bold,

    "Mr.Skeletal, Identity REVEALED!"

    After typing thest few words, the man pressed on the publish button. It didn¡¯t take his article more than minutes before it spread like wildfire through all of the inte. Anyone who ever yed Conquest thesest few months had only one thought in mind when it was regarding the Undead Mr.Skeletal.

    The unknown yer that shook the whole of the yer base game, who was he? But this article seemed to reveal this man¡¯s identity. Was it a lie?

    It didn¡¯t take more than hours before many reporters ran toward Sigma-Electronics demanding the overseers to give them the truth. At first, they were ignored, but the more of these reporters gathered, the harder it became to control the situation.

    Finally, an exhausted old man came out of the establishment. He was the current CEO of thepany. And after a few words, the truth was revealed.

    The man that was Mr. Skeletal, the current majority holder of thepany shares was named David Ruster.

    The news spread on a wide scale. The reporters used all of theirworks and channels to do thorough research on this David Ruster. The most they found out was that this David Ruster was an unknown person. Not the son of some famous family, not someone with significant influence, he was just a nobody. A person that the most eventful part of his life was an ident of unknown causes that almost led to a permanent disability, but at the same time, was the reason for his rise to fame.

    Yet this didn¡¯t make them the least bit enthusiastic. It even made them more thrilled to write about Mr.Skeletal¡¯s true identity.

    Who didn¡¯t like an underdog? The ck horse of the track. A nobody that made himself famous starting from scratch. Who didn¡¯t love to hear the story of someone going from Zero To hero?

    The reporters worked overtime to get their articles out. Using Dave¡¯s past and his future as a total contrast of extremes to show how one with nothing can end up having everything if they tried hard enough.

    The E-Papers were released, and the issues were sold on a world-wide scale with trantions to most of the world¡¯s usednguages. In less than half a day, everyone knew about Mr.Skeletal¡¯s dark past and his bright future.

    This increased Dave¡¯s likability to the low-level yer base, which made him both a hero in-game and outside of it. But the smartest of people were the ones that turned their gaze at Sigma-Electronics. They had to invest. Mr.Skeletal¡¯s current fame was like a gctic rocket that was going far. They had to have a seat on this rocket no matter what.

    All of this was happening while Dave was inside the world of Conquest.

    He was beside hundreds of undead as he waited for thest few seconds before the event of the Eastern Raid would end.

    Looking up, a notification appeared in front of Dave.

    ***

    Server Announcement!

    The East has invaded many of the world¡¯s cities. Yet thanks to the capable and mighty yers, they have been repelled. However, thends taken by the east will belong to them from now on.

    Adjustments!

    Areas taken by the Eastern Kingdom of Qin will have a minimum level requirement to ess.

    yers cannot teleport to the Kingdom of Qin beyond the Wilds, but they can still ess the upied cities if they respect the following conditions.

    yers need to be at least level 300 to enter these areas.

    yers need to sessfullyplete the quest [By the King] to gain ess to the upied areas.

    yers must not be aggressive toward the NPCs or guards controlling these areas or else they will suffer a ban of 7 days and will have to redo the quest [By the King].

    All of the monsters, creatures, and NPCs in these areas will have their level increased and will now generate more quests.

    ***

    Another notification soon showed up.

    ***

    The 10 yers with the most contribution will be portrayed in the following list and their total contribution level.

    10- Satan yer 1,211.

    9- Mercy 1,883.

    8- Zhu-Lu 2,000.

    7-Fantom-Pain 2122.

    6-White-Ghost 3,220.

    5-Wan-Yi 3,661.

    4-Zhang-Shi 5,551.

    3-Warlord 6,778.

    2-Kis¡¯Shtiengbrah 12,555.

    1-Jeffery 61,000.

    All of these yers will receive the title: [World¡¯s de]

    The top 3 yers will receive the unique rune [Doom]

    The number 1 yer "Jeffery" will receive the Ultimate Tier Skill [Mass Destruction]

    Thank you for joining this event and best of luck while ying Conquest.

    ***

    Dave was genuinely surprised. He didn¡¯t think that even with his tens of thousands of Undead that someone else would manage to kill more Qin warriors than him. But not just a bit more, the person had killed six times the numbers that Dave and all of his army had killed.

    "Well, that¡¯s alright. I can¡¯t have everything. But this Jeffery name sounds familiar..." after thinking for a moment, Dave remembered, "Oh, that¡¯s the guy who unlocked the Age of The Machine Expansion."

 Chapter 333 Tech-BeatDown

    Lone approached Dave and said in a giggle, "Talk about a one-man army."

    "Yeah, I wonder how he did it," Dave said while rubbing his beard. He knew the world of Conquest had many powerful yers, and it seemed that one of them is strong enough to take on the army of Qin ande out with the number one spot.

    "I have a video of this Jeffery guy, here look," Ralph said and showed the yers a video panel.

    In a city in the north, a single-yer was standing at the gate. Hundreds of Qin warriors wereing toward the city, but this yer didn¡¯t look afraid or panicked. He raised his hand and suddenly, metal began materializing over his avatar. The metal morphed and transformed, creating a metal armored humanoid that was as tall as the ten-meter city gate.

    "Gundam?" Dave muttered.

    "Evangelion?" Lone said with a tilted head.

    "More like a Valverave," nker said.

    "Valvraves are burly, I think more like a Jeager," Perfect Shot said.

    "Metal Gear!" Ralph shouted.

    Fortress turned to Ralph and said, "I see that you are all men of culture, but no. The closest to this is a Kataphrakt kg-6 Sleipnir."

    "The heck is that?" Dave asked. He was sure that Fortress was just making names up.

    Fortress brought out a browser panel and showed Dave an orange robot. Besides the color, It looked simr to the robot Jeffery was riding.

    "Damn, it looks a lot like it," Dave was in awe of Fortress Nerd-Culture.

    The armored robot was standing tall. Its mere appearance forced the soldiers of Qin to stop their charge; they have never seen anything as strange as this.

    The metallic robot drew a sword from his back, it was easily five meters long, he grabbed it with both hands, and the sword turned red.

    "The heck, is that a lightsaber?" nkermented.

    "Idiot, lightsabers don¡¯t have a de," Fortress replied, shaking his head.

    The robot took a few steps then began sprinting toward the Qin soldiers. Panic spread among the army and they started spreading in all directions escaping, yet the giant robot wasn¡¯t going to let them escape.

    It shed down, the mere impact blew dirt and rocks everywhere, causing the splinters of rock to kill and injure the escaping warriors. Not to mention the souls that immediately died to the de¡¯s edge on impact.

    "That¡¯s a lot of damage..." Dave¡¯s voice trailed.

    The robot ran after the escaping Qin warriors, slicing and shing at the escaping soldiers. The robot didn¡¯t stop until all the Qin warriors next to his feet were dead. Then it turned its gaze on the soldiers that were too far away from it.

    The robot bent to the side and took a crossbow that was strapped to its leg. The crossbow was easily the size of a mega-ballista.

    It drew the crossbow and pressed the trigger. Hundreds of bolts shot consecutively out of the crossbow. That was no different than a fully automatic machine gun shooting a hail of metal.

    The crossbow bolts shot at sound-breaking speed and prated through the soldiers at the far distance, killing all the stragglers. Then a momentter, the bolts that were embedded in the ground began a chain explosion until no Qin soldier was left standing.

    "The fuck, that¡¯s just broken."

    "The video still has a few more minutes," Ralph said.

    In these few more minutes, the horizon was covered in the blue and green soldiers. These were the knights Dave dreaded. Each of them had the strength of a doom knight.

    When they faced the mecha, they didn¡¯t falter. Two of them ran at top speed. Their footsteps broke the snow picking up a rooster tail of it. One of them jumped up and shed down with his sword on the mecha¡¯s head, yet the sword simply bounced away.

    Jeffery sliced with his sword at the knight, but the knight easily dodged.

    The second knight jumped toward the mecha¡¯s leg. There was a small area that wasn¡¯t fully armored; it was the back joint of the knee. He sliced at it, causing tons of steam to burst out. The Mecha fell on one knee.

    "He done fucked up now," nker said.

    But just as nker finished his words, the Mecha¡¯s eyes lit up in a bright red. The two knights were staring at the Mecha while raising their swords and pointing at it.

    The Mecha¡¯s back opened up, revealing a square canister that held dozens of small missiles. Two of these rockets shot out from the cannister and headed directly at each of the knights.

    One of them sliced at the iing rocket, to destroy it. But his action brought his doom. The missile blew up, and in its explosion, it detonated the second one. The explosion sted the two knights leaving nothing but parts of their armors, battered and broken while the men inside them had turned to cinder.

    "Holy shit, that firepower is insane!" Ralph said.

    "That¡¯s not fair man, how can anyone deal with that?" Fortress added.

    The remaining rockets shot out at the other side where the hundreds of blue and green knights were standing.

    Explosions echoed in the distance, and all that remained of the hill that these knights stood on was an enormous hole.

    The kneeling robot detached one of its arms, it transformed into a smaller robot that began repairing the damaged part of the knee. Secondster, the Mecha reattached his arm and stood up.

    The video cut right after that.

    "Well that¡¯s our answer," Dave said.

    "Man, that¡¯s just broken. How can anyone deal with that?" kerined.

    Everyone turned to Dave; they all had the same question in mind. ¡¯Can you win against this Mecha?"

    "It¡¯s hard to beat that guy, but he is not invincible," Dave said.

    The NPCs sure had died to the robot. But they revealed that the robot could be brought down. With enough numbers, it can be swarmed and destroyed piece by piece. That was Dave was thinking. The only problem was getting close to it.

    If Dave ever had to fight against this robot, he believed that he would have a hard time defeating it, but he was sure that he can still win. Especially with his legacy skill. Using [Immortal Apparition] under the effect of [Final Phantasm] will make him ethereal and reduce the threat of the rockets.

    Dave¡¯s mind began spinning as he thought of all possible scenarios. But he still believed that the robot had many more attacks he didn¡¯t use.

    "Alright. Enough with this. Right now, the Leviathan should be finished." Dave said.

    "Leviathan?" Ralph asked.

    "Yeah, you weren¡¯t there. It¡¯s our ship. We¡¯re going to look for the treasure of the pirate king."

    "Treasures! What are we waiting for?! Let¡¯s go!" Ralph seemed more excited than the usual.

    Dave smiled lightly and said, "Wait until I call you guys," He then tore a teleportation scroll and disappeared from the area.

    Dave appeared in the dead realm. He crouched down, cing his palm on the dirt. ck sigils spread form his hand and Grumpy appeared next to Dave.

    Dave hopped on an pointed to his settlement. The Onyx basilisk ran toward it. As they were going, Dave felt movement in his side-bag.

    He the head of a ck dragon popped up from it. Onixya was able to change her size to fit into the small backpack, but it seemed that she was annoyed.

    "What¡¯s wrong?" Dave asked. But just as he finished his words, the small slime, Tiny emerged. The two of them were fighting for space inside Dave¡¯s side pocket.

    "No fighting!" Dave scolded the two. Onixya lowered her head, feeling wronged, and Tiny deted.

    Dave sighed and pulled the two out. He ced Onixya above his helmet and tiny in front of him on the head of grumpy.

    Onixya enjoyed the high view and began roaring, though it was more like squeals than roars it was still adorable. Tiny didn¡¯t want to be outshined by the dragon. So he shook and changed his form to that of a dragon extremely simr to Onixya then began roaring.

    "That¡¯s cool, Tiny," Daveplimented the slime. Tiny jubntly moved around itself and wagged its tail.

    Onixya, seeing the slime mimicking her appearance and getting praised by Dave snorted two streams of ck gas then opened its mouth wide.

    Small ck particles coalesced in front of her. Dave saw the skill Onixya was using and he broke into a cold sweat. This was frighteningly simr to the ck Dragon¡¯s Dragon Breath.

    However, the ck orb in front of Onixya was not even a fraction the size of the one the ck Dragon summoned. But the strength gathered inside it was enough to make space bend.

    "This orb might look like the dragon breath, but it¡¯s not hot. It¡¯s different," Dave thought to himself as he gazed at the orb.

    Onixya, having gathered as much energy as she could close her mouth in a snap and the orb flew in the distance. The orb was headed toward a few withered trees in the Dead Realm. When the globe made contact, it expanded to ten times the size thenpressed to one-tenth of the original size.

    This expansion andpression caused the space to fold on itself. The trees twisted as if they were a mirage. The ground spun, and it was as if space itself was turning. A momentter, everything the radius of a sphere waspressed into nothingness.

    A sizeable spherical hole was left in the small hill.

    Dave¡¯s eyes widened at the skill¡¯s effect.

    "Holy smokes! That¡¯s like a ck-hole!" Dave was mouth agape. His small dragon had developed an abilitypletely different than its birth parent.

    Onixya snorted once again and looked at tiny with a hint of mockery.

    The slime-dragon kept watching the hole in the hill. It then opened its mouth...

    A thought crossed Dave¡¯s mind, that if Tiny could mimic Onixya, he would have some powerful creatures.

    But that hope was soon shattered. As tiny opened its mouth it couldn¡¯t gather the specs of ck light to create the orb, even after trying hard he failed at it.

    Looking at the small dragon above Dave¡¯s head, Tiny felt that the disdainful gaze grew colder, the dragon scoffed at him and ignored the slime.

    Tiny felt aggrieved and returned to his slime form then scurried toward Dave¡¯s side pocket. He refused toe out even after Dave called out to it.

    Dave shook his head and said, "You shouldn¡¯t bully him like that Onixya. That¡¯s not cool."

    The dragon whined and lowered its head like she had done something bad.

    Dave smile and kept going toward his settlement.

    As he arrived, Dave spotted Gafgar moving in circles. He looked to be waiting for someone.

    "Gafgar, how is the construction going?" Dave asked.

    "Lord Kis¡¯Shtiengbrah! I¡¯ve been waiting for you since morning. The leviathan is afloat, and we only need you to take it for its first journey!"

    "Great! Take me there!" Dave said.

 Chapter 334 Embarking to Treasure Island

    "Alright," Gafgar said and stomped the ground. A dunlord soon appeared, and he rode on it then coursed through the forest in Dave¡¯s territory.

    Dave followed after Gafgar. Soon he heard the sound of water. There was a stream next to them. After following along it, the stream converged into a wide-raging river.

    They continued moving through the forest and following after the river until they exited. In front of Dave was an enormous raging sea. It was pitch ck like if the water was made of ink. The broken moon hung close to the water; its reflection was hard to see among the raging waves.

    At the end of the river was arge dock that had dozens of undead moving about. Logs and metal were ced neatly around the doc in stocks.

    Looking into the sea Dave saw a ship that didn¡¯t budge even though the waves of the sea raged. But calling it just a boat would degrade the enormity and beauty of such a vessel.

    It was made entirely of wood and had a reinforced hull that ended with the head of a draconic creature. It had three masts that were dozens of meters long. It was at least a hundred meter in length and was heavily fortified.

    There were dozens of cannon muzzles peaking from the side of the ship.

    "How is it?!" Gafgar asked in all pride.

    "It¡¯s huge!" Dave replied as he got closer, but the closer he got, the more imposing the ship looked.

    "We¡¯ll need to take the row-boats to get there," Gafgar said. There were a few row-boats that were tied to the harbor.

    Gafgar called two undead and turned to Dave and said, "Let¡¯s take her for a ride!"

    "I¡¯ve never driven a ship before," Dave smiled.

    "I¡¯ll show you how to. It¡¯s not easy but not too hard," Gafgar said and hopped into the boat.

    Dave unsummoned Grumpy and jumped into the boat.

    The two undead rowed the boat through the raging sea and approached the floating ship.

    Slowly they made their way through the waves and stopped in front of the ship. It looked like it could reach the sky and was as wide as the horizon.

    "Lower the ropes!" Gafgar called.

    Several undead threw ropes form on top of the ship¡¯s deck.

    Gafgar and the two undead tightened the ropes on the row-boat and called for the ones on the Leviathan to pull.

    Momentster Dave was on top of the ship.

    Dozens of undead saluted him, and Gafgar opened his hands wide shouting, "Isn¡¯t she lovely!" pride could be seen shining from his hazy eyes. It seemed that Gafgar grew an enormous attachment to this structural miracle.

    Dave¡¯s gaze wandered; the ship was beautifully made. The sales were folded and ck as the night. The deck was clean and shiny. It was recently mopped and polished. Kegs and crates were neatly stacked to the side. These must be the supplies for the ship. Arge portion of the boat was built in the back. There was a steering wheel on it. When Gafgar saw Dave looking at it, he smiled and said, "That¡¯s the Wheel-Deck. I¡¯ve built you your stay under it. It¡¯s called the Stern-Castle or the captain¡¯s quarters for a simpler term."

    "Thanks," Dave said. he wasn¡¯t too familiar with the ship terms, but Gafgar was an excellent help.

    "Come,e, let¡¯s get this beauty moving."

    Gafgar walked up a staircase that led to the Wheel Deck while Dave followed after him.

    Dave stood and stared at the wheel, it had a skull in the middle, and its handles were made of bones. It looked frightening yet fascinating at the same time.

    "Before we go, we need a g," Gafgar said.

    A notification window appeared in front of Dave.

    ***

    Please personalize your ship-g. It will be a way to identify your ship.

    ***

    The panel in front of Dave had several options. There were ready-made gs, some had skulls like pirates and some had the logo of the four kingdoms. But Dave wanted something unique.

    He chose to make a personal logo, he opened his browser and looked for the CCN logo of his smiling draugr face. He copied the logo and added it to the g. It showed a smirking bearded dragur.

    Another notification appeared in front of Dave.

    ***

    Your g contains an element rted to death.

    Skulls, Undead are symbols of pirates.

    Choosing these gs will make neutral ships hostile toward you!

    Do you still wish to continue?

    ***

    Dave smiled and pressed, Yes. With a ship this big, he wasn¡¯t afraid of anyone.

    "HA! What a fine g!" Gafgar said as the g with the draugr¡¯s face appeared in his hand.

    He handed the g to one of the undead and said, "Climb the crow¡¯s nest and put this up! make the world know that the undead ising!"

    The undead took the g and climbed up the middle mast like an agile monkey. He entered through a small opening into the Crow¡¯s Nest and ced the g in ce.

    The wind made the g flutter in the dark skies of the underworld.

    "WEIGH THE ANCHOR!" Gafgar bellowed out.

    Four undead went to the mainmast, and each pulled a steel pole down. The steel poles looked like a wheel that was attached to the mast.

    Then the undead began pushing all the poles in one direction. The sound of chains crackling echoed as the undead pushed the pols. Soon the anchor was hoisted, and the ship was free to move.

    "HOIST THE SAILS!"

    Other undead began pulling at ropes. These ropes hastily drew up the ck sails of the ship. The wind blew into the sails and began pushing the vessel forward.

    "Commander, take the wheel," Gafgar said and went behind Dave.

    Dave hesitated for a moment then took the wheel in hand.

    "Turn it starboard."

    "What¡¯s that?" Dave asked.

    "Starboard means turn the ship to the right," Gafgar said in a smile.

    "Then why not just say that?" Dave asked as he turned the wheel to the right.

    "Ha, you¡¯ll know when we are in the deep sea. Sometimes left and right bes confusing. So we use Starboard or Portside to indicate right and left respectfully based on the ship¡¯s hull." Gafgar exined.

    "Ah," Dave nodded. He was still unconvinced, though.

    "So how do we get this ship to the overworld."

    "His majesty ordered the building of the naval teleportation gate, so we go through it," Gafgar said.

    "Uh, I don¡¯t see any gate," Dave replied as he kept his hands firm on the wheel.

    "Well, of course, because it¡¯s underwater.

    "Huh? Say that again?" Dave asked.

    "Yes, the naval gate is underwater, so we¡¯ll dive," Gafgar said.

    "I think you¡¯re mistaking something. Ships weren¡¯t made to dive underwater."

    "Yes, but those are human ships. Use the power of your ring lord Kis¡¯Shtiengbrah," Gafgar said.

    Dave looked at his ring then remembered that he had obtained a new ability.

    "Dead Men Tell My Tale, huh."

    As he spoke the words, a dark aura spread from his ring and seeped into the ship¡¯s wood. It ate at it and made it decay. The brand new ship began to corrode and rot. Even the sails became torn in many ces, but instead of the vessel decelerating, Dave noticed that the boat was actually picking up speed.

    The ship became dark and slowly almost ethereal, mixing between physical and nonphysical.

    "Push the wheel!" Gafgar said.

    Dave pushed the wheel, and the whole ship released a groaning sound as the bow dove into the water. The seawater climbed up the boat like a hungry beast and covered all the undead. Yet not a single undead was moved from his spot. Even when the water sted into Dave, it just went through him. The ship was actually diving into the depth of the water.

    "That¡¯s the gate!" Gafgar said, his sound clear even through the water.

    Looking in front, Dave saw an enormous teleportation gate that was ced in the depth of the sea. A bright light wasing out from the gate. Dave guided the ship through the gate and exited from the other side.

    The ck seawater was changed to blue, and the sun could be seen from the depth of the sea.

    Dave looked at his mini-map and saw that he was in the Southern Sea.

    "Now pull the wheel," Gafgar said.

    Dave pulled the wheel, and the ship began rising. The old boat broke through the sea surface and was out.

    The bright light of the world shone upon the ship.

    "How is it!" Gafgar asked.

    "This is wonderful," Dave said as he gazed at the calm sea.

    Turning his head, Dave sawnd. There was a small hamlet in the distance.

    Dave saw the name of the hamlet was Sisili. Dave called Lone, telling her toe there.

    Momentster, all of Dave¡¯s party were staring mouth agape at the ship from the hamlet¡¯s dock. The NPCs, however, weren¡¯t too happy with the sight of the ghost-ship in the distance. Most of them escaped and hid in their homes closing their doors and windows.

    "Get someone to bring my friends over," Dave said.

    "As youmand captain," Gafgar turned and ordered a few undead to take the row-boats and bring his friends over.

    When the party climbed up, nkermented, "Man, this is a rusty old ship. Should this ship have like...less holes? How the heck is it even afloat, man there¡¯s a big ass hole in the hull!" nker said, pointing at the hull from above the deck.

    Dave smiled and disabled the ship¡¯s ghost ability. He couldn¡¯t use it anyway with his friends, if he dove into the water, though he won¡¯t be affected they would drown.

    The ship returned to its magnificent shape, making a gob-smacked priest shut up.

    "Alright, let¡¯s get them treasures!" Dave said and spun the wheel, guiding the ship toward the marker¡¯s location.

 Chapter 335 The Great White King

    Dave¡¯s party began inspecting the ship. Surprise and fascination were drawn on all of their faces. They were enjoying the ride on the enormous vessel.

    "Captain, what is our destination?"

    Dave opened the treasure map; the marker¡¯s location was pointing to the south-west.

    "We need to turn Southwest and go straight ahead,"

    Dave said, pointing to the South-West.

    "TURNING STARBOARD!" Gafgar roared.

    All the undead on the ship held tight on the ship¡¯s railing

    When the yers saw the undead all moving at once, they did the same.

    "Go hard on the wheel, captain!" Gafgar said.

    Dave grinned, and with one hand he spun the tiller to the right. The ship began creaking as it turned to the right at a rapid pace.

    "Hoist the Sails!" Gafgar said once again, and even more sails were raised. The wind howled and blew on them, causing the ship to move faster and faster. The vessel began gaining momentum and coursed through the sea like a sword.

    The salty sea breeze assaulted the yer¡¯s faces, it was refreshing and exciting.

    Dave was smiling as he guided the ship; he would slowly steer left or right depending on the wind¡¯s direction; this helped the ship move faster and faster.

    "Captain, you¡¯re a natural at sailing!" Gafgarmended.

    Dave enjoyed the praise, but he didn¡¯t inform Gafgar about the two arrows in his vision that were directing him toward the marker.

    Lone got up the stairs and went to stand next to Dave, "Can I try?" Lone asked.

    Looking at the purple-haired elf, Dave was about to agree but then remembered her driving habits.

    "No, you¡¯ll flip the whole ship!"

    Lone cutely pouted at Dave, but he remained unmoved.

    She soon gave up and left to explore the ship quarters.

    Fortress and Tess were next to the starboard railing and were enjoying the sea voyage. They chatted with each other and had a pink-atmosphere between them.

    The priest however, wasn¡¯t having the best time of his life. nker¡¯s face was pale white. He was gulping hard as if pushing back something. Dave didn¡¯t know if it was his strange habits and ¡¯disgust¡¯ at Fortress and Tess, or if it was sea-sickness.

    Perfect on the other hand went to the ship¡¯s bow and sat on the draconic figurehead of the vessel. The wind made his hair flutter as he sat at the front.

    "Guys, look." Perfect pointed to the side.

    Tess and Fortress leaned over. There was a dolphin pod that was swimming next to the ship. They yfully jumped up and down. Their speed was simr to the vessel.

    "Ah, these dolphins are the blessing of the sea. This will guarantee a fruitful trip," Gafgar said. He then gestured to a few undead who opened a cart that had dried fish.

    Dave was wondering what would the undead use food for. Gafgar noticed his confusion and said, "One has to treat the Sea Mother¡¯s children with respect. Their blessing is a good fortune for our journey." Gafgar spoke his words, and soon a notification appeared in front of Dave.

    ***

    Sea Mother¡¯s Blessing

    +20% Naval Speed.

    Decreased chance of encountering Sea Beasts.

    ***

    Dave smiled as his vessel sped up.

    At this speed, they should arrive at their destination in less than two days.

    Looking around the ship, Dave noticed that Mercy and Ralph had gone missing. They must have gone somewhere while he wasn¡¯t paying attention.

    Half an hourter, the ship was in the deep sea. There was no sign ofnd behind them. The wind picked up, and the boat picked up more speed. The waves grew in size and in intensity, but it was nothing in front of the enormous Leviathan. The ship broke through the dozen meter-high waves and kept going.

    Dave was soon bored, the waves were high, but the monotonous scenery would make anyone uninterested after travelling for long.

    Lone soon came up from the inside the ship. Looking at Dave, she asked him to steer the ship again. This time he gave up and gave her the wheel. But he thought that the moment she tried something funny, he would take over.

    Lone happily took the tiller and, contrary to Dave¡¯s belief, guided the ship smoothly. Not just that, but she would steer the ship so that whenever a wave was iing it took advantage of the wave and increased the ship¡¯s speed.

    "What a wonderful sailing ability," Gafgar said.

    Dave shook his head. He had to agree, with Lone guiding the ship, the waves didn¡¯t lurch them as strongly as before.

    "Well, you can sail us the rest of the way then," Dave said.

    "Aye, Aye, Captain!" Lone said with a gleeful smile.

    Dave thought for a moment and asked, "Did you see Ralph or Mercy when you were downstairs?"

    Lone spun the wheel to the left and said, "Nope, they weren¡¯t down there why?"

    "They just went missing at some point. I don¡¯t know where they are,"

    Dave was about to use his voice-chat to call Ralph until a seagull cried high above them.

    Looking up, Dave noticed some movement in the Crow¡¯s nest. Ralph and Mercy were both there. Their faces stuck close to each other. Dave¡¯s eyebrows rose up, the two of them were making out.

    Lone noticed Dave looking up and subconsciously looked up. When she saw the two, her face turned scarlet.

    Dave and Lone looked at each other at the same time and then looked away. The two of them were embarrassed. Trying to get the awkwardness out, Dave said, "I guess I know where they are now. See youter Lone," Dave waved at her and went down the stairs.

    After recovering, Lone hastily spoke "Uh-yeah. Laters!" Her face was reddening even more.

    Dave went inside the ship, shaking his head. ¡¯Damn. You gotta give it to Ralphy to have the balls to make out with that cold looking assassin.¡¯

    Walking downstairs, Dave headed to the Captain¡¯s Quarters. It was set in the back of the ship. Arge room that bulged out from the ship¡¯s end. Inside it was a desk, a bed and a rack for books.

    There were a few wine- and powder barrels stacked to the side secured with ropes.

    Dave went to bed andid on it. He was thinking about what just urred.

    ¡¯I should probably get my shit together. Zoe is a nice girl. And she¡¯s clearly into me. It¡¯s about time I stop lying to myself. Heck, poor and expectation-less Dave is gone, and I have no reason to push her away. Sam said that I have the capital to act like one of the grown-ups. I should probably act on it.¡¯

    Thoughts like these crossed Dave¡¯s mind. But at the same time, he thought, ¡¯What if she is just friendly with me like she is to everyone? I don¡¯t think I can take rejection. Huh, that¡¯ll suck. And will probably make things super awkward.¡¯

    Afterall Dave was a simple man. He wasn¡¯t a novel protagonist, he was just Dave. There are many of him in this world. They all lived their life with their own doubts, worries and fears.

    ¡¯Who am I kidding? Heck, so what if it gets awkward?¡¯ Dave closed his eyes and smiled.

    ¡¯It¡¯s best to give it a shot. I mean, what¡¯s another rejection? I¡¯ve had my share of them. Rejected by my father, my old ssmates, the boss I used to work for. Hell , I¡¯ve grown ustomed to it. As sad as it sounds, it makes one stronger.¡¯

    Dave drifted off to sleep as the ship slowly swayed. There was a smile on his face and a bit of relief. He was going to take the shot. Probably soon, he¡¯ll just need a good opportunity.

    A few minutester, Dave¡¯s nap was interrupted as the ship shook from a powerful impact.

    ¡¯Did we hit a reef? But we¡¯re in the deep sea?" Dave stood up and hurried upstairs.

    Leaving the Captains Quarters, Dave heard the loud shouting of everyone.

    "Captain, we have a situation!" Gafgar shouted.

    Lone was struggling as she steered the tiller to the left. The undead were climbing up the masts and securing ropes.

    The rest of Dave¡¯s party were using self-buffs on themselves. They were readying up for battle.

    "What¡¯s going on, Gafgar?" Dave asked.

    "It seems that we¡¯re under attack by a Sea-Beast."

    "Sea-Beast? Already?" Dave said. Just as he finished his words, he saw an enormous white shark jumping high up toward the ship¡¯s nk. It¡¯s razor-sharp fangs opened wide as if it was going to take a bite out of the ship¡¯s hull.

    "FIRE!" Gafgar shouted. Then the sound of dozens of cannons echoed at once. The jumping shark was shot down thanks to the heavy rounds and knocked back into the sea.

    "It¡¯s a Great-White King . Annoying little bastard!" Gafgar shouted.

    "Why is it attacking?" Dave asked, "Didn¡¯t we get the Sea Mother¡¯s Blessing?"

    "The blessing only reduced chances of being found out by the beasts. But unfortunately, we went directly through the territory of this Great-White King . If we turned the ship to a ghost ship, we¡¯d be able to scare it away," Gafgar said.

    Dave was about to activate his ring¡¯s ability until a thought crossed his mind.

    "Hang on, I have a better idea," he opened his side bag and took out Tiny.

    "Tiny, bring out the Torab Serpent!"

    Tine began growing in size. His massive weight made the ship¡¯s hull creak.

    "Hey, you¡¯re going to destroy the ship!" Dave alerted the Grave-Lord.

    Tiny stopped his size increase and waved his arms, creating an enormous golden coffin that hovered in the air. The coffin opened up and released ck fumes that spread in space. From the gas, a silver multi-headed snake emerged and dove into the sea.

    When the serpent dove into the sea, Dave saw the Great-White¡¯s fin turning around and coursing in the opposite direction.

    "Go get it! Don¡¯t let it escape!" Dave called.

 Chapter 336 Housewarming Party

    The Torab Serpent moved after the shark, it was much faster than the Sea-Beast and caught up to it in seconds. Then a battle ensued in the middle of the sea. Vast amounts of blood dyed the deep blue sea waters red. It took a few minutes before the rattling and chaotic water sshes to settle down. A blood-stained white belly floated atop the sea waters. It was the Sea-Beast¡¯s carcass.

    "Bring it over," Dave called.

    Lone came over, there was still a hint of redness on her cheeks, but she asked, "Are you gonna loot it?"

    "Nah, I have a better use. You¡¯ll see," Dave said.

    The Torab Serpent coiled around the shark and swam toward the Leviathan. It then lifted the shark all the way until it was next to the ship¡¯s railings.

    Dave touched the carcass with his hand and used [Raise Undead]. Thankfully the spell was sessful on the first attempt, and the white shark turned to undeath.

    "Oh, an undead shark, that¡¯s new," Fortressmented.

    "Lord Kis¡¯Shtiengbrah, I have to say, your methods are quite unorthodox ," Gafgar said. "But what use is it to turn the shark into undeath?"

    "He¡¯ll help us against other sea-monsters if we encounter them. It¡¯s best to have these creatures as guards. We¡¯ll have a much safer trip." Dave said in all confidence.

    The undead-shark struggled and released itself from the Torab Serpent¡¯s hold diving into the sea.

    It then began circling the ship.

    "You too," Dave said to the serpent," Follow behind."

    The ship continued on its course. The yers hearts were more at ease.

    Ralph and Mercy were on the deck. Dave pulled Ralph over and asked, "You looked like you were having some fun up there."

    Ralph smiled mischievously, "Yeah. Well, it wasn¡¯t my idea, to begin with, but heck I can¡¯t say no to that." Ralph was grinning as he looked at Mercy.

    Mercy noticed his gaze and turned the other way. Her face was beet red.

    Dave shook his head at his friend, saying, "Incorrigible."

    "Bruh, you should step up your game, or you¡¯ll be a hermit," Ralph said.

    "Yeah, you¡¯re right. I¡¯m seriously thinking about it anyway."

    "Good, that¡¯s the first step. Anyway, how far are we from this treasure ind?" Ralph asked.

    "Two days at most if we keep up at this speed."

    "Right. But it¡¯s gonna be boring to stay here on the ship for two days."

    "You¡¯re right. Hmm, well, I¡¯ve been nning to go to my new crib today. Might as well log out and move in right now while the ship is sailing."

    "Oh. Right, I forgot about that. So, we¡¯re having a party, right?" Ralph asked in a grin.

    "Yep, bring the booze, we¡¯ll have our fun there while the ship is moving." Dave turned to Gafgar and said, "Gafgar, can you keep the ship on this course? I¡¯lle backter."

    "As you wish," Gafgar said and took the tiller from Lone.

    "Where are you going?" Lone asked.

    "It¡¯s time that I move into my new house. And everyone¡¯s invited, Ralph is throwing a party."

    "Hey!, hold up, you¡¯re the moneybags!" Ralph said.

    "Stingy as always. Don¡¯t worry about the cost. I¡¯ll take care of the bill. Everyone, you should probably log out if you don¡¯t want to get bored out here at sea."

    "And what about our avatars?" nker said. His face was whiter than a paper sheet.

    "Just leave them in my cabin,"

    "And what if the ship is attacked?" Tess asked.

    "I¡¯ll turn it to a ghost ship. She won¡¯t sink," Dave said and used his ring ability.

    The ship began corroding and turning ancient and ethereal. Then it became a ghost ship.

    The ship¡¯s speed increased massively and was coursing through the sea like a torpedo.

    "At this speed, no monster can catch up to us. And weak ones will run away the moment they feel the ghost ship approaching," Gafgar said.

    The yers followed after Dave and entered into his cab. They logged out one by one, leaving their characters idle there inside the cabin.

    The Great White and the Torab Serpent were following behind the ship. Their undead nature made them tireless and able to keep up with the vessel even as it moved at top speed.

    Dave left his capsule. He took all of his clothes and ced them in a bag, then after a final nce at the hotel room that hosted him for a long time, Dave closed the door and left.

    He checked out of the hotel room. Looking at the bill of his stay, Dave almost fainted. Thankfully, he had enough money to pay for the expensive fees.

    "Damn, $1,500 for a night!"

    Dave had stayed in the hotel room for close to a month. He smiled ruefully as he wired the sum of his stay to the hotel¡¯s bank and left the hotel.

    He called a taxi and told the driver to head to his apartment downtown.

    After a few minutes ride, Dave was in front of a sixty-story building. He paid the driver and exited the cab. He quickly got into the building and took the elevator to the penthouse. There was a fingerprint lock on the door. He ced his thumb on it, after a scan the door opened revealing the interior of the loft.

    The penthouse had a magnificent view of the city. The windows wererge and clean and brightened his ce. He stepped on the wooden floor and removed his shoes before walking on a handmade carpet. Dave turned around. His home was extravagantly yet beautifully decorated.

    Karen, the broker, must have hired a professional home decorator as the set up was fantastic and modern.

    There was a round wooden table in the centre of the room where a circr white sofa surrounded it.

    To Dave¡¯s right was enormous tv screen hung on the wall. And from the entrance he could see modern kitchen with its wares. There were wooden circr stairs in the middle of the home. They led upstairs to the bedroom and gaming room.

    Dave did a quick tour of his new house. It was empty, but it felt warm and much more spacious than his old dirty t. Dave was weed into the high-ss life with open arms.

    Dave received a call on his phone. It was from Zoe.

    "Are you at your new ce yet?" Zoe asked.

    "Yeah, just got in. I¡¯ve sent the guys the address," Dave spoke as he was poking at a Oriental style vase.

    "Alright. Tess can¡¯t make it, she doesn¡¯t live in New-York, unfortunately." Zoe said. "There¡¯ll be just me, Mercy and the rest of the boys."

    "Ah too bad for Tess, we¡¯ll still have our fun anyway," Dave said.

    nker¡¯s paranoia about Tess made Dave have some curiosity about her. He didn¡¯t care if she was a he, but he still wanted to know what Tess looked like in real life.

    "I¡¯ll be waiting for you guys. Ralph will probably be busy buying drinks, and since I said it¡¯s on my tab. I¡¯ll put 911 on hot dial in case I get a heart attack."

    Zoe giggled as she heard Dave and said, "Okay, I¡¯ll get Mercy ande over then. See youter."

    She hung up.

    Dave put his phone on the table and went closer to the window.

    He looked down at the streets of New-York and smiled. The cars moved through the streets of New-York. The clouds in the sky were really close, and the sun was brightening both his home and mood.

    ¡¯It¡¯s been tough on you Davey, but you made it.¡¯ Dave kept smiling as he watched everything. It¡¯s been long since he was happy, today he was.

 Chapter 337 Guild-Wars

    A long-haired Hunter moved through the corridors of the Devastators HQ, he was looking at the paintings and statues hung on the walls of the hallways. Curious and interested, the yer continued down the hallway apanied by two other yers that had the Devastator Emblem on their chests.

    "So why¡¯d you guys call me over for?" The Hunter asked.

    "Warlord said he wanted to meet you. You¡¯ll know why when you get there," one of the apanying yers said in a rxed tone.

    The Hunter shrugged and continued walking. Soon the three were next to a closed door. The Devastator yers opened the door for the Hunter, and let him in while they closed the door behind him and left.

    The yer found himself in front of a group of other yers. His jaw threatened to drop to the floor upon seeing the lineup of yers in front of him.

    He had expected to see Warlord, but there was also the Heaven Dawn Guildmaster and right-hand man, Wang Yi, and White Ghost. Zhang Shi was sitting at the far left, both hands crossed and looking intently at the Hunter. Warlord and Valentine were sitting on the other side of the table from across the room.

    While a man wearing blue hunter garb was leaning on the wall, this one was Demetri.

    These were all the most important yers in the whole game.

    "Jeffery," Valentine spoke, "I suppose you know why we invited you here," Valentine added.

    "Not really, no," Jeffery shook his head.

    His answer caused the rest of the people in the room to frown. They didn¡¯t know if this person was acting idiotic or was really an idiot.

    Valentine kept the smile on his face and said, "We invited you here so you can join one of our super guilds. All the people here havee with their own personal offers, and we want you to help us in conquering The East." Valentine said.

    "Oh, really? I tried joining the Devastators a few months ago but got turned down, and now I¡¯m being weed by the guild¡¯s heads. Don¡¯t you think it¡¯s kinda fishy?" Jeffery asked.

    "Not really," Demetri said, "A few months ago you were not of much value to the guild, but now you are the only yer who has a robot and have enough firepower to overpower an S ss legacy holder. You now have value," Demetri pointed out.

    "That¡¯s not a robot, it¡¯s a Mecha," Jeffery corrected. He felt offended at his Mecha being called a robot. His facial expression showed it clearly.

    "Tomato, tomahto. It¡¯s all the same. We need that thing and your help in raiding the East. This is the contract for my deal." Demetri pushed a paper toward Jeffery.

    It states several terms, benefits, and even a sry and opportunity to join the European Guild as a high ranking officer after it is established in the East.

    The other Super-Guild guild masters all pushed their own contracts toward Jeffery. They all wanted to obtain this lone yer and add him to their power. This will increase their guild¡¯s might, and no one was willing to let go of such a powerful asset.

    "These offers are tempting. I¡¯ll have to think a bit." Jeffery said.

    White Ghost and Valentine¡¯s gazes met, and White Ghost smiled and asked, "Before you agree to any of the terms, we would like to know how you obtained that Mecha."

    Jeffery¡¯s face was glued to the extravagant offers the guilds had ced before him, and subconsciously answered, "I got it from a quest."

    "What kind of quest?" Valentine asked.

    "It was something I got from a dwarf," Jeffery replied as he looked at the offer from the Devastators, the benefits offered were even more shocking.

    "Do you think there are more of those Mecha out there?" the White Ghost asked.

    "No, there¡¯s only one. It¡¯s unique." Jeffery looked up and noticed everyone staring at him intensely.

    Some yers frowned, they probably felt disappointed that there were only one of these units of mass destruction. This only increased Jeffery¡¯s value.

    "Then what about the skills on that thing and its cooldown, I don¡¯t think it can beat an S ss legacy holder even if the hype about it is great. I mean you still got downed by one of those knights," Valentine asked casually.

    "Well, I still have more skills, like aser cannon attack and the new [Mass Destruction] Skill I obtained, they are quite powerful, but they have a 72-hour cooldown." Just as Jeffery spoke these few words, he realized that he was telling them too much.

    He then quieted down and frowned.

    "Why are you asking all these questions?" Jeffery asked.

    "We just want to know what we are dealing with and to judge and give value to your mech urately. We don¡¯t want to be unfair inpensating you," the White Ghost said.

    But Jeffery remained unconvinced. He felt like he was being yed. He then remembered the time where Mr. Skeletal was offered the chance to join the Devastators, Mr. Skeletal handled the situation like a pro and didn¡¯t give them any information about his ss and the Underworld. Jeffery felt like a failure inparison.

    "Anyway, that¡¯s all I¡¯ve got to say. I¡¯ll take another look at these contracts and inform the guild I¡¯m willing to jointer."

    "Alright, you can go," Valentine said.

    The yer took the contracts and left. He had a sour taste in his mouth, he felt like he had been tricked.

    The rest of the yers resumed their meeting. Wan Yi asked, "Why did you stop asking him about his robot? We could have gotten more information from him."

    White Ghost shook his head and said, "That wouldn¡¯t be wise. He isn¡¯t the smartest person in the bunch, that is clear, but he still noticed we were interrogating him. If we pressured him more, he would have given us false information. Now to more important matters, Skeletal."

    "Yeah, I invited Satan yer, and he should be here soon." Just as Warlord finished his words Satan yer opened the door to the meeting and took a seat next to Warlord.

    "What did you find out about this David Ruster?" Valentine asked.

    "Well, nothing more than what¡¯s in the papers. He was a nobody but used his character to obtain a lot of power. He isn¡¯t strong enough to threaten our economic superiority."

    "For now," Valentine said. "Skelly is gaining a lot of momentum, his affiliations will increase, and he will obtain a lot of support from many of the world¡¯spanies. He will soon be a power to reckon with. We need to conscript him to our guild no matter what."

    "You are talking like Skelly is already in your hands," Zhang-Shi said.

    "Well he bought my shares, and one of his closest friends is a member of the Devastators, buying his friendship shouldn¡¯t be that hard." Satan yer said.

    "I thought the Sigma-Electronic would have been a massive blow to your funds?"

    "I have a lot of money, and that¡¯s only one of my manypanies. Giving it to Skelly is not a bad trade if I could use his fame." Satan yer taunted the other guild masters. He knew most of his words were nothing but smoke and mirrors. There was no reason for Skelly to think of the Devastators as allies, but Zhang-Shi didn¡¯t know that.

    "I¡¯ll have to excuse myself, contact me when Jeffery decides on which guild to join." Zhang Shi said and teleported out.

    "I suppose we should leave you to talk about your business. Farewell." White Ghost teleported away. Wang Yi didn¡¯t talk and just teleported away.

    Demetri sighed and said, "I still have a lot to do. I¡¯ll be expecting your cooperation in attacking the East again."

    "Yes, our deal still stands. We just need the yer base to grow stronger. We don¡¯t know much about the East, but now we have learned a bit more. With enough time we¡¯ll have the power to conquer it." Valentine said.

    Demetri nodded and disappeared using a teleportation scroll.

    The room now only contained Valentine, Warlord and Satan yer. The pink armored Guardian spoke, "I¡¯ve heard that the Silvana Devil Lawyer is taking Jason Webb to court. If he does that he will take over the rest of thepany shares, leaving us with no opportunity to be partners with Sigma-Electronics."

    "I know, but I don¡¯t think we have the capital to contend with him. Thatwyer is evil, he somehow managed to freeze all of Webb¡¯s assets so he couldn¡¯t even sell his shares before going to court. We don¡¯t have a chance to obtain these shares at all. I guess Skelly¡¯s going to gobble up the whole enterprise alone."

    "I know of a person who has obtained 6% of the Sigma Electronics Shares," Satan yer said.

    "Who is that?" Valentine asked.

    "I only know him by his in-game name, Long-Zhao."

    "Oh, I know him, he is a legacy holder. We should get him to sell us his Sigma Shares." Warlord said.

    "Yeah, we can use that 6% and be partners with Skelly, we might not have any say in hispany, but in time we can slowly chip away at his cut and take it all. Using his fame that is," Valentine said.

    "Well, sorry to inform you guys, I already had the same idea before. But Long-Zhao is strong-headed. He refused to sell the shares even after I offered him ten times their value." Satan yer said.

    "Hmm, he is smart. The way the hype about Skelly is going. His shares will surely be more than ten times the value in no time. Anyway, no matter. We need to prepare for the iing event." Warlord said.

    "Yeah, I didn¡¯t see thating. What¡¯s our power capital?" Satan yer asked.

    "We have many yers above level 400, but level alone is not enough. We need our strongest line-up of Legacy holders." Warlord said.

    Valentine leaned back in his chair and said, "We can only send in 20 at most. That¡¯s the limit of every guild. Adding the ten guilds under us, that 220 yers. We have 130 Legacy Holders that are level 400 and above. Most of them have a C rating. Only a dozen or so have a B ranked Legacy and even less that have an A rank Legacy."

    "Do you think Skelly will join?" Warlord asked.

    "You wanna fight him there?" Valentine responded .

    "Yeah, this time he can¡¯t use any tricks. I already know all of his skills." Warlord said.

    "I suppose, but this is a Guild-Wars event. Unless Skelly forms or joins a guild he won¡¯t enter."

    "Let¡¯s hope he does." Warlord said. He anticipated an opportunity like this. He wanted to fight the legendary Mr.Skeletal and remove that stain of having lost to him once. Even if it was a low-blow, and even though Skelly had been a much lower level than him at that time, he shouldn¡¯t have been careless.

 Chapter 338 Unexpected Gues

    Dave received a phone call, it was Ralph, "Yeah Ralphy, what¡¯s up?"

    "Not much. I got a beer keg, but was thinking we should get something stronger."

    "A beer KEG?! Dude that¡¯s way too much, who¡¯s gonna drink all that?"

    "Oh, I thought it would be too little. Remember I used to be called Ralph the Tank during my time in college."

    "Dude, I didn¡¯t go to your college! Whatever just bring me a bottle of Jack. Oh and some Ros¨¦ for the girls. They apparently like that stuff." Dave said.

    "Not bad, you¡¯re making progress even looking up what girls like. But let Old Ralph here teach you a valuable lesson. Girls who drink Ros¨¦ only do it to appear gant. Give them some good shots of Vodka, and you¡¯ll get to meet their dark side. Trust me. It¡¯s the best side!" Ralph chuckled.

    Dave shook his head amused and said, "Alright I trust your judgement. Bring whatever you want. Just hurry, they should be here soon."

    "Aight!" Ralph hung up.

    Not one momentter Dave heard the ringing of his door-bell. Walking to the door, a screen showed him his visitors. Zoe and Caitlin. Dave buzzed them in, and they entered his apartment.

    Zoe walked in first, she had a bag that was overflowing with snacks while Caitlin had brought along a bottle of red wine.

    "Make yourselves at home." Dave weed them cheerfully.

    The two girls went past Dave and sat down on the round sofa.

    "Where¡¯s Ralph?" Caitlin asked.

    "Oh, can¡¯t stand us without your boyfriend?" Zoe teased, but Caitlin neithermented nor showed any expression on her face.

    "He¡¯ll be here soon-ish. He went to get some drinks." Dave answered. Just as he finished his sentence the doorbell rang once more.

    Looking at the screen, there were three boys. Dave knew all of them from their game avatars.

    They were the TNT.

    Dave buzzed the trio in.

    "Come on in!" Dave weed them.

    nker looked totally different. Without his Priest¡¯s cassock, he had a different air about him. A more...lecherous air that is. He was wearing shorts and a polo shirt. He looked at the girls sitting in the living room yet before he could utter a single word, Perfect held his shoulders and told him in a hushed tone: "Sven, you DO remember that Mercy¡¯s father is from the Mob? Not to mention that Ralph, her BOYFRIEND will be here soon! As for Lone, you don¡¯t need me to tell you that she¡¯s already taken, right?! Try anything funny, and I¡¯ll personally castrate you." Perfect was unusually scary.

    "Aight. I was just gonna say hello." Sven said, swallowing what he was actually about to say, a hint of fear shing across his face.

    "You guys are blocking the entrance, move!" Fortressined with a strained voice.

    "Sorry, Rob." Perfect, or Tom said apologetically and quickly made way.

    Rob¡¯s face waspletely red. He was carrying a beer keg.

    Dave sighed. With Ralph bringing another one they surely won¡¯tck booze today.

    "We need cups!" Sven shouted the moment he entered.

    "The kitchen is over there." Dave pointed him to the room.

    Sven went into the kitchen and began looking all over. "Can¡¯t find ¡¯em, bruh!"

    "Keep looking they should be there somewhere."

    "This is your kitchen man. You don¡¯t even know where your own cups are?!"

    "I just moved in bro. Less yapping, more searchin¡¯!" Dave replied while everyone took a seat.

    Fortress or Rob found the remote control and turned on the TV. He went directly for the CCN channel.

    "They¡¯ll be doing a Skelly Adventure soon. Wanna watch? We¡¯ll probably be showcased as well." Rob suggested enthusiastically.

    "Which part are they at right now?" Mercy asked intrigued.

    "I think it¡¯s just after the capture of the Third Raid Zone. They¡¯ll probably do the Raid and the attack of the Qin warriors." Sven chimed in from the kitchen.

    "Nope, Dad changed ns. You guys probably didn¡¯t see it. After we logged out, someone triggered a new event. There will be a guild-war and a lot of yers are joining in." Tom said.

    "Found the cups!" Sven triumphantly held a cup high up.

    "Bring ¡¯em over!" Zoe popped the cork out of the bottle and was ready to serve the wine.

    The CCN broadcaster was already in the midst of talking about the Guild War event and how it had started. "A yer discovered a Gnomish Ruin which triggered this exciting event. Any guild nning to enter the ruins, first will have toe out on top of this unusual Guild War."

    "Each participating Guild will have to pick 20 of their best members if they want to stand a chance at entering the Gnomish Ruins. The chosen yers will get teleported to Limbo without suffering any consequences. There they will have to fight over several gs. The guild that manages to assemble 10 gs first, will gain the right to pioneer the Ruins. However they will have to remain vignt as any guild after that manages to collect their own 10 gs will be able to follow after them." Exined the broadcaster.

    "In other words it¡¯s a constant race. The first guild to enter will have an advantage, but any subsequent guild will try their hardest to overtake them. And unless they decide to work together the second and third guilds to enter may even end up fighting." Dave analysed the scenario as he munched on some crackers.

    "Aren¡¯t you gonna join Dave?" Tom asked.

    "Nah, bro. Did you forget we¡¯re currently in the middle of the ocean. Also we would need a guild for this event. To be honest, I¡¯m interested in these ruins, but I don¡¯t think it¡¯s worth fighting all the super guilds over it. Let them duke it out between themselves," Dave shrugged.

    The doorbell rang again. This time it was Ralph.

    Rob opened the door for Ralph. This guy, unlike Rob, had the beer keg slung over his shoulder and more beer and other drinks in a bag on his other hand. The big oaf Ralph didn¡¯t even seem to register the weight of what he was holding.

    "Monster!" Rob couldn¡¯t help but call him that for aplishing such a feat.

    "Nice to meet you too." Ralph said with a smile then scooched in. He ced the keg next to the first one. "Yes! More beer!"

    He put everything down and went toward Caitlin, casually kissing her on the lips in front of everyone, then sat next to her.

    The room became a bit awkward for a moment, even Caitlin¡¯s face turned beet red.

    "What? You¡¯ve never seen a couple kissing? Stop being a bunch of virgins and pass the drinks!" Ralph demanded jubntly and immediately managed to diffuse the awkward air.

    Dave didn¡¯t notice a certain purple-haired girl looking his way expectantly, but quickly turning her head to the other side. Ralph, however, hadn¡¯t missed that and his lips curled into a wide smile.

    "Where¡¯s Vanessa?" Ralph asked as innocently as he could with his mischievous smile.

    "She should be here soon," Dave replied casually disregarding Ralph¡¯s smile.

    "Oh, then this is gonna get interesting." Ralph said. At his words, Zoe frowned and grumbled.

    "Let¡¯s get this party started!! Fortress, bust open that keg and turn on the music!" Ralph shouted.

    The doorbell rang again right after that.

    "Oh, that must be Vanessa." nker seemed ted. Finally there would be at least one beauty that he could talk with, who wasn¡¯t anyone¡¯s girlfriend.

    Sven went to the door and opened it. He frowned when he saw the person in front of him.

    "Is that Vanessa?" Dave asked. He had his back to the door.

    "No, it¡¯s some old dude." Sven replied.

    "Shit, I think we¡¯re making too much noise. It¡¯s probably one of the neighbors.," Dave stood up with a cup full of beer in his hand.

    The ¡¯old dude¡¯ just smiled at Sven. Somehow, this smile reminded him of Dave¡¯s patented Draugr smile.

    Dave turned and headed towards the door. He was taking another sip from his cup as he walked, so his eyes weren¡¯t on the person at the door yet.

    The first thing Dave noticed were two young kids next to the man in the middle, a girl and a boy. They looked awfully alike, probably twins.

    Dave raised his eyes until he met the old man¡¯s. The world seemed to stop for Dave. The cup in his hand fell and sshed its contents on the floor.

    Dave could only utter one word. "Dad..."

 Chapter 339 Haunting Pas

    Dave stood staring at the old man for a few moments, then immediately, his brows knit together in a frown.

    "What the fuck are you doing here?" As Dave shouted he reached out to grab the man by his cor. Only when he saw the two kids flinching and hiding behind the old man¡¯s legs did he let go of it.

    "Hey, watch your tone!" the old man said, as he noticed the two kids¡¯ fear "I didn¡¯te here to cause any trouble, I just wanted to see my son."

    Ralph stopped the music and walked toward Dave. Seeing the old man. Ralph frowned even more than Dave.

    "Uncle Peter, what are you doing here?" Ralph asked.

    "Hey Ralph!" Peter said with a smile seeing someone else he was familiar with, "You¡¯re looking fit. So do you n to make your old man stay at the door?"

    "Yes," Dave answered nonchntly. His hand was shaking. He was barely able to hold himself back from doing anything foolish.

    "No, Dave let them in." Ralph told his buddy. He was just as angry as Dave, but he knew making a scene at the doorstep wouldn¡¯t help anybody.

    Dave walked away from the door, "Why¡¯d you let him in, man? You know better than anyone that I can¡¯t stand to be in the same room with that guy."

    "I know Dave, but still, no matter what he¡¯s your father. Also... those kids..., I think he has something to say to you."

    Dave¡¯s father, or as Ralph had called him, Peter walked into the room. The festivities had abruptly halted as they saw the new addition to the group.

    Zoe tilted her head when she saw the two kids that looked barely 10 years old. They resembled Dave a bit.

    "Who¡¯s this old fe?" nker asked as he finished chugging down his beer.

    "Hello, I¡¯m Peter Ruster. David¡¯s father," The man introduced himself with a smile.

    "Oh, Skelly¡¯s pops, nice to meet you," Sven was about to go and shake the old man¡¯s hand when he saw Dave frowning. "Ah sorry, my hand¡¯s a bit dirty, lemme go wash it first." Sven disappeared from the room.

    "Well now you¡¯re here, so what do you want?" Dave asked impatiently.

    "Do I need to have any ulterior motives? Can¡¯t I just havee because I wanted to see my kid?"

    "Cut the crap, I know you. You¡¯d never havee here if you didn¡¯t need something. It¡¯s been more than a decade and this is the first time you¡¯vee to ¡¯visit¡¯... Also who are these?" Dave was clearly agitated as he pointed at the two kids.

    "They are your brother and sister, Jane and Hawk," Peter answered.

    The boy looked at Dave from behind Peter¡¯s leg. He was a bit frightened given the way Dave acted, but there was also a small shine of intrigue in his eyes.

    Dave¡¯s breathing began to hasten. Then he slowly uttered the following words through gritted teeth, "That¡¯s it, huh? You gave up on your old family and just started a new one, huh? Why? Were we not good enough for you? Or were you just sick of mom? Drove her into that depressive state first and then just up and left? Judging from the way they¡¯re hanging on to I guess you that you¡¯re not treating them the same way you did me, isn¡¯t that right, Peter?"

    "Hey, don¡¯t talk to me that way, boy! I¡¯m still your father!" Peter for the first time let go of his smile. His tone nowmanding and oppressive.

    Dave roared out, "Boy? Father? When the hell have you ever acted anything like a real father to me? Do you know how heavy that word is?!" Dave was fuming with rage. The current events were bringing up old memories he never wanted to remember. This only served to make the situation more awkward.

    The eyes of the young girl behind Peter began watering up. She was about to cry.

    "Dave," Zoe stood up, "You¡¯re scaring the kids. Calm down and just talk this throu..." But before she could finish, Dave snapped and yelled in her face "What the hell would you know?!"

    Zoe was startled for a moment, but Ralph shook his head at her and gripped Dave¡¯s shoulder. "Zoe¡¯s right, take Peter upstairs and talk things through. We¡¯ll be watching the kids in the meantime." Ralph said while looking straight in Dave¡¯s eyes.

    One of Ralph¡¯s mostmendable traits showed when he became serious. His oldest friend had always managed to calm Dave whenever he went into one of his rare fits of rage.

    Dave took a deep breath and went upstairs. "Youing? You wanted to talk, so let¡¯s talk."

    Peter sighed and followed behind Dave, leaving his two kids with the rest of Dave¡¯s friends.

    The two of them were hugging each other. They felt likembs being surrounded by hyenas.

    Zoe went toward them and bent down, she fixed her hair and asked, "Are you guys, twins?"

    The boy mustered up some courage and said, "Yes."

    "Oh, that¡¯s cute. How old are you?" She asked. Her words were soothing and calmed the panicking kids down a bit.

    "Ten," the boy replied.

    "Oh, you¡¯re so big," Zoe said and began chatting with the kids.

    "What did I miss?" Sven asked as he came from the bathroom.

    "Well, you missed Dave¡¯s nasty side. I hope things work out between those two," Rob answered.

    "I doubt it." Ralph shook his head. "I¡¯ve known both of them for a long time. Each one of them can be pretty thick-headed."

    "Like father like son?" Sven asked sarcastically.

    "You don¡¯t know anything, bro. Dave has been through some tough shi... well stuff." Ralph swallowed the ¡¯bad word¡¯ in front of the kids.

    "Every family has its own problems" Caitlin chimed in.

    "Yeah... you don¡¯t know the half of it" Ralph said not wishing to contribute more.

    Sven went to the kids and asked, "Why did you guyse here?"

    Jane turned to Sven and answered, "Daddy told us that he personally knows Mr. Skeletal. He said he was our older brother and he brought us to meet him. But I didn¡¯t imagine him being so scary."

    "No, Dave is not that scary at all. He is a really nice guy... normally" Zoe tried to defend Dave. After all this was actually the first time she has ever seen him react this way.

    "But he just yelled at you! Dad says that yelling at girls is wrong." Hawk pointed out.

    Zoe coughed; she was a bit embarrassed.

    Ralph frowned when he heard the boy mention that: "You mean, Peter, I mean your Dad never yells at you or your sister?"

    "No. Never has!" Hawk shook his head to emphasize on this.

    "He doesn¡¯t punish you if you ever do something wrong?" Ralph added.

    "No." Jane also shook her head. "He gives us lectures sometimes when we do something that we shouldn¡¯t do, but he always hugs us afterwards!" Her brother nodded, agreeing with his sister.

    "What about your mum? Does he ever talk ¡¯loudly¡¯ to her?" Ralph asked.

    "Nope... no wait, one time he yelled at mum, but he apologized and brought her choctes and flowers the next day. The choctes were yummy, he let us eat a lot."

    If confusion could be a person, it would be Ralph right now. His brows were knit together. If he didn¡¯t know any better he could have sworn that they were talking about another person entirely.

    "What¡¯s wrong, Ralph?" Caitlin asked noticing her boyfriend¡¯s behaviour.

    "This is strange. I mean, I know Peter. Like I personally witnessed how he treated Dave. So, hearing the stuff these kids are saying about him right now is kinda messing with my head." Ralph whispered moving back a bit. He did not want to badmouth Peter in front of his own kids. Fortunately they were busy with Zoe and starting to open up a bit.

    "Couldn¡¯t they be lying?" Sven asked Tom in a hushed tone.

    Tom shook his head, "I don¡¯t think so. First of all why should they? Usually, kids don¡¯t lie, and even if they did, it wouldn¡¯t be this convincing. Something must havee up to change Dave¡¯s father."

    "Let¡¯s wait for Dave toe down, he might have some answers for us," Zoe said having heard their whispers.

    She took one of the crackers and candy from the table and handed the kids one each.

    "Dad told us we shouldn¡¯t eat candy before lunch," Hawk said.

    Zoe smiled at his honesty, "Then take them with you and just eat them after lunch," she ced the candy in his pocket.

    The kid smiled at her. "You¡¯re very nice."

    "Aw!" Zoe cooed cutely and pinched the boy¡¯s cheeks.

    The kid started giggling making Zoe even more excited.

    "I see my son likes you," Peter said.

    Zoe stood up and looked at the maning down from the stairs.

    Behind him was Dave, anger still painted on his face and his arms crossed. Whatever they talked about, it clearly didn¡¯t help Dave¡¯s mood, though he was seemingly trying to digest it.

    "Anyway, I only came here to pay my son a visit. Seeing that you are all here having some sort of party, I wouldn¡¯t want to ruin your mood. Enjoy yourselves" Peter bid them goodbye and took the kids with him.

    Hawk and Jane turned to look at Zoe and waved at her before they went and closed the door behind them.

    "Dave-" Zoe was the first to speak, but before she could say anything else, Dave took a deep breath and exhaled loudly.

    "Z, I¡¯m sorry I snapped at you before. I didn¡¯t mean what I said," Dave apologised.

    Ralph gave Dave a double thumbs up in his mind.

    "It¡¯s... alright. More importantly how are you hanging?" Zoe asked with concern.

    "I¡¯m good. ... but I guess it¡¯s about time I share some stuff with you guys." Dave said and came down the stairs. He took a seat on the round sofa and poured himself a ss of wine.

    He chugged the ss down and sighed before starting with his story, "Ralph was there to witness how my life was going at the time. I don¡¯t know about him nowadays, but to me Peter has always been an abusive father. He treated my mom and me like shit, which eventually led to her alcoholism andter to her death."

    The atmosphere turned grim instantly.

    "Soon after, Peter left, leaving me with nothing. Even the house we used to live in was foreclosed due to mortgage payment not being met," Dave poured himself another ss and downed it as fast as he had the first one.

    Sven shook his head at this image,"Bruh, let me tell you something. That man may be your father, but he ain¡¯t your daddy. No one should treat their child that way man."

    Dave chuckled lightly at Sven¡¯s words, but in thatugh there was still a hint of sadness.

    "You don¡¯t have to do this, Dave" Zoe said. She came closer to Dave and hugged him from the side.

    "Thanks, Z. But I gotta get it out of my system. You are the first guys I¡¯ve ever told you about all of this. I dunno... speaking about it... it kinda feels therapeutic. But then again this may just be the wine talking." Dave said with a bad attempt at a joke. A sad smile stered on his face.

    Zoe nodded, her eyes were watering.

    "Anyway, so there I was. 16, Mom just died, father left and without a roof over my head. Not gonna lie life was pretty dark at that point in time. I obviously couldn¡¯t afford university tuition and I didn¡¯t want to burden Ralph or ask for help from anyone else, so instead I spent many days on the streets. God you can¡¯t imagine it. Every day waking up asking yourself: ¡¯What am I going to do with my life? Where is this all leading me? Where will I sleep this evening?"¡¯ Telling yourself that you need to find work, looking everywhere for anyone to hire you... I didn¡¯t have a full education, finding work was hard. I had to take all kinds of misceneous jobs just to get by, to afford my food..."

    "Bro, you should havee to me then. You know I wouldn¡¯t let you suffer that way."

    "I know man, but you had your own troubles. Call it stupid pride or whatever, but part of me just couldn¡¯t do it at the time. What else should I say...That kind of life can break a person. Luckily I somehow I made it out alive. Somehow I kept going until karma, divine intervention, God or whatever you want to call it came and turned my life upside down."

    "Yeah, sorry about that," Caitlin said looking down at her drink. She was still feeling embarrassed about the whole car incident and especially at what her stupid cousin had tried to stage.

    Dave waved his hand at her "Rx. I should be thankful. Being spiteful actually made me who I am. Heck being spiteful at everything is what created Mr Skeletal. If I had known that my life would have changed this way because of it I would have dly jumped in front of your car." Dave said jokingly, but all knew that he was just trying to hide the pain.

    "The point is as I was going through with my life, apparently so was my dad. He told me he met this psychiatrist soon after mom died. She is currently his wife. She somehow managed to tame his ¡¯inner¡¯ beast¡¯ as he called it. Ha, what a joke." Dave shook his head and was about to pour himself another drink. But Zoe stopped him.

    "You¡¯ve had enough."

    "Right. I shouldn¡¯t drink too much. Lest I end up like my mother," Dave said. His words made Zoe¡¯s heart sting.

    "That¡¯s not what I meant," Zoe said unsure what to do.

    "Yeah. I¡¯m sorry, I know you¡¯re just looking out for me. Anyway. Peter got together with his new wife and created a new family. He ims that he went looking for me after he stabilized his mentality. Even his wife came looking for me, but ¡¯unfortunately¡¯ they never found me. ... honestly I call that a load of bull. If he genuinely searched hard enough, he would have learned where I was... I mean it¡¯s not like it was me who was trying to hide," Dave started sounding angrier towards the end.

    "So what¡¯s the real reason behind his visit then?" Ralph asked.

    "Probably the one all of you have suspected. He¡¯s here for the money. Over a decade he had no problem living without his son, but as soon as the whole world found out about who Mr. Skeletal really is, he¡¯s right at my doorstep." Dave said, a grimace shing across his face. "Now that he knows I have some Benjamins under me, he came to reim me as his son. Talk about a Joe-Dirt scenario."

    "Did he say it like that?" Ralph questioned.

    "Not really, but he heavily implied it. He said that his kids look up to me as their idol. That I needed toe home and be their older brother. Ha. He¡¯s using the kids as leverage. Despicable!!!"

    Zoe took away the cup from Dave¡¯s hand before he shattered it and hurt himself.

    She and Caitlin had spent a lot of time in the ¡¯Grown-Ups¡¯ world, so they were the first to understand where Dave wasing from.

    "They are still your brother and sister," Zoe said.

    "I know, and that¡¯s what pisses me off the most. He has NO RIGHT to use them to twist my arm like that. They did nothing wrong. Fuck what am I gonna do?" Dave began rubbing his temples.

    "You can take care of your brother and sister without giving that prick any chance to abuse them. Secure a future for the two of them. Make a bank ount in their names that only those two can ess after they turn 18. You can even specify that the funds are to be used for schooling at a good university. Provide them with the chance you didn¡¯t have, this way you¡¯ll feel better about yourself, and you will have done good towards your brother and sister." Zoe suggested with a shrug.

    "That sounds like a good n." Dave nodded.

    "Alright, I¡¯ll have uncle help you out with this first thing in the morning. And if that dumbass tries to do anything funny, uncle can easily send him to the mmer. No one mistreats my Davey!" Zoe promised.

    "Oh, you go, girl, calling him yours already!" Ralph said with a wide smile.

    Realizing what she had just said, Zoe grabbed the nearest alcoholic drink and chugged it down to hide her embarrassment.

    The rest of the guys beganughing, and the gloomy atmosphere was starting to dissipate.

    "Okay guys we came here to party, so let¡¯s do it! Who has some good music rmendations?" Sven asked.

    "I say we do Karaoke?! The TV has that option!" Ralph suggested.

    "Karaoke? They used to call me the golden throat in high-school. My sweet voice can make any chicks faint!" Boasted Sven.

    "The heck are you talking about? Thest time we went to Karaoke with you they threatened to kick us out. Your voice is enough to revive the dead from sheer agony, and they would kill themselves again after hearing it," Rob began bickering with Sven over who got first dibs on the microphone.

    Dave smiled, this time from the bottom of his heart. He was thankful he had this bunch of friends.

 Chapter 340 Dead Sea

    The next hours were spent with Dave and his friends singing and dancing to the music. They forgot about the game, about Dave¡¯s troubles, about anything and just enjoyed themselves for the rest of the day. This was one of the rare moments where Dave had let go of everything and was just himself.

    He loved it this way, this fun, this extraction from reality and this peace. It calmed him and made him grow. He had been in dire need of letting go, and once he did, his mind was at ease.

    Much too soon the sun came down, and it becamete evening. Rob, Tom, and Sven had to go first as it was gettingte. The next to follow was Caitlin who took Ralph with her after bidding Dave goodbye, leaving Zoe and Dave alone.

    The two stared at each other for a long time, neither one spoke. They didn¡¯t need to. Both of them had known about their feelings for each other, yet not one of them had had the courage to convey it. Thus they remained staring at each other under the dim light of the room.

    Dave was the first to break the silence, "Zoe... there¡¯s something important I have to tell you."

    Zoe smiled, "Yeah, shoot."

    Dave took a deep breath, "There¡¯s no need to beat around the bush. I like you!"

    Those three words felt like they had been as heavy as a mountain, but the moment Dave spoke them, he felt rxed. It was as if an enormous weight had been lifted from his shoulders.

    He didn¡¯t even care what Zoe¡¯s answer might be... after all she was the daughter of a prestigious family, while he was a mere nobody. A big part of him didn¡¯t consider himself to be worthy of someone of such great importance as he still felt that Zoe Silvana was someone way out of David Ruster¡¯s league. Nevertheless he chose to still tell her what¡¯s been on his mind for a long time now.

    Zoe¡¯s smile grew wider and a light blush had settled in. "Well, it¡¯s about time for you to say it. Any longer and I would have been the one to tell you."

    Dave snickered andughed, "Yeah, that would have been interesting to see. So wanna go out with me? From now on?"

    Zoe chuckled; "Who wouldn¡¯t want to? Yeah, Davey, I¡¯d love to."

    Under the dim light of the room, the two of them got closer to each other. There was no need for anymore words between them. Their feelings were mutual and all that was left to say could be felt instead.

    Dave¡¯s hand rose and slowly caressed Zoe¡¯s cheek. His heart was thumping loudly. For a moment he felt that Zoe might hear it. Still he tried to maintain his cool. He pushed her purplish hair back, revealing a red-faced yet daring Zoe. Her eyes were sparkling as she looked into Dave¡¯s eyes.

    Dave couldn¡¯t resist such an alluring face, his heart started beating even faster, and he didn¡¯t even think about what he was doing anymore. Slowly, Dave pulled Zoe¡¯s face closer to his. Zoe didn¡¯t resist and took the initiative to get even closer to Dave.

    Dave smiled and kissed her on the lips.

    It merelysted for a few seconds, but it had felt like an eternity to the both of them. Zoe¡¯s full lips were wet and had an addictive taste to them. It made Dave¡¯s palpitating heart beat even faster.

    The two parted and beganughing. But Dave still wasn¡¯t satisfied, he leaned in again for another kiss, to which Zoe responded. The two of them were entangled in an embrace for several minutes.

    Sadly, all good things have toe to an end eventually. Zoe¡¯s phone rang. She frowned, annoyed at whoever was disturbing her time with Dave. But seeing the number, Zoe took a deep breath and apologised, "It¡¯s daddy. It¡¯ste, and I gotta go home."

    Dave was about to object. He didn¡¯t want Zoe to leave right now. Yet he also had a lot of respect for Dante Silvana and had to agree this time. "Alright, then. Let me at least walk you downstairs." Dave suggested and stood up.

    Zoe held tightly on Dave¡¯s arm and giggled, the two of them walked out. Dave¡¯s face had turned a light shade of pink. He wasn¡¯t exactly used to thepany of such a beautiful girlfriend.

    The two of them stood in front of the elevator and waited for it to go up. Zoe was cutely kissing Dave¡¯s shoulder, while he looked at her with a tender gaze.

    The elevator¡¯s door opened. There was a woman standing inside. At first, there was a surprise in her eyes. Then it turned into confusion thenstly into a sad smile.

    "Vanessa," Dave said, regaining his senses.

    "Hey, Dave, Hey Zoe. Guess I waste for the party." Vanessa said, her voice cutting as she spoke.

    She handed Dave a basket of fruits and a bottle of wine before she continued, "I¡¯ll have to go now, sorry." Vanessa pressed the elevator¡¯s closing button.

    "W-wait!" Just as Dave spoke, the elevator door had closed. Nevertheless before it had fully closed Dave spotted a single teardrop falling down Vanessa¡¯s cheeks.

    "Ah fuck," Dave uttered in a depressed tone.

    "I guess Lady yer Dave can feel a bit of remorse," Zoe said in a chuckle.

    "Not cool. You and I both know Vanessa has had a crush on me since high school. I should talk to her," Dave replied and pressed the elevator button.

    "Aren¡¯t you being a Casanova? No, you should stay here. Let¡¯s face it you won¡¯t know what to tell her and might make things worse. Let me be the one to talk to her Davey. You can go back. I¡¯ll take it from here," Zoe did not leave room for objection.

    "Are you sure?" Dave asked knowing that what she said was true. He had never exactly been the emotional type as his long overdue confession could prove to anyone.

    "Yeah, it¡¯ll be better if we girls settle this between ourselves first. Now go. We¡¯ll talkter" Zoemanded and pushed Dave back toward his apartment. She hopped onto the elevator and pressed the button to go down. He watched his girlfriend blow him a final kiss goodbye as she disappeared.

    Dave smiled at Zoe, but there was a sense of sadness in his heart. He never nned for Vanessa to see the two of them like that. He would have preferred to have told her directly and to tell her of his feelings. It was true that Vanessa had always been nice to him. He even knew from Ralph that she used to like him, but he never had the guts to talk or confront her about it.

    His infatuation with Vanessa had disappeared long ago after numerous incidents, but apparently she never forgot about him. And this made Dave sigh.

    He went back to his penthouse and went upstairs. He took a quick shower and went to the gaming room. He had one of thetest gaming capsules installed in there. It waste in the evening, and he wanted to sleep.

    ¡¯Aight, let¡¯s get in and see how far in the sea are we before I go to sleep.¡¯

    Dave got into the capsule and logged in. He was met with the Conquest logo and weing message. Waving them away, Dave entered the game.

    He was still in his Captain¡¯s Cabin, but the creaking and churning of the sea swayed the whole boat. Dave moved between the idle avatars of his party and got to the deck. The sky was dark, and the sea was roaring. Waves asrge as mountains were moving past the Leviathan. The massive ship looked like a speck of sand in the vast sea.

    "Captain! Wee back!" Gafgar shouted. Both his hands were on the ship¡¯s steering wheel as he guided it through the waves. The Leviathan may look smallpared to the sea, but it still coursed through the huge waves with agility and finesse.

    "Is it already night time? That¡¯s strange. It¡¯s still 13:00. Why is it so dark?"

    "We entered the Turbulent Sea. There are all sorts of clouds here, it¡¯s not umon for this are to be dark all year long," Gafgar exined. He didn¡¯t look too worried about this ¡¯Turbulent Sea¡¯ whichforted Dave.

    "Did we encounter any difficulties during our travel?" Dave asked as he moved to the ship¡¯s bow.

    "Nothing so far Captain. Most Sea-Beasts fear Ghost Ships. And so far we haven¡¯t met with anything that could threaten our journey, rest assured Captain."

    Gafgar was looking straight ahead as he talked.

    "Good, how far are we from our destination?" Dave asked.

    "We should get to the marker in less than a day. As soon as we leave the Turbulent Sea we should be able to seend," just as Gafgar finished speaking Dave spotted an opening in the dark clouds. Blue sky and light from the sun was chasing away the dark clouds of the sea.

    "Oh, we¡¯re already out," Dave mentioned surprised.

    "No!" Gafgar shouted, "HEAVE STARBOARD! SAILORS! THE DEAD SEA IS AHEAD!"

    Gafgar spun the tiller as fast as he could. His orders echoed on the ship, and all the undead began working the ropes and moving the sails.

    "What¡¯s going on?" Dave asked. He suddenly realized that it was not they who were approaching the opening in the dark clouds, but it was that opening that was expanding.

    "Damn it! We need to run away from that area!" Gafgar shouted, he had spun the tiller all the way to the right and turned the ship around, he used the wind to push them away from the closing opening in the sky as much as possible.

    But it was useless, the clouds were pushed away, and the churning sea had calmed down. The blowing wind had died down, and the g ceased its fluttering.

    There was not a hint of wind where the Leviathan was. It was as if everything stopped. The sea was as t as a mirror.

    "What¡¯s going on Gafgar?"

    "We¡¯ve been trapped. This is really bad. We¡¯ll probably die here. Damn it, after so much effort we¡¯ll be sent back to the Dead Realm," Gafgar took a deep breath and slumped down.

    "Can you please exin to me what¡¯s going on?" Dave asked worriedly. He didn¡¯t like the feel he was getting from this calm sea. It was dreadful. Maybe the undead don¡¯t fear, but Dave was a human, and he felt that there was something very bad and dangerous in this dead sea.

    "There will be no wind, no waves, and no life as one enters the Dead Sea. This ce has been the end of many sailors. None who fall into the Dead Sea ever walk out alive." Gafgar said.

    "Why is that? Just because there is no wind doesn¡¯t mean we can¡¯t leave. I mean I can just use the Great White and the Torab Serpent to pull or push the ship for us." Dave shrugged as it did not seem to be the real problem.

    Gafgar smiled ruefully and asked, "Do you still sense the Shark and the Serpent, Captain?"

    Gafgar¡¯s question brought Dave back to reality. It was true, the Shark as well as the Serpent had disappeared, and they were also greyed out from his summonable undead. If they had died to something it would have been strange but not impossible yet all of his other summonable undead were also grayed out. Naturally this included Tiny the Grave Lord as well.

    "Now this is really fucked up," Dave summed it up perfectly.

    "It wouldn¡¯t have mattered even if they were here. The Dead Sea isn¡¯t in the material world. This is a trap used to feed an ancient sea disaster. And now we are nothing but its food."

    "Hang on, you mean, there is a creature living here that feeds on wandering ships."

    "Yes, and I fear it just woke up," Gafgar he pointed forward.

    In the distance, the calm water rippled and revealed an enormous pink membrane. This membrane was very noticeable with all the suction cups on it.

    "Kraken..." Dave muttered

    "Yes...The Kraken. The Sea God."

 Chapter 341 The Sea God

    Dave¡¯s eyes were glued to the monster. The creature¡¯s limbs were as wide as the Leviathan¡¯s mainmast. Not to mention the rest of its body that was still mostly concealed underwater.

    The Kraken rose out of the calm ocean. Its yellow eyes looked directly at the ship.

    It looked at Dave¡¯s crew with its indifferent eyes. These eyes were the eyes of a predator looking at helpless prey. The Kraken slowly made its way toward the ship. The seawater parted, making way for the behemoth of a creature, but not a single ripple was caused even as the massive creature of legend moved through it.

    "Ah, this will be the end of us," Gafgar said. But he was gripping at his cuss tightly. He was going to fight to the bitter end.

    Dave kept his eyes glued at the Kraken and inspected it when it was close.

    ***

    Name: Kraken

    Tier: Unique-Ethereal

    Danger level: Extremely Dangerous!

    Level: 600

    Base damage: 350,000-450,000

    HP: 125,000,000

    DN:0

    MA: 0

    Skills:

    [Calm Before the Storm]: (Passive) Whenever the Kraken moves, the oceans be tranquil. The waves die, the wind disappears, and the ships can no longer move. The seas surface bes as hard as steel so the prey can no longer dive underwater in order to escape. Only the Kraken can move through and under the water.

    [Terror of the Deep] (Passive) With its dull eyes, the Kraken applies a [Fear] effect in an area of 200meters around it.

    [Soul Lasher] All of the Kraken¡¯s attacks have a 20% chance to execute a target under the effects of [Terror of the Deep].

    [Murky Waters] The Kraken can shoot a spray of ck ink that causesd poison damage that inflicts 20% of its base damage over 20 seconds (Stackable) on targets and causes the [Blind] status effect.

    [Lord of the Sea] The Kraken is the God of the Seas, it can control all the sea creatures around it to attack its enemies.

    [Sea God¡¯s Roar] Tthe Kraken¡¯s roar creates tsunamis that can drown its prey.

    Lore:

    What is a Kraken but a glutinous mass endowed with a malignant will? But a Kraken is not just a malignant will. It is the will of the sea, its lord, ruler and the destruction hidden in its depths. The Kraken has ruled the deep seas for millennia , making both man and beast alike bend to its will, the strong would flee in its presence, and the weak would give their lives to the Kraken.

    ***

    "That¡¯s a lot of HP. Most of its skills are broken as fuck. But it¡¯s badly matched against the undead," Dave said and turned to Gafgar.

    "Gafgar, it¡¯s not yet time to despair!" Dave¡¯s smile brought back some of Gafgar¡¯s fleeting hope.

    "Right, we can¡¯t give up before we try," Gafgar smiled.

    Dave hopped over the ship¡¯s railings and fell down to the water. But instead of diving, hended onto the water surface in a three-point heronding as his cape fluttered.

    "As I guessed, the water is as dense as steel. We can¡¯t dive down. Ghosting the ship and trying to dive underwater is useless."

    Dave drew his sword and shield as he looked at the iing Kraken.

    "I can¡¯t summon any of my undead, and all I have is the crew in the ship," Dave smiled as he took more steps forward.

    The Kraken, interested, halted in front of the iing undead.

    Dave¡¯s back was to the ship, his cape slowly moved with every step, his sword drawn and his shield in his right hand as he moved fearlessly toward the giant Kraken.

    Dave looked like an ant facing a behemoth, but his posture was like that of a mountain facing the terrors of the world, fearless and filled with bravery.

    The undead on the ship began jumping over the railing and following behind Dave.

    Most of them were as strong as Undead Captains. Not muchpared to Dave¡¯s Sub-Division, but they were still members of the Legion. Seeing their captain moving to face the beast alone gave them courage, not that the undeadcked any.

    "I guess it¡¯s a tale to tell when we are back in the Undead Realm," Gafgar said in a chuckle as he whirled his cuss.

    "I don¡¯t n on croaking here Gafgar," Dave said then pointed his bastard sword at the Kraken.

    "Big guy, by the end of this day, you¡¯ll join the Legion!"

    The Kraken, clearly a smart creature must have understood Dave¡¯s words, and its reply came in the form of a roar that shook the world.

    The clear sky rumbled, and the motionless water finally rippled. These ripples grew and rose until they covered the sky. Then a wave hundreds of meters high came crashing down on Dave

    Dave didn¡¯t hesitate to huddle up behind his shield, and shouted, "Shields up! This water is as thick as lead, so don¡¯t get hit!"

    All the undead raised their shields and awaited the crash of the water.

    The tsunami fell down like an avnche down the side of a mountain,. The water dispersed like smoke upon impact, but it still caused the seawater under Dave¡¯s feet to bend like hot steel te.

    The water surface bent down, and creaking sounds echoed from the sea, it was as if the water itself was about to break.

    The tsunami wave dispersed into water vapor, but it thankfully didn¡¯t affect the Leviathan.

    "If that¡¯s all you got, then you ain¡¯t a big deal. Not worth the conscription effort," Dave said sarcastically.

    The flesh above the Kraken¡¯s eyes knitted into a semnce of a frown. It was as if the beast could show it¡¯s anger. The Kraken then waved one of its limbs and smashed down at Dave.

    "That¡¯s more like it!"

    Dave sprinted forward as the limb wasing down, and before it made contact, Dave used [Immortal Apparition] disappearing from beneath the iing tentacle and appeared right in front of the Kraken¡¯s face. His sword pointed at the Kraken¡¯s eye.

    "That¡¯s one eye down!" Dave said as he came down at the Kraken¡¯s eye with his sword. But before the sword touched the eye, Dave was smashed down far away from the Kraken.

    [-320,000]

    Dave was sent tumbling on the water surface.

    Groggily standing up, Dave noticed that there was an extra limb standing threateningly next to the Kraken¡¯s face.

    "Shit, that thing is damn fast," Dave smiled, the Kraken had taken about 20% of Dave¡¯s HP in one hit.

    "Taking more of those hits will get me killed in no time. This is fun!" He sprinted back toward the Kraken.

    At this moment, the rest of the ship¡¯s crew had made it to the Kraken and began attacking it, yet the Kraken didn¡¯t even bother with the weaklings attacking it. It¡¯srge HP pool hardly budged even as all those undead assaulted it at once.

    The Kraken swung one of its limbs and smashed most of the undead surrounding it.

    "Pull back. You can¡¯t damage it guys!" Dave shouted. He didn¡¯t want to lose his crew. Otherwise even if he won he would be unable to sail the ship.

    The Kraken realized that Dave was the true leader and the one who posed the most danger, so it raised one of its limbs and smashed down at Dave.

    Dave used his sword to point at a spot a few hundred feet in front of himself and cast [Defile]. Large barbed tree roots rose from under the sea, the roots managed to part the seawater and climbed up into the air shing against the iing limb m.

    The tree roots coiled around the limb, stopping it from attacking Dave. This gave him enough time to run forward while activating [Stampede].

    The Kraken swung another limb at Dave but thanks to the [Stampede] passive aeffect, he was unaffected by the knock-back effect of the tentacle and managed to m into the Kraken.

    Dave [-320,000]

    Kraken [-620,000]

    The two of them received damage, but Dave came out on top. Still it was far from doing any real damage to the immense HP pool of the Kraken.

    Dave¡¯s [Vigorous] passive kicked in, restoring some of his lost HP

    +150,000

    "I can¡¯t win like this, time to kick things up a notch."

    Dave mmed the pommel of his sword on his chest, disabling the [Azure Water Rune]. This caused the [Chaos Runes] to burst in massive heat waves. Dave¡¯s armor cracked and chaos energy coursed through his veins and muscles empowering him but constantly depleting his HP.

    Dave rubbed the ring on his finger activating [Perfect Reflection] this created a clone that looked just like Dave and it began receiving the chaos damage instead of him.

    The Kraken swung sideways with one of its limbs at Dave. Dave used [Vertical sh] to flip backwards and dodge the attack. He rubbed at his earring while in midair activating [Zealot].

    More power coursed through Dave as his muscles bulged up. Vapor sted out from the cracks in his armor from the amount of energy coursing through his veins.

    The Kraken¡¯s head tilted back, revealing its circr razor lined maw from under the water. It then shot a torrent of putrid ck ink at Dave.

    Dave¡¯s vision turned dark when the ink sshed into him.

    ***

    Due to your undead nature, you resisted the poison effect from [Murky Waters].

    Poison Resisted!

    ***

    ***

    You have been blinded for 20 seconds.

    ***

    Dave used [Undying Will] to remove the [Blind] debuff and ran toward the Kraken. The Kraken swung two limbs at Dave. They were like two iing trains aiming to stter Dave into a bloodstain.

    Dave could block one of the attacks, but the second one would throw him back.

    But he didn¡¯t stop and kept moving toward the Kraken. The two limbs smashed into Dave with a thundering boom.

    Gafgar was momentarily stunned, his captain died just like that?

    But an explosive heat forced the Kraken¡¯s limbs apart. Dave was covered in a glowing aura. It was [Bastion] and [Aura] at the same time. Also his sword and shield had disappeared and were reced by two enormous gauntlets.

    "It¡¯s clobberin¡¯ time!" Dave grinned and jumped up toward the Kraken.

 Chapter 342 Facing the Sea God with a Dragur Smile.

    Dave mmed down with his extended fist on the Kraken. The Kraken swung another tentacle at Dave as he was running, to prevent him from getting closer. But Dave was ready this time, he used [Immortal Apparition] that had juste off cooldown and dodged away appearing right in front of the Kraken''s face.

    Dave mmed down with his fist, creating a massive explosion and summoned an ethereal Fire dragon that bored into the Kraken.

    The Kraken screeched in pain and began mming its limbs on the water surface.

    The Kraken shook its face in an attempt to shake Dave away. Dave gripped at the slippery facial meat and managed to hold tight. The Kraken swung one of its limbs on the pesky draugr. But Dave hopped away causing the Kraken''s attack tond onto itself.

    -350,000

    Dave smiled and said, "Stop hitting yourself!"

    The Kraken attacked again only to hit itself more as Dave jumped away.

    The moment Davended on the water surface he used [Ray of mes] sting out a torrent of smoldering fire at the Kraken''s face.

    The fire was strong enough to melt stone, so it caused the water-type creature immense pain as itnded on him.

    The Kraken roared in pain and raised all of its limbs above the water. Then it smashed them all down at Dave.

    "Shit!" Dave switched back to his shield and held it above himself.

    The eight massive tentacles mmed into Dave''s shield like a copsing mountain. The whole water surface around Dave bounced up and down from the weight of the limbs.

    "Heavy!" Dave groaned as the limbs were too massive for him to move.

    The Kraken removed its limbs to see if it had finished off the draugr but was surprised to find him still alive and kicking, literally.

    Dave had sent a [Dragon Kick] at the Kraken creating an Infernal Dragon made of fire that flowed toward the Kraken shaving another chunk of its HP.

    Dave''s damage was immense thanks to his buffs. He had already taken 12,000,000 HP from the Kraken''s HP but that was barely 10% of the Kraken''s total HP. Dave knew he couldn''t stay in his empowered form for a long time due to the HP loss, but he had a way to offset this problem.

    Red lighting crackled around Dave. His infernal aura became redder, and two ck horns bulged out from his forehead. Two enormous wings also materialized from his back as he entered [Demonic Ascension].

    The skill passively drains 0.1% of the enemy''s max HP. It might look like a small number, but for a monster with 125,000,000 HP, the 0.1% value was 125,000 HP per second refunded.

    Dave''s raven wings gave him enough mobility to dodge the Kraken''s attacks. He flew in the sky and moved away from every swing. Dave''s hands blurred into ninja-seals.

    He then pointed forward and activated [Spectral Skulls]. Eight fire orbs materialized in the sky in front of him. It was his synergized attack between [Dragon Ball] and [Spectral Skulls].

    The fiery orbs had a ghostly face to them, they all gazed at the Kraken indifferently and howled as one as Dave pointed at the Kraken.

    The infernal orbs shot like small meteors towards at the Kraken. The sea god swung a limb at one of the spheres in an attempt to destroy it, but was still damaged.

    -360,000

    The other orbs mmed into the Kraken, causing massive explosions to echo in the Dead Sea World.

    Dave dove into the Kraken right as it recovered from the impact. The Kraken roared again creating a massive tsunami that covered Dave''s vision.

    Dave activated [Advancing Dragon] as he was moving toward the wave. The AI took control of Dave''s avatar and made him teleport to the other side of the wave and right above the Kraken, his fist mmed down on the Kraken''s head creating another Infernal Dragon that bore through the Kraken''s head.

    The Kraken had several burn marks on it, and it looked to be in pain. Dave shaved away another 10% of its total HP.

    In pain and clearly not a match for the buffed Dave, the Kraken roared once more. The water surface began rippling in multiple areas, and five creatures with multiple draconic heads emerged from under the water.

    Dave was surprised, he didn''t know what these things were, but he had a guess.

    "Hydras!"

    Dave couldn''t waste time inspecting the hydras as they all opened their maws at the same time and shot a torrent of concentrated water at him.

    Several dozen torrents of water sted towards Dave. Thankfully he was still AI-Guided thanks to the [Advancing Dragon] effect, so his avatar flew under and above the torrents of water dodging away from them.

    "Shit, if only I had my undead!" Dave cursed, he was outnumbered and clearly outmatched. The Zealot buff onlysted for 60 seconds, and it was about to end. The moment it ended, Dave would have no way to deal with the monsters surrounding him.

    Suddenly, a small creature peeked out of Dave''s bag. It was Onixya.

    The ck Dragon gazed at the draconic sea creatures and gave a small growl. This little harmless growl from this small ck dragon caused all of the hydras to shake. Though the Kraken was the god of the sea, the ck Dragons ruled over all draconic bloodlines. It was embedded in their souls that they had to respect the higher bloodline.

    The hydras all whimpered and dove back into the water, leaving the Kraken in a dazed surprise.

    "Thanks, Onixya, but go back into hiding, this is going to be tough," Dave said.

    The dragon agreed as it saw the massive squid looking at it.

    Usually, the Kraken would fear the dragon, yet Onixya was still young, and it didn''t cause it much fear. Unlike the hydras who were suppressed by their bloodline.

    The Kraken swung its arms at Dave,; he dodged away and mmed both his palms together in a thunderous p.

    The bright cloudless sky began shaking as a massive meteor emerged from outer space and thundered down towards the Kraken.

    The Kraken noticed the iing meteor and began submerging itself into the water.

    "Like hell you will!" Dave whistled loudly and flew away from the Kraken.

    The whistle was the activation condition for [Double Edged]. Dave didn''t know if it would work, but it was his only chance at forcing the Kraken out of the water.

    Suddenly, the maw of the Minhocao emerged from underwater. The thick water surface was unable to hinder the Worm Emperor as it rose, its jaws clutching around the Kraken and lifting the huge monster above the water.

    The Minhocao noticed the iing meteor but still continued to lift the Kraken up. The Kraken howled in pain as it was elevated above the sea. The Minhocao spat the Kraken into the air and dove back into the water disappearing from sight.

    The meteor mmed into the Kraken in mid-air and smashed it into the water.

    The Kraken was forced into the deep sea due to the weight of the meteor. The creature howled in pain as it was forced deeper and deeper into the water. Large bubbles rose from the deep sea and burst upon contact with the surface.

    [Zealot] hade to an end, Dave disabled the azure water rune, and the depleting HP stopped. He just now realized that the clone from [Perfect Reflection] had destroyed some time ago.

    [Demonic Ascension] still had some time active, but Dave knew that there was no way for him to win this fight with just [Demonic Ascension].

    Dave flew down and stepped on the water surface. He looked down past his reflection on the water and waited for the Kraken to rise back up. He knew the Kraken hadn''t died, due to the water still being solid.

    Dave waited and waited until the sea under him became dark. The Kraken was rising, and it looked angry, all of the Kraken''s limbs burst forth from under the water at the same time., Dave was directly under the round maw of the Kraken.

    "Can''t help it then. Final Phantasm!" Dave spoke slowly.

    The clear sky immediately turned dark. Lightning crackled in the sky as clouds churned covering itpletely and transforming the world dark. The Kraken was about to engulf Dave whole when the Undead God''s Guitar smashed into it. It stuck itself into the water and sted out a dark wave of death.

    The still water shuddered as massive ripples reverberated away from it. It was as if these ripples were afraid of the guitar itself.

    The Kraken continued with it''s engulfing but didn''t notice Dave using [Immortal Apparition].

    Dave had turned into an ethereal form of mes, and the Kraken''s attack was nullified.

    "Let''s get Kraken then!"

 Chapter 343 Dont Forget Something That Important...

    Dave waved his hand creating eight spectral skulls. They transformed into ethereal skeletons that ran at the Kraken and began hacking at it. Dave flew above the Kraken and smashed down with his fist at the top of its head as it was upied with the skeletons.

    A dragon made of bones materialized and coiled around one of the Kraken¡¯s limbs pinning it and stopping it from moving. The dragon didn¡¯t seem like it would dissipate anytime soon.

    Dave mmed down with his leg in [Dragon Kick] creating another bone dragon that coiled on another of the Kraken¡¯s eight limbs. The Kraken ignored the skeletons and swung its limbs at Dave like cracking whips.

    Dave dodged twice but failed to see a limbing from behind him. The attack thankfully went through him due to his [Immortal Apparition] still being active. But another limb came right after the first one and this one managed to m Dave from the air onto the water surface.

    -382,000

    Dave bounced a couple of times on the water. Dave stood up, groaning from the sudden attack. But thankfully he didn¡¯t lose any HP. Demonic Ascension would convert extra siphoned HP into a shield, and that was all Dave lost.

    As Dave was about to rush into the fray again, he received a phone call. It was from Zoe.

    Dave epted the phone call and ran around the Kraken to find a good opportunity to attack it.

    "Davey, whatcha doing?"

    "Are you home yet?" Dave asked.

    "Yeah, just got there. Why?" Zoe asked.

    "Well, I could use some help, call the gang, there¡¯s a Kraken I¡¯m fighting."

    "Kraken? The big squid?"

    "Squid? More like an octopus but yeah, it¡¯s big, mean and has a nasty temper. I can¡¯t win alone."

    "Alright, I¡¯ll call everyone. Hang tight!" Zoe hung up.

    Dave jumped up, his [Demonic Ascension] had a few more seconds before it was over.

    He dove back on the Kraken. His gauntlets now turned into demonic ws and shed into the Kraken¡¯s skin carving it. Blue blood poured out of the gashes as Dave dragged his w against the Kraken¡¯s skin.

    The Kraken howled in pain.

    "Defile!" Dave shouted the chant for the [Defile] skill. Bones rose from under the Kraken and ripped into its flesh, forcing blood to gush out from the many holes now on its body.

    The Kraken was suffering massive damage and bleeding. Yet after all of Dave¡¯s hard work he barely managed to down 30% of the Kraken¡¯s HP.

    There was no way he could win alone. Demonic ascension effect has ended, and Dave was forced to go back on the water¡¯s surface. His wings disappeared along with his horns and his demonic aura. He was back to being an undead, yet he was still shrouded in a dark aura from [Final Phantasm].

    The eight spectral skeletons exploded at once, shaking the Kraken and taking away 4,000,000HP at once.

    The Kraken roared and swung with two of its tentacles at Dave.

    Dave switched to his shield and used [Block], the two tentacles crashed against the shield. But two more limbs came sweeping at Dave from the side.

    "Fuck!" Dave cursed. He had no way to escape the other tentacles.

    A second before the impact, an ice arrow embedded itself between Dave¡¯s legs, then an ice dome materialized over him. The two tentacles smashed into the dome shattering it, but they couldn¡¯t get past to damage Dave.

    "Are you okay?! And what¡¯s up with this atmosphere?" Lone Arrow shouted.

    "Legacy Skill. Also I¡¯m okay,you logged in just in time," Dave said as retreated from the Kraken.

    "How are you walking on water? Is that from your Legacy Skill?" Lone asked. She found Dave moving on the water¡¯s surface amazing yet strange at the same time.

    "Inspect the Kraken, and you¡¯ll get it. Anyway, stay on the ship, this guy¡¯s pretty dangerous."

    "Oh, guess I¡¯m on time," Ralph¡¯s voice sounded from the voice-chat.

    "Get your ass down, I need help," Dave shouted. He switched from his sword to Ouki¡¯s ive and twirled it over himself as he waited for another of the Kraken¡¯s limb ms toe down.

    Just as the tentacle was about to smash down on Dave, he swung down with his ive in [Heaven sher]. A vertical white line materialized in front of Dave when the Kraken¡¯s limb touched the white line, the limb split in two.

    -1,250,000 HP

    The tentacle split in half and each part fell next to Dave¡¯s sides.

    "Good," Dave said and jumping onto the tentacle, he proceeded to climb up the limb.

    "What¡¯s going on? Holy shit is that Cthulhu?!" nker¡¯s voice sounded from the voice chat.

    "No, that¡¯s a Kraken, Cthulhu is a mix of man, octopus, and a dragon, if that thing was here, we¡¯d be dead," Fortress¡¯s calm voice sounded after nker. His knowledge of all kinds of trivia would surprise anyone.

    "Stop yapping ande help!" Dave shouted.

    "On my way boss," Fortress hopped over the ship¡¯s railing and onto the water surface.

    "Bouncy!" he said. then he ran toward Dave, his shield held in front in front of himself.

    ster had already arrived next to Dave and shed at the Kraken.

    "Where are Mercy and Tess?" Dave asked.

    "Mercy¡¯s logging in, I don¡¯t know about Tess," Ralph replied and used [Slice and Dice]. His sword blurred and sliced several times in session at the Kraken. The Kraken was now at a loss, the pesky draugr had allies, and it didn¡¯t know who to attack first.

    Seeing the neer attacking it without care, the Kraken roared and mmed down with its limbs at ster.

    "Tess should be here soon, [Anchor Hall]!" Fortress shouted.

    Hundreds of anchors rose from under the water and wrapped around the Kraken¡¯s limb then forced them to m into Fortress.

    Fortress raised his shield and used [Block] nullifying the attack.

    "I¡¯m here!" Tess shouted, "I¡¯ll use my Legacy Skill. Buy me some time!"

    Tess waved her hand and summoned a scepter with a red jewel. She raised the scepter with both hands forward, and a red aura began gathering around it. The scepter¡¯s color turned a baleful red and was making the space around it ripple.

    "I¡¯m here," Mercy spoke through the voice chat. With one nce, she grasped the situation almost immediately and hopped from the ship onto the water¡¯s surface. Mercy¡¯s avatar vanished into invisibility as she began running toward the boss.

    With the participation of Dave¡¯s party, the boss¡¯s HP decreased another 10%.

    "Alright, time for a big one!" Dave shouted as he retreated a few feet away.

    "Phantasmal Edge!" Dave called.

    Dave had only two Legacy Skills, one would summon the Undeath God¡¯s guitar enabling [Final Phantasm] and the other will end the [Final Phantasm] but will take away 50% of the target¡¯s current HP in t damage value.

    Thest time he used it, it summoned hordes of undead riders that tore away at Leonard. But this time it was different.

    The dark skies churned and the clouds twisted into a vortex. From the vortex in the air a boney hand emerged. Dave recognized the hand. It was the Undeath God Nick¡¯s hand. The hand pointed at the Kraken, and a single ck water drop fell from the tip of his finger.

    The Kraken noticed the vortex in the sky, and its dull eyes revealed fear for the first time.

    The Kraken shook and shuddered as the ck water drop fell towards it. Its instincts were screaming at it to escape and run away. The Kraken dove down under the water hiding from sight. But the water drop kept going down until it touched the surface of the water and dove under it.

    "What¡¯s going on?" Ralph asked as he looked at Dave. Currently there were only Dave and his party on the water¡¯s surface. The Kraken hadpletely disappeared.

    Dave shrugged saying, "I don¡¯t know bruh."

    A thundering boom echoed from under the yer¡¯s feet. It was as if a massive explosion had detonated inside the sea and caused the surface to ripple into waves the size of mountains. The waves lifted the yers high up in the sky and dropped them on the sea surface. Mercy yelped as she was forced out of stealth.

    The dark shadows surrounding Dave dissipated. The skill was over. Though the Kraken was still underwater, it must have suffered considerable damage. Momentster, a dark shadow grew from under the yer¡¯s feet. The Kraken was surfacing again. It rose up screeching, most of its flesh was burnt, and a couple of its limbs were torn. But its eyes were red with anger and pain.

    The Kraken mmed down with its limbs at Dave, the preparator of thest attack.

    "Here ites!" Tess shouted and smashed the bottom of her scepter on the ship¡¯s deck.

    The red aura exploded into a gout of smoke. Then the smoke roiled, coiling into itself and forming a spear. The Kraken¡¯s attack stopped midway. Tess¡¯s Legacy Skill had two drawbacks, the first was the long cast time, and the second one was the Threat it generated.

    The Kraken opened its mouth and spat a torrent of ink at Tess. Thankfully the distance between the red witch and the Kraken was too far, so the ink took time before reaching the boat. Tess pointed with her scepter at the Kraken, causing the red spear to roil and shoot out like a bullet toward the Kraken.

    The spear made contact with the ink and burnt it all to cinders as it went through it. The red spear continued moving forward until it pierced through the Kraken.

    The Kraken¡¯s skin turned red as if it was boiling from the heat. Cracks appeared on its skin, and it began to dry.

    The Kraken was losing HP rapidly, Tess¡¯s Llegacy was Ddestruction, and among all the S ss legacy skills, hers had the highest firepower.

    The Kraken began screaming in pain, the howling echoing across the Dead Sea.

    "BLITZ IT!" Dave shouted. And raced forward with his ive pointing at the Kraken.

    "What did I miss?" Perfect Shot¡¯s voice sounded from the voice-chat.

    "Nothing much, help us out," Fortress called.

    Perfect Shot knelt down and shouted, "EVERYONE MOVE AWAY!"

    The yers noticed Perfect¡¯s bow-drawing posture and remembered the shark-attack he had used when facing the Torab Serpents.

    They all moved away from the Kraken as Perfect released the nocked arrow.

    Fire coiled around his arrow and materialized an enormous ethereal blue shark that shot like a train crashing into the Kraken, shaking it away from its position.

    The shark turned to a st of blue fire that burnt at the Kraken¡¯s exterior.

    "Smells like barbeque," nker said.

    He then pointed at Ralph and said, "Bless thy servant with mes!"

    Ralph¡¯s weapon gained an infernal heat, and his base damage increased massively.

    "Bestow, Vigor of the Troll!" A green aura surrounded Ralph, Mercy, and Fortress," Their HP regeneration spiked up.

    "Here¡¯s another, Grant my ally Feline Grace!"

    Apart from Dave, all of the party gained a massive increase in dexterity and agility.

    "Sorry Skelly, you¡¯re undead, I can¡¯t buff you," nker said apologetically.

    "No problem," Dave said, "Its only got 20% of its HP left guys., We¡¯ll be able to take down yet another Ethereal level monster! Go!"

    Just as Dave was running toward the Kraken, he heard thundering bangsing from behind him. Looking up, he saw dozens of round metallic balls flying toward the Kraken and smashing into it.

    Just as the projectiles smashed into the Kraken, Dave¡¯s feet dug deep into the water as he fell into the sea.

    "What the fuck?!"

    Dave was drowning rapidly. He had yet to understand what was going on. He removed his armor and swam back up. Dave¡¯s face emerged from over the water, looking around, he saw nker and Mercy swimming near him with no sign of Fortress or Ralph.

    His grayed out undead option was now essible, and his link to his undead was restored. Dave turned to look for the Kraken but couldn¡¯t find it anywhere.

    "Did it escape?" Dave thought, but a notification showed him something unexpected.

    ***

    Level Up

    Level Up

    Level Up

    ...

    ***

    "What¡¯s going on?" Dave asked in the party chat.

    "The Kraken is dead. We gotta save ster and Fortress. Their armor is drowning them!" Lone shouted in the voice-chat.

    Dave looked at the seawater that now regained its vitality and began moving. He felt that the Great White and the Torab Serpent were near him.

    "Save the two knights!" Dave sent them an order.

    The shark and the serpent dove deeper into the sea, and momentster they lifted the two yers who were at death¡¯s door.

    "Fuck! Drowning is too damn realistic in this fucking game, man!" Ralph cursed.

    "What happened?" Fortress asked.

    "Uh, Dave I don¡¯t know how it escaped your notice, but you have a naval ship that has cannons. Why didn¡¯t you use them?" Lone asked.

    Dave stared dumbly at the ship and said sheepishly, "I kinda forgot."

    "Well, what are you waiting for, go and loot the Kraken!" Lone shouted.

    "Yeah, I¡¯ll be right back," Dave said and dove down underwater.

 Chapter 344 Setting Foot on Treasure Island

    Dave swam down into the deep sea. Even with his undead passive making him able to see in dark areas, the sea was darker than ink, and it was hard to see anything. Dave waved his hand and summoned eight spectral skulls. He made them dive in front of him, lighting the way.

    After a while of swimming, the light from the ethereal skulls was reflected off an enormous shape. It was the Kraken that was falling to the depths of the sea.

    ***

    Your body is enduring under the sea pressure.

    -1,000 HP

    -1,000 HP

    -1,000 HP

    -1,000 HP

    ...

    ***

    "Shit, I won¡¯t make it like this," Dave muttered. He was swimming fast, but the Kraken¡¯s diving speed was increasing.

    Dave equipped his chest armor to help him dive faster. But at the same time, the pressure from the sea increased, and he lost even more HP the deeper he sank.

    He couldn¡¯t see how deep the sea was and knew he had only one chance at taking the loot from the Kraken. It took two minutes before Dave made it to the Kraken. Dave touched the Kraken to take the loot.

    ***

    Kraken¡¯s Eye (Socket Item)

    Kraken¡¯s Ink

    Kraken¡¯s Whip.

    Kraken¡¯s Suction Cups X 200 (Consumables)

    ***

    "That¡¯s it? The drops are shitty!" Dave cursed. For the grueling fight he had, the drops were surely measly

    Dave was about to loot everything and swim-up until a crazy idea crossed his mind.

    "Might as well try it," Dave said and touched the Kraken again.

    ***

    "Where is he?" Lone asked as she was looking from over the railings.

    Ralph and Fortress were wet and sitting on the ship¡¯s deck. They were scooped up thanks to the undead in the boat.

    Ralph spoke first, "Don¡¯t worry about him; he is an undead. Undead don¡¯t drown and don¡¯t need to breathe. He¡¯ll be okay," Ralph said and stood up, he then walked to the railings to look for his friend.

    All of Dave¡¯s party were now looking over the railing, waiting for him to surface.

    The calm sea began roiling. Its vitality restored in every passing moment. Soon the waves will be too high for them to see Dave if he surfaces.

    In a not so far spot of the sea a few bubbles rose up. Dave¡¯s face emerged from under the sea. The ship was far away. He shouted toward the yers, but they didn¡¯t hear him.

    "Guys," Dave spoke over the voice-chat.

    "Dave?! where are you, bro?" Ralph replied.

    "I¡¯m a bit far from the ship, gimme a second." Dave summoned the Torab serpent under him.

    The serpent moved through the sea and went under Dave. The serpent carefully went under Dave and lifted him up. It then moved toward the ship and dropped Dave on the deck.

    "What took you so long?" Lone asked.

    "The corpse was drowning too fast. Anyway, I got the loot," Dave said.

    "What did you get?" Ralph asked. Everyone was interested in what an ethereal creature would drop.

    Dave pulled a big enormous ball out of his inventory. It was glistening and covered in a thin slimy coating.

    "What¡¯s that?" Ralph asked.

    "Kraken¡¯s eye, a socketing item. Like a rune," Dave said.

    nker¡¯s face turned pale white. He ced a palm over his mouth and mutter, "Okay that¡¯s disgusting, let me go and throw up," nker turned and went to the other side of the ship and began hurling. Though this was VR, the dizziness and sea-sickness were real.

    "That¡¯s all you got?" Perfect asked he expected more.

    Dave grinned and smiled but didn¡¯t reply.

    "Hmm, anyway where to next?" Mercy spoke; she looked bored.

    "We¡¯ll keep moving. We shouldn¡¯t be that far away from the treasure ind," Dave said and turned to Gafgar.

    "Gafgar, let¡¯s get going."

    "Aye, aye, captain! Hoist the sails!" Gafgar shouted, and the remaining undead began pulling the ropes and lifting the sails of the ship.

    The wind blew against the sails, and the ship resumed its voyage.

    In the high seas, the water was turbulent, but soon, the waves calmed down, and the sea became as docile as ake.

    After several hours through the water, an undead at the Crow¡¯s Nest shouted "LAND AHEAD! LAAAAND AHEAD!"

    Dave and co rushed toward the boat¡¯s bow and squinted their eyes. They couldn¡¯t see anything yet.

    Gafgar came closer and gave Dave a spyss. He looked through it and smiled, "There¡¯s an ind ahead." Dave handed the spyss to Lone for her to see and gripped at the railings.

    "We¡¯re the first to sail this far in the sea guys. Let¡¯s hope we find something worth our travel."

    Lone handed the spyss to Ralph and said, "What do you think we¡¯ll find there?"

    "I don¡¯t know, maybe monsters, maybe nothing. We¡¯ll see when we get there."

    Dave went back to the deck, leaving the rest of the yers bickering over the spyss.

    The ship continued on its trajectory, and the ind in the horizon became clearer and grewrger the closer they got to it.

    "This is as far as the ship can go, we¡¯ll continue with rowboats. Lower the sails, drop the anchor!" Gafgar shouted.

    The undead followed Gafgar¡¯s orders and readied up two rowboats for the yers.

    Dave jumped over the ship¡¯s railing andnded on one of the rowboats. The rest of the party jumped behind him. Dave lowered the boat into the sea and took the oars into his hands and pulled on them, pushing the row-boat toward the ind.

    The rest of the undead followed behind Dave and rowed their boat following after him.

    Dave¡¯s base strength made it easy for him to cruise the row-boat and made quick work of the distance between them and the ind.

    The ind had a round shape from afar. There was golden sand making the beaches along the circr ind. A few dozen feet behind the golden beach was a healthy green forest. And in the middle of the ind was something that looked like a mountain or a volcano.

    It took the party a few minutes until they reached the beach, Dave hopped from the row-boat and pushed it onto the sand, after securing it with a small anchor, everyone jumped form the boat.

    "Wow, this ind looks lit," Ralph said, he turned his head and saw someone rxing under the shade of a parasol and resting on a beach chair.

    "The fuck? Isn¡¯t that, Albert?" Ralph blurted.

    The yers turned their head to where Ralph was pointing. It was like Ralph just said, the AI Albert was like the usual, wearing his Hawaiian clothing and sipping juice from a coconut with a straw and a small pink paper umbre.

    Albert raised his sunsses and smiled at the yers. He pointed up in the sky, and a server announcement appeared.

    ***

    Congrattions to the following yers for having set foot on the "I De Muerta."

    yers:

    Kis¡¯Shtiengbrah

    Tess

    ster

    Lone Arrow

    Mercy

    Perfect Shot

    Pussy nker

    Human Fortress

    All of these yers will receive the title:

    Explorer!

    Explorer: +10% chance of obtaining double the drops from any monster in.

    ***

    "Isn¡¯t that nice," Zoe said, "Thank you Albert!" she said jubntly.

    "Guys, I don¡¯t know if you took your Spanish lessons, but I think I De Muerta trantes to Death Ind." nker said, his cowardly nature was kicking up again.

    "I think I heard this name before" Ralph said.

    "It¡¯s from an old movie about pirates and a ship with ck sails," Fortress said and looked at the Leviathan. "Talk about coincidence,"

    "No, I mean I read about this from some book I saw in the Devastator Capital. It talked about some enormous creature living under this ind."

    "If there¡¯s a monster asrge as this ind, then it¡¯s game over man!" nker said.

    "Don¡¯t wet your panties yet. Let¡¯s explore this area first. We don¡¯t know what we might encounter so be on your guard," Dave said and moved ahead.

    Just as he stepped into the vegetation, an arrow embedded itself into Dave¡¯s shoulder.

    -1,000.

    "Huh?" Dave tilted his head, not from the low damage. But he saw what just attacked him. It was an undead with a red nametag.

    This undead had old and decayed clothing, there was a red bandana over his head, and he had the drabs of a sailor. Arge cuss was strapped to his side, and he had a small bag on the other side of his waist.

    "What¡¯s wrong, Dave?" Lone asked. As she got closer, she saw the undead in front of Dave preparing to take another shot at him.

    "This isn¡¯t right, aren¡¯t all undead your allies?" Lone asked.

    "Last time I checked they were allies," Dave equipped his shield and sword.

    "Guess we¡¯re about to find out why," Dave held his shield forward and his sword readied up for a fight.

    "Who goes there!" a loud voice echoed from inside the forest.

    Another undead came behind the first one. This one had a blue naval coat that looked old and decayed, he wore a round hat over his head and had an eyepatch covering one of his eyes.

    "What is the filth of the Undead King doing here?" the second undead spoke.

    "The hell is going on?" Dave asked he was finding it strange that these undead had red names.

    "Doesn¡¯t matter, I see corpses waiting to drop!" blue coat undead said and raised his right hand pointing at Dave with a flint.

    "Die!" The undead said and the loud sound of a gunshot echoed from the forest.

 Chapter 346 Isnt He Supposed To Be Dead?

    "Lets keep going. I don¡¯t like this ind one bit. The faster we get the treasure and get away the better," Dave spoke solemnly.

    The ck Skull order symbol was an eerie sign that he was about to meet one of the Undead Legion¡¯s most annoying and troublesome foes.

    "I¡¯ll scout ahead," Perfect volunteered.

    "Go bro, just don¡¯t get shot in the face with a cannon," Dave joked with a smile on his face.

    "Don¡¯t worry." Perfect hopped to the nearest tree branch and began jumping from tree to tree.

    The party waited for Perfect Shot¡¯s scouting report. A few minutester, Perfect Shot reported to them over the party.

    "There are three groups of undead heading your way. Take a left and head toward the mountain, it¡¯s the safest path with no undead along it."

    "Okay you heard him, follow after me," Dave said. He held his shield ahead of him and began cautiously walking forward.

    The rest of the party followed after him.

    It took the yers half an hour to reach the mountain base. They had followed Perfect¡¯s instructions and didn¡¯t meet with any hostile undead along the way. Perfect jumped down from atop a tree andnded amongst the yers.

    "Stop here and hide yourselves. We have a problem," Perfect said.

    The party hid themselves behind trees and bushes. If they moved a few steps ahead they¡¯d be out of the forest and into barrennd.

    "What¡¯s the problem?" Dave asked.

    "That" Perfect said pointing at the mountain.

    The party peered out from their hiding position to look at where Perfect was pointing.

    The mountain was barren. There were no trees or bushes along its slope.

    "There is a cave entrance halfway up the mountain. That¡¯s probably the entrance to what the blue-coated pirate called the Pce. It¡¯s heavily guarded. If we go up the mountain we¡¯ll be exposed, and the undead will notify the groups in the forest. Not to mention the ones that are inside the mountain," Perfect said.

    "Let¡¯s wait until it¡¯s night then. We can go further then. We¡¯ll be hidden from sight, and when we get to the mountain, we can figure stuff out," nker suggested.

    "I don¡¯t think it¡¯ll work. The Undead have night-vision. We¡¯ll be seen from miles away," Dave said.

    "I say we risk it. Let¡¯s run all the way there, at worst we¡¯ll be spotted and fight a few undead," Fortress pitched in.

    "Uh, did you guys forget we have an assassin?" Ralph said, then turned to Mercy and added, "Hun, can you kill the undead there without being spotted?"

    Caitlin nodded at Ralph and disappeared from view using [Vanish].

    The yers waited for Mercy to do her job.

    Notifications of Mercy killing hostile Undead appeared in the party chat. She was killing them at an extremely fast pace. And from the looks of it, the undead had yet to realize that their allies were being decimated.

    "It¡¯s done," Mercy spoke over the party chat.

    "Damn, that was fast." nkermented.

    "Let¡¯s get going, we don¡¯t want them to realize that the guards are dead," Dave said, and the whole party followed after him as he sprinted towards the cave on the mountain¡¯s slope.

    When Dave arrived, he noticed the bodies of a dozen or so undead. All the undead had died by having their throats slit. Their necks separated from their bodies. But they were so close to each other that Dave found it hard to believe that Mercy killed them all without any of them noticing.

    "That¡¯s incredible," Dave praised her work.

    "Guys, look," nker said. A few feet away from the pile of corpses were several cannons ready to fire.

    "If we had gone up, we¡¯d probably have been turned to swiss cheese," nker said.

    "That¡¯s a cannon, not a machine gun. If it hit you, you¡¯ll be turned to nothing, it¡¯s 1,000,000 HP per shot," Fortress said.

    "Guys, quiet please, we¡¯re about to go inside. Use party-voice chat to talk," Dave said.

    "Alright, boss," nker replied through the party-voice chat.

    "You don¡¯t need to talk if you don¡¯t have anything important to say, bro," Dave added.

    "Alright, when there is something important, I¡¯ll be sure to mention it," nker added.

    "Bruh, that was Skelly¡¯s cue for you to shut up," Fortress said.

    "Okay, shutting up now."

    Dave rolled his eyes at the incorrigible priest and entered the cave first.

    There was an orange lighting from the inside of the cave, probably from a torch or something.

    Dave slowly made his way inside, making sure to keep his eyes peeled for any traps or contraptions that he might find along the way.

    The cave tilted down after a while, and Dave knew they were going deeper into the mountain.

    As they went past one of the torches, they heard the sound of bootsing their way. An undead was leisurely walking toward the exit of the cave.

    Dave gestured to everyone to stick to the walls, then he turned to Mercy and gestured with his head toward the iing undead.

    Mercy nodded and disappeared from view. Her footsteps were light, and soon, only the undead¡¯s footsteps echoed through the cave entrance.

    Suddenly, the undead¡¯s footsteps stopped, and there was the sound of something metallic falling to the ground.

    "Clear," Mercy said through the voice.

    The party resumed their walking and found a headless undead on the ground. His armored helmet was probably was caused the sound.

    The cave exit was a few minutes¡¯ walk away. The yers approached it with caution. Peering out of the cave exit, Dave saw arge opening. The mountain was apparently a hollowed-out inactive volcano.

    There was arge pce built inside the volcano, but it looked dpidated and as if it could copse at any moment.

    "That¡¯s probably where the area boss is. Look, over there," nker pointed. There were dozens of undead on the pce walls. And there were several cannons set up along its walls.

    "Mercy, can you get up there?" Dave asked.

    Mercy looked at the pce and said, "I can¡¯t get there. There are True Lightmps along the way." Mercy pointed at a few redmps in the area around the pce.

    "If I go under thesemps, they will negate my invisibility," Mercy said.

    "How the fuck can we get there then, damn it, man, if we get shot with those cannons, it¡¯s game over ," nker groaned.

    "Quiet, let me think," Dave said. He was subconsciously stroking his beard.

    Dave¡¯s eyes wandered around the area. There was only one way toward the pce. There were no other paths leading in beside the cave they were inside.

    Dave turned and looked behind him ad moved toward the cave exit.

    "Where are you going, man?" Ralph asked.

    "I have an idea, it¡¯s risky, but worth it if it fails we¡¯ll have to improvise."

    Dave went to the undead Mercy had just killed. He removed all of his armor and began removing the undead¡¯s armor and equipment.

    "What are you doing Davey, you know you can¡¯t forcefully loot bodies. Even if you wear their equipment, you can¡¯t benefit from their stats. Also, I bet your Doom Knight armor has better stats," Zoe said.

    "Yeah, I know Zoe, but I¡¯m not taking these for their stats," Dave said and began equipping the undead pirate¡¯s items.

    ***

    You have manually equipped a non-loot-able item.

    You will only benefit from the equipment¡¯s [Skin] and not its stats.

    ***

    Dave ignored the notification and finished equipping the armor.

    "How do I look?" Dave asked.

    "Like a raggedy man," Zoe replied.

    "Good, it should work then," Dave said and moved back to the party.

    "What are you wearing, man?" asked nker

    "A disguise," Dave said and walked out of the cave.

    nker shook his head at Dave and said, "Man, that¡¯s just crazy."

    "Yeah, so crazy it just might work," Dave replied through the party chat and walked toward thenterns.

    He was the only undead in the party, and with his current disguise, he could blend in with the rest of the pirates. If his n didn¡¯t work then undead would probably shoot at him with the cannons, but with his [Unyielding] skill, he could take on the cannon shots without dying and can give the rest of his party the time to attack.

    When he was under thentern light two one of the undead noticed him and shouted, "Who goes there?!"

    Before Dave could reply, another said, "That¡¯s Hordy, wudya forget this time?"

    "Me pistol," Dave replied, mimicking the voice of Dikenz to the best of his abilities.

    "Ah, I knew it, ya shud neva walk out without ye pistole matey, open up for our fe, also get that throat of yours checked matey, ya might have maggots in it, ya sound like an off-tune harp! HA!"

    The two undead beganughing and opened the gate for Dave.

    "See, told you it would be easy," Dave said with a snicker through the party-chat.

    "Well you got in, how do we get in?" nker asked.

    "Give me a minute," Dave said and walked inside the Pce.

    Looking from inside he noticed that there were several leavers on the gate. One was probably to operate the opening and closing of the gate as it had a small gate symbol on top of it. The other two had two different symbols. One had antern symbol on it, and the other had a cage symbol on it.

    ¡¯This one is probably for thenterns. The other one should be for activating traps I think.¡¯ Dave thought to himself as he walked inside the pce.

    "Where ya going Hordy, ya cabin is that way, did ya forget where your own cabin is now? Ha!" the other undead said as heughed.

    "Beg yer parden, I tend to forget lots nowdays. It¡¯s boring on this ind ya-know," Dave said.

    "I belive ya mate, benn eight hundred years since we¡¯ve been here. Gangnk been saying the one to open the vault¡¯lle soon, eight hundred years¡¯s too much matey. C¡¯mon get ya pistol and swap with Denver, he¡¯d prolyl bored out of his mind by naw."

    Dave nodded and went toward the location the undead had pointed at earlier. A wide draugr smile was stered on his face.

    "Mercy, get ready. You¡¯ll only have one chance,"

    Just as he got out of sight of the gate guards , Dave snapped his fingers. An explosion echoed next to the gate.

    "What¡¯s that?" the two undead were startled and went to inspect. They came off the Pce walls and went to where the explosion sounded. They saw that the levers operating the traps, door and thenterns were destroyed. Arge boulder had crashed into them.

    "By Davey-Jones, what in da world just happened?" More undead rushed toward the gate, even Dave came to ¡¯inspect¡¯.

    "I don¡¯t know,st to enter was Hordy toe through, then the explosion sted me old ears," one of the two undead guards spoke.

    The rest of the undead turned to Dave. He held his arms upright and said, "I aint done nothin wrong fes, look there, that rock fell on the levers, pure ol stinking luck, aint me fault i say" Dave said.

    "He¡¯s right, I¡¯ve seen Hordy getting in, he¡¯s a goodd, he didn¡¯t do nothin wrong. This ce¡¯s rundown and is no different than our old bones, this was bound to happen. Guess Hordy was unlucky to pass at this time."

    "Yeah well, the levers can be fixed ain¡¯t no problem. I got me tools on me. I can fix em in no time," an undead said.

    "Yo got ya pistol Hordy," the first undead said.

    "Haven¡¯t got it yet,"

    "Pistol? But I gave Hordy his pistol a few minutes ago."

    The undead¡¯s tags turned yellow. Dave noticed that they were about to be hostile.

    "Mercy, where are you, shit¡¯s about to hit the fan, and I¡¯m probably exposed."

    "I¡¯m on my way," Mercy said.

    "Hang on, that¡¯s not Hordy, Hordy doesn¡¯t have that beard!" one of the undead probably just realized by this point, and just as he spoke, all the undead around Dave had their nametags slowly turn red.

    "Shit, guess my acting skills aren¡¯t worth an Oscar," Dave grinned and drew his sword, chopping at the first undead.

    The other undead drew their cusses and charged at Dave.

    One undead ran away to report.

    But after taking two steps, he fell to the floor with his head tumbling away from his torso.

    Dave struck his bastard sword at the nearest undead, and Mercy joined in. It took them twenty seconds to kill off all the undead at the gate. Thankfully, they didn¡¯t set off any rms. And even the huge ruckus at the Pce gate didn¡¯t notify any other undead.

    The [Spectral Skull] explosion had pulled all of the nearest undead to the gate. And unless one of them sounded the rm, no more woulde there again.

    "Alright, guys, you cane," Dave said and wore his Doom Knight armor.

    The rest of the party ran toward the Pce gate as fast as they could.

    "What now?" nker asked as he looked over his shoulder, afraid he might get jumped on by some pirates.

    "One of the undead spokes of Gangnk still being here, let¡¯s explore the area," Dave said.

    The party split up and carefully searched the first floor of the Pce. They reported what they found over the party chat, which was a whole lot of nothing.

    The party then grouped up in front of thest door on the lowest floor. It was a wooden door that looked shut tight.

    Perfect said, "This must be what we are looking for. Look over there."

    "What¡¯s so special about that door except for being big? We can probably find the treasure upstairs," nker said.

    "Look closely at the floor. There¡¯s dust here. And no footprints. This means that this door hasn¡¯t been opened for a long time. If there is something important, I say it¡¯s hidden behind this door. If we go upstairs, we might just find more undead. And who hides their treasures on the top floors? It¡¯s always a cavern or a sub-floor level."

    "nker¡¯s right, let¡¯s bust this door open," Dave used, [Stamped], and mmed into the door.

    But the door didn¡¯t budge.

    "Damn, we¡¯ll need a stronger attack," Dave said and was about to use [Ray of mes] when Zoe calmly walked over to the door and pulled on a small handle, opening the whole thing up.

    "Sometimes you just need to pull, Davey." Zoe said with a smirk.

    Feeling embarrassed, Dave coughed and walked through the door.

    They were inside yet another cavern, it had lit torched and a set of stairs leading down.

    "Careful guys," Dave reminded the group and went ahead.

    After a few minutes of walking down the stairs, Dave stopped. In front of him was an enormous stone wall that was riddled with runic carvings and prints. There was a person sitting on a crate next to it.

    The person was peeling an orange. He was an undead with a green nametag.

    The undead had a long sailor coat and a hat, his right leg was missing and he had an eyepatch over covering his right eye. He also had a long beard, and it was wet with orange juice.

    The undead turned to Dave¡¯s party and said in a gruff voice, "Ya all here for the treasure? Gotta say your luck is as wretched as me old bones. Got meself another chance only to forget the key to this vault," the man said in a rotten toothy smile.

    Dave inspected the man wearing sailor clothing.

    ***

    Gangnk

    The Pirate King

    Information

    ???

    ***

    "What? You look like you¡¯ve seen a ghost, HA!"

 Chapter 347 Worlds Edge

    "Shouldn¡¯t you be dead?" nker asked.

    "Oh, ain¡¯t I dead enough for ye, priest?" Gangnk replied and stood up. He handed a piece of the orange he was peeling to Dave.

    "Thanks, but I¡¯m not a fan of oranges. Say, what are you doing here? Gafgar told us you died at the World¡¯s Edge." Dave said.

    "Gafgar? Thatd still be living? Ha, right that¡¯b true, I died there but revived into undeath. Some wicked sorcerer came and revived me to this form and I managed to climb up from the World¡¯s Edge ande back here to this ursed ind." Gangnk said and turned to the wall.

    "But damn me luck, I forgot me own key to this damn vault. I should¡¯ve got¡¯n it when I climbed up."

    "You mean you can¡¯t open this vault?" Dave asked.

    "Yeah, this be me treasures, all of em. But I can¡¯t get a coin out of this damn ce. Curses." Gangnk kicked a pebble at the wall and the moment the pebble touched the wall, it turned into dust.

    Dave stepped back, that wall was dangerous.

    "I can¡¯t even shoot it with me cannons," Gangnk said.

    "Where did you say you lost your ¡¯key¡¯?" nker asked.

    "World¡¯s Edge, it¡¯s still inside me old ship." Gangnk said.

    "Howe you¡¯ve not gone to go get it if you know where it is?" ster asked.

    "Ya aren¡¯t very brightddy, that¡¯s the World¡¯s Edge, the pitfall to the abyss itself. Ya can¡¯t go there and expect toe back. Me ship was lucky enough to fall on a ledge protruding from the World¡¯s Edge. And it¡¯s only because of that that I managed to luckilye back." The Pirate King said solemnly.

    "And where is this World¡¯s Edge?" Lone asked.

    "Ya aren¡¯t much of a sailor if ya don¡¯t know where it is. It¡¯s less than a day¡¯s travel through the sea waters to the north. Why ya asking?"

    "Sightseeing," Lone replied.

    "Ha, that¡¯s new. But I¡¯ll tell ya something, once you¡¯re at the World¡¯s Edge, not even the gods can save ye. That¡¯s why I gave up on retaking the key and why now I be loitering on this here ursed ind. At least I be next to me treasures."

    Dave was thinking about what the pirate was saying, then nker jumped in.

    "Say, if we get that ¡¯key¡¯..." but before nker finished the pirate interrupted him.

    "Ha, that¡¯d be impossible, but if ya get the key I¡¯d be willing to part with half me gold!"

    Dave¡¯s brows rose up, and Fortress was about to speak when Dave shook his head at him.

    A notification appeared in front of Dave.

    ***

    You have been offered half of Gangnk¡¯s treasures if you retrieve the key to the vault.

    A new marker location has been added to your map.

    World¡¯s Edge

    ***

    "Nice, alright guys what are we waiting for?" nker said.

    "Yeah, let¡¯s get going,and see if it¡¯s possible to get the key, we can¡¯t promise anything though." Dave said.

    "Best of luck," Gangnk said and sat back down on his crate. He pulled out another orange and began peeling it.

    Dave led the party back outside the pce and through the cave until they were outside again.

    "Skelly, I don¡¯t like this one bit," Fortress said.

    "Yeah, I know man. You noticed it too?" said Dave.

    "Yeah." Fortress replied.

    "What¡¯s going on?" Tess asked.

    "Well, you¡¯ve seen a lot of Pirate movies right?" Dave asked.

    "Yeah," Lone replied.

    "Did you ever see a pirate sharing his treasure?" Dave asked again.

    "You mean he¡¯s lying? We got the notification and everything ," nker replied.

    "The notification gives you information and doesn¡¯t specify if its true or false. Also there are a lot of inconsistencies with what Gangnk said and what we know." Dave said as they climbed down the mountain.

    "Like what?" Mercy asked.

    "First of all, he wasn¡¯t hostile. I find it strange that all of his crew were hostile to us except for him. Also, he was too ¡¯friendly¡¯ unlike a real pirate. And if what Gafgar said was true, Gangnk fell into the World¡¯s Edge. How can you survive that fall? And the sorcerer he talked about could be from the ck Skull Order. Those guys are damn troublesome and scheme a lot. This whole quest could be a ploy or a massive trap." Dave said.

    "Then should we not get the key and give up?" Lone asked .

    "Nah, we came all this way and I¡¯m not nning on giving up the treasures. Let¡¯s go to the World¡¯s Edge, I believe we will find our answers there." Dave said.

    The yers moved through the forest and encountered Gafgar and the rest of the undead crew at the shore.

    "Gafgar, you said Gangnk fell at the World¡¯s Edge, right?" Dave asked.

    "Aye, Captain. I was there." Gafgar replied .

    "How did it happen?" Dave asked.

    "I don¡¯t remember all the details but there was a mutiny against Gangnk, led by Rogger Glynn, his right hand man. He wanted to take Gangnk¡¯s treasure for himself. But Gangnk had locked them all somewhere and kept the key on his person. A few loyal crew members remained with Gangnk and they escaped to the high seas with the Leviathan."

    "I was among them. We were chased by Rogger Glynn¡¯s fleet for seven days and nights until Gangnk reached the World¡¯s Edge. Finding nowhere for us escape, Gangnk ordered all the crewmembers to abandon ship and he sailed it straight to the depth of the World¡¯s Edge. Hisst words were, ¡¯If they want me treasures then they bettere find me in the abyss¡¯."

    Gafgar said with a grave tone .

    "Strange, then howe Gangnk is on this very ind?" Dave asked.

    "That¡¯s impossible, I saw him fall down with my own eyes Captain. I wouldn¡¯t lie to you," Gafgar said.

    "He said someone came after him and revived him to Undeath, saving him from the World¡¯s Edge, but that he left his key on the Leviathan," Dave said.

    Gafgar shook his head, "There¡¯s no way Gangnk would forget his key. He cherished it more than his own life. It was a gift given to him by his first love."

    "This is getting more and more suspicious," Fortress said.

    "Right, let¡¯s get to the World¡¯s Edge then. I¡¯m sure we¡¯ll have some answers by then." Dave said and took the row-boats back to the Leviathan.

    Gafgar ordered the anchor hoisted and the sails raised, while Dave spun the tiller and guided the ship to the north.

    The wind blew strong, guiding the ship toward the high seas and away from the ind.

    What Dave¡¯s crew didn¡¯t notice was a huge assortment of ships that were hidden on the other side of the ind.

    Gangnk smiled as he walked towards these ships, "Awaken, ya salty sea dogs! We got a fish to chase!"

    Thousands of undead ran out from the other side of the mountain that Dave had been on and climbed onto the ships. They raised the sails and guided the fleet towards the north and after the Leviathan.

    The Leviathan moved through the sea with ease. The wind began picking up and the ship¡¯s speed increased even more. The yers soon became bored as they had spent half a day on the ship . So they decided to watch scenes from the Guild wWar event that was happening.

    The Devastators had already imed ten gs thanks to Warlord and Valentine¡¯s efforts. They teleported their whole team to the Gnomish ruins and were the first to explore the area.

    Among the 20 members of the Devastator team, Dave recognized Warlord, Valentine, Satan yer and Jeffery. He was using his Mecha as he moved through the dimly lit underground hallways.

    There were hundreds of pirs supporting a long path that was lit thanks to crystals embedded in the pirs.

    Every few hundred meters a metallic spider would spawn or mechanical golem. They were level 400 and were hard to kill. Their resistances were astronomical, and forced the Devastators to be on the defensive with every encounter.

    "They should have taken more casters. Those Defensive Values are crazy," Tess spoke.

    "Didn¡¯t you get invited?" Dave asked.

    "Yeah, but it¡¯s better to go on a cruise with my hunny-bun than with all those Devis, they are boring as heck," Tess said as she looked at Fortress tenderly.

    Fortress looked at Tess with a loving gaze and the two of them soon entered their own pink world.

    "Ama throw up, and I don¡¯t think it¡¯s just sea sickness," nker gagged as he attempted to keep his stomach from lurching.

    Everyone rolled their eyes at nker and continued watching the feed.

    The Blood Ragers and the Heaven Dawn guilds also obtained ten gs each and followed after the Devastators. As soon as everyone was inside the ruin, a free for all battle started. No one cared for the loot and only wanted to take out the other guilds so they could have the dungeon to themselves.

    Soon, the ground shuddered as if an earthquake was happening. It stopped all the fighting for a moment, until the yers heard the steady sound of loud footsteps. Two glowing yellow orbs lit up from the far end of the hallway. They were the eyes of a metallic golem at least a hundred meter in size that was steadily walking toward all the guild members.

    The giant golem aimed its palms at the yers and began shooting rays of light toward all the yers. The rays of light exploded decimating dozens of yers in seconds.

    Then the golem summoned more spiders and smaller metallic golems surrounding the yers.

    At first, the guilds decided to group back in their respective groups and tried to defend themselves from the assault of the golem.

    Jeffry shot dozens of missiles at the massive golem but it was futile, all the missiles exploded in front of the golem revealing a barrier that surrounded it. The situation was hopeless so Warlord issued the retreat order and tore a teleportation scroll leaving the ruin.

    The Devastator guild followed after and left. But the Blood Ragers decided to stay, and fight. With one guild leaving the area it meant that if they won this fight they had the chance to take more loot out of this area. But it was soon proven that their thinking was wrong as another of these golems appeared from behind them.

    More yers fell and White Ghost also ordered the guild¡¯s retreat. Unfortunately the BBlood RRagers had suffered a massive amount of casualties by the time he gave the order to leave the area.

    "Wow, this new Expansion is crazy. Did you guys see the firepower on that thing?" Lone said.

    "Yeah, it¡¯s interesting. Thanks to the guildies we now know it¡¯s too early to venture off into one of those ruins," Dave replied.

    An undead in the Crow¡¯s Nest shouted, "World¡¯s Edge Ahead!"

    Dave stood up and went to the ship¡¯s bow. On the horizon, an enormous rift that looked like the end of the sea appeared. The sea water fell from the edge of the cliff and down to the unknown.

    "This¡¯ll give t-earthers a lot to talk about," nker said jokingly.

    "Nah, Conquest¡¯s world is a round. This is probably just a rift in the sea." Dave replied.

    "How would you know it¡¯s round?" nker asked.

    "I¡¯ve been to space, well I was dragged there," Dave said as he remembered when Nick took him to see Demiurge.

    "I have a question. Didn¡¯t Gangnk say his ship fell down the World¡¯s Edge?" Perfect asked.

    "Yeah, so?" Dave replied.

    "You mean, we¡¯ll go down that rift!" Perfect added.

    "Yep," Dave replied in a smile as he looked ahead to the closing World¡¯s Edge.

 Chapter 350 Treasure Room

    Dave stood on the ship, looking over the battle that had ended in such an anticlimactic fashion. All of his legionnaires were standing wondering where their enemies had gone to.

    Nick¡¯s intervention had forced Duradel to retreat. This disabled his magic and made the undead he controlled turn to ash.

    "Gafgar!" Dave shouted. Gafgar was in the middle of the undead horde when he heard Dave¡¯s call and he shouted back, "Yes, Captain !"

    "Do we have enough Undead to sail these ships back to the Dead Realm?" Dave asked.

    "My crew is trained, if you lend me a few of your legionnaires and at least one Death Knight per vessel, I can assure the safety of all of these ships ."

    "Alright," Dave ordered thirteen Death Knights to follow each one of Gafgar¡¯smands along with a couple dozen Undead Captains per ship.

    "Gafgar, you¡¯ll stay with us, we still have to loot the treasure," Dave turned to the other Death Knights assigned to protect the other vessels and said, "The rest of you go back to the Dead Realm."

    Dave hopped off the pirate¡¯s g ship and went toward his own ship. The Kraken¡¯s ability was still freezing the water. He walked across the water¡¯s surface and made his way back to the Leviathan.

    When he got up to the Leviathan, all of his party members were waiting for him. Lone was the first to ask, "How did you start this event?"

    "Just met Nick, he said something about deities and gods fighting each other. I didn¡¯t get all the details, but it seems this will be a PVP tournament for the Legacy ss Holders." Dave answered.

    "That¡¯s neat. We get to upgrade all of our legacies if we win, right?" Lone asked excitedly. She was happy with her own B-ss Inheritance, but she had to admit she was slightly envious towards herpanions with more powerful Inheritances.

    "Yeah, that¡¯s the general idea, but as I said I don¡¯t know all the details. There will probably be something about it on the forums soon though. Anyway, let¡¯s go back to the ind, I have the key, and we can finally open the vault now."

    "Yeah, can¡¯t forget we¡¯re here for the monies!" Ralph said.

    "I want a golden crown and a sceptre, and to be able to swim in a pool of gold," nker demanded jokingly.

    "I want jewels, enough to be covered from head to toe!" Lone pitched in.

    "We¡¯ll see about all that when we get there," Dave grinned and ordered the Leviathan to move.

    The Kraken hid underwater waiting for the next time Dave would summon it.

    The wind blew, helping the ship move toward the I De Muerta.

    The way back to the ind felt much faster as the party was discussing what each of them would do with their ¡¯cut¡¯ of the treasure.

    Dave wasn¡¯t a miserly person. He had agreed to split the treasures with everyone equally.

    Dave was standing on the bow of the ship. The wind caressed his beard as he looked ahead. His blue eyes gazed upon the sea horizon until they spottednd.

    "Land ahead!" Dave calmly announced. "We¡¯re here."

    The yers¡¯ hype increased to the limit. They all rushed towards the ship¡¯s bow hoping that the vessel could move even a little bit faster.

    Half an hourter, the Leviathan dropped its anchor in the shallow waters just off the ind. The yers paddled a rowboat toward the ind.

    As soon as they set foot on the ind, they moved at a jog toward the mountain in the centre. They entered the cave and went down toward the pce. There were no more undead to stop them or halt their advance.

    Soon they were in front of the enormous wall inscribed with runic writing.

    "We¡¯re here, c¡¯mon open it! We want to see the treasure!" Lone was literally jumping around Dave so he would open the vault.

    Dave smiled and pulled out the amulet from his inventory.

    "Where¡¯s the keyhole?" He asked, tilting his head.

    Before he received a response, the amulet flew out of his hand andnded on an inconspicuous part of the runic writing, therebypleting an inscription on the wall.

    The whole wall gleamed in a seven-colour rainbow, and the wall began rising up.

    Slowly but surely, the wall rose up. Out of excitement nker bent down and gazed beyond the small opening of the wall.

    However, the excitement in his eyes changed to confusion as he muttered "Huh?"

    This reaction made the party¡¯s excitement die down. They anxiously waited for the wall to rise up to see what was hidden behind it.

    No mountains of gold and jewels. Instead all that waited for them was a single old box sitting in the middle of an empty stone room.

    "What the heck? Is this all the jewels and treasures we came for? Where is the gold ?!" nker questioned.

    "I don¡¯t know man," Dave replied, he was equally shocked and disappointed.

    He moved ahead of the group and headed toward the chest. The wooden chest didn¡¯t have any keyholes. So Dave opened it with ease. There were two items inside.

    A flintlock and a note.

    Dave¡¯s disappointment reached the limit. He had no use for the gun, without the proper crafting recipe .

    Lone came next to Dave and saw the two items, then she said," That note might be the crafting recipe."

    Lone¡¯s words gave Dave some hope. Perhaps the real treasure was this note. If it¡¯s the receipt, they could sell it or make thousands of these flintlocks. There gotta be yers that would want to own a weapon.

    Dave took the note from the box and shared its content with the party.

    ***

    It seems like you managed to open the vault, shiver me timbers. Ha! Still you doofus, ya think a pirate would leave all his treasures for others? HA HA! Th¡¯ best ya get is that flintlock I left ya. Might as well shoot yerself in the head with it after ya lost all that time.

    HA! HA! HA!

    ***

    Another notification appeared in front of Dave.

    ***

    You have sessfullypleted ¡¯Treasure Hunt¡¯.

    +1,000,000 EXP.

    ***

    Dave groaned, "Fuck!! Talk about a wasted journey. Fucking hell man."

    "Damn bastard pirate, fucking hell..." nker sted out curses that would even make a seaman blush.

    He stomped his feet on the ground and began feeling all over the room¡¯s walls.

    "What are you doing?" Fortress asked.

    "Looking for a secret handle, anything that could work. This might be a trick," nker said.

    "True, pirates can be pretty tricky. Guys look and see if you can find anything sticking out of the walls or anything else unusual," Dave said.

    He also went around carefully examining the walled room. After half an hour of searching, patting the walls and doing random stuff, the party came to the unfortunate conclusion that there was nothing in this room.

    "Fuck!!" nker cursed and kicked the chest.

    The chest tumbled... yet of course there was no secret button under it to open a hidden chamber nor was there an exit to a secret room. All it was, was just disappointing normal floor. The flintlock flew all the way to the wall andy there.

    Dave went toward the flintlock and was about to pick it up.

    "It¡¯s gonna turn to dust," nker said as he slumped down onto the floor. Drawing circles with his finger. He felt cheated. A lot of time and effort wasted for nothing.

    "Yeah, I know." Dave replied and touched the pistole halfheartedly praying to at least get something out of this whole ordeal.

    As he picked up the gun, the item¡¯s began shining with a golden glow and turned into a modern pistol. The gun in his hand was awfully simr to the one that was pulled against him in a certain shady private hospital.

    "What the fuck?" Dave blurted out.

    "What¡¯s going on?" Lone asked, "Howe you are holding a Glock? That was a flintlock only a minute ago!"

    "Shit, look guys! This is The Treasure!" Dave shared a notification that just appeared in front of him.

    ***

    Congrattions you have found the S ss Legacy Item of the Gunner ss.

    You cannot initiate the Legacy ss Quest {Flint Westwood} due to already havingpleted another (Higher-ss) Legacy Quest.

    ***

    Another notification appeared in front of Dave

    ***

    Conquest Server Announcement

    yer Kis¡¯Shtiengbrah has obtained the Legacy item of the Gunner ss.

    ***

    Dave stared at the announcement for a few seconds before he realized the implications of having his name attached to yet another S ss legacy.

    "FUCK! Not again, man! Why the hell did you also have to put a target on my ass ,Albert! I had enough of ALFRED doing this shit to me, man! I thought you and I were cool." Dave cursed to the high heavens, or the ceiling of the room from where he stood.

    "Uh, I didn¡¯t do this, you did. If I were you, I¡¯d just trade the gun if its that much of a bother to you." Albert¡¯s voice sounded right next to Dave¡¯s ear.

    The sudden appearance of the grandpa in Hawaiian clothing scared the shit out of Dave, but thankfully he didn¡¯t jump or send a defensive punch down the Game AI¡¯s face. Though Dave did feel that the old guy would deserve it.

    "Dude, what the heck. Shouldn¡¯t I be allowed to ept or refuse these kinds of things? I mean I wouldn¡¯t want all of Conquest to know when I went to take a dump."

    "Unless you manage to set a new record for bowel movement, it would not warrant a notification. Well, as I said, that is just the way how this game was designed. Basically it rewards incredible action by publishing it to increases your fame. Still, as I have just suggested, feel free to exchange this item with someone else, and you should be fine." Albert replied.

    "Hey, old man. We spent weeks looking for a treasure, where are the monies?" Ralph asked the AI.

    "This is all that is left of Gangnk¡¯s treasures. He never kept a single coin before his death. He was always a greedy man, yet he could not stand the idea of someone else profiting off of him, so he made sure not to die with any regrets. You may even consider yourself lucky that something beside the note was still inside the chest. Alright, this is all from me. I gotta go," Albert said and disappeared from the room.

    "This is weird as heck guys," Ralph said.

    "What is?" Lone asked.

    "I just feel that stuff doesn¡¯t add up. I mean, why did the godling stay here all this time. I mean what use would he have for gold?" Ralph added.

    "You are right, it should be rted to the legacy item," Dave agreed.

    "What do you mean?" Tess asked.

    "Well, it should be simple to deduce. The godling is someone who will be a god soon. I suppose he will have some use for the legacy item. Like Dog with his Legacy ss. I mean we already saw in the video of the Raid on the Eastern Kingdom, that NPCs can also use the legacy items. I suppose he has a use for it." Dave said.

    "Right, if he is a god wannabe I think he might need the S ss Legacy item after all. Either to elerate his process or simply to get himself a powerful underling" Perfect theorised while folding both of his arms across his chest.

    "Dave, Dad¡¯s calling, he wants to talk to you," Lone suddenly interrupted their brainstorming.

    "Oh? Put him on speaker," Dave said. He could already guess what this was all about.

    Lone activated the speaker option: "Dad, you¡¯re connected."

    "Ah right, Davey, Davey, sweet Davey. My future Son-in-Law. I have something to ask you," Dante Silvana¡¯s voice came from the voice chat. As if butter wouldn¡¯t melt in his mouth.

    Lone facepalmed and mumbled, "Shit, I knew this was gonna happen."

    "Hey, I heard that. That¡¯s a hundred dors in the swear jar, youngdy!" Dante Silvana¡¯s voice returned to normal as he berated his daughter for hernguage.

    "Dad! I told you, you¡¯re on speaker! Don¡¯t embarrass me anymore or I¡¯ll disown you!" Lone threatened, face turning beet red and voice rising several octaves.

    She only received a low chuckle from the other end of the phone call.

    Dave smiled and asked nonchntly; "What can I do for you, sir?"

    "Don¡¯t call me ¡¯Sir¡¯, we¡¯re practically family. Just call me Dante," Dante replied.

    "Stop that, Dad. It doesn¡¯t take a genius to find out why called. You just want to get the legacy item from Davey! And that¡¯s not gonna happen with sweet words alone. You better pay up!"

    "Huh, you¡¯re already on his side. I gotta say Dave, I¡¯m impressed that you managed to capture my daughter¡¯s body and soul so fast." Dante said in a teasing tone.

    "No! We haven¡¯t done anything yet!" Lone protested her voice getting quieter towards the end.

    "Yet? So, you¡¯re nning on doing something, right?" Dante asked yfully.

    "Oh my god! Please, Dave, I¡¯m gonna hang up!" Lone couldn¡¯t take it anymore, her face was currently a mixture of anger and utter embarrassment. It added a great allure to the elf avatar.

    ¡¯That¡¯s cute,¡¯ Dave thought as he smiled.

    "Nah, it¡¯s alright. Dante, you want the Gunner Legacy, right?" Dave asked.

    "Yeah, please. I¡¯ll pay you for it. I¡¯ll even allow you to date my daughter, officially."

    "I don¡¯t need your permission for that!" Lone shouted, "And we¡¯re already dating! Pay up and stop being stingy!"

    "Ah, my daughter is no longer mine," Dante sighed. Dave could practically imagine the man shaking his head sorrowfully. Their next encounter promised to be... interesting to say the least.

    "Alright, I¡¯ll wire you an adequate amount for the legacy item. But I heard you need to do quests. I don¡¯t have a party or a strong enough team to take on an S ss Legacy Quest. Can you help me out?" Dante asked.

    "As much as I would like to, I can¡¯t. All Legacy Quests are difficult for a reason. They have Solo Quest that you will need to finish by yourself. Only theter quests of the legacy can be done with a party. However once you are done with your solo quests I¡¯ll try and help you out. Also, I would rmend you don¡¯t start the Legacy Quest anytime soon," Dave answered.

    "Why is that, David?" Dante asked.

    "I¡¯m sure you saw the sh of Gods event announcement. If you get involved at your low level, you might end up facing someone strong, which seems quite probable. If they win, your Legacy¡¯s rating might decrease." Dave exined his logic.

    "Right, I¡¯ll still start the quests, but I¡¯ll refuse the challenges against other Legacy holders then. Tell me when you¡¯re ready to exchange the Legacy Item." Dante agreed.

    "Will do. I¡¯m currently in a faraway area. When I get back tond, I¡¯ll contact you or just give the item to Lone and she will hand it to you."

    "Thanks, son," Dante said and hung up.

    "Ah man, that was embarrassing," Lone said her face still as red as a tomato.

    The rest of the party were secretlyughing at Lone¡¯s misfortune when Dave turned to them.

    "Seeing that we didn¡¯t get any treasure, I say we¡¯ll split whatever Lone¡¯s dad gives us equally. It¡¯s our treasure of sorts," Dave suggested.

    "Oh, Mr Skeletal! Please take my body and soul in exchange for your kindness and generosity!" nker said as he raised his brows up and down at Lone.

    A vein threatened to pop on Lone¡¯s forehead as she shouted, "I¡¯m gonna kill him!" Lone nocked and drew an arrow and aimed it at nker. The shameless priest scurried away hiding behind Dave.

    "You wouldn¡¯t want to hit your beloved David, would you?! Please, Mr Skeletal don¡¯t let her hurt me!" nker pleaded with an over-exaggerated attitude as he peered from behind Dave¡¯s shoulder.

    Dave shook his head, smiling. "Let¡¯s go back to the Dead Realm. I need five more levels to get to level 450. I¡¯ll need that for the uing event."

    As soon as he said that, he moved away from nker. The priest found himself without a meat shield to protect him from the enraged elven archer.

    "Uh! Please, no! At least not the face!!!"

    "Dance for me!" Lone began shooting arrows at nker¡¯s feet to which he jumped high and low to dodge them. She was careful not tond a hit on him but at the same time shot her arrows a hair¡¯s width from nker, making him dance around the room in fright. The rest of the TNT just stood there and made a video of the hrious scene.

    "What¡¯s so special about level 450 for you, Dave?" Ralph asked as he extracted his eyes from Lone and nker¡¯s charades.

    "Well, It¡¯s thest condition I need to be able to equip Deadrea¡¯s Shield and Sword. I got a feeling that those two items are quite OP." Dave replied with his famous Draugr smile while stroking his beard.

    The Cursed Shield of Ajax and Durandal had stayed in his inventory for the longest time. It would not be much longer before the world came to fear them once more.

    "By the way, Dave. Did you realize that you are only a few levels away from the top rankers?" Ralph asked.

    "Oh? I didn¡¯t know, what¡¯s Warlord¡¯s current level?" Dave asked, genuinely surprised. He was leveling for his sake, not even aware that he was so close to overtaking Warlord.

    "Let me check through the guild¡¯s panels." Ralph waved his hand and opened his Devastator Guild panel.

    "Oh, yep, very close. He is level 452. I think the gnomish ruins gave them a lot of EXP. Anyway, you should be able to catch up in no time." Ralph was confident in his buddy.

    "Yeah well, I still have the EXP Bead from ALFRED. It gives 50% additional EXP until I reach level 500. Once I hit that sweet, sweet 500, my bonus exp will disappear and I¡¯ll level the same speed as any other yer."

    "Guys, let¡¯s go. It¡¯s time to do some more grinding." Dave lead everyone out of the ¡¯treasure room¡¯ back to the ship.

 Chapter 352 First Round

    Dave woke up after a good night¡¯s sleep, half an hour before his rm normally went off. He felt refreshed and well rested. After getting dressed, he went to the kitchen and drank from a milk carton in his fridge. There was no one there to tell him to use a cup anyway.

    He made some toast and made some fried eggs and bacon. Just as he was finishing his breakfast his rm rang. He needed to be in-game soon.

    Dave went upstairs. The second floor had his bedroom and the gaming room with state-of-the-art tech. Heid supine inside the capsule and closed it. Soon after, the Conquest logo and greeting appeared in front of him, and he was soon diving back into VR.

    Dave appeared on the I de Muerta. He was alone on the beach. He looked at his friends¡¯ list, every one of them was online. They were ready for the uing event.

    High up in Conquest¡¯s sky was a countdown for the first phase of the fights. He had a few minutes left before the event would start. There was no information on the forums regarding this event. So all the yers were in the same boat. They didn¡¯t know what was going to happen, but they made sure that they were all in top shape and ready for anything.

    Potions, scrolls and consumables were stockpiled and ready for use.

    Dave gazed at the timer as it counted down until it reached 0.

    A notification appeared in front of him.

    ***

    sh of Gods

    You have been chosen by the Undeath God Nichs to represent him in the sh of Gods.

    If you choose to ept, you will be teleported shortly to face your first opponent.

    Every victory against a Legacy Holder will award you a certain number of points.

    E ss: 1 Point

    D ss: 5 Points

    C ss: 10 Points

    B ss: 25 Points

    A ss: 50 Points

    S ss: 100 points.

    If a lower-ss Legacy Holder wins against a higher-ss Legacy Holder, they will be rewarded with the total number of points between the two sses.

    Eg. C ss legacy holder won a fight against an A-ss legacy Holder. The C ss legacy holder will obtain 50+25+10 Points.

    In order for a Legacy Holder to upgrade their Legacy they will need 10 times the amount of points of the ss below them.

    An A ss Legacy Holder will need 250 points, equal to winning against 10 B ss opponents or the equivalent amount of points obtainable by victory over any other ss.

    Legacy sses can be upgraded only once!

    Matches against other yers will be viewable for the public.

    By epting, you will be teleported to Limbo to face your first opponent.

    Do you ept?

    Yes/No.

    ***

    Dave read through the notification intently. Then groaned.

    "Man, I¡¯ll need to win 1,000 points to upgrade to SSS ss. That¡¯s like, beating ten S Legacy Holders. Shit, this is really hard. On the other hand, the S Legacy Holders have it easy. They can upgrade their ss to SS by just winning 5 matches against other S ss Legacy Holders, or beat the shit out of lower ranked Legacy Holders."

    This wasn¡¯t the only problem. Most of the S ss legacy holders were guild masters or high rankers in Conquest¡¯s Super guilds. If they met one of their underlings in a fight, the other party could simply give up the match giving the S ss legacy holder a free win.

    Dave¡¯s expression became sullen. He felt cheated. The Guild Masters would have an easy time levelling up their ss due to their influence.

    Dave epted the fight.

    A ck and purple vortex opened in front of him, it felt as if it was beckoning him to go inside. Dave heard low howls and shoutsing from inside the vortex. It looked like the pit of hell had opened up and was about to swallow him whole.

    Dave smiled and said, "Hell¡¯s Bells" then took a step inside.

    He appeared inside a world that was a mix of ck and purple. The sky up ahead had no stars. There was no moon and no sun. There was just a mixture of dark purplish clouds that writhed against dark ones.

    Under him was an enormous square tform that spanned hundreds of meters in width and length.

    Below the tform was a swirling sea of some red substance, it didn¡¯t look hot like magma, but Dave somehow felt that falling there would mean the end of him.

    At the other side of the tform was a person wearing yellow leather armor. He had arge golden bow on his back and his blond hair was draped over his shoulder.

    That was probably Dave¡¯s opponent.

    The two yers noticed each other and both started slowly walking towards the centre of the arena. However, when the Hunter saw the Draugr approaching him, he stopped.

    The Draugr had a long beard, and he was d in armor simr to that worn by human tanks. His shield looked like a chunk torn from a metal wall, and his sword was a deadly long bastard sword that reached down to the ground. Every stomp from the Draugr¡¯s boot felt like it was stepping on the Hunter¡¯s heart and not the floor.

    It didn¡¯t take a genius to know that he was facing the famous Mr Skeletal. Talk about crappy luck, facing one of the strongest and most intriguing yers in the game in the first match. What luck was that?

    The Hunter smiled ruefully. He didn¡¯t like his odds. He was just a B ss Legacy Holder. In front of him was a person who had shaken the world of Conquest and made it look easy.

    The Hunter nodded towards Dave and said, "Skeletal. I won¡¯t go easy on you."

    Dave inspected the yer.

    ***

    Ouba-No-Yami

    Level 422

    ss Hunter

    Legacy: Golden Bow of Aerial.

    ***

    Dave nodded to the other man and readied for a fight. He put his shield in front of him and drew and readied his sword.

    He knew the Hunter would prefer to stay as far away as possible and keep his distance from Dave. The Hunter knew that kiting a melee champ was his only shot at victory.

    Yet before any of them engaged on each other, Albert appeared in between the two.

    "Guys, before you fight, do know that I will be personally watching these games. Cheating is not tolerated. Losing on purpose to the other will disqualify both of you." Albert said.

    Dave frowned, "That¡¯s not right either," Dave said.

    "How so?" Albert asked.

    "Well, if someone wants me to lose, they could just forfeit and I would be kicked out even if I¡¯m not in cahoots with them."

    "Don¡¯t worry. I have my ways in knowing if someone had given up because they knew they couldn¡¯t win, or if someone gave up to give the other an advantage or even if they had malicious thoughts into giving up to screw the other party. Like I said, your brainwaves are connected to the game capsule, and I can read them like an open book. Now please, enjoy your battles. And may the strongest win!"

    Albert finished his words and disappeared from the arena.

    "Okay then," Dave said and looked at the Hunter. "Show me what you got!" Dave stomped his foot on the arena floor. He wanted to end this game as fast as possible. He had an army under him. He was going to use it.

    However, the summoning of his Undead failed.

    The Hunter frowned, he didn¡¯t know what Mr.Skeletal was trying to do, but he didn¡¯t want to waste the chance. He stepped back and ran all the way to the other side of the arena. He needed to create distance with the melee champ.

    Dave, on the other hand, had his eyes fixated on a notification that appeared in front of him.

    ***

    You cannot summon your Undead to fight in the sh of Gods.

    You have to prove your worth as a champion of Undeath as a solitary unit.

    ***

    "Hmm. I expected as much. Fighting opponents with my Undead would be unfair to them."

    Dave wasn¡¯t as bothered about it as he thought he would be. He didn¡¯t have ess to his Undead. But that wasn¡¯t much to worry about. He was, after all, a fighter.

    Dave noticed that the Hunter had created distance between the two of them. He then drew his bow and shot an arrow that splintered into thousands of other arrows that surged and fell toward Dave.

    Dave looked in front of him, holding his shield up and used [Stampede]. His avatar shot forward like a runaway train toward the Hunter. The arrows fell like rain on Dave¡¯s back as he barreled forward.

    -120

    -180

    -120

    -180

    ...

    The Hunter was surprised. He had used this Skill many times, but it was the first time that it had dealt damage this low.

    The Hunter quickly woke up from his dazed state. He didn¡¯t have time to think about what had gone wrong with his Skill. Dave wasing toward him like a runaway train.

    The Hunter drew his bow again. He was preparing a Skill that was very familiar to Dave. [Breaking Shot], it was the first Skill Lone had used when he first met her. The Skill she had used to disce the wolves and make them enter Dave¡¯s Aggro Zone while she left by using a [Blink] and cleansing potionbo.

    Dave however, smiled as he kept running toward the Hunter

    The air arrow from [Breaking Shot] shot with a twang from the golden bow and it surged toward Dave.

    Dave ignored the arrow as it sted his face. The wind arrow turned to nothing as it hadn¡¯t even fazed Dave in the least.

    "Fuck! CC-Immune Skill." The Hunter groaned and waited until Dave was right in front of his face before he used [Blink], disappearing from right in front of Dave, and reappearing in Dave¡¯s wake.

    He wanted to make Dave fall into the red pit, while he dodged him as a Matador would a bull.

    Dave however, wasn¡¯t keen on letting the Hunter have his way. As Dave was still running toward the edge, he used [Immortal Apparition] disappearing the moment his avatar went past the edge and reappearing right behind the unaware Hunter, still under the effects of [Stampede].

    The Hunter felt like his back had been hit with a wrecking ball.

    [-192,000].

    The Hunter was sent sprawling on the floor. His HP bar was barely half of its former self.

    The Hunter scrambled to his feet. He was surprised both at the insane amount of damage Dave had done, and how he had managed to appear right behind him.

    The Hunter retreated backwards several steps, a golden glow appeared over him and the shape of an Avatar materialized behind him. The Hunter wasn¡¯t going to take any chances with Skeletal. He had immediately activated his Legacy Skill.

    Yet, Dave had already lost interest in the fight. The Hunter sure was quick but he wasn¡¯t quick enough. He wasn¡¯t sharp enough. This guy was a PVE yer, any guy with PVP experience would have taken him down with ease.

    Dave¡¯s hand blurred in ninja seals, he then raised a finger up and pointed at the Hunter who was still in mid-transformation.

    In front of Dave¡¯s finger, eighteen infernal Spectral Skulls sted forwards toward the Hunter. This was the fusion of [Spectral Skulls], [Dragon Ball] and [Twin-Strike] a skill he used on Du¡¯Rhaza.

    The eighteen fireballs moved toward the Hunter like meteors.

    The Hunter could only utter a partial swear before the fireballs sted him where he stood. Shortly after a notification appeared in front of Dave.

    ***

    Congrattions, you have won your first match in the sh of Gods.

    +25 points.

    ***

    Dave was soon teleported out of the Limbo and back to the beach.

    ***

    You have won your first match. You have disqualified your opponent. The next round willmence in 7 days- Game time. Be sure to be ready.

    ***

    "Huh, that was easy," Dave said.

    Dave wanted to see how his friends fared in the matches, so he called Lone.

    ***

    You are not allowed to contact anyone that is currently undergoing the sh of Gods tournament.

    ***

    The same message repeated when he attempted to contact the others.

    "Oh, they¡¯re still fighting. I hope they¡¯re doing alright. Now, I have seven days of loitering around. I should probably grind a bit. Level 450, here Ie."

    Dave said to himself and tore a teleportation scroll to the Dead Realm.

 Chapter 354 Rune Golem

    Dave and Dortha moved through the Drow Kingdom. As they walked Dortha broke the silence and said, "You have reached ample Strength for me to teach you a bit of what I know about true power."

    "What is that?" Dave asked.

    "It¡¯s the first step into bing more proficient in controlling your might, give me your hand." Dortha said.

    Dave stretched his hand out to Dortha, the Beast grabbed it and a surge of power ran up to Dave¡¯s forearm. Every fiber, muscle and tissue cringed and tightened for a moment. Dave¡¯s dead muscles surged with immense power, he felt like he could turn a rock to dust if he tightened his grip on it.

    "I¡¯ve unlocked your limits as an Undead. We don¡¯t tire, and at the same time, we can tap into the full potential of one¡¯s body." Dortha said.

    A notification appeared in front of Dave

    ***

    Herculean Strength.

    Removes the limits on your body, increasing one¡¯s Strength and physical attack power by 100% up to three times. Lasting for 10 seconds.

    Every increase will cost the user 20% of their total HP.

    No cooldown required.

    Side-Effects.

    Every use of Herculean Strength will cause the base Strength of the user to drop by 30% for 5 minutes.

    ***

    "Holy smokes, this is way too OP!"

    "OP? I never heard of this term."

    "Means overpowered," Dave casually exined.

    "Ah, good choice of words, yes overpowered. But be careful the extended use of this ability will wear out your muscles and put you in a feeble condition. Do not abuse the limits of your body," Dortha said.

    "Right, thanks a lot." Dave said to the man.

    "No need to thank me. Sadly, you were a human before you turned to Undeath. If you had the bloodline of a beast, I could have strengthened you even more. I¡¯m not like the wise Da. I only know about power." Dortha said.

    "Don¡¯t worry man, this is more than enough. By the way we¡¯ve been moving for a while, shouldn¡¯t it be about time something attack us? I mean those guys have been following us for a while now," Dave said with a smile.

    "Oh, so you did notice them. I thought I would have to warn you myself," Dortha said, his smile once more revealing his shiny fangs.

    "Yeah, saw them the moment we stepped into this area, but why aren¡¯t they attacking?" Dave asked. His eyes were locked onto three dark skinned elves that only wore enough leather armor to cover their privates.

    "Simple, these creatures know and recognize danger. And I have plenty of that. As long as we don¡¯t show weakness, fear or weariness, they will keep their distance." Dortha said.

    "Welp, that¡¯s great and all," Dave said, then he added, "But I need to level up."

    "If you wish to gain strength, do not seek it in the death of others. Find strength within, as the power thates from unfair carnage is nothing but a fleeting sense of power and a key for madness to encroach upon your mind. It happened to me and I fear that it might happen to you," Dortha said. His words spoken out of experience.

    "Right, I will make sure to keep that in mind," Dave said.

    "I don¡¯t mean for you not to y what attacks you. Defend yourself if you have to and y what stands in your way. But don¡¯t find fault with those who mean you no harm and kill them for your own vanity, that is the way of demons. We may be Undead, but chivalry and knighthood are ingrained in our essence, respect that and you shall find greatness." Dortha spoke these words of wisdom to Dave.

    "Understood," Dave nodded to Dortha.

    "Kis¡¯Shtiengbrah, be wary. We are approaching a dangerous foe," Dortha said.

    "Alright," Dave said. His shield and sword at the ready.

    He then hopped off Grumpy and stomped his right foot on the ground. Five shadowy shrouds materialized around Dave. Spark, Bud, Dog, Singund and Tengu. These were his strongest Undead, and was the limit of the Undead he could summon in the Drow Kingdom.

    When the Undead saw Dortha, they bowed to him and he nodded back. They respected the strong, and as an Abyssal Knight, Dortha held a lot of strength.

    "Your Undead are powerful and exquisite to say the least," Dortha said smiling toothily.

    "Yeah, they are the best of the best," Dave said, grinning.

    "Very well, now be careful. I feel that something believes that we are prey," Dortha said and pointed at one of thergest rock formations in the distance. This rock looked like a jagged pir that supported the sky. If it was any wider at the base, it would be no different than a small mountain.

    Suddenly, the massive rock broke apart and shattered.

    "Wow, how did you do that?" Dave asked.

    "I didn¡¯t do anything," Dortha shook his head, "I only pointed at where the danger is, and it started heading towards us. Be ready!"

    Dortha¡¯s hand became rigid and grew ws instead of nails. His scrawny body under the robes buffed up in a second. He looked like a heavyweight champion dressed in a tight robe. Dave could even hear the sound of the fabric tearing from the muscles on Dortha.

    The standing rocks burst apart as something massive charged towards Dave¡¯s party.

    As it closed the distance between them, Dave was able to make out what it was, a gigantic stone golem that had no feet. It looked like a triangle of stone that had two arms and a triangr head. In the golem¡¯s chest was a bright glowing circle that was made up of thousands of small runic glyphs.

    "That¡¯s the Rune Golem," Dave said.

    "This golem has a lot of magical energy around it, I can feel it. Be careful," Dortha said and pounced at the iing golem.

    Dortha¡¯s legs were strong enough that, when he jumped, the ground caved in creating a small crater. The force behind his legs made him fly like a lightning bolt toward the iing golem.

    The two made contact and Dortha came out ahead, as the golem was sent staggering back and it crashed down, destroying dozens of trees and crumbling pirs of rocks upon itself.

    "Boyz, let¡¯s go!" Dave called and the five Undead followed after him.

    He guided Grumpy to the fallen golem as the rest of the Death Knight kept up with the Onyx Basilisk¡¯s pace.

    After a few seconds, Dave had arrived to the battle scene. Dortha was on top of the golem¡¯s chest, his ws smashing down on the glyph, and with every hit, the golem¡¯s body cracked and the thing roared in pain.

    Dave found it absurd that a stone could feel pain, but the sheer strength behind every swing of Dortha¡¯s ws made the ground tremble as if it was an earthquake.

    Dave inspected the struggling golem.

    ***

    Level: 550

    Tier: Unique

    Base damage: 180,000-200,000

    Danger Level: ???

    HP: 23,222,000/ 25,000,000

    PD: 999,999

    MD: 1

    Skills:

    [Stone Throw] Hurls a rock at a target dealing 200% base damage.

    [Seismic Strike] smashes down with his arms at the ground, creating a wave of mudstone and debris to assault its enemies. Causes 150% base damage and slowing targets by 30% and creates a [Disorientation] debuffsting for 10 seconds.

    [Copsing Mountain] calls upon the power of the earth and brings down a mountain on its target. Dealing 200% base damage in a 200-meter area around the point of impact.

    Lore: The Rune Golem is one of the guardians of the Drow kingdom. It holds the Node of Durability and serves as a protector to the inhabitants of the area.

    ***

    "Whoa," Dave¡¯s words escaped his mouth. The creature¡¯s physical defense was out of this world. If Dave tried to attack it with his sword, he would deal no more than a measly 0 points of damage.

    Thankfully this thing¡¯s magical defense was pretty much non-existent. Dave¡¯s magic abilities would do decent damage to it, and killing it wouldn¡¯t be an impossibility.

    Yet this wasn¡¯t the reason why Dave was shocked. It was the fact that Dortha was using his empty hands to smash down on this golem, and had already ripped him out of almost 2 million points of HP, in just a few seconds.

    "No wonder he is the strongest under the undead king. But, if he is this strong, then that means that Deadra was only stronger. Man, the Legion has only monsters in its ranks, ha!" Daveughed and waved a hand.

    "Can¡¯t get out done!" he summoned eighteen Infernal Skulls. The fusion of [Spectral Skulls], [Dragon Ball], and [Twin Strike].

    The fireballs flowed toward the downed golem and smashed into it from the side. The explosions shook the golem to its core and shaved another 2 million HP off of it.

    "Yeah, Dave can still bring the heat!" Dave said to himself.

    The rest of Dave¡¯s Death Knights moved toward the suppressed golem.

    "This is gonna be easy," Dave said in a grin.

    His undead and the Abyssal Knight were more than enough to destroy this creature. The Exp he would gain should bump him up two or three levels.

    But just at the happy thought crossed Dave¡¯s mind, he saw several of the ck skinned elves running toward him.

    He had forgotten about them with Dortha¡¯s presence, but now it seemed that they had grown some courage.

    The dark-skinned elves didn¡¯t seem like they were going to attack Dave and his Undead, they were running toward the golem.

    In their hands were dozens of small crystal orbs. These orbs had a swirling darkness that was trapped inside them. Dave frowned, he had a bad feeling about the objects in their hands.

    The dark skinned elves threw the orbs against the golem¡¯s body. Whenever one of these orbs smashed into its body ck fumes surged out and prated into the rocks.

    One, two, then dozens of these crystals smashed against the rock. At first there was no visible change, but a few secondster, the runic glyphs changed color from golden to ck.

    Dortha who was busy pinning down the golem stopped. Then, he stood up and took a couple of reluctant steppes back.

    Dave shouted, "Dortha, something is not right!" Dave roared.

    But Dortha didn¡¯t answer him, his body convulsed and began shaking, the smoke that seeped into the stone golem for what Dave believed was empowering it was forcefully extracted out of the golem and sucked into Dortha.

    "Lord! The Abyssal Knight¡¯s Spirit has been tainted!" The Tengu shouted. He was the only one that knew about the spirit, and when Dave heard his words. He understood what was going on almost immediately, and probably all toote.

    "FALL BACK!" Dave roared.

    But hismand was overpowered by an even louder roar, a beastial, old and wrathful growl that came from the depths of Dortha¡¯s inner beast.

    Dortha turned to face Dave, his blue ethereal eyes turned crimson red. His gentle grandpa features changed to stiff, vindictive and vicious expressions.

    ck as the night hair grew on Dortha¡¯s body, his nose grew into a wolf¡¯s muzzle and his hands elongated. His legs cracked, and from his boots wed feet emerged. Dortha¡¯s arms grew wider and his wsrger. And finally, his name-tag changed from green to dark red.

    "Yeah, fucking perfect." Dave cursed. He felt that someone was ying a very dirty prank on him. But at the same time, he had a nagging feeling telling him that if he didn¡¯t asked Dortha if he could transform into a Were-Wolf, Dortha would have probably changed into something other than Dave¡¯s childhood nightmare.

 Chapter 358 A Sword and a Shield

    Dave didn¡¯t have the time to think about how did Dog know that he needed to level up badly. He turned away from Drotha and the Monk and charged at the dark elves.

    Bud turned to smoke the moment he saw Dave running toward him and left Dave all alone facing the elves.

    Dave liked that best. This way he will get all the EXP. Dog, on the other hand, held his club-whip and stood guarding Dave¡ªNot from the elves but from the Lycan and the Monk that were fighting lest that one of them decides to take out Dave first.

    Dave swung down with his ive at the nearest elf. This one was still looking for where the shadow ghoul had disappeared to, thus failing to see the iing ive swing.

    The elf died in one hit.

    Dog and bud had done an amazing job at lowering their hp, and they were all at one hit from death. The two Death Knights didn¡¯te out of it unscathed though. Their HP was in the red.

    Dave turned to the second elf, another hit another kill and continued on with his ughter. The elves ganged up on Dave. He didn¡¯t have the luxury of taking even one hit form them. His armor was cracked, and his HP was at 11% thanks to his passive he had regained 10% of his HP. The damage was done due to Dortha¡¯s sneaky attack on Dave while he was on Grumpy.

    Dave dodged the elves¡¯ attacks with finesse. He had to. Dave found himself concentrating best under pressure. The swings of swords and shooting arrows went past him as he dodged to the best of his ability. He was fast, strong, and delivered death with every attack.

    One of the elves was behind Dave, his blind point. He had enough time to nock an arrow and shoot it at Dave¡¯s head.

    Dave didn¡¯t feel the arrow closing in at all until he saw Singund riding on his undead war-boar, crashing through trees, bushes, and anything that stopped his way. Singund hurled his sword with explosive strength that it hummed as it flew.

    The sword went past Dave¡¯s head, and he heard the sound of metal hitting metal. Turning, Dave noticed the surprised archer still gazing at him. The elf rapidly nocked another arrow and aimed to take another shot at Dave.

    "Like hell, you would," Dave cursed and hopped back from an iing sword swing.

    In his jumping motion, Dave waved his hand, summoning eight spectral skulls that flew toward the archer-elf.

    The skills blew up, sending the elf flying and turning to mush, killing him.

    Dave¡¯s EXP bar rose slowly but surely, but there weren¡¯t enough elves for him to level up. He needed to kill at least ten, and there were only three next to him.

    "Lord! I brought more prey!" Singund howled in mad glee. Behind him, a dozen elf was running chasing him. Singund had done a nasty job at these poor elves. They were full of scars and bleeding, yet they still followed the undead orc that attacked them.

    Dave grinned, more elves more exp, but also more risks to die. He didn¡¯t want to visit the limbo, not after he was so close to leveling up and using Deadra¡¯s prized weapon and shield.

    Dave switched to his gauntlets and used [Awakened Dragon], the ability restored all of his fist-fighting skills cooldown. He then used [Advancing Dragon] and [Aura] A surge of fire coalesced around Dave like a lit torch in the depth of the night. He dashed forward like a bullet at the elves. Dave struck the first elf in a shoulder bash, smoldering him into humanoid charcoal.

    Dave punched another elf and teleported and kicked another in [Dragon Kick]. From afar, the area looked like an inferno were several fire dragons coiled and danced together in a dance of mes.

    The greenery caught fire, and the Drow Kingdom was set aze. The area around Dave turned hotter and hotter by the second, and any elf that was nearby suffered. The Drows were creatures of the night. They prospered in the underworld where there was no day. But Dave¡¯s infernal aura was like a sun presenting itself to their world. Hot, blinding, and ufortable.

    Not to mention deadly.

    The elves wavered at the crazed bearded draugr¡¯s assaults. They wanted to chase out the trespasser that broke two of their Nodes, and weakened them significantly. But killing this Draugr was difficult, and what frightened them the most were the two that fought against each other. The were-wolf and the monk were still at each other throats, like the fest Dave was throwing wasn¡¯t worth their attention.

    "Singund, hold the ones that you just brought for a while. Let me finish up here!" Dave said midbo. His fists twisting into a machine-gun of consecutive attacks at a poor elf. Every fist thatnded on the elf¡¯s body sted out of his back a cone of fire.

    Singund tore through the elf ranks with an unbridled zealot. He didn¡¯t care for the damage he took; he was even pummeling one with his own fists at the elf because he had thrown his mberge earlier.

    Dave finished off the elves at his side and drank a health potion. He turned toward the elves Singund was facing and told him to back off. Dave wanted to have all the fun alone.

    The orc had to fold back, disappointed that he couldn¡¯t revel in carnage a bit more.

    Dave struck down at the elves with unstoppable might. Two minutester, he was down to thest elf. His HP in the deep red. He had taken a hit and was down to less than 0.5% of his HP. Thest elf, thest 0.1% EXP needed for him to level up.

    Dave dodged an iing sword swing from the elf and used [Immortal Apparition] immediately teleporting behind the elf. He kicked at the back of the elf¡¯s knee. The elf staggered to his knees and Dave swung down at him with his ive taking out a lot of the elves HP

    The elf rolled away and thrust his sword at Dave. The Draugr, grinned as he rapidly raised his foot and stomped down at the extended sword, the sword dug into the ground, staggering the elf and giving Dave the chance to retaliate through a perfectly executed [Mikiri-Counter].

    Dave dove his ive into the elf¡¯s exposed neck, and with a twist, the elf¡¯s eyes turned nd, and he fell to the ground limply.

    A glowing light shone from around Dave. He had finally reached level 450.

    Before Dave could enjoy the feeling, he had noticed that Dortha was howling in the distance. He was all alone, and the monk was nowhere to be found.

    "LORD! Watch out!" Singund roared out.

    Dave felt the hairs on his neck tingling, turning as fast as he could he saw the monk swinging down with his staff at Dave¡¯s head.

    Dave hastily stepped to the right, dodging the swing that cracked the ground and trembled the earth like an earthquake.

    The monk pulled back his staff and swung at Dave again. Dave¡¯s Tower shield was cracked, he couldn¡¯t block this attack, but he now he had a new shield that he could use.

    Dave instantly drew Deadra¡¯s shield. A round shield that was big enough to cover Dave from shoulder to knee. The conditions to equip it were met, and Dave was able to hold it. He didn¡¯t have the time to inspect the item as the swing was closing fast on Dave.

    Dave held his shield up. The same motion needed to use [Block] for any other shield. However, a notification appeared in front of his eyes.

    Somehow, Dave¡¯s eyes rad through the notification before the staff touched the shield.

    ***

    The Cursed Shield of Ajax does not possess the ability [Block].

    ***

    Dave¡¯s heart sank as he saw the iing hit. If there was no [Block], he would die.

    Then the staff struck at Dave¡¯s shield, the impact shook him, but somehow didn¡¯t damage him. Dave had closed his eyes for a moment. He didn¡¯t see what just happened. He looked over his shield to see something...unthinkable.

    The shield was ¡¯eating¡¯ the staff. And the monk was desperately trying to pull his staf out.

    Dave just noticed that the round shield was like sharp fangs locked onto each other, like the mouth of a dragon surrounded by arge metallic ring.

    These fangs were now gripping at the staff, not letting it go.

    The monk groaned and heaved up, pulling Dave up with the shield. The monk wanted to smash Dave down with the shield he held.

    ***

    You have not chosen to Save [Basic Attack- Devine Staff-Smash].

    [Reject] Ability will execute on its own!

    ***

    Suddenly the metal fangs let go of the shield, and a glowing white aura shot out from it.

    Dave noticed the monk smiling face change expression for a second as he tried to put his staff in front of him as if he was trying to defend himself from the white aura. But he was too slow.

    The moment the white aura touched him, the monk was smashed into the ground as a mountain had crashed into him.

    Dave fell to his feet. He didn¡¯t understand what was going on. Did the shield do that?

    The monk stood up, blood tinkling down his mouth.

    "Thou had struck me with my own might, interesting. What a fine shield thou hast. It would be a shame if I took it!"

    The monk stood up and went toward Dave.

    Dave cringed back. He can¡¯t win. The shield was damn op, and he didn¡¯t expect it, but it wouldn¡¯t save him. What pissed him off the most is that if he dies, he will be sent to limbo and will be downgraded a level. He won¡¯t be able to use or inspect the shield until he leveled up.

    "Oh, I still have the sword."

    Dave took out Deedra¡¯s sword, the Cursed de of Duradel. This sword was nothing more than a big b of wrought iron. Heavy, vicious and deadly. There was no finesse or dexterity applied in creating this weapon. It was made for one purpose, killing. And from its looks, this weapon was damn good at it. Several dents spread along the weapon¡¯s de. There were blemishes and scratches along the weapon. It had gone through innumerable amounts of battles.

    The weapon was too heavy for Dave to wield appropriately, but he still swung the thing at the monk. The Ultra-Great-Sword was the same height as Dave, making the attack with the swingck any sense of swordsmanship or delicacy. There was nothing but a thousand points of strength behind that attack. Yet, that was all it took for the monk to have his eyes open wide in panic and hold his staff to block the attack.

    The sword smashed into the staff with strength enough to crack the weapon and at the same time make the divinity wobble in ce. The sword has pushed the staf into the monk¡¯s chest and managed to nick his robe. There was a faint scar on the monk¡¯s chest. Trickling blood came out of the injury and stained the monk¡¯s white robes.

    -1HP

    The monk groaned the attack hadn¡¯t damaged him much. That 1HP was nothingpared to what the monk¡¯s real HP Pool was. But this didn¡¯t stop the monk from retreating. There was fear in those formerly calm eyes of his.

    "The cursed sword of Duradel! That weapon belongs not to mortals!"

    The sword, too heavy in Dave¡¯s arm threatened to fall off his grip if he didn¡¯t hold it hard enough. Dave dragged the sword, heaving, he pulled the weapon up and ced it on his shoulder.

    Dave¡¯s left was guarded with a shieldrge enough to cover all of his vitals, and on his right was a sword that made a demi-god fear.

    "Do I look like a mortal to you?" Dave said in a grin.

    The monk frowned, then said, "Smoke and mirrors! You can¡¯t stand much longer still! Die!" the gentle monk turned livid and was about to charge at Dave.

    Dave grumbled a curse under his breath, his bluff didn¡¯t work, and now he was going under.

    "Thank you for showing me those weapons in use. I thank you." A calm, familiar voice sounded next to Dave.

    Dave turned, Deadra was back to his human form and gently smiling at Dave.

    "They do not have the same effect as to what Deadra did to me, but your words, your challenge to a might far stronger than you have reminded me of my good old friend. For that, my ws are yours!"

    "Silence old beast!" the monk swung down his staff at Dortha. But the abyssal knight didn¡¯t give him a second nce. He waved his hand at the staf shing against it ¡ª a bare humanoid hand against a rod wielded by a half-god. Yet surprisingly, Dortha¡¯s hand smashed away the pol forcing the crack that Dave inflicted on it widen and the whole weapon to snap in two.

    Dortha turned to face the monk and spoke, "You had fought me when I was acting merely on instinct, dare fight me now with all my sanity, and I shall promise you that today will be thest day you walk on thisnd."

    The monk roared, long was the gentle and calm features. Now they were reced with wrath. Yet it didn¡¯t cloud his judgment. The monk knew that if the two of them fought for real it will be hard to decide the victor. What was most worrying was, even if he won, he would suffer greatly, but the undead will simply revive back to full power.

    "Stones and Stars! Damnable undead!" the monk threw onest line of curses and disappeared, leaving Dortha, Dave, and his remaining Death knights in the Drow Kingdom.

 Chapter 359 The World Stirrs

    Dortha turned to Dave and said," You should get going, young one. There is nothing left here to do."

    "What about the node of life? If we take that down, we can finish this raid and add another area to the legion," Dave asked.

    "True, but I¡¯m not strong enough to take on the Node of Life. It is far more...troublesome than the node of power." Dortha said, "And, this was not the reason why I came here." Dortha added.

    "Yeah, you told me you needed to get to a fountain," Dave said, "How¡¯s that going for you?"

    "Not well, I have found it, and it waspletely dry. I need to seek Da for further information on other sources to calm my inner beast." Dortha said.

    "Right, well, if you feel grouchy, just call me, I¡¯lle swinging with these baddies and wake you up whenever you need," Dave said in a toothy smile.

    "Very well, I shall do so. Now, take your undead and leave. A powerful being stirred within thesends, and I don¡¯t think myself capable of taking it down alone."

    ¡¯Bruh, you just beat the crap out of a demi-god! How powerful is this thing to make you say you can¡¯t take it down?" Dave didn¡¯t word out his question, nor did Dortha remain to listen to it.

    The beast merged with the darkness of the Drow Kingdom and disappeared from the area.

    "Boyz, we¡¯re heading back!" Dave called and took his undead with him out of the Drow Kingdom.

    Dave drank more health potions as he headed out of the area. When he went out of the area¡¯s perimeters, he was at full health. But instead of the 1,500,000 HP. He only had half of the amount. His armor was battered and cracked in several ces. Unfit to wear or use in battle.

    "Damn, gonna have to pay Andre a visit. I hope he doesn¡¯t get mad at me." Dave said in a sad smile.

    "Ah I almost forgot,"

    Dave pulled out his shield and sword and inspected them.

    ***

    Cursed Shield of Ajax

    Tier: Godly

    Requirements to handle: Undead race, or level 450, Knight Title.

    Mandatory requirement to use the weapon: 1,000 STR

    Attributes:

    +150,000 MD

    +150,000 PD

    + 250,000 HP

    Skills:

    [Consume]: The cursed shield of Ajax can absorb an attack once every 10 seconds. Absorbed attacks can be saved within the void inside the shield to be usedter.

    {Note, the shield cannot absorb Execution Skills or Boss ss Skills.}

    Number of absorbable skills possible [2]

    Once the shield has absorbed [2] skills, it will no longer be able to consume other skills forter use. But it will absorb their effects and destroy their energy within the void inside it.

    [Reject]: Reject an absorbed ability with 100% power and potency of the first usage.

    [All seeing Eye] The Cursed Shield of Ajax can be used as a catalyst to cast skills if the required item is used on the shield.

    Currently, you have Two [2] items that can be used on the shield to use the ability.

    ***

    Cursed Shield of Ajax is a shield of a vaguely known origin. It was said that it was creature by the God-smith Vulcan. He slew a void dragon and used its fangs, scales, and the ridge of its eyes to create this monstrous shield. Too heavy for any man to wear, and also deadly to anything alive to carry. Only undead with immense strength can wield this shield and use it to the best of their abilities.

    ***

    "Holy smokes! This thing is an end-game shield! And what two items it¡¯s talking about? I should probably ask Andre."

    Dave inspected the sword.

    ***

    Cursed Sword of Durandal

    Tier: Godly

    Conditions:

    Knight Title!

    Level 450!

    Undead!

    Category: Weapon

    Type: Ultra-Great-Sword

    Requirements to handle: Undead race, or level 450, Knight Title.

    Mandatory requirement to use the weapon: 750 STR

    Damage: 4,000-6,000

    Damage modifier: 20% STR

    Skills:

    (Passive) [ [Weight of the Universe], the Cursed Sword of Durandal is sealed by the world¡¯sws. Every 100 STR above the minimum required to use the weapon, the wielder can release 1% of the sword¡¯s weight to use.

    Currently, unsealed weight is [50KG].

    ***

    The Cursed sword of Durandal was created by the God-Smith Vulcan. In his attempt to create the most durable and sharpest weapon, Vulcan traveled to the depth of a ck hole and tried to craft a sword using the pressure of the Universe¡¯s densest matter. However, no material could survive the weight of the ck Holes but mere iron. Iron, and a lot of it. Vulcan had said that he used an entire¡¯s weight in iron to create this sword. Whether his words were real or false, only something as strong as a god can prove them.

    ***

    "Bruh, this sword is just mean. Its basic stats are enough to tear through anything. Man, these things are way too strong for the current game." Dave nced at the weapon and shield and then ced them in his inventory. He didn¡¯t want to reveal these two monsters to the world, at least not yet.

    But if anythinges knocking on his door, he wouldn¡¯t mind showing him how hard he can hit.

    Dave tore a teleportation scroll to the Dead Realm. His Death Knights appeared around him. "You guys can go and rest. Or do whatever you usually do when I¡¯m not around," Dave said and turned to the city.

    He didn¡¯t want to waste time by reviving the tengu. He needed to get his armor repaired.

    Dave strode through the undead city. It was bustling and ¡¯livelier¡¯ than usual. Something big was happening.

    Dave ignored the Undead that were roaming about and headed to Andre¡¯s smithy. He arrived at an open courtyard where he heard the loud sound of hammering and shouts. Dozens of undead were working iron and steel, creating armors and weapons for the legion.

    The bellows of the smithy roared hot steam as they sted iron and charcoal making steel. Andre was overseeing the work when he turned and saw Daveing toward him.

    Andre¡¯s eyes soon turned wide, and he bellowed, "By the gods! What happened to that armor!" Andre¡¯s first words were what Dave feared.

    "Yeah. I was with Dortha earlier, and he got a bit angry. Sadly, only I was around, and he decided to vent his frustration on my armor." Dave said in a rueful smile.

    Andre shook his head and said, "His lordship Dortha is a powerful being; you shouldn¡¯t fault him for his misbehavior; he didn¡¯t¡¯ mean it." Andre said defending the Abyssal knight.

    Daveughed, replying, "Nah, I know, he should be better now. Tell me, Andre, can you fix this armor for me?" Dave asked.

    "Yes, I can, hand it over," Andre said.

    Dave changed into his older Death Knight armor and handed Andre the Doom Knight set.

    "Damn, His lordship¡¯s power is as rumored. This armor is made from orichalcum and Blood-Steel. Only half-God weapons can damage it this way. I guess you recently died?"

    "Nope,"

    "You survived Lord Dortha¡¯s ws? By the gods, I don¡¯t know what to feel right now," Andre said, his eyes showed both shock and amazement.

    "Well, I doubt if I could survive him when he is fully aware of his surroundings. Even that half-God dude was beaten back by him."

    "Half god?" Andre questioned as he handed over the armor to an undead next to him for repairs.

    "Yes, some monk, I¡¯m pretty sure he was bipr, you know, peaceful for a moment, then more wrathful than Drahma the second."

    "That must be Cha-Zhen. I understand a little better now," Andre replied.

    "What do you mean?" Dave asked.

    Andre took a deep breath and replied, "The half-divinities are moving. A great war ising, and we don¡¯t know the target. You need to be careful around any being that holds or held a divine item."

    ¡¯He must be talking about legacies."

    "Why is that Andre?" Dave asked.

    "His majesty, the king will have more answers than I. You should ask him yourself."

    "Right, ah also, can you help me with this," Dave said and took out the Cursed Shield of Ajax.

    "Heavens! It¡¯s lord Deadra¡¯s Shield!" Andre said excitedly.

    Dave feared if the old undead would have a heart attack from the consecutive shocks.

    "Yeah, it says I need to use an item on it to use it¡¯s [All Seeing Eye].

    "Not any items. You need the eyes of a god. Or something as powerful." Andre said.

    "Huh, you mean something like this?" Dave asked and pulled out the Kraken¡¯s eye.

    Andre snatched the eye from Dave¡¯s hand and said, "Exactly like this! right, I heard you slew a Kraken and made it part of the legion. Yes, this is exactly what you need."

    Andre then ced the ser-ball sized eye on top of the shield. The metallic fangs opened up, and the ball was absorbed inside. Soon, the eye grewrge enough making the shield look like a giant white eye with a square pupil inside.

    The eye moved on its own as if it was a living object.

    "Oh, that¡¯s creepy," Dave said. he then remembered that he obtained a Demon¡¯s Eye when Drahma killed the boss of the first raid Zone named Didrik.

    He took the eye out and showed it to Andre, "How about this?" Dave asked.

    "I believe I had enough shocks for today, right this eye will work. It¡¯s even better suited." Andre took the red glowing eye with a cat iris and ced it on top of the shield.

    The demonic eye reced the Kraken¡¯s eye, and the shield was now arge red eye with a cat-eye iris. The demon eye moved rabidly around the shield taking in the world.

    "Man, this thing looks mean, but wouldn¡¯t it be really bad for the eye if it makes contact with a sword?" Dave asked.

    "Ha, you think god¡¯s eyes are weak?" Andreughed; he took a sword that was next to him and mmed down on the shield. The sword bounced off the eyeball with a loud metallic ng.

    "Right, so what¡¯s the use of these things?" Dave asked.

    "You¡¯ll have to figure it out yourself. Lord Deadra didn¡¯t tell many people of the secrets of his shield. Now that you have the shield, can I see the sword?" Andre asked.

    "Right," Dave replied and showed him the weapon.

    "Hmm, the sword is in dire need of repairs. But I can¡¯t do as well as the God-Smith who created it. Still, I can fix it up for you. Remove some of these scars and blemishes, make it shine as new!"

    "Great. How long will this take?" Dave asked.

    "About a day, I will haul all of my workers to repair these along with your armor, in the meantime, you should go see his majesty, perhaps you might know more about what¡¯s happening in the world."

    "Right. Thanks, Andre," Dave said his goodbyes and headed to the Bone Pce.

 Chapter 360 Demon Hunter

    Dave reached the Bone Pce in a few minutes. The guards at the entrance immediately recognized him and opened the gate.

    One of them still stared at Dave, confused.

    Dave understood that the undead¡¯s confusion had to be concerning his current equipment. It was probably safe to assume that he had to be the first Doom Knight wearing a Death Knight¡¯s armor in the entire Dead Realm.

    Dave nodded at the knights and quickly went past them into the courtyard. He was hesitating, worrying about what the King would think of his outer appearance. Last time they spoke, the Undead King had granted him an audience, but his worries seemed unfounded as he heard his voice calling for him for afar.

    Dave walked up the spiral marble stairs. After a minute walk, he arrived in the throne room that was at the top of the pce.

    Da and Samael were in the presence of the king, and they seemed to be in the midst of discussing something important.

    Dave coughed as he entered, making his presence known.

    The three turned their heads to Dave. Recognition, gratitude, and indifference faced him.

    "Childe, you havee to see Us, wee. Speak your desire," the Kingmanded, his voice monotonous, nd and far from the intimacy of the one who had recognized Dave as his Childe blessing him with his undead name.

    Dave sighed and answered, "Andre has told me that something was going on in the world. Seeing how the Undead are moving, could it be you¡¯re preparing to go to war?" Dave questioned.

    "Yes, War." The undead king answered cooly.

    "The Ash King, I presume?" Dave asked.

    "Correct. It is time to repay him for what he has done. However, Our strife with the Ash King turned out to be but a problem we need to solve. The more troublesome reason for Our march are the deities who seek to upset the bnce of power."

    Dave didn¡¯t fully understand what the king meant, but he highly doubted it would be a good idea to ask the Undead King to borate. He didn¡¯t look like the person to repeat himself. Thankfully, Da noticed Dave¡¯s confusion and spoke, "The deities are gathering their troops. And the Demi-Gods want a ce among them. ording to Gafgar¡¯s reports, you have met with one of them already. Duradel Ashkar?" Da said.

    "Yeah, he was way too strong," Dave sighed.

    "There is no shame in being weak when one is young. Your time amongst us can be counted in months, whereas that man has lived for centuries. He used to be a disciple of a dear friend of mine. You have once ventured in his tomb. Unlike Ashkar, his son seeded in gaining immortality and became a demi-god. Now his quest lies in obtaining the power fragments of lesser gods and imbibe them into his being."

    "The Legacy items? The demi-gods are gathering the Legacy items that have not been discovered and those without a sessor yet, I suppose," Dave assumed.

    "Right. That ring of yours may also be in danger. However, fret not. The deity who guards you will not permit its theft, as it has already been bound to you. You should be safe... for now." Da said mysteriously.

    "Meaning?" Dave asked.

    "The sh of Gods has begun. I believe you¡¯ve already partook in the first wave. As long as you remain victorious then there is nothing for you to worry about. Yet should you lose, your grasp of the ring of true Undeath will falter, and you will be susceptible to losing it."

    "Oh, I didn¡¯t know that. I thought losing will only exclude me from participating." Dave replied.

    "It will, but this will be the least of your concerns at the time. Many demi-gods wille for the ring." Da informed him.

    "We protect our own, Childe. Fight, and bring honor to the Undead. And if the day everes where you are bested, fall back to us. No matter half or full god we shall break them if they dare to go after one of Our own." The Undead King reassured him.

    "Now, for the reason, we are fighting against the Ash King..." Samael pitched in and returned the conversation to the topic at hand.

    "The Ash King is the Son of Asmodeus. The God of Hell. He is basically a Demi-God. His objective has always been to secure more divine fragments for himself. After obtaining enough, he will be a deityparable to his father. Naturally We do not wish to see thate to fruition."

    "Oh, so that¡¯s why you want to strike while the iron is still hot," Dave nodded.

    It was easy math. The Ash King was strong, but not God-Strong. If he gets his hands on the fragments, he will be a far more dangerous threat to the Legion. Nick¡¯s stunt at stirring things up with the sh of Gods appeared to have some drawbacks. This was one of them.

    "Indeed. Our task is to finish off the Ash King before he gains enough power to overturn the bnce. Our spies have informed us that he has sent out a few of his demons to recruit people to his cause. You are free to move among the ranks of visitors and are hereby tasked with destroying these Demonlings." The Undead King ordered. Then he waved a hand, throwing a crystal sphere at Dave.

    Dave inspected the item.

    ***

    Demonograph.

    Item level 1

    Conditions of use: None

    Tier: Artifact.

    The Demonograph can guide you to the nearest Demonling within a 100 miles radius.

    Infused ability.

    [Forced Battle]: You can issuebat against Demonlings without PK Repercussions.

    ***

    "Use this and find those who are aiding the Ash King." The Undead King said.

    A notification appeared in front of Dave.

    ***

    Royal Decree.

    Find yers or NPCs trying to join the Ash-King¡¯s cause.

    You must y 10 Demonlings before the Undead King marches to war with the Ash King.

    Quest duration

    30 days.

    Failing the quest will result in a loss of reputation and credibility at the Undead King¡¯s court.

    Seeding the quest will grant you the right to partake in the uing war against the Ash King.

    ***

    ¡¯Damn, and here I thought I would have gone to war if I liked it or not. Alright, a PVP quest. This is not bad. I can use this to hone my skills against other yers. The sh of Gods willst for a while, and I need all the training I can get.¡¯

    Dave bowed towards the king, "I¡¯ll do as you say."

    Dave epted the quest, and the king¡¯s lips curved into a slight smile.

    "Go, Childe may fortune be with you."

    The Undead King waved Dave away and continued his discussion with the two Abyssal Knights.

    Dave left the pce and headed to his settlement. Andre had promised him that his weapons would be ready in a day. He didn¡¯t want to explore Conquest with low tiered gear. So he headed to revive his undead. Mainly the Tengu.

    When Dave arrived at the settlement, a server announcement popped into the sky.

    Dave looked up and read the announcement.

    ***

    Conquest Server Announcement!

    The Gods have started doubting their representative champions after watching their defeat!

    From now on, all yers can participate in the uing rounds of the sh of Gods. If a yer without a Legacy sessfully defeats a Legacy Holder, the loser will hereby forfeit their Legacy to the victor.

    yers with a Legacy are allowed to refrain from participating in the sh of Gods if they fear losing it, though they will no longer be able to join the sh of Godster.

    Due to the expected increase in the numbers of yers joining the sh of Gods, the resting period of a week will be shortened to 3 days in game time.

    If a yer ends up inheriting a Legacy from another yer, all the points the previous holder had umted so far will be preserved. The new holder is also able to upgrade the skill to the next higher tier for the same cost.

    Victory against yers without a Legacy ss will grant 1 point only.

    Thank you for your understanding, and we hope you enjoy the game.

    ***

    ¡¯Oh, this changes a lot,¡¯ Dave thought to himself.

    Legacy sses weren¡¯t omnipotent. Their wielders were still at risk of losing against a skilled yer. There were a lot of yers in Conquest, who were good, but hadn¡¯t been lucky enough to unearth a Legacy. It wouldn¡¯t be too surprising for them to win against the odds. With the new event, Dave immediately thought of a certain yer with a mecha suit. He may not have a Legacy but he was still strong enough to contend with the most powerful yers of Conquest.

    Also, this didn¡¯t mean he was the only one with extraordinary ability, and there should be others who had chosen to hide their unique and hard-earned Skills. Something that could give them an edge in the heat of battle.

    Dave looked at his ring and thought, ¡¯This will make things very interesting. I guess trying to hide Deadra¡¯s Sword and Shield at this point would just be foolish. I¡¯m gonna have to go all out."

 Chapter 361 Another Chosen One

    "Davey, you saw the stuff that¡¯s happening? Now everyone will be in the sh of Gods," Lone said through an in-game call.

    "Yeah, I would rmend you don¡¯t participate, it¡¯s too risky for you, and I guess you didn¡¯t even finish your legacy quest, right?" Dave replied.

    "No, I still need one more quest. Something about recovering an ice scepter: then I should be done. How about you? Any progress on the raid of the underworld?" Lone asked.

    "I just went to the forth raid zone. Pretty difficult area to be honest." Dave said.

    "Then wait until all the party gets their legacies, and we can try it together," Lone suggested.

    "Yeah, that¡¯ll be for the best. I¡¯m limited to the number of undead I can bring with me anyway." Dave said.

    After a pause, Lone asked, "What are you doing right now?"

    "Just reviving some undead. Other than that, I don¡¯t have anything immediate to do." Dave said.

    "Hmm, how about we go out tonight?" Lone said.

    "Yeah, I¡¯d love that. You¡¯lle to pick me up, I guess?" Dave asked.

    "Yeah, I will. But you should probably get yourself a sweet ride. You¡¯re rich now, heh." Lone said.

    "Hmm, might as well. Then let¡¯s go out and pick up a new ride then."

    "Right. I have a good idea what would suit you most," Lone said in a snicker.

    "Hey, I¡¯m not a fan of supercars," Dave said.

    "Yeah, I get that, but don¡¯t worry, I have a good taste," Lone said and hung up.

    Dave shook his head, smiling. He was in his settlement. The tengu was already resurrected and now sat in a meditative pose next to the barracks.

    There was still a lot of time before Andre could finish repairing Dave¡¯s armor. So he decided to go and visit a few ces. First off to his Red Fortress in the Burning Heights area. The second raid zone.

    He teleported into the fortress and looked around. Hundreds of undead were moving about in the fortress. There were loads of Blood Stones ced all over the area in boxes and mining crates. The undead has been mining all this time rigorously.

    A death knight approached Dave and said, "Lord Kis¡¯Shtiengbrah, there is a guest awaiting you."

    "Me?" Dave questioned, then said, "Lead the way."

    "As youmand," the Death Knight replied and went ahead of Dave and into the fortress inside.

    Dave went after him and entered the fortress.

    Soon he found a stone golem with a green name tag waiting inside the fortress¡¯s main hall.

    Dave inspected the golem.

    ***

    Stone Messenger.

    Level 1

    ***

    There wasn¡¯t much for Dave to see. This golem seemed to be just a messenger.

    "Hello," Dave said.

    "Greetings," replied the golem. His voice sounded heavy and deep.

    "I hear that you have been waiting for me," Dave said.

    "Yes, for twenty-four days."

    "Oh, I¡¯m sorry about that. I wasn¡¯t informed until now." Dave said, a bit embarrassed.

    "There is no harm done. Neither my patron nor I care about time. I only came to collect a debt." The golem said.

    "What debt?" Dave asked.

    "The debt you owe to the underworld guardian, Lord Ramsha."

    "Ah, right. I forgot about that. You," Dave called the death knight that apanied him.

    "Yes, my lord." The death knight replied.

    "See that our friend takes his due," Dave said.

    "Before I go, lord Ramsha had told me to give you a message," the golem said.

    Dave waited for the golem to finish his words.

    "The Ash-King had sent a few of his minions to contract humans outside."

    "I know of that. I was tasked to take care of it." Dave said.

    "Yes, but did you know that among these is a true demon."

    "I heard they were Demonling, isn¡¯t that the same?" Dave asked.

    "No, Demonlings are entities that have the ability to turn demonic after being blessed by the Ash-King. Those are nothing but lesser beings. But a true demon is much stronger than them and more dangerous. Lord Ramsha wishes not to see demons taking a step in the overworld."

    "Right, so I¡¯m supposed to eliminate him also?"

    "If you can, yes. Lord Ramsha has promised you a great reward for seeding." The golem said.

    "Alright, I¡¯ll see what I can do."

    "Yes, be careful, though. This demon has managed to escape the lock that Lord Ramsha had ced. This means it is powerful. Though not of royal lineage as the Ash-King. He is infinitely close..." the golem stopped for a moment then added, "Do you remember the Lakhbar?" The golem asked.

    "Yeah, I remember."

    "The demon that has escaped is much stronger than him. He, too, is a chosen of the Ash-King. You must find him!" the golem said grimly.

    "Right," Dave nodded.

    The golem left the fortress and went out to collect the blood-stones leaving Dave alone in the hall.

    Dave thought about the fight with Lakhbar. It wasn¡¯t easy. And he only won because of the 0.01% execution chance he got from his skill. Lakhbar was immortal, or as close to it as possible. A nightmare to fight, and now he had to kill something much stronger and probably with the same regenerative abilities.

    "This is gonna be a tough one." Dave shook his head. He didn¡¯t have much to do here anyway, so he disappeared from the area, tearing a teleportation scroll to Urburg.

    When he arrived at the hidden city Dave squinted his brows. Urburg was utterly different from what he left.

    Most of the houses in the city were in perfect condition. They had been repaired and painted new. Only a few houses at the perimeter of the town still needed repairs, but the undead was busy repairing them.

    The city walls were repaired and now rose in great height. Dozens of undead walked along the walls keeping an eye out to anything that might think of invading.

    There was a new mansion in the middle of the city. This was not here the first time, Dave thought.

    The broken forge was fully functional, and its bellows were sting hot air out.

    Hundreds of undead were carrying logs and building materials to repair the rest of the damaged buildings.

    Human NPCs were helping the undead in the repairs. There didn¡¯t seem to be any sort of conflict or disagreement with them. Everyone worked together inplete harmony.

    Dave smiled as he saw this. He looked around and located the self-proimed great-grandson of General Ouki.

    The man had a bandana over his head. And no longer wore his ragged clothes. He wore a tank top tunic and shorts. For an old man, he had a lot of muscles. He was single handily carrying a log that needed four men to carry. Or one undead.

    The man carried the log and ced it next to a pile, then turned and noticed Dave.

    "Our benefactor!" the man¡¯s aid and approached Dave bowing down.

    Dave stopped him mid bow, saying, "We don¡¯t do that here. Stand up." Dave said.

    "A bow is a show of respect to one most deserving." The old man said.

    "By bowing to me, you show you are inferior. A simple nod is enough or a salute. Don¡¯t bow to anyone." Dave said. and then turned to the buildings.

    "You made great progress. The city looks more and more like a habitable ce. We should invite more people here." Dave said.

    "Right, a city would only function with more people. Lord, do you permit me to bring some of our members? a few of them had decided againsting here, afraid of the Qin army to discover them. But now, they would find safety within these walls."

    "Yeah, go ahead. If you know where they are, that is."

    "I do."

    "Then take a few death knights with you. They will protect you."

    "Thank you, kind lord." The man was about to bow again but refrained from doing so halfway.

    Dave smiled, at least the old man learns.

    Dave summoned five death knights and ordered them to apany the old man."

    "Ah, right, I remember." The old man said before he left.

    "What is it?" Dave asked.

    "Well, a person came a few days ago. Well, he looked like a young kid, but his mere appearance made every undead shudder in fright. I never thought undead could fear. But to this kid, they all shook at his presence."

    "Huh? Kid?" Dave asked in monosybles. He didn¡¯t know of anything that could make the undead fear. Was it another divinity? He thought. Then he remembered that the only deity he knew and was a kid was the Undead God.

    "Did this kid have a Mohawk haircut?" Dave asked.

    "Mohawk?"

    "Spiky hair like a rooster," Dave said.

    "Yes, exactly," the old man replied.

    "Right, what did he want?" Dave asked.

    "Well, he wanted us to make him a tavern of sorts. It was a strange tavern lot of chairs and something he called a wall bar."

    "Oh, is that so," Dave looked around and saw a ce called the Last Man¡¯s Drink. A pub.

    "Guess it¡¯s that ce," Dave said.

    "He¡¯s been there for a while now." The old man replied.

    "Good, I¡¯ve wanted to ask him a few questions." Dave strode away from the old man leaving him with the death knights and went to the tavern.

 Chapter 362 Godly Training

    Dave walked into the pub or tavern as the old man called it. The ce was a perfect replica of the bar that Nick hanged out in. A long bar lined the wall and there was a stage built inside, for musicians or anyone interested in pitching a show for the tavern guests.

    Thick wooden pirs supported the ceiling, and there were several tables all over the ce with small chairs for the costumers.

    Nick was wiping a ss with a white cloth as he smiled looking at Dave.

    "Wee, kid," Nick said.

    In front of him, two undead were enjoying ale that Nick must have served to them. There were even a few other human NPCs sipping beer from wooden mugs. The undead and the NPCs nodded at Dave when he got in.

    "Hello Nick, seems like you¡¯re having fun." Dave said.

    "Nah, the fun has yet to begin. I¡¯ll be doing an audition soon. Want to join in?" Nick asked.

    "What audition?" Dave asked and got next to the bar.

    Nick served Dave a mug full of foaming beer. And said, "Musical audition. You know, remember the old days. I told you before, I used to hold sick concerts here."

    "Sorry, I¡¯m tone-deaf. But I know someone who might be interested," Dave said smiling. He thought about Vanessa, she could enjoy singing here. But the situation between the two was still awkward, so it was better he tells Lone and she would tell her. Dave wanted to talk to the girl again hoping she wouldn¡¯t be mad at him.

    "Very well give them this for me." Nick handed Dave a sealed letter.

    Dave pocketed the letter and asked, "So, mind telling me what¡¯s going on with the sh of Gods thingy? You kinda rattled the world and went on your way." Dave sipped from his beer and wiped some foam that was stuck to his nose.

    The taste was pretty close to the real thing. Conquest was a state-of-the-art technology that mimicked real-life experience to its fullest. It could even trante ones and zeros to one of the world¡¯s best beer brands. Quite amazing and frightening at the same time.

    "Like I said before, the young gods have started to move. I don¡¯t know what pushed them to take action but I¡¯m not liking it one bit." Nick said and served another bottle of ale to the undead sitting against the bar.

    "Yeah, I met another of them this morning." Dave said, "Nasty monk. Quite a hypocrite too." Dave said.

    Nick frowned, "You mean yet another Demi-God tried to take your ring?"

    "Yeah. He failed, heck, Dortha beat the shit out of him too." Dave said chugging another time from the beer.

    Nick remained quiet for a few moments and said, "Kid, you must win the sh of Gods."

    "I¡¯m nning to do the best I can, Nick. I can¡¯t promise you anything. The world is pretty big, and I¡¯m certainly not the best," Dave said in a matter of factly.

    He knew that his character was currently one of the strongest, if not the strongest in the world of Conquest. But that was it, there could be other people, who have the skill, experience and even with a bit of luck, they could beat me." Dave said.

    Nick sighed and said, "I know that, but that¡¯s not an excus-"

    Dave cut Nick off saying," I didn¡¯t say I¡¯lly down and let anyone walk over me, Nick. I¡¯ll fight, anything and anyone with my full strength. Heck, I don¡¯t want to lose my legacy to anyone that¡¯s for sure. And I do want to upgrade it. I won¡¯t let anyone take what is mine easily, Nick. If anyone wants what¡¯s mine, they¡¯ll have to fight me for it. Be it yer or demi-god."

    Nick smiled saying. "That¡¯s what I want to hear, kid. Good. Now I¡¯d like to tell you something. There seems to be a Demon on the loose," Nick said.

    "Yeah, The undead king and Ramsha told me about him. I don¡¯t know if I can beat him." Dave said.

    "If you meet him, run," Nick said in a simple monotonous voice.

    "Ho, that¡¯s new. You telling me to run. I mean, you kinda sent me to the jaws of death many times on your quests. Heck, I had to go through the wilds while under-leveled, face dragons, necromancers, fight off armies and now, you¡¯re telling me to run when facing this...demon. I killed a chosen, I can do it again." Dave said.

    Nick smiled and said, "Right. I didn¡¯t think about this."

    "What do you mean?" Dave asked.

    "You, Kis¡¯Shtiengbrah. You grew arrogant," Nick said.

    This was the first time Nick the undead god called Dave by his character name. It felt a bit strange. But arrogance, Dave didn¡¯t feel like it. He was strong and had the strength to prove it, that¡¯s what he thought.

    "You grewcent with your power. You¡¯re thinking you can take on the world now. You think no one can stop you. Right, you and your underlings. Well, It¡¯s about time I show you how wrong you are. Come with me," Nick said and waved a hand opening a ck vortex behind Dave leading to some mysterious ce.

    Before Dave could protest, the vortex sucked him in and Nick followed behind, leaving the undead and NPCs in the tavern.

    Dave appeared on a wide tform. The area looked exactly like the ce in Limbo where Dave fought in the sh of Gods. Only the tform he stood on was dozens of times wider.

    Dave looked down, he was wearing his Doom Knight armor instead of the Death Knight armor he had on.

    A notification appeared in front of Dave.

    ***

    You are currently in a simtion created by the God of Undeath.

    Death does not carry over to the real world.

    All of your skills¡¯ cooldowns have been reset.

    You cannot gain EXP while in the training grounds.

    A new option has been added to your character. You can visit the Devin Training Grounds whenever you wish.

    ***

    "So, what I¡¯m gonna fight you now?" Dave asked.

    "Huh, you wish. I can stter you with a sneeze." Nick said in a grin.

    Dave remembered the day when Nick used the "bad words" when he was next to Demiurg in space. The world itself seemed to shake and shudder in fear of the small Undeath God.

    ¡¯Yeah, he probably can.¡¯ Dave smiled to himself.

    "So, why did you bring me here? If it isn¡¯t to fight you." Dave asked.

    "This is a ce where you can summon the entities you have fought and in before. You can fight them again to enhance your battle experience. Want to try?" Nick asked.

    Dave thought for a moment and said, "Yeah, why not."

    "Good," Nick waved a hand and hundreds of projections materialized in front of Dave.

    There were wolves, felines, undead. These were numerous. The creatures Dave had killed when he first started. Then the ethereal projections turned a notch stronger. Showing Yetis, creatures of the Wilds, like the were-tigers, even a Prong Fiend was there.

    Another lineup of projections --Dave now believed to be souls. These were the strongest, they were mostly unique creatures. There was a Sworn Stalwart, and Ashkar was there in his hideous form, Leonard, Didrik, the boss of the first raid Zone of the Underworld, and even Lakhbar, the boss of the third raid zone. The Kraken was there so were a few manticores.

    "Choose one," The undeath god spoke.

    "I guess, you want me to pick Lakhbar again," Dave said.

    "Yep, so, you think you can win again?" Nick asked.

    Dave took a breath and said, "Yeah, let¡¯s try again!"

    Nick disappeared from the area and the ethereal form of Lakhbar hardened into a physical form.

    Dave inspected the boss monster he already slew before.

    ***

    Lakhbar (Chosen of the Demon King) -Soul-Projected-

    Raid Boss

    Level: 450

    Tier: Epic

    Base damage: 85,000-90,000

    Danger Level: ?????

    HP: 200,000

    PD: 150,000

    MD:150,000

    Skills:

    [Blessed One]

    ¡¤ Skills can only work once on Lakhbar.

    ¡¤ Revives stronger after death. Each Death Increases the base HP pool by 100% HP.

    ¡¤ Lakhbar can revive 10 times.

    Lore

    The chosen of the Ash King, Lakhbar was appointed a king in the ce of the deceased Pharaoh. His aim is to offer tribute to the Ash King and supply him with soldiers, magic and wealth to empower the Ash King¡¯s demonic army.

    ***

    The man in white robes, had his eyes closed and stood in the middle of the arena. It seemed that if Dave doesn¡¯t make the first move, he will stay there.

    Dave took a breath and pulled Deadra Sword and Shield from his inventory.

    "Guess I¡¯ll have to see if I can win without luck this time."

    Dave took a step forward, and the boss creature opened his eyes. Lakhbar didn¡¯t speak, but dashed toward Dave with ws pointed ahead.

    Dave dodged the attack and sent the gigantic sword in a wide swing toward Lakhbar. The sword smashed into the man in white breaking ribs and sending him rolling down the ground.

    -200,000 HP

    Dave had used the skill he learned from [Dortha] to empower his attack. He lost a bit of HP, but the [Vigorous] passive kicked in and replenished his lost HP.

    "Right, first Death, nine more to go! Stand up!" Dave shouted, and so did the boss. This time horns grew up his head and hands emerged from his sides as Lakhbar grewrger, Giving Dave a sense of Deja Vue.

    Dave charged again at the boss. This battle was bound to be a long and hard one. But Dave wasn¡¯t in a hurry anyway.

 Chapter 363 A Date

    "So, what do you think?" Nick spoke as he floated in mid-air.

    Dave was still on the tform where he started his training. Dave, on the other hand, wasid on his bum. Exhaustion was clearly drawn on his face.

    A notification was blinking in front of Dave.

    ***

    you have died in a simtion of the Undeath God¡¯s training arena.

    You will suffer no adverse effects.

    ***

    "Guess I got lucky. I didn¡¯t think he can turn to that," Dave said and waved the notification away.

    "Yes, but don¡¯t start feeling all hurt on me. True, it was luck that you managed to win, but if you get stronger, you¡¯ll be able to win again easily." Nick said.

    "Yeah, I guess so. I killed it nine times. I only needed one more, but he became too strong," Dave shook his head and stood up.

    "Yes, that¡¯s the power of the Chosen ones," Nick said.

    "Yeah, the situation might have changed if I had the help of my undead," Dave said.

    "It might, but I doubt it. Lakhbar would consume them to regenerate. I don¡¯t think it would have changed much but would have made the fight even more difficult for you," Nick said.

    "Right, guess I¡¯ll leave," Dave said.

    "Oh, you don¡¯t want to try again?" ick asked.

    "Nah, I ¡¯won¡¯t win. I¡¯ll need a few more levels before I can try again, besides I have a date."

    Nick smiled and said, "Then go ahead, if you ever want toe here,e find me in the tavern, and I¡¯ll bring you here to train. Cya, kid." Nick disappeared in a swirl of ck smoke, leaving Dave alone on the tform.

    A ck vortex emerged into existence next to him. It was the same one that brought him into this ce.

    Dave took the vortex and teleported back to the tavern.

    Dave looked at the time. It was evening, a good time to take Zoe out, he thought.

    He called her on using the in-game dialing option. After a few rings, Lone¡¯s cheerful voice sounded from the other side of the lie.

    "Supp, Davey!"

    "Supp, so you ready? I finished with what I have to do today," Dave said.

    "Yeah, I¡¯m done, so I¡¯lle to pick you up?" Lone asked.

    "Yeah, I¡¯ll be waiting for you outside," Dave said.

    "Right, see ya then Davey," Lone hung up.

    Dave chose the logging out option and found himself back in his room. He got out of the capsule and went to take a quick shower.

    He shaved some of his growing facial hair and used cologne. Most of the bath essories were provided by Karen thankfully. She did not just equip his house with furniture. She had made sure that all the necessities he could use were produced.

    When he got out of the bath, he went back to his bedroom. He thought about wearing back the same clothes he had on, then decided against it. They were sweaty and he just took a shower.

    "Damn, I should have gotten more clothes," Dave said to himself. He just noticed that most of his clothes were old, torn in some ces and looked over-worn.

    After debating against himself on which of his clothes was the least horrendous, Dave¡¯s eyes wandered to a section in his room. There was a small closet that he never paid attention to before. Afterall he just started living in his penthouse. It was like he was discovering something new.

    Dave went to the wall section, there was no handle, but it clearly looked like there was something behind it. Dave pressed on the wall, trying to see if there is a way to move it, then the wall moved back on its own and slid to the left, revealing what was behind.

    Dave¡¯s eyes widened. There was a huge section hidden behind the wall, filled with all kinds of clothes and suites.

    "Holy cow!"

    Dave went into the closet. A motion sensor light bulb lit up. Showing that there was more to the closet than meets the eyes. There were ties, shoes, shirts, and t-shirts ¡ª all kinds of clothes and wears, almostparable to a small clothing shop of the highest quality.

    Dave looked over the items. They perfectly matched his size. He smiled as he began pondering on which to take.

    "Suits are a no go, though fancy, I¡¯m just going out with Zoe, not to a staff meeting." Dave ignored all the famous brand¡¯s suits and went deeper into the dresser.

    He found a pair of slim ck jeans and a shoo to match. He paired them with a white shirt that was tight around his upper arm.

    He looked at a mirror that was installed into the dresser.

    His har was a bit shaggy, but while it was wet, it gave him a ¡¯Hot-Mess¡¯ kind of look. The shirt fitted perfectly on him. Dave wasn¡¯t an athlete, nor had a perfect body, but the shirt was perfectly fitted to him that it showed the best of his chest muscles. The jeans were lean and slim and made him look taller.

    "Nice!" Dave gave his reflection the double thumbs up and went out of the dresser.

    When he looked back at his other clothes, he shook his head and took them all to the trash bin.

    "Bruh, I gotta get the trash out soon." He said to himself and turned to the lounge and sat there waiting for Zoe¡¯s call.

    After forty-five minutes, Zoe finally called.

    "Yo, what took you so long?" Dave asked.

    "A girl needs her time to ready up! So, where are you?" she asked.

    "I¡¯m still at home. How about you?" Dave asked.

    "I just got out, I¡¯ll be there in a minute, there is no traffic right now," Zoe said and hung up.

    Dave stood up and left his penthouse. Dave took the elevator down, but it stopped at a random number, there was someone waiting for the elevator.

    A young woman in a ck suit and a short hair cut walked into the elevator. She was in her mid-twenties and carried herself with pride as she moved inside.

    She had a pair of sses on her, she lifted them up and down at Dave then turned, ignoring him. She seems like she was going downstairs too. Her ck suit made her look like a professional businesswoman.

    Dave shook his head, smiling and also ignored the woman. She must be working here or one of his neighbors. The building Dave was on was a mix ofpanies and living residencies though most of the residences were on the upper floors.

    As the elevator was going down, the woman sniffed at the air audibly and said without turning to face Dave, "You put too much cologne, you¡¯re not going to impress anyone with that."

    Dave raised his brows and replied, "You¡¯re probably right, but I¡¯m not trying to impress anyone. Next time I¡¯ll put less." He said with a smile. Then the elevator door opened up.

    Dave let the woman descend first, and he followed behind. She was going outside, and so was Dave. But apparently, him trailing after her kind of made her irked as she turned and said, "Listen, I just told you, you won¡¯t be impressing anyone. I included, so why are you following me?" She asked.

    "Easy there, I¡¯m just going outside. My ride is there."

    "It better, be," She said and turned with a puff, her pace growing faster as if to get away from Dave as soon as possible.

    Dave groaned to himself and moved out of the hotel. The girl was standing on the sidewalk, probably waiting for a taxi. Dave had to wait for Zoe, so awkwardly, he had to stand on the sidewalk and wait for her toe.

    The woman ignored Dave and moved a few steps away from him. Unluckily for her, no taxis were around, making her more flustered and impatient.

    Soon, a purple Lamborghini zoomed in front of the building. A purple-haired girl honked at him to get in.

    When the woman in ck saw the girl, her brows arched up, she recognized her, and it seems she was waiting for the man with the shaggy haircut. Dave didn¡¯t notice it though and went to the Lambo.

    The woman kept her eyes on Dave until he got in.

    Zoe, however, was a woman and seeing another woman staring at Dave didn¡¯t sit too well with her. So, the moment Dave got in, she lunged on to him, stealing a kiss.

    Dave was left half-stunned half pleased with the sudden kiss and got on, buckling his seatbelt. Zoe, on the other hand, turned to look at the girl with a leer on her face saying, ¡¯Back off, he¡¯s mine." Then she pressed the pedal as hard as possible, forcing the car to roar in content as it sped off in the distance.

 Chapter 364 Baba Yaga

    As Zoe was driving, she gave Dave a sleazy nce and asked, "Who¡¯s the hottie?"

    Dave mindlessly replied, "Someone from my building. I just met her on the elevator on my way down. By the way am I wearing too much cologne?" he asked.

    "Yep, like you¡¯re trying hard to impress someone," Zoe answered while raising her brows up and down.

    "Guess she was right. Huh," Dave smiled.

    "Oh, was lil ol¡¯ Davey trying his best to impress his girlfriend? I feel ttered." Zoeughed as she veered to the right.

    "Well did it work?" Dave asked teasingly.

    "Yeah."

    The two of them kept chatting as Zoe drove through New York. She had mentioned that she was taking Dave to pick a ride. With his current financial situation, he would be able to buy something decent. And since he was at it, Dave thought deeply about joining college. He was deprived of a full education, and it didn¡¯t settle with him to ignore it. Business Management sounded like a good bet.

    After a several minute ride and burning through several red lights, Zoe stopped next to an enormous building with a metallic poster that had the words, "Motor-Cars" written at the entrance.

    The building hadrge see-through windows that showed cars of all kinds and colors, neatly disyed for the customers.

    Ferraris, Range-Rovers, Lamborghini, Chevrolets, and many of the world¡¯s best brands were disyed neatly at the front.

    "We¡¯re here. The manager here knows dad. I bought all my cars from him, so he should make us a good deal."

    "Right, but like I said, I¡¯m not a fan of Super-Cars."

    "I know Davy, these cars here are just for show. You know, appeal to the customer." Zoe hopped off her car, and Dave followed suit.

    The building itself had a valet, when he saw Zoe, he hurried over and took her keys from her, "Miss Silvana, good to see you again. There is a new entry this month if you are interested," The valet informed her.

    "Thanks, Tomas, but I¡¯m not here to buy another car. Today I brought you a new victim," Zoe joked with a smile on her face.

    The valet saw Dave and returned the smile, "Justin¡¯s inside. I¡¯m sure you¡¯ll find whatever you like here."

    Dave thanked him, and the two entered the building.

    Inside, there were some people eyeing cars and inspecting them. Some had car hoods opened and were scrutinizing the car¡¯s builds and asking all sorts of questions about horsepower and torque. Something Dave wasn¡¯t too interested in knowing at the moment.

    A man wearing ck jeans and a ck shirt which was tight around the chest and showed a lot of arm muscles came over toward Dave. His smile was bright enough that he would be perfect for a toothpastemercial.

    The man came toward Zoe and eagerly greeted her, "Zoe, so good to see you! You must be here for a new ride? How did you like the Lambo?" he asked.

    "Pretty decent. It has great eleration but the steering wheel is too tight. Can¡¯t drift well with that," Zoe answered, her smile toned down a bit.

    "Ha, today¡¯s cars aren¡¯t made for drifting, you know," The man replied, totally ignoring Dave.

    "Anyway, we¡¯re not here for me. You have anything old school?"

    The man looked at Dave up and down before he asked, "Hummer guy?"

    Both Zoe and Dave frowned at the same time.

    "Justin, I asked for old school, why do you think Dave would be a Hummer guy?"

    "It was just a joke," the man half ¡¯apologised¡¯ and turned around, "Follow me, I should have some good stuff at the back."

    "Hummer guy?" Dave muttered to Zoe in a low tone.

    "Yeah, means a new guy to the car biz. You know, big car, topensate for other stuff," Zoe answered.

    "Well, that¡¯s rude. And I don¡¯t need anypensation!" Dave defended his honor.

    Zoe smiled; "Yeah, I¡¯ll make sure to mention that to pops, about the rude thing. ... As for the need topensate, I¡¯ll see for myself," Zoe whispered thest phrase in a lower tone. Dave didn¡¯t pick up on it.

    "Why¡¯d he do that to a new customer? Doesn¡¯t feel very professional. I mean, I¡¯m here to buy one of their cars after all" Dave asked, grumbling under his breath as the two followed the man to the back.

    "To be honest, this guy¡¯s had the hots for me for a long time." Zoe confessed. "It¡¯s a blessing and a curse."

    "Way to tter yourself," Dave replied with a grin, proud to have what the other desired.

    "The guy¡¯s a prick. He is a walking lexicon when ites to cars but otherwise, he only has his nasty personality. Don¡¯t worry. We¡¯re only here for the car. Once we get it we¡¯ll leave. Seeing you with me must have ticked him off."

    "Here we are," The man announced as he pressed a button on a wall. Arge garage door rose up revealing a lineup of old cars from 1960 to 2020. They were all preserved in perfect condition.

    "This is a 1970 Chrysler Hurst 300, pretty damn powerful with great torque. Under the hood was a three-barrel version of the 440 Chrysler V-8 with 375 horsepower. Was enough to get this beast from 0 to 60 miles per hour in 7.1 seconds. Quite amazing for its time period. I equipped it with a newer Z-800 Engine, and now it could smoothly go to 60 miles in 3 seconds. Just be careful with this beasty, it¡¯s a 4000-pound car with a lot of weight behind it. A crash with this thing over 100 miles per hour isn¡¯t safe, not even for Superman," the man advertised.

    Dave didn¡¯t overlook the jab implying that he would crash the car. He shook his head. This was really not the way to do business.

    The man kept talking, addressing the leatherwork, the breaks, the year of creation, and how the car had made a name for itself in the early eighties. That was close to a century ago.

    "Don¡¯t like it," Dave cut him off.

    "Okay." Justin stopped, a bit annoyed about being cut off in the middle of his sentence. He turned his head, pointing at another blue car, "There¡¯s a Barracuda Hemi right next to it. It was made three years before the Chrysler, but it doesn¡¯t fail inparison...." The man was about to continue with his exnation, but he was once again cut off by Dave.

    "Don¡¯t like it, what else have you got?"

    The man frowned, this guy was a clear rookie, he probably just wanted to annoy him. Most people didn¡¯t know the real value behind these cars, so he had to exin to them. It was the best part of his job. But this guy kept interrupting his words making him more and more annoyed.

    "What do you like?" The man asked trying a different approach.

    "You have a car in mind Davey?" Zoe asked. She thought to show Dave some of the cars here. She knew he wasn¡¯t a fan of supercars, probably something ssy or old would probably suit him best. Without knowing what he liked precisely, she came to the man who had the best and most unique cars in New York.

    Dave calmly looked around and spotted a car at the farthest corner in the room. His eyes lit up for a moment; he pointed his hand and said, "That one."

    The man traced Dave¡¯s hand to an old car. It was battered. A lot of its paintwork wasn¡¯t finished. The rear ss was broken, and the front bumper waspletely missing.

    "Uh, that car is not for sale." The man informed him.

    "Then I¡¯m not interested," Dave said nonchntly and turned to leave.

    "Wait, Dave. Hang on. Justin, why isn¡¯t that car not for sale?" Zoe asked, even using Justin¡¯s name, something which he clearly enjoyed.

    "It was sent here for repairs. So it¡¯s not my property. C¡¯mon kid, there are a lot of other cars, why do you want that one?" the man asked.

    Dave smiled and replied, "Because that¡¯s the One! Isn¡¯t it?" Dave sounded really excited for the first time since they came here.

    Justin frowned and then nodded. "How¡¯d you know?" He asked.

    "I might not know a lot about cars, but that Mustang was my dream car when I was young. A Ford Mustang 1969 Mach 1, right? Belonged in a movie set of one of the best movies of the year 2014. The wheels on it are still from the original set. They aren¡¯t Mustang wheels but Shelby Sterling. The owner must have liked it a lot and kept it in the same shape; after it left the movie set." Dave said.

    "Which movie are you talking about? And that car is like 96 years old Dave. She is ancient!"

    "The movie was about a guy who got his dog killed and took revenge. It doesn¡¯t matter if she is old." He answered with a smile. He had decided that he would either get this car today or none at all.

    "It¡¯s just as you said. Which is exactly why I can¡¯t sell you the car." Justin sighed at this difficult customer.

    "But I can," Another voice sounded behind them.

    Dave turned, seeing an old man at the entrance of the garage.

    Zoe¡¯s eyes opened up wide, and she yelped, "It¡¯s..."

    "Yeah, the Boogeyman himself. It¡¯s a pleasure to meet you, sir" Dave greeted the old man.

    He had arge white beard and had shaggy hair that draped all the way to his shoulders. The man looked pretty stout as he wore a suit, and the traces of old age only made him look more like a person you didn¡¯t want to cross instead of a gentle grandpa.

    "So I gather you like my car?" the man asked.

    "Yeah, pretty cool. You kept it in the same condition as it was on the movie set."

    "Yeah, but I thought she needed repairs. It would be a shame if she gathered dust all year long. I¡¯ll feel more at ease with a fan like you taking her." The man said.

    "Name your price," Dave offered.

    "For Mr. Skeletal," the man smiled and said, "A pencil."

    "A fucking pencil." Dave smiled at the man, and the twoughed.

    "You look pretty fit," Dave couldn¡¯t help but say.

    "Yeah, with today¡¯s technology and a lot of workouts it¡¯s easy to stay in shape. Justin, I won¡¯t be taking this car anymore. Get it in shape for our friend here. Miss Silvana, tell your dad I¡¯ll need my gun soon. As for you, Skeletal, put her to good use and keep up the good work. I happen to be a fan of yours." The man turned around to leave.

    "Wait, you¡¯re Mr, Skeletal?" Justin asked Dave dumbfounded.

    Zoe smiled and said, "Yeah, he is. Soooo about the car?" she asked.

    "I¡¯ll pimp it up for you. I¡¯ll make it look the same as it did in the movie how about it?" Justin asked.

    "That¡¯s pretty cool. Thanks," Dave replied.

    "Right, I¡¯ll contact Miss Silvana when the car is ready, I¡¯ll get my men working on it right away," Justin promised, long gone were the hostile and subtle remarks he made. Now they were full of respect.

    The two of them turned and left, leaving the man barking orders through his phone to get some mechanics for the mustang job.

    Zoe spoke," Can you believe we met him?! That man is a living legend. Damn, I should have gotten an autograph!" only now did she realise she missed out on an opportunity. At his age he didn¡¯t like to get out in public too much and it was rare to meet him.

    "Hah, what autograph? We got his car, Zoe. That¡¯s more than enough," he countered happy that Zoe chose to get his car here..

    "I¡¯m starving, how about some steaks?" Zoe suggested on the way to the valet.

    "Sounds good, I¡¯m feeling hungry too."

    The valet came in with Zoe¡¯s car, cleaned, washed, and waxed. The valet gave Zoe back the keys, and she thanked him with a fifty-dor bill.

    "That¡¯s some pretty cool customer service you got there," Dave praised as he got into the car.

    "Hah, with how many cars I¡¯ve bought from them it should be expected. Alright, let¡¯s go eat!" Zoe stomped on the elerator. The Lambo roared excitedly and zoomed into the busy streets of New York like the king it was.

 Chapter 365 Takoever 2

    Zoe drove Dave to a nearby restaurant. The restaurant was chic. It was made entirely out of wood, whererge wooden pirs supported a high ceiling. There was a circr bar in the middle of the restaurant where the waiters moved from and to as they took the customer¡¯s orders. A tform would then rise from inside the circr bar with a variety of food for the hungry.

    The restaurant was almost full, but thanks to Zoe¡¯s widework of connections, a waiter came and rapidly managed for them a good spot to sit at and enjoy their food near arge window.

    Dave noticed several gazes looking at their table. Notably, Zoe was an eye-candy. She was beautiful enough that Dave had repeatedly asked himself what kind of great good he ever did in his life (or past lives) to be sitting next to such a lovely person.

    But he then realized that most of the gazes remained on Zoe for a fraction of the time they did as they gazed upon him. He was the center of attention in a ce where he knew no one.

    It felt awkward for a moment until all was rified soon.

    No one knew who spoke first, but someone muttered, "Mr. Skeletal," and suddenly, the whole restaurant rose in an uproar. The person who spoke had confirmed their doubts, and after ncing another time, the people inside the restaurant were certain that the young man was the famous Mr. Skeletal. The world¡¯s rising star!

    The customers no longer bothered with their food and grouped around Dave and Zoe, asking for autographs and pictures to update their social media biography.

    Dave was shaken for a moment. He was never used to attention. At least behind the mask of Kis¡¯Shtiengbrah, he could do whatever he wanted, and all would be rted to the legendary undead character that shook conquest upside down.

    But the burst of attention in real life came too fast for Dave to act. He could only utter incoherent words of thanks and forced smiles to take pictures, all at the expense of Zoe, who was barely holding herughter at Dave¡¯s predicament.

    Soon, the manager came and calmed the horde, asking them to go back and enjoy their food and leave the client to their food. The clients reluctantlyplied and went back to their cing, but they still stole several nces at Dave and. He was certain that whatever discussion they had before were now fully turned to discussions about him.

    "How do you like it?" Zoe asked.

    "The steaks are fine, not too chewy, quite decent," Dave said absentmindedly.

    "No, I¡¯m not talking about the food," Zoe smiled, "The fame. What do you think about it?"

    "Not gonna lie, a bit scary. I might as well start wearing caps and shades if I go out," Dave ruefully smiled.

    "Yes, everything has its price, but don¡¯t worry. It¡¯s only like this on the first days. Afterwards they will calm down." Zoe said.

    "Yeah, hopefully," Dave said.

    The two continued chatting as they ate their food. After an hour, they left the restaurant while Zoe left a nice tip for the waiter and thanked the manager for their earlier gesture.

    The two rode back to Dave¡¯s penthouse, and Zoe stopped the car right in front of the door.

    Dave looked up to the highest floor from the street, then turned to Zoe and said," Wanna go up?"

    Zoe smiled and said, " I¡¯d love to, but I have to go. I promised dad I¡¯ll be back home early, and it¡¯s alreadyte. Next time," Zoe said.

    Dave didn¡¯t take it to heart and smiled back, saying, yeah, next time.

    "Oh, right, I forgot. Uncle had finished up with the Webbs."

    "That¡¯s fast," Dave replied.

    "Yeah. He said that the trial was a piece of cake; the evidence on the Webbs were so concrete that they couldn¡¯t even ask for an appeal. John Webb managed to get out of jail time by bail. But thepany is fully under your control now, Davey." Zoe said.

    "Holy smokes, your uncle is damn scary," Dave said.

    "Nah, he is the best. Anyway, tomorrow, he will send you a few documents to sign, and you can officially im the CEO seat of Sigma-Electronics. Oh, by the way, did you decide on a name?" Zoe asked.

    "Yeah, I did," Dave said.

    "What is it?" Zoe asked.

    Dave smiled and replied with one word, "Secret."

    Zoe shook her head at Dave and bid him goodbye then left, the usual Zoe way¡ªpedals pressed hard, and wheels smoking on the asphalt.

    Dave turned to the hotel and got inside. As he went in, he saw the woman in ck from the morning getting on the elevator. Yet somehow, she looked exhausted. Her face looked ten years older.

    Dave hurriedly walked in, and she stopped the elevator for him.

    "Thanks," Dave said.

    The woman kept silent and pressed on her floor number.

    After a few seconds, she spoke, "Guess you didn¡¯t need the cologne after all."

    Dave snorted augh and said, "Yeah. Guess I didn¡¯t. You don¡¯t look alright, you okay?" Dave asked.

    The woman sighed and said, "Problems at work, she said." just as she finished her words, the elevator shuddered and stopped.

    The lights turned off, and the emergency light went on.

    "Fucking perfect!" the woman swore, her elegance and her cool attitude disappearedpletely.

    Dave didn¡¯t know if he shouldugh or get scared.

    She pressed on the help button, and after a moment, a person replied through the speakers on the elevator.

    "We¡¯re sorry for the inconvenience. The elevator should be back online soon."

    "What¡¯s going on?" the woman asked."

    "Some rats bit into the electricity cables, and the whole hotel is without electricity now." The man on the other side said.

    "God damn it, I don¡¯t pay 10,000 dors a month for this kind of crap!" the woman swore once again and slumped down.

    She sat on the elevator floor, her hand holding her chin and puffed a long sigh.

    "Bad day?" Dave said.

    "Yeah, shittiest one yet. At least you got to enjoy your date. I got my ass handed to me this morning, god damn pricks."

    Dave sat down and spoke, "I don¡¯t want to pry, but what happened."

    "You wouldn¡¯t understand," the woman said and ignored Dave.

    Dave shrugged and kept silent.

    But apparently the woman was bothered enough that she spoke on her own, "I just got back from my vacation. All was damn good and dandy, and I had a promotion in line. Then suddenly some idiot at thepany ruined everything, and we are now going under."

    "What do you mean?" Dave asked.

    "Total bankruptcy, someone bought ourpany, and by tomorrow I don¡¯t know if I would keep my job or not. Shit, I won¡¯t be able to pay for this demand apartment any longer."

    "If apany changes hands, it doesn¡¯t necessarily mean the fullyoff of its employees," Dave said.

    "Yeah, but like I said, you don¡¯t get it. When you see me what do you see?" She asked.

    "I see a woman stuck in an elevator with a random dude she doesn¡¯t know," Dave said, smiling.

    His remark made her smirk, and she said, "My name is Ophidia Dian,"

    "I¡¯m David Ruster," Dave replied and said, "as to your earlier question. I think I know what you mean." Dave said.

    "You do?" She asked.

    "Yeah, new employer means you¡¯ll have to start ass-kissing to keep your job. Probably worse."

    "HA! Someone finally gets it, and imagine if it¡¯s some old wrinkled perverted fuck, shit. I hate my life. I won¡¯t mind if this damn elevator drops down."

    "Hold it there. I¡¯m not a fan of double suicide. Bad image." Dave said, holding both hands in front of him.

    "Yeah, right. Your girlfriend won¡¯t like it if she sees you dead with another woman."

    "Yeah or stuck with another woman in an elevator,"

    Ophidianughed again and said, "Tomorrow might be myst day at work, still nice to meet you, David Ruster. Hmm, strange, your name sounds familiar." She said.

    "It¡¯s amon name," Dave smiled back.

    "Right. David Ruster. Seeing we¡¯re gonna be stuck here for a while, tell me, what do you do for a living. I mean to afford living here, and having that fine girl as a girlfriend means you have some buck under you," she said.

    "I work in entertainment," he replied.

    "Huh, ying the ¡¯mysterious¡¯ card. Well, doesn¡¯t matter, this might probably be thest day we see each other. Hang on to that girlfriend of yours, heck even your buiz whatever it is. For us woman, it¡¯s either ass-kissing or getting booted,"

    "Yeah, real-world sucks."

    Ophidian smiled and said, "Yeah, it sucks harder than a Saturday night whore."

    The twoughed for a while, and then the light went back on.

    "Sorry for the trouble, the elevator is back on," the same man from earlier spoke through the elevator speakers.

    Ophidia stood up and pressed again on her floor level that was only a couple of stories away.

    "Best of luck," Dave said to Ophidia.

    "Yeah, thanks. I¡¯ll need it. Otherwise, I¡¯m gonna have to blow someone tomorrow, damn I hope it¡¯s not an old dude," Ophidia said in a smile and left Dave alone on the elevator.

    Dave shook his head and pressed his floor level. He got inside took a quick shower, and slept for the night.

    Dave woke up to his phone ringing. It was from Samuel Silvana.

    "Good morning Sam," Dave said.

    "Good morning David, you¡¯ll have toe over quickly," Samuel said.

    "Where?" Dave asked as he got up from his bed.

    "Thepany, I made a full staff meeting. You¡¯ll need toe here; we have some stuff to do and documents to sign. It shouldn¡¯t take you more than half an hour. I called a full staff meeting people are waiting to see their new employer." Sam said.

    "Right, I¡¯ll be there in a jiffy," Dave said.

    He wore his clothes and went out. He took the elevator down and got all the way to the bottom floor and saw Ophidia waiting outside for a taxi.

    Dave felt a bit sad for the woman. She was quite interesting, behind the pretense of appearance hid a person with an amazing personality. Dave likes her kind of people; she was true and honest around even a strange. This gave him a favorable expression on the girl.

    A thought crossed Dave¡¯s mind if she was looking for a job. She could probably work for hispany. He didn¡¯t want to see a woman like her being abused or molested by as she said before, wrinkled old dudes.

    Dave hurriedly walked out, but he was a second toote to speak to her. A taxi had stopped for Ophidia, and she turned to see Dave walking out, she smiled at him and made the ¡¯blow-job¡¯ gesture then got in.

    Dave shook his head. The poor girl was gonna have a terrible day.

    Dave called another cab and gave him the address to Sigma-Electronics. He also made a note to himself to help the girl once he is back home.

    As Dave rode through the city streets, an electric car caught fire and stopped the cirction. Dave sighed and rxed back on the backseat. He started a conversation with the driver about random stuff until help came and removed the car from the street easing the vehicles on their way.

    After a bit more than half an hour, Dave arrived at the building. He got off and paid the taxi driver with an extra tip for the enjoyable conversation.

    He walked through the front door, and the security was about to stop him, but when he realized that it was David Ruster, he backed away and let him in with a smile.

    Dave smiled back and asked, "There should be a staff meeting here. You know which floor?" Dave asked.

    "Yes, seventh floor is for the meeting. You should go up. Everyone¡¯s been waiting for an hour now," the security man said.

    "Right, thanks." Dave smiled, but unlike the man¡¯s advice, he slowly made his way up.

    He remembered when Samuel Silvana told him as they went against Conquest¡¯s staff that he had the luxury of time. And the CEO has the right to bete.

    Dave got to the right floor and walked through the cubicles with a leisure mood.

    The employees working in the cubicles noticed Dave. He was hard to miss. Among everyone who was wearing formal wears, he was dressed casually and looked entirely out of the picture.

    Dave ignored most of their gazes as he continued through the cubicles and to the furthest halls. He saw several doors lining the wall and was confused about which of them was the one where the meeting was held.

    Dave stopped and went back to one of the cubicles. A young woman was furiously typing some random numbers and letters on her holographic keyboard.

    "You know where the staff meeting is?" Dave asked.

    The girl didn¡¯t even look at Dave and pointed down the hall where he had just gone through earlier and said, "Third door from the left." Then she resumed typing.

    Dave thanked the woman and turned to the door she pointed at.

    Dave didn¡¯t nock and opened the door.

    A few dozen men and women dressed in suits were sitting along a table. Samuel Silvana was sitting on one of the seats and was rxed on his chair. When he saw Daveing he smiled, "Wee David, you¡¯re herete."

    "Yeah, there was an ident-" but Dave¡¯s words were cut short. His eyes met a familiar person that was looking at him in a shocked expression.

    Dave grinned, he was also surprised but apparently wasn¡¯t as surprised as the woman, clearly stated by her next words," Holy cow, now that¡¯s a blow-job I wouldn¡¯t mind giving."

    All the eyes turned at the woman who just spoke, and as if she just realized that her words were spoked out loud, she pped both hands over her mouth in shock.

    "And here I thought this meeting would be boring. I guess you already know each other," Samuel said. Dave didn¡¯t know if the man was speaking sarcastically or hinting that he was gonna tell on Dave.

 Chapter 366 Learning From The Devil

    "Well, I never started a meeting this way, so for everyone. This is your new CEO, David Ruster. He is here to see the staff and learn about your activities." Sam spoke casually like what just urred was nothing worth spending breath on.

    Ophidia, on the other hand, had a face redder than a ripe tomato. She looked down, probably hoping that a hole would open up and swallow her whole.

    Dave smirked at the staff and drew a chair next to Sam and slid in. He looked around the staff for a few moments and said, "Hello."

    Most of the people in the room nodded to Dave in acknowledgement, with the exception of two people at the back, they had a sullen look as they stared at Dave. And he didn¡¯t miss it.

    "David, as of now, Sigma-Electronics is no longer present. You¡¯ll have full control over thispany¡¯s direction and how you will handle its business. I¡¯d suggest that you know what your line of business is first before you start with familiarizing yourself with how the procedure of running apany goes." Sam spoke slowly so that Dave would understand what he was about to get into.

    Dave however frowned, he didn¡¯te here to know what thepany did to make a living, he knew that he was far over his head in the business, but he didn¡¯t want to sound or look like an ipetent leader.

    "Excuse me," one of the two men at the back, which were clearly disapproving of Dave running thepany spoke up.

    "I¡¯m not so sure o how to say this, but you don¡¯t look like someone ready to run apany, you should probably step back and let us handle our own job."

    Dave didn¡¯t even nce at the man. He had a few written notesid down in front of him. Thanks to Sam having already prepared some tips on how Dave would handle the meeting. Dave read a line in the middle of the page, and after a moment¡¯s pause he looked up at the man and said, "Who are you?" he asked.

    "I¡¯m Jonas Drek, the head of R&D."

    "Oh, research and development," he then looked at his paper and saw another line written there, again without looking at the man he said," You¡¯re fired."

    Everyone in the room snapped their heads toward Dave, with the sole exception being Sam. A wide smile was stered on the Devil¡¯s face as he already knew what Dave was doing.

    "You can¡¯t fire me!" the man mmed his hands at the table.

    "I¡¯m telling you; you¡¯ll make thispany sink!"

    "And I¡¯m telling you, you¡¯re fired. I don¡¯t know how did the webs tolerate your existence in the first ce. Yourb in R&D didn¡¯t generate anything these past few years. No new projects, no patents to new creation, nothing. Thepany¡¯s electro-Technology had been stagnant for years. If not for the former Larger-Share holder¡¯s support, thispany would have sunk years ago. I don¡¯t need old rusty material working for me, I need something new and fresh, Ophidia, congrattion on your promotion, you¡¯re now head of R&D and you, Jonas whatever yourst name was, Fired!"

    the veins on the man¡¯s neck swelled, and he roared in protest then spoke, "I¡¯ll have mywyers hear of this!" the man stomped his foot going to the door.

    "Oh, I wouldn¡¯t rmend that," Sam spoke, casually slowly, and most importantly, frighteningly.

    The man shuddered at the Devil Barrister¡¯s words then turned to him, saying, "Are you threatening me?"

    "Where did you hear a threat in my words?" Samuel Silvana spoke in a toothy smile that made people remember Jaws.

    The man shuddered and didn¡¯t move. He knew Samuel had more to say.

    "Recently, thepany¡¯s funds have decreased by 2%; I made some research and noticed that there is a leak. Some of the money that should be going into R&D has gone missing. The amount was low but umted. It generated over six million dors of embezzled money."

    The man called Jonas, swallowed hard and said," I don¡¯t know what you are talking about."

    "Of course, you don¡¯t, however. I had a few friends do some checking, and apparently some of this money that went into was used in building a nice vi peering at the shores of Hawaii. The rest was used to buy some fancy cars and many other things that I doubt had anything to do with R&D. So tell me, Mr Drek, do you still not know what I¡¯m talking about?"

    Samuel Silvana¡¯s words tasted worse than poison; the man shuddered and turned around ignoring the room. Hisck of action proved Sameul¡¯s words.

    "We¡¯re gonna let him go?" Dave spoke in a hushed tone.

    "And let him leave the country? Heck no, I already called a few policemen, they¡¯re waiting outside for him for an arrest. Embezzlement is a federal crime. He¡¯ll spend a long time in prison, of course after giving back all of what he took with interest." Samuel spoke in a tone for everyone to hear, and for everyone to fear.

    The new direction wasn¡¯t as tolerating as the old one as it seems. The famous Mr Skeletal though looked like a young man, started his first day in thepany with a fist of steel. Among all the people present, only one was genuinely happy for Dave¡¯s arrival. The woman named Ophidia. She nced at Dave with gratitude and utter respect.

    The boy she just met yesterday turned out to be her saviour.

    "Alright, next one is, Ferni- fenire, Fenris? Yeah, Fenris Jackob¡¯s. Your handling ounting, I presume," Dave spoke and looked at the second man. He had a scowl on his face but didn¡¯t dare to raise his voice as he spoke to Dave.

    "Yes, sir. I¡¯m the head of the ounting team. We manage the finance and resources of thepany. Also, payroll."

    "Oh, good. Hmm, you just said you handle payroll. Then increase the pay of all the employees by 5% starting today." Dave said.

    "What? That¡¯s a lot, it will stress our funds," the man said.

    "No, apparently it shouldn¡¯t," Dave said with a smileparable to the devil set aside of him.

    "The revenue thepany is generating should be more than enough to handle an increase of 5%. It should make the employees a bit happier. I saw the situation before I came in. All of them looked dead tired. This is not a working environment. They deserve some off-time, give them today off and we¡¯ll have to revisite the working hours. Also, shut down the funding for the T-Chip."

    "But that¡¯s our main project. We¡¯ve been working hard to make this!"

    "Bull crap, this is just a rip off of anotherpany¡¯s technology. I¡¯ve seen this installed in Conquest¡¯s gear and sets. I don¡¯t know who approved of such a job, but that¡¯ll get us sued by Conquest the moment it is released." Dave said.

    Most of the words he spoke sounded smart and far beyond his level, but thankfully all of it was exined in the note in front of him. Samuel Silvana didn¡¯t wish to have Dave appear as an ignorant, so he supplied him with all he needed to manage this meeting. However, surprise was still marked on Samuel¡¯s face. he only gave Dave crumbs, and Dave managed these small pieces of information to make powerful statements worthy of apany leader.

    "Then what do you suggest we do? We work in Electronics. We can¡¯t go back to our old projects. They have been overused, thought upon and made better by otherpanies."

    "Why is your thinking so retro?" Dave spoke, "Who said we¡¯ll go back to the old stuff. Ophidia? I see here that you had a new project in mind, mind exining."

    Ophidia scampered on her seat then stood up. There was a file in her hands."

    "Yes, I wanted to share this with thepany board when I came back from my vacation." She then shared her document with the rest of the people on the table.

    Dave flipped a few pages, most of what was written was Jargons he didn¡¯t understand, but when he nced at the people looking intently at the documents, he saw interest written all over their faces.

    After a few stressful minutes for Ophidia, the man called Fenris looked at Dave and said, "This is really risky, it¡¯s too new. Innovative I admit, but really risky. Something like this has never been put into the market. I don¡¯t know if we have the capability to market it." The man said.

    Dave smiled at him and said, "But if it got good marketing, you think it would sell?" Dave said.

    "Worldwide marketing or forget about it," the man said.

    Dave¡¯s smile grew even wider, "That¡¯s why you have me. Remember, I¡¯m Mr Skeletal. I¡¯m all the advertisement you¡¯ll ever need."

    The man¡¯s face lit up," Right, you¡¯re absolutely right. Ophidia, send this file to myb, I¡¯ll have the staff calcte the necessary funds needed to start, and you can have your staff working on it as soon as I give you the estimated funds." The man spoke excitement on his face.

    "Of course," the girl spoke, her face beaming with a wide smile. Apparently, her idea was not refused and received approval ¡ª another step toward the top.

    "Good, I like this. So what¡¯s left." Dave looked at the files and frowned, "Fenris, mind telling me why are we funding Rembaldi Private Institution?"

    When Dave finished his words, Samuel turned to him and said, "Finally saw it."

    "Yeah, didn¡¯t think they were in cahoots with thispany," Dave said.

    "They used our technology in their equipment," Fenris said.

    "Prototype treatment, bone and flesh reconstruction, Bio-Tech," Dave spoke.

    "Y-yes, how did you know? That information was private."

    Dave scowled at the paper and said, "I know, because I was treated there. Well, more like tested upon. Sam..." Dave turned to Samuel Silvana.

    "Remember when I told you I only needed time and to do a bit of research before bringing them down?" Sam said.

    "Yeah," Dave replied.

    "Apparently, I no longer need to. We have all the evidence we need to bring them down now. The files from thispany are in your possession, and they can work wonders in proving the inhuman treatment you suffered under the hands of Rembaldi Private Institution."

    "Right, how long should it take for us to move on them?" Dave asked."

    "I¡¯m already on it, David. I already filed a report the moment I received this information. I only need you to sign a document allowing me ess to some of thispany¡¯s files. By the way, did you decide on a name? I don¡¯t want to call it This Company anymore.

    "Yeah I did, quite a simple one, Skelectronics," Dave said with a proud smile.

    The rest of the room fell quiet, a rueful smile stered on their faces. Like if the name was shameful, but no one had the audacity to speak their minds. After all, the guy just fired the head of R&D without batting an eye.

    "Ugh, my niece warned me of your terrible naming sense, whatever then, I hope it¡¯s catchy," Samuel said.

    Dave kept smiling and said, "I guess this is all, meeting adjourned. I hope to see you allter."

    Dave stood up and walked out of the room, apanied by Sam.

    "You seem in a hurry," Samuel said.

    "umm, yeah, I have a dueling up soon. sh of ns. Oh, I heard you joined Conquest with Dante Silvana, what ss did you take?" Dave asked.

    "Merchant, I¡¯m not a fan of fighting, and I¡¯m generating a decent amount of gold. The game is quite fun. I see why it has such an appeal." Samuel said casually.

    "Merchant, huh. Well, if you ever want to level up or something tell Zoe, I should have some time to power-level, you guys. For now, I have to go," Dave said.

    "Right, go and do what you do best. I¡¯ll be doing the same," Samuel said and bid Dave goodbye.

    Dave, on the other hand, hurried out of thepany. He had about half an hour before his match would start. He didn¡¯t want to be disqualified for not being there on time.

 Chapter 367 Pro-Fighter

    Dave took a cab back to his ce. He didn¡¯t have much to do back at thepany. With Samuel¡¯s instructions and the new management, thepany should have a good increase in activity and revenue.

    Dave arrived at his apartment in half an hour, he logged in and found out he had half an hour before the sh of Gods event would start.

    He tore a teleportation scroll to the Dead Realm and hurried toward Andre. The smith should have finished with repairing his equipment.

    When Dave arrived at the smithy, Andre was already waiting outside for him. Deadra¡¯s Ultra-Greatsword was embedded into the ground and the Round Cursed Shield of Ajax was leaning against the sword. Next to the sword and shield was a crate with a Doom Knight armor ced on top. The helmet was ced on the neck of the chest armor, the cape draped behind them. The boots were on the ground and the gauntlets were next to the armor on the crate.

    "Kis¡¯Shtiengbrah, wee back, I waited for you for a while now," Andre spoke, he didn¡¯t look any bit annoyed at waiting for Dave. After all the undead had all the time in the world.

    "Sorry about that Andre, how are the repairs?" Dave asked.

    "I fixed your armor, it should be as good as when you first procured it. As for the sword and shield. For the life of me, I could only remove the tarnishes on the weapons. Sharpening it was nigh impossible. I did the best I could. This shield, however, its impossible to even heat it to re-forge it. I still made it shinier," Andre said.

    Dave smiled and put on his armor saying," Don¡¯t worry about it, making these any more powerful will be unfair."

    "Ha!" Andreughed and said, "I¡¯m not as talented as Lord Vulcan. That entity forged these weapons in the void of space. The God-Smith Vulcan is an example to all of us Smiths," Andre said in a smile.

    "Andre, you¡¯re the best smith I¡¯ve seen in this world. And because you¡¯re undead, you¡¯re practically immortal, I say you¡¯ll one day be as good as this Vulcan don¡¯t worry about it you have time to make it to the top," Dave said.

    "Thank you young undead, you are right. But to be a better Smith, I must work with better and rarer material." Andre said.

    "Better material..." Dave trailed then spoke, "Would Oprenieum be one of them?" Dave asked.

    "Oprenieum? Where did you hear that?" Andre asked. The look on his face was intense, like someone who heard an interesting secret.

    "I went deeper under the Volcano of the Burning Heights, there is a node of extractable minerals there, Oprenieum, but..." Dave trailed again remembering the blue monstrosity guarding the area.

    "But what?" Andre asked he looked like he would strangle Dave if he didn¡¯t tell him right away.

    "There is a monster there, Doragon, pretty damned strong. I got sent to respawn by one hit from him."

    "Dogaron, the Dragon wolf. That thing still lives... right, you¡¯re right. The Dogaron is a creature from hell. It can¡¯t die even if killed. And will return soon after it perishes. But I believe that with the help of a couple Abyssal Knights it can be taken down. Still, I don¡¯t know if they would help. Oprenieum can help increase the toughness and power of the Legion¡¯s weapons and armor." Andre said.

    "If it¡¯s that important, I¡¯ll try asking Lord Samael and Lord Dortha to help," Dave said.

    "Oh," Andre rubbed his nose and said, "You should probably not ask Lord Dortha, I mean the man is strong but I would rather not have to repair more Doom Knight Armor if I could help it. The take a lot of effort and manpower to fix," Andre said.

    Daveughed and said," Right let me see how it goes after I finish with my sh of Gods event. Oh, it should start right now." Dave said as he looked at the timer.

    Soon, a ck vortex opened in front of Dave. And a notification asking him if he wishes to ept entry or not.

    Dave unequipped his sword and shield and epted the challenge. If he was going to fight someone weak, he didn¡¯t need to bring out Deadra¡¯s weapons. His Doom Knight Bastard Sword and Tower shield were enough for any casual adversary.

    Once Dave went through the vortex, he found himself on therge tform surrounded by the void of the Limbo.

    Another yer appeared on the other side of the tform facing Dave. The yer was a bald young man. He had dark skin, an African-American. He was as burly as Ralph if not more. The yer had light equipment, leather armor, and a leather war-skirt. He wore fist weapons, two gauntlets with pointy metallic tips on the knuckles.

    When the yer saw Dave, he heaved a deep breath and exhaled. There was a bit of disappointment in his eyes. He probably didn¡¯t want to face the legendary undead this early on.

    Albert showed up and gave the same rules he always told before. Then he disappeared leaving the two yers facing each other.

    Dave walked slowly toward his opponent, the other man did the same. When they were face to face the gauntlet wielding man smile and said, "Bro, wanna hear me out?" He asked.

    Dave nodded to the man, "See, I¡¯ve yed the game as a monk, I don¡¯t use magic n¡¯stuff ya know? I¡¯ve seen you havein them fist weapons on you. How about it? Wana slug it til one of us drops."

    Dave inspected the yer.

    ***

    Swingem

    Level 411

    ss: Monk

    Title: Fists of Hercules

    ***

    Dave¡¯s brows rose up, he looked at Swingem and said, "You don¡¯t have a legacy ss?"

    "Nope, ain¡¯t never got it, and to be honest," the man shed Dave a toothy smile saying, "I ain¡¯t ever needed it."

    "Right, so fist fighting is okay with you?" Dave asked.

    "Yeah, no cheating though bruh, kinda uncool seeing Kis¡¯Shtiengbrah using spells after having agreed not to," the man said.

    "If you saw my fist weapons before you should know they have skills imbued in them," Dave said.

    "Yeah, saw them. You can use those, but the other magic, is not cool," The monk said.

    Dave nodded and pulled out his Sworn Stalwart Gauntlets from his inventory, equipping them, the two fists looked like stone dragon heads,pared to the casual looking weapons from the Monk, Dave was several steps above him in gear.

    "Oh, this is gonna be damn nice!" the man said and took a stance. He spread his feet and had one of his fists pointed at Dave while the other was tucked next to his ribs.

    Dave frowned, he had seen a pose simr to this before, this guy wasn¡¯t a casual yer, he is a pro-fighter.

    ¡¯Shit, I think I screwed myself up."

    The monk¡¯s smile grew wider as he took a step forward. He was fast, that was Dave could register, the man was blindingly fast, he disappeared from Dave¡¯s view and smashed a powerful fist into his left nk.

    [-1,200]

    Dave hastily swung to his left, but the monk was a few feet away already, easily dodging Dave¡¯s fist.

    "Damn bruh, that some strong armor you have there," the monk said and lunge din for another hit.

    Dave reacted in time, he saw the fisting and he sent his own hand to meet it. No matter how strong the Monk was, Dave doubted he could ovee the strength gained from his weapons with mere skill.

    But Dave was wrong, terribly so. The monk managed to stop his fist in mid-flight and dexterously moved it to hit Dave¡¯s wrist, opening his chest for a powerful left jab.

    -1,800.

    "Bruh, how much HP do you have?" the monk said, it didn¡¯t sound like he wasining. It meant that he was going to enjoy beating up Dave.

    "Pro-Fighter?" Dave asked as he moved back.

    "Desmond Malcolm, ever heard of it?"

    "Shit, MMA Pro-fighter. ck belt in Taekwondo, Judo, and Karate, talk about bad luck," Dave smirked.

    "Oh, so Kis¡¯Shtiengbrah does know of me, but you forgot one thing," he said in a smile and dived at Dave.

    His fists smashed rapidly into Dave¡¯s chest then he topped Dave form his ankles to the ground and took a step back giving Dave the time to stand up. this rapidbo took down 10,000 Hp from Dave in less than three seconds.

    "I¡¯m pretty damn good at Win Chun," he said in a smile.

 Chapter 368 A True Legacy

    Dave stood up, " Wing Chun? What¡¯s that? Some type of food?" Dave took a ssic boxing stance.

    Desmondughed and said "Good one. Nah, you know Ip-Man?" he asked as he prowled around Dave.

    "Yeah, Bruce-Lee¡¯s mentor. Pretty strong dude, so Kung-Fu."

    "A type of it," Desmond replied and lunged at Dave. Dave tried hard to counter but failed every time. The man was really quick on his feet and didn¡¯t give him time to breathe.

    Dave stepped back and decide to go into a [Dragon Kick], he propelled himself like a train at Desmond, but the Monk easily sidestepped him and smashed down at Dave mid-flight, canceling his animation and knocking him to the ground.

    Dave pressed both hands on the ground and raised his legs, using [Infernal Tornado] his legs swung wide open and he spun on his hands like a top.

    Desmond didn¡¯t expect Dave¡¯s reaction, but his own reaction was admirable. The man tilted back on his hands and began back-flipping away from Dave.

    Dave finished his [Infernal Tornado] animation hitting nothing and stood back up.

    "Whoa, that was cool. Skill?" Desmond asked.

    "Yeah," Dave said and pointed both fists at the other man.

    Suddenly a green value appeared over Dave¡¯s head, pushing his HP back to 100%.

    "Dude, did you drink a health potion? That¡¯s unfair man," Desmond said disapprovingly.

    "Uh, no. That¡¯s my passive, it restores 10% of my HP every few minutes."

    The man tilted his head then looked down. "Shit, this is my loss then," he said.

    Dave stood up from his stance and asked," Why is that?"

    "Bro, you¡¯re tanky as heck. I already lost a lot of my stamina and if we keep fighting you¡¯ll keep regenerating. I can¡¯t down you man," he said.

    Dave pondered for a moment and said, "You want me to put on lower-tier armor?" Dave asked.

    Desmond shook his head saying," Nah, that ain¡¯t fair. You got your gear thanks to hard work. Bruh, I¡¯m just happy to be able to fight Kis¡¯Shtiengbrah.

    "That wasn¡¯t a fight, that was a one sided beatdown bro," Dave said with a grin.

    The man smiled back at Dave saying, "You should learn Martial Arts. You have good gear, good reflexes, but your form is pretty awful."

    "Seeing that you made it to level 411 and with that low tier gear. I guess you¡¯re right."

    "Yep. My goal is to learn all kinds of Martial Arts. I want to make my own style, make my own legacy," the man said.

    "Ha, that¡¯s probably the truest form of Legacy man..." Dave thought for a moment and said, "I can teach you a skill," he said.

    "Really?" the man said.

    "Yeah, you have a spear or pole?" Dave asked.

    "I think I have a long rod. It¡¯s pretty basic, a starting weapon I saved from my early days. Why? I don¡¯t use weapons, only my fists you know."

    "I know, this is a counter-skill. Bring out your rod," Dave said.

    The man pulled out his rod and asked, "What¡¯s next?"

    "Hit me, a lunging attack," Dave said.

    "Right," Desmond lunged at Dave with the pole. The weapon an extension of his body as he struck at Dave .

    Dave¡¯s eyes shone bright and he raised his foot high and stomped on the pole¡¯s tip, burying it in the ground.

    With this motion, the Monk was pulled forward, surprised at Dave¡¯s immense strength. He was unable to relinquish his grip on the weapon. He was forcefully pulled down, exposing his head to an iing punch from Dave¡¯s fist.

    Dave¡¯s fist struck the Monk with a sting infernal impact that sent him rolling a dozen meters back.

    [-362,000]

    Desmond stood up in shock, he had lost an enormous chunk of his HP with that single counter. But he didn¡¯t look annoyed, or angry at Dave smashing his nose in. On the contrary, the man¡¯s eyes were bright as he came closer to Dave, in a tone akin to begging, "Please tell me how you did that! What¡¯s the name of the Skill?"

    "It¡¯s called Mikiri-Counter, very simple. Now you try it," Dave said and pulled out his ive.

    Dave held the ive, the bottom side aimed at the Monk, he didn¡¯t want to identally kill him if he failed in his execution of the Skill.

    "When the weapon is still in its extended animation, stomp on its tip with as much strength as you can, you will have a split second after the opponent had been destabilized to attack. You will deal twice the damage of your basic attack if you execute the Skill perfectly."

    Desmond nodded that he was ready.

    Dave swung the bottom of his Heaven sher forward, and surprisingly, the Monk was blindingly fast as he stomped on the pole, forcing Dave to kneel down and exposing his head to a knee kick.

    The monk smashed Dave¡¯s head in, dealing a low amount of Damage. But unlike Dave, he didn¡¯t stop. He shoved his elbow down on Dave¡¯s chest then rose up with his shoulder smashing into Dave¡¯s chin. He could have continued but he stopped.

    "Ouch," Dave said and wobbled back.

    "Ah sorry bout that, it¡¯s a habit. Oh, I learned something new."

    "Mikiri-Counter," Dave said.

    "Yeah, but something more. It seems that you didn¡¯t fully develop the skill. Here look," the man opened a blue panel in front of Dave.

    Dave read the notification.

    ***

    Mikiri-Counter [Improved]

    [Mikiri Counter] A dexterous skill allowing the user to punish enemies who use stabbing moves, correct use of Mikiri Counter exposes the enemy¡¯s vitals for a follow-up riposte.

    If [Mikiri Counter] is executed perfectly, the next attack on a vital organ will have a 100% critical chance whilepletely ignoring the target¡¯s armor value.

    [Improved Style]: Mikiri-Counter can have a follow up of Fist-Fighting Technique, each consecutive hit after a perfect execution of [Mikiri Counter] will have it¡¯s base Damage doubled.

    ***

    "Oh, that¡¯s new," Dave said.

    "Yeah, all Martial Arts are flexible, it¡¯s up to one¡¯s own imagination and dedication to add to them," Swingem said.

    "Right, thanks for the Skill," Dave said.

    "No worries. By the way, you live in New-York right?" Desmond asked.

    "Yeah, I do,"

    "You shoulde to my Gym someday. I mean I can teach you a bit about fighting. You¡¯ll need them in your adventures," Desmond said with augh.

    "Yeah, I know the ce, Manhattan First Ave" Dave said.

    "Yep, that¡¯s the ce."

    "Yea, I¡¯ll drop by someday," Dave said.

    "Right, Albert," Desmond spoke. Albert showed up.

    "Yes? What seems to be the matter? I don¡¯t see much fighting going on." Albert said.

    "I wish to surrender, I can¡¯t win," Desmond told the AI.

    "Are you sure? You don¡¯t want to fight to the bitter end?" Albert asked again.

    "Nope, can¡¯t win, not equipped good enough," he said, "And this guy didn¡¯t use his magic and I still couldn¡¯t take him down. I give up."

    "Right, I will be doing an inspection," Albert said and his eyes turned white for a moment then back to their regr colour.

    "I see no ill will in conceding defeat, then congrattions Kis¡¯Shtiengbrah on your second victory. Swingem, you will no longer be able to join the sh of Gods tournament."

    "Right," Swingem said.

    A vortex opened up, giving way to both Dave and Swingem to leave.

    "See you again soon," Swingem said.

    "Yeah, I¡¯ll drop by when I can," Dave replied and the two parted on a pleasant note.

 Chapter 369 Demon Hunting

    Dave reentered the Dead Realm right in front of Andre¡¯s forge. He had won, thankfully so. Looking through his notification he noticed he had two missed calls, one from Lone Arrow and another from Perfect Shot.

    Dave called Lone Arrow first, "Sup."

    "Hey, you. I called to see how you managed with the sh of Gods." Lone said.

    "It was a tough one," Dave said, he didn¡¯t lie. He told Lone what had happened. Dave could have easily won using his skills but he had agreed to fight with just his fist weapons. Desmond Malcolm was a professional fighter. A world champion and his skill kit was built on real struggles, experience and a lot of beatings. The man was tough and Dave respected him for that. His gear was pretty average. But the power behind his fists and his agility were the real thing. In a real fight, Dave didn¡¯t doubt this man could take on ten of him without breaking a sweat.

    "Wow, you shouldn¡¯t risk your Legacy like that Davey," Lone said.

    "Yeah, lesson learned. He was tough, if not for my Vigorous passive and his low stamina that couldn¡¯t keep up with his DPS I would have lost." Dave said.

    "Yeah, and he would have gotten your Legacy, remember that." Lone reminded.

    "Yeah, how did you do?" Dave asked.

    "Another victory, apparently the system isn¡¯t unfair. I fought two yers close to my level and got the upper hand. Still, the longer thissts the riskier it will get," Lone said.

    "Yeah, the low levels will get eliminated leaving the strongest ones. You should stop if you feel you can¡¯t win Lone. If you face someone of Mae¡¯s caliber, it¡¯s gonna be tough on you." Dave said.

    "Yeah, I¡¯ll keep that in mind," Lone said then halted for a moment and said, "Uncle told me something interesting happened in the meeting room today," Lone said. Dave could feel the teasing? Probably anger in her voice. He didn¡¯t want to risk it so he came clean.

    Dave told her everything that happened, starting from the moment Lone came to pick him up to buy his car until the meeting. He told her about Ophidia and the staff and how he yed the boss in the meeting room.

    "Right," Zoe snickered and hung up.

    Dave didn¡¯t understand what she had in mind. When did a man ever understood what went on in a woman¡¯s mind anyway?

    Dave shook his head and called Perfect Shot. The second missed call.

    "Yo man, what¡¯s going on?" Dave asked.

    "Ha! I won," Perfect Shot said.

    "What do you mean?" Dave asked

    Perfect Shot¡¯s excited voice came to form the voice. "I mean I beat a Legacy holder and now I have their Legacy.

    "Holy shit dude, what Legacy did you get?" Dave asked expectantly.

    "Thread Weaver, it¡¯s a Debuff and Control Legacy. It creates threads from nothing and binds enemies. The threads can also be used to invigorate allies or burn them. I haven¡¯t explored it fully I¡¯m just learning the skills." Perfect said.

    "What rank is the Legacy?" Dave asked.

    "It¡¯s B rank, not bad huh."

    "B rank, that¡¯s pretty cool to be honest. A legacy with a B rank means it¡¯s pretty special. You can join any super-guild you want using it as a voucher." Dave said.

    "Nah, the only guild I¡¯ll ever join will be the Legion¡¯s ha!" Perfectughed.

    Dave smiled saying "Right. For the Legion!" then he hung up after hearing Perfect Shouting "For the Legion!"

    Dave looked around, then thought to himself, ¡¯What to do now?¡¯ he looked at his quest log.

    "Hmm, the Undead King¡¯s armor still needs the ck Dragon¡¯s heart and the Hydra Scales. For the scales, I already have a n, but I can¡¯t beat the ck Dragon, so this one is a no go."

    He looked at the following quest, "Hmm, Oprenieum. Nah, Dogaron is level 750, the same as the ck Dragon, that¡¯s still a suicide. Can¡¯t win, at least not yet. So, no."

    "Abyssal Knight ascension, requires level 600, still too far away." He kept looking down.

    There was the upgrading of Urburg city, but he couldn¡¯t do anything to it. The Undead were working hard on it on their own. He could still go back and check if the old man had brought more people to work in Urburg but that wasn¡¯t important.

    Dave kept scrolling through his quests, most of them were hard or had conditions he couldn¡¯t fulfill for the moment. Until he found a questline he had ignored for a long time.

    "Might as well do this as I search for the Demonlings," Dave smiled and tore a teleportation scroll to Moria.

    The moment he appeared in Moria, he heard loud shoutsing from all over.

    Turning his head, Dave saw dozens of knights from the Qin kingdom converging toward his location.

    "Undead! Kill THE UNDEAD!" the knights shouted.

    Dave looked around then smiled, "Well, I¡¯m already in a hostile rtionship with the Qin Kingdom, so might as well..." and he stomped a foot on the ground.

    ck shadows materialized around Dave, more than a hundred Death Knights answered the summoning of their lord. Their eyes glowed an eerie blue as they gazed at the Qin Warriors.

    "Undead, kill them all," Dave waved a hand dismissively at the Qin Warriors. The moment his words were spoken the undead charged at the Qin Warriors and began a mass ughter.

    Every Death Knight began summoning his own Undead and the city of Moria was soon filled with them. They climbed on the walls and reached beyond the gates, they rose from death and brought death upon all those within the city. Soon, not a single soul was left in the city.

    ***

    Your standing with the kingdom of Qin has turned to Extreme Hostility.

    ***

    "Bruh, like that¡¯s gonna change anything," Dave ignored the notification.

    He then shouted to his Undead followers, calling them to surround him.

    When his hundred thousand strong Undead army converged around Dave to listen, Dave summoned Grumpy and stood on top of him to speak, "Undead of the Legion! March ahead! Bring down any Dungeon, any city any town, kill, ughter and turn any that defy you! Ignore the peasants and citizens but If soldiers bring their weapons to bear on you, ughter them all. Make everything belong to the dead!"

    In one chorus rumbling voice, all of Dave¡¯s Undead boomed in a roar!

    "ROAAAAAAAAA!!!!!"

    "Death Knights, lead your armies to capture Dungeons. Your task is to take control of every Dungeon from here to the borders of the Qin Kingdom."

    Dave gave an order to the Death Knights and turned to Bud, Dog and the Tengu. "You threee with me."

    "What about me, Lord?" Singund asked.

    "You¡¯ll be left inmand of the army, lead them and make everything ours,"

    "As you wish!" Singund said, his voice shuddering with excitement. Leading an army of the dead was probably not what he had hoped for, but in truth the might behind this army was something Singund always wished to wield. He had to prove his value to his lord. And when Dave gave him such a task and such trust, he vowed to himself to make his lord proud.

    "FOLLOW ME! UNDEAD!" Singund roared guiding his orc regiment ahead of the hundred thousand Undead and toward the Wilds.

    Dave nodded as he saw the army heading toward the East. He didn¡¯t know what would await them, but with Singund¡¯s raw power and his nigh immortality, he could get them out of any troublesome situations they encountered. Not to mention, capturing any Dungeon along the Wilds will help bolster Dave¡¯s position in the Legion and increase his Contribution Point count.

    Dave realized that maintaining an army the size of his would take a lot of CP, CP he couldn¡¯t amass on his own. So, he needed to conquer Dungeons and they will generate enough CP for him to sustain his army.

    "Alright, time for the second part of this n," Dave turned to his Death Knights and said, "I¡¯ll be summoning you soon. Be ready, there will be an imminent fight. I¡¯ll be searching for Demonlings, you need to be ready for the worst." Dave said.

    "If it¡¯s just one, we can win with ease," The Tengu said.

    "If it¡¯s a regr Demonling perhaps I won¡¯t need you. But if it¡¯s a Chosen One, we might need help. Alright, be ready!" Dave said and tore a teleportation scroll to Urburg.

    When he appeared in the city, he noticed that most of the Undead were busy with their work. The NPCs were helping but the Undead did the heavy lifting. The city was bing more and more beautiful and would be ready to ept new citizens soon.

    Dave moved through the NPCs and headed to the tavern. Nick was standing there, wiping the sses with a white cloth.

    "You came for another attempt?" Nick asked.

    "Nope," Dave shook his head and raised his right hand. The True Undeath Ring shone bright and Dave transformed from the Doom Knight Kis¡¯Shtiengbrah to regr human-yer Dave.

    His Doom Knight armor changed ordingly, it became pitch ck, not reflecting an iota of light. The draconic decoration on it changedpletely to be a glowing red carving of an eagle at the chest area. His ck cape changed form; the symbol of an eagle imprinted on it.

    "Not a fan of Undeath?" Nick asked.

    "No, I¡¯ll be hunting Demonlings, I don¡¯t want everyone to follow me. If others know that Kis¡¯Shtiengbrah is hunting Demonling, they might get scared and hide. But Death Stroke is a nobody, easier to blend in." Dave said.

    "Right, do whatever you want. Just make sure to be wary, the Chosen One won¡¯t be easy to defeat." Nick said.

    "Thanks for the warning," Dave pulled out a teleportation scroll.

    "Let¡¯s start with the Devies, see if we get any luck," Dave said and tore it, disappearing from the tavern.

 Chapter 370 First Hun

    Dave appeared in the center of the Devastator capital. Most yers that were looking at the teleportation gate nced upon Dave for a few seconds then ignored him. He wasn¡¯t in his Undead form, but still, the pitch-ck armor he wore was a bit out of ce.

    His armor was never seen before kit, but those weremon. Many yers had unique gear that¡¯s why their attention on Dave waned seconds after he appeared.

    Dave ignored the yers and went on his way casually. He moved through the Devastator capital without care. Dave moved as he was looking at the white buildings and merchantes opening shop. The Devastator capital or the whole Western Kingdom was prosperous. The Devastator guild was owned by some of the world¡¯s most powerful tycoons. The money that flowed into the Virtual-Kingdom was enough to drown IRL countries.

    The Devastator guild earned money by collecting taxes from yers. All the smithies in the kingdom were owned by a sub-guild of the Devastators. So, if any yer wanted to have their equipment repaired, or crafted, they will have to pay a sum that will go into the pocket of the devastator leaders. Not to mention shops being opened all over the city that had to also pay tax or even the teleportation gate.

    The usage of a teleportation gate or teleportation scroll would deduct a small amount of money from yers and put it into the Devi¡¯s capital. The amount wasn¡¯t much, a few silver coins at most, but due to the sheer number of yers using the gate every day, these few silvers would soon turn into millions of dors of ie.

    The money then is used to supply the main guild with superior gear and finance raids or dungeon clears.

    Warlord and Valentine had created an economic system that kept the funds going into the devastator¡¯s funds. Further cementing their position.

    Dave had known of this. The money coursed here was more than the funds of some of the world¡¯srgestpanies and it only grew each day. The reason for which the Devastators didn¡¯t like to have their reputation ndered or have any kind of bad rumor going on around them. The reputation of the Devastators was reflected in the IRLpanies that were sponsoring them.

    The effect of bad propaganda would ruin a lot of businesses if it escted. Thus the careful handling of all and any situation was needed for the Devastators to remain as a top Super Guild.

    Yet, somehow when it came to Mr. Skeletal, all of it would change. The undead would ruin their ns at times and help them at times. Making the Devastators confused about their standing against or with Mr. Skeletal.

    Dave moved through the bustling city without a care in the world, he had a wide smile on his face that was hidden by his full helm.

    In his hand was the orb that the Undead King had given him and it was glistening with an eerie sheen.

    "I didn¡¯t think I¡¯d get this lucky, two Demonlings in this city. I hope that none of them is the chosen one though, it might make things a bit tricky,¡¯ Dave thought to himself.

    Dave turned his head to the left, there was a yer wearing red leather armor and was talking with a few other adventurers.

    The yer had a small demon icon over his head. He probably didn¡¯t seem to notice it nor did the other yers.

    "Sorry bud," Dave smiled and drew his Doom Knight Bastard Sword. He had no intention of showing Deadra¡¯s Weapons if he could help it.

    People knew that David Ruster was Mr. Skeletal. But no one knew that Mr. Skeletal was Death Stroke, it was a matter of time until they figured it out but he wanted to keep it hidden as much as possible. It was best that no one knew that Dave could change from undeath to human and have the advantages of both races at his own wishes.

    When the yers noticed Daveing threateningly toward them, they frowned.

    "Dude, why are you drawing a sword in the middle of town," one of them spoke.

    "Yeah. The guards wille for you. Hey, do you hear me? Are you deaf?" another spoke.

    The yer with the demon icon noticed Dave then a momentter his eyes looked up. He was probably reading a notification. Then his eyes widened and he turned around and started running.

    Dave smiled, he too received a notification.

    ***

    Demon ying:

    The Demonling [Jinshuri] you are hunting had recognized your presence.

    As long as they are within 500 meters radius from you, they cannot log out.

    The hunt is on!

    ***

    Daveughed and ran after the yer.

    The party that was with Jinshuri, turned to Dave, they must have received a party-voice mail that informed them about the situation so they all faced Dave to give their friend a bit of time to escape.

    "Stop him!" one of the yers said, he was an archer and loosed an arrow at Dave.

    Dave let the arrow strike him and waited for the second yer to attack.

    -0

    the damage Dave received was pitiful. The second yer was a caster and shot a snaring skill at Dave. Stroke left the attacknd on him also.

    "Yes, I got him!" the caster said.

    "Alright, I¡¯ll take it from here," a yer with a sword and shield charged at Dave.

    The moment the yer shed into Dave, Dave¡¯s grin grew even wider.

    -0

    "What the fuck? Howe your defense is that high?!"

    "I was waiting for this, now all three of you are aggressors." He said and used [Stampede].

    Dave mmed into the knight and knocked him over. His charge didn¡¯t end yet, he kept going until he crashed into the archer.

    -260,000

    -182,000

    ***

    You have killed an Aggressor!

    You have Killed and Aggressor!

    ***

    Dave stopped right next to the caster who as holding his cane, in a shaky hand. The ¡¯fiend¡¯ in front of him just killed two of his party members in one hit. It was true that his friends were barely level 200, but killing the both of them while using one skill was too much.

    The ck-armored knight became the caster¡¯s nightmare, and this nightmare was standing right in front of him. He saw the knight raise his sword high up then chop down. The priest¡¯s eyes closed, and when he opened them, he was in a purplish dark world, also known as Limbo.

    Dave smirked, ¡¯Sorry guys, I couldn¡¯t attack first. Or I¡¯d get in trouble with city guards. Now, for my prey." Dave looked ahead and began running.

    The yers that were looking at the scene all moved away. They acted smartly after all this yer just killed three others without breaking a sweat. And they didn¡¯t know what was the cause of his action, nor did they wish to visit Limbo anytime soon.

    Dave ran after the yer with extreme speed, his armor weighed nothing on him. All thanks to his 1,000 points in strength.

    Compared to the other yer Dave was like a runaway train closing its gap with the poor soul. Jinshuri appeared in Dave¡¯s interface soon enough.

    "Why the fuck are you chasing me, get the fuck away!" the yer screamed his lungs out.

    Dave ignored his please and kept running after him.

    Soon, Jinshuri realized he couldn¡¯t outrun the yer behind him. He had many levels over him and probably more stamina and he couldn¡¯t log out. It was just a matter of time before the ck knighted yer would catch him.

    He then began screaming for help, to any yers that were near him.

    Most yers ignored him, but some yers decided to be heroes and stopped in Dave¡¯s way.

    "You there why are you bullying a low-level yer," one of the yers spoke. This one was a priest that was well geared. His level was at least 400.

    His words made other yers join in, making Dave look like nothing but a bully.

    Dave only wanted to be in range of Jinshuri to use [Spectral Skulls] on him. But seeing the yers joining hands to stop him, threw a wrench in his wheels.

    ¡¯Shit, guess I¡¯ll have to be a bit mean,¡¯

    Dave stopped a few paces in front of the grouped-up yers and stomped his foot hard on the ground. The stop cracked the earth and caused the world to blur. This was the variant of the [Blot The Sun] skill. When Dave was not in his Undeath Form, most of his skills were subtly changed in animation.

    The sky didn¡¯t dim, but everything looked hazy in a radius of 50 meters around Dave. The yers felt their avatars unresponsive and heavy. While Dave moved at full speed and used [Immortal Apparition] teleporting behind the confused yers.

    He didn¡¯t attack them with a direct spell, [Blot the Sun] only slowed them and it wasn¡¯t enough to warrant an Aggressor status on Dave. But still, a warning notification appeared in front of him.

    Dave appeared on the other side of the confused yers. Jinshuri thought he would be safe with the yers helping him and he made the idiotic mistake to stop, wait and see. But this only made Dave close the gap between the two even faster.

    Dave unequipped his sword and pointed at the yer with his hand, shooting eight spectral skulls at him.

    The yer screamed as the skulls came charging toward him, but screaming wouldn¡¯t have saved him.

    -220,000

    ***

    You have slew one of the Ash-King¡¯s minions!

    Your standing with the Undead Legion grows.

    Your Standing with Ramsha grows.

    Your standing with the Undeath God grows.

    ***

    Dave turned around. [Blot the Sun] status effect was gonna wear off soon. So he couldn¡¯t stay here longer. He knew he could take on a few of these yers, but sooner orter they would call on more manpower and it would be just a matter of time for Dave to die. He was in foreign territory; he couldn¡¯t act as he wished.

    "The second Demonling is also nearby, I need to go," Dave turned and dashed through one of the alleys, disappearing from view.

 Chapter 371 Cold Massacre

    It took no less than half an hour for the rumors about the ck Armored Pk to reach the ears of the higher-ups in the Devastator guilds. At first it was disregarded as someone causing trouble and will be punished by the NPC forces that protect the cities of Conquest.

    These NPCs preserved order so that there would be no mayhem inside cities. But seeing that these forcers didn¡¯t move when the ck Armored PK started, the yers thought it was a bug or glitch in the system. However, when the second killing emerged, many yers feared for their levels and lives.

    The Devastator HQ received several notices about the ck Armored yer, and how he was strong enough to take on entire parties of level 300 and could easily escape the hunt of level 400 parties. The killing started in broad daylight and ended a few hours afternoon.

    By this time, most yers in the Devastator Capital were wary of any yer wearing ck armor.

    Dave had killed the two yers and went off to a new destination. Leaving the Devastators in confusion. He teleported to the Northern Kingdom. The HQ of Blood Ragers. He took out the Demonling detecting crystal. After scanning the area and finding nothing, Dave took the teleportation gate to another area. He kept teleporting from ce to ce in the hope to find one of the Demonlings nearby. Sadly, most of his search was in vain. Until he arrived at Ulmir¡¯s Rest.

    The city was built at the foot of a mountain, Dave had alreadye here to aid the Blood Ragers to defend against the advance of the Qin Army. The crystal had located a Demonling, but it was outside of the city, a few miles away.

    Dave walked down the city¡¯s main street and through its gate. The area was livelier than the time he came here. At least NPC wise. There were more on the street than when the war was going on.

    The crystal pointed Dave to the upper side of Ulmir¡¯s Rest mountain. The yer he was hunting was probably on top of the mountain.

    "Shit, heights." Dave shook his head and decided to brave through his mild fear of altitude.

    He took a none-traced rout and began climbing the mountain. After a few minutes of climb, a notification appeared in front of Dave.

    ***

    Your body temperature has dropped below normal.

    Your stamina regeneration has decreased by 10%

    ***

    "This is one of the reasons I would rather be undead," Dave groaned and continued climbing up. His body began shaking uncontrobly. His metallic armor served little to no purpose in defending against the freezing coldness of the mountain.

    Every few minutes, another notification would appear reminding him that his body cannot go on like this. Frost umted over his armor and his speed decreased severely.

    Dave looked down, Ulmir¡¯s Rest was far away from him. And no yer had noticed him climbing the mountain. He raised his right hand up and clenched his fist. The Ring of True Undeath shone in dark light and Dave was transformed into his Bearded Undead avatar.

    A notification appeared in front of Dave.

    ***

    Never Tire!

    As an undead, you cannot suffer, slow/freezing/Stamina depletion.

    All negative effects have been reverted.

    ***

    "Much, butter," Dave spoke in his hollow draugr voice. He continued climbing up until the crystal began humming.

    Dave had reached halfway point of the mountain. Right now, he didn¡¯t dare look down.

    A few meters above Dave was a ledge. He reached the ledge and climbed up. This ledge spanned most of the mountain in a circr manner. It was the only thing that yers could use to climb the mountain, or if they were undead with unlimited stamina, they could ignore the ledge and climb the mountain like Dave did.

    The crystal shone brighter in Dave¡¯s hands. Through the howling of the cold wind on the mountain, he heard the cutting voice of a few yers that wereing through from the ledge.

    Dave looked around, the area he stood on was too dangerous to fight in. if he made a mistake and fell, that¡¯s a one-way ticket to Limbo. He didn¡¯t want that.

    Dave looked at the ledge one more time and smiled. He waved his hand summoning spectral skulls and buried them in the snow over the ledge. He then climbed down with his hands firmly gripping on the ledge. He didn¡¯t need to worry about losing his grip. The undead race had firm control over their bodies and Dave¡¯s Strength value and unlimited Stamina guaranteed that he could remain gripping at the ledge for as long as he wished.

    After a few minutes, the falling snow covered Dave¡¯s hands and most of his upper body. But the voiced of the yers never died down. Dave could now hear their footsteps crushing the snow among the roaring of the wind.

    "How far is it!?" one yer shouted.

    "Half an hour! Just hang on!" a yer replied.

    "Are you sure it¡¯s a real dungeon?" another yer asked.

    "Yes, damn it, I¡¯ve told you many times before."

    "Howe no one knows about it, man?"

    "Because it¡¯s a hidden dungeon. I discovered it by luck." The leading yer said.

    Dave was listening intently, there was a dungeon on this mountain? That was interesting to him. He was looking to capture more dungeons anyway.

    A few secondster, the party was moving right next to Dave¡¯s gripping hands. His smile grew wider by the second.

    Looking up, Dave noticed the yer with the Demon Icon on top of his head. The yer was wearing priest clothing.

    Dave grabbed the priest by the ankle and wrenched him into the emptiness. The priest¡¯s mind went nk for a moment. He was so surprised and shocked he forgot to scream.

    ***

    You have killed one of the Ash-King¡¯s minions!

    Your standing with the Undead Legion grows.

    Your Standing with Ramsha grows.

    Your standing with the Undeath God grows.

    ***

    The party noticed the death of their priest all toote. Dave snapped his fingers, blowing up the spectral skulls he buried in the snow. Several explosions echoed at once knocking all the yers from the mountain¡¯s ledge and into the emptiness. The mass of roiling snow and rocks, covered Dave from their sight as they fell.

    Dave gripped hard on the ledge until all the snow and rocks fell. He climbed back up on the ledge and dusted the snow off of his armor.

    Dave leaned a bit down, realizing that the height was nauseating, he snapped his neck back, ¡¯Burh that¡¯s damn far."

    Thankfully, Dave¡¯s stunt came out all right. He didn¡¯t die and probably wasn¡¯t identified. The yers died way too fast and too suddenly to recognize what killed them.

    Due to his current status as an Undead, he can¡¯t be counted as a PK and won¡¯t have the Aggressor Status. So, the yers will probably be at a loss at what killed them.

    Dave looked up; the ledge went on for a while. He continued climbing, the yers had mentioned the existence of a dungeon at the top of the mountain. His curiosity got the better of him and he was now going to see what was in this Hidden Dungeon.

 Chapter 372 Secret of The Lost Race

    Chapter 371

    The cold wind howled in the mountain heights. Ulmir¡¯s Rest was a fortified city built under a mountain that was part of the Mountains of Glory formation. A lonely draugr was making his way up the mountain. Usually, yers wouldn¡¯t go this high up for the risk of asphyxiation or freezing.

    The use of potions to fight the cold woulde out pricey and would be for no defined reason if done. The party that Dave had just wiped out had a leader that was stubborn enough and rich enough to afford to spend the potions on himself to see whatys at the top of the mountain.

    Dave on the other hand, as an undead had no need for such tools. His passive ability ignored the cold and he had no need for breath. He was perfectly suited to go up the mountain without caring for such diforts.

    Dave circled around the mountain, following the ledge that spanned around it with steady and firm steps. He feared heights, but he kept his eyes focused on the way until he arrived at the end of the ledge. Literally, the end. There was no dungeon, no hidden cave no nothing. The ledge ended, and whaty under it were thick clouds. Dave didn¡¯t have the slightest doubt that if he took another step, he would find death awaiting him with open arms.

    "This is strange, why did that guy take them all the way here for nothing?" Dave murmured to himself.

    He looked back, doubting if he had taken a wrong turn, but the way was linear so he immediately shook away the idea.

    There were no caves or cracks in the mountain along the way so it didn¡¯t seem like there was a hidden dungeon entrance that he missed somewhere.

    Another though came to his mind, this one a bit more believable. Perhaps the party leader was intending on doing some PK, using the heights to his advantage. Then again, that was improbable. The party seemed to know the leader well enough to trust him toe to this ce.

    Dave was missing something important. He crouched down and gazed at the clouds under the ledge. He couldn¡¯t see anything beneath them. The whistling wind gave him a shudder and he stood back up.

    "Something¡¯s wrong," Dave thought to himself. He then waved a hand summoning eight spectral skulls.

    He pressed his hands toward the clouds under the ledge, leading the floating skulls down. When the skulls disappeared into the clouds, Dave snapped his fingers. Eight thundering explosions boomed in session from within the clouds.

    The shockwaves busted the clouds away, for only a few seconds revealing arge stone tform underneath them. On the other side of the tform was arge cave entrance.

    "So it was hidden by the clouds," Dave smiled.

    The tform was a dozen feet under the ledge. The amount of clouds present, made it disappear from view.

    It only took a few seconds for the clouds to thicken again and hide the tform from view.

    "Alright," Dave said to himself and hopped from the ledge and into the clouds.

    After a moment¡¯s pause, Dave¡¯s feet dug into the thinyer of snow covering the stone tform.

    Dave¡¯s vision was covered by thick fog. He couldn¡¯t see a foot in front of him even with his Undead enhanced vision. The clouds were just that thick.

    Dave activated [Aura], a swirl of infernal heat emanated from his body and burst outwards. The clouds were chased away, most turned to water and the rest vaporized from the heat Dave was releasing.

    The cave in the wall was right next to Dave, and he walked through it. When he got inside, he disabled [Aura], there was no fog inside the cave.

    Dave¡¯s vision allowed him to see the inside of the cave. Looking up, there was arge assortment of sharp pointy stctites pointing down. While the depth of the cave was too dark for even Dave¡¯s vision to see through.

    Dave walked steadily down the cave. The wind howled through the tunnel, imitating the sound of roaring beasts. A sensation that would make anyone¡¯s hair stand on end.

    After a while of walking, Dave felt that the cave was inclined downward. He was going deeper the more he went inside. And after a long time, walking Dave noticed something on a wall.

    He stopped to investigate. It looked like a fossil of something small and frozen. Dave pulled out his sword and scratched the ice on it. After a few scratches Dave finally recognized what he was seeing. It was a fish, something that looked like a piranha with a horn?

    Dave was puzzled for a moment, what would a fish be doing all the way up in this mountain? Could it be someone¡¯s food? But the fish was perfectly preserved.

    He ignored it and continued walking down the cave. Soon, he saw more of these fishes on the wall. It was a strange sight to Dave, he couldn¡¯t exin or understand what these fish were doing all the way up here. Then he saw something a bit different than a fish.

    It was a frozen man. He had long ears, and a pale white skin. He didn¡¯t have a nose but on the side of his neck were gills. His hair was long and clothed together like algae. While between his fingers was a light tissue like membrane.

    There was arge hole in the man¡¯s chest. A rusted sword was inserted into it. And there was a broken tridentying next to his feet.

    The man, or, fish-man? Had a look of horror on his face and was forever frozen in ice.

    Dave thought for a second then pulled out his Sworn Stalwart Gauntlets. He wore them and pressed both his hands on the ice sculpture. The radiating heat from the gauntlets made the ice sizzle and turn to water and vapor in moments.

    After a few seconds, the fish-man corps fell limply on the ground like it had no bones.

    The long period of frigidity had worn down the body¡¯s cells and made it like rubber.

    But that didn¡¯t bother Dave. H touched the corpse and chanted, "Rise Undead!"

    A ck surge of deathly aura poured into the corpse. Dave didn¡¯t even have the time to think if the spell would work or not, as the corpse shuddered in motion.

    ***

    You have sessfully revived a named undead!

    Azusa Sea-Breeze

    Level 350

    As a named undead, Azusa Sea-Breeze will be added to your undead ranks without the need for you to supply him with mana to keep him in functional condition.

    ***

    the fish-man looked at Dave wearily. With undeath cast upon him, the fish-man no longer moved like a wobbly piece of slime shaped to a humanoid. But his bones became stronger and his skin tightened. But the hold in his chest was still there.

    The fishman looked at Dave with weariness at first, then recognition dawned upon him. He knelt down and bowed his head.

    "Get up Azusa," Dave said.

    The fish-manplied and got up.

    "Tell me, what are you, and who are you, and what are you doing here?" Dave spoke.

    "I shall answer all my lord¡¯s questions, if you allow me to speak a plea first," said the fish-man.

    "Talk," Dave said.

    The man looked around him and down at the rusted sword protruding from his chest.

    "By the amount of rust on this weapon, I must have died for ages long. But that doesn¡¯t mean that it was the same for my n." The fish-man looked back at the depth of the cave and said.

    "And perhaps what we came here for is still inside this cave."

    Dave tilted his head and asked, "What did youe here for?"

    "The Sea-Folk¡¯s most horrifying secret. Pandora¡¯s Box." The fish-man spoke to Dave. In his voice, Dave could feel a tingling of fear, though undead fear not, howe this one is afraid?

    ***

    You have discovered a clue about a Godly Tier item.

    Pandora¡¯s Box!

    Follow the clues for more information on the subject.

    ***

    "Now this is interesting," Dave said in a smirk.

 Chapter 373 The Hidden Temple

    "What is this Pandora¡¯s Box?" Dave asked.

    "I can¡¯t answer that," Azusa answered.

    Dave frowned, this was strange, a bound undead refusing to answer hismander¡¯s question?

    But the following words exined what Azusa really meant.

    "It is not that I do not wish to answer your question lord, but it is that I don¡¯t know too, to be honest. The knowledge behind the box has been kept and safeguarded by the higher-ups of our n."

    ¡¯Hmm, so to get more answers I¡¯ll need to revive someone higher level than Azusa.¡¯ Dave thought to himself.

    "What were you doing here? You were killed by a sword strike, in a fight? What were you fighting against?" Dave asked.

    "The human race had figured that our n was saving the relic of Pandora in this mountain. I was ordered, me and many of my brothers and sisters to protect this ce. But the humans hade in here, armed and ready for a war. I don¡¯t know much more. I have died here, and the box was ced in the safety of this mountain."

    "You mean, the box could still be here?" Dave asked.

    "I do not know, but Queen Roxanna had made preparations to protect the box against any assant. There is a chance that the box is still safeguarded. But I doubt that the humans would have given up before obtaining it." Azusa said.

    "There is one way to figure it out then, let¡¯s go deeper," Dave said and walked ahead.

    Azusa followed behind Dave as they went to the lower parts of the cave.

    More bodies were littering the walls, however, these bodies were heavily wounded. Missing limbs and heads. The savagery of the blows imparted on the Sea-Folk was too brutal to look at without feeling a bit of remorse or disgust.

    Azusa grunted whenever he saw one of his brothers¡¯ dead bodies. Soon, his eyes widened and rushed ahead of Dave. He knelt down, there was a piece of jewelry embedded in the ice. It was a golden star-fish.

    "Fionna," Azusa spoke, his voice quivering and sad.

    Dave looked at Azusa for a while and said, "Rtive?"

    "My wife, this is her pendant, I gave it to her. She probably died here." Azusa said. The pain in his voice was barely hidden as he stood up.

    "Let¡¯s keep going my lord."

    Dave nced at the small starfish for a while then moved ahead.

    "You¡¯ve been dead for a long while Azusa, even if she survived the battle, you should know that by now, she would not be alive."

    "I know that lord. But it would have given mefort to know that she survived this battle. That she went back to our homnd and took care of our children. My death would have been worth it if she had survived, but now, there is nothing but loss." Azusa said.

    "Right. Let¡¯s keep going," Dave said and moved ahead.

    After several minutes walk, the two stopped in front of a half-opened stone door.

    The door was the color of dirt, it stood out among the icy blue stone of the cave. There were carvings of Sea-Folk on the door and two broken status of a fish-man on the ground. The fish-man status wielded a trident and their lower bodies were that of a fish. Like mere-men.

    The door was open, its carvings battered and broken and filled with a brown crusted substance on them. Blood, Dave concluded.

    "They have gotten inside," Azusa said.

    "What¡¯s in here?" Dave asked.

    "This is where my people safeguarded the box. If you wish to know more, you must go inside."

    "Come in then," Dave said.

    The Fish-Man shook his head, "That¡¯s a taboo, I¡¯m a warrior and only the maidens and servants of the Sea-Goddess can go inside."

    "Sea Goddess? I thought the Kraken ruled the seas," Dave said.

    "The Kraken rules but one sea. The high-Seas. The Sea Goddess rules any living being that dwells in the sea. She gives blessings to ships and guarantees prosperity to our lives."

    Dave remembered when Gafgar had thrown fish for the dolphins and obtained the sea-Goddess blessing. Perhaps she is the one Azusa was speaking about.

    "Right, then stay here. I¡¯ll go inside."

    "Lord, be wary, the traps and machinations of protection might still be functional. They are deadly to all but our race." Azusa warned.

    "Thanks for the warning, stay here I¡¯ll be back shortly," Dave said and walked inside.

    A notification appeared in front of Dave the moment he stepped behind the door.

    ***

    You have entered the hidden dungeon: Temple of the Sea Goddess.

    XP is doubled for 6 days.

    The creatures inside the Temple of the Sea Goddess do not drop loot!

    ***

    Dave waved away the notification and moved deeper into the temple.

    Several torches lit up on the walls of the temple lighting the way. Dave looked around taking in the view.

    The floor was paved with square bluestone bs. And on the walls were several statuses of sea creatures and beasts. At the other side of the door was arge Kraken statue and right under it was a flight of stairs that led deeper down.

    This was but the temple¡¯s entrance, but from the number of skeletonsying on the ground, Dave had the feeling that a great battle had unfolded here.

    The cold from the mountain didn¡¯t reach this far, thus the corpses didn¡¯t have the chance to freeze over and preserve themselves. But rotted as time went on and nothing but bleached bones remained.

    Dave went to the nearest skeleton, to revive it and know more about the story behind this area.

    When he touched the body, it immediately turned to bone dust. Not even [Rise Undead] could resuscitate it back to undeath.

    Dave shook his head, the system was probably telling him that he should probably find out about the history of this ce by using the regr methods. Searching and deducing the answers behind this massacre.

    He walked away from the corpses and went down the flight of stairs. It led down to a darker part of the cave.

    When he reached the bottom of the stairs, he heard the sound of hinges and the groaning of metal. A dark door opened up revealing arge square hall.

    The hall was supported by a dozen pirs, there was arge red carpet spreading from the hall entrance to an altar at the other side.

    There were several burnt-out candlesying on the altar and right against it was the body of a skeleton that had a white gown.

    Dave slowly made his way to the altar, taking in the view of what remained of the altar. Corpses, all of them belonged to the Sea-Folk as Dave concluded. The human corpses must have been carried away by the humans who invaded this ce after they finished with whatever task they had here.

    When Dave arrived at the altar, he noticed that there was a small square tile risen above the altar. Something was here and was taken away. There was a big chance that it was the box.

    Before Dave could make more of what was in the hall. He heard a rumbling voice behind him.

    Looking back, Dave saw two creatures standing tall at the hall¡¯s entrance. They looked like mutated ogres, they hadrge hunches made of coral, and their bodies were rock solid. They were a mixture of coral, flesh, and stone.

    "All trespassers of the Sea-Goddess temple shall die!" one of them bellowed and the second one charged at Dave.

 Chapter 374 Dungeon Designing

    Dave rolled away from the charging stone hunchback. The creature was like the Juggernaut as it smashed into the altar, destroying itpletely.

    It took it a few seconds to extract itself from the truck-sized hole it created in the wall. But Dave didn¡¯t have time to pay him any attention, the second hulking coral beast was charging at him.

    Dave moved away from the two creatures, creating distance. He didn¡¯t know what he was fighting against so he inspected one of them.

    ***

    Coralotit

    Level: 410

    Tier: Epic

    Base damage: 85,000-90,000

    Danger Level: ?

    HP: 1,500,000

    PD: 150,000

    MD: 120,000

    Skills:

    [Unstoppable Force] Charges at a target location dealing 1000% base damage. The attack cannot be stopped and the user will find itself exhausted for 3 seconds after the Skill ends.

    [Stone Skin] Increase the defense of the Coralotit by 200% for 30 seconds. Loses 30% movement speed.

    [Back Breaker] ms down with both its fists dealing 200% base damage and creating a cone of spikes that deal 100% base damage, decreasing by 10% for every one (1) meter the spikes travel.

    Lore: Coralotit, were created to protect the temple of the Sea Goddess. They do not tolerate trespassers and will fight to the grimmest of oues.

    ***

    ¡¯Okay, nothing too threatening,¡¯ Dave thought to himself. He rolled away from another charge of one of the closest Coralotit and sent an uppercut to the creature¡¯s jugr from his position. The creature screeched in pain, Dave¡¯s mes proved to be extremely dangerous to the coral creature.

    The second monster jumped at Dave and came down like a meteor.

    Dave backflipped into [Vertical sh] dodging the attack, but the monster¡¯s fists mmed into the ground the moment itnded, creating a wave of moving stones that formed into spikes.

    The spikes came at Dave, their pointy ends promising a world of pain if he got skewered on them.

    Dave hopped back and ran away, exhausting the skill¡¯s range. These creatures were clearly not dangerous to Dave, but he felt like he was missing something. Something was not right; the Dungeon¡¯s defense was pretty much just these two guardians. This ce could hardly be called a Dungeon, it was nothing but a room with two monsters.

    Dave waved a hand, eight Spectral Skulls materialized, then the eight became sixteen Infernal Spectral Skulls. Dave¡¯s strongestbo, the fusion of [Spectral Skull], [Dragon Ball] and [Twin Strike].

    The Infernal Skulls moved at a rapid pace splitting into two groups. Each of the Coralotit was facing eight zing skullsing their way.

    The creatures braced for impact, but the magic and power behind Dave¡¯s Skill rattled them. Cracking their coral made bodies and burning them ck.

    -1,225,000

    -1,225,000

    While the creatures were howling in pain, Dave dashed toward one of them activating [Stampede] luckily, when he mmed into the creature, the monster was sent flying and it crashed into its brethren.

    The two monsters fumbled on top of each other for bnce, but Dave gave them no chance at regaining their footing. He moved rapidly, spinning like a top into [Infernal Tornado]. His fists mmed into the monsters, rattling and shaking them with every punch, and finally draining them to theirst drop of HP.

    Dave didn¡¯t gain any EXP after defeating the two creatures. They were way too low level for him to get anything from them. But just because the fight was over, he didn¡¯t let his guard down.

    The two monsters literally popped out of nowhere and he didn¡¯t want to risk being surrounded by more monsters while he was unprepared to deal with them.

    Dave looked around the temple carefully. The whole thing was a mess. The walls were stained with brown substance, which he strongly suspected were old bloodstains. Whatever happened here must have been a deadly battle or a horrific ughter. The situation at the entrance of the temple suggested the second option.

    And forever what it was worth, the box Dave was looking for must have fallen to the hands of the invaders.

    Dave scrutinized the temple more closely. He didn¡¯t find anything of interest besides the body of the dead woman, or the skeleton of it. There was nothing out of the ordinary. Ordinary being, old blood, and bleached bones.

    Dave crouched next to the the skeleton in a white dress. The dress was torn in many ces, suggesting sword wounds by the amount of dried frozen blood next to the cuts on the dress.

    "Sorry," Dave apologized to the corpse and moved it away. The hilt of a swordy under the corpse. The sword hilt was in better shape than the one that went through Azusa¡¯s body.

    Dave knew this sword, he had seen something like it before. He didn¡¯t recognize the one that ran through Azusa¡¯s body, because rust has eroded most of it. Yet this one was somewhat intact. This sword belonged to the elite forces of the Qin Army.

    Whoever attacked this temple for the box must have belonged to the Eastern Kingdom.

    Dave had more clues on the box. His eyes wandered for a bit and itnded on the hand of thedy. She was clutching something tightly with her hand. Even after death, her fist remained closed. Dave opened the hand and saw a small golden starfish inside it.

    "Ah shit."

    Dave sighed and stood up. Azusa was in for some bad news. Dave turned to leave the dungeon but the corner of his eyes spotted a small floating orb floating above the hand of a statue.

    Dave approached the orb and touched it. A nostalgic notification appeared in front of him.

    ***

    You are in control of the Dungeon Core. Would you like to modify the structure of the Dungeon?

    Y/N?

    ***

    Dave smiled and pressed Yes.

    ***

    As a Doom Knight, you have ess to special options to modify the current Dungeon.

    Dungeon of the Sea-Goddess. - One Level limited-

    What would you like to change?

    ***

    "Show me my options," Dave said.

    ***

    Change Dungeon structure, (Limited to caves, caverns and mines)

    Change monsters spawning in the Dungeon. (Limited to Undead Race, the maximum level of the Boss cannot exceed the level of the Dungeon Administrator)

    Change the levels of the Dungeon. (As a Doom Knight, you can make a Dungeon with four levels)

    ***

    Dave smiled and began tweaking the Dungeon settings.

    A holographic screen appeared in front of him showing the Dungeon he was currently in. The Dungeon was situated inside a mountain. There was a lot of ¡¯free space¡¯ for him to use. So he started with increasing the amount of levels.

    He increased the levels from one to five on the holographic screen. He was offered some exemple Dungeonyouts. He found one that was basicallyposed of five stackedbyrinths. He liked it and chose it as a base sitting.

    He still changed some of the paths in thebyrinth making ess easy but getting out an extremely hazardous option.

    "Still feels a bit too easy," Dave thought.

    "Dungeon creating is never easy, what are you talking about?" Dave heard a voice right next to his ears.

    Somehow, he didn¡¯t yelp in fright or jump from his ce. He was too surprised to even feel fear. Turning slowly Dave saw the grinning face of ALBERT staring intently at him.

    "What are you doing here?" Dave asked.

    "Well, you¡¯re trying to restructure a Dungeon, I was interested so I came to see. Though I could have done this from all the way in my favorite tropical ind." ALBERT said with a friendly smile.

    Dave shook his head and said, "The basic design is a bit too easy. yer-friendly, not a big fan," Dave said.

    "How do you suggest to change it?" ALBERT asked.

    "Hmm...walls, moving walls, walls that go up and down. Throw the yers off, create new sections every few seconds. Rotate the floor, mess up their sense of direction. Basic stuff."

    "Nothing too hard to do. But I doubt that will change the Dungeon much," ALBERT said.

    "Yeah, if that¡¯s all we do. Then we add monsters, random ones. Monsters thate in and force yers to go off their base direction. Make the walls separate the party, heck even make the Dungeon disable teleportation ormunication. A real Dungeon, something that will make everyone think carefully about everything, make them sweat." Dave said while grinning evilly.

    "Hmm, let me help you then," ALBERT said and several tools appeared in Dave¡¯s holographic design.

    "These are Advanced Dungeon Creation Tools, you can find most of the stuff you talked about using them. But you have to respect the number one rule of Dungeon creation," ALBERT said. But Dave didn¡¯t wait for him to say the rule Dave replied on his own," The Dungeon has to be fair, it has to be solvable."

    "Yes."

    "Don¡¯t worry about it, gimme them tools, sit back and rx and let me work some magic here," Dave said and began expanding and elongating walls, he shifted the cells in the holographic design. Created new routes, dead ends, ways that lead to more ways, sections that led to nowhere and sections that ended in pitfalls or numerous death traps.

    ALBERT frowned at the deadliness of the dungeon, he was about to speak but when he saw Dave¡¯s next moves he smiled. "Truly, an evil Dungeon. I admire the human mind, it could make such a monstrous creation yet still, in all that danger you still leave a ray of hope."

    "Only for the smartest of people to notice, otherwise all will die. So, what do you think about this dungeon?" Dave asked.

    "Quite lethal, you didn¡¯t even add the Boss Monster of this ce. Do you think the yers can pick up on the bread crumb hints you dropped?" ALBERT asked.

    "From my own experience, it will take them a bit of time. There are some really smart humans ALBERT. One of them will figure it out, but figuring out how to traverse the Dungeon is only one step."

    "What kind of monsters do you want in your Dungeon?" ALBERT asked.

    "Basic ones, Death Knights and a Doom Knight ss Boss. The monsters themselves aren¡¯t the real danger," Dave said.

    "Right, it¡¯s the path and journey, but you forgot an important thing. What will be the reward for clearing this Dungeon?" ALBERT asked.

    "Hmm, I don¡¯t know. Do I have to pay out of my own pockets? If not, meh, I don¡¯t think I¡¯ll change this ce at all." Dave shrugged.

    "No, that will be my own design, just tell me what do you think will be worth the trouble of the yers who finish this Dungeon."

    "Gold is not that valuable. For this ce, perhaps a Title, something to prove their bravery, bragging rights sorta. Heck, anything symbolic. Material gain isn¡¯t worth as much as honor for these yers."

    "Right. Then very well, would you like me to announce this Dungeon to the yers of the world?" ALBERT asked.

    "Hmm, yeah, do it. It should be fun to see them sweat." Dave said.

    Just as Dave finished speaking, a notification appeared in front of him.

    ***

    Server Announcement!

    yer Kis¡¯Shtiengbrah invites you all to conquer his Dungeon!

    The Dungeon is situated at the top of Ulmir¡¯s Rest, in the Mountains of Glory, Northern Kingdom.

    By defeating the Dungeon, you shall im the Title, Grand Endeavor!

    Furthermore, besides the loot gained through the Dungeon, the first party toplete the Dungeon will be granted temporary ess to the Underworld for 30 days!

    ***

    "Oh, that¡¯s a tempting offer," Dave smiled.

    "Yeah, I suppose it is." ALBERT said, "Now let me finish do some touch-ups," ALBERT added.

    ALBERT added cosmetic effects, statues, symbols and many other things. This only made Dave¡¯s subtle hints even harder to spot. Soon, the mountain began shaking as the structure of it began changingpletely.

    In less than a few seconds the mountain was ready for the visitors.

    "The news has spread, and now many yers are taking Ulmir¡¯s Rest¡¯s teleportation gate toe here. To make it fair, I have disabled the traveling fees for all the yers as not to empower the Northern Kingdom by proxy of your Dungeon," ALBERT said.

    Dave shrugged saying, "The yers will still buy items from here, with the mass increase in the poption that wille through the gate the Northern Kingdom will be empowered anyway," Dave said.

    "Probably, but you should look at the grand picture. Now that the yers know you can alter Dungeons, I believe they might invite you to alter their own Dungeons. The mass immigration of yers can enrich the kingdoms of the world of Conquest and you are the axis of such an event."

    "Yeah, I can get a good amount of money from that. Thanks ALBERT I didn¡¯t think about i like that."

    "Consider it thanks for showing me what the human mind can do."

    Dave nodded at ALBERT and tore a teleportation scroll for Urburg. He needed to meet with the old man. Only he could tell him more about the Kingdom of Qin, and about the ones who attacked the Temple of the Sea Goddess.

 Chapter 375 I Spy With My Littel Eye...

    Dave appeared in the heart of Urburg, the city, bustling with all its activity and construction looked like it was about to take its first breath after reviving. The end of the construction was neigh. The buildings looked clean and neat. The Undeads sense of beauty and aesthetic remained unchanged even in death.

    Large wooden buildings stood aligned, facing each other across a wide street. The city streets had small trenches along the side to funnel out rain if it fell. There was a sewer system installed, and there were stables, shops, and restaurants about to take their final shapes. The city was almost alive, it onlycked a day or two and a lot of people before Dave could finally call it a true city.

    Urburg had turned out to be a beautiful ce, situated among one of the deadliest ces on Conquest. The journey here would endanger a lot of its people, but the protection behind Urburg¡¯s walls would guarantee their safety.

    Dave was certain that once he revealed this area, it would be a hub for all kinds of yers to group and gather. They would forge out from Urburg to the Wilds, to grind EXP and collect resources and materials. Being this close and so deep in the Wilds, Urburg promised great excitement for allers. And all of it belonged to David Ruster. Once an orphan without prospects or a view of the future, now at the brink of making the Dream, capital D.

    Dave grinned as he walked through Urburg¡¯s streets. By announcing its presence to the world, he would by then, certainly and surely have set foot at a heightparable to all the world¡¯s Super Guilds. This ce might look like a city, but it held a lot of potential power and sway. Yet Dave didn¡¯t delude himself thinking that the masterminds behind the Super Guilds wouldn¡¯t think of ways to take this ce away from him. And he had prepared for such attempts.

    Protecting a city isn¡¯t as easy as protecting a kingdom, thetter needed a Conquest Right to conquer, the first only needed manpower and it could be overrun. Yet this didn¡¯t deter Dave from announcing it when it was time, after all, he knew what he was doing.

    Dave arrived at the town center, there were a few men and Undead working around a gigantic fountain that had the Undead King¡¯s statue standing in the middle. His sword held high in one hand while his other hand was behind his back. The statue was very life-like, if not for its white porcin color, Dave would think that it was the Undead King himself.

    One of the living workers noticed Dave, he turned and gave him a nod. Dave nodded in kind, smiling.

    It seems that the teachings he had imparted to the old man had spread.

    "Greetings Lord Kis¡¯Shtiengbrah," the man spoke.

    "Where¡¯s the old man?" Dave asked.

    "Lord Xix?" the man asked.

    "I never learned his name, but yeah that¡¯s him. Anyways, has hee back yet?" Dave asked.

    Before the man could answer, perhaps as if this was a script, Dave heard the grieving cry of a young man.

    Turning, Dave saw a young man, almost the same age as he was walking through the gates of Urburg. He had dozens of wounds all over his body, one of his eyes was gone. His right leg had an arrow going through it and blood dried around it. The man¡¯s clothes were torn and in tatters. He looked like an escapee from a torture camp.

    Dave walked briskly among the now interested Undead and humans. He stopped in front of the man and pulled a health potion from his inventory.

    "Drink!" Dave shouted an order.

    The man shuddered and seeing the Health Potion, he snatched it from Dave¡¯s hand and opened it. Drinking the contents in one single gulp. The red liquid sshed over his face and onto his clothes but he didn¡¯t care. He drank the red potion with greed, an insatiable thirst and a fierce desire to live. It was his hope.

    When he had emptied the potion¡¯s contents into his throat, the young man¡¯s expressions turned a shade pinker. Hisplexion improved and he no longer looked like a pale man on the brink of death.

    "T-thank you, lord."

    "Who are you?" Dave asked.

    "I¡¯m Xuan Liu, I¡¯vee with lord Xix, please, you have to help our lord! He¡¯s been captured. He came to take us to this city, but he was caught, they are killing him!" the man said.

    Dave shuddered, wrath was boiling under his skin, "Who is?" Dave asked. He already knew but he wanted to hear it from the man¡¯s own mouth.

    "The dogs of Qin! They followed him and found us, I barely managed to escape, I followed lord Xix¡¯s instructions and found this ce. Please help him!" the man urged.

    "Where were you stationed?" Dave asked.

    "A day¡¯s travel from here, to the north of this region."

    Dave nodded and stood up. Looking around, he caught sight of Nick standing among the crowd, a frown on his face. Dave didn¡¯t like it.

    Dave calmed down for a few moments then stomped his foot on the ground summoning the Tengu, Dog, and Bud. Dave had kept these three Death Knights on standby, as Singund went wreaking havoc across the whole of the Wilds.

    The moment the three were summoned, they surrounded Dave, arms at the ready and looked around preparing for a fight. Dave had already told them to be prepared to fight the Chosen One of the Ash King and they hadn¡¯t forgotten.

    "Stand down," Dave sp

    "What is the situation lord?" the Tengu asked.

    "Someone took one of our own, we¡¯re going to get them. Prepare for a battle." Dave said.

    The Tengu turned to Bud and Dog and said, "Call your underlings, we¡¯ll march with our lord!" he said.

    Dave turned to the Undead that were working on the construction, he frowned for a bit then turned again to the man who had copsed to the ground.

    "Take this man and tend to him," Dave ordered one of the undead workers.

    Once the man had been taken away, Dave turned to the rest of the Undead and said.

    "Be ready, I sense a fighting soon," Dave said.

    Nick then emerged out of the crowd and spoke to Dave. His mere presence made every other Undead fall immediately to their knees. As an Undead, you don¡¯t stand in the presence of the God of Undeath.

    "You noticed?" Nick asked in a hushed tone.

    "Yeah, no matter how lucky one can be, they won¡¯t be lucky enough to go through the Wilds with an arrow through the leg for a day¡¯s travel. Not with beasts that could smell even the tiniest drop of blood. Also, his wounds were heavy but not life-threatening as he made them seem." Dave replied, his voice equally quiet.

    "Then why did you heal him?" Nick asked.

    "Because we don¡¯t want to alert the rest of the spies." Dave grinned.

    "But you will still leave the area? Who is to protect Urburg, you should know that even if I love this city, there are rules, Kid. I can¡¯t break them."

    "I know, I have a n," Dave said.

    "Let¡¯s go," Dave called his three Death Knights and moved out of Urburg.

    The moment he was out of Urburg¡¯s perimeter and was hidden by its bushes and trees Dave stopped and turned to Bud and Dog.

    "You two," Dave said.

    "Stay here. I have no doubt that the armies of Qin wille here soon. They must have nned on this attack the moment they realized that my main forces are clearing the wilds. They used the old man Xix as a lure to get me out of Urburg so they can take over it. Stay here, and protect everyone." Dave said.

    "What about me?" the Tengu asked.

    "You¡¯lle with me," Dave said.

    He needed help if he was going to face the armies of Qin. Dave was powerful, but he was one man. If he faced thousands of Qin soldiers, he would die.

    Dave then dialed a number, it was Perfect-Shot.

    "Yeah, sup bruh," Perfect shot¡¯s voice came from the voice chat.

    "Are you avable now? I need a tracker," Dave said.

    "Yeah, I have some time. Should I call nker and Fortress?" Perfect asked.

    "If they are avable, we don¡¯t have much time," Dave said.

    "Where?" Perfect asked. He sensed the tension in Dave¡¯s voice.

    "The Wilds, Urburg."

    "I¡¯ll be there in a second."

    Perfect sent Dave a party invitation. Dave epted it, and he was once again in a party with TNT.

    It took the trio two minutes to arrive, thanks to the party option they quickly located Dave and came running.

    When Perfect Arrived with Fortress and nker. The Priest and Tank nodded at Dave. Surprisingly without jokes. They must have seen the annoyance on Dave¡¯s face and refrained from such.

    Perfect asked Dave, "What¡¯s the situation?"

    Dave gave Perfect the gist of things. "Understandable, it sounds fishy alright, but I don¡¯t think you¡¯ll need a tracker for this one," Perfect said.

    "I don¡¯t?"

    "Not really", he then turned to the Tengu and said, "You have a Heavenly Dog as an Undead." Perfect said matter of factly.

    "Ah," Dave turned to the Tengu.

    "I havee to the understanding that you wish me to find the man called Xix? Is that right?" the Tengu asked.

    "Yeah."

    "I have already met him and yes, I can still smell his scent." The Tengu closed his eyes and took a whiff from the Wild¡¯s air.

    His neck snapped to the south, "He¡¯s over there, a long-distance but nothing we can¡¯t cover in less than a day." The Tengu said.

    "Right, the man was going to send us in the opposite direction then. Very well, let¡¯s get moving."

    Dave stomped a foot on the ground summoning Spike. Though the basilisk was powerful, the Pronged Fiend was the fastest in the Wilds.

    "Oh, like the good old days!" Fortress spoke."

    "Ah man, why do I feel like I¡¯m gonna get the ass-seat again?"

    "Because you are," Dave said scratching at the Pronged Fiend¡¯s jaw.

    "Tengu, take to the skies and scout for us, we¡¯ll follow you on Spike. Everyone ready?"

    "YEAH!"

    "Then let¡¯s go kick some Qin ass!" Dave hopped on the fiend along with TNT and the monster darted through the forest.

 Chapter 376 No Rest For The Wicked

    The Pronged Fiend raced through the Wilds. It had lived in these forests for most of its life, and it knew them by heart. Now, as an Undead, it didn¡¯t feel fatigue or exhaustion. It moved at a pace that its former living self could never have achieved, nor would have ever been capable ofpeting with.

    Spike carried the TNT and Dave on top of its broad back with ease. Even with their heavy armor, weapons and essories, it proved a little hindrance to the magnificent stag.

    "How long?" nker asked.

    "Not yet, it¡¯s only been half a day. Tengu, you see anything?" Dave shouted.

    The flying Heavenly Dog replied in a rasping voice, "Ahead is nothing but death! Your Undead have wreaked havoc in this area of the Wild." the Tengu spoke, a sliver of pride in his tone.

    "Yeah, the boyz are damn badass! Still, we need to be ready for anything. Keep your eyes peeled for any trouble."

    The Tengu grunted acknowledgement and increased his speed. His wings blowing gales as they pped, propelling the red-nosed creature to sonic speeds.

    Dave led Spike by the horns, his task was to secure the safety of Xix and hisrades. They were Dave¡¯s people since the moment they had set foot at Urburg. They had be his and Dave had a terrible temper when someone tried to take what was rightfully his.

    "Bro Skelly, what do you think we¡¯re gonna do when we meet an army of thousands. I mean I don¡¯t mind fighting but those Qin soldiers..." Fortress didn¡¯t finish his words.

    It was true, the Qin soldiers were a tough bunch to deal with, not to mention the Elite Forces that even Dave himself couldn¡¯t fight. Only Jeffery with his super Mecha-Unit had managed to force them to retreat.

    "I¡¯ll handle them. I¡¯ve kinda improved since thest time. But if it¡¯s too serious, I¡¯ll call my entire Undead army upon their ass. No matter how tough they are, facing a hundred thousand Undead at once is bound to make them slip. Giving us the chance to extract Xix and the rest of his group." Dave said.

    "Finishing in murky waters," nker said.

    "I think you got the proverb wrong, but kinda, yes," Dave replied.

    The stag raced through the forest eagerly. Dave kept stroking his fur as he moved. Though now Undead, the appearance of Spike hadn¡¯t changed much. He still had a soft pelt and could still feel Dave¡¯s hands ruffling his fur. It made Spike move even faster.

    A few Were-Tigers decided that Dave¡¯s party was a good prey. They were soon convinced otherwise as Dave sted two of them with Infernal Spectral Skulls, sending the Were-Tigers to an early, grim and scorching death.

    The remaining members of the pack decided to retreat, a wise decision that only cost them two of their members.

    The attacks on Dave¡¯s group declined to null from then on. The Wild could sense the danger one presented as they moved through it, and so could its popce. From then on, Dave¡¯s group was left alone. But this didn¡¯t mean that they were safe, Dave knew all too well that there was an angry ck Dragon waiting for the chance to pounce on them. However, for the life of Dave, he had yet to understand why the ck Dragon hadn¡¯t attacked them yet.

    They still had the Stench of the Weak debuff on, so they were tagged as prey by the Wilds themselves. Yet the ultimate predator of the area had yet to decide to go hunt them. Dave didn¡¯t know what reason kept the dragon from hunting them, but for now, he was thankful for it.

    The party spent a few more hours of moving until the Tengu came down and stopped them.

    "Fires, my lord. There is a camp nearby, and your people are there. Most of them," the Tengu said grimly.

    "What do you mean, most of them?" Dave asked.

    "There were corpses. Corpses of men, women and children. The Qin Army used them and discarded them. A typical act of war, yet it still sickens me to see children so young deprived of their lives for the glee of others."

    "How many?" Dave asked

    "The victims, I counted seven," the Tengu replied.

    "No, I meant, how many soldiers of the Qin Army are there," Dave spoke through gritted teeth.

    "Numerous, but nothing we can¡¯t handle."

    "The Elite Forces?" Dave asked.

    "None were present," the Tengu shook his head.

    "Very well, let¡¯s go then," Dave said and hopped down from Spike.

    He patted the Fiend and said, "Spike, thanks for the ride. Stay here, I¡¯ll need you for the ride back. Things are about to get messy."

    The Fiend neighed in protest. "He wishes to fight alongside you my lord", the Tengu tranted.

    Dave smiled and said, "Thanks bud, but no, you¡¯re a great mount but you¡¯re not a fighting mount. I¡¯ll call you again when we¡¯re going back." Dave said and unsummoned Spike.

    "Now what do we do?" nker asked.

    "I¡¯ll get you some mounts", Dave said, and stomped a foot on the ground, summoning three Dunlords.

    "Each of you take one," Dave said.

    "Whoa, I always wanted to ride one of these," nker said giddily.

    Dave crouched and mmed his palm on the ground causing ck sigils to spread from underneath his hand. The sigils lit up and in an explosion of smoke, summoning Grumpy, the Onyx basilisk.

    "Grumps, you¡¯re up!" Dave said and hopped on Grumpy¡¯s back. He equipped Durandal and the Cursed Shield of Ajax.

    "Holy cow, WHAT ARE THOSE?!" Fortress blurted.

    "These," Dave said looking at the massive Ultra Great Sword and the round Cursed Shield, "These are god ying weapons. Let¡¯s see how they fare against the Qin Soldiers!"

    The four yers and one Tengu rushed towards the camp. The Qin Soldiers were caught off-guard and as it was night, most of them hadn¡¯t donned their armor. The surprise attack from Dave made them scream in fear.

    "Undead are attacking!" one of the soldiers shouted, to which the rest of the camp took notice and they began sounding the rm.

    Dave urged Grumpy ahead, the basilisk ran into a group of scrambling Qin Soldiers and chomped his maw close on one of the men¡¯s heads, instantly killing him. Dave jumped away from Grumpy, letting the basilisk massacre his way through the Qin Soldiers.

    He turned and charged into a group of soldiers that weren¡¯t wearing any armor, killing them instantly. The moment his charge stopped, he stomped a foot on the ground, activating [Blot the Sun].

    The skies thundered, literally thundered. Red lightning crackled in the skies as ck clouds made even the darkness of the night darker.

    Dave moved to another Qin Soldier, not hesitating in swinging his Ultra-Greatsword horizontally at the NPC. The soldier tried to parry Dave¡¯s gigantic sword with a spear he grabbed from nearby, only to have the weapon split in two, and at the same time split the wielder in half.

    The man or half-manid on the ground gurgling and throwing up blood. Dave didn¡¯t have time to admire his work, more of the Qin Soldiers were waking up from their surprise and they funneled to their tents to equip their gear.

    Dave looked ahead. The old man, Xix, was strapped to a tree and a few feet from him was a lit bonfire. The old man had many bruises and wounds all over his body, but he didn¡¯t look like he was broken yet. Next to him were several dozen men and women, held tight with ropes to the ground orrge wooden pirs all around the bonfire.

    "Guys, hold them off for a second!" Dave shouted and charged ahead.

    A few Qin Soldiers came at Dave all at once with spears aimed to pierce his chest. Dave used [Immortal Apparition] teleporting behind the group that stabbed empty air. He didn¡¯t turn, but waved his hand behind him and snapped his fingers. Summoning eight Infernal Spectral Skulls he blew up the soldiers.

    Dave kept moving, his sword shing at any unfortunate soldier that came his way, snapping them in half, or at least, breaking ribs and bones with every sword swing.

    A soldier charged at Dave with a shoulder bash, to which Dave reflexively held his shield up in [Block], he was once again reminded that the Cursed Shield of Ajax doesn¡¯t Block. Yet what happened next made Dave¡¯s eyes widen.

    The Cursed Shield of Ajax had jaws! Metallic jaws and they mped on the iing man¡¯s shoulder tearing it from his body. The shield chomped on the torn shoulder and arm, eating it and leaving the soldier screaming for a while until hey forever still.

    Dave raced through the Qin Soldiers, he roared with all he had as two soldiers came towards him swords aimed to take his head off, then swung down with his sword at one of them crushing him to the ground, while he took the second one¡¯s sword to the neck.

    -1,600

    The amount of damage wasn¡¯t enough to even prick Dave, to which he grinned.

    The Qin Soldier froze in fear, he had struck at Dave¡¯s neck with all he had and the Doom Knight didn¡¯t even seem phased by the attack.

    This moment of fright was the signature on the Qin Soldier¡¯s tombstone. Dave mmed down with his shield on the soldier¡¯s head, stunning him then shed at man¡¯s feet cutting them off. Dave managed to spin the gigantic sword over his head, then grabbed it with an overhand grip and stabbed down at the soldier¡¯s chest, ending his life instantly.

    Dave ripped his sword out and roared once again as many soldiers surrounded him. Yet this shout echoed through the Wilds and definitely resounded through the soldier¡¯s bones. Everyone took a step back from Dave. Even the loud mor that was going on behind him thanks to Dave¡¯s party helping him hold a path of retreat had stopped.

    The Qin Soldiers were terrorized. A single Doom Knight had charged through their ranks and wreaked unbridled havoc amongst them without finding anyone to stop him.

    Suddenly a notification appeared in front of him.

    ***

    In carnage, you thrive!

    As a Doom Knight, you bring doom to your foes with your mere presence!

    Deathly Presence activated!

    All units, fifty (50) level under you will sense fear at your presence.

    Your enemy¡¯s damage had been decreased by 50%!

    Your damage on afraid enemies has increased by 100%

    ***

    "Come! FIGHT!" Dave roared once again, to which every Qin Soldier shuddered and backed away they didn¡¯t want to die. Their expressions portrayed it.

    One of Dave¡¯s victims, a Qin Soldier that he had killed earlier began shuddering and moved back up. it picked up a weapon and moved next to Dave, ring angrily at his formerpanions.

    Dave¡¯s skill [Blot the Sun] had been improved upon and could now automatically resurrect Undead. Though the chances of resurrection were low, they were still there.

    When the Qin Soldiers saw their formerrade turning his weapon against them, that was the straw that broke the camel¡¯s back. They feared for their lives, but they feared more to turn to Undeath, to never find rest. To be enved to the will of another for all eternity and for all time toe.

    The Qin Soldiers¡¯ retreat turned into a route. They spun around and ran away, screaming shouting and cursing at whatever unwholesome luck had been brought down upon them.

    Dave was surprised at first at the sudden retreat of the enemy, but he didn¡¯t have time to question the reason why. He strode through the escaping enemies and stood in front of Xix.

    "Old man," Dave nodded.

    "Lord! You came...but you must return! Urburg is in danger!" Xix said.

    Dave smiled saying, "I know, don¡¯t worry, I¡¯m here to take you back."

    Dave turned to see the rest of Xix¡¯s people and frowned. They had been tortured and brutalized, but nothing too dangerous. It was sad that he couldn¡¯t save them all. But he had to ept what he had for now.

    "Guys, we¡¯ll go back," Dave said.

    The TNT had juste next to Dave, nker asked, "What about them?"

    "Don¡¯t worry about them," Dave said and waved a hand.

    As a Doom Knight, Dave had an option tomunicate with his Death Knight through vast distances.

    "Singund!" Dave called.

    "Lord! At yourmand!" the sound of the High-Orc Chieftain sounded around Dave.

    "I need ten Death Knight Units."

    "As you wish,mander!" Singund replied.

    Then suddenly, ten Death Knights appeared in front of Dave.

    "You, and you," Dave pointed to two Death Knights," Call your underlings, escort these humans back to Urburg. The rest of you,e with me," Dave said and tore a teleportation scroll to Urburg.

    nker, Fortress and Perfect shrugged at each other and followed Dave¡¯s action, tearing teleportation scrolls and they appeared in Urburg.

    The moment the trio appeared in Urburg, they heard loud sounds of battle all around them.

    "Guess we¡¯re notte for the party," Dave¡¯s voice sounded next to them. Next to him were eight Death Knights and Grumpy snorting hard at the iing hoard of Qin Soldiers.

    The Qin Soldiers had already breached the city gates, but the numerous Undead had quarantined their assault around the gate. The city hadn¡¯t taken a lot of damage, all thanks to Dog and Bud who were breaking bones at the city gate. These two Death Knights had been kept here at Dave¡¯s behest to protect the city, a n that had worked for the best of the citizen of Urburg.

    And now with the reinforcement, the Qin Army was set for yet another defeat.

    "FOR THE LEGION!" Dave roared, then dashed ahead. His Death Knights summoning their underlings and instantly tipping the battle to Dave¡¯s side.

 Chapter 377 Retaliation

    Dave rode ahead of his eight Death Knight. nker, Perfect Shot and Human Fortress raced after him. They had fought alongside Dave for a long time now and they were pretty familiar with all the tactics and behavior of the Doom Knight leading the charge.

    Fortress raced to Dave¡¯s nk, the tank was keen on keeping the aggro on himself giving Dave enough time to dish out massive damage at the Qin army that was held at the gate of Urburg.

    Perfect Shot hopped on top of an alchemist shop¡¯smercial panel and jumped to the shop¡¯s roof. He drew his bow and began showering the Qin Soldiers with arrows.

    nker, being in an environment full of undead refrained from using Holy magic as it would damage the undead more than help them. Still, he was quick in taking action, opting for buffing his human allies from the backline.

    Dave and Fortress reached the thick of the battle in no time. The Death Knights alongside Dave had already summoned their underlings and had them charging the Qin Soldiers like a tidal wave of bones, swords, and death.

    Dave¡¯s sword cut through the Qin Soldier¡¯s armor like a hot knife through butter.

    His passive Skill [Dark Harvest], had charged up, and he began dishing out massive amounts of damage with every sword swing. He then stomped a foot down, calling upon the power of his Skill [Blot the Sun]. The night in the Wilds turned darker as thunder clouds gathered above Urburg.

    The weather promised a rainfall but no drops of rain came down. Only the thunderous booms of thunder and the asional sh of red lightning came from the sky. Turning the atmosphere into an eerie nest of fear.

    The Qin Soldiers were only humans, and without the light from the moon, a primal sense of fear pervaded their minds. They were here to assault an unguarded city, yet what met them were hordes of men that walked through death. These undead were unfaltering, the darkness only made them more frightening to gaze upon, and the asional flicker of light that was reflected from their armor only made the Qin Soldiers tremble facing the iing assault.

    Dave¡¯s undead bore through the Qin Army like a sword through flesh. They screamed and shouted, theirmand crumbling as their leader fell and the first desertion happened.

    A Qin Soldier with a missing arm turned and fled, his action pulled more into following him. A few Qin Soldiers decided to stand their ground and fight, but the mere thought of being left alone against tides of undead encroached upon their minds. Death loomed near, and the reaper¡¯s scythe was dangerously close to their throat.

    The undead knew no mercy, they turned whoever fell to their side. The Legion¡¯s greatest danger was not its vast numbers, but its ability to turn ally into an unkible foe. What was once arade that they shared their days with, turned their de against them, their ownrades, fully converted to Undeath shouted the glory of the undead and the power of the Undead King.

    All, led by one single Doom Knight, deemed too worthless by the Emperor of Qin to send in the Elite forces to deal with. Now these troops would fall, and they could do nothing to stop the bearded draugr.

    To add to their misery, Dave roared out, sting the enemies around him away. [Aura] activated, making Dave the only light in this darkness. However, all knew that this light was lethal. It made a good target out of Dave, but no one in their right mind would dare assault the leader of the dead. Because, some had tried, and the draugr simply tore through them, crushed them, then revived them to his cause.

    This mere fact, turning to undeath after falling was enough to bring unprecedented terror upon the minds of the Qin Soldiers. They believed in immortality after death, in a long prosperous life in the afterlife, yet now, they were promised an evesting servitude under the Undead King.

    Little that they knew of the true life of undead and their prosperity. If they had known how the Undead King treated his subjects, perhaps the idea of turning to undeath wouldn¡¯t have been as appalling, but this veryck of knowledge had proved a terrorizing notion that made them dread death at the hands of undead.

    Legions upon legions of Qin Soldiers retreated, leaving the stragglers to hold the line, but all knew that those that stayed behind were forever left behind. The Qin Soldiers ran away, ran for their lives. For those that survived this night Urburg would forever be a stain. They would never forget the terrors that they had experienced. This night was sure to bring them nightmares for the rest of their lives.

    Dave kept killing the Qin Soldiers that were trying to fight back. Soon however, one of the soldiers dropped his weapon and knelt down at the foot of a Death Knight.

    Even in their undeath, the Death Knights of the Undead Legion never forgot what it meant to be a Knight. It is true, that facing them in battle was nothing short of suicide, however once the weapon wasid to rest, even the morbid death bringer would falter and let go. Knights never slew the unarmed, and in their surrender, the Death Knight forgave and turned to face another Qin Soldier that was either too brave to let go of his sword, or too idiotic to think he had a chance at victory.

    More Qin Soldiers noticed how the Undead Knight didn¡¯t kill the unarmed prostrating Qin warriors. And in this time of death, fear and despair, the Qin Soldiers forgot their honor, their king and their beliefs. Compared to saving their lives, what was a prostration?

    More Qin Soldiers fell to their knees, throwing their weapons away. And soon enough, not a single sound of battle echoed in Urburg¡¯s domain.

    These stragglers were too slow to escape and hence, they had be the prisoners of the bearded draugr. Another heavy blow Dave hadnded upon the person of the Qin Kingdom.

    Dave knew that these prisoners weren¡¯t of much value. The king of the Qin Kingdom must have fully known how dangerous assaulting the undead would be. Thus he had sent in arge force that while powerful, was notprised of his Elite Soldiers.

    This was the same as a shark taking a bite to see if the prey was worth its time. But Dave wasn¡¯t so thoughtless to execute prisoners of war, he had better use for them, or at least, Delvina would.

    Dave gave a few orders to the Death Knights, to spread througout Urburg and keep watch in case any of the Qin Soldiers decided to attack again. Though as Dave had handed them their own ass, it was doubtful that they would attack again anytime soon.

    He turned to a few workers and, after seeing the mild damage to the gate and the few buildings near it, he ordered them repaired as soon as possible and made a group of undead wait to ept the iing group he had just saved. Xix and his family would soon be here. They needed to find safety in this ce to trust it to be their own in the future.

    Dave didn¡¯t want to force people into living in Urburg, but once they were settled, he would make sure that no one disturbed their peace. He needed this city to run on security and safety and be the future hub of yers that want to level up and grow stronger. He needed to secure this ce from all dangers, starting with the Qin Army.

    Dave tore a teleportation scroll to the Undead Frontier. He walked were briskly towards his destination. He made it to the temple at the center of the area where Delvina was busily reading a few reports.

    "Oh, Kis¡¯Shtiengbrah, wee."

    "Delvina, I need your help, "Dave said.

    "What seems the matter? You look awfully distressed," Delvina replied. Folding away the notes and reports and focusing on Dave¡¯s words.

    Dave gave her the gist of things, and how Urburg was attacked, even more, he talked to her about the prisoners.

    "If I didn¡¯t know any better, I think you want to convert them," Delvina said.

    "Yes, I want them turned, I need humans in the settlement, but I need humans I can trust."

    "Very well, I shall send a few of my retinue to bring the prisoners," Delvina said and pped her hands.

    Two Death Knights appeared next to Dave, he didn¡¯t sense them or feel their presence until they were there. These Death Knights were d in leather garb too dark and too light to be of use in a sh of swords. These were assassins.

    "Report to the captains, and bring the prisoners here."

    The two Death Knights disappeared in the same manner they appeared, silent and inexplicably.

    "I need to go," Dave said.

    "The King?" Delvina tilted her head questioningly.

    "Yes," Dave said and tore another teleportation scroll to the Dead Realm.

    Dave raced up the spiral bone tower after getting past the Death Knights guarding the pce gate.

    His loud footsteps echoed as he ran up, and he halted abruptly at the door to the throne room.

    The Undead King was surprisingly alone, he rested on top of the Bone Throne, with his eyes closed and the fingers of his right hand tapping lightly on a skull of the giant throne he sat upon.

    "Childe, youe to meet Us in haste, what seems so troubling that you are of no patience to announce?"

    "The Qin Army attacked Urburg, I¡¯m here to ask for permission," Dave said.

    The king understood what Dave had in mind and he smiled, "We are in a time of great peril. Our war with the Ash-King is nigh, We cannot spare more might to aid you in your conquest." The king said calmly.

    "I didn¡¯te here to ask for troops, I only came here to announce the fact that I¡¯m waging war against the Qin Army."

    "Alone?"

    Dave smiled, "I¡¯m never alone. I¡¯ll hack at their borders with my Sub-Division. The Qin Kingdom might be too much for the current me to take on alone, but I¡¯ll be damned if I let them walk up to my door with trouble and not fight back."

    "Ha!" the kingughed heartily, "Spoken like a true king! Childe, if We see it wise to lend you aid in your time of need then We shall provide it. So show Us what carnage you can wreak with your army. Please Us, and We shall honor you!"

 Chapter 378 Assemble

    "Leave Us, and see to your tasks, Kis¡¯Shtiengbrah. We expect much from you, Childe!" the king said.

    Dave gave a shallow bow toward the monarch. Respect was due to the Undead King as his might proved the shield of the Legion. He was the symbol of power of a very deadly very powerful force. One had to give them their respect.

    Dave tore a teleportation scroll to Urburg. He arrived right next to the teleportation gate stationed in the town center.

    Looking around, the city no longer had the tension of the war that it just ensued. The buildings that suffered from the Qin army¡¯s assault were currently being repaired by busy undead.

    Dave turned and walked toward the Last Man¡¯s Drink Pub.

    When he entered, Dave noticed the pubpletely empty of all presences but two. Nick, the Undeath God was busily cleaning sses, while a man that looked a light breeze away from deathy on the floor groaning. The man was the same person that came to Urburg a few hours ago to inform Dave of the capture of Xix and his family.

    Dave ignored the groaning man and went toward the bar. He sat on a long bench that was ced against the bar and tapped twice on the bar top.

    Nick smiled at Dave and brought out a ck bottle of an unknown liquor, he poured two sses and slid one toward the draugr.

    Dave grabbed the ss and downed it in one go, Nick mirrored Dave¡¯s movement. The two looked at each other for a while until Nick spoke first.

    "Attacking the Qin borders, are we?"

    "Yeah. Can¡¯t be too passive in this, otherwise I¡¯ll lose Urburg. We don¡¯t want that do we?" Dave said.

    "Yeah, I¡¯ll have bad night sleeps if my pub goes under. You know, no parties or concerts might get me a bit cranky, I don¡¯t like being cranky."

    Dave scoffed at Nick¡¯sment and said, "It¡¯s gonna be ugly."

    "War is always ugly."

    "I¡¯m gonna be using a lot of resources, I don¡¯t even think I might win," Dave added.

    Nick poured another ss for Dave and waited for him to drink it and continue speaking.

    "I can¡¯t afford to lose this fight," Dave said. he took a deep breath and added, "And I need to prove my point to the Qin Kingdom."

    "Your point being?" Nick asked.

    "Don¡¯t fuck with me," Dave said with his usual draugr grin.

    "Yeah, we wouldn¡¯t want that. What are you gonna do about that though?" Nick¡¯s brow rose as he looked over Dave¡¯s shoulder at the man on the ground.

    Dave didn¡¯t even turn as he waved a hand, summoning an Infernal Spectral Skull, Dave moved the Spectral Skull close to the man, he squirmed trying to move away but he was too battered to even try and budge without feeling a world of pain.

    Nick tapped a finger on the bar dispersing Dave¡¯s Skill into nothingness.

    Dave frowned at the Undeath God, then waited for him to exin why he couldn¡¯t kill a traitor.

    "You could do much better than this you know, fear. Fear is what moves the living if you wish to have no one betraying you, or at least thinking very, very hard before doing so. You need to first make a point." Nick said, a smile crossing his lips. He then pped his hands and two Death Knights Dave had never seen before appeared right next to him.

    "Take him, and make a clear point to the residents of Urburg. Make them see that while we might protect them from harm, we are still the undead!" Nick said, his voice several tones tougher and more threatening than his usual carefree demeanor.

    The Death Knights hauled the man off the floor. He only gurgled, seeming unable to beg for mercy. As it turned out, the man had actually tried to speak but only guttural sounds emerged from his throat. Dave noticed that something important to deliver a proper speech was missing from the man¡¯s mouth. Nick had probably been annoyed by the man¡¯s incessant screaming and decided he no longer needed a tongue.

    "You¡¯re probably right. Make sure that the people understand what awaits traitors," Dave told the Death Knights.

    "Yes sir, we¡¯ll ensure the point is made," replied one of the Death Knights

    "Right, off to war then. Nick, take good care of Urburg." Dave said.

    "I told you before, I cannot interfere with mortals," Nick replied.

    "Right, but if anythinges up, I think you have the means to contact me?" Dave asked.

    "Somethinging up? Like what for example?" Nick smiled.

    "Like someone assaulting Urburg while I go wreck some cities from the Qin Kingdom."

    "I might have something like that then," Nick said and added "Godspeed, kid."

    Dave nodded at Nick who poured him his third ss.

    Drinks or food, tasted the same as they did in the real world, it was only brainwaves and with the advanced technology mimicking such waves was nothing too difficult. Even the light buzz after drinking three cups of alcohol that Dave had no idea what it was made of was genuine.

    "Time to call in the cavalry," Dave said with a smile and stood up from his stool. He walked out of the pub to a fest of sorts. There was arge bonfire set in the middle of the city. Dave had just walked into the bar not minutes ago and the undead had already set up a pyre to burn the traitor alive for all of Urburg to witness.

    "Bruh, that¡¯s just wrong," nker said. He was waiting just outside of the pub with Perfect Shot and Fortress.

    "Can¡¯t me them man. Think about it, if he had seeded and baited every defender out of the city, how many lives would have been lost? I think it¡¯s a lesson many will learn tonight. You don¡¯t cross the Legion ande out unscathed," Fortress replied grimly.

    "Yeah, still man. Burning someone alive is kinda too hard-core." nker shrugged.

    "Dave, what¡¯s the situation?" Perfect asked Dave in a calm tone. Like the live show was nothing but noise in the background.

    "We¡¯re hitting the Qin cities. We¡¯re gonna make them bleed," Dave said.

    "That¡¯s gonna be the same as wounding the beast, you only get it pissed off."

    "With enough bleeding wounds, even the mightiest beasts will die," Dave said.

    "Gueri warfare?" Fortress pitched in.

    "Yeah, break them piece by piece, we march as soon as possible," Dave said.

    "That¡¯s gonna be lit. Still, a hundred thousand yers couldn¡¯t make it, what makes you so sure you can?" Perfect said.

    "Think about it, those were a hundred thousand yers, all of them were working for their own objectives. Not a single Guild was willing to give another the edge, they had conflicts even if they didn¡¯t show it. They were many but unorganized, it was only natural that the Qin Army would rip them to shreds. My undead follow orders to the letter, they don¡¯t quibble, don¡¯t fight among each other, and are so damn synergized that it¡¯s a nightmare to anyone facing them."

    "What about the Elite Forces? If a thousand of them show up at once, they¡¯ll tear us to shreds." Perfect said. His cowardly nature made him always think of the worst-case scenarios and that wasn¡¯t bad all the time, until they really did happen.

    "Like I said, Gueri warfare. Don¡¯t bite off more than you can chew. If we end up facing the Elites, disperse and regroup, then assault another target. Keep the heat on the Qin Kingdom, make them break, and message delivered."

    "Right, sounds like a really bad/good n, I¡¯m in," Fortress said.

    "Same here," nker added.

    "Ditto," Perfect shrugged.

    "Let¡¯s call the rest of the party," Dave said.

    A few callster, everyone from Tess, ster, Mercy, Lone and even Demeri was there. Dave was feeling awkward around Demeri, AKA Vanessa but it seems that a bit of time apart had cooled her down. She didn¡¯t look perfectly over the fact that Dave had hooked up with another person, but she wasn¡¯t crying, which was a plus.

    However, Dave couldn¡¯t be too upied with the presence of Demeri, because there were two unexpected persons that had joined the group.

    A man wearing a brown robe that covered most of his body except for his elderly and very familiar face. and another middle aged man that was next to him, this one was wearing the ssic cowboy getup, all the way from the boots with the spurs to a leather cowboy hat on his head.

    "Howdy!" said the man in the cowboy getup.

    Dave¡¯s brows rose slightly and nodded, "Dante, Sam... Wee," Dave¡¯s gazended on Lone who was trying to avoid his gaze.

    After a minute of ufortable staring, Lone cracked and said, "He threatened to ground me if I don¡¯t take him along," she said pointing at her father.

    Dave shook his head and said, "Dante, we¡¯re going to some fairly dangerous ce you know," Dave said.

    "Yeah, I know, Zoe told me all about it, but I didn¡¯t want to lose out on the free EXP."

    "What level are you?" Dave asked.

    "120,"

    "Wow, that¡¯s fast, I mean that¡¯s really fast!" Dave said surprise in his voice.

    "Yeah, Zoe said that it was faster than you when you were leveling up," Dante said with a grin.

    "Ah stop it, Davey, he literally bought his EXP. He hired lots of yers and tagged along shooting anything in his way, his Legacy is damn broken," Lone said.

    Daveughed and turned to Samuel, "What ss?" Dave asked.

    "Merchant, not much of a fighter," Samuel shrugged.

    Daveughed saying, "Right, Lawyer and a Merchant, quite fitting. Anyway let¡¯s move, we¡¯ve got a lot of distance to cover before we meet up with the rest of the undead." Dave said and stomped his foot on the ground.

    The action summoned Spike and several Dunlords for the party to ride on. He summoned Grumpy for his own use and the group consisting of a mafia princess, gun-runner, a Devil Lawyer, three badly named yers, a purple-haired princess, a super-model and an overly muscled guy joined Dave¡¯s raid on the assault over the toughest, scariest, and most mysterious Kingdom on the world of Conquest.

 Chapter 379 Gathering of The Beasts

    The party rode through the wilds, unhindered, unchallenged and unstopped by any creature foolish enough to stop in the way of death. Dave led the whole group on grumpy, the basilisk making quick work of anything standing in his way, bulldozing through rocks, or small trees like if they were made of paper.

    The rest of the party followed after Dave, the girls were riding the Forest Pronged Fiend, while everyone else had their own mount, a Dunlord, equipped to match a tank in armor and as deadly.

    Through the party-chat, Lone spoke, "Davey, how long until we meet the rest of the boyz?"

    "Still a bit of way ahead, keep close, and keep your eyes peeled out," Dave said to the party. They were in the deep Wilds, there was no room to rest, and Dave never believed these areas to be safe even for theck of monstersing their way.

    "We¡¯ve been riding on these scorpions for a while now, still no signs of anything I can shoot, Davey boy, why is that? I thought this part of the world should be brimming with things to shoot," Dante¡¯s voice came over right afterward.

    "Sir, it¡¯s because of me, anything weak would run away the moment we go past it, and that¡¯s why we didn¡¯t fight anything."

    "Ah, that means we¡¯ll be safe as long as we are with you," Dante replied.

    "I wouldn¡¯t think so," nker pitched in, "Dave can scare the small-fries, as for the big fries, those guys will think of him as a threat. The moment we cross any of their territories, believe me Mr Silvana, you¡¯ll know it."

    "Iing!" Perfect Shot roared through the party chat.

    Up ahead, through the dark night and the darkness of the Wilds, a loud rumbling thundered. Through the trees, a gigantic silhouette as tall as pine trees and as wide as a truck wasing into view. With every stomp, the ground shuddered.

    Dave bent down tapping on the basilisk¡¯s back, ordering Grumpy to halt.

    "SPREAD OUT!" Dave shouted.

    Like a perfectly organized tactical squad; the party spread from each other in every direction.

    Mercy hopped off the Prong Fiend and merged with the shadows turning invisible. While Lone pulled the reins on the fiend and took Demeri to the backline with her. Perfect Shot hopped to the nearest tree, securing a vantage point. He had his bow ready.

    Fortress and ster rushed ahead to greet the iing threat, all the party members knew of their roles and their positions, with the exception being an old man in brown clothing and his brother in cowboy drabs.

    "What do we do?" Dante asked.

    "We don¡¯t know what¡¯sing but stay in the back, assess the situation then intervene how you see fit, I don¡¯t give orders unless it¡¯s necessary, the rest is up to your judgement," Dave said hastily as he saw the iing entity.

    It was a load of ck fur that walked on two feet and had arms that reached all the way to its knees.

    The creature was somethingmon, you could see one in almost every zoo, however, this one was by far, thergest Dave had ever seen. A gori, Kong-Sized.

    "Shit!" nker cursed, "It never went well for anyone taking on one of these, man. We should take another route!"

    "Right, we don¡¯t need to fight, we need to group up with the rest of the boyz-" Yet Dave¡¯s words were cut short, mainly because another entity had joined the fight.

    A few hundred meters to the side of the gori, the trees parted to reveal an enormous body of a hairy spider. Dave knew this spider very well, it was the Man-Eating Queen spider that chased them a few months ago when they first went into the Deep Wilds.

    "What the fuck is going on?" Fortress cursed.

    "Calm your tits, so far they¡¯re not attacking, something is not right. Don¡¯t provoke them, keep calm." Dave gave a swift set of words and backed away with grumpy alongside him.

    More creatures emerged around the party, each of them a behemoth of its own right. Until the ground rumbled as something heavy, enormous and clearly a heavyweight among the heavyweights appeared.

    ***

    WARNING! WORLD BOSS HTANAJNA HAS APPEARED!

    You may obtain incredible loot by defeating the world boss Htanajna

    ***

    "You¡¯ve got to be kidding me! We¡¯re fucked," nker groaned.

    "Is he always whining like that?" Dante winced.

    "He wouldn¡¯t be nker if he didn¡¯t," Perfect Shot replied but he then added, "But that doesn¡¯t change the fact that we¡¯re royally fucked."

    More monsters appeared, something even he never saw before. A Lion the size of small mountain. An arctic bear, with a fur so white it looked like a ghost in the night. A three-headed wolf with red fur. Giving the myth of Cerberus a great deal of credibility.

    More and more creatures emerged around the group as if they were being drawn by something.

    "I know that it¡¯s pretty bad to move through the wilds with the Stench of the Weak, but man isn¡¯t this just too much, not even one of the baddies, I think all the baddies of the wild are here," Tess said.

    "David, more areing, not just the big one, even smaller creatures, they are just scared and can¡¯t move any further, but it feels like the whole Wilds ising our way." Mercy¡¯s voice came calmly through the voice chat.

    Dave¡¯s hands tightened on a bone protrusioning out of Grumpy¡¯s back. He was nervous, but still, his head was cool, he knew that no matter what, or how strong his party was, for these creatures, they were nothing but small fries and they could kill every one of the yers in mere moments. However, what made him calm was the simple realization that none of them attacked, not just his party, but each other.

    These beasts or creatures are all territorial entities, if any of them was found in another¡¯s territory, there would be a slugfest. And so far, so many of them were tightly gathered without any indication of conflict or battle.

    Suddenly, all the creatures halted their advances. They made a perfect circle around Dave¡¯s party, surrounding them from all sides. This, of course, only Dave could clearly see in the dark thanks to his night vision. For the rest of his party, the most they saw were big, mean red eyes staring at them with hostility but at the same time with a lot of restraint.

    "Group up, stay around me and don¡¯t attack, I think something big is happening."

    Everyone grouped up near each other. Dave kept Grumpy calm, while Spike was an undead and had no need to fear, nor did the Dunlords that were carrying the rest of the yers. An eerie calm spread through the Wilds. Besides the loud breathing of the beasts, no one spoke, even the wind didn¡¯t dare howl in their presence.

    The monsters waited, calmly and patiently, for something to happen. And Dave was damn sure that he wasn¡¯t going to be the one to rattle them. Until something came to his mind.

    "Guys, don¡¯t you think there is something wrong here?" Dave said.

    "Wrong? I think everything is wrong," Ralph replied to him.

    "No, I meant like out of the ordinary, besides the situation. Don¡¯t you think that there is someone very important that is missing this party?" Dave said.

    The yers thought for a moment, until Lone replied, arriving first to the conclusion, "The ck Dragon is missing!"

    Dave nodded to her words. In the whole Wilds, the ck dragon was the symbol of power. It was the ruler of all that lived through it, it drew the whole habitat to fear it and respect it. And seeing all of these creatures gathered up without the appearance of the ck Dragon hinted that this meeting of beasts was probably rted to such a disappearance.

    Dave nced down at his side-bag. He had ced Onixya in his bag a long time ago, and he had just realized that he had been leveling up like crazy for a while and didn¡¯t even check up on her.

    Dave opened his bag, and called, "Onixya."

    Just as he spoke, his bag shuddered and the small dragon¡¯s head popped up. The dragon peeked at the surrounding, noticing the many dangerous, many big, and many strong monsters around her and flinched. There was not much a dragon as small as Onixya could do against these creatures, if it was asrge, as old and as powerful as its real parent, Onixya would have made everything here scram in fear and utter terror. But now, Onixya was nothing but a hatchling.

    Yet, as it turned out, this was about to change.

    Onixya growled and hopped out of Dave¡¯s side-bag. Then it jumped up, striding all the way over Grumpy¡¯s head.

    Onixya was facing the Htanajna, a world boss, the second strongest creature on the Wilds after the ck Dragon.

    The small hatchling growled and puffed out a billow of smoke from her tiny mouth.

    The Htanajna recoiled, not from fear, but to raise its head and howl. Almost immediately, all and every other creature in the vicinity roared out at once.

    The canopy of sounds created ripples through space, as every creature and monster shouted together. It was savage, primordial and humbling. The might of these creatures was convoyed in their howls and tranted into a song.

    Suddenly a notification appeared in front of Dave.

    ***

    The Ruler of the Wilds has been chosen. As long as it lives and reaches maturity, Onixya shall be the new ruler of the Wilds.

    Dave¡¯s eyes remained glued at the notification; he had more questions than he had answers.

 Chapter 380 Claws and Fangs

    "What the hell is going on?" Dave asked to no one in particr. He was feeling that something was pretty darn wrong right now. Not that he minded Onixya being the next big baddy in the Wilds, Afterall the tiny terror was his tiny terror.

    But you just don¡¯t make a new ruler if there is still another ruler, so could the dragon of terror and darkness be dead?

    "Albert," Dave mumbled.

    Suddenly, all the world turned ck and white, the trees stopped moving, and the monsters looked like statuses that hung over dangerously around the party.

    Their howls and rumbling growls had stopped all at once, not even the rustle of leaves or the movement of the trees could be heard or perceived. It was as if the whole world had just stopped.

    Albert, in his usual wears, a Hawaiian T-Shirt with a cor of flowers hanging on around his neck. His shorts were a contrast of bright colors and he wore sandals to match the getup. In his hand was a coconut with a straw that seemed to never end.

    "Yes, what¡¯s seems to be the matter?" Albert asked after taking a sip from his drink.

    "Uh, do you know what¡¯s going on? Because I sure as hell don¡¯t have a clue what¡¯s happening." Dave said.

    "You should be a bit more specific, I mean I run the whole game and know all that¡¯s going on here."

    "He means this whole gig, the monsters, the choosing of a new ruler," Ralph added.

    "Ah right, it is what you see, a new ruler has been chosen. Well, it isn¡¯t a ruler right now, but will be once she bes strong enough," Albert said.

    "Why?" Dave asked. "Why now, what changed?" Dave asked.

    "I¡¯m not sure how it would help you know, or how this is regarded as a bug in the system," Albert said.

    Dave thought for a moment. Albert was right, he should only interfere when the system was glitchy and so far there has been no such urrence. The disappearance of the ck Dragon must have been due to something, perhaps another yer had killed it, thought Dave doubted it sincerely, there was no notification mentioning such thing happening.

    "The dragon¡¯s not dead, is it?" Dave asked.

    Albert smiled at Dave but didn¡¯t answer. Dave understood that it was true. The ck Dragon still lives, but because of the current coronation, it means that it no longer has the ability to be a ruler. Which either means that it¡¯s very close to dying, or...it¡¯s under someone else¡¯s control.

    "Shit, shit, shit! This is bad, really bad!" Dave said.

    "What¡¯s wrong?" Lone asked.

    "I bet the Qin kingdom has a nasty surprise waiting for us, we need to get moving!" Dave said.

    "I could give you a small piece of advice," Albert said.

    "Please do," Dave said.

    "By all means, the coronation of a new ruler is a fine and good thing for you especially because the dragon is yours," Albert said.

    "I figured as much. Still, I hear a ¡¯but¡¯ing,"

    "Right, BUT, that means that whatever manages to kill your small dragon will be henceforth the ruler of these Wilds. The creatures you see here came out of respect for the tradition, but once they begin hunting you, you will have to be very careful." Albert spoke solemnly and disappeared from the yers presence.

    The howling resumed, and the beasts began a mad yet restrained chorus of action. They became more agitated, more threatening, they took steps forward and stepped back again. It was like they were fighting their own nature, suppressing themselves from lunging on the small dragon.

    Onixya felt it too, she squirmed and ran up to Dave¡¯s armor. Her small body quivered in fear.

    The dragon was still a hatchling and was afraid so it hid in the safety of its ¡¯parent.¡¯ And Dave wasn¡¯t about to let her be hurt by the big mean monsters ahead.

    "Everyone, Follow me!"

    Dave said and nudged Grumpy. The Onyx basilisk was also a heavyweight, but he was no match for the terrors of the wilds so he didn¡¯t dare tally, waiting around for a barely restrained horde of beasts to pounce on it.

    Spike and the dunlords hurried behind Grumpy. The whole party going through or in between the legs of the giant creatures that stood there howling and screeching.

    "We need to hurry, whatever is holding them, won¡¯t be holding them for long. We have to make it to the rest of our undead," Dave shouted.

    "Dave, there¡¯s something wrong with Onixya," Lone called from behind Dave.

    Looking at the dragon, Dave saw it quivering even harder, the ck scales on her body literally squirmed and moved. The vertebras on her back shuddered and small protrusions grew from it. Her back grew wings.

    "She¡¯s evolving," Dave said. Then cursed under his breath. When his dragon evolved she would be stronger, but seeing the current statue she was under, this only meant that the evolution would make her vulnerable and weak. A fine prey to any of the monsters of the Wilds who wanted to be a king.

    "Grumps, FASTER!"

    The Onyx basilisk felt the unease in Dave¡¯s ton and roared, his six legs broke the dirt under him as he waddled even faster, his pace increased by leaps and bounds. The basilisk broke through trees, boulders, and rocks alike as he kept moving in a steady and straight line.

    Dave didn¡¯t doubt for a moment that this madden sprint was taxing and had a huge toll on the basilisk. He patted the creature tofort him.

    "I know it hurts buddy, but we can¡¯t stay here, we need to join the boys!" Dave said.

    Suddenly several dozen creatures emerged in Dave¡¯s peripheral vision. They wererge apes, tigers of massive proportions, lions, were-tigers. The meanest fastest and cruelest hunters of the Wilds.

    "FUCK OFF!" Dave howled, summoning massive spheres of fire. Eighteen Spectral Skulls materialized in front of Dave. But suddenly, the eighteen Spectral Skulls doubled in number, then tripled growing even more in size.

    ***

    Your Skill: Spectral Skulls has leveled up!

    Your Skill: Dragon Ball has leveled up!

    Maximum Synergy reached!

    Your Skill [Spectral Skulls] Has been removed from your skill-list

    Your Skill [Dragon Ball] has been removed from your Skil-List.

    You have gained a new Skill [Spectral Dragon Skull] Level 1

    [Spectral Dragon Skulls] You can summon 48 Spectral Dragon Skulls to assault your enemies.

    Each spectral skull will deal with 100,000 fire damage to their target.

    Damage reduced by 10% for every spectral skull that hits the same target after the first five.

    You cannot use [Twin Strike] to synergies with [Spectral Dragon Skulls]

    ***

    Dave waved away the notification and pointed forward, "Burn!" he shouted, then the skulls, that were now shaped not after skeletons but actual draconic skulls flew forward like a meteor shower. sting through trees, rocks dirt and monsters alike.

    A curtain of heat sted through the wilds. The trees instantly turned to ash, and the darkness of the night was turned asunder by the massive radiating light and heat from the point of impact.

    The lucky monsters that tried to assault Dave right then and now turned to ash. The unlucky ones burned and screamed. Their fur turned to ash, and their bodies were festering with third-degree burns. They screamed and shouted then died in agonized high pitched screeches.

 Chapter 381 Kings will be Kings

    Grumpy roared and moved through the fire, thanks to it being cast from Dave¡¯s own hand, the mes didn¡¯t hurt the truck-sized lizard as it moved with ease through a literal inferno.

    The rest of Dave¡¯s party had their eyes wide open by the disy. But no onemented on it, there was a horde of monsters behind them and it seems from the sudden silence prevailing the Wilds that the creatures, World bosses and massive monsters behind them that they had finally took note of what was going on.

    They had decided that draugr was a threat, and it was currently running away with a crown that any of them could wear.

    The monsters howled again, breaking the silence, this time this howl was aimed at the party, it was the same howl a lion would utter topletely and utterly render a pry immobile. A howl of a hunter terrorizing a prey. And there was not just one, but a whole lot of them that began running behind the party.

    "They¡¯reing!" nker shouted

    The earth trembled as the creatures marched forward.

    Grumpy began huffing and puffing, he was not undead, he was a fully live and alive creature. He had energy, and it seemed to Dave that this energy was beginning to thin out.

    "Grumps, you¡¯re tired! You can go," Dave said.

    The basilisk howled in protest he wanted to run more, to take Dave to safety, to be more of use.

    It was as if Dave understood these thoughts and smiled, "I know big guy, but I can¡¯t have you dying on me. No! you still have a lot of family back at home, how am I supposed to tell all those females that I left you to die? Just go, I can handle myself." Dave said and jumped form the running Grumpy.

    Right before he fell to the ground Dave shouted, "Stinger!" and less than a breathter, the dirt under the falling Dave burst out as a dunlord emerged from under it.

    The basilisk slowed down when it noticed Dave riding on a dunlord.

    "Go, hide, I¡¯ll summon you when it¡¯s safer. Go, Grumps!" Dave shouted.

    The basilisk reluctantly turned to the side and hurled into the wilds. Dave didn¡¯t fear for the big basilisk, he could take care of himself. After all, anything that could threaten its life was currently after Dave.

    The party rode through the wilds while they were being chased.

    "Man, I never knew your adventures were this fun Davey boy. But still, I¡¯m not sure we can shake these monsters away," Dante Silvana¡¯s voice echoed in the party chat.

    "They¡¯re getting closer Dave!" Perfect Shot said.

    He Nocked an arrow and shot it at an iing shadow, the arrow glowed bright and it seemed to have struck the nose of the Htanajna. But the creature wasn¡¯t even fazed in the least, the arrow broke the moment it touched the massive raptor¡¯s face.

    "And our attacks aren¡¯t enough to stop them." Perfect added.

    "Let me try something," Dante said.

    Dave frowned, Dante was a level 120 gunner, among all that were present, besides thewyer, he had the least firepower of the team.

    Before Dave could tell Dante to not do anything, the Gunner pointed his .44 magnum at the Htanajna, then he pressed on the gun¡¯s trigger. The barrel turned and the hammer struck. A loud st echoed in the wilds and the Htanajna howled in mad pain and stuttered. It almost fell on itself but managed to bnce itself and continue chasing them.

    The gunner took another shot, but this time, nothing happened.

    Dante grunted and turned forward "Nope, didn¡¯t work I think it only made it angrier."

    "What¡¯s wrong daddy?" Lone asked.

    "Oh, I shot it in the eye. The first shot worked, but didn¡¯t damage it much."

    "What about the second time? It clearly hit in the same spot," Lone asked.

    "Do you know that alligators have two sets of eyelids?"

    "Yeah?"

    "The second set is transparent; the monster just covered its eyes with it to keep me from shooting it," Dante said.

    "Oh, bummer," Lone said. she tried shooting an ice arrow to freeze the monster¡¯s leg, but the ice shattered like ss, not slowing the creature in the least.

    "Is there any dungeon, any spot we can hide from these things?" nker asked.

    "Then what?" Dave said you think you can stay hidden forever? Because I¡¯m sure as hell that these things can be pretty patient waiting for us. There is a crown at stake." Dave said.

    "I¡¯m just offering suggestions; you have any other n man?" nker said, annoyed.

    "Man, we¡¯re about to get royally fucked," Fortress said.

    "Royally? Royal! Fuck Fortress, you¡¯re a genius!" Dave shouted.

    "Huh, Am I?" Fortress said.

    Tess smiled at him, "Yes you are honey-bunny, you¡¯re the greatest genius there is."

    The two of them, once again, managed to turn the dire grave atmosphere into a pink world of their own.

    nker rolled his eyes, groaning, "Oh for fuck sake, I¡¯m seriously starting to think that it be better being eaten alive by these monsters that see this."

    "What¡¯s up in your head Dave?"

    "A big, nasty idea. Keep moving, I¡¯ll be behind you," Dave slowed Stinger so that the party raced past him. Just when thest dunlord went past him Dave turned his head toward the monsters.

    "You guys wanna be kings! Let me introduce you to an emperor!"

    Dave waved his hand, then the earth shuddered under him. He was ready to jump aside, but the iing creature didn¡¯t emerge until Dave was out of the radius of the skill.

    Just as the Htanajna in its massive bulldozing fury stepped where Dave was a few moments ago. Jaws of enormous light, strength, and sharpness bore out of the ground. Theytched on the raptor-like a bear trap. The creature screamed in fright and pain as the jawstched onto it and grabbed it dozens of feet above the ground. The worm emperor rose up and mmed down the Htanajna on the ground forcing a scream of pain from it.

    The worm king, in all its glory, howled in the wilds, nothing was more worthy of the monster¡¯s respect but the dragon and this very worm a king among kings, an emperor!

    The monsters chasing after Dave all halted at once, weary, and afraid of such a being trespassing onto theirnds. They knew royalty when they saw it, and the Worm Emperor had that in abundance.

    "HA! What you gonna do motherfuckers!" Daveughed and moved ahead.

    He joined the rest of the partyughing like a madman.

    "What did you do?" Dante asked.

    "Simple, those guys wanna be kings, I introduced them something that hates anything thinking itself a king."

    "Um, I don¡¯t mean to be a prick, but isn¡¯t that really stupid?" nker said.

    "Wudyamean?" Ralph asked.

    "Well simply put, that guy hates anything thinking itself a king, so wouldn¡¯t that mean that by proxy it wouldn¡¯t like Onixya one bit?" nker said.

    And just like that, just as nker finished talking, the worm emperor turned its head to the party, it screeched even louder, in a more primal, more dangerous tone, then it coursed through the trees, dirt, and rocks topping them, breaking them like if they were made of Styrofoam.

    "For fuck sake nker! You had to open your big fat mouth!" Dave shouted to the high heavens.

    Now, the Double Edge skill truly did its purpose, it was now pointing at Dave¡¯s party along with an enormous horde of creatures that didn¡¯t like Dave or Onixya one bit.

 Chapter 382 At The Borders

    Dave was sweating figurative buckets; the situation was already dire and now it became much worse. With the Minghocao chasing after them, it only added to their problems. Dave hoped that the skill would be over soon and the creature would disappear back to wherever it came from before it caught up to them, but as it turned out, the Minghocao skill had improved once again and nowsted longer.

    The Worm Emperor was moving like a tidal wave, crashing through all the trees and rocks in its way as it moved, slithered toward the party.

    Dave cringed away when he saw the imoding train-terror.

    ¡¯I could use demonic ascension, and take the air, this way Onixya will be safe. But, everyone else will be easy picking for the monsters," Dave thought to himself. He was debating the best course of action to take in this situation, he wasn¡¯t willing to give up, not now not ever.

    Just as he was about to transform, thinking that he might get lucky and draw all the monsters toward him, the Minghocao roared and dove through the dirt.

    "Where did it go?" Lone questioned.

    "Has it left?" nker asked.

    Before Dave could answer in negative, the ground under the whole party shuddered.

    "Fuck!" Dave cursed. If the Minghocao rose up, they¡¯ll end up in its belly.

    But unlike the usual emergence of the Minghocao, it didn¡¯t rise with fangs aiming to tear its enemy apart. It had slid under the entire party and emerged from the ground, causing all the dunlords, and the Forest prong fiend to stumble and stop. The Minghocao was currently carrying the entire party on its back.

    Dave was dumbfounded for a second, he didn¡¯t understand what was going on. The Minghocao didn¡¯t try to eat them up, it was currently helping them. Carrying their weight and going through the Wilds with more speed than they could have ever moved with.

    "It¡¯s helping us," nker said.

    "Why is that?" Ralph asked.

    "I don¡¯t know man," Dave said and opened his logs to inspect the skill [Double Edge]

    The notification screen was still the same as it was before with a few changes in the Lore

    ***

    Lore Addendum:

    This particr Minhocao defeated and consumed a Chaos Centipede, a highly evolved creature from a different monarchical lineage of deep-earth dwellers. Consequently, the Worm King has defied the limitations of gods and nature and evolved into an Emperor Worm.

    Extra:

    The Minghocao had recognized you as a temporary ally after assisting it in fighting the abyssal Knight Deadra.

    The Minghocao has be less aggressive to its owner, the chances of turning its fangs against the caster had lessened by 25%

    ***

    "Oh, this is a good deed that I didn¡¯t get punished for." Daveughed, "Everyone rx, The Minghocao is helping us." Dave said.

    The rest of the yers calmed down their mounts, but they were still wary of the monster they rode upon.

    "Are you sure about this Dave? I mean every time this guyes up, it¡¯s chaos." Lone said. She had seen Dave use this skill many times, and whenever he used it, he himself was not sure of what was going to happen. It was better to always be safe and prudent when facing anything that could easily backfire against the caster as it could assault a foe.

    Dave calmly sat on Stinger; the rest of the yers calmed down when they saw how Dave was acting. A good leader¡¯s behavior is contagious and the situation soon turned form mayhem and an escape from monsters to a stroll on the Death Train that was the Minghocao, through the wilds.

    The Minghocao made quick work of the distance between it and the chasing monsters, winding the gape with ease. Dave didn¡¯t even need to point out the direction, the gigantic creature subconsciously knew where Dave wanted to go and went there.

    In a few minutes, the monsters had disappeared in the distance, if not for the echoes of their muffled howls, one wouldn¡¯t even know that they were being chased still.

    "How far until we get to the boyz?" Perfect Shot asked.

    "The Minghocao doesn¡¯t care for the obstacles in our way, he¡¯s just bulldozing through them. We should make it in less than an hour at this rate."

    The Minghocao didn¡¯t disappear at the party, it kept moving through the wilds carrying them on their back for an entire hour. And the moment the first member of the legion was in sight of the Minghocao, the creature halted its advance. It stopped and wiggled its way underground disappearing back to where it came from.

    When the undead at the backline of Dave¡¯s army noticed the Worm Emperor, they sent a toon over. an undead captain along with a dozen or so other elite tier undead came rushing toward Dave¡¯s party.

    "Your lordship, Death Knight Singund has some matters to share with you," said the undead captain.

    "Take me to him," Dave said.

    "As youmand, please follow me," the undead said, turned and moved in a half sprint.

    Dave nudged Stinger to move forward, the rest of his party followed after him.

    Rows upon rows of undead stood on attention as Dave moved through them to the head of the army.

    Dante was whistling in awe as he saw the numbers of the undead surrounding them.

    When Dave noticed it he smiled. He felt proud of having such an army under him and felt more thrilled when others saw it.

    Once he arrived, Dave noticed a tent pitched in the middle of a clearing. Undead captains were standing guard to the tent, once they noticed Daveing in, they gave him a salute and let him inside.

    The tent wasn¡¯t too big but was enough to amodate all of Dave¡¯s party members. It had a few animal pelts on the ground and arge round table where there was a map of the Wilds drawn on it.

    "Commander!" Singund spoke in a hearty voice. He was inside the tent and was in the process of drawing the next course of action for his next move.

    "Singund, good to see you, I heard you had something to tell me," Dave said.

    "Yes, I wanted to show you this," Singund said. he hunched under the table in the tent and pulled a crate and dropped it on the table with a ttering sound.

    It was a square wooden crate that was about a foot in length and width. It was filled with several spheres.

    Dave recognized these spheres, there were at least a dozen of them.

    "Where did you get these dungeon cores?" Dave asked.

    "From all and any dungeon we encountered. We couldn¡¯t modify them ourselves so we brought them over for you. Spark had just finished conquering thest dungeon in the area and he shoulde with thest core."

    "Great job Singund," Dave said in a proud sounding voice.

    "What are those?" Dante asked.

    "These are dungeon cores, I can change them so the dungeons will start spawning undead rted creatures instead of the basic monsters they create," Dave said.

    "And that¡¯s good?" Dante asked.

    "Yeah, it will generate a currency I need to supply my undead and keep them in functional order, and also will further improve the Undead Legion¡¯s might," Dave patiently exined to Dante.

    Dave touched the first dungeon core and began reprograming it. It didn¡¯t take him much time to change the dungeonyout it was rted to it and changes the monsters it spawned. He did so for all of the cores, talking him a few minutes to get done with all the cores.

    Spark arrived with a purple dungeon core that he handed to Dave immediately. The pyromancer was heavily wounded but he brimmed with pride as he gave Dave the core.

    "Was it difficult?" Dave asked.

    "Nothing is too difficult when you have a thousand undead that could bombard the enemy to nothingness," Spark said in a smile.

    "Great job guys, really great job."

    "We have discovered a lot of material that your lordship could use to crafting and construction. Because it was too much, I personally ordered a brigade to take them back to Urburg. They should arrive within a day."

    "Great job Singund. Now, I have some bad news," Dave said.

    "What¡¯s the matter, your lordship?" Singund frowned.

    "The boss-monsters of the Wilds are alling our way, we need to move quickly to the Qin borders," Dave said.

    "Oh, we have noticed such activities. Thankfully because of the disappearance of such creatures, our raids and piging hade to great fruition without being caused much damage." Singund said.

    "Right, now, order the rest of the army to move. We need to breach the Qin borders within the day."

    Singund frowned saying, "but sir, we¡¯re already at the Qin borders,"

    "Huh? What do you mean?" Dave questioned.

    "The Qin Kingdom, it starts from here, we have camped just a mile away from the first city. We were waiting for your arrival before starting our assault.

    "Oh, I didn¡¯t think we¡¯d get here this fast." Dave nodded. "Okay, this is good," Dave said.

    "What¡¯s the n, Davey?" Lone asked.

    "Simple, we¡¯ll do it the same way the guildies tried it, only better," Dave said.

    He removed the crate from the table and took a look at the map. They were pretty much on the borders of the Qin Kingdom. Next to their location were a couple of cites. One of them was just a mile away, probably the one Singund was talking about.

    "Okay, first of, we¡¯ll need a foothold. How many of the dungeons around the borders have you conquered?" Dave asked.

    "We captured ten of them. They are positioned here," Singund began pointing on the map. The location of the dungeons were close to the borders. They weren¡¯t high difficulty dungeons but they were useful to what Dave had in mind.

    Looking around the map Dave smiled and said, "Keep raiding the dungeons. Singund, take half the army, and capture any and all the dungeons along this area." Dave said drawing his hand all over the borders of the Qin kingdom.

    "Why is that sir?" Singund asked.

    "I have a n. For now, just do it, I¡¯ll take the rest of the army and raid the cities. We¡¯ll be covering for you. Your mission is imperative, you can¡¯t fail and you have one day to capture all the dungeons."

    "As youmand sir," Singund said and went out shoutingmand and gathering the army.

    "What are you nning Dave?" Samuel asked.

    Dave smiled in his draugr smile, In his hand was the purple dungeon core that Spark just gave him. "It¡¯s gonna be a nasty surprise, you¡¯ll see."

 Chapter 383 Stage One

    "What do you have in mind, Dave?" Lone asked.

    Dave smiled, "I told you, it¡¯s a surprise. Now, let¡¯s start with raiding the towns."

    Dave emerged out from the tent followed by the rest of his party. The undead had already split in two, half of his hundred thousand strong were moving behind the bellowing Singund.

    The rest was standing at attention in front of Dave.

    "Boyz, listen up, our mission today is to cause a lot of chaos in the Qin Kingdom. Don¡¯t kill indiscriminately, we need to stir the bee-hive only," Dave said.

    Dave¡¯s words echoed through the wilds. The undead heard his calling shouted in unison, "For the Legion!"

    "Go, undead! Kill any that stand in your way!" Dave roared and the legion turned and marched ahead kicking up a rooster tail of dust in their wake.

    "Guys, let¡¯s go," Dave said in a smile and crouched down, pping his palm on the ground. ck sigils spread out from under his arm and a puff of smoke blew up in front of him. Grumpy appeared from the smoke, looking at Dave in all bewilderment.

    "You alright buddy?" Dave said patting the basilisk. The big lizard cooed at Dave positively.

    "Right, let¡¯s go then," Dave said.

    Dave¡¯s party followed after him.

    Dante spoke through the voice-chat, "We get to shoot something now?" Dante asked.

    "Yeah, you get to shoot something, just be careful they shoot back," Dave said smiling.

    "Right, it wouldn¡¯t be fun if they didn¡¯t," Dante said as he loaded his gun. A ck Magnum .44.

    "I can¡¯t understand what interest you so, with this violence," Samuel shook his head; however he had a small smile stered on his face, he was also excited for the uing fight.

    "Davey, you think this is a smart idea?" Lone asked.

    "What do you mean?" Dave asked as the group followed after the charging undead.

    "I mean, you do remember what happened to the guildies, they were destroyed," Lone said.

    "Yeah, because they weren¡¯t quick enough, you¡¯ll see," Dave said and nudged grumpy to run even faster.

    The rest of Dave¡¯s party headed after them and were able to run past the sprinting undead. They soon made the lead, but Dave made sure to keep a few paces behind the first row of mounted undead.

    He has fifty Death Knight with him, the other fifty were with Singund, and every one of these Death Knights had their own dunlord as a mount.

    There was a small town in front of the charging army, the vigers looked frightened and lost, they didn¡¯t know what was happening, and when they noticed the hordes of undeading their way, they all ran back to the safety of their homes.

    Dave had no interest in spelling useless blood, and his undead knew it. Only kill what fought you.

    The town guards noticed the iing undead and hastily readied to defend the vige, they gathered in a thin line at the front of the vige. But the increasing sound of hooves, the rattling of armor and skittering of dunlords made every one of these guards shake in fear. They were tasked to protect the vigers from the asional monsters that appeared every once in a while. But no one prepared them to face against an army of raging undead.

    Before the undead reached the guards, one of them dropped his weapon and ran away, causing a fissure in the formation. A heartbeatter, more of the guards abandoned their posts and ran away.

    The undead mowed through the soldiers that tried to resist and ignored the ones that were running.

    It didn¡¯t take more than five minutes for the undead to have the entire vige surrounded, and have most of its guards killed or captured.

    "See if any vigers escaped notifying the main Qin army," Dave asked a nearby captain.

    The undead captain gave Dave a hasty salute and ran as fast as he could to get the information.

    "I didn¡¯t get to shoot anything," Dante said in a dissatisfied tone.

    "Don¡¯t worry, you¡¯ll get your chance, we just started," Dave said.

    The undead captain returned, "Sir, no one escaped all the vigers are here. But we can¡¯t keep this from reaching the Qin kingdom. Soon someone wille and investigate," the captain said.

    "I know, Bud,e," Dave called.

    The giant ghoul appeared out of nowhere and nodded toward Dave, then spoke one word, "Lord."

    "This vige should be good to make a camp. Round up the vigers and put them in captivity, as for the guards, line them up and get all information you can on the Qin kingdom¡¯s borders, map and any useful information about their forces."

    "As youmand," Bud disappeared in a sh.

    "I need twenty death knight and their retinue toe with me!" Dave shouted.

    Almost immediately, twenty Death Knights moved to stand in front of Dave.

    "Follow me, there is a nearby vige we need to capture it too," Dave said and rushed ahead.

    The death knights moved after Dave and his party with haste.

    The same scene repeated itself in the second vige, all the guards were either killed or captured and the vigers were put in chains and were sent to the first vige Dave had conquered.

    "What are you nning Dave?" Ralph asked.

    "Information," Dave said.

    "I don¡¯t get it," Ralph said in a shrug.

    "If I capture all the viges on the borders, it will make it hard for the Qin army to know our exact location, they will also be unable to know what hit them. We¡¯ll have information about their forces while they won¡¯t have any idea on what is tearing through their borders." Dave said.

    "Ah right," Ralph said nodding his head. Dave doubted that his friend understood what he had in mind but he didn¡¯t press it.

    "is the vige empty?" Dave asked a captain.

    "Yes, we captured everyone."

    "There are two more viges nearby we need to capture, don¡¯t waste time and move," Dave said.

    His undead brought out torches and began throwing them on the hay made houses. The vige caught fire almost instantly but before the smoke rose up high in the sky, Dave¡¯s army had already reached another vige.

    He repeated the same process several times until he had captured more than ten viges. It took him almost the entire day, and the Qin army was none the wiser of his movement.

    Dave rode back to the first vige they captured. Hundreds of tents were pitched up. Where undead were rounding up the vigers and surrounding the area. They didn¡¯t let any of the vigers out of their sight. The undead were the best guards, they didn¡¯t tire, and didn¡¯t leave any openings in their formations to let an NPC escape and notify anyone toe causing trouble.

    This was one of the reasons the guildies lost the raid. Dave was hogging information and keeping it to himself. The Qin army was not aware of the undead army that was slowly gnawing at its borders.

    Soon, Singund arrived to Dave¡¯s presence.

    "Singund, tell me you have some good news," Dave said.

    "Your lordship, ten dungeons, we captured them with ease. However, they didn¡¯t have powerful monsters."

    "It¡¯s not a problem," Dave said in a smile and took the dungeon cores from Singund.

    Bud came over and handed Dave a map, "City nearby," Bud grunted.

    Dave took the map, read through it and said, "We¡¯ll be sieging this city next, it¡¯s called Nora. Cities are unlike towns; they have walls and defenses that should make them really tough to break." These words, Dave didn¡¯t speak to Singund and bud¡¯s ears only. He was informing his party of the next n.

    "A city¡¯s gonna be really tough to break Skelly, you didn¡¯t even bring siege weapons," nker said.

    "I know, we won¡¯t need them," Dave said in a smile.

    He then looked up, the sky had darkened considerably. "Good, let¡¯s start the second stage."

 Chapter 384 Stage Two

    Dave turned to Singund saying, "Move the army through the night. I want undead stationed in the forest here," He said pointing at several locations around Nora on the map.

    Dave circled the city, there was a huge patch of forest where the undead could hide through the veil of the night without being noticed.

    "Once the undead are stationed and after my signal, you will charge the gate. I need you to keep anyone from getting out of the city and notify others. We only have once shot at this Singund," Dave said.

    "As youmand," Singund replied with a salute.

    "Mercy, you¡¯lle with me," Dave said.

    Mercy tilted her head, "Why me?" she asked.

    "I need an assassin for the next part," Dave said smiling. "Dog," Dave called.

    The duhan came toward Dave and shook his head that he held jealously under his armpit.

    "I¡¯ll be sending you a signal, when you see it, lead the undead through the city gate," Dave said.

    Dog grunted in agreement.

    "Good, everyone, wait for my signal, once you see it go into Nora. We need to do this perfectly

    "Do what exactly, man you didn¡¯t tell us anything," nker said.

    "Remember Troy?" Dave said.

    "Oh. Yeah, I remember the movie, pretty old stuff," nker said.

    "I was talking about the myth, but yeah, this is even better. You¡¯ll see why soon." Dave said smiling.

    "Mercy, are you ready?" Dave asked the assassin in white.

    "Yeah, but if they have true sight fire, they will see me going in," Mercy replied casually.

    "Don¡¯t worry about that, they won¡¯t be looking our way anyway," Dave snorted.

    He then activated his god-tier skill [Demonic Ascension].

    His back grew enormous raven wings and tworge horns emerged out of his head. His hands grew into demonic ws. A ck and red swirl of smoke gathered around him, creating a nauseating aura of carnage. Red lightning crackled around Dave and small pebbles rose up around him in the air. He had fully transformed into his demon form.

    "Let¡¯s go," Dave said and grabbed Mercy¡¯s arm then pped his wings once.

    Mercy yelped from the sudden jerk and soon noticed that she was hundreds of feet above the ground. She took in a deep breath, a gasp of shock, but soon she calmed herself.

    "We¡¯ll be going high above!" Dave said smiling, his usually deep voice turned a pitch higher, and now felt like it vibrated through the air.

    Dave flew in the darkness of the night, bypassing the city. The guards were unaware of the demon flying above them.

    Dave took a better look at the city, it was a huge gathering of tightly built houses that were adorned in eastern decorations. Spiraling pirs and rednterns hung all around the city lighting the dark streets from the shadows of the night even if ever so slightly.

    In the middle of the city was his target, a teleportation gate.

    Dave smiled when he saw it. There were no guards looking that way. The city guards were all stationed on the walls and the gate. And due to the darkness of the night, most of the city people were in their homes.

    He slowly made his way to the Teleportation Gate and dropped next to it. He saved the gate codes and turned to Mercy, "Stay here for a moment, I¡¯ll be back soon." Dave said and used the gate back to the Undead Frontier.

    The moment he appeared in the Undead Frontier, there were hundreds of Undead aiming their weapons at him.

    "By the love of the undeath god!" Delvina¡¯s voice echoed through the Undead Frontier.

    "Delvina, hey."

    "Where did youe from? I thought the enemy had gotten the gate¡¯s location." Delvina said.

    "I¡¯m currently capturing a city in the Qin Kingdom. By the way, did you finish with turning those soldiers?" Dave aside.

    "Yes, they have all been turned to our cause.

    "Good, I¡¯ll be needing them soon."

    Dave looked around and smiled, "Can you spare me some of your troops Delvina?" he asked.

    Delvina thought for a moment then smiled, "While yes if it¡¯s capturing a city of the Qin Kingdom. Then it will increase my standing with my king, take all you need." Delvina said.

    ***

    You have been offered 100 Death Knight to serve you.

    You have been offered 1,000 Undead captain to serve you.

    You have been offered 100,000 Elite Undead to serve you.

    ***

    "Thank you a lot Delvina. Can you get Lord Da a message?" Dave asked.

    "Yes."

    Dave told Delvina what he had to and used the gate to appear back in the city he was currently trying to capture.

    "Who goes there!" Dave heard the voice of an unfamiliar person speaking the moment he appeared.

    Dave turned to see a man squinting his eyes at the gate, it was a guard.

    If the guard shouts, he would be exposed and all hell will break loose. But before the guard could realize what was going on, a thin red line spread across his neck. Then he fell to the ground unceremoniously. Mercy appeared from the shadows and spoke in a hurried tone.

    "His disappearance will be noticed sooner orter, we need to hurry, what did you have in mind Dave?" Mercy asked

    "We need to get to the gate Now, "Dave said and flew up, picking up Mercy by the hand once again. This time the assassin was ready and didn¡¯t cry out when she was jerked up from the ground.

    "You need to take down the guards at the gate. As fast as possible." Dave said.

    "Leave it to me." Mercy said, then the moment they were close to the gate, she called, "Drop me!" Dave let go of the girl¡¯s hand.

    She fell down and turned invisible in mid-air. Then suddenly, Dave noticed one of the guards on the gate drop to his knees, arge gushing wound pouring a fountain of blood from his neck.

    Right before the second guard could see what happened to his friend, he also dropped to his knees, the same wound appearing on his neck.

    Mercy worked fast, silent and professionally. She killed the level 400 guards like they were low-level scrubs. Her assassin ss gave her enormous advantage against unaware targets. And she could down them in one hit.

    When the gate was clear of guards, Dave dropped down from the sky, his [Demonic Ascension] was up. He looked around and noticed a lever. The lever had several chains going under it and were attached to the gate.

    He drew on it and caused the gate to rise up.

    Dave waved a hand summoning several spectral skulls. They appeared like glowing suns in the night. The appearance of the orbs notified the undead hidden in the forest and they came charging at the gate.

    "Mercy! We need to get back to the teleportation gate now!" Dave shouted.

    "I¡¯m on it!" Mercy shouted back and the two of them raced back to the teleportation gate.

    Dave had done his task, and now the only weak link in it was the gate. He needed to secure it before any of the guards could use it and teleport away to notify the Qin army.

    Dave ran like a gale of wind through the calm city streets. But he knew that the city won¡¯t be as calm in a few more minutes.

    Few guards noticed the undead running through their streets. But they couldn¡¯t even utter a word as Mercy moved past them, sprays of blood painted the walls right as she moved behind.

    The girl in white was like a ghost that moved in the darkness of the night. None survived her curved dagger.

    The teleportation gate was in sight, and there was no one nearby, Dave heaved a sigh of relief but kept running toward it. He needed to make sure that no one used it.

    Suddenly the teleportation gate shone bright, someone was about to use it. From the other side.

    An armored NPC came out of the gate, he wore the elite armor of the Qin army. The moment the man appeared, he took notice of the undead running toward him.

    Dave broke into a cold sweat, the NPC was strong enough to cause Dave a huge deal of trouble just to face him alone. If Dave fought him it would cause a lot of noise, he was sure he could kill him but the NPC would only need to step back into the gate and disappear to inform the Qin army.

    Dave had to stop him. But the distance was too great for him to cover in a single sprint, and the NPC sure did notice what was going on in Dave¡¯s mind.

    Dave used [Immortal Apparition] coupled with [Twin-Strick]. He had never used this before, and thankfully, the skill synergized well.

    Dave teleported twice in a single breath and was right next to the NPC. He mmed down his sword at the NPC in [Decimating Smash], he only needed to stun him for Mercy to arrive.

    The two of them can certainly kill the Elite Warrior, even if it could still be difficult.

    However, to Dave¡¯s demise, the NPC moved a step to the left,pletely dodging the attack and lunged back disappearing into the teleportation gate.

    "NO!"

    Dave shouted.

    His undead had just entered the city and began a fight, he could hear the battle going on. But it was all for nothing. Now, the Qin army will know of Dave¡¯s attack on the city and everything will be over.

    "What happened?" Mercy asked.

    Dave grunted and said, "I fucked up. it¡¯s over." Dave cursed again.

    He sighed, there was nothing he could do. The raid was over before it could begin. Now he needed to fold back and think of another n. But the Qin army would surely be more prepared.

    The gate brightened up, someone else was using it. Dave pulled up his shield readying for a fight. Soon the green and blue armor of the Elite NPC emerged from the gate.

    Dave was about to charge in, he would rather fight here and think up a way to destroy the gate to make it harder for the Qin army to arriver. Until he stopped, he noticed a bony hand tightly pressed upon the neck of the Qin soldier.

    Dave frowned then his eyes were drawn to the NPC¡¯s legs, they were not touching the ground.

    "Oh, Kis¡¯Shtiengbrah, you did well informing Delvina of your n," the familiar voice of Da echoed from within the gate.

    Da appeared from behind the gate, grabbing on the NPC that escaped Dave a moment ago.

    The Abyssal Knight threw the now dead NPC unceremoniously on the ground and fully emerged from the gate.

    "I say, you owe me a favor young undead," Da said in a wide smile.

 Chapter 385 The Mind of a Draugr

    "Ha!" Daveughed, "Man, you saved my ass here, yeah anytime Da!" Dave said in a gasp. His hope was almost crushed but thanks to Da¡¯s interference, the day was saved. But Dave still had more to do.

    "What is going on in here, young undead," Da spoke as he looked at the city. He didn¡¯t miss the sounds of battle echoing through the city.

    "I¡¯m conquering this ce. I should be able to easily take it down as long as the Qin army doesn¡¯t use this gate to reinforce the city." Dave said.

    Mercy had just arrived next to Dave, when she saw the undead that was speaking to Dave, she inspected it. Dave didn¡¯t miss the sudden widening of the assassin¡¯s eyes. Da was an arch-lich and was level 650.

    "Then you don¡¯t need to worry about that," Da said. He turned and waved his hand at the Teleportation Gate.

    The swirl of blue sma that enabled people to go from ce to ce suddenly subsided. Then it reversed its flow and turned to a darkish purple color.

    "Done, only the undead could use this gate now. Beware, if the enemy reaches the gate they can change it back to how it was, you best keep it safe from assault." Da said.

    "Thank you, thank you a lot," Dave said.

    Soon, the sounds of battle sounded through the entirety of Nora. The undead broke through the flimsy and hastily made fortification or defenses of the city with ease. The Qin warriors were unable to gather in time to offer any sort of resistance to the assault of the undead.

    Three death knights came to Dave¡¯s presence to listen to orders.

    "You," Dave pointed at one of the undead, "Take the gate, repair it and close it down." Dave turned to the other undead and said, "You, go to the barracks and empty them if you find any resistance break them."

    The two Death Knights darted away to deliver Dave¡¯s orders and fulfill them.

    "As for you, I have a delicate mission for you."

    The knight nodded awaiting Dave¡¯s orders.

    "I want all the civilians gathered here in the city za, get all that are inside their homes out. Don¡¯t kill anyone but use none-lethal force to make theme out. I don¡¯t want any unnecessary bloodshed."

    "As youmand," the Death Knight ran back to his brigade and ordered them to go through every house in the city.

    "What are you nning young draugr?" Da asked.

    "I can¡¯t force the Qin Kingdom to their knees on my own, I¡¯ll have to break them from within," Dave said.

    "That¡¯s not exining things at all, but I understand, to each their secrets. I wish to see your n unfolding, it¡¯s more exciting not knowing until one sees the final results." Da said in a grin.

    It took less than an hour for the undead to round up all the civilians. Dave ordered more undead to go through every house and inspect it for anyone hiding. But after two rounds of inspections, Dave was assured that all the NPCs were present in front of him.

    The people looked terrified, afraid and most of them were shaking in their boots. The presence of tens of thousands of undead made them shudder and think of nothing but death. The undead was known to be merciless. They didn¡¯t discriminate between man, woman or child. All that fought against them died. However, they still had a bit of home to receive a bit of mercy. The undead that called them to the town center didn¡¯t assault any of them, unless against those that fought back. As for the women and children, they were escorted safely and were rounded up in arge circle around the Teleportation Gate.

    Dave¡¯s troops had already upied all of the city strongholds. The barracks were emptied out and the guards or soldiers were chained up. That of course only applied to the ones who gave up fighting. As for the rest, their fates were far too grim.

    The NPCs looked around warily, besides the hardly muffled cries of children by their panicking parents, none spoke.

    Dave looked at the NPCs and waited for someone to talk, there is always someone who is braver than the rest in a crowd, certainly, those were always the dumbest of people. But today¡¯s experience made Dave doubt this clich¨¦.

    A man of middle age slowly mads his way to the front of the group of NPCs. he was still in his nightclothes and wore a robe above him. The man didn¡¯t even have his shoes on, but ignored the brittle dirt he walked on as he walked toward Dave and Da.

    The man stood in front of the two, he took an audible gulp and spoke in a stutter, "S-sirs, W-what can we do for you?"

    Dave took a few seconds as if he was debating what he would say to the man. But these seconds felt like ages for the old man, he grimaced, perhaps thinking that his very words were the end of him.

    Dave spoke up, "What¡¯s your name?"

    "I¡¯m Ling Wan, the mayor of Nora," the man spoke.

    "Mayor then, I only need you to stay here for a few days. None of you will be killed if you do not instigate any problems." Dave said.

    Dave¡¯s words gathered a collective gasp of relief from the NPCs.

    "A-as you wish sirs," the mayor spoke.

    Dave spoke again, "Where are your food supplies?"

    The mayor was at a loss of words at first, he didn¡¯t know what the undead would need their food for, but under the scrutinizing gaze of the bearded undead, the mayor buckled and pointed at arge building that could be seen from the za.

    "That¡¯s the Wearhouse, we keep our grain and foods there."

    Dave nodded, he ordered two undead captains toe toward him then spoke something in a hushed tone to them. The two undead captains looked at each other in wonder after hearing Dave¡¯smand but they didn¡¯t argue and rushed away toplete their orders.

    Dave returned his focus to the mayor, "I trust you¡¯ll keep everyone under control mayor, if no problems happen, then it¡¯s fine. If an issue urs, then I¡¯ll have to elect a new mayor," Dave spoke a calm threat that mad the mayor gulp even harder.

    "As you wish sir." The mayor gave a half bow and retreated back to the ranks of NPCs.

    Dave¡¯s party soon joined him. Dante of all was exhrated as he said, "Ha, I got to shoot a lot of guys."

    "I hope you didn¡¯t overdo it," Dave said ina wary smile.

    "Nah, c¡¯mon kid you know me. I only shot at those who shot at me. Fair is fair." Dante said in augh.

    Samuel was shaking his head as if whatever his brother had done had nothing to do with him.

    "What now?" nker asked, "If we stay here, it¡¯ll only be a matter of time before the Qin kingdom finds out about us invading theirnds." nker¡¯s words were uttered in a low voice, it was that no NPC knew of such information. It might give them hope that help wasing. And hope could make people do some crazy stupid things.

    "Don¡¯t worry about that, I¡¯m just waiting for Delvina."

    "I ordered her to bring me something, she should arrive soon," Da said.

    And just as he finished his words, the Teleportation Gate shone bright and the veiled woman appeared.

    She handed Da arge parchment and turned to Dave, "My forces are at yourmand, Lord Doom Knight," Delvina said and gave Dave a crusty bow.

    "Thank you. I need you to take the prisoners."

    "You want me to convert them also?" Delvina asked.

    Dave nodded, "Yes. I also need you to station your undead here. I¡¯ll need you to do something for me." Dave said.

    Delvina got closer to Dave and he spoke to her ears. The words made the woman shudder as if what Dave was speaking was madness itself.

    Dave¡¯s wide grin gavefort to Delvina¡¯s worries and she said, "I shall do as you say then."

    "This is really interesting," Daughed as he watched the whole procedure. Apparently, he overheard Dave¡¯s words.

    "Why is that?" Dave asked as he looked at Da.

    "In my days, we didn¡¯t need to plot, or think of ns, we swarmed the enemy with enough force, enough might and enough numbers to break their courage. Sure, it was costly, but no one can face the tide of undead charging them, what you are doing ispletely unnatural to our ways," Da said.

    "Da, I¡¯m just a Doom Knight, my power is limited, but that doesn¡¯t mean I don¡¯t get to use my head. I¡¯ll press any advantage I can have."

    "Right, the legion should learn from you, you make a fine example, Kis¡¯Shtiengbrah." Daughed.

    "Alright guys, time to move out," Dave said.

    "Move out where?" Lone asked.

    "We¡¯ll capture another city, we need to take down three cities more cities at least for my n to work," Dave said.

    "And who¡¯s gonna stay here and keep these guys from reporting what happened?" Ralph asked.

    "Delvina will," Dave replied.

    Delvina nodded and entered the teleportation gate, soon after she emerged with rows upon rows of undead that began spreading through the city and filling it.

    "This should do," Dave said.

    "Undead MOVE OUT!" Dave called, and his troops began leaving the city while Delvina¡¯s own troops began filling their positions.

    "Delvina, don¡¯t forget what I asked you," Dave said.

    "It has already begun," Delvina nodded.

    Soon afterward, an explosion echoed in the distance, it was the food warehouse that Dave asked about earlier. mes gathered and roared. The smell of brunt food soon covered the city. The warehouse had most of the food supplies the city needed to survive the winter. It was their back-up supply. Without it, many of the NPCs will die in hunger. But that was not all.

    The NPCs had turned pale when they saw their food stocks and supplies burning to the ground. Then when they noticed the undead carrying food from their homes and toward the burning fire they suddenly felt weak in the knees.

    The undead was depriving them of food, but for what reason?

    Dave smiled grimly at the situation and summoned Grumpy to his side.

    "Da, can I count on you for the rest of the gates," Dave asked.

    Da nodded and said, "Use the gates to the undead frontier and I wille out to convert them to our use. Godspeed, Kis¡¯Shtiengbrah."

    Dave nodded and nudged on grumpy to leave the city headed far deeper to the east.

 Chapter 386 Unexpected Surprise

    Dave led his army plus more than eighty thousand of Delvina¡¯s own troops through thends of the Qin Kingdom. He had already obtained a detailed map of the Qin territory from Nora¡¯s Library. So, his map showed all the locations of the major cities and towns across the entirety of thend.

    The Qin kingdom had ten major cities all over it, it wasn¡¯t muchpared to the rest of the kingdoms of Conquest. However, Dave knew that the military forces these ten cities represented could easily topple over any kingdom of Conquest withplete ease.

    Not only did they have wyverns that they could ride and take up to the skies, but the cities were also huge and had enormous manpower. The army that the Qin kingdom could gather could easily reach a million. Compared to Dave¡¯s mere hundred and eighty thousand, it was nothing short of suicide to face those numbers and hope to survive.

    However, Dave wasn¡¯t nning on fighting a million soldiers. His n was to strike at the cities most vulnerable. By bringing down their forces and removing intelligence from reaching the capital. He could deal a heavy blow to the Qin kingdom for assaulting his city.

    Dave wasn¡¯t nning on conquering Qin. Nor was he foolish enough to think he could pull it off.

    Dave had reached the second city before it was dawn. The assault was even easier, this time with Da already waiting at the other side of the teleportation gate, the capture of the second city happened in less than half an hour.

    Dave took most of the soldiers back to the undead frontier for Delvina to take care of. The rest were all killed in action.

    Dave had once again rounded up all the civilians, burnt down their food supplies and left enough man force to keep the civilians from doing anything stupid.

    Dave had to stop the raid once it was morning, he could be spotted from miles away with an army thatrge marching through the Qin territory. He spread scouts around the army to warn them from any iing force as he kept all his troops hidden within arge forest.

    Dave had to wait for the night to begin another assault. However, he still ordered a few regiments to spread from his location and raid the dungeons that spread through the Qin kingdom.

    The rest of Dave¡¯s party joined the regiments to grind EXP in the dungeons. Except for Lone Arrow, she remained with Dave and a small retinue of undead surrounding them and keeping a watch for any wandering NPC or soldier.

    "What now Davey, what are you nning?" Lone asked.

    "I can¡¯t beat them Lone," Dave said.

    "I know that, for now, but you¡¯ve been doing pretty well. Still, I don¡¯t know what you¡¯re trying to do."

    Dave slumped to the ground, resting his back on the shade of arge tree.

    Lone came and sat right next to him. It was a weird sight, seeing an elf setting her head on the torso of an undead. From far away one would only think she was resting her head on a corpse, only if they came closer they would see the blue eyes of a ¡¯living¡¯ undead glinting from under the helmet¡¯s visors.

    "It¡¯s simple, yetplicated at the same time. Do you remember when I told nker about the Trojan Horse strategy?" Dave asked.

    "Yeah, I still don¡¯t see how are you doing that, I mean we weren¡¯t raiding overtly but that was not like any Trojan Horse tactic I¡¯ve seen."

    "Yeah, because we aren¡¯t the enemy hiding in the Trojan Horse," Dave said in a smile.

    Lone didn¡¯t understand quite yet, then she thought upon Dave¡¯s actions on thest day.

    He raided the cities, captured the civilians and sent the soldiers to be converted to ¡¯Undeathood.¡¯ But what hinged upon her mind the most was why did Dave decide to starve the people. It sounded cruel to see the young children without food for days, but Dave wasn¡¯t a cruel person. He had reasons to do so, and that was enough for her to think hard upon.

    Suddenly, as if a lightbulb lit up above Lone¡¯s head, as understanding came down upon her, she looked at Dave and said.

    "You¡¯re crazy!"

    Dave grinned and said, "You figured it out, I suppose."

    "Yeah, but, I¡¯m not sure it would work, I mean to get the most out of your n, you need more people more civilians. How are you going to do that without risking fighting more powerful and better-guarded cities?" Lone said.

    "I won¡¯t need to, that¡¯s why I asked Singund to raid the dungeons," Dave said.

    "I think I¡¯m still missing something," Lone said.

    "In time, you¡¯ll see," Dave said and wrapped his hand around Lone, hugging her tightly.

    The moment of peace didn¡¯tst long, an undead came rushing toward Dave and gave a hasty salute then spoke, "We spotted a caravan headed here, it has an armed escort."

    "Going here? They must be trying to reach the city we just captured. Did they spot you?" Dave asked.

    "Not to my knowledge, what are your orders, sir?" The undead spoke.

    "Surround them, break them and bring me the persons in the carriage." Dave gave the orders and the undead scurried away to rally them.

    "This is strange," Lone said squinting her brows together.

    "Why do you say so?" Dave asked mildly.

    "Why would they use carriages? I mean if they wanted to travel wouldn¡¯t they use the Teleporta-" then Lone¡¯s words were cut abruptly when she understood.

    "They know something is wrong with the gate, so they came to fix it."

    "Yes, this was bound to happen. If they couldn¡¯t use it from the other side, they would need to go and check up on it. Thankfully the Elite Warrior that Da caught didn¡¯t inform them of the threat so these people areing in, unknowing what is happening in the already fallen cities. However, I didn¡¯t think they¡¯d move this fast. We need to hurry in capturing thest city." Dave said.

    Dave stood up and took Lone with him toward amotion that just started nearby. It was the troops leading the carriage fighting a desperate battle against hordes of undead.

    No one had prepared them for what is toe, so they were defeated in a matter of moments.

    A schr of a person walked out of the carriage, he wore white robes and had a book that he sped tightly against his chest. The schr was a young man, he looked terrified as he gazed upon the undead surrounding him, but he didn¡¯t have the courage to voice out his fear. He knew that if the undead wanted him dead, he could do nothing to change his fate.

    Dave calmly walked between the rows of undead and the kneeling, surrendered soldiers.

    When he stood in front of the schr, thetter shook in his ce and spoke, "S-sir, do you know of speech?"

    "Yeah, I can speak, say what are you doing here?" Dave asked.

    "Are you here to invade us?" the Schr asked.

    His question was met with a deep frown from Dave, the Schr, couldn¡¯t see Dave frowning through his full armor but the squinting of the glowing blue eyes behind Dave¡¯s vizors was enough indication to the schr that he was not the one to ask questions here. He only needed to answer them.

    "I-I came to repair the Gate, there seems to be a misfunction..." then like the earlier reaction of Lone Arrow, the Schr understood that the presence of undead this far deep in their territory was the only exnation to why the Gate failed to function.

    "D-did you kill them?!" the schr asked.

    "Take him away," Dave waved his hand and turned to his undead.

    "Boyz, we¡¯ve beenpromised, give orders for Singund toe back, head to the next city, full force!" Dave shouted.

    "Dave! That¡¯s not smart," Lone said. "It¡¯s still early morning, they¡¯ll see us miles away!" she added as she walked alongside Dave.

    "I know, but think about it, if the gate isn¡¯t repaired in time, I doubt they¡¯ll think it¡¯s a coincidence. I¡¯m now sure that they¡¯re oddly suspicious of our actions. Not only one gate but now they know that two are down, and if none of them are fixed as soon as possible they will send more force. We need to move the n ahead." Dave said.

    "How so? I mean if they send in their troops, it will take them at least a day to get here from the closest city." Lone said.

    "Not necessarily, remember, these guys have flying wyverns, if they spot us. It¡¯s game over."

    "Lord!" Singund¡¯s voice sounded right next to him."

    "Yes Singund, what¡¯s going on?" Dave asked.

    "I found something interesting, you shoulde and see!" Singund said.

    Dave frowned; he didn¡¯t have time to go wandering in the Qin kingdom while they are bing suspicious of many things happening in theirnds.

    But Dave had a hunch that whatever it was that Singund had discovered, it wasn¡¯t simple.

    "Lead the way," Dave said and hurried after Singund.

    After a mile¡¯s run, Singund stopped right next to an enormous fissure going through a mountain.

    "A dungeon?" Dave asked.

    "No, we thought it was a dungeon too, but it¡¯s more than that," Singund said and walked through the fissure.

    Dave and Lone went after him. The inside of the fissure was a long tunnel that had a luminescent mold growing on its ceiling. It dimly lit the way, though Dave hardly needed the light, it was less unpleasant for the elf apanying him to be able to see where she walked.

    After a few turns and going even deeper into the fissure, Singund stopped and spoke in a hearty voice, "Look sir!" he said pointing his head forward.

    At the end of the tunnel was a basin-like structure. Water had gathered around it creating a small puddle of clear water that dripped from an open ceiling.

    Light wasing from the top and was illuminating the small pool and a rock structure at the center.

    It was a circr structure, one that Dave was much too familiar with. A none-functional teleportation Gate.

    "Oh, this changes things, this changes things greatly," Dave said his voice quivering with excitement.

 Chapter 387 Trouble

    "What¡¯s going on Davey?" Lone asked.

    "This is a teleportation gate, it¡¯s broken, let me see," Dave hurried ahead and began a thorough inspection of the gate.

    The only missing piece of the gate was a square rock that was ced a few feets away from the circr structure and was in the water.

    Dave went to the lonely b of stone and inspected it, it was undamaged. But it seemed like something had torn it from its ce. He went back to the gate and noticed that there was a small spherical orb socketed at the base of it.

    "The mana core is still here, we won¡¯t need to worry about it, if we get this stone back to its proper ce, the gate should function and we¡¯ll have a backdoor right to the Qin territory," Dave said in amusement.

    "Isn¡¯t that really good," Lone said, "I mean, use it correctly and you can raid the Qin kingdom any time of the year any day," Lone said

    "Yep, which was the n but we had to move out from Urburg to do it. Now we won¡¯t need to. I¡¯ll have to change the n a bit." Dave said.

    "But I thought you had a solid n," Lone said.

    "They say, Man, ns, Fateughs. Now a new variable is present and we¡¯ll need to move ordingly. Singund, can you lift the rock back to its ce?" Dave said pointing at the missing piece of the gate.

    "Yes sir," Singund said and went to the puddle of clear water, marrying it with his boots as he walked knee-deep until he reached the rock.

    The orc chieftain went down, with a grunt of effort, he heaved the rock over his shoulder, his boots sinking deeper into the mud. Causing the pool to look murkier.

    The orc made his way toward the gate and mmed the rock back into its socket. With a click and a groan, the gate lit up and shone brightly. The teleportation gate was once again functional.

    Dave typed in the codes to the undead frontier and walked into the gate.

    He appeared back in the camping ground of the undead, many of the Legion stood at attention waiting for anyone to enter through it. The task Dave was doing risked his discovery, and if the Qin kingdom manages to use the gate to the Underworld, there will be hell to pay for both the legion and the Qin army.

    However, they eased their holds on their swords once they saw the undead Kis¡¯Shtiengbrah walking through the gate.

    Da¡¯s voice boomed through the undead frontier, "You havee earlier than expected. Much earlier, has there been a problem?" Da asked.

    "No, actually, I need your help, I found something interesting, again," Dave said in a wide draugr smile.

    "Then let¡¯s see," Da said and followed Dave through the gate.

    Once he was on the other side, the arch-lich frowned.

    "I know of this ce. This gate... has been forgotten, how fascinating it is that you end up finding relics of past."

    "You know of this ce? What can you tell me about it?" Dave asked.

    Da pointed his staff deeper into the cave, there was a standing wall on the other side of the cave, "That is the resting ce of a powerful, powerful man. I dare not awaken him, not out of fear for his loyalty, but if awoken, he could challenge me to a battle."

    "You mean, there is an abyssal Knight rank corpse on the other side of the wall?" Dave said frowning.

    "Indeed, let it rest. We don¡¯t need something as powerful as it right now. It is not the time to tame such a thing, only the Undead King can manage it, and he is too distracted with the uing events regarding the raid of the Ash King¡¯s domain."

    "Right, then Da, I need a favor."

    "Which is?" Da asked.

    "I want this cave sealed up. I can¡¯t afford it found by the Qin warriors. It¡¯ll ruin our surprise factor."

    "Right I can do as much, but you will have to order your legionnaires to leave. I shall lock the gate and leave through it. The rest of you should be gone. I will also make sure it is inessible from other gates of the Qin kingdom." Da spoke calmly.

    "Thank you," Dave nodded to the Arch-Lich and left with thepany of his undead.

    "That¡¯s it? You found the gate, activated it and locked the way through." Lone said.

    "Yeah, this way only we can use it. When I decide to campaign against the Qin kingdom, It¡¯s best if I have a strong foothold. A gate right up their territory is the best way to raid them. Now, we need to hasten our first mission. Bud,e here," Dave said.

    The ghoul appeared literally out of nowhere, growing from the shade of a lone tree.

    "I need you to infiltrate a city," Dave said. He opened his map and pointed at a nearby city. "You know what to do, right?" Dave asked.

    "Yes," the ghoul grunted in ord then added. "Lady Delvina has many undead that can match my shadow ability," the ghoul said.

    "Really? I didn¡¯t know." Dave said, he was rubbing at his beard, thinking.

    The ghoul grunted in agreement then disappeared in a swirl of ck smoke into the distance.

    "Mercy, are you here," Dave spoke through the party chat.

    He heard the muffled voice of the assassin in white, muttering a word ¡¯Stop-it,¡¯ in a hushed tone.

    Dave had the feeling that the assassin wasn¡¯t alone, and was probably have some fun with a big oaf of a swordsman.

    A more serious reply came right after, "Yes, I¡¯m here, what do you need," the assassin¡¯s rasp voice came in through the party-chat as if she was free of any guilt.

    "I need you to do me a favor, how fast can youe here," Dave asked.

    "Give me one minute," Mercy spoke and cut the conversation off.

    "Davey, I hate being left in the dark what are you nning!"

    "The same n, only more daringly," Dave said in a wide smile.

    Mercy appeared not a secondter, "Yes?"

    "Tengu,e!" Dave said and the flying red-nosed creature flew down from the sky and stood on attention.

    "Lord Doom Knight," The tengu said while nodding.

    "Mercy, I need you to go here, and destroy their food warehouse," Dave pointed at another city.

    "That¡¯s far, so I guess I¡¯ll be flying huh?" Mercy said.

    "Yeah, sorry about the inconvenience, but I really need this mission to seed," Dave said.

    "Alright, consider it done."

    "Once you are through, and off from pursuit, I need you to go to yet another city."

    "So, you want me to destroy as many as I can, right?" Mercy asked.

    "Yes, if you find yourself in trouble, teleport out," Dave said.

    "I can¡¯t teleport out of here, the scrolls won¡¯t work." Mercy said.

    "You should remember, Urburg¡¯s scrolls always work. You¡¯ll be fine. At worse, the Tengu here will secure your escape. Be careful," Dave said.

    "Right," Mercy said and looked at the red nosed tengu.

    The old creature sighed, "I never thought I would be a carrier, alright youngdye."

    The tengu grabbed Mercy by the arms and pped his wings, flying high in the air.

    Surprisingly, Mercy managed to muffle both their appearances and they turned transparent. It wasn¡¯tplete invisibility, but they were hard to see if one didn¡¯t look for them intentionally.

    "You there, call all the assassins of the legion present here, give them these instructions," Dave spoke to a captain and rallied the following.

    Spread around Qin, don¡¯t be spotted, and infiltrate the cities, breakthrough their food stocks, burn them to the ground and fold back.

    The task was simple, but its repercussions on the Qin kingdom would be disastrous in no time and Dave knew of it.

    An undead captain came running toward Dave, he stopped, gave a hasty salute and said," Commander! We have trouble. We spotted two wyvern ridersing our way. We have beenpromised!"

    "It¡¯s about time," Dave said in a grin.

 Chapter 388 Mach Speed

    "What do we do Dave?" nker asked, he had just came back with a group of undead from a dungeon raid, with a dungeon core in hand. The dungeons inside the Qin territory were of course of low level, not to threaten the people living inside it. The dungeon would be usuallybed thanks to the Qin army and provide safety for everyone inside the territory. With Dave manipting such sites, it was bound to cause a lot of trouble for the Kingdom.

    "We need to take down the riders," Dave said as he nced up. Two Wyverns flew around the camp. They had spotted the undead, but for some reason, they remained flying above arrow range and kept watch on the group.

    "In case you didn¡¯t notice, we can¡¯t, and the only undead able of flight was the Tengu and he already left with Mercy." nker said.

    "How did you know that?" Dave said in a smile.

    "Uh, we¡¯re in a party man, we share intel. Anyway how are you nning on dealing with those?" nker asked.

    "I¡¯ll do it myself." Dave grinned once again.

    He looked up, then inspected his skill panel. [Demonic Ascension] had been off cooldown for a while now, he could use it to get to the skies.

    Dave used the skill, and almost immediately, red lightning crackled around him. Dirt and small pebbles flew up all around Dave, defying gravity thanks to the monstrous demonic energy roaring around Dave.

    His back sprouted two raven wings, quite simr to the tengu¡¯s, but much wider, broader and stronger. His helmet shuddered, two horns emerged out of his forehead giving him an alien look. Finally, his muscles pumped with power and grew a fractionrger, enough to bend the armor he wore in several ces as the growth of muscles was too much for the armor to bear.

    His hands sprouted ws the sharpness of des and the blue hue of his eyes under the visors of his helmet changed to a deep crimson.

    Dave spoke a few words with a deep voice, "I¡¯ll be back." He looked up and pped his wings once, closing the gap between him and the riders in matter of seconds.

    The Wyvern riders didn¡¯t expect Dave to charge straight toward them. But they were veterans, and the moment of hesitation soon passed as the two Wyvern Riders split up, each leading its own winged lizard away from the other, in hope to cause Dave to chase only one while leaving the other to report the movement of the Undead army.

    Dave growled under his breath, he needed to take down one of them as soon as possible and hope he had enough time to chase the second one. He didn¡¯t hesitate in choosing a rider to chase and kept hot on his tail.

    Dave¡¯s asional p of wings caused gusts of wind to howl, propelling him forward in an impossible speed. The wyvern couldn¡¯t hope to match the winged demon in eleration, it was a battle mount with a purpose of gathering intel and give aerial support whenever it could.

    The wyvern was fast on its own, but weighed with the rider and the saddle, the beast was in less than optimal situation to contend with Dave¡¯s bursts of propulsion through the air.

    Dave caught on to the Wyvern in seconds, he shed with his ws at the rider only to discover that the man on the wyvern was wearing the blue and green armor of the Elite Forces of the Qin army.

    Dave instinctively forced his hand away from the rider¡¯s head and moved away, thanks to his instinctive reaction, he noticed that the rider was not at all afraid of the chasing demon. He had drawn a slender sword and had swung it where Dave¡¯s wing was at, only a fraction of a second before.

    If Dave hadmitted to the attack, the rider would have probably been hit, destabilized and thrown off his mount, but Dave would have paid for his overextension by losing the ability of flight, and at the same time being able to turn and chase the second rider who still continued unperturbed with his flight deeper toward the east.

    Dave had to take another approach, the Elite Rider knew what it was doing, and it certainly had more experience in Arialbat.

    "Alright, let¡¯s see how you¡¯ll manage these," Dave grumbled under his breath and then snapped his fingers.

    Dozens upon dozens of infernal fireballs shaped like dragon skulls raced ahead of Dave like a meteor shower.

    The rider turned his neck in time to see the barrage of fire ballsing toward him at breath taking speed. He hesitated for only a second before he pulled on the reins of his Wyvern, forcing the creature to wince and move up into the clouds. The skulls were relentless in their chase and followed after the Wyvern Rider as it flew up, Dave kept his pace after the skulls and followed the wyvern in the sky.

    The rider was pretty nimble and experience as Dave had judged, he easily evaded the first fireballs and let them hurl in front of him as for the rest, he shed his sword in the air, causing gales of wind to throw them off course, only for the skulls to change pace and fly back toward him.

    The rider tugged on the wyvern¡¯s leach again and forced it to fly down, escaping the majority of the fireballs but one that struck the mount in the left wing.

    The creature screeched in pain, the attack wasn¡¯t enough to cause it massive damage but it was enough to destabilize it and cause it to fall down in a whirling spin.

    The Elite rider pulled on the leech of the mount even harder while whistling to the mount, the whistles, judged Dave were some sort ofmands that the wyvern understood and began to bnce itself.

    Dave smiled and began waving his hand frantically, causing the fireballs to chase back the rider, only this time, Dave was the one guiding the missiles to a purpose.

    The rider dodged a few skulls, but more came from his right nk forcing him to take the left. Dave kept the assault, until one of the skulls began waning and simply puffed to nothingness.

    Dave understood that he didn¡¯t have much time, but he still had enough fireballs to pull off his n.

    Dave forced more of the fireballs to chase the rider, kept him moving left and then finally when Dave decided it was good enough, he sent the rest of the fireballs hurling toward the rider with unrelenting force.

    The rider grunted and whistled some more, causing the wyvern to shrike louder and p its wings even harder and faster.

    Dave kept pace with the wyvern, a wide grin on his face. It was only after a minute of chase and after all of Dave¡¯s fireballs had extinguished, that the rider noticed what the demon flying behind him had done.

    There was a small dot in the horizon, it was the second wyvern. Dave had led the Elite solider toward his ally in an effort to catch the two of them at once.

    Realizing his mistake, the rider tried to pull the reins and move to another direction, Afterall the demon didn¡¯t have anymore of the fireballs.

    However, what the rider didn¡¯t realize that Dave¡¯s n wasn¡¯t as simple as guiding the wyvern to the other one. But he was actually attuning himself to the flight, speed of the wyvern and the reflexes and habits of the rider. He was learning from the Elite warrior and now Dave decided to go for the kill.

    As Dave predicted in his mind, the rider would try to change direction, this would obviously slow him down. It was in Dave¡¯s calctions.

    Dave pped his wings as strong as he could, causing the air to thump in torment from the power of the raven wings on his back. The demonic undead flew like a bullet in the air, with enough speed to cause the rider to falter, he had realized far toote that he didn¡¯t have enough time to draw his sword and assault Dave, due to him forcing the wyvern to move out of trajectory. The rider was a sitting duck and he and Dave knew it.

    Dave¡¯s ws struck twice, in an X shape, as he bolted toward and away from the wyvern. Only a secondter, did Dave hear the loud screech of the wyvern and the hiss of a muffled screech from the rider. Turning his head, Dave saw the rider plummeting to the far ground, and the wyvern failing against gravity as his wing was torn.

    Dave had struck the wyvern¡¯s wing and the strap that held the saddle to the mount. Causing the wyvern to lose bnce, and without the saddle, the rider was easily thrown off.

    Dave grinned as he moved ahead in blinding speed. The whole course of action took nothing less than two minutes, but Dave only had one more minute before he would lose the demonic ascension form, also, his [Spectral Dragon Skulls] skill was still on cooldown but what was worse, that If he wanted to catch up to the rider, judging form the distance between the two, it would take him the most of a minute to barely reach him.

    Dave grunted and willed his wings to propel him forward as fast as they could.

    He was far from the assistance of his troops, and he was making even more distance as he flew away from the safety of the undead arm. but if the second wyvern manages to send message of Dave¡¯s undead, it would thwart his ns. He had to risk it.

    Dave continued chasing the wyvern, calcting the seconds it took to reach him. When the rider noticed Dave, he pulled out a long ck bow, nocked an arrow and loosened it at Dave.

    Dave veered away from the arrow and wanted to scream in frustration, not only would the arrows slow him down, if hit it would help the rider to escape the chasepletely.

    Dave had to keep going, he only had less than ten seconds before his skill was out of order, and if he wasn¡¯t down on the ground by then, Dave was going to experience skydiving without a parachute.

    Dave grumbled under his breath and kept moving, when he saw the second arrow being nocked, Dave gritted his teeth and used [Stampede] he didn¡¯t know if it would function, but it was the only skill in his arsenal that would both add speed to his movement, and ignore crowd control effects. The mere stagger from the arrow in the Elite Warrior¡¯s hand would cause Dave to falter and lose bnce. And help the warrior gain more distance.

    However, what Dave didn¡¯t ount for was by using [Stamped], his eleration reached an extreme and he darted ahead with enough speed that he broke the sound barrier. The sudden eleration caused Dave¡¯s heart to plummet to his belly as the distance between him and the rider was closed so fast that Dave had only a fraction of a second to use one skill before the two of them crashed into each other.

    A white light shone from around Dave¡¯s demonic form, then there was a loud crash and tearing of bones and sinew.

    Dave had used [Bastion] a second before the crash. He believed that his speed would slow down thanks to the impact, he thought that the wyvern would soften his impact. However, the reality of things was that thanks to Dave¡¯s impossible speed, the wyvern was no better than a silk thread trying to stop a rampaging elephant.

    It was all it took for him to st through the wyvern, spraying its limbs everywhere and raining a downpour of blood and flesh.

    Dave¡¯s madden eleration continued for a while until he noticed that he was gazing at the rapidly approaching ground.

    Dave was falling head first toward the ground due to the time up on [Demonic Ascension], however he was still fast enough to feel dizzy as he fell toward arge patch of ground. Dave screamed loud enough to make little girls feel embarrassed, A Loud crash echoed and Dave felt his ears buzzing. A notification appeared in front of him.

    -1,541,999 HP

    ***

    Passive [Unyielding] activated!

    You are immune from Death for 5 seconds.

    You only have 1% of your HP Left.

    Some of your armor received minor damage.

    Please tend to your breastte.

    ****

    Dave dug himself from the ground, he had created a small human shaped crater in the rocks.

    He pulled himself up, sat down and drew a healing potion from his bag. Dave held the potion to his mouth and began drinking.

    As the red liquid funneled toward his mouth, Dave began to notice shapes beyond the red bottle of health. There was an enormous wall that looked like it spread from one side of the world to the other, and was high enough that it covered Dave and a lot more ground behind him in thick shade.

    Dave looked up, and noticed several men pointing the tips of nocked arrows toward him.

    His eyes wandered a bit as his mouth slowly spread wide open, there was an enormous g pping wildly in the wind. The symbol on the g was easily dug out from Dave¡¯s memory, he had seen it before in the map he got from the Library of Nora.

    Dave apparently, in his Mach-Speed stunt, had managed to cross all the way from the borders of the Qin Kingdom, to actually fall right outside the walls of its capital.

    "Fuck me!"

 Chapter 389 Desperate Situation

    Dave was in a musty and dim-lit room with heavy steel bars locking the way out.

    He could see several warriors moving in front of him, he didn¡¯t have ess to his armor anymore and was stripped off of them. His inventory was locked and he couldn¡¯t ess his weapons or items.

    Dave was almost naked, the only item he could use was his Ring of True Undeath.

    He was¡ªobviously¡ªin a prison.

    "Dave, what¡¯s taking you so long?" Lone¡¯s voice came from the party-voice chat.

    Dave smiled ruefully as he answered, "Yeah, sorry about that, I kinda got arrested," he replied casually.

    "What do you mean arrested? How do you get arrested in a game man?" nker¡¯s voice came right after Dave¡¯s reply.

    "Somehow, I managed tond right next to the Qin Kingdom¡¯s capital and was captured,"

    "SILENCE WRETCHED ONE!" a louder voice than Dave echoed through the party chat.

    The rest of Dave¡¯s party understood from the voice that the speaker was one of the persons that apprehended Dave or currently capturing him.

    "Yeah, you get that," Dave said begrudgingly and turned the chat to muted. So that the NPCs couldn¡¯t hear what he had to say to his friends.

    "What do we do?" Perfect asked.

    "Don¡¯t do anything, Singund knows the n, stick with him. Mercy, are you here?" Dave asked.

    "Yes."

    "How is your mission going?" Dave asked.

    "I took care of one warehouse, we¡¯re on the move for the second one. But I saw several Elite Soldiers rushing toward the Teleportation Gates the moment I blew the warehouse, I think they¡¯re on to us."

    "You¡¯re probably right, they¡¯ll be headed to the other cities now, most likely to increase the security on the warehouses. I think you should retreat."

    "There is one more city close to here, I think I can take care of the food stocks there,"

    "Okay, be careful, the rest of you guys, stay close to Singund. The whole n will be in motion soon," Dave said.

    Dave shut down the party chat, leaving his friends to take care of themselves. They needed the game EXP and experience itself in managing situations where he was not needed.

    He was now caught and captured, and will probably be visiting Limbo soon enough. But as much as he waited, no one came to his cell, no one asked about his presence at the gates of the Qin capital, he was now a prisoner and he feared that his avatar might get stuck in the cell forever.

    "Albert," Dave called.

    A momentter, the man in Hawaiian getup appeared right next to Dave.

    "Seems like you¡¯re in a pinch here," Alfred said.

    "Yeah, I thought that there was something wrong here, I¡¯m under captivity but no one came to inform me of how long will I be staying here," Dave said.

    "No wonder my twin brother went mad, Lad, your presence here made a lot of things go wrong. The game is an AI that developpes based on the decisions and choices the yers make. To keep things realistic as much as possible, there is a need to do a lot of calctions and alterations to questlines and dialogue. Now that you¡¯re here a few of the base scenarios that were going to happen have been removed. And I¡¯m creating new ones to match your situation."

    "Huh, so it¡¯s like a loading screen, right?"

    Albert thought for a moment, smiled then said, "Yes, you can say that. A loading screen."

    "Right, I can live with that. How long will it take?" Dave asked.

    "Less than an hour," Albert said.

    "Kay, then." Daveid his head on the rest at one end of the bench he sat on and closed his eyes.

    "I¡¯ll take a nap then," Dave said.

    "Enjoy your rest, I¡¯ll try to make things go as fast as possible."

    "Before you go," Dave asked, "did anyone break the dungeon I made?"

    The old man shook his head, "Not yet, more than three thousand adventurers had entered, none survived. Your traps were deadly." Albert said.

    "Good, that¡¯s more CP for me," Dave grinned and went silent. Queuing Alfred to leave.

    After exactly one hour, a warrior came and rattled at Dave¡¯s cell with a baton. Waking Dave from his dozing.

    Dave groggily woke up, looked at the warrior and went back to rest.

    "Wake up I say!" The warrior said.

    "No," Dave said and kept his eyes closed.

    A person wearing a red embroidered dress that had a golden cor and hems.

    "Soldier, leave us," said the man.

    "Magistrate!" the man said and gave a bow to the man then left.

    The magistrate as Dave understood looked at the undead from beyond the steel bars and spoke, "To my knowledge, the dead don¡¯t need sleep."

    "I¡¯m a bit special," Dave said.

    "It is indeed how you say, we have reports saying that you came from the sky. Some speak of it as a sign of death."

    "You wouldn¡¯t believe that would you?" Dave said in a grin.

    "Not if this very sign of death is locked up in one of the heaviest security prisons of the country."

    Dave shrugged.

    "Why did youe here?" the magistrate asked.

    "Do you think I¡¯ll answer you? I have my own agenda," Dave said.

    "I bet you do, perhaps it is rted to the disappearance of the many soldiers that we sent to check up on the broken teleportation gates and the destruction happening all over our empire."

    Dave remained silent.

    "Why are you attacking our food supplies?" the magistrate asked.

    "Payback," Dave said.

    The magistrate frowned for a moment then said, "The assault on the lost city?"

    Dave smiled for the first time then sat upright.

    "Yes, I don¡¯t tolerate attacks on what¡¯s mine," Dave said.

    The magistrateughed loudly. Making Dave frown.

    "What¡¯s so funny?" Dave said.

    "You are, you just revealed yourself the leader of the Lost City."

    "Yeah, so what," Daveughed back.

    "I don¡¯t think you understood what I mean, you¡¯re the leader, by capturing you, we can force your army to fold back and we can even press forward to capture your city without resistance."

    "I thought you were smart, it turns out you¡¯re the same as everyone." Dave shook his head.

    The yful atmosphere around the magistrate dissipated as he waited for Dave to exin himself.

    "We¡¯re undead, we don¡¯t die, don¡¯t feel pain, don¡¯t suffer. Whatever you do to me, won¡¯t make my allies do squat shit for you, if you think torture or captivity is enough to force them to halt the attack you could never more mistaken, they¡¯ll only press harder and you¡¯ll bleed." Dave said in a matter of factly.

    The magistrate shuddered, his reasoning was right by all means, but it only applied to humans. Indeed, torture or captivity is useless to the undead. Not to mention if he killed Dave, he would go to Limbo, then reappear in the undead realm.

    "Guards, chain him, and follow me," the magistrate spoke solemnly. He turned and walked away from the prison cell.

    Soon after, two guards came to Dave¡¯s cell with chains in their hands. The chained his hands and legs and led him behind the magistrate.

    The jail was actually huge, and Dave was locked in the lowest chamber. From the sight of the people locked in the same cell he was on, this ce wasn¡¯t kind to those it hosted.

    Many of the ragged people looked like battle-scarred monsters. Every one of the prisoners in the lowest cell was quiet. Unlike what Dave would expect from a prison. The people upying the cells had murderous looks in their eyes, they were all focused on the magistrate and the warriors, but some of the gazes fell on Dave giving him the shivers.

    However, when surrounded by predators, one must never show weakness, Dave¡¯s undeath form was a terrifying notion to any sane man. He turned to those who were looking at him, then simply smiled.

    Any of the prisoners who were staring at Dave hurriedly looked away, some of them clearly shaking.

    Dave followed the guards to the upper floors, turning lefts and rights. The prison itself was designed like a maze, but he could feel that he was getting closer to the top with every step. Also, the rowdiness of the prisoners increased the higher up he went.

    From what appeared to Dave as mass murderers at the bottom of the jail to simple burrs or tax-evading citizens. The jail was hosting a whole lot of people, too many actually.

    This was not a good sign, to have a prison filled to this much meant that either thew was too tight or that corruption was too high.

    A bright light shone upon Dave, it was morning light. Looking ahead, he found himself on the streets.

    One of the guards threw a hooded robe over Dave to cover his undead appearance as they led him ahead.

    Dave¡¯s face was hidden under the shade of the hood, but he could still see the streets he was walking on. The capital of the Qin Kingdom was extravagant, to say the least. Any building in sight had its own garden. There were statues of a person in armor all over the city.

    The city, for its extravagance, was silent. Even the people who walked through its streets, they looked hurried and not willing to tangle with each other.

    The citizen wore eastern styled clothing made of fine silk. Some walked on foot and most used carriages led by other men wearing steel cors.

    ¡¯ves,¡¯ Dave thought.

    The guards wrenched the chains so that Dave would move faster, and stop his gawking at the citizen.

    Soon after, Dave arrived at the front gate of a heavily guarded pce.

    There were several guards stationed at the front gate of the pce and on its walls.

    When they saw the magistrate, the guards stepped aside and let the guards lead the prisoner in.

    Dave walked on a longe stone-paved way until he reached the internal pce. It was adorned with all kinds of engravings¡ªgold made. While the garden had more of the status of the same person.

    These statues, however, were carved with even more finesse and, the armors they wore were authentic and luxurious.

    "Bruh, talk about narcissistic maniac," Dave mumbled.

    "What was that?!" the guard spoke loud, clearly angered.

    "You heard me, who¡¯s this egoistic prick? I mean he has statues of him all over the city¡ª"

    However, Dave¡¯s words were cut abruptly as the guard struck him in the jaw with the baton in hand.

    -1,000 HP!

    Dave grunted, looked the guard in the eyes, then smiled saying, "You¡¯ll pay for that."

    "Wretched fiend! Don¡¯t dare speak of his majesty with your vile tongue!" then he raised his hand to assault Dave another time.

    "Guard, calm down," the magistrate spoke.

    The guard stopped reluctantly and gave Dave a cold stare then wrenched the chains even harder to lead him ahead.

    Dave grinned as he moved forward. The situation he was in was nothing to be envied for. But he took it with a grain of salt convincing himself that at least he was the first yer that got to see the capital of Qin.

    Looking to his left, there was an enormous square building that looked like it was recently built. There was still a lot of building material sprawled all over the ce.

    Dave felt the buildingpletely out of the ce. It was like a giant cube ced there for reasons unknown.

    Dave kept moving ahead being led by the guards through even more guards. They walked into the pce and through a long carpeted hallway.

    At the far end of the hall was a throne made of gold and precious jewels, a person sat on the throne, one leg over one of the throne¡¯s handles while heid resting on the other handle.

    Dozens of half-naked women were tending to the man¡¯s needs. Some took care of his feet¡¯s, some fed him grapes. The clich¨¦d life of a king was painted in full colors in front of Dave¡¯s eyes.

    "Your majesty," the magistrate spoke in a respectful tone.

    The man or youth, which by Dave¡¯s understanding looked much less threatening or ¡¯manly¡¯ than what the statues had portrayed.

    "Yes, Gu Dao, what do I have to sign on this time?" the king of Qin obviously reported in all boredom.

    "I brought the prisoner to you," the magistrate said.

    "Oh, it¡¯s the undead," the king said in a more interested voice.

    He sat hunched over and waved the girls away. He looked at Dave and said, "Can it speak?"

    "Yes it can," the magistrate said then gestured to the guards leading Dave.

    One of them struck Dave across the head, forcing out a muffled grunt.

    "You¡¯ll really regret this," Dave said.

    "So it can speak, HA! Do a backflip for me!" the king said as he pped his hands.

    Dave thought for a moment then said: "How can I do that while I¡¯m chained?"

    "Right, you should release his chains, just the legs,"

    "Your majesty, he is dangerous, he is the leader of the undead forces that are upying the lost city,"

    "Don¡¯t worry about that," the king snapped his fingers and called, "La-ire!"

    A man dropped from the ceiling and stood right next to the King, he was tall, stupidly so, at least eight or nine feet long, his muscles bulged out of his light armor and his skin was blood red.

    ***

    The Demonograph has sensed the presence of a powerful Demonling!

    Chosen one detected!

    Take the utmost caution when facing such a foe!"

    ***

    ¡¯Ah shit,¡¯ Swore under his breath, apparently, he didn¡¯t need to go looking for the Chosen one of the Ash King. He was standing right in front of him. Not to mention that Nick had mentioned to Dave To run the moment he saw the Chosen One of the Ash King. He was chained and couldn¡¯t use any of his weapons or armors.

    "Now, Undead, do a backflip for me!" The Qin¡¯s King spoke in a wide smile.

 Chapter 390 Urburg in Danger

    Dave looked grimly at the foe in front of him. The red-skinned demon was a powerful creature of the Ash King¡¯s. Lakhbar the Immortal was the same as this one, a Chosen One that had the ability to revive after death ten times.

    Dave had struggled and fought nail and tooth to finally down Lakhbar, and from Nick¡¯s info, this one¡ªLa ire, was much stronger than Lakhbar.

    Even if Dave had slew Lakhbar before he obtained the Cursed Sword of Durandal and the Cursed Shield of Ajax, it wouldn¡¯t have changed the fact that he only won by chance, having the same thing happen again was nigh impossible. His Horror applying skills had only 0.001% of actually killing his foes. He couldn¡¯t count on them to work nor would he rely on them. Not to mention, Dave was currently shackled and couldn¡¯t use any of his skills.

    "Now, do a back-flip for me, undead!" the king said. His youthful and jubnt voice made Dave think of beating the snot out of him. But the guards surrounding him and the presence of La-ir made any thoughts of resistance futile.

    However, Dave would never bow to power, especially in a game. The honor of the undead didn¡¯t allow him to do it, and his personal pride forbade him from doing what he counted as an enemy to force his hands.

    Dave didn¡¯t reply, causing the King to grow in anger.

    "La-ir, teach him pain!" The King said.

    "As youmand," the voice of the demon boomed through the pce.

    In less than a heartbeat, the demon disappeared from his ce, moving with speedparable to a full-powered arrow and surged toward Dave like a haywire train.

    The demon¡¯s hand was extended like a spear as it shot toward Dave¡¯s chest.

    Dave was unable to use any skills to defend himself, but he could still move his chained hands. He crossed both hands in front of his chest a moment before impact, causing the sharp nails of the demon¡¯s hand to slice through the chains with the utmost ease.

    However, due to the strength behind the hand, not only were the chains severed, the impact from the attack blew Dave off his feet and caused him to fly for several feet back until he mmed into one of the pirs supporting the pce.

    -152,200

    Dave grunted in the effort as he rose up, his hands were no longer tied and he could move. But the demon wasn¡¯t going to let him have his way, La ire was already in front of Dave¡¯s face. The red skin mmed down with a chopping blow, to which Dave dodged by rolling aside.

    He tried to scramble up but the chains caused Dave to lose bnce and he dropped once again. The trip had been a merciful blessing as the demon had predicted Dave¡¯s rise and swung his foot in a roundhouse kick which hit nothing but empty air above Dave¡¯s head, thanks to him tripping.

    Dave rolled back away, dodging a downward foot stomp, then jumped back and drew the Cursed Sword of Durandal. The demon stopped the moment it saw the sword.

    "That Sword! You¡¯re unworthy of it! Hand it over!" the demon spoke in a demanding tone.

    Dave didn¡¯t bother replying to the demon as he gripped at Durandal with both hands in a reversed grip and struck down between his feet at the chains.

    Sparks flew as the chains parted releasing Dave from them. The demon raced after Dave swinging his ws at him in an X shape.

    Dave countered by a roar and a heaving effort, ripping Durandal from the ground. Stones, pebbles, and dust flew up as the sword mmed at La ir¡¯s hands, parting them and canceling the attack.

    Durandal slid through La-ir¡¯s chest cutting it open and forcing a gush of blood to flow out.

    -200,000

    The body of La-ir fell in a heap to the ground. Dave knew he didn¡¯t kill the Demon, and in a few seconds, it would rise back, stronger, faster and even more stubborn than before. The king of Qin had obviously known about such an ability, thus his mild or almostck of expression. But the two guards and the Magistrate were ill-informed. Their expressions ashen and their faces pale.

    Dave ran toward the guard that had struck him with the baton a few times before. The guard hastily pulled his sword and thrust it at Dave. The undead lifted his foot above the sword¡¯s trajectory and stomped the tip of the sword into the ground burying it into the pavement making the pce floor.

    The force behind Dave¡¯s foot jerked the guard out of his stance, and tilted him forward, his neck exposed to Dave¡¯s Durandal as it slid through it like a giant hot knife through butter.

    Blood sttered on the magistrate and the second guard as the headless carcass fell to the ground.

    "I told you, you¡¯ll pay for that," Dave gave a solemnment and turned to face the body of La-ir.

    Hisck of interest in the magistrate and the second guard, breathed an air of hope into the two and cued them on leaving the premise, a battle was going to happen here, and they had no power to tip the scales or even influence them in the least.

    Dave waited until La-ir stood up, the demon grew in size, and his heads grew horns. This was the same that happened to Lakhbar when it rose from death.

    "Undead! You have some might in you, but can you take me on in this form?!"

    "Less yapping, more fighting, show me what you got, biatch!" Dave replied and dashed forward. He knew he couldn¡¯t win. But he didn¡¯t have to win, he just needed to escape.

    Dave swung his sword in a feint, causing La-ir to dodge back then lunge in with a w aimed at Dave¡¯s throat, however, the undead used the weight of the sword to do a full spin and mmed the Cursed Shield of Ajax into the demon¡¯s side.

    La-ir grunted and moved to the side, away from Dave¡¯s attack. As he was about to strike in retaliation, Dave held his shield up, the metallic jaws making the shield opened up revealing a crimson red demonic eye that was asrge as the shield itself.

    The eye shone bright giving the demon a slight stagger in surprise as dozens of Draconic Spectral Skulls materialized in air.

    Dave grinned as he backed away toward the pce¡¯s gate while the spectral skulls blew up in the face of the Chosen One.

    The Chosen One died in a fiery st, and many of the Dragon Skulls flowed toward the King who sat on his throne in a calm manner, he was not the least bit bothered by the iing fireballs as they blew up in front of him.

    Dave didn¡¯t receive the kill notification for the King of Qin, so he kept backpedaling toward the pce gate.

    Soon, the explosions and their effects subsided revealing a shimmering golden dome around the throne. The king sat perfectly still and without the least bit of harm onto his person.

    "You should have done a backflip when I asked, La-ir," the King said and almost immediately, the scorched carcass of the demon rose up.

    "Go to the lost city, burn it all to the ground," The king spoke casually, almost yawning.

    The Demon rose up, the charred skin fell off his body as he grew wider in size, two more arms burst out from his back and his horns grewrger and twisted upward.

    Dave cringed away from the sound of bones dislocating and flesh-tearing, but the words spoken by the king of Qin made him shudder, if the Chosen One reaches Urburg, it would spell untold disaster to the city that has just been reconstructed.

    Dave was not going to let the demon go past him.

    La-ir nodded at the king and turned to Dave, his ws grewrger and he dashed forward, his speed iparable to before.

    Dave hastily lifted his shield in front of his face, ready to absorb the iing attack that never came.

    A shadow went past over him, as Dave looked up, he saw La-ir vaulting over and dashing toward the gate.

    "Like hell, you would!" Dave turned and ran after the demon. He didn¡¯t have the time to dawdle or waste against the dome protecting the king, the safety of Urburg took priority.

    However, Dave was not a match to the demon¡¯s full speed. La-ir made it to the gate and turned to the right, where half a dozen warriors came inside the pce to stop Dave.

    Dave ran ahead, used [Immortal Apparition] and teleported away from the group of soldiers, he pointed with his shield, and the demon eye shone once again, in a spell cast: [Defile].

    The ground under the guards became a quagmire, slowing them and stopping their advancement for a few precious seconds before roots with thorns as sharp as de rose from the murky grounds and tore into them further slowing, bleeding and locking them in ce.

    Dave left the pce where more soldiers converged toward him, but he couldn¡¯t waste time against them, the demon was running away from the pce and toward the square building that Dave thought out of ce the time he first saw it.

    La-ir disappeared into the building through a small door at its side, while Dave ran after him.

    Yet the moment Dave arrived at the halfway point to the building, he heard a roar he never thought he would hear in this ce.

    The square building broke down and revealed the chained and saddled form of one of Wilde¡¯s greatest terrors, The ck Dragon.

    La-ir was sitting on the Dragon¡¯s back where a heavy iron and brass saddle was strapped.

    The dragon roared another time, and it pped its wings once to reach the sky, leaving Dave in a daze.

    "No f.u.c.k.i.n.g way!" Dave wanted to scream in frustration.

    He hastily opened a teleportation scroll and tore it, only to be notified with an even more terrible piece of news.

    ***

    You cannot use Teleportation Scrolls while inside the territory of Qin!

    ***

    Dave¡¯s mind went nk, the dragon was going to reach Urburg without him ever being able to stop it, and what¡¯s worse, Urburg has no army to help protect it against the dragon. All of his forces were in Qin¡¯s territory.

 Chapter 391 A grin, Against the Odds

    Dave let out a wrathful roar of anger, indignation and rage. He couldn''t do anything but see the dragon disappearing on the horizon, headed toward Urburg.

    His army was still in Qin territory, and the only one that Dave thought was strong enough to stop the dragon was Nick, the undeath god. But the deity, for all its immense power, could do nothing but stare as Urburg was burnt to the ground by ck abysmal mes.

    The gods of Coquets, the real one, the powerful ones, like Asmodeus, god of hell, or Demiurge the world''s architect, Death, or the Undeath God, for all their might, ability, power beyond one''s imagination, could not, and were not supposed to interfere in events made by mortals.

    It was infuriating, what''s worse, Dave was in the middle of enemy territory, in their capital, where he was more than certain that it seethed with a number of soldiers, and elite soldiers strong enough to tear him to pieces in a matter of seconds.

    He couldn''t take to the skies, his ability, [Demonic Ascension] needed several more hours to be avable, the only mean in his arsenal that could help him in catching up to the dragon for whatever he thought, a futile effort and a vain attempt at trying to stop the flying death.

    Dave, for all the abilities, the fame, the prestige and power he had, was utterly, andpletely powerless against the current situation. He will fail, that he knew. And Urburg will burn due to hisck of ability to change the current situation.

    A horn blew in the midst of the city, and several armed guards, donned in blue and green armor¡ªthe elite Soldiers of Qin¡ªcame rushing toward his location.

    Even more wyverns riders surged in the sky, closing the gap on Dave, and surrendering him in tides of man and steel.

    Dave was about to let out another roar of indignation, simple as it was, Dave knew that today, he would not get out of this situation.

    Then, as if the world had given him a second chance, though improbably, and nigh impossible toplete, he thought of a solution. "Tiny!" Dave roared and the small slime bobbed up from his side bag.

    "Throw me! And make damn sure you don''t miss!" Dave said pointing at the sky.

    The slime understood and hopped out of Dave''s side bag, transforming into its massive sized form. The giant Grave Lord grew to dozens of feet high, and while it was transforming, it had grabbed at Dave with one hand and threw him to the skies away from the infantry that was running toward him.

    Dave flew like a bullet, both his hands at his side and he faced up, he was going at neck-breaking speed toward one of the wyverns.

    The riders noticed Dave''s surge toward it and guided the wyvern away, it was all the rider needed to do to dodge the iing undead, then if he let it to fall back to the ground, the undead would have seeded in killing itself all on its own.

    However, Dave had other thoughts.

    The moment he flew past the rider, Dave twisted his body, his hands now gleaming in a baleful red as he had donned his Sword Stalwart''s gauntlets.

    He activated [Dragon Kick] and prayed to whatever luck, lord, or god that it would work.

    The skill, surprisingly, stopped Dave''s flight and pushed him toward the rider like aet.

    The rider hadn''t even considered that a projectile, thrown in a straight light could ever do a ny-degree turn ande charging toward hi. The rider was caught off guard and was barely able to put one hand forward in a defensive position to stop Dave''s flying kick.

    Upon contact, a draconic shaped gout of me surged from the rider''s back , startling him and dealing a massive amount of damage.

    -260,100

    The rider however, held to the reins of his saddle and wasn''t thrown off, but the wyvern, now feeling that it''s back was crowded with more than its capacity to carry began to sway, barely able to keep flight as it fell slowly toward the ground.

    The wyvern screeched from the weight of the two on his back, but it couldn''t do anything without its owner''smand which came immediately afterward.

    The rider whistled and the wyvern did a barrel roll. Dave, unbeknownst to even himself, had predicted such a tactic, he had already secured a foot that he shoved hard under the saddle of the wyvern, and both his hands were gripping tightly at the rider, saving himself from falling to the ground.

    The world spun as the wyvern spun with it, but Dave had to grit his teeth, then with a roar, Dave activated the ability that he obtained from [Dortha], Herculean Strength.

    The beast of the legion knew well how muscles worked. And Dave was shown the wit of such a man as he activated his skill.

    Dave''s muscles bulged and pressed hard against his armor until he almost swore that he heard the material making his gear groaning in protest against his inting muscles.

    Dave''s more than one thousand points in strength doubled, and he used the additional power to rip the rider off of his saddle and throw him off the ride in one smooth motion.

    Dave didn''t spare a second nce at the falling and screaming rider as he was in as much a predicament if he didn''t correct his course.

    He grabbed at the reins hard, now his mind was mildly disoriented by the continuous spins, he thought that he didn''t have much time before he would meet the ground unless he changed the situation.

    He jerked the reins toward him, causing the wyvern to screech in protest but stopped its descent, saving the two of them from a grim death. The wyvern pped its wings hard and took to the skies.

    Dave looked down and noticed that the Qin''s army was going to surround tiny in seconds. He couldn''t spare the Grave Lord''s life right now, he still needed it alive if he was toplete the second part of his crazy n.

    Dave roared, "Tiny! COME!"

    And almost immediately, the gigantic form twisted on itself and disappeared from the ground. Only to appear in front of Dave on the saddle.

    "Good," Dave said to the small blob, which quivered as if happy for Dave''spliment.

    Dave was leading the wyvern high up the sky, while more of the wyvern riders followed closely behind him. They would reach him soon and he will be in bow range. What''s worse, Dave realized that he wasn''t a good wyvern rider. His ''mount'' seemed to be struggling against the wind, while the rest of the riders used wind currents that he clearly couldn''t see to propel themselves toward him.

    They were closing the distance fast, while Dave''s mount looked to be struggling.

    "I''m sorry bud," Dave said then swapped his gauntlets with his sword, the strongest, heaviest sword he ever used, the Cursed Sword of Durandal. Then he swung it down along the nap of the wyvern.

    The creature never saw the strikeing, and it immediately stopped moving and began a free fall. As its head flew away from its body. Its mouth moving soundlessly as it spun down falling a few feets next to its torso. Dave was holding tight on the reins and the saddle, and the blob of dark slime was quivering as they fell.

    "Tiny! EAT!" Dave said to the small form that immediately expanded and covered the wyvern and the falling head.

    The Qin soldiers had reached Dave''s position and dropped down chasing after him. Dave drew his shield forward and activated a skill he hadn''t used since his beginner days.

    [Death Grip] the remaining skill from his failed Death Legacy quest, the Death Apostle Legacy.

    The demonic eye emerged from under the expanding metallic jaws making the roundness of the Cursed Shield of Ajax. The enormous demon eye shone brightly in a red re of light that shook and froze the iing riders, giving Dave a small breather in which Tiny had finished his meal.

    The ground wasing in fast, or it was Dave that was going to meet it like a ck stter of gore and old rotten bones if he didn''t do anything to change the situation.

    "Tiny, I hope you enjoyed the food, change! Wyvern!" Dave growled.

    And the small blob transformed into an enormous bone and flesh wyvern that halted Dave''s descent and flew upward in one single motion, bypassing the still dazed riders. Some of them weren''t able to regain their senses fast enough as they crashed into the ground, some were lucky enough and slow enough that they managed to wake up from [Death Grip] and pulled their rides away from the ground.

    Dave hung tight on the still transforming tiny. The creature discarded all sense of aesthetic for pure functionality. The wyvern-Tiny discarded the saddle and transformed its back by making bones for Dave to sit on, it elongated its tail for better bnce and grew its wings twice the size of the wyvern while making its bones even thinner, but at the same time studier than the wyverns. Dave could feel Tiny''s bones snapping, locking and dislocating as it changed its shape to garner Dave the greatest speed it could.

    The undead creature looked like a ck triangr sail as it moved through the sky, the pure embodiment of Function Over Form.

    Dave was d that the Grave Lord knew what he wanted it to do and it bolted out of Qin as fast as it could head west, toward Urburg.

    A squad of Wyvern Riders was hastily chasing them, but Dave knew they would never reach him. By the speed Tiny was going at, he would leave them in the ''dust'' in no time. And even if they could match Tiny''s speed, they would never match his infinite endurance. The undead Never Tier!

    Tiny made its way toward Urburg at storm''s speed. But Dave knew there was a lot of time and distance before he would reach, and finally, it dawned on him. He looked back, and then looked at his hands, he was not but a moment ago in the most desperate situation he ever was in as he yed Conquest, and somehow, he managed to find a way out of that mess.

    He escaped captivity, managed to flee the chase of the Qin Elite Soldiers, survived the chase of the wyverns, and still had time to think up a n on how to rid himself of the enormous threat that was going toward his city, HIS CITY!

    Dave never went out of his way to bother anyone, but he never tolerated anyone trying to harm or take away what was his. Be it bullies from High School, a Mafia Lord, evenpanies and pressure from Super Guilds that always wanted him to bend to their will. He endured and kept enduring, but now, the game, Conquest, had taught him, that even against the grimmest, darkest and worst of odds, if he struggled hard enough, wriggled hard enough, and used his head enough, there was always, always a way out.

    Dave grunted, he didn''t notice his lips curling into a wide grin, nor did he notice his hand that went stroking his beard, Dave knew, in his heart, knew that no matter what was going to happen, HE WILL PREVAIL!

    Not even the ck Dragon, even the Chosen One of the Ash King would stop him because he¡ªand now he truly believes it--was the Legendary, Kis''Shtiengbrah.

    "Damned Reptile! I''m Coming for you!" Dave roared as he goaded Tiny to increase his speed even further.

 Chapter 392 Weight of the Universe

    "Guys! Can you use your teleportation scrolls to Urburg?" Dave asked, almost shouting through the voice-chat.

    A reply came immediately afterward, nker, speaking in a hurried tone, "No man, shit ain¡¯t working, I tried."

    "Damn, be careful, the big baddy ising to Urburg," Dave said.

    "What are you talking about?" Dante asked.

    "Remember when we got surrounded by the Wild¡¯s big bosses?" Dave said his voice strained.

    "Yeah, you kids said that some dragon was missing, you don¡¯t mean that¡ª"

    "Exactly," Dave cut in, "Seems that the Qin kingdom somehow managed to capture it, and now, one of the Ash-King¡¯s strongest soldiers is riding that very dragon and going hot toward Urburg, we gotta stop it!" Dave said.

    "There¡¯s no way for us to do that man, the distance is too great to cross on feet, what¡¯s worse, the dammed Wilds is seething with Boss Monsters that won¡¯t be too happy to see us crossing their territory," Perfect said.

    "Shit, I know, damn it," Dave shouted again and urged Tiny to move even faster.

    The Grave Lord screeched, a sound too simr to wyvern¡¯s screams, then pped its wings once, surging upward then his speed increased considerably.

    Dave understood what Tiny just did, he took advantage of air currents to propel itself forward. Consuming the Wyvern didn¡¯t only give Tiny its shape, but also, its understanding of air currents and the Grave Lord was doing its best to mimic it.

    Dave judged by the speed he was going, he will be able to catch up to the dragon, simply because the great lizard wouldn¡¯t be able to use these currents due to its enormous size, the dragon would rely on the brute strength of its wings to move through the air.

    "David, I¡¯ve finished, I don¡¯t think I can do another raid," Mercy said.

    "Why, what¡¯s wrong?" Dave asked.

    "The Qin kingdom realized what you¡¯re trying to do, they have heavily fortified the food supplies of the city I was in, I barely managed to get out alive. I don¡¯t think I can do it again."

    "No worries, how many cities did we get?" Dave asked.

    "Seven cities, bar the Capital."

    "Damn, that¡¯s much more than I expected," Dave said.

    "What do you mean?" Mercy asked.

    "I was only hoping to take out three, four if we are lucky and five cities by a miracle. The destruction of Seven Cities worth of food supplies will cripple the nation for years. Not to mention, I already sent Bud and a group of Undead Ninjas to take care of more cities and towns." Dave said.

    "Then there¡¯s a chance that they might be able to destroy the supplies in the rest of the cities. The Qin army will not like that one bit," Samuel spoke.

    "Yeah, without food, they can¡¯t wage war, you need food to sustain an army. This is good, but without Urburg, all of this will be for naught. Alright, guys stay put, by morning, the next step of the mission will start."

    "What are you going to do about the dragon, man?" nker asked.

    "Whatever it takes! I¡¯m taking that son of a bitch down, this time for good." Dave tightened his fist. It was a huge promation, he didn¡¯t even know he had it in him to defeat what is currently known as the strongest, most dangerous and deadliest entity of the world of Conquest.

    Dave cut off the conversation and focused ahead. There were two threats in front of him. The dragon, and its rider, he needed to stop them somehow.

    Dave gazed at his skills, he still had many heavy-hitting skills in his arsenal, and his Legacy skill was off cooldown. Using them, he could deal a great blow to the dragon, but that would barely be enough to y it. He needed a powerful attack something to force the dragon off of his territory, he needed to make the dragon understand to not fuck with him.

    But the rider is the problem, the dragon was tamed and now, the Chosen One of the Ash King controlled it, it was a nightmare. And what made Dave most confused was how in God¡¯s name did they tame it.

    That thing was a mass murderer, a killer, and a predator by birth and instinct. Nothing short of a god could bend it to its will.

    Then it struck him, could it be that simple? Dave thought.

    He gathered the few clues in his head and made a theory, something that he thought too improbable but nevertheless the most likely theory that would exin what went on.

    Dave muttered under his breath, "Pandora¡¯s Box, it all fit. The demand Qin army did all they could to raid the mary in the Mountains of Glory and steal the box from the Sea Goddess Temple. The Sea Goddess must have been using that thing to control the creatures of the sea, for example, the Kraken, a Deity in its own right, not as strong as the dragon but still a god of the sea. How could it tolerate being ordered around by another mighty being unless something made it do it? Pandora¡¯s box, it must be it."

    Dave convinced himself that the dragon was being forcefully controlled, if he could break the control perhaps the dragon would leave and dump the dammed chosen one, or perhaps the damned thing could turn against Dave and eat him just out of spite.

    But knowing the cause was not the solution, Dave still needed to confirm his suspicions and even if he did it, what could he do to break the control?

    Dave gritted his teeth and thought, "We cross that bridge once we get there, Tiny, keep up!"

    Tiny Screeched louder and kept moving ahead.

    On the horizon, Dave noticed a small dot, "That¡¯s it, Tiny, great job that¡¯s the dragon!" Dave shouted.

    He then looked below him and saw the massivends blurring under him while he flew. They were going at an incredible speed.

    He then received a message from Perfect, "Skelly, the dragon just went over us! It¡¯s still moving toward Urburg!"

    "I know, I saw it, I¡¯ming in hot!"

    Almost immediately, Dave spotted the undead under him, even from high up in the sky, Dave could see the congregation of undead tightly packed into square formations and moving in unison ahead.

    He flew over them and kept his pace. At this rate, he would reach Urburg in less than ten minutes. He had to think up a n, in ten minutes, he needed a n to break the dragon¡¯s assault. Time! He needed time.

    The gears in Dave¡¯s mind spun fast enough he could almost feel them overheating.

    "What the hell can I do?!" Dave shouted to himself in frustration. "There is nothing that could stop that dammed lizard," He grunted, he knew it was hopeless, he knew that he was like a praying mantis trying to stop a carriage.

    Doom wasing to his city, and only he was in a position to stop it, but he was powerless, the creature was never something that could be killed or stopped by low-level yers. The only time the being was ever hampered was when the White Ghost used his "Banishment Forbidden Chapter", to banish the creature to another world.

    If he had one of them, he could have used it and in the time the dragon was caught in another dimension, he would fortify Urburg, buy time for his army to return and then have a slight fighting chance. But the Forbidden Chapters were unique, there could never be two of the same one...

    Then it struck him, he too had a Forbidden Chapter, "Bnce Breaker."

    Dave almost chuckled, the name of this chapter would have sent a well-known AI into a fit of rage. But he didn¡¯t know what the chapter did, he looked it up in the third Raid Zone, the Pharaoh¡¯s Tomb but didn¡¯t find any useful information about this particr chapter.

    Dave gritted his teeth and pulled the chapter out of his inventory.

    It was a white paper, where an enormous amount of scribbling and iprehensible words were written all over it. He didn¡¯t know what this thing could do, but he had to try, what¡¯s the worst that could happen?

    But he needed a target, he needed to be in range to use this chapter or it might as well be for naught.

    Tiny closed in on the dragon, the two flying creatures were moving at incredible speed over the wilderness of the Wilds. Dave began to recognize familiar features of thend, they were getting closer and closer to Urburg. He had to act soon.

    The demon riding on the dragon apparently hadn¡¯t noticed Dave¡¯s approach. But that didn¡¯t mean that the ck Dragon didn¡¯t.

    The giant drake roared and began tilting to the side, away from Urburg, but the demon forced it to move ahead by pulling on the reins when the dragon refused, the demon pulled a small glistening box.

    When Dave saw the box in the demon¡¯s hand, his heart leaped. He was right! The dammed demon was controlling the dragon via the box!

    Dave¡¯s grin became even wider. There was hope! However small it was, there was still hope.

    The box shone bright and the dragon groaned and corrected its course back to Urburg, Dave had to be thankful for the idiocy that the demon rider showed. If he had tried to figure out the reason why the dragon had decided to move, he would have recognized the flying threat behind it.

    The dragon was forced to keep its course and Dave flew behind it, once he was in range to use the Chapter, Dave thought about jumping on the dragon¡¯s back and stealthily sting the rider off the dragon, this n would undoubtedly liberate the dragon.

    But as he was pondering on his course of action, the demon snapped his neck toward Dave, a wide grin stered on its face.

    "Fuck! He knew!" Dave mumbled, he just realized that the rider had already noticed himing and was just baiting Dave into getting closer. Dave even doubted that the demon had shown him the box as a bait, to make Dave think that there was still hope.

    He didn¡¯t even see the attack. An enormous spear had pierced through Dave¡¯s shoulder and threw him off of Tiny.

    Due to the strength behind the spear, Dave had torn the chapter in his hand and immediately, the world stopped.

    ***

    Bnce Breaker!

    Thews of the world have been broken!

    The following effects willst for 60 seconds.

    All of your ability cooldowns have been reset, you can use all of your abilities (Besides Legacy Skill Abilities) as much as you want during 60 seconds.

    Thews of the world Have been broken!

    The seals on your Godly Item: Cursed sword of Durandal have been removed for 60 seconds.

    The seals on your Godly Item: Cursed Shield of Ajax have been removed for 60 seconds.

    The area where [Bnce Breaker] Forbidden chapter has been used will be a chaos zone...

    Beware of what mighte out of chaos!

    ***

    Dave noticed an enormous purple dome expanding from his person and engulfing several miles in radius of where he was falling.

    He didn¡¯t have time to waste and think of what the dome would do, he was still free-falling toward the ground.

    Dave, however, was slightly surprised, he never thought that one of the Forbidden Chapters would not affect the enemy, but himself. A Forbidden Chapter that could empower the user, though, for just 60 seconds, it was more than enough for him as he thought.

    Dave used [Demonic Ascension] his body turned red, horns rose from his head and his back sprouted raven wings that supported him in mid-air.

    Dave looked forward, the dragon was moving fast toward Urburg. But he could catch up, now he knew he could make a difference.

    Dave read through his sword and shield¡¯s description once again, now that Bnce Breaker had removed their limits. He was surprised by the newfound abilities, now at his current level, the Forbidden Chapter had shown him what his weapons could do in the future. And he was more than thrilled for a test drive.

    "I¡¯ming!" Dave roared.

    He pped his wings once and he flew ahead.

    His right ear shone bright, he had activated [Zealot] increasing his basic damage by 300% but receiving twice the damage.

    He disabled the [Azure Water Rune] on his torso and the Chaos Runes roared, his dark doom knight armor pulsed in power as magmatic cracks appeared on it. The power of chaos seethed through him. Coursing through every muscle and fiber, eating away at his vitality but giving Dave enormous power.

    Dave kept pping his wings as he enabled more power-ups.

    Dortha¡¯s [Herculean] Strength came next, it doubled his base strength, but promised a weakness after the effects were gone, but he didn¡¯t care. He needed power as much power to deliver a single blow.

    Then he struck at the pendant on his neck, a gift from the Abyssal Knight Da. The amulet shone bright and activated the skill, [Doubler] further doubling his already doubled strength base.

    Dave was flying with more than 4,000 points of strength, empowered by, Demonic Ascension, Zealot, and the Chaos Runes.

    Dave unequipped his shield and grabbed at the Cursed Sword of Durandal with both hands as he activated [Stampede].

    He blurred out of his position, anyone looking at the sky would notice that the bright sunny day had turned dark, there was another star in the sky that sucked in the light. A red ominous star that moved at a speed far too fast for the human eye, only leaving a trail of zing red in its wake.

    Dave was this star, he moved with the sword in both his hands, then he swung it.

    Dave had one chance and he had to make it count. His enormous speed was enough for him to reach the dragon in a matter of seconds, but he knew that unless his attack struck true all would be for naught, he had one shot! And he was going to take it.

    Dave grunted, then shouted as he approached the dragon in a heap of fire. "Weight of the Universe!"

    Davepleted his swing, the dragon was still a few hundred meters away from Dave and moving, while the demon was looking at Dave like an idiot, he was swinging his sword vertically at empty air.

    But what happened next proved a new experience for the chosen one of the Ash King.

    Dave¡¯s sword grew and kept growing as he was in the motion of chopping down. The sword grew from a few meters to an enormous b of steel that was simply toorge to see its ends.

    The Dragon of Terrors, for the first time in its life, had probably known what true terror is. It was an enormous sword, hundreds of thousands of tons of weighting down on it like a guillotine.

    The sword came down, then there was an explosion.

    Dave¡¯s hands broke apart the moment the sword dug into the ground, he groaned from the pain surging up his hands and his entire body. His muscles burst, ichor of undead blood exploded from between the joints of his armor. Then he fell.

    ***

    You Died!

    ***

    Dave received a notification the moment he met the ground. Yet right afterward, more notifications followed.

    "Shit, I can¡¯t believe that worked..." Dave grinned as the darkness weed him into Limbo.

 Chapter 393 Royal Labors

    Within the Western Country of the Devastators, Warlord, the leader of the Super Guild The Devastators was conducting a meeting with the staff of his guildmates and leaders. They were all seated in a round table where the guild usually held all of their important meetings and made all of their major decisions.

    Warlord led the meeting and was speaking with enthusiasm, "So, the next Dwarven Ruin will open in less than an hour, we already agreed with Heaven Dawn and Blood Rage to a truce."

    "How can you be sure that they won¡¯t go back on their word, they did that twice now." Satan yer said. He had both his hand folded in front of him.

    "Well, I made sure that they won¡¯t. Some of their members had made a blunder, and now they are busy defending more of their territory against the Qin army." Warlord said grinning.

    "Oh, the sleeper cells," Valentine said.

    "Yeah, our agents in their guilds are causing problems and now the other guilds need to stop the assault on their already stressed borders. They won¡¯t be able to spare powerful troops to contend with us. But we can¡¯t be fully sure that they won¡¯t be sending less powerful groups to harass us." Warlord said.

    "If they don¡¯t send their strongest units, they¡¯ll never be able to cross to the dwarven ruin we discovered," Valentine said.

    "Yeah, you haven¡¯t told us yet, where is the dwarven ruin you discovered?" A Beast tamer by the name of Rodrigue spoke. If Ralph was here, he would recognize the Beast Tamer as the same person that was with him when Dave raided the first Raid Zone of the underworld.

    Due to theck of Ralph¡¯s assistance to the Super Guild, Rodrigue managed to climb up in rank to be admitted into the Super Guild¡¯s VIP room. He had a say in the guild¡¯s decisions and he was exerting this right.

    "For security reasons, we decided to keep the location a secret. We want to attack the ruin when we are ready and make sure that we don¡¯t give time to our enemies to prepare if they found out about our movement." Valentine said.

    "Yeah, I understand, but it would be better to share the location with us, we would know where it is so we can be nearby when we¡¯ll start the assault," Rodrigue said.

    Warlord frowned, he knew that as he had ced Sleeper Cells in the enemy guilds, the others could do the same to him, and Rodrigue was acting the same as a spy seeking information.

    "Don¡¯t worry about that, just be ready. In one hour, we¡¯ll assault the dwarven ruin." Warlord said.

    Rodrigue shrugged, he looked around and asked, "Where¡¯s ster, as I remember he was promoted to the A-20 Unit as a captain. Shouldn¡¯t he be here?"

    Valentine looked at Warlord, nodded then replied, "ster is undergoing a secret mission for the guild."

    "Bullshit, he¡¯s with that Skelly guy, I mean if I were him I¡¯d have skelly join the guild ages ago. That guy is supplying skelly with secrets." Rodrigue said with a huff.

    "What do you mean by that?" Warlord asked.

    "What? Isn¡¯t it obvious, ster is that Ruster David guy¡¯s school buddy, I mean how would you exin the failure to the raid of the first Raid Zone if Ralph didn¡¯t warn him about using? If he didn¡¯t talk, we could have taken over the underworld, our guild would have been the rulers of that zone and we could be swimming in wealth." Rodrigue added.

    Valentine concluded that only a spy would reveal another as a spy to get the heat and attention off of himself. But he had a bit of reason backing his words. If ster truly did inform Skelly about the attack on the first Raid Zone, they would have taken the area and by now, would have ruled the world of Conquest.

    "Enough of that, I don¡¯t want to hear Ifs, and suppositions. Things have already happened, we can¡¯t change them, we¡¯ll adapt. Now, for the teams that will be joining the Dwarven."

    Warlord began by naming the teams and was suddenly interrupted, not by a person, but by an earthquake that shook the pce in the middle of Icathia the golden city and the HQ of the Devastators.

    The seated yers fell from their chairs as tools, books, and shelves shook and fell to the ground, the walls groaned and the roofs threatened to fall.

    Shouts and screams echoed through all of the city. The shakingsted for a dozen seconds then stopped as if nothing happened. Warlord was shaken as he looked at everyone in the room.

    He first thought that the earthquake happened IRL, but as it seemed the cracks were in the building in-game, it was probably an event. Warlord stood up and went to the window. The city looked like it was burning, smoke rose up from many areas of the city, and some buildings had fallen.

    "What the hell was that?" Satan yer asked.

    "I have no idea," Warlord said.

    A momentter, a stream of notifications appeared in front of the yers.

    ***

    Congrattions to the yer {Kis¡¯Shtiengbrah} for defeating the Abyssal Dragon of Terror.

    For being the first in creature of the tier Unholy, the yer {Kis¡¯Shtiengbrah} has been rewarded the skill.

    {Aura of Terror}

    ***

    ***

    Congrattions to the yer {Kis¡¯Shtiengbrah} for unlocking one of the End-Game content

    {Dragon Age}

    Due to the Death of the first Dragon in the game, the world event [Dragon Age] has initiated.

    The sleeping dragons all over the world have sensed the death of one of their kin.

    The Dragons have decided that humans have be a danger to their kind, and for that, they have decided to emerge from their slumber.

    Be careful, dragon wrath is unsurmountable, and cannot be predicted. There are a few dragons that are benevolent, a few that are neutral, but most of the dragon kind are ruthless and will stop at nothing but the death and destruction of all man-kind.

    ***

    ***

    To keep the game in a fair-yer friendly environment, a few areas have been charted as yer-friendly, the dragons will not assault the capitals of the four world corners, but anything beyond is fair y. Be careful as you wander the world, it has just be deadly beyond measures.

    ***

    "What the fuck did he do now?!" Warlord shouted.

    The rest of the yers were awestruck as they saw the notification, they were woken out of their stupor by the loud roar of an ancient being.

    Looking ahead, Warlord noticed the top of one of the mountains that was always standing tall in front of the capital of the Western Kingdom crumbling. The mountain shook even harder, causing mild vibrations in the ground. Then a winged creature emerged from the top of the mountain, it looked muchrger than the Abyssal Dragon, and instead of scales, it had stone and rocks as skin.

    The dragon in the distance screeched loud then took off to the sky.

    "Shit, this¡¯s gonna be an apocalypse," Valentine said.

    ***

    Dave looked around himself, there wererge swaths of dark purple fog covering the sky and the forest he was in.

    Limbo was a world where the dead yer would go to once they have fallen.

    He died a few moments earlier, not due to an attack, but because of the shock from having mmed Durandal into the ground, the reverberations from the weapon had broken every bone in his body and had instantly sent him to his death.

    Dave hadn¡¯t had the time to read the death notification when several ethereal handstched onto him. They tightly grabbed at his body and began dragging him into the ground.

    Dave panicked and began struggling to get himself off of the binds. He tried to use his skills to get himself loose, but his skill set was grayed out.

    More handstched onto him and he was abruptly pulled underground the dirt-covered his vision and he was engulfed in darkness.

    Dave gasped as the light came back as suddenly as it had disappeared. He found himself in a familiar location. He looked above himself and saw an enormous ck crystal hovering and rotating slowly.

    "The Death Heart? I¡¯m in the underworld." Dave said to no one in particr. His suspicion was confirmed almost immediately as he saw the hanging broken moon and noticed that he oversaw the whole of the Dead Realm from the top of the Bone Pce tower.

    "Yes, you have died, Childe," a familiar sound echoed right next to him.

    Dave barely fought the urge to yelp in surprise, he turned and saw the Undead King standing next to him. The ruler of all the undead looked over the vastnds of the undead in a patient gaze.

    "I thought I should have been sent to Limbo and stayed there," Dave said.

    "You would have if you had not been in your Undeath form," the Undead King said.

    "You belong to the Undead, you¡¯re entitled to some of our advantages. The disadvantage that the livings receive does not apply to our kind, Childe." The undead king spoke in a calm tone.

    "Yeah, that¡¯s great," Dave said.

    "Childe, do you know what you have done?" The undead king said.

    Dave frowned, he looked at the notification screen and sucked in a deep breath from between his teeth saying, "Yikes."

    "Yikes? We never heard that word before," The undead king said.

    "Oh, it¡¯s just a saying, so I kinda started an apocalypse?" Dave asked.

    "Dragons do not frighten Us, However, they will make your task much harder. Still, I admire your power. You have defeated a dragon, all by yourself where not even Dortha would find himself capable of ying such a creature."

    "No way, Dortha is pretty strong," Dave said humoring the Undead King who Dave thought was obviously overreacting to the situation.

    "No, His majesty speaks true, I could not have defeated such a being," Dortha¡¯s voice sounded right behind Dave.

    Dave shuddered but managed to keep the shaking as he smoothly turned to face Dortha, the Beast.

    "That was just luck, I couldn¡¯t have done that without the use of the [Bnce Breaker] Chapter. And there¡¯s only one of them. I can¡¯t do that again even if I wanted."

    "Doesn¡¯t matter, you proved that you have a strengthparable to an Abyssal Knight," Dortha said.

    "Uh, what are you talking about?" Dave asked.

    "Isn¡¯t it obvious? It¡¯s a promotion," Dortha said.

    "Uh, no, I don¡¯t get it, Promotion, there¡¯s only Abyssal knight rank left for me. I can¡¯t be an Abyssal knight, I¡¯m not strong enough." Dave said.

    The undead kingughed heartily, then said, "Childe, If you so wish, We can make you an Abyssal Knight now, We are the King of the Undead. Our word is beyond all" The Undead King said.

    Dave thought for a moment, he couldn¡¯t believe what he was hearing. The undead king was offering him to be an Abyssal Knight.

    He sure did level up a lot after the Death of the Abyssal Dragon, right now, he was the highest-level yer of all of Conquest, undisputedly. And with the title of an Abyssal Knight. He will get to lead an army a hundred times the size of the one he was leading right now. An army that could swamp the Qin kingdom, destroy it under its foot and march onward for the rest of the world.

    The undead king was offering Dave immense advantages.

    Dave sighed, thought for a moment then said, "Thank you, your majesty, but no. I¡¯m not ready yet."

    The undead king looked at Dave in a bewildered gaze, he was silent for a long while and before he could speak, another voice sounded nearby.

    Dave¡¯s nerves were almost fried due to the incessant arrival of new people on top of the roof of the Bone Pce.

    "I have told you, your majesty, he will not ept," Samael spoke. The ghoul had arrived like a ghost.

    "Indeed, it is as you said, why? Childe, why refuse such power. Would it not suffice you?" the undead king said.

    Dave grinned and said, "To be honest, it would be great. But, I don¡¯t think I deserve it. It would be unfair, I mean the tradition is for Doom Knights to be strong enough to contend with Abyssal Knights for their position, only this way can the legion truly be stronger. By striving for the top. If I was offered such a position out of nowhere, I won¡¯t be deserving it, and I don¡¯t think I¡¯ll be as happy about it as if I would if I earned it." Dave said.

    "Wise words, Childe, you have seeded." The Undead King said in a grin.

    Dortha tapped Dave on the shoulder and said, "You have a good heart, Kis¡¯Shtiengbrah, I had feared that power would have blinded you. I feel proud to have one such as you as arade."

    "Kis¡¯Shtiengbrah, well-chosen," Samael said in a smile.

    "I don¡¯t understand," Dave said looking at everyone.

    "It was a test, if you had chosen to be an Abyssal Knight, the Undead King would have been disappointed in you. His Majesty wanted to see where your loyalty lies." Da spoke this one also appeared out of nowhere.

    Dementi arrived also, and three more silhouettes hidden behind shadows stood behind the Abyssal Knights and the Undead King. Dave thought that these were the Abyssal Knights he didn¡¯t meet yet.

    "Kis¡¯Shtiengbrah, today you have proven to us, that you are a true member of our legion. We give you onest task." The Undead King said.

    "Defeat the Kingdom of man known as Qin, break the Ash-Demon¡¯s chosen one, ande meet us for your coronation."

    "Coronation?" Dave asked dumbly, then a notification appeared in front of him.

    ***

    New Quest: Tier SSS

    -World Impacting Quest-

    Royal Labors

    His majesty, the Undead King of the Undead Legion has given his decree!

    Kis¡¯Shtiengbrah, has been given The Royal Labors.

    First Labor:

    Defeat the Ash King¡¯s Chosen One.

    Second Labor:

    Craft the Undead King¡¯s Armor.

    Third Labor:

    Defeat the Kingdom of Qin.

    Fourth Labor:

    Create a kingdom of the Undead in the Overworld.

    Once all Labors have beenpleted, you shall be chosen a sessor.

    The reward forpletion of the Undead King¡¯s Labors:

    Formal Adoption from the Undead King.

    Title, Prince of the Undead.

    Rank: Abyssal Knight.

    1,000,000 Gold.

    ***

    "Huh?" Dave stared dumbly at the Undead King, and said, "You¡¯re kidding right?"

    "We do not jest regarding matters as crucial, Childe," The undead king bemusedly.

    Dave turned to Da, he couldn¡¯t believe what was going on. "But, I can¡¯t be that I just told you I was not strong enough to be an abyssal Knight, now it¡¯s Abyssal Knight and A royal adoption?!"

    "Ha! Yes, Kis¡¯Shtiengbrah, we have agreed that you¡¯re the one who is most deserving of such a treatment. But don¡¯t worry, once you have taken care of thosebors, I believe that you will be a match to any of the Undead King¡¯s abyssal Knights, even without the Forbidden Chapter." Dortha said.

    Da waved his hand and a ck teleportation vortex appeared behind Dave.

    "You need to leave soon, Kis¡¯Shtiengbrah, you have left your weapon in the Wilds," Da said.

    "Ah right, it¡¯s still there," Dave said.

    "Yes. Go and finish what you started Childe, beware, the Ash King¡¯s Chosen one had survived the attack, you might find difficulty, but you have to prevail," The undead king spoke.

    And suddenly Dave was sucked into the vortex.

 Chapter 394 With Intres

    Dave appeared in the middle of the Wilds. The formerly wide swath of greenery, bushes and trees where he died at was no more. The earth he stood on was upturned, rocks, boulders and matter from the sub-terrain had emerged out into mounds that rose over treetops. Dust was still settling, but it was clear enough for Dave to see the enormous sword digging into the ground of the Wilds.

    The sword¡¯s shadow darkened the swath of the misshapen ground that Dave stood on. He could barely see its top.

    "Damn son, this thing¡¯s kinda broken." Daveughed to himself. He climbed on the miss mashed ground and rocks and approached the sword.

    He thought about how to dig out the enormous weapon, and how to change it back to its former form. But the moment Daveid his palm on the weapon, the entirety of the thing wobbled, sending more shockwave through the ground and then it began to shrink.

    Durandal changed its form to the Ultra-Great Sword Dave used to wield, a massive b of steel still, but it was much smaller than when it grew to shake the whole of Conquest, something Dave still didn¡¯t know about.

    When Dave unequipped the sword, he looked at the deep pit that the weapon had created. It was an enormous chasm that would need adventurers a lot of time and effort to cross or go around. He traced the length of the chasm and just remembered that he had swung the weapon in the direction of Urburg.

    Dave¡¯s stomach fell, realizing, that he might have actually ttened the very city he hoped to protect from the dragon.

    As he was about to tear a teleportation scroll to Urburg to check things out, Nick appeared right in front of Dave.

    A heavy frown painted on his face.

    "Umm, what¡¯s wrong?" Dave asked.

    Nick pointed at therge pit in the ground and said, "This! if you want to y with your toys, make sure you aim them away from Urburg! You made me interfere to save the city! That¡¯s against thews! I almost broke thews." Nick said, anger in his voice.

    "Um, sorry?"

    Nick was about to shout something at Dave, but then decided against it, he took a deep breath and said, "The weapon you have, it used to belong to Vulkan you know."

    "Yeah, I read about something like that," Dave replied casually.

    "And? Didn¡¯t it ur to you, that what you read might be true? Do you know how dense the matter within a ck hole? That thing is damn heavy, and luckily you weren¡¯t strong enough to use more than a fraction of it, otherwise, that demand sword would have split the world!" Nick spoke sounding more annoyed than angry.

    Dave remained silent for a while, he thought about the weapon he just ced in his inventory and gulped hard, then said, "You mean, like split the?" Dave said.

    "Yes, that¡¯s what god ying weapons do. I can¡¯t believe how irresponsible you became with such an item. I should confiscate it," Nick said.

    To these words, Dave frowned, he wasn¡¯t going to allow Nick to take the weapon that Deadra had given him, but Nick¡¯s following words gave Dave a bit offort.

    "But I won¡¯t, that¡¯s your weapon, but you must know you can¡¯t just swing it at your leisure," Nick said.

    "With great poweres great responsibility, eh?" Dave joked.

    "Stop quoting old movies. Now, do you know what this attack had done, kid?" Nick said returning to his former personality.

    "I think I kinda killed a dragon with it, ah yes, that chosen one, I didn¡¯t receive the notification, he must have survived," Dave said.

    "Yeah, you killed one of his forms, he escaped the moment I came here. But not just that. Dragons had started mass assaults on the world. You don¡¯t kill a dragon and get away with it."

    "Right, I haven¡¯t finished reading the notifications, you know, was kinda upied with what the Undead King was saying."

    "Right, congrattions on your coronation, but no. The sword had literally shaken the entire word and curved it from its course by a few degrees, the literally moved due to the shock. I had to use a lot of power to save Urburg from total annihtion due to it being so close to the demand impact zone," Nick said.

    "Holy shit, really the whole moved?" Dave said his eyes almost popping out of their sockets.

    "No, I was joking, don¡¯t tter yourself, kid. But still, the damage was real, and a lot of cities had suffered from it." Nick said.

    Dave sighed then asked, "Can the Chosen One enter Urburg?"

    "No, not while I¡¯m here. He¡¯ll definitely go back to Qin. You need to finish your matters here then go back to Qin." Nick said.

    "Right," Dave looked over Nick, somewhere deep in the chasm was the dragon¡¯s carcass. He needed to loot it and finish a quest rted to this very dragon.

    Nick disappeared leaving Dave to his matters.

    Dave stomped on the ground and summoned Stinger. The dunlords were the best thing to dive underground and could get him to the dragon¡¯s carcass without him having to look hard for it.

    Stinger appeared next to Dave, and after receiving the order, Dave rode on and the scorpion-man dove underground, sliding through the dirt and rocks like a sword.

    Dave began by inspecting the rest of the notifications.

    ***

    For being the first to y a creature of the tier Unholy, you have been rewarded the skill.

    {Aura of Terror}

    Your Doom Knight passive skill {Deathly Presence} Your skill - [Aura] And the skill {Aura of Terror} had fused.

    {Terror of the Infernal Tyrant}

    Your character passively applies [Horror] effects on enemies.

    For every second inbat, the enemy will lose 0.01% of their attacking power and receive 0.01% additional damage.

    The Activation of {Terror of the Infernal Tyrant} will cause the enemies in the vicinity of the user to suffer burn damage equal to 0.1% of their max HP for every second.

    The chances of [Execution] by horror will increase by 10% under {Terror of the Infernal Tyrant}

    ***

    ***

    Dragon yer

    You are the first yer to obtain the title, Dragon yer.

    All draconic creatures will instinctively fear you.

    As having slew one of their kinds, Neutral Dragons will refuse to cooperate with you, and Benevolent Dragons will only do so under reluctance. Evil Dragons will be extremely aggressive toward you.

    +10% damage against all draconic creatures.

    -10% of damage received against all draconic creatures.

    ***

    ***

    Congrattions!

    You have reached level 500!

    The EXP Bead will cease to double your earned XP. From now on, your earned XP will return to normal.

    ***

    ***

    Congrattions, you are the highest-level yer in the world of Conquest.

    Level 503

    ***

    Dave nodded to himself, all of the notifications gave him a good boost to his character. And now, he had surpassed all of the yers of Conquest. From now on, he is a true powerhouse.

    Stinger stopped a few feet away from the dragon¡¯s body. Dave could see the mashed carcass of the ck dragon on the ground. The cursed sword of Durandal hadn¡¯t cut the dragon but it had literally smashed it like a bug. Dave feared that the dragon¡¯s heart would be damaged.

    He hopped off the dunlord and approached the warm body of the dragon.

    Dave touched the carcass and frowned.

    ***

    ck Dragon¡¯s Head [Trophy]

    ck Dragon¡¯s Heart [Quest Item]

    ck Dragon¡¯s Bones [255]

    ck Dragon¡¯s Scales [650]

    Dragon Armor Diagram

    Spell Book [Dragon Roar]

    Unique Item [Dragon Soul]

    ***

    Dave decided against taking the dragon¡¯s head, bones or scales. He took the skill book, the Dragon Soul and thought hard before finally deciding on retrieving the dragon¡¯s heart.

    Dave wanted to attempt reviving the dragon as an undead dragon.

    But if he took the head it would obviously not work, he still didn¡¯t know if the undead form of the dragon would need its heart, so he tried to revive it.

    Dave touched the dragon and a swirl of dark matter emerged from his hand and covered the entirety of the creature.

    ***

    You do not have the required level, experience or power to revive a dragon right now...

    Attempts remaining to revive [ ck Dragon of Terror]: 2

    ***

    Dave decided against attempting another time, it would only be a waste. However, he didn¡¯t want to leave the body here in fear that it might be looted. Other yers cane here and take what Dave had left. And he didn¡¯t want that, it will ruin the corpse.

    "Tiny," Dave called. And the small creature emerged from his side bag.

    "Can you keep this body inside one of your Sarcophaguses?"

    The slime created a small head out of its mass, quite simr to Dave¡¯s own bearded draugr head and shook it to the side.

    "Huh, I guess you can only store undead."

    Dave looked up at the top of the chasm, then stomped his foot on the ground, summoning a dozen more dunlords.

    The dunlords skittered across and on the walls of the chasm waiting for Dave¡¯smand.

    "Hide the body, make sure no one can detect it," Dave said.

    He then hopped on Stinger¡¯s back and left the area. Leaving the dunlords to their work.

    "Time to get back at that fucker for sending a dragon to my town," Dave looked at the east.

    The king of the Qin kingdom had a debt to pay. And Dave was gonna pay it with interest.

 Chapter 395 Now, We Wai

    Dave continued his journey back to the East, the Wilds, as he knew where not safe. The massive World Boss monsters were reigning free, and he was more than certain they would ambush him if he gave them the chance.

    Dave, however, didn¡¯t need to travel the wilds, the teleportation gate at Nora now belonged to the Undead, he could use the gate and be there in seconds, however, he continued marching through the Wilds riding on Stinger. Mainly because he was inspecting the skill book the dragon had dropped along with the Dragon Soul.

    Dave pressed his palm lightly on the ck skill book, and a notification appeared in front of him.

    ***

    Skill Book

    Tier: Unholy.

    Dragon Roar.

    Cause Fear effects to all enemies in the vicinity of the caster and throws back enemies in a cone in front of the user.

    The enemies that collide with terrain or other enemies will be stunned for 3 seconds then disoriented for 2 more seconds afterward.

    -Due to having unlocked [Horror] effect, the fear effect of Dragon Roar had upgraded to [Horror].

    ***

    Dave learned the skill and was happy to know another cool CC trick to thwart his enemies.

    The second item was the dragon soul. He inspected it but found a single line exining what the item did.

    ***

    Dragon Soul.

    Consumable.

    Upgrades Dragon Rted skills.

    ***

    It was a simple description. But if another yer had the item, they wouldn¡¯t be able to use it. To Dave¡¯s knowledge, only he had dragon-rted abilities.

    Dave pressed -Use Item- and the small spherical item disappeared into his palm.

    A heatwave sted out of Dave¡¯s body as a stream of notification once again popped up in front of him.

    ***

    You have consumed Dragon Soul.

    Your next abilities have been upgraded.

    Advancing Dragon.

    Dragon Fist

    Dragon kick

    Advancing Dragon

    Awakened Dragon

    Dragon Roar

    ***

    ***

    You have learned a new skill

    Aspect of the Dragon

    For a brief period of time- 30 seconds -, you can be the embodiment of a dragon in a human body.

    While in Aspect of the Dragon you cannot benefit from any of the empowerment of skills besides dragon-rted skills.

    Base damage increased to 500% for 30 seconds.

    Damage received reduced by 80% for 30 seconds.

    All dragon-rted abilities will have a change in appearance and effectiveness.

    You can use [Flight] while in Aspect of the dragon.

    Cooldown 72 hours game time.

    ***

    "Whoa, another Op Skill. Man, I¡¯m collecting them like candy," Dave said smiling.

    Once Dave made sure the dunlords had done a good job covering the dragon¡¯s carcass, he left the area and headed back to Urburg. He needed to see if it had suffered any damage from the sword attack he had just done.

    Urburg wasn¡¯t that far away, and to Dave¡¯sfort, its outer walls were standing tall, the construction had long since ended and there was barely a few undead roaming the city.

    Xix looked happy as hemanded the people of his family to do their work. Shops were open, bakeries, even the smithy was billowing smoke out of its chimney.

    Dave smiled and headed toward the teleportation gate. He needed to go back to Qin. He still had a debt to settle.

    Dave used the teleportation gate to arrive at Nora, the first city he conquered in the Qin kingdom.

    The city lord Ling wan looked haggard, but he was still keeping the situation under control and the people of Nora didn¡¯t show any disobedience toward the Undead that were guarding them.

    When he saw Dave, he approached him fearfully and said, "Lord Undead, please. Our citizens cannot sustain hunger for much longer, the young ones at least, if they don¡¯t eat soon, they will fall sick and die. Please," The city lord begged Dave to help change the situation.

    Dave calmly looked at the city lord and said, "Soon, all will be resolved soon. Have some patience," Dave said and pped a hand on the ground summoning Grumpy.

    The massive basilisk growled the moment it appeared at the City Lord, Dave scratched under the creature¡¯s neck and said," Calm down grumpy, he¡¯s not food. Not yet at least."

    The city lord folded back, knowing that he was not one to make amends or demands, he had to take what the undead gave him and never ask for more.

    Dave hopped on Grumpy¡¯s back and headed out of the city in a trot.

    When the basilisk left the city, Dave urged him to move faster toward the east, he needed to group up with his friends.

    Through the voice chat, Lone¡¯s voice sounded, "Dave, the assassins you sent are back."

    "Oh, is Bud with them?" Dave asked.

    "Yes, he just said that they had sessfullypleted their mission, though they suffered some casualties, they had destroyed all the food stocks of all of the cities of Qin besides the capital."

    "Good," Dave said and then added, "You guys should log out, tomorrow¡¯s gonna be a good day to start a war," Dave said in a grin.

    "Oh, you¡¯re right, we¡¯ve been online for a while, Dad was asking when he should leave because he still had work to do." lone said.

    "Yeah, tell him that he can go, tomorrow we¡¯ll start the final step of the n," Dave said.

    Perfect Shot spoke through the party chat right after Lone finished and said, "Dave, the dragon, can I have the video feed?" Perfect asked.

    "Yeah, I¡¯ll send it to you, I also need to add a promotional bit in it for mypany," Dave said.

    Dave knew that revealing the video to the world would garner a huge amount of attention toward his equipment and skills. Dave knew that many would use the information to find out about his weaknesses, yet he wasn¡¯t foolish enough to reveal all his hand. Dave told Perfect to delete a few sections of the video so that his skill-set won¡¯t be revealed and only the dragon hunt and his capture at the Qin borders would be revealed.

    Perfect Shot agreed and mentioned that the staff working for his father¡¯spany would do their best to keep Dave¡¯s secrets and maximize the effectiveness of his endeavor.

    Dave continued heading toward the east, and after an hour¡¯s ride, he had arrived at the camps where his undead was camping.

    "Singund," Dave called.

    The pig-faced orc chieftain appeared from within the rank of his captains and greeted Dave, "Lord Kis¡¯Shtiengbrah, we have conquered more dungeons at your request. What is our next step?" Singund dropped another crate full of dungeon cores of all colors. Dave smiled as he began processing them and converting them to undead dungeons.

    "Singund, I need you to leave."

    "Beg your pardon?" Singund didn¡¯t understand what Dave wanted him to do.

    "Our job here is done, we don¡¯t need to do anything else," Dave said calmly. He turned to the rest of the undead and said," Your mission has ended leave and go back to the dead realm." Dave said, and almost immediately, the undead under Dave began disappearing in swirls of ck smoke.

    "Your lordship, I don¡¯t understand, I thought we were going to fight," Singund said.

    "Oh, we did, and we won," Dave said in a wide grin.

    "Tomorrow, the final step willmence, and you¡¯ll see what I have in stored for the Qin kingdom."

    "Guys," Dave turned on his voice-chat and said, "I¡¯ll log out soon. If you still want to grind some exp, feel free to take some undead with you as protection. Tomorrow we¡¯ll finish up here." Dave said.

    "Oh, right, It¡¯s time we log out."

    "That¡¯s not fair man, only you got to fight some badass boss man," Ralph said. And Dave could feel that the rest of the party was of the same opinion.

    "There¡¯s still a pretty strong boss that I want to hunt in the underworld, once we¡¯re there we can group up and go hunt it," Dave said.

    "If you say so," nker¡¯s voice sounded from the party chat, unconvinced that whatever monster Dave was talking about would be as strong as the Dragon.

    "Right, then, I¡¯ll have to log out soon, tomorrow will also be the third round of the sh of Gods event, I need to be ready," Tess said.

    Dave also remembered that he was still participating in the event.

    "I¡¯ll have to give it up," Lone said.

    "Why?" Fortress asked.

    "Unlike you, I have a legacy to risk, if I lose it it¡¯ll suck," Lone said.

    "You don¡¯t think you¡¯re strong enough to protect it?" nker asked.

    "What if I end up fighting Warlord? Do you think I can keep my legacy then? Or at least one of the big shots of the Devastators, remember Satan yer, he killed a legacy holder in thest round and refused to take his legacy because it was too trash, there are some pretty strong yers in conquest, I need to be careful." Lone said.

    "She¡¯s right. Ralph, and Dante, you too, don¡¯t try the sh of ns, even I almost lost thest round." Dave said.

    The words Dave spoke made the whole party more silent than usual. If even Kis¡¯Shtiengbrah almost lost, that meant that it was far riskier for them to partake in these events, however, Tess spoke rebuking him, "I don¡¯t think I¡¯ll lose to anyone, even you Dave. If we end up fighting each other, I won¡¯t be so kind," Tess said yfully.

    "Uh, can you kill a dragon?" Lone asked, "No you can¡¯t, so shut up. No one can beat Davey," Lone said in a protective manner.

    Lone¡¯s words started a round of bickering between the yers, they beganparing legacies and who had the best chance of taking on the other.

    Dave shook his head and turned off the party chat. He logged out.

    Dave woke up from the capsule, looking around the apartment was dim-lit, besides the lighting from the city. It was night, and prettyte at it too.

    He turned to his phone and wanted to order some food. But then he decided against it, he didn¡¯t want any overly enthusiastic ¡¯Fans¡¯ to know where he lived. Dave left the penthouse and went outside to find somewhere to grab a bite.

 Chapter 396 Trouble in Paradise

    The night in New York was more interesting than the day, the sidewalks were filled with all kinds of people. Street musicians, artists, people walking hand in hand and another outright fighting. Dave had seen the city and enjoyed the atmosphere. He knew that if he kept his head low, and moved with purpose, no one would pay attention to him. Especially with the hot dog, he was stuffing in his mouth right now.

    The people were all moving about minding their own business, and they left Dave alone. He was thankful for all the weirdness New York presented, it had muffled his presence well and no one came rushing toward him yelling, "Skelly, let¡¯s take a selfie!"

    Not that Dave would berate or stop anyone, he just wasn¡¯t a people¡¯s person. He had spent most of his life alone, or in solitude, he enjoyed his privacy. And would find it difficult to change old habits.

    Dave walked back to his apartment for the night. He debated against calling Lone to stay the night with him. The idea had crossed his mind more times than he would care to admit. She was a wonderful girl, and he was lucky to have trusted her the moment he saw her. But being all friendly all the time wouldn¡¯t yield him any progress in his rtionship with Zoe. He knew that he had to take things to the next level, the only problem was, How?

    Most of Dave¡¯s rtionships were flimsy one-night stands, besides his hateful Ex, Dave hadn¡¯t stayed in a serious rtionship ever. He knew he had something precious, and he didn¡¯t want to ruin it by doing something too hasty, however, he knew that doing nothing at all was the same.

    Dave took the elevator back to his apartment and found someone waiting at the door. It was a womanly figure, she was peering through the peephole in Dave¡¯s door, hoping to see something on the other side.

    The idea that the woman might be Zoe spiked his heart rates, however, noticing her dark hair color rebuked the thought.

    "Ophidia, what are you doing?" Dave said as he got closer to the door.

    Ophidia, the current head of R&D in Sigma¡ªSkelectronics was the name right now thanks to Dave¡¯s personal appointing¡ª

    "Ah, Mr. Ruster," Ophidia fumbled, fixing her hair and looking awkward as she was caught spying on Dave¡¯s door.

    "Please don¡¯t fire me!" she said as she realized what she was doing was very wrong.

    Daveughed and shook his head, "I think there¡¯s something important going on, seeing you still in your working clothes."

    "Um, yeah, kinda," she said. Her face turned red.

    Dave had a bad feeling about where this was going and asked, "So?"

    "Um... when you came to thepany...I, I said something¡ª"

    Dave held his hand forward stopping Ophidia from further embarrassing herself, he knew what she was about to say, "If it¡¯s about the blow job, don¡¯t worry about it," Daveughed and added. "I¡¯m not that kind of guy,"

    Ophidia almost slumped to the ground, sighing in relief, and was there a look of mild disappointment on her face?

    Dave didn¡¯t pry and said, "Is there anything else I need to know?" he asked.

    "No, Uh, yes. I filed the project. Fenris had agreed to the budget and we should start producing prototypes by next week." Ophidia said.

    Dave didn¡¯t want to sound ignorant and said, "That¡¯s good. I¡¯ll check out on the reports when I have time." He smiled and went to the door, pressing on the print scanner and walked in. He had left the door open.

    "What? Not gonnae in?" Dave asked.

    Ophidia fumbled a bit then nodded and walked after Dave. Her mind was racing, Dave could clearly see that. But he didn¡¯t say anything. He opened the fridge and took out a bottle of wine. He went to the round table in the living room and sat with the wine bottle and two sses.

    Ophidia was unsure of what was going on, so she kept calm and quiet like a docilemb in a wolf¡¯s nest. Her mind was racing with all kinds of ideas. Some, however, didn¡¯t seem so bad at the moment.

    Ophidia shook her head and asked, "What¡¯s the asion?"

    "Your promotion," Dave said in a wide grin. Ophidiaughed and took the ss from him as soon as he finished filling hers.

    Dave took his own ss and the two began drinking and chatting. Ophidia talked about the work, thepany and the new responsibilities of her new job. Dave listened, he didn¡¯t know most of what she was talking about, so he asked questions. Questions that anyone would never think the CEO of apany would ask.

    And Ophidia provided. She answered some of his questions and exined more about stuff he didn¡¯t fully understand. The two continued talking and drinking until Ophidia looked at the time.

    "It¡¯s gettingte, I need to go," she said.

    "Yeah, sure go ahead," Dave said.

    "But..." Ophidia hesitated, her face turned a bit red. Dave thought it was the alcohol.

    "Yeah?"

    "I need to use the loo," she said in an awkward voice.

    Daveughed, did people still call toilets the loo?

    "Yeah go it¡¯s upstairs," Dave said.

    "Thank you," she said and walked toward the upper floor of the penthouse.

    Dave noticed that it was reallyte, and he needs to sleep early. Tomorrow would be the third round of the sh of Gods event. He needed to have enough sleep to stay ready and prepared for the uing fight.

    Dave remembered that he had promised Desmond, AKA Swingem to visit his gym. Dave thought that he could use the exercise.

    His phone rang stopping his line of thoughts.

    It was Zoe, "Supp," Dave said as he answered.

    "Hellooo," Zoe¡¯s cooing voice sounded from the other side of the phone. Dave smiled to himself like a schoolboy. It¡¯s been ages since he talked to a girl he liked thiste.

    "Hey, Z,"

    "You¡¯re home?" Zoe asked

    "Yeah,"

    "I didn¡¯t wake you up, did I?" Zoe asked. Dave thought she was considerate. He had already mentioned that he needed to sleep for the event.

    "No, I was still up," Dave replied.

    "What are you doing right now?" she asked, her voice sounded a bit... woozy, was she drunk?

    "I¡¯m¡ª" Dave¡¯s words were cut short when Ophidia¡¯s own voice sounded from upstairs, "Whoa, that¡¯s big!"

    Dave¡¯s mind almost stopped, he forgot about Ophidian still being in his apartment.

    "Big?! What big?! Is that a girl in your apartment?!" Zoe¡¯s drowsy voice turned sharper.

    Dave¡¯s words were tangled in his mouth, it was probably the alcohol, but he was sure it wouldn¡¯t be just that. Dave was genuinely confused and didn¡¯t know what to say but "Um, yes."

    After a moment of silence, "I¡¯ming over!" then she hung up.

    Dave¡¯s mind finally snapped back to reality, "Ah shit!"

    "What¡¯s wrong?" Ophidia asked as she came down. "By the way, your bathroom is huge. It¡¯s pretty much as big as my bedroom."

    Dave facepalmed himself, "I think I¡¯m in trouble." He said as heughed, he didn¡¯t know how he was going to exin this.

 Chapter 397 Round Two

    Ophidia turned to Dave, her face almost sullen, she was worried that she had caused trouble for her boss and he might blow up on her. She didn¡¯t even enjoy her new post much and now, there was a real chance that she might get fired before her first paycheck.

    "I¡¯ll leave then, let you two solve this between you," Ophidia said, and stood up promptly.

    "Oh, hell no", Dave said. "If you leave right now, Zoe will think that I actually did something and cheated on her, just stay here, I¡¯ll think of something," Dave said and rxed.

    Ophidia reluctantly sat back down. She gazed at Dave, unknowing of what was going on in the mind of the world¡¯s most famous undead.

    After several long minutes, Dave¡¯s door rattled. Someone was knocking hard on the door threatening to tear it apart if no one came to answer fast enough. Dave didn¡¯t have to guess at who was at the door.

    He stood up and walked to the door. He almost chuckled, the undead don¡¯t fear. But Dave¡¯s fright from Zoe¡¯s trumped his undead passive. Hell hath no fury as a woman scorned.

    Dave opened the door, Zoe¡¯s grim face looked directly at him, she didn¡¯t say a word but shoved him aside.

    Ophidia was sitting calmly and awkwardly at Dave¡¯s sofa. She looked intently at her, then as if she had just recognized her, she said, "You¡¯re the woman from that day? What the hell; are you doing here?" Zoe asked.

    "Um, I¡¯m sorry but this is a huge misunderstanding," Ophidia said.

    Zoe¡¯s brow rose up she looked intimidating, then she had a hup, shattering her threatening posture.

    Dave chuckled, but suppressed theugh, althoughte. Zoe turned to him poking him with his finger and said drunkenly, "You don¡¯t get tough!" after another hup she said, "I didn¡¯t think you were this kind of guy!" Zoe said.

    Daveughed and hugged Zoe tight, she tried to struggle out of his embrace but couldn¡¯t.

    He calmly spoke in her ears saying, "Z, nothing happened and nothing was going to happen. She works for mypany." Dave said.

    Zoe stopped wriggling from his embrace, partly because she liked being this close to Dave. She looked at him at tear point saying," Really?"

    "Yea."

    "If she works for you, what¡¯s she doing here? Trying to get a promotion?" Zoe said lifting her brow.

    "I already got that," Ophidia said. Causing Zoe¡¯s brows to rise even further. Dave wanted to facepalm, "You¡¯re not helping!" he said.

    "No, she lives here, she came to give me the report of a new product she was working on," Dave said.

    "Then what¡¯s with the wine?" Zoe asked she seemed stable enough to remove herself from Dave¡¯s embrace.

    "That¡¯s her promotion party. I had a bottle of wine leftover from the house warming party we had. And she came over for the details I decided to share a drink with her. You know me, Zoe, I¡¯ll never cheat on you, or find anyone better than you." Dave said.

    "Really?" Zoe asked.

    "Yeah, I love you," Dave said in a grin.

    "An that¡¯s cute," Ophidiamented.

    Zoe snapped back to her, angrily, cueing her to shut up, which Ophidia did immediately.

    Zoe¡¯s angry face turned to Dave all beaming with a smile, "So do I," She said and kissed Dave on the lips.

    The two almost forgot that they were not alone until Ophidia coughed. "I should probably get going."

    Dave nodded at her and she left immediately locking the door after the two after taking a longer look at them.

    Zoe kissed Dave on the lips once again, he didn¡¯tin or argue. The two move slowly toward Dave¡¯s chamber. But before he got in, he said, "I¡¯m a bit sweaty, let me take a shower first."

    Zoe nodded, her face was red but she wasn¡¯tining.

    Dave¡¯s own heartrates were racing, he knew they were a couple and what was soon to happened was a part of every healthy rtionship. He took his shower almost too quickly. He made sure that he didn¡¯t stink anymore and dried his hair with a towel.

    Once he left the shower room, he headed to his bedroom. A bit hesitant but excited never the less.

    But once he walked through the door, Dave chuckled. Zoe had long passed out on his bed in a weird position.

    She was wearing a pair of tight jeans and he thought they would be ufortable on her while she slept. She also had a light jacket on top, that wasn¡¯t a dress for bed.

    He went toward her, removed her shoes and unbuttoned her jeans. He wasn¡¯t tactless enough top remove her pants while she slept, he felt it would be inappropriate but that was the best he could do to keep herfortable in her sleep.

    He helped her off her jacket while she groaned in her sleep then covered her.

    Dave kissed her on the forehead. He fetched ahis pajamas from the hidden closet in his room then left closing the room on Zoe, and letting her rest.

    "You can get other chances, Davey," he said to himself and went to the couch.

    He adjusted the rm for his morning event and slept soundly.

    Once it was morning and his rm woke him up, Dave felt a few cramps on his back. He didn¡¯tin though, it was time for the sh of Gods event.

    His bedroom was upstairs, he didn¡¯t want to go up and wake Zoe yet. Let her sleep a bit more he thought.

    Dave went to his gaming room and essed the capsule. He had an event to be ready for.

    Once Dave was inside the game world. He realized that he still had an hour more for the event. In the meantime, he could prepare for the attack on the Qin army.

    Dave went to Nora, the city he first conquered and began giving orders. The first few orders were for the citizen of Nora to use the gate and head toward the capital.

    The teleportation gate could be used to ess the capital but not the other way around, Da made sure of it so no enemy soldiers coulde in.

    One of the Death Knights that were standing guard in Nora approached Dave and said, "Your lordship, we have received information saying that the Qin army is being mobilized, they want to retake the cities."

    "Don¡¯t worry about it," Dave said. "Send word to the captured cities! Order all the civilians in them to go to the capital now!" Dave called and the undead disappeared in the teleportation gates to rally the message to the other two captured cities.

    Once the order was given, and the NPCs moved to the capital, Dave gave another order.

    "Burn the captured cities to the ground!"

    Dave left Nora burning to cinders, the undead had made sure that no building was standing as they left.

    The two other cities had fallen as well and now Dave was starting the final part of his n.

    He summoned Singund and asked, "How many dungeons had you captured?"

    "Apart from a few dungeons that were too close to the Qin capital, we captured more than eighty dungeons. There were a few that were too difficult for us, we had wasted too many soldiers but couldn¡¯t ovee the guardians of the dungeons." Singund said.

    "No matter, then, Eighty Dungeons is more than I hoped for," Dave said and pulled out a small ck square from his inventory.

    It was the Core Resonance Amplifier. A low-cost item that could agitate a captured dungeon into a dungeon break. But with the amount of captured dungeons, Dave¡¯s following step would be deadly to the Qin kingdom.

    ***

    Do you wish to use the Core Resonance Amplifier?

    Currently, it is bound to 83 Dungeons.

    The following captured dungeons are too far for the Core Resonance Amplifier ability to take effect.

    Dungeon of the Skeletal-Soul Bat

    Ice Pce Dungeon

    Mustakrakish¡¯s Desert Pce

    Deste Temple

    Sea Goddess Temple

    Do you ept?

    Yes/No?

    ***

    Dave pressed ept, and almost immediately, the ck Square shuddered to release waves of energy that swept through thend of the Qin Kingdom.

    Suddenly, shrieks and howls of creatures, hundreds of them echoed through all thends of Qin. Thends began shaking almost as if an army of monsters was racing through thends.

    Dave caught a glimpse of a nearby cave, several dozen wolves, with patches of missing fur and rotten flesh ran after each other as they headed east. More undead creatures followed after them, it felt like they knew where life was and they chased after it.

    Dave knew that this was working even better than he thought. His idea was to fill the Qinnds with undead and hamper the advance of the Qin army as he could raid more cities while theynds were teeming with monsters that would hamper them, but now these monsters were going to swarm thends of the cities and will cause the citizen to hole up in them.

    Without food to harvest as thend would be filled with undead, the NPCs will hunger. Their only chance at survival will be to head to the capital, the only city that still had avable food. With more people swarming the capital, it will be chaos. Dave loved chaos, he could do whatever he wanted in it.

    Dave grinned as the armies of undead ran toward the cities. He ordered his Sub-Division to head to one of the nearby cities that he hadn¡¯t taken down yet. Without food, and with undead monsters swarming them, it would be easy to raid and takedown. Especially since they can¡¯t receive aid from the main army as it will struggle to get there due to the numerous monsters on thend.

    Just as the army began moving, one of Dave¡¯s undead jumped at Dave lifting him off his feet and throwing him a few feet away. Dave yelped in surprise, he turned to see what madness went on into the undead¡¯s mind to shove his leader to the ground, then he noticed that the undead that had pushed him was split in half.

    "Oh, your underling would rather give their lives for you," an eerie deep and familiar voice sounded near Dave.

    Turning, he saw the reason why his undead had given his life to push Dave away. The Chosen of the Undead King was standing tall inside the group of undead, unworried by the thousands of undead surrounding him.

    Dave cursed, the Chosen One¡¯s timing couldn¡¯t be more perfect, what¡¯s worse. Dave knew that he couldn¡¯t use his undead to fight it. As he learned from Nick, the Chosen Ones of the Ash King could feed on Dave¡¯s undead to regenerate, he needed to fight it alone.

    Dave stood up to face the Chosen one.

    "Ready for round two?" The Chosen spoke then lunged at Dave.

 Chapter 398 Struggles

    Dave dove away from the Chosen One, barely getting away from La-ire¡¯s extended ws.

    The Demonling tore through the ground with enough strength that Dave thought the world of conquest went into an earthquake.w marks the size of tree trunks spread from the point of the demon¡¯s impact. Dave gulped, that wasn¡¯t a probing attack. The Chosen one was really pissed.

    He believed that La-ir wasn¡¯t going to y around with him, or underestimate him like La-Khbar did.Dave hurriedly drew Durandal and Ajax. The two cursed items gave fright to even a Demi-God, they should be the best to use against a demon.

    Wary, and careful the demon stalked Dave while Dave moved creating distance between them.He needed to have all of his undead move away from the fight before he would let loose, Dave didn¡¯t want anyone of his underling caught in the cross-fire, and they had an important mission to do, he couldn¡¯t hold them here to help him. The undead needed to raid the cities that still had resistance in them and force the civilians for the Capital.

    The demon¡¯s bones began twisting, he grew two new sets of arms. From the palm of each arm, a sharp pointed bone grew out, the demon snapped the bones emerging from his palms and used them as swords.

    He ran toward Dave and began swinging his make-shift swords with wanton abandoned.Dave was no super-man, he could block one or two of the swords but the other arms managed to find purchase into Dave¡¯s body.

    Battering him or piercing between the small gaps of the armor he wore.

    -120,000-

    118,222

    -96,330

    Dave kept piling damage onto himself. Durandal was a sword made to break bones and destroy the enemies, it was toorge for him to deflect or parry the sharp and fast swords of the demon.

    Dave overextended and swung his sword in a vertical line, trying to get the demon away and create some distance, but the creature had telegraphed Dave¡¯s move and vaulted over the sword swing andnded on Dave¡¯s shoulders pinning the undead to the ground.

    Dave was stuck, unable to move, he grunted trying to force the demon away from him, but La-ir onlyughed, then raised all of his bone swords and swung down at Dave¡¯s head.

    The bones were sharper than swords, and Dave knew that he would be in a world of pain if they struck him in a vital spot like the head. The least of his worries would be disorientation, or getting stunned. What he feared the most was if the bones struck his eyes, he will go blind for the duration of the fight.

    Yet before the bones could even graze his face, La-ir was jerked away from on top of Dave and mmed into a nearby tree, toppling it to the ground.

    The draugr rose rapidly and chased after the still stunned Demon.

    Ajax in hand, the demon barely noticed a slimy sludge covering it, the creature was sure it was not there before, but he couldn¡¯t help but think that something had came from the shield and had thrown him away from Dave.

    The only problem was that the demon himself didn¡¯t know what it was and that kept bugging him.

    Dave mmed down with Durandal, another attack the demon telegraphed easily and rolled away in time to dodge and send two of his sword bones digging into Dave¡¯s ribs.The undead grunted and moved a few steps back, the exchange between them was a losing trade for Dave.

    He was taking more damage than he was dealing, and this was the first time Dave had felt like this.

    The Demonling crouched on all his members and stalked Dave like a hungry beast. The undead looked at Durandal and cursed. This weapon was made to destroy big and slow targets, something as nimble as the Demonling was a poor match to the destructiveness of this sword.

    His thoughts were cut thanks to the Demonlings roar. The creature jumped at him like a tensioned spring being released.

    Dave dove to the side, only receiving a zing attack from the creature¡¯s ws, but the strength behind the attack sent Dave sprawling to the ground.

    Dave spat a few leaves and dirt that found themselves into his shocked, open mouth and stood up.

    This Chosen one was different, unlike La-Khbar, La-ir didn¡¯t need to die to change his forms. He was doing it on his own. Dave felt like he was way in over his head.

    He can¡¯t fight this guy, it¡¯s a losing battle, but he can¡¯t let it go to his undead.

    Dave grunted and activated his strongest power ups. He activated [Zealot] and disabled [Azure Water Rune]. The effect of the two skills bloated Dave¡¯s muscles, his usual speed increased to match that of the Chosen One and probably surpass it even. Dave bolted toward the demon who met him head on. The bones in his arms swung in a wide arc at Dave.

    The undead swung his sword intercepting them, and used the maws on his shield to crush the others. He then used his own momentum to crash into the demon, sending the two of them to the ground.

    Dave rose up first and stomped at where the demon¡¯s head was a fraction of a second ago. The creature had moved away and shed at Dave with his bone swords again.

    Dave was too exposed and his shield¡¯s ability to consume and absorb attacks was on cooldown from having stopped the bones a few moments ago.

    But he wasn¡¯t stopping his attack, he wanted to overpower the demon, especially since he was powered up, he could take a hit or two, but the damage Dave would deal the demon will be worth it.

    The demon realized that the iing trade-off would be unwise for him, he forced himself to stop the attack and jumped back away from Dave¡¯s sword.

    However, while he was in mid air, he felt something tugging at his ankle, and he was dragged to the ground with bone shattering force. Dave mmed the tip of Durandal into the demon¡¯s exposed chest, and with a grunt and a roar, Durandal pierced through the demon¡¯s torso and into the ground, leaving only the hilt exposed while the demon trashed in a pool of dark blood.

    After a while of trashing, the demon turned limp and still. Dave didn¡¯t hesitate into ripping his sword out of the demon carcass and prepare for another round. He knew the chosen ones needed to die at least ten times. And for now, the chosen one in front of him still had more deaths to finally croak.

    The demon¡¯s bones began cracking, they turned redder, and as if all of his body turned tova, the ground under the demon began melting.

    Dave walked a few steps away; the demon was releasing a heat capable of melting steel. A demon made ofva. That was nothing short of catastrophic news for Dave. The heat alone was a foe he had to face, not to mention the very creature he had to fight.

    Dave ced his shield forward, the jaws snapped open revealing the abyss that was contained within the shield. A long brownish tentacle burst out form the shield and coiled around one of the demon¡¯s legs.

    It was only then that the demon had understood that it was this very tentacle that was pinning him from moving every now and then and had caused his misstep earlier.

    Yet the demon didn¡¯t even move this time to dodge the attack, the tentacle had strung itself tightly around the demon¡¯s ankle, but after a second, steam rose from the tentacle at the point of intact.

    The organ recoiled and snapped away, burnt by the heat the demon released.

    Dave grunted, there was no way he could use this trick again. He waved his shield to the side, and from the demon¡¯s point of view, he could see a white spherical object that had a squarish shape inside it. It was an eye, the Kraken¡¯s eye. The eye shuddered then disappeared, reced by another eye, a demon¡¯s eye.

    Dave looked behind the demon, he realized that all of his undead were long since gone from the area.

    "Right, now I can finally use my secret weapon," Dave said while smirking.

    The demon tensed up, the memories of being crushed by Durandal was still fresh in his mind and he was readying up to dodge away from the sword this time.

    Dave then decidedly turned and then sprinted away as fast as he could, leaving the demon staring at his disappearing silhouette. Momentster, the demon had just realized that the great undead draugr was actually running away...

 Chapter 399 Didnt See That Coming

    La-ire¡¯s frustrated roar sounded from behind Dave like the explosion of a long-overdue volcano. Dave couldn¡¯t help but chuckle, it was only a fool¡¯s errand to fight that which one knew he couldn¡¯t beat.

    Dave would simply ignore the Chosen One and escape. He didn¡¯t need to kill him right now, he could try some other time with the help of his friends, or when he had the upper hand and level.

    The Draugr kept running, he wanted to make sure that the Chosen One had fully focused on chasing him, and he had to assure that when he was going to make a break for it and escape for real, his undead army would be too far away for La-ire to go back to and hunt.

    Dave didn¡¯t doubt the ability of his Undead to halt or at least slowdown La-ire¡¯s movement if the Chosen One decides to ignore Dave and return to assault them. Many Death Knights would die to the Chosen One, but the majority of the army would still march ahead and destroy the cities of Qin.

    And apparently, the Chosen One was also aware of that. epting or perhaps simply not caring about the inevitable losses he focused even more on chasing after Dave with all the might his inhuman strength could provide him.

    The Chosen One caught up to Dave in no time, proving that demons were unfortunately much faster than the undead.

    La-ire crouched on all four then sprang forward like a shooting star, the strength behind his limbs crushed the rocks and dirt that were under him to dust.

    Dave turned to face the iing La-ire, with the round shield of Ajax poised in front of him like one of the Three Hundred Spartans at the Hot Gates.

    La-ire smashed into the shield, creating a deafening st of sound. Yet the massive force of the Chosen One, capable of grounding stone to dust with a mere kick, had failed to push Dave even a foot from his position.

    Dave grinned, and spoke calmly, "[Reject]"

    Almost instantly, an explosive amount of power, awfully simr to the one the Demon had created when he smashed into Ajax, was reflected back onto him. La-ire¡¯s eyes widened in understanding, but he was too close to the Shield to properly block or dodge.

    A hasty attempt at rolling to the side, caused the full brunt of the sting out of the void depths inside the Shield of Ajax to st the Chosen One into a series of tumbles on the ground.

    La-ir kept tumbling and smashing into rocks and small trees until the back of his neck smashed hard into one of thergest trees of the area cracking the whole ancient tree in the middle.

    La-ire fell limply and remained motionless on the ground. Dave had small hopes that the demon wouldn¡¯t wake up again. A small twitch of the creature¡¯s oddly bent hand had rudely awoken from his wishful thinking.

    "Luckily, your neck broke your fall, otherwise you¡¯d be dead for real," Dave threw in onest aggravatingment at the Demon who was struggling into regaining his muscr functions.

    The Demon¡¯s neck must have snapped, causing him a temporal paralysis, but the Chosen Ones¡¯ regeneration was definitely on par with a cheat ability. La-ire was recovering from an injury that should have rendered anything immobile for life.

    Dave turned and continued heading into a random direction. He had gained a good amount of time thanks to his Shield¡¯s ability, but he was sure that that wouldn¡¯tst for a long time.

    Dave¡¯s feet were moving as fast as he could move them. Never Tire would make any marathon runner jealous... to bad those athletes were known for their endurance but not their speed. The same applied to the Undead, they may have gotten rid of the stamina consumption, but they were still limited to the physical abilities of their original bodies. They could break past the limits that were imposed on their formerly living bodies, but they couldn¡¯t surpass the limit by a lot.

    A loud roar announced the imminent arrival of the Chosen One, Dave turned his head to see that La-ir, no longer retained his humanoid form. In his current transformation, he looked like a boar with three sets of tusks emerging out of his long muzzle. The boar¡¯s eyes were red as blood and the rest of his body was releasing an infernal heat.

    The current boar form had three sets of legs, increasing the already rapid La-ir¡¯s speed to a higher level.

    Dave cursed and jumped aside, dodging the boar¡¯s tusks by the skin of his teeth.

    -25,000

    However, the mere fact that the magma-shaped boar passed by Dave caused the heat to increase tremendously. The draugr¡¯s left arm caught fire. To which he pped the dirt until he put it out.

    Dave was in a bad position, he couldn¡¯t fight the boar right now, the heat was making him burn with every exchange.

    Then as if he had just recalled, he too was proficient in fire.

    Dave unequipped the cursed weapon and shield, Ajax and Durandal and switched to the Sworn Stalwart Gauntlets.

    He activated Aura and disabled the [Azure Water Rune] causing the chaos energy to break free and wreak havoc through his body in exchange for an infernal burst of power and strength.

    Dave could sustain the -1% Hp he would lose every second as he activated the Chaos Runes on his body thanks to potions and the passive [Vigorous] that would heal him by 10% of his max HP every 10 minutes.

    But the reason why he activated it was due to the rtionship between the chaos energy and fire. They were very simr, and he hoped that the chaos energy would grant him a bit of sor from the heating out of the demonic boar.

    When La-ir turned to face Dave the undead was ready.

    Dave stomped both feet on the ground securing his footing and leaned forward, both palms open and ready. He grit his teeth and waited until the charging boar was a few feet away, then he took a step forward and lunged for the boar¡¯s tusks.

    La-ir¡¯s momentum could have easily crushed Dave and he could have easily broke him. But the boar couldn¡¯t for the life of it, to understand why it was being flung in mid air then smashed into a tree.

    Dave however, gambled that thanks to using [Herculean Strength] at thest second he would be able to overpower the boar... still this strength wouldn¡¯tst for long. Dave smashed his fists into the boar, the fireing from its body didn¡¯t harm Dave anymore.

    After pommeling the creature a few times, Dave turned and ran away. [Herculean Strength] had a mean side effect. It would cause Dave to enter a weakened state where he would only be in further disadvantage against the Chosen One.

    Dave jumped in mid air then activated [Demonic Ascension].

    The armor on his back deformed letting Dave¡¯s raven wings to sprout out. He took to the skies like a fire raven. Distancing himself from the demon. Yet as fate decreed, his encounter with the Chosen One was not meant to end right then.

    The demonic boar began morphing once again, this time his body twisted, creaked and cracked. His snout elongated even further, and his tusks turned to whiskers. His forehead grew twisting horns and his fat round body became sleeker slimmer and elongated to hundreds of feet long.

    "Who the fuck gathered the Dragon Balls? I have Sheng Long up my ass now!" Dave cursed as he looked at the dragon that was now chasing him.

    Dave pped his wings as fast as he could, he couldn¡¯t fight this, he didn¡¯t need to and he didn¡¯t have to.

    Dave tried his best to run away, but something ominous caused the hair on his back to stand on end. He turned and saw that the enormous flood dragon had opened his mouth wide, an air orb had been gathering in front of the dragon for a while now, and then the creature shot it forward, aiming at Dave.

    Dave dove down evading the air st, but the wind-ball kept chasing after Dave. The closer it got, the harder Dave was able to fly using his demonic form.

    "Ah shit this is going to hurt," Dave cursed. An attack of this magnitude, and from this high up would undoubtedly tten Dave to the ground.

    A notification appeared in front of Dave a few moments before impact.

    Dave¡¯s eyes widened as he noticed the notification, with a wide grin heughed and epted."

    "Guess my luck is still good!" Daveughed.

    A vortex appeared right behind Dave and he was sucked in, disappearing from the skies of the Wilde.

    What met Dave who transformed back to his regr Undead form was a dark purplish swath of a world that was familiar to Dave.

    This was the Limbo, exactly in the arena of the sh of Gods.

    Daveughed, he had totally forgotten about this, but now he could rest easy here. Once he defeated his opponent, he would be able to leave. Perhaps he should try to extend the fight. That would increase the odds of the Chosen One having given up on him, or at least allow him some time toe up with a strategy.

    "Why are youughing?" a familiar voice sounded behind Dave.

    The undead turned and saw his opponent, his wide grin disappeared.

    "What? You look like you¡¯ve seen a ghost," the opponent sounded annoyed.

    "I think I¡¯d rather go back and fight the dragon," Dave replied in an awkward voice.

    "I don¡¯t know about any dragons, but I bet you will, I mean you¡¯re in a pretty tight spot. Especially against my ss," the opponent pointed out and smiled. Dave did not like being at the receiving end of his own trademarked smirk.

    "Yeah, you¡¯re kinda thest person I wanted to fight... Well it was probably bound to happen. Don¡¯t me for not pulling any punches, Mercy." Dave took on a fighting stance and summoned out his most powerful equipment.

    The assassin in white smiled and disappeared through the shadows of Limbo.

    "Screw assassins and their invisibility skills," Dave cussed and prepared for probably the worst opponent he could face in this sh of Gods.

 Chapter 400 Face Off

    [Terror of the Infernal Tyrant] has been renamed [Infernal Tyrant¡¯s Oppression]

    "It¡¯s ironic, how this happened," Mercy¡¯s voice sounded from all over the ce.

    Dave was pacing around, steady and calm, waiting for the time when the Assassin in White would strike before he could retaliate.

    "How so?" Dave asked as he looked around, a futile hope trying to assess or locate the White Death.

    "It was just yesterday when everyone was asking who among us can beat you," Mercy said.

    "Yeah, you think you have a shot?" Dave asked in a wide grin.

    "Probably," came the answer, with a dagger thrust in Dave¡¯s left nk.

    -120,660

    Dave grunted it was for only one second that Mercy had appeared, he swung his gauntleted fist toward her torso, but Mercy disappeared once again with the same speed as she had attacked.

    Dave had finally realized that he was in a tight spot. Fighting an Assassin as a Melee Fighter ss was a recipient for disaster. His attacks are powerful, but they needed tond, and Mercy was a pro at evading attacks.

    "So, you think you can win?" Mercy asked.

    "Perhaps," Dave said in a grin then threw a fist at empty air.

    His fist struck nothing, but an infernal dragon burst out from his gauntlet and coursed forward like an avnche. The dragon opened its maw wide ad engulfed a transparent silhouette.

    -90,442

    A damage value appeared in Dave¡¯s vision. He had touched Mercy with his attack.

    The Assassin didn¡¯t speak, Dave was thankful, her asional remarks were throwing his thinking process all over the ce. This was a tactic used by predators when hunting lesser prey. To make them stumble, make mistakes and attack irrationally.

    Dave knew how this hunter versus prey y would go and had already prepared for countermeasures. Just as he knew that Mercy knew a lot of his skills and habits, he too had been witnessing her attack patterns and y-style when they partied together.

    But, just knowing how your opponent would fight you, didn¡¯t mean that you will win. There were also other possible variables, and he knows that for the number one assassin in the game, a constant or rigid ystyle wasn¡¯t their thing.

    Dave instinctively jumped aside dodging a dagger swing that went too close to his face forfort.

    "How did you dodge that?" Mercy asked as she disappeared into the shadows once again.

    Dave wasn¡¯t about to tell her that it was pure luck that he managed to dodge the attack, so he remained calm and didn¡¯t answer. The gears in his mind were churning and rolling like twisters.

    An Assassin was one of the most annoying and stressful characters to face off against. Their DPS was massive, their escape potential is immense, and their tactics were always dependent on striking the enemy¡¯s weak spots.

    Dave knew this well, and he knew how to outwit an Assassin, simply put, Dave had to ce himself in the Assassin¡¯s shoes and think, ¡¯What is the best way to attack my opponent without getting struck back."

    Therefore, he would reveal a blindspot, give the opponent a clear target to attack, and once he feels that enough time had passed for the Assassin to capitte on the opportunity given, Dave would move away and strike back.

    It was barely a n, barely logical, barely applicable, but it appears that Mercy had fallen for it.

    Dave¡¯s arms were raised in front of him in a fighter¡¯s stance, and once again, he instinctively jumped back. Mercy¡¯s silhouette appeared right where he was standing, shing with her dagger at empty air.

    Dave propelled himself forward and struck at Mercy with his fist. The expected damage value never appeared as the Assassin in white had ducked under Dave¡¯s fist and followed with a stab to the small opening in his armor under his armpit.

    Dave couldn¡¯t help but grunt from the painful attack, but that wasn¡¯t the end of Mercy¡¯s attack, she followed with a leg sweep that threw Dave from over his feet.

    Mercy stabbed down toward his eye, but he moved his head to the side and went for a grapple.

    Yet the Assassin was too nimble to be locked down and she managed to slide from between Dave¡¯s arms and retaliated with snapping her fingers right in front of his face.

    An explosive sh of light disoriented Dave. Then a flurry of attacks struck at him from everywhere.

    -18,100

    -19,258

    -16,225

    Several damage values appeared on top of Dave¡¯s head as he tried to blindly strike at Mercy. But in his blinded and disoriented state, he failed all of his aimless retaliations.

    Annoyed by the amount of damage he was receiving, Dave activated [Aura] or what was now became [Infernal Tyrant¡¯s Oppression].

    Abysmal ck fire burst out from Dave¡¯s avatar as if the gates of hell itself had opened from within him.

    A gigantic ck skull made of fire rose up from above Dave¡¯s head, the skullughed in madness as mes burst out from around Dave¡¯s avatar and moved away from him like liquid.

    Mercy grunted the area of effect skill forced her to move away because receiving damage from attacks would force Assassins out of invisibility so she had to make her distance.

    "That¡¯s a new Skill," Mercy mentioned.

    Dave¡¯s eyes finally regained vision. He looked around and noticed the Assassin dissipating into the shadows once again.

    "Yeah, I have my secrets you know," Dave smirked.

    He then began moving to where he had seen Mercyst. The AOE effect was actually a great method for him to force Mercy to the boundaries of the arena. Even if she was invisible, therge zone of effect of [Infernal Tyrant¡¯s Oppression] would push her, and if she tried to force her way through, she would reveal herself to Dave¡¯s assault.

    But Dave didn¡¯t know that the number one Assassin in the game was not just a title for show. Mercy revealed herself to Dave way before he could push her to the edge of the arena. She actually began sprinting toward him then she disappeared, not in invisibility, but she had used a skill that he had seen Lone use many times.

    Mercy had used [Blink]

    The Teleportation Skill helped her mitigate the first tick of the [Infernal Tyrant¡¯s Oppression] as she appeared behind Dave, almost in one single motion, Mercy did a backflip, shing with the tip of her boot at his back and while in mid-air she threw two throwing daggers that embedded themselves in Dave¡¯s back.

    Mercy¡¯s backflip helped her dodge away from Dave¡¯s aura and she once again turned invisible.

    A notification appeared in front of Dave.

    [You have been struck by, Poison Dagger! x2

    Poison resisted!

    As an undead, you cannot be poisoned!]

    "Impressive," Dave said as he turned. The two daggers fell down from his back "But the Undead can¡¯t be affected by poison.".

    "Yeah, was worth the shot anyway," Mercy chided.

    Dave realized that he couldn¡¯t keep [Infernal Tyrant¡¯s Oppression] activated for long, it would consume a lot of his mana, and once he needed to use the Skill, he won¡¯t have enough resources. So he disabled the ability.

    "Guess we should stop testing the waters, how about youe at me for real, Mercy," Dave said.

    "Oh, wasn¡¯t I doing so from the beginning," Mercy said in a yful tone.

    "Nah, you haven¡¯t used any of your Legacy Skills, you don¡¯t think I am worth the effort?" Dave asked.

    ...

    Mercy remained quiet.

    He knew that she was holding back, and he was more than certain that she knew he was holding back also. S ss Legacy yers were no pushovers, and every move had to be executed with care and prudence.

    "Alright then, if you¡¯re not going to take this seriously, then let me do it for you." Dave switched out of his Sworn Stalwart Gauntlets and drew the Ultra Great Sword of Durandal and the Cursed Great Shield of Ajax.

    "Switching your weapon won¡¯t change much you know," Mercy said.

    "Well, I won¡¯t be so sure about that if I were you," Dave said smiling, he then raised his shield above himself, the metallic jaws opened up revealing the demonic eye.

    "Let¡¯s call some chaos then shall we?" Dave said smiling.

    Suddenly, the darkened skies of Limbo turned bright red. A meteor the size of a small stadium was falling down.

    "Let me see you dodge that!" Dave said as he gave an eerieugh.

 Chapter 401 From the Frying Pan to the Fire

    The meteor fell down at speeds fast enough to burn the atmosphere to hellfire. The Limbo brightened up enough that it forced the shadows off of the transparent silhouette of the Assassin in White, Mercy.

    Dave noticed the wide-eyed assassin staring unbelievingly at the iing mass of death.

    For a fraction of a second, the cold, pragmatic face of the Assassin turned to utter stupefaction at the sight. Then her face resumed its cold calctive nature. Mercy¡¯s shadow grew, forcing its way against the bright light from the iing meteor.

    The shadow under her took a physical form and wrapped tightly around her figure, then soon after, the meteor fell, taking with it, Dave, Mercy and the entirety of the arena.

    Darkness soon overcame Limbo, and Dave sensed himself falling down to the depths of Limbo. He panicked as he realized that the meteor had actually caused the entire tform to fall down in broken pieces, and he would soon fall to the swirling shadows under the tform guaranteeing a death he never predicted.

    In a panic, Dave tried to activate [Demonic Ascension] his only way to gain flight and escape certain doom. Yet to his misery, the Skill was grayed out, as a matter of fact, all of his Skills were inessible as he fell down.

    He cursed inwardly, as he just realized that his victory or loss could be decided based on who among the two of them would fall to their death first.

    As he was pondering, his back smashed into a solid surface. Dave stood up, then looked around, his Undead Passive providing massive assistance in revealing the darkened world of Limbo.

    He was standing on top of a broken piece of the tform, this part had somehow managed to survive the fall against the current of purple shadows moving through this part of Limbo.

    His eyes immediately adjusted to the darkness of the Limbo, revealing more pieces of the tform spread all over the ce.

    Since he hadn¡¯t been given or shown the message of victory, Dave realized that Mercy must have survived the fall as well.

    The dark purple shadows smashed into the rock he stood on. He crouched down and touched the shadows, receiving an intense painful reaction in retrospect.

    -25,000

    ***

    Beware of what may undo life or death!

    You have been touched by Eldritch Corruption!

    ***

    Dave pulled his hand back; it was only a touch and he lost a lot of HP due to it. Falling here would mean death in no time.

    He looked around, there were many rocks and boulders. The remains of the tform spread over the Eldritch Corruption River.

    Mercy has to be on one of them, he thought. She has a great advantage amongst the darkened area, many ces to hide and deliver lethal blows then she could disappear as easily. While Dave will have to chase around aimlessly for her.

    The situation was getting more and more disadvantageous for him, and both of them knew of it.

    Dave calmly looked around, he knew he couldn¡¯t locate Mercy in this situation, but he believed that there had to be a wider piece of the tform he could stand on, a ce he might have a proper footing to face against the Assassin.

    In the distance, a couple of rocks to jump from and to, was a tformrge enough for him to fight and be at ease not to be pushed into the swirling death moving eerily around him.

    Dave made a decision and vaulted toward the next boulder.

    Then he jumped over the next one, and once he was only one bolder away, Mercy struck at him while he was in mid-air with a dagger, sending his avatar staggering off course and toward the swirling purple shadows.

    Dave cursed, but he still had the wits to use [Immortal Apparition] in midair, teleporting himself on the tform and saving himself from certain death.

    "That was a low blow," Davemented.

    "What did you expect? I¡¯m an Assassin," Mercy replied with a leer.

    "Right, then there is no reason for me to y fair!" Dave said and pointed with his shield up.

    The metallic jaws creating the round cursed Shield of Ajax folded back, revealing the demonic eye within. The eye shone bright and spewed out dozens of Infernal Dragon Skulls.

    The skulls surged out like shots from a machine gun as they flew up, illuminating the darkened Limbo.

    Like hangingmps, the draconic fire skulls hovered around and above Dave. They looked like predators hunting for prey. And by Dave¡¯s will, they flew down like a meteor shower aiming at every protruding piece of the tform in the vicinity.

    Mercy gasped as she realized Dave¡¯s n. He didn¡¯t need to hit her, the fact that he could destroy the tform she stood on was enough to kill her. So, the Assassin began jumping from rock to rock toward the only ce she believed would be safe.

    The Infernal Draconic Skulls crashed into the pieces of the tform around Dave and sunk them, or rendered them to dust. While Mercy ran with all she got toward Dave¡¯s back.

    He didn¡¯t know where she was, but Dave believed that he had forced her toe toward him. He knew, even if she was invisible that she was soon to attain his piece of the tform and by then, the game would be over.

    Mercy didn¡¯t have the slightest delusion that David Ruster was an idiotic man, or stupid enough not to realize the advantage he had pressed using his tactic, so she was going to make sure to make him pay for forcing her to move at his wishes.

    She held her dagger forward, her eyes squinted, prepared to use one of her deadliest Skills. A Legacy Skill that she was certain would end the fight the moment it touched Dave.

    Mercy lightly stepped on Dave¡¯s tform. While he was still distracted with aiming the draconic skulls, she stabbed at his back.

    Yet, as if he had eyes on the back of his head, Dave lunged forward and swung his enormous sword toward her side. Mercy ducked under the sword swing and stopped moving.

    She was still invisible, and the hair on her back stood up. If the sword had touched her, the mere Kick-Back Effect would have been enough to throw her into the deadly churning shadows.

    This was yet another time where David Ruster used his ¡¯instincts¡¯ to terminate a perfect kill opportunity.

    Yet, he didn¡¯t notice that she was still there, from the look on his face. David Ruster was perplexed, it was as if his n was foiled and his calctions were thrown awry. Now was the best chance for the Assassin to take him out.

    Dave looked around, he was not aware of her location, so she moved as quietly as possible toward his back. Her skill [King yer] was an Execution Skill that needed several conditions to use. And one of them was a heartstab from the back.

    Once Mercy was in position, she wasn¡¯t going to ruin it. She thrust her dagger as fast as she could into Dave¡¯s back.

    Yet what met her was an immense pitch-ck abyss, as jaws of metaltched onto her hand.

    Dave draugr¡¯s smile was facing her.

    "Gotcha!" the draugr smiled then headbutted her.

    Mercy staggered, she somersaulted back and turned invisible.

    "Sorry, but that won¡¯t work anymore," Dave said as he turned on [Infernal Tyrant¡¯s Oppression]

    The ck mes of hell surged out from around him, burning away the invisibility effect of Mercy¡¯s skill. She turned to jump away from his area of effect, only to notice that he had destroyed all the nearby tforms.

    "Yeah, you¡¯re gonna burn here love," Dave said in a carefree manner.

    He had cut off all her paths of escape and even foiled her [King yer] now that his [Aura] skill was active, she couldn¡¯t use [King yer] anymore, as it needed her to be invisible.

    David Ruster had forced her to fight him in close-quarterbat. A deadly, if not idiotic situation any Assassin would loath find themself in.

    Mercy grunted and charged forward, there was no need to waste time, if she could down his HP first, she would win, the damage tics from his [Aura] skill might kill her, but if she dodged all his attacks andnded hers, she would kill him first.

    Mercy¡¯s avatar split in three. Something Dave had never seen her do before. But he had to admit, as a Legacy yer, many of them had Skills they didn¡¯t show the public.

    Yet three Mercys or even more, they wouldn¡¯t make a difference.

    Dave grinned as he opened his mouth wide, using [Ray of mes].

    A torrent of ck fire burst out from his mouth, far hotter than hell itself as it coiled shaping itself into a ck dragon then began hunting the Mercy clones. The dragon passed through one of them and went back passing through the second. Two of Mercy¡¯s clones disappeared while the third and real one was right up to Dave¡¯s nose, her dagger swinging toward his skull.

    Yet Dave didn¡¯t even dodge. Letting the dagger embed itself into his head.

    -650,477

    Dave¡¯s head buzzed, but he took the opportunity from the recoil on Mercy¡¯s dagger to grab at her hand discarding his Ultra Great Sword.

    "I have too much HP, I can take a hit," Dave boastedughingly as he jerked Mercy out of bnce.

    He then struck down at her with his shield.

    -56,000

    The Assassin grunted but she managed to stabilize herself and twisted around him like a nimble snake, perfectly securing Dave into a chokehold.

    Mercy tightened her grip hard. An Assassin¡¯s [Chokehold] was one of the earliest killing Skills they obtained, they were perfect in killing targets without them putting much effort into resisting. Taking their breath away and forcing them to go into unconsciousness.

    However, for all of Mercy¡¯s professionalism, she failed to remember a simple fact.

    Undead don¡¯t need air.

    Dave smiled, he tried to grab at her, but she was nimble enough to dodge his hands, thus he ignored it and simply stood there as she wastched to him like a leech, trying to choke him out of the fight.

    Mercy groaned the fire emitted from Dave¡¯s [Aura] skill had gnawed at an immense portion of her HP. While her choke failed to do anything to the Undead.

    Once the thought crossed her mind, Mercy suddenly jumped away from Dave. Finally realizing that she cannot suffocate what doesn¡¯t need breath.

    "Finally get it?"

    "You¡¯re annoying," Mercy said.

    "Yeah, I get that a lot, so what¡¯s the deal, you can¡¯t win," Dave said.

    Mercy looked around; it was true. She didn¡¯t have enough attacking power. And he had too much HP, not to mention the asional heal he received from his passive.

    Mercy was in a dilemma, the only way she could defeat him was if she did something unexpected.

    Her eyes gazed at the swirling darkness right behind Dave, he was dangerously close to the rim of the wide tform they were on. If she manages to push him there, she would instantly win, without needing to use any dangerous face-offs.

    Once the idea found itself into her mind, she executed her n.

    Mercy sprang up to her feet and jumped toward Dave, pitting the entirety of her strength and weight behind her. She knew she couldn¡¯t win against the Undead in terms of strength, but a sudden push would be all she needed to throw him off bnce and make him fall to his death.

    Dagger in hand as a decoy, Mercy ran with all the speed she could muster, and once the dagger was halfway toward the Undead¡¯s chest, she discarded it and opened both her palms to push Dave off the rim of the small broken tform they were on.

    Surprised as Dave might have been, it wouldn¡¯t be as surprised as Mercy was when she realized that she had passed through Dave¡¯s own avatar and found herself with too much momentum to stop herself from falling into the swirling darkness.

    Mercy fell, encased and buried in the darkness of Limbo while Dave stood utterly unbelieving and stupefied.

    A notification soon appeared in front of Dave.

    Congrattions, you have won your match in the sh of Gods.

    +100 points.

    Since you have defeated a lower ssed Legacy yer, you will not obtain their Legacy, nor will they lose theirs.

    ***

    Dave was shortly teleported out of Limbo and back on the beach.

    ***

    You have won your third match. You have disqualified your opponent. The next round willmence in 3 days- Game time. Make sure to be ready.

    ***

    Dave appeared in the middle of the Wilds, still not quite sure what to make of the situation.

    Almost instantly, Mercy called him from the in-game friend chat.

    "Uh, yeah?" Dave uttered.

    "What did you do?" she asked, "How did you know I was going to push you?"

    "Um, instinct," Dave said.

    To which Mercy grunted and hung up.

    He didn¡¯t dare tell her the truth. That he had used his Legacy Skill, [Final Phantasm], and then applied [Immortal Apparition]. His n was simple when in [Immortal Apparition] all physical attacks be null and void. So even if Mercy had attacked him with her dagger, she would hit nothing but empty air. But since she opted for pushing him out of the edge, she went through his ethereal form and into the abyss.

    ¡¯What a way to kill an S ss Legacy Holder...¡¯

    Daveughed then looked ahead,

    "Ah shit, he¡¯s still here," Dave grunted.

    Apparently, the Chosen of the Ash King was still around, waiting for Dave. And once he noticed him, he roared and charged toward him.

    "Alright you Discount Shen-Long, let¡¯s start round two!" Dave smiled and hopped forward to meet the demonic dragon.

 Chapter 402 One Down, Three To Go

    The dragon-shaped Chosen One coiled around itself like a spring and shot forward like a bullet toward Dave.

    Dave remembered that the fire dragon would burn him by just being close, so he immediately activated [Infernal Tyrant¡¯s Oppression], countering fire with fire.

    A st of fire roared out and spread from around Dave like a tidal wave of incinerating mes. The soil, trees, and greenery around the armored Undead burnt to ash, while an enormous ckughing skull appeared above Dave.

    Dave held his shield forward, it opened up, absorbing the shock power behind the dragon¡¯s charge, and halted the entire thing suspended in the air.

    The bearded Draugr grinned as he spoke, "[Reject]!"

    sting back the dragon with his own power and shaking it to its bones.

    Threatened and wounded, La-ire rethought his n of attack. He coiled back, hovering in mid-air and stalking around Dave as he thought of a better way to attack the Undead.

    Dave calmly gazed at the dragon, waiting for it to make its next move.

    Suddenly Dave¡¯s in-game phone rang, it was Lone Arrow.

    Dave took the call while he kept his eyes on the demonic dragon that was still waiting for a chance to attack.

    "Daaaaveeeeyyyyy!!!!"

    "My god, one day, you¡¯ll burst my eardrums," Dave said wincing from Lone¡¯s high pitched voice.

    "Tell me how you did it?!" Lone asked.

    "Did what now? And hang on, shouldn¡¯t you be asleep?"

    "Yeah, I just woke up, I saw you were ying and I didn¡¯t want to bother you," Lone replied.

    "You¡¯re still at the apartment?" Dave asked.

    "Yes, I¡¯m currently watching you while you¡¯reying down inside the capsule," Lone said in a low voice.

    "That¡¯s just creepy," Dave shook his head, then he asked, "So, what did you mean by how I did what," Dave asked.

    "Yeah, I was checking everyone¡¯s progress through the sh of Gods event, and when I asked Mercy who she fought against, she said it was you and you won, she didn¡¯t want to tell me more than that."

    "Uh, well, it was just some luck," Dave said.

    "Right, the great Mr. Skeletal is always lucky," Lone said.

    "Yeah, I got you, didn¡¯t I?."

    "Smooth," Lone replied, a hint ofughter in her voice, then asked, "What are you doing right now?"

    "Oh, the usual, fighting dragons and stuff," Dave said. his eyes were still glued at the dragon that was seemingly satisfied with hovering over him waiting for a chance to act.

    "No way, another dragon? Sure you did cause the Dragon Age event, but aren¡¯t you way over your head in this?" she asked.

    "Yeah, kinda, but I think I can kill it," Dave said.

    "For real? Share with me the feed, I¡¯ll go online, I¡¯d like to watch." Zoe said.

    "Right, I¡¯ll send you the feed link to your phone," Dave said and shared with her the live streaming of hisbat with the dragon.

    "Oh, that thing looks like a giant noodle," Zoe said.

    "Yeah, big, giant noodle made of fire," Dave said smirking.

    "Can you win?" Zoe asked.

    "Yep, I¡¯m just waiting for the right moment, I can end this fight in one shot."

    "You sound confident," Zoe said.

    "You doubt me?" Daveughed, "Oh the dragon is moving," Dave said and quieted down.

    The dragon did, in fact, decide to move. It opened its mouth wide and began coalescing fire in front of its maw like an enormous fireball.

    The fireball began rotating and growingrger andrger. Soon, there were two suns in the sky, and Dave was facing one of them. This skill reminded him of the [Dragon Breath] attack that the Dragon of Terror had used on him on so many asions.

    "Ah shit," Dave cursed.

    "That¡¯s gonna hurt," Zoemented.

    "Yep," Dave replied with a grin, "But like I said, I have my ways," Dave saidughing.

    The dragon, deciding that the fireball had grown wide and hot enough, snapped both jaws close. The fireball that was in front of the dragon descended like a small moon about to crush the world.

    If the aura of [Infernal Tyrant¡¯s Oppression] surrounding Dave had burnt fifty meters of radius around him, the fire from the [Dragon Breath] was burning kilometers of it with ease.

    The whole of the Wilds was going to suffer at the cost of these two¡¯s fight.

    Yet, facing against this small descending sun, Dave was still grinning wide.

    Even as his armor began to turn red, even as bits of his beard began wrinkling and burning, even as his own aura was being affected and distorted, Dave still kept a wide smile on his face as he looked at the descending fire.

    And soon, he was engulfed.

    Yet almost the same time the fireball had touched Dave, it had disappeared. Leaving a smiling draugr standing all alone in arge area of ash and dust. While the dragon staggered back in surprise. Apparently, the[Dragon Breath], the strongest Skill a Dragon could use had been rendered to nothingness by this Undead.

    It was a feat not many would be able to mimic.

    "What! What have you...done?" the dragon spoke for the first time.

    "Nothing that I will tell you," Dave shrugged then added, "So, wanna try that again?"

    The dragon, incensed, dove down toward Dave at a ring speed.

    Dave grinned, "Got him," He said.

    "Got him? What are you nning?" Lone asked.

    Dave didn¡¯t answer, he crouched down, then jumped up to face the iing dragon.

    La-ir noticed the iing Draugr and opened his maw wide. nning on crushing the Undead between its razor-sharp teeth.

    The dragon closed its maw with an audible snap that broke the sound barrier. However, something felt wrong, there was nothing inside the dragon¡¯s gullet.

    "Hey Noodle, have you grown so senile you can¡¯t even see your own prey?" Dave said. He was hovering in mid-air, already in [Demonic Ascension].

    The dragon roared and charged after Dave.

    "What are you nning?" Lone asked.

    "You¡¯ll see, I need to fulfill a few conditions for my next n," Dave saidughing and flew away from the dragon.

    He knew he wasn¡¯t fast enough to outrun the dragon, but he didn¡¯t need to run too far away.

    "Found it," Dave said as he charged toward the river that crossed the Wilds.

    The dragon realized that the Undead was trying to lure it into the river, but it wouldn¡¯t matter.

    Dave flew above the river water while the dragon rapidly closed the gap between the two. When they were only a few hundred meters away from each other, Dave dove down into the river, forcing the dragon to do the same.

    The heat from the dragon¡¯s body reacted against the cold water of the river, creating a steam explosion and massive fog curtain.

    -350,000

    The explosion forced Dave out of the river and revealed the dragon without the mes surrounding it.

    Dave looked wearily at the dragon. Waiting for it to make another move.

    "You think that by dousing my fire, you could get rid of me? Too na?ve!" La-ir roared and charged at Dave again.

    Dave noticed that the water had indeed extinguished the mes around the dragon, and it was now like any serpentine dragon, made of scales. But at the far end of its body, there were still bits of fire there and it would soon regain its former infernal self.

    "Guess this is my only chance," Dave said and then charged ahead.

    Dave discarded [Infernal Tyrant¡¯s Oppression], and waited for the dragon to open its mouth again in an attempt to grind Dave in between its jaws.

    Once the dragon tried to engulf Dave again, the Undead pulled a small blue potion from his inventory, he smiled then used [Immortal Apparition].

    La-ir lost sight of the Undead. He looked around but couldn¡¯t see or find the Draugr.

    "See ya in hell!" Dave shouted, his voice sounding from a location the dragon never thought anyone would dare be in. Right above its head.

    Dave mmed his shield into the dragon¡¯s head and a notification appeared in front of him.

    ***

    You have used [Reject] on the saved Legacy Skill [King yer] Stolen from yer [Mercy].

    You have fulfilled all conditions to use [King yer]

    First Condition, Target must be royalty, leader or iconic figure. La-ir is a Chosen of the Ash King.

    Second Condition, Target must be attacked while he is distracted!

    Third Condition, Target must have engaged the user inbat in thest 30 seconds.

    Forth Condition, Target must be higher level than the user.

    Fifth Condition, Target must be attacked while the user is under [Invisibility].

    All conditions have been met! Legacy Skill [King yer] has Executed [La-ir] Chosen of the Ash King!

    ***

    The dragon didn¡¯t even move once Dave¡¯s shield mmed into it, it just fell down and dropped like an anvil toward the ground.

    "What the flying fuck?!" Lone cursed.

    Dave¡¯s ears threatened to burst once again.

    "Zoe, easy on the cuss words, what¡¯s going on?" Dave asked.

    "That¡¯s just not fair man, I mean what the hell? How did you use Mercy¡¯s skill?"

    "Oh, this, yeah, she tried to kill me with it when we were fighting in the [sh of Gods] I wanted to use it on her, give her a taste of her own medicine, but seems that I didn¡¯t need to," Dave said as he began sorting through the numerous notification screens appearing in front of him.

    "No, no! I mean how did you use it? Okay, I can understand that you could manage the Skill with four of the conditions, but how did you manage [Invisibility?], you¡¯re not an Sssassin. Nor a Rogue ss, don¡¯t tell me your SS Legacy Skill is so broken you obtained an Invisibility Skill through it?"

    Daveughed and said, "Nah, nothing of the sort," he said and pulled up an empty potion bottle.

    "Invisibility potion? That¡¯s a low-level item, oh wait...So the reason you pulled the dragon into the river..."

    "Yea, to put out his fire," Dave said. "The dragon¡¯s fire would interfere with the [Invisibility] that this potion gives and the skill won¡¯t work. Anyway, this potion was actually the source of Mr. Skeletal¡¯s rise to fame, I owe much to it. And it has once again helped me in a Main Questline."

    Dave said smiling, in front of him was a blinking notification.

    ***

    You have in The Chosen of the Ash King.

    You have fulfilled one of the Royal Labors!

    +250,000,000EXP

    Level UP!

    Level UP!

    ***

    "Nice!" Dave made a fist.

    "Oi! Don¡¯t forget the loot!" Zoe said.

    "Yeah, I got some great goodies from La-Khabar, La-ir is stronger, he should have even better drops," Dave said and went to the dragon¡¯s carcass.

 Chapter 403 Barter

    As soon as Dave pressed a hand on La-ir¡¯s corpse, a notification appeared in front of him.

    ***

    You have obtained the following items.

    [Demon Soul]

    Ultimate Skill Book [Demon Spear] Tier SSS

    [Chosen One¡¯s Token]

    Special Rune [Demon ws]

    2,000 Gold.

    ***

    Dave was surprised to see something simr to the [Dragon Soul] he had obtained from the kill on the Dragon of Terror, he believed that the [Demon Soul] would offer the same type of boost to his demonic rted Skills. Sadly he only earned one so far, [Demonic Ascension]. However, with the new Skill Book, he got from the drop, that might change.

    He inspected the Skill Book.

    ***

    Demon Spear, SSS Tier.

    ss Restricted: Ranger Only!

    Shoots a spear that cannot be blocked, parried or evaded.

    Drains 90% of the user¡¯s current mana, Stamina, HP. Deals 600% base weapon damage in true Damage.

    Cooldown 24H

    Enters Weakened State for 1 Hour.

    Weakened State, all abilities will have their effects reduced by 20%.

    ***

    Dave frowned, the Skill was not bad, but the ss Restriction made it useless to him.

    "Guess you¡¯re in luck Zoe. Don¡¯t say I never gave you anything good." He joked.

    "Oh, so sweet," Zoeughed.

    "Alright, Tiny," Dave called and the small slimy terror popped up from his inventory.

    The Grave Lord looked at Dave with expectancy.

    "Go, have fun eating," Dave saidughingly.

    The slime shuddered in excitement and jumped up from Dave¡¯s side bag. It opened up revealing enormous jaws and swallowed the dragon-shaped demon from tail to head as if he were slurping a giant noodle.

    No matter how many times he watched Tiny, it was an amazing sight to behold how the slime managed to eat something thousands of timesrger than itself, without inting or growing even a bit in size.

    "Shouldn¡¯t you have tried to revive it first?" Lone questioned his course of action.

    "Nope, not gonna risk reviving a demon into Undeath. Who knows if the Ash-King won¡¯t have a method of making it double-cross us. Especially a Chosen One, with their innate ability to revive as a stronger being... that¡¯s just a recipient for disaster." Dave shook his head.

    "Alright, so what are you gonna do now?" Zoe asked.

    "Gonna be sending CCN the footage of today¡¯s battles, and check up on the boys and their progress."

    "You don¡¯t need to be online for that. How about you log out? Let¡¯s have breakfast," Zoe suggested.

    "Ah, right! Sorry, I totally forgot you¡¯re still back in my apartment," Dave happily agreed.

    "It¡¯s a condo. An apartment is the financial status of a unit in a building, a condo is an owned unit in a building," Zoe corrected him.

    "Right," Dave said and logged out.

    Once he was out, he noticed Zoe wearing one of his hoodies... well more urately it should be one of his. This was the first time he saw it, but it was not too surprising given the fact that he now owned a room full of clothes, enough to outfit a midsize clothing store.

    The girl¡¯s hair appeared half wet, indicating she must have used the shower before watching Dave¡¯s fight. She looked different from her usual ready state, but nevertheless, for Dave, Zoe looked breathtaking.

    "Ho, you lookfortable," Dave said in a teasing tone embracing her in his arms.

    "Why wouldn¡¯t I?" Zoeughed back and kissed him lightly on the lips.

    "We should get some food," She said.

    "Yeah, I think I have something in the fridge," Dave replied. A bit unwilling to part, he eventually proceeded into the kitchen.

    Zoe followed after and watched as Dave began preparing for breakfast.

    He took out some eggs and bacon from the fridge as well as a carton of milk, then turned toward the drawers of the kitchen.

    He was having a bit of a hard time locating the necessary utensils as he still was not used to where everything was. But it didn¡¯t take him too much time until he was ready to start. Zoe was leaning against the kitchen counter, watching him cook.

    He began by frying the bacon and added the eggs while also preparing coffee and hot milk to go with some cereals.

    A couple of minutester he ced everything on the dining table and waited for Zoe to join in.

    "I¡¯m quite lucky I got myself a boyfriend who can actually cook," Zoe sounded chipper.

    "This? This is just some basic stuff. You should try my roastedmb thigh. I guarantee you¡¯ll end up licking your fingers after it." Dave imed.

    "Oh, really? I¡¯m definitely looking forward to trying it out now. I didn¡¯t know you can cook something soplicated," Zoe said.

    "Nothing isplicated with enough practice, I had to make all my meals myself you know."

    "Yeah I do, I on the other hand never even boiled an egg," Zoe said.

    "You can always learn. I¡¯d be happy to teach you" Dave offered while he was cutting a piece of bacon.

    "Wow, this is delicious! " Zoe praised him.

    The two of them continued chatting as they ate. Zoe even volunteered to help Dave wash the dishes after they finished. The pampered princess of the gun-runner lord was having a great time performing menial work and enjoying every part of it, especially in thepany of Dave.

    "Mercy¡¯s currently not your biggest fan you know," Zoe mentioned suddenly.

    "I bet. But what was I supposed to do? Lose?"

    "Nah, but you should be aware, she is a perfectionist. She never likes when things don¡¯t go ording to n."

    "How is me defeating her aligned with that?" Dave asked.

    "Well, she is the number one Assassin in-game, thates with a perfect 100% assassination record of all yers she faced since she started ying. And you just ruined her record, again," Zoe said.

    "Uh, she wouldn¡¯t try to take it on me IRL, would she?" Dave asked.

    Zoeughed before answering, "No, Mercy is not that petty, but in-game, I would be very careful if I were you."

    "Ugh, more problems, I¡¯ll have to tell Ralph to keep his girlfriend away from me," Dave shook his head.

    The two kept talking, forgetting the time in their chat, they enjoyed each other¡¯spany and were fond of letting things go at their leisure.

    Dave didn¡¯t press for attention, and neither did Zoe, and it seemed that it suited the two of them perfectly.

    An hourter, Zoe bade Dave goodbye, she had to go back home. Unfortunately for Dave, he didn¡¯t have a secondary gaming capsule, otherwise he would have asked her to stay. Luckily all it would take to change this fact was money, something the current Dave did notck anymore.

    After Zoe left, Dave logged back in, he still had an army to lead.

    He found himself in the Wilds. The southern section, near Urburg. He needed to head farther east. By now, his army should have already reached one of the nearby cities, and he needed to be there for the assault.

    But the distance was too great for him to cover on foot, so he summoned Tiny.

    The small slime appeared from Dave¡¯s side bag.

    "Tiny, are you full?" Dave asked.

    To which the small slime shuddered, convoying to Dave his answer.

    "Good, I need you to take me to the East. Let¡¯s meet up with the rest of the boyz," Dave said.

    Tiny understood Dave¡¯s implication and began transforming.

    Dave had thought that the small creature would change shape to match that of the Wyvern he had consumed a while ago. But Tiny went a step over. Elongating itself to match that of an enormous ck scaled eastern dragon.

    Dave smiled and rode on Tiny¡¯s back as he took to the skies.

    Dave noticed that the dragon didn¡¯t have any wings, but it still flew by stepping on empty space. He had read something rted to this when he was young. That eastern dragon would sometimes step on clouds to move.

    Tiny stepped through space and moved at a much faster speed than even his former Wyvern self. Making the distance from next to Urburg and all the way to Nora in less than ten minutes, and met the rest of Dave¡¯s army in even less of a time, deep in the Territory of the Qin army.

    Dave had gone past many small towns that had burnt to nothingness. He didn¡¯t fail to see the many corpses of NPCs that had failed to escape the massive monster outbreak. It made him wince, he didn¡¯t wish for the NPCs to die. But he didn¡¯t fool himself thinking he was some sort of savior.

    He needed toplete his agenda, and if it required the death of NPCs unrted to his undead legion, he would have to reluctantly ept it and move on.

    The dragon arrived next to Dave¡¯s camped army, it appeared to him that Singund hadn¡¯t issued themand to attack yet.

    Dave had noticed that the city was at least asrge if not bigger than Nora. Its walls were much wider and higher, and it had many catapults and ballistae sat up on top of its walls.

    Sieging this city would cost him many soldiers. Even if the city was partially void of its citizens, with barely some soldiers stationed at the top of the walls and a small army situated right under the walls of the city.

    "Singund, what¡¯s the situation?" Dave asked as he dismounted.

    The giant High-Orc chieftain answered immediately, "Your lordship, the Qin Army have stationed a hundred of their Elite Soldiers at the city gate. We can whittle them down, but we will suffer heavy casualties. I opted to wait for your orders."

    "Good decision," Dave said while his eyes were glued to the few hundred soldiers at the gate. At their front were the armored Elite Soldiers of the Qin Army. They wore their blue and green armors. Their mere presence was a huge deterrent to Dave¡¯s forces.

    He didn¡¯t doubt that they could easily carve their way through his Death Knights. Dave judged each of them to be as strong as a Doom Knight. It was quite problematic for him to face these types of enemies so early on.

    If he lost a lot of his soldiers before he raided the capital, he would find himself helpless against the fortifications that should be stationed by now at its walls.

    Dave needed firepower, something strong enough to destroy the soldiers stationed at the gate. He didn¡¯t have what it takes right now to bore through them, however, he knows that there is one person in the current game that could actually do just that.

    Dave used his phone dial and called Ralph. After inquiring a bit about the person in his mind Dave turned to the orc and said.

    "Singund, stand your ground for now and wait for me. I may have an idea, where we can get some reinforcements" Dave ordered and tore a teleportation scroll to Icathia, the capital of the Devastator Kingdom.

    Dave appeared in the middle of the city square. Hundreds of yers moved about, each minding their own business.

    But soon enough the first yers noticed the Undead, many of the lower levelers swarmed around him, while most of the higher-level yers stayed clear of his path and watched his movements.

    Dave strode about in the town center, moving toward the Devastator Pce, the HQ of the super guild.

    Momentster, Dave saw his friend, donned in bronze armor, the gear Dave gave him after killing one of the Qin Captains that dared assault Urburg.

    "Bro, you should know that you don¡¯t currently have many fans in the Devastator guild," Ralph greeted his best friend with a smile on his face like it was no big deal.

    "And why is that?" Dave asked after he fist-bumped his friend.

    "Because your thoughtless actions caused a shit ton of problems for us!" came the enraged answer from someone quite familiar to Dave.

    Dave turned his head to the side. There was a ck armored yer with a battle-ax strapped to his back, standing with his arms crossed.

    Right next to him was the all too famous Guardian in Pink.

    "How so? It¡¯s been a while since I visited you guys" Dave did not acknowledge any sort of guilt.

    "What Warlord wanted to say is," Valentine interjected before the discussion could turn hostile.

    "That the Age of Dragons hase too fast, and too unexpected. We aren¡¯t strong enough to fight against them. This ce might be safe, but we are constantly receiving reports of Dragon Attacks in other regions."

    "Oh... I offer you my condolences, but I still fail to see how that is my problem?"

    "Well, the Expansion releasing was technically your doing," Ralph added in a rueful smile.

    "Don¡¯t really care, now where is he?" Dave asked.

    "Hey, you¡¯re in my city! I get to call the shots and ask questions, we aren¡¯t your Undead bro." Warlord shouted.

    "Easy dude," Dave replied, holding both hands forward.

    "Captain ster told us you needed Jeffery. As you should know by now, he has already be a member of our guild. If you wish to hire his services, you¡¯ll need to pay the properpensation," Valentine interjected once more.

    "Yeah, I didn¡¯t expect anything less. How much do you want for his service?" Dave asked.

    "We don¡¯t need money, we want ess to the Underworld." Warlord answered a bit too gleefully.

    Valentine on the other hand frowned, and Dave understood from his expression that Warlord had spoken too hastily revealing their true purpose.

    Dave however smiled, "Forget it, I came here not because of dire need. Having Jeffery will be helpful, but his presence is not required to that degree!"

    Dave pulled up a teleportation scroll and a moment before he was going to tear it, Valentine called out to him.

    "Wait. We get that you must be busy in the Wilds, but you have already spent timeing over here. It would be a shame to leave empty handed. Let¡¯s talk. I am sure we can findmon ground and negotiate this better." He proposed.

    "You are right. It would be a shame. So what exactly do you have in mind then?" Dave asked.

    "Fifty yers. We want fifty yers to be able to enter the Underworld, we can loan you Jeffery for two days."

    "Aren¡¯t you a greedy one. Five yers, I¡¯ll get to use Jeffery for a month." Dave countered.

    The yers around the za were looking at the now public negotiation between some of Conquest¡¯s top yers with strange bewildered expressions. They were currently talking about using Jeffery, known as the yer with the only Mecha-Type weaponry in the game like he was some sort of item to be traded.

    Yet none of them dared to voice out their thoughts. They all were satisfied with being able to witness how the trade would go down.

    "Twenty, and one week."

    "Ten yers, two weeks. Last offer. Your presence alone is going to cause a lot of problems for me. Ten yers is the maximum I can handle. Anything else and the negotiations are off." Dave dered. His hand was already back on the teleportation scroll.

    Warlord was about to say something but Valentine quickly stopped him, "We ept!"

    When the guild master saw the look on his friend, he stopped his words. "Let¡¯s have Albert be the witness of our contract"

    "Good, as soon as I¡¯m done with Jeffery, I¡¯lle and take you to the Underworld," Dave nodded.

    "We didn¡¯t agree to that!" Warlord could not hold it any longer.

    "Sorry bro, but right now I don¡¯t have the time to babysit you. Once I finish my stuff I¡¯lle and take you to the Underworld."

    "We don¡¯t need you, just give us the teleportation scrolls. We can handle ourselves," one of the higher-ups of the Devastator guild spoke up.

    Dave believed that the same thought was crossing all of the Devastators¡¯ minds, so he gave him his typical Draugr smile: "Are you an idiot? You¡¯ll be teleporting ten strangers, humans, living people, to the heart of an Undead city. Do you seriously think they¡¯ll let you walk past the Teleportation Gate? You¡¯ll be murdered a hundred times over before you even get a chance to exin the situation. I have to be there with you, otherwise, you¡¯ll all die." Dave stated in a matter-of-factly.

    Warlord cringed, he too had had the same thought. But now that Dave pointed out the obvious conclusion, they couldn¡¯t do anything but agree to his demands. And be at his mercy. If he decides to leave them to the Undead, their chance at grinding EXP in the Underworld would be wasted. They had to stay on his good side.

    "Okay, call Jeffery, tell him he has a mission. And you, Kis¡¯Shtiengbrah, once we are done, don¡¯t forget we¡¯ll be fighting." Warlord said.

    "Oh, I¡¯m not a fan of bullying," Dave said.

    "Huh, don¡¯t worry, like I said, even if I¡¯m a higher level than you, you have a more powerful Legacy, it should bnce itself out."

    "Huh, I guess you haven¡¯t noticed yet." Dave smiled.

    Warlord frowned, not understanding what the Draugr was saying.

    "Shit! He¡¯s level 505! How the fuck did he do that?!" another yer, that had the wits to inspect Dave, shouted in disbelief.

    Then once Warlord heard it, he inspected Dave, realizing that once the notification appeared in front of him, that he no longer was the highest-level yer in the game.

    "As I said, I¡¯m not a fan of bullying. But you cane at me anytime!"

 Chapter 404 Dont Mess With The Storm

    "I don¡¯t have time to waste, I have more important things to do," Warlord folded and left the area with Valentine in hand.

    Leaving ster, and Dave in the middle of the city square.

    The yers were still bbergasted as they were gawking at how the Undead Kis¡¯Shtiengbrah treated the entire affair. Dave on the other hand shrugged, and turned to ster," So, where¡¯s Jeffery?"

    "Here!" came the sound of a yer among the group of spectators.

    Turning, Dave saw a short guy d in standard Hunter armor, he wielded a small bow behind his back and wore a brown coat that reached down to his feet. If the yer would link the edges of the coat, it would cover himpletely.

    "Good to see you, Jeff." Dave nodded.

    "G-good to see you too, Mr. Skeletal," the yer greeted him back, stuttering while he was at it.

    "Rx I don¡¯t bite. At least not those on my side. So you think you are ready for adventure time with Mr. Skeletal?" Dave asked.

    "Yeah of course," the yer replied happily.

    "Right," Dave approached the yer and said in a hushed tone, "How about we make a shy exit?"

    The yer didn¡¯t understand what Dave meant, so he shrugged saying, "Whatever Skelly wants."

    "You¡¯re gonna dig this then. Tiny," Dave called and the small slime emerged from his side bag.

    The yers around Dave wondered what was the purpose of the small ck slime, some even debated that it was one of Skelly¡¯s own pets.

    "Take us high," Dave said.

    The slime shuddered and began erging, enough that many yers shrieked in fright and backed away, running, sprinting and some even fell to the ground.

    Tiny¡¯s growth caused mass-panic, some of the yers unaware of Kis¡¯Shtiengbrah¡¯ arrival to Icathia had wondered when they saw the Grave Lord if maybe one of the dragons had somehow found a way to attack one of the safe cities.

    Tiny hadn¡¯t reached his maximum growth size before Dave ordered it to stop growing, otherwise, it would start causing damage to the buildings.

    Dave then handed his hand over to Jeff and said, " Grab on."

    Jeffery was still too stunned to notice Dave¡¯s call until the Undead called again. The Hunter hastily grabbed onto Dave¡¯s hand. And to his surprise, the Undead hurled him over and onto the dragon¡¯s back.

    Dave jumped after Jeffery, making the jump in one try, "Tiny, East!"

    "Oi, what about me, man!" ster shouted.

    Dave sent a private message to ster, "Use your scroll, I can¡¯t take Jeffery to Urburg. There should be a few Dunlords there though, take one and ride on to the East, I¡¯ll pick you up when I fly over you."

    "Okay," Ralph replied. Making the spectators understand that Kis¡¯Shtiengbrah had sent him a message for his ears alone.

    Dave nodded and called, "Ride the clouds, Tiny!"

    The Grave Lord roared and began stepping through space. With every step, his body uncoiled and elongated, further distancing himself from Icathia and reaching up to the skies.

    Jeffery¡¯s face whitened as he noticed that the safety of the ground was getting further and further away from him.

    Dave noticed the frightened look on Jeffery¡¯s face andughed, "Don¡¯t worry, Tiny won¡¯t let you fall."

    Tiny roared once again and moved at a much faster pace. Carving a path through the clouds moving at faster and faster speeds.

    Dave was not interested in making the trip from the Western Kingdom to the East. It would have easily taken dozens of hours even on Tiny¡¯s back. Conquest was thatrge. The fact that he used Tiny to ride out of the city was mainly to further cement his untouchable status and the mystery around the Undead Kis¡¯Shtiengbrah¡¯s character.

    Once they were at a safe and far away distance, Dave was going to ask Jeffery that the both of them use a Teleportation Scroll to Moria, and then he would use Tiny to ride to the East, purposefully making a more roundabout way to not have Urburg insight.

    Dave still needed to keep Urburg away from yer notice. And Jeffery was not someone he would trust based on first impressions or first meeting. Something he had realized a bit toote, but thankfully the one he trusted in his earliest adventures was Lone, and she turned out just fine. (Eat that, Lone-Arrow haters!)

    But man ns and Godughs.

    The skies above Dave thundered, as clouds gathered from nowhere. A roar far too primal, too primordial for Dave¡¯s ears boomed with intense hatred and antagonism.

    Dave shuddered as he looked up, the skies had eyes.

    "The fuck is going on?!" Jeffery shouted.

    "I guess we havepany," Dave let off a stressedugh.

    But to Jeffery¡¯s eyes, what Dave believed a stressedugh, was augh of a hero against the odds. If Dave had turned to see Jeffery¡¯s eyes, he would notice them sparkling in admiration.

    The roar echoed this time in audible words, "ursed Undead! Dare Thee y one of our own! Prepare to face a might unseen upon thesends before!"

    The white enormous eyes shrunk and revealed behind them a chrome-colored dragon. Lightning sparked across from its body as it flew right above Dave.

    Tiny stopped moving and looked up. Dave wondered why the Grave Lord did this, and so Tiny¡¯s thoughts had popped into Dave¡¯s mind like a small bubble message. The grave lord apparently was interested in how this dragon would taste. And Dave had to suppress a chuckle, probably an electrifying taste.

    "Is this why you called me bro? I can¡¯t use my Mecha all the way up here man." Jeffery said.

    "Oh, Nah your Mecha is for something more important," Dave replied while keeping his eyes focused fully on the dragon.

    Jeffery had to suppress the urge to shout back at Dave. As for the Hunter, what would be more important than this Lightning Dragon! That was threatening their survival.

    "What¡¯s the matter with you, lizard, you have some beef with me or something?" Dave asked.

    "L-Lizard?! The might of the thunderous heavens named a lizard?! You shall see my wrath, mortal!"

    "In case you didn¡¯t notice, bruh, I¡¯m Undead." Dave shrugged, then inspected his foe.

    ***

    Joundar, Storm Bringer

    Tier: Mythic

    Base damage: 350,000-490,000

    Danger Level: ??

    HP: 100,000,000

    PD: 300,000

    MD: 400,000

    Skills:

    Thunder Storm: Calls upon the might of thunder and lightning, bringing a permanent storm that strikes its foes with asional lightning strikes that cannot be dodged.

    Each Lighting strike deals 0.5% of the target¡¯s maximum health and causes five (5) seconds Paralysis.

    Sonic Boom: ys the sound barrier with a powerful lighting strike, causes the receiver of the attack to suffer from a five (5) seconds disorientation.

    Dragon w: Deals 200% of the dragon¡¯s base damage in lighting damage. Causes a five (5) seconds paralysis.

    Dragon Breath: Fires a continuous torrent of electricity for 30 seconds at a target that deals with 2% of the target¡¯s maximum health per second. The electric breath causes paralysis and upon continuous exposure causes overheating and reduces weapon and armor durability.

    Lore:

    Joundar, Storm Bringer, is the descendant of the dragon that had been created when the world had made its first rotation. The dragon of the storm is a powerful entity that is abnormally fast and powerful, his aggressiveness is to be feared as many cannot sustain the wrath of a storm. It has been known that Joundar had not many foes he could fear, but some dragons that were much more powerful to him, or beings that didn¡¯t fear the storm. Joundar has always imed reign over the power of the storm, iming that none but he could rule the power of such a natural catastrophe.

    ***

    "Oh, cool lore," Dave said, "I wonder what Fujin and Raijin would say about this. I mean, they¡¯re the Storm Brothers you know, Lighting and Thunder incarnate," Dave said as he drew his sword and shield.

    The anger in Joundar¡¯s expression faded, and Dave had for the life of him never seen a dragon that could change expression as vividly as Joundar just did at the mention of Raijin and Fujin.

    "Y-you said, Raijin and F-Fujin... H-how do you know such names?" the dragon asked, failing in hiding the fear in his eyes.

    Dave caught on to the hint and smiled, "I kinda killed their master and he is now my servant."

    The dragon¡¯s fear disappeared immediately, turned to immense hatred and wrath," Such insolent! Lies upon lies! Undead prepare to meet your maker! Dare im ying the Master of the Storm!"

    The dragon¡¯s gullet began bloating, it was preparing to shoot its most powerful skill at the start of the battle, Dave couldn¡¯t let it do that.

    "What do we do?" Jeffery said, the tameness in his voicepletely changed to seriousness.

    Dave smiled, ¡¯this guy is good.¡¯

    "Tengu,e on up," Dave called.

    A swirl of dark aura materialized right next to Dave, and from it the long-nosed sword master appeared. His wings pped to keep him aloft while it spoke, "What is it that you wish me to do, your lordship?"

    Before Dave could answer, the dragon that was still preparing to shoot out his dragon breath choked, letting out a yelp as lightning discharged out of its maw.

    The chrome dragon began coughing, with every cough the sound barrier broke, letting out a disorienting wave through the sky.

    Dave¡¯s surprise was the only thing stopping him fromughing at the dragon¡¯s misery.

    "Huh, you¡¯re out?" the Tengu spoke, addressing the dragon.

    "L-lord Tengu, Cough, em, greetings," the dragon said.

    "When did youe out? You have vowed not to appear in this world, have you not?"

    "Em, you see, some matters happened..." the dragon stuttered to exin.

    Dave¡¯s surprise at the dragon¡¯s change of tone and speech was asparable to his surprise at how the dragon was addressing the much lower-leveled Tengu with respect.

    "What¡¯s going on here?" Jeffery asked.

    "Beats me," Dave shrugged, curious to see what would happen next.

    "I suppose what the Lich had said was true," the dragon eventually uttered after a heady long pause.

    "I have no knowledge of what my lord had said to you, but if he spoke, he speaks true, have you imed him a liar?" the tengu said.

    The dragon didn¡¯t reply.

    "My lord," the Tengu said, "Do you wish me to have this dragon punished?" the Tengu asked.

    Dave¡¯s brows rose up, how in the hell can you do that?

    And even without voicing his words, the Tengu understood what Dave had in mind.

    "Kids,e on out," The tengu said.

    The moment he spoke, the world began distorting. To the left and right of Tiny¡¯s massive size, were even more imposing creatures. Shaped like an Exordia, and standing on nothing but air.

    Raijin, the god of lightning, and Fujin, the god of wind. Two creatures that have haunted Dave¡¯s nightmares, beings of such immense power, that Dave could easily im them much more powerful than the Undead King and the Ash-King stood right next to him.

    However, this time, their name-tags were not red, but a bright friendly green.

    "P-please lord Tengu, I had no intention of doing harm to one of your people," the dragon said, backing away from the imposing creatures that have appeared.

    "Then how about you do this old man a favor and scram out of here," the Tengu shouted.

    "As youmand!" the dragon turned tail and flew in the distance, disappearing between the clouds of the storm.

    Dave¡¯s surprise matched Jeffery, as they both looked at each other then back at the Tengu.

    "Isn¡¯t this kinda dangerous?" Dave said pointing at the two non-moving creatures.

    The Tenguughed and snapped his fingers, causing Fujin and Raijin to dissipate into nothingness.

    "Tis but a soul-magic. I created a memory from my mind and projected it into the world. It was enough to scare this dragon witless. If Raijin and Fujin were here..." the Tengu didn¡¯t need to finish his words as Dave finished it for him.

    "They¡¯d start with me, wouldn¡¯t they?" Dave said.

    "Yes, they can hold a grudge you know," the Tenguughed.

    "Ah, man, that¡¯s a blunder I¡¯ll have to take care of it sooner orter." Dave shook his head.

    The Tenguughed, "So, Lord, do you still require my assistance?"

    "Nah, but tell me, has there been any movement on the enemy¡¯s side?" Dave asked.

    "The status remains almost the same, but we have noticed a few enemy soldiers joining the ranks of those at the gate. The Qin Army is doing its best to fortify the assaulted cities. If not for the fact that many of the Dungeons have had outbreaks, the whole Qin Army wouldn¡¯t be caught up in defending its territory and would have razed yours to the ground." The tengu said.

    "Right, we need to get there then."

    "What is he talking about, Skelly?" Jeffery said.

    "Ah, I forgot I didn¡¯t even tell you; I¡¯m raiding the East."

    "You? I mean no disrespect, Skelly, butst time I saw you back when the first raid on the East had begun, you had just a little over two thousand soldiers, that¡¯s nothing more than a powerful brigade. So, let me ask you, you want to raid the East, you and what army?" Jeffery said.

    Daveughed, "I¡¯m about to show you, kid, it¡¯s me and my Undead Army!"

 Chapter 405 Assaul

    "Alright, we¡¯re stopping here," Dave decided as Tiny reached a spot barely a few hundred miles beyond Icathia. He was flying over an open field of grass, where there was nothing but some low-level creatures roaming about.

    "Isn¡¯t this way too far from the Wilds?" Jeffery asked.

    "Yes, but we¡¯re not going to go all the way there, it¡¯s gonna take ages. We¡¯ll take Moria¡¯s Teleportation gate." Dave informed his travelpanion.

    "So was there any special reason why we couldn¡¯t have done that when we were back in Icathia?" Jeffery wondered.

    "Are you kidding me? Did you want us to miss the perfect chance to have a shy Exit? Sorry, bud, but Skelly doesn¡¯t work like that! Besides had we done that we wouldn¡¯t have met the Dragon" Dave grinned as he gave Tiny the order to descend.

    Once Tiny was on the ground, Dave handed Jeffery a teleportation scroll to Moria before he tore one himself.

    A few momentster the two of them found themselves in the heart of the city.

    Jeffery appeared a few seconds after Dave, but because he hadn¡¯t considered the possibility of the Undead staying where he stood, Jeffery ended up walking right into Dave¡¯s armored back.

    "Dude!" Jeffery called as he rubbed his nose. Failing to see the reason why the Undead had not moved once he got out of the gate.

    "I should deal with this soon," Dave mumbled.

    "Deal with what?" Jeffery asked, then he noticed Dave¡¯s affixed gaze on the people in front of them. "Uh, why are there so many Qin Soldiers here?"

    "Well, Moria belongs to the East after the Guildies tried to raid the East and failed," Dave exined nonchntly.

    "Yeah, I know that, but that does not exin why there are more than a few hundred of them surrounding the gate?" Jeffery pointed out.

    "I guess they nned on throwing us a party," Dave suggested jokingly.

    "It¡¯s you, isn¡¯t it?" Jeffery sighed. "Well, I never believed this would be a cakewalk."

    "Obviously, they have so much love for me," Dave added sarcastically and drew out his sword and shield. "Let¡¯s show them a bit of our ¡¯appreciation¡¯."

    "Guess we can share," Jeffery agreed and drew his bow.

    "Hands-on approach... I suppose your Mecha has a timer limit?" Dave spected.

    "Yeah, four hours for each activation."

    "Right then. Let¡¯s deal with these guys first, and keep your Mecha for the real fight. Stay behind me, and enjoy the magic tricks."

    Jeffery stuck his back to Dave and aimed his bow at one of the many soldiers surrounding the gate.

    One of the soldiers gathered his courage and dove into Dave. However, the much higher level draugr simply struck him down where he stood. Durandal, too heavy for the thin iron ting the soldier wore, managed to slice the man in half.

    "Summon your Undead, they¡¯ll be helpful here man," Jeffery advised and shot one of the soldiers in the eye causing the man to scream in pain and reel back stumbling and disturbing the formation.

    Dave smashed one of the soldiers aside with his shield; "Unfortunately this is gonna be more of a duo mission. They¡¯re busy doing their own thing, but don¡¯t worry, we won¡¯t need them."

    the Undead stomped hard on the ground with one of his feet, causing the entire area to shudder.

    It was the condition to cast [Blot the Sun] a Skill that caused the clear weather above Moria to turn into a dark atmosphere. ck clouds gathered over the city, causing whatever courage the soldiers of Qin had to be ephemeral.

    "Kill as many as you can, and stay within my [Aura]" Dave ordered.

    " [Aura], what¡¯s that?" Jeffery asked, but to be safe kept near the Undead.

    "You¡¯ll see," Dave replied and activated his [Infernal Tyrant¡¯s Oppression].

    mes darker than the abyss spread from around Dave and spun in a spherical domain, circling the two of them. An enormous ethereal skull appeared over the dome of ck fire. The skull, disdaining life and all too weak to stand its gaze, looked at the Qin Soldiers with derision.

    mes roared and raged, burning their armor and clothes asunder. The weak Qin Soldiers were hit with the powerful ck mes first, then the secondary passive, of the Horror effect struck.

    Mass panic struck the army of Qin, causing the soldiers to give up their weapons and run away.

    "Enjoy the ughter!" Daveughed and followed after the meek soldiers. shing and dicing for the free EXP that these soldiers gave.

    Soldiers fell at Dave¡¯s cleaving strikes. And some of them began reviving as undead, all thanks to [Blot the Sun]¡¯s passive effect.

    Once the soldiers noticed their own brethren turning their weapons against them, many of them thought that all hope was lost.

    Jeffery didn¡¯t want to miss out on the chance of grinding the sweet EXP, so he struck at any stragglers that were fleeing from Dave¡¯s aura. He used the revived undead as barriers to shoot at the Qin Soldiers from safety.

    The two fought and culled the lives of the soldiers for what seemed like ages, but the fight eventually ended once all soldiers were either dead or had escaped from the battle.

    Dave looked around. There were no more soldiers left around the city za, nothing but some of his dispensable undead created by [Blot the Sun]. Too bad he couldn¡¯t add those to his ranks. In just a little while they would pass on.

    But just because there were no soldiers left in the za, it didn¡¯t mean that more wouldn¡¯te after them.

    Dave checked his EXP bar only to notice that it barely rose.

    "Guess that¡¯s it," Dave mumbled dejectedly. He understood that any good thing would eventually run out, but it was still a bit of a downer that his precious bead was no longer useful to him. Sure he was the highest level yer, but at the same time, it meant that now he would have to grind just like everyone else.

    Hispanion, on the other hand, was happy with the oue: "That was fun, I leveled up once!"

    "Great, once we get where we¡¯re supposed to, you¡¯ll start leveling like crazy. Alright, we better head out now" Dave said.

    "Right, we wouldn¡¯t want them to call reinforcements," Jeffery added.

    "They wouldn¡¯t be a problem, they¡¯ll just make us waste time. Tiny, you¡¯re up again." Dave called and the small blob of slime appeared from his inventory.

    "We¡¯ll need you to take us deep into the East!"

    The small slime understood and began erging himself to be a dragon.

    Dave and Jeffery rode its back again while the creature began walking through the skies of Conquest. Moving toward the East.

    Dave guided Tiny away from Urburg. It was too early to reveal the existence of the city. In the future, Dave nned to develop it into a hub for yers to enjoy high-level content. Yet that was for the future, right now he had to ensure that he was able to protect it down the line.

    No one would just let him enjoy the benefits of Urburg, just because he might have founded it. The promising tax ie alone should be enough to entice bigger guilds into action. Whoever owned it, would be raking in the cash...

    Owning such a treasure long term is only possible for whoever has enough power to deter and punish anyone coveting this treasure.

    The Hunter didn¡¯t notice the subtle change in Dave¡¯s direction and calmly continued enjoying the scenery from above Tiny¡¯s back.

    "Man, I can¡¯t believe that we¡¯re simply going over the Wilds. The entire yermunity was having enormous trouble crossing this ce, while you have your own mounted ride to do the job for you."

    "Believe me when I tell you, it wasn¡¯t easy for me to cross it the first time either," Dave grinned when thinking back. The Wilds was a danger zone in the world of Conquest that not many yers dared venture through. And up there from Tiny¡¯s back it wasn¡¯t hard to see why.

    Enormous monsters were roaming the area, some Dave hadn¡¯t even met before. Some of them were the size of hills, while others were hidden. Unless one had an ability to see through their stealth, it was entirely possible to get killed without knowing by whom.

    The Wilds was teeming with all kinds and types of monsters that Jeff didn¡¯t wish to encounter anytime soon. And this only added to the awe and respect he felt for the draugr who mowed through them and had managed what a hundred thousand yers failed to do. He had crossed the Wilds, alive and well, and currently was ¡¯single-handedly¡¯ waging war against the most powerful kingdom in the world of Conquest.

    Some uneventful half an hourter, Tiny began descending. "Jeff, ready up, we¡¯re here."

    "Right," Jeffery replied automatically being spooked by the draugr¡¯s sudden voice. He had been too absorbed with the scenery and making a mental map of interesting looking ces he may want to explore. Awakened from his stupor he leaned to the side to see what the Undead was referring to when he had previously mentioned owning an army.

    The sight was shocking... So many Undead! No matter where he looked, it was teeming with Undead like the ck gue. Jeff was beginning to feel like the protagonist in Skelly¡¯s very first teaser video.

    The Hunter couldn¡¯t help but take a deep gasp in awe. Unable to get an exact number, but his feeling told him that this at least a hundred thousand strong army would be enough to match any army in the world.

    "These ... are all yours?" Jeffery asked.

    "Every single one," Dave answered with pride.

    Once Tiny came to the ground, the two yers dropped off.

    "Em, they won¡¯t attack me, will they?"

    "As long as you stay next to me, no one should bother you. But once you¡¯re too far... I can¡¯t guarantee your safety," Dave said. Of course, it was a small lie. He just didn¡¯t want to keep Jeffery away from him in case he might do something that would ruin Dave¡¯s n.

    Jeffry stuck even closer to Dave: "Great, I¡¯ll stick to you like your shadow then."

    The High-Orc Chieftain, Singund approached Dave, "Your Lordship, we have been waiting for your arrival."

    The orc¡¯s booming voice caused the Hunter to wince. Something the orc didn¡¯t appreciate.

    "Who¡¯s the soft skin?" the orc did not even try to hide his disapproval.

    "Someone who will help us in this raid."

    "I can¡¯t see much muscles under that white skin of his, I bet he¡¯ll run away. Unlike your other soft-skinned friends, this one scares easily," the orcined in a snort.

    Jeffery frowned, was the orc belittling him?

    "Muscles aren¡¯t always the way to win a fight Singund, sometimes, overwhelming firepower is the way," Dave argued.

    Singund nodded, but Dave doubted the orc had understood what he meant.

    Dave shook his head, "Alright, get everyone ready. Jeffery,e with me."

    Jeffery followed Dave and made sure to stay as close to him and as far away from the orc as possible.

    "He doesn¡¯t like me does he," Jeffery whispered.

    "The orcs and especially Singund respect strength the most. Show him what your cannons can do, and believe me you¡¯ll be best friends in no time," Dave encouraged the Hunter.

    "Alright then, when can we start?" It appeared as if Dave fully seeded in motivating his helper. The light in Jeffery¡¯s eyes revealed that he was ready to go this instant.

    "In a minute," Dave was looking forward to the other¡¯s performance, but he nned to do things properly. Next he turned to his army.

    "Legionnaires!" Dave¡¯s voice boomed through the ranks, "Today, we march against the Qin Army!"

    Dave went silent, but his army didn¡¯t, they all boomed in the same voice, seething with rage against those who dared belittle them.

    "They dared assault us in ournds! Today we shall pay them back a hundred fold!" Dave¡¯s voice roared once again and his army followed, sending shivers down Jeffery¡¯s spine. "Today they dine in Hell!"

    "Now! Legionnaires! WE MARCH!" and in response Dave¡¯s words, the Undead Legionnaires all shouted at once!

    "FOR THE LEGION!"

 Chapter 406 Battle!

    "So, what¡¯s my role in all of this?" Jeffery asked, still feeling shivers running down his spine after being affected by the Undead¡¯s enthusiasm for the uing fight.

    "Oh don¡¯t worry, I haven¡¯t forgotten about you. You¡¯ll have the best role, bro. Come with me," Dave answered with a smirk on his face before he led Jeffery away from the Undead, standing in square formations.

    Jeffery followed Dave until they were an arrow¡¯s shot away from the gates of the city Dave was going to invade.

    "You¡¯ll be dealing with those guys," Dave pointed at the front row of the Qin Army.

    Jeffery followed Dave¡¯s pointed finger and saw what he was talking about.

    At the front of the more than one thousand soldiers, was a neat square formation of Elite Soldiers.

    Jeffery took a quick count and noted that they were aligned in five twenty-man rows. There were a total of one hundred Qin Elite Soldiers stationed upfront, and they alone were a threat to anyone foolish enough to face them head-on.

    "Bro, I¡¯m not trying to sound like a coward, but isn¡¯t that totally suicidal?" The Hunter swallowed hard.

    "What do you mean?"

    "I could probably kill a dozen or so of these guys, but a hundred? That¡¯s way too many. I¡¯m honored you think so highly of me, but I fear I¡¯ll just get rushed down in no time. We¡¯ll be lucky if my Mecha manages to hold them off for just half a minute."

    "Don¡¯t worry about getting swarmed. I¡¯ll station enough Undead near you that not even their spit will reach you. Just focus on dealing as much damage as I know you can!" Dave reassured hispanion.

    "...Ok, so when do we start?" Jeffery asked with a bit more confidence.

    "In a moment," Dave answered.

    "Took you guys long enough," the Draugr jokinglyined to the grouping towards them.

    "Yeah, you¡¯re kinda too deep into Qin territory. Not so easy getting here in one piece" an armored yer in bronze te armor replied.

    Jeffery turned to see ster, the captain of the A-20 Unit for the Devastator Main Army, and right next to him was the famous Assassin in White: Mercy, owner of the Shadow Assassin Legacy. For some reason, she sent Dave a disapproving look before returning to her normal emotionless self.

    There were a few others with ster, whom Jeffery was very familiar with, as they had all been featured in Mr. Skeletal¡¯s adventures on CCN channel.

    The famous TNT, Perfect Shot, Pussy nker and Human Fortress. The elvendy who captured the Undead Draugr¡¯s heart, Lone Arrow. The Destruction Legacy Holder, Tess. And a Bard who rarely appeared on Mr. Skeletal¡¯s adventures, yet she was also quite famous in her own right. Both through her modeling career as well as her musical skills in-game. The Bard Demeri.

    "If not for Nora¡¯s Teleportation Gate, it would have taken us even more time," nker couldn¡¯t help but let his loose mouth run wild.

    "Nora?" Jeffery asked confused.

    "It¡¯s a city nearby," Fortress rified.

    Dave gave both Fortress and nker a disapproving look. It was one thing for the lecherous Priest to not know better, but Fortress was usually reasonable. The two had yet to realize that it would have been wiser to keep their mouths shut and not divulge any information regarding the Gates which Dave had converted to his own use.

    Jeffery spoke, "You guys have control of a city within the Qin territory? That¡¯s big news, man, everyone will be thrilled to find ou-" but he suddenly quieted down. Realizing that if the Undead had the Gate coordinates without sharing them, it was most likely for reasons of secrecy.

    Dave didn¡¯t want to stay on the subject so before the situation turned even more awkward he tried to shift the topic; "It doesn¡¯t matter, it was bound to be known soon anyway. I hope you can pretend you didn¡¯t hear that and let me disclose it at my leisure. Now, let¡¯s hunt ourselves some Qin Soldiers. Guys take position."

    "Alright boss," nker was the first to agree and quickly fell back. It was unclear if the Priest was raring to go or whether his bird brain had just realised, the damage he may have caused.

    "I¡¯ll stay with Jeffery," Fortress volunteered, "In case some Qin Elite decides to ignore you two and go for the Mecha."

    "Just admit you want to check up on the big robot," nker teased his buddy.

    "It¡¯s a Mecha, man! Have some respect!" Fortress shouted back. Fortress¡¯s voice changed tone when he addressed Tess next: "Honey-Bunny wannae with us? I¡¯ll protect you, too."

    "Sure sweety," Tess agreed cooing at Fortress¡¯s words.

    "Ugh, I¡¯ll never understand you two," nker gave his usualments after faking a gag and went even further back away from the group. The safest position the healer could be in was away from the frontline but close enough to heal his teammates.

    Mercy faded into invisibility, while Lone and Perfect Shot began searching for a good vantage point to snipe the enemy units.

    "Let me buff you all," Demeri offered. She began plucking the strings of her harp in a fast tempo, creating an exciting themed song that pervaded through both Dave¡¯s party and his Undead army. The Bard¡¯s Buff was neutral and unlike nker¡¯s Holy Buffs, it didn¡¯t harm the Undead. Though the Buff itself was limited to a minor percentage increase, given the vast amount of the Undead¡¯s numbers every little bit added up to a scary result.

    "Jeffery, once I begin the assault, make sure to keep the Qin Soldiers on their toes!"

    Dave turned to his Undead and ordered, "LEGIONNAIRES! MARCH FORWARD!"

    Yet before the first Undead took a step forward, Dave had turned and ran ahead of everyone.

    The Undead behind him surged forward like the tides of death, aiming to quell all the living.

    There was movement atop the walls of the city, many soldiers nocked their arrows and prepared to let loose their first volley.

    "Dave! You¡¯re too far ahead! Be careful, they have archers on top of the walls, they¡¯ll burst you down!" Lone shouted.

    "Don¡¯t worry about me!" Dave replied.

    The Qin Elite Soldiers marched forward slowly, unafraid of the approaching stampede.

    "Should we help him?" Jeffery was unsure how to act to this strange development.

    "No, he said to wait for his signal." ster shook his head. "He must have something in mind, let¡¯s wait and see."

    Just as Ralph finished his words, and the first arrow was loosed from the walls, Dave jumped.

    "EAT THIS!" Dave pointed his shield mid-jump and the jaws on the shield opened up, rejecting thest spell consumed.

    It was the Chosen of the Ash King¡¯s spell, the Dragon¡¯s Breath that Dave had previously absorbed.

    Suddenly, a new Sun emerged out of seemingly nowhere, searing grass and increasing the heat of the area by several fold.

    The fireball grew at an enormous rate and shot forward like a meteor. The Qin Soldiers at the backline had no way to dodge the searing fireball, and the Elite Soldiers of Qin could only stare in confusion, at how such enormous magic had been summoned without the caster chanting to gather such power allowing them to prepare something.

    A few soldiers possessed the wit to use their shields in front of them, but many failed to attempt any means of protection, not that it would have helped anyway.

    The fireball shot forward, moving through the enemy ranks and continued onward until it struck the walls of the city, sting through them, and sending heat waves through the walls of the city, melting stone into molten rocks, and burning bodies into ash.

    Of the hundred Elite Soldiers, less than half remained. Those caught in the wake of the firebally burnt on the ground, their armor melted upon their bodies and bones and the fire had risen hotter andrger than Dave had ever expected.

    He was very grateful for this surprising amount of damage from this Skill, but unfortunately, it was still not enough to cull every life in front of him.

    Still, the fact remained that of the thousand soldiers protecting the city, more than two-thirds had died by this very first attack, securing Dave a good chunk of EXP, enough that he leveled up twice.

    Unfortunately, it was also true that many apparently about a third of the Qin Elite Soldiers survived the ordeal. What¡¯s more, the remnants had suffered mild to no injuries thanks to them either using their protection Skills or because they were lucky enough and skilled enough to jump away from the brunt of the fires.

    "Now! Everyone! Begin!" Davemanded. He didn¡¯t want to lose the chance while the enemy was still in disarray.

    "Alright, I¡¯m on it!" Jeffery began tapping the runic writing on one of his bracers.

    Suddenly, Jeffery¡¯s body became encased in metallic armor, then he began growing, turning into a dozen meter tall Mecha.

    "Let¡¯s load up the big guns!" Jeffery shouted. The Mecha¡¯s arms transformed into cannons, then he jerked the hands back and forward, causing a clicking sound to echo out. Meanwhile, Fortress¡¯s eyes were turning into stars.

    "Locked and loaded! Eat up!" Jeffery shouted.

    Immediately afterward, several dozen blue sma shots flew out of the cannons on the Mecha¡¯s hands. sting through the Elite Soldiers like there was no tomorrow.

    Dave nodded as he noticed the Elite Soldiers unable to defend against the extremely rapid bombardment.

    "Great job!" Dave praised. "Now, it¡¯s my turn!" Dave drew his sword and charged into the fray. Believing in his friends to back him up, while he began a ughter through the ranks of the injured Elite Soldiers.

    Dave¡¯s Undead army didn¡¯t take long to back up their leader. They were like the marching tide, forcing most of the Qin Soldiers to focus on them due to their sheer numbers. If the Qin Soldiers didn¡¯t resist the Undead march, their city was going to get swamped and suffocated. All thanks to Dave¡¯s earlier attack that had literally melted the city walls away.

    The Elite Soldiers might have been stronger than Dave¡¯s Undead, but they weren¡¯t as numerous. Even if some of the Elites, killed one or two Undead Death Knights, the rest of the Undead would surround, overwhelm and ughter the Elite in seconds.

    Dave had found himself facing off against three of the Elite Soldiers. A difficult encounter even for him.

    One of the Qin Elites charged at Dave with a cleaver in hand, swinging in a direct and overhanded manner at Dave¡¯s head.

    The Draugr, however, didn¡¯t dodge, as he was aware that as soon as he did the rest of the Qin Soldiers would close the gap probably ending him.

    Instead, he let the jaws of the Cursed Shield of Ajax open up and lock themselves on the sword. Then Dave pushed the attacking soldier forward, giving himself the opportunity to back away from the other two Elites.

    Dave swung his shield to the side, thanks to his more than one thousand points in Strength, and the Qin Soldiers¡¯s stubbornness in keeping his hand locked onto his sword, Dave managed to lift the soldier and m him into hisrades.

    Before the Qin Soldiers could stand back up, Dave opened his mouth wide and shot a [Ray of mes] into the three of them.

    The soldiers burnt and squirmed in pain. But they didn¡¯t die, in fact, their HP was still high. Only the Dragon¡¯s Breath had been enough to one-shot many of them, and Dave¡¯s [Ray of ms] wasn¡¯t as powerful as the stolen Boss Skill.

    One of the regr soldiers attempted to backstab Dave who was still upied with the three Qin Elites. However, the assassin¡¯s attempt went in vain as an arrow struck his temple, causing the assassin to die on the spot, barely releasing a grunt.

    Dave turned to see the dead assassin, then he heard Lone¡¯s voice through the party, "I got your back, you can keep fighting."

    "Thanks love," Dave smiled and continued on with even more vigor.

    Many other weaker soldiers tried their luck as well, but the perfectly aimed shots always brought them down. Dave realized that because he was the ¡¯leader¡¯ of the assault, the Qin Soldiers must have assumed that by killing him, the Undead assault would falter.

    Yet the reality was far from that, the Undead¡¯s moral was impossible to change, they knew no fear, knew not to retreat and believed that no matter how the odds were stacked against them, with enough soldiers, enough members, they would be able to quell all and y all. So what if their leader falls, another would take his mantle and would move the army forward to break the enemy line. As long as even a single member remains, they would die trying to achieve their goals.

    However, the numerous attempts at Dave¡¯s life grew more tiresome for him. All at once, three came at him and Lone Arrow was barely able to shoot two while he dealt with the third.

    "This is getting annoying!" Dave shouted, the assassins were not letting him move at his leisure, so he opted for scaring them the hell away from him. Literally.

    Dave used [Infernal Tyrant¡¯s Oppression] causing a massive sized ck ethereal skull to materialize above his head. An infernal aura sted off from Dave as if the fire had turned to submerge ck waters, engulfing anything near him in burning heat, and forcing many of the Qin Soldiers to flee in terror.

    "That¡¯s more like it," Dave grinned. "But you guys are getting way over your heads," Dave stomped his foot on the ground. Causing mild seismic vibrations to go through the ground. Then soon after, the skies began to darken. The atmosphere turned eerie, as Dave¡¯s skill [Blot the Sun] came into effect.

    Now, Dave¡¯s Undead, under [Blot the Sun¡¯s] effect gained another breath and a surge of power, every fighter gained more momentum, and the weaker Undead that suffered against their foes began regenerating their health at a faster pace. All in all, they managed to tip the scale of the fight in their favor once the aura of [Blot The Sun] covered them.

    "Aerial Reinforcements iing!" Perfect Shot called out a warning.

    Dave looked up, noticing the many wyverns passing through the dark clouds of his Skill.

    "It¡¯s about time. Tiny, you¡¯re up!" Dave summoned his little friend as he locked his gaze on the iing Wyvern Riders.

 Chapter 407 One Down, Five To Go!

    Dave ignored the fighting soldiers and hopped over Tiny who was mid-transformation. The Grave Lord changed shape immediately and took to the skies, avoiding the iing arrows and projectiles shot at him.

    They dared to annoy his Undead when they were already winning? The Draugr was not about to let his enemy gain an advantage in this battle, no matter aerial or on the ground.

    Once Tiny was high up in the skies, the Tengu joined Dave. The mighty creature shouted, "Lord, let me aid you!" and drew his sword, preparing his ultimate move.

    Amongst the chaos and sounds of battle, the Tengu¡¯s voice rang clear: "Thou who dare desecrate thisnd, with my advent, I the Great Tengu, shally waste to your defilement with this de! ZAN!"

    The Tengu¡¯s hand tightened around the grip of his sword and pulled the de out by a finger¡¯s length...a blink, then he slid the katana back into its sheath with an ominous ¡¯click.¡¯

    A strong wind kicked up dust and debris as the whole area shuddered. Everything in front of the Tengu had been split down the middle. Clouds and even space itself found itself divided. For an instant, it was as if the world was an enormous melon that had been cut in two, one half sliding away from the other, then they rejoined a momentter. In that division, three of the wyvern riders had lost their lives alongside their mounts, leaving the dozen or so others perplexed at the fate of theirrades.

    Dave didn¡¯t give them time to think. Tiny dove in like the wind, howling and screeching like a true dragon, as it followed after a hapless wyvern that was too afraid to act ording to his rider¡¯smands. Dave¡¯s mount bit hard on the wyvern¡¯s neck. The unfortunate creature fought to regain its freedom from the massive maw of the Grave Lord, but after a powerful tightening of Tiny¡¯s dragon jaws, the wyvern¡¯s neck snapped. The creature¡¯s howls and resistance ceased a momentter, allowing Tiny enough to swallow it whole.

    The rider risked his life by climbing on the face of Tiny who was busy enjoying his snack. His decision to abandon his wyvern may have saved him from falling to his death or ending up in Tiny¡¯s abyss of a stomach, however, he met a smiling Draugr who had patiently waited for his ascent.

    The Draugr bnced himself on the dragon¡¯s head, pulled one leg higher than the other and shouted, "THIS! IS! SPARTA!" then kicked the man in the chest, sending the soldier to meet his worst fears.

    "Heh, I always wanted to do this," Daveughed, then turned his attention to another wyvern rider who was aiming his bow at him.

    Dave failed to dodge, and the arrow imbedded itself surprisingly right through his left eye.

    ***

    You have been partially blinded!

    -160,000!

    You cannot use your left eye for five (5) minutes. This effect can be removed by using a Skill or drinking a potion to regenerate the affected area."

    ***

    Dave cursed, "Motherfucker!" the shot was painful, even through the damage numbing of the system, a shot to the eye hurt.

    Out of frustration, Dave hurled his sword at the rider who was pretty far away.

    The rider was totally surprised at the suddenness of Dave¡¯s reaction and was unable to steer his mount in time to dodge the massive sword. The weapon struck him right through the chest, detaching himpletely from his saddle and throwing him down to his death.

    Dave however cursed, he had just thrown away his weapon, and it would be a hassle to retrieve it. However, fate gave Dave a nice surprise as a notification popped up in his impaired vision.

    ***

    You have performed a sessful sword throw.

    You have learned the basic skill [Sword Throw].

    You may use the follow-up skill [Recall] to recall your weapon.

    Cooldown 20 minutes.

    ***

    "Oh, that¡¯s pretty nice," Dave grinned and activated the new skill [Recall]

    His weapon came back, with a surprise attached to it.

    Dave tilted his head as he realized that Durandal had struck through the rider, and due to him having recalled the weapon, he brought the rider back with him.

    "Burh, you¡¯re too clingy, get off," Dave kicked with his leg at the rider, peeling him off of his weapon, and throwing him back to the ground. His mount was not too impressed about the waste of food.

    "Next one Tiny, you¡¯ll get to eat more!" Dave shouted, and the creature obliged.

    The hunt for wyverns ended almost as soon as it started. The remaining riders fell back as they realized that their aerial superiority was fended off easily by the Grave Lord and his Undead rider. Meanwhile, the fight at the ground was turning into a culling massacre.

    Jeffery¡¯s Mecha had an easy time taking down the remaining Elite Soldiers. His aggro level was high enough to leech all of the Elites, but the massive numbers of Undead kept him safe and free to shoot as many bullets as he wanted. The same was true for the rest of Dave¡¯s party. They killed and leveled up with ease with the help of Dave¡¯s army.

    ...half an hourter, thest Elite Soldier, who also happened to be thest surviving Qin Soldier fell to Mercy¡¯s daggers.

    "Great job everyone!" Dave called, "Legionaries! Take the city!"

    He had to be quick before any more support troops could reinforce the city making it harder to capture. Dave needed to break through and lock down the gate.

    This was easier said than done. essing the city was still difficult. There were many soldiers hidden atop roofs and many of the streets were barricaded in case the Undead defeated the vanguard.

    From up above, Dave noticed that his worst worries were bing reality. The Teleportation Gate kept lighting up and numerous Qin Soldiers were pouring out. He needed to clog the portal before the Qin Army sent in a rescue squadposed of more Elite Soldiers as Dave did not have ess to another Boss Skill and Jeffery¡¯s Mecha was also running out of juice.

    "Tiny, to the Gate!" Dave ordered and the creature followed.

    Once Dave was flying over the Gate, he dropped down from Tiny¡¯s backnding in a three-point heronding.

    -260,000!

    The damage from the fall wasn¡¯t low, but he opted to endure it in pursuit of style points. His [Aura] brought terror upon the Qin Soldiers. Any that tried to force him out of the Gate either burnt due to the heat emanating from [Infernal Tyrant¡¯s Oppression] or ran away due to the fear effect it caused out of the city and into the Undead.

    Dave found himself free and in control of the Gate, and before more enemy troops could emerge, he used the Gate himself to reach the Undead Frontier. Once he was in, he beckoned for the Abyssal Knight Da who was waiting at the Frontier for this very purpose.

    "We have another Gate! I need your help Da," Dave hurriedly pleaded.

    "As you wish," The Abyssal Knight followed after Dave had used the Gate. Once the two of them were back in the city Da took a look around.

    "Too many living beings..." The Arch-Lich dismissively waved his hand.

    This mere gesture caused ck waves to burst out from under Da¡¯s feet,tching onto the soldiers and dragging them into the ground. Their fates, unknown to anyone.

    "Much better," Da said with what seemed to be the equivalent of a smile on his face.

    When Dave realized that the enemy forces were no more, he disabled his aura. The mana drain had been starting to be too much for him to sustain.

    "There are many other living soldiers within this city..." Da spoke while he was tampering with the Gate.

    "Yeah, we are still in the middle of a conquest," Dave exined.

    "Indeed... Once your Undead control the city, what do you n to do next, young Draugr?" Da asked.

    "I¡¯ll head for the nearest city, there are five conquests I need to do before I can take on the capital," Dave shared his n.

    "You won¡¯t seed this way; you¡¯ll lose too many troops. The enemy still has many soldiers to contend with your force." Da stated bluntly.

    Dave took a moment to think about the Arch-Lich¡¯s words: "You may be right. Perhaps I won¡¯t seedpletely. However, I won¡¯t give up just because I could fail in the end. At the very least I shall use this opportunity to deal them a heavy blow!"

    "That is an admirable conviction you have. Yet it cannot change the fact that they outnumber you. If you try to raid through the heart of their Kingdom, I cannot see an oue different you suffering losses just as great. Nevertheless, I support your decision. Don¡¯t waste your chance in punishing them for attempting to take your city. It is the way of us Undead, to never fear the enemy and always be relentless in seeking their destruction. Even if you don¡¯t seed at first just rise again!" Da rarely spoke many words, but when he did it was always important and full of wisdom.

    "I¡¯ll do as you say," Dave nodded and turned back to an iing ruckus. His Undead had managed to mow through the barricades and had advanced deeper into the city. Now nothing can interrupt this conquest.

    Singund approached first, his body was covered with scars. Dave believed that the fearsomeness of the High-Orc must have surprised the Elite Soldiers, for even if he was lower level than them, his tenacity was unparalleled, he could battle many without dying, and he could kill as he pleased unfaltering and unrelenting.

    "Lord! We bring news of victory, what is our next task?" Singund was keen to know his next target. It hadn¡¯t even been long and yet the Orc Chieftain was ready to continue fighting. Fortunately, Dave did not disappoint.

    "We march to the next city. It¡¯s going to be a one day march. Lead the army, I¡¯ll follow soon after. I also need this city to remain under control. Send word to Delvina and have here andpel the remaining living people to our cause!"

    "As youmand!" Singund gave Dave a salute and strode away.

    "Lord Da," Dave turned around: "I¡¯ll be leaving soon. I¡¯ll be counting on your assistance for the next city as well."

    The Arch-Lich nodded, "I am looking forward to it. I have many benefits to gain by taking control of the enemy Gates. It will also help the Legion prosper as a whole!"

    "Great, alright see youter," Dave walked away from the Gate and the vanishing magician, while a brigade of Undead began breaking through the doors and pulling out the survivors and citizens who had remained inside, lumping them together for imprisonment.

    Dave moved out of the city and toward his party.

    "Guys, we¡¯ll be heading to another area soon. Jeffery, when will your Mecha be ready for use?" Dave inquired.

    "In 24 hours," Jeffery answered.

    "Great. We don¡¯t have to worry then. The nearest city is pretty far. The Legionnaires will need about a day¡¯s march to arrive there."

    "So, it¡¯s time to go already?" Lone asked.

    "Yeah, we have to strike while the iron is still hot. Right now the Qin Kingdom is struggling with controlling theirnds due to the monster outbreak. So far, they can¡¯t assemble a force strong enough to break our gueri tactics, but once enough time has passed and the situation is back under their control, we¡¯ll face a pretty strong resistance." Dave exined.

    "Then why waste time talking? Let¡¯s go, man! The EXP so far has been delicious and easy, we can¡¯t waste this chance," Ralph hurried them on.

    "Right then, everyone ready?"

    His party members all nodded or spoke in agreement.

    Dave looked around, his Undead were readying up for the next march.

    "Alright then. Everyone, roll out!!!"

 Chapter 408 Undead At The Gate.

    "What¡¯s the situation?" Warlord spoke, sending a private message to Jeffery.

    "We¡¯re heading further East. Skelly has already taken down the third city in the East, however, the losses on our sides were massive. He was not prepared for a nking attack from the Qin Soldiers. Many of his Undead in the rearguard died due to the surprise attack and now we are continuing with less than half of his initial forces. That¡¯s still a huge number, though," Jeffery replied through voice chat, away from the eyes of Dave¡¯s party.

    "Good. Keep me updated, and report immediately once Skelly reaches the capital. As soon as that happens I¡¯ll need you to do something for me. Now listen up closely, this is REALLY important."

    Warlord gave Jeffery his set of orders, making the Hunter frown.

    "Skelly won¡¯t like that," Jeffery couldn¡¯t help but resist meekly.

    "I don¡¯t care what he likes or doesn¡¯t. There is money on the line, more than you can imagine. Demetri has invested a shit ton of money to buy the Conquest Right and finance the raids. All our benefits are tied to him actually seeding. If Skelly obtains the East, we¡¯ll simply be fucked."

    "Alright man, I just really don¡¯t want to have a beef with Skelly."

    "... there is no other way. Just do what I told you. Once I¡¯m there, I¡¯ll be the King of the East and might sell the throne back to Demetri. It¡¯s all up to you. The better you do, the bigger the cut you¡¯ll receive."

    "Roger that," Jeffery replied after a groan.

    "You¡¯ve been awfully quiet, did something happen?"

    When the Hunter realized that Dave suddenly addressed him, he jerked back. "My bad, I was talking to someone. My buddy¡¯s are jealous that I get to be on an adventure with the legendary Mr. Skelly and are pestering me to at least get your autograph for them."

    "I should have the time after we¡¯re done. Speaking of time, how much longer until your Mecha Skill will be off cooldown?" Dave asked.

    "26 hours in-game left" Jeffery answered.

    Dave checked the time and said, "Guys, I think it¡¯s time we log out, let¡¯s take the rest of the day off, get some sleep and we¡¯lle back soon for the finish."

    "Alright brosky, I¡¯ll need to grab a bite soon," Ralph replied.

    Soon all the party was offline, leaving Dave¡¯s undead army stationed within a nearby opening surrounded by arge forest.

    Dave was back to his room, he thought about the assault that happened this morning, his army¡¯s power was reduced to half, and he would have an extremely difficult time to conquer the East.

    Da had already warned him that his way of doing things was not going to bring him the desired oue, but still, he had left Dave to his own devices. Who was he to question the advice of the Arch-Lich, who must have had hundreds of years of experience in that regard?

    So while they had been marching Dave hadn¡¯t spent his time doing nothing, instead, most of it has been dedicated to try ande up with another course of action he could take. Instead of continuing on his raid and breaking through every other city, Dave had eventuallye to a decision that might either win him this war or end in total catastrophe.

    He grabbed a bite, took a shower and ended the day by sleeping on his bed. He needed to be fresh and ready for the morning.

    ------

    Dave¡¯s sleep was rudely interrupted by his rm. Thefort of his bed and pillow were beckoning him to stay, yet his duty required him to leave the bed. Today was going to be an important day

    Once Dave was online, he contacted the rest of the party to enact the finalised version of the n he had thought up.

    "Are you serious?" Lone questioned, "We can¡¯t do that! You said it yourself the capital is heavily fortified. What about the other cities?"

    "We can¡¯t waste any more time nor men capturing the rest of the cities. The Qin Army is gathering their forces, and they are folding back too fast for us to cause anysting harm this way. We need to take down their capital right now. Once that is done, we can still worry about taking care of the cities." Dave reasoned.

    "But if we go straight for the capital, we¡¯ll be surrounded by enemies. The other cities could easily send forces and we¡¯ll be stuck between the hammer and the anvil," Perfect Shot argued.

    "I don¡¯t know man," Jeffery also didn¡¯t seem too keen about this change of n. "I can shoot for hours if you need me to, but once my Mecha is swarmed, I¡¯m dead meat. So are you 100% sure you want to go straight for the capital?"

    "Definitely. Yesterday¡¯s surprise attack woke me up to reality. We can¡¯t win unless we do something crazy and unexpected. And so long as the Qin Army is still upied with clearing up the monster hordes, this is our best shot at conquering the capital right now."

    "Bro, you know me. I¡¯m in no matter what¡¯s the situation!" Ralph stated proudly.

    Dave turned to the rest of the party, they all had an agreeing expression on their faces.

    "Alright then, let¡¯s make a run for it. We¡¯ll have to take a long detour and through the forest to avoid the nearest city, then it¡¯ll be a straight march toward the capital. We¡¯ll arrive in half a day. Our raid should start by nightfall." Davemanded.

    He pressed his palm on the ground, creating ck sigils that summoned Grumpy the Onyx Alpha basilisk out of the smoke.

    "Legionnaires, follow me!" Dave called and began leading his army through the rough terrain of the Qin Kingdom.

    And as Dave predicted, the march took them half a day, through the rough area. The monsters avoided the Undead Legion like the gue.

    The creatures in the Eastern Region were more powerful than their counterparts from the other Kingdoms of Conquest. But due to the massive monster outbreak, the monsters avoided any undead creatures, unless a prey proved itself easy.

    However, the Undead Legion was powerful and moved as a whole. If any monster was dumb or slow enough to stand in the Legion¡¯s way, only its remains would stand testament to its idiocy.

    Dave¡¯s Undead Army marched unperturbed until they arrived at the high walls of the capital.

    Dave had expected some resistance and hardship in his attempt to conquer the capital, but the sight in front of him made his expectations shatter. The high walls of the city were packed tight with Qin Soldiers, and at the front of the gate was an army that matched Dave¡¯s own in numbers, and had several thousand Elite Soldiers all over the ce, stationed in lines at the front of the army.

    Wyvern Riders flew low above the city walls and ballistae were locked and loaded with arrows ready to rain death from above upon Dave¡¯s army.

    "We could have used your Dragon¡¯s Breath attack, right about now," Ralph mentioned half-jokingly.

    "Yeah, I didn¡¯t expect it would be this bad... Where the hell did they keep all these numbers?!" Dave groaned.

    "So, what do we do? Fall back?" Jeffery asked nervously.

    "Huh, it really shows that you haven¡¯t partied long enough with us," nker shook his head, "You should know, that guy is a bit crazy in the head. The worse the situation and the higher the risk the more he is willing to take it."

    "So you guys all are fine going against?" Jeffery still had trouble believing it. It was hard to tell the exact number but with the enemy seemingly having as many Elites as they had regr troops this should be a foregone conclusion. "This is suicide!"

    "Nah, this is our way bro. Wee to the suicide squad... otherwise known as Skelly¡¯s party," Fortressughed.

    "Everyone, let¡¯s get ready. Don¡¯t hold anything back. I¡¯m gonna call the big boyz to y," Dave told me, with a signature smile on his face.

    "Alright then, Jeffery back up," Perfect Shot advised.

    "Why? What¡¯s gonna happen?" Jeffery asked as he moved away from Dave.

    "You¡¯re about to see something which might blow your mind."

    All too familiar with Dave¡¯s behavior Perfect Shot expected what the Draugr was about to do.

    "Tiny, get the Manticores out, we¡¯ll need them."

    The small slime shuddered, then began transforming into its humanoid shape. It grew massively in size, horns emerging out of a stag skull above its head, and its body ripped and cracked as bones and flesh made its torso bit by bit.

    Tiny¡¯s size grew to dwarf all of Dave¡¯s Undead and then, it opened both its arms wide, summoning golden sarcophagi into the air. The sarcophagi opened up, letting out dark abysmal smoke pour out from within them, as hands, limbs, and creatures began pouring out.

    The manticores, muchrger than Tiny himself, managed to squeeze out from the coffins then grow to their original size in moments.

    Dave had captured nine of them and had kept them hidden as a trump card. And he was unsure if he would ever find a situation better suited for their debut than now.

    Jeffery, having never seen such creatures before gasped his estimation of Kis¡¯Shtiengbrah¡¯s strength needed to be reconsidered. If he could summon such creatures to battle for him, he was enough to cause a real headache for any of the super guilds.

    "Legionnaires! Line up!" Dave yelled.

    His Undead stood in long organized single files. The Death Knights stood at the front, seated atop their Dunlords. Their Captains behind them, and the rest of Dave¡¯s Undead at the end.

    Dave rode on Grumpy¡¯s back, he switched his sword to General Ouki¡¯s ive and called out loud, "LEGIONNAIRES! RAISE YOUR WEAPONS!"

    Dave¡¯s shout boomed through the Legion¡¯s ranks. And to his order, they all raised their weapons.

    Dave nudged Grumpy to a trot along the first line, his ive nging against the raised weapons of the legionnaires.

    "SOLDIERS, AHEAD OF US STAND THE HIGH WALLS OF THE QIN KINGDOM!"

    "WE ARE OUTNUMBERED!"

    "WE ARE OUTMATCHED!"

    "WE ARE SURROUNDED IN ENEMY TERRITORY!"

    "BUT DO WE FALL BACK? DO WE FEAR AND SURRENDER?"

    The entire army roared out simultaneously as if they were one entity.

    "NEVER!"

    "FOR WE ARE THE UNDEAD LEGION!" Dave roared and pointed ahead toward the gate,

    "LET THIS BE THE HOUR WHEN WE DRAW SWORDS TOGETHER. FELL DEEDS AWAKE. NOW FOR WRATH, NOW FOR RUIN AND THE RED DAWN. FORTH LEGIONNAIRES!"

    The Undead Army heeded Dave¡¯smand, the Manticores leading the charge, while the rest of Dave¡¯s forces used the massive sized creatures as shields to avoid the massive arrows.

    The Elite Qin Soldiers at the front were readying up for the iing Manticores. The creatures sure were big, but against the highly skilled Elite Soldiers, they would be killed sooner orter. Dave knew this, and therefore he decided to tip the bnce in his favor.

    A bright blue light shone upon the Qin Army. Its source was a jewel in Dave¡¯s hand.

    "Drahma! I choose you!" Dave shouted and almost immediately, the world shuddered as space itself tore, weing the massive juggernaut of the Undead Legion, Drahma The Unfettered.

 Chapter 409 Surrounded

    The massive juggernaut sprinted forward, unrelenting, every step breaking and reducing the ground to dust powder. He proceeded to swing his gigantic stone on the battlefield, crushing all those who stood before him into a gooey paste of blood and meat showing off why his weapon was best known as the ¡¯Paste Maker¡¯.

    His ear bursting roars made even the stale corrupted blood inside the Undead¡¯s bodies start to boil. They followed behind the gigantic Berserker with a madness previously unseen in the Legion. Drahma¡¯s rage proved contagious, and his might brought a powerful surge of power and energy to the Undead. They might not have the ability to fear but the same could not be said about the normal soldiers who began shaking on Qin¡¯s side.

    "Guys, don¡¯t hold back with your Legacies!" Dave shouted, and as to lead by example, he snapped his fingers.

    The Undeath God¡¯s guitar mmed down into the ground, sending enormous rippling waves of dark energy that spread all over the area.

    The first sh between the Qin Army and the Dave¡¯s Undead Legion proved fatal to the front ranks. Many were crushed under the weight and momentum of their brethren or their enemies. Thanks to the added factor of the divine guitar the Undead were able to act with even more resilience and bravado.

    Theyunched themselves over the front skirmish, vaulting over enemies and allies to fall into the ranks of the Qin Army.

    "Let¡¯s get this party started!" Jeffery loaded his weapons. He was ready in his Mecha-suit and his guns were firing nonstop. His targets, the flying wyverns had appeared in a formation, threatening to establish air superiority for Qin¡¯s side.

    As a one man army the Hunter had his work cut out for him. Fortunately he had just the right equipment for the job. The sma cannons were powerful enough that even if the riders seeded in dodging the highly urate shot, the wind behind the sma bullet would send the flying mount into an uncontrolled deadly spin.

    Lone Arrow also activated her Legacy. She had managed toplete the rest of the Quest on her own. Now seemed like the perfect time to use it. Without hesitating for even a moment, she immediately used her most powerful skill summoning an Avatar of the Ice Queen.

    The beauty made of ice materialized behind Lone Arrow. The royal figure waved her hand, creating hundreds of ice shards that floated above and around Lone Arrow. The shards were bound to Lone¡¯s will, able to distinguish between ally and foe, and shot toward the Qin Soldiers. Each hit turned their weapons brittle, freezing their bodies and piercing through their chests as they went.

    Ralph¡¯s Legacy was still iplete, but his swordsmanship visibly improved as he fought on. His sword found purchase with every swing, dealing massive damage to the Qin Soldiers he fought. His weapon would pierce, sh and cut at the enemy vitals. Those who did not outright die, were left dying in his wake.

    Human Fortress tanked three Elite Soldiers on his own while his girlfriend prepared her spell. Soon Tess began wreaking havoc upon the soldiers, her mighty Red Magic creating controlled explosions in their ranks. It made the Qin Soldiers stumble, fall and those unfortunate enough to be in the center of it simply perished. The Undead used this chance to walk and move about unhindered, further increasing their deadliness.

    The ballistae on the walls hadn¡¯t stopped for even a moment. Their threat level rose high enough to garner Dave¡¯s attention. If nothing was done the ballistae it was just a matter of time before they would mow down a great many of the Undead.

    "Dunlords! Underground now!" Davemanded.

    The Dunlords dove deeper into the ground, creating waves of dirt and rocks as they moved. They were moving in a straight line, directly underneath the Qin Soldiers and Undead allies. The Undead had long since been prepared for theing of the earth waves and had braced themselves ordingly, but the unaware Qin Soldiers hadn¡¯t noticed their iing doom in the chaos of battle.

    The term ¡¯a soldier has fallen¡¯ had always been synonymous with the person in question dying. And in war, if a soldier trips and falls, it would cut down their chances of survival enormously.

    Thus, this simple strategy had caused a massive number of Qin Soldiers to topple to the ground turning them into easy prey for the Undead Soldiers.

    The skirmish appeared to favor Dave¡¯s Undead and his party for now. The damage Drahma was causing, the massive full-on assault was surprising and hard to deal with. ... Yet so far, Dave had not seen or noticed the presence of any enemy general to lead or change the battle.

    This was a major cause for worry, but he would not wait until the enemy troops reorganized themselves to fight back. He would take whatever was given to him, and right now, the lives of the Qin Soldiers were just what he wanted.

    It was a pity that the ns of men couldn¡¯tpare to the ns of the heavens. A horn sounded from the rear of the battle and to Dave¡¯s misery, behind his army, another army was arriving. More Qin forces would soon join the fray, probably reinforcements from the other cities Dave had decided to forego.

    "Shit, guys... They have us surrounded." Dave called in their voice chat. His sword never ceased its attacks.

    "We can see that! What are we going to do?!" nker shouted back.

    "I hate to admit it, but our best option is to retreat," Dave answered unwillingly.

    "Really? After all this? We¡¯ll just go back?" Jeffery asked.

    "Well, I assume none of us is too keen about visiting Limbo. Besides, our main objective hasn¡¯t necessarily been about conquering the East. I¡¯m not strong enough for that. At least not right now. This is just payback for some bullcrap they pulled on us." Dave sighed.

    "Right, that¡¯s all good and dandy, but there still remains one huge problem. How do you propose that we retreat? A simple sorry won¡¯t cut it. After all, we did, they won¡¯t just let you or us go!" Mercy interjected.

    "Let¡¯s first deal them some damage. Afterward, hurry on over to me. I¡¯ll use Tiny to get us out!"

    "What about your Undead?" Tess asked.

    "Don¡¯t worry about them, I¡¯ll revive them once I¡¯m back to the Dead Realm," Dave replied.

    He then stomped his foot as hard as he could on the ground, creating dark clouds over the battlefield. The clouds synergized well with Dave¡¯s currently active Legacy Skill. Following a hunch, Dave used [Draconic Infernal Skulls].

    The regr draconic heads got further empowered by the Legacy. Just like the time [Spectral Skulls] got changed into warring skeletons, this time Dave¡¯s skill created dragons, full infernal dragons, and 48 of them at once.

    The dragons roared out, soaring above the battlefield. The fire they released was enough to turn the area of battle into an inferno.

    "Oh... I guess we¡¯ll deal more than just a bit of damage!" Dave was happy to say.

    Then he let loose the fire dragons.

 Chapter 410 Change of Plan

    Dave¡¯s infernal dragons rained down hell from above. They spewed out fire through the battlefield, scorching the enemies into ck skeletons. The mes gathered into a firestorm that roared through the whole area.

    Still, 48 dragons, no matter how domineering, how powerful and how badass, they still were not enough to quell the lives of a couple hundred thousand enemy units.

    Dave had to fold back.

    "Guys, Let¡¯s leave!" Dave called, then summoned Tiny. "Everyone hop in!"

    Dave was the first to jump on Tiny¡¯s back. The rest of the party quickly followed suit. Leaving the undead taking care of the enemies.

    "Why not just use teleportation scrolls?" Jeffery asked as he dismounted from his Mecha and dissipated it.

    "We can¡¯t use scrolls while we are considered to be inbat. We also can¡¯t use any scrolls here besides those of the Eastern cities and the Underworld," Dave answered.

    The party rode on Tiny¡¯s back and the Grave Lord flew away amongst the chaos.

    Dave looked back, he noticed that Drahma¡¯s rampage was far from over and that he alone was dealing with more than a hundred Elite Qin Soldiers. Valiant his efforts may be, yet Dave knew that the giant creature would eventually fall. He just hoped that the Giant could take down as many Qin Soldiers as possible before it happened.

    Nevertheless, Dave¡¯s overall objective had been fulfilled. His campaign had dealt a heavy blow to the Qin Kingdom, revenge for daring to assault and belittle the hold of the Undead on the ancient city of Urburg.

    Jeffery¡¯s n, however, had been thwarted. He had hoped that Dave would at least manage to breach through the Qin Kingdom¡¯s walls, lessening the difficulty for the Devastators in their insidious attempt at controlling it

    However, at the same time, a part of Jeffery was thankful for this oue.

    He did not like what Warlord had ordered him to do, but he had no way to deny his right as a Guild-Master frommanding his subordinate. Even if it meant bing the enemy of the world¡¯s current most popr Undead. And now, Warlord would have to deal with the remaining Qin Army, while Dave would withdraw to n something else.

    By now, the contract binding Jeffery to Dave hade to an end. The Devastators awaited him to finally im their part of the deal.

    "Jeffery, status?" Warlord spoke in Jeffery¡¯s ears through voice-chat.

    "Skelly failed in his Hail Mary attempt of taking over the East. He¡¯s currently withdrawing. We¡¯re being followed by wyverns, but his flying serpent is making distance as we speak." Jeffery replied in all professionalism.

    "What about the teleportation device?" Warlord asked.

    "I¡¯ve nted it when no one was looking, but it¡¯s pretty close to the gates. If you guys want to use it, you¡¯ll have to use either overwhelming force or preferably Assassins and other stealth units."

    "Good Job. What about his losses? How many did he lose?"

    "I don¡¯t know the exact numbers, but Skelly has left them at the gate. Most likely, all of his minions will die there." Jeffery added.

    "This is great news for us. We don¡¯t know for sure if he can recreate them, but even if he can, it should cost him quite a bit. At the very least it will slow down his response to the point that he won¡¯t be able to do anything while we take the East. "

    "You¡¯re nning on taking the East while Skelly¡¯s forces are recovering?" Jeffery wondered.

    "Yes, right now¡¯s the perfect time. The Qin Army is currently weakened more than ever. We¡¯ll make sure Skelly can¡¯t join in or be able to interfere when we are doing so. When can your Mecha Skill be avable? We¡¯ll need you when raiding the East." Warlord asked.

    "In another 68 hours in-game," Jeffery answered.

    "Ok, once your Skill is avable for use, get ready for the Mass Teleportation. We¡¯ll need all the power we can get," Warlord ordered him.

    "Alright then," Jeffery replied.

    The conversation had urred away from the eyes of Dave¡¯s party. They had been upied with shooting down the pesky wyverns. Once the skies were clear, Dave ordered his pet toe down. They had traveled enough to make a good distance and be able to teleport away from the East.

    Dave started handing out scrolls to leave the area.

    The rest of the party looked at Dave questioningly. They had all received the scrolls from Dave without much hitch or questioning... only Jeffery didn¡¯t get any.

    "What about me?" Jeffery asked awkwardly.

    "Tiny will take you back to Moria. Thanks for the help in the raid, but you gotta understand. We¡¯re helping each other due to business, not friendship. I can¡¯t just give you scrolls for the Underworld so early." Dave shrugged.

    "Sigh... I understand. Anyway, it¡¯s been fun being part of Mr. Skeletal¡¯s adventuring party. Oh before I forget, once you¡¯re done, Warlord is waiting for you at Icathia. He mentioned that he¡¯ll be waiting for you to go there. You know, for the Underworld exploration and stuff." Jeffery said with a small smile on his face.

    "Yeah, I remember. I¡¯ll be there in a jiffy." Dave nodded before turning to Tiny: "Take him to Moria!"

    The Grave Lord didn¡¯t need Dave to tell him which way to take. He had already received his instructions not to take the route that went over Urburg.

    Once Jeffery was far away, Lone asked, "What was that about?"

    "What was what about?" Dave questioned back innocently.

    "The scrolls. You could have easily given him one," Lone rified.

    "Yup I could¡¯ve. But I don¡¯t trust him. I¡¯ve watched the video about what his Mecha could do multiple times, so I can safely say: He was pulling his punches. I don¡¯t like that. He didn¡¯t contribute his all to the fight, and this makes me suspicious of him. In fact, I could have most likely broken through the gates of the capital." Dave stated.

    "Huh? How so?" Lone asked.

    "I still had some powerful Skills left to use. And did you all forget about a certain Kraken? I didn¡¯t even use [Blot The Sun] to its full power or most of my Lich-ss spells. I believe I could have sustained the spawning of undead enemies until our forces would have eventually overwhelmed the enemy. We might perhaps have tried to assassinate the King, except Jeffery¡¯s attitude gave me a lot to worry about. He could have used his Nuclear explosion skill to wipe out half of the tightly packed forces but he didn¡¯t. I don¡¯t like that." Dave exined.

    "And why do you think he didn¡¯t use it?" Mercy asked.

    "He works for the Devastators and I have beef with Warlord. I bet he must have asked him to use the Nuclear Skill against us if the opportunity presented itself. Also, while no one was looking, he seemed to have nted a device at the gates of the Qin Capital."

    "How do you know that? You were in the middle of the battle?" Lone wondered.

    "Dear, I have an army at mymand. Even if I wasn¡¯t looking, it¡¯s impossible to hide one¡¯s movements from the prying eyes of a hundred thousand Undead," Dave replied with his draugr smile.

    "What do you think he nted?" Mercy asked.

    "I don¡¯t know, but whatever it is I left Bud there to monitor the situation. Whatever Jeffery had in mind, the Ghoul will notify me of as soon as possible." Dave replied.

    "You¡¯re pretty suspicious," nker noted.

    "If you want to think that way. I call it nning for the worst. I wouldn¡¯t want to give the Devastators the option to fish in murky waters. No matter what they are nning, I¡¯ll make sure to make it difficult for them." Dave replied.

    "What will you be doing now?" Ralph asked.

    "First off, Jeffery should be far enough away, so let¡¯s call back the rest of my Undead," Dave said and stomped his foot on the ground.

    Almost immediately, thousands of shadows materialized around Dave and his party. They were the Undead that had been battling at the gates of the Qin Kingdom.

    Most of the survivors were Captains with a few Death Knights in the mix. As for the Elite and regr Undead, none of them had survived the battle as none had shown up.

    "Damn, I took some heavy losses, but at least some of them survived," Dave sighed.

    He took a breath: "Alright, I¡¯ll head back to the Underworld to resupply and replenish my forces. You guys can go do your thing. I¡¯ll have to babysit a few Devastators and watch out for backstabs."

    "Alright Davey, call me if you need anything" Lone smiled at her boyfriend.

    "Anyone wanna go level up some bit? I know of a good Dungeon in the Southern Desert." Tess suggested.

    "Yeah, let¡¯s group up. Skelly, we¡¯ll be going without you," Perfect teased.

    "Yeah go ahead," Dave nodded to his friends and tore his teleportation scroll.

    He soon reappeared in the Underworld, right at his estate. The workers had finished up the whole project and now looked like the estate of a rich nobleman. With a river running through it, a white-topped mountain full of Trolls, a forest encircling the whole area and a small area for the Basilisks to roam about.

    Dave went to his barracks and initiated the revival of his Undead. The losses were great, and the cost he had to pay matched that.

    Not too long ago Dave¡¯s CP points had numbered 5,000,000 thanks to the raid of the Pharaoh¡¯s Tomb. Yet after equipping his Undead and buying all of his Captains fully armored Dunlords. He had been down to less than 100,000.

    But now as Dave was gazing at his CP points, he was surprised to notice that the number was currently more than four million points and was continuing to rise.

    Before he could question what could be the reason for this continuous rise in CP, he noticed a small shing window under the CP points.

    Once he willed it into his screen, a stream of notification appeared in front of him.

    ***

    Corrupted Dire Wolf level 120 has killed a viger level 20

    +5 CP

    Undead Boar Level 65 has killed wild hare level 5.

    +1CP point.

    Hollow Vanguard Level 250 has killed Town Guard level 220

    +20 CP

    ...

    ***

    "Oh, these must be from the Dungeon Outbreak, pretty neat. They¡¯re still umting points for me. Hmm, I should do this more often." Dave humored himself.

    "Right, let¡¯s finish up."

    He turned to the rest of the Respawners and began the process of reviving the rest of his Undead.

    Now he would have to wait for it to finish. To not waste any time he teleported to the Undead Frontier.

    "You took down the capital?" Da asked.

    "You were right. I couldn¡¯t make it."

    Da didn¡¯t seem surprised by Dave¡¯s im, "There is no shame and not being able to overturn an unfavorable situation each and every time. At least now we know you¡¯re not some sort of freak. If you¡¯d told me you broke through the gates of the Qin Capital with a mere hundred thousand, you¡¯d make me question my ability as an Abyssal Knight."

    Dave didn¡¯t want to ruin the old man¡¯s mood by telling him that if he actually had tried he might have made it.

    "Yeah, well, I know that I still have a long way to go now. Unfortunately, that means all your hard work will have been in vain. I¡¯m sorry you had to disable all those Gates, now the Qin Army will be able to reim the cities and regain control," Davemented.

    "Oh, do not worry, young Draugr. Now, I have the codes for those Gates. If his Majesty ever orders the raid on the outer world, I¡¯ll be able to easily link those Gates to ours. And they¡¯ll never know what hit them." Daughed eerily after his im.

    Dave gulped, almost feeling pity for the people of those cities. If the Undead truly wanted to take the Qin Kingdom, Dave had just given them the keys to many cities that they could raid at will.

    "Okay, now for the reason I¡¯m here. I¡¯ll be inviting some people over, but I don¡¯t trust them." Dave informed the Arch-Lich.

    "Then why invite them in the first ce?" Da asked.

    "I required their help in raiding the East, and to pay them back I had to promise them the right of passage to the Underworld. However, I don¡¯t trust that they¡¯ll behave." Dave said.

    "Hmm, invite them to the Pharaoh¡¯s Crypt. It is where I have all-seeing eyes. If they ever do anything uncanny, I¡¯ll be able to see and stop it. That way you can have your part of the bargain fulfilled without going back on your word."

    Dave smiled, "Thank you Da, I can¡¯t thank you enough."

    "No worries. For one who I trust to be the Prince of the Dead, it is the least I could do!"

    "Hah, that¡¯s still too hard for the current me."

    "Do not belittle yourself Kis¡¯Shtiengbrah, you havee far. And I trust you can still go further. It is our duty in the Legion to support one another, because what is a Legion withoutrades looking out for each other?" Da spoke some words of wisdom to Dave¡¯s ears.

    "Yeah, we¡¯re Legion, we¡¯re one." Dave nodded and bade Da farewell.

    "It¡¯s time to return to the lion¡¯s den." He whispered to himself and tore a teleportation scroll to the Devastator capital.

 Chapter 411 Shameless Draugr

    "Is everything in order?" Warlord spoke through voice. He was currently moving rapidly through Icathia¡¯s streets. Beside him was Satan yer, Valentine, a priest, a ranger and an assassin. These yers were the top of the devastator super guild. Backed by their own powerfulpanies, they obtained the best gears and hogged the best EXP areas.

    And now, the promise form Dave will give them ess to the Underworld. Giving them more advantage over the other yers of thepeting guilds.

    This mere expedition to the underworld will give the Devastators an edge. For that, every level gained is a huge advantage, and they want to take advantage whenever they could in a game where being in the lead was all that matters. Or so they believed.

    "Yes, Guild-Master," Jeffery¡¯s voice sounded to the party through the voice chat. "The device is nted. Skelly didn¡¯t suspect a thing. Also, what did you mean by keeping him upied?" Jeffery asked.

    "The less you know the better. Now be ready. The A teams will start the assault first thing on the morrow."

    "Isn¡¯t Dave¡¯s friend with the A-team? he could notify him." Jeffery asked.

    "As I said the less you know the better, and ster himself isn¡¯t aware of all we do. No be ready, and contact me the moment your Mecha is off-cooldown."

    "Right boss," Jeffery replied and hung up.

    "You sure you want to pull this?" Valentine asked.

    "Yeah, this is the way things should be. I don¡¯t care if he is the most famous person on the game or the highest level. I only care about the reputation of our Guild. Once we pull this off, Skelly¡¯s rocketing fame will stop. His invincibility will dissipate."

    "But if you fail..." Valentine decided that he didn¡¯t need to finish the sentence.

    "I won¡¯t, I have everything nned out, you¡¯ll see Val." Warlord replied.

    "If you say so man, I¡¯m backing you no matter what," Valentine replied.

    "I know you got my back, now let¡¯s do this," Warlord finished his words the moment he appeared at the teleportation gate.

    The Doom Knight Kis¡¯Shtiengbrah, also known as Mr. Skeletal, or Skelly by the masses stood tall in the middle of the za.

    The NPC guards and church pdins were looking at him eerily, but they decided it was to their best interest that they should remain unmoving and appear unaggressive to the domineering Doom Knight.

    The mere presence of such a ¡¯Monster¡¯ was enough to send all the NPCs into a frightening escape away from him. But thanks to the now regr appearance of Kis¡¯Shtiengbrah, the NPCs regarded him with mild fear and interest.

    The undead, however, looked annoyed. He was tapping his metallic boot on the ground, making an eerie sound that resounded through the za. For some reason, most of the people around were quiet, making the tapping sound like the beatings of a metallic heart.

    "You guys know I have better stuff to do right?" Dave said.

    "Sorry for taking a while, we had to gather the team. So ready?" Valentine spoke.

    "Yeah, here," Dave said, pulling out five teleportation scrolls for the third Raid Zone, The Pharaoh¡¯s Tomb.

    Valentine took the scrolls and gave each of the yers next to him one.

    "Let¡¯s go then," Dave said.

    Dave noticed the yers fidgeting with the scrolls in their hands, while the priest of the party was gazing intently at the codes and patterns of the scroll.

    "You first, we need you to be there so you can stop the other undead from attacking us on sight," the assassin of the party spoke up.

    Dave tilted his head and said, "Right. Oh, one more thing, you can¡¯t copy those scrolls. Unless you¡¯re an undead with a Grandmaster Scroll Creation skill," Dave said in a grin aimed at the priest.

    He had realized that the priest was trying to copy the codes to recreate the scrolls, but as Dave had mentioned, unless he was undead, he won¡¯t be able to copy them. Making those scrolls useless unless they were used alongside Dave.

    The priest frowned but hid his expression almost immediately.

    Daveughed and tore his own scroll.

    He appeared in the Underworld, right in front of the teleportation gate of the Pharaoh¡¯s Tomb Raid zone.

    The teleportation gate was ced in the middle of a great square. Where the ck and gold pyramid oversaw the whole city.

    The walls of the city rose high, and the dark buildings gave an eerie look to the entire thing. Not to mention, the numerous undead that roamed about.

    Around the gate, stood more than a dozen Death Knights. Mere guards to the gate. But their singr power was enough to cause problems to any of the Devastators yers.

    Soon, Warlord appeared, followed by Valentine and the rest of the yers.

    "Wee to our humble abode!" Dave said with both hands opened wide.

    The undead around Dave were grimly staring at the yers, their hostile gazes sent shivers down their spines. But they were not foolish enough to show weakness.

    "Where are we going to grind?" Warlord asked.

    "Well, I can take you outside, there are a few Manticors strewn about under the sand. They give a decent amount of EXP." Dave said.

    "We saw the manticores in your videos, they¡¯re not much, what about a dungeon, or the next Raid Zone?" the assassin spoke.

    "Oh, I forgot that I shared the fourth raid zone with the CCN, if you want to grind there, then I won¡¯t mind, but do you think you can survive the area on your own?" Dave asked.

    "We can handle ourselves." Warlord said, "Just take us out of the city," he added.

    "Alright then, follow me and stay close, please," Dave said and led the way.

    The undead gave way for Dave, but they didn¡¯t change their behavior toward the party, their grim and tens reaction to them only heightened the more the yers moved toward the city gate.

    "I advise that you guys should move faster," Dave said.

    "We didn¡¯t agree to this! These undead are looking for a fight!" Warlord said, his voice fused with anger.

    "I¡¯m sorry bud, but these aren¡¯t my undead. I don¡¯t control them. And our deal was only to get you safely to the Forth Raid Zone, so far I¡¯m perfectly within the contract terms."

    Dave said and hastened his pacing.

    "Shit, keep moving!" Warlord said and followed after Dave.

    The undead began moving toward the fleeing humans. While Dave was moving ahead, he had a grin on his face. He was thanking Da for making it difficult for the yers to stay within the city and interact with anything or anyone.

    The fewer advantages he gave them the better for him.

    Soon after, the party was at the front gate, Dave asked the knights to open the gate, while making a visible effort in making the whole situation look urgent.

    Once the gate was open, Dave turned to the yers and said, "Now, enjoy your grinding," Dave said.

    The party looked at Dave questioningly but they didn¡¯t talk back, they grouped up and headed east.

    After half an hour walk, the party stopped and turned, Dave was following behind them like a shadow.

    "What the fuck man?!" Warlord shouted.

    Dave had both hands behind his head, and was smiling, "What?"

    "Stop following us!" Warlord said.

    "I¡¯m not following you, I¡¯m just taking a stroll," Dave said innocently.

    Warlord frowned, but Valentine calmed him down with a pat on the shoulder, "We¡¯re a bit uneasy with you behind us, can you please leave?"

    "Sorry bruh, but I¡¯m just taking casual strolls. And you don¡¯t have to worry about me backstabbing you guys, I¡¯m not the sort to do that, you know. I even think that people who go around the back of others are the lowest of the low, you know."

    Warlord frowned. Was there a possibility that Dave had known about their assault to the east? It shouldn¡¯t be. The information was tightly locked down, there could be no leak.

    "Boss, you want me to take him down?" the assassin boldly dered.

    But before Warlord could even reprimand the assassin, Dave took the opportunity to summon Tiny.

    "Bring out the knights," Dave said. and immediately, the Slime transformed into its massive hulking size and began summoning sarcophagi in mid-air. A hundred Death Knight emerged from the boxes and dropped to the ground.

    They stood facing the five yers.

    "What is the meaning of this?" Warlord said.

    "Easy big shot, I¡¯m just feeling a bit of fear for my life you know, it¡¯s hard to level up nowadays, and your assassin just said he wanted to kill me. These are my bodyguards," Dave said grinning.

    The obvious threat from Dave¡¯s show of power was enough to shut the assassin up and make him regret ever antagonizing Dave.

    Now the pressure Dave had on the party increased a hundred times over.

    "We don¡¯t want any trouble man, just leave us be."

    "Don¡¯t worry, don¡¯t worry," Dave said calmly, "I won¡¯t do anything to ruin your fun. Go ahead, enjoy yourselves, as I said, I¡¯m just taking a casual stroll, now with a hundred Death Knights."

    The hideous smile never faded from Dave¡¯s face, giving the yers more unease.

    "let¡¯s just ignore him, if he pulls anything we can show the world how Kis¡¯Shtiengbrah acts." Satan yer spoke.

    Dave shrugged at the man.

    The party moved forward toward the east, they looked over their shoulders every now and then, to see the pesky, unrelenting, smiling and shameless draugr following closely behind.

    As it appeared to them, the draugr was not going to give them peace while they did their EXP grind.

 Chapter 412 Fishing in Murky Waters

    "Is he going to follow us forever?" the Assassin asked as he took another look behind him.

    Dave and his one hundred Death Knights were following closely behind the party. The bearded draugr shamelessly waved back after noticing the nce. Their mere presence following them everywhere gave the Devastators needless pressure. They were already suffering from the unexplored Underworld¡¯s cruelty.

    The Priest answered in annoyance: "I don¡¯t know man, he didn¡¯t do anything except watch, when we got attacked by that Manticore, so who knows. I think he¡¯s just trying to tick us off."

    "Yeah, that¡¯s a dick move... Anyway boss, what are we going to do next?"

    "We¡¯ll follow the original n and go to the Fourth Raid Zone," Warlord dered.

    "Isn¡¯t it too soon?" Satan yer questioned, "We can grind here, the Manticores give out pretty good EXP after all."

    "True, but they didn¡¯t leave any decent drops. The monsters in the Underworld will only give their best drops if they are killed for the first time, after that it¡¯s just pure damn luck. And Skelly here must have grinded this area dry. If we want any worthwhile loot without hoping for Albert to show us some mercy, we need to go somece Skelly hasn¡¯t been to yet."

    "What Valentine said is true, we¡¯ll have to risk it then," Satan yer sighed. He looked back at the rxed Draugr and groaned.

    "It¡¯s best we get to the Raid Zone and see what we can do there. Warlord did you check if we can summon more yers to the Underworld. You should still have one of Jeffery¡¯s Mass Summon Prisms on you right?"

    "Yeah, still do, I¡¯ll need to use it once we are out of sight. We want Skelly to think that our numbers are too small to take over the zone. Once he is out of sight we should be able to summon the party here."

    "Didn¡¯t we agree to attack the East tomorrow?" the Assassin wondered.

    "That¡¯s still happening. We will take both at the same time, we gotta risk it, this is the y that will catapult us to the top. Way out of reach from the other two Super Guilds and as a nice little bonus it¡¯ll ruin Skelly forever," Warlord exined with an evil smile on his face.

    "Bold move," Valentine stated. But his tone betrayed his words, he was worried. Warlord caught on to it but didn¡¯t reply.

    More Desert Scorpions and a Manticores appeared on their journey. They fought them hard and managed to beat them back. Grinding EXP in the process. Dave, however, didn¡¯t join any of the fights. He didn¡¯t even engage them with some small attack, so that he could leech some EXP, keeping his intentions mysterious and unfathomable to the rest of the yers.

    Soon after, the dark desert began receding, with more greenery appearing. The Fourth Raid Zone was clear and apparent in the distance.

    The party picked up the pace, while Dave slowly followed behind. They had yet to experience the difficulty of raiding the Fourth Zone. And the limitation on the number of people that could enter at once.

    The Fourth Raid Zone was a wide terrain filled with long rocky pirs. There were bushes and shrubs everywhere and greenery too rare to see in the Underworld.

    Dave was somewhat familiar with the area, but the Drow Kingdom had yet to be conquered. Mainly due to the Sage that Dave had met thest time he was there, the powerful Demi-God that was able to fight the most powerful Abyssal Knight of the Undead Legion toe to toe.

    Yet, these yers had no knowledge of such a fact, as he never shared it. They would probably expect monsters and areas to raid and im, only to meet utter destruction if they were unlucky enough to meet the sage.

    Dave followed behind the yers and waited until they decided to enter.

    ***

    Warlord stood a few feet away from the first pir, his eyes looking ahead. The moment he stepped forward a notification appeared in front of him.

    ***

    You have set foot in the Fourth Raid Zone.

    The Drow Kingdom.

    *

    Debuff applied [Trespasser]

    Effects:

    Using Teleportation Scrolls is forbidden.

    The party entering the Drow Kingdom cannot surpass five members.

    As yers, Death in the Underworld is punishable by expulsion from the area. Dead yers will be sent back to Limbo and once they revive, they will appear at thest Teleportation Gate they essed.

    Every party will be teleported to a different location. Beware, once you are inside the Drow Kingdom, you will have to keep a low profile else you risk exposing your presence.

    The inhabitants of the Drow Kingdom are extremely hostile and territorial. If you are spotted trespassing, you will face the wrath of the cursed Elves. Move with caution.

    To conquer the Fourth Raid Zone {Drow Kingdom}, one must satisfy the following condition.

    Obtaining the three Nodes of Dacaous from the three guardians of the area.

    Node of Durability: Has already been imed. You must find the person in possession to proceed in conquering the area.

    Node of Life: Obtainable by defeating the [Mother Flower]

    Node of Power: Has already been imed. You must find the person in possession to proceed in conquering the area.

    ***

    "What does this even mean?" The Assassin wondered aloud.

    "We¡¯ll have to split our party, do a five-man party each. I think it¡¯s a nerfing condition for this area. So we don¡¯t abuse the party advantages."

    "Shouldn¡¯t be that much of a problem, we could split the party and still go with each other." The Priest suggested.

    "Yes, but the general buffs are weaker. We¡¯ll also have to be careful not to attack each other by mistake. This is problematic." Satan yer argued.

    "This might actually turn out to be a good thing. Think about it, if this is applied to us, don¡¯t you think the same will happen to Skelly? If he goes inside, he¡¯ll only be able to invite four Death Knights instead of his one hundred, we can then take him down if he still insists on annoying us," the Assassin concluded.

    "This condition might only be a problem for yers. But if it does hinder Skelly, then things might change," Warlord said grimly.

    As the Devastators had presumed Dave found himself in a predicament. Unlike the yers who could group in small parties, he could only take five Death Knights at most as apany. This, of course, would make him easy prey for the yers. But, unlike the rest of the party members, he still had many tricks up his sleeves.

    Dave entered the area after the yers, keeping most of his Death Knights outside while taking four of the best among them in.

    Singund, Spark, the Tengu, and Dog. The Four Death Knights had proven themselves in most of Dave¡¯s raids and quests, and they were undoubtedly the best among the best. He could have also summoned Bud, but the Shadow Ghoul Death Knight had a much more important job to take care of at the moment.

    Still even with one Ghoul down, with his current entourage, he had nothing to fear.

    Dave summoned his Basilisk Grumpy, as did Dog. Singund rode on his war-boar. Spark had may not have had a unique mount, but a Dunlord was perfect for the Mage, while the Tengu took to the skies with his wings.

    Once Dave entered and moved away from the notification regarding the disadvantages of the area. He noticed that he had appeared in a locationpletely different from thest time he was here.

    He read through the notification again and realized that the Drow Kingdom seemed to have a setting which would teleport parties of five to different areas, making grouping together harder for raiding parties.

    This was a good thing, as Dave now was certain that even if he encountered the Devastators, he would not be ganged up upon. If they decide to try something funny, a five against five was a far better situation to handle than fighting the entire raiding party.

    "Singund, can you sniff out any of our friends?" Dave asked.

    "I can¡¯t find their scent, but there is a strong smelling from the north, awfully sweet, like blossoming flowers, yuck," the orc spoke disgustedly.

    "Oh, that might be thest bosses locations." Dave figured the Flower of Life could be nearby. Dave still remembered the first boss they fought had been extremely durable and hard to kill. If not for the intervention of Dortha, Dave would have had to give up the fight as he didn¡¯t have the firepower necessary to take down that creature. Still it was quite the juicy target. After all it was thest boss left, before he could gain thest Node and conquer the Raid Zone. Perhaps he could somehow use Warlord and the rest to at least weaken it for him...

    "Let¡¯s move north then, stay wary. There are Drows everywhere. Once we are discovered they¡¯lle at us in waves." Dave cautioned the Death Knights and moved ahead.

 Chapter 413 Unwanted Company

    Dave and his undeadpanions moved through the tall brushes of the Drow Kingdom. Their movements were subtle as they tried to move in as much discretion as they could.

    The Drows were hostile and extremely territorial. As Dave had understood they were tribes that banded together and served the Ash King, unwilling to let anyone trespass their stronghold.

    The giant forest of pir formations and thick trees was easy to use in hiding and moving stealthily, but as Dave could do so, so could the Drows, they could have already spotted the conspicuous undead, while thetter had not seen any of them.

    But, this would have only been possible if Singund was not with the party, the massive High-Orc had a keen sense of smell that he could sniff out any of these dark elves no matter how far, or how powerfully they used their hiding and sneaking arts. Nothing could escape the nostrils of the undead orc.

    The undead in question suddenly halted and his nose twitched several times then it stopped. Suddenly, the orc turned and threw his mberge as powerfully as his bulging orcish muscles could throw. The weapon spun like a top as it moved at blinding speeds toward a bush in the vicinity.

    A momentter, a loud thud echoed through the vicinity of the party, and secondster a high pitched scream followed.

    "We havepany," snorted Singund.

    "Boyz ready up!" Dave called the undead to formation. Spark took the rear and began conjuring infernal fireballs of all sizes and colors.

    The Tengu flew low, his eyes gazing through the shadows of the forest while his hand was restingfortably on the hilt of his Katana.

    Dog patted his basilisk, and crackled his Bone Whip, turning it into its whip form. While Singund roared out, "To BATTLE!" his bellow caused the tree leaves to shudder, and whomever hid within their shade to shake in fear.

    The High-Orc charged first into the trees, his objective was to retrieve his Death Knight mberge.

    "Spark, smoke them out;" Dave gave the order.

    The red robed undead waved his hand, causing the colorful fireballs to shoot forward and st through trees and rocks. Red Orbs of fire set the trees ame, while green orbs of fire melted rocks and stone. Purple fireballs caused the trees to burn and visibly wither as they bu, releasing a purple poisonous smoke. Each colored fireball had a different secondary effect besides its burning effect.

    "You became stronger Spark," Daveplimented his undead.

    "It is all thanks to Lord Tengu¡¯s Soul Enlightenment sessions." Spark replied.

    "That sounds neat, Tengu, mind showing me how you did that?" Dave asked pointing at his undead.

    The tengu looked down from mid air, and slowly spoke, "I can show youter, Lord Lich, for now, we battle. Our foe is numerous and theye at us in haste and in power, lest we want to be overrun, we should focus on the uing conflict."

    "Right, right, Singund, you got your sword yet?"

    A roar echoed from within the shadowy forest as Singund emerged, his armor half covered in blood. Red blood.

    "Aye! And with a prize to top it!" Singund barbarically raised his mberge. The head of a shocked and terrified Drow was impaled on the tip of the sword. Gore and blood dripped and fell from the torn neck.

    "Damn, that was too graphic," Dave shook his head.

    "More enemies are advancing to your location, Lord Lich, allow my contribution in joining you in this battle."

    The tengu spoke then began moving his hands, creatingplex symbols and ninja seals. This was the skill Dave had learned, [Dragon Ball], and now the Tengu¡¯s own spell was much more powerful than the one Dave had obtained it. Now, dozens of Fireballs emerged in mid air as did a storm of fire that gathered in an enormous swirl under the tengu¡¯s hovering body.

    "Burn to ash, dwellers of the dark kingdom," The Tengu uttered and the spell unleashed itself upon the iing numbers of Drows.

    The fireballs sought the Drows like guided missiles. Their screams rose high then quieted to whimpers as their burning bodies copsed one after the other on the forest floor.

    "Your Lordship, more of these dark ones areing, we should change our location," The tengu¡¯s words did not interrupt his guiding of the fireballs and his control over the firestorm that burnt trees, rocks and flesh to ash.

    "We¡¯re wining the battle, let¡¯s keep the charge," Dave said as he slew one more drow.

    "The iing numbers are more than we can take, I note at least a thousand. Our location has been discovered by the whole Kingdom as it seems."

    Dave stopped and thought things through, he already has two Nodes of Dacaous, and if he stalled or waited until the Devastators manage to obtain the Node of Life, he will have nothing but trouble in trying to obtain it from them.

    "Right, the Tengu¡¯s right, let¡¯s move from here. Singund where did you say you caught the smell of flowers?"

    "From this side," the orc pointed his bloodied mberge to a location.

    "That¡¯s where all the Dark ones areing from," The tengu replied.

    Dave thought for a moment then said, "We¡¯ll have to break through them then, everyone stay behind me." Dave called.

    His basilisk led the front as the rest of the mounted undead followed behind Dave.

    "Forward!" Dave called and the five undead moved dauntlessly ahead. The trees broke as the Grumpy charged straight through them, the giant onyx basilisk never cared for obstacles, as whatever it was, as long as it was smaller than a boulder the size of the Basilisk itself, would crumble when Grumpy charged through it.

    The rest of Dave¡¯s party followed close behind, their pace increasing to match that of the leading reptile.

    "Dark ones ahead!" The tengu called and shot two fireballs at the front of the iing Drows.

    Three dark elves wearing leather armor emerged from hiding, their spears pointed to stab the basilisk.

    The two fireballs that the tengu shot, crashed into two of the Drows, sting them into burning flesh. While thest one, Dave had to take care of it on his own.

    Dave didn¡¯t bother using any fancy skill, or even dodge. He drew the Cursed Sword of Durandal, and threw it forward with as much power as his undead muscles could garner.

    The sword shot forward like a bolt, the speed, power and velocity, too great for the Drow to dodge in time.

    The sword tore through the Dark elf with sickening ease. Its mass and the power behind it was too great, that it didn¡¯t even move the Drow, but sted from one side of its body and emerged from the other side.

    It seems that the warrior had yet to register that his torso had a hole the size of a basketball, and in his stunned stupor, Grumpy crushed him under his six legs, ending his already dying self instantly.

    "More areing," the Tengu reminded.

    "Let me at them!" Dave said. His hands blurred into ninja seals. Creating forty eight ethereal but infernal dragon skulls that hovered in front and above him.

    He pointed his hand forward and spoke, "Bore through them!"

    Dave¡¯smand was instantly answered, the fire skulls smashed into rocks, even in their ethereal form, they somehow gained mass as they sted rocks that were in their ways to pebbles.

    They bit through the Drows, and burning them, and crushing their bones with their mighty powerful fangs. The hundreds of Drows reared back from the fire, but they still assaulted the party from afar with arrows or javelins.

    Dave¡¯s dragon skulls were enough to tear a clear path through the Drows, but they couldn¡¯t keep all the arrows from reaching them.

    However, that is why one has a party. Dog, the Duhan crackled his whip and began whirling it. The vertebrae made whip, miraculously elongated itself in Dog¡¯s hand. It gained a greater length, and it began smashing and breaking through the iing projectiles, protecting the rest of the party from one of its nks.

    Spark didn¡¯t want to be outdone. He waved his hands creating fire whips that hoverd around him. He was mimicking Dog¡¯s mastery,shing away arrows and javelins. Though the fire whips were less longer than Dog¡¯s Bone-Whipe, theypensated by their number. The were able to cover a wider space, holding off the projectiles from the other side.

    "Great job guys! Keep going!" Dave called once again, his skill finding free reign now that it no longer needed to worry about the party being attacked.

    And to add more fuel to the fire, Dave enabled his Aura, [Infernal Tyrant¡¯s Oppression] red out like a flock of me. Then bu high and mighty, creating a hot air balloon sized human skull that looked down upon all creation.

    The fear effect, now Horror Effect associated with the skill triggered. Causing the elves to run away in crazed fright. These undead were like the riders of the apocalypse, bringing Death, Carnage and war upon them. Those who stood in their way were ughtered, and those who ran would live on to remember this fearsome day for ages toe.

    The group of five tore through the Drows and managed to make distance. As most of them had decided to give up the chase.

    "Your lordship, they have reassembled and are now heading to the north." The tengu called as he was hovering in mid air. He was in charge of recon. And gave Dave crucial data to maneuver into the forest heading toward the Boss¡¯s Location.

    "Why North?" Dave asked.

    "I do not know, but I believe that they must have found the other group." The Tengu added as he flew low and came toward the party.

    "Good then, if they kill them, it won¡¯t be on me. Now where is this damnned boss?" Dave spoke.

    And just as he finished his words, a loud crash echoed through the forest. The sound of it, was strong enough to shake the ground under the mounts

    "The hell was that?" Dave questioned. And he was once again immediately answered. Thorny vines emerged from not so far away from the party, and whipped at a stone pir, causing the entire thing to crash and crumble, sending another miniature earthquake running under the party.

    "There¡¯s a fight, the nauseating smell of flowers ising from there, so does the smell of those soft skins." Singund gave his piece.

    "Oh, then that means it¡¯s time to make an appearance, I bet Warlord will be thrilled to see me there when he is in a decisive fight against a raid boss," Dave spoke, his ssic Draugr smirk painted proudly over his jaws.

 Chapter 414 Enemies Within

    Dave¡¯s party rode through the foliage and appeared at the farthest part of the urring fight. The secondary party of the Devastator team was inbat against the massive boss of the area.

    The boss, Dave could only describe as an overgrown Monster Flower. The kind that lives in Indonesia, which is named often as the Corpse Flower.

    Only this one, was purple in color and had literal limbs. The massive Corpse Flower moved like an Int, a giant of a tree monster, with wide yellow glowing eyes, and limbs made of thorny roots.

    The yers could barely reach up to the monster¡¯s knees. And thetter was swatting them around like small children.

    Two pdins led the front, hardly able to maintain their position. The massive Flower head monster was relentless in his assaults. It mmed down with both hands at the pdins. Forcing them to hold their shields up to block the damage, yet the moment they had blocked the chopping assault, more roots grew from under them, pulling their legs aside. The roots then swung the pdins like rags and mmed them into nearby trees or pirs.

    A pyromancer was trying his best to keep the monster in ce. He kept raining down fire upon the creature, only to find out, that his mes had no effect on the boss. The fire would sear and burn its flesh, but more greenery would immediately sprout, repairing the damage and snuffing out the mes.

    Dave kept his eyes peeled for the rest of the Devastator party. Warlord, Satan yer, and Valentine are the best of the guild¡¯s yers, and their aid in this fight could gain the Devastators the Node of Life. Something Dave didn¡¯t wish to hand over to a party that he had no intention in keeping within the Underworld.

    The main Devastator party had yet to show up. So he decided to wait out, but Singund had something else in mind.

    "Lord, wouldn¡¯t staying here be a waste of time, I say we barge in on their fun, y the monster and the soft skin. It would quench the fire in my blood!" Singund¡¯s voice threatened to reveal their position.

    "No, Singund, I have told you before, there are times to fight and there are times to watch. Keep focused, we will have our chance soon."

    "As the Lordmands!" Singund smashed his fist into his chest as a salute. Dave doubted that the strength behind the smash was necessary, or if it was painful to Singund, but if it was the High-Orc¡¯s enthusiasm didn¡¯t show it.

    The tengu dove down like a bird andnded next to Dave, he was in mid bow as he spoke, "Lord, the rest of the humans are approaching this area fast. They have encountered the Drow warriors, but the human leader broke their ranks with utter ease."

    "Yeah, Warlord has the God of War legacy, he grows stronger the more numerous his enemies are. Don¡¯t worry about them. We¡¯ll handle them in due time. Now sit back and enjoy the show," Dave said.

    Their position was keenly hidden behindrge bushes and the pir formation shaded them from sight. Dave¡¯s party could see the yers while the others had no idea that they were being watched.

    Dave inspected the boss.

    Guk-Drasiel

    Level 550

    Tier: Mythic

    Base damage: 150,000-200,000

    Danger Level: ?

    HP: 412,555,000/ 500,000,000

    PD: 100,000

    MD: 200,000

    Skills:

    [Life Sapling] (Passive): Guk-Drasiel is endowed with the vitality of the tree of life. Giving him a continuous regeneration of HP equal to 2% of his maximum HP every second.

    [Thorn Shower]: Guk-Drasiel shoots out a volley of thorns in a circle of 20 Meters. Each thorn deals 10% of his base damage in t value ignoring armor.

    [Death Scent] Guk-Drasiel releases poisonous spores, once inhaled one will have a 20% reduction in their damaging abilities and will receive 20% additional damage from all sources.

    [Ruinous Invader] Upon the start ofbat, Guk-Drasiel will have a parasite invading one of the yer¡¯s bodies. Guk-Drasiel will trigger the parasite¡¯s awakening once his HP reaches below 50%. The parasite will take control of the host and turn it into an ally of Guk-Drasiel.

    Killing the controlled yer will cause the parasite to double in number and infect more yers.

    Lore: Guk-Drasiel was a fungus that grew under the roots of Yggdrasil, due to the tree of life possessing infinite vitality, the fungus that was supposed to die only weeks after its birth managed to survive for ages. And now, it had mutated and grew to what it is right now.

    The fungus had decided to the part itself from the tree of life in an attempt to be a tree of life itself. But it has been captured by the Drow Lord and made into a guardian of his kingdom.

    Guk-Drasiel is the reason for the greenery and life that is a rare sight in the underworld.

    ***

    Dave read through the boss¡¯s notification and frowned. He was not a fan of one of the boss¡¯s skills. Turning an ally into an enemy was dangerous, especially if by some awful luck, the parasite manages to invade Dave himself.

    Dave thought for a few moments then came to a decision. If he were to fight the boss, he needed to have all of his allies clean of the parasite. But that is impossible unless the Devastators willingly took in the parasite.

    The tree monster swatted away the two pdins the moment they stood up, never giving them the chance to take their baring. The pyromancer was failing miserably in keeping the creature upied, as most of his damage was immediately healed back. Then came Hunter¡¯s turn, he shot arrows so fast he made Lone Arow¡¯s rapid shots look like they were shot in slow motion.

    Yet, even all of that damagebined failed to cause the Guk-Drasiel to even flinch. The priest of the party healed and buffed as much as he could, so much his threat level rose enough to cause the Guk-Drasiel to take note of him. A noob mistake that no yer of such level should ever make.

    The Guk-Drasiel ignored the pdins and charged at the priest, but thanks to a well-timed [Anchor Hall], the creature stopped his attack mid-way and turned to rain havoc upon the pdin that used the Threat Increasing Skill.

    The pdin had his block on cooldown so he took the hit head-on. Downing him to less than half of his HP and stunning him for a few seconds.

    The party were desperately trying to split the monster¡¯s aggressiveness, but unlike a party of ten or more, the five of them were ill-equipped and ill numbered to manage such feat with sess.

    "GOD¡¯S FIST!" roared the well-known voice of Warlord.

    Immediately after, a golden gauntlet manifested itself from above the monster. The sheer size of the gauntlet dwarfed even the massive tree monster.

    The creature looked at the gauntlet with fear in its golden eyes, but it still held its hands up, contending against the literal fist of a war god. Holding the gauntlet away from crushing it.

    The strength behind the fist was enough to break and splinter the monster¡¯s body and crater the ground under it.

    Yet the monster was not to be trifled with. Even of Warlord¡¯s Skill was the fist of God. It was only a manifestation and not the real thing.

    The creature screech increased in loudness and pitch. More roots burst out from under the ground and coiled themselves against the fist. Halting its advance.

    Warlord and co emerged from the other side of the foliage and walked into the clearing.

    The monster was forcing the fist away from above his body by sheer will and the power of the growing roots. The fist waspletely covered with roots and its golden light had dissipated under the roots.

    "You¡¯re not bad," Warlord muttered, "But you¡¯re nothing but a harmful weed, die!" Warlord raised his leg and mmed down on the ground under him. The God¡¯s Fist dissipated, causing the coiling roots to falter and m into each other. Then a golden armored boot, twice asrge as the gauntlet appeared above the creature.

    The Guk-Drasiel helplessly watched as the foot came down, crushing it into the ground.

    An enormous numerical value appeared over the monster, downing him to half of his HP in one hit.

    "Fuck," Dave uttered, "He never used that before," he said.

    It was not unusual for high rankers to hid their skills. If their enemies knew all of their powers, they could make countermeasures, and Warlord apparently had an ace up his sleeve. And this was probably it.

    The tree monster groaned and screeched in pain. The boot disappeared and the monster looked nothing like it had before. The creature was crushed to mush, but it still moved and was far from death.

    Suddenly, the pyromancer of the party shouted, "Shit! DUCK!" just as he finished his words, he turned his staff and shot a torrent of fire at Warlord.

    "It¡¯s about to start," Dave said grinning.

 Chapter 415 Waiting for the Perfect Opportunity

    "Pull yourself together!" Warlord roared at the pyromancer.

    "Sorry guild master, I can¡¯t control myself!" the pyromancer cried out. He was shooting out all of his skills at his own allies. Creating chaos within their ranks.

    "Calm down, it¡¯s the boss¡¯s skill," Valentine said. "I¡¯ll take care of this!" he added.

    Suddenly, Valentine¡¯s own body began bubbling and metamorphosing. His legacy skill was the Metamorphosing man. Gaining him enormous vitality and adaptability at the cost of damage. But as a guardian, his sole purpose was to safeguard his allies and make his enemies focus fire on him.

    Valentine applied his legacy skill onto his shield, making it into an enormous shield that blocked the fireballs and torrents shot toward the party members.

    While Valentine and the rest of the yers were distracted by the sudden ¡¯betrayal,¡¯ the Guk-Drasiel had already reformed his body, and it was regenerating his HP at a fast pace.

    "Warlord, take care of the boss," Valentine spoke up.

    "yer, with me," Warlord spoke up, he turned and ran to the boss¡¯s nk, dodging his swings with professional ease. Satan yer pulled out his spear and shot it forward, propelling himself and the spear like aet.

    The powerful attack created red surging heat waves that made space itself fluctuate.

    The giant tree man couldn¡¯t dodge due to his massive size and received the spear that prated right through his knee cap. The tree man groaned, roaring in pain as it fell to the ground.

    Yet, it didn¡¯t justy down, waiting to be killed, it smashed its fist into the ground, both supporting himself back up until his leg would regenerate, and at the same time, creating massive roots riddled in sharp thorns that burst out from underground, trapping Satan yer into a deadly embrace.

    Warlord had just stood in position, behind the Guk-Drasiel. He held his ax with both hands and swung down. A gigantic armored man appeared behind him. The size and immensity of such a creature were too great for the eye to take in its entirety.

    The avatar held a battle-ax quite simr to Warlord, only this one had more runic carvings and had a godly golden aura surrounding it.

    The ax fell down, crushing the tree monster and shaving of an enormous portion of its HP.

    "What the fuck?" Dave groaned; this is a way too broken man." Daveined to his undead.

    He believed that his legacy was already powerful, but seeing the firepower of Warlord¡¯s own legacy changed his mind entirely.

    But it was only natural, Dave¡¯s legacy was focused upon controlling massive numbers of undead and reviving them to his cause, it was a leader¡¯s legacy to control minions to achieve victory. But Warlord¡¯s own legacy was specific for war. His firepower was enough topare to an army, and the continuous devastating blows it could release had given Warlord his title of the strongest in the game.

    That is of course before Mr. Skeletal rose to fame. Now feeling threatened, Warlord didn¡¯t hold his punches. And decided against holding his cards. He was willing to risk it all to go back to being number one.

    "Should we interfere, my lord. The tree creature is suffering much. If it falls to their hands, we will have a hard time obtaining the final Node." The tengu spoke up.

    "Not right now," Dave¡¯s eyes were focused now on the pyromancer, the party was mostly defending from his attacks and focused their fire on the tree monster. Due to this, the parasite didn¡¯t have a chance to spread.

    "We need to kill the pyromancer," Dave said.

    "I can do that," Singund mmed his fist into his palm.

    "No, it¡¯s still early. If we¡¯re spotted our n will go awry." Dave said.

    As he was looking, the pyromancer shouted, "Shit, GO AWAY!"

    Warlord¡¯s eyes widened, "STOP!"

    Dave was distraught, he didn¡¯t¡¯ understand what was going on. The pyromancer¡¯s own body began burning.

    "He¡¯s self-destructing!" Valentine shouted and ran away, "EVERYONE BACK OFF!"

    Dave finally realized what was going on. One of the Fire Masters ss skills is Self-Destruction. Causing massive damage to all enemies in a wide area at the cost of the user¡¯s own life. A tactic used in wars to eliminate as many enemies as one could.

    The skill had only one positive side-effect. That once used, and the caster manages to kill one of his enemies. They will not lose their level or be sent to Limbo. But if the caster fails to kill his foe. It¡¯s instant death and everything will proceed like a normal yer death.

    The party moved as far away from the self-destructing pyromancer. The slowest of the party were the two priests that were in the backline along with the pyromancer.

    "Shit, Lord of the Divine Light, grant us your blessing!" one of the priests shouted. Creating a sphere that covered him and the other priest from the explosion.

    The fire blew up, creating massive heatwaves that shot through the pir formations and scorching the greenery that was surrounding the area.

    The heatwave thankfully stopped a few feet away from Dave¡¯s location. So he was still invisible to the party.

    As for the rest of the party, they were unharmed. All thanks to Valentine. As he had erged his arms to match those of the godly being that Warlord had summoned. He then used the arms to safeguard the rest of the party from the explosive damage.

    "Is everyone alright?" Valentine asked.

    "Yeah, we¡¯re good," came the group¡¯s response.

    "Fuck," one of the priests muttered.

    Turning, Warlord noticed two enormous leeches digging into both of the priest¡¯s necks.

    Due to the death of the pyromancer, the parasite had doubled in number and had jumped into the body of the two closest persons. And now, the party was left without any healing.

    What made matters worse. One of the priests began waving his staff. Creating divine golden light and aimed it at the boss.

    The Guk-Drasiel¡¯s almost cadaverous statue began changing. The light increased the rate of his regeneration, and it began reconstructing itself at a much faster pace.

    "Fuck, he got both the priests." The assassin showed up from nowhere cursing. His dagger was at the ready.

    "Guildmaster, should I take them out?" He asked.

    "That will only cause the parasites to spread further.

    "We can¡¯t win with the boss having two healers!" Satan yer said.

    "Nor can we win if we end up facing four of our allies," Valentine said. "Let¡¯s burst it down."

    "I¡¯m all out of powerful Skills, this fight will be taking a long time," Warlord added.

    Satan yer dodged one of the boss¡¯s attacks and shouted. "Stop arguing, and do something I can¡¯t hold him down anymore!"

    The boss shouted and shook his head. The corpse flower atop it began releasing glowing purplish spheres. The small spheres spread wide and began covering arge swath of the area.

    "Don¡¯t inhale these," Valentine spoke up and moved away from the spores.

    The party moved away, regrouping and thinking up of a new n. While the priests continuously healed the boss.

    "There is nothing we can do right now, I say we wait until they¡¯re out of mana then we re-engage." Satan yer said.

    "Right, I¡¯ll take over the front. Without healing, I¡¯ll be having a lot of trouble handling this thing. So you guys will have to swap with me regrly," Valentine said.

    "Right, go. We¡¯ll back you up," Warlord gave the order.

    Valentine nodded and turned to the boss, he began increasing the size of his body to match that of the boss.

    "Great, this is going better than expected," Dave grinned.

    "But Lord, those holy men are dangerous to us," the tengu said.

    The holy element was the strongest counter to the undeath nature.

    "Yes, I know but this is good. The more they struggle, the better it is for us. They¡¯ll exhaust their Skills, their stamina and their power to take down the boss." Dave said.

    The high Orc snorted, "Those soft skins are too weak, they¡¯ll never win like this."

    "No Singund, these are the best of the best. There is no way they won¡¯t win. I trust their capabilities." Dave said.

    "I wonder why you areplementing your enemies," the Tengu asked.

    "One must respect his foe, and I know how strong these guys are. They can win, but they won¡¯t win. I won¡¯t let them," Dave¡¯s grin widenedrge enough for all of his teeth to show up.

    His hand was casually stroking his beard...

 Chapter 416 Annoying Skeletal

    "Val, SWITCH!" Warlord roared as he ran forward.

    The guardian grunted and pulled away from the boss, half an hour into the fight, the priests had already fully exhausted their mana. They were nothing more than two puppets now. The boss was ground to one-third of his total HP, while the rest of the Devastator party was in a sorry condition.

    The assassins and hunters had already died, leaving only the Valentine, a half dying Satan yer and Warlord who was the only one who could tank a few of the boss¡¯s hits.

    The fight was not as bad as it looked for the Devastators. Due to the long period of the fight, they had understood the boss¡¯s patterns. They knew how he would act and how they would react. Mostly, they dodged his skills and kited him whenever they could. And only giving up defense when there was a good opportunity tond a powerful hit.

    Valentin¡¯s Legacy skill proved to be immensely helpful as he tanked the boss better than an army of yers. Guiding his hits and peeling for his allies.

    The Guk-Drasiel released a wave of thorns that spread around it, showering the party in pointed sharp thorns. Satan yer pulled himself away dodging the hits, while the rest managed to tank the damage.

    Dave was thinking about how to join the battle when Singund spoke.

    "Is it just me, or do you smell incense?" His orcish nose was twitching.

    "Incense?" Dave mumbled and turned, right behind them, a smiling bald man was standing tall. A staff, no longer cracked was strapped to his back.

    The monk had one hand in prayer while the other was folded behind him.

    "Amitabha," he spoke. "Children of the dead world, give thein lives and be freed from your coils. For that in pain, salvation could be obtained."

    Dave grinned, "It¡¯s you again."

    "It is indeed I, little thief." The monk spoke, his words sounding calm, but the tone had a hint of anger.

    Dave looked behind him at the battle and smiled, this was going better than expected.

    "You¡¯re still looking for this?" Dave said as he pulled up the Node of Power that was in his inventory for a long time now.

    "Tis but one of mine goals. Hand over the Vulkan¡¯s Creation and your death shall be swifter than the gust of wind." The monk spoke as he moved toward Dave.

    "You know, I¡¯m not the same asst time."

    "Nor am I, your deity had aided you. But I knew you shalle back for thest Node, and I had waited. Now, tis but you and I."

    "Lord, what is this badly talking about?" Singund spoke.

    "Don¡¯t worry about this. if He wants a fight I¡¯m gonna give him one," Dave said smiling.

    "You sound confident," the monk spoke.

    "Guys back away," Dave said.

    His undead spread out leaving a clear path for the monk.

    Dave rubbed his beard a few more times and did a beckoning gesture to the monk, "Come at me."

    The monk frowned, giving Dave a moment to inspect him once again.

    ***

    Name: Cha-Zhen

    Race: Half-Divinity

    Level: 650

    Tier: Mythic

    Base damage: 250,000-350,000

    Danger Level: ????

    HP: 300,000,000

    PD: 350,000

    MD: 350,000

    Skills: ???

    Lore: Cha-Zhen was once a man, known to his people by a steadfast faith in peace and inner calmness. Cha-Zhen gained Divinity by bing one with the world itself. He spent ages preaching the people and guiding humanity to the right path. However, to be what he is today meant that he had seen the worse of mankind, and most likely, he was a part of it also.

    ***

    Cha-Zen¡¯s level was now perceivable to Dave. But his skills were still hidden. Dave needed to level up more to know more about the monk¡¯s secrets. However, what bothered Dave the most was the monk¡¯s low HPpared to other bosses of the area. Even his base damage was not that great. Yet, it was soon revealed to Dave, that what the bosscked in damage, hepensated in speed.

    The monk didn¡¯t disappoint Dave, his speed was as usual immensely great. The ground underneath his leg broke as he burst forward.

    Dave had a fraction of a second to pull his shield up and at the same time jump.

    Cha-Zen¡¯s staff struck wide on the shield. Sending the jumping Dave flying like a meteor into the battle of the devastators against the Guk-Drasiel.

    Dave tumbled several times thanks to the attack from the Monk and rose back to his leg. Right in between the devastator team and the massive hulking boss.

    The creature, unweing to the new guest struck down with his hand.

    Dave held his shield up, this time, he used the shield¡¯s [Absorption] consuming the power of the attack.

    "Skeletal! This is our prey! Get the fuck off!" Warlord roared.

    Dave ignored him and moved away from the boss. The monk had appeared in a downward striking position, a fraction of a second after Dave had moved.

    The ground blew up, creating huge amounts of dust and debris.

    "What the fuck is going on?" Satan yer shouted. They were barely able to withstand the powerful area boss, and now Dave had just brought them a new variable. The monk was a boss much higher level than the Guk-Drasiel.

    "You¡¯re breaking the contract!" Warlord said.

    "Na¡¯m¡¯not," Dave grinned and dodged away, "If I was, Albert would have alreadye here," Dave said and moved aside. The two bosses were intent on taking him down. Dave wasn¡¯t going to let that happen anyway.

    The monk struck once again at Dave, to which Dave pulled his shield up, absorbing the monk staff strike.

    Thinking that they were safe, the Devastators took a breath from the tight battle. Dave was being focused and they were ignored. Yet Dave wasn¡¯t going to give them any peace. He purposefully led the bosses toward the devastators.

    "Hey, why are you bringing them here!" Satan yerined.

    "What do you expect me to do, you wanted to fight the area boss, here, it¡¯s all yours," Dave said grinning as he ran toward the devastators.

    "Come here thief!" the monk shouted.

    Dave ignored the bosses and ran toward the party, who groaned. They couldn¡¯t shamelessly run away from the boss, they needed to kill it to get the Node. But with two bosses at the same time, it would be suicidal to face them off with their numbers.

    "Fuck you skelly!" Warlord cursed and went ahead, he was close to obtaining the Node, if the fight kept going, if they were given just another ten minutes, they could have taken away the boss and probably set a firm foot in the underworld. And now all was crumbling thanks to Skeletal¡¯s intervention.

    In his rage, Warlord held his ax up and swung it at Dave.

    Dave¡¯s smile didn¡¯t fade, it even grew inhumanly wider. This was better than expected.

    "NO!" Valentine¡¯s words came toote for Warlord to recognize. The ax was alreadying down and Dave took it head-on.

    -352,000.

    The attack struck Dave in the chest and sent him rolling back.

    The monk arrived at Dave¡¯s fallen body and struck down. Only to have Dave hold his shield up and use [Reject] ejecting the Guk-Drasiel¡¯s attack to sh against his own attack. The monk was caught off guard and was sted away but without taking any damage.

    The Guk-Drasiel ignored Dave as he was already fighting the monk and headed to the Devastators.

    Yet warlord¡¯s own avatar began fading.

    "What¡¯s going on?" he asked as he was looking at his avatar.

    "You attacked skelly man. You¡¯ll be kicked out of the Underworld," Valentine said in a defeated tone.

    Once the idea downed on Warlord, regret soon overcame him. But before his avatar fully disappeared. He threw a small paper at Valentine.

    "You¡¯ll regret this, Skelly, mark my words!" The words spoken out of Warlord¡¯s mouth wereparable to a third rate movie viin. It only made Dave giggle.

    Warlord¡¯s avatar disappeared immediately afterward.

    "What are we gonna do now?" Satan yer asked. He was already too low on HP and the Guk-Drasiel was already upon them.

    "Fuck, we can¡¯t win without Warlord¡¯s DPS."

    "And I can¡¯t tank anymore without healers," Valentine said.

    "Skelly did us good," Satan yer spoke.

    Valentineughed, "Yeah, technically, he didn¡¯t break any rules. I should have expected that."

    "Yeah, so, let¡¯s see if we can do anything about this," Satan yer said as he dodged one of the boss¡¯s swings.

    "Yeah, but let me try this first," Valentine said and tore the paper that Warlord had left him.

    Dave¡¯s vision was hindered for a moment due to a notification.

    ***

    A forbidden chapter has been used on you

    Lockdown

    You have been lockdown in the Fourth Raid Zone, Drow Kingdom.

    You cannot leave the area for 72 hours game time.

    The use of teleportation scrolls and teleportation gates has been disabled.

    ***

    Dave didn¡¯tment on the notification, he only waved it away and turned to the two devastator members left.

    "How does it feel being locked in here with us," Satan yer said.

    "Me? Locked in here with you? I think you got this wrong." Dave¡¯s grin turned to a full rotten smile.

    "It¡¯s you who is locked here with me! Boyz! Come out!"

 Chapter 417 Battle Royal

    Singund, the Tengu, Dog, and Spark came riding out of the bushes with Grumpy in the lead.

    Once the two yers of the Devastators noticed the new arrivals a new sense of difort gripped them. Being stuck between Skelly and two Bosses had already been a shitty situation, now that his reinforcements had arrived it had gotten even worse.

    Dave activated his Aura Skill. [Infernal Tyrant¡¯s Oppression] raged out, creating a magnified skull that looked down upon all living with disdain. The ck mes from Dave¡¯s aura countered the regenerative abilities of Guk-Drasiel. Even better, they pushed the yers and the monk aside. All while acting as nourishment for Dave¡¯s Undead.

    "Since you were the first to y dirty, don¡¯t me me. Boyz, take them out!" Dave gave themand. Singund and Dog adhered immediately.

    The Devastator yers were old school. They had yed against the odds countless times and right now was no different. Even with low HP, almost no mana and exhaustion from the continuous fight they did not shy away from this new challenge. They still weed Dave¡¯s Undead with drawn weapons. Their weapons shed with those of the Undead in a frightening match of epic swordy.

    "Spark, Tengu, support them," Dave grinned and hopped on Grumpy¡¯s back.

    "You¡¯re with me buddy," Dave patted his mount with his sword aimed at Guk-Drasiel. "Let¡¯s take down that big ass tree."

    Grumpy growled and charged ahead. The tree monster stomped a foot on the ground, creating massive roots that shot out from the earth. They crumbled as they went up, but Grumpy moved and sidestepped them gracefully. Even with his hulking massive size, his agility allowed him to dodge the iing attacks as if he had previsualized where they¡¯de from.

    The monk felt ignored. The passivity and peaceful self he had once disyed was no more. Reced by a frown showcasing his newfound nature on his face. He turned from a peaceful monk into a wrathful ashura.

    "Damnable Undead, be prepared to be smited," the monk charged ahead with his staff twirling around him. He raised it up and mmed it down on Dave¡¯s head. Only to have Dave hold up his shield and absorb the attack yet again. One swift motionter, Dave turned the shield and [Rejected] the Skill. A white energy ray smashed into Guk-Drasiel and sent it tumbling.

    -150,144

    It created a bizarre situation. The holy attack was still considered to have originated from the monk, so although Dave was the one who used it to attack, the aggro was generated on Cha-Zen. So the tree monster turned its attention to the monk.

    Guk-Drasiel shuddered and shot out massive amounts of spikes targeting everything in the vicinity. Dave held his shield forward, negating some of the damage from the spikes and protecting Grumpy with him.

    The Tengu pped his wings powerfully, forcing the spikes away from him and Dog. Spark burnt the spikes in mid-air, while Singund, known for his masochism took the spears head-on. The High Orc grew mightier the lower his HP became and the more damage he took the more fearsome he became in facing the Devastators.

    Valentine and Satan yer used their natural skills in dodging the attacks, moving aside or parrying them whenever possible. Emerging almost unscathed.

    As for the monk, his rage knew no bound. He was swatting away the spikes and moving forward.

    "Damnable things all of you! How dare you stand in my way?! So many Legacies, so many treasures given to those who do not have what it takes to wield them. You have no right to possess the power of gods. I shall take them away from you!"

    The monk moved at ring speed and struck Guk-Drasiel, smashing the tree monster aside. Yet, he didn¡¯t continue, he turned to Dave and stuck at him with his feet. Dave blocked the attack, but the power behind that kick could havee from a real god.

    Dave was sent flying off Grumpy and crashing into the pir formations.

    -650,000

    "Fuck that hurt!" Dave groaned as he stood from among the rubble.

    The monk moved toward Satan yer who had been forced on the defensive for making the grave mistake of wounding Singund too much. The enraged High Orc didn¡¯t notice the monk approaching and was suddenly swatted to the side with his divine staff. He flew through the air and crashed into the ground, tumbling the rest of the way until he was out of sight.

    "Come!" the monk spoke and snapped his massive prayer beads. The chain on his neck twisted around Satan yer like bs and locked him in ce. Cha-Zen pped the Spear-Master on the chest. The very next moment Satan yer¡¯s Legacy avatar appeared. To Dave, the avatar looked in pain. The red-haired spearman was roaring, his bare chest was being twisted and sucked in towards the monk. Satan yer couldn¡¯t even cry out, his face locked into a twisted grimace.

    "yer!" Valentine shouted but his friend remained unable to reply.

    "Yes, this is the divine power I need! Give it up!!!"

    Dave noticed that the monk¡¯s muscles were rippling. He was gathering the red aura that was seeping out of Satan yer.

    "This is not good," Dave mumbled.

    Valentine hurried to his friend¡¯s aid, but the monk used his other hand and smashed him aside.

    "You¡¯ll be next! Wait your turn!" the monk bellowed in a maddening fury.

    Valentine was dumbstruck about what to do. The monk was too fast for him. Worse he was too powerful, and most of his Skills were down.

    "Fuck!" Valentine cursed and stood back up. He wanted to take another shot even if he knew it wouldn¡¯t help. From the looks of it, the monk was in the midst of somehow stealing Satan yer¡¯s Legacy, and that would be a crushing blow to the Devastators. Satan yer was one of the very few people who had an A-ss Legacy and with his winning streak in the sh of Gods he could perhaps soon upgrade it to S-ss.

    Dave watched carefully and weighed his options. If he allowed things to proceed the way they were going, the Devastators would lose a powerful Legacy, weakening them considerably. However, this would mean that the monk got what he wanted and Dave feared that he might be even stronger in the process. That would be a huge problem, especially because he seemed hellbent on taking away all of the Legacies of those present.

    Dave cursed and activated, [Stampede] heading toward the monk.

    Valentine panicked as he noticed Dave charging.

    "Skelly, what are you doing?" Valentine asked confused.

    "Isn¡¯t it obvious? Helping you," Dave answered. "You know how it goes, the enemy of my enemy is my friend. Let¡¯s deal with that a-hole together for now!"

    The monk noticed Dave¡¯s approach and held his staff defensively, stopping Dave¡¯s charge.

    The two were knocked aside for a moment then they shed again. The Guk Drasiel had finally recovered its senses, but Dave¡¯s Undead held it at bay for now.

    "So many damnable flies! Wait your turn, cursed Undead. I¡¯ll take your power as well. And today, there will be no God to intervene!" the monk cackled menacingly.

    "Like hell, you will," Dave replied and swung his sword at the monk. Thetter ducked, dodging the attack, but his hand was forced to let go of Satan yer¡¯s chest. It was barely for a single moment, yet as soon as he did a huge portion of the absorbed divine aura returned to the yer.

    Dave understood that he needed to pull the two apart. Fortunately, it seemed that the monk either chose or was forced to stay close to his ¡¯victim.¡¯

    "Alright you pesky monk, let me teach you how to fly," Dave feigned an attack and jumped on Satan yer¡¯s foot as he shouted: "FUS RUH DAH MOTHERFUCKER!"

    Dave¡¯s mouth opened inhumanly wide and a world-shaking roar red out of his gullet. The powerful soundwave came out so unpredictable and so instantly that the monk was pushed away from Satan yer who was secured by Dave¡¯s foot being sent sprawling in the air.

    The disconnection between the two gave Satan yer a moment to breathe and all the aura returned to him.

    Dave, however, wasn¡¯t done, he twirled his gigantic sword and held it in an overhand grip, then he stabbed down right into Satan yer¡¯s neck. Killing him instantly as he already didn¡¯t have much HP.

    "What the fuck did you do that for?" Valentine shouted, getting ready to pounce on the traitorous Draugr.

    "Helping you, you dumbass! It¡¯s impossible to teleport out of this area. The only way out is if you die. Soe let me help you with that," Dave responded pointing his sword at Valentine.

    Valentine was a smart yer and realized that what Dave said made sense. Looking a bit to his right, the monk was standing back up, and from the enraged look on his face, he wasn¡¯t nning to let another victim leave the area. Valentine still had many things to do in the overworld and without his Legacy, their n to take over the east was bound to fail. So, he unequipped his armor as fast as he could and turned around: "Make it quick!"

    "With pleasure," Dave replied and his sword blurred, taking Valentine¡¯s head with it.

    "CURSES! CURSES UPON CURSES! Damnable Undead, I shall twist the bones out of your flesh and grind them to dust!" the monks¡¯ roar echoed through the Drow Kingdom.

    Two Legacy yers disappeared just like that. The easy prey had escaped his grasp. Now only Dave was left.

    "Cry all you want bruh, those Legacies weren¡¯t easy to get and I¡¯ll be damned if I let you get them and be stronger."

    Dave twirled his sword and ced it above his shield like one of the spartan warriors. Poised forward he challenged the other confidently, "Nowe at me!"

    The monk moved like a torpedo, charging at Dave, but a sudden smash from Guk-Drasiel mmed him to the ground.

    The monk, frustrated at yet another intervention bore through Guk-Drasiel¡¯s hand with his staff and mmed it down upon his head. Then he began smashing the weapon all over the Boss monster, facilitating Dave¡¯s task into killing it.

    The two Priests from the Devastators charged at the monk, but he snapped their necks in a single staff swing.

    Dave panicked because the moment the Priests died, four parasites emerged out of their bodies and flew totch onto, Dave, the Tengu, Singund, and the monk.

    While the parasite was wriggling, trying to lodge itself into Dave¡¯s body. Dog guided his basilisk toward the center of the battle. He hopped off andnded right between everyone in the vicinity, then he raised his foot up.

    Suddenly, the world grew brighter, more golden in color. It was as if heaven itself opened up. A massive armored boot appeared in the sky, causing space to shake and twist.

    Dave recognized the Skill, it was the same that Warlord had used. After the former owner of the God of War Legacy had used the same Skill, his link to divinity was restored and now it had appeared only a bit blurrier.

    The footnded right atop Guk-Drasiel and the monk. Cratering the ground and creating a deafening sound that threatened to burst everyone¡¯s eardrums.

    Waves of dust surged across the battlefield and a notification appeared in front of Dave.

    ***

    Level UP!

    Level UP!

    The Node of Life has been obtained!

    You have sessfully gathered the Nodes of the Drow Kingdom. ce them in the kingdom¡¯s altar to obtain control over the Fourth Raid Zone.

    ***

    With the Boss dead, the parasites that hadtched onto Dave and hispany disappeared.

    And once the dust settled, Dave noticed the monkying on the floor. His robes were cut in several ces and he had wounds all over him. The monk stood up with difficulty, his face bruised and bloodied.

    Words came out gurgling through his mouth, "This is not the end!" he said and mmed his staff down, disappearing from the area.

    "Okay... that was not expected," Dave said to no one in particr.

    He had beaten back the crazy monk, gotten rid of the Devastators and was now on the verge of obtaining a new Raid Zone.

    "One small step for me, one giant step for Undead kind. Now, to get to the Ash King I¡¯ll be needing an upgrade. Abyssal Knight promotion, here Ie!" Daveughed as he fell back to rest on the ground.

 Chapter 418 Another Abyssal Knigh

    "God damn it!" Warlord moved through the Devastator Headquarters with utter rage. His n to explore the Underworld hadpletely failed. Not only did they barely get the chance to grind up some good EXP but Skelly had interrupted them when they were so close to potentially gain a way to enter the Underworld without his help.

    Yet the most outrageous thing was that Warlord had been the one who assaulted the Draugr first meaning he would actually receive remuneration for getting in their way once more.

    The only silver lining in this whole endeavor was that he received confirmation from Valentine that Skelly would be stuck there under the effects of the Forbidden Chapter [Lockdown]. They had 72 in-game hours to aplish their overall goal.

    Unfortunately, he was unable to enjoy this information for too long. Valentine and Satan yer had died a few minutes after he was banished from the Underworld for breaching their contract. Thus, his two most trusted and powerful guild members were currently unavable for the raid they had been preparing for.

    With the two other guilds at each other¡¯s throats and the strongest threat to his campaign in literal imprisonment, it undoubtedly gave him the greatest advantage he could hope for. He would obtain the East and benefit from the trade with Demetri¡¯s European guild. By forging an alliance with this uing super guild he and his corporate members would greatly benefit from in the short and long term. They had worked hard to make it this far and Warlord was not going to let this opportunity slip through his fingers. He would milk it dry.

    Warlord tapped on the side of his helmet, initiating a voice-call with Valentine.

    "Val, what¡¯s the situation?"

    "Stuck in Limbo, but the good news is that I got an easy Quest. I should be done in less than a day."

    "Good, then you¡¯ll be in time for the Mass Teleport. What about yer?"

    "I just contacted him, he¡¯s having it even easier than me. He should be out faster."

    "Great looks like things might be better than I had feared. I¡¯ll get the squad ready, you just make sure toe back as fast as you can. Pass the same to yer. Val, I need your help. This is our chance to get back to the top and maybe even higher!"

    "Roger, over and out," Valentine hung up.

    "Now, for the main event," Warlord mumbled to himself as he strode to the meeting room.

    The moment he opened the door, Demetri stood up. The Guildmaster of European Might was already waiting for him in the conference room.

    "What¡¯s the situation?"

    "Everything is perfectly under control. Skelly is in lockdown. We suffered some minor setbacks, but nothing too serious. We¡¯ll mobilize our troops in three hours."

    "Isn¡¯t that too hasty? We agreed for the raid tomencete at night," Demetri seemed a bit worried. As much as he would like to im his Right of Conquest, theirst outing to the East had proven that too much haste would end badly.

    "We did, and it shall. This will act as a distraction for the other guild parties. Mobilizing such a huge force will not go unnoticed, so we¡¯ll be pulling a bluff," Warlord replied.

    "How so?"

    "Currently, Heaven¡¯s Dawn and Blood Ragers are waging war over some Dwarven Ruins they had found. What do you think will happen if they see the full force of the Devastators mobilizing?"

    "I don¡¯t know, I¡¯m not much of a strategist." Demetri shrugged.

    "It¡¯s simple. I won¡¯t tell any of my members where we¡¯re headed so that no spies can report anything back. Therefore both parties will becking any real information about what is going on. They will panic since both will automatically assume that we¡¯ll be assisting the other."

    "Not bad, you want to make them both sweat," Demetri nodded.

    "Yes, and before they understand that we¡¯re actually just a distraction, they will call back their troops to protect their cities. Meanwhile, we will use our backup channel to teleport our forces to the Qin Kingdom. At that rate, none of them will be able to intervene."

    "Won¡¯t that make your own kingdom vulnerable?"

    "Normally it would, but this where Skeletales in. Every yer should be aware that Skeletal hase to borrow Jeffery from us. As far as they are aware he owes us for this. The rumors should be going wild by now, that he will be helping us raid one of the guilds. Naturally, we have omitted the name of the actual guild to be raided, but the yers will take care of it. Everyone loves to gossip. Now, because neither guild will know where Skelly actually is, and because they know he can pop up everywhere with an army at his behest, they will not dare invade us, as that would leave their own home base easy prey for Skelly."

    "That¡¯s pretty marvelous, I must say!.

    "Yeah, Skelly¡¯s not the only war mastermind around. Now, what about the mercs?"

    "I¡¯ve already posted a note to the Mercenary Guild, they¡¯ve contracted a massive number of yers for our raid. Once you give the order, I¡¯ll send them my own new set of orders to gather up and aid us in the raid."

    "Can we trust them?"

    "They¡¯re under contract. Mercenaries cannot go around the contract until their mission is done. Going against the terms will ban their ounts. And I doubt anyone will risk that."

    "Good, then we¡¯re all set."

    "Yes. Now we only need to--"

    But before Demetri could finish his words, a Server Announcement notification appeared in front of him.

    ***

    Congrattions to yer Kis¡¯Shtiengbrah for sessfully conquering the Fourth Raid Zone of the Underworld.

    The Drow Kingdom is now under the Undead Legion¡¯s control.

    Thanks to the special power the altar of the Drow Kingdom offers, all undead creatures will benefit from an increase of 20% in their vitality, power, and durability.

    As of now, the Undead Legion is in control of 80% of the Underworld regions. The im of the Legionnaires of the Underworld grows tighter. Once the Legion is in full control of the Underworld, the Undead Legion Expansion shall be opened to the public.

    The Ash King has begun a recruiting session for those willing to forsake their faith in exchange for power.

    Serving the Ash King will award the yers with a powerful upgrade to their battle prowess. The choice of forsaking one¡¯s nature is irreversible so yers are advised to consider this carefully.

    Four new Demonic temples have appeared on the surface world. One in each world corner. Explore them and obtain the power of Demons to help them wage war against the Undead.

    ***

    "What in the name of the Almighty?!" Demetri muttered.

    Warlord released a defeated sigh, "It¡¯s Skelly, when has he ever done something NOT over the top. Regardless, this changes nothing. We still need to raid the East."

    "What about the power-ups? This could help us greatly."

    "Do you have any idea where they are? Even if we find them there surely will be some sort of lengthy or difficult quest attached to that. Once we¡¯re done with the East we can focus on this. I just hope that by aiding this Ash King guy, we¡¯ll get the ability to enter the Underworld as well. This could be great for us. Not only will we take control over the Overworld, but we¡¯ll also have a footing in the Underworld too."

    "You sound confident," Demetri replied.

    "Why wouldn¡¯t I? Once we obtain the East, the money from the taxes and the resources that the kingdom offers will help us grow the overall power of our army. Gaining a great advantage against everyone. Then we¡¯ll tackle the Underworld and finish Skelly once and for all. I never liked the Undead, they¡¯re disgusting to look at anyway."

    "I¡¯ll be more than happy to go along with your n, but now let¡¯s focus on this task first," Demetri said as he waved away the notification.

    ***

    "Ah, shit I don¡¯t know if I should be happy or not about this" Dave mumbled.

    "What do you mean?" came the voice of a familiar yet unexpected Undead.

    Dave¡¯s nerves were fried, but he thankfully didn¡¯t show his panic.

    "Dortha, what are you doing here?"

    Turning around, the old peaceful-looking man was standing smiling right behind Dave.

    "I¡¯vee to thisnd by the order of His Majesty. I¡¯ll be defending it from now on."

    "Oh right, then guess I¡¯ll be leaving this to your care," Dave said.

    "Hold on, His Majesty wishes to reward you for taking over one more region. However, it seems you are bound to this ce for many more hours toe."

    "Yeah," Dave sighed, "Some prick used a Forbidden Chapter on me. I bet they don¡¯t want me around to mess up their n... again."

    "Is that so? Fortunately, I havee with someone who might be able to help in your current situation. Allow me to introduce him to you."

    Dave looked and turned around but didn¡¯t notice anyone.

    "Who? Is your friend currently in stealth?"

    Dortha smiled and pointed to the sky: "Look above you."

    Dave looked up and noticed a towering behemoth of a creature. Large was by far a mediocre way to describe him. He looked like an oversized sack of potatoes that could weigh the same as a building. The creature¡¯s skin was dark sickly green, and he had no eyes but a wide gaping mouth.

    "Kis¡¯Shtiengbrah, would you be willing to take a spiritual trip with this one?" asked the creature, his calm gentle voicepletely disproportionate with his hulking size.

    Dave inspected the creature.

    ***

    Abyssal Knight ss

    Level : 650

    Name; Marik The Soul-Gorger

    Race: Unknown

    Level: 650

    Tier: Mythic

    Base damage: ???

    Danger Level: Friendly

    HP: ???

    PD: ???

    MD: ???

    Skills: ???

    [Lore] The soulless soul eater. Marik has delved into magic far greater than what is known to mankind. Growing an insatiable hunger for souls, this one is the only undead that still hungers. Yet, his hunger is for the souls of the living, and for what moves. His ability to bend ghosts and spirit and all that is intangible and also his mastery of soul magic has granted him the title of an Abyssal Knight. He is by far the most mysterious one among hispanions.

    ***

    "You¡¯re an Abyssal Knight?" Dave couldn¡¯t believe his eyes.

    "Indeed I am, Childe. I have heard about your exploits. Despite your young age you have aplished much for the Legion. Do you wish to apany me to His Majesty¡¯s pce?" asked the giant soul gorger.

    "I think I mentioned I was stuck here."

    "It¡¯s but a small problem, for I shall not take your body. I shall guide your soul to his lordship."

    "Huh? Come again, I thought Undead didn¡¯t have souls," Dave sounded surprised.

    "I don¡¯t me you, young one. Undead still have souls. They are however hard to perceive, yet it is what moves and guides you. From what I see the Forbidden Chapter has only bound your outer shell to this ce. Even if it is but momentarily, I can send your soul to His Majesty. So, will youe?"

    Dave looked at Dortha questioningly, but the Beast only smiled and nodded.

    "Okay," Dave agreed.

    "Then, brace yourself," Marik spoke and just now, Dave did notice that Marik¡¯s mouth had actually moved for the first time to open up wide. The Abyssal Knight so far hadn¡¯t so much talked as projected the words into Dave¡¯s own mind.

    Marik took a deep breath, and with it, the wind howled and a deep blue light came out of Dave¡¯s avatar. The moment the light split out from his body, his Undead avatar fell over more lifelessly and stayed limply at the ground.

    "Ah shit," Dave cursed as he realized that the Abyssal Knight was going to eat his soul.

    Suddenly darkness engulfed him and he could hear no more.

 Chapter 419 And Another One

    Within the darkness inside Marik¡¯s gullet, Dave could feel nothing, see nothing and hear nothing. It was as if he was extracted from his senses, a feeling of emptiness and dread that pervaded him and left himpletely vulnerable to the unending darkness inside the Abyssal Knight¡¯s stomach.

    Soon after, the light came back, and Dave found himself floating in front of the Undead King.

    His eyes wandered to his hands which were blue and transparent. His non-physical body was not that of an Undead but looked identical to his other avatar, Death Stroke.

    \"Childe, We¡¯d prefer not to meet you in this form, but there are grave matters at hand.\" The Undead King started the conversation with a tone of urgency rarely hearding from him.

    Dave frowned. ording to Dortha the Undead King had a reward for him, yet the moment he came to meet him the other seemed to be facing a problematic encounter.

    \"I am at yourmand, Your Majesty\" Dave replied.

    \"Good, then listen well. The living have been given the chance to deal with the Ash King. In their pursuit of might and their greed for power, they shall band against Us. We task you to weaken these attempts. y whoever willingly agree with the Ash King!\"

    Dave¡¯s frown turned even worse: \"Your Majesty, with all due respect, that will be impossible.\"

    \"We are surprised to hear thising from you, Childe. We have heard about your exploits and seen them, too. Many times you¡¯ve aplished the ¡¯Impossible¡¯ and turned it simple.\" The Undead King calmly stated.

    Dave sighed. He was happy about the praise, but unfortunately, this gargantuan task was different from the ones he had received in the past.

    \"I wish, I could tell you otherwise, but you¡¯re asking me to stand alone against the world. Everyone will want to band with the Demons. The Ash King is offering nothing but benefits for them. If you allow me to be frank for a moment, were I in the shoes of those adventurers I would certainly be tempted to take the deal. To their kind, they don¡¯t care much for sides, as long as they think they have enough to gain from doing so, they will. Some might even root for the Ash King as we have conquered so much of his regions, that he is now like the ¡¯underdog¡¯ in our war. But most importantly siding with him will allow them to ess the Underworld... If I were to stand between the yers and their upgrade, I will be the world¡¯s enemy. I cannot fight all of them, probably not even with the entire Undead Legion. Just like us they cane back from death. No matter how strong or how lucky I can be... it¡¯s impossible.\"

    \"What you say sounds reasonable. It might not be possible to keep them down forever, but then what about this?\" the Undead King pulled out four spherical orbs.

    He then threw them at Dave and they disappeared within his bodynding in his inventory.

    Dave recognized those spheres, they looked awfully simr to Dungeon Cores.

    \"You want me to put the Demonic Temples under Dungeon rules?\" Dave concluded.

    \"Indeed. While we currentlyck the means to convert or erase those temples, we can at least postpone it and make it as hard for the Ash King to gain followers as possible. Your task will be to turn them into Dungeons that make the living wish for death before they can obtain the benefits the Ash King promised them.\"

    \"I should be able to do that. Still, I¡¯ll need to be there to do so. For now, I¡¯m stuck in the Drow Kingdom. Not to mention I don¡¯t even know where to start looking for them.\" Davemented.

    Thest fact would probably not be too hard to find out. Once anybody finds one of the temples, it should just be a question of time before the information about the location gets leaked. Though maybe Mr. Skeletal should use his fame to offer some benefits to get the information before anyone else...

    \"We are aware of all this, but worry not. We shall aid you in finding their locations. For now, the living are too upied with killing each other.\"

    \"I know, and what sucks is that they¡¯re keeping me out of the fun. There¡¯s a guild of yers that I believe are trying to attack the East. They want to use their Right of Conquest for the Qin Kingdom before I have a chance to take over.\"

    \"It hase to Our understanding as well. Your Death Knight, the one you named Bud, has given Us his say on the matter in the East. They have installed a gateway to teleport their troops to the borders of the Qin Kingdom. Benefiting from your efforts of weakening their defenses for themselves.\"

    The Undead King mmed his fist down on the throne¡¯s handle giving Dave a jumpscare.

    He then stood up and spoke calmly, \"We won¡¯t allow them to seed. It was OUR DECREE!\" the Undead King roared loud enough that the pce shook. Not even Dave understood what made the Undead King this angry.

    \"IT WAS OUR DECISION! OUR OPPORTUNITY TO GRANT. IT WAS OUR TASK TO OUR CHILDE! OUR WILL! OUR BENEVOLENCE FOR OUR CHILDE TO PROVE THEMSELVES!\"

    The pce kept shaking, and the mere ripples from the Undead King¡¯s voice made Dave¡¯s ethereal avatar shake and shudder threatening to dissipate.

    \"And now,\" the Undead King¡¯s tone calmed down, but Dave could almost swear that it became even scarier, \"They want to take it from Our Childe? If they have, it would mean We lied to Our Childe! And We do not LIE! Marik! Lilith! Before Us!\"

    Suddenly two silhouettes almost the same size as Dave appeared right next to them.

    Dave recognized Marik, although this time, the ¡¯sack of potatoes¡¯ was much smaller, as for the second one, she was a person Dave had never seen before. A woman with a skin as white as ceramic.

    Her hair was tied neatly in a bun and she had a small hat on top of her head. She wore a long red Victorian dress that reached all the way to the ground. Her lips were thin and small, yet colored blood red and her eyes were a color to match.

    Dave didn¡¯t even need to second guess this creature¡¯s identity, as the moment he noticed the long fangs he muttered, \"A vampire.\"

    \"Indeed I am, young one\" the woman gave a lowugh and turned to the Undead King.

    \"Your Majesty, we are at your service,\" Lilith spoke.

    \"You know the matters at hand,\" the Undead King said. \"Act as you see fit, aid Our Childe in bncing the scales.\" The Undead King waved his hands.

    \"As youmand,\" the vampire bowed and disappeared from the pce.

    \"Your Majesty, if I act...\" the Soul Gorger spoke and stopped halfway.

    \"I know the risks, Marik. If worsees to worst, I shall act.\"

    \"Then so be it, I shall move my army.\"

    \"Go,\" the Undead King dismissed the two leaving Dave alone.

    \"If I didn¡¯t know any better, I¡¯d say you¡¯re spoiling me,\" Dave had a small smirk on his face.

    If anyone could see him now... well they would see him eventually. Dave wasn¡¯t stupid enough to send over the coverage of what had happened anytime soon. But this was too good not to share with the world in the future. Anyone who would look at this scene would get goosebumps.

    \"It is in Our nature toe to the aid of Our own. And We despise those who attempted to benefit from your hard work. We shall not stand idle while others harvest what Our Childe worked hard into nting. The time hase to show the world the real might of the Undead. Now that you have met all of my Abyssal Knights, it is time for you to work to obtain your rank among them.\" The Undead King exined. Was it just Dave¡¯s imagination or did the Undead King just show off a hint of pride when talking about Dave joining their ranks?

    \"Oh, so that Lilith gal was an Abyssal Knight.\"

    \"Gal? She is thousands of years old. But yes, she is the Duchess of Blood and Carnage. A frightening opponent to those who have blood running down their veins.\"

    \"I doubt I¡¯ll ever need to act on my own with the two of them with me. They could conquer Qin on their own, I¡¯ll only be a decoration.\" Dave shrugged.

    \"No, Childe. It is in the nature of a leader to lead powerful units. Even if you don¡¯t ride with them at the front, just by being part of the army, by being it¡¯s general, the victory still shall be yours for your leadership. We want you to tear the living apart. We want you to destroy them so thoroughly, that they will never dare harbor another thought rising against you. This shall be your first time waging a war against the race of living. We want you to break them! Destroy them! Make them kneel and beg for mercy that shan¡¯te to them! CRUSH ANY WHO STAND IN YOUR WAY!!!\"

    Dave shuddered and immediately bowed down on instinct before the mighty Ruler of the Dead, \"As you wish.\"

    And just before he disappeared from the throne room the Undead King spoke onest line.

    \"This is Our gift to you Childe, use it well.\"

    Suddenly Dave felt himself back in his body. As he wasying down, Dortha came and nudged him up.

    \"Have you sessfully met with His Majesty?\"

    \"Yes, it was quite...thrilling.\"

    \"Good. Now, what are you going to do?\" Dortha asked.

    \"I have an idea for the next fight, but I need to prepare first. Tinye out,\" Dave called out to the Grave Lord.

    The creature was no longer suppressed by the negative effect of the Drow Kingdom. He could appear wherever Dave summoned him.

    \"Take me up,\" Dave told his pet.

    \"Where are you going?\" Dortha asked.

    \"I found a wide river thest time I took flight here. It should lead to the sea. If my luck holds up I should find exactly the thing I am missing there,\" Dave answered.

    The Grave Lord transformed into an eastern dragon and took Dave alongside Dortha high up.

    \"There,\" Dave pointed in a direction and the dragon obeyed, heading toward the river.

    The river was massive, and it was raging. All in good conditions for Dave¡¯s following task.

    Once Tiny came down, Dave hopped off and summoned the Sea God, the Kraken.

    The great creature emerged from under the river water. Crusting the river to ripples and making its raging nature as stable as a mirror surface.

    \"Kraky, I¡¯ll need to ask you for a small favor.\"

    Dave gave the Kraken a set of orders and the creature immediately went to work, diving under the river water and swam in the direction of the sea.

    Dave stomped his foot on the ground, summoning Singund and the Tengu. They both bowed to Dortha who waved off their gesture and then looked at Dave waiting for further instructions.

    \"Tengu, I need you to return to the Dead Realm. Tell Andre to ready the forge.\"

    The Tengu frowned but didn¡¯t question Dave¡¯s orders. He disappeared soon after.

    Dave turned to the second Death Knight and spoke.

    \"Singund, I need you to go back to the Dead Realm, and tell Gafgar that I will need my fleet to be ready to set sail as soon as my being trapped here ends.\"

    \"As you order.\" Singund nodded and disappeared back to the Dead Realm.

    \"Fleet? What are you nning?\" Dortha asked intrigued.

    \"Simple, I¡¯m nning a naval war.\"

    \"Wouldn¡¯t it be better if you raid the East from thend?\"

    \"Nah, thend area will already be packed full of Devastators once I get out. They are taking advantage of my effort in weakening the Qin forces to try and finish them off. We¡¯ll do the same, make them weaken the Qin for us, then we¡¯ll hunt everything at once.\"

    \"I can¡¯t say that I don¡¯t admire your n. I would love to see for myself how you handle it,\" Dortha sighed.

    \"Thene with me,\" Dave asked.

    \"I would love to, but this area is the closest to the Ash King. With His Majesty¡¯s still recuperating from being revived, I am the strongest entity that could face him. If I leave my post we could lose the Drow Kingdom.\"

    \"Ah, with great powers,es great responsibility,\" Dave said.

    \"Wise words,\" Dortha replied.

    \"Alright then, I still have six hours left. Let¡¯s hope Kraky over there can find me some Hydras.\"

 Chapter 420 The Devastators Advance on the Eas

    \"Is everyone ready?\" Warlord looked to his third-inmand.

    \"All team leaders have reported their readiness, we¡¯re only waiting for Valentine,\" Satan yer answered.

    \"Good, he just reported he needs five more minutes to wrap things up. Send out the orders for the teams to teleport to the Central ins,\" Warlord added.

    \"On it!\" Satan yer touched the side of his helmet and gave a set ofmands to his underlings to pass the message on so that they could start their n.

    \"So that¡¯s it? We¡¯re finally starting. I hope this won¡¯t be a repeat ofst time.\" Demetri gulped. The situation so far seemed great, all signs pointed to them being able to finish, what Skelly had started. So why couldn¡¯t he shake that weird feeling off, that something was bound to go wrong...

    \"Yes, we¡¯ll start now, take your teleportation scroll and wait for us at Forgone Keep!\"

    \"Good,\" the European Guildmaster tore his own teleportation scroll and disappeared from the Devastator HQ.

    A few minutester, the pink armored Guardian showed up in the Devastator HQ.

    \"Good to have you back,\" Warlord greeted his long-time friend with a wide smile.

    \"Yeah, it was a piece of cake. The only trouble was hunting down thest mob for the Quest. Anyway, what¡¯s the situation?\"

    \"We¡¯re all set. I just sent orders for the army to move to the Central ins.\"

    \"Great, that¡¯ll make the other guilds sweat,\"

    \"It¡¯s your n. They are behaving just as you have predicted. Shall we proceed ording to the script or do you have anyst-minute suggestions?\"

    \"No need to change anything. We march to the north from there.\"

    \"Against the Ragers?\"

    \"No, not against anyone, Warlord, don¡¯t forget we¡¯re just bluffing. Still, it¡¯s better if we appear to move against Zhang Shi. I don¡¯t want the White Ghost to feel threatened.\" Valentine exined.

    \"You give him too much credit,\" Warlord shrugged.

    \"To me it looks like you give him too little. He¡¯s the brain behind Heaven¡¯s Dawn, we need to respect a man of such intellect. Zhang Shi, on the other hand, is more of a direct person. Once he sees our advance he will try toe up with countermeasures to fight against both sides.\"

    \"And the White Ghost won¡¯t?\" Warlord asked.

    \"No, he is too devious for that. I¡¯m afraid that he might think of something to cause more trouble than we need just to disrupt us. I¡¯ve yet to locate all of his sleeper cells in our guild and if he activates some sort of emergency n, we might end up with more than we can handle. Skelly is only bound for a set amount of time. Unlike the super guilds we can¡¯t keep track of him all the time, and we know he can single handedly summon an army from out of nowhere. Getting him involved into our fight against Qin will only end up messy for us.\" Valentine replied.

    \"You¡¯re right. Let¡¯s follow the rest of the yers.\"

    Valentine nodded to Warlord and tore his own teleportation scroll and disappeared from the HQ. Warlord followed soon after, and they both appeared at the Teleportation Gate of the Forgone Keep.

    It was a fortified city that stood at the rim of the Devastator Kingdom. The closest they could get to the central region of the world of Conquest from the Western side.

    Forgone Keep had several half-standing towers that kept watch to detect any monster hordes approaching. It had arge swath ofnd that could easily host the entirety of the Devastator main and all their sub guild members with lots ofnd to spare.

    Currently, Warlord was leading more than 120,000 yers, of all levels toward an unknown destiny or location. All the yers had received information that they were to be deployed and would get their mission details once they were on the battlefield. Aside from the heads of the guild, nobody knew what the Devastators were actually nning.

    \"Demetri,\" Warlord called the other party over.

    The European Guild Leader, who apparently favored his blue kimono over any other armor or gear moved closer to Warlord.

    \"Yes?\"

    \"My guys are all here, so where are the mercs?\"

    \"I told them to meet at a close-by location. Should I call them over now?\"

    \"Yes, that would be for the best. We¡¯re all set and ready.\"

    \"Good, give me a moment,\" Demetri began making his own calls and soon after. Hundreds upon hundreds of new yers began teleporting into the Forgone Keep.

    In the span of ten minutes, the already enormous number of the yers hosted within the Forgone Keep perimeter doubled and their number kept increasing.

    \"That... should certainly help us achieve our goal,\" Warlord spoke in awe. \"How many did you recruit?\"

    \"As many as I could,\" Demetri answered in a wide grin.

    \"You really want the East.\"

    \"Naturally. You own the West, so you should know that no matter how much money I¡¯ll have to spend, with good management all can be reimbursed.\"

    \"Great, let¡¯s begin by sending the first wave, otherwise this ce will be too packed with yers. We don¡¯t want anyone starting a fight here.\" Warlord gave his order.

    It was true, packing an area full of yers from different areas, as well as mercenaries who only cared for their pockets was bound to create conflicts. So it was best to keep their heads cool and have them march.

    \"Jeffery,e here,\" Warlord spoke through his party.

    \"Yeah, boss,\"

    \"Can you teleport all of these?\"

    \"Sure, it¡¯s a big number but nothing that I can¡¯t take care of,\" Jeffery answered with a proud grin.

    \"Wipe that grin off your face, it makes me remember unsightly things.\" Warlord grimaced.

    Jeffery frowned and was about to retort.

    \"I¡¯ll take care of mobilizing the army,\" Valentine pitched in defusing Warlord.

    Warlord nodded.

    Valentine turned to the yers and spoke up, \"Everyone, head north, we¡¯re moving toward the Ragers.\"

    A few yers gave voice to some of their thoughts andined, but Valentine didn¡¯t care.

    The Devastator army began marching, but the mercenaries remained idle.

    \"What¡¯s the matter with you, MOVE!\" Valentine shouted.

    \"You¡¯re not the one paying us. You got no right telling us where to go,\" one of the mercenary Knights spoke up.

    \"Demetri, please take care of this,\" Valentine shook his head.

    \"Everyone, please follow the Devastators.\"

    \"But we don¡¯t know where we¡¯re going, at least tell us something.\" A female Wizard spoke up.

    \"What do you care? I pay you to fight for me not to ask questions. You¡¯ll see when we get there. Now move it!\" Demetri shouted back. It was a strange sight seeing the kimono dressing man exude the aura of a true leader for a moment there.

    \"Bugger,\" the female Wizard groaned and moved first. The rest of the mercenaries follow right after.

    An hour of marchter, Warlord received intel regarding movement on the side of the Blood Ragers.

    \"What¡¯s happening?\" Demetri asked.

    \"Zhang Shi sent out a regiment of yers to intercept us.\"

    \"A single regiment? What is he hoping to do? There¡¯s almost 300,000 of us.\"

    \"Beats me,\" Warlord shrugged. \"Feel free to ask him, one of these days. We won¡¯t be finding out anytime soon.\"

    \"When are we teleporting?\" Demetri asked.

    \"It¡¯s best if we do it right here, right now,\"

    \"Now? Are you sure?\"

    \"Yeah, think about it. Not only can we start, but Zhang Shi will wonder what happened to a 300,000 strong army marching towards his borders which disappeared. That¡¯ll throw him off good.\"

    \"Jeffery, please begin,\" Valentine agreed.

    \"Everyone! Listen up, we¡¯re moving to phase two of the n,\" Valentine addressed therge group.

    ¡¯What¡¯s going on?¡¯ was the question that was murmured amongst all present, who had no idea what was happening. One moment they marched towards the enemy territory and the next they stopped.

    Jeffery walked into a rtively yer free area and brought out a metallic cube. He twisted it around like a Rubik Cube and threw it down onto the ground.

    The cube began twisting, shaping itself into a cylinder then grew from te size to a universal satellite dish receiver.

    A glowing liquid spread inside the circr form and created something that looked pretty simr to an oversized Teleportation Gate.

    \"It¡¯s ready, Boss. Just remember the Gate exit will be very close to the Qin walls. This has to be done as fast as possible for us to secure a footing.\" Jeffery reminded Warlord.

    \"I know. Demetri, ask your mercenaries to go in and secure the location, we¡¯ll jump in right after,\" Warlord delegated that task for their helpful fodder.

    Demetri nodded and rallied Warlord¡¯s orders.

    In moments the mercenaries funneled through the enormous Gate. It looked like the maw of a never satiable beast as it took in yers one after the other.

    Soon after the sound of battle echoed in the yers¡¯ voicemunication.

    \"Where are you sending us?\" one of the mercenaries asked.

    \"Goddamnit since when are you guys so chatty. You were paid to go and fight. So stopining and do your frigging job!\"

    The yer grunted but couldn¡¯t help but curse his luck for having signed the contract. He jumped after the rest of the yers into the gate.

    \"Good, Devastators! You¡¯re next. MOVE, MOVE, MOVE!\" Warlord ordered.

    300,000 yers were a staggering amount of personnel to lead. And it took a lot of time for them to dive into the already big teleportation gate.

    After thirty minutes, almost all the yers had gone through, and Valentine was giving ceaseless orders for the yers who were already on the other side of the gate and were fighting.

    The Qin Army had been caught off-guard, unbelieving that they would be raided right after having fought hard against the undead army.

    This gave the Devastators a great opportunity to take advantage of. The Qin Kingdom was packed full of NPCs who were hungry, exhausted and had nowhere else to stay. The capital¡¯s army had a difficult and hard time moving through the city as it wasyered with homeless people.

    Kicking the citizens outside was nothing short of seeking a revolt. But because of the indecisiveness of the imperial ruler, the consequences had be dire.

    \"It seems that we¡¯re all set, now,\" Warlord grinned.

    \"The Ragers and the Heaven¡¯s Dawn guilds will not like this one bit,\" Satan yer noted.

    \"Who cares if they like it or not. The main point is that they will be unable to do anything about it until it¡¯s toote.\" Warlord replied.

    \"Then why are we waiting here, let¡¯s go,\" Jeffery hurried them. He would need to be on the other side to deactivate his Skill, otherwise the portal would stay open, and could be used by the other guild.

    Right now only five of them were left. Jeffery himself, Warlord, Valentine, Satan yer and Demetri.

    \"Because we¡¯re waiting for someone,\" Valentine answered.

    \"Who could that be?\" Jeffery asked.

    \"Her,\" Demetri said pointing right next to Jeffery.

    The yer turned to see a yer in full white standing right next to him. Giving him a big jumpscare.

    \"M-Mercy...\"

    \"So, it turns out Skelly was right to not trust you.\"

    \"Emm...\" Jeffery was at a loss of words. The world¡¯s most famous Assassin was standing right next to him, and he had crossed her friend.

    \"Don¡¯t wet your pants yet.\" Warlord said. \"She is under contract with Demetri. She will help us kill the Qin Emperor. But before that, she can¡¯t do anything to sabotage this mission, preventing her from telling Skelly or anyone else about what¡¯s going on.\"

    \"Do you seriously think he isn¡¯t aware what you guys have been nning? You¡¯re all fools if you think he will just take this lying down without messing up your ns,\" Mercy shook her head. After all, Dave had given Mercy an incredible sense of dread.

    And that¡¯s not even rted to the fact that she knew more about him than anyone else present thanks to them raiding together. No, it was because she had been on the receiving end of his famous Draugr smile. He had been the only one she had ¡¯failed¡¯ to kill when he hade to the surface andter when she had faced him in a battle where she had all the advantages, he still managed to predict her every move. It was as if he was able to see the future. Little did she know that it was mostly luck that she fell down the Eldritch River of the Limbo. It was also a secret Dave didn¡¯t n to share with her anytime soon...

    These mere insights on Kis¡¯Shtiengbrah¡¯s persona gave Mercy a concrete belief that he was bound to attend this event, and once it unfolds, the one to have the finalugh would also be him. She could even picture the Draugr rubbing his beard right now as he thought of how to ruin these yers in the best and most glorious way possible.

    ***

    Back in the Drow Kingdom. A certain Draugr sneezed.

    \"Huh? Howe you sneezed? Undead don¡¯t breathe.\" Dortha looked at him with curiosity.

    \"Beat¡¯s me,\" Dave shrugged. \"Maybe someone¡¯s thinking of me? Oh, Kraky¡¯s back. Nice, he broughtpany,\" Daveughed.

    The gigantic Kraken was moving against the river waters and to his sides were several Sea Hydras.

    \"It would be a shame to attend the uing event without the appropriate attire!\"

    \"Time to harvest the final element for the Undead King¡¯s Armor, Hydra scales!\"

 Chapter 421 Broke Through

    \"C¡¯mon, show these NPCs what you¡¯re made of!\" Warlord shouted as he exhibited an unprecedented amount of glee for leading a frontal assault at the Qin Capital¡¯s gates.

    The attacks from the mercenaries and his Devastator guild were massive in size and number, spanning the entire frontal length of the capital¡¯s city walls. Fire, water, rocks, and even sharp wind des, smashed and crashed against the seemingly immovable walls. The gates were sturdy, yet the continuous onught was like water dripping down against a rock. It was only a matter of time before either the gate or the walls were breached, and the capital would have to fend off the most elite members of the Western Kingdom.

    Warlord summoned his avatar. Now wasn¡¯t the time to hold anything back and he wanted to remind the world that he continued to be the strongest yer.

    The godly avatar raised his hands and summoned a rune inscribed battle axe, which he swung down against the gate. It sent destructive ripples across the stone. The walls cracked but not enough to break yet. However, that didn¡¯t mean they would stand for long.

    Suddenly, a ring loud horn sounded behind Warlord¡¯s army.

    Turning, the Guild Master noticed the arrival of enemy reinforcements.

    Warlord groaned,menting the fact that Skeletal hadn¡¯t done a better job and gotten rid of more of them for him. If David Ruster had taken down the rest of the cities supporting the capital, they would have had a far easier time breaking the city and taking over. Of course, that is what Warlord would have done if he was in Dave¡¯s shoes.

    Yet, what Warlord didn¡¯t know was that Dave had been onto Warlord and his schemes since the first time Jeffery had raided with them. The fact that the Mecha user had pulled his punches when they were fighting had caused Dave a great deal of worry and made him suspect that there was something up.

    While Jeffery not using his full power might have been for personal reasons or simply a weak attempt of Warlord trying to throw a wrench into the draugr¡¯s n, it was the new guys subtle yet frequent suggestions for Dave to take down the rest of the cities which allowed him to deduce what was going on. The undead army looked impressive, yet it was not like they hadn¡¯t taken losses in the fights. Sure, Dave could have risked his troops and fought all the other cities to extinction, but in that case, he would be lucky if he had any troops left to actually attack the capital. Obviously, such a course of action would not benefit the draugr in the end. On the other hand, if another force happened toe right after, they could finish what Dave would have started.

    All of this went through Skeletal¡¯s mind after a few battles with Jeffery. And from there on, he opted to keep the Qin Army partially functional. Not so much so that they posed a threat to Dave¡¯s troops if he ever decides toe back again, but just enough that they won¡¯t be mowed down to thest if they fought a yer army for example.

    Warlord guided his guild members to face the iing force. The number was staggering, more than fifty square formations lined up in twenty by one hundred squares. Each of these squadrons had ten Elite Qin Soldiers. The Qin Kingdom wasn¡¯t crippled yet and this was posing a huge problem for Warlord.

    \"Ranged Units, supporting fire! Jeffery assist!\" Warlord called and turned toward the iing army.

    \"Let me in first!\" Warlord shouted. His God of War Legacy granted him innumerable bonuses as long as he was on the battlefield.

    Warlord ran ahead first, receiving massive buffs from Priests, Pdins, Bards and any Support ss around that noticed the Guild Master running toward the 100,000 Qin Soldiers.

    Warlord¡¯s avatar began glowing with a gold sheen. It was a passive effect that made it so that the more he strayed away from his allies and got closer to his enemies, the brighter he would shine and the more powerful the effect. It passively led every entity to enter into a raged frenzy forcing them to fight against Warlord. Though the effects might sound bad, the benefits were worth it. The golden aura granted Warlord almost infinite Stamina, and immense HP regeneration.

    Warlord¡¯s golden avatar materialized behind him like a ghost. It moved silently as Warlord ran forward. Suddenly, the avatar held his ax and chopped down, crushing the first Qin Soldier toe in contact with Warlord.

    The knight in ck, held up his own ax, mimicking his avatar¡¯s chopping motion. Almost immediately, a dozen Qin Soldiers fell down. Warlord swung his ax left and right, shattering bones and breaking armor. The more the enemies gathered around him, the more vicious his attacks became.

    \"MORE!\" Warlord roared.

    Two Qin Soldiers stabbed at Warlord with their spears, yet thetter ignored the pointy weapons that had pierced through his chest and swung his weapon horizontally, ripping both of the soldiers¡¯ heads off.

    He ripped off the spears, causing a blood fountain to burst out, yet momentster the wounds closed as if nothing had ever happened and the armor repaired itself into a brand new state.

    The God of War¡¯s S ss Legacy wasn¡¯t just for show. It was powerful against massive numbers, and it only grew more effective the more outnumbered the user was. However, no matter how powerful a Legacy might be, there was always a limit.

    \"Warlord! You¡¯re taking too much damage!\" Valentine¡¯s voice sounded from Warlord¡¯s voice.

    \"I¡¯m good!\" Warlord replied in a gruff tone, after tearing an Elite Qin Soldiers¡¯ leg off.

    \"You¡¯re taking more damage than you¡¯re regenerating! You gotta rest for a bit. If you don¡¯te out yourself, I¡¯lle for you,\" Valentine warned decidedly.

    \"NO! Stay where you are! This is my time to shine! I can¡¯t have Skelly take everything! I¡¯ll show everyone, UGGJH!\" Warlord¡¯s words were cut off as two Elite Qin Soldiers managed to pin him to the ground. One of them held his sword in an overhand grip and stabbed down toward Warlord¡¯s eye.

    Thetter heaved with all the power in his body, and threw away the soldier that had been holding him, and smashed him into the other one with the sword.

    \"As I said,\" Warlord continued, \"I¡¯ll show everyone that I can be as good if not better than Skelly. GOD¡¯S FIST!\" Warlord roared, creating a golden fist, muchrger than the ones he usually summoned.

    The fist came down upon the soldiers crushing them, killing indiscriminately.

    Suddenly, a wildugh echoed from the rising dust, \"SEE?! What did I tell you?! I¡¯m better than him! LOOK, 1 VS 100,000! Skelly can only win due to his army, but I can win alone!\" Warlord proimed to all.

    \"I think this is good enough for a promotional video, what about you?\" Demetri asked.

    \"I think so too, that was pretty cool,\" Jeffery quickly agreed. The scene had some gore to it, but it was undeniable that fighting off an army single-handedly was like a dreame true for every male.

    Satan yer shook his head, perhaps Warlord¡¯s content was ¡¯Cool¡¯, but deep down, he knew that the content was a far cry from Skelly¡¯s. If given the choice between watching from one or the other he would choose the draugr.

    It was all great to see one fighting against massive numbers, but Warlord¡¯s Legacy was designed to do that thing exactly, so was there really a need topliment him for something they were supposed to do?

    Skelly, on the other hand, had always gone overboard. Fighting creatures that were ridiculously strong, raiding areas of the Underworld that had been revealed in his videos and had been judged by exports as ¡¯impossible to conquer¡¯ as well as many other feats which were just as entertaining. Those hadn¡¯t had anything to do with his Legacy. Skelly had managed to produce content that was rted to his skillfulness and intelligence in oveing various, seemingly impossible situations. Even if a good portion of those could be attributed to luck, there was more than that which brought Skelly to where he was today.

    \"Now! Rally to me!\" Warlord roared an order for his army toe to aid him.

    The rest of the Devastators followed behind and wrought havoc upon the Qin Soldiers. Empowered by their leader, the yers fought on for hours. They suffered casualties in the tens of thousands, nheless, they killed every single Qin Soldier in the end.

    Suddenly, the ceaseless spell casting against the gate of the Qin capital stopped. A wide crack appeared on the gate breaking it to splinters. The gate was open and the yer army, now reduced to 240,000 yers charged down the gate and into the city.

    \"GO, GO, GO! PILLAGE AND BURN!\" Demetri shouted with excitement.

    \"Uh, that only makes us sound like the bad guys,\" Jeffery pointed out with a bit of hesitation.

    \"Eh, aren¡¯t we? I thought bad guys were the thing right now,\" Demetri replied with a hint of embarrassment.

    Jeffery gave him an awkward smile and scurried ahead.

    \"Mercy, time to show us why you are the best in the business,\" Warlord addressed her through the voice chat.

    \"It will be my pleasure, but I need you to clear the way to the pce. I can¡¯t break through alone.\"

    \"yer, take some of our A units, help Mercy get into the pce. The rest of you, clear the way. There are a lot of NPCs, kill anyone who stands in your way.\" Warlord ordered.

    \"But, aren¡¯t these just vigers and citizens? The whole army is back there,\" Jeffery questioned.

    It was true, only the frightened vigers who had been forced to escape from their cities were packing the city street. Most of the Qin Soldiers were all the way in the back, standing atop buildings or behind barricades.

    \"I don¡¯t care. If they wanna live, they better get out of the way. Otherwise, just kill them off and be done with it. We don¡¯t have any time to waste,\" Warlord answered. He was worried about a certain cursed draugr appearing any moment now. They were already half an hour beyond the time limit on the Forbidden Chapter [Lock-Down]. Too bad, it didn¡¯tst any longer. One more down... no, just half a day would be all they needed to guarantee that this would be their turf.

    There was no question about Skelly showing up. The real problem was that no one could predict what he would do once that happened. They knew that his army had been crushed, so realistically he should have no chance of taking over the Qin Kingdom. But when had the most infamous draugr ever yed by the script?

    So far there was no sign of him or any his Undead, indicating that he was probably stuck resurrecting them, or was unable to. Warlord could only pray that this would continue to be the case...

    \"Let¡¯s get this done. Demetri, with me,\" Warlord led the way toward the Imperial Pce.

    ***

    \"So, everything is ready huh?\" Dave asked.

    \"Yes me lord, I got the Leviathan up¡¯n running. Theds¡¯re ready on the vessels,\" Gafgar spoke while rubbing his mustache.

    \"Good, good,\" Dave praised his captain before turning to the other person next to him. \"So Andre, what about the armor?\" Dave asked. The draugr had already made a quick stop at another ce. Now he only needed the new outfit to make his appearance even more shy.

    \"You don¡¯t expect me to make you a kingly set of armor in a single setting, do you? The remains I have of the older one are pretty damaged, I¡¯ll need a lot of time and dedication to make it. That isn¡¯t something that can be rushed. Should be done in a week¡¯s time. If you¡¯re lucky,\" Andre shrugged.

    \"A shame, I was hoping you could make it sooner. No matter, I¡¯lle back for it once it¡¯s ready. I trust that nobody can make a better job than you, Andre!\"

    Dave turned to the sea in front of him, his Undead were boarding the Leviathan, and the ships he had stolen from the fake Gangnk. Gafgar had done an amazing job on the ships, repairing them to full functionality and had issued sailors to take control of the vessels. The body of the ships was packed full of Undead.

    \"Damn, I don¡¯t think we¡¯ll have enough ships to carry all the army,\" Dave sighed. The fifteen ships he had barely carried a third of his Undead. They were not enough.

    \"Kis¡¯Shtiengbrah, may I offer assistance in hauling your Undead?\" The voice of the Abyssal Knight by the name of Marik suddenly sounded right in Dave¡¯s mind.

    \"If you could, that would be super helpful,\" Dave thought back.

    \"Then allow me,\" Marik said as he materialized in front of Dave in his gigantic form.

    The creature easily dwarfed the size of the Leviathan. Which made for a great sight. And brought up the question, how was Marik supposed to apany Dave if he was this...big. Yet the answer revealed itself soon enough as the Abyssal Knight shrunk himself back to human size.

    \"Rise up, fallen and forgotten dwellers of the sea. Rise up and offer your service once again,\" Marik spoke calmly as if addressing the waves of the dark ocean.

    Suddenly, a bright blue fog rose up from the waters. Sounds of wails and screeches, wood screeching and loud howling of whales resounded through the sea.

    \"Hear ye, andeth, give service of your bodies, and allow our kin passage.\"

    Suddenly, the fog materialized into ethereal, almost tangible forms. And the first thing Dave noticed was a chariot, led by three great white shark ghosts.

    \"A Shark Chariot?\" Dave mumbled.

    \"Not just one,\" Marik spoke, Dave could almost hear the glee in his monotonous voice.

    Suddenly the waves rippled as thousands of Shark Chariots appeared above the waters. Then boats made in the shape of whales. Ghost Ships, giant crabs, squids and other creatures of the sea that Dave had never seen before. All lined up and ready to carry Dave¡¯s armada.

    Not to mention, the sea was packed full of souls, fighters, ghosts and banshees, all undoubtedly, a part of the Soul Gorger Marik¡¯s army.

    \"This is your army?\"

    \"Indeed, yet it is but a part of it. My legion is far more numerous than this. I im all who die in the sea withsting regrets. And believe me, many die with unfinished business.\" Marik proimed.

    \"Dear Marik, you brag too much,\" Came a sweet womanly voice.

    Turning, Dave saw Lilith, the Duchess of Blood and Carnage, standing proud among the Undead. Her human appearance and frail looks were in great contrast to the zombified and undead nature of those surrounding her.

    Yet, this gentleness, this sweetness of her character was reason enough for many to die at her hands.

    \"Kis¡¯Shtiengbrah, be a doll and take me to your ship, I find those ghosts to be quite the eyesore.\" Lilith spoke with a handkerchief around her nose. \"Not to mention they smell of rotten dead fish.\"

    Dave frowned, his Draugr avatar didn¡¯t smell any better but he wasn¡¯t going to correct an Abyssal Knight about their sense of smell.

    \"This way,\" Dave led the way. \"Guys, your rides are ready, so let¡¯s hop in. We have an Empire to conquer!\"

 Chapter 422 Four Genrals

    Two yers were fishing near the shore of the southern Kingdom. They were on a rowboat a couple of miles at sea. Even still, the sun was burning bright and the sea barely moved. One of the two people on the small rowboat had a female avatar and wore ck leather armor, totally unsuited for the heat of the Southern part of the world of conquest, but yers do not feel the heat the same way as one would do from real life.

    The other was a male with an old-man looking avatar, this one wore light clothes. Shorts and a white t-shirt to match. While he wore a fishing hat over his head that had several small fish-hooks hooked on it.

    \"C¡¯mon grandpa, we¡¯re just wasting time here, I¡¯m bored,\" The girl said in annoyance.

    \"Fishing is all about patience, you never know when you¡¯ll catch a fish, or if it¡¯s big or small, but having patience will help you out greatly in life, Dana.\"

    \"Ugh, if you want to fish, you should do that in real life. Not in-game, and how long have we been here? It¡¯s almost five hours now and you haven¡¯t caught a thing.\"

    Before the old man could reply to his granddaughter, his fishing rod twanged tight. The fishing line straightened tight, giving the old man the feeling that he had caught something big.

    \"See! I told you, it¡¯s all about patience, I caught a big one!\" the old man spoke excitedly.

    He pulled hard on his fishing rod but the line didn¡¯t budge or move, the old man thought that it might have been stuck on something, yet before he could cut the line abandoning his ¡¯big catch¡¯ the line from the fishing rod tightened harder and vibrated, giving the old man the feeling of a live fish caught in his line.

    \"Easy on the fishing line, it¡¯ll cut this way,\" Dana said.

    \"I know, but this thing is really big!\" the old man replied with grit teeth.

    The two of them were too preupied with the fish that they caught that they didn¡¯t notice the sky darkening, nor the sea bing colder.

    The water bubbled and raged, creating a small vortex that threatened to throw the rowboat awry.

    Yet the old man hung on the fishing rod, enough that the whole boat began dragging.

    \"Let it go grandpa!\" the girl said as she just noticed the change in weather. \"There¡¯ storming!\"

    \"I¡¯m not giving this up!\"

    Suddenly, the sea parted, giving way to an enormous white creature that flew out of the water

    The old man had one second to realize that the creature was a great white shark, and the fishing line was caught in between his teeth, then it took him one more second to notice that there was arge chain strapped around its neck, and linked to something that the shark was pulled from under the sea.

    The shark crashed on the sea surface but didn¡¯t dive down, it floated, with more than half its body above water.

    For the life of the old man, he couldn¡¯t understand how a shark can float above water or how it could be so white.

    \"T-That¡¯s a Ghost Shark!\" the girl spoke.

    Thanks to his granddaughter¡¯s remark, the old man finally realized why this shark was too white.

    Fear gripped at his heart, fear that increased even more as two more sharks appeared right next to that one. Both of them caught in chains.

    Suddenly a wooden chariot rose above the sea level, where a bearded draugr stood with what appears to be reins made of steel chains in hand.

    The draugr tilted his head as he noticed the old man, \"So you¡¯re the reason number Three went crazy, that¡¯s a pretty good bait, what¡¯s in it?\" the bearded draugr asked.

    \"S-S-skeletal!\" the girl spoke in stutters.

    \"It¡¯s tuna guts mixed with eel liver, pretty stinky and could make fish fight for it.\" The old man replied, nowhere was the fear he just felt as he had found someone who shared his hobby.

    \"Interesting, now if you would excuse me, can you please cut off the line? I¡¯m kinda in a hurry here.\" The draugr asked.

    \"Right,\" the old man drew a pocket knife and cut the line free.

    \"Thanks, Hya!\" Dave shouted as he swung the chains causing the sharks to jerk and swim forward at Jet-ski speeds.

    The old man was stunned for a moment until his granddaughter said, \"Gramps, that¡¯s skelly! The world¡¯s most famous draugr and all you could think of was fish guts?!\" the girl reprimanded.

    \"What was I supposed to talk about? Let¡¯s get back to fishing.\"

    Yet not before the man could even sit back on his boat, the sea churned, as more sharks appeared above the water. Shark-Chariots burst out of the sea and dashed forward following the draugr¡¯s path. Dozens, hundreds then by the thousands, as armies of the dead burst out from the sea and moved ahead like a flock of wild fish.

    Then came an enormous vessel that dwarfed the rowboat so much, that the rowboat might as well didn¡¯t exist.

    And behind this enormous war-ship were dozens more that followed behind.

    \"The hell is he trying to do now?\" The girl asked no one in particr.

    ***

    \"WOOHOOOOO!!!!\" Dave shouted as the sea sprayed around him. The Shark Chariots currently his favorite ride.

    \"Faster!\" Dave urged and the ghost sharks obliged. They traveled through the sea waters as if they were flying.

    \"Guys, you gotta try this, it¡¯s really fun,\" Dave said through the party-chat.

    \"Yeah, gloat all you want man, we¡¯re stuck in this damned dungeon while you¡¯re raiding the east all on your own,\" ster replied.

    \"Well, you decided it was more fun to do adventures without skelly,\" Dave replied in a wide grin.

    \"Man, this is really not fun at all.\" nker said.

    \"Shut up, it¡¯s because of you that we¡¯re trapped,\" Fortress angrily replied.

    \"Wish you the best with your dungeon guys. If you ever get out, go to Urburg, I¡¯ll send Tiny to get you to the east.\" Dave said.

    \"Yeah, yeah,\" Perfect Shot replied, \"We¡¯re stuck for at least twelve hours before the door opens again. By that time, you¡¯ll have already arrived to the east and with the number of those troops, I say you¡¯ll take it with ease.\"

    \"Nah, I don¡¯t think so, remember, the east has yet to show us a single general. The attacks we led on them only brought out their Elite Soldiers, I bet they have something much more powerful than those.\"

    \"With two abyssal Knights, who can stop you?\" nker said.

    \"Your mouth if you don¡¯t jinx it,\" Dave groaned. \"Alright then, once you¡¯re out, tell me. Skelly, Over and Out!\"

    Dave hung up at the party and kept moving forward.

    The sea voyagested for a long while, thanks to the enormous numbers of Dave¡¯s troops, there was no way anything would stand in their way, especially since he had the Kraken going deep under the seawater, forcing any creature dumb enough to attempt hunting his undead to think if it was worth its life.

    ***

    The sounds of battle echoed through the Qin Capital, the streets were clogged tight as the Qin soldiers brought down buildings to block the ways through the city.

    \"What¡¯s the situation?\" Warlord shouted as he had his hand on the side of his helmet.

    Satan yer¡¯s voice came from the other side of the party, \"There¡¯s a huge number of the Elite Soldiers stationed around the pce, we can¡¯t get through without being spotted.\" He said.

    \"Mercy should be able to bypass them, why didn¡¯t she? Get her to kill the dammed king, we¡¯re tight on time, Skelly could be here any moment now!\"

    \"I doubt he¡¯ll be here, otherwise he could have done this hours ago. He should have been out of the [Lock-Down] six hours by now. And mercy can¡¯t do shit, there are tons of True Sightmps, her invisibility skill is useless and if she moves in too deep she¡¯s dead.\"

    \"Damn, we¡¯ll need to make amotion, I¡¯ll try something to lure the Qin Elites. I¡¯ming over.\" Warlord said and dashed ahead.

    The city burned and raged as fire and explosions echoed through it. The number of yers filling the street was staggering. And in tight exposures, their AOE skills proved lethal to the Qin soldiers who relied on their swords to fight against the yers.

    The howls of wyverns echoed through the city. The Qin soldiers might have lost the ground battle, but the areal support gave the Qin Kingdom the ability to rally orders and recon at great efficiency. The areal attacks proved lethal to any who didn¡¯t watch over their heads, culling the lives of the least attentive yers.

    The mes of war continued to rise as Qin fought back with all they had.

    \"We can¡¯t get through the Docks, it¡¯s packed full of Soldiers!\" One of the Devastators A team leader shouted.

    \"Then Don¡¯t! We don¡¯t need the docks, leave them be, help the rest at the city center. We have troubles to capture it.\" Another A-team leader shouted back.

    A loud horn blew through the city, causing most of the soldiers to retreat back. This left the yers perplexed. The enemy was retreating but to where?

    Soon came the sound of hooves, and behind the yers from the broken gate, tens of thousands of riders came charging. Every single one of the riders was an Elite Knight.

    \"We¡¯re being nked!\" Demetri shouted!

    \"Fuck, get the mercs to hold them off! Jeffery, if shit hits the fan, Bomb them!\"

    \"Roger!\" Jeffery replied and activated his Mecha Skill. Transforming into an enormous steel humanoid.

    The Mecha¡¯s size was bigger than the buildings around it, giving him a clear shot of anything that moved.

    Jeffery loaded his guns and began shooting hails of bullets that bore through the horses, causing the riders at the front to fall, and the ones behind them either to slip and fall or to trample their own allies, leaving them dead or dying in their wake.

    The mercenary forces retreated and began shooting spells at the iing riders. Mines and traps were ced in haste, as they prepared for the impact.

    Tanks used their shields to hold the charge, casters, and archers shot volleys of arrows and spells. While supporting ss buffed their allies to hold the front.

    The crash came soon, proving beneficial to the riders. Even with the great shields of the Tanks, a rider¡¯s charge had enough momentum to throw the yers off, causing knockback effect.

    The riders tore through the weak and hastily made ranks and began a massacre.

    It was obvious that the Qin Elites were winning this trade-off, as yers died left and right.

    \"Jef!\" Demetri shouted.

    \"Fuck, I¡¯m on it!\" he said.

    Jeffery¡¯s Mecha opened its chest area. From within the robot¡¯s chest came a spherical metallic ball. The Mecha grabbed it and threw it forward toward the Qin warriors.3

    \"Brace for impact!\" Jeffery shouted.

    Almost immediately, all the yers ducked down, even the ones that were fighting. Though they gave the enemy ample opportunity to kill them, what woulde next was going to be much worse.

    Secondster, a soundless explosion echoed. It was of course not mute, but the sound was so loud it surpassed the sonic speeds.

    A shockwave sted through the entirety of the Qin Capital, causing the hundreds of damaged buildings to crumble to dust while those that were intact bore cracks and signs of massive damage.

    A shroom cloud rose up in the distance where the Qin army was. It didn¡¯t take much time for the dust to fade away as a strong wind gale pushed it away.

    What remained of the Qin army was nothing but ash and molten armor.

    \"Good shot!\"

    \"Yeah, fucking sucks that it doesn¡¯t give EXP! I would have been max level by now!\" Jeffery cursed.

    \"That skill is unfair if it gave EXP you¡¯d be the game¡¯s most broken yer.\" Warlord replied.

    \"Everyone, regroup, shit¡¯s about to go down\" Valentine called.

    \"Why, what¡¯s happening?\" Warlord asked he had just arrived at the pce gate where he saw the Elite soldiers that Satan yer was talking about.

    \"Four Boss ss Elites showed up, I think these are army generals,\" Valentine said.

    \"Where?!\"

    \"Right in the middle of the city, they¡¯re not moving, but whenever one of our yers move toward them, they execute them,\" Valentine said.

    \"Shit, share their Status Screen, Warlord said.

    \"That¡¯s the problem, they cannot be inspected, I never had this problem before,\" Valentine said.\"

    \"Doesn¡¯t matter,\" Mercy said.

    \"Why? Those four generals are cutting off our army we need the rest of the yers to take out the elites at the pce gates.

    \"Not really, that broken skill was actually useful,\" Mercy said, \"It cut off the power supply of the True Sightmps, I can get into the pce now.\"

    \"Yes! Finally, luck is smiling my way, go, take the King out, then those generals will be useless!\" Warlord urged.

    \"On it,\" Mercy said and hung up.

 Chapter 423 Party Crasher

    The world was closely following the events of the East. It was, obviously only natural, as many of the yers could not stand the fact that they were actually raiding the East without anyone else knowing about their heroic exploits.

    The fires of war raged high and mighty. Most of the world¡¯s entertainment TV Stations had handsomely paid for some of the footage. Each showcased their own intake about the war that was happening. The reporters gave their own opinion on the major events, somemending Warlord¡¯s great effort in fighting against an army alone, while othersined or debunked theints toward the powerful Skill that the Mecha had revealed.

    However, among all of the world¡¯s entertainmentpanies, only CCN had declined to release any news regarding their own cash cow Skeletal¡¯s whereabouts. Not only was he proimed missing, but some had also used him of fearing the Devastators to the point that he would not appear in the East.

    One of the reporters spoke up, \"Skeletal might be a great yer, but he is just one man. He cannot fight against the might of the strongest Guild in the world of Conquest. Warlord, as an American, is bringing us a great honor by iming the East as his own and adding it to his conquests.\"

    Others criticized thement as being too radical. As a matter of fact, Skeletal himself was an American and there was no need for discrimination, as this was just a game and all should y for the fun of it. They also criticized him for ¡¯conveniently forgetting¡¯ that the East was supposed to go to European Might, who, after all, had won the auction for the Right of Conquest.

    Some reporters came to Skeletal¡¯s aid, but with theck of active appearance of the world¡¯s most famous Draugr, their opinions had little to no impact on the virality of the current events.

    Only one thing was for sure, without Skeletal¡¯s appearance, the Devastators were going to im the East with ease.

    Another reporter from an eastern TVpany came to view, reporting the fact that the Heaven¡¯s Dawn and the Blood Ragers Guilds had agreed on a truce and were currently headed directly toward the frontlines. Not only did they hate the fact that the Devastators had cheated them and gone for the East on their own, but they also seem to have realized that it was due to the Devastators that their initial conflict had ensued.

    Now hand in hand, the Heaven¡¯s Dawn and the Blood Ragers were headed toward the East, cruising through the Wilds. They knew full well that they would not make it in time to stop the Devastators from taking the Qin Kingdom if they kept the massacre at this rate. But even if they did capture it, the Korean and Chinese Guilds were determined to break the Devastators in the Qin Kingdom, nullifying their n in taking the East while the two were fighting.

    Due to the great coverage from the massive and worldwidepanies of entertainment, a small bit of footage of a certain Draugr riding on a Ghost Shark-Chariot went unnoticed. And even for the few viewers that had watched it, they imed that it was probably fabricated by a Skelly-Fanatic, to safeguard his appearance.

    Little did they know, that Mr. Skeletal was riding to the East with thergest army the world of Conquest had ever seen...

    ***

    \"Warlord! What¡¯s the situation?\" Valentine screamed his lungs out, the Four Generals had began moving and were ying the yers left and right. Their damage output was clearly out of the yer¡¯s league as they struck in the millions of units of damage. Killing anything that came into their field of view.

    \"Mercy¡¯s infiltrated the Pce. We don¡¯t have eyes so we are forced to wait for her updates.\"

    \"Then if you can¡¯t do anything theree and help us! At least shake these fuckers a bit. We¡¯re being culled!\" Valentine cursed.

    \"I¡¯d love to, but there¡¯s a shit ton of Elite Soldiers right around us. Hell do I know where those fuckers appeared from, but we¡¯re stuck inside a house near the pce. If we try to get out we¡¯ll be killed.\"

    \"Didn¡¯t you just fight a goddamned army of those Elite Soldiers on your own?\" Demetri¡¯s panicked voice came from the party chat.

    \"COOLDOWN! Ever heard of that?\" Warlord shouted back. \"Once God¡¯s Fist and God¡¯s Stomp are avable again, I¡¯lle meet up with you. For now just hold back. Where¡¯s Satan yer?\" Warlord asked.

    \"I thought he was with you,\" Valentine sounded surprised.

    \"No, we split off once Mercy went into the pce.\"

    \"I¡¯m near the docks. They chased after me for a good while, but I seem to have shaken most of them off. I¡¯ll need to wait until the rest of the Elite Soldiers are off my back. How¡¯s the situation at the gate?\" Satan yer asked.

    \"Jeffery¡¯s doing a great job holding off the soldiers. The only real issue for our army are the Four Generals. We can¡¯t do shit against those.\" Valentine answered with spite as he watched more of their members getting destroyed. It was as if they were merembs in front of a butcher.

    \"Just avoid them for now. Try to use yers who have summons to leech them if they get too close to our ranks. We need time, Mercy should be done shortly.\"

    \"I doubt that,\" Mercy¡¯s strained voice came from the party chat.

    \"What the hell is going on now?\"

    \"You should have invested in the blueprints of this ce. The pce... it¡¯s even more fortified. There is one of those General Ranks right next to the King along with twenty Elites who look fiercer than theirpanions. Must be the Royal Guard or something.\"

    \"Just execute the king and get this over with!\"

    \"I can¡¯t. There¡¯s a giant True Sightmp lighting the whole goddamn pce courtyard. If I get any close, I¡¯ll be immediately revealed and my Legacy Skill won¡¯t work. I need a distraction to get the King away from this True Sight Chandelier.\"

    \"Shit, think of something, we don¡¯t have time. The Ragers and Heaven¡¯s Dawn are on their way here, they¡¯ll not like what we¡¯re doing.\" Warlord hurried.

    \"I¡¯m on it. Just let me think of something,\" Mercy countered.

    \"Damn, this is not going well,\" Warlord spoke in frustration.

    Despite their current predicament, the situation had gone pretty good for the Devastators so far. Not only were they inside the city and slowly grinding its forces, but they were also actually an arms reach away from taking over the East. However, the stress from seeing your target right in front of you without being able to take it only worried Warlord more.

    Not only would this conquest cement his future and coboration with the European Guild, it would also remove the stain that Skeletal had smeared along Warlord¡¯s gamer career.

    For that Warlord needed patience, something he usuallycked, but even more so at the moment.

    Several hours went by without any significant development. Within these hours, the Heaven¡¯s Dawn Guild and the Blood Ragers had traversed immensely through the Wilds. (Un-)Fortunately, they had missed Urburgpletely as they had opted to take the road they had used before.

    Due to whatever god was smiling upon them, they had encountered no creatures of the Wilds. It was as if the Wilds feared the yer¡¯s existence... but in reality that couldn¡¯t be farther from the truth. the Wilds feared not the weak. They were simply benefitting from a lucky coincidence. Not too long ago most of the Wilds Dwellers had followed Skeletal hundreds of miles away from their territory as he rode on the back of the Worm Emperor the Minghocao.

    The creatures had simply opted to take new residence in the area where they lost the Draugr and were currently still fighting for supremacy amongst themselves, fully ignoring the army that moved through the Wilds unhindered.

    The advance of the two guilds was spectated by many of the world¡¯s viewers. They were hoping for them to arrive before the Devastators could finish the job and cause pandemonium. Everyone loved seeing chaos ensuing and as a matter of fact, the one who loved to create a scene the most was on his way to do just that.

    Back at the Eastern Kingdom, the Four Generals within the city began splitting up. Each of them went into a different direction. One headed directly to the Gate to relieve the stress on the Qin Soldiers. Another headed to the pce. Even if there was no cause for worry, the General had probably deemed it would be safer for his king if he was nearby.

    Another headed to the residential areas to suppress the Mercenaries who began plundering the resources inside the city, while thest one headed toward the docks.

    \"Warlord, the situation is bing more and more crucial, we can¡¯t hold these guys off, how much longer until you can move?!\"

    \"In a bit. I just need fifteen minutes and I¡¯ll be ready. Hold on for now, Mercy, what¡¯s the situation?\" Warlord asked.

    \"Still no updates. I¡¯ve gone through all scenarios I could think of, but I have nothing on me that might help without me getting killed instantly. They¡¯re just standing there like god damned statues. It¡¯s as if they know I¡¯m here.\" Mercy cursed.

    \"Update me, as soon as you notice something new or strange then,\" Warlord sighed.

    \"Speaking about strange things...\" Satan Salyer¡¯s voice came from the party chat. His quietness after he spoke gave a lot of worry for everyone within the party chat.

    \"What¡¯s going on?\" Demetri asked.

    \"Well, the weather just changed.\" Satan yer stated bluntly.

    \"That¡¯s nothing strange, it¡¯s a game, give us something critical or crucial!\" Demetri shouted. His nerves were already fried from all the tension happening due to this raid.

    \"Well, the weather changed too abruptly for it to be normal. Even if this is a game, it shouldn¡¯t happen just like this.\"

    \"It¡¯s probably nothing important,\" Warlord replied.

    \"Hold on, what do you mean the weather changed? It¡¯s still sunny up here at the city center.\"

    \"Well, the docks are darkened as if it was evening. There is a lot of foging from the sea side, yet the sea seems as calm as a mirror surface. The birds, seagulls, and small critters have all escaped too,\" Satan yer exined.

    After a moment of silence, Satan yer spoke once again, \"There¡¯s movement...I see something in the fog...\"

    \"Show us, share the feed,\" Warlord demanded.

    A small screen appeared in front of all the yers in Warlord¡¯s party.

    The screen showed a gust of fog great enough that it covered most of the sea side on the docks.

    And in the distance a shadow of something was approaching fast.

    Soon, the sound of growls and water sshing came rushing through the video feed as what appeared as shadow in the distance became clearer the closer it moved.

    \"Is that a boat?\" Warlord wondered.

    \"It¡¯s a bird,\" Demetri guessed.

    A momentter, three white sharks came into clear view and behind them was a chariot with a person riding. With an enormous wide grin appearing on his face...

    \"NO! THAT¡¯S SKELETAL!\" Jeffery¡¯s squeaking voice broke the silence.

    \"I HOPE I¡¯M NOT LATE FOR THE PARTY!\"

 Chapter 424 Undead Against the wrold

    \"Skelly is here!\" Satan yer shouted with all he had.

    \"Oh if it isn¡¯t Satan yer. I never thought you¡¯d be this excited to see me here. Well, I am still grateful for you telling me who bought those 6% shares, but seeing that I saved your ass and Legacy thest time we met, I¡¯d say that makes us even. So, I suppose this is how things ought to be.\"

    Dave turned his head across the docks and pointed at them.\" It appears as if you guys didn¡¯t put much effort into protecting the docks or securing them. Bad move.\" Dave had an evil smile on his draugr face.

    \"What the hell is he talking about?\" Demetri was asking the simrly clueless party members.

    \"See, if you focus all of your forces on one side, you end up with fragile sections. An army should be treated as a single unit. It¡¯s like a chain. Its strength will always depend on the weakest link. And the docks are unquestionably your weak link.\" Dave exined as he slowly nudged the chains in his hands for the sharks to move.

    If sharks could growl these ones did. They closed in fast towards Satan yer who was standing on the wooden dock.

    \"Now let me show you what happens if you have a weak link in your ranks. You¡¯re about to be taught a nasty lesson!\"

    \"Your 100,000-man army is nothingpared to ours, we have over 300,000 yers under us.\" Satan yer countered. \"Yours may look impressive, but we¡¯ve analyzed it. Those Undead are mostlyposed of low-leveled Undead Captains and Elites. They¡¯re nothingpared to the yers we have. Try and get in out way and you¡¯ll get killed. Do you really think you can contend with our army?!\"

    \"Right, I only have 100 Death Knights. But you see... the only way for me to get more is if I beat the living crap out of y¡¯all. As you said, my army isn¡¯t strong enough topete against your 180,000 yers.\" Dave ¡¯agreed¡¯ in a grin.

    The mere statement of the current remaining forces of the Devastators and the Mercenary troops was enough to send shivers running down Satan yer¡¯s back.

    He had tried to bluff about the number of the Devastators guild and the mercs they hired, but it appears that Skelly already knew the exact number of the current forces.

    It wasn¡¯t aplete lie. It was true that they hade here with over 300,000 yers, but that number had dwindled greatly after the Devastators received a major beating at the gate and within the city. Yet, the exact number was protected information which should have been exclusive to the yers in Warlord¡¯s party.

    Not even the TV stations were privy to it, so how the hell did Skelly found out about it? All the yers had signed an NDA and they were banned from disclosing party within the game. Also if he knew their numbers, what other crucial information was he aware of? Did he know how many legacy yers they had left, and who hasn¡¯t yet used their legacy?

    \"MERCY! You have to take out the king! Skelly is here! If he screws things up, it¡¯s on you!\" Warlord shouted.

    Mercy couldn¡¯t help but curse her luck. Dave had arrived way too early and yet she was unable to do anything to cause a distraction and take out the king. It would be horrible for [It¡¯s Just Business] to fail at thest step especially when they sent out their mostpetent, and most expensive, person. It would leave a massive stain on their reputation not to mention the cost they would have to pay for not fulfilling the contract.

    \"What happened? Undead got your tongue?\"

    \"Doesn¡¯t matter, you¡¯re still outnumbered,\" Satan yer said after a slight hesitation.

    \"I¡¯m not that ungrateful though. I¡¯m aware that if it wasn¡¯t for your help at that time I would have lost my Legacy. For that, you have my gratitude. How would you like a spot at the round table of the Devastators in exchange for helping us take the Qin Kingdom.\" Satan yer dered.

    \"What the fuck are you saying?!\" Warlord was made with rage as he shouted in the party chat. If it wasn¡¯t for him being pinned down, he would rush down to Satan yer and show him what he thought about this idea. Yet Valentine interrupted.

    \"No, let him finish. yer¡¯s idea is actually a good one. Think about it, we have no idea what Skelly is packing. He also has 100,000 Undead we can use to lower our own casualties. Don¡¯t forget that we might have to deal with the Blood Ragers and Heaven¡¯s Dawn afterward!\"

    \"Oh, you want me to join in? That is an interesting and generous offer, Brosky... but nah. You see Warlord tried to whack me back at the Fourth Raid Zone, and the guys from the Qin Kingdom tried to take what was mine many times now. As far as I am concerned, you¡¯re all kinda my enemy now.\" Dave grimly dered.

    Satan yer sighed. He had been grasping at straws with his offer. It was clear that there was no way he would be able to convince Skeletal to join after their ¡¯betrayal¡¯, so he twirled his spear and pointed it forward.

    \"Then fight me!\"

    \"Nah, I already told you guys, it¡¯s not my style to bully the weak.\" Dave shrugged the challenge off. \"Bud, take him out for me please.\"

    Almost instantly, insidiously and soundlessly, the reason for Dave¡¯s knowledge of the Devastators¡¯ movements, their numbers, and their forces appeared eerily behind Satan yer.

    The Shadow Ghoul had been hiding for a while now, and followed Dave¡¯s call for action. The creature¡¯s appearance didn¡¯t even alert the spear wielder, not until Bud¡¯s ws ripped through Satan yer¡¯s neck.

    There was no chance for the Spear Master. The Ghoul was fast and lethal. Ripping out Satan yer¡¯s avatar¡¯s throat was enough to stack massive bleed effects, stop his breathing, and disable the ability to heal with potions. Then the poison in his ws added to the bleed effect, further plummeting the Spear Master¡¯s HP.

    Staggered and dazed, Satan yer was helpless against the follow-up flurry of attacks Bud sent his way.

    To Satan yer, fighting a Death Knight one-on-one wouldn¡¯t be too difficult of a task, but that was only true in the case of an honorable duel. Yet with Bud using the moment of surprise and after having struck the initial attack, yer had realized he had lost any chance in this battle.

    Perhaps with his Legacy Skills, he could have somehow managed to turn it around, but they still on cooldown.

    Satan yer dropped to the floor, his face, facing Dave, but his throat bleeding out.

    \"Sorry bruh, you¡¯re not gonna be here to join the fun, but don¡¯t worry they should show what happens on CNN soon enough. But before you die let me at least show you some teaser on how I n to deal with all your yers. 100,000 Undead may not enough, but you shouldn¡¯t forget...\" Dave grinned as he stretched out his hands.

    \"WE ARE THE UNDEAD LEGION, FOR WE ARE MANY!!! BOYZ! ITS TIME, RISE UP!!\"

    Dave¡¯s voice hollered through the open sea. Ripples broke and moved across the surface sea, then soon, dozens, hundreds, and then tens of thousands of sharks appeared. All dragging chariots with Undead riding behind.

    All of them Death Knights or above.

    Satan yer¡¯s eyes widened, when did Skeletal gain this many Death Knights? Sadly, his HP dropped before he could obtain the answer to his question. If only he could have endured a bit longer he would have been able to see the gigantic Kraken rising from the sea, and the Leviathan in ghost ship mode along with more than fifteen ships sailing like a bird flock behind it.

    Dave pointed forward, \"GHOSTS! SPIRITS! UNDEAD! TODAY WE MAKE DESTINY! MARCH FORWARD! SLAUGHTER ALL THAT DARE RAISE A SWORD IN YOUR WAY!\"

    The next moment, Dave was genuinely surprised as he watched the sharks pull the chariots and lift them above sea level. The sharks were flying!

    \"The hell?! Sharks can fly?\"

    \"No, young Undead,\" came the amused voice of Marik in his mind. The Abyssal Knight was all the way back at the Leviathan.

    \"Sharks are incapable of flying, yet ghosts have no issue with that,\" he answered sarcastically.

    \"Oh, don¡¯t forget us, dear,\" came the sound of the Vampire Duchess.

    \"Us?\" Dave asked.

    \"Yes, ¡¯Us¡¯. You didn¡¯t think I would do all the dirty work by myself, did you?\" Lilith spoke and let out a littleugh. She waved her hand, creating several small vortexes. And from within these vortexes, it was as if the gates of hell had opened.

    Bats, in different sizes, shapes, and colors, all burst out from the small vortexes like water from a bursting dam. Their numbers were enough to darken the already dark sky. Their squeals and shrieks were enough to send shivers down the bravest of men.

    \"My little darlings you haven¡¯t had a drink in a while, go and feast...\" Lilith encouraged them.

    \"Welp, guess it¡¯s my time then fly up!\" Dave said and jerked the chains.

    The three Sharks Dave hadzily named, One, Two and Three, swung their tails as fast and as powerfully as they could, guiding the chariot up and joined the ranks among the flock of other chariots.

    The whole army moving above the Qin capital looked like the apocalypse had started and the harbingers of death were out to collect their toll. Bats that numbered in the millions, Undead riding the wind, and ghost ships on the horizon.

    Dave couldn¡¯t help but grin as he noticed the gazes of the yers, they seemed to have agreed to pause the ongoing fight against the Qin Soldiers and were staring at the sky. Some pinched themselves to check if they might be dreaming.

    Dave drew his sword and pointed it down, \"Let¡¯s start by cleaning up the streets!\"

    His words received an immediate response as the shark Chariots adhered and dove down on the stupefied yers.

    Panic is extremely contagious. Once the first yer decided to retreat from the iing horde of Undead, many followed him, only making the chariots disy their best ability, hunting runaways, and stragglers.

    A session of culling and ughter began, led by Dave who was more than d and willing to paint the streets of the Qin capital in blood, be it yers or Qin Soldiers.

    The Undead do not discriminate, none who oppose them deserve to survive.

 Chapter 425 A bit Unexpected...

    The Undead riding the shark chariots acted like endless hunting flocks of birds that swooped down on yers and NPCs alike. The Undead disregarded the fact that they were twopletely different factions and came down to whoever they saw first.

    Swarms of unending banshees and ghosts flew or rode through walls and buildings, ripping their ws or ethereal limbs as weapons through the yers and NPCs. Physical attacks on the ghosts were useless. The only ones who could do something against these creatures were casters or Pdins. But those ones were preupied trying to save their own skin.

    The Abyssal Knight of Blood and Carnage, the Blood Duchess Lilith showed her fangs.

    "Children, kill the holy men for me, they¡¯re an eyesore..."

    She had waved her handkerchief and her full red and bloodied lips had her request in gentle voice thatpletely did not match the deviousness of what she asked her subordinates to do. But just like that, the unending numbers of blood bats flew low, swarmed all yers who had a holy aura surrounding them, digging their tiny sharp fangs wherever they could or whenever they had the opportunity.

    Lilith¡¯s small but numerous swarms of bats were a great threat to anything that moved. Their sheer number and small size were enough to entrap anyone and turn them into an empty bloodless soulless husk in no time.

    The Mages and Priests began casting their holy spells or fire-rted abilities to fend off the bats, but a candle¡¯s light would never be able to light an abyss. The bats swarmed and forced their way through the holy light. They hurt and burnt, many even turned to ash, yet more and more kept moving against the holy light of the Priests and Pdins. The first bats used their ming bodies to cover the lighting from the Priests from their brethren. More and more bats joined in, swarming every single yer in a cocoon of leathery wings and fangs. After a while, the cocoon would disperse, though the ground would be littered with ash from the burnt bats, the Priests or yer that were swarmed would be no more than a bloodless soulless carcass. Sucked dry of all fluids, and left nothing more than skin on bones.

    "We¡¯re dying here!" Demetri shouted.

    "Mercy! Situation?!"

    "Just wait! Stuff is finally happening! Some ghosts are currently running amok inside the pce... They¡¯re distracting the guards! Once all the guards are focused on the ghosts, I¡¯ll take the first opportunity to go in for the kill!" Mercy spoke excitedly.

    "That¡¯s great news. Warlord, it¡¯s your time to shine!" Valentine said.

    "I KNOW!" Warlord roared back, "My Legacy Skills are back on and the Elites outside seem to have decreased in numbers. Let¡¯s see if they can hold against it," Warlord called.

    Right outside the pce Warlord emerged from the building he was hiding in.

    "COME AT ME!" Warlord shouted as he summoned his avatar. Immediately the great golden armored deity appeared for all to see. The sheer golden lighting from it acted as a beacon of light and pulled the bats toward it like moths to the candlelight.

    The golden light effectively burnt the bats to a much faster and more potent degree.

    Warlord began swinging his battle-ax against the Elite Soldiers who were stationed right next to the pce gate. Creating a distraction for the NPCs.

    "You¡¯re doing great. The Royal Guards are now paying more attention to you and the ghosts. Be careful some of them shoulde out soon. But keep it up." Mercyplimented.

    "Right! COME MEET YOUR MAKER!" Warlord shouted and summoned a gigantic golden gauntlet. God¡¯s Fist came crashing down against the Elite NPCs, where Warlord followed up with swings of his battle-ax. The avatar behind Warlord followed Warlord¡¯s hand movement and swung down his ax, mimicking his actions. The golden runic battle-ax of the deity culled the lives of the Qin Elites. While the golden lighting from it, protected Warlord from the swarming bats and the approaching Undead.

    It appeared that the War God¡¯s attacks were imbued with the Holy attribute. It was extremely ipatible with the Undead army.

    Dave had just arrived at the courtyard and found Warlord who looked like he was having a fun time.

    "Lilith," Dave called.

    "Yes dear," Lilith¡¯s voice was sour. For the first time that Dave saw her, she had something resembling actual emotion on her face, in this instance in the form of a frown. "Their death serves no purpose this way, yet I cannot stop them. Do you have a n?" Lilith asked.

    "Welp, not a n per se, but how about we turn things up a notch," Dave offered.

    He stomped a foot on the ground, summoning dark clouds that began covering the entirety of the capital of Qin.

    Warlord noticed the darkened skies and looked back. There he saw Dave in thepany of a red-dressed female who were both looking at him.

    "SKELETAL! TODAY YOU DIE!" Warlord shouted and raised his battle-ax high.

    "Ya ain¡¯t no fun Brosky, Final Phantasm!"

    Dave called the name of his Legacy Skill. The only Legacy Skill he had.

    The dark skies tore open to an even darker atmosphere. A skull guitar fell down from the sky and dropped right in the middle of the courtyard.

    The golden lighting from Warlord¡¯s avatar suddenly dimmed. He was within 100 meters of Dave and thus the area where he stood was considered the Undeath God¡¯s Domain. Naturally, the Gods would not tolerate other existences within. The link between the hold deity and the avatar warlord was using was abruptly cut.

    "Now, Lilith, call your bats."

    "With pleasure. Young ones, make me happy, take revenge for your brethren," she ordered and in barely an instant, all the bats in the area began screeching and screaming. The mere sound echoing from all over the ce was enough to cause dizziness.

    Warlord¡¯s avatar faded in and out of view, but not before he roared out a "Not today!" Warlord turned toward the pce and dashed forward. Empowered by the fading God of War avatar, Warlord was able to break through the ranks of the Elite soldiers guarding the pce gate.

    A golden helmet wearing NPC was standing at the gate of the pce. He was one of the Four Generals that had caused a lot of problems for the Devastators. He idly gazed at the entirety of what was happening without moving a muscle. But once he saw Warlord dashing toward the pce he drew a sword and prepared to meet him.

    Warlord threw his battle-ax toward the General, causing thetter to dodge the flimsy attack.

    Yet once the battle-ax bore through the gate of the pce, Warlord clenched his fist tight and disappeared from view. In his stead, there was suddenly the battle-ax that he had just thrown.

    The General realized toote that Warlord had actually managed to bypass him. And before he could take the chase, the ax tore itself from the ground and flew off like a bullet, shing the ear of the General off as it followed behind Warlord into the pce.

    "Damn, that¡¯s a cool Skill," Dave said.

    "What will you do now, Kis¡¯Shtiengbrah?" Lilith asked.

    "Well, I should follow after that guy. Otherwise, if he kills the Qin¡¯s King, I¡¯ll might fail His Majesty¡¯s Royal Labors Quest."

    "Then would you like my assistance in clearing the way?" Marik offered as he appeared out of nowhere. In his hands, were the heads of two NPCs, both had golden helmets signifying they were each a General.

    "Um, yeah, that would be great," Dave nodded.

    Yet before Marik could move. A notification appeared in front of Dave.

    ***

    yer Mercy, from the guild [It¡¯s Just Business], has killed the King of the Qin Kingdom.

    For having used the Right of Conquest, Mercy of the Guild [It¡¯s Just Business] is hereby installed as the Queen of the Imperial Eastern Kingdom with all its vassals.

    Congrattions to yer Mercy.

    yer Mercy has received the title Sovereign.

    yer Mercy has earned full control over the kingdom¡¯s Teleportation Gates as well as the right to ban any hostile yer from their kingdom.

    yer Mercy will need to stay inside the pce of the capital and lead her army to defend against any other hostile yer forces for at least 24 hours game time.

    Once the capital is preserved, and no hostile yers are in the area, the Kingdom of Qin shall have a new ruler.

    ***

    "Huh, she did it..." Dave mumbled. The notification came as a shock to him. So much so, that he didn¡¯t even check who was the one who called him right after.

    "No hard feelings, right? You know, it¡¯s just business," Mercy¡¯s voice came from the friend¡¯s voice chat.

    Dave smiled bitterly. He knew she was most likely still spiteful over the fact that he had defeated her in the sh of Gods, and this was the best chance for her to win back some face.

    "Right, that was well done actually. Could you at least tell me how you¡¯ve done it? Bud told me that there was a huge True Sightntern inside the pce." Dave asked.

    "Well, seeing as I couldn¡¯t have done it without your aid, I guess I might tell you," Mercy pretended like she struggled whether to tell Dave or not, even though the glee in her voice made it pretty obvious she wouldn¡¯t let go of this opportunity to gloat. "Turns out your Legacy is more useful than you might have realized. When you used your [Blot the Sun] the True Light chandelier gave up, and I had the perfect chance to kill the king. The tricky part was getting away from the General next to him."

    "Sounds pretty awesome, shame I wasn¡¯t able to watch you do it," Dave said.

    "...You don¡¯t sound annoyed..." Mercy sounded disappointed. This was not the kind of reaction she had expected.

    "Why would I?" Dave asked nonchntly.

    "Well, if I remember correctly, you needed to kill the King of the Qin Kingdom for your quest right?" Mercy said.

    "I still do."

    "...Ah, I think I get it."

    "Now that your contract is done, can you please hurry up... and do your thingy," Dave asked nicely.

    "Yeah, I wouldn¡¯t want to be your target anymore. I¡¯ll log out and tell Papa that our agreement with Demetri has been fulfilled, the rest is up to him."

    Dave¡¯s grin couldn¡¯t grow any wider. Even though the two Abyssal Knights next to him had a baleful atmosphere around them.

    "You smile when this is no time to smile, Kis¡¯Shtiengbrah," Marik said, "The soul of the King of this country has just left his body. He has died, yet it was not you who has in him. That goes against your Quest."

    "Perhaps... but maybe you should wait a bit" Dave answered mysteriously.

    Away from Dave and the two scary undead next to him, Demetri was shouting cursing at Warlord, for thetter was refusing his orders.

    "I¡¯m in the only ce that is protected! If Mercy gives you Kingship, you¡¯ll die! You won¡¯t even be able to log out!"

    "I¡¯ll take my chances!" Demetri shouted.

    "It¡¯s up to you, but if you want my opinion Warlord is right. You are too low leveled and currently surrounded by Undead. If I hand over to Kingship to you, you¡¯ll just die and Skelly will have thestugh. Now wouldn¡¯t it be ironic, if Skelly gains the East after you paid so much to win his auction." Mercy interjected. "Anyway decide now, I did my part so I don¡¯t want to stick around against him."

    "How? You can¡¯t teleport out or log out here!" Demetri said.

    "I have a scroll that can take me to the Underworld."

    "Then sell it to me, I¡¯ll get Kingship and use the scroll to leave, I¡¯ll give you ten million for it!"

    "No can do. First of all, all contracts need to go through Papa first, and secondly, it¡¯s a gift from Skelly himself. I promised him I would only use it for myself and I don¡¯t lie. Besides, you have to stay in the area to officially take over."

    Mercy soon logged out after she left the area.

    Another notification soon appeared.

    ***

    yer Mercy has transferred her Kingship to yer Warlord.

    yer Warlord, from the guild [The Devastators], has be the King of the Qin Kingdom.

    Congrattions to yer Warlord.

    yer Warlord has received the title Sovereign.

    yer Warlord has earned full control over the kingdom¡¯s Teleportation Gates as well as the right to ban any hostile yer from their kingdom.

    yer Warlord has two Kingdoms under his name, he can initiate trade between his two kingdoms and receive increased ie from trade andmerce.

    yer Warlord will need to stay inside the pce of the capital and lead his army to defend against any other hostile yer forces for at least 24 hours game time.

    Once the capital is preserved, and no hostile yers are in the area, the Kingdom of Qin shall have a new ruler.

    ***

    "Oh, this is turning out even better than I expected," Dave smiled.

    Hidden inside the pce Warlord wasughing like a madman.

    "THIS TIME IT¡¯S MY VICTORY! Skeletal, You Ain¡¯t shit!"

    "What now?" Marik asked, "Should we kill him?"

    "Don¡¯t worry about that. I have a n" Dave said as he turned. All of the NPCs had stopped hostilities against the Devastators. Right now, it looked like Dave and his Undead would be against a coalition of yers and NPCs, so the situation was no longer a battle royal.

    yers emerged from the city streets, NPCs and yers all came forward to gather around the pce.

    "Have our Undead stop killing their forces and call them back. I wanna make this clear," Dave ordered.

    Soon the Undead stopped attacking yers. After no new attacksunched for over a minute, one of the yers spoke up, "Skelly is giving up..."

 Chapter 426 Challenge

    Soon that notion grew and propagated like a contagious sickness. Most believed that the legendary Mr. Skeletal has actually been bested for once and that this was Warlord¡¯s victory.

    "Skelly," came Valentine¡¯s voice.

    From among the crowd, Valentine appeared, his armor was in tatters, but a wide smile was on his face.

    "It was a good fight, too bad you came a bit toote."

    Dave didn¡¯t respond, he only returned the smile.

    "Warlord wants to speak to you," Valentine informed the draugr.

    "Oh, does he now? But where is he? Don¡¯t tell me he is afraid of me and mypany?" Dave asked sarcastically. If Warlord dide out, there was nothing to save him from the Undead.

    Valentine chose not to answer Dave¡¯s trick question. Even though it was obvious that Dave was right, admitting it would only make Warlord a coward.

    "No, he wants to speak to you, Face-Time," Valentine answered after choosing his words carefully. He waved his hand, showing a screen with Warlord on the other side.

    "Skelly, Skelly, Skelly, see. I told you many times over, that one day your luck would run out. It just so happened that today¡¯s the day. So what can you do now? HUH! You can¡¯t do shit! Wanna know something else? I just asked Albert, apparently even if you somehow make it inside, you won¡¯t be able take this kingdom away by killing me!"

    Dave tilted his head. He had not expected that so he wanted to verify if Warlord wasn¡¯t bullshitting him. "Albert, is that true?"

    The AI appeared right next to Dave.

    "What a crowd..." spoke the old man as he took a sip from the drink inside his coconut.

    "To answer your question, yes. The game has been designed so that after an NPCs ruler gets eliminated by a yer who uses their Right of Conquest only another yer can take control over that kingdom. You can kill him, but that won¡¯t make you a king. There are three ways to obtain the Kingship over the Qin Kingdom or any other for that matter. You can be King if you are being offered the Kingship," Albert exined and looked at Dave with a wide smile "Which is very improbable in your case."

    "A yer has to kill Warlord in the pce, which is even more unlikely because he can kick anyone he wants off the capital."

    "Huh? Then why didn¡¯t he kick me out?" Dave interjected.

    "Because you¡¯re considered a monster. The moment you change appearance, you¡¯ll be kickable. Still, for fairness¡¯ sake, a yer will be given a ten-second grace period, before they are kicked out. You never know when those ten seconds might matter," Albert answered while casually sipping from his drink.

    "Ok, but the game is literally called Conquest. Doesn¡¯t seem very urate if he can just kick everyone out?"

    "You are correct. He might be able to kick one or more yers at his leisure, but to keep the spirit of the game, even a ruler won¡¯t be able to kick out an army. An army bes a threatening force to any nation. Say, for example, those yers from the guilds, the Blood Ragers, and Heaven¡¯s Dawn who are on their way here. If they arrive within the 24 hours period after a new Sovereign has been elected and manage to kill Warlord, the killer will automatically obtain Kingship."

    "Huh, then what¡¯s the third option?" Dave asked.

    "I don¡¯t like to spoil things," was the only thing the old man said before disappearing.

    The ambiguous remark from Albert caused everyone to be on their toes.

    Could Skeletal have an Ace up his sleeves? Something no one expected?

    Warlord didn¡¯t understand what Albert was referring to, but it didn¡¯t make things any easier.

    "Well, guess it¡¯s time to get started then. I grew very bored," Dave said as he turned to the yers and addressed them: "It seems, that you¡¯re all gathered here waiting for a good show! Let me be a good host!"

    Before Dave could act, one of the yers shot a fireball at Dave¡¯s face. However, Lilith intervened and caught the spell in her hand. The Abyssal LKnight was infuriated, her face distorted as her jaw opened up inhumanly wide so that she could shout.

    "YOU DARE!"

    The offending yer was shocked by the hideousness the Abyssal Knight had revealed and took a step back, but Lilith didn¡¯t give him a chance. Her eyes turned crimson red, and the yer stopped moving. The next moment he began walking toward the Abyssal Knight, yet his steps seemed forced as if his body did not want to follow his feet. Slowly he made his way toward her, charmed, unable to resist the spell, even as many Priests tried to dispel the Abyssal Knight¡¯s curse, the yer moved to meet his fate.

    Once he was right next to Lilith, she spoke, "Kis¡¯Shtiengbrah was speaking! The least you could do is listen, maggot!" she then dove her hand into the yer¡¯s heart. Killing him instantly.

    "Anyone else wishes to interrupt?" she asked. All the yers present had chills running down their spines.

    Was this an NPC? Howe she was this strong? Perhaps this was just an event gimmick otherwise no NPC should have the power to execute yers on a whim.

    Dave gulped, even he didn¡¯t understand what was going on. But it was good that Lilith was going to keep all of those yers on their toes.

    He turned and raised both hands up then smacked them both together in a thunderp of a sound.

    The sound echoed in the area, then soon the skies brightened up.

    "WARLORD! GET OUT!!!!" Shouted Valentine.

    A meteor fell down toward the pce, only this time, the Meteor was empowered by the still active Final Phantasm. The meteor¡¯s color wasn¡¯t the usual red, but a mix of purple and ck, just like the space found in Limbo.

    "What the fuck?!" Cursed one of the yers when he saw the enormous meteor falling down. Before the giant space projectile could hit the pce, another appeared right behind it.

    Loud, thunderous explosions echoed in the vicinity, shaking the very core of the yers and NPCs alike. The power the Draugr disyed was too great.

    More explosions echoed after the second meteor hit, and barely a third of the pce was left standing. Purple and red mes moved across the stone-like liquid.

    Dave knew better than anyone that this Skill would not kill Warlord, but it sure did have a spectacr effect.

    He turned to the yers and with outstretched hands asked, "ARE YOU NOT ENTERTAINED?!!

    Before anyone could answer, he snapped his fingers summoning Infernal Dragon Skulls, only under the influence of Final Phantasm, the skulls turned to me dragons.

    "DO YOU WANT MORE?!" Dave shouted.

    He turned and gave his dragon squad their order, "Burn it to the ground!"

    The dragons shot their mes at the pce, further melting all of the stones and rocks.

    The yers behind Dave were stupefied, they didn¡¯t know if they should act or not. But they all believed that no matter what Dave did, he would obtain no benefits, Warlord¡¯s death would give Skeletal nothing except for maybe some meager satisfaction.

    "Skelly! Killing Warlord will not get you the Kingship!" Valentine cried over the damage.

    Dave didn¡¯t answer. "Still not dead?" Dave tilted his head, "You¡¯re as persistent as a cockroach, so how about we clear up the rubble. I have just the thing for this," The draugr tapped on his bag, "Onixya, it¡¯s been a long time since youst got out, time to stretch your wings!"

    From his side bag, a small creature emerged. To the yers, it looked like a small lizard, but once it unfurled its wings, and once the yers began inspecting it, they collectively took some steps back.

    "D-dragon! He has a pet dragon!"

    "Shit, why is she still a hatchling," Dave wondered out loud. After all the EXP she had received she should have grown up to be an adolescent dragon at the very least...

    "That¡¯s not a hatchling!" another yer corrected his misconception. Dave looked at Onixya, yet she was as small as ever.

    Out of curiosity, he inspected her,

    ck Dragon [Battle-Pet]

    level 422

    HP: 4,220,000

    MD: 211,000

    PD : 211,000

    Skills:

    [Death Bound]: As a battle Pet Onixya can benefit from Kis¡¯Shtiengbrah¡¯s link to the Death Heart, gaining revivability without the need to turn to Undeath.

    [Aura of Terror] Creates a constant Terrorizing Aura that causes Fear to affect all creatures with levels lower than Onixya.

    [Dragon Breath] Hidden!

    Lore

    The only offspring of the Dragon of Terrors that ruled over the Wilds. Currently bound to yer Kis¡¯Shtiengbrah.

    Because of improper care, her natural development has been dyed.

    ***

    "Huh, I thought you¡¯d get bigger than that once you leveled up," Dave wondered. Yet thest sentence and the fact that the dragon¡¯s stomach began growling answered his question about the ¡¯improper care¡¯.

    "Ah shit, I forgot you need to eat," Dave pped himself on the said. "I¡¯ll promise that Kraky will provide you with an all you can eat Sea Food Buffet, after this is over. But before that, I just need a tiny favor."

    The dragon tilted her head.

    "See that rubble, take it away please," He said.

    Almost immediately, the dragon understood Dave¡¯s meaning, she turned her head and spat a small ball toward the center of the pce.

    The ball grew bigger and began spinning, absorbing the mes and rubble, stones and boulders, all was sucked in and turned to distorted dust within the highlypressed ck hole.

    Until Warlord was finally revealed, crouching behind a pir.

    "His Royal Highness finally appears in front of us lowly masses!"

    Warlord groaned and rose up, "You won¡¯t get anything from this, Skelly!"

    "You might be right, but I came here to fulfill a promise!"

    "What are you talking about?" Warlord asked while chugging down a health potion.

    "Remember when west met in the Wilds? You told me, you¡¯d like to have a go at me. I now want to take you up on that. Right here, right now, with all these yers as witnesses," Dave answered while stroking his beard.

 Chapter 427 Confrontation

    "Remember when west met in the wilds, you said you¡¯d like to have a go at me, how about now, with all these yers as witnesses," Dave said.

    "My Legacy Skills are on cooldown, I can¡¯t fight you right now,"

    Dave shrugged and said, "Okay, Final Edge!" He activated his Legacy Skill.

    The Undeath God¡¯s hand appeared from behind Warlord and simply tapped him on the back of the head. That simple tap was enough to smack the War God legacy holder into the ground and shave half of his HP clean off.

    One of the yers shouted, "CHEATER!"

    But a single look from the Abyssal Knight Lilith was enough to shut him up.

    "Hey, I didn¡¯t cheat, he said he didn¡¯t wanna fight, but I want to fight. Got a problem with that? Go sue me!" Dave said and turned to Warlord.

    "Now, we either do this or do this."

    "Damn it!" Warlord pulled out his battle-ax, "You¡¯re ON!" he then stomped a foot down causing the massive armored foot to appear in mid-air.

    "EVERYONE LEAVE THE AREA!" Warlord shouted. Not to protect them, but to cause the ratio of yer vs monster to decrease. The more outnumbered Warlord was on a battlefield, the stronger he became.

    "Oh, now who¡¯s cheating?" Dave said and raised his round shield up to block the Legacy Skill. Once the Skill touched the shield it disappeared, causing all the yers to gawk in awe.

    "Shut the fuck up!" Warlord cursed, he didn¡¯t understand where the Skill had gone too, so he decided it was better off to use his battle-ax to fight against Skeletal.

    The Undead might look like a fighter, but Warlord was sure that Skeletal was a caster. He had relied on his Skills many times to win fights. So the best way to win was to keep a melee pressure on him.

    Warlord went for Dave¡¯s neck.

    Only to have thetter duck and draw Durandal.

    Dave swung down his weapon horizontally at Warlord.

    "Noob!" Warlord grinned, Dave¡¯s weapon was heavy,rge and big. So its swings, though they would be painful, were easily telegraphed.

    Warlord ducked down under the sword and rose up to retaliate.

    Yet what Warlord didn¡¯t expect was that Dave¡¯s muscles would tense up, and his motion would stop midway, then while he was in mid-swing, he forcefully swung the weapon, faster, stronger and more dexterously to the other side. The greatsword collided with Warlord¡¯s open side and smacked him down the ground.

    "Sorry bro, but you¡¯re just a casual. You should have expected that Undead don¡¯t function as humans, we don¡¯t care for strain, stress on the muscles, or strength needed to wield a weapon. changing the trajectory of a sword in mid-swing is one of the basics, so better think hard before you dare call me a noob, ya scrub,"

    Being called a scrub was it for Warlord, he rose back up, and charged at Dave.

    The two began a battle of trading blows, Dave¡¯s enormous HP Pool gave him a wide advantage, but Warlord¡¯s heavy firepower was something to be wary of.

    Dave ducked and dodged then struck whenever he could. Durandal was too heavy, and with Dave¡¯s ability to change the weapon¡¯s trajectory, Warlord had to stay on his toes.

    The yers watched with intensity as the two fought, they had forgotten that they were in a war and were raiding the East, they all focused on these two¡¯s battle.

    "C¡¯mon strike harder! I have skeletons that hit harder than you!" Dave taunted and Warlord replied in roars and overexposed assaults.

    "CALM DOWN, God damn it, you¡¯re being led on!"

    Valentine cursed, he was the only one who could keep Warlord focused and clear-minded. But he needed to fight alongside him.

    Warlord stopped his desperate flurry of attacks and began thinking clearer, causing Dave to smile. He must have realized his n to infuriate Warlord into a frenzy.

    Warlord¡¯s Legacy Skill was off cooldown and he used it immediately.

    "GOD¡¯s FIST!"

    Dave looked up, smiled and raised his shield, causing the Skill to disappear immediately.

    Warlord groaned; he didn¡¯t understand how the Draugr was doing this. He was canceling his Legacy Skills like if they were nothing.

    "What¡¯s the matter?" Dave said and struck again.

    Warlord dodged and this time beautifully evaded Dave¡¯s trajectory change.

    "Not bad, no wonder you were the number one," Dave said.

    Even if it was a taunt, Dave became restless, Warlord was a monster of a yer. Not because of his level or gear, but Dave had just realized that Warlord nevermitted the same mistake twice. If this kept up for to long, Dave would find himself in trouble.

    Dave dashed in, he swung his sword vertically, causing Warlord to jump back, even if Dave tried to change the swung to a pierce, Warlord will have enough time to dodge.

    Yet Dave didn¡¯t change trajectory, he used [Immortal Apparition] to disappear mid-swing, and appear behind Warlord.

    Durandal struck at Warlord¡¯s back.

    -250,288

    "Gotcha!" Dave said and jumped back, avoiding Warlord¡¯s retaliatory swing.

    "I can¡¯t believe you¡¯ll keep dispersing these!" Warlord said and stomped his foot down.

    Dave looked up, smiled and raised his shield up.

    Yet the foot didn¡¯t dissipate, causing Warlord to smile, it was going to hit the draugr, and with the Holy Attribute effect of the Legacy Skill, it will deal massive damage.

    However, the foot went through the draugr harmlessly, and the tip of the boot stomped down on Warlord himself.

    -650,000!

    Warlord was crushed by his own Skill.

    Unbeknownst to all, Dave had raised his shield, rejected Warlord¡¯s own [God¡¯s Stomp] and absorbed the one he just cast right now, making it appear as if Warlord¡¯s own Skill had turned against him.

    Warlord¡¯s HP was in the red, he only needed one hit from Dave and he would die.

    Dave walked closer to Warlord and said "Heya, I think you lost," Dave said.

    "But you didn¡¯t win, killing me will get you nothing,"

    "Right, you¡¯re right, but what if I do this?" Dave said and raised his right hand up.

    Dave¡¯s Undead avatar immediately changed back to human. His Death-Stroke character was now avable for the world to see.

    "HA! Idiot! Kick yer Death Stroke!" Warlord called.

    A notification appeared in front of Dave

    ***

    The King of the Qin Kingdom, Warlord has issued a Ban on your Death Stroke character.

    You will be expulsed from the kingdom of Qin in 10 seconds.

    ***

    "God¡¯s Shield!" Warlord cast.

    "Now what¡¯re you gonna do? God¡¯s Shieldsts for 5 seconds, I still have Bastion and another Immunity Skill, in ten seconds you¡¯ll be kicked, and I¡¯ll still get to be the king of this country! After all that! You brain farted here!" Warlord gleefullyughed.

    Dave shook his head, he turned to the yers and said, "You believe this guy? Huh"

    He then casually pulled a piece of paper and unfurled it.

    To Warlord¡¯s misery and surprise, he knew what that paper was.

    "I hereby use the Eastern Kingdom Right of Conquest!"

    A server announcement message popped up,

    ***

    yer Death-Stroke has issued a Right of Conquest!

    By Right of Conquest, yer Death-Stroke can disregard the Banishment from the kingdom as he is a hostile force with dangerous intentions to the throne.

    yer Death-Stroke has the right to im the Eastern Kingdom as his own by kingship once he defeats the current King of the country.

    ***

    "Now what are you gonna do?" Dave said.

    Warlord stared dumbly at Dave, who casually raised Durandal up, "I thought as much, you¡¯ll do nothing. Die."

    The sword came down...

 Chapter 428 Undead Rim

    ***

    Conquest Server Announcement

    yer Death Stroke has killed Warlord and obtained the Kingship over the Eastern Kingdom.

    yer Death Stroke has received the title Sovereign.

    yer Death Stroke has earned full control over the kingdom¡¯s Teleportation Gates as well as the right to ban any hostile yer from their kingdom.

    yer Death Stroke will need to stay inside the pce of the capital and lead his army to defend against any other hostile yer forces for at least 24 hours game time.

    Once the capital is preserved, and no hostile yers are in the area, the Kingdom of Qin shall have a new ruler.

    ***

    "NOOO!!!" a loud screech came from within the ranks of the yers. The yer from which this unholy sound originated was wearing a blue kimono.

    Dave turned his head to look at the person screaming his lungs out. It was none other than Demetri, the leader of the European Guild.

    His reaction was understandable. After all, he was the one to lose the most if Dave became the King of Qin. The poor guy had spent way more money than Dave could ever dream of, for this chance, and now all it seemed wasted.

    "Kill him!" One of the yers shouted.

    "Yeah, let¡¯s kill him and get the Kingship back!"

    Others agreed, but one came to his senses and asked, "What about that Abyssal Knight who protected himst time?"

    "She can¡¯t one-shot us all. If we go in and take Skelly down, we¡¯ll get the kingdom! Just think about how much you can sell that back for!!!" Another fanned the greed of the masses.

    "Right, right," Dave smirked. "This is the perfect time for your guys to gang up and kill me. So who here thinks he has what it takes to take me down?" Dave raised his hand up and the ring of the Undeath God shone brightly as it returned Death Stroke from his human appearance to his Undead nature.

    ***

    Conquest Server Announcement

    yer Death Stroke has transferred his Kingship to Doom Knight Kis¡¯Shtiengbrah.

    Doom Knight Kis¡¯Shtiengbrah has received the title Sovereign.

    The Undead Legion has gained full control over the kingdom¡¯s Teleportation Gates.

    Doom Knight Kis¡¯Shtiengbrah will need to stay inside the capital and lead his army to defend against any other hostile yer forces for at least 24 hours game time.

    Once the capital is preserved, and no hostile yers are in the area, the Kingdom of Qin shall be part of the Undead Legion.

    ***

    "COME AT ME!" Dave roared while activating his [Infernal Tyrant¡¯s Oppression] and pointed his sword forward.

    Every yer in the vicinity took a step back. The sudden announcement, the ck aura from Dave¡¯s avatar and his sudden burst gave them a jumpscare.

    "It¡¯s for this very reason that I love you so much, my Childe!" An unholy voice suddenly echoed from all over the ce.

    Darkness... enough to cover the world ten times over began spreading. Dave¡¯s own aura began sucking in the darkness and growing more and more until the skull above his aura transformed and took a new shape.

    The Undead King¡¯s avatar appeared from within the darkness roaring around Dave.

    He looked down upon all creation and spoke, "We have given Our Childe Our word! We have given him his chance to prove to Us, that he can be more. And he has seeded, despite the lies and schemes of you mortals! For his troubles, We shall lend Our aid. Da, call them. Let men woe this day, let it be remembered through all eternity. Today shall be the day mankind shall witness THE MIGHT OF THE UNDEAD LEGION!!!"

    Suddenly, ck torrents of gas exploded from all around the yers. The torrents rose up to the skies and covered it entirely. The capital of Qin transformed into a shroud of utter andplete darkness.

    Priests began casting their Holy Light spells, to fight against the darkness, only to find their prayers unable to reach their deities. Their spells snuffed out as quickly as they lit up in this ever-consuming darkness.

    Jeffery¡¯s Mecha-Lights became the only source to provide some light as the magic from the cloud seemed unable to affect his construct much. He opted to focus some of the lights on Dave and his entourage, at least to give the yer army a target to fire at.

    "Don¡¯t fret! Don¡¯t fear! We can fight this!" Valentine shouted, but no one listened. The terror in front of them was too much to bear.

    "RALLY TO ME!" Another yer shouted.

    More began calling their friends to group up, as they had started to sense the Undead were about to attack.

    Suddenly, a ck cyclone materialized right next to Dave, causing many of the yers to gasp.

    It was yet another Abyssal Knight.

    "Wee Da, but didn¡¯t His Majesty say toe with everyone?" Dave asked.

    "Samael, Dementi, and Dortha are on their way. I¡¯m here. For now, it¡¯s more than enough," Da responded confidently.

    "I¡¯d never doubted your abilities. How about we teach those guys a lesson?" Dave suggested with a wide grin on his face.

    "We shall. Yet before we do, allow me to sing a song. It shall be their requiem!"

    What followed was a song no yer present would ever forget and one which would receive millions of clicks after Dave released it on Mr. Skeletal¡¯s channel.

    Da rose into the sky, floating with ease, he raised his staff forward and began chanting.

    "From the Darkness, We Are Born!

    Returning to the Darkness, We Shall Die!

    Hark the bitter choir,

    For Life¡¯s burden to retire

    Light and vigor into darkness fall!

    Will, strength, and courage pall!

    Reaper¡¯s hymn, Fate of all!"

    ***

    As an ally and a member of the Legion of the Undead, you have been blessed by Da¡¯s Song of Death.

    You temporarily gain:

    200% base HP regeneration.

    +10% physical and magical damage.

    -5% to damage received.

    +20% to movement speed (when moving toward enemies).

    +10% Increased damage against enemies afflicted with the Song of Death.

    +10% chance to resurrect immediately and spontaneously if killed.

    Non-allies and enemies will be afflicted with:

    +5% to damage received.

    -10% to movement speed.

    -20% to HP regeneration.

    Duration: 180 seconds

    ***

    Once thest verse had been cited, it was as if the world had awakened from an endless sleep, groaning from excruciating pain.

    The ck gas torrents turned liquid and prayed upon the yers. It stuck to them like tar and refused to go away. Burdened by the weight of the ck matter, disgusted by its smell, and demoralized by the effects it had, the yers tried to shake it off where they stood.

    "UNDEAD!"

    "SLAUGHTER THEM ALL!" Dave called and the army answered.

    Waves upon waves of Undead charged the front, empowered by Da¡¯s Mass Buff. Another round of culling yers had begun and quickly escted into a massacre. yers failed to see where attacks came from until it was toote. Most died without even realizing how.

    Some found themselves turned into shish kebabs when several spears and swords had gone through their bodies at once. Some were decapitated. Some were swallowed whole by Ghost Sharks and others were utterly sucked dry by small bats.

    "Bud, I need you to do me a favor," Dave called.

    The Death Knight nodded after hearing what Dave wanted him to do and disappeared to fulfill his master¡¯s request.

    Dave turned, looked forward and noticed that the Mecha was the only thing that had the ability to fight rtively well in this unfavorable situation.

    He then sent Jeffery a private message, "Bro, the stuff you pulled. That ain¡¯t cool in my book."

    "S-Shit man, it wasn¡¯t exactly my idea but I was under contract. Sigh... I guess it was bound to happen whether I wanted it or not. Let me just say that I did enjoy partying with you Skelly. If possible I¡¯d love to do it again sometime." Jeffery said as he shot his ammo left, right and center. He didn¡¯t even need to aim, as the number of Undead was so great that it would be a miracle if he missed.

    "I have to agree, from what I learned about you, you don¡¯t really strike me as the betrayer type. Still, you do understand that I can¡¯t just let you off with a sorry. Tiny,e, let¡¯s show him our own Mecha!" Dave grinned and summoned his Grave Lord.

    The small blob of slime jumped onto Dave¡¯s back and began morphing, growing in size and transforming until it became as tall as the Mecha itself. It then grew armored bones around Dave and an antler skull like a helmet.

    The only mismatch was the sword Dave held in his hand.

    "Neat trick, but your ultra sword looks like a toothpick in your hand right now," Jeffery teased in a friendly manner.

    "You know, you and nker have this small thing inmon," Dave replied with a grin.

    "What¡¯s that?"

    "You both jinx yourselves by speaking," Dave answered. "Herculean Strength!"

    Tiny¡¯s Muscles pumped up, his tendons tightened and veins pulsed with power.

    He proceeded to teach his earlobe, "Zealot!"

    Then he smashed his fist into his chest, "Chaos!"

    An infernal red and destructive fire burst from Dave¡¯s avatar, coursed through his already inted veins making them visible even in the darkness from the Undead King¡¯s presence.

    Dave¡¯s face was hidden under the hideous skull he wore as a helmet, his ck ichorous body lit up space for all to see. yers looked up, and saw a monster facing off against a Mecha, like in the shows they had watched when they were kids, only this time it was happening for real.

    "Now, for the real deal! Weight of the Universe!"

    Dave tightened his grip on the entirety of the sword, and soon, the weapon began erging itself until it was as proportional to Dave¡¯s human form with Durandal.

    The power from the Chaos Runes seeped into the erged sword, making it look like a me enchanted weapon.

    As for his shield, it didn¡¯t have the properties to erge, but Tiny was a genius of a creature all on its own.

    It absorbed the shield into its body and created a perfect replica, only instead of the metallic jaws making the shield, it made them out of bones, while in the center of the bone shield, Dave¡¯s Cursed Shield of Ajax was positioned.

    "Now, hit me with your best shot," Dave challenged the Mecha yer.

    Jeffery pointed his shoulder cannon at Dave¡¯s face and shot out a sma bullet.

    -260,000

    The attack rocked Mega-Skelly a bit, but he regained his bnce with a wide, sharp and toothy grin, "Not bad, my turn now," Dave lunged forward.

    Jeffery began panic shooting, hitting some but missing more, while Dave stomped his way through the yers¡¯ ranks toward Jeffrey.

    He covered his front with the bone shield and moved at a staggering speedpared to his size.

    The bullets were not enough to stop Dave¡¯s charge, even if they broke some of the bones on the shield, Tiny restored them immediately.

    Jeffery tried to kite Dave, shooting at him while moving backward, but the mech in assault mode was too slow to perfectly pull off the maneuver.

    Dave closed the distance to Jeffery and when he reached close quarters he swung his sword at his right side.

    The Mecha ejected one of its cannons in order to disrupt Dave¡¯s attack. The ejection threw Dave off bnce as the cannon was toorge, and gave Jeffery the chance to pull the hilt of a sword.

    The sword hilt lit up and created a sma saber that vibrated.

    "Fair warning, I wouldn¡¯t rmend you use your sword against mine. This sword is made to destroy metal," Jeffery warned.

    Dave smirked, "Exactly, just like nker." Mecha Dave swung Durandal horizontally at Jeffery.

    "Your loss," Jeffery said and shed his weapon with Daves. He had expected the sma sword to sheer right through Durandal, but the reality of the situation was way out of his expectation.

    Durandal passed through the sma emission with ease and tore a huge chunk of the Mecha¡¯s armored exterior.

    "What?! How?!" Jeffery¡¯s voice sounded from inside the Mecha.

    "Your sword was made to cut other swords, but mine was made to cut gods. Which one do you think should win? Now, prepare to meet your maker!" Dave swung down at Jeffery who futilely raised his sword in an attempt to ward off the blow.

    Durandal came crashing down, slicing through the upraised sma sword with ease and smashing through the cockpit and into Jefferys skull. Due to Jeffery¡¯s Base ss being a Hunter, his HP was too low to sustain a second hit from Dave. Thus, Jeffery was instantly sent to Limbo.

    Dave looked down and with his most sinister voice asked, "Who¡¯s next?"

 Chapter 429 Deal

    The sounds of battle lessened with each passing moment, yers died, and undead reced them, the numbers increased in the undead¡¯s favor, further elerating the death of yers. Several hourster, the kingdom of Qin was rid free of all upants, only the undead roamed the ce along with the Qin warriors that were now under Dave¡¯smand.

    "What now? Kis¡¯Shtiengbrah?" Samael asked. He had joined the battlete and found Dortha and Dementi having started a ughter-fest before him to be quite depressing, he wanted to have more fun but s histeness caused much blood to be shed without his presence.

    "Hmm, I have an idea," Dave said.

    "Bud, brig him over," he added.

    Soon the enormous ghoul came into the courtyard right in front of the pce where all of the Undead Legion¡¯s abyssal knights stood.

    In his hand was a yer donned in a blue kimono.

    "What do you want?" the yer asked in all annoyance.

    "It¡¯s not me what I want, it¡¯s you, Demitri, what do you want?" Dave asked.

    "Don¡¯t talk riddles with me, I¡¯ve incurred losses too much for you to ever dream of. So spare me the gloating, and if you want to kill me, just do it and be done with it already, I¡¯ve had it with this shit of a game."

    "Easy on the offensive bro, I¡¯vee to you with a deal," Dave said.

    "Deal?" Dimitri¡¯s face lightened up.

    "Yes a deal, Albert!" Dave called.

    Suddenly, the old man with the Hawaiian dress and the famous coconut with a straw drink showed up.

    The world around the yers suddenly froze over. The AI¡¯s existence was unknown to the NPCs, not even the undeath god could appear or move whilst Albert was in the sitting.

    "Yeah, you figured it out apparently. Nice going." Albert said.

    "Figured what out?" Demitri asked.

    "About the third option of conquering a kingdom. Is to use another Conquest Right gaining the invasion perk. This way, Warlord was unable to kick him out of the city. Now, as it appears there is an army that is still stubbornly moving your way. You might not be able to keep your Kingship if they arrive in time," Albert said while sipping from his drink.

    "That¡¯s probably not gonna happen," Dave said. To his right and left, the Undead Abyssal Knight¡¯s very existence was too high level for any yer in the current game to be a match to. Not to mention their personal armies that numbered in the millions.

    "Well, you never know. Humans have shown me that they could achieve the impossible, you yourself are a living example."

    Dave thought a bit about what Albert said. Though slim, there was always a chance that someone could do something unpredictable. Dave didn¡¯t know to evert in conquest, and there could be in Conquest that had an ability that could neutralize Dave or his army or whatever it could do to bring Dave down to his knees. He didn¡¯t want his current victory to cause him to grow more arrogant.

    "True, you¡¯re right. And that falls just into my ns anyway, so I called you in for a contract," Dave said.

    "Contract, with who?" Albert spoke as he drew an in-game contract parchment.

    "With Demitri her of course," Dave said.

    "Me?" Demetri replied in all cluelessness.

    "Yep, you. I have an offer for you. You¡¯ll get this, in return," Dave said as he waved his hand all over the area.

    "The capital?" Demitri asked.

    "No, the whole country. I¡¯ll get the kingship, you¡¯ll get to control all the resources. Army, cities and citizens."

    "Huh? Why would you do that? What¡¯s in it for you?" Dmitri asked.

    "Half of the profits."

    "You¡¯re insane! Do you know how much money I¡¯ll have to spend before this kingdom starts earning me a single dim? Do you know how many people I¡¯ll have to higher just to get this thing to functional order? Not to mention, what about the military force? There are tens of thousands of undead walking all over the kingdom, ravaging its resources and killing tis people. Your undead caused more harm than good!" Demitri said in all earnestness.

    "Then why are you smiling?" Dave asked in a wide grin.

    "Because I¡¯m in, I¡¯d like the challenge. Shit, this is the only way for me to recover my losses anyway." Demitri said.

    "Good, then we have a deal?" Dave said.

    "Yeah, I¡¯ll call the rest of my underlings. They¡¯ll need to take care of some of the paperwork. I¡¯ll also need to sponsor yourpany."

    "Why is that?" Dave asked.

    "You¡¯re gonna be in partnership with Demitri Rospatchov, I can¡¯t have one of my associates earning less than a tenth of what I do."

    "What about the Devastators?"

    "Huh, those scrubs, they showed me they can¡¯t handle their shit. The situation was perfect in their hands and they still lost it. I give no second chances. They¡¯re lucky the Bratva isn¡¯t the same as before. Otherwise, I¡¯d have them iced under," Demitri said in all angriness.

    "Bratva... as in... the Russian Mafia."

    "Yes, have any problem with that? Prot¨¦g¨¦e of Tivo Giovanni and Dante Silvana."

    "Nah, I just find it pretty interesting that I end up making deals with criminals."

    "I would rather if you don¡¯t use that term, gentlemen are more favorable," Demitri said.

    Dave shook his head and sighed, then forwarded his hand for a handshake.

    "We have a deal then," Demitri shook his hand back.

    "Good, I have the terms here on contract then," Albert said.

    ***

    yer Kis¡¯Shtiengbrah has assigned yer Demitri as responsible over the Kingdom of Qin.

    All resources, materials, Tax ie generated from the country are to be split in half between the two yers.

    yer Kis¡¯Shtiengbrah will retain Kingship Rights and have the final say in major Country decisions.

    If yer Demitri shows any hostile or destructive behavior toward the peacefulness and sovereignty of the kingdom of Qin, he shall be stripped of all rights. Giving yer Kis¡¯Shtiengbrah full control over the kingdom.

    On the other hand, yer Kis¡¯Shtiengbrah has no right to remove yer Demitri from his position of power as long as thetter party is benevolent and honest toward the kingdom.

    Sign here:

    ***

    "Simple enough," Dave said.

    "Oh it is not, I am the one to judge the behavior of man. If there is ever an opportunity where Demitri decides to betray the trust you have given him, my decision shall be instant and final."

    "You okay with the terms?" Dave asked Demitri.

    "Yeah, sounds good for me. I don¡¯t even need awyer. Now, when do we start?" Demitri asked.

    "Well, before we start, I¡¯ll need to make sure some of our friends know that we¡¯re not to be messed around with," Dave said.

    "Albert you can go, I¡¯ll be needing my undead soon," Dave said.

    "As you wish, call me whenever you need me. And good luck with what is toe."

    Albert soon disappeared leaving Dave back with his undead.

    "Da," Dave called the abyssal knight.

    "Yes?" the Arch-Lich answered back.

    "I¡¯ll need a favor to ask," Dave said.

    "Please ask all you wish."

    "You remember that time where you controlled the teleportation gates of the Qin kingdom?" Dave asked.

    "Yes, I still have ess to it."

    "Yes, I have a good use for that right now." Dave said in a grin, "Let the Ragers and Heaven Dawne, we have such sights to show them!"

 Chapter 430 Lets Play a Game

    A few dozen miles away from the Qin Kingdom, the two armies of Heaven¡¯s Dawn and Blood Ragers were charging their way through the Wilds, unhindered by the World ss Bosses that were fighting each other for territory in their new home.

    This might be the only time where yers were actually able to ride through the Wilds safely. All thanks to the absence of the ck Dragon of Terror, and the ignorance of the beasts to the invaders.

    The Dragon Expansion hadn¡¯t caused much trouble to the yers on the way. Even evil dragons were reluctant to assault this massive army. Not because of fear, but due to the Wilds territory still being considered the resting ce of the Dragon of Terror. As a sign of mourning all dragons refused to fly over the area... for the time being.

    At the head of the armies, Heaven¡¯s Dawn guild master Wan Yi was leading. They had learned from their previous experience and prepared mounts this time around. Even regr horses were much betterpared to walking on foot. Since their first setback, they had tamed as many creatures as they could and now used them to move through the Wilds quickly.

    On their journey, some of these mounts got killed by monsters, others had outright thrown their riders away due to getting frightened of the Wilds. However, the majority of the mounts safely led Heaven¡¯s Dawn forward and ahead of the Blood Ragers.

    "Move faster! Don¡¯t let those weak ass Ragers steal our kill!" Wan Yi shouted from the forefront as loud as he could. "I still can¡¯t believe that idiot Warlord would lose to Skelly, Ha!" Wan Yiughed at the misery of the former number one yer.

    "You also lost to him once," reminded White Ghost, who rode next to him.

    "That was just an ident. Besides, I didn¡¯t lose to him. He didn¡¯t even damage me, it was the Death Knights that killed me when we raided the Underworld¡¯s First Raid Zone."

    "But in the end, you still died. Sigh, just be careful. If he has managed to beat Warlord, he has a good chance of kicking your ass."

    "Nah, Warlord¡¯s ss is specialized for Warfare, mine¡¯s for dueling. Also, you saw Skelly. He used many of his super long cooldown Skills. If I fight him now it¡¯ll be an easy win." Wan Yi stated confidently.

    "You just want his sword, don¡¯t you?" the While Ghost used him.

    "I sure do. As long as I kill him in his monster form, I bet I have a great chance of getting it as a Drop Item."

    "I doubt it. But for argument¡¯s sake, let¡¯s suppose you do end up getting it, so what? You¡¯re a war-ax wielder. A sword is totally different. You neither have the skill nor experience using it."

    "I don¡¯t care, did you see how big that sword is? That¡¯s a Manly weapon! I gotta have it!"

    "Ugh, man sometimes you can be so strange about the weirdest things.."

    Wan Yi ignored the White Ghost and continued to revel in his daydreams of when he would obtain Durandal.

    Behind them, the Blood Ragers had opted to run. It was of course less costly, but it would take them more time. Not that Zhang Shi as the leader of the Blood Ragers particrly minded this caveat. He was more than happy to use the Heaven¡¯s Dawn Guild as cannon fodder for his own army to swoop in and take the kill.

    The ride to the East took a bit longer than two hours. Once they arrived at the first city, Nora, which Dave had raided clean, they decided to make camp.

    "The city is clear," The White Ghost concluded.

    "Too bad, we can¡¯t use the Gates. Otherwise, we could get supplies and reinforcements from our kingdom," Wan Yimented.

    "Yeah, but that doesn¡¯t mean this isn¡¯t a golden opportunity," Zhang Shi added. "Skelly must definitely be low on numbers after fighting against all these yers. ording to our intel, it seems that Skelly has to return to the Underworld if he wants to resurrect his guys. But if he leaves the surface world, we will get notified about the Sovereign title passing to somebody else restarting the counter. Although the video of the clip shot in the war was too dark to see, I also have solid intel that the mercenaries hired by Demetri have killed a great number of Undead. The Devastators didn¡¯t reveal how many exactly they killed, yet some of our sleeper cells confirmed that Skelly lost at least two-thirds of his forces."

    "That sounds like a huge estimation. I wouldn¡¯t dare enter into Skelly¡¯s stronghold not knowing the facts. This could all be a ploy, or more likely, some of the yers are just exaggerating their exploits." White Ghost pragmatically replied.

    "I trust my subordinates. If you¡¯re too scared then sit back tight and rx, I¡¯ll get the kingdom anyway." Zhang Shit proudly dered.

    "So what¡¯s the n?" Wan Yi asked.

    "We¡¯ll move in an hour, wait until it gets darker," the White Ghost spoke.

    "I agree, it¡¯s better if wee at them at night, it will surprise them."

    "I doubt Skelly has enough resources to urately know when we¡¯ll charge him. He is but one man."

    "He may be but a man, but he has one of the biggest NPC armies in the whole of Conquest. Even if he incurred losses, what about that powerful-looking woman who one-shot yers? Or what about the Undead Giant he summoned? Can you be sure he has not held some things back to deal with us? I wouldn¡¯t underestimate him if I were you," White Ghost cautioned.

    "Wise words. You guys should listen to him more often," the low, and horrendous voice of an infamous Draugr sounded all over the area where the yers were camping.

    Zhang Shi, White Ghost, and Wan Yi, immediately drew their weapons.

    "Show yourself, if you are a real man!" demanded Wan Yi.

    "Come on man, has that line ever worked on someone? I actually can¡¯t show myself, because I¡¯m not there. I¡¯m currently speaking to you via one of my underlings. Bud, show yourself please."

    Suddenly, in the middle of the tent, the enormous Shadow Ghoul emerged.

    The yers took a step back from the creature. It had appeared out of nowhere, they hadn¡¯t even ounted for Skelly to have underlings that could turn invisible.

    "Anywho, so you guys came to my new crib without an invitation. That was quite rude of you. I still have to clean up after thest guest. Buuuutttt because I¡¯m such a nice host I¡¯vee up with a nice little game you can y while I tidy up the pce."

    After a second¡¯s silence, he continued "The rules are very simple. Do you know these old games, where you try to prevent the enemy from reaching your base? It will be like that, a game of waves. Your only goal, Survive. Good luck!" Suddenly, the Ghoul disappeared and left the party unsure of what was going to happen.

    "WE¡¯RE UNDER ATTACK!" the sound of a yer disturbed their moment of stupor.

    Zhang Shi and Wan Yi immediately exited the tent they had discussed their strategy in.

    "What¡¯s happening? Attack from where?" Zhang Shi ordered someone from his guild to exin their current situation.

    "The Teleportation Gate! The Undead are using the Teleportation Gate toe here! We¡¯re getting reports from the scouts that there have been sightings of thousands of Undead monstersing toward this city."

    "Then go kill the Bastards! I want everyone stationed around the gate. HURRY!! Ry the order!!!"

    "As youmand!" the yer saluted and rushed to the gate.

    "Ghost, you¡¯ll have to take care of the monsters attacking from outside!" Zhang Shi said.

    "Damn it!" the White Ghost cursed. "Zhang Shi, wait! We need toe up with a n ASAP!"

    "Why are you so flustered, they¡¯re just Undead, and the gate is small, how many cane at us anyway?" Wan Yi wondered.

    "All our ns are in disarray. We never ounted for Skelly to take the initiative and tip the scales. Heck, he should not have been able to use the Teleportation Gates with his troops before visiting them. SHIT! He must have done something when he fought his way through. Don¡¯t you guys understand? We can¡¯t leave the city right now. We¡¯re trapped like rats. And he gets to attack us while we need to defend. This is seriously the worst-case scenario. He is buying time until his Kingship is fully established and at the same time withering our forces. As if that was not bad enough, if he can use this Teleportation Gate, he should be able to also use the others from the cities he had stomped. In other words, any enemy we don¡¯t kill right here, can simply teleport over to the next city and get into our way. So, even if wee out of this, and by some goddamn miracle reach the city in time, we won¡¯t be able to fight Skelly. He¡¯ll probably have more troops stationed at the capital, not to mention the Qin NPCs that should listen to his orders by now." White Ghost gave the group a detail of the consequences of Dave¡¯s move.

    "So, basically..." Wan Yi left the rest of it unspoken.

    "Skelly has us in Checkmate." the White Ghost finished it for him, though.

    "Yeah, that can also be interpreted as we¡¯re fucked." Zhang Shi summed it up nicely.

    "Yes, for vulgar people like you, we¡¯re fucked"...

 Chapter 431 Future In Sigh

    "Hold the line!" Zhang Shi shouted, his army was forcing the undead off the center of the city while the Heaven¡¯s Dawn were preupied with thining the numbers of the undead turned undead that Dave had released through the East thanks to the monster outbreak he caused.

    "This is not working!" the white Ghost shouted, "We¡¯re sitting ducks! The more we stay here, the more Skelly gets to secure his kingship. We need to move now!"

    "How the hell do you suppose we do this? If we make a run for it, the monsters outside will slow us, and the undead spawning from the gate will catch up to us. We¡¯ll be surrounded!"

    "We¡¯re already surrounded!" the White Ghost shouted back.

    "Yes, we are surrounded but we are inside a city, well protected by its walls. If we go out, we¡¯ll really be sitting ducks here."

    "No, I have an idea. Wan Yi, your legacy, use it."

    "Really? It¡¯s not gonnast until we make it to Skelly if I use it now."

    "Yes, but the barbarian god legacy is the only thing that can drive away these creatures, call in the monsters of this area, make them make a way for us. We¡¯ll rush to the capital."

    "It¡¯s six hours run to the capital, my legacy will be disabled in two hours after use," Wan Yi replied.

    "I know that already, but we just need those two hours, we¡¯ll make enough distance between us and the monsters that they¡¯ll never catch up to us."

    "As you say then," Wan Yi roared loud and mighty until the muscles on his body gained a bronze sheen. Dark tribal tattoos slithered over his body painting him a devilish appearance.

    His hair grew until it reached his back, then an avatar of a topless warrior wielding a spear and with an uncanny resemnce to Wan Yi himself appeared behind him.

    "Nature¡¯s Call, beasts heed mymand ande forth!" Wan Yi shouted.

    His voice resounded miles and miles away from the city of Nora, beckoning any monster that was lower level than Wan Yi and was not affected by the undead curse.

    The monsters raced each other to answer Wan Yi¡¯s call. The barbarian god was attuned to nature, and the beasts had to follow.

    "This should give us some time. The beasts should be here soon. But we¡¯ll need someone to hold the gate, Zhang Shi, how many of your troops can you spare?" the White Ghost asked.

    "Why me? Use your own troops!" Zhang Shi was not willing to part a portion of his forces to hold the gate. It was obvious, he needed all the advantages he could get to secure the east for himself.

    "Don¡¯t be suck a dick!" Wan Yi shouted "I already used my legacy to get us all out, use some of your troops, it¡¯s only fair. Otherwise, I¡¯ll turn them against you and I swear I¡¯ll start a ughter right here and right now, and none of us is getting the east!"

    "God darned savage! Shi Unit, Zan Unit, Ro Unit, hold the gate for us with your lives. The rest of you, follow behind the Heaven Dawn."

    "Good, just to make things fair, I¡¯ll have a unit of ours staying here to support yours," the White Ghost said.

    The moment the ghost spoke, Zhang Shi clicked his tongue, confirming White Ghost¡¯s suspicion.

    The Blood Ragers guild master was a shameless schemer, he wanted to fake his sincerity in holding the gate, but because the white ghost had ordered an extra unit form heaven¡¯s dawn to stay, mainly to keep an eye on the other units, Zhang Shi has no choice but to actually hold the gate truly.

    "Wan Yi, your beasts are here, go ahead."

    "Yeah, going, thank god this isn¡¯t the Wilds, this skill would have never worked there."

    Wan Yi ran ahead of the group, swatting away the undead left and right. Once he broke through, the rest of his knights and barbarians followed after.

    Zhang Shi¡¯s archers supported them from behind, and any unit that could sprint ran after the leading group.

    The yers left the city in a steady stream, once they were out, they were shocked at the sight of the battle going outside. Monsters fought monsters, some were of the same kind and race fought each other, only one part was undead and the other was still alive.

    Brutality reigned. But they didn¡¯t have time to admire the scenery, they had a mission to do. They needed to get to the capital as fast as they could. Skelly has already stayed in the capital for a long while, and by the White Ghost¡¯s calction, if everything went perfectly, they¡¯ll arrive in six hours to the capital, leaving them two hours to kill Skelly.

    The White Ghost was certain of his sess, even if Warlord had failed, it was due to the intervention of the abyssal Knights. And currently, in his inventory was a forbidden chapter that could deal with them greatly. Leaving only Kis¡¯Shtiengbrah to fight.

    "Hurry!" The White Ghost shouted to his allies.

    ***

    "What¡¯s the situation, Bud?" Dave asked as he was helping in removing the rubble from the pce area.

    "They are running toward the capital, they took routs away from the cities of this kingdom so they are not stopped.

    "Huh, well, I thought they¡¯d man up and fight inside Nora, but that White Ghost guy is rather annoying," Dave said and threw away another boulder that easily weighed hundreds of pounds.

    "Yeah, that guy is pretty smart," ster said, "But remind me, why are we doing this?"

    "I¡¯d like to clear the way to rebuild the pce,"

    "But you have a lot of undead, why do we have to do this?" nker asked.

    "Because I can¡¯t afford to have my undead doing menial work right now, they¡¯re needed at the frontlines. Hell, you should be thankful to them, if they didn¡¯t get you out of that dungeon you guys got stuck at, you¡¯d still be there."

    "Yeah, that sucked, we missed all the fun," Lone Arrow said.

    "Yep, you really did. It was so much fun beating all of those guy¡¯s ass you should have seen Warlord getting knocked around."

    "Stop bragging man, your ss is broken it was only natural you won." Perfect Shot said.

    Dave shrugged, "Not my fault, I worked hard to get where I am. Now, let¡¯s keep working I¡¯d like to start building things right away.

    "Can¡¯t you just use city management option?" Lone Arrow said.

    "That will cost money," Demitri answered. Besides everyone, he was the only yer sitting and actually doing nothing.

    nker noticed the cker and walked toward him while pulling the sleeves on his pries robes.

    "Why are you sitting there allzed around, we all got work to do, who do you think you are."

    Demitri smiled at the priest and said to Dave, "This is the priest who always ruins things by speaking, right?"

    Dave pulled both his hands defensively and said, "Yes he is, and I got nothing to do with whatever he says."

    nker tilted his head, he had yet to know that Demitri was a leader of a bratva organization. But after receiving a private message from Lone Arrow informing him of the situation, and before he even tried to throw a punch, nker¡¯s face whitened and said, "Well, there is no harm, you must be tired from this day¡¯s work, let me give you a massage."

    "No thanks," Demitri frowned, "Anyway, I got some of my employees to contact yourpany, mister David Ruster. They¡¯ll contact your H\u0026R development team soon."

    "Oh, thanks, that¡¯s great. And checking the time. Guys, I think I¡¯ll go and take a small nap, it should take the guildies a few more hours to get here. Enough for me to catch a break. Call me if anything turns up okay?" Dave said.

    "Yeah, I¡¯ll make sure of that," Lone replied.

    Dave logged out; today¡¯s effort has turned out beneficial. Though he was not out of the waters, he was close. He had already prepared a few surprises for the party that wasing his way.

    By this time tomorrow, and if Dave¡¯s mission ispleted, he will officially be one of the pirs of the world of Conquest, ruling over an entire kingdom all on his own.

 Chapter 432 The Kin Eaters

    Faster! We¡¯re close!" Wan Yi shouted to the party of yers running away from a horde of undead behind them.

    "I see the capital, we made it in time, hurry!" White Ghost added.

    All the yers were brimming with enthusiasm, they had a goal in sight, and the infamous draugr will be useless against them. Their numbers were easily twice the numbers of the Devastators and the mercenaries, they had more legacy skills and furthermore, the undead lost a lot of numbers thanks to the Devastators fighting them. They had a better chance of killing skeletal than anyone ever had and they were certain they could do it.

    "Stick to the agreement! Whoever kills skelly gets the east, the other guild will have 40% of the tax ie!" Zhang Shi dered.

    "Good enough for any of us, but don¡¯t backstab us the same way you did to the Devies in the undead frontier." White Ghost added.

    "We don¡¯t do that here; we all have something to win now. Just keep focused, "Zhang Shi replied.

    The frontline of yers consisted of thousands of tanks and vanguard units. Beefy and had huge amounts of health, but they never expected what the undead skeletal had prepared for them.

    As soon as they reached the city gate, they realized that the gate that Jeffery had broken was already fully restored. And the ballistae on the walls were locked and aiming at their frontline.

    Before any of them could fully realize the situation, they were in, a loud and booming sound echoed through the battlefield.

    "Wee to my humble abode!"

    From above one of the gate towers, the infamous bearded Draugr was standing tall, one of his hands slowly rubbing his beard.

    "Oh, guests of mine, I have some gifts for you," he added then pulled a fist upward.

    Immediately afterward, all the ballistae shot their bolts at the frontline. The massive weapons had great prative power, enough to wipe out any yer that didn¡¯t ready up a defensive skill.

    "Don¡¯t worry I already expected something like this, Suicide Squad, go bring the gate down."

    "Right, guys, with me!"

    A yer wearing straps of bombs and explosives called his friends to follow. Another group of tanks charged ahead of them.

    Dave noticed the iing yers and smiled.

    "Something like that already happened to me in my legacy quest, I¡¯ll never get done in by something twice," He mumbled to himself.

    Ballistae shot at the yers, but the tanks did a great job defending the bolts, some would rather take a bolt through the chest than let a single one of the suicide squad yers take a hit. If they were damaged, their bombs will blow up, creating a chain explosion.

    But Dave¡¯s aim was not necessary to take down the suicide squad yers, but if a bolt struck one of them it would be great.

    Unbeknownst to the yers who were being bombarded by the bolts, they were actually being forced to move away from the bolts as one side had a heavier and greater number of bolts than the other. Making them subconsciously move to the rtively safer side and push toward the gate, guided by Dave¡¯s scheme to a trap he had set up earlier.

    The White Ghost was not named the game¡¯s greatest mastermind for nothing, he had noticed the irregrity of the bolts shooting more on one side than the other, but he couldn¡¯t understand the implication of such a tactic until it was toote. He noticed that a bit ahead of where the yers were running, the ground was upturned, it didn¡¯t have any grass on it.

    "STOP!" shouted White Ghost but his order came too slow for the yers to register and follow.

    The moment the first yer of the suicide squad realized that something was wrong, an enormous pincer grabbed at his foot and dragged him down.

    More pincers erupted from underground dragging the yers to the unknown. Soon afterward, the sounds of muffled explosions echoed from under the dirt, rupturing the ground and creating minor tremors that fused into a small earthquake.

    "Too bad I lost a few dunlords there, but if that¡¯s the best you can do, you better think twice about attacking something that belongs to me." Dave sarcasticallymented.

    "Damn it," Do we have more suicide squad yers?" White Ghost demanded.

    "No, we have some alchemist here they can make more bombs but it will take time," A yer responded.

    "We don¡¯t have time," White Ghost begrudgingly admitted. Dave was ying them against the clock, and they were losing.

    "Now, now, if you think that¡¯s all it should take to bring me down, you better just go back. You¡¯ll only waste your lives and precious exp here."

    "Shut up skelly!" A yer shouted at the draugr.

    "Oh, well, no need to waste time, Dragoneers, Forward!" Dave shouted.

    The howls of thousands of wyverns sounded from within the capital. Qin elite soldiers and Death Knights rode on the back of wyverns, they flew high and began throwing javelins and shot arrows at the yers.

    "Marik, could you please send some ghosts their way?"

    "As you wish," the creature replied.

    "My servants, walk across the terrain of man, and show them what lies beyond death!"

    Tens of thousands of undead ghosts, banshees and Shark Chariots burst out from within the walls of the city, fully surprising the yers in a charge they had no time to prepare for.

    "Sweet Lilith, I bet your little ones are hungry, I would say they¡¯d love to have a taste of something...fresh," Dave added.

    "Oh, wouldn¡¯t they, children, go out and y," Lilith called her creatures to action, and they obliged in a shirking glee.

    "I wouldn¡¯t mind having a taste of your human form also, I bet it is much fresher than these ones," Lilith spoke suggestively toward Dave.

    Dave felt shivers down his spine, not from the vampire, but without the need to turn. He knew that a certain archer was keeping an eye on him.

    "Yeah... how about no, I appreciate my blood you see, and my life," Dave said smiling.

    "Bummer, but I respect that, the more you horde your blood, the more appealing it is to me," the vampire spoke while licking her lips.

    Dave gulped hard and turned away from the Duchess. At the frontline, the damage to the yers was beginning to stack and show. They were taking a beating, but Dave never doubted that the White Ghost and the numerous masterminds of two of the game¡¯s strongest and most famous super guild didn¡¯te up with a n to take him down.

    "Dortha, I would never ask you this in fear you might turn for the worst, but if you could lend an aid, that would be great. I want to show these people superiority that they never seen before, I want them crushed, physically, mentally and on all other levels," Dave said.

    The old gentle-looking man smiled, showing a sharp row of teeth to Dave. He then rubbed the small stump under his chin and said.

    "You speak right, Childe. To crush one¡¯s hope is the best way to gain the battle. Though I am currently the strongest under the Undead King, I am but one man I won¡¯t be apparent if I go to battle. But I do have an army. Wendigos CLAIM THE LIVES OF THE VILE! Come forth!" Dortha roared out.

    A loud, high-pitched squealing started, seeming toe from everywhere at once. The sound was jarring, worse than the tooth-drill sound of fingernails scraping across a ckboard. It felt like spikes were being shoved into the yers ears and a headache started throbbing in their temples.

    A void in space was torn open and a hand the size of a bulldozer reached through the opening and clutched the edges from the other side. Long ws of discolored bone flexed out from the decaying flesh of the mangy fur-covered paw.

    The creature that pulled itself through the hole in space was easily as tall as the city walls. But it was emaciated, scabrous skin with patchy fur stretched tight over stick-thin limbs. The bones of its rib cage and spine werepletely exposed and it had no discernible internal organs. Antlers grew from its decaying wolf head, the sharp tines spreading up and out like grasping fingers. A stench blew across the divisions of the undead, the noxious scents of battlefields and ughtering housesbined.

    The creature howled another nails-on-chalkboard scream, pulling the spatial rip open even wider to allow more of its kind step through the gaps.

    "What the hell are those?" Came ster¡¯s voice from the party chat.

    "Damn, I could never get used to these guys," Davemented.

    "These are men who turned on their brothers, these were once men who feasted upon the flesh of others, cursed to this form."

    "So, cannibals," Dave said.

    "The worst kind, and you know what flesh they like the most?" Dortha said smiling.

    Dave raised both his brows up as he noticed the panicking look of retreating yers from the wolfish giantsing their way.

    "I bet they love human flesh." Dave grinned.

    "Yes, the fresher, the better," Dortha¡¯s grin matched Dave¡¯s.

 Chapter 433 Turning The Tides

    "What in God¡¯s name are those?" a yer squealed more than shouted as the Wendigos charged their way.

    "You can inspect them if you want, I¡¯m out of here," another yer answered him. The charging wendigos were too much of a scene to bear, their height, size, strength, and hideousness was enough to cause shivers to run down one¡¯s spine.

    "Don¡¯t panic, we can handle these things tanks huddle up at the front, get units to stand the frontlines," White Ghost spoke.

    "The yers are panicking, dying at this level will waste a lot of their time to regain their lost EXP, and you think we can hold those off with just banding together?" Zhang Shi replied.

    "Just shut up and do what I say, Wan Yi, call the berserkers, get them to stop the advance of the Wendigos, leech their aggro. Cervantess, Where the hell are you?"

    "Right here boss," A yer showed up right next to White Ghost.

    "Get me, Skelly, right here," we can¡¯t waste more time. We¡¯re down to thest hour before he secures the pce," White Ghost gave an order.

    "But skelly¡¯s all the way over there, shouldn¡¯t you just focus fire on him and bring him down? A well-aimed and timed sniping shot."

    "In case you haven¡¯t figured it out, the one atop the city gate is not skelly," White Ghost said.

    The yer, Cervantess frowned, looked back at the bearded draugr on top of the walls and said," I think you need sses because I never have seen another draugr with a beard that long."

    "No, it¡¯s a condition to conquer a kingdom, the yer with the kingship needs to stan inside or around the pce. That¡¯s a clone or something, it can¡¯t be skelly." White Ghost said.

    "Right, I forgot about that. Alright, see ya guys in a few, I¡¯ll get him here once I find him." Cervantes replied.

    The yer touched his temple with two fingers and disappeared.

    "Why does he have to do that every time? I mean his skill doesn¡¯t need that action to activate?" Wan Yi asked.

    "Don¡¯t tell men I guess he was influenced by some old animated character. Anyway, Wan Yi, you have an important role to y here." White Ghost said.

    "And what¡¯s that?" Wan Yi asked.

    "You¡¯ll have to handle two of these," White Ghost pointed at the Wendigos.

    "Just two? Hah, that¡¯s a piece of crack, even without a legacy."

    "Yeah, I always admired that irrational side of you, now go. Show our members how we do things."

    "Right!" Wan Yi roared and charged ahead, despite all of the members slowly retreating from the iing Wendigos.

    Wan Yi pulled out a secondary battle-ax, wielding two at the same time, he whirled them as he ran forward charging into the gullet of two Wendigos.

    "HEAVEN DAWNERS! YOUR GUILDMASTER CHARGES IN THE FACE OF THE ENEMY! ALONE! YOU DARE CLAIM YOURSELVES AS MEMBERS OF OUR GUILD IF YOU FEAR THESE BEASTS! I AM ASHAMED OF YOU ALL!" White Ghost¡¯s voice sounded through the battlefield.

    Suddenly, all the retreating yers halted, they saw their leader charging against the retreating tides and this brought both a sense of shame and at the same time a sense of excitement.

    "Vice Guild-master is right! Let¡¯s go! Guys, I¡¯d rather die and lose a level than someone calling me a coward! I¡¯m off to die, who¡¯s joining me?" a yer called.

    His friends and yers around him nodded, raised their arms together and charged ahead.

    "Oh, not bad, that White Ghost is pretty good at leading people," Davemented.

    "Indeed, with words he managed to spark the sense ofradery and bravery in his underlings. He reminds me of a certain someone," Dortha smiled at Dave.

    "Yeah, humans are emotional creatures, mere words alone are never enough to spark a sense of bravery in them. Without action, and I¡¯m talking about Wan Yi, who charged head first, White Ghost¡¯s words would have changed nothing. Wan Yi is the muscles, but White Ghost is the most dangerous, he is the brains of the entire guild and he knows how to use the muscles well. However..." Dave didn¡¯t finish his words.

    "Yes, even with brains and brawns, one cannot surpass ultimate power."

    The screeching whistling sound of the Wendigos red through the battlefield as the two that were charging at Wan Yi both mmed their enormous limbs at the guild master at once.

    Wan Yi had to halt and cross both his battle axes to hold off the st. But mere axes were not enough to contain the power beyond creatures that went head to head against the Ash King¡¯s most powerful battling units, the Sworn Stalwarts.

    Wan Yi was forced to his knees, the strength behind the massive units was enough to crater the ground around him. Even with his barbaric strength and beefy HP, he was not a match to the beasts in a strength contest. Whatever served under Dortha, needed to have a certain level of power. And Wan Yi¡¯s level of Strength was still far from holding off one, not to mention two Wendigos on his own.

    "Fuck, I miscalcted," White Ghost cursed as he realized that the yers who went to replicate Wan Yi¡¯s feat were sent to an early grave.

    The hope he garnered in the yers began fading, the fear of the massive creature began wriggling its way back into their fragile hearts. He needed to do something and fast.

    "LIGHT GOD! Give me power! Bless your devotees with power to vanquish their foes! I call upon the power of the god of creation! Demiurge! Give us your blessing!" White Ghost¡¯s voice sounded high and mighty.

    Soon after, an enormous, yet very familiar light and avatar showed up above White Ghost.

    The golden avatar had both his hands folded in front of him and looked at all creation in disdain. His mere existence was too much for the world to bear, that the earth began quacking. Yet his light was powerful enough to fight against the darkness and forced the withering ground around White Ghost to grow back to life. Small sprouts grew up from the dirt giving hope for life after death.

    "Huh, so Demi-cup is this guy¡¯s patron. I should have made that conclusion a while ago," Dave mumbled.

    "You speak the name of gods lightly, Childe," Dortha said. He had an annoyed look on his face, not at Dave, but at the light that began premating the darkness the undead atmosphere had created.

    "Yeah, I had the chance to meet him. He wasn¡¯t much," Dave said.

    "Huh, an undead survived an encounter with the God of Light, that is a first," Dortha said.

    "Yeah, check this out," Dave grinned then ced a foot above the gate wall and shouted.

    "HEY DEMI-CUP! DON¡¯T INTERFERE YOU LAZY ASS PRICK! THIS AINT YOUR FIGHT!" Dave shouted.

    White Ghost gazed at Dave like he was an idiot, the avatars of legacies do not speak, they were mute. But what happened next caused the mastermind of the Heaven Dawn¡¯s guild to yelp.

    "Y-You! What are you doing here!" The avatar spoke.

    "That¡¯s my question, get the hell out of here, this isn¡¯t your fight," Dave grunted.

    "Humpf, I do not heed the words of lesser creatures."

    "Right, so, by the way, did you get your door fixed or not? I should probably have Nicke here, I think he misses you," Dave said.

    The avatar gulped audibly and said, "Hooligans, the both of you! You know how long it took to have that door repaired! I¡¯m Done! I¡¯m done! You!" the avatar pointed at the white ghost who was still in a stunned stupor.

    "NEVER! EVER, EVER, EVER Call me when this person is nearby! GOOD. BY!"

    And the avatar went out like a light bulb turning off.

    Though the avatar disappeared, for some reason White Ghost¡¯s legacy was still active. It was clear to Dave that the avatar was only a cosmetic effect to the legacy skill, as White Ghost himself was still glowing in the light of the legacy, but the mere fact that Dave had actually told off a god was enough to shatter the remaining figments of hope the yers had.

    "Damn...how badass you got to be to be able to scare off a god with mere words?" A yer spoke.

    Another one added, "Seems like skelly had traumatized Demiurge, enough that he never wants to appear again in front of him. Damn bruh,"

    "SILENCE!" White Ghost shouted, "The avatar is useless, I still have the skills, Bless They Be! LIGHT Vanquish the dark!" White Ghost held his staff up and lit up the way. The powerful divine light caused the Wendigos to wince. Their flesh burnt as the powerful power of the divinity supporting the White Ghost was a perfect counter to their existence.

    "Well, the mental blow was worth it. But I suppose I need to do something because the wendigos aren¡¯t fighting well with all that light.

    "Worry not, Childe. Those creatures only be more vicious the more threatened they feel... Childe, Childe? Dortha¡¯s words fell on empty ears.

    Suddenly, the draugr that was next to him morphed back into Tiny.

    "Where is your master? "Dortha asked the small grave lord

    The creature unable to speak words in his form changed a part of his slimy body to a mouth and spoke guttered words, "Lost contact! Lord, kidnapped!"

    "Curses! CHILDREN OF THE NIGHT! YOUR LORD HAS BEEN ABDUCTED! HEED THE CALL, BRING CARNAGE AND DEATH ONTO THE VILE!" Dortha didn¡¯t even wait to hear the reply, his mouth gaped, growing fangs as sharp as knives, ws as long as swords, and fur darker than dark.

    "Even if I turn to madness, I shall never let those who harm our Childe live, today, my hunt begins, and by its end, all left shall be blood!" Dortha sniffed at the air, crouched and jumped horizontally at a random direction, with speed enough to break the tower he stood on.

    On the other side of the battle, right within the ranks of the yers, Dave found himself standing in the middle of an entire hostile army.

    "Huh?"

    "You didn¡¯t expect this did you now?" Zhang Shiughed.

    "I bet he never saw thising," White Ghost said.

    "Did it work?" Wan Yi spoke up.

    Dave turned his head to the frontline where the Wendigos were. There were duplicates of Wan Yi, White Ghost, and Zhang Shi at the frontline.

    "Hmm, illusionists?"

    "Yes, and a few doppelganger sses, enough to make duplicates of us, and enough to fool you," White Ghost exined.

    "And how did I get this far?" Dave flexed his shoulders preparing for a fight.

    "That¡¯ll be me, thank you," a yer wearing gray robes spoke.

    "Thank you, Cervantess, now you can go." White Ghost said.

    "Yeah, best if you fought him just the three of you if I die and be an undead that would suck for you guys, see ya."

    "You know I can summon my undead here right?" Dave said, "That¡¯ll really suck for you guys if I bring a hundred thousand strong right into your ranks." Dave bluffed, he already tried that the moment he found himself within the enemy ranks but it didn¡¯t work. There was a skill active preventing teleportation or summoning.

    He only needed to buy some time, because by now, Dortha would have noticed his absence. He needed to survive enough for the abyssal knight toe here.

    "We already have counter meas- Wan Yi was about to exin, but the White Ghost raised his hand.

    "Silence, he is buying time," White Ghost said. "Let¡¯s wrap this up."

    "Damn, I hate when I¡¯m dealing with smart assess, alright then, three against one, that¡¯s kinda unfair," Dave said.

    "Hah, the mighty draugr saying that we are unfair!" Wan Yi spoke.

    "All is fair in War, Skelly, you should know this by now." White Ghost spoke.

    "True, but I wasn¡¯t talking about my situation," Dave casually ced his sword over his shoulder, and his shield tucked slightly close to his chest.

    "Zealot! Chaos! Demonic Ascension!"

    Dave buffed himself into his ultimate and powerful form. Horns as long as des, and raven wings sprouted from his back. Red lighting crackled from around him as his body gained a dark volcanic sheen from the Chaos runes. His muscles pumped up as he added Herculean Strength and his avatar grew a few sized bigger thanks to Zealot effect.

    Dave was a few heads taller than any of the three Super Guild masters around him

    "Now, SHOW ME WHAT YOU GOT!"

 Chapter 434 From Bad To Worse

    Wan Yi whirled both his hand axes and charged at Dave.

    "That sword is gonna be mine!"

    "In your dreams!" Dave replied and blocked the barbarian¡¯s twin chops with his sword, using the shield¡¯s [Consume] ability. The metallic jaws of the shield bit on the axes, locking Wan Yi against Dave in a deadlock.

    It became a match of strength to see who can throw back the other, but the undead had immense strength, especially now Dave empowered himself, his strength was unordinary.

    "Up you go!" Dave jerked the big barbarian upward and swung his sword onto the helpless Wan Yi.

    A blood spear struck Dave¡¯s Durandal from the side, forcing his swing to misspletely.

    "Don¡¯t forget about us," Zhang Shi spoke.

    Dave cursed inwardly, the priest hadn¡¯t even moved yet, and he was already having a hard time with just the swordmaster and the barbarian.

    Zhang Shi ran toward Dave with one hand on the hilt of his sheathed katana. Dave knew from seeing many of Zhang Shi¡¯s videos that he was about to use his famous unblockable quick draw sh, it was a far cry from the Tengu¡¯s own quick draw, but Zhang Shi¡¯s own attack was nothing to scoff at.

    "Now!" the priest shouted and stabbed the bottom of his spear into the ground.

    Wan Yi understood the signal and heaved mighty, then threw his axes forward at Dave.

    Light gathered under Dave¡¯s legs and reformed into chains, the light chains spun against his legs, wrapping them and locking him in ce.

    Zhang Shi arrived at Dave¡¯s close quarters and drew his katana into an attack while at the same time Wan Yi¡¯s Axes were flying hot at Dave¡¯s bounded self.

    At this time, any yer would usually panic, either try to remove the rooting spell, or block the swordmaster, or block the twin axes and take in Zhang Shi¡¯s attack.

    However, the trade will alwayse out as a loss for the yer in question. Dave¡¯s mind raced like never before. And one could swear a grin slowly crept its way onto his face before he moved.

    He held his shield forward, against Zhang Shi and used [Reject], exploding the attack he had saved from Wan Yi earlier against Zhang-Shi.

    Zhang Shi had no knowledge of Ajax¡¯s ability to save and eject spells, he had though Dave would dumbly attempt to block his unblockable attack. Yet he didn¡¯t ount for the blow that came out from the shield. Dave didn¡¯t even stop there, thankfully, the rooting effect does not block his [Immortal Apparition], as he teleported behind the stunned Zhang Shi, and in one motion switched his grip on Durandal to a backward grip and stabbed behind him.

    Durandal dug into Zhang Shi¡¯s armor causing him to falter and at the same time found himself in the direction of Wan Yi¡¯s thrown axes.

    The two axes dug themselves into Zhang Shi¡¯s chest and shoulder, forcing a groan out of the swordmaster.

    "Oh, I didn¡¯t, think friendly fire was enabled..."

    "It wasn¡¯t!" Wan Yi shouted, "Man I swear I didn¡¯t mean that!"

    "Shut up! It¡¯s a thrown weapon, they have no master, they are objects the moment they leave your hand, anyone they touch they will hurt, now focus on the goddammed fight." White Ghost ordered.

    "Nice reactions there, but can you keep it up?" Zhang Shi growled his words.

    Dave shook his legs once the binding effect dissipated and replied, "All night long, baby, now how about we turn up the heat."

    Dave activated [Infernal Tyrant¡¯s Oppression]. mes surged from within Dave, raging beyond what normal fire could do. A gigantic ck Skull materialized itself above Dave and looked at all creation in utter disdain.

    "An aura skill huh," Wan Yi said, both his had were held forward as he recalled his weapons back.

    "I also have one! Life Aura!" White Ghost said, a glowing light emerged out from within him and covered his party. Zhang Shi¡¯s wounds began to visible heal, although at a slow rate.

    "Power Aura!" Wan Yi shouted, his own aura red to life, pumping his muscles with more energy.

    "Though this isn¡¯t a skill book aura, it¡¯s one of my basic skills. Blood Tides!" Zhang Shi used his own skill to create a domain that stank of the smell of blood. The ground became a quagmire of mud and blood, and it rained blood within his domain.

    Three auras against one was the only thing that caused the sneering skull to actually make another expression. If skulls could do so, this one above Dave¡¯s head howled.

    Its fire raged stronger to fight against the three auras that were attempting to fight against it.

    "You¡¯re mine!" Wan Yi charged ahead in a shoulder bash, yet the moment his foot stepped inside Dave¡¯s [Infernal Tyrant¡¯s Oppression] it caved in, his knee struck the ground, and his avatar began sweating and shuddering.

    "Fuck! It has a Fear effect!"

    "Cleanse the pious!" White Ghost disabled the fear effect on Wan Yi.

    "Thanks, spoke the barbarian, then he took another step in, only to have his avatar scream against the user¡¯s will.

    "Damn! It¡¯s a continuous output! I can¡¯t get closer, this shit is broken! It even causes t maximum HP damage and steals mana, what the fuck is this skill!"

    Dave had no intention of correcting Wan Yi¡¯s misinformation, his aura does not all those things together, it was abo of that and [Demonic Ascension].

    Just then, Dave almost facepalmed himself, he had wings he could easily leave the area. He pped them once and hopped into the sky only to m into an invisible barrier.

    "I already knew you¡¯d try that. This ce is closed off! You can¡¯t get out."

    "I wasn¡¯t nning on getting out," Dave bluffed.

    "I just like it when I¡¯m on top," he teased. He raised both hands up and said, "Let this be a lesson. Never lock yourself in while there is a fire raging. BURN!"

    Dave summoned his [Draconic Infernal Skulls].

    48 dragon head made of pure mes materialized into the area, empowered by Dave¡¯s own aura, their color changed from crimson fiery red to an abyssal ck. The abysmal me dragons surged forward, diving onto the yers like bombs, blowing up upon contact and devastating their HP.

    "Light god, bless us with life!" Wan Yi shouted.

    Almost immediately, the yer¡¯s HP climbed back up to full in seconds.

    "God damn annoying priest!" Dave shouted back in frustration.

    ¡¯I should kill him first, the heal is annoying, I might slip and die at this rate.¡¯

    Dave dove downward toward the priest, yet having yed with Wan Yi too many times, the White Ghost didn¡¯t falter.

    "Wan Yi, Ragnar?k, now!"

    "Damn, it¡¯s a high cooldown skill! ROAAA!" the yer howled like an enraged beast and charged ahead, the fear effect from Dave¡¯s skill no longer affected him, it was as if his skillpletely ignored the effect. The darkness from Dave¡¯s aura parted giving the yer way toward his friend.

    Dave¡¯s swing came close tonding, but Wan Yi¡¯s intervention swatted away the de saving the priest.

    "Bright as Day! Our faith is Evesting! Blind the Infidel!"

    A glowing light shone brightly against Dave¡¯s avatar, fully neutralizing his aura and forcefully dissipating his [Demonic Ascension].

    "Shit!" Dave cursed, the light was too much to bear, and due to his undead nature, he was feeling the light burning against his skin.

    The power was too much for him to bear, the forceful and relentless attacks from Wan Yi were unstopping, and White Ghost¡¯s light was pushing him back, not to mention the dissipation of his skills.

    "Damn, I can¡¯t deal with a priest in this form," Dave raised his hand up, the ring on his finger shone bright and returned him to his human form. The light from White Ghost¡¯s body no longer affected him, yet a grin on the yer¡¯s face irked him.

    "You fell for it," spoke White Ghost.

    "I¡¯ve been waiting for that!" came Zhang Shi¡¯s voice. "Blood, heed my call,e forth, beckon my call!"

    Dave¡¯s head buzzed and he forcefully threw up huge chunks of blood. His eyes bleed out blinding him and his ears whistled as blood from his nose and ears burst out.

    ***

    You are under a bleeding effect!

    You are losing 1% of your Maximum HP every second.

    You have been blinded

    You are slowed.

    You are disoriented

    ***

    "Shit, shit, shit, this is really bad!" Dave cursed.

    "You have no chance, mate, you¡¯re outwitted, have been overpowered and you¡¯ll die," White Ghost spoke up. His hands never stopping from using heals on his allies.

    Dave could barely see or even hear, but the howls of Wendigos were getting closer. Dortha must be on his way, but can he survive the face off against three Super Guild masters?

    He had prepared many traps inside the capital, but the fact that he was forced out of his base threw off his ns, and now he had to improvise.

    Daveughed and wiped the blood off his mouth.

    "Dam, you¡¯re really forcing my hand, Alright, enough ying around, time to get serious..."

 Chapter 435 Family

    Dave switched to his Sworn Stalwart gauntlets and activated the new skill he had nned to keep hidden from the world for a while longer.

    "[Aspect of the Dragon]!"

    Light materialized over Dave¡¯s white armor, tainting it in ck runic designs. His pauldrons grew into draconic horns and his helmet changed shape from a T visor full helmet to a draconic skull of steel.

    The Sworn Stalwart¡¯s fists turned to ws and his body became leaner but more robust, especially in the chest area. His back grew leathery wings.

    ***

    Your base damage is increased by 500% and you will take 80% reduced damage.

    The ability [Fly] has been temporarily added to your skill list.

    You are no longer blinded.

    You are no longer disoriented.

    All dragon-rted abilities have had their cooldowns reset.

    For the next 30 seconds all draconic rted abilities have been upgraded.

    ***

    Dave ignored the notification, he had only 30 seconds to reverse this whole situation. He turned toward Zhang Shi and opened his mouth wide.

    A deafening mind splitting roar red out of Dave¡¯s gullet with enough power that once it smashed into Zhang Shi, it sent him flying hundreds of meters away.

    Dave spun toward Wan Yi and punched forward. The berserker was still several meters away from Dave but he flinched and blocked, yet nothing happened.

    Wan Yi dropped his guard to check what happened, only to be met with an enormous ship sized dragon made of dark mes bursting out from Dave¡¯s fist and charge at the berserker.

    Dave used [Immortal Apparition] before the dragon even fully left his fist and appeared behind the White Ghost. The priest tried to distance himself but Dave grabbed his waist before thetter could disengage. With both arms locked tight Dave performed a German Suplex.

    If this was a normal human being, he would have died ten times over, as the moment White Ghost¡¯s skull hit the ground, it cratered, yet this was just a game. After losing an appropriate amount of HP he would be fine, perhaps suffering from a disoriented or stunned status effect.

    Still, Dave was far from done with him. The priest had been the most annoying of the three yers to deal with, so he grabbed the priest again and threw him in the sky.

    The White Ghost panicked. Unfortunately for him, he was unable to secure a footing to use any of his skills. Dave jumped up and punched the priest in the stomach further increasing the distance from the ground.

    He followed after and punched again and again and again. The priest started feeling the despair of death approaching. There was nothing he could do to save his skin. After having been separated from his friends, he was literally in the air where no one could help him.

    Dave reached up to the priest and informed him about his impending doom."This is gonna hurt!" He then raised his leg and swung down in [Dragon Kick] sending the priest down like a meteor, yet he survived, for now, leaving Dave unsatisfied. The priest still had a bit more HP and just letting the ground finish him off wasn¡¯t quite Dave¡¯s style.

    He followed after the falling priest who was desperately trying to heal himself.

    As he activated [Infernal Tyrant¡¯s Oppression] he grabbed the unfortunate sould while they were a few hundred meters away from the ground.

    Dave began spinning with the priest in hands, fully destroying White Ghost¡¯s bnce and throwing off his sense of direction. Dave¡¯s velocity increased to an extreme until the aura around him shaped itself into a hurricane of fire that was plummeting to the ground at breakneck speed.

    Dave activated [Bastion] on himself a fraction of a second before he hit the ground, yet the White Ghost who had been spun around had nothing to save his skin.

    The tip of the infernal hurricane mmed into the ground with a resounding explosion of light and fire. mes roared inside the pit that Dave had created with his spinning move.

    The mes fell silent and sound came back to the world. From within the pit, Dave walked out. And began slowly stepping toward Wan Yi.

    "One down, two to go!" Dave proimed.

    "Shit, this is getting out of hand, let¡¯s call for reinforcement." Wan Yi unconsciously took half a step back after .

    "We can deal with him, just the two of us!" Zhang Shi encouraged the other guild master. They hade so far... besides there was no way Skelly would just let them go.

    "Not without Ghost. He was the only guy who could read this freak! I don¡¯t even have my legacy right now. I already had to use it to get us out of that damn city!"

    "Shit, you¡¯re right. Get some healers inside the barrier!" Zhang Shi shouted. Soon a few yers entered through a small rift that appeared in midair, the location where he was teleported to was like a domed lock, he could not get out but people coulde in.

    From the opening where new yers came in, Dave saw others were channeling mana, probably into this very skill they were using to trap him in. More yers came inside. About twenty, half of them healers, the rest were all tanks.

    "This should be enough to whack him. Guys, don¡¯t get in too close, we¡¯ll deal with him, provide support to us from afar! Tanks protect the healers!" Zhang Shi gave the order.

    Dave frowned, this was getting ridiculous. If he tried to go against twenty yers he might kill a few, but the two super guild masters would not let him do as he liked. Not to mention they could supply more yers whenever they needed to.

    Dave was pretty much dead once the few remaining seconds of [Aspect of the Dragon] were up.

    He looked up, the dome was covering everything in the field, and [Call of Chaos] would have been a great skill to use to break it, but sadly it was not a dragon-rted skill and its cooldown was not reset.

    Zhang Shi stabbed his chest with his own sword then ripped it out. Blood poured out of his stomach, but his de gained a demonic red sheen.

    He then charged forward at Dave with his sword swinging.

    He deflected the swing with one fist and sent another towards Zhang Shi¡¯s face, thetter ducked and swept Dave off his feet.

    Having lost his footing and being on the ground, he began stressing, Wan Yi was in the air above him swinging down with both axes. Dave rolled away from the devastating blow that cracked the ground and stood back up only to fall on one knee, heaving. The [Aspect of the Dragon] skill had ended, yet this wasn¡¯t the cause of exhaustion.

    While he was in the dragon aspect form, he was had been forced into human appearance and now he had depleted all of his stamina.

    The priests that were around the group healed the S-ss legacy holders and used weakening skills on Dave furtherpromising his situation.

    Dave was about to revert to undeath and have all the weakness spells rebuked, but Zhang Shi stabbed him in the chest, crimson blood poured out, painting his white armor red.

    "We got the upper hand now, let¡¯s finish him off."

    Zhang Shi¡¯s avatar raised his sword high up and was about to chop down on Dave, but he halted the moment he heard an unholy scream echoing from all around the world.

    The dome the yers had erected, had dissipated revealing the outside.

    Dead yersy everywhere. Not a single one was kept intact, their bodies broken, shattered, destroyed and sucked dry.

    Wendigos turned more horrid to look at as they endured the damage umted from the fight, but as Dortha promised, the more they were wounded, the more powerful they became.

    The yer army had been rented asunder. None had survived the havoc Dortha had brought, none lived to speak of the monstrosity of Marik¡¯s soul magic, none escaped with a drop of blood in their veins. The Abyssal Knights had sensed their beloved Childe being surrounded and hade with all of their might to his aid. The might of one Abyssal Knight alone would have been hard for the yer army to contend with, to say nothing about their chances against a coalition of enraged Abyssal Knights leading their armies.

    "KILL HIM!" Zhang Shi shouted. At least if Dave died the Kingship would be his. Even if one of those monsters would kill Zhang Shi since they were no yers he would get to keep the Kingship.

    "How dare you!" the voice of a female sounded, it was quite simr to the screech that had stopped the avatar from swinging down.

    "How dare you spill his blood! His blood is too precious for the likes of you to squander" she cried out.

    "Fucking NPC, damn it, kill him!" Shouted Zhang Shi at his avatar, but the apparition remained unmoving, it even gazed upon the female who was shouting with confusion in its eyes.

    Dave was unable to move, due to all the crowd control effects the priests had used on him.

    Wan Yi noticed the problem with Zhang Shi¡¯s avatar and decided it was best if he acted. He struck down with his axes, only to have them both blown away from his hands.

    Dortha had arrived in front of Wan Yi¡¯s face.

    The two stared at each other and began a brawl... a more like a one-sided ughter.

    "Fuck," Zhang Shi cursed and ripped the sword out of Dave¡¯s chest, he wanted to get the deed done himself.

    "Father, you harmed one of us, aren¡¯t you ashamed?" Spoke Lilith.

    "Daughter of mine, I had no knowledge. You should know I have no say in what my legacy holder does," replied the avatar. This would be the second time that day an avatar actually spoke in the game.

    "Then be gone, God of Blood! I shall end this with my own hands," Lilith imed.

    The avatar disappeared, leaving Zhang Shi all alone on the battlefield.

    "Unfair! This ispletely Unfair! Why the fuck do you have such god damn luck?!" Zhang Shi cursed.

    "This isn¡¯t luck," Dave spoke, as he stood up. Zhang Shi hadn¡¯t noticed, but Samael had used those few seconds to kill off every yer that had been targeting Dave.

    He reverted to his undead form and drew back Durandal.

    "Everything here, I earned with hard work! Everyone here is my family. We are the same as you and your guild, only we aren¡¯t bound to each other by rank! We are friends andrades. We spill blood together and we bleed together. They came to my aid because they know if they ever get in trouble I¡¯lle to theirs. You trapped me here, and you had your chance, but you failed to kill me. Now your chance is gone. Die with whatever pride you have left, and remember today as the day you NEARLY seeded in killing Kis¡¯Shtiengbrah!" Dave swung down his sword at the bbergasted Zhang Shi.

 Chapter 436 Upside Down

    After killing Zhang Shi, the death throes of Wan Yi were all that could be heard from around Dave. Dortha¡¯s enraged rampage knew no bounds, his viciousness surpassed the pace ofbat Wan Yi had been used to.

    Seconds after Wan Yi died, Dortha turned to Dave, rage, and wrath unsated. Dave had felt that if he didn¡¯t do something, the beast would be responsible for failing the task he had gone out to aplish

    Yet just as Dortha saw the sword in Dave¡¯s hand, his eyes zed over and reverted to their serene appearance. Dortha¡¯s fur and ws retreated back and he regained his nice grandpa look.

    "What now? Kis¡¯Shtiengbrah? Some of those humans have already run away. Should we give chase?" Samael spoke as he was licking the blood out of his dagger.

    "Nah, it¡¯s time to lock this ce down again. Onixya,e here," Dave called.

    In seconds, the winds howled and a deafening dragon roar sounded through the skies.

    Dave looked above him and grinned.

    Onixya was currently only a bit smaller than herte parent. But she was no less imposing.

    After the Kraken had apanied her to feast, she had reaches her current appearance to match her actual level.

    "Onixya," Dave spoke, "Hunt them down. Kill anyone you find, and reim the Wilds as yours. If you think you¡¯re in trouble,e back and I¡¯ll help you."

    The dragon, magnificent in size and great in strength, roared in agreement and flew forward to hunt any wandering or straggling prey.

    "Dave, is it over?" Lone asked.

    "Yep, pretty much. I only need to go back and resume staying in the pce courtyard for a couple of minutes." Dave answered with a tired smile.

    "It seems like it would have been best if I came to hire you directly for this Conquest. It would have been much easier," Demetrimented.

    "Even if you did, I¡¯d have refused. Fortunately for you the circumstances have changed now," Dave replied.

    "Indeed they have. My job is about to start. Once the situation is clear and all the yers are either killed or chased off to hell itself, I¡¯ll begin renovating this ce. Man, I just kinda wish you would have left behind a little less of a mess. I was kinda hoping to get a functional city to start with, now all I have is rubble." Demetri teased his partner.

    "Yourints should go to Jeffery, he was the one who nuked the ce. I¡¯ll get my Undead to start working the streets and buildings and have the NPCs return to their cities. Many have died here. For them to get back to their former lives is gonna be tough," Dave sighed.

    "NPCs are useless, we need yers here," Demetri stated decisively.

    However, this kind of reaction made Dave frown. "I could pretend I didn¡¯t hear that, but listen up man. A game like this, without NPCs, is nothing. They are the ones to give it life. The mere conversation you can have with them, their background, their quests, their stories, and their lives, all of it matters. Sure, yers are important, but NPCs are Conquest¡¯s soul. Just take a look at the Undead Legion. Do you honestly think they would be the same if you rece them all with yers? Instead of unity, it would already be a wonder if it would function equal to one of the super guild."

    Dave quieted down for a bit, then added, "Many lives have been lost because of this war. This country will never be the same. So we¡¯re going to make it better than it was. Undead, and living working together. I¡¯ll have my underlings working hard to secure safety for everyone here. As for Demetri, I expect you to ensure that they live well."

    "We need the money man, you know how much time I¡¯ll have to spend to get their jobs jumpstarted. They can take care of themselves," Demetri argued.

    Dave shook his head, "You gotta trust me on this one. I¡¯ve seen how every kingdom leader works, they use the majority of their tax ie to fill their own pockets. It¡¯s good, quick and the best way to secure financial stability to yers, but have you ever noticed the slums in Icathia? They¡¯re right outside the city, poor impoverished NPCs, who don¡¯t have much to give, no quests to handle. A kingdom must treat all its citizens as equals. I don¡¯t want to have a single poor person in this kingdom."

    "It¡¯s can¡¯t remove poverty from a country. This might be a game but some things are simply impossible to aplish," Demetri asserted.

    "If it¡¯s ¡¯impossible¡¯, then Dave is just the man for it," Lone boasted.

    "Yeah, that guy¡¯s been beating the ¡¯impossible¡¯s¡¯ ass many times over," Ralph added.

    "I don¡¯t know. It¡¯s a huge risk, and I don¡¯t see how you can do it. It would already be hard to try such a concept in a good and functioning kingdom, but we are going to start from nothing. To alleviate poverty and increase a city¡¯s wellbeing and welfare, a lot of natural resources need to be harvested. We don¡¯t have enough men to do that, not to mention this needs specialization. You need people who know how to harvest, how to mine for ores, how to forge and tons and tons ofborers. Then we¡¯ll need to have secure trading routes going through all the corners of the world. That¡¯s the only way I can see this sort of thing happening. And even with all the power the super guilds have shown, they couldn¡¯t do that. It¡¯ just is not possible."

    Dave grinned, "You really underestimate the legion! If there¡¯s one thing we won¡¯tck it will beborers! We¡¯ll start work in two hours; everyone should show up at the pce." Dave left the area and headed back into the city.

    The faraway sounds of yers screaming and a dragon roaring filled the Wilds. The Undead had begun retreating back to the city, waiting until Dave¡¯s Kingship was safely established.

    -------------------

    Meanwhile, the whole world outside the game was turned upside down.

    On the Conquest forums, yers were raging about how unfair the situation was. using the yer Death Stroke of cheating and using overpowered skills and unfair methods and hacks to secure a victory against all three of the super guilds. Not only that, but they also used David Ruster, the undead yer behind the infamous Mr. Skeletal to of having struck a low blow against the hard work of the Devastators. They had apparently ¡¯worked hard¡¯ in securing a footing in the East, only to have him and his undeadpanions swoop in at thest minute to steal all of their earnest work. Skeletal was portrayed as an opportunist and schemer. Undeserving of his achievements, the ones of today and some even tried discrediting his earlier adventures.

    Of course, thesements were supported only by the super guilds and their yers.

    The majority of yers had sessfully shut down thesements with facts and even praised that Dave as a single yer for being able to fight against Warlord and three other S-ss legacy holders on his own, without the need of any of the other Undead.

    The might of Skeletal showed that he was not just a man with empowered skills, but he was a leader of great wits and outstanding leadership.

    And to confirm the fact that Dave had not been a ¡¯thief¡¯ CCN had released small clips of Dave¡¯s first assault on the East. The appearance of Jeffery in his video hadn¡¯t been regarded as much conversation material at first, but once the yers realized that Jeffery was the reason how the Devastators had been able to teleport to the East, they understood that it was because Jeffery had gone against his verbal agreement with Dave. He had taken the chance that Dave had given him and used it to aid the Devastators to benefit from the undead yer¡¯s attempt to raiding the East.

    Soon another teaser video came out. It was the fight in the Underworld, where Skeletal had invited the Devastators to join him in the hunt. Most importantly, the video showed Warlord¡¯s betrayal as well as the use of the Forbidden Chapter [Lock Down] on him. It didn¡¯t take a genius to figure out it was done so that they could ensure the capture of the East could proceed without Skeletal¡¯s intervention. All clues hade to light and the Devi supporters could speak no more on how Skeletal had stolen their chance. It was clear to the world that in fact it was Skeletal who was the victim and he himself fought back to regain what was rightfully his.

    All matters hade to a resolution besides the small fact that no one knew how Skeletal had obtained a second Right of Conquest. CCN refused to give any more information stating that they were in no way responsible for revealing all of a yer¡¯s secrets, so the matter remained a mystery, leading to the most obscure conspiracy theories.

    On the same day, Demetri Rospatcho hade out to give a conference meeting with all of his supporters. The shock was apparent when people learned that Demetri and his guild European Might were granted full control of the new kingdom¡¯s financial prows. With it, they had earned a footing in the world of Conquest to be the fourth super guild.

    Statistically speaking, it should be the weakest guild so far. It would take time for them to see returns on the East and most of the yers were not that famous. Still, thanks to the support from Skeletal, its military power was not to be underestimated.

    Warlord received a lot of criticism and heat from his fanbase. The only silver lining for him was that the other super guilds from the same defeat. His defeat could at least be excused by him using up his Legacy in the fight with Qin, but Zhang Shi, White Ghost, and Wan Yi should have seeded. They had the perfect chance to defeat Skeletal when they caught him alone but they had still failed.

    When the tactician had been pestered by numerous news outlets about how this came to be and why they lost, he provided one simple statement, "I underestimated him, I won¡¯t do that a second time."

    Zhang Shi, on the other hand, gave a lot of excuses, the most vocal one being how his legacy hadn¡¯t worked due to a certain Vampire.

    Wan Yi had nothing to say to defend himself. White Ghost had told him to show the yers how he had used his Barbarian Legacy to help the yers trapped in Nora to head to the East, and without a legacy to use against Skeletal, it was no wonder he lost.

    The Undead Legion had revealed a great amount of strength, enough to threaten any of the world¡¯s corners. If the Undead Expansion went live, the yers had already gotten a preview of what was toe so they needed to band together if they wanted to fight against such dangers. And there it came back again, the promise of the so-called Ash King. Offering yers enormous powers if they joined his cause to fight against the Undead King.

    The world hade to learn of the faction that nned to fight against the Undead King, and the burnt yers had begun the search for the Demon Temples so they could secure the aid from such a mysterious entity.

    Everyone felt that the game of Conquest was about to enter its next phase. Supremacy over the world would be decided by the steps each super guild was about to take...

    [This marks the end of The Eastern Kingdom Arc, next Arc will be filled with quite the action, stay tuned boyz]

 Chapter 437 Kingdom Building

    ***

    Conquest Server Announcement

    Sovereign Kis¡¯Shtiengbrah, also known as yer Death Stroke, has officially imed the Eastern Kingdom as his own.

    All yers who wish to go to the Eastern Kingdom can use the Teleportation Gate of the city Nora to begin their conquest.

    Teleportation cost has been designated to his kingdom at 50 gold.

    The tax for trading in items has been fixed at 10% of the item value.

    All hostile activities within the New Eastern kingdom shall be dealt with severely.

    The Undead have taken part in civil security. All illegal fights are prohibited. ck Markets, gambling, and aggression toward NPCs, especially the Undead, is unforgivable and is punished by execution and the permanent ban from the Kingdom.

    The King of the Eastern Kingdom has established the following NPC hosted guilds: The Adventurer¡¯s Guild, Merchant Guild, Alchemist Guild, Forger¡¯s Guild.

    The King has invited all yers with the aforementioned professions to join his guilds and receive great benefits. All Master and Grandmaster sses of crafting-oriented professions are wee. The Adventurer¡¯s Guild has certain conditions that must be fulfilled before bing a member. For further information contact the Vice Guild Master who can be found in Nora.

    Kis¡¯Shtiengbrah wees all those with good intentions to the Eastern Kingdom and promises a grim end to all those who will dare defy his rules.

    ***

    "Who the fuck does he think he is?!" one of the yers spoke up after reading the announcement.

    "Oh geez, I dunno, probably the King of the frigging East! This is only natural or do you seriously want me to believe if you had a kingdom of your own, you wouldn¡¯t do the same," another yer nearby answered sarcastically.

    "Fine. Still, I wouldn¡¯t do it by this much. Just look at it, the tax is too high for a starting kingdom. That¡¯s daylight robbery" The first yer replied.

    "Not really. The tax in the Devastators thiefdom may be 7%, but that only applies to the guild members, for all others, it¡¯s 14%."

    "Then what about the Teleportation Gates. He is charging 10x the price for a teleportation scroll or to use one of the other Super Guild¡¯s Gates."

    "Well, that much is a fact. But consider this, the East is the newest and most intriguing kingdom. No one had managed to really explore it because of the monsters of the Wilds and now you can just teleport in to avoid those. High prices are pretty usual to jumpstart an economy, especially since they just finished a prolonged war. I, for one, think it¡¯s pretty fair. The high price might make it seem more exclusive, but there are bound to be those whoe. And once they do and share on the forums what they found it will encourage more yers to go and see it for themselves. Whoeveres fast will also benefit from new recipes, new dungeons and explore new things. Everyone can have a piece of the cake. Skelly wasn¡¯t greedy, he¡¯s actually very generous in allowing others from opposing guilds to enter his kingdom as long as they don¡¯t cause trouble."

    "You may be right, but I still don¡¯t like it. It would have been much better if it was owned by us."

    "You can¡¯t really me Warlord, he did his best, but Skelly got the better hand. Hell, he even beat the crap out of the other two guilds. I bet in no time Skelly will establish his own guild that will be able to rival that of any Super Guild."

    "Oh yeah, that reminds me, Skelly never created a guild nor has he joined one. Do you know the reason?"

    "Nope, don¡¯t even have the slightest clue as to why. My best guess is that he is more into small parties, more solo ying oriented. Guilds can sort of exhaust one mentally if you know what I mean."

    "But wait, hasn¡¯t he partnered up with that Demetri guy who is the Guild Master of the European Might? Maybe he will let Skelly take control of that guild if so I¡¯d love to join them as well," the first yer said. He quickly covered his mouth as he realized that his statement was pretty much the textbook example of treason.

    "Sigh, I will act as if I didn¡¯t hear you say that. In your own interest don¡¯t be so dumb in front of others. Not that I can¡¯t understand your sentiment. Right now we¡¯re in deep trouble. The Devastator¡¯s shareholders are pulling out, and the guild¡¯s financial stability is crumbling. All due to the consecutive setbacks, courtesy of Skelly. We¡¯re lucky we¡¯re still in the guild. Who knows how long we¡¯ll be receiving our monthly pay if this continues. I bet they¡¯ll startying off weak yers and only keep the strong ones."

    "Man, that would suck, I¡¯m not level 400 yet."

    "Then you better level up fast before someone else takes your spot! Times are changing fast. Conquest is about to enter a new era!"

    ***

    "I guess that should be good enough for a start," Dave looked at Demetri who was busy coordinating the influx of his guild members.

    "It went better than I expected," the yer in blue robes replied. "My family members are all here and they¡¯ll start manning the guilds. Let me be straight forward here. They aren¡¯t too thrilled about you appointing NPCs as the Guild Master for the Merchant¡¯s Guild and the Forger¡¯s Guild. I get that you have trust in them, but not everyone is like you. I have good men for the job who think of them as 0s and 1s. It will take time for them to be convinced otherwise. Right now they tolerate it since you im your personal are better than they are. Speaking of, I haven¡¯t seen them yet, are they your friends?"

    "Sorta. Not sure I could call the one for the Merchant Guild my friend. He¡¯s more like an acquaintance." Dave grinned, "Isn¡¯t that right, Dikenz?"

    "Ay, lord Kis¡¯Stiengbrah, that be right. I be Dikenz, and I¡¯m humbly in ya service," Spoke a Zombie that showed up right behind Demetri.

    The Zombie¡¯s face was rotten as much as his toothy smile. Although the two might not share the best rtionship, Dave knew that if anyone were to secure him any profit, it would be none other than the biggest scammer of the game he ever had the (mis-)fortune of meeting.

    "You¡¯ll be the highest authority figure of the Merchant¡¯s Guild. You know what that means, right?" Dave asked.

    "Ay, not a single dime¡¯ll be spent without me avin a piece of it. Ain¡¯t that be right, Master Grim Lord?" Dikenz answered while rubbing his hands greedily.

    "What about Andre? Didn¡¯t he receive my invitation to man the Forger¡¯s Guild?" Dave asked.

    "Not yet sir. The big smith¡¯s gotten pretty busy wit¡¯forgn, ya know. That kingly set of armor he be making for ye, sir. That needs like half of em concentrating n¡¯hammering. He asked humbl¡¯ o¡¯ me to pass on to ya he be here when he done, sir."

    "Well if you trust them. I bet the armor they¡¯ll make and sell will be great for the yers."

    "No doubt, although they won¡¯t be selling Death Knight and Doom Knight armors," Dave pointed out.

    "Huh? Why not? That¡¯s a powerful set of gears you have. Just by advertising it as ¡¯the same armor as Mr. Skeletal wore on his adventures¡¯ the marketing will take care of itself. Besides, it would be great if we have more yers with those items. Or are you afraid that people might use them to go against you?" Demetri questioned. "I can understand your wishes not to share them, but one day people will get their hands on Legion issued armors and weapons anyway, you know."

    "Nah, it¡¯s not me wishing to hog the armors. Even if other yers have them, I¡¯ll still kick anyone¡¯s ass. It¡¯s because of the requirement. All Legion issued arms and armor are not just level, but more importantly rank and race-specific. You have to be an Undead and a Death Knight or else you won¡¯t be able to equip the Death Knight set."

    "Ah, that¡¯s a bummer. We could have sold a shitload of them for a good deal of money," Demetri sighed.

    "Pardon me sir, but I fail ta see the problem," Dikenz interjected. "A great merchant be abl¡¯ ta sell anything to anyone!"

    "They still won¡¯t be able to use them though," Dave argued.

    "That won¡¯t be our problem though, sir. We can sell ¡¯em the armors and they¡¯ll just keep em in hope that they¡¯ll join the great Legion one day. They¡¯ll be better off with hoping that they turn to Legionnaires and have armors to match em, than turn to undead and have none to wear, hope is a good tool to use for selling, sir. Can¡¯t hurt ta spread a rumor or two as well."

    "That¡¯s in ol scamming, it¡¯s like selling fish in the sea."

    "If they buy em, that will be worth it! It¡¯s gonna be trash in their hands for now, but money in ours. Best we sell em trash while they still think it¡¯s worth it. And believe me sir, once his Great Majesty the Undead King, may his reign foreverst, take part in this world, they¡¯ll be d they will have the weapons and armor to prove their allegiance to him." Dikenz spoke.

    It was surprising to Dave that when Dikenz was paying homage to the King, all of his strange and ever changing ents suddenly disappeared.

    "Fine, do whatever you want, just don¡¯t sell too many of them. Also, I¡¯d rather you don¡¯t sell any Doom Knight armor. In case anyone finds a way to equip them or even worse reverse engineer them, it might be bad for us. They are too powerful," Dave advised. He was currently wearing the Doom Knight set, and thanks to it, he had been able to survive the most powerful of attacks including those from S-ss Legacy holders.

    "That be the obvious, sir. The Doom Knight armor be hard to craft, an¡¯ Andre can¡¯t go around creating them for anyone. Only those that achieve Doom Rank ss got right ta wear one. And I say, you sir, was¡¯ very lucky in taking down Du¡¯Rhaza. That was a fight worth paying for." Dikenz praised.

    Dave shook his head, the Zombie was an SSS-grade bootlicker and if it went on, he¡¯d probably scam Dave of some of his CP.

    "Right. I believe the workers have finished all construction in my estate," Dave questioned.

    "Aye, they be ready for new tasks," Dikenz nodded.

    "Then have theme here, and hire ten times the number. I also want all the Undead who were working on Urburg toe here. Have them spread and start rebuilding the cities and towns that were lost in the war." Dave gave the order.

    "As you wish, sir."

    "Bud,e here," Dave called.

    The Shadow Ghoul appeared right next to Dave and knelt on one knee.

    "Your Highness," the Ghoul greeted him.

    "I¡¯m not ¡¯Your Highness¡¯ Bud. I¡¯m yourrade. Don¡¯t ever kneel to me. A salute is all I require." Dave corrected him. While ttering to hear, it was strangeing from one of his own Boyz.

    "Yes, Lord," Bud quickliy stood back up and stomped a foot on the ground while smashing a fist into his chest.

    "Good. Now I¡¯ve called you, because I want you to lead every single Undead Captain. You will be patrolling the kingdom with their brigade. I want the roads secure. If you find any refugees, escort them to the nearest city. Don¡¯t harm them, no matter the cost. If they are farmers, help them resuscitate their crops. I want the people to feel safe with Undead amongst them."

    "As youmand!" Bud disappeared to ry Dave¡¯s orders.

    "I think you took care of all the preliminary necessities to handle the kingdom. If you don¡¯t need me anymore I still have a lot of things to take care of. Feel free to just call me if something turns up. Also how about you take an actual rest?" Demetri asked. "You¡¯ve been fighting all day now. Your motto might include Never Tire, but don¡¯t forget outside the game you are still a human like the rest of us, David Ruster."

    "Yeah, you might be right. Didn¡¯t take you for the considerate type. I¡¯ll be backter. " Dave flexed his shoulders. It had been a while since he started ying and a good night¡¯s sleep was long overdue.

    Once Dave logged out, he found that he had a new message on his phone. It was from Zoe.

    -

    Hey sweety. Some guy contacted me in-game and asked me to pass you a message.

    He said he¡¯s still waiting for you at the gym, and you¡¯d better hurry. His IGN was Swingem, if that helps you.

    Daddy also wants you toe over more often. He said he wants to see you again to hang out. I bet he just wants you to power level him in the East or the Underworld. Man, he¡¯s been ying way more than I have now that he has a gun.

    See yater hun

    XOXO

    -

    Dave smiled at the cheezy text.

    ¡¯I should probably hit the gym, I¡¯ve been cking off a lot, heck I even gained a few pounds, the life of the rich isn¡¯t good for ones health.¡¯

    He grinned and went directly for a shower, to prepare himself for thefort of his bed.

    ***

    Somewhere around the suburbs of New York, a certain yer logged out of the game. His room was all messy, opened beer bottles thrown all over the ce along with cigarette butts burnt to the filter.

    He wore a grease-stained tank top along with shorts and had a messy stubbed beard that cried for a good shave.

    "All of it should have been mine," the yer smashed his fist onto his table. Causing the beer bottles on it to topple on the floor, spilling whatever remained inside them onto the carpet.

    "Everything should have been mine. And that fucker is now enjoying all of my hard work. If only that Albert was fair, I¡¯d be the king of the fucking world by now. But some dickless fuck is now enjoying my glory."

    The man¡¯s rage was calmed as soon as heid his eyes on a rusty pocket knife that he used to open beers with.

    "Yes, if I can¡¯t have it... no one will," he decided after downing one of the unopened beer bottles. He grabbed the knife, and wore a hoodie over a tracksuit and left the house.

    "I¡¯ming for you, fucker..."

 Chapter 438 The Gym

    Dave felt like he hadn¡¯t slept this great for ages. A quick nce at his clock revealed that it was rtively early. He had made sure that his rm was set to 07:00 am yet he managed to wake up 5 minutes before it. A bit saddened at the ¡¯loss¡¯ of those extra minutes, Dave knew that trying to catch up on them would be a bad idea, so he stood up.

    After enjoying a quick breakfast, cereal with chocte kes, he took a shower before he went into his closet space which seemed more like a private shop exclusively for his own use. He looked around until he discovered one high-quality tracksuit to his liking. He left the house heading toward the gym where Desmond had hoped to meet him for some time now.

    The city was packed full of people. It might be very early in the morning, but many were headed to their jobs. Seeing Dave casually jog along the streets of New York spurred a bit of jealousy in the people who were begrudgingly on their way to yet another 8-hour-shift, if not longer.

    Doing sports in these times had be a luxury not many could afford.

    Along his run, it was only a matter of time until a few people had recognized David Ruster, the world¡¯s current sensation. After all, he was the yer who had single-handedly taken down all of the Super Guilds, Guild Masters and had managed to wrestle out the East for himself. One man against an army of yers... and he hade out victorious.

    The aftermath of this now caused some problems for Dave. Many of those men and women had blocked his way, asking for a picture or a selfie with him. Some had outright given him their numbers, men and women alike.

    Dave felt a bit embarrassed and thanked his lucky stars when he found a taxi nearby. He immediately rushed to it to get out of the clutch.

    "Too much," Dave grumbled under his breath.

    But the taxi driver had heard him and turned his mirror to face Dave saying: "That¡¯s the price of fame buddy, now buckle up." The taxi driver grinned and drove off with Dave.

    "Don¡¯t mind me, but, someone of your fame should have their own driver, or at the very least their own car." The taxi driver offered some friendly advice.

    "Yeah, that is a great idea. Here I was thinking of doing some innocent jogging but it seems like I¡¯ve vastly underestimated the situation like this. It¡¯s time I pick up my car."

    "Right, it¡¯ll make things much easier for you. Although if you want to do some runs, it¡¯s not like it¡¯s impossible, even for a celebrity of your caliber," Dave could see the amused grin on his driver¡¯s face. "You just need a better location. I¡¯d rmend you head to Venia Park. It¡¯s pretty close and it has a lot of people. You¡¯ll blend in easily among the crowd. If you want, I could take you there right now?"

    "Thanks for the offer, but please take me to Manhattan 1st Ave. next."

    "Alright, then, I know the best way to avoid traffic."

    After half an hour the driver dropped Dave in Manhattan. The old city had always retained its beauty. Most of the people walking around its streets were dressed in brand suites on their way to work. Some of the shops were open to the public, with traditional food, hot dogs and take-outs.

    Dave walked along the street until he stopped in front of the only gym in the whole area. An enormous building that had pictures of a few MMA fighters¡¯ pictures on the gym board. The most prominent, however, was that of Desmond Malcolm.

    As he walked into the building his nose was immediately assaulted by the smell of sweat, his ears by the sound of loud beat music and his eyes by people following a trained choreography.

    The gym was simply enormous. From what Dave could see at the entrance, it was divided into three sections. If he chose to go in through the center door, he woulde to what most expected out of a gym. Arge area with training weights, treadmills and many other machines to enhance physical fitness.

    The door to his left led to an area with temperature-regted pools and showers. Apparently, that one was for people who came here because they enjoyed swimming.

    Finally, the right door lead to a carpeted area, with shock-absorbent material. It had three rings where people were currently sparing against each other.

    "Wassup kid, you look lost. You need any help?" an immensely muscr but friendly-looking man smiled at Dave. He behaved in the ssical way any first-timer did.

    "Uh, yeah. I am looking for Desmond. Is he here?" Dave asked.

    "Hah, aren¡¯t you an ambitious one? You¡¯re a newbie and yet you ask for the devil coach on the first day. You shoulde to do some muscle training with me and the boys before you are ready for his regime," the man spoke while flexing his muscles at Dave.

    "The girls dig these!" he added while making his chest muscles jump up and down.

    Dave gulped hard. "Gotta admit that is he impressive, but I¡¯m not interested in increasing muscle mass. At least not by this much."

    "Bummer, but let me tell you, it¡¯s really hard to get Desmond to train you. Nothing personal, but his schedule is packed full. Unless he makes an exception it¡¯s nothing unusual to wait weeks or months for an opening. So don¡¯t feel bummed if he refuses you. After all, there is a reason why the rest of us work here. I¡¯ll help you gain at least some mass. You¡¯re too scrawny like that," the man said.

    Daveughed, "I¡¯d say I¡¯m pretty regr, it¡¯s more like you¡¯re the giant. What¡¯s your name by the way?"

    "Call me Jacob."

    "Jacob then. David, but my friends call me Dave," he introduced himself. He was about to offer Jacob a handshake but given that hulk¡¯s mass, he changed it to a fist bump at thest moment.

    "Right then, Dave. Seeing as you¡¯re a nice fellow, let me check if we catch Desmond in a good mood. Let me throw in a word for ya. If you¡¯re lucky enough he might find some time to teach you the basics."

    Dave smiled at the man and said, "Sure."

    Jacob gestured for Dave to follow him and went ahead toward the arenas where Desmond was standing. He wasn¡¯t much different from his In-Game avatar, the most notable difference was that in real life he still had hair on his head.

    "D, here¡¯s a new recruit. Are you interested in putting the fresh meat through the grinder?" Jacob asked jokingly.

    Desmond, on the other hand, wasn¡¯t paying much attention. "Sorry J, got my hands full today. Check with Brian, he¡¯s open today."

    Jacob had a wry awkward smile on his face, embarrassed and apologetic at the same time.

    Before he could apologize to Dave, thetter suddenly went forward and addressed the star of the gym. "And here I thought you¡¯d spare me a few moments of your oh so precious time. Guess I¡¯m better off hanging out with Brian."

    Desmond frowned and turned. If he had a nickel for every cocky neer... well, he¡¯d be able to build another gym of this kind. Those people should know that he was very popr among the clients of this gym. Only Desmond had the right to outright refuse clients, and none dared toin, because he was that good.

    As he was about to ask Jacob to escort the guy away, he turned around and swiftly recognized Dave. "Holy shit! You finally came! I was worried you had just paid me some empty lip servicest time."

    "How could I note, after you messaged my girlfriend. Besides I¡¯d never go back on my word!" Dave replied, smiling.

    "Rick, cancel all my appointments for today. J, you should have just told me the new guy was Dave!"

    "My bad. Didn¡¯t know you guys were acquaintances," Jacob scratched his head.

    "I¡¯d go so far as to call him a friend," Desmond corrected. "It¡¯s not your fault, J, you¡¯ve been a great help."

    "You two have fun. And if your friend decides to be a regr, send him my way. Surely you agree that he can use some gains," Jacob bid them farewell, but not before pitching his idea to Desmond who just nodded.

    "So brosky, what¡¯s the deal?" Dave turned to Desmond.

    "Right, let¡¯s get you started. You just threw me off my rhythm with your surprise visit. By the way congratz on getting the East. That was pretty dope. You¡¯re the talk of the game, the forums, and even in the gym."

    "Thanks, man, it wasn¡¯t easy. Just swinging weapons and skills around wasn¡¯t everything. As it turned out the thing that helped me out the most were the Sworn Stalwart Fists."

    "The what?" Desmond asked.

    "Sworn St... they are fist weapons. I used them to take out the White Ghost, the Priest. Haven¡¯t you seen the fight?" Dave asked.

    "Nope, CCN hasn¡¯t released it in full yet. Teasers were out, but the real deal should only be released today at 20:00. Thanks for the spoilers, man." Desmond used him in a friendly banter way.

    "Oh, then you¡¯ll see what I¡¯m talking about by then. Now how do we do this?" Dave asked bringing them back to the matter at hand.

    Desmond sized Dave from head to toes, "Well first, you should take off your clothes."

    "Shouldn¡¯t you buy me a drink first?" Dave joked.

    Desmond cracked a smile, "Wise-ass. Your outfit might be good enough to jog around or to work a sweat with J, but it won¡¯t do you any favors for what I have in store for you. We¡¯ll start with basic Karate, Judo, and transition into Kung-Fu. You need to gain a good form and good flexibility to perform some of the Katas."

    "Right then, I should probably buy a Karate suit, right?"

    "It¡¯s called a Karategi, and don¡¯t worry, we have a lot of brand-new ones. I¡¯ll fetch you one. Consider it my tribute to the almighty Sovereign of the East," Desmond teased leaving Dave in the arena.

    However, Dave wasn¡¯t quite alone. After all, this was a gym, so many people were whispering amongst each other wondering who the new guy was and more importantly why Desmond the ever so hard-ass, would be so lenient.

    The collective hive mind needed less than a minute before one of the people in the gym recognized Dave.

    "IT¡¯S MR. SKELETAL!" the speaker had shouted the name so loud that everyone in the gym must have heard it. That was enough to cause a scene. The bustle of the ce had turned to muted muffles and even the music had stopped.

    "Ah shit, here we go again," Dave cursed under his breath.

    "Everyone, get the hell back to your workouts!" A hollering voice sounded from within the weight lifting area. It was none other than Jacob.

    "You guys know the rules! We¡¯re here to better ourselves, so don¡¯t waste your and other peoples¡¯ time. If you wanna talk, do it AFTER your workout. If I catch anyone not busting his ass up on the tracks or the machines, I¡¯ll throw you out personally! And I mean that quite literally!"

    And just as if nothing had happened the music resumed and everyone went back to whatever they had been doing.

    Dave was surprised. Apparently, the big man over there had quite the say in this ce.

    Desmond came back to Dave with a white Karatagi and a white belt.

    "Congrats, you¡¯ve beaten the record for causing a scene as a newbie," Desmond stated amused.

    "Yeah, but Jacob over there dealt with it pretty well."

    "We have a lot of famous peopleing here, and it¡¯s always like this. Thanks to J, we never have paparazzi or nosy people hanging around the gym for long though."

    "Great guy," Dave praised.

    "Yep, he is the co-founder. He loves this ce more than anything. You should have seen how much he toiled and busted his ass before getting this ce to look like this. That guy is a good man and a hard worker."

    "Sounds like a great friend. Man, now I feel like I owe him at least one training session. So where are your changing rooms?"

    "Get to the locker room, put your stuff in one of the lockers and just deposit your key at the receptionist over there. I¡¯ll clear a ring for us, and we can start right away." Desmond said.

    "Right, on it."

 Chapter 439 Preparing for Phase Two

    "Oi! Aww, aww, EASY!!!!" Dave was beat red and visibly in dire pain.

    "You gotta pull through man. Keep going!" Desmond encouraged him in a calm manner.

    "That¡¯s easy for you to say. I¡¯ll break in half this way, bro!" Daveined through gritted teeth.

    "Believe me the human body can endure far worse than this. Just follow my instructions and keep going," Desmond argued while slowly pushing down on Dave¡¯s shoulders while thetter was in the midst of doing a split.

    After a while, Dave heard a small snap and felt like fainting. He gasped as he looked upon his trainer/torturer: "What the hell was that? Please tell me, that wasn¡¯t the sound of the royal jewels, because it certainly does feel like it."

    "That would literally be impossible since you have no bones there. At most, they could rupture" Dave was feeling himself one step closer to fainting at imagining that... Fortunately, after Desmond had enjoyed his sadistic second of silenced fun, he continued. "That was just your hip cracking. All the stretching beforehand has warmed you up, but your body isn¡¯t used to performing like this. It shouldn¡¯t be so bad in the future. Anyway, stay in that form for a few more minutes, then we¡¯ll keep going."

    "You don¡¯t have to worry about me leaving," Dave looked at his legs that were doing an amazingly good yet painful split, "I think I¡¯m stuck."

    Desmondughed off Dave¡¯s joke and went to fetch something.

    A few moments went by, where many of the people in the gym were smiling at Dave¡¯s misfortune. Soon enough, Desmond came back with some ropes. He tied Dave¡¯s legs to his and hands to his then sat back to back.

    "Hey, I remember this from an old movie bro. You¡¯re not gonna start Wax on wax AWWWW," Dave¡¯s culturalment was cut abruptly as Desmond pulled his own legs apart forcing Dave¡¯s already split legs to stretch further. The training continued, while Dave¡¯s misery kept increasing, the only sor he had was Desmond assuring him that he was doing a great job and that if he kept it up he would start showing improvement in no time.

    After a couple of hours of grueling torment, Dave didn¡¯t even feel like walking. The paining from his thighs, chest, and forearms was unbearable.

    "I¡¯ve made a reservation for you in two days, same time as today. If you need to change it talk to Tanya, our receptionists or give her a call by the end of tomorrow. Right now go upstairs, I had Rick prepare an ice bath for you."

    "Ice bath? I¡¯d be better off with a regr warm shower man," Daveined weakly. He had learned that with Desmond resistance was futile.

    "As your trainer, I can¡¯t rmend you do that. A cold or ice bath will help fight off cramps unless you look forward to being in a world of pain tomorrow."

    Dave nodded after hearing that. He recalled that as a former football yer Ralph used to have ice baths after exercising or after a match.

    "Are you nning to show me some moves next time?" Dave asked while rubbing his grumbling stomach.

    "To learn the moves, you need the form. And to get a better form I rmend you get something protein-heavy to eat after our workout. Alternatively, we also offer protein shakes here. Be patient, we have a lot of time on our hands. Even Mr. Skeletal had to work his way up, before getting where he is today." Desmondforted him. "Now up you go. I¡¯ll have a taxi waiting for you to take you home once you¡¯re done. By the way, speaking of my favorite Undead, when is your next sh of Gods fight?"

    "Tomorrow, it should have been yesterday but because of the raid on the East and my Sovereign Status I got skipped over."

    "Well, I wish you luck. See you next time."

    "See ya bro," Dave fist-bumped Desmond and went upstairs for his bath.

    The experience was rather... teeth ttering for Dave. Still, he trusted Desmond¡¯s judgment and that it would be beneficial to him if he endured. Just as promised after finishing up, a taxi was dutifully waiting for him outside.

    Once Dave was back home, he followed Desmond¡¯s advice as best as he could and cooked up some chicken breasts before he logged back into the game.

    ------------

    Dave¡¯s avatar appeared in the Eastern Kingdom. By the looks of it, the city already appeared to be in much better shape than hest left it. The Undead were truly extraordinary workers. They didn¡¯t tire, they didn¡¯t need rest, so they could keep up a rate of productivity as stable as a mountain.

    The thousands of Undead Dave had hired from Dikenz certainly had cost him a great deal of his CP, but it was all worth it as the cracked buildings in the city were all fully repaired and the destroyed ones had new ones being built in their stead.

    There was a lot of dust covering the city but it didn¡¯t bother the Undead much. Despite the reconstruction efforts, many of the NPCs continued to be fearful of the Undead. It hadn¡¯t been that long ago since the Undead had been responsible for many of the present NPCs to flee their city or lose loved ones. Still, nobody had caused any riots or incited trouble, they had all followed the orders of their new king and acted obediently.

    Dave noticed a few new shops had opened, owned by some of the braver NPCs. Some of the citizens were courageously moving through the streets to purchase their daily needs. Meanwhile, the Undead ignored the living and fully focused on their jobs. Even with all the bustle, this made Dave take a breath of relief. He had feared that the NPCs would be too discouraged to function, further crippling the city that had juste out of the war.

    In the middle of the city za, there was a table with a man sitting at it. Next to him were two Death Knights standing guard. On the table were hundreds if not thousands of papers neatly stacked on top of each other. On the other side of the table was a neat and organized line of NPCs, they moved one by one, spoke to the man sitting on his desk and then left with one of the papers.

    Dave went toward the man and recognized him as Demetri.

    "Demetri, are you already back online?"

    "Not ¡¯already¡¯, more like ¡¯still¡¯. I couldn¡¯t log out, there continues to be a lot left to do," Demetri answered while paying more attention to taking notes on what the NPC in front of him had just stated.

    "You should rest," Dave advised.

    "I can¡¯t. Not now. This may be one of the most important things I have to do, if we want to fulfill your crazy vision."

    "So what are you doing exactly?" Dave asked.

    One of the NPCs, at the front of the line, coughed and bowed, "Most Benevolent Grim Lord, could you please be patient. We all have patiently waited our turn and we are in dire need of the Chancellor¡¯s help."

    One of the Death Knights rapidly drew a weapon and ced it right under the NPCs¡¯ neck causing the mass to gasp in fright. "He Be Your KING! Great Lord Kis¡¯Shtiengbrah! If he wants you to wait! You¡¯ll wait for a lifetime!" the Death Knight stated in rage.

    "Chill, bro," Dave spoke to the Death Knight who immediately returned to his previous ce at Demetri¡¯s side and turned to the NPC. "Did you just address me as ¡¯Grim Lord¡¯? The heck is up with that?"

    "It is what His Excellency the Guild Master of the Merchant Guild, Sir Dikenz has told us to refer to you as. If I was disrespectful please excuse my wording, Your Majesty."

    "¡¯His Excellency Sir Dikenz¡¯? Damn, I¡¯ve had it with these titles." Dave sighed in defeat. "Argh, I will deal with all of thister. Demetri, you seem to be the only one here who still makes sense, mind filling me in what exactly is going on here?".

    "All these people are business owners. I will need to know their yearly ie, and how much they had lost during this war. Once they fill out the form, informing me of all important information, I¡¯ll be funding and revitalizing their businesses, and in return, they¡¯ll be paying an extra fee to the treasury."

    Dave immediately understood what Demetri was doing. If he came to the aid of the NPCs right now while they were at their weakest, they would eventually return the help ten times the number. With his ¡¯generosity¡¯ Demetri would guarantee they would have their fingers in every business in town. This way the treasury¡¯s ie would increase tremendously, without causing strain on the financial situation of the country, as those people would be willing to pay back the one who aided them.

    "Need any help?"

    "Thanks, but I¡¯m almost done. Just a few hundred more and I¡¯ll take a rest. By morning this should be all over. What about you? What is the King of the East going to do next?" Demetri asked while continuing his work.

    "I need to prepare for a big fight."

    "What? There is something even bigger than the fight for the East?" Demetri asked while really looking up for the first time since Dave had arrived.

    "Although the surface world might have been split up now, there is still the Underworld left. The Undead Legion was in the midst of conquering it, but the Ash King is a pretty fucked up ass who has started ying dirty. He is recruiting yers to join him against the Undead King. And I can¡¯t have that."

    "Then why don¡¯t you recruit yers against the Ash King? That Priest with the loose lips mentioned you had the ability to turn yers into Undead. Why not use it?"

    Dave rolled his eyes at nker sharing his secrets. Next time they met perhaps he should let him be a meal for Tiny to teach him a lesson.

    "I do, but it¡¯s not good for the yers right now. The change is irreversible. Once they turn Undead, they¡¯ll remain Undead forever. I am merely an exception because of the Legacy Item I got. They¡¯ll be extremely weak to any holy element, and they¡¯ll have to start from the lowest rank of the Undead. A Zombie, Skeleton or a Ghoul. Kindame to offer a yer the chance to join us, when they would have to restart from ground zero." Dave exined.

    "Huh, I thought they¡¯d be transferred to their equivalent rank in the Legion as soon as they make the change."

    "Nah, Legion ranks aren¡¯t given, they are earned. And believe me, I have seen some level 400 skeletons without rank in the Legion." Dave said.

    "I can¡¯t see how that is possible. A level 400 Skeleton Soldier should be able to easily beat the crap out of a level 150 Undead Captain."

    "Sure if you pit those two against each other, the level 400 Skeleton Soldier would win. However, you are ignoring the Legion¡¯s rules. A subordinate would never defy a superior no matter the level difference. Then you also can¡¯t skip ranks, so they would have to fight an Elite Skeleton before taking on an Undead Captain. It¡¯s also all bnced. So, if yers were to be Undead, they¡¯ll be fighting their equivalent level of Undead in said rank. There is no cheating your way into higher ranks of the Legion, you have to put in the effort." Dave sighed.

    This was true, otherwise, Dave¡¯s suffering would have been meaningless if another snob coulde in with his high level and instantly be a Doom Knight. Hard work paid off. And Dave was sure as hell that none of those wannabe scrubs would be able to take down Du¡¯Rhaza in a fair fight. The Legion only recruited the best of the best. That was why the Ash King was having such trouble with them. They were a unit where the weakest link was ridiculously strong, making the entirety of the Undead Legion unbreakable.

    "Right then, you know best. So when are you heading to the Underworld for the Ash King?" Demetri questioned while slowly resuming his administrative work.

    "Not the Underworld, I have some Dungeons to take care of. The Ash King has ced several temples somewhere to recruit yers. I need to slow down his recruitment drive. Facing the Ash King¡¯s army as well as an army of respawning yers is not something I look forward to. I have enough troubles with just one of these factions."

    "Godspeed then."

    "You don¡¯t want to join in?"

    Demetri shook his head, "I¡¯m not that good of a yer and I don¡¯t have any problems admitting that. I don¡¯t understand half the things people say about Skills and damage and stuff. No, what I¡¯m good at is handling money. My job is to keep our pockets full, while your job is to protect our pockets when they are full."

    "I couldn¡¯t agree more. Right, I¡¯ll gather my party and head out. See yater Demetri. And seriously dude, you should rest."

    "To quote my Dedushka, ¡¯we¡¯ll rest once we¡¯re dead¡¯," Demetri replied with a tired smile.

    "Nah, you¡¯ll be an Undead, and if you look around, you¡¯ll see there is no rest for the wicked," Dave grinned and used a teleportation scroll to the Underworld.

 Chapter 440 Temple Run

    Dave arrived at the Pharaoh¡¯s Tomb, where Da resided. He needed information regarding the temples the Ash King had set up and the Arch-Lich was the most likely Undead to help him with that. Perhaps he even had found some additional ways to disable instead of just rendering them more difficult for adventurers to ess.

    The way up to the gold-ck pyramid was packed with Undead Knights standing guard. The city appeared to be fully functional. The dark-skinned people inside peacefully interacted with the Undead and currently none seemed to be too bothered with the presence of the other.

    Dave headed through the city courtyard and walked up the stairs to the Pyramid.

    Two Doom Knights were guarding the entrance to the pyramid. They saluted Dave as he walked by them and one of them pointed him to the location of Da without Dave even asking for it. It appeared as if his visit was already expected.

    Dave followed the Doom Knight¡¯s direction and walked into a library that hadn¡¯t been here thest time. Da, as a man of knowledge, was naturally a fan of books and reading, so he must have collected all the books from the city¡¯s library to create his own inside the pyramid.

    As Dave was walking through the densely packed library, he found Da standing in front of a shelf and fully immersed in reading an ancient-looking book.

    "Da," Dave called out.

    The Undead turned and nodded saying, "I¡¯ve been expecting you, Childe. Come,e, I have something of utmost importance to show you," Da greeted him with an unexpected amount of enthusiasm.

    Dave followed after the Abyssal Knight and the two stopped in front of a desk.

    Da sat on one side and spread open the book for Dave to read.

    ***

    -Of the Cinder King¡¯s power, mighty pawns wille to his service. In time, they will be asked into battle. Undying, unflinching, and extremely brutal. However, these Chosen aren¡¯t the best of his. I foretell the day where mankind will choose to side with the devil in order to defeat the dead.

    Yet, I also foretell my death before that time. For I have no interest in any of the parties¡¯ victory, I only wish the Cinder King, or the Ash King, as he calls himself these days, to fail in his endeavors. Should the Undeade to rule the world, they possess the power to protect it. They seek to challenge the light, but they do not seek its destruction. They are knights in heart and soul, with a code of honor and bravery.

    The pawns of the Ash King are taught nothing but destructive doctrines. They seek havoc and destruction. If they are allowed to rule the world, nothing but Ash will remain. They would wage wars against all life, breaking all that stands in their way. Days of chaos and fire will await mankind if the ambitions of the Ash King are fruitful.

    To prevent that, I have given my all to safeguard my people. I have given my all to create the Forbidden Tome. The only thing that might truly break the Ash King¡¯s might.

    Day 18, Seventh Month, year 620

    ***

    "Judging by the context it belonged to the Pharaoh, right?" Dave asked.

    "Yes, this is his journal. He had predicted the Ash King¡¯s rise to power long ago and created the Forbidden Tome in hopes of stopping him. Yet most of its pages had been ripped out, stolen for personal use. I couldn¡¯t find theplete book at all. However, I did manage to find a few copies of the spells transcribed from the original here and there." Da answered.

    "I got my hand on a few of them myself," Dave said. As part of his rewards for conquering the Third Raid Zone, he was getting a random one every 30 in-game days.

    "I have knowledge of that, but those are just simplified copies of the original spells. They are far less potentpared to what the real deal can do. Now I believe you came to know the location of the Ash King¡¯s temples." Da said.

    "Yeah, going aimlessly to search for them is kinda dumb. I need some information or at least some hint on where to look. You¡¯re the only one I could think who would have such knowledge."

    "You came to the right person, read thest page," Da asked.

    Dave flipped the journal and noticed that there was only one page left. Many pages between thest one he read and this one were cut.

    ***

    - Today, many of my people have died. The Ash King has discovered the presence of the Forbidden Tome I¡¯ve sessfully created. Now he seeks its powers to amplify his own. I can¡¯t allow it to strengthen him any further. I would rather destroy it myself and destroy my mind than hand over such might to an evil creature of his caliber.

    I have discovered what his real objective is. The Four Temples of Fire. The Ash King has somehow managed to project creations of his from the Underworld to the Outerworld, disregarding Lord Guardian Ramsha¡¯s warnings.

    He had assaulted Urburg, the city the Undeath God had chosen to reside in while resting. The Ash King has gotten his hands on a tool that is capable of ughtering gods, and he has used it to destroy the Undeath God. Thetter has disappeared and is presumed dead by now.

    The Undead of the Underworld have been severely weakened, due to their deity¡¯s disappearance. Afterward, the Ash King led his troops that broke through Urburg to build his temples in preparation for the recruitment of new troops. These troops are said to never die. Death is not a permanent state to them but merely an inconvenience. They will only grow stronger and there are many, all greedy in the pursuit of power, yet each of them is unique.

    If the Ash King manages to get his hands on those troops, then may the mighty gods help us all.

    Day 12, Fourth Month, year 625

    ***

    "So, that¡¯s the story behind the Pharaoh, Nick¡¯s disappearance from the Undead¡¯s records. It also exins how the Ash King has gotten his temples out. This fits. I mean, I¡¯ve long since wondered how Urburg got destroyed if Nick used to hang out there" Dave said.

    "s, this page only warns us that things are more dangerous than they appeared. If the Ash King had a tool that could weaken the Undeath God to a point that we had forgotten about him, it might be extremely dangerous to face him without proper preparation. You more than anyone else as the herald of the Undead God." Da warned.

    "Then what do you suppose we do?" Dave asked.

    "I have sent word to Samael. He will infiltrate the Ash King¡¯s pce and report back once he discovers more of the secrets of the tool they spoke about. As for you, I¡¯ve already located one of the Ash King¡¯s temples. It lies deep within the city of man of the west, called Icathia."

    "Damn, right at the Devi capital," Dave swore under his breath.

    His rtionship with the Devastators was... well, devastated. CCN had shown everyone how Mr. Skeletal had handed Warlord¡¯s ass back to him, and for that very reason, just his appearance at the Devastator capital would be enough to cause a riot of yers to charge him.

    "It is indeed within their capital, and it is very close to their core of power. The only silver lining seems to be they have yet to realize it is one of the temples. If they ess it, they will have direct ess to the Ash King¡¯s corruption, and they will be able to roam free within the Underworld.

    "Damn, we don¡¯t want that. Not right now and not until all the Underworld belongs to the Undead King." Dave was worried. After that defeat he had no doubts the Devastators would jump at the opportunity to get a power boast and mess up his ns. He knew for certain at least one person would...

    "And you," Da added.

    "What do you mean?" Dave asked as he had been lost in his thoughts.

    "Do not forget, you¡¯re His Majesty¡¯s prot¨¦g¨¦e. Our Prince to be. Everything belonging to the Undead King is yours by extension. Do not fight just for His Majesty, fight for yourself, Kis¡¯Shtiengbrah."

    Dave nodded, "I¡¯ll never forget."

    "Do all within your power to secure the Temple. ording to my calctions, it will require three more days before it will activate fully, revealing itself to the humans and granting them ess to it. However, you as an Undead will be able to enter freely. Make sure to go first, and make sure that no one sees you before you enter." Da cautioned.

    ***

    New Quest; Tier S

    Chain Quest -

    Sabotage (I)

    Destroy or tamper with the Temple of Fire within Icathia.

    To control the temple, you must procure the Temple Core.

    The task requires the utmost discretion and deftness.

    You mustn¡¯t get noticed entering the temple.

    Should someone see you, it will bring unwanted attention to the ce. The Church is also on the search of the temples in order to seal it, yet the magic of the Ash King works in mysterious ways such that they might elerate the speed of its opening.

    Rewards forpletion

    200,000,000XP

    250,000CP

    ***

    "Thanks for all the information. I need to do some preparation before I head out," Dave notified Da.

    "As you wish," replied Da and went back to his books.

    Dave left the area and teleported to Urburg, before he called Lone Arrow.

    "Hey love, what¡¯s new?" she asked.

    "Not much, just got my hands on a small quest I need your help with," Dave replied.

    "Aww, the mighty Dave who defeated two armies by himself needs my help? I feel ttered."

    "Eh, actually I was more looking for you to help me find someone. Do you remember the guy you said was one of the best smiths in the game?"

    "Ah, bummer, I thought we¡¯d go grinding."

    "I¡¯ll take you grindingter. Just the two of us, promise. Now about the guy..."

    "Yeah, I know who you¡¯re talking about. His yer name is Hammering-It-Gud. Just send him a friend request. Who wouldn¡¯t wanna be on Mr. Skeletal¡¯s friend¡¯s list?" she teased.

    "Ugh, talk about awful naming sense."

    "You sure are one to talk. Don¡¯t forget your yer name is Death Stroke," Lone sniggered.

    Dave shook his head, she was right. This was certainly a case of the pot calling the cattle ck.

    "Do you know how busy he normally is? I want to call him for a craft."

    "He is usually booked, but I¡¯m sure he might make an exception for you. Although, I nearly forgot, he¡¯s a Devi. They don¡¯t like you very much"

    "I know, but gotta do what you gotta do, thanks I¡¯ll talk to him now,"

    "Right, once you¡¯re done..."

    "Don¡¯t worry, I¡¯ll take you. It¡¯s a promise. Cyater, hun."

    "Laters."

    Dave hung up and sighed to himself, "Right, So Hammering-It-Gud it is."

    Dave added the yer to his friend¡¯s list and sent a private message.

    "Sup, I need your help for a craft if you¡¯re avable."

    A reply came soon afterward, "Beat it, you darned Skelly wanna-be. Are you guys not tired of this shit? I don¡¯t craft for anyone who isn¡¯t from the guild! And I sure as hell will never craft for some spineless noob who thinks that having a simr name to Death Stroke will get me fawning over them and crafting their shit for free. Enjoy the Block!"

    ***

    The yer Hammering-It-Gud has blocked you.

    ***

    "The heck?"

 Chapter 441 Craft Me Guds

    Dave had a big frown on his face. This was literally the first time someone had talked to him like this in-game. And what the hell was up with calling him a ¡¯Skelly wanna-be¡¯? Were there actually yers out there using his name to get favors?

    It didn¡¯t matter to Dave. Anyone was free to do what they wanted in the game. Still, to get shut down like that for being mistaken for an imposter irked him a lot.

    Dave¡¯s initial reaction was to call Lone Arrow so she could talk some sense into Hammering-It-Gud. Yet to send in his girlfriend toin didn¡¯t seem like the best first impression, so he decided against it. It was best if he dealt with things his way.

    He checked Hammering-It-Gud on the forums and fortunately he had set up shop in a town near Devastator¡¯s capital Icathia. Dave had to be pretty careful around the capital if he wanted to sneak in unseen. Were it not for the quest description specifically instructing him that his actions in Icathia needed to be discrete, he would have just waltzed into the capital against all the yers, letting them all gawk at how he took over the temple. If worse came to worst, Ramsha still had more Conquest Right Scrolls. He might not have another Demon Token, but seeing as Ramsha should also have an interest in the Ash King¡¯s ns being foiled, perhaps they coulde to some sort of agreement.

    Sadly, the town Hammering-It-Gud was in didn¡¯t have a direct Teleportation Gate. Ironically the closest one was Icathia¡¯s which he couldn¡¯t use. So, he teleported to the second closest city to the town.

    Glipnier, a city of statues, mythology, and architectural beauty. The whole city was made in the Victorian style. It had many replicas of the world¡¯s finest artistic creations where couples and people woulde and enjoy the ce and scenery. While in Conquest, one didn¡¯t need to move a muscle to travel the world.

    Dave took a look around and made a mental note to take Zoe here one of these days, but otherwise, he ignored the mass of people gathering around him. They all knew that the Undead was the one who had bested their Guild Master and had taken away the East for his own, also he was the one who had ripped a new one for both Heaven¡¯s Dawn and the Blood Ragers.

    The gazes he was met with showed a plethora of emotions. At first, everyone had hated Skelly for defeating Warlord and ruining the Devastators¡¯ ns, but once he did the same to the other two guilds, for whatever reason, the yers began to have respect for Skelly as a yer, it was not fear, but an acknowledgment of his power and ability to contend with Super Guilds even if he was just one man.

    Dave just walked straight out of the city. He had better things to do than stay there and inevitably start a fight with some Devi-Fanatic. Once he was out, he summoned Onixya. She was the fastest ride he could use to cover the distance between Glipnier and the town where Hammering-It-Gud usually stayed.

    The cute dragon was no more, and in its stead was a majestic, fully grown ck scaled dragon. A bit smaller than her parent, but all the same a true and unique ck Dragon. Onixya nudged her muzzle against Dave and he rewarded her with some neck scratches.

    "You¡¯ve grown so much. You won¡¯t fit in my side bag anymore now," Dave jested.

    The dragon, however, blew steam out of her nostrils and changed shape back to her smaller form, giving Dave a small fright and an unexpected surprise.

    "Well I guess you still can. This is great," heughed as he held her between his arms. "But I¡¯m gonna need you to take me to a town nearby first, okay?"

    Onixya nodded and reverted to her actualrger form. She waited until Dave climbed onto her back before she flew off to the West.

    Soon after, Dave finally arrived in the right town. He came down off the dragon, surprising everyone in the vicinity. The mighty Dragon of Terror was a great deterrent to anyone who had the silly idea that they could get the drop on Dave. They all kept their distance waiting for an opportunity which wouldn¡¯te. However, that didn¡¯t mean that they didn¡¯t contact the higher ups from the Devastator Guild in order to notify them of Skelly¡¯s presence.

    Dave continued ignoring the yers. As long as they didn¡¯t interfere with his business they could do whatever they wanted, be it take a picture or gawk at him as if he were a zoo animal. He was only interested in one person right now.

    Onixya changed back to her smaller form and restedfortably on top of Dave¡¯s helmet. The dragon was excited at being out in the open as it checked upon anything that moved around it. She behaved like a curious toddler, but when counting the days since her hatching, she was nothing more than that. And before Dave even noticed, she had flown off to a nearby stall and began tearing bits and pieces of some ready-made sandwiches and food. The stall owner was an NPC and he was petrified the moment he saw the dragon begin feasting. He wouldn¡¯t dare shoo away a dragon. The creature, though small, gave off a great pressure that made the NPC fear for his life.

    However, Dave wasn¡¯t gonna have any of that, he bumped Onixya lightly on her head with his fist, "Bad Onixya! That¡¯s not yours!" he chided her, then handed five gold coins to the NPC topensate him for the ruined stall. It was way more than he would have made that day anyway and frankly he was just happy to have kept his life.

    Onixya felt wronged and if dragons could pout, this one just did. Yet Dave wasn¡¯t going to raise her to nurse bad habits. He hadn¡¯t done so for Tiny, and he sure as hell wouldn¡¯t do so for the little dragon.

    The yers around were gobsmacked at the fact that the strongest Undead was treating a majestic ck Dragon like a pet dog.

    Turning around, Dave went to the ce the forum had mentioned as being the workshop of the yer who dared to block him.

    A few hundred meters away was a working forge with smokeing out in a regr interval from the chimney and a dozen yers in front of it waiting in line for their items to be ready.

    Dave would have never bothered toe here if Andre had not been so busy making his armor. He didn¡¯t much care for another yer handling his gear. But he didn¡¯t have any other choice given that time was of the essence.

    Dave had to make use of this yer that Lone had rmended, but so far the impression of the guy was certainly not one where he would be happy to work with.

    However, he was not a cruel, or overbearing person. After all his treatment appeared to stem from a case of mistaken identity, so Dave waited in line with all the yers. It was not his fault that his turn came up very fast, when the yers noticed him standing behind them and hurriedly left the line and made way for him. It also wasn¡¯t his fault if Hammering-It-Gud lost some money because his clients had left. Just like it wouldn¡¯t be his fault if Hammering-It-Gud would get angry. As stated, Dave was a nice guy. Ahem...

    Once he was in front of the shop, he saw that the yer with the name tag Hammering-It-Gud was d in a leather protective gear and had a hammer in one hand and tongs in the other. When he saw Dave he stuttered, unable to speak up.

    "What? Undead got your tongue?" Davemented.

    "Euh, Skelly, what are you doing here? My business is really small, please don¡¯t ruin it." Hammering pleaded, his face was whiter than a sheet of paper.

    "Huh? Do I look like some evil overlord to you?"

    Hammering didn¡¯t reply but another yer from the line replied for him, "Yes you do! Check yourself in a mirror, Skelly!" This led to a burst ofughter from the spectating yers.

    Dave looked down upon his Undead appearance. Additionally given his newly earned reputation with the guilds, his achievements hardly painted him as anything else but an Evil Overlord. The ck dragon as hispanion whose parent had been rightfully feared in the Wilds, certainly did not help the image.

    "You might be right. Anyway, I¡¯m here because I need something crafted. And perhaps you could help me inquire about something else," Dave said to the smith.

    "Oh, I¡¯ll definitely craft something for Skelly. That should be fun." Hammering replied returning to his normally stoic posture.

    "That was quick. I was kinda expecting some sort of resistance. I mean with your guild and stuff."

    "Nah, heck I wouldn¡¯t even care if Warlord himself came here and told me not to. If they want to kick me out, I can just enjoy watching the other two Super Guilds fighting over me." Hammering boasted.

    "Huh? If I didn¡¯t know any better I¡¯d say you don¡¯t like the guild. In that case why stay with them?"

    "Nah, you got it wrong. I love this guild. Heck I was one of the early guys who sorta even helped build it up. Besides, if I get to craft an item for Skelly, my reputation will increase by several folds. That¡¯s a lot of money, even Warlord can¡¯t talk me out of this." Hammering answered.

    "Right then, but before we get down to business... how about you unblock me first?" Dave asked with an evil smirk.

    "Unblock you? Why would I ever block...SHIT!!! Don¡¯t tell me, that was really you?!" Hammering spoke nearly dropping his tools. His face turned even whiter than before.

    Dave didn¡¯t even need to reply.

    ***

    yer Hammering-It-Gud has unblocked you.

    yer Hammering-It-Gud has sent you a friend¡¯s request.

    ***

    Dave refused the friends request and said, "You won¡¯t be the one to contact me. It¡¯ll be the other way around, and we¡¯ll keep it that way."

    "After my earlier treatment, I¡¯d say that¡¯s fair enough," replied the yer in a defeated tone. "Now tell me, what can I do for the vanquisher of all three Super Guilds? I doubt I could make anything better than the gear you¡¯re wearing. Heck, some of those materials haven¡¯t even been discovered yet."

    "Huh, now that you mention it, I haven¡¯t raided that Oprenieum cave yet... Hmm, I¡¯m probably still not strong enough to take down that thing. Oh, nevermind my idle thoughts, back to business. What I need you to craft is a leather armor set. The Shadow-Tiger set, which is a level 450 Assassin¡¯s gear."

    "Never heard of that before and I¡¯m pretty sure I know all the armor gears of Conquest by heart."

    "I¡¯m sure you do, but not the ones from the Underworld. So here¡¯s the diagram."

    Dave threw a piece of paper to the yer who grabbed it with shaky hands, "This is a diagram from the Underworld?! You¡¯re just giving me this?"

    "How else do you want to craft it, if you have never heard of it before? Enjoy, and please craft one up for me. The sooner the better, please," Dave threw in some resources for the Shadow Tiger set.

    "Hold on, you just gave me material for two sets here," Hammering pointed out.

    "Yeah, one for me, and the other you can keep or sell it. It¡¯ll probably get you some good money."

    "Thanks, man, I¡¯ll start working right now. Give me three, no two hours," The yer eximed.

    Dave nodded and went to a nearby tavern to wait for his gear to get crafted. He wasn¡¯t worried that Hammering would share the recipe for the set. First of all, what self-respecting craftsman would share the secrets of the trade instead of keeping it to himself? And also it would be useless for him to share it anyway. Right now only Dave and a few chosen yers had ess to the Underworld, so only they could get the materials for the recipe.

    Dave ordered a jug of ale and waited patiently for the craft to finish. He still had to use the gear to get into the temple unseen. He knew little about being stealthy. It just wasn¡¯t his style.

    Fortunately, he knew just the right person to teach him...

 Chapter 442 More Stuff on My Plate.

    "What you¡¯re about to try and pull off is going to be a bit difficult," spoke the bartender to Dave.

    Dave became a bit perplexed. He hadn¡¯t said a single word, apart from ordering a drink, so he didn¡¯t understand how the bartender might possibly know what Dave was going to be doing soon. Before he could inquire, the bartender changed shape, from a grisly looking old man, to a teenager with a Mohawk and an electric guitar strapped to his back.

    Dave gave him a wry smile. Was the Undeath God so bored as toe to serve drinks for others?

    "When was the stuff I ever did for you not difficult?" he retorted.

    "What you¡¯re doing right now it¡¯s not for me, it¡¯s for the Legion," the teenage looking God argued. "I haven¡¯te to stop you nor advise you. Besides, the Legion is also a part of me, so naturally, I wish to see their sess. So, I¡¯vee to warn you, that attacking the temples of the Ash King will be the same as dering war against Asmodeus. He won¡¯t like it."

    "Asmodeus?" Dave asked.

    "Yes, he¡¯s the owner of the Hot ce, pretty annoying and weird guy. Not much of a music guy, but really dangerous."

    "Hot ce? You mean hell?"

    "Yeah, is there any other ce? We¡¯ve been to heaven, haven¡¯t we? So why did it never cross your mind that there would be a hell?" Nick questioned the draugr who had reverted to his human form to at least try and limit his exposure... not that it helped that much.

    "I always thought that the Underworld was hell. Or a part of it at least." Dave answered.

    "Nah, the Underworld is a part of the world. Hell is somewhere else entirely. I can take you there if you¡¯d like, but like I said, Smody¡¯s gonna be really pissed."

    "Oooh, since when have you ever passed off a chance to make an angry god even angrier?" Dave asked teasingly.

    Nick smiled and replied "You¡¯re starting to understand me better, Kid. I like that."

    "Right then, who are you waiting for?" Nick asked as he handed Dave another mug of ale.

    Dave downed it, it was always amazing how the food and beverages from Conquest tasted and felt so real. From the weight of the mug, to the feel of it, to the smell and taste of the ale inside. The digital beverage was so real it could hardly be distinguished from a real one.

    "Waiting for an armor set, there¡¯s a guy making one for me, then I¡¯ll ask Bud to help me with sneaking into the temple," Dave told him the truth.

    "Oh, you¡¯re asking your Ghoul? And here I believed you would ask one of your human friends, the Assassin girl. I have been keeping an eye on her, she is not bad actually," Nick stated while pouring himself a cup.

    "Nah, can¡¯t invite any of my friends for this. It¡¯s a discreet mission. Also, I¡¯ve got a feeling she might still be a bit mad for me kicking her butt during the sh of Gods."

    "Right, speaking about being discreet, do you remember Duradel Ashkar?" Nick asked.

    "Yeah, the asshole that was cosying as a pirate." Dave replied annoyed at recalling the guy.

    "Yes, he¡¯s onto something, him and a close acquaintance of his rank," Nick revealed.

    "The Monk, I suppose?" Dave sighed. Was his fate somehow tied to that annoying baldy?

    "Spot on, yes. Have you not realized that you¡¯re missing a very important item from one of your fights with the Ash King¡¯s Chosen One, La-ire?" Nick pointed out.

    Dave shook his head, he didn¡¯t understand what Nick was going on about.

    "The Pandora¡¯s Box! It had been stolen from you after you defeated the ck Dragon. The moment you killed it, Ashkar¡¯s descendant came and took it. I couldn¡¯t prevent him, because he¡¯s a Demi-God and therefore has more liberties in this world."

    "Wait, now that you mention it, itpletely slipped my mind. What the fuck? Since when could NPCs steal items from yers?" Dave blurted out.

    "I don¡¯t know what you mean by NPCs or yers, but if you left it on the ground any scrub could havee and taken it. Too bad Ashkar was tracking your location."

    "Damn, that¡¯s really bad."

    "Yep, you can tell the mer-folks that. They¡¯ve been expecting the box¡¯s return for ages. Well I guess in the grand scheme waiting a bit longer won¡¯t change much, but you still have to take it back. And you better do it sooner rather thanter."

    "Oh god, just keep adding stuff to my te man. Where do I even start looking? And is that thing really that important?" Dave asked annoyed.

    "Well, technically, it wouldn¡¯t have been that important if it wasn¡¯t for a small thing."

    "And what exactly would that one ¡¯small¡¯ thing be?"

    "As you might recall killing the ck Dragon, sorta awoke all its lizardy friends and that box has a nasty curse on it that can make its wielder able to control a dragon."

    "Yeah, that would suck. If Ashkar could tame a dragon that¡¯ll make him pretty dangerous."

    Nick shook his head, "No, you vastly underestimate the danger. If it was only one, that wouldn been a huge problem. You¡¯ve already bested one dragon and since you¡¯ve tamed its offspring you might be able to take down another with the legion¡¯s help. However, Ashkar is really good at amplification magic. I figure he¡¯ll try to amplify the box¡¯s power. I¡¯ve no doubt that he will seed eventually, so instead of facing just one dragon, I¡¯d say he¡¯ll be able to lead the entire race on a rampage across the continent. That will really suck, for you guys."

    "Well, I didn¡¯t see thating. Got any clues where he might be?"

    "Nope, I¡¯ve got nada, nothing, zilch. That man is a ghost, and I can¡¯t use my divine power to locate him. And even if I could, you know, against the rules and all that jazz."

    "Everything is against the rules for you."

    "That¡¯s how it works for us. We cannot directly interfere in the lives of lesser beings. I don¡¯t make the rules, I just abide by them. Tracking a Demi-God is against the Divine Code. It would cause chaos in our ways of doing things, and chaos is thest thing we want for a world that is barely functional with all the gods, each doing their own thing."

    "Then why inform me of all of this if you can¡¯t even find Ashkar?"

    "Because, I might be unable to find him, but I know someone who can."

    "Let me guess, Old Oracle Bam?"

    "You¡¯re really starting to get me more and more. Yes, Bam still owes me. Thest time he wasn¡¯t much help in finding Eleanor to revive the Legion, with all that crap Demi-dick¡¯s followers had pulled. So now he should be more than willing to help me find Ashkar."

    "Fine, I can do it, but as you know I have my hands wrapped up in something as ofte."

    "I know, I also wouldn¡¯t have sent you before you¡¯d be a fully-fledged Undead Prince."

    "Huh? What does being a prince have to do with this?"

    "Well, in a few days, as I¡¯m certain, the cksmith Andre will havepleted the Kingly set of armor that you have ordered from him. As you undergo your coronation part of it will be the Abyssal Knight trial. Once you seed, the ring I gave you will allow you to draw upon most of my powers and you¡¯ll be able to fight against Ashkar, to an extent. I need you to be much stronger than you are right now, because to be honest, if you go now, he will destroy you with one finger. You should hurry up and beat everyone in the sh of Gods. It will help you and allow me to make fun of all the other guys after you¡¯ve proven your superiority as my Herald."

    "Huh, Demi-Gods aren¡¯t that big of a deal. I kinda beat the crap out of that Monk guy,st time we met."

    "I wouldn¡¯t be so proud of that if I were you. You only beat him because the Monk was in the Underworld, limited, suppressed and without ess to his divine power. He was in my and partially, Asmodeus¡¯s domain. No Demi-God can move freely in another god¡¯s territory. If the Monk had been in the Overworld, oh boy, that would have been an eye-opening experience for you."

    "Damn, that¡¯s kinda scary."

    Nick shrugged: "Those are Demi-Gods. The beast Dortha was pretty amazing when fending off the Monk the first time, but even he would have no way to survive if the Monk had ess to his true powers. You should be careful if you ever meet him up here," Nick warned.

    "Right then, I¡¯ll finish dealing with the Temples of Fire, then see how the quest for Pandora¡¯s Box will go."

    Nick nodded and disappeared from the bar, leaving Dave alone.

 Chapter 443 Going Dark

    True to his word, once the two hours period had ended, Hammering-It-Gud came to meet Dave at the bar he was waiting at. In his hand was a folded set of wearable leather armor.

    "Here you go. This is a pretty badass armor you¡¯ve allowed me to make. If you have more materials I would love to buy them off you, I just know it¡¯s going to be a hit. Speaking from experience, this is one of the best Assassin armor sets I have ever seen. Scratch that, it might be the best in the current game, if we exclude the one Mercy has," Hammering praised his own work.

    "Is her¡¯s really so great? Well, that would certainly exin why I¡¯ve never seen in another set," Dave replied while epting the gear.

    "How can it not be, it¡¯s what she got as her Legacy Item. She can¡¯t remove it, but it scales ording to her level. Or at least that¡¯s the rumor amongst us smiths. Unfortunately, it is protected from being identified so only she herself knows it¡¯s true value." Hammering exined.

    "Interesting, I never knew that. Now you made me curious, but first, let¡¯s see what this little thing can actually do."

    Dave pulled out the first piece of armor, it was a dark cowl.

    Name Demonic Shadow Tiger¡¯s Cowl.

    Shadow Tigers are extremely aggressive creatures, and the armor created from their in bodies, creates an extremely aggressive set forbat. The Shadow Tiger set is practical in camouge, assassination and can sustain minor close quarterbat to a degree.

    Requirements

    Level 400

    400 AGI

    Attributes

    +10,000 to HP

    1,000 Physical Defense

    500 Magical Defense

    500 Mana

    [Socket]

    Special ability: [Improved Night Vision] Increases the ability to see in the dark and low light conditions.

    ss Epic

    Category: Light Leather Armor

    Dave didn¡¯t read through the rest of the items description as they were all the same. The only differencey in the abilities each item gave.

    The gloves increased pick-pocketing and lock opening speed. The boots decreased the sound of footsteps to a degree. The chest piece gave a decent amount of HP and increased defensive value, while the leg piece increased jumping distance.

    However, the most important ability of them all was the one given once all the pieces of the armor set were worn. The Shadow Escape ability. Giving Dave the option to dive through shadows and appear from another shadow nearby. It was not the same as invisibility as his ss was barred from using it. Still, it would be a great Skill to use in a clutch.

    It was a pretty bnced set of armor that lookedpletely ck and would blend in perfectly with the shadows.

    "Thanks, then," Dave said and took off.

    "Where are you heading?" Hammering asked.

    "Gotta keep my secrets man. You¡¯ll know once you see the server announcement," Dave grinned. "If I were you I¡¯d wait until that happens before I¡¯d sell the second armor set."

    "Man, he¡¯s off to something crazy again." One of the yers in the bar said.

    Another frowned and asked his drinking buddies: "Guys, don¡¯t you find it weird?"

    "Find what weird?" another looked up from his drink.

    "I mean, that guy just now was clearly Skelly. Yet he just came here, stayed for two hours chilling at a bar, and we didn¡¯t hear shit from the top brass. I can get why none of them personally came, but to just let him be instead of at least trying to chase him off or anything... they acted like he didn¡¯t even exist!"

    "Don¡¯t you mean they acted like he is a pretty badass Boss Monster that you would rather not piss off. I mean the guy fought against all the Super Guild leaders and handed them their asses. Sure, we might the home ground advantage but how would it make us look if he beats us here, huh?"

    "Yeah, but you shouldn¡¯t forget he had a lot of help from the Undead. The Blood Ragers and Heaven¡¯s Dawn had Skelly in a tight lock. I think that if Warlord and Valentine had ess to their Legacys and fought together, they would have taken him down."

    "I agree with you, but Skelly will never be alone, man. Yesterday he was a nobody, today he has a legion at his calling, and now a freaking kingdom. Who knows what he¡¯ll have in store tomorrow. I¡¯d say they made the right call. Speaking of, you probably don¡¯t want to piss of the ruler of the East, seeing as we can use them to trade making ourselves richer."

    The yers kept chatting together about Dave¡¯s exploits and whatnot. He moved away from them and into a nearby hotel. The clerk behind the desk froze over when he saw Dave as an Undead walking into his hotel lobby. Thanks to Dave¡¯s Doom Knight Aura, the guards at the door remained frozen in their ce, acting as if Dave didn¡¯t exist, and they didn¡¯t see him walking in.

    Dave sighed and threw a golden coin toward the clerk. Despite having beenpletely terrified a second ago, after seeing the glint of gold, he immediately regained his professionalposure and started treating Dave like a VIP. "I presume you would like a room, sir?"

    Dave nodded in agreement, the clerk left his position, and after taking a key from a nearby wall, bravely led the Draugr to his room. Money could turn a coward into the bravest of all, it all depends on the amount.

    Once the clerk left, Dave removed his armor and began equipping the Shadow Tiger set. Unlike his Doom Knight armor, which seemed to perfectlyplete his draugr form like a second skin, the leather set felt suffocating. It was tight too tight, especially in ces he didn¡¯t need the tightness for.

    Dave swore the moment he saw himself in a mirror. He looked like apletely different type of scary. The leather armor was too tight on his Draugr avatar, and the beard just made it way worse, he snapped his fingers and changed to his human appearance.

    For some reason, the armor looked much better on his human form, less tight and matched his body, though a certain spot was still feeling cramped.

    "Damn, how the hell does anyone move in these," Dave cursed and shook his head.

    He looked at the time and saw that it was prettyte IRL even though in-game it was still far from night time when he nned to start his mission.

    Dave opted to take a rest, perhaps even eat something as he felt himself growing hungrier. He logged out and was immediately assaulted with waves of unforgiving pain. His chest, forearms and thighs were giving him the worst pain he had felt since the ident.

    "The fuck, cramps aren¡¯t supposed to be this painful," Dave cursed and groaned with every move. He picked up the phone and called the gym.

    "Where¡¯s Desmond, I think he broke something," Dave immediately went into Karen-mode.

    "Desmond¡¯s not here. He¡¯s done with his clients for the day, so he should be in Conquest. If there is something wrong you can just tell me and I will pass it on. I might also be able to help, in case you¡¯re not satisfied with your membership? Or would you like to know more offer-"

    Dave hung up and took a deep breath. "C¡¯mon man up! ¡¯tis but a scratch." He lied to himself and moved forward, only to be reminded of the harsh reality of muscles. Muscles are assholes. Ise them, or lose them, but to use them you¡¯ll have to suffer. And Dave was in a world of that. Why couldn¡¯t he turn into an undead IRL to avoid this...

    He decided against going out to get his own dinner, instead he called a food delivery service and waited for his food.

    ***

    Outside Dave¡¯s apartment, was a rtively fat person. Judging by his appearance there were still some workout muscles under the blob of fat allowing for the resemnce of an athletic person. However, the grease and half wiped off mustard stains from a hotdog in his hand were clear signs of overeating.

    It was a person Dave hadn¡¯t met in real life, but their encounter in the game had changed the lives of both men. One had turned desperate, even depressed due to all the achievements the other was racking up using the Legacy which rightfully should have belonged to him. ... or at least that is what Bone Breaker believed.

    By now, he would have been the world¡¯s most famous Draugr. It would have been him who would appear on shows with celebrities fawning over him. He¡¯d have gone to world concerts and date the hottest models. Yet somehow the fact that Dave Ruster was just sitting at home all day, doing nothing of that sort with that fame was even more infuriating to him.

    ¡¯What a waste!!!¡¯ he thought over and over.

    Under his jersey, Bone Breaker was carrying a loaded pistol. And old Beretta 9mm. It used to be his father¡¯s, who had served in the military. He had kept it as a souvenir and had never thought that his son would ever be using it. Especially not because he wanted to ¡¯get rid of a waste¡¯.

    Bone Breaker had bribed a few paparazzi who were stalking Dave¡¯s ce for days now to get his schedule only to be mostly disappointed of him barely leaving the house. What kind of scoops were they supposed to make like that?! Who would pay money to read something like ¡¯Mr. Skeletal staying at home, just like you and me¡¯?

    Naturally most didn¡¯t want to reveal the information for fear he might be apetitor who actually managed to find something useful. However, just like in the game, with the allure of enough money, one finally told him what Bone Breaker wanted to know. Although Dave rarely left his penthouse more often than not he would order food to his home.

    He also learned that today Dave left for the gym. The photographer gave as much information to Bone Breaker as possible making him feel a headache and revulsion because the man had gone through David¡¯s trash to learn a tiny bit more about his daily habits.

    Bone Breaker was disgusted at how far people would go to secure a buck. Then again, he wasn¡¯t really in the position to judge.

    Soon a delivery man on a scooter drove up. Bone Breaker intercepted the delivery man who arrived via elevator. There was no way anyone would be ordering take out food, especially pizza, as Bone Breaker guessed from thepany logo, from this building. This building was mainly for corporations andpanies, and few of the habitable spots were owned by extremely rich people who would not waste their taste buds on pizza.

    Little did Bone Breaker know, that Pizza is food for the soul, rich and poor all loved the taste. He was only lucky that it was Dave who had ordered the pizza right now.

    Bone Breaker spoke to the pizza delivery guy and after handing him a few banknotes, the delivery guy shrugged and took his scooter back to work.

    The man had done his work, handed the pizza over to its ¡¯Owner¡¯ and received a few banknotes as extra tips. It was enough to make the delivery man forget to ask for a name and signature on the receipt.

    Bone Breaker headed inside the building with a pizza in hand, with the gun hidden under his shirt.

 Chapter 444 Standoff

    Dave heard his bell ringing. At thiste hour, it was most definitely the pizza delivery service he had called less than 30 minutes ago. He moved toward the door, with each step cursing the fact that he was still having severe cramps. The cold shower had apparently just been agonizingly cold with no other effects. He would have to have a talk with Desmond about this when he went back to the gym.

    Dave opened the door and was instantly alerted that something was wrong. The pizza delivery man was not wearing a work uniform, and the way he was holding the pizza was awfully unprofessional. He was holding it by the edge making it bend, and his left hand was tucked suspiciously inside his pocket as if he was holding something.

    "S¡¯up, cunt," spat the ¡¯pizza delivery guy¡¯.

    Immediately, Dave mmed the door shut and lunged to the side. Only to hear a loud explosive sound and notice a pervasive smell of gunpowder.

    Dave didn¡¯t panic, surprising even himself. The various events in Conquest had fried his nerves enough that he was used to pressure. Another loud gunshot sounded from outside his door and the door eerily swung open.

    The "pizza guy" must have shot the door control panel shorting it out and causing the mechanism to unlock the door. If he should survive this, Dave swore to get himself a good old fashioned metal lock.

    Dave quietly moved away from the door and mmed the light switches off. He moved upstairs. This was his home, so his only advantage would be that he knew it better than the assant.

    Dave¡¯s assumption proved him correct as the shooter had no idea where the light switch was, and with time being of the essence he opted to walk in the dark, fumbling and stumbling on the furniture, and shooting more rounds at what he believed was Dave.

    "Yo, fucker? Dead already?" The man yelled, but Dave opted not to say anything. This wasn¡¯t a movie where he was a stupid teenager for the amusement of the audience. Making just one single mistake would lead to his early grave, so to give the asshole with a gun his location would be the epitome of stupidity.

    Thinking under pressure had be an unconscious habit of Dave, his mind no longer worked as if he was a scared person, but opted for pragmatism over panic, as it had learned that anything else wouldn¡¯t serve him any good.

    The gunshots were loud, so the people in the building must have heard them. There was no way they would have confused them with anything but gunshot as the sessive shots were clear and loud.

    His in house phone was bound to ring, either security or someone else in the building trying to check up on him. This was a chance he could use. No, it was the only chance, so he HAD to make it count. Dave was in his bedroom, he didn¡¯t have anything on him he could use to defend himself.

    Next to his bed were two objects, amp and a small pot with a decorative cactus. Themp was too light. Even if he used it to smack the assant, it wouldn¡¯t cause much damage, leaving more than enough time for the guy to use his pistol. The pot on the other hand, was heavy and hard to handle, but on contact, it could be brutal. Dave naturally opted for the pot. He picked it up and slowly made his way down.

    He didn¡¯t have much time. Eventually, the assant would get used to the darkness, or worse he might find the light switch. Both were very bad scenarios for Dave as it would negate the advantage the darkness provided him.

    Unlike in the game world, he didn¡¯t have night vision. Still, he had a small edge and could recognize things in the dark better, especially since it was his home.

    Dave knew where the assant was immediately, as he heard him stumbling on one of the chairs of the counter.

    Dave got closer, his heart was beating fast, threatening to burst out of his chest, he even feared that the guy with the pistol might hear it. While approaching, he miscalcted a step and ended up nudging the dining table.

    The assant turned and shot three consecutive times at where he believed Dave was. Only to end up missing, yet in those three shots, the room was lit up enough for the two to see each other. Dave had spotted a few things in those brief moments where his life almost ended.

    The man was holding the gun rather terribly, with one hand, and unpoised to control the recoil. A rookie. He had his share of seeing people with guns and had gained enough knowledge about them from the chatter with Zoe and Dante about her father¡¯s hobby.

    He also recognized the type of the pistol. With today¡¯s modern guns, recognizing a pistol made sixty years ago was not difficult. It was an old gun, a low caliber, he didn¡¯t know the exact model, Zoe would have guessed it in a second he thought, but he remembered something she had told him.

    Most of the older generation guns had a limited amount of rounds, all stacked up in a chamber. Depending on the caliber of the bullet and the size of the magazine one could guess how many bullets the cartridge could hold. Seeing that most of the handle was hidden within the assant¡¯s hand, he guessed that the weapon could at most hold seven to nine bullets.

    In either case, that was still dangerous. The assant had shot twice at the door, two more times when he was looking for Dave, and three more times just now. That¡¯s seven bullets down. If he was lucky, he would be hearing the man reloading his gun right about now revealing that his clip was empty. If not, the man could have another one or two bullets in the chamber and that would spell doom for Dave if he ended up being shot. Another thing ying a big factor in this scenario, what if the gunner had no idea that he was already out of bullets or that he has no spare ammo?

    This didn¡¯t y in Dave¡¯s favor, those were more reasons that he had no way to uncover. If by some awful luck, the man had more bullets, Dave would be risking his life if he were to charge in and attack back.

    And if not, Dave would be wasting the only chance he has to take the upper hand.

    Suddenly, the phone rang, surprising both of them. The assant however was more surprised, his nerves on edge causing him to shoot two more rounds at the phone, killing it... and then a continuous clicking sound echoed through the room.

    ¡¯This is it¡¯, Dave thought. Almost mechanically, he rose, flipping the entire table toward the assant, causing him to stumble and yelp. By that time, Dave¡¯s eyes had gotten used to the darkness of the room and were able to discern the exact position of the man. He hurled the vase in his hand in that direction and with a loud sound it crashed, causing the assant to mutter a pained groan.

    The vase broke on contact and the cactus must have stuck itself to him. That thing would be quite a bitch to get rid of, as proven by the assant. He had tried to remove it by hand, unaware what the thing stuck to him was, and cried out in pain as more of its needles got stuck to his hand. Dave saw this almost clearly. One of the assant¡¯s hands was now out ofmission. His gun was unusable, even if he could reload it and had the spare magazines, he would not have the speed and dexterity to do it with a wounded hand.

    The situation started to turn into his favor and Dave nned to keep it this way. He grabbed at one of the modern lean chairs of his living room like a club and he calmly started moving toward the assant before he smashed it down on his wounded hand with as much strength as his aching muscles could offer.

    The man dropped like a log, groaning. Dave took the chance and walked to the light switch. He lit it up and both of them got blinded for a moment by the new light source. Nevertheless, after a bit of blinking, he had a better look at the man. He was fat, looked pretty scruffy, and he was still young. Might even be the same age as him he guessed. His head was bleeding, the chair must have dealt more damage than intended, but his sympathy with his wannabe killer was limited.

    Dave¡¯s heart began slowing down, and the adrenalin rush began subduing. He went to a nearby drawer, pulled a gift from Zoe¡¯s father, and went back to the living room to grab the same chair he struck the young man with and calmly ced it down and sat on it.

    Dave didn¡¯t speak for a while, waiting for the pained man to stop moaning from the agony.

    After realizing that Dave wasn¡¯t about to finish him off, the young man scurried to pull out a knife from his pocket.

    Dave didn¡¯t panic, the guy on the other hand nearly lost his bowels, immediately dropping his knife as he recognized what was in Dave¡¯s hand. Another pistol. At first, he thought it was the same one he used, but on a second nce, the two were different, the one in Dave¡¯s hand was a revolver.

    "Sit down, but first kick the knife away! Also put your hands behind your head" Dave demanded whilezily pointing at the assant and one of the chairs in the room.

    The young man gulped hard and kicked it away with his foot while his one unhurt arm came behind his head.

    "Do you smoke?" Dave asked.

    The man shook his head.

    "Whose idea was this?"

    "T-the fuck are you talking about?" the young man asked.

    "Just tell me who it was who sent you? Are you one of Warlord¡¯s goons? Is he such a sore loser, that he wants to take me out IRL?"

    "I don¡¯t have anything to do with him. I¡¯vee here because of you, you piece of shit." The young man cursed, as he was bing more agitated, his hand leaving the space behind his head, staring daggers at Dave.

    "I would suggest you don¡¯t piss off or curse at the guy with the gun now! Fine, then why¡¯d youe here?"

    The more Dave appeared to be calm, the more dangerous he seemed to the man. This was not going well, he thought, his eyes shifting to his dropped weapons.

    "Now, it¡¯s okay if you don¡¯t answer me. But know this, you¡¯vemitted breaking and entering, attempted first-degree murder in my house, and the simple fact that you stink of sweat is enough to put you for a long time in prison, so be more courteous to the man who could make you skip all those procedures..."

    In that brief moment when Dave stopped talking, the man honestly believed that Dave would forgive him and let him go, but Dave¡¯s next words painted the man¡¯s world in dark gray.

    "And make you meet your maker."

    The man began sweating at the scary threat, only further increasing the acidic smell of his body.

    "Let¡¯s be reasonable about this. Now, who are you?" Dave asked while wiggling his gun.

    "I¡¯m Josh,"

    "Okay Josh, I¡¯m Dave, not so good to meet you. So Josh, tell me, why did you do this?"

    "It¡¯s all because of you," Josh answered in a sullen mood. "You took everything from me you bast-" before Josh could finish his cursing Dave¡¯s fist which hit the table and the revolver pointing at him reminded him of his situation so he quieted down.

    "Good Josh, now tell me what did I do to you, that is so bad that you¡¯ll break into my home with a gun?"

    "The Legacy."

    Dave frowned then understood everything, "You¡¯re... one of the guys who wanted my help with the Legacy? Bone Breaker?"

    "Yeah, so you DO remember?!."

    "Right, let¡¯s make this straight once and for all. I didn¡¯t take anything from you! In case you didn¡¯t realize it. You two were ying me. You and your friend Stainless something. From the first time we met you tried to use me to your agenda. Heck, I wouldn¡¯t have minded if you had told me to fuck off the moment you started fighting the Boss. Let¡¯s be real, he was way above my league and the stuff you gave me would have been enough for me. But instead, you decided to backstab me. Kill me there in the game. I¡¯m not cool with people trying to kill me, not even in-game, but even less in real life. as you see right now." Dave grinned, and his smile reminded Bone Breaker a lot of the infamous Draugr and his exploits.

    "I could easily kill you. Right here, right now and no one wouldin. Hell I¡¯d probably be branded a hero. Imagine the headlines. ¡¯Skelly, assaulted in his own home! Manages to kill his assant!¡¯ Heck I¡¯m even tempted to thank you for the propaganda. But I really hate it when people pull guns in my face you know?"

    "What are you gonna do to me?" Bone Breaker asked, shaking.

    "Right now, as long as you¡¯re calm and collected, I have little need to kill you. I¡¯d rather not dirty my hands." Dave¡¯s provocative words caused Josh to shrink on himself even further.

    "Now I¡¯ll be calling the police. I would rather you do not do any sudden moves or try to go for that knife, with your dominant hand. In that case, you won¡¯t be able to use it right, and you¡¯ll only give me more reasons to shoot you. So be a good boy and stay put!"

    Dave called 911 and was immediately connected to an operator.

    "911 here, what is your emergency?"

    "An attempted murder happened in my home, I have the assant in custody. And I need a few policemen toe here."

    "Please do know we do record these phone calls. If this is a prank we¡¯ll be charging you with Obstruction of Justice.???

    "My name is David Ruster. And this is my address," Dave told them the address, by now many people would have reported that gunshots were hearding from this location.

    "Oh my... You¡¯re Mr. Skeletal, right?" The officer immediately changed the way he spoke to him.

    "Yup, that¡¯s me. Now, could you please hurry up?"

    "Yes sir, we already sent police officers your way since we got reports of gunshots. Please give me more details on what is going on." The officer asked.

    Dave told her everything he could on the phone, and Josh, apparently having resigned himself to his fate, had calmly stayed put waiting for the officers toe.

    Soon, the police arrived at Dave¡¯s doors, and they found the two seated in front of each other, having been told that Dave was the homeowner and currently holding a gun on his assant. As soon as the police entered they asked him to drop it, so they could take care of everything from then on.

    Dave smiled and squeezed the trigger. Bone Breaker and the police officers twitched as it clicked.

    A tiny me popped out.

    "I never thought this would work," Dave smiled and stood up.

    The shock was apparent, on both Bone Breaker and the cops¡¯ faces. He had been holding an armed criminal with a gun-shaped lighter.

    Dante would be proud Dave thought to himself.

 Chapter 445 All The Big Boys Are Here

    Once the police had apprehended the criminal, they took Dave down to the police station so he could give them his statement about the reason for the assault on his home and everything that had happened that night.

    He didn¡¯t want to get Zoe¡¯s uncle caught up in this so he opted to have his case filed without their knowledge... but s, with all the ruckus caused by the gunshots, the paparazzi had finally received their long-awaited scoop. Faster than Dave realized, they had done their job in a superb manner, and before it was midnight the entirety of New York had learned about the armed assault on Conquest¡¯s favorite Undead.

    Dave¡¯s phone suddenly rang while he was at the police station.

    "THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU?!" was the first thing he heard from the caller. He¡¯d never expected to be on the other end of Samuel Silvana¡¯s screaming. Heck, judging by how level headed and how calm he always was it was a wonder he even could behave in such an ¡¯unsightly way¡¯, nevertheless it put a smile on Dave¡¯s face. He knew that thewyer was only this angry because he cared about Dave¡¯s wellbeing.

    "I¡¯ming over! Dante and Zoe wille on their own. Don¡¯t say anything to the police officers without me being there!" Samuel instructed Dave.

    "Aren¡¯t I the one who got attacked? Shouldn¡¯t the other guy be careful what he says and wait for an attorney?" Dave questioned. Yet he was immediately silenced by Samuel¡¯s resounding "No!"

    "You know the saying ¡¯Anything you say can and will be used against you¡¯? Doesn¡¯t matter if you are the victim or the one who¡¯s responsible for the assault. Anyway, just wait for me. I¡¯ll be at the precinct in five minutes."

    "Got it I¡¯ll keep my mouth shut then," Dave replied.

    "Good, as you always should! Think before you act, and act only once you have considered all possibilities. You should know this better than anyone," Samuel advised before he hung up.

    Exactly five minutester, Samuel Silvana walked into the police station where they were holding Josh in custody. Samuel had donned his ck working suit and had a leather briefcase in hand. He walked withplete confidence without anyone having to show him Dave¡¯s location. None of the cops present dared to stop him to question where he was going. After all, he was New York¡¯s number one prosecutor.

    Once he opened the door to the room where Dave was sitting in, he began asking him questions concentrating on the smallest of details since everything could be used.

    Eventually, a female police officer knocked on the door, before she came inside to inform them that Josh Reddington had admitted his guilt on all ounts. This would make Sam¡¯s job much easier.

    Not five minutester, just when Dave and Samuel were out in the corridor about to leave and wait for the rest of the Silvana family outside the building, a middle-aged couple had walked into the station. The woman was crying while the man was holding her with a grim look on his face.

    Dave immediately recognized them as Josh¡¯s parents. The resemnce between father and son was just too striking. After they were informed of what happened, the woman went toward Dave crying.

    "Please don¡¯t send my baby to jail, please!" the woman begged Dave with teary eyes and a snotty nose.

    Dave was baffled. He didn¡¯t know what to do. How was he supposed to tell a crying mother, that because of him her son would go to jail... fortunately, he wasn¡¯t alone. Samuel Silvana was used to being the bad guy. He had seen his fair share of parents who couldn¡¯t believe how their precious child could go down the wrong path.

    "Mdam, your son hasmitted a grave and serious felony. We aren¡¯t talking about a petty theft, but first degree attempted murder. This is noughing matter. He endangered my client¡¯s life in the safety of his own home. Had things gone any different, my client may not even be alive anymore. Your son is going to jail, and Mr. Ruster here has no say in it, willing or not. So please spare us the tears."

    The woman¡¯s world crashed in front of her, her tears grew thicker but her voice was cut short.

    Her husband was about to turn aggressive before Samuel added, "Sir, I understood that this is much to take in, but this is already beyond Mr. Ruster¡¯s capabilities. Once a murder has been attempted, the state gets involved. You¡¯ll be facing the state and not him, so if you have anything to say, you¡¯ll have to do so in front of the prosecutor. My client here will most likely get called in as a witness, but your son has already confessed on ount of all charges so it should be an open and shut case."

    A man in a gray suit came up behind them and said: "He is right, you know. I¡¯ll try to get the court to give him the minimum punishment for this offense, five years in a minimum-security prison. At least he will have more visiting hours and rec time. The only silver lining here, is that this is his first felony charge and his cooperation and early confession will be taken into ount, otherwise, he would have spent at least twenty years inside."

    "Isaac," Samuel nodded toward the man in gray.

    "Samuel, good to see you. Or should I say, as usual, given the circumstances? I suppose you¡¯ll take part in the procedure," Isaac questioned.

    "I might listen in on it, depending on when the court date will be, but this case is outside of my jurisdiction. Another prosecutor has the im to this case. However, I¡¯ll be assisting the prosecutor so that my client won¡¯t find himself disadvantaged in any way."

    The twowyers began speaking and as Dave understood, despite him actually being involved in this matter he personally had no say in the matter, except for whatever Samuel told him to say.

    What Bone Breaker... no Josh did was off-limits and certainly could have killed him, but he couldn¡¯t help but feel sorry for his mother. It was a sad fate that one stupid decision would most likely haunt their family for years toe. Still, one should be prepared to do the time if they did the crime Dave thought. Samuel was right, had things gone any differently, maybe the headlines would be about him being found dead in his home. Getting all worked up over a game, no matter how great a game it was, should never be worth pouring one¡¯s frustration out in real life.

    A police officer came and took the couple to see their son.

    More people entered the office, this time with a massive ruckus.

    Dave could hear Zoe¡¯s voice from inside the station before he had any chance of seeing her.

    "I demand to see him!" she shouted with the same oomph as her uncle had demonstrated on the phone.

    "No one¡¯s stopping you from doing so!" replied a friendly police officer. "We just need your identification and signature on the entry form first!"

    "Ah, my bad," Zoe replied meekly, and some momentster she walked in on the group.

    Zoe¡¯s eyes ignored everyone in the room and directly jumped on Dave, her body following suit, kissing him on the cheeks and crying, "Are you okay?" She hugged him tightly, making sure he was still there, causing the young man to feel embarrassed.

    Dave nudged her "There are people here," he whispered into her ear despite enjoying the bear hug.

    "Oh, sorry," she replied, finally regaining a bit of self-awareness and letting him go... but not before grabbing his hand seemingly making sure he couldn¡¯t run away.

    "Dad is here too... alongside a few unwanted acquaintances," Zoe informed him with a pout on her face.

    "Now little Zoe, how could you call us ¡¯unwanted acquaintances¡¯ when we are practically family?" came the voice of a gruff sounding man.

    Dave turned around to see a man with a bit of a weight problem. It was nothing too serious though. He was wearing a ck suit and behind him were two other men in ck that Dave was more familiar than he¡¯d like to be. How could he ever forget Bodybuilder and Door Prop?

    The man in the middle didn¡¯t need any introduction given that the two behind him were standing respectfully and at a distance made his identity clear.

    Dave stood up, tilted his head, and pointed forward, "You must be Tivo Giovanni."

    "Put your hand down, chum, else ya want it cut off!"

    "Shut up, jackass, no one asked your opinion," Dave snapped at Bodybuilder.

    "No need to get angry," Tivo smiled. "I¡¯d say it¡¯s about time we finally meet in person. Unfortunately, you did ¡¯not have time¡¯ when I offered to see you the previous times to clear up our little misunderstanding." At this point, he nced at his ill-gotten nephew.

    "My daughter has spoken a lot about you, David Ruster. I have juste here to personally make sure that our business partner is safe. "

    "He never needed any help from you, Tivo," a man spoke up while patting the mafia boss on the shoulder.

    His entrance was sudden, not even the two bodyguards had noticed him going past them and appearing right next to Tivo. Yet thetter didn¡¯t even flinch or turn, "I know Dante, but I¡¯ve felt the need toe here personally to pay him some respect. Not everyone is so lucky to survive their first assassination attempt, especially on their own and without any protection. This kid is more interesting than I thought." Tivo smiled revealing a golden tooth at the side of his mouth.

    "Kid, how are you holding up?" Dante asked.

    "Not bad actually. I seem to have grown used to the stress in-game. Even real-life excitement isn¡¯t enough for me." Daveughed it off.

    "You¡¯re a little monster. No one¡¯s asking you to empty your bowels, but after the adrenaline stops pumping most people would at least be shaking even now. I mean your life was on the line and all," Sam had seemingly finished the talk with his old acquaintance and alsoe to join their little troup.

    Yet another person walked into the room to add to the atmosphere, "That¡¯s why the Pakhan says, he would be great for our business." The man spoke in a thick Russian ent, stressing every vowel.

    "d, what brings you here?" Dante asked.

    "Pakhan Demetri asked me to check up on his new friend. This should not be happening on your turf, Tivo."

    "We have talked about getting some personal bodyguards for Mr. Ruster, but Dante here firmly disagreed. I suppose you should me him." Tivo calmly stated.

    "I just wanted for the kid to have a normal life. Our lifestyle is notpatible with him. We don¡¯t want him moving while looking over his back every time he crosses a street."

    "I guess it is toote now. This is a serious matter," Tivo said.

    "Hold up, why are you all talking about me like I¡¯m some sort of sheltered princess? Shit happened, I dealt with it, we move on. There is no need to cry over spilled milk," Dave interjected. Too bad the grown-ups had different ideas.

    "Who can guarantee this won¡¯t happen again? You might have gotten away scot-free this time, but what if someone professionales after you next? Mr. Ruster, your actions in the game have brought real-life heat to your life." d pointed out, "Pakhan Demetri has ordered me to get you a couple of bodyguards. He said he can¡¯t have his golden eggying goose go to waste this early."

    Dave frowned at the man¡¯sst statement, but the man rified.

    "Well, he didn¡¯t say it in those terms, but you have to understand, your life is no longer only yours. A lot of people depend on you, and it is your job to secure your safety as it is ours."

    "No one will be following Mr. Ruster around," Dante dered firmly, giving Dave a breather. He didn¡¯t want to have people walking around him securing every room before he entered or doing stuff like eating his food to check for poison. Stuff like that only happened in movies and it was cumbersome more than helpful.

    "But he might run a risk, Dad. With the Devis and the Eastern Guilds so riled up because of the Eastern Kingdom, and especially since Dave told me he had a serious Questing up that might even cause the world of Conquest to change if he seeds. Things like this might happen again," Zoe said meekly.

    "Damn, when did things turn this way? I just wanna y a game in peace," Dave sighed.

    "We can help, I can have Sebastian and Bob secure David Ruster¡¯s whereabouts, you won¡¯t even see them. This is the least they could do after all that happened in the past," Tivo offered.

    "Hell no! I¡¯d rather bite the bullet than have your guys following me around. Zoe, that time when I was in the hospital, those two guys that came with you, what were their names?"

    "Nici and James. They are good buddies of my dad. You want them around?" Zoe asked.

    "Just to get this over with. I don¡¯t want to burden anyone, and if things get serious, they can help out. Ralph told me that they kept my old apartment safe from some scavengers. So in my book, they are cool. Besides, I trust their integrity a whole lot more than the alternative." Dave stated while evil eyeing Bob and Sebastian.

    "Yeah, Nici and James are free, I¡¯ll tell them to be as discreet as possible when following you around."

    "Right then. So this should be over, yeah? Thank you all foring to see me, but y¡¯all can go away now."

    Dante couldn¡¯t help but crack a smile, David Ruster was shooing away the Mafia and the Bratva like they were little kids, and he liked it. Around the big boy¡¯s table, one had to act as the top dog or they would be eaten alive.

    The same could be said for Tivo, he liked the spunk the kid had, and the way he declined the proposition of the Giovanni family and the Russian Bratva made clear who the kid¡¯s allegiance was truly with. He would not turn his back on the mob or the Russians, but at the same time, he would not walk hand in hand with them. It proved the young man had a good code of honor to his chaperon and great decisiveness. This only made him more valuable in the eyes of Tivo.

    As for d, he regarded Dave as purely a business partner. He would report to Demetri about what had happened and let him decide what to think of it. He had done what he came for, so now it would be time to leave.

    "Good, now that this is over, let me remind you, gentlemen, that my girl¡¯s birthday will be held at my mansion next week at 8 pm. I¡¯ll be expecting all of you to show up." Tivo said.

    "Oh shit, I nearly forgot it¡¯s almost time for Caitlin¡¯s birthday! It¡¯s always great and festive! We have to go, Davie," Zoe was already picturing what outfit to wear for the asion.

    "Yeah, sure, why not. Ralph will be there so I have to go too," Dave agreed almost absentmindedly.

    "Ralph..." Tivo uttered the name and all of a sudden, his expression changed from the non-caring friendly uncle everyone could get along with to someone with serious anger management issues.

    "Boss," Sebastian cleared his throat.

    "Oh, right, apologies. Yes, I suppose my daughter¡¯s boy-... Ralph will be there. Dave, if you see him, tell him I said hi."

    Dave gulped hard at the ¡¯smile¡¯ Tivo had on his face when making his request.

 Chapter 446 Terms of Agreemen

    Having fully confirmed that the state prosecutor was going to be in charge of the case, the Silvanas and Dave left the police station and were currently on their way home in the limo Dante and Zoe had arrived in.

    Josh had admitted to all the charges which should lead to at least a reduced sentence. Fortunately for Dave, with Samuel Silvana assisting the state prosecutor, he would at most have to make an appearance in a hearingter down the line. Nevertheless, it was not eptable for yers to turn their in-game frustration into real-life threats and the media was going wild about this high profile offence. Even Conquest hade up with a small update to the user agreement that every yer had to read and agree to if they wanted to continue ying.

    Dave was surprised at how fast Conquest was able to act. It has only been a couple of hours since the assault on Dave¡¯s home and a bit less than that before it became public, nevertheless, they had moved to contain the situation as much as possible.

    ***

    Conquest Game Announcement.

    First of all, we are very sorry to hear that one of our yers was attacked in the sanctity of their home by another yer due to differences in-game.

    Thankfully, yer Death Stroke has managed to get through the ordeal unharmed and the assaulting party was caught. The offending party¡¯s ount is irrevocably deleted and he is banned for life from ying. Yet this doesn¡¯t mean that we are contend stopping there, since another simr act of evil might not end the same way for the victim.

    Due to the real-life threat the yer Death Stroke, otherwise known as Undead Kis¡¯Shtiengbrah or Mr. Skeletal, was subjected to, thepany of Conquest is hereby adding amendments to our Terms and Conditions.

    Any yer that wishes to exact vengeance, retaliation or any other harmful actions toward another yer outside the game will simrly have their ount permanently banned, with no hope of ever recovering it. To make sure this is respected, The AI Albert will be scanning the brainwaves of all yers before entry and exit of the game. This will allow Albert to have ess to the yer¡¯s memories. As we have disclosed in the past, only the AI Albert will be privy to the personal information of the yers and is code-bound to not reveal them. He will be inspecting the yers for any vile attempts on another¡¯s well being and punish them instantly by banning them from the game.

    Best Regards.

    Emile Kada

    ***

    "Isn¡¯t this too much?" Dave scratched his head unsure whether to be happy or not about being used as a reason for stricter controls in what should have just been a videogame.

    "What do you mean?" Samuel asked after having received the same announcement, just like any yer did.

    "I mean, it should be a clear breach of freedom, for anyone to have their memories scanned! I mean things like personal privacy could be avable to Albert and perhaps the staff supervising him. People are bound to get angry," Dave argued, surprisingly thewyer took it in so casually.

    "Not really. Think about it, Albert is an AI, so he doesn¡¯t care about what we deem private. Thepany of Conquest has openly disclosed the matter to the public thereby lessening any protests about them secretly spying on us. Not to mention the fact that all of this is meant for our own protection and the protection of the other yers. The people behind the game do not wish for an ident to happen, or to be responsible for someone dying over it. Your case gave them the perfect excuse to implement this system. Judging by how fast their response was, it must have already been prepared to be used in the not so distant future, anyway." Samuel exined.

    "I still think it¡¯s too much," Dave defended his point meekly.

    "Yes, but this is how the world works. Thepany would rather ban yers than have peopleing after them with ims such as ¡¯Your game killed my son¡¯, or ¡¯sent my son to prison¡¯. As I see it, they do technically give you an option. You will either have to ept the terms of the new agreement or you could just easily not log in anymore. Admittedly, it is forcing their hand, but this will still give thepany all the legal weight they need against anyone who wants to go against them in a court ofw."

    "What if someone doesn¡¯t want to y with Albert brain scanning us every time we log in or out? I mean, how would they get their items back?" Zoe asked.

    "Whatever is in the yer¡¯s ount is theirs as long as the yer is logged into their ount. That is one of the primary terms of agreement of the game. But as long as the people are not logged in, nothing belongs to them. Yet to log in, they have to agree to the terms. No matter what they do Conquest wins anyway." Samuel shrugged while replying.

    "That¡¯s pure evil!"

    "Nothing of the sort, sweety, this is basicpanyws. They were written in there to protect apany¡¯s interest in the first ce, even though they are rarely actually used. Sure, some yers willin, but most will not care about an AI checking up their brain waves. Others will argue that as long as you don¡¯t have anything to hide, you shouldn¡¯t care either way and I would bet that the vast majority won¡¯t be bothered as they are more interested in the game. And once that majority goes back like nothing is wrong, those whoined first can either continue to abstain from the game or resume ying it. Thepany always wins as long as they have a product everyone wants."

    "Thanks for the marketing andw lesson, brother, but I¡¯m really more interested in unveiling the biggest mystery of the night," Dante looked straight at Dave¡¯s face.

    Dave tilted his head, "Which would be?"

    "How did you pull it off? Thanks to the meeting with Tivo and d, I didn¡¯t get to hear the police statement. So how did you do it? I mean I¡¯ve watched your adventures, but this isn¡¯t a video game. The man had a gun, yet you came out unscathed."

    "Do you really wanna know?" Dave asked with a grin on his face. He looked like a storyteller who was about to get to the juiciest part of their story and Dante just nodded.

    "Well, let¡¯s just say a certain lighter came in handy. I should really send some gifts to whoever designed that thing."

    Dante burst out intoughter, recalling their first meeting with Dave, when the young fellow his daughter had brought home had been on the receiving end of one of them, "I knew it was a great gift isn¡¯t it! HA!"

    Dave shook his head, "Yeah, but it only served to calm him down, after I managed to incapacitate him with what was lying around the house. That thing wouldn¡¯t have done anything on its own even if it was the real deal when he first got into the house. Man, thinking back about it today was really hectic."

    "Dad, no need to remind Dave, he should be tired by now. It¡¯s nearly midnight. Josei, how much longer till we get home?" Zoe asked the limo driver.

    "Fifteen minutes, give or take, youngdy," answered the driver.

    "Ugh, you drive slower than an olddy, you should give me the wheel," she demanded.

    "No, youngdy, I swore to myself never to repeat that mistake ever again," Josei replied as calmly as possible.

    "I guess you showed him your driving skills, huh," Dave teased.

    "Well, it was my first time driving a limo, the size of the car can throw you off, you know" Zoe fiddled with her hair as she defended herself.

    "You tried to drift with a limo, youngdy... Trying to drift with a limo..." Josei mumbled from upfront. Dave could have sworn that the limo¡¯s speed decreased even further. Apparently, Josei had not recovered from Zoe¡¯s driving style.

    Dante keptughing and said, "You¡¯ll be spending the night at our home, Dave. I already sent Nici and James to your ce. They¡¯ll look after it and repair the door. You¡¯ll have dinner with us. Looking at the time it¡¯s more of a midnight snack."

    "You really don¡¯t have to, I mean I can go to a hotel..."

 Chapter 447 Something is Rotten in Denmark

    Dave had dinner with the Silvanas that night. It was a great recement for the pizza that Bone Breaker wasted. The dinner consisted of some French fancy food that Dave couldn¡¯t even spell. However, his hunger didn¡¯t care for what the food was called it tasted heavenly and his growling stomach wanted more.

    Happily, Danteughed as he saw how ravenous Dave was, "I¡¯ve never seen someone with such appetite after having gone through a simr experience."

    Dave munched on and took a chug from his ss of wine and replied, "Never Hunger might be for the Undead, but I¡¯m starving, and to be honest, I had much scarier and more frightening scenes than to lose my appetite against a gun."

    "Davey is so brave," Zoe cooed, to which Dante coughed, reminding her of where she was.

    Zoeughed it off and excused herself, it was time for her to go to sleep.

    "I guess I¡¯ll head out too," Dave said after wiping his face.

    "Nonsense," Dante replied. "You¡¯ll sleep in the guest¡¯s room, there is a shower there, and spare clothes. Once your ce is fixed you can go there, but now you¡¯re staying and I¡¯m not taking no for an answer," Dante adamantly stated.

    "Yes, sir," Dave replied awkwardly.

    Dave left for the room Dante pointed out. It was asrge as his bedroom, with a bigger bed and a use that held various clothes, most of them were night pajamas. Dave took one and went to take a quick shower in the room¡¯s own bathroom.

    After finishing up he went to sleep, only to be interrupted by his phone ringing.

    Zoe was calling.

    "Davey," she spoke, her voice had a small hint of anxiousness.

    "Yeah?"

    "Wannae over?" she asked.

    "I do, but if your dad catches me, I don¡¯t think he¡¯ll be using the lighter gun this time."

    Zoe giggled and said, "Then I¡¯lle over," She added.

    Dave snickered; it was like two kids being mischievous.

    However, the moment Zoe¡¯s door opened, a loud cough sounded from the hallway.

    Almost immediately, she closed her door and called Dave again.

    "Damn, he is standing right outside my room..." she said.

    Daveughed it off and said, "I somehow knew he¡¯d be doing something like that, your dad is great."

    "Not so great not letting me even visit my boyfriend in his room."

    "Hey, if I have a daughter and I invite her boyfriend over, I¡¯ll never let him be within a meter of her. Gotta respect the man, I kinda like that. Your dad is kinda cool," Dave said.

    Zoe giggled and said, "You¡¯re weird."

    The two kept chatting for a while until they decided it was time to sleep. The morning woulde soon.

    Dave woke up to the ringing of his phone, Zoe was calling him for breakfast.

    The three gathered up and ate together, and Dave had to excuse himself and leave soon.

    "Why are you leaving this early?" Dante asked.

    "I need to be back home before it¡¯s Ten, my duel in the sh of Gods event is gonna start soon." He said.

    "Right, then, I¡¯ll have the driver take you back home. Also, I already asked James and Nici to fix your door for you it should be done. And I had them rent out the apartment right under yours."

    "Isn¡¯t that kinda expensive, I mean I¡¯m thankful for the protection, but it¡¯s pretty expensive to rent those ces."

    "Don¡¯t worry, about that, your safety is more important than a few Benjamins."

    Dave smiled genuinely, Dante¡¯s sincerity was heartwarming, it made Dave feel like Dante was the father he never had.

    Before Dave could get worked up, he excused himself, bad Zoe and Dante goodbye, and went downstairs.

    Once down, the driver opened the limo¡¯s door for him to enter.

    It didn¡¯t take much time for Dave to arrive back home, and once he was back, the first to meet him was the Russian guy, Nici, Dante had told him that he was an ex Spetznaz with fair skin, blond hair and blue eyes and looked like a wall of muscles.

    "Ze Zoor iz Fixzed, Ve¡¯ll Ve Down. Coll iV you need Help."

    Apparently, the Russian military man had the strongest Russian ent Dave had ever heard before, it didn¡¯t matter it was still clear.

    "Gotcha, thanks, guys."

    Niki nodded and went down.

    Dave got inside, and scurried to his gaming room, he missed his gaming pod. And it was time to go back and do some more serious things.

    He logged in and waved away the greeting notification from the game, he had five more minutes before the sh of Gods event could start, and right after it, he¡¯ll need to go and clear the Ash King¡¯s Temple.

    Ralph called Dave a few seconds after he logged in.

    "Yo, supp bruh," Dave answered.

    "I need your help man, I¡¯m stuck at the final stage of my legacy quest, can you help a brother out?" Ralph asked.

    "Sure man, but I¡¯m in the middle of something right now, need to wrap up my duel and I have a little quest to do afterward. Once I¡¯m done I¡¯ll call you and we can go for your quest."

    "Right bro, you don¡¯t mind me borrowing some of your undead?" Ralph asked.

    "Yeah, just be polite to them, and don¡¯t use them as meat shields," Dave said.

    "Don¡¯t worry, If there is any danger, I¡¯ll face it with them," Ralph said.

    "Great, that¡¯s the way to get them to recognize you as a friend. Alright gotta go, man, my duel is starting soon,"

    "Good luck brosky," Ralph said.

    "Thanks, man, good grinding."

    Dave removed the leather armor that he got from Hammering it Gud and began donning his Doom Knight Armor. His stats were back to their usual forms once he had finished putting his armor on. He also changed from his human appearance back to his undead one.

    A notification covered Dave¡¯s vision; it was the prompt for the sh of Gods event.

    Dave went through the teleportation vortex and appeared on the dueling tform, his contender yet toe.

    After waiting for a few minutes, Albert showed up,

    "If your contender doesn¡¯t show up in the next twenty seconds, you will win the round and proceed to the next one."

    A timer showed up in front of Dave and began decreasing.

    Dave didn¡¯t care much for the timer, or the round, it was all the same to him, he needed to get this fight over with to go and do more urgent matters. The Ash King¡¯s forces needed to be snuffed out before he could get the chance to recruit more. The final assault on the Ash King was nigh, and he needed as many advantages as he could get.

    Once the timer hit the one second left, light from the other side of the tform glowed brightly.

    "Ah, it¡¯s you again," Albert spoke.

    Dave didn¡¯t understand what was going on, but the yer in question was shaking.

    "I surrender," he said almost immediately.

    Before Dave could even inspect him, the yer was teleported out of the tform and Dave back to where he was before he began the sh of Gods event.

    "The heck was that?" Dave questioned and asked Albert toe.

    Albert showed up, holding his famous pina-cda juice and in his Hawaiian getup. The world turned ck and white, a separate time zone so that no NPC could ever discover the existence of the AI ruling the world.

    "Wassup," Albert spoke.

    Dave ignored the long since dusted greeting and said, "What did you mean by, it¡¯s you again then?"

    "Oh, it¡¯s that yer," Albert said, "He always shows up reallyte for fights, to make his opponents think that he was not going to make it. They drop their guard and rx, and once he is back, he ruins his mentality, it worked for him thus far, but once he was facing you...well, you saw the oue," Albert went for a sip of his drink.

    "Ah, I thought that..." Dave¡¯s words were cut short as he noticed something that shouldn¡¯t be happening.

    The coconut Albert was drinking from pixelized for a fraction of a second, enough for the content to spill and the small paper parasol in the coconut to fall to the ground.

    Albert, however, was none the wiser.

    "I¡¯ll be going now," Albert said.

    "Wait, you dropped this," Dave pointed at the paper parasol.

    "Oh, my bad, Albert waved his hand and removed the parasol from the ground, "Trash should go to the trash bin, now, if you need anything call me over, I quite enjoy your adventures," Albert then disappeared.

    Dave thought for a moment, howe the AI was glitching, he only faced that when the infamous Alfred was hunting him, but now Alfred is dead, self-terminate as Kada Emile had told him. Could the system be under pressure?

    Dave¡¯s questions went unanswered as he remembered that he still needed to deal with the ash king temple.

    "Right, it¡¯s gonna be in-game mid-night soon, gotta get this done." Dave went back to the Inn he stayed at and waited for night.

 Chapter 448 At the Gate

    Night soon came in the game world, and it was time for Dave to move. He donned his Shadow Tiger Armor Set and headed out from the Inn, thanks to the thick shadows, the ability, Shadow Escape ability, he was able to move through them with ease. He made sure to practice first in the forest near the Devastator capital.

    The first time he dove through a shadow, everything turned ck and white, his vision changed and he was able to see shades bright as light and lit areas as dark as night, he could will himself to move from one shadow to another and appear on the other side.

    "Damn this is neat," Davemented and began shadow-diving. At night, while using the shadow dive ability, his speed went far beyond anything he ever used to move around, not even Onixya in flight could match the speed of Dave moving through the shadows.

    Dave arrived at the city gates of Icathia, the capital of the Devastator kingdom in a matter of minutes.

    The gate was easy to bypass, thank to it being open day and night, as the capital was the safest ce of the western kingdom, no creature dared to infiltrate, or cause any problems, and the continuous mowing of low-level creatures around the capital prevented the spawn of even stronger ones.

    Dave moved through the city streets, his mission required him to not be noticed or spotted by an NPC, so far it wasn¡¯t hard. Even if by some luck, yers were able to see him, they would most likely think of him as a rogue ss yer doing a random quest and ignore him. Most yers weren¡¯t so nosey.

    Dave kept moving through the shadows, headed deeper into the capital, following a map that Da had given him. Suddenly he realized that his mission was not going to be as simple as he expected it to be.

    He would have rather had the map guiding him to the Devastators HQ in the pce than the current spot he was moving toward.

    "Damn, it had to be under the holy church, I guess, the Ash King is kinda smart, that¡¯s the only ce that they¡¯ll never look for a demonic temple."

    In front of Dave was the Cathedral of the Light God. Demiurge, it was the same as the Cathedral he visitedst time with Nichs and Demiurge himself.

    The light god had the most followers, as all priest ss had to go to one of these churches to be a healer. Yet unbeknownst to Demiurge himself, his temple was being used as a spawn of demons.

    The church stood several stories high, with a grand decoration of the ¡¯mighty¡¯ god Demiurge. Statues and ornamentations strewn all over the ce, there was so much of it, that it made the ce less beautiful than it is, a poser¡¯s temple, as would Nick had described it.

    Still, Dave had to be very careful, the church was designed to pry off sloppy assassins, or any rogue ss with bad intention toward it, the ¡¯holy grounds¡¯ were filled with traps and lit with True Sightmps.

    Dave didn¡¯t want to lie to himself and believe he could bypass such security, he was not a professional rogue, and would never match the level of Mercy.

    "Bud, your turn," Dave said.

    A swirl of smoke materialized near Dave, "Yes, Lord."

    "Here¡¯s the thing, there is a Demonic Temple under this church, and I can¡¯t get through with all these hurdles;"

    The ghoul¡¯s eyes wandered for a few seconds, and said, "Lord, can you move through shadows?"

    "Yeah, I got a simr skill to you," Dave replied.

    "Then please follow me, I could get us in."

    Dave nodded, and Bud dove into the ground, he didn¡¯t opt to enter from the church¡¯s front door but moved around the whole ce. Dave followed Bud in the shadow world, bud looked like a giant boatpared to Dave¡¯s smaller size. Dave had not understood why at the time but didn¡¯t care never the less, there were more important things to do.

    Bud moved around the temple and into the backyard. From the shadow world, Dave could see the temple, lighting the ce in a dark color, it still looked like a picture rippling from the surface of ake, blurry at times, and clear at times, yet never tangible.

    "We go from here, my lord," Bud said, his voice going directly into Dave¡¯s mind. He then moved toward the sewers.

    "Shouldn¡¯t the sewers be filled with traps for rogues," Dave asked, his voice also sounding hollow, and going straight toward Bud¡¯s mind.

    "Usually, my lord, they should, and it won¡¯t surprise me, but we won¡¯t enter from the sewers, we¡¯ll go through the seams in the walls, and the cracks in the pipes, we are shadows, once we are in the shadow world, we can move through a needle¡¯s hole as easily as through an open door."

    "That¡¯s kinda handy."

    "Yes, my lord, now follow me," Bud said and moved his entire mass totch onto the pipeline.

    Suddenly, his mass began shrinking, like a tub once you open the valve, it began to such into a crack in a sewer pipe. It took Bud a couple of seconds to go through, signaling to Dave where to move. Dave followed and made his way through the crack.

    Thankfully, there was no smell or odor once you are in the shadow world, otherwise, the smell of human filth would have driven Dave to gag.

    They moved through the dark pipes and out into a toilet that was thankfully not in use.

    "Lord, from here down, it will be much more difficult, we¡¯ll need to act swiftly."

    "Don¡¯t worry, let¡¯s keep going, the entrance to the Demonic Temple should be at the lowest floor of the Cathedral,st time I was in one of these ces, I saw a locked trapdoor in their getion chambers."

    "Do you know the way to the chambers, my lord?" Bud asked.

    "Yeah, I just need to get to the main hall, then it¡¯s a straight spiral way down, let¡¯s get moving," Dave said and the two moved at once.

    Within the cathedral hallways, there was no need or even possibility to use shadow escape. The whole ce was lit from within, candles or magic light lit up space, making it impossible for the two to move in stealth.

    "This is going to be a problem," Dave said.

    "Yes, Lord, I won¡¯t be able to follow you anymore," Bud replied, and it was true as the two of them had just realized, Bud¡¯s size was too great for him to move stealthily in well-lit areas.

    "You can go, I¡¯ll summon you when I need you. I can go the rest of the way by myself," Dave nodded.

    "As you wish," bud retreated into the toilets and merged with the shadows there.

    Dave began walking through the hallways, thankfully, the church was not a prison or a high security guarded ce. Most of the NPC pdins would be sound asleep now, with the exceptions of the ones on guard duty outside of the church.

    The rest of the NPCs would be doing their prayers, or in their rooms, asleep or preparing to. As for the high order of the Church, Dave didn¡¯t want to even think about those self-righteous iming people.

    Dave moved through the hallways. His footsteps were muted, all thanks to the great gear he was wearing. The boots muffled his footsteps and made his move more agilely than ever. One Dave arrived at the middle hall, he had to stop, a nun was moving from chamber to chamber with a small candle in hand, she was probably checking on sleeping people.

    He waited for the nun to fully enter one of the rooms before he moved behind her, without her notice. His goal was the getion chambers that were on the other side of the hall he was in.

    He kept moving while keeping in mind to check behind his back. After making it clear, and into the spiral staircase, he finally realized that his heart was beating rather loudly.

    He took a moment to breath and calm his nerves then moved down the staircase. The area was darker than upstairs, but not enough for him to move through shadows.

    Once he was down, he heard the sounds of pained moansing from the chambers. Unfortunately for Dave, the door was locked tight and he couldn¡¯t get in. He could go through the small space under the door, but the lighting from the other side of the chambers advised him otherwise. As the moment he would go through, he will be a solid form and will be discovered. Dave had to wait, there was only one way for him to go in, and that was to wait for the lights to turn off, meaning that he needed to wait and listen to the pained screams of people until the getors decide it was enough and called it a night.

    "Damn these assholes, still doing the same crap even after Demiurge came down."

    Dave had to wait for hours, enough that his teeth began grating over each other. The game made the feelings and reactions of people rather too vividly that it made Dave wrathful at the church¡¯s behavior.

    "Soon," Dave kept calming himself with the same phrase over and over again.

    And thankfully, the pained sounds stopped, changed to defeated weeping.

    "Let¡¯s go, these infidels had enough for the day," a man spoke up.

    Soon, the door opened up, while Dave was on the other side of it. He waited for everyone to exit the room before he shadow-moved under it and into the now locked chamber.

    He didn¡¯t want to expose himself to the people in the chamber, they could ask him for help, beg or even cry out; notifying the guards.

    ¡¯Sorry, I¡¯lle for youter,¡¯ Dave made a promise and moved ahead.

    He was soon above the trapdoor. It was still locked the same way it was when he first saw it.

    "Now then," Dave spoke and melted into a shadow to go through the thin dividers of the trapdoor.

    Once on the other side, Dave regained his form, he could not see anything so he switched to his Undead avatar, immediately gaining Dark Vision.

    He found himself inside a steep tunnel that led down. He began moving ahead. The farther he moved the hotter it became, reminding him of the depths of the underworld.

    Soon, he arrived at the doorways of a gate, there was a demonic head on the top of the gate, and hundreds of magical inscriptions on it.

    Dave touched the gate and a notification appeared in front of him.

    ***

    You have discovered one of the four temples of the Ash King.

    Once you go through, you will have 24 hours before the world knows of the exact location of the temple, move with haste.

    ***

    "Right then, let¡¯s do this," Dave pressed his hand against the gate...

 Chapter 449 Demon Temple

    The door opened wide for Dave, letting out waves of heat and red smoke. The ce reeked with a rotten, metallic smell of blood. Dave moved through the smoke, getting a better view of whaty beyond the door.

    The ground was solid, consisting of tiled bricks, linked to each other seamlessly. Judging by the red and ck mold growing on the floor and the walls it must have been ages since someonest used it. Still, Dave kept moving forward until he arrived at an opening.

    The entrance was a tunnel, and its exit was a high perch on a lower floor. Dave could look down from where he stood and saw a stadium-sized room with tens of thousands of creatures, dead, dying, and alive all doing the same thing. They had their palms, face, and knees on the floor, all in a prostration toward a central pir with a small doorway entrance that led inside. A bright light shone upon the area, chasing off the shades and making everything look bright red.

    After looking through their ranks Dave discovered that there only appeared to be Imps down there, the working and lowest ss of the Demon Race. They were always used for hardbor, enved by superior demons forced to do their bidding. Now, they were praying, obviously, to their demonic deity. Although he had never met him, it didn¡¯t take a genius to figure out that the pir head of some strange-looking creature must be Asmodeus, since it was not the Ash King¡¯s face.

    The Ash King had a Diablo kind of feel to him with his horns and the goat-like face. This creature, however, had a cow¡¯s, a ram¡¯s, and a goblin¡¯s head. Perhaps they belonged to some other race, but that was Dave¡¯s best guess. The goblin shaped face looked almost human, but at the same time, with the pointed ears, long jagged nose, and sharp fangs, it had to be some goblinoid.

    Dave pondered about how to get past these Imps without them causing any ruckus, yet before he hade up with a n, an Imp came from behind Dave. Thetter didn¡¯t even register the Imp¡¯s existence until it had moved past him, fully ignoring Dave. It went to a location where one of the dead Impsy still, only to move aside the corpse and rece him in worshiping the pir.

    Dave got the feeling that these creatures could not see, nor think of anything besides constant worship for their deity. ¡¯This just works in my favor,¡¯ Dave thought and began moving between the Imps.

    The light from the ceiling was too bright for Dave to use his Shadow Escape, so he changed his equipment back to the Doom Knight gear. He was already inside the temple and the notification had informed him what there was now a 24-hour countdown until the whole world learned about the temple¡¯s location, so there should be no more need to too subtle. It was best that he would be wearing his fighting gear in case he faced a monster than being caught off-guard in an Assassin¡¯s equipment.

    Dave ignored stealth, instead, he opted to casually move through the rows upon rows of kneeling Imps. Dave took more steps forward, trying his best not to step on any of them. Although they might be under a trance, facing this many of them could turn out bad for him. Unfortunately it only got harder, as the closer he got to the pir, the more of these Imps were gathered and grouped up. There were simply too many of them.

    A few stepster, Dave stepped on the hand of one of the Imps, he quickly pulled his foot up, afraid that it might wake the creature from its dazed stupor. The metallic Doom Knight boot was too heavy for the small fingers of the Imp. Yet the Imp continued with his prayer, not even registering the fact that the fingers on his hand were crushed.

    Dave frowned. This was messed up. If someone else came here, he could easily cull the lives of these Imps without any problems. They were seemingly forced to worship the deity, disregarding even their own safety and lives. They might be demons, yet Dave still felt pity for them. Every creature should have the right to defend itself and protect its life first and foremost. To give one¡¯s life for another in an act of chivalry was honorable, but to waste your life away praying to same statue to the point of actually dying only to get reced by your sessor... without any obvious returns, it was nothing but self-cruelty and tyranny of the highest regard of themanding deity.

    Dave kept moving forward but the area in front of him was packed full. He could barely take a step, so he began sliding his foot forward, the motion pushed away the Imps without hurting any of them. Momentster Dave was right at the front of the pir. Looking back the area he moved through was once again filled with Imps. Some were even stacked on top of each other.

    Dave sighed and took a step into the pir. Just as his footnded inside the pir, the world disappeared before his eyes and he found himself in another location.

    This time, he saw a stone bridge in front of him that crossed a chasm, and on the other side there were red statues of demons, as tall as city walls all over the ce.

    The ground wasyered intopounded floors, where it went deeper into an abyss. Crimson clouds rained down blood on the top level of thependium, which then washed over to the rest of the floors, tainting the statues that were situated on the different levels in red blood.

    The blood continued falling until it drained into the abyss far below. There was another pir the same as the one Dave went through right at the top of thependium.

    Dave would need to cross the bridge and go to the top area. He began walking across the stone bridge, looking towards the bottom. Even with his dark vision he was unable to discern whaty beyond the abyss. He kept striding forward until something caused him to halt. A creature was in front of him.

    At first Dave thought that it could be yet another Imp, but this thing was muchrger. It also featured an extra set of arms sprouting from its shoulders and looked more like a mix of a human and a sloth. It had thick musky fur, and Dave could smell the stench from halfway across the bridge. Its face was the only thing that didn¡¯t have fur on it and it only made it look more gruesome. On its head were two horns that grew and arched backward.

    ***

    Name: Blood Eater

    Race: Demonic

    Level: 450

    Tier: Epic

    Base damage: 40,000-60,000

    Danger Level: ?

    HP: 4,000,000

    PD: 35,000

    MD: 35,000

    Skills:

    [Cluster Strike] The Blood Eater throwspacted blood as projectiles that explode upon contact, dealing 150% base Damage.

    [Blood Ripping] When facing enemies with warm blood, he can force the blood in his prey¡¯s body to coagte, causing nausea and disorientation. If a yer is hit and not treated immediately, it will cause death in five minutes the victim bleeding out from all of their orifices.

    [Poisoned Talons] The Blood Eater¡¯s basic attacks have a deadly poison in them that will hinder the healing of wounds, causing grievous wounds to any target they strike.

    Lore: The Blood Eaters are demonic creatures that can only be found near blood ponds or blood infested areas. They cannot survive in any other biome, and the Ash King is extremely fond of these creatures. As the Blood Eaters are one of his ultimate tools in torturing other races for extracting whatever information he needs or for the sheer joy of it, he has made sure that every one of his Blood Eaters is treated well within his Kingdom.

    ***

    "Welp, that¡¯s one messed up creature right there. I doubt you¡¯ll move out of the way, so just let me beat your ass up fast and get this over with. Heh, ording to your lore this should really piss off the Ash King. Too bad there aren¡¯t more of you here." Dave grinned at the Blood Eater and drew Durandal.

    Suddenly, several more of the same creature showed up all lined up and blocked the way forward.

    "Damn, I feel like I caught the nker."

 Chapter 450 The Chalice

    "Sorry guys, but I gotta make sure the legend of Skelly doesn¡¯t end here. You¡¯re gonna hate me for this," Dave grinned to himself and charged into the fray.

    The more than a dozen Blood Eaters screeched in glee as they saw the approaching Doom Knight. Yet what awaited them was by far the worst day of their life.

    Dave charged forward with his [Stampede] crashing into three huddled up creatures, breaking the formation and sending one of the unfortunate creatures down to the bottom of the chasm.

    "That¡¯s one down!" Dave roared and swung Durandal like a club at another creature.

    The power behind his blow was devastating. Dave shot the creature clear off the bridge and into the abyss thanks to the Knockback effect.

    "That¡¯s two!"

    Dave dodged a wing attack from a nearby creature and headbutted it, dazing the beast, his sword moved along with him, stabbing the assant thereby forcing it into a dazed retreat. Another creature jumped on Dave, but with his shield ready, he pivoted right, and the jaws on Ajax opened wide, biting at the arm of the creature locking the two.

    "Herculean Strength!" Dave buffed himself, increasing his Strength stat even more. His muscles flexed and puffed, the stagnant rotten blood in his veins pumped with destructive vigor even though his draugr heart had long since stopped beating, sending more power to his entire body.

    Dave spun around, smashing the creature caught in his shield into its brethren. He ignored the values appearing above the creatures. The effectiveness of his current action spoke for itself. The creature caught in Dave¡¯s shield acted as a wrecking ball, smashing into anything dumb enough to approach Dave, and sending the few lucky ones down the chasm for a quick death. As for the others... more pain awaited.

    When he felt his momentum slowing Dave unclenched the jaws of Ajax, throwing another monster into the deep.

    "Down! Down!" Daveughed like mad and charged ahead. Three more Blood Eaters stood in his way. He increased his speed and slid forward, his foot rocked into one of the Blood Eaters¡¯ legs knocking them slightly up, giving Dave a small breath of time where he sliced up, mid slide.

    Durandal tore with ease into the belly of the Blood Eater, enacting a screech of pain from the skewered monster.

    Dave stood up with the creature screaming and gushing loads more blood than it should reasonably have. With the monster stuck to the de, it would have been an impossible feat for anyone to even try and swing their swords further yet Dave¡¯s inhuman strength made this feat appearically easy. The additional ¡¯weight¡¯ on his sword provided some nice extra damage which he would dly take every time. He relentlessly shed, hacked, and batted at the monsters in front of him. Limbs and heads rolled on the bridge floor and blood soon painted everything in the vicinity, be it the ground, his foes or Dave himself.

    The creature stuck in Dave¡¯s sword squealed onest time before its body turned limp and slid off the sword, its own weight acting against its body, ripped in half by the de¡¯s edge.

    Dave pulled further ahead from the monsters until he was almost at the other side of the bridge. Meanwhile the creatures had regrouped and began a maddened rush, Dave opened his mouth wide and cast [Dragon Roar].

    Wind overwhelmingly exploded from his jaws at the monsters, sending half of them into the deep.

    Dave fought the remaining creatures to an anticlimactic end. Their ability to draw on blood from enemies to deal damage was quite simr to Zhang Shi, the Northern Region¡¯s Guild Master. Yet with Dave currently in his draugr form, the blood abilities of the creatures were useless. He was the living counter to their existence.

    Perhaps if the Devie¡¯s were here, things would be different and the monsters might have the edge in their own domain, but against the undead, there was no such luck.

    Dave wrapped up the fight only to facepalm after he realised what he had done. He might have caused the death of many of these creatures thanks to the abyss, but without a body in reach it also meant he couldn¡¯t loot them any more. Fortunately his displeasure lessened once he checked up on the corpses of the others that were still on the bridge. They were all lootless.

    Dave turned to thepounded floors, he needed to climb up and enter into the central pir to get to the other floor. Dave began his climb, ascending through pools of blood, knee-deep. More of the Blood Eaters spawned from the blood pools, causing Dave to fight in a slightly unconventional situation. Nevertheless it all ended the same with the death of any Blood Eatering his way.

    He mowed through the beasts like awnmower over grass, efficiently, sharply, and rapidly. He kept moving ahead, climbing each section of thepounded floors. Monsters spawned obstructing his way, only to fall within a few swings. Eventually he stopped going for the kill and simply cut off their limbs and feet, allowing him time to move ahead. There was no need to waste time killing creatures, especially when they didn¡¯t give him EXP or loot.

    He was sad that his passive [Deathly Presence] didn¡¯t work against these creatures. It should have normally scared away any creature that was more than 50 levels below his own, yet since he was literally invading their home, they had no chance but to fight. Truly in some way they were no different from the warriors of the Qin kingdom.

    Dave moved up ahead and reached the top area where the pir stood tall, an open way for Dave to ess theter floor of the dungeon he was in.

    He walked inside the pir and found himself in yet another new region. This ce however was as hot as hell itself.

    Dave stood on a perch that showcased the entire room. It appeared to Dave that this was thest room of this ce. He was quite happy for this, as it was starting to get annoying. Even more so when he thought he would have to repeat this 3 more times...

    There was a small altar in the center of a ming hot pool ofva. A small pathway led from the perch where he stood directly to the altar. Above the altar there was a small floating orb, which he recognized as the dungeon¡¯s core as well as a chalice of pure gold standing on the altar.

    Dave carefully moved toward the chalice, making sure to keep an eye on theva pool. He had encountered his share of creatures that happily lived and swam in even such impossible areas and he was not about to be outdone by a careless mistake while the goal of his journey was right in front of him.

    Shield poised upfront, his sword ready for the draw, Dave stepped ahead, one cautious step at a time, making sure his footing was steady, less the path gave away and he fell to a fiery death. Ultimately what should have taken a couple minutes turned into half an hour, his journey ending eventless before he arrived at the chalice.

    The chalice was decorated with all kinds of jewelry and filled with a bright red liquid. He didn¡¯t even need to guess what the red liquid inside was. Heck, it would be a miracle if it wasn¡¯t blood! There was a small drawing of a face on the chalice featuring the owner of the chalice.

    As soon as he touched the chalice a loud chorus sted through his ears.

    "DIDO TUS!

    TIMERE!

    DIDO TUS!

    IGNIS!

    BIBERE SANGUINA SACRILIGAS!

    REGEM AOREMUS FERIA!

    TIMERE ADORMEUS FERIA!

    SERVITE ADORMEUS FERIA

    DIDO TUS

    TIMERE!"

    The sound of this chorus ended leaving Dave feeling like keeling over. If this was real life, he would not be surprised if he would have permanently lost his hearing.

    Dave understood still what the message he heard was, even

    Although Dave had never learned, he was able to make some guesses what the chorus must have said, given the context. One needed to drink from this chalice to get the Ash King to bless them with his power as it seems. This chalice was probably a binding to the deity of fires. In essence, it must have been the usual, ¡¯treat carefully mortal!¡¯ shtick those almighty beings seemed so keen on. They were undoubtedly more powerful than any of the current yers or NPCs, so was there really a need to unt their own horn?

    Once he picked up the item, the two jewels making the eyes of the Ash King on the chalice shone brightly as if they staring right through Dave¡¯s soul.

    A notification popped up in front of Dave.

    ***

    WARNING! By choosing to drink the Unholy Son¡¯s Blood, you will be giving up your Undeath Legacy! All your rank progression, achievements, rtionships with the undead race shall be expunged, and your rtionship to the Undead Realm will be extremely hostile. This action is irrevocable!

    Do you still wish to proceed?

    Yes or No?

    ***

    Before he could even press a button, another notification showed up on his screen.

    ***

    Several powerful entities of the world of Conquest are currently watching you!

    ***

 Chapter 451 Thinking Outside the Box

    Back in Urburg, Nick was fidgeting around his ce. Worry was gnawing at the God of Undeath. He was cursing his inability to act for the millionth time. Right now it weighed down on him even more heavily than usual on his shoulders.

    What Dave was about to do was going to spell his doom. He knew that the draugr would never drink from that cup, but if he actually were to throw it into theva as he had just threatened after bing aware of all eyes being on him, things would y out differently than he might have liked. In the past Dave had once ignored Nick¡¯s advise by using Dog to revive the Undead Legion. At the time the damage was limited to the Undead King¡¯s memories about Dave not getting restored. Now it was time to see if he had learned from his mistake... otherwise, he would allow the Ash King to directly act and move to Dave¡¯s location. Mr. Skeletal¡¯s video would then turn out to be about how the most popr undead yer failed for once, his actions all for naught.

    The Ash King¡¯s Blood was in the chalice, and if it was spilt, it gave the demi-god a just excuse to act as it pleased, without being bound by the world¡¯s rules.

    "Damn it, Kid, just ignore that shit! Get the core first!"

    Nick screamed alone in the tavern.

    The Ash King, on the other hand, was hopeful. No matter what the draugr did, it would be perfect for him. If he decided to break the cup, it would mean that he was entitled to go and defend his ¡¯property¡¯ since it was considered to be a part of him. If he drank from it, even the better, it would mean that the Ash King would obtain a powerful pawn against the Undead King.

    The Undead King, on the other hand, was sitting still, watching the happenings of his prtoge¨¦ in stoic expressions. Yet if anyone was there to observe him, they would notice that the Undead King¡¯s hand was tighly gripping the skull on his throne¡¯s armrest.

    ***

    Dave paused for a moment before he acted as he had just half-jokingly threatened.

    After all, this was quite strange. Why would the second message appear?

    Why would the system show him that several entities were watching him?

    This couldn¡¯t be just random. He wouldn¡¯t be surprised if Nick watched him most of the time out of boredom. The Undead King might also watch him from time to time, but more out of interest. Yet even if the Ash King, or any other entity for that matter, started paying attention to him, would that normally warrant a notification? Everything had its reason to be. It was a no brainer that Dave was never going to drink from the chalice. Dave ced the chalice back and thought hard about his next course of action.

    ¡¯Obviously, I would never drink from this. The whole reason I came here was to stop anyone else from doing so after all. The fact that ¡¯several¡¯ are watching me means that it is not only Nick, it could possibly be the Ash King, but since we¡¯ve already met I doubt he would delude himself into thinking that I¡¯ll drink and join him. So what¡¯s the catch?¡¯

    Dave looked around, the only thing that spiked his interest in this ce was theck of monsters. If this ce had such great importance to the Ash King, shouldn¡¯t it be guarded?

    Then he looked back at the chalice. ¡¯This thing is dangerous.¡¯

    In hopes of getting something more useful out of it, he did what any reasonable yer would do. He inspected it.

    ***

    Holder of the Son¡¯s Blood.

    Nature: Golden Chalice

    Indestructible.

    ***

    Well, that made throwing this thing down theva useless, but what about the blood?

    ***

    Blood of the Son: Indestructible.

    By drinking it, one permanently ties his fate to the Ash King by bing one of his demons. Gaining demonic traits and a new skill tree, but discarding all previous non-demonic legacies.

    New Race upgrade: Demon.

    Additional Ability: Hidden

    ***

    "Okay, I get the gist of things now, so I should probably just take the core.??? Dave ced his hand on the core and received a message.

    ***

    You have obtained the dungeon core for the Ash King¡¯s Temple of the West.

    Do you wish to change the dungeon¡¯s structure?

    Be warned, the Temple of the Ash King can be changed to spawn undead, however, the Ash King¡¯s Altar shall still remain where it is, giving anyone the chance to ept the Ash King¡¯s gifr.

    The Chalice of the Son¡¯s Blood cannot be physically moved out of the dungeon.

    Do you wish to proceed?

    Yes or No?

    ***

    Dave stopped in his tracks. This was yet another annoying mystery. If he changed the dungeon structure, sure it would make it harder for the guildies to get the chalice, but at the same time, it was a matter of time before they get their hands on it. Considering the fact that this dungeon was right underneath the Devastators¡¯ capital, it meant that the yers could simply swarm it until the dungeon breaks.

    ¡¯Quite depressing...¡¯ Dave thought. He needed this chalice gone, or his entire work would be for naught. Several hours from now, the gamemunity would learn that he had invaded their homnd and was ruining a dungeon for them.

    He needed this chalice gone, but it couldn¡¯t be destroyed. By now he was sure as hell that if he tried to throw this damned thing into theva, it would probably just activate whatever defense mechanism this floor had to offer. Without any monsters, it was only natural that once the chalice, as the actual most important thing in the dungeon came in harm¡¯s way it had to be protected. Dave was not going to be curious idiot to learn what has been left here.

    Dave sat in front of the altar and worked his brain.

    It only took him a moment before a vicious, wide, and the evilest smile he ever had crept upon his face.

    "Ash King, you¡¯re not gonna like this!" Dave announced loudly as he grabbed the chalice. "You¡¯re REALLY not gonna like this!"

    He held the chalice on top of the Cursed Shield of Ajax and ordered, "Eat up, friend."

    The shield opened its mouth wide, and he dropped the chalice in the void of inside the shield.

    The world instantly turned ck and white. Albert had shown up.

    "Paint me surprised,d. I¡¯ve never even considered that."

    The appearance of Albert scared Dave a little, but he didn¡¯t show it.

    "What do you mean?" Dave asked.

    "The chalice should have remained a permanent part of the dungeon. yers are unable to store it in their inventory and if you had tried to move chalice out of the dungeon or destroy it, it would have simply teleported back to its location as if nothing had happened. Well, you would still have to face the consequences, but I was sure I had all angles covered so that no one would try and take it away. But you just did somethingpletely unexpected. The Shield of Ajax is not as simple as an inventory. It has a space of its own in it, a ck hole to be exact."

    "And?" Dave questioned.

    "The cup was designed to be indestructible. Yet you did not destroy it. The chalice never left the dungeon, as there was only ever one way out... so actually managed to circumvent everything by finding a way to make it unreachable. Unless you willingly hand over the chalice now, it will remain in your care."

    "You¡¯re not gonna pull an Alfred on me and tell me to hand it back, crying Bnce, and what not, are you?" Dave asked defiantly. He had to keep up his tough act, but inside he was sweating bullets.

    "Oh, no, no, no. As I stated, I am not like myte brother. I¡¯ve juste to inform you that you made things even more interesting." Albert smiled.

    "How so?" Dave asked.

    "You¡¯ll see for yourself," and with this Albert fizzled away.

    The world regained its colors and an unholy scream sted through the area.

    An infernal demonic face appeared in front of Dave.

    He was ready this time. He was no longer the noob who almost pissed his pants after seeing the Ash King. This time things would be different.

    He was backed by the Undead Legion, having worked his way to the upper echelon and on his way to be the Abyssal Prince. This simple projection was not enough to do anything but speak.

    "ONCE AGAIN, YOU HAVE TAKEN WHAT DOES NOT BELONG TO YOU! ONCE AGAIN YOU STAND IN MY WAY, DRAUGR!"

    "Go suck on a lemon for all I care," Dave shrugged, "You got what you deserved. And I¡¯ll be damned sure to get the rest of the chalices before anyone else gets to take a sip."

    "THAT IS IF YOU ARE STILL ALIVE BY THEN! IT¡¯S TIME FOR YOU TO HEED YOUR SWORN OATH!" The Ash King spoke thest line and disappeared.

    Dave frowned for a moment, what oath was he talking about? Sworn? Dave had barely met the guy, so how could he sworn any oaths?

    Suddenly, the word ¡¯Sworn¡¯ left a terrible feeling in his stomach.

    Theva behind him sshed.

    "Ah shit," Dave cursed. He didn¡¯t even need to turn to know what currently stood behind him. The increase in the room temperature was more than enough of a giveaway.

    "I guess it¡¯s time for round two." Dave turned. He poised his shield up, and looked defiantly ahead, "Isn¡¯t that right, Sworn Stalwart?!"

 Chapter 452 Troubles Under Paradise

    ***

    Conquest Server Announcement!

    yer Kis¡¯Shtiengbrah had sessfully thwarted the ns of the Ash-King to offer yers of the Northern Kingdom his Demonic Powers.

    Currently, the Ash King¡¯s Northern Demonic Temple is no longer active!

    ***

    "Oh, that¡¯s gonna piss off so many yers," Dave sighed then he looked ahead, he had more important matters to tend to, than some salty yers.

    Dave inspected the creature facing him.

    ***

    Sworn Stalwart

    Level 620

    Tier (Ethereal)

    Alignment [Demonic]

    Danger Level ???

    DN 250,000

    MA 250,000

    HP 250,000,000

    Skills: [Infernal Aura] Causes 0.5% of the target¡¯s Max HP in t damage. Continuous and cannot be interrupted unless the Sworn Stalwart is stunned, once the Sworn Stalwart regains his senses, the aura effect will resume.

    [Ray of mes] Shots a torrent of zing mes that could melt terrain. Deals 20% of the target¡¯s max HP in t damage value.

    [Granite Skin] The Sworn Stalwart is a creature made from the wrath of a volcano, it coats its body with a thinyer of Granite that could negate 20% of the damage dealt with it. Once the granite skin is broken, the Sworn Stalwart will receive 20% additional damage.

    Lore

    A creature of the depth, bound to serve the Ash-King as a ve and protector.

    These creatures feed on magma and are immune to fire, in their presence, heat in the area increases to an rming rate inducing DOT of 5,000HP/second.

    ***

    The Sworn Stalwart dashed toward the small dirt road that spanned the width of the pond to the Chalice altar. It crashed both its arms on the small bridge and roared quacking the cave and making some stone stctites fall in the pond.

    The creature had a wide jaw, but no eyes or ears, and at the front, there was a twitching nose, he sniffed around to locate Dave. Once having confirmed his general direction the stone making the creature began heating up, turning from dark obsidian to coal red.

    ***

    You are experiencing Overheating.

    -500HP

    -500HP

    -500Hp

    ***

    "You haven¡¯t changed much from thest time I saw one of your kinds. One the other hand," Dave grinned, "I¡¯m not the level 80 draugr I was when Ist fought one of yous.

    Dave stomped his foot as mighty as he could on the ground, a baleful miasma of eldritch magic coated him. It was his aura skill, [Infernal Tyrant¡¯s Oppression].

    The passive effect of the Sworn Stalwart aura failed to contend against the mix of auras making Dave¡¯s. The dark ignition summoned a skull above Dave¡¯s head that looked down on all creation. Even the Sworn Stalwart failed to change the skull¡¯s expression from scorn to mild interest.

    ***

    [Infernal Tyrant¡¯s Oppression] has negated [Infernal Aura].

    You are no longer overheated.

    ***

    "You have no power here!" Daveughed like mad. And perhaps the Sworn Stalwart realized that his aura no longer worked, causing it to screech once again in rage.

    The Stalwart raised one of its arms, dripping fromva and swung down.

    The mighty arm of the stalwart was easily three times the size of a tree trunk, its ws were made of sharp obsidian, and Dave had no doubt, taking a direct attack from the creature would put him in a world of pain.

    Dave rolled away, dodging the brunt of the strike that fell the bridge he stood on. Arge portion of theva engulfed the now destroyed section of the passage to the other room.

    Dave instantly realized that if this fight keeps on, he was doomed to die in the fire. Theva didn¡¯t harm the Stalwart, but that was a different story for Dave.

    He turned to the altar and touched the orb.

    ***

    ess to dungeon modification is temporarily suspended due tobat!

    ***

    "Damn, you¡¯re lucky I could have changed this ce to a dammed ice cave."

    Dave used [Immortal Apparition] and appeared right above the Stalwart¡¯s Head.

    ***

    Fear Effect Failed to apply.

    ***

    "Oh, that¡¯s different fromst time, this time it didn¡¯t apply due to proc chance, and not to level difference!" Dave grinned and stabbed down with Durandal.

    -120,600

    "That¡¯s a low damage value," Dave said mid hop, as the Stalwart had no interest in keeping the undead above his head.

    Dave pointed his shield forward, "Defile!" he cast.

    Gigantic roots rose from under the Stalwart and grew thorns sharp as swords to stab into the creature. The thorns found difficulty at first to prate the granite skin of theva monster, but in a matter of seconds, the first of the thorns forced the creature to screech as it made its way past the thick skin.

    More and more screams rose higher and higher in pitch until the stalwart forced itself away from the path and into theva.

    Soon the creature came back, with the roots nothing but burnt ash surrounding it. Dave dodged to the right as a retaliatory swing came his way, breaking another part of the bridge.

    "Shit, this isn¡¯t good," Dave cursed, he turned jumped and ran as fast as he could toward the exit.

    The Stalwart was hot on the pursuit, breaking the pathway behind Dave and charging at him.

    "You got lucky in their bro, you have terrain advantage otherwise I¡¯d rip you a new one if you were outside," Dave spoke onest sentence at the stalwart and entered through the pir he first came through.

    Dave was back on thepounded floor. The room¡¯s temperature was much cooler than the over he was in a few seconds ago. He disabled his aura and looked around.

    The Blood Eaters were moving about aimlessly until they all looked up at Dave.

    "Small fries," Dave joked.

    Then almost as if they understood what he said, they all screeched and ran in different directions, away from Dave.

    "Oh, I guess that beating did teach you some respect," Daveughed.

    The room¡¯s temperature began increasing, the temperature strangely came from his back.

    Turning, the pir he came from began shining brightly. Dave took a step back, he was sure the Stalwart Was in no way capable of going through the pir and into this area, the pir was simply too small for it to use. Dave¡¯s fears were proven true when the pir blew up in radiating fire and light and the Sworn Stalwart screeched loud.

    "Fuck, nker, I swear to god man!" Dave didn¡¯t finish his sentence and ran away.

    A wide smile was stered on his face, he wasn¡¯t worried about the Stalwart, in fact, it was good if he could leech it into somewhere with lessva, this ce wasn¡¯t bad, but the terrain wasn¡¯t favorable to Dave as he needed to do a lot of climbing to even stand face to face against the Stalwart.

    Yet, this worked the same for the Stalwart even worse, the size of the creature would make its movement and fighting awkward, and give Dave a good advantage.

    Dave poised his shield and Durandal forward, just as he was about to initiatebat again, the room¡¯s temperature increased several folds in seconds. Light came surging from the abyss under thepounded floor and lo and behold, a sea of magma was rising fast, Dave didn¡¯t even need to think to understand that theva only needed to engulf thepounded floor before he would die a fiery death.

    "Damn Ash King, that¡¯s a low blow," Dave called and turned to the bridge.

    The Stalwart followed after, and Dave kept moving forward, "If this ce wasn¡¯t gonna work, then the upper floor. He moved fast. Crossing the bridge came with little surprise and a small yelp, as thest step Dave had taken was the moment when theva went up and engulfed the bridge he stepped on.

    Dave hopped over the perch and went inside the pir to the top floor. He didn¡¯t wait for the stalwart but moved farther ahead, bypassing the praying Imps and into the other side of the room.

    Waves of magma burst out from the pir followed by the howling Stalwart. The creature chased after Dave with eyes screaming bloody murder. Thankfully the Stalwart broke the pir he came through and smothered theva¡¯s flow. That, however, onlysted for seconds, asva began seeping from the walls.

    "Shit man, you really want to take this fight outside? Church guys are not gonna like this," Dave said and sprinted out of the dungeon.

    The stalwart kept moving fast after Dave, he even believed that the creature wouldn¡¯t fit in the small tunnel that led to the bottom of the church, but he sure was wrong about that.

    The Stalwart¡¯s next action had put the king of molds to shame. It smashed its gigantic arms at the cave¡¯s entrance and began digging its way forward with deadly ease.

    Dave had thought about sending projectiles toward it to stop its advance, but sadly, most if not all of Dave¡¯s long-ranged skills were fire oriented and the Stalwart was immune to it.

    The creature screeched and howled at Dave as it chased after him. Thetter climbed up the trapdoor under the torture room and looked around.

    "Shit, NPCs are trapped here, bud! Where are you?" Dave called.

    "I¡¯m still where you havest left me,"

    "I need a distraction, make everyone leave the building."

    "May I know why, Lord?"

    "A Sworn Stalwart ising up,"

    "That¡¯s all I needed to know."

    The connection between Bud and Dave cut off, Dave had to focus on the NPCs trapped in the rooms.

    Dave swung Durandal at the bars trapping them, setting them free and smashed a foot into the doors of the getion chambers.

    "Get the hell out!" Dave shouted.

    "But, if they see using, they¡¯ll capture us once again," a badly wounded woman spoke.

    Just as she finished her words, loud bells rang in the church, and the loud shouting of a pdin convoyed the following, "The Church is on fire! Everyone get out, now!"

    "Good job Bud!" Dave said, nothing short of a fire could force people out of a building fast, though if they knew the embodiment of such a thing was going to rise soon from under them, Dave was going to bet that they would double up on the evacuation.

    "Now, leave you can mix in with the people leaving, you won¡¯t get caught!"

    "What about you, lord draugr?" asked the same woman.

    Dave grinned, "I have a demon to stop, just go, I got this!" Dave said.

    Almost immediately, the floor burst out as one of the Stalwart¡¯s arms ripped the cobbled floor open.

    Dave spun mid-air and smashed down with the grit of his sword on the stalwart¡¯s protruding head.

    -180,000

    The surprise attack caused the Stalwart to screech yet again, the pesky draugr was not letting it eat it with ease.

    "GO!" Dave shouted, and to his words, and the new arrival, the NPCs found little room or words to argue as their feet led the way to safety.

    "I wonder what the Devis are gonna be thinking when they see your ugly ass in their territory?"

 Chapter 453 Sworn Battle

    The Stalwart screeched against the defiant draugr, its granite skin burnt high, heavy, and hot. It wed at the ground pushing its massive size out of the small trapdoor while breaking whatever boulder, rock, and dirt that stood in its way.

    The Stalwart released heat continuously, it had definitely added to Bud¡¯s distraction, as the wailsing from upstairs and the increased pace of footsteps announced that thest of the upants of the Church had left.

    Dave lunged in at the Stalwart, smacking it on the face with Durandal¡¯s edge. The blow rocked the monster¡¯s face and cracked arge chunk of its face-off. The Stalwart retaliated in a heavy horizontal swing, to which, Dave poised his shield to block and used [Absorb] taking in the whole might and strength behind the blow into the shield.

    The Stalwart lost bnce when the momentum behind his blow suddenly disappeared, his arm felt limp and at the mercy of the draugr, theter didn¡¯t hesitate to capitalize on the mistake.

    Durandal rose high and dropped heavy, in its motion, it carved through the Stalwart¡¯s extended arm, but failed to tear it off, its skin was brittle but the inside of its body was viscous magma that absorbed the shock.

    Hot liquidva poured out of the Stalwart¡¯s wounded arm, theter didn¡¯t even register the blow even if Dave¡¯s blow seemed to have cut off a major artery.

    The Stalwart became wearier, giving up the attack momentarily to analyze the situation. Giving Dave more time to n the next attack. The Stalwart¡¯s hesitation disappeared the moment Dave charged once again. He jumped up and swung with Durandal at the Stalwart¡¯s head. Theter leaned to the side, dodging the blow, and lurch forward, his jaws opened wide in a chomp that could swallow Dave whole.

    Dave didn¡¯t panic, in his attack, he made sure to not strike too hard or overextend himself in order to have more dexterity to move after the attack. The hot gullet of the Stalwart faced Dave, in which he pivoted, cing his shield between him and the Stalwart.

    "Reject," Dave cast, and the absorbed blow from before burst out from the shield, the smack the Stalwart intended for Dave sted the creature into the wall, the cracks on its face widened and moreva poured out.

    Dave had the fight in hand, the Stalwart might be a beefy fighter, but it was too slow, too big and its attacks were easy to telegraph and dodge. It wouldn¡¯t take a professional yer to take it down, the only downside to this was the continuous aura it released, sapping coldness and increasing heat in its vicinity, yet Dave was also immune to these mes, he had the [Infernal Tyrant¡¯s Oppression] to counter the stalwart¡¯s effect.

    The Stalwart shook its head to shake off the dizziness of having received its own strike, it sttered the seeping magma out of its face and onto the walls of the getion chambers, the walls burned and melted once in contact with the hot stuff.

    The Stalwart apparently had enough, it reared back on its self, its jaw closely touching its chest. White light gathered in the stalwart¡¯s neck and then it opened its mouth, shooting aser white ray of concentrated mes to the ground under its feet, then moved its head vertically, causing the light to prate the ground, melting it in its wake.

    Dave dove to the side, dodging theser beam that cut right where he was standing and tore forward and up. The Stalwart hadn¡¯t finished as the ray of mes was still shooting out, it then moved its face sideways, forcing Dave to duck under.

    The Stalwart¡¯s attack finished when it drew a cross in the underground of the church, but when Dave looked up, he could see the sky. The power behind the attack was enough to cut through the floor under the church and the building itself.

    "Shit, that¡¯s Op," Davemented.

    The Stalwart¡¯s body heat decreased; its coal red color returned to ck granite. It began huffing, having discharged such an attack had its toll on its body, giving Dave a chance to increase his advantage over the beast.

    Dave charged in once again with more fury, smashing the bottom of Durandal on his own chest and casting, [Chaos] along with a deft rub on his left earlobe with his shield carrying hand to activate [Zealot]. Dave¡¯s body grew in size, his muscles red to life thanks to the infernal and chaotic energy of his Chaos Runes. Red magmatic veins burst out from under his armor shaping it anew, his sword surged in mes as he struck at the beast.

    -1,456,000

    The blow was staggering, both in the high number value and what it did to the Stalwart. This was of course thanks to having the Stalwart losing his passive ability [Granite Skin] enabling Dave to deal even more damage to the creature.

    The fight-no-beatingsted for a couple of minutes, in that time, the Stalwart acted as the best punching bag Dave had ever the pleasure of beating the living hell out of, literally.

    The Stalwart became slow, unable to counter or fight back for that duration, giving Dave hope that he might finish the monster off soon. Yet, a spark crackled out of the Stalwart¡¯s body, indicating a change in the situation.

    While the Stalwart was receiving the beating of its life, it had enough time to re-ignite its body, churning more mes into itself and resuscitating the extinguished flow ofva inside it.

    The stalwart screeched high, as its body burned and burned until it regained its full infernal appearance.

    The creature smashed down on Dave, thetter dodged back, evading the sharp obsidian ws. The blow cratered the ground and caused the entire church to shake and shudder. Looking up, Dave realized that the whole god darned building wasing down.

    One of the chamber¡¯s supporting pirs cracked and fell, causing arge portion of the church to fall down right on top of the Stalwart forcing a scream of panic and surprise out of it.

    The other side of the church where Dave stood was still standing, but from the appearance of the slowly cracking pir, it was going tost for less than a half a dozen seconds if not less.

    Dave stomped his foot on the ground, summoning one of his underlings it was the dunlord that apanied him for most of his nooby days at the Underworld.

    "Stinger get us the hell out of here!" Dave called.

    The Dunlord scooped Dave and ced him on his back then Dove down the ground. The motion was fast enough that the Dunlord had sessfully saved Dave from a rocky grave.

    The building fell down on the chambers burying the atrocities the Cathedral had enacted upon the NPCs for good.

    Stinger swam through the mud, rocks, and dirt until he appeared on the outside of the church.

    Once Dave was out, he was met with several exmations, panicked screams, and even a fireball to the back of his head.

    Turning, Dave realized that they hadpany, only it was much greater than he expected.

    Arge audience of yers, church NPCs, and some random bystanders were watching the Cathedral of the God of Light falling to the ground after a ray of light cut right through it.

    They came to investigate. But once the draugr appeared from underground, it surprised them even more, as his name was written in bright red to all the yers.

    "Shit, you hit skelly!" a yer called on his friend.

    Dave turned to the two, squinted his eyes in a displeased manner and then turned back to the church, he was perfectly sure that the Stalwart survived the buildinging down on top of it. Unlike thest time, he faced one, that Stalwart had an entire mountain falling on it before it died. This one Dave doubted that so few rocks could kill it.

    "The fuck are you doing here Skelly?! You really want it for us don¡¯t you!" the well recognizes the voice of Warlord sounded from the back of the yers.

    Dave didn¡¯t even turn to face him, he had more urgent matters at hand.

    "Listen up, damn it, I won¡¯t allow you toe to my damn kingdom and do whatever the fuck you want, you screwed us over, royally so with your shit stunt. Who gave you the right to interfere and ruin the Ash-King¡¯s altar!"

    "That altar was no good, if you made a contract with the Ash-King you¡¯ll all end up his ves," Dave said.

    "Fuck you!" Warlord shouted, "You¡¯re no fucking god to decide for us! We make our own choices!" Warlord added.

    To this, Dave had no reply, it was true in a sense, the yers had the right to do what they wanted, and in taking that away from them, he had harmed their advantage. Frankly speaking, if the Altar was not rted to the uing assault on the Ash Kin¡¯s Demondom he wouldn¡¯t have cared.

    But it was his quest, and it affected him greatly. Before he could answer the enraged Guildmaster, Valentine, the pink armored guardian came rushing and ced a palm over Warlord, he spoke a few words that made the wrathful expressions on Warlord ease up a bit, just a bit though.

    "Skelly, that was not cool man, you now gave the other guilds the chance to have a greater advantage than us, your action will tip the scale of power, giving the other super guilds a greater hold of the world of conquest. You¡¯re just being oppressive this way, please leave," Valentine said.

    "Sorry about that, I didn¡¯t think this through, but still," Dave said. "I¡¯ll be destroying all the temples. I tell you, the Ash King is not someone you want to mess with, he is a liar, and a scammer. Here, you can see for yourself," Dave waved a hand and showed a description of what the Chalice of the Son¡¯s Blood does.

    Valentine frowned, then Dave said, "It steals your legacies, it takes away the hardest earned work you have done and forces you to follow the whim of the Ash King." Dave said.

    "So what? That¡¯s what all kings do, they order, and the people serve." Warlord said, "If he was going to take away legacies, then he is bound to give something in return." Warlord said.

    Dave shook his head, "Kings do notmand!" he didn¡¯t even need to exin to him how the Undead King was to his people, he rarely ordered anyone around, he was a king of the truest meaning, loving his people, serving them, protecting them, fighting with them, even gave his life against both the Ash King and the Archangel for them. He was sure that Warlord was not going to exin even if Dave had the time to exin it to him, and time they had not.

    "So, why are you not leaving? Piss off," a yer said.

    More yers agreed to his words, as they didn¡¯t like the draugr¡¯s appearance here or the fact that he took an opportunity away from them. But Dave ignored them.

    Just as a yer gained enough courage to go and ¡¯force¡¯ Dave to leave the kingdom, the earth trembled.

    "It¡¯sing, you better move out of here if you treasure your lives," Dave said.

    "The hell are you talking about?" Warlord asked.

    "Hell, itself ising, better get your ax ready, or your legs moving, shit about to get real hot in here!" Dave smiled as the church¡¯s rubble burst out of the ground.

    The Stalwart¡¯s ws bore through the rubble and it stood atop the church, its ming body was like a bright sun illuminating the night.

    A terrifying howl scared the yers witless and the NPCs to a fearful sprint.

    Warlord¡¯s eyes widened, "What in god¡¯s name is a Sworn Stalwart doing here!"

 Chapter 454 Unexpected Collaboration

    The Stalwart broke through the rubble with even more rage than it had before for the draugr, its crimson-colored body turned a pitch hotter and the mes turned blue.

    The heat increased exponentially in the area, forcing Dave to go into the [Infernal Tyrant¡¯s Oppression] as the heat will soon be unbearable.

    Warlord and Valentine backed up, the heat instantly send them to Overheating and they were not prepared for such things.

    "Call the raid team, get them here!" Valentine shouted through the voice.

    The raid team was the Devastators strongest assets,posed of the strongest yers the Western Super guild had to offer.

    Dave ignored the lot that needed preparation to fight and dove right toward the Stalwart.

    "Skelly¡¯s going for the kill! He¡¯ll have all the loot and EXP!" a yer shouted.

    "Shut up, he can¡¯t beat that thing before our party arrives, It¡¯s even better if he withers it down for us," another replied.

    While the group were arguing how to make the best use of Skelly, thetter dodged a wing strike that was aimed at him, though Dave was still a good distance away from the Stalwart. Dave had no doubt in his mind that the Stalwart¡¯s seemingly missing attack didn¡¯t have any other side effects.

    His bet paid off when the Stalwart¡¯s wing motion rendered the air, asrge cleaves of energy spewed forward shing through the air and moving at a breathtaking speed where Dave was a fraction of a second ago.

    The attack ripped and sundered the ground, then moved ahead shing into the party of huddled up yers. The most attentive of the lot had either moved away or used their defensive skills.

    The rest were all turned to burning cinders and ash. Even those who used their defensive skills didn¡¯t escape unharmed, in a matter of fact, the only ones that survived the direct sh against the Stalwart¡¯s attack were the ones that used their high cooldown defensive skills that granted them either damage immunity or fire immunity. The rest that opted to save on their big skills didn¡¯t fare any better than their scorchedrades.

    It was clearly apparent to the lot that the fight was going to bring a huge casualty count, so the ones that had the least confidence in their skills and skillsets backed off leaving the fight to the pros.

    The Stalwart charged at Dave like a rhino, wing at the ground to get more momentum and moving with enough bulldozing speed that one would dare swear the creature would break a mountain in half if it crashed into it.

    Dave slid under the paws of the beast and dug Durandal under the stalwart¡¯s belly. Lava spewed out from the wound and caused the enraged creature to shudder and turn his frustration and pain at the bystanders.

    yers began screaming as the Stalwart chased after them while dragging the draugr under him.

    "Fuck it¡¯s indiscriminately killing yers, Valentine, we need to help." Warlord suggested.

    "Not now, we need the healers, Everyone who is less than level 450 leave the area!" Valentine shouted thest sentence, and yers obliged, they knew the fight was much bigger than them.

    Even the yers who met Valentine¡¯s criteria weren¡¯t as confident in faring against the Stalwart as the lower level yers.

    The creature¡¯s mere presence was enough to force them to continuously chug on Health Potions just to offset the Overheating effect.

    Dave managed to utch the sword from the belly of the beast and was freed. He stood up then ran after the mad Stalwart, jumping in [Immortal Apparition] thennded on the Stalwart¡¯s head.

    The Stalwart wed at its face to get the draugr to leave its perching spot, to which Dave did a back roll,nding on the Stalwart¡¯s back dodging the w.

    Dave swung down Durandal, forcing a pained scream out of the Stalwart. The creature did a barrel roll, tumbling to the side forcing Dave to jump off. Once the creature gained its bnce, it opened its mouth wide, white, and blue rays of light gathered around tis gullet.

    "Not this time bitch," Dave cursed and charged in [Stampede], crashing into the Stalwart and rose up in a shield bash up the beast¡¯s lower jaw, causing them to nk shut.

    An explosion sted inside the Stalwart¡¯s mouth, causing the pent-up ray of light to st through the holes between its fangs, and at the same time breaking a few of those dagger-sharp tools of death in the process.

    Dave took a few steps back, the attack he stopped was bound to cause unwanted damage, to the yers, and if he was unlucky to himself as well. It was a tradeoff still, as the Stalwart didn¡¯t get to release the energy and remained in his overheating form.

    "The team is here! Skelly, step aside we got this," Warlord said.

    Dave ignored them and kept fighting the Stalwart.

    Being ignored Warlord drew his battle-ax and charged ahead.

    Dave nced back, noticing the advancing Warlord and spoke up, "The moment you turn that de against me, is the moment your gaming career ends."

    The undead focused ahead, and didn¡¯t even pay the charging warlord any heed, his threat was true, and deep down, Warlord knew that the draugr was not boasting.

    He knew the difference in strength between the two, he knew that if the undead wanted he could clearly summon his followers here and have the entire area razed to the ground. Not to mention if he had the ability to summon those fearsome Abyssal Knights.

    Never mind the Stalwart, any one of those Abyssal Knights was a power to be reckoned with, even without their armies.

    Warlord didn¡¯t speak but swung his ax forward, its direction was at Skelly¡¯s back. Yet before the thrown ax touched Dave, it changed direction andnded neatly on the Stalwart¡¯s neck.

    Warlord appeared right where the ax was and raised his fist and swung down.

    A mighty Gauntleted golden fist materialized in the sky and dropped down upon the Stalwart.

    It missed Dave squarely, but the intention of Warlord was clear, he was going to fight with Dave, but if he got in the way, Warlord was not going to be responsible.

    Dave didn¡¯t care, he wanted the Stalwart dead, both to piss off the Ash King, and secondly to get the token as it gave him the right to exchange it from Drahma for another Conquest Right.

    Dave swung Durandal at the Stalwart¡¯s hind legs, the creature stumbled to the side and iled its long rocky tail at Dave.

    The draugr held his shield up to absorb the attack that never came, in front of him was a gigantic pink shield that stopped the attack square in its ce.

    Valentine joined the fray and stopped the attack fromnding on Dave, giving him enough time to charge up an attack.

    Dave thrust Durandal forward the moment neinte¡¯s shield deted. The giant sword morphed into arger form of dark light, into a [Sword Lunge]. The sword sawed through the stalwart¡¯s tail ripping it from the base.

    Warlord hacked down with his ax on the stalwart¡¯s head, before thetter could fully counter with a swipe, a red spear pierced through the Stalwart¡¯s open palm.

    Dave didn¡¯t need to turn to know it was Satan yer who joined the fight.

    "Blessings of the Mighty!" the sound of a holy prayer sounded from the back, the spell was a continuous healing mass effect, yet it only targeted the Devastators yers, leaving Dave out of the area of effect. The healing effect would have done nothing but damage to the draugr, and the priest knew it well.

    Dave pivoted around the Stalwart, being the one with the highest aggro, the creature turned to face it, giving the Devastator legacy holders the chance to pile down on the damage with little to no obstacles.

    The group went into a silent agreement to bring down the Stalwart. No one spoke further, they began coborating in seamless jolly cooperation.

    Dave leeched the aggro, giving Warlord the pleasure of doing damage, Valentine acted as the party¡¯s Guardian, interfering when any one of them needed a breather or when the Stalwart attacked.

    Satan yer poked at the creature but kept his aggro to a low level, this way he would be able to disrupt the Stalwart if Valentine didn¡¯t have the opportunity to assist one of the DPS.

    As for the healer, he buffed the party besides Dave, yet this didn¡¯t mean that the draugr didn¡¯t have any assistance, a few bards showed up, and began buffing the group including the draugr.

    No one spoke, no one said anything, the choreography of movements, the attacks defenses, and even the asional assist from Dave to the Devis, or vis versa all happened as if the group had partied together for ages.

    The Stalwart was on itsst leg by the second hour of the fight. It was exhausted, fully me depleted, and the yers began to have mental exhaustion from being forced to fight a creature that could kill any of them for the least mistake.

    Some of the bystanders that remained alive were attentively keeping an eye on Dave lest hi betrays the Devastators for the kill. But nothing of the like happened as it seemed, Warlord brought down his ax on the Stalwart¡¯s neck severing it andnding the final blow.

    Dave had all the time in the world to steal the kill, but he was not interested in that. He knew by taking the Altar away from the Devastators, giving their Guild Master the Kill on the Stalwart would at least remove some of the bitterness in their hearts, even if they didn¡¯t know that siding with the Ash King was never going to be good for them.

    As for the EXP, Dave didn¡¯t care, he still had more raids to do, and more Stalwarts to kill if they appeared in the other temples. He couldpensate for this loss for the benefits it would give him.

    Warlord was secretly surprised as to when Dave didn¡¯t finish off the Stalwart, he knew the Draugr had an amazingly powerful legacy and there was no way that he didn¡¯t have high damaging skill, thus his surprise came when the draugr let him get the kill.

    The yers all stood still at the cooling body of the Stalwart.

    Dave ced his sword on his back and moved toward the body.

    "Where are you going?" Warlord asked.

    "Looting, what do you think?" Dave said.

    Before Warlord replied in anger, at how this was a teamwork and all the loots should be split together, Dave sent him a party invitation.

    "This way we¡¯ll split the loot as a party, I only need one thing, you can have the rest," Dave said.

    Warlord epted the party invitation and invited the rest of the yers with him.

    "Alright," Dave touched the Stalwart¡¯s corpse and a list of items showed up.

    ***

    [Sworn Stalwart¡¯s Cleaver] Bound Legendary Weapon

    [Sworn Stalwart¡¯s Infernal Hide] X1 Crafting Material

    Sworn Stalwart Diagram

    [Sworn Stalwart¡¯s Token]

    Sworn Stalwart¡¯s ws X 18

    10,000Gold

    ***

    When the group saw the loot, they were all shuddering, the loot had a diagram for the Sworn Stalwart¡¯s gear. This means that they could craft armor made out of this creature, and judging by its level, the gear would make the Devastators incredibly powerful.

    "Skelly, what item do you want?" Valentine asked.

    Dave didn¡¯t hesitate before saying, "I¡¯m taking the Token."

    The answer came as a surprise to Valentine, he didn¡¯t dare believe his ears. The following words came out of his mouth even without him wanting to say them, "Are you sure?"

    "Yeah, and I know what y¡¯all are thinking. I don¡¯t need the Stalwart armor; you guys can think of it as a recement to the altar. This way, your power will increase without submitting to the Ash King. Anyway, I¡¯m off."

    "Right, thanks for the help," Valentine said.

    Dave shrugged.

    Warlord¡¯s frown disappeared and he nodded at Dave before he turned his head.

    "Heh, Tsundere," Daveughed and used a teleportation scroll to the Underworld.

    Once Dave appeared in the Dead Realm, two Death Knights showed up in front of him.

    "Your Lordship, the Smith Andre has finished his work and is waiting for you at the forge."

    "Nice, done already, this is good," Dave said. "Let¡¯s see how this gear looks like then, shall we," Dave followed after the Death Knights.

 Chapter 455 Fit For A King

    They reached Andre¡¯s forge in a few moments. Dave¡¯s heartbeat raced as his expectations for the set were high. Andre was described as the best smith in the world of Conquest, and his service to the Undead Legion had led the legionnaires to many grand victories.

    When Dave entered the forge, it took him a while to recognize the smith.

    Andre, the buff giant of a man, was a husk of his former self. His brawny arms had turned slim, almost skin on bone, the meat on his face was no more and one could clearly see the outline of his teeth on his cheeks.

    His body seemed like it was sucked dry of everything but bones and skin, yet the smith wasughing and smiling.

    "Holy shit man, what happened to you?" Dave asked as he approached the smith.

    "Oh, this? Nevermind that, it¡¯s just a little side effect for making this beauty," Andre didn¡¯t seem to care much for his image change and pointed ahead.

    On the table in front of Dave was an armor set neatly dusted, cleaned, and shining.

    It was a mix of ck and dark gold, a chest piece with skull design in the center, and pauldrons in the same style. It had an extension of chain mail that covered the groin area and reached just above the knees.

    The leg-piece was made of solid metal with the same dark-gold engravings. The knees were adorned by two ring skulls that had pointy horns. Dave was dying to find out how deadly a knee blow could be with those things.

    The gloves were beautiful, made from little pieces of scale-mail that ended in pointy small ws. They also had small golden skulls for the knuckles. The boots were heavy, their metal dark, yet when Dave approached them, he noticed that they had a small piece of leather contouring the boot¡¯s sole. He was unsure of its purpose, so he was going to ask Andre.

    The boots also had a skull design on the back.

    Thest piece Dave could see on the table was the helmet. Or in this case, a battle-crown.

    It was a golden crown that had five pointed ridges that surrounded the head. Thenrge cheek-guards that extended from the side, leaving the face open.

    Dave was a bit bummed, even if the crown looked magnificent, technically it didn¡¯t offer as much protection as did his Doom Knight Helmet from what he could see. The Doom Knight helmet had a T-visor that gave him more protection from arrows.

    "How do you find this?" Andre asked, eager to hear Dave¡¯s opinion on histest masterpiece.

    "Looks great, just need to try it... oh, isn¡¯t it missing a piece?" Dave asked.

    "Missing a piece?" Andre mumbled but quickly took another look, "It¡¯s all there!"

    "But where¡¯s the cape?!"

    "Hah! Try the set first, you¡¯ll seeter."

    Dave nodded and began equipping the armor. It took him a little while before everything was done and then he turned to Andre and said, "How do I look?"

    Andre took a step back and knelt, "Your Majesty!"

    Dave turned, thinking that the Undead King had arrived, but there was no one behind him.

    "Stand up, why are you kneeling man," Dave wasn¡¯t used to this kind of treatment.

    "As youmand!" Andre stood back up.

    "This is damn good stuff, but I still am missing a cape."

    The smith looked at him with somewhat mixed feelings. He had ved away to restore this beauty and even improve on it, yet the biggest concern of the Draugr in front of him seemed to be a missing cape... "Touch your pauldrons," Andre spoke after a moment.

    Dave did as he was told, and a thin film of shadows materialized behind him. The cape was a part of the chest piece.

    "Damn, that looks great," Dave praised.

    Whenever he moved, the shadow cape moved along with him, like it was a living fabric.

    Dave began inspecting the armor.

    ***

    Category: Heavy Armor

    Undead War-King¡¯s Armor [Chest Armor, te]

    Description

    The chest piece is designed for warfare and battle. However, it is too heavy for any living man to wear into battle. Only an Undead with sufficient Strength and Infinite Stamina can use it effectively in the heat ofbat.

    This unique armor piece has been reforged from the materials of the destroyed Undead King¡¯s Armor. This version tradesrge parts of the royal majestic aura of the set in favor for morebat capability.

    Requirements

    Level 550

    Undead Prince-hood/ King-Hood.

    1,000 STR

    Attributes

    +1,000,000 to HP

    60,000 Physical Defense

    50,000 Magical Defense

    50,000 Mana

    Unique ability: Majestic Presence

    [Majestic Presence]: While in the presence of lower-ranking members of the Undead Legion, all shall bow at the sight of the King to be.

    [Socket]

    [Socket]

    [Socket]

    ss

    Legendary/ Bound/ Unique

    ***

    Category: Heavy Armor

    Undead War-King¡¯s Armor [Head Gear, War-Crown]

    Description

    The War Crown offers only mild resistance against blows to the head, yet it offers great magic resistance that can reduce the effects of magic that negatively affect the wearer.

    This unique armor piece has been reforged from the materials of the destroyed Undead King¡¯s Armor. This version tradesrge parts of the royal majestic aura of the set in favor for morebat capability.

    Requirements

    Level 550

    Undead Prince-hood/ King-Hood.

    1,000 STR

    Attributes

    +750,000 to HP

    60,000 Physical Defense

    50,000 Magical Defense

    Reduces Stun Effects by 50%

    Reduces Holy Light attribute damage by 20%

    60,000 Mana

    [Socket]

    [Socket]

    ss

    Legendary/Bound/ Unique

    ***

    Category: Heavy Armor

    Undead War-King¡¯s Armor [Armor, Gloves]

    Description

    The gloves of the War-King set, made from scale mail and the hides of rare beasts, increasing the wearer¡¯s grip on weapons and shields and increases weapon swap speed.

    This unique armor piece has been reforged from the materials of the destroyed Undead King¡¯s Armor. This version tradesrge parts of the royal majestic aura of the set in favor for morebat capability.

    Requirements

    Level 550

    Undead Prince-hood/ King-Hood.

    1,000 STR

    Attributes

    +750,000 to HP

    60,000 Physical Defense

    50,000 Magical Defense

    Passive skill [Quick hands] allows the fast swap of weapons.

    50,000 Mana

    [Socket]

    ss

    Legendary/Bound/Unique

    ***

    Category: Heavy Armor

    Undead War-King Armor [Armor, Legs]

    Description

    Greaves and gauge pieces of the War-King armor provide excellent stability and poise, aiding the user in piling on the damage with little regard to bnce.

    The piece was redesigned by Andre to reduce the sound of footsteps while walking. It offers a great deal of stability and muffles the wearer¡¯s steps to catch an unaware opponent.

    Requirements

    Level 550

    Undead Prince-hood/ King-Hood.

    1,000

    Attributes

    +750,000 HP

    50,000 Mana

    50,000 Physical Defense

    25,000 Magical Defense

    Passive skill [Poise] increases poise and reduces Knock Back effects greatly.

    [Socket]

    ss

    Legendary/Bound/Unique

    Category: Heavy Armor

    Undead War-King¡¯s Armor [Armor, Cape]

    Description

    A cape seeped in and made from shadows. It offers great resistance against magic damage and backstabs. It can also enshroud the wearer to reduce his visibility from the enemies.

    This cape has been designed by Andre and was made from a figment of The Soul Gorger Marik¡¯s being.

    Requirements

    Level 550

    Undead Prince-hood/ King-Hood.

    Attributes

    +750,000 to HP

    50,000 MANA

    20,000 Physical Defense

    50,000 Magical Defense

    [Socket]

    ss

    Legendary/Bound/Unique

    ***

    ***

    You are wearing theplete set of the Undead War-King¡¯s Armor

    Set Bonus:

    +1,000,000HP

    +600 STR

    +400 INT

    +400AGI

    [Doomsday]

    ***

    Dave inspected the passive Skill given by the full set.

    [Doomsday], the simple fact of existing within any area gives your foes the feeling of being pressed by an inevitable end and makes them hesitate. All enemies will suffer from an action dy of 0.1 seconds. While the user will have an increased reaction time of 0.1 seconds.

    ***

    Dave frowned. Then he read the description a second time to make sure he saw correctly. Since nothing had changed he broke out inughter, "I can¡¯t believe it, the full set makes other peopleg, HAHAHAH!"

    Andre was looking at Dave like he had lost his mind, but he was wise enough to keep anyments about his king-to-be to himself.

    "Right, time to check up on those stats, it¡¯s been a while now," Dave was gleefully opening up his Status Screen.

    Name Death Stroke Level 562

    ss Battle Lich Race Undead/Human

    Stamina ¡Þ MANA 356,000

    Health 5,057,000 STR 1,310

    INT 1,250 WIS 800

    DEX 650 AGI 710

    Magical Def 210,000 Physical DEF 270,000

    HP Regen 1% Mana regen 1%

    Stamina regen ¡Þ Prestige/Honor 6,800

    Unassigned AP 0

    Titles

    Shield Boarder

    War Maestro

    Pride of the Undead

    World¡¯s de

    Explorer!

    Dead men tell MY tale!

    Dragon yer!

    Sovereign (Eastern Kingdom)

    Prince of the Undead! (Unimed)

    ***

    "Damn, I look like a Regional Boss already." Daveughed, the armor was amazing, its bonuses were even more so.

    "Andre, I can¡¯t thank you enough for this thing!"

    "No need for lip service. You can thank me by leading us to victory while you wear it, my lord. I have done all I could do to make the armor. Now it¡¯s up to you to make the world fear it. Lord, I shall go and recuperate. I cannot work while I am looking like this. Lord Da should hopefully have something to restore me back."

    Dave nodded, he was sad that the armor took its toll on Andre, but seeing how amazing it was, Dave didn¡¯t doubt that the smith ever regretted hammering it.

    "Okay, the armor is done, now I guess it¡¯s time I go and check that Abyssal Knight upgrade."

 Chapter 456 Debriefing

    Dave moved steadily ahead and away from the forge. He wanted to challenge the Abyssal Knight rank and be among the mightiest of the legion by today¡¯s end. The Undead King¡¯s assault on the Ash King was nigh, and he wanted to y an active part in the conquest.

    The world will soone to know of the Undead Legion¡¯s full might. But the Ash King was a hurdle they needed to fight soon. The ruler of demons is going to start recruiting yers, making the whole task extremely difficult for Dave.

    Not only are the Demons powerful on their own, add the yers and you¡¯ll have a force that cannot be stopped. Even the Undead Legion will suffer from that coboration if it happens.

    Dave opened his undead management panel. In the Undead Ascension option, he clicked on the Abyssal Knight challenges. He paid 1,000,000 Cp to take the challenge.

    He immediately received a notification afterward.

    ***

    You have chosen to take the Abyssal Knight Challenge.

    You only have one chance at seeding it! Do not fail!

    The Undead King has requested your presence to fill you up on the details of your challenge.

    Make haste!

    ***

    Dave moved toward the pce, unobstructed by any of the pce guardians and Death Knights. All gave way for Dave as they bowed and moved away. He didn¡¯t doubt that the armor set he wore was the reason for it.

    Once Dave climbed up to the Throne Room, the Undead King, on one rare asion was standing in the middle of the hall, and not his throne.

    Dave nodded and spoke, "Your majesty, Ie to take my quest."

    "Yes, Childe, it is today, that you shall be one of Our mightiest children. We have a task for you, that you must not fail in, but even if such misfortune happens, We shall not think less of you, as you have proven that you are truly of the Legion, again, and again." The Undead King Solemnly spoke.

    "Thank you for your trust, but I¡¯ll make sure to fulfill my mission," Dave said.

    "Good, then, Samael,e," The undead king spoke.

    The Shadow Ghoul Abyssal Knight showed up in the middle of the room, bloodied and battered, and missing a limb.

    "What the hell happened to you?" Dave asked.

    "Hell itself," Samael snorted.

    Dave waited for the ghoul to give him a full recounting of what happened, the Abyssal Knight Samael was rarely in such a condition, and thest time Dave and the only time he ever saw him bloodied to this extent was when he fought against the Undead King himself. To be battered to this extent meant that he fought something extremely strong.

    "I failed my quest in retrieving the God ying Bolt, I was caught the moment I tried to enter the vault and the Ash King¡¯s minions caught up to me, I fought to save my hide, but if it weren¡¯t for Da, I¡¯d be a goner," Samael said.

    "It sucks, but I don¡¯t see the problem, I mean even if you die, you¡¯ll return thanks to the Death Heart," Dave said.

    "Not if you were struck by the God ying Bolt, which happened to me, it temporarily removes the Death Heart¡¯s immortality, for a few days I am truly and utterly mortal, my Death would have been permanent if I fell at the Ash-king¡¯s keep, that¡¯s why Da sacrificed a good portion of his magic to bring me back, he is recuperating, and I need to wait for a few days before the full effect of the God ying Bolt dissipate and I could regenerate my health,"

    "Damn that sounds like a nasty tool, so let me guess, I¡¯ll have to go and retrieve this?" Dave asked the Undead King.

    "Yes, it is up to you whether you take the Quest or not, but We have but you to trust with such impossible task," The undead king said.

    Daveughed, "Wouldn¡¯t that be belittling Samael¡¯s hard work, I¡¯m not as strong as him."

    "It was never Strength that reigned among us the Undead, it is the wit and well usage of one¡¯s mind. Samael was expected toe, the God ying Bolt was ced somewhere designed to trap and kill the best assassins, it was designed to counter Samael, but not to counter Kis¡¯Shtiengbrah, go, retrieve the object, Samael shall tell you all you need to know about it." The undead king said.

    ***

    Abyssal Knight Ascension Quest.

    You have been tasked to retrieve the "God ying Bolt" the very tool that almost killed the Undead God and had his memory wiped from the minds of the Undead.

    Samael has failed in retaking the Bolt, and it is right now, in its most vulnerable state as the Ash King will not expect another attempt at the Bolt due to the Legion¡¯s most fearsome assassin being repelled.

    Ask Samael and for more information on the tool¡¯s whereabouts and how to reach it.

    ***

    Dave turned to the Ghoul and asked him,

    Thetter coughed and said "follow after me,"

    Once Samael moved out of the pce room, the undead king ced his hand on Dave¡¯s shoulder and said, "Good luck, son."

    Just for a moment, Dave felt a warmth he never felt before, a father figure immediately reced his own biological father. The Undead King, even for a moment, felt like a real father to Dave, and in his concern and worry for Dave, Dave wanted to do all within his power to fulfill the quest and make the Undead King proud of him.

    "You don¡¯t need to worry or have a doubt in your heart, I will seed."

    "It is for this, that We Love you so, Childe," the undead king smiled and removed his hand, a signal for theter to move on.

    Dave nodded and followed after Samael, even wounded and battered, the ghoul was still fast on his feet and had arrived at the lowest part of the pce much faster than Dave.

    Once the two of them were on the lowest floor, a disheveled Da met them, Dave noticed long ck veins spreading across the Arch-lich¡¯s body, his hands and were more emaciated than before.

    The Great Arch-Lich looked in agony, but he denied it the moment Dave asked him if he was feeling alright.

    "Stop lying, you¡¯re in an even worse case than I am and I¡¯m missing an arm and currently mortal," Samael said.

    "Really?" Dave turned toward the Arch-Lich.

    "Don¡¯t believe this old fossil, it¡¯s just a bit of Mana exhaustion, nothing a good rest wouldn¡¯t help fix. Now, yes, His Majesty has said that you need to retrieve the bolt, sadly Samael can¡¯t apany you, nor could any of the Abyssal Knights, as the security in the Ash King¡¯s Keep is designed to specifically target and limit our ess to it, however, you are not yet an abyssal Knight."

    "Yes, that¡¯s what this whole thing is about anyway, now, can you tell me the details, location and the hurdles I¡¯ll have to face while trying to get that thing back?" Dave asked.

    "Well, the location is obviously the Ash King¡¯s Keep, the fort of his power and where he is mightiest. The enemies, the entire damned Demonic Race, and for the details, the Bolt is in the hand of one of his Chosen Ones." Da said.

    "Hol??up! You mean I¡¯ll have to literally go behind enemy lines, fight against a Chosen One, beat his ass while there are god knows how many millions of Demons lurking in wait, all under the watchful gaze of the Ash King and try to steal back a God Killing tool without dying in the process?"

    Both Da and Samael looked at each other and replied, "You summarized it nicely, so yes."

    Dave looked at the two for a moment and said, "Great, when can I start?"

 Chapter 457 The Grand Archives

    Dave teleported to the Drow Kingdom, the closest raid zone to the Ash King¡¯s domain, then summoned Grumpy. Once the big lizard appeared, it growled at Dave in discontent.

    "Sorry buddy, I know I haven¡¯t been summoning you in a while, but we¡¯re going on a mission right now," Dave said.

    The lizard snarled but still let Dave ride on. The two tread their way through the vegetation and rocky area of the Drow kingdom heading deeper toward the east, and what Dave firmly believed to be the Ash King¡¯s keep, his stronghold and where he was mightiest.

    Dave opted to take the Basilisk rather than Onixya, first due to her size and how much attention she could draw to them if they were spotted. And secondly, because she was moving around the Wilds, clearing the area of any hostile monsters that wanted to take her crown for themselves.

    Dave needed to have his dragon cement her dominion over the Wilds and rule it as her own, as did her parent before her. Dragons needed their space he thought.

    Grumpy wasn¡¯t much of a stealthy mount, but he was the best when it came to the rugged and rough terrain leading to the Ash King. The area was barren, rocky, and hot. The more Dave moved closer to the east, the hotter it became, he was even surprised to see a glowing pir of fire in the distance.

    "Shit, this looks like Barad-Dur," Davemented as the pir of fire was shaped to a tower of mes that rose above a great cathedral-like building, only this cathedral looked demonic.

    He was actually intimidated, as even if the distance was still great, the cathedral was apparent to him from far away, it was as if the Ash King had the mountain¡¯s top carved into the shape of this building that emitted a fire pir from its midst.

    The closer he got to the pir, the darker thend became. Even the lighting from the moon gradually faded until it disappeared at one point. Hidden by orange clouds, though these clouds weren¡¯t orange in origin, the light from the Ash King¡¯s stronghold was powerful enough it painted them the color of fire.

    The ground became more jagged, small bridged of stone extended from section to another of the area, where rivers and rivulets ofva seeped from the depth of the ground and under these bridges shing in ming fury against the rocks, and sshing droplets of magma to the heights of heaven.

    If one was not careful, they would die under a fiery rain from these continuous explosions of fire. Grumpy crossed the bridges with confidence, his massive size and weight proved little to no hindrance to bridges that were heated continuously, reinforced and strengthened due to the mes underneath them.

    Once Dave finished crossing the bridge, a notification appeared in front of him.

    ***

    You have set foot in the Underworld¡¯s Fifth and final Raid Zone, [Ash King¡¯s Keep]

    Debuff Applied, [Trespasser Level 2]

    Effects: You cannot use Teleportation scrolls to leave the area.

    You cannot summon any type of undead to your aid, the summoning of mounts and support creatures is limited to one.

    You have entered the area with [Grumpy] you cannot summon any other mount to your aid, including [Dunlord Stinger], [Forest Pronged Fiend Spike], [Grave Lord Tiny], [ck Terror Dragon Onixya].

    Special Addendum

    Undead, you have walked into the domain of the Ash-King.

    All creatures within the area will be hostile toward you, and treat you with extreme prejudice, as should Demons to Undead.

    The Ash King has asked for your immediate death upon encounter, and havinge to his area is the same as serving yourself to him on a golden tter. Be wise, finish your business as fast as you can before any of the Demonic beings of the Underworld notice you trespassing.

    ***

    "Grumpy, you¡¯ll have to stay here," Dave said as he dismounted, the basilisk, however, snorted, clearly dissatisfied from being left out of the uing ¡¯fun¡¯.

    "I know what you¡¯re thinking, but I can¡¯t, this area needs us to move stealthily, we can¡¯t risk being exposed so early on, it¡¯s going to be difficult with just me moving around, if the two of us are spotted, we¡¯ll have a hard time surviving, and I would rather die and respawn in the Undead Realm than have you go through that experience buddy," Dave said to the basilisk.

    His care and worry for Grumpy were apparent, and the basilisk didn¡¯t argue anymore, however, he still slumped down, giving Dave a clear indication, that he wasn¡¯t going to follow, nor was he going to leave, "We came together, we leave together," that¡¯s what Dave understood from Grumpy¡¯s attitude.

    Dave patted the onyx basilisk on the head and said, "Don¡¯t worry, I won¡¯t take long."

    He then moved and ran forward.

    A few minutes of full sprint covered a great deal of distance from where Grumpy was sitting to where Dave was. And he had to thank the great work of Andre for his armored masterpiece.

    The Undead War King set was amazingly powerful and heavy, yet it didn¡¯t nk, squeak or make any sound that a heavy armor set was supposed to do when running, even his boots made silent kisses to the ground as he walked on them, the ingenuity of the making of the boots made sure every step was muffled.

    Dave had to stop after five minutes of sprint, first of all, he didn¡¯t notice a single demon along the path he crossed. And secondly, there was a gaping rift separating the area where he was standing to the cathedral building.

    Dave took a good look at the view. The ce looked like a carved mountain at first. But in reality, it was a gigantic volcano, encircling the standing building in the middle.

    The building sat atop an enormous pir that rose through the volcano¡¯s magma.

    The whole thing was like a building built atop a pir in the middle of a volcano, while theva worked like a moat suppressing anyone who wanted ess to the main keep.

    From where he stood, Dave couldn¡¯t see anyway to the middle building. There were no bridges and no crossways. Anyone who wanted to cross to the main building needed to have wings.

    Dave hopped off the edge of the volcano and toward theva, then used [Demonic Ascension] gaining raven wings that gave him the ability to fly. The demonic energy encircling him matched the surroundings perfectly that he didn¡¯t even feel the heating from the volcano anymore, and felt like a fish in the sea.

    Dave flew across thevake and toward the main building,nding on its top floor and began observing the area.

    The building roof was tiled with marble and had hundreds of gargoyle statues sitting squarely around the building¡¯s edges. Dave didn¡¯t have a doubt in his heart that these gargoyle statues were not ¡¯alive,¡¯ the only thing that made him think of why they haven¡¯t attacked him yet was his current form. He was in a demonic form, so if the gargoyles noticed Dave, they would have most likely though of him as one of their own, thus they didn¡¯t attack.

    But that was not going tost for a long time, the timer of the skill was limited, and he didn¡¯t have much time before he will be discovered.

    Dave darted his eyes around, trying to locate an entry point to the building. He found nothing of the sort on the rooftop, so he jumped off and flew around the building. Which took a great deal of time due to the sheer size of the whole thing.

    The building was decorated withrge demonic statues, and every statue was of a different carved demon, some were giant worms, some were gargoyles like the ones on the roof, others were demonic rams and some were imps and Demon Knights. Between every two statues was a colored ss window, and while Dave was roaming around the building he noticed that one of the colored windows was broken.

    He flew toward the broken window and discovered that it could easily fit him in. The timer on his skill had less than ten seconds. Dave folded his wings and perched atop the broken window, peering to the inside of the building.

    Large study shelves and books were neatly positioned atop each other, making one of thergest libraries Dave had ever seen before. Dave could swear, that just this room wasrger than the Stephen A. Schwarzman library, both in size and the sheer number of books.

    Large shelves in the middle of the hall intertwined between each other in a maze of books, if one didn¡¯t know their way around they would definitely be lost, Dave included. Thankfully, he was able to see the only path leading out of the library from his current position. He memorized it and flew down.

    Hended on the floor a second before Demonic Ascension ended and went to a long cooldown.

    He moved around the library, eyes moving, inspecting, locating, and prying upon any unfortunate soul that would dare expose or fight him. Yet nothing but the asional Imp, dusting the books every now and then showed up. These Imps were working tirelessly at making the whole library look clean and organized.

    He even noticed a few of the imps pouring a yellow liquid on some of the books after checking their condition, the liquid seeped into the books and dissipated leaving nothing. This made Dave curious as to why these creatures were doing so, so he waited until one of the Imps left the area and he went to inspect the book.

    ***

    History of the Mage-Lands XI

    ***

    Dave wasn¡¯t interested in the book but the coating it had on it, he inspected it again this time focusing on the substance that covered the books.

    ***

    Sulfuride Extract.

    A powerful me repent extract, made bybining sulfur and [Unknown] to create a thin coating to preserve items from fire and heat.

    ***

    "Hmm, that coulde in handy," Dave said as he turned toward the Imp that just moved away.

    Dave was about to take the path leading out before a section of books drew his attention.

    ***

    Mortal Reminders.

    ***

    those were the words written on top of one of the shelves, and on the shelves were many books of different colors, designs, and age, with a rare few empty slots.

    Dave picked up one and began reading.

    ***

    God ying Chariot

    A golden lighting beast chariot that was used to chase gods and ughter them in the days of old. It was made by a man who despised the lord for having made his life a miserable heap of sadness, defying them to y the divine was his purpose, and creating the God ying Chariot brought nothing but carnage upon the divine realm...

    ***

    Dave stopped reading as there was a note written on the bottom half of the book.

    ***

    The God ying Chariot was destroyed by the God of War [Unknown] in year 212.

    Dave didn¡¯t need to read further and switched to another book.

    ***

    Brahma¡¯s Arrow

    An arrow, once aimed and fired shall never miss its target. It belonged to the god of the heroic Diva Brahma to fight against the Evil Asura Ravana...

    ***

    more of the book was written describing the battle and what happened but another notification at the end made clear of what happened to such a tool.

    ***

    The Arrow of Brahma was used as a sacrificial ingredient in year 450 by the Pharaoh to create the Forbidden Tome.

    Dave read more and more of these books, each detailing a weapon or a method to kill gods, but most of them were lost, destroyed, or simply legends with no truth behind them.

    Dave didn¡¯t need to continue reading, he knew that this is how the Ash King got his hand on the God ying bolt that brought down the Undead God to an almost death. And now this thing was in the hand of the Ash King and he needed to get it back.

    "Alright, let¡¯s get out of here first, we need to find the Chosen One and kill him without notifying anyone else, sounds easy," Dave said and moved ording to his memory, to the only way out of this library.

 Chapter 458 Ash Kings Keep

    Dave moved slowly and carefully through the pathway leading out of the library, watching for any Imp or demonic being that was hidden or in in sight. Through some paths, he had to be extra careful and wait for the group of Imps to finish dusting and cleaning the books before he moved.

    At first, killing them sounded like a good idea, but once he realized that if one of these Imps went missing, or even made a tiny squeal, his location will bepromised and his mission will be bound to failure.

    Dave made sure that every step he took was carefully calcted, every turn, inspected before taken. He never would have believed himself being sent on a spy mission while he was a warrior ss. But for the Abyssal Knight ascension, a simple fight against another abyssal Knight was not much of a challenge, even if it actually was hard to beat them. For Dave, he knew that to be one of the Abyssal Knights, one didn¡¯t just simply need to prove how strong they are.

    Take Drahma for example, the giant was ridiculously strong and powerful, however, he wouldn¡¯t match any of the abyssal Knights that boasted with simr power, plus additional abilities, such as speed for Dementi, Savagery for Dortha, Stealth for Samael, the infinite magical powers of the Arch Lich Da, the charms of Lilith and the mystics of Marik. These Abyssal Knights were all, powerful, physically, but the additional quirks they had set them apart from other knights of the legion.

    Dave had the power and the brains, and he was entitled to vie for the rank of an abyssal Knight, thus simplebat was not enough, he needed to prove himself, onest time.

    Dave¡¯s current mission was undoubtedly the hardest, if not the most crucial in all of his gaming career. He needed to make sure that it is done perfectly.

    The library felt like a maze, and the size of it only increased the duration of how long Dave had to take before leaving it. The Imps, however, grew scarcer in number once he was at the library¡¯s entrance. There were a couple of Imps working near the entrance, Dave didn¡¯t have any mean to go past them without them seeing them.

    Looking around, Dave picked up one of the books and threw it far away. It knocked into another shelf and dropped with it several other books. The fallen collection made a good deal of noise, but it notified the two imps near it to action. Once the two creatures skittered their way to rece the book, fear appearing in their eyes as they most likely will get punished for this ¡¯neglect¡¯.

    Dave took the chance once the two were upied and left the library. Exiting into an evenrger room. He doubted that the building he was in would even be a tenth of the size of this room. This whole thing was most likely a dimension inside the cathedral-like building.

    The room he was in wasrger than a dozen football fields ced next to each other. It had a sky of its own, greennds with waist-high grass, an extreme contrast to the dead scorchednds right outside this area.

    The greennds had hundreds of small houses, barracks, and training grounds. Demons walked across the area with little regard to the nature around them. Their foot scorched the grass, but it magically repaired itself the moment they moved their feet off.

    Every few hundred meters to the side of Dave, and in a circr positioning, was a pir. Quite simr to the pir he saw in the Ash King¡¯s temple. Dave looked behind him at the library¡¯s entrance and realized that the whole thing had disappeared, and was reced with a pir that he could enter through.

    "Now I get it, I guess this whole thing is built like this. I always wondered where would the Ash-King¡¯s army fit if it was just this rtively small cathedral building."

    It was of course as Dave had predicted, each and every pir led to a different dimension, where the Ash King kept his things, army, perhaps even treasures and rare findings. Dave and the security system to these things were the thousands upon thousands of demon beings moving about in thisrge clearing

    Dave opened his map and marked his current location, thest thing he wanted was to lose his point of entry. Once he marked everything, Dave crouched low and began thinking of what to do next.

    "The Chosen of the Ash King must be in one of these pirs, but I didn¡¯t get any info regarding which pir it is. Samael must have had it easy to find the damned thing due to his ability to go unnoticed, but I¡¯ll most likely have to check these, one by one without being seen once. This just keeps on getting more and more interesting." Dave grinned at the challenge ahead and began moving.

    Laying low, Dave camouged himself in the grass and kept moving toward the nearest pir, a few Demons were marching nearby, but they were like robots, following a certain specific path and never veering off. This gave Dave ample time to analyze their movement and how they acted.

    After a long period, Dave was sure the demon wouldn¡¯t take another rout and waited for them to go past him. Once they moved, he moved slowly behind the demon and entered the pir without being noticed.

    Dave found himself in a prison room. The moaning of prisoners and screams of pain pervaded the area. Dave instantly left the room and went back to the outside, he didn¡¯t believe that the Chosen of the Ash King will be toying with prisoners right now. And he didn¡¯t have the luxury to save them.

    He crouched low and kept moving ahead, repeating the same process, over and over again. He teleported into garrisons, arsenal chambers, even into a Sworn Stalwart¡¯s den that was filled with said creatures, allzing around, asleep. This one Dave left as soon as he walked into, even if the Chosen One was there, and even if he had seen the Bolt there, he would have never taken another step there. No matter how ¡¯Lucky¡¯ he could be, he will never have enough luck to face against all of these.

    Dave walked into another pir where he was face to face with another Demon, the two of them were startled for a second, before Dave¡¯s sword ripped through the demon¡¯s head, decapitating it as it was going to shout an rm.

    He opened the jaws on Ajax and ced the demon¡¯s body in it. A missing demon is better than a dead demon¡¯s body. Dave looked around, it was just another barrack of demons he set foot in and didn¡¯t have anything of interest.

    It was quite sad that he couldn¡¯t go on exploring the area for treasures and loot, in fear of messing up and exposing himself.

    Dave kept moving, thinking to himself that he probably had missed the bolt due to his quick checks and arbitrary judgment on the rooms without doing a proper clear search. Yet once he entered this room, all his doubts were void. An item he had and had forgotten it existed vibrated in his inventory.

    ***

    The Demonograph has sensed the presence of a powerful Demonling!

    Chosen one detected!

    Take the utmost caution when facing such a foe!"

    ***

    "It¡¯s here!" Dave muttered and took a sweeping nce through the area.

    It was a room that had only one item stored in a ss container, a small rusty crossbow bolt, held on a dais, and next to it was a woman sitting on the ground with arge thorn whip to her left.

    The woman hadrge horns and crimson red skin. The whole room was about a couple of hundreds of meters in length and width with a high ceiling. It had several other small doors that Dave believed to be what brought Samael¡¯s ruin. These doors were most likely ess points for other demons to join the female in the fight to protect the bolt.

    Dave inspected the Demon.

    ***

    La-Lina (Chosen of the Demon King)

    Level: 550

    Tier: Mythic

    Base damage: 150,000-190,000

    Danger Level: ?

    HP: 200,000

    PD: 150,000

    MD:150,000

    Skills:

    [Blessed One] (Passive) Unknown Effects.

    Lore

    Most warrior demons are males, but a rare few, as for the chosen ones none are female but her. The chosen of the Ash King, La-Lina, the only female demon that has earned the right to be among his chosen¡¯s and had received his blessing to never fall in battle. La-Lina is powerful without doubt, and any who questions her power based on her gender is doomed to meet a grueling death.

    ***

    "Nice try on the anti-sexism, Albert, but I believe in gender equality and wouldn¡¯t mind doing a dropkick on a girl if she deserves it," Dave snorted and moved toward the demon.

    H had a n in mind, little that he knew, he was rubbing his beard as he walked forward.

 Chapter 459 Catch Me If You Can

    Dave took a few steps before the Chosen One of the Ash King noticed him. La-Lina was quick on her feet. The Demoness didn¡¯t waste a single moment as she charged Dave head on. Her notched whip sliced through the air with supersonic speed, sting the sound barrier as it smashed into Dave¡¯s foot.

    The blow staggered Dave, as he didn¡¯t expect her to have such a fast attack, but that didn¡¯t matter. His aim had never been the Chosen One, but rather, the container behind her. The God ying Bolt was floating inside and all that was separating Dave from his goal was some flimsy ss.

    Dave ignored the Chosen One of the Ash King for the time being and kept running toward the container. The draugr swung Durandal the moment he was in reach and the sword crashed into it breaking its ss in the process.

    Dave reached for the bolt, but the whip was faster. It struck the item sending it all the way to the other side of the room. Dave turned, snapped his finger, summoning 48 Infernal Dragon Skulls. The massive skulls hovered in the enclosed space and focused their collective gazes upon the Chosen One.

    The temperature in the room rose staggeringly thanks to the heat from the skulls, and it was enough to cause the Chosen One to enter into an Overheated status.

    Dave frowned, shouldn¡¯t demons have a greater tolerance to heat? But he didn¡¯t need to analyze what race the Chosen One in front of him was nor why she was feeling sweaty. Dave turned to the direction where the bolt was at and sprinted forward.

    "Come Forth! Minions of the Ash King!" The Chosen One¡¯s first words were a call to help. Almost immediately, the doors in the room opened wide, and waves of demons surged out.

    Dave snapped his fingers again, causing all the Infernal Dragon Skulls to blow up. The shockwaves from the sts staggered everyone besides Dave into an imbnced fall.

    The bolt was right under the hand of one of the demons, it had grabbed it when it fell. Dave swung Durandal with enough strength that it cut through the demon¡¯s arm and the ground under it. He reached for the Bolt, but a moment before he touched it, Dave twirled his body, his shield facing a sneaky iing whip attack just in time.

    Dave absorbed the blow, and with his other hand, let go of Durandal for a moment to grab the bolt.

    The item shone bright in his hand as he pocketed it. The Chosen One became enraged, to have failed in the task of protecting the bolt.

    "Kill the draugr! Get the bolt off of his dead body!" the Chosen One screeched an order and the fallen demons got up with even more vigor heading toward Dave.

    Dave swung his sword left and right, slicing, shing, cutting, crushing and killing in the process. Yet the demons were too many, and the open doors were like a floodgate letting more and more in. If he didn¡¯t find a way out of this ce, he would soon be swarmed and covered in demons.

    He used [Stampede], and charged ahead, targeting the Chosen One, she was holding the gate out. Dave smashed into her, and followed up with a slice to her head, taking it off in the process.

    Yet the moment her head touched the ground, it flew back and attached itself back, while she herself grewrger, and had another whip in her other hand. Following the power-up her whips took on a ming aspect and became whips of fire.

    "We, the Chosen Ones, do not die!"

    "Funny, La-ire, La-Khbar would beg to differ," Dave smirked and ducked to the side. As two whips shed right where he stood.

    If Dave hadn¡¯t anticipated the blow, it could have cost him a good chunk of HP. The speed behind the whips may have decreased immensely,pared to before, but what they had lost in speed they made up for with more power. At least that was Dave¡¯s analysis from the fact that the entire row of demons behind Dave had died to the explosive effect of the whips once they touched the ground.

    Dave gulped, the st was pretty nasty. The more the Chosen Ones died, the more they revealed their true power, and the harder they would be to kill. This one was particrly annoying as she was fast, and had a lot of demons supporting her, making Dave¡¯s exit extremely difficult if not impossible.

    "It is always the same with you Undead! You have sent one assassin who has failed in his mission, and now you sent in more to fail! Only today, unlike that ghoul, I will make sure you won¡¯t escape!"

    La-Lina swung her whips in a manner that made them look like an iing wave of fire.

    Dave rolled to the side, hiding behind a demon¡¯s corpse, the fire wave went past him and burnt everything it touched to a crisp.

    "Shit, this must be where Samael failed. Gotta make things right then." Dave sprang up to his feet and dashed toward the Chosen One. Two demons stepped to block his way as many of them were still funneling in from the doors.

    He turned his aura on. [Infernal Tyrant¡¯s Oppression] raged amongst the demons, the skull that disdained all life and looked down upon all that moved around Dave with utter disgust and scorn. They were beneath it, and its piercing gaze made sure that they knew it.

    The ck mes of Dave¡¯s Aura red to life, consuming all who approached it, and those that it didn¡¯t touch, it yed with their minds, showing them horrors beyond simple fears, making them fall to their knees, wing at their heads in utter terror and horridness. Fear ruled all!

    The Chosen One unfortunately seemed to have escaped the fear effect but when Dave turned toward her, he used [Immortal Ascension], and in one single move, he struck with a closed fist at the Chosen One¡¯s temple.

    The eyes on the Chosen One of the Ash King rolled back up, her mouth opened wide, gurgling iprehensible sounds as her body turned limp and she fell down to the ground motionless.

    ***

    You have in the Chosen One of the Ash King.

    Due to the use of a special item, you will not get any exp from this kill.

    The Ash King has sensed the True Death of his Chosen One.

    He is personallying for you.

    Flee, you fool!

    ***

    The demons in the room couldn¡¯t understand how an immortal Chosen One of the Ash King could have died that easily. That was turning all their beliefs upside. The draugr who should have been handled like all other intruders started to invoke real fear in all of their hearts.

    None of them seem to have noticed that hidden in his fist had been the God ying Bolt. Dave had used it to terminate the Chosen One in one fell swoop. He himself couldn¡¯t believe it would work without the need of some kind of ritual or anything, but just with a simple touch. Nevertheless, this was good news for him. Now he only needed to run the hell away from this ce as the notification which had confirmed his kill warned him about the consequences if he didn¡¯t.

    Dave bolted out, from the area, the surprised demons couldn¡¯t get in his way due to the fear effect from his aura still present.

    His speed increased more and more, as he pumped whatever energy he could generate into his undead body. The Ash King was no joke, it was all fun and games when he couldn¡¯t personally move against Dave, but now, in his own kingdom, if heid hands on Dave, ending up like Samael would be a pipedream. The Ash King had probably many things to show Dave, many nasty, pointy and sharp things.

    Dave ran as if he was possessed, happier than ever that as an Undead he had unlimited stamina. He quickly left the Chosen One¡¯s area behind him and was right outside in the ins. He turned to where he marked his library entry point and bolted through the fields.

    Fire pirs the size of the Empire State Building rose where he had just stood a few seconds ago, and more and more began rising up, Dave understood that he had only seconds before one of these fire pirs would touch and eventually scorch him to ash.

    "Aspect of the Dragon!" Dave roared the chant for the spell. Tworge leathery wings grew from his back, while his nails grew to fangs, his eyes gained a new vision, a draconic one, and his body was empowered by dragon scales. Dave jumped forward, and with a flick of his wings, he tore through the air like a rocket.

    Fireballs the size of meteors fell down from the sky toward Dave. The Ash King was going all out to bring him down, and Dave knew it well. He dodged left and right, the fireballs came down crashing into the grass scorching it faster than it could recover.

    He dodged and dodged, but still took one ming orb to the back.

    -480,000

    The st from the spell tore a good chunk of his HP, despite the current transformation reducing any damage taken by 80%.

    Dave grunted through the pain and kept flying until he found the pir he entered through. He dove in and into the library, scaring the living hell out of the Imps working there. Dave ignored them and continued his escape toward the window he came from.

    Once he was out, he noticed his transformation only had a couple of seconds left, not nearly enough to cover the distance from where he was and across the mingva that acted as a moat protecting the Ash King¡¯s Keep.

    He still dashed out with all he had, while the seconds ticked, the gargoyles on the building roof noticed the strange life signature from Dave, it was totally different to when he first arrived. No longer demonic, now in dragon form, he was treated as the hostile entity he was.

    All the gargoyles shuddered, shaking off the stone skin and turned to life, then they hopped into the air and flew after Dave, adding more to his te.

    Dave¡¯s transformation ended, but a fraction of a second before, he hurled Durandal with all the might he could muster forward. The de shot like a torpedo while Dave began a freefall toward theva pool.

    The gargoyles gave up chasing Dave as he was doomed to an eternal inferno.

    But just before he touched theke, Dave reached out with his hand, and used [Recall]. Suddenly his body jerked up from above theke and flew forward, even faster than when he was flying.

    The gargoyles turned their flight and chased after Dave, but they couldn¡¯t keep up. Dave¡¯s speed was too much for them to catch, but that didn¡¯t mean they would give up the chase.

    Dave arrived at where Durandal was embedded, the throw had been powerful enough that the greatsword got buried to the hilt. Thankfully it was right above the edge of the mountain, he pulled the sword out with all his strength and began sprinting like a madman down the mountain¡¯s slope.

    Dave¡¯s face was stuck in a maniac¡¯s grin. Not only did he obtain the bolt, but his bet also paid off. The technique of recalling the sword had been influenced by Warlord¡¯s own ax throw.

    The American Guildmaster had been able to exchange the position of himself and his ax, but Dave was able to recall his sword to him. Yet when Dave¡¯s sword got stuck in an unreachable sword, [Recall] actually worked differently. It ended up dragging the user to the sword.

    A wrathful roar sounded behind Dave, and the massive fire pir above the Ash King¡¯s Keep raged further on.

    The body of the Ash King materialized through the fire pir and he dove down with an extended w at Dave.

    Dave jumped forward in [Immortal Ascension] dodging the w and turned to the Ash King, middle finger pointed forward as he eximed "Can¡¯t Touch This!"

    And continued sprinting down the slope.

    The rage of the Ash Kin was immeasurable, enough that it shook theva running through his domain to a tumbling turmoil, while he himself began to materialize fully, instead of just sending out an avatar.

    The Ash King wasing for Dave, yet thetter couldn¡¯t care less.

 Chapter 460 Another Step

    Fire hurled at Dave from everywhere, and the yer ran, sprinted and vaulted across rocks and boulders with grace never seen before. He was not worried, he was not frightened, but he sure was excited. In his hand was the bolt that could literally y gods. He had already sessfully used it against the Ash King¡¯s Chosen One and he was currently very tempted to use it against the great demonic abomination that was chasing him right now.

    However, Dave wasn¡¯t an irrational person. Naturally, if he could pull off such a stunt, it would be a great achievement and would most likely end the war between the Undead and the Demons right then and there... yet the risk of him failing was too high. He didn¡¯t really know what the Ash King was fully capable of. Although the bolt was dangerous, the task of him hitting the Ash King with it was more cumbersome than it would seem to any other person.

    The Ash King ha faced off against the Undead King and came out on top, even if theter was facing two opponents at the time, it just told Dave that the creature of mes was a one of the giants of the world of Conquest, and giants couldn¡¯t be in with meager, unthought of methods. Dave would need to rack his brains, know his opponent¡¯s capabilities and shorings before he coulde up with a suitable n to defeat them.

    And right now, to risk the fact that he only needed to hand over the bolt to the Undead Legion to earn his Abyssal Knight Rank, for an attempt that was not certain to work on the Ash King was nothing short of suicidal. He had been lucky this time, but he was certainly not stupid.

    Dave kept hopping over the jagged terrain of the Ash King¡¯s dominion, while thetter destroyed everything in his that happened to be between him and reaching Dave. By his best estimation, the Ash King was closing in, and would reach him in less than a minute¡¯s time at this pace.

    Unfortunately he would need more than that to get to Grumpy. With his mount he would have a speed advantage over the demonic ruler. Dave cursed the fact that he couldn¡¯t just summon Grumpy right next to him, or have another ride to take him out of the Ash King¡¯s Keep territory.

    Secondster, and just as Dave could feel the Ash King almost breathing down his neck, Grumpy showed up right next to Dave. The Basilisk had sensed the disturbance in the area due to his connection with Dave and hade running to meet his master halfway.

    Dave could have kissed his onyx colored mount for his initiative but time was of the essence. He happily jumped up andnded right on Grumpy¡¯s back, the basilisk immediately turned tail and scurried across the ground like a desert lizard, wiggling his whole body while gaining speed one wouldn¡¯t expect from his hulking size.

    The Ash King¡¯s speed inparison wascking, so in his wrath, he swore and mmed an open palm on the ground. The already turmoiled ground rocked forward and fissure broke from the sturdy obsidian ground.

    From within the fissures pulsated rivers ofva that gave birth to hundreds of Sworn Stalwarts. They weren¡¯t even ordered to chase after the draugr, as in their summoning, they had sensed the Undead and chased after him in motion quite simr to Grumpy.

    The massive size and number of the Stalwarts offered them increased speed and the ability to surround Grumpy in the long run. Dave noticed this tactic and grunted, his hand rubbing at his draugr beard tightly.

    They needed to keep running for a long while before they would fully leave the Ash King¡¯s dominion and return to the fourth Raid Zone, the Drow Kingdom, where Dortha stood watch. It was easier said than done. The numbers of Stalwarts kept increasing as they emerged from the cracking ground all over the Ash King¡¯s area.

    One of them managed to spawn right under Dave, giving Grumpy a slight scare, as its giant hand emerged from the ground nearly grabbing him. Grumpy¡¯s keen instincts did however allow him to hop over it, dodging the other hand trying to aplish what the first had failed to do. Grumpy slid for a few feet as hended and continued his escape with renewed vigor.

    Two of the Stalwarts furthest away suddenly stopped, realising that they would not reach Dave no matter how they ran. Nevertheless they didn¡¯t just give up. They changed tactics, and decided to use cheap shots. They both gobbled up air or energy, enough that their throats bloated to incredible size, white light gathered in their gullets and they spat the energy forward like a torrent of concentrated light ray.

    Dave noticed the action going on and prepared ordingly, he hurriedly hopped on Grumpy¡¯s tail, holding on with one hand for dear life and with the other, Ajax poised to protect him and his mount.

    The light rays both shot at once and fused into one,ing at Dave at bullet speed. Dave opened Ajax¡¯s jaws, and the shield absorbed in the energy like an insatiable ck hole.

    With two Stalwarts exhausted and Dave now having a ¡¯weapon¡¯ to use, the situation suddenly seemed less gray than before. Dave climbed back to the front and waited for any other Stalwart with the malicious intention of stopping them in their track to appear.

    When two more Stalwarts tried to emerge from newly broken ground, Dave gave them his trademark smile. Before they could even attack, he pointed Ajax forward and opened its jaws, releasing the massive ray of light. The attack was not going to kill the Stalwarts, that would be too much for Dave to hope for, but it had enough of a Knockback effect that once it touched the first, it sted it from where it stood to god knows where.

    There was enough power emerging from the shield that Dave had time to do a half-assed circr motion with his hand due to how much pressure the shield was giving while it shot the light ray back out.

    Yet in his clumsy stunt, he managed to sheer off the ground and hit more Stalwarts that were unfortunate enough to stand in the Skill¡¯s effect. This provided Dave with a much-needed breather and enough time to escape the encirclement, rendering the efforts of the Ash King totally useless.

    Grumpy ran ahead as the path forward was clear, in only a few seconds they would reach the perimeter of the Drow Kingdom where it should be rtively safe. The Stalwarts behind Dave kept a close chase, but unless something drastic happened the draugr and his mount should arrive safely before the Stalwarts could close their jaws upon his boney self.

    A lone robed man stood In the distance, hands behind his back, and a gentle smile stered across his face. If one looked close enough they would notice a small fang peeking from under that grandpa like smile.

    At that moment Dave knew that all would be well. Dortha made a grasping motion then pointed behind Dave.

    Loud high-pitched squealing tore through space and let arge chunk of broken void hang mid-air. From within it, hands the size of tree trunks emerged, emaciated, rotten and disgusting to look at, the ying tools of the Wendigos when they first came to this world, weing the arrival of the beasts that allowed the Legion to be feared by all the yers of the game.

    Wendigos by the dozens emerged from the void, tall as city gates, devoid organs yet never from rage and malice. The Wendigos had the heads of wolves and antlers of deer, and even a lion¡¯s ferocity couldn¡¯t hold a candle to these creatures.

    The emaciated creatures ran forward, bulldozing through the ground like a grade six hurricane. Their two unproportioned hands, the smallest, wing at the ground to give the creature more speed, the heaviest, mightiest andrgest of hands dragged across the ground. Yet when the first Wendigo arrived to battle, they used their heavy hands to smash down upon the Stalwart facing it.

    Wendigos and Stalwarts began a battle of giants where Dave had no say or impact on if he decided to join. ¡¯Leave the giants to the giants,¡¯ he thought and he moved ahead with Grumpy rushing between Wendigo legs and to the safety of the Drow Kingdom.

    The fight against the forces of the Ash King ended soon, with thetter withdrawing his forces after a stifled grunt of rage. He had lost a tool that could kill gods, and now he was at a serious disadvantage against the Undead.

    Grumpy stopped right as he reached Dortha, his nostrils ring in exertion, hot vapor spiraled out from them. Dortha patted the big creature on the head then handed him a corn cone to munch on. It must have been from Dorta¡¯s small farm where he raised crops.

    "Kis¡¯Shtiengbrah," Dortha spoke, "Seeing the Ash King himselfing after you is a good sign. I assume that means you have fulfilled his Majesty¡¯s task?"

    "Yep, got the bolt right here," Dave answered while patting his side bag with a proud expression.

    "Wonderful. I can¡¯t wait to tell the other Abyssal Knights how mad the Ash King was that he not only personally chased after you, but more importantly failed to catch you. They¡¯ll all have a goodugh about this."

    "I also can¡¯t wait to hand this thing over to His Majesty. It¡¯s been nothing but trouble since the moment Iid my hands on it."

    "As it should be. What else would you expect from a weapon that can y gods? It certainly is worth waging war for. Now, enough talk. His Majesty surely awaits you. Go and tend to him and let me be the first to wee you to our ranks."

    "Right I¡¯m on it," Dave tore open a Teleportation Scroll pulling himself and Grumpy to the Dead Realm. Dave rode on Grumpy¡¯s back across the streets of the Undead City and arrived at the Bone Pce gate. None of the Undead dared to cross his way or stop him to question why he used a mount in the King¡¯s pce. They all knew that Dave had been sent on a mission to be the seventh Abyssal Knight after Deadra¡¯s exile.

    Dave climbed off of Grumpy and ran up the spiral staircases. He arrived to see the Undead King withpany. Before him was a slightly healthier looking Da, a still missing a limb Samael, although the ghoul did not appear as bruised anymore and Lilith who stood aloof against a pir of the throne room. Marik, and Dementi were nowhere to be seen.

    The Undead King stood up from his throne and marched forward until he stopped in front of Dave. The two gazed at each other for a few seconds before Dave pulled out the bolt to the surprise and stupefaction of everyone in the room.

    "But, you just set out a few hours ago?!" Samael was the first to regain his voice and saying what was on everyone¡¯s mind. What almost took the life out of him and what cost him weeks of infiltration and nning had been aplished in mere hours...

    "Not to mention he¡¯s not as beaten up as you were, Samael," Lilith teased as she sent some lecherous gazes at Dave.

    The Undead King held one hand up, shutting everyone in the room, "Son," the Undead King addressed him in an unfamiliar tone. "We have sent you on a task that We expected you to fail on. We believed that you were not quite ready to be an Abyssal Knight yet, but once again you have proven to Us that We have ced meager trust in your abilities," the Undead King took a step back and bowed to Dave.

    Everyone in the room was shocked to see the Undead King¡¯s behavior, even Dave himself.

    "Wow! Hold up, no need for all this. Your Majesty, please get back up, I mean I mostly got lucky," Dave said flustered.

    "Nonsense, luck had nothing to do with this. The very task of retrieving this from the Ash King¡¯s home of power had been nothing short of suicide. You were supposed to see first hand what we would be dealing with soon. We hoped that experience would have allowed you to ponder on how you could improve yourself even more, but We were wrong. And for that, an apology is needed. We made a mistake, so for that We ask your forgiveness even if We are King," The Undead King exined.

    "There really is no need. I¡¯ve always thought that bing an Abyssal Knight shouldn¡¯t be any less difficult than this task. It was a great way to prove oneself," Dave replied with a smile on his face.

    "And you have proven yourself wonderfully so," the Undead King agreed. "Prepare to ept the mantle of one of my generals. From today on there shall be 7 Abyssal Knights again."

    Dave didn¡¯t know what the King meant when he told him to prepare, but he sure hadn¡¯t expected for the King to stab his light consuming sword right through the chest.

    The King¡¯s ck sword pierced through with ease, not leaving a dent or crack in his armor, yet it also wasn¡¯t doing any type of Damage.

    ***

    Conquest Server Announcement!

    yer Kis¡¯Shtiengbrah has seeded in rising through the Ranks of the Undead and bing the 7th Abyssal Knight for the Undead Legion!

    yer Kis¡¯Shtiengbrah has earned the ability to be a World Boss.

    yer Kis¡¯Shtiengbrah has officially imed the title: Undead Prince

    The Undead King will host a coronation ceremony to officially adopt and crown Kis¡¯Shtiengbrah as his heir to be!

    May the Undead reign forever, and may darkness forever cover the world!

    ***

    ---- PLEASE READ AUTHOR¡¯S NOTE THIS IS IMPORTANT!!!---

 Chapter 461 Temple Run 2.0

    Dave received an iing call while he was still with the Undead King andpany. His first words were, "Oh god, here ites." Then he proceeded by plugging both his ears with his fingers as he answered the call.

    His action served little purpose when Zoe shouted through his brains "DAVEYYYYYYY!!! How¡¯d you do it?!"

    "Easy on me babe, you¡¯re too loud, I¡¯ll tell youter," Dave said and had to hang up, the Undead King still had many things to say.

    "Okay, TTYL," Zoe replied.

    "Childe, I have many allies that I shall ask to attend your coronation, on the morrow, the world shall know of our next prince, and they shall tremble at his feet. Where do you suggest to host your coronation?" the Undead King gave Dave the choice.

    A notification popped up in front of Dave locating several spots where he can choose from.

    ***

    You have been give the choice to choose where your coronation ceremony will be held.

    The Lost City of Urburg.

    The Eastern Kingdom Capital.

    Moria, rim of the Eastern Kingdom.

    Second Raid Zone, Burning Heights.

    Kis¡¯Shtiengbrah¡¯s Personal Territory in the Dead Realm.

    ***

    NPCs who have a friendly rtionship with the Undead King will all attend, and a chosen few from the yers will also be invited. While within the event, all fighting is prohibited, and all hostile activities will be dealt with by execution. Feel free to invite some of your acquaintances from the yer base.

    ***

    "King," Dave said.

    "Yes, Childe."

    "Can we host it here?

    The Undead King tilted his head, then rubbed at his own small goatee beard.

    "I see no reason not to," The Undead King said.

    "But that will allow others to know of our city and pceyout, is this wise?" Da asked.

    "So what?" the Undead King said, "What could ants possibly do against oppressive power? Let them see what we have, We shall make sure that every undead, every one of our subject is present in this event, we want the world to know how much power we hold, even if it is unwise to show one¡¯s cards, in this case I permit it, it is a show of the glory that awaits Kis¡¯Shtiengbrah once he takes the throne."

    "Wow, hold up. I don¡¯t need the crown, it fits better on your head," Dave said.

    "I would wager it would fit better on yours," The undead king said with a smile, "I have ruled my fare share of years, I waged wars against countless threaths, and have emerged victorious many, many times, I have grown tired of ruling, and this, my children could tell you of. It is in my vision, that once I see you fit, that you shall lead the Undead to a future I could not give them."

    "I doubt any Undead would need more than you have offered them so far, they have safty within theirnds, power that can protect them and give them free reign on their actions, and they have you to back them up if they are in trouble. Why would they need anything more?" Dave asked.

    "In a sense, you are both right and wrong, I have given them many things, but I have not given them what should be theirs."

    "What is it then?" Dave asked.

    "Freedom from the Shackles of the Underworld. Only a few of our children could walk to the overworld, and even while waging war, we could only stay for a small period of time. What I want is for them to be able to stay in the overworld whenever they want, and for however long they wish to. That is freedom I have not been able to grant them due to lord Ramsha¡¯s rule."

    "I think I understand. Ramsha has locked up the demons and you guys with them, he didn¡¯t let the demons do as they please, as they can¡¯t leave the Underworld, but he gave you more freedom than them. It¡¯s more like the Undead are the Demon¡¯s wardens."

    "Yes, we are wardens, and it is a task we had no say in it. But once the Ash King is forever gone, our mission will be over, and we shall be able to im the overworld."

    Dave nodded then asked, "I find it a little bit hard to believe that Ramsha would allow the Undead to walk out after we finish of the Ash King. I mean, no offence, but we are undead, we¡¯re not the friendliest of the bunch toward the other ¡¯living¡¯ races."

    "It is indeed so, but we are not chaotic, we think, we make allies, we wage benefit and loss before we make action, yet the Demons, they all seek destruction. We abhor that, we seek valor, chivalry, and honor even after death. We undead, the ones blessed by the Death Heart, we who think do not mindlessly Kill, we will not y helpless women and children, and we only kill men that would raise a sword in opposition. We give everyone a chance to live, it is their responsibility to either take the chance, or forgo their lives."

    Dave nodded again, what the Undead King said was true. The Undead were evil, but not chaotically evil.

    "Right then, I¡¯ll head to the East now, I still need to bring down the remaining temples of the Ash King."

    "Good, we need to limit his power as much as we can, our raid upon his dominion is nigh, and we want all the advantages. If that failure of a demi-god believes he could bring us to our feet at ournds, then we shall prove how we can do the same, only more efficiently. In a week¡¯s time, our raid shallmence, make sure to bring down as many of the temples as you can." The Undead King said.

    "As youmand," Dave gave a half curtesy bow and turned to leave the room.

    Once he left, Dave used the teleportation scroll to the Eastern Kingdom, he needed to see how things were going in his new territory and by the looks of it, Demitri was doing a great job.

    The Undead Dave had hired had fully repaired the capital, people brimmed with confidence as they moved about to do their jobs. Trade prospered as yers teleported to the Eastern Kingdom to quest and do trades. And security was superb.

    Dave had allowed yers to enter his domain with the condition to not surpass a certain number in a given area. They could raid dungeons and do quests for the NPCs and trade their goods in his city. This will allow a lot of money taxed from the transaction to go back to their pockets, but Dave had decided that the majority of such ie will be handed to the right personnel.

    Crops extended to great distances around the capital. NPCs happily worked thend with the aid of untiring undead. The Undead carved the ground to help the humans put seeds in the soil. They dug wells and mined ore. Transporting them continuously into the city, rejuvenating all of the activities within it.

    This didn¡¯t only happen in the capital, it was all over the ten major cities of the Qin Kingdom. Not to mention the increased security and transportation safety of the Qin roads. The Undead made watchtowers all over thend. More than ten thousand watchtowers stood in thends of Qin, overseeing any disturbance in the terrain.

    Vigers worked with renewed hope. As the mes of thest war has not harmed them, and in the current run, the Undead who were their most feared foe are helping and aiding them. Vigers traded their hand made materials at the city center, all operated by the ever so greedy Dikenz, yet he was made sur to give the NPCs their fair prices for raw material, as for yers, Dave didn¡¯t care if he could scam them for every penny.

    Dave valued NPCs more than the yermunity, because without these ¡¯pixels¡¯ this game would never have a life of its own. And for that, Dave opted for thefort and good life of all NPCs in his domain.

    Though the reparation had only started, Dave could see that NPCs had an incalcble number of quests. Unlike in other cities of the world of conquest where NPCs with an exmation mark were rare, the ones in Qin were as numerous as the sand. Everyone wanted something done for them, it was all thanks to Dave¡¯s good intentions that aided these people in having more hope for the future, and to achieve their goals, they sent yers to quest for them, which in return wille with benefit to the kingdom.

    Demetri noticed Dave¡¯s arrival and came to meet him at the city center.

    "Don¡¯t tell me you¡¯ve been here since thest time I saw you," Dave said.

    "Yes, I have never changed my spot, like I said I have many things to do and deal with. The NPCs life is getting better, and as much as I would not like to admit, you were right. I made a study on the current life of these people and noticed that in the near future, the tax ie will increase exponentially as more yerse in and do their quests here. So, I¡¯m making sure everything goes well."

    "Great then, now, I¡¯ll have to go and destroy a nasty temple that should be under one of the churches here,"

    "In the capital? I saw themotion you caused in Icathia, if something like that Stalwartes here, it will be a disaster, we don¡¯t want to scare the citizen. Many of them haven¡¯t ovee the traumas of thest war."

    "I know, but I have an idea. Last time I needed to be subtle, but now, with undead alongside me, that Stalwart will not have a sodding chance."

    "Sodding?"

    "A new word I learned, look it up. Now see ya," Dave said and turned to the cathedral. Once he arrived he summoned Bud, but a notification appeared in front of him.

    ***

    You cannot Summon Bud. Bud is going through his Doom Knight quest.

    ***

    "Ah, I forgot that my boyz also ranked up with me. But why do they need to quest?" Dave questioned himself and called for Albert.

    Once Albert showed up, Dave frowned heavily, the old man¡¯s face was not visible, it was heavily pixelized for a second then it returned to normal.

    "Are you okay old man?" Dave asked.

    "Yes, never been better. Why?"

    "This is the second time you¡¯re pixting."

    "Oh, that again, yeah some yers reported this happening all over conquest. A few monsters also were penalizing, it seems that it is going through all the game. It¡¯s most likely stress from the generation of the questlines in this area and the uing events. Don¡¯t worry about it, every game has its own ws. And this one is merger and can be dealt with soon. So what have you called me for?"

    Dave didn¡¯t fully believe the man, something was going on, but he didn¡¯t know what, and if Albert didn¡¯t tell him, it was either something seriously bad, or Albert himself didn¡¯t know, making it even worse than the first suggestion.

    "Anyway, why is Bud on a quest to be a doom Knight? Shouldn¡¯t he level up with me?"

    "Oh, it is only normal, because you have be an Abyssal Knight, and have granted some of your Undead Sentience or recruited ones with great minds, they need to be challenged to earn their rank, otherwise if they freely level up, you will have an amazing power that would hardly be fair to the rest of the yers." Albert said.

    "Hey, you¡¯re pulling an Alfi on me with your unfair, weren¡¯t you just saying that you didn¡¯t care if I broke the game."

    "And I honestly don¡¯t, it was the Deve¡¯s idea, but worry not, all the quests handed to your Doom Knights are rtively easy, ying monsters, and believe me your undead have done their fair share of ying. It¡¯s just protocol to shut salty yers."

    "Right, then when can I have my boyz back?" Dave asked.

    "As soon as they finish their quests, it should take a day at most. By tomorrow when your coronation starts, you will have all of your undead with you, and they will probably all manage to rank up."

    "Thanks then, I suppose this means that I¡¯ll have to fight the Stalwart again by myself,"

    "Well, I wouldn¡¯t want to spoil you, but what you¡¯ll be facing isn¡¯t a stalwart, and it would be better if you went in alone," Albert smiled at Dave, winked then disappeared.

    "Damn, what does that mean now?"

 Chapter 462 - This One is a little Bit Special

    <h4>Chapter 462 - This One is a little Bit Special</h4>

    Dave moved toward the port area of his capital. Surprisingly the Church of the God of Light was ced in an open area right next to the sea. After he entered the cathedral he ignored the priests who were shouting that this was a sacred ce and an Undead had nothing to do here.

    He walked down the stairs to where he believed the getion chambers should be, thankfully, there were no people in there, nor stains or marks of torture. The Qin Kingdom appeared to have been less corrupt than the Devastator¡¯s Western Kingdom. It was most likely due to theck of poor people in this area. Poor people were more likely to steal to sustain their livelihood, and they made perfect targets for the getors of the church.

    Dave looked for the trapdoor that would lead to the lower part of the cathedral and where he suspected another temple of the Ash King to hide its entrance. His theory was proven correct as he found what he was looking for with ease and walked through it.

    The entrance was pretty simr to what he encountered back at Icathia, massive swarms of Imps prostrating to a pir in the center. Dave marched through them and entered the pir, yet he was surprised what he found inside.

    The previous temple had apounded floor, where blood from the getion chambers filled the area, creating the Blood Eaters. Yet here, there was nothing of the sort. It was a simple long bridge extended to the end where he saw the Ash King¡¯s Chalice. Dave walked up the bridge that hung above a chasm of emptiness.

    Once he arrived at the other side, he picked up the goblet and threw it for the ever so hungry Shield of Ajax to consume.

    The temple began trembling and Dave ran across the bridge to safety. Yet when he was midway through the bridge something fell on it.

    A gigantic Sworn Stalwart, but instead of the red ming fire that usually covered their kind¡¯s body, the mes around it were ck as the night. Stalwarts usually had no eyes, but this one had two bright red ones that red bloody murder as they gazed upon Dave.

    The Stalwart didn¡¯t utter a sound as it moved with breathtaking speed toward Dave.

    Dave dodged the charging Stalwart using [Immortal Apparition], teleporting behind it and bolting for the pir.

    The Stalwart chased after him, rocking the bridge as it ran over it. Its movements were like those of a hunting lion instead of a wiggling lizard.

    Dave spun as he shed at the bridge with Durandal, fissuring the rock made structure. He kept moving and shing at the bridge, weakening it.

    Once the Stalwart¡¯s paw smashed against the ground, the cracks Dave made gave way, and the whole structure began falling, Dave had safely entered the pir leaving nothing but the loud high-pitched scream of the Stalwart behind him.

    Dave didn¡¯t dream for a second that the creature would have died, especially since he had inspected it right before he left the bridge area.

    Dave¡¯s brows were knit tightly, "Really, Ash King? That was seriously a nasty thing to prepare for me." Dave mumbled as he was looking at the Stalwart¡¯s info screen.

    "I can¡¯t have this f.u.c.ker move around in my territory. Too dangerous!"

    ***

    ***

    Sworn Stalwart (Chosen One)

    Level 650

    Tier (Ethereal)

    Alignment [Demonic]

    Danger Level ? ? ?

    DN 250,000

    MA 250,000

    HP 250,000,000

    Skills:

    [Blessed One] (Passive) Revives stronger after death. Each Death Increases the base HP pool by ???% HP.

    [Abyssal mes] All of the Chosen One¡¯s Stalwart me effects have an additional impact upon the enemy¡¯s gear, mental state and cause immtion instead of Overheating.

    [Immtion] Once a yer enters [Overheating] their avatar will immte for 20% of their maximum HP instantly.

    [Infernal Aura] Causes 0.5% of the target¡¯s Max HP in t damage. Continuous and cannot be interrupted unless the Sworn Stalwart is stunned, once the Sworn Stalwart regains his senses, the aura effect will resume.

    [Ray of mes] Shots a torrent of zing mes that could melt terrain. Deals 20% of the target¡¯s max HP in t damage value.

    [Granite Skin] The Sworn Stalwart is a creature made from the wrath of a volcano, it coats its body with a thinyer of Granite that could negate 20% of the damage dealt to it. Once the granite skin is broken, the Sworn Stalwart will receive 20% additional damage.

    Lore

    A creature of the depth, bound to serve the Ash King as a ve and protector. This one, had gained the favour of the Ash King and been turned into a Chosen One. He rules over all the Stalwarts of his dominion. It is a rare creature, unlike his simple mindless havoc seeking Sworn Stalwart brethren that has the ability to evolve further.

    These creatures feed on magma and are immune to fire, in their presence, heat in the area increases to an rming rate inducing DOT of 5,000HP/second.

    ***

    Dave ran through the Imps and out of the cathedral.

    He shouted as high as he could, "LEAVE THE CATHEDRAL NOW!" his voice, empowered by his status as a king, and the power Andre¡¯s armor granted him, made everyone who had heard his order scatter as if hell itself was chasing them. The cathedral emptied in less than a minute, and Dave was out by the moment the cathedral shuddered the first time.

    He turned and headed to the nearby Sea, mming his open palm against the water, "Kraken! COME!"

    With his words, the waves froze then melted back into the sea, as if the whole body of sea turned into a dead unmoving object. The sea surface became a mirror, not the smallest of ripples could move on it. Suddenly, behind Dave, the cathedral burst into a torrent of dark mes. The Chosen Stalwart was out and was seeking vengeance. It turned its ugly face to Dave and was about to attack.

    "Kraky, give that bitch the Ice-Bucket Challenge treatment!"

    The Kraken¡¯s tentacles sprang from within the water like coiling dragons,tching on to the Stalwart, wrapping him in his limbs then pulling him up.

    The ck mes burnt through the Kraken¡¯s tentacles, but the creature was Undead, it didn¡¯t care for pain, or for the fact that it lost its limbs when the mes of the Stalwart seared through them like a hot knife through butter.

    It hadpleted its task by dragging the Stalwart into its domain. And from then on, began a battle.

    Dave jumped up andnded on the sea surface. He didn¡¯t have any of his Boyz with him. Anyone at or beneath the Death Knight would instantly die against the Stalwart just by being next to it, and his soon-to-be Doom Knights were all on their quests to earn their upgraded Rank. Dave was going to fight alone, or so he thought.

    A man, wearing silver armor and a short sword, dashed with speed far exceeding what Dave could register, he was probably as fast as the demi-god Monk that Dave had faced twice.

    The silver armor gave Dave a shback, he had seen this person before. Once as a foe, and once an ally, but what was he doing here?

    Dave didn¡¯t ask the question, he charged ahead, far slower than the man in front, but not any less powerful he believed.

    The man jumped up, his short sword shining in a white light then shed with it at the Stalwart¡¯s paw.

    The creature reared back, pained by the attack yet not any less ferocious, the Chosen Stalwart opened its gullet and bit at the silver wearing man.

    Dave arrived right in time to offer a shoulder dash into the Stalwart that rocked him to the side. This gave the man in silver a moment to jump above the Stalwart andnd on the back of its head.

    mes coalesced around the man yet he ignored it. He was undead, which was clear from how little the fire phased him.

    "Kalel! What are you doing here?" Dave asked.

    Kalel, the rogue Undead that the Undead King had to personallye and bind into service was once again by Dave¡¯s side.

    He shed at the Stalwart¡¯s neck, doing little to no damage. Kalel jumped back via an acrobatic backflip, hended on the sea surface and hopped back and away from the Stalwart¡¯s aura.

    "His Majesty sent me to aid you. I have been assigned under yourmand, Lord Prince."

    "Right, he did promise to send you to me once I was strong enough. Good. Your help here will be much appreciated. Kraky, fighting above sea level isn¡¯t much different than fighting on the ground, pull us down!" Dave called.

    The Kraken released its hold on the physic of the water, and all three, Dave, Kalel, and the Stalwart fell into the sea depths.

    The fire from the Stalwart, too strong to be snuffed by the seawater, raged high and hot, causing bubbles and steam to st from around the monster. This caused serious damage to the Stalwart, the explosion of steam and water around it was rocking it. Its own physics was contributing to its demise.

    "Use these to move!" Dave ordered and pointed at Kalel. Three ethereal sharks chained by rusty iron chains, dragging a steel made chariot dashed from within the water and right next to Kalel. Dave had a Shark Chariot of his own.

    "Let¡¯s whittle it down, we have the advantage here," Dave called. Water didn¡¯t affect the Undead. They didn¡¯t need any oxygen to breathe, yet it was causing steam explosions around the Stalwart, damaging it further.

    Finally, the Stalwart finding it taxing to keep its mes around decided to snuff them out on its own volition. The heat explosions died down and this allowed it to have a better chance at fighting underwater.

    The Stalwart swam up, but once it touched the surface, a thin film of water stopped it, it wed at it, but found no way to breach the surface. It understood that its enemies had found a way to trap it under the sea.

    Sadly, as it appeared to Dave, the Stalwart didn¡¯t need to breathe either and it was not a bad swimmer at all. It was using its tail to move around, like a shark. The Stalwart turned toward Dave and swam forward like an iing torpedo.

    "This game never fails to surprise me! Underwater battle experience! Let¡¯s do this!"

    He yanked the chains and had his Ghost Sharks charge at the Stalwart.

 Chapter 463 - Favor for a Favor

    <h4>Chapter 463 - Favor for a Favor</h4>

    Dave yanked the chains harder, causing the sharks to burst with more speed, they were the kings of sea, and the enormous, awkwardly moving Stalwart was no match, even the protective heat around it was no more and it could do nothing as the sharks ripped at pieces of its stone body while they moved around it.

    Sharks were one of the few creatures in the world that didn¡¯t care much for what their jaws locked on, and unless fang met fang, they would never let go once they bit on something.

    The Kraken¡¯s burnt limbs regenerated with visible speed, then theytched onto the Stalwart¡¯s neck, limbs, and tail, locking the creature in ce. It had no way out of its current predicament.

    Kalel made great use of the Shark Chariots, he charged forward and sliced with his sword at any part of the Stalwart that was open to damage. The creature howled underwater, its voice muffled but its rage apparent, it could not escape, and could not counter-attack. No matter how powerful it was on the ground, once it was in the domain of the Sea God, it was not a battle anymore. It was only how long could the Stalwart Last before it was going to die.

    To make things worse for the Stalwart, hundreds, then thousands of undead jumped from the port of Qin, and into the sea, the Kraken gave them ess to the bottom of the sea and they dove down to aid their Undead Prince.

    Undead shed, smashed, crushed, and cut at the Stalwart, nibbling at its HP, unable to fight for its life, the Stalwart¡¯s more than two hundred million of HP fizzled to nothingness.

    The Ash King¡¯s blessing soon revived the creature, with even more HP, yet it was nothing different than before, as long as the Kraken lived, the Stalwart could not get out of the sea, and as long as it could not get out of the sea, he was going to lose another life soon.

    Dave shoutedmands, ordered his undead to break the Stalwart, in such an advantageous position, there was nothing the lizard could do. It even tried to ignite its body underwater, several times, but no matter how the Stalwart Tried, the seawater was endless, and it soon snuffed its mes, rendering it even more feeble.

    Using his strongest attack was out of the question, the Stalwart needed to ignite its body then consume the mes into its gullet and shoot it outward, yet the seawater continuously snuffed the mes, continuously locked the creature out of its most powerful ability. Fully neutralizing the threat that the Ash King has issued to break Kis¡¯Shtiengbrah.

    Dave saw up, he didn¡¯t need to fight anymore, the situation was obviously in the Undead¡¯s hands, and he didn¡¯t need to do anything else for the Stalwart to die, it was only a matter of time. It was like a trapped beast that his undead will slowly whittle down.

    Dave left the raging battle undergoing under the sea and to the shore.

    He still needed to take out the chalices at the other two temples, but first he had something to do.

    Dave tore a teleportation scroll to the Pharaoh¡¯s Tomb raid area and went up the pyramid. The undead gave way and bowed whenever Dave walked, he was not used to being treated like a royalty and was not going to start correcting every single undead that bowed to him.

    Even if all undead were family, he only exempted his Boyz from the bow, because they had gone through hardship with him from his first day, Bud, Spark, Dog and the rest were with Dave since his first days of ying the game. They fought, shed blood, and broke bones fighting with Dave, and only they were the most deserving of such a treatment.

    Dave reached Da¡¯s library soon, he found the Arch Lich studying, his body in a much better condition than hest saw him. It seems that Da only needed time to recover his powers, powers that he used to save Samael from the harmful effects of the God ying Bolt, and also teleported him forcefully from the Ash King¡¯s raid zone to get him out.

    "Prince, how may I be of service," Da said, he didn¡¯t have to bow to Dave, and Dave didn¡¯t say anything for the old lich not doing so. Afterall, Da had seniority, and was friends with the Undead King, and also was a mentor to Dave.

    "Hey Da, I need your help with something," Dave said.

    "Another favor? You haven¡¯t forgotten that you already owe me one already," Daughed.

    "Oh, don¡¯t worry, this help will pay off thest time¡¯s favor, believe me," Dave said.

    "Then what is it?" Da asked.

    "We¡¯ll have to go to the Wilds first, I have a scroll to Urburg, we can go there now, I need you to do something for me there."

    "Right," Da took the scroll and tore it, and Dave followed after.

    Once the two were in front of the town¡¯s gate, Da spoke, "This pce is livelier than expected," Da probably hinted at how many NPCs roamed the area.

    "Yeah, it¡¯s a good hub for NPCs, and I¡¯m nning on inviting a few people hereter, but I need to have this done before."

    "Then what do you require my aid for?"

    "We¡¯ll have to get there first, Grumpy," Dave mmed his palm on the ground summoning the onyx lizard, he rode on and asked for Da to hop on the back.

    Grumpy followed Dave¡¯s instruction and moved south of Urburg. Soon, after crossing a lot of the foliage and scaring the living soul out of many of the Wild¡¯s monsters. Dave arrived to a location in the map that had a huge chunk of its earth turned upside down.

    "Hmm, I sense a strong presence under the dirt, it is dead, but... if I get this correctly, you want me to revive it?"

    "Yep, there¡¯s a ck dragon here, and I can¡¯t do it myself, but if it¡¯s the Arch Lich Da, then I believe it wouldn¡¯t be a problem."

    "Good try on buttering me up, but I can¡¯t seem to understand why you want me to revive this, it is true, that it will be a powerful asset, but you already have a dragon of your own."

    "Yeah, this is not for me, it¡¯s for the Undead King, and you¡¯ll be offering it to him tomorrow. Consider this repaying your favor," Dave said in a wide grin.

    Da remained stupefied for a moment then said, "But this is too much, I cannot ept this, this way I¡¯ll be owning you an even greater favor, I don¡¯t think I can do this," Da said.

    "Don¡¯t worry, I won¡¯t ask for anything I return, this is actually very useful and will help against the Ash King¡¯s raid. We need all the allies and power we can get don¡¯t we?" Dave said.

    "Right, then, here it goes..." Da ced a palm on the ground, and the world began to shake.

 Chapter 464 - Friendly Spar

    <h4>Chapter 464 - Friendly Spar</h4>

    "So, you also received the invitation?" Warlord asked.

    "Yes, the Undead King sure is an idiot, for inviting his enemies to this. But it¡¯s good, we¡¯ll get to know more about his strategic positioning and have a better chance to take over his capital once the Ash King seeds in the uing war." Zhang Shi spoke.

    The group of yers were all the leaders of the Super Guilds and some other famous guilds of Conquest. They have all been personally invited by the Undead King to attend Dave¡¯s coronation.

    Right now, they were riding inside an enormous caravan led by dozens of ck long maned horses.

    There was no one guiding the caravan, it was as if the horses knew where to go, un-needing of guidance. The ground they galloped on was dark, where a broken moon hung low. The Underworld, it was one of the rarest opportunities where the yers of the Overworld ever got the chance to get into the underworld.

    The Undead King facilitated the task for them, and gave them rides to his home where the only condition was for them not to leave the caravan until told so, or it had stopped.

    So far, the ride had gone smoothly, where yers restedfortably inside the caravan, discussing the happenings of the world of Conquest.

    "I doubt the King will honestly be leading us to the heart of his kingdom and his capital. This could probably just be a proxy city where he¡¯ll hold the ceremony." Wan Yi said, the Barbarian had a rare moment where he spoke weighted words. And this one was one of them.

    The White Ghost sat next to Wan Yi, he didn¡¯t object to his Guildmaster¡¯s words, but at the same time, deep down, he didn¡¯t approve fully of them. The Undead were creatures of confrontation, deceit was never a part of them. And honestly, right now there was no known force capable enough to contend with the Undead, so going to all the hassle to throw off the yer¡¯s game, and make them believe that they were being led to a ¡¯fake capital¡¯ was not very ??undead¡¯ natured.

    "Warlord, you don¡¯t look too optimistic about this, I guess that because you lost your temple, you¡¯re feeling left out from the power race," spoke the green robed Archer that always apanied Zhang Shi.

    Warlord didn¡¯t deign to respond to her, but Valentine smiled and said, "To each his own, if you believe the Ash King¡¯s promise to power is that beneficial to you, then take it." He shrugged.

    This clearly indicated that the Devastators have pulled themselves from the race to power and the seeking of the Ash King¡¯s rewards.

    "Oh, and here I thought that you¡¯ll be willing to make a deal so you can get ess to ¡¯our¡¯ temple." Zhang Shi said.

    "We don¡¯t need it, we are strong as we are, and more so than your spies believe." Warlord replied.

    Zhang Shi shrugged, he believed Warlord to be bluffing, the Ash King was a level 900 entity, something as close to a god in this game, and if it promised power, it meant it. There was no way that whatever upgrade the Ash King was going to give will be meager.

    But White Ghost on the other hand was not thatfortable, seeing that David Ruster had destroyed the Temple in the East just yesterday. He was clear about his intention that he was going to break the remaining temples.

    White Ghost had already tasked a group to guard the temple of the Southern Desert, they have located it and have abstained from using it on the order of the White Ghost. Barring some rogue guild-less yers who the Super Guild did not wish to be overbearing towards and block their own right of choice, none of the Heaven Dawn guild members had made the deal with the Ash King.

    Even those of the yers that did have said that they didn¡¯t feel that anything had changed besides gaining a new Title, Ash King¡¯s Servant.

    Some of the yers that had Legacies had lost them, but on the other hand, they obtained an even higher tiered Title. As Demon Soldier, Demon Noble, Demon Captain and some of such Titles.

    The Titles changed depending on the level of the Legacy sacrificed. But so far nothing short of shorings has befallen the yers that chose to take the Ash King¡¯s offer, and no power had materialized topensate the loss of the Legacy. This of course caused a lot of rioting in the forums; yers have lost their hard-earned Legacies for naught.

    Yet the answer from the game Devs came rapidly, they have assured the yers that an event will start soon and all would be made clear.

    "Your guild has been the one to abuse the temples the most, I hear that more than 70% of the Blood Ragers have be demon affiliated." Valentine said.

    "Well, you didn¡¯t hear wrong, afterall, you also have spies among us. And there is no need to hide this. I am betting on the Ash King, it¡¯s a fair bet, a level 900 entity is definitely stronger than the Undead King, and he has already killed the Undead King once. We all saw it. Power rules and the Ash King has a lot of it, I see no harm allying my force to his." Zhang Shi said.

    "But he is full of deceit, you saw how he colluded with the church to bring the Undead down, how he treated his allies and enemies, all was written in the old tomes of any major library of the game. The Ash King cannot be trusted," White Ghost said.

    "Yes, but still, what can he do? The Ash King is a part of this game, and the developers will not ruin the yer¡¯s gaming experience, even if the Ash King is unfair I doubt he will harm us yers, we are the ones making this game, not a bunch of pixels, so the Devs will surely have a contingency n if shit hits the fan." Zhang Shi shrugged.

    "You¡¯re trusting the Devs too much, who said that they will have it, and you¡¯re betting a lot on the Ash King, anyone could see that it¡¯s not safe to y it like this."

    "Safe is boring, the same as you, White Ghost, you keep nning, strategizing and then by the end, you got killed first when Skelly fought us. Your ns didn¡¯t save you there, he came in, without a n and still got the upper hand, even if he is our enemy, we should learn from him."

    "I could agree with thest part, but David Ruster is no ordinary man, it¡¯s not that he didn¡¯te with a n, he made one on the run that day. You underestimate his mental capabilities and clearly undervalue his wit and reaction, that man had yed this game risking not a few coins, pixels and items of a defined value, when he first yed this game, that man was risking his life."

    White Ghost calmed down a bit then added with a low tone,

    "Losing was no option for him, this defined him, honed him, made the hidden gem he was, the bright shining diamond he is right now. The only difference between you and him, was that when he first started, it was not for the sake of gaining more fame and renown, it was actually to have a chance of surviving in the real world."

    "What does that have to do with anything?" the right hand of Zhang Shi spoke.

    "It has to do with everything, look back at the days Skelly was first ying, it didn¡¯t feel like much at first, a man in something far beyond his scope. And I would wager my entire gaming career, that if it was any one of us, it would have turnedpletely different. And look at him now, we are being invited to a coronation of his, the first in the game, a yer adopted to be the next heir to a true King of the game.

    "But we are kings," Zhang Shi said in a scoff.

    It was true, the guild-masters were all kings in the world of Conquests. They all ruled a kingdom and made NPCs bend the knee.

    "We are not kings," White Ghost said. "We are Usurpers, we have taken what we didn¡¯t earn. We have waged war against the owners of thends, and killed their kings and took the mantle for ourselves. However, Skelly, no, Kis¡¯Shtiengbrah, he started from nothing, amon Skeleton, then grinded his way up, ranked up, did quests that any would think impossible, broke the limit of what any man could believe themselves only capable of. And now, has earned kingship, the right way, his kingship is far truer than ours."

    "You¡¯re praising him so much one would think you¡¯ve fallen for him," Zhang Shi scoffed.

    "One should know and respect his enemies, and if you keep underestimating Kis¡¯Shtiengbrah more, your next encounter will be no different than yourst."

    "Humpf, thest time my Legacy didn¡¯t work."

    "Keep telling yourself that. You were bested, we all were. And we even outnumbered and trapped him. That guy is dangerous, and if you don¡¯t fear danger, then you¡¯re nothing short of a fool." White Ghost added thest line as the carriage came to a halt.

    The yers left the carriage and were utterly andpletely stupefied.

    "Damn, this is really the Dead Realm." Valentine said.

    And it was as if the Pink Guardian had said, they were stopped in the area in front of the Dead Realm, where millions upon millions of Undead covered thend. From normal Skeletons and other low tier undead, all the way to Death Knights, Undead by numbers so many one would feel the need to spend ages to count them one by one.

    There were so many of them that you couldn¡¯t see space between one and another. Yet, these undead have left a clear path forward for the yers to move through.

    The Undead didn¡¯t speak, they stood tall, gazing upon the yers, their hands on their swords, clearly a warning for the yers not to do anything foolish.

    A swirl of shadows materialized in front of the yers, a lich in light blue robes hovered lightly in the air, in his hand was a skull scepter, and a cool air continuously poured out of his body.

    "Wee." Spoke the lich.

    "That¡¯s Du¡¯Rhaza, wasn¡¯t he a level 120 mob in the Ice Queen¡¯s Pce Dungeon?" one of the Guild Masters of a powerful yet not a Super Guild Spoke.

    "Didi, you¡¯re right, that Dungeon was one of the first that Skelly brought down, he must have released this one from captivity." Valentine said.

    "Oh, I see you speak of Prince Kis¡¯Shtiengbrah, he really is a good friend of mine," Du¡¯Rhaza said.

    "Oh, is that so,"

    "Yes, in fact not only do I owe him my life, I also owe him my allegiance and servitude," Du¡¯Rhaza said.

    "Well, he became a prince," Valentine said.

    "We Undead honor others not by just their titles, but by the strength of one¡¯s mettle. Did you know that he bested me inbat while he was still a young Death Knight? It was one of my proudest moments."

    "Your sense of pride is messed up, howe you feel proud while losing? And isn¡¯t it actually normal, he is a Knight, you¡¯re a Lich, it¡¯s already clear who will win, the moment he stepped in your close quarters you were dead." Zhang Shi said.

    "Oh, is that so, then would you like to spar? To fight someone who believes they have the ability to kill me will be a great honor."

    "Don¡¯t pull me in this political bullshit, you¡¯ll just use this as a pretext to assault us." Valentine said.

    Suddenly, the already dark world shuddered and turned darker. Samael, and Da both appeared behind Du¡¯Rahza.

    "We Undead do not thrive in deceit, if you truly wish to spar, none shall hold you in contempt after your victory. You have my word," Samael said.

    "And mine," Da said.

    It was a clear promise to the two, that once the Abyssal Knights promised their safety, that the spar would hold no disadvantage to them no matter the oue.

    Yet the thing that made all clear, and doubtless was once another sentence was spoken.

    "And my promise..."

    It was only three words, but when they were uttered, all Undead around the group of yers knelt down, scaring the living souls out of the yers.

    It was the Undead King who spoke, and it meant that the yers had no choice but battle.

    "G-good," Zhang Shi said.

    ¡¯I¡¯m a Sword Master¡¯ he thought, ¡¯I¡¯m even better suited to fight against the lich than Skelly, hell he said he fought him when he was a Death Knight that means that this guy isn¡¯t much. Death Knights are just small fries for us Super Guild Masters. Doom Knights are the real hassle, like this one in front of me, but if Skelly won, I could also win.

    Zhang Shi looked up at the abyssal Knights, ¡¯At least I don¡¯t get to fight one of those guys, their mere presence is making my skin crawl.

    "Right then, let¡¯s spar."

 Chapter 465 - DuRhazas Skill

    <h4>Chapter 465 - Du''Rhaza''s Skill</h4>

    Almost immediately, the two were teleported to the Undead Battle Arena.

    The rest of the yers found themselves on the arena seats, all looking at Zhang Shi and Du¡¯rhaza.

    Name: Du¡¯Rhaza. Lich.

    Tier: Doom-Knight Rank.

    Danger level: [Temporarily Neutral]

    Level: 550

    Base Damage: 250,000-320,000

    HP: 5,000,000

    DN: 50,000

    MA: 155,000

    Skills:

    [Freeze] (Passive) All of Lich Du¡¯Rhaza¡¯s skills deal Freezing Damage. After a certain amount of Freezing Damage is dealt to the yer. They will turn to [Ice Statue]. Bing immobile for 2 seconds. The next attack on the [Ice-Statue] has a 5% chance of instantly executing them.

    [Frozen Death]: (Passive) Continuously Saps life from the living and transforms it into his own health. Steals 0.1% of targets around him per seconds and converts it to HP.

    [Icy Burial] Surrounds the target with an ice tomb. Dealing 100% of base Damage in -Freezing Damage and burning 50% of their max Stamina.

    [Frozen Necromancy] Summons ice-creatures as undead to attack Du¡¯Rhaza aggressors.

    [Ice Aura]: releases an ice aura that slows and saps a target¡¯s stamina.

    [Icemancer]: (Passive) Full mastery over ice magic. Can control ice, bend it and shape it to whatever form Du¡¯Rhaza wishes. Ice attacks deal base attack damage in magic damage.

    Lore:

    One of the strongest units under Arch-Lich Da -Abyssal Knight- of the Undead Legion. The ck Skull Order trapped Du¡¯Rhaza in the Ice Queen¡¯s Pce. Not wanting to waste his immortality, Du¡¯Rhaza delved into ice magic and managed to fuse both Undeath and Ice magic which made him one of the most unique Liches. He now uses the freezing element to cause death to his enemies.

    ***

    Zahang Shi frowned a bit, the Lich¡¯s Level was higher than his own, he just reached the level 500. But if Dave won against him, so could he, he thought and he was going to put this idea to the test.

    The battle started once a resounding, "FIGHT!?? sounded through the arena.

    Du¡¯Rhaza hovered in the air and waved his hands, a few dozen Spectral Skulls appeared around him.

    "Oh I know this, this is what Skelly first started with, the Spectral Skulls, low damage but nasty kick-back effect." Valentine said.

    "Yeah, they¡¯re all depending on how to use them, and that Skelly was damn proficient at using them," Wan Yi said.

    Zhang Shi drew his katana and sliced as fast as he could, a blinding ray of sword light shot out, shing into the Spectral Skulls and headed toward the Lich.

    The Lich grinned and waved hand in front of him, summoning arge chunk of ice that blocked the projectile, while the skulls moved unharmed forward.

    The skulls blew up in Zhang Shi¡¯s face while he moved about dodging the explosions in a choreographed manner.

    Zhang Shi approached the Lich and shed at him when he was close. Yet Du¡¯Rhaza¡¯s cane was in the way, blocking the flimsy attack with barely an effort.

    Ice spikes rose from the ground, one managed to slice at Zhang Shi¡¯s thigh but he evaded the remaining spikes with ease.

    Du¡¯Rhaza made a grasping motion, forcing water to turn into ice and rise up from under Zhang Shi in an ice shaped giant grasping hand.

    Zhang Shi sliced at the ice breaking the hand¡¯s finger and evading the attack only to find more Spectral Skulls waiting for him.

    Disadvantaged, Zhang Shi used [Blood Escape], giving up a small portion of his HP to teleport his body right behind the Lich.

    He shed down in one single motion only to have the Lich swat away the sword with his cane.

    "Not bad, but not enough, Ice Aura!" The Lich conjured his Aura Skill, forcing the weather to turn colder and colder. Ice gathered around the Lich and over the yer encasing him in a thinyer of ice.

    Zhang Shi used an anti-crowd effect Skill and escaped the Lich¡¯s Aura before he was turned to an ice statue.

    He then resumed battle with a greater ferocity. Zhang Shi poised himself in a single draw katana stance, then sliced forward. This spell, as Davehad mentioned thest time, was pretty simr to the Tengu¡¯s only it was quite slower.

    Du¡¯rhaza didn¡¯t even bother to dodge, he just controlled some of the ice on the ground to tilt the pavements Zhang Shi was standing on. This broke Zhang Shi¡¯s stance and his Skill.

    "You have good techniques, but youck knowledge of when to use them best." Du¡¯Rahzamented.

    "Shut up, you bag of bones," Zhang Shi pulled his sword and dug it deep into his stomach.

    His sword, tainted and bloodied now became more fearsome, this was Zhang Shi activating one of his most potent Legacy Skills, it empowered his attacks, made his shes causecerating wounds, and poisoned his enemies. Though thest two effects were useless against Undead, the damage power up was more than good enough for Zhang Shi.

    Zahng Shi sprinted forward, ignoring the coalsing ice on his body, and once he was in range, he sted out his own Aura Skill.

    [Blood Aura]

    Tides of blood rushed into the arena, fusing with the ice and rendering it useless. Bar the ice and frost in the air, Du¡¯Rhaza had no way to use the ice on the ground. And on the other hand, Zahng Shi could control the blood to attack Du¡¯Rhaza.

    "Now this is more like it," Du¡¯Rhaza joked then raised his staff up.

    Spears of ice materialized in the air and fell down like an endless stream. Zhang Shi moved left and right dodging the projectiles then swatted away some that he couldn¡¯t.

    He jumped up and sliced at Du¡¯Rhaza¡¯s neck, but thetter simply released his hold on his flying ability and fell down,pletely evading the strike.

    Zhang Shi dropped and turned to face Du¡¯Rahza, now that the Lich was on the ground, he had a better chance at fighting it.

    Just as Zhang Shi ran forward, Du¡¯Rahza smiled saying, "It¡¯s been a good match.

    Two ice dragons, oddly familiar to the dragons Dave conjured whenever he struck with his Sworn Stalwart gauntlets appeared and dove at Zhang Shi.

    "You guys think he could win?" Wan Yi asked.

    "He is not a bad yer, but I don¡¯t think it will be easy. Fighting against an Undead that uses slowing effects is really nasty." White Ghost said.

    "You wouldn¡¯t have such a problem," Warlord said.

    "Yes, the holy element is pretty potent against them, but look up," White Ghost said.

    The yers looked up where he was pointing, "That pce, it¡¯s the Bone Pce, where the Undead King rules, and on top of it is something that is terrifying. My spells are all grayed out, and it¡¯s all because of that thing. If I were to fight, I¡¯d be ughtered in a second."

    "Right, holy element is pretty much unusable here," Warlord said.

    "Who would in their sane mind use the holy element in thend of the Undead,"

    "Oh, something¡¯s happening," The Arkadia Guildmaster said.

    As Zhang Shi finished shing up the two dragons, more ice was gathering right above him. He was too preupied with the two beasts headed his way that he didn¡¯t notice that the sky turned white.

    Skulls, tens of thousands of skulls hovered in the sky, they weren¡¯t spectral anymore, they were made of ice.

    "Fall!" Du¡¯Rhaza called and the hail of ice skulls dropped like bullets forward.

    Zhang Shi choked a yelp and began shing with his sword at the iing skulls, yet no matter how hard he struck, how fast he struck, eventually one would bypass his defense.

    And once the first struck his shoulder, destabilizing him, the rest fell down like an avnche of ice.

    Bulldozing his body like wrecking balls, smashing him into the floor and breaking the pavement. Zahng Shi¡¯s HP dropped like a steel ball in the ocean.

    "Blood Barrier!" Zhang Shi activated a defensive Skill that allowed him a few seconds of survival while he began thinking of what to do next.

    Yet the iing attack never stopped or seemed to stop, this shocked him greatly, how did Kis¡¯Shtiengbrah win against this? This was clearly impossible to beat.

    Looking at his HP, he had barely a tenth of his max, he sacrificed more to use [Blood Escape], evading the area of the attack, but right as he found himself free of the assault, more than a dozen ice dragons were already in wait.

    The match ended almost instantly afterward as the ice dragons dove forward, Zhang Shi,¡¯s HP dropped to 1, and didn¡¯t go under. It was a spar condition, the enemy will not die as they will reach 1 HP if an attack was lethal.

    "Du¡¯Rhaza has emerged victorious!" the same speaker of the arena shouted.

    "Very well fought, human," Du¡¯Rahza said.

    Then he turned to the rest of the yers and asked, "Would anyone else wish to spar?"

    **** Please Make sure to read this story on , if you are reading Rise of the Undead legion anywhere else then you are on a pirating website, do not ept to offer any kinds of payment to such people as they are non-repsecting of author¡¯s right and I, as the writer am not benefiting from their schemes in any way possible.****

 Chapter 466 - A Kingly Reward

    <h4>Chapter 466 - A Kingly Reward</h4>

    "No, we¡¯re good, we had fun watching this spar but we would not like to exhaust you before this event starts," Spoke the White Ghost saving everyone else the awkwardness of a battle against the Lich that brought down one of the game¡¯s strongest yers with an utmost ease.

    The lich in question smiled, "It is understandable, though we undead do not tire, or exhaust, we understand what you wish for. Then, shall we move to the main hall?"

    White Ghost didn¡¯t miss the underlying scorn, but he didn¡¯t dare rebut the lich, he, who was the only one among the yers that could possibly kill the Lich was stripped out of his prows, which would mean utter andplete humiliation to anyone daring to fight the lich. Even Warlord will find himself at a disadvantage, his Legacy enabled him to shine in the battlefield, against many opponents, and not a single NPC in a spar, he would be destroyed with ease if the Lich used the samebo again.

    "Please lead the way," White Ghost said.

    Du¡¯Rhaza pped his hands, teleporting all the yers to the Bone Pce entrance, they were all being led by the death knights that were standing at the gate. There was no way for any of the yers to sneak out of the encirclement to spy on the city¡¯s fortifications but from within the walls of the Undead City, they had seen what would make anyone¡¯s skin crawl.

    Undead, not just regr tiered ones, but Death Knights and Doom Knights, standing on the rooftops, on the streets, and even on the walls of the Bone Pce, all gazing at them with unflinching, uncaring and pitiless eyes.

    The yers, against all their better judgment, felt like they were sheep being led to the ughterhouse, and they had no say in it.

    Once they arrived at the pce¡¯s main entrance, a chorus of sounds, music, unholy, loud, and blood pumping sted from horns and drums that sounded through the whole of the city.

    A voice spoke up, loud and clear for all to hear, even sounded higher than the beating of the blood shivering music.

    "Leaders of the World of Conquest have arrived! Wee to his Majesty, The Undead King¡¯s abode.

    The yers moved slowly up the spiraling stairs where many Undead waited in still attention. They all had their palms on the pummels of their swords.

    Once the yers reached the top of the tower and were in the King¡¯s Hall, they noticed the presence of many others at the side of the king.

    Bar the six Abyssal Knights, who were forever present by the King¡¯s side, and at hismand, Da was nowhere to be seen.

    The Ice Queen, ruler of frost stood along with herpanion Jura. The Elven King, one of the rarest NPCs to see in the world of Conquest, and presumably the mightiest of the Overworld dwellers.

    Omen, The Hand of the Lords, a mighty half deity, who was able to single-handedly stop every adventurer from Conquest to obtain an ancient relic belonging to the God of the Night Nox. The Relic was presumed to be an S ss legacy Item that could release the quest for the Night God Nox. But due to how powerful Jura was, no yer was able to best him in a one versus one.

    Bam, the Oracle, the one who was responsible for the protection of one of the world¡¯s pirs. The mountain of Glory, that would hold the world of Conquest from submitting to chaos, and protecting I from external dangers as told in books. Bam was not just a simple Oracle; he was a powerful entity on his own. Many tried to fight him and see what powers he had, and what forces he was prevented from entering the game world. But none managed to do so, and the Mountain of Glory remains standing to this day.

    Lords anddies of the World of Conquest, known by their neutral stand regarding the forces of the Undead have all been invited, some were dukes and counts belonging to the different kingdoms of the world of Conquest, and some were rogue powerful entities that epted the King¡¯s Invitation.

    The Undead King was sitting on his throne, a hand supporting his chin, and the other holding the skull on the armrest. Once the yers entered the room, all eyes turned to them, for a fraction of a second then returned to where they were the first time. Speaking to each other, not caring for the presence of such people.

    Perhaps the King¡¯s Invitation had exactly such a purpose, Warlord and Wan Yi, the hotheads of the group were the first to understand and be offended, but they were soon calmed down by their right hands. The rest didn¡¯t care, they wanted to see what was going to happen now.

    Yet the final and most important character of the game was not present at all.

    "Where is he?" asked Wan Yi.

    "Who?"

    "Skelly, I don¡¯t see him, isn¡¯t he supposed to be here, I mean this whole thing is about his coronation and stuff."

    "You should know, that in these events the main character always entersst. He should be here any moment now, and this event will end and we will get our EXP and rewards for attending." Warlord spoke while having both hands folded in front of him.

    "I bet he¡¯s trying to take one of the temples down while we¡¯re all gathered here." The guild leader of Arkadia spoke.

    "I doubt it, at least for my region, I ced more than two thousand yers to guard the entrance of the Ash King¡¯s temple." Zhang Shi spoke.

    "Just two thousand?" the voice of a seductive beauty spoke through the hall.

    It was no wonder that all these entities that were present in the hall could easily hear what the yers were talking about.

    "Do you think two thousand are enough to stop Kis¡¯Shtiengbrah?" she added.

    "Shit, it¡¯s her." Zhang Shi uttered.

    "Oh, if it isn¡¯t you, who dared harm his majesty, Lord Kis¡¯Shtiengbrah, how fortunate it is to see you here," Lilith Spoke in a cold tone enough to send shivers down the spine of a cold-blooded snake.

    Zhang Shi backed up, his hand on his sword and ready to battle.

    "Fret not, we are obliged by the Knight¡¯s code of honor, we do not attack our guests. Unless the guest is acting in a manner unbefitting of their status."

    "Chill dude," Valentine said, "She¡¯s yanking on your chains, don¡¯t let her rattle you. They¡¯re all looking for an excuse to kill us, don¡¯t give them that."

    "Smart man, still, you have not answered me, Follower of the Blood God. Do you believe two thousand are enough to stop the might of lord prince Kis¡¯Shtiengbrah?"

    "Yes. He could be strong, but the fortification I have in my kingdom is more than enough to stop even your undead army." Zhang Shi proudly dered.

    "Is that so, then perhaps you shall be surprised," Lilith smiled.

    Zhang Shi frowned, he immediately called his HQ and requested an immediate briefing and detailed report on what is happening under the cathedral that hosted the Ash King¡¯s temple.

    The response came immediately, nothing was going on, and everything was perfectly good. No one trespassed into their kingdom and the yers inside the dungeon haven¡¯t reported anything out of the ordinary.

    Having been calmed by the good news, Zhang Shi smiled back at the vampire and said, "As I said, he can¡¯t do shit to my turf."

    Not a second passed, a notification popped up in front of the yers.

    Conquest Server Announcement!

    yer Kis¡¯Shtiengbrah had sessfully thwarted the ns of the Ash-King to offer yers of the Northern Kingdom his Demonic Powers.

    Currently, the Ash King¡¯s Northern Demonic Temple is no longer active!

    "Bloody hell???" Zhang Shi blurted the words, unbelieving his eyes or ears.

    Lilith¡¯s smirk only served to add more salt to his fresh wound as he called the HQ immediately.

    "What the f.u.c.k is going on?!"

    "Sir, we don¡¯t know, everything is perfectly fine, even the chalice, it¡¯s right here, that notification must be faulty!"

    "Get Albert to exin!"

    A few secondster, the same yer called Zhang Shi, speaking words that made him speechless.

    "What¡¯s going on?" White Ghost barely managed to hold the scorn and ask a question properly.

    "Albert says nothing is wrong with the server notification and he did take the chalice. But I don¡¯t understand if he did, why is it still in its ce?" Zhang Shi asked.

    "Do you have a yer that could share a live feed from the temple?"

    Zhang Shi hesitated at replying, but White Ghost said, "Dude, your temple is already ruined, there is no need for me to care or give a damn about what kind of stuff you have there, once Skelly took the chalice, all of that is useless, share the feed, I could probably see what went wrong."

    Zhang Shi had to trust what conquestmunity called the mightiest strategist of the game had to say, perhaps he could see more than what Zhang Shi could, and even if he saw the traps and other surprises he had there, that wouldn¡¯t mean much anymore.

    Zhang Shi shared the feed, and like what the yer had just said, everything was intact, even the chalice was in its ce.

    However, White Ghost still frowned as he was checking the feed.

    "Tell the yer to look closely at theva, something doesn¡¯t add up."

    Zhang Shi did as asked and once the yer focused on the magma, White Ghost smiled and said, "You better call your yers and have them leave the area fast. Otherwise, they¡¯ll start dying."

    "Why, what¡¯s going on?" Zhang Shi asked.

    "The Lava current, on the far side of theke, it¡¯s moving faster than near the bridge. They¡¯re in an illusion, all of that is fake. And if what happened in the first of Skelly¡¯s attacks on the chalice, a Sworn Stalwart might be there, your call."

    Zhang Shi took a shocked breath and shouted orders for the yers to cast Vows of Silence, a skill that could disable all the magic in an area.

    Almost immediately after one of the yers cast the spell, the whole of the cave morphed and changed to its actual current status, the chalice was no longer there, and an enormous Stalwart was Standing right in front of the yer filming the whole thing.

    The illusion was so strong that the yer had not even noticed that his HP had drained to the critical level from just the Sworn Stalwart¡¯s presence in the vicinity.

    Chaos unfurled as the Stalwart finally began its massacre.

    Zhang Shi stopped the feed, saving himself further embarrassment.

    Lilith didn¡¯t even need to speak, she didn¡¯t have to, Zhang Shi had been humiliated enough for one day.

    Without a notice, two undead walked through the hall¡¯s entrance.

    "Hey, supp everyone," Dave spoke in a cheerful voice, next to him was Da.

    "You¡¯re a ve driver lord prince," Da was shaking his head.

    "Well, you said the favor was too much, so..."

    "Yes, yes, but I haven¡¯t cast an illusion such as that one in a long time," Da replied.

    The two were smiling without a care in the world.

    "Childe, I see youe with yet another sessful raid upon the Ash King¡¯s dominion.

    "Yeah, he¡¯s really bad at guarding his thingies. Oh, hey guys, you¡¯re all here," Dave said addressing the guildies.

    "Sorry Zhang Shi, but honestly man, you should really level up your trapping techniques, a child would have seen through those, man."

    Zhang Shi was about to go on a murder rampage, but it was clear to everyone that that was not going to happen, and if it did, it was nothing short than a suicide with all these powerful entities present right now.

    "Lord, I havee to you with a great present," Da said.

    "Well, speak, what is it that you wish to gift this King?"

    Da smiled then pped his hands.

    Right after the hand p, the sound of a vicious, thundering dragon roared in the skies above the Undead Realm.

    The undead king waved a hand, causing the entire roof of the King¡¯s Hall to disappear or be see-through, Dave couldn¡¯t tell which at the time.

    Right under the shine of the broken moon, the silhouette of a bone dragon flew across the sky.

    The Bone Dragon, fully intact and vicious in nature roared continuously then it parched on one of the walls of the Undead City.

    "A wonderful gift indeed, but, We have yet to know of the death of another Dragon but the one Our Childe had intely, is this the body of another dragon?"

    "No, your majesty, in fact," Da hesitated then said, "This is the dragon that Lord Kis¡¯Shtiengbrah had in himself, but he asked me to reanimate it and gift it to you, as a payment for a favor I have given him."

    "What was the favor?" the king asked.

    "It was my personal aid in controlling the cities of Qin and aiding Kis¡¯Shtiengbrah with some minor matters," Da said.

    The undead king nodded and turned to Dave, "You have done well by repaying what you are owed, but I believe that a dragon as a gift is too much to repay a favor as small as that one, don¡¯t you believe so, Da."

    "I have said the same."

    "Very well, then I shall repay your kindness both, Da, you may enter the royal treasury, take whatever you wish as your reward."

    "May I take the Lifeless Drops?"

    "Indeed, you may."

    The Undead King then turned to Dave and said. "As for you Childe, I have nothing in my treasury that could be worth your time. Weapons and armor, you have better than all I have in there, gold is meaningless, and terrain, you have of as much as one king can rule by themselves. So, what should your award be?" the Undead King said.

    "I need nothing, all I want I have already obtained, and if I need anything else I¡¯ll get it with my own hands."

    "Spoken like a true Undead, yet it shall not satisfy Us to appear miserly in front of Our audience." The Undead King stood up.

    "Then here ye, from here onwards, the Undead Prince, Kis¡¯Shtiengbrah shall have a one-timemand over my army. All of the Undead Army. You may lead it to burn and pige or petty vengeance, all is forgiven and all shall be overlooked."

    The Undead King¡¯s words fell heavy on everyone¡¯s ears, not even Dave could believe it...

 Chapter 467 - A Brewing Storm

    <h4>Chapter 467 - A Brewing Storm</h4>

    "Thank you," Dave said while giving a half bow.

    "It is the way of kings, We must return generosity ten times, and vengeance even more so." The undead king uttered as he gazed upon the people in his hall.

    "And for now, let the coronation of Our Childmences!"

    A loud fanfare and music echoed through the pce, unlike what should be in a joyous event such as a coronation, the music was bone-chilling, more like the chorus of hell. Yet for the Undead this was probably the only kind of music they would ever listen to. Or so they thought..

    "Oh, starting the party without me, that ain¡¯t cool," spoke the voice of a well know, very famous, and pretty dangerous guy.

    Nichs, the Undeath God, appeared in the middle of the hall. Without a moment to waste, all undead and NPCs knelt down, including the Elven King, the Undead King, and even the Ice Queen. The only ones that remained standing were the yers, Dave, and Bam the oracle.

    "Don¡¯t be like this, I¡¯m just here for the fun of it," Nick joked and pulled out his guitar.

    "Who the f.u.c.k is this guy?" Zhang Shi spoke, and to his words, the gazes of every undead bar the Undead God himself turned to him.

    "You better not insult him here, buddy, and you could inspect him yourself," Dave smirked.

    Zhang Shi remembered that he actually had an inspection skill and he didn¡¯t use it. And it was clear to Dave that he had just done so, as Zhang Shi took a couple of steps back, fear painted in his eyes.

    It¡¯s not every now and then that a yer gets to meet one of the Game¡¯s literal Gods. And Nick was not as simple as any other one. Proven truly so by his next words...

    "Let¡¯s GET THIS PARTY STARTED!"

    The moment he struck the strings on his guitar, beauties wearing spiked leather jackets and heavy white makeup appeared in the hall. Drummers, guitarists, and bassists all appeared with their musical instruments as a metal fest began.

    The Undead around the pce began headbanging, soldiers turned to mobs, shouting to the music as Nick plucked the strings of his skull guitar, its sound making the whole of the Bone Pce shake from the vibrations.

    Every undead moved to the beats, every undead roared and howled as the music sored. Bar the high tier ones, and the nobles as they had no idea what kind of music was this, nor had they ever heard of it. But at least they were smart and wise enough not to question the taste of a god.

    Dave was left stupefied, not to mention the other yers. How did the situation turn to this? Only Nick can change a coronation to a rock festival.

    The music continued on for a long while until Nick was satisfied and smashed his guitar onto the ground, the skull-shaped guitar didn¡¯t break, yet the whole pce shook and arge portion of the floor caved in.

    "Oh, I got carried away, I¡¯ll fix thister," Nick shrugged then turned to Dave.

    "Kid, you came a long way."

    "Yeah, no thanks to you," Dave snorted.

    To his casual words, the Undead King¡¯s fists closed firm. "Kis¡¯ Shtiengbrah..." The Undead King utter the name.

    Dave saw worry in the Undead King¡¯s eyes and also noticed his hand on the pommel of his night-ck sword.

    Dave smiled, this was a good king, he had feared that Undead God might be offended, and was willing to fight the Undead God for him.

    Dave nodded at the Undead King to be at ease, then turned to Nick.

    "Technically, it was all thanks to me, but I get it, you¡¯re still pissed about the Heart and all that crap, but that doesn¡¯t matter anymore, you got all you ever wanted right?" Nick said.

    "What I want is not just this, Nick," Dave said. "I want everything," Dave said while spreading both arms.

    "And so should one of the Undead Be, Your Unholiness, will you grace [Me] with your presence as [I] coronate [My] Childe?" the Undead King said.

    "Of course, he is also my Champion."

    "So be it, Childe,e and sit here," the Undead King pointed at the throne.

    He lifted a brow up in question, that was the Undead King¡¯s throne, but the king¡¯s smile was a sign of acknowledgment and wee. Dave nodded and followed the King¡¯s request.

    Once he sat, everything turned somber. And all over conquest, arge screen popped up in the sky, showing the yers what was going on in the hall.

    Dave sitting on the Throne of the Undead King, and thetter moving toward him, his sword drawn.

    "Today, We take you, Kis¡¯Shtiengbrah, the Forlorn Hope of the Legion, into Our Arms. Today, you have proven yourself, not only part of Us but one of Us. For today, your bones and flesh, the rotten blood in your veins, has be one of Us. You have earned your seat, you have earned your ce, and have earned your honor.

    Childe, would you ept Us as your foster father?" the Undead King questioned.

    "Without a hesitation," Dave replied.

    "Then so be it, Childe, today Marks the day that you be Kis¡¯Shtiengbrah of Arotsa. My Undead Heir. Prince of the Undead, Ruler of all Undead Once I am no longer here." The Undead King ced the sword on Dave¡¯s Right shoulder then on his left.

    He then turned, raised his sword up then pointed it forward.

    "Does anyone have an objection to what THIS KING HAS SPOKEN?!"

    None dared move, or utter a word, they all knew that speaking was nothing short of suicide in this situation.

    The Undead King dropped his sword, then pulled out a Si Ring. He ced it in Dave¡¯s pinky finger, and surprisingly even if Dave had already four rings on his hands, the fifth ring, did not get unequipped.

    "Then So it has be, and So it shall be. Arise, Undead Prince Kis¡¯ Shtiengbrah!"

    Dave stood up, and loud horns blew to warn the world of the birth of an Undead Prince.

    From all over the World of Conquest, every creature, every human, and none human knew that the Undead Have now a new Prince. And this came with a huge cmitous surprise.

    ***

    The Undead Legion has now a new Prince, their future hope carved in stone.

    All Undead Will receive an increase in their attacking ability and defensive abilities of 20% permanently.

    All Undead Will drop more precious rewards.

    The Undead Expansion has been set to open Once the Ash King is defeated.

    Once the Undead Expansion is unlocked, all yers will have the ability to transform to Undead.

    Undead Personally Turned by Kis¡¯Shtiengbrah will have a slight advantage over regrly turned yers.

    ***

    "Now that¡¯s pretty dope," Dave uttered.

    "Son, We, shall ask for your aid in the raid upon the Ash King¡¯s dominion. Shall you lend it to us?"

    "Of course, without a question, I want that guy dead the most," Dave said.

    "Then so be it, We march against the Ash King Soon, be ready." The Undead King spoke, his words clear and loud so that the yers will hear them.

    This made them shake, the Undead King will be attacking the Ash King, and they have lost three Temples that could help them to aid the Ash King. The Only remaining Temple is the one that the Heaven Dawn guild owns. And if Dave really wanted, he could also bring it down.

    The White Ghost was not going to let him, but if what happened to the Blood Ragers guild were to happen again, thatrge scale illusion will definitely cost them the Chalice.

    White Ghost immediately issued a silent order to his guild members to assign yers to rotate and cast Vow of Silence, this way if a spell is cast, they could at least have a warning and a fighting chance to protect the Chalice.

    While White Ghost was busy with his antics, the whole of the Underworld Shook.

    "Hooo," spoke Nick, an evil smile that could match Skelly¡¯s smile crept upon his face.

    "What is going on?" Warlord Asked.

    The Undead God kindly replied, "A couple of kids want to go out and y, I guess it¡¯s time you deal with that, kid."

    Dave had no idea what Nick was talking about, but the Tengu flew right through the Royal Hall and knelt down in front of the audience.

    Dave was surprised at how the Tengu looked now, he was broader in shoulders, higher in size and width, his ck raven wings now had dark golden feathers. It was the Doom Knight Transformation that happened to him.

    "Such insolence!" the Undead King spoke in a loud angry tone.

    "For my Insolence!" the Tengu pulled out his Katana, and in one swift, merciless motion cut off his left arm.

    "Impressive," The Undead King said. "You have not only severed the Flesh, but you also cut the Soul of your arm. If you had done any less, I would have had you erased."

    Dave understood that what the Tengu had done was extremely overbearing. By cutting the soul of his arm, no magic can repair it, and it will be truly dead. Attaching it back will not change the fact that it is a dead arm. This made him both worried and frustrated as one of his Underlings will now be unable to fight to the best of his abilities.

    "It is only a meager price to pay for my boldness, but I need to speak some words! This is a matter of utmost urgency!"

    Dave walked forward to the Tengu and left him up to his feet.

    "I dare not Stand in the presence of kings!" The Tengu Said.

    "You stand with me," Dave turned to the Undead King, and thetter nodded giving him permission.

    "What¡¯s going on?" Dave asked.

    "My children, they are attempting to leave their Labyrinth, they need to be calmed down or god only knows what will happen."

    "Oh, as a matter of fact, I¡¯m a god, and I know what¡¯s going to happen if you let those two little hooligans out."

    Dave frowned at Nick¡¯s choice of words; ¡¯Hooligan¡¯ was the term Demiurge always called Nick by.

    "They will start chaos here and take it up the outer world, you really don¡¯t want those two guys without a leech."

    "Go, sort this matter, as for you, take your hand with you, Marik, take care of it. He rules over Soul magic and your arm is nothing to him. This is For our Childe has sided with you, and we always Side with our Childe."

    "Thank you for your generosity, Dread Lord." The Tengu said.

    Marik Smiled to the Tengu, the sac of potato looked really weird while he smiled Dave thought. Marik had no distinct shape, he looked like a bag that could absorb anything, yet he was still one of the Seven Abyssal Knights of the Legion.

    Tendrils of blue ethereal magic burst out from the stump on the Tengu¡¯s arm and attached themselves to the limb on the ground, the two parts zapped back together and locked themselves perfectly and seamlessly.

    The Tengu did a few hand signs and stretches, making sure everything was alright.

    "Thank you," he said once more.

    "Let¡¯s go, it¡¯s time to sort this, once and for all," Dave said as he equipped Durandal and Ajax. The two bolted out of the hall leaving the yers and the rest of the invitees together, not fully knowing what was going on.

 Chapter 468 - Power Thief

    <h4>Chapter 468 - Power Thief</h4>

    The tengu flew high up, in his hand he was holding Dave, the Doom Knight Tengu¡¯s new strength was enough for him to carry himself and Dave with utter ease. The Tengu carried Dave to the teleportation gate, and they both entered, leaving through the other side of the Undead Frontier Raid Zond.

    The Tengu kept flying, and batting his wings, crossing over terrain with ease, bypassing all mountains and hills, and headed directly to the heart of a rampaging storm.

    In the depths of the raid zone, a storm churned with enough power that it could threaten all life that dared approach it. Lightning crackled and struck the ground with vicious strength, shattering boulders and dirt. Wind, cold as ice howled and raged, and clouds darker than night rumbled in wrath. The belly of the storm was a cyclone, that spun with speed far beyond what any normal storm could move with.

    Dave frowned, Raijin and Fujin are gods, not demi-gods or just powerful entities, they are truly gods, even if they were much weaker than the other divinities ruling over the world of Conquest, that did not reduce their danger.

    "The kids are unusually angry, this should not be happening, something has ticked them off," the Tengu said.

    "Let¡¯s check things up and see what pissed them off," Dave said, and the two dove down to the entrance of the dungeon.

    Like thest time, Dave and the tengu walked through the two massive pirs making the dungeon entrance, and once they stepped in, they found themselves inside a paved tunnel with spheres on the ceiling lighting the way.

    At the farthest end of the tunnel was a golden gate, it was open inwardly, one of the doors broken off its hinges and the other barely hanging on. The massive three thick doors were blown inwardly as if the fist of a god had smashed into them.

    This didn¡¯t bod well with Dave, someone had broken into the dungeon. Once Dave had a better and closer look at the gate, he saw traces of ck scorching on the gate. As if lightning had struck the whole gate. The gold on some of the carving on the door had melted off, probably from the heat the lightning had generated.

    This was of course all, just Dave analyzing what he saw. He walked in and began moving through the dungeon¡¯s corridors, careful that either of the two deities were not waiting in ambush, or whatever entered the dungeon.

    "Shouldn¡¯t we call for the aid of the rest of the troops, my lord?" the Tengu asked.

    "I tried that the moment we stepped into the dungeon¡¯s perimeter, it appears only you are allowed in, none of my other Undead can enter the dungeon for now. Something is blocking their ess, and since you¡¯re from this ce, I guess you¡¯re an exception," Dave said.

    "Hmm, I understand, then let¡¯s proceed with prudence, I sense the presence of vile magic. Much more terrifying and nefarious than Undead Magic."

    "Yeah, this ce is giving me the creeps," Dave said as he gazed at the scarred walls. The dungeon was not the same as it was thest time, it looked like it had aged for thousands of years.

    The very stones making the dungeon were cracked and fractured, dust gathered in corners, and walls ere frayed with lightning marks.

    "Could this be Raijin¡¯s doing?" Dave asked as he touched the marking on the walls trying to inspect them, yet came to no fruitful result.

    "No, Raijin might be a mischievous kid, but his lightning is pure and divine. This is ck lightning, it is inherently evil, its only purpose is to destroy." The Tengu replied.

    "Isn¡¯t normal Lightning Destructive?" Dave asked.

    "Not entirely lightning could be said to be the source of all life. When the first lightning struck, it was pure and blessed, it struck the water and created air, breathable air, giving life to nts, and gave life to creatures that crawled on the surface of thend. It has created life, as for this lightning, it is vile, devoid of all bless and once it touches anything, it shatters it, breaks it, and turns it to nothing." The tengu said.

    "Damn, that¡¯s nasty," Dave said, "But I can¡¯t help but feel that this is quite familiar, I just can¡¯t remember where I saw something like this before." Dave shrugged.

    The tegu bent and picked up a small nt, "What do you see my lord?" the tengu asked.

    "A nt? Perhaps it had a flower on it, but the stem is charred ck," Dave said.

    "Yes, but it is a dead nt, void of life and soul, once the ck lightning had touched it, it killed its soul. It was the same as what happened to my arm earlier, it will no longer sprout and no longer give birth to other nts. This is the difference between this vile lightning and Raijin¡¯s lightning. My kid¡¯s power would have given this nt the power to grow even stronger, but this vile magic had fully killed this weak defenseless creation."

    The Tengu threw the nt down and moved with a poised and purposeful march as if he was going to beat the living crap out of whatever harmed this ce and probably caused his kids some troubles.

    Dave and the tengu went past the area where the Cyclopes used to be, then they moved through more corridors only finding more destruction. The living area of the Tengu, the peaceful mountain with the red pagoda was razed to the ground. Yet the Tengu didn¡¯t even bat an eye or care, he was headed with an even faster pace than before, bypassing Dave and toward thest room of the dungeon.

    Dave walked down an enormous pathway, fit for five or six Drahma sized creatures to walk through side by sidefortably. Arge door, pretty simr to the entrance was locked in front of Dave and the Tengu. The door was the color of jade and it didn¡¯t have a blemish on it. It opened up, inviting the two in.

    Once they walked in, braziers lit up revealing a huge circr room withrge statues of monks and eastern warriors carved into the walls. And as usual, just as they moved past the gate, it closed, locking them in.

    A lightning bolt and a tornado came down and crashed on the tform revealing the two deities. Raijin and Fujin,

    The one on the right had a wild mane of reddish hair, his body was taut with well-defined muscle, including an impressive six-pack of abs. The other statue was bald with the build of a powerlifter, including the belly of a happy Buddha. He carried some sort of bag across his neck and shoulders and heavy, spiked cestus encased his thick forearms and fists. Both were depicted wearing only loose Arabian-style pantaloons with wide cloth belts wrapped around their middles.

    The tengu made shinobi seals with his hands, his speed incredibly faster than before, that Dave couldn¡¯t even see the symbols he was making. Finally, he created a triangle with his fingers and blew through it and toward the two gods.

    A green blueish me shot forward and covered the two gods, momentarily freezing them from action.

    "Lord, I have used Soul magic to calm them down, we¡¯ll have to be really careful not to enrage them or do any sudden actions, they are unconscious and what moves right now is not them, but the rage of the storm that is inside them."

    "Okay, I¡¯ll be quiet and let you do your thing," Dave said then wandered with his eyes upon the deities until he noticed an irregrity

    The two deities had only one thing that waspletely different from thest time Dave saw them. Arge patch of ck burns running through their chest area.

    ***

    Raijin

    Level: 749

    Tier: Holy

    Danger level: ? ? ?? ?

    Damage: 150,000-200,000

    HP: 950,000,000

    PD: 400,000

    MD: 400,000

    Skills:

    |Active Debuff | :

    Raijin has lost one Level of Power.

    [Lightning Aura] Lightning surrounds and protects Raijin. Random lightning bolts strike out from the aura doing 10% of the target¡¯s max HP as t damage and stuns targets for 5 seconds (Skill duration: Until dismissed).

    [Thunder Drum] Raijin strikes the tomoe drums around him, calling down thunder and lightning. When the lightning strikes the ground or a target it causes the status effects Dazed and Blindness.

    [El-Thor] Raijin¡¯s ultimate attack, calls down a powerful lightning strike that instantly kills any target that it hits, no matter what skill is used to protect oneself. The attack can be dodged but not blocked or defended against.

    [Brothers of the Storm] if either brother dies, the remaining brother enters a berserker state. yers have exactly 1 minute to kill the other storm brother or all their attackers will be executed (Passive Skill).

    Lore:

    Raijin, Son of Lightning, one of two mischievous brothers often called Sons of the Storm. He was gifted the power to see the past, present, and future.

    ***

    ***

    Fujin

    Level: 749

    Tier: Holy

    Danger level: ? ? ?? ?

    Damage: 150,000-200,000

    HP: 950,000,000

    PD: 400,000

    MD: 400,000

    Skills:

    |Active Debuff | :

    Fujin has lost one Level of Power.

    [Flesh Tearing Wind] storm-winds circle Fujin. The wind slowly drains anyone¡¯s HP by 1% every second (Skill duration: Until dismissed).

    [God of Wind Palm-strike] an elemental open-palm punch. Does 200% base damage in a cone area of effect.

    [God¡¯s Wrath] Fujin picks a primary target and stomps his foot doing 100% of base damage in a cone area of effect. All targets in the area of effect will be thrown into the air, the primary target will be struck repeatedly while in the air. The sequence inevitably leads to the primary target¡¯s execution and death.

    [Brothers of the Storm] if either brother dies, the remaining brother enters a berserker state. yers have exactly 1 minute to kill the other storm brother or all their attackers will be executed (Passive Skill).

    Lore:

    Fujin, Son of the Wind, he was said to be the harbinger of typhoons, causing the suffering of many sh.i.p.s at sea.

    ***

    Dave frowned deeply these two ¡¯monsters¡¯ of a god were powerful beyond recognition, yet something had stolen a level from them. Thest time Dave saw them they each were level 750 and now they are both 749. It might not look like much, but a level of strength at level 750 is incredibly powerful, and cannot bepared to hundreds of levels below it.

    Something hade and stole power from gods. And this made everything click in Dave¡¯s mind perfectly. The power thief, the Monk that kept chasing after Dave, could he be the one who stole the energy from these gods?

    Thest time Dave fought the monk he tried to take Satan yer¡¯s legacy, a godly strength, and by deduction, this could only mean that he attempted, no, he seeded in stealing from these two. Yet still things didn¡¯t add up.

    The monk was a pure physical fighter, he did have some magical prowess but they were all battle oriented, the lightning didn¡¯t fit in this scenario. Then it finally hit him.

    "F.u.c.k! Ashkar!" Dave called, and the Tengu Snapped his neck at Dave.

    The moment Dave uttered the word, the seemingly behaving gods roared at once.

    "You have spoken a word of Omen! My Kids apparently despise that name! Prepare for battle!"

    The two behemoths charged headfirst. Every step they made shook the ground, foretelling an impending doom.

 Chapter 469 - Clash of the Titans

    <h4>Chapter 469 - sh of the Titans</h4>

    Raijin, the lightening god rushed forward with speed, might, and momentum that Dave felt the whole dungeon shake. The massive behemoth chopped down with an open palm at Dave.

    Lightning crackled from his hand, blue vicious and deadly as the chop fell down. Dave jumped to the side as fast as he could but the destructive shockwave shook him to his core, and lightening managed to paralyze him for a small fraction of a second.

    Even if he was undead, he still suffered from the effect of paralysis the lightening caused, even if it was minor, against a god it was precious second, but against two, it was the equivalent of life and death.

    Fujin, the Wind God was already in wait for Dave¡¯s, his leg risen and ready to drop where he was standing.

    Dave had a fraction of a second to lift his shield up once the paralysis ended, and in that second he absorbed the power behind the stomp. The wind god, having lost bnce as that massive strength behind his attack was suddenly sucked into a void was about to stumble. And Dave helped him do just that, he rejected the attack back at the wind god, toppling his whole frame and lifting him up from where he stood.

    -6,450,000!

    Fujin took a massive hit to his Hp, this was of course his own power rejected upon him. But it didn¡¯t really matter, in fact, Fujin¡¯s massive HP pool seemed endless and that massive damaging hit didn¡¯t even ount to a drop of water in his bucket of HP.

    But Dave didn¡¯t despair, he had a lot of tools at his disposal, and was ready to duke it out with the two deities.

    "Lord!" the Tengu shouted.

    Dave turned and noticed that the Heavenly Dog was wrapped in chains of lightning, unable to move a muscle. Soon, he was fully propelled to the wall of the boss room.

    "What¡¯s going on?!" Dave asked

    "The kids, they don¡¯t wish me harm, even if they are controlled by something, their soul is being manipted with."

    "Right, don¡¯t worry then, it¡¯s best if you stay out of this fight anyway."

    "Here it goes, Tiny you¡¯re up, we¡¯re about to go Mega!" Dave called.

    The grave lord, considered a pet was not forced out of the dungeon. But for some reason, Dave didn¡¯t understand why Onixya was unable to join him in this battle, it would have been much easier.

    Tiny the slime emerged out of Dave¡¯s inventory, and coated him fully. Dave¡¯s size grew to match that of the two giant deities. The three hulking creatures were all the same size, however. Dave was still at a disadvantage, size didn¡¯t matter Afterall. (cough cough)

    He was still a far cry from the power of the two deities. Mainly his HP pool was a fraction of theirs. And his hitting power was not enough to contend with theirs. Dave swapped out the cursed Durandal and Ajax. He had a n in mind.

    His head grew an antler¡¯s skull to cover him, and his body flexed with new dark muscles, his chest reformed as bone armor grew on top. And his antlers morphed to match the shape of his Abyssal Knight Battle Crown. Golden Skulls appeared on his chest and his shoulders. The skinny Mega Dave turned brawny to match the two divines.

    He then struck at his chest, "Chaos!" activating the Chaos Runes, increasing his power by 300% at the cost of 1% HP lost every second.

    Fire surged around Dave, cracking and pulsing with infernal heat and might. His core, his body, and his strength became unbearably powerful that fire seeped out of his body. This was both taxing on Dave and Tiny.

    He rubbed at his earlobe, activating the legendary crazed warrior¡¯s trinket, Drahma¡¯s Own gift, and the source of the power of all giants descendant of titans.

    "Zealot!"

    Dave¡¯s already inted muscles grew a notch bigger, and jets of steam burst out from popping veins as they could not hold nor contain such might. Yet it was not enough!

    Dave grabbed at the pendant Da had given him. "Doubler!" And immediately doubled his strength to 2,000.

    "Herculean Strength!?? Dave cast, his muscles, seemingly swelled beyond possible grew even more. The sound of muscles tearing echoed through the room. He looked like a world champion powerlifter with cannons at the ready. Yet...it was not enough.

    "Now, for the main event!" Dave grinned a wide vicious grin.

    "WORLD BOSS!"

    ***

    Conquest Server Announcement!

    yer Kis¡¯Shtiengbrah has transformed into a world Boss! All yers are invited to seek and kill Abyssal Knight, Kis¡¯Shtiengbrah at the location [Storm Labyrinth] for luxurious rewards.

    Death at the Hand of Kis¡¯Shtiengbrah will penalize the dead yer 2 levels!

    ***

    ***

    You have turned into a World Boss!

    You have gained, [Abyssal Knight Glory!] For 12 in-game hours you will obtain the following effects:

    All of your skills and abilities will have a damaging and effect increase of 1,000%

    Your HP has been multiplied by 100!

    Your defensive states have been multiplied by 10

    Your Regeneration has been multiplied by 100!

    You are limited to the area of: Stormbyrinth. Once you leave the area, you will lose your [Abyssal Knight Glory] buff.

    ***

    Dave¡¯s body turned a shade darker, dark ethereal smoke gathered all around him and pulsated every second, like a living heart even if Dave¡¯s undead form had no heart.

    The mere fact of Dave closing his fist caused dark sparks to fly around it. He exhaled a breath that was visible as a torrent of smoke shot out like jets.

    "Now, who¡¯s ready to rumble!"

    Fujin was the first to react, he shot forward with an extended fist, aiming to rip Dave¡¯s head off with one punch.

    Dave rapidly drew the Sworn Stalwart Gauntlets and had Tiny fuse them into biggerrger ones that matched his size.

    Fujin and Dave both met in the middle with extended fists. The two punched at each other¡¯s fist. Dave felt his shoulder about to be ripped in ce, while Fujin was pushed a few feet back. Surprise clear on his face, as this was probably the first time anyone had ever matched him in fist power.

    Raijin kept pace and charged at Dave like a lightning bolt, he dove at Dave with fists extended like superman.

    Dave hurriedly ducked under, then rose up, grabbing at the flying Raijin and then smashed his headfirst into the ground. He then followed with a roundhouse kick to Raijin¡¯s abdomen that lifted the whole being up and sent him flying into the nearest wall of the dungeon room, which was at least a few hundred meters away.

    That massive size, and with that Strength, Raijin was sent spiraling into the wall, one could hardly believe such a scene happening in front of them, especially if the ¡¯projectile¡¯ in question was at least two hundred tons of weight.

    "Come at me!"

    Dave provoked and then charged ahead. At Fujin, the massive deity punched at Dave¡¯s chest, to which Dave tried once again to contend. Only this time Fujin was ready, his punch was more urate, his stance was better and poised to receive a shock, while Dave was an amateur fighter, Fujin was a god of fist fighting.

    The punch caused Dave¡¯s arm to snap, breaking upon contact. Fujin lifted his leg up and stomped like a sumo wrestler at Dave¡¯s knee, buckling it and breaking it from the joint.

    -12,000,000

    -8,000,000

    Dave was temporarily surprised, yet this didn¡¯t cloud his judgment. He mmed his still functioning arm on the ground and used all of his strength to pull himself away from Fujin¡¯s fists.

    He managed to make a good deal of distance between the two before he stood on one leg. As the second one was broken, and his right arm was fractured, the limb hanging uselessly.

    Dave grinned, he then grabbed at his hand and pulled tight, aligning the weakened flesh, the sound of snapping bones and morphing flesh echoed through the room. He then flexed his leg and it snapped back into the proper location. Dave made a few stretches and made sure everything was in ce.

    "Guess I¡¯ll have to take you guys a bit more seriously. Awakened Dragon!"

    mes surged around Dave, and evil ck dragons began manifesting from the smoke around him. Things were about to heat up.

 Chapter 470 - Were just getting warmed up!

    <h4>Chapter 470 - We''re just getting warmed up!</h4>

    Dave shed forward, headed for the now recovering Raijin. Mega Dave¡¯s speed became incredible, Raijin didn¡¯t even have a moment to adjust as Dave¡¯s knee smashed into his face. The massive draugr made a frontal flip with the remaining power behind his dash, then dropped and leg swept the golden god.

    Raijin fell back, but before he could even touch the ground, Dave¡¯s foot stomped on his side, sending him right back into the wall he had struck before.

    Fujin, seeing his brother being hammered, decided to help. He moved at a fast pace, every step he took was light, a sharp contrast to Dave¡¯s quaking steps. He then made a flying roundhouse kick at Dave, but thetter was ready. His hand had already reached and grabbed at Raijin¡¯s foot then he swung the massive creature into the path of the wind God¡¯s kick.

    Fujin smashed both Dave and his brother into the wall, incredible might came out form the power behind a martial artist god¡¯s kick.

    -6,250,000 <Kis¡¯Shtiengbrah>

    Dave suffered a lot of damage but it was notparable to the broken ribs Raijin took from his own brother¡¯s kick.

    -42,000,000 <Raijin>

    Dave pushed the lighting god off of him and swung a straight punch into the air, headed toward the wind god.

    The punch sted a ck ethereal dragon forward that dove through Fujin then coiled around him for extra damage. And a rooting effect.

    "EL THOR!" Raijin¡¯s mouth sted words of power that caused the sealing to shudder and shake.

    Dave saw sparks gathering right under him, and in a fraction of a second, he used [Immortal Apparition] disappearing from where he was as a bolt of lighting thicker than the empire tower dropped down on where he stood a moment ago.

    That was Raijin¡¯s one-hit kill skill. An Execution skill that would have killed Dave or probably dropped him to his [Unyielding] passive of 1% HP.

    Raijin had a ring with several drums on it. They were gushing smoke from the effects of El Thor.

    Fujin took a fighting stance, one fist tucked under his ribs, the other extended forward, his legs were posed, one in the front and one back while he made a half squat stance.

    Dave remembered this stance; it was the one Fujin used thest time he fought him and this was also Fujin¡¯s Execution skill.

    Fujin raised his leg up then mmed down, the wind picked up, but Dave¡¯s current form was too heavy for the impact to lift him up, however, this didn¡¯t mean that Fujin was about to stop his attack. In fact, the wind god smile then dashed forward, sending punches and jabs at Dave¡¯s face.

    Dave let go and gave control to [Awakened Dragon], one of his hands parried Fujin¡¯s Fist, then the other shot a fist forward at the wind god. Thette also parried then sent another Jab, this scenario continued on for long excruciating seconds as jabs and swings, fists and chops were exchanged and parried for both parties at the same time. Every contact they made created an explosive st in the air. As arm struck arm, fist struck fist, explosions like bombs echoed in the room from the might of the two.

    "MOOOOAAAR!" Dave roared!

    The wind god, pleased that someone was able to match his power increased the speed of his tricks, then began adding kicks and knee sticks, only to have Dave match him in power and speed. Every leg strike was blocked, every knee dodged or countered with a downward palm. And even an asional headbutt was stopped by another headbutt.

    Fujin took a few steps back, helped Raijin up, and beganughing. Hisughs broke the sound barrier and shook the whole room.

    Raijin felt that his brother¡¯s mood was also contagious and also began tough. And while they were at it, Dave noticed the ck mark on their chests visibly decreasing.

    "IIIDARO!!" Fujin uttered. "Kyodai, Hyomen ni Ikoo."

    "Daro, Ikuzo, Kyoda" Raijin replied.

    Dave didn¡¯t understand what the two were saying, but the Tengu Immediately exined, and in a rather panicked voice.

    "Lord! Buckle up, they¡¯ll take you to the surface!"

    Dave panicked; this was bad! If what the Tengu had said was true, then that means that they will be pulling him out of the dungeon, he will lose his World Boss power up.

    Lighting gathered around Dave, fully covering him, then, an instantter, he and the two gods disappeared from the Storm Labyrinth.

    ***

    On the surface of the world of Conquest, right outside the territory of the Devastators and on the borders of the Heaven¡¯s Dawn southern desert, a lightning storm gathered.

    There were thousands of pirs standing on this part of the desert, and if Dave had been here before, he will notice a great resemnce to these pirs and the ones in the underworld. The entrance to the Storm Labyrinth had a simr designed area.

    Near the storm was an oasis where yers traded and went to hunt for monsters in the desert region. The majority belonged to Heaven Dawn, but some yers were rogue or guild-less ones, and some even from the Devastators and a rare few from the Northern Kingdom of the Blood Ragers were there.

    The oasis served as a hub to yers, it was the same for Moria that enabled yers ess to the Wilds, this one enabled ess to the Desert Rivers. A danger zone, but not as dangerous as the wilds. The yers nearest to the area of the lightning storm noticed what was going on and moved toward the area, perhaps an event was brewing and they wanted to be the first to be there.

    The clouds darkened enough that the sun was blottedpletely, wind and lightning surged and raged, moring in hell¡¯s bells, sounds of impending chaos and danger never before seen on the world of Conquest.

    Suddenly, a gigantic bolt of Lightning Struck the pirs, ttening them, where three enormous creatures popped up in the area.

    Raijin and Fujin materialized in the upper world,pletely physical, and right in front of them, was a massive bone armored abomination that wore a crown of bones, and ws of fire. This creature was too familiar, but once the yers read the name on top of this guy, they were all stupefied.

    "What the F.u.c.k?!" a yer shouted, "That¡¯s Skelly, how the f.u.c.k did he get that big?!"

    "Shit, check that out man, those are the twin gods from one of Skelly¡¯s earliest adventures. What the hell is going on?" He said.

    Another, with the bravery of a lion, spoke up, "This is good, it¡¯s three world bosses, you know how many resources we can get if we kill them?"

    Almost immediately, everyone understood the value of such a sighting, and they all began calling their guild leaders. This was going to be a bountiful harvest...or so they thought.

    ***

    Dave was surprised at what was going on. As he didn¡¯t lose the World Boss status when he appeared on the outer world. But taking a nce around he noticed a few things. There was an invisible barrier around the three. Perhaps this is what made him keep his status as he actually never left the dungeon, and this must be an extension of it to the outer world.

    But the question remains, why did the two brothers take him outside?

    The answer to that question came unnaturally fast. Lightning struck down onto Fujin¡¯s body, electrifying him yet at the same time, the ecstatic grin on his face gave Dave a dreadful feeling. The same happened to Fujin, the storm¡¯s winds gathered and funneled into the sac behind his back, lifting the whole giant a few feet above the ground, while wind curled and coiled around his body, visibly so, caressing his muscles and pumping them with power.

    The two gods shot forward, their shoulders smashing into Dave¡¯s chest sending him rolling in the air and smashing into the barrier with enough power that sand around the barrier sted out in a sand tidal wave.

    -120,000,000!

    Dave felt dizzy, the strike knocked the breath out of him even if he did not need breath.

    The two gods smiled, and Fujin spoke, "Doshta?! Wattanoka?"

    Dave coughed then stood up from his sprawled position, he didn¡¯t need to know thenguage to understand that they were mocking him. And thankfully a small trantion text appeared above the two gods exining what they were saying.

    Dave was correct, the text reads, "What¡¯s wrong? Are you done already?"

    His grin was a perfect match for the two gods.

    He spoke in English, but the words came out in the samenguage as the gods, "EYA! MADADA!" <No, not yet!>

    "[FINAL FANTASM]!"

 Chapter 471 - World Shaking Battle

    <h4>Chapter 471 - World Shaking Battle</h4>

    Nick¡¯s guitar fell from withing the sky, causing pirs of smoke to rise up from around the area, converging into the dome and seeping out of it. The pirs around the battle arena broke and crumbled as if the smoke was the passage of eons that grinded away the pirs to dust.

    The dark clouds merged with Dave¡¯s summoned Legacy power and they became darker, it was as if the power from the Undeath God was wresting control of the sky from the twin brothers.

    The asional blue lightening turned a shade redder. Undeath ruled this ce now. And Dave was itsmander.

    "COME!" Dave shouted at the two gods who weed his challenge.

    Raijin called upon a bolt of lightning, then gathered it into his open hand into a spear.

    He threw it with power enough to break the sound barrier. The lightning bolt, shot from the hand of a god coursed the distance between Raijin and Dave in a fraction of a second.

    It hit Dave square in the shoulder, breaking a piece of his bone armor.

    -12,000,000

    Dave grinned, and answered the lighting god¡¯s attack with his own spell. He made rapid ninja Seals, summoning three ck Fire Orbs that floated above him. He then pointed at Raijin, and the fire orbs flew forward like cannon balls.

    The orbs were by no mean small, and surprisingly they had a weight behind their mass. Even fire could turn material in the hand of a world boss. And Dave¡¯s spell shot Raijin in the chest, left leg and shoulder. Smashing into him like a high-speed train and sending the giant sprawling on the ground and smashing into the dome.

    Fujin took the next turn, using wind, he pushed his hovering body forward into a frontal flying kick. Dave dashed forward and used [Infernal Tornado] mming his fist into Fujin¡¯s flying kick, parrying it in the process and the rest of the spins from Dave¡¯s attack all pummeled into the wind god sending it flying.

    Dave felt like a beast, with that much power going through his body, he let out a roar, this only served to cause the two Gods¡¯s blood to pump. This was one of the rare few fights that eversted this long in all their longevity. The have never encountered any creature that could stand or sustain the Storm Brother¡¯s assault for this long, and what made this even more exiting, is the fact that they didn¡¯t know if they were going to win or lose.

    Raijin went toward Fujin, and theter threw Raijin at Dave like a literal flying bolt as Raijin was covered in it.

    Dave prepared an upper cut to intercept the lightning god whichnded squarely on his jaw and stopped his advance. Fujin arrived right after his brother and sent a fist toward Dave¡¯s face. Theter dodged but before he could attack to retaliate, Raijin¡¯s fist shot at Dave¡¯s rib. Dave had to forcefully change his punch into a downward palm to swat away Raijin¡¯s attack.

    The two sent consecutive fists, jabs and punches at Dave, where he struggled to hold of the offensive.

    He took a few hits, but in a loud voice he roared a skill, "[Doomsday!]"

    The world turned slightly grayish; it was the effect of his War King¡¯s Armor¡¯s full set. The effect looked like a heavily downgraded effect of when Albert shows up in the world.

    Yet, even if it was greatly reduced, the time slowing aided Dave greatly in anticipating, viewing and retaliating to the iing attacks. Dave parried with more ease, it was the best feeling in the world to see an iing attack and being able to perfectly block it. Even while fighting two of the world of conquest currently known, mightiest beings.

    The yers on the outskirt of the protective Dome were in awe, they were not affected by the time slow, so they saw the whole thing happening in real-time. Seeing how Dave perfectly matched and even outmatched the two gods in the confrontation. His attacks were perfectlynding, and his defense impregnable.

    What caused the scene to be even grander was the sound of every explosive impact he made. The fists and palms struck each other, causing the wind to st and blow up. Every explosive echo sent a wave of sand, sting outward and away from the dome as if sand itself was afraid to be caught in the confrontation.

    Dave found an opportunity to reverse the fight, and change it from a defensive struggle to an offensive assault, he began adding more jabs and attacks, more variations forcing the approaching lords of the storm to take steps back. His fist rattled Raijin who was obviously less experienced in martial arts than his brother, and Fujin had to parry with carefulness as Dave¡¯s reckless assaults grew in strength.

    Suddenly, Dave shot two fists at the two god¡¯s faces when he found an opportunity, yet instead of his fist hitting them in the face, Dave opened both palms and grabbed at the two¡¯s face.

    "EAT DIRT!" Dave shouted, and in his roar, his muscles pumped once again as he activated the third [Herculean Strenght].

    Dave easily smashed both of Raijin and Fujin¡¯s heads into the sand, it was so fast that their legs were in the air while their faces were buried dozens of feet deep into the ground.

    He then jumped high and raised one hand up. Two raven wings, the size of the Leviathan¡¯s sails sprouted from behind him. Dave¡¯s head grew demonic horns and his color turned a shade redder while his bone armor turned brighter and leaner. Dark Red lighting gathered around him and a dark red fire coalesced all over the sky.

    Dave made a grasping motion and caused the red mes of the sky to materialize into dark red bone dragons. He was using [Spectral Dragons Skulls] which changed to [Skeletal Dragons] once he had activated his legacy form. The Skeletal Dragon took in another aspect from Dave¡¯s current Demonic Ascension form, turning to Skeletal Demonic Dragons with horns and eyes that saw nothing but the evil of the world.

    More than 48 Dragons materialized in the sky and shot down at the two Gods. Their speed unimaginable and their size of great length and width.

    Fujin was the first to get his head out of the sand but once he noticed the iing assault he flexed both arms and opened wide, a wide grin stered on his face as if he challenged Dave¡¯s attack, wanting to see what damage it would cause him.

    Raijin noticed the iing attack a secondter and decided it was best to use his lightning to protect himself from the attack, those Demonic dragons were a bad match against his lightning as they could sap the magic from him.

    The dragons fell, and the world turned silent.

    The yers were mouth agape at the current scene. How could anyone fight against that? They had nned to battle Skelly and the Two Storm Brothers, but Skelly was piling down skills that could crumble mountain and decimate armies, not to mention the other gods who were powerful beyond belief or anything they had seen before. And they had the audacity to try and join the fray?

    Booms and explosions, then fire. Raging and roaring echoed in the dome, turning it into an enclosed torched up oven. The firested for several minutes, and once it died out, it revealed a badly scorched Fujin and Raijin with a knee in the sand, and heaving, as he tried to get more breath.

    "Mo, Wattja?!" Raijin addressed Fujin.

    "ZHAHAHAHA! WATTJAI INEEEI KA! JO OMOSHIROI!" and Fujin replied.

    One of the yers looked at one of his Asian party members, "Do you know what they are saying?" he asked.

    "Just because I¡¯m Asian doesn¡¯t mean I know what they mean..." replied his Asian friend.

    "Oh," the first replied, disappointed.

    "But, I actually do know, the first asked if they were done, the second said that no, they aren¡¯t done and this was fun."

    "Damn, that¡¯s sadistic."

    "Bro, can you even me them? Look at the epicenes of this damned battle, shit I envy Skelly."

    "Don¡¯t we all," Warlord¡¯s voice sounded from behind the yers. Apparently, they had finished with what they had in the Underworld and came as soon as possible.

    He had arrived with valentine and a group of A rankers. They were all interested in battling but seeing the current state of affairs, they had decided to wait things out.

    "I suppose the lure was strong," White Ghost also appeared among the yers, "Who wouldn¡¯t want a piece of the action here.

    "You think you can take on Skelly?" Warlord asked.

    White Ghost shook his head, "Not like this, we need at least 600 yers, best of the best to get into that battle arena, in case you forgot, Skelly is now a World boss. And once we enter the Dome, we¡¯ll be facing him and those two other giants. The risk of dying is really huge. Especially since we don¡¯t know how capable those two are."

    "Then you¡¯re nning on Kill Stealing," Warlord asked.

    "Of course, aren¡¯t we all here for that. Skelly will be doing us a favor, and we¡¯ll take the kill just before he finishes them off." Wan Yi said.

    "That¡¯s going to piss him off,??? Valentine said.

    "Don¡¯t really care, those are gods, the loot they will give is worth pissing Skelly off," Wan Yi said.

    "Your funeral," Warlord shrugged.

    "The old Warlord wasn¡¯t like this," White Ghost grinned.

    "The Old Warlord would have killed you here and now."

    "Chill man, we¡¯re not your enemy. Hah, well just wait and see."

    Dave dropped down to the ground, lighting crackling around him.

    "It¡¯s just gotten fun. Why are you stopping?" Dave provoked.

    The two gods understood immediately what Dave had said.

    Raijin disappeared from where he stood. Dave turned around to see the Lighting god behind him, his still working arm extended to the side. He then turned to see Fujin, who was also doing the same thing.

    In one blink of an eye, both Raijin and Fujin teleported, no more like moved with incredible speed toward Dave, both their extended arms, were already locked on Dave¡¯s neck, and the other on his back neck.

    It was like his neck was ced between the sharp edge of a scissor. And a fraction of a second, Dave¡¯s head flew...

 Chapter 472 - Breaking The Limits

    <h4>Chapter 472 - Breaking The Limits</h4>

    The yers around the dome all watched with horror in their eyes, this was one of the most brutal ways one could die with. Decapitated by two gods in one single attack, the two; lighting god and wind god beganughing hysterically. They turned to see the headless corpse of Kis¡¯Shtiengbrah falling to its knees. While his head rolled in the sand. Motionless.

    "Damn, there goes Skelly, I guess we¡¯ll be taking it from here, no one is objecting, right?" White Ghost was the first to speak, this way he confirmed his position as the one to lead the attack on the two brothers.

    Wan Yi agreed and twirled both his war axes, preparing for an iing battle.

    The yers form the Heaven Dawn were ready, some even began powering up and applying buffs. Then a group of them charged ahead, toward the dome. These were of course not yers belonging to either of the guilds, but rogue powerful guild-less yers. They were not close enough to inspect the damage that Dave had done to the two gods. And so most of them believed that Dave had probably brought them to the critical levels before he died.

    "Hurry! We can get the loot before the Super Guilds move!" the leader of the charge a ck Knight shouted. The rest of the yers behind him, with even more vigor charged and increased their pace.

    Yet the moment they were at the dome¡¯s arm¡¯s reach, Raijin red at them, "MUSHI DOMO, KIERRO!" he shouted, and lightning as wide as a building struck down upon a group of them, turning them to cinders and mots of light. It was one of Raijin¡¯s Execution skill. None had anticipated it, and any touched by it was sent to limbo.

    The rest of the yers that were lucky enough not to be in the st radius all retreated in utter panic.

    "Oh, that¡¯s pretty good, we should be thankful to those small fries, they just put an execution skill on a high cooldown for us," White Ghost said.

    "Yeah, we should get going now," Wan Yi said.

    The two¡¯s exchanged caused Warlord to tense, they were right and now was the best chance to join the fight.

    But, before Warlord could even move, Valentine¡¯s hand touched on his pauldron, "I don¡¯t think Skelly will die that easy, we didn¡¯t even get the death notification of a world boss." Valentine uttered.

    Warlord then took note of the kneeling corpse of Skelly, and the no longerughing lords of storm.

    The head on the sand melted into a puddle of sludge then slowly crawled toward the main body where it fused back. Tendrils of ck slime turned to muscles as it grew into a new neck, then the structure of bone. It gathered and morphed rapidly into a crowned head.

    Kis¡¯Shtiengbrah cracked his head sideways, "Much better," then he stood up.

    "If I weren¡¯t in this form, I¡¯d probably be dead by now. Good, very, very good." He spoke while standing up.

    "Now, I¡¯ve had enough fun, and I¡¯ve been saying this a lot, but now, let¡¯s get real serious." Dave said then dove forward at Raijin.

    Raijin was still surprised by the ¡¯revival¡¯ of the Undead that had his head ripped out and was poorly positioned to block the next iing attack, especially with one arm broken.

    Dave punched the lightning god in the chest then took a hold of his still functional arm, twisting it in the process and forcing the god to his knee while one hand dangled uselessly to his side, and the other twisted awkwardly and painfully behind his back.

    "There goes your other arm!" Dave shouted then tugged with all his might.

    A loud explosion echoed in the desert, it was not the sound of a spell breaking, but the bone disjointing and the shoulder of a god dislocating from its socket. He then kicked him in the back sending the mass of muscles tumbling on the sand.

    The lightning god grunted in pain, pain that should have made any man faint or cry out, it only forced a minor reaction from such a beast.

    Yet with both arms useless Raijin firepower has decreased massively. Fujin roared at the maltreatment suffered by his brother and charged Dave, wind pushed him to incredible speed as he flew like a torpedo.

    Dave crouched slightly, both arms covering his face and while his legs poised to take on the iing impact.

    Fujin¡¯s fist struck in the small space between Dave¡¯s arms, Fujin¡¯s fist cracked Dave¡¯s face open, and sent him sprawling on the ground. The martial artist was not a joke, and he knew much more than what Dave¡¯s meager martial arts skill allowed.

    It was the same as Dismond if not more, Fujin was a master of fist fighting. And he was about to pile on to Dave a shit load of it.

    Fujin¡¯s speed increased to massive degrees, he charged after Dave, sending punches and jabs, far faster than ever before, even with Dave¡¯s [Doomsday] active, it was nigh impossible to predict the attacks as they came at a speed far faster than he was used to.

    Dave took damage without the ability to retaliate, and then and there, Dave¡¯s muscles deted slightly.

    Dave¡¯s [Herculean Strength] effect has finished and now he entered a weakened state that willst five seconds.

    The ability should have ended ages ago, but it was thanks to Tiny that the entirety of the strain had been absorbed by the slime and not Dave, thus giving him a massive increase in power with little regard to damage taken or strain on his muscles. But even Tiny had his limit, and from the signs of it, the giant was hitting them hard.

    "I guess it¡¯s time," Dave sighed then uttered, [Phantasmal Edge].

    All too sudden, all too abrupt, a wind colder than ice, swept by and tore open a portal where the hand of a being, far too small than any of the three warriors in the dome emerged. It simply pointed at Fujin, then at Raijin. Then disappeared into the portal it came through.

    In that single action, both Raijin and Fujin stopped moving, the dark patch on their chests disappeared as if it was never there, but with it, came their strength. Their inted muscles husked away, as if they were being turned to Undeath whilst they lived. The power around them dissipated into nothingness, lightning waned, and wind died, causing the two empowered lords to fall to their knees. The darkened atmosphere from Dave¡¯s [Final Phantasm] ended and with it the power of his legacy.

    Yet at the same time, the power that brought all three of them to the surface had also been affected, proven so by the next following event.

    Sand on the side of the dome began sinking. It was as if the desert had opened up, rifting around the dome, opening a pathway to an abyss unknown.

    Two giant arms, made of flesh and stone emerged from around the Dome. And if the giant gods of lighting and wind made a man look like an antpared to them. The hands that came from withing the desert¡¯s rift dwarfed those two to the same size. Antspared to the size of a normal hand.

    The hands grabbed at the dome from both sides and pulled the entire thing under. With enough speed that everything disappeared an instantter, leaving behind a hole that sand began funneling through and covered in moments.

    "The f.u.c.k just happened?" A yer asked, and the answer was at White Ghost.

    "That was the Underworld¡¯s guardian...Ramsha," he said.

    "The f.u.c.k are we supposed to kill something like that?" the same yer asked.

    "You don¡¯t, there are things on this world that you just don¡¯t want to fight. Let¡¯s move, it¡¯s useless to keep loitering around here. We have a temple to protect and an iing invasion to prepare for."

    "You think Skelly¡¯s gonna win?"

    "Don¡¯t know, Don¡¯t care. Skelly¡¯s already strong, even if he wins and grows stronger, it wont change the fact that we also have to grow stronger. That man is a monster, and we¡¯ll be sure to face him in the uing battle." White Ghost looked at Warlord and said, "You sure you don¡¯t wish to help us in the next invasion? We won¡¯t charge you for much if your yers want the chalice."

    "No, don¡¯t need it, don¡¯t care about the Ash King. We¡¯ll get stronger our own way," Warlord said.

    White Ghost shrugged and followed behind nudged Wan Yi to move, they were done here.

    ***

    Dave, Raijin and Fujin were once again back in the Underworld right at the room where the battle first started. The two brothers of Storm were deprived of their power, and Dave was losing his.

    Yet their battle spirit was still raging on.

    "Lord! You have cured them?!" asked the Tengu who Dave finally realized that he was not taken to the overworld with them.

    "I don¡¯t know, it must be nick."

    "They¡¯re no longer of malicious spirit, I can speak to them, south them and turn them back to what they were. Let me help!"

    "Nah, don¡¯t you see it?" Dave said with a wide grin on his face.

    "What?"

    "Their thirst for battle, they are loving this, look, at how battered they are, and how the smile on their face hadn¡¯t changed. They want to fight.

    "I can say the same about you," the tengu said.

    "You¡¯re right, my blood is boiling! COME!" Dave shouted and charged at the two.

    The two brothers, with glee in their gazes charged back and the three began a slugfest in the middle of the room.

    Dave¡¯s undead passive kept regenerating His HP every now and then, granting him a good sustainable advantage HP wise. While the Two Lords had an enormous HP pool, and they were two, so sustainability wise, Dave believed that this battle was going to take lot of time, yet he was not on the losing side.

    On the other hand, facing two against one means that he will need to be extra attentive, as a single mistake will cost him his life and losing this battle was not an option, he felt it, that this fight, he had to go all out, and all out he was going to go.

    Dave smashed his fists left and right, matching the two lords, they were fast and powerful, even if Raijin had lost both arms, his kicks were not to be underestimated. Fujin on the other hand took the most out of Dave¡¯s concentration, the martial artist was powerful beyond belief. And every attack would shatter and break a part of tiny, forcing the Grave Lord to constantly regenerate limbs and bones. And soon, the toll became apparent.

    Tiny¡¯s ability to reconstruct itself dulled, and Dave felt it with every hit he took. Cuts and bruises took longer to close. The punches that would break his bones took dozens of seconds to heal instead of being instantaneous, and the more the fight kept on, the more Tiny struggled.

    An hour went by, then another, Raijin had managed to fix his dislocated arm, yet it was dull and heavy, every hit would take a lot of energy out of him. Fujin, though a god, being emaciated by Nick¡¯s attack caused him to lose a lot of his humongous energy, signs of fatigue and tiredness were visible, he barely was able to hold his skinny arms up anymore.

    Dave on the other hand was still in perfect shape, stamina wise, yet his body, was not. Tiny was barely able to keep Dave in massive size form, he even gave up on regenerating some of Dave¡¯s fingers, chest ribs, and even the bones on the head.

    Dave was honestly surprised and proud that Tiny was able to keep up with him thus far. But this battle had to finish.

    "Tiny," Dave spoke solemnly, "Onest time. Onest effort, we¡¯ll finish this now," he said.

    [Herculean Strength!] Dave cast once again, and his already strained, battered broken body gave one more push, growing in size and inting his muscles with inhuman power.

    Dave switched his gauntlets to Durandal and Ajax and dashed forward striking at Fujin with the blunt side of the sword, smashing the whole being into the room¡¯s walls. He then charged at Fujin. Thetter kicked at Dave but he dodged and pointed Ajax at him.

    [Reject]

    The power of Fujin¡¯s attack that he absorbed when the battle first started shot out of Ajax and into the lightning god. Now emaciated, feeble and weak, the saved attack from a perfectly healthy Fujin struck like a sledgehammer and smashed him into the ground.

    -120,000,000!

    Dave instantly went behind Fujin, and ced Durandal right under his neck while he held the Lightning god¡¯s body firmly against the edge of the de.

    The wind God, enraged by the transgression his brother was suffering roared out and charged at Dave.

    "STAND DOWN!" Dave shouted, his sword digging slightly into Raijin¡¯s neck causing some blue blood to spill.

    Fujin stopped unable to act, at loss from what is happening and unable to do anything, moving would mean that Durandal was going to feast upon the neck of his brother. And as a god, he had noticed that the weapon Dave was holding was a god ying weapon. Death by that sword was not going to be pretty.

    "FUJIN! Kofukushiro! Lord what are you trying to do?!"

    Fujin looked distracted then confused. Unable to decide.

    "Tell him to give up, they have lost. This is checkmate." Dave said.

    The Tengu must have replied in what Dave had spoken, as Fujin knelt down on both knees and removed the cestuses from his hands.

    ***

    Conquest Server Announcement!

    yer Kis¡¯Shtiengbrah had sessfully bested Raijin and Fujin Brothers of The Storm and currently the Highest Tier, Level Monsters of the Game.

    May his name forever be remembered!

    yer Kis¡¯Shtiengbrah has gained the Title: God¡¯s Fist

    Additional reward is only privy to yer Kis¡¯Shtiengbrah.

    ***

    Dave smiled then removed himself from on top of Raijin.

    He then gave the lighting God his hand, "C¡¯mon, stand up," Dave said.

    The lighting god hesitated for a moment then grabbed at the undead¡¯s hand. Dave pulled him back to his feet and said. "Good fight!"

    Almost instantly Tiny has decided to give up, he had reached hisplete and total limit and deted dropping Dave to the ground in a pile of sludge.

    Tiny gathered back into his slime form, only he looked less viscous and was barely able to sustain his form.

    "Thank you, a lot buddy, I¡¯ll make sure to give you plenty of food to recover."

    The Slime wheezed and made itselffortable in Dave¡¯s side bag.

    Dave read through the notifications and grinned, "Well this is going to be pretty helpful," he said.

    "Lord, what now?" the tengu said, he had apparently released himself from the binding he was in.

    "Well, this has been sorted out, we¡¯ll be preparing for tomorrow¡¯s invasion now. I¡¯ll need to check up on the boyz, we need to be fully ready."

    "Right, as you wish." The Tengu then turned to the two lords, "You two, you have been beaten, and you have lost, now, go and recuperate, thanks to our lord, you are no longer bound to this prison. Leave,"

    The two lords looked at each other, then around the ce, happiness clear in their eyes, as if they had obtained something they have been looking and wishing for, for ages. Suddenly the two of them dissipated from where they stood and off the dungeon.

    "Right I guess it¡¯s time to leave," Dave said.

    "I¡¯ll be following you, lord."

    Dave tore a teleportation scroll out of the dungeon, closing yet another chapter that has gued him in his noob days.

 Chapter 473 - On to another adventure.

    <h4>Chapter 473 - On to another adventure.</h4>

    Dave appeared in the Dead Realm, he went straight ahead toward his territory and began checking up on the rest of his Boyz.

    The first one to meet Dave was Bud, the ghoul, and surprisingly, the gigantic massive hulking Ghoul was reced by a leaner, quite resembling to a Samael type of ghoul. A pale gray human-looking ghoul, yet still he was on therger size, a couple of heads taller than Dave.

    "Lord, wee back. How fares your advent on the lords of the storm?"

    Dave was surprised by the high eloquence of Bud, when he first met him, it was nothing but grunts and growls. And with each and every upgrade, the ghoul was able to gain more sentience and more knowledge and was now able to speak even more proper than Dave.

    "It went well, the lords of the storm will not cause any trouble from now on, where are the rest?"

    "Here and all at your service," spoke Spark.

    Dave turned to see an elven looking wizard, though pale as a vampire, he was quite ''beautiful'' that it made Dave question if the pyromancer was truly a man. Spark''s red robes gained a crimson sheen, and they were adorned with gold and rubies. His posture became stouter and he was standing ever so proud in thepany of the rest of the undead.

    Then came Dog, the Duhan. This one was the one to change the least. His armor gained a brighter, cleaner appearance, his face, always tucked under his armpit, for some reason became hidden in shadows instead of showing old desated bones and facial structure.

    His infamous bone whip became metallic, perhaps Andre was responsible for the upgrade. The pointed mace at the end became sharper, and the spike even more brutal-looking. If the old bone whip''s purpose was to crush, this one was made to maim, crush and kill foes.

    Dog''s own basilisk was nearby, only he was fully armored up, from head to tail. A long ck armored back armor spread along the lizard''s pointed bones. To protect it from any attacks. Added to it were hard leather and soft metallic armor to protect his belly. And for each of his six knees, he had protective gear. Finally, for the headpiece, he had an armored horned helmet to increase the basilisk''s ferocity while preserving and increasing his ability to defend itself and sustain more damage in a battle.

    Dave was so in aw of the armor that he immediately asked one of the lesser tier undead to hurry up and get Grumpy one, and if possible, eve Onixya should have one as well.

    The answer came almost immediately, delivered to the same undead that Dave sent by Andre.

    "If you wish more of those armors made, I will be needing more Oprenieum. Can you obtain some for me?"

    Dave rubbed his beard, "I suppose it should be the best time to get this done and over with. Boyz, we''ll be heading to the Chaos Dungeon." The undead apanying Dave all shouted at once, it was once again time for another battle.

    Dave picked up the in-game phone and made a group call.

    Mercy, TNT, ster, Lone Arrow, Tess, Demeri. He called all eight of his official party members.

    The lot of them were online and they all answered the call, only Lone began shouting and grunting, "You got all that fun on your own, and now you''re here to gloat? Right!"

    "Sorry babe, it was all too sudden, Raijin and Fujin were really hard to deal with anyway. Still I''m here to make it up to you all." Dave said.

    "How?" Ralph asked, "You''ve been grinding EXP solo and leveling up like crazy you left every yer in the dust, are you sure we''re worthy thepany of the oh so great mr, skeletal?"

    "C''mon man, you know me, if I had an opportunity where I could have asked for your help I would, and heck even Zoe knows how strong those two are..."

    "Whatever, now what did you say you wanted us to do?" Zoe said.

    "I have a dungeon boss to beat, pretty nasty, pretty high level, and really, really strong," Dave said.

    "Oh, interesting, where do you want us to meet???? nker asked.

    "It''s in the second raid zone, in the blood diamond mine. But you''ll need to do something for me first, Who knows a good alchemist?"

    "I do, one of my guild members is the game''s top alchemist," Mercy said.

    "Good, where are you right now?" Dave asked

    "I''m at the northern Kingdom Auction house,"

    "Alright, stay there, I''lle over, the rest of you guys, go to the Underworld, Bud will be there waiting for you. Once I''m done I''lle over and we can start the dungeon."

    "Right then, hurry up." Zoe said and hung up, the rest of the yers invited each other to a party alongside Dave and headed all to the second Raid Zone.

    "Bud, you''ll meet my friends in the raid zone, get them to the blood mines, and have every Doom Knight stationed and ready for battle."

    "Just the Doom Knights, Lord?" Dog asked.

    "Yeah, the Dogaron is pretty nasty and Death Knights will be helpless against him, and even with a hundred Doom Knight I still think it''s pretty tough to beat."

    "But lord you have defeated two gods on your own, that is a feat that not many can replicate, why must you fear such a puny lizard."

    "In case you forgot, that puny Lizard is stronger than Rajin and Fujin, even if he was not a deity, he is quick, powerful and he has the home field advantage."

    "I fail to understand," The ghoul stated.

    "Don''t worry, trust me and you''ll see for yourself why we''ll be needing all the Doom Knights."

    "Tengu," Dave turned to the floating Heavenly Dog.

    "Yes, lord," the tengu nodded.

    "Take this little guy to the sea, and tell Krarky to feed him well, he had done so well he deserves a feast."

    "As youmand, but lord," the tengu said.

    "Yes?"

    "The Kraken and the stationed undead are still inbat with the Chosen Stalwart."

    "Damn, I totally forgot about that, that battle is still ongoing... Alright, then hand him over to the fishermen at the Undead Frontier. As for the Chosen Undead, order forty regiments of my Death Knights to help battle the Chosen Stalwart. It should elerate the battle time."

    "As youmand, Lord." The tengu said.

    "Once you''re done,e meet us at the Blood Diamond mining area. Everyone, you''re dismissed!" Dave called and every undead went to carry his order.

    Dave teleported to the Northern Region.

    An undead, with an unholy, mighty, and pervasive aura walked the streets of the Northern Capital.

    Dave had opted to keep his shield and sword in his inventory, and as he walked, his ck golden armor reflected an eerie light upon anyone that gazed into it. The skull designs looked like restless souls trying to leave the armor yet failed miserably.

    The shadow cape moved to the nonexistent wind, andbined with the war crown he wore on his head, it felt like royalty moving down the street. No, Kis''Shtiengbrah was royalty. Proven so by the shocking appearance of a group of pdins and an NPC priest that has been summoned to banish a ''rogue'' undead that appeared out of nowhere.

    Yet the NPCs, in aw and utter, forced, tyrannicalpliance from Dave''s mighty armor effects, were forced to kneel down. Even undead, such royalty demanded respect just by existing, even if they were the enemy of the sacred faith. The priests couldn''t help but bend the knee. If it was any other higher tier church worker, a bishop, a cardinal, or perhaps a pontiff, they could have resisted the urge to kneel to a mild degree.

    They would have at most bowed or gave way. This of course was only due to them not being in an aggravated hostile scenario, and Kis''Shtiengbrah was not acting hostile. Once the first signs of hostility show, nobility and royalty will serve no barricade against the retaliation of the church, or even a puny small church priest as the one kneeling to the Kis''Shtiengbrah, God wrestler, Dragonyer, Grand Artisan of War, the King of the East, Prince of the Undead.

    With titles such as these, one not onlymands respect, he is owed respect! Thus, Dave walked through the streets of the northern capital as if he owned them, a king and a prince, unguarded, and not needing of such. for what man would need protection if he could fight gods bare handed?

    yers gawked at Dave with awe, they had all seen the battle that urred just a while ago. They had all seen the battle that currently ranked as the most exciting, exhrating, and blood pumping battle Conquest had ever witnessed.

    Awe soon turns to respect as yers moved out of the way leaving him to march to his destination unperturbed.

    "Great job Skelly!" a yer shouted.

    "Yeah, that was some epic battle!" another added.

    "Please have my babies!" another shouted.

    Dave nodded to all the yers, even the one who spoke thest sentence, who was a guy...

    Soon Dave arrived at the auction house where Mercy was waiting with a smaller young man. He was a dwarf with a long beard and heavy thick muscles. The guy was talking to Mercy and once they both noticed the rapid decline of the speakers in the auction house they turned to see the reason for it.

    Dave''s presence made everyone stop what they were doing.

    "Mercy, is he the one?" Dave asked.

    "Yes."

    "Good," Dave grinned and moved toward the dwarf, the small guy, not even willing took a step back when Dave towered over him with his evil infamous draugr smile.

    "Greetings," Dave called, "So, I heard you''re an alchemist, wanna cook some potions for me?"

 Chapter 474 - Raiding the Blood Stone Mines

    <h4>Chapter 474 - Raiding the Blood Stone Mines</h4>

    "Emm, sure. What do you want?" asked the Dwarf.

    Dave handed him a small vile and a small piece of paper, "I¡¯ll need at least a couple of dozens of them."

    The dwarf¡¯s eyes widened, he wasn¡¯t believing what he was seeing, in the hand of Kis¡¯Shtiengbrah was a vile of a potion of an unknown origin, and on his other hand was the receipt of such a potion.

    "This... is from the underworld?" asked the dwarf.

    "Yep, and you¡¯ll have exclusive rights to craft them, but you¡¯ll have to make mine first. See if you have the ingredients I can supply you with anything you¡¯re missing."

    "No, no, the beauty of such a potion is that it only requires low tire herbs, they¡¯re everywhere, it practically costs less than a silver to make one, but since it¡¯s the first on the server to actually own the receipt, he can sell it for how much he wants, and no one willin. Especially due to its incredible effect.

    "How long will it take you to make a couple dozen of them?" Dave asked.

    "Give me five minutes.

    Dave and mercy waited while the dwarf scurried away to get started. After exactly five minutes, he came back with a small bag, packed full of yellow colored potions and handed them to Dave.

    "They¡¯re here. Thank you for the receipt man."

    "No worries, just a small thingy. Alright," Dave turned to Mercy, "We¡¯ll be moving now. Are you ready?" Dave asked.

    "Yes, let¡¯s go." Mercy was the first to tear her teleportation scroll, and Dave followed after her. The two appeared in the Burning Heights fortress. Where Grumpy and a few other Basilisks were waiting.

    "I don¡¯t see Ralph here," Mercy said.

    "They¡¯re probably at the dungeon entrance, let¡¯s get some rides, we¡¯ll need the basilisk where we¡¯re headed." Dave jumped on Grumpy¡¯s back and the basilisk dashed out of the city in a trot.

    Mercy jumped on one of the other basilisks and followed after Dave.

    The remaining basilisks followed after Dave and they all went toward the Blood Mines right under the volcano.

    A group of exactly one hundred Doom Knights waited in line, most had a gigantic tower shield and a bastard or ymore of epic proportions as weapons. The rare few were Dave¡¯s own Boyz, Bud with his vicious ws, Spark with his ceremonial robes and staff. Dog wielding the iron bone whip. The Tengu was still preupied with Dave¡¯s tasks, but once he finishes, he was bound toe and assist him here.

    Dave didn¡¯t see any of his party members, so he called to check up on them.

    "What¡¯s going on?" Dave asked Ralph.

    "Oh, we¡¯re inside, checking on the stuff here, man the legion sure are professionals when ites to mining," Ralph said.

    Out of interest, Dave wanted to know what Ralph was talking about, he haven¡¯t been here since thest time he came to fight the Chaos Centipede.

    Dave called his group of undead to line up in a double file and follow after him.

    They were met with a sight to behold, torches positioned high up that lit the way inside the caves. The undead had already ced several dozen railways for mining carts to move about in the mine. From what appeared to Dave, the thousand of neatly ced excavation tools was enough to showcase the numbers of undead working in the mines.

    The sound of iron hitting rock echoed through the entirety of the mine. Dave and Mercy moved until they saw the first group of undead that were piling Bloodstones on a mining cart then pushed it toward a downward slope.

    "Where is that cart heading?" Dave asked the undead elite that was working the crate.

    Thetter, when he noticed Dave immediately dropped to his knees and spoke, "Your majesty, the carts will head through a tunnel we had built and go straight to the burning heights extraction area. We were advised to do so to increase the speed of the extraction of the stones, and it was better than manually carrying them to the fortress. Also, we have dug several of these tunnels throughout the mining area to increase the production."

    "That¡¯s interesting, good job on doing that. Tell me, how far have you dug through the mines?"

    "We have reached right before the Dogaron¡¯s area. We have tried to take some of the Oprenieum, but all attempts resulted in our members being sent to the Dead Realm. That beast is no joke, and he was fast beyond belief that our attempts at swarming it with numbers failed, not to mention theck of heat resistance we lowly undead have. Most of us were scorched to cinders right at the cave¡¯s entrance."

    Dave nodded, the undead was unusually talkative unlike other undead of the same tire. But Dave failed to see any potential he could have to be able to join his own undead. So, he dismissed him with a pat o the shoulder so he could continue his work.

    "Let¡¯s keep moving," Dave said.

    The rest of the Doom Knights apanying Dave followed after him. All of them moving like machines of destructions, their boots marching as one, every step, echoing a hundred time over in the sound of one single construct of steel, and ughter.

    More mining carts moved about along their own rails, and dove into pits that led them outside the mining area. And form other tunnels, emptied carts came in, where other undead carried them deeper into the caves where there were more Bloodstones to be extracted.

    Dave found Ralph and the rest of the party standing right in front of the entrance with the braziers, from here onward was going to be out of the Blood Worm area and into the Chaos Smanders area.

    "Guys, I have something for you," Dave gave the party two vials of the yellow liquid he had concocted earlier.

    "What¡¯s this?" asked Lone Arrow.

    "It¡¯s a potion I found the receipt of when I was rummaging through the Ash King¡¯s Keep."

    "What? You¡¯ve been in the keep?" Lone questioned.

    "What¡¯s that?" Demeri asked.

    "It¡¯s the fifth Raid Zone," Dave answered. "Where the Underworld¡¯s Final boss lives. It was pretty hectic going there."

    "Yeah, the Undead King¡¯s nning to assault it soon I think." Perfect Shotmented.

    "Actually, he¡¯s nning on doing so tomorrow. Guys, wanna join in? it¡¯ll be fun."

    "Hell, yeah we do!" nker said. "We¡¯ll get shit tone of EXP with the legion, and probably be the reason why you guys will even win that battle."

    Dave sour eyed nker, "You¡¯re not the one that¡¯s supposed to be saying that. Jinx-mouth."

    "Hey, when did I get that nickname?" nker asked.

    "I believe it was the day you first started talking, you just weren¡¯t privy to it. Anyway, We¡¯ll be fighting the Ash King, that¡¯s not easy. We¡¯ll need to prepare for it." Tess said.

    The Crimson Witch was an S legacy holder and even she believed tackling the Ash King was not going to be an easy feat.

    "What do you mean, the Undead King has an army of millions," nker shrugged. "He could easily take those horny guys out."

    "Horny? You mean horned?"

    "Tomato tomatho, still, we¡¯ll get decent Exp and shit tone of loot. I say jackpot." nker said.

    "Wait until you¡¯re face to face with other yers then we¡¯ll see where your courage takes you."

    "There will be yers?" nker questioned.

    "Duh, shouldn¡¯t you know this by now. They¡¯re using the temples to recruit more yers, and it¡¯s ongoing while we¡¯re still speaking." Fortress said.

    "I didn¡¯t know that, that might change stuff. But still, we have skelly and his mega form."

    "Tomorrow¡¯s going to be a legion¡¯s quest. I don¡¯t know if I¡¯ll have time or the ability to take on the yers while the Ash King is there. And he has a nasty beef with me."

    "Either way, I believe we¡¯ll win."

    "I sure do hope so. Now, let¡¯s get going. We have a lot of rooms and distance to cover."

    They moved through the tunnels, Dave on grumpy and the rest of his party members rode on the other extra basilisks.

    "Why do you get to ride on an armored basilisk?" nker asked.

    "Because I paid for the stuff, I could issue one for you if you¡¯d like. It¡¯s only 20,000gold."

    nker quieted down for a moment then said, "I would rather not, I mean armor is for the weak, and I¡¯m better off knowing I don¡¯t have it lest I depend on it and it betrays me in a moment of need. I mean, I need to be focused on all times and a¡ªwhy are you all looking at me?"

    "Shut up!" Tess shouted, "You talk too damn much! Were you a damn radio in yourst life?"

    nker swallowed back his words and looked aside. Apparently not only Tess was of the same opinion. When nker opens his mouth, it was always worse than opening the pandora¡¯s box.

    Speaking of which, Dave facepalmed as he forgot to ask Bam who was in his coronation ceremony of the whereabout of such an item. He made a note to go to the Mountain of Glory and find outter.

    They entered some caverns deeper in the mine where hundreds, maybe thousands of stctites hung from the ceiling. Each stctite looked like it was made from drippings of fresh blood. Here and there some of the crimson formations descended all the way to the floor of the cave, in pir-like formation.

    On the other side of the room was the dungeon divider, where the new area will start.

    Dave raised a fist and the group stopped.

    Inside the room, ten red lizards the size of horses were marching about in the area. The moment they noticed Dave, and unlike thest time where they came charging in, the group of lizards scurried away and dove into small pits whereva gathered into pools.

    "Damn, you¡¯re so ugly you scared them off," nkermented while shaking his hand.

    "I bet they would have had the same reaction if you were to open your mouth."

    This resulted in the group releasing a bout of giggles.

    "Let¡¯s keep going, The Dogaron is still two levels down."

 Chapter 475 - Chaos Dungeon 2.0

    <h4>Chapter 475 - Chaos Dungeon 2.0</h4>

    Dave, his hundred Doom Knights, and the rest of the yers soon arrived to a familiar area.

    "Right, this was an easy passage." Dave said.

    "What do you mean?" Zoe asked.

    "Well, the first time I went through here, I had to fight a lot of those Smanders. But it seems that they¡¯ve all escaped and are in hiding. We¡¯ll enter the Chaos Dungeon right at the next crossing." Dave pointed forward.

    He made a fist gesture and pointed forward for everyone to follow.

    Soon he received a notification.

    You have entered the hidden [Chaos Dungeon]

    This Dungeon has already been cleared. No boss will be spawning here anymore.

    Dave¡¯s group entered the Chaos dungeon. The dim interior of the cave was so sweltering hot it was difficult even to breathe. Heat radiated off the stone walls of the tunnel and scorching dry air blew up from the depths and into their faces.

    Dave checked through his character sheet; he was steadily approaching an [Overheated] state.

    "Damn, it¡¯s the same asst time. Guys it¡¯s time you use the stuff I gave you." Dave said.

    The party members all brought the yellow vials up their mouths and drank the liquid.

    "Damn, this smells like piss. Where¡¯d you get this nasty potion?" nker was the first to talk.

    "From the Ash King¡¯s Keep. This is the only thing that¡¯ll be enough for you guys to support the heat from this dungeon, believe me you¡¯ll need it." Dave exined.

    A yellow glow glimmered against the yers avatars and soon it faded leaving a faint sheen upon their bodies.

    "Oh, it really feels much cooler now," Zoe said.

    "Yep, alright be ready it¡¯s gonna be a real hassle from here onwards. There will be some annoying big assva fish that will try to bring you down into someva pits for a quick hot snack. Be careful be ready." Dave turned to the rest of his undead doom knights and shouted.

    "LEGIONAIRS! IF ANY OF YOU DARE FALL IN THE LAVA PITS, I¡¯LL HAVE THEM SHOVEL BASILISK SHIT WITH A FORK FOR A YEAR! DO YOU UNDERSTAND!"

    "SIR, YES SIR!" all the doom knights answered in a single voice.

    "Good, follow along!" Dave called and the party moved forward.

    Just as the group began entering the tunnel, Dave heard a call. "Lord! I have arrived!"

    The Tengu had just finished Dave¡¯s missions and flew down next to him.

    "Good to see you, have you done all I asked for?"

    "Yes Lord, the fishermen at the Undead Frontier are currently fishing and feeding Grave Lord Tiny. As for thebat in the East, so far it¡¯s going ording to your n. Waves of undead are swarming the Stalwart and piling damage upon it while it is trapped under the sea thanks to the Kraken. The Sea God is in perfect control of the situation."

    "Great, alright ready up, we¡¯ll be moving soon."

    "Lord, I have also brought someone with me to help us in this dungeon."

    "You brought the priestess?" Dave asked, her cooling spell would be perfect to alleviate the heat the Doom Knights were going to undoubtedly suffer.

    "Sir, I have not. But I have brought Lord Du¡¯Rhaza, he is a master of Ice Magic and I believe he will be much more capable to manage ourrge numbers than would the young priestess."

    "Oh, damn, that¡¯s smart. Where is he?" Dave asked.

    "Right here, young Prince. This dungeon is pretty hot." The infamous/famous Ice lich spoke, his white blue robs fluttered from an invisible wind as he floated and arrived to Dave¡¯s whereabout.

    "You¡¯re that lich from that time!" Lone Arrow eximed.

    "I believe I know of your person, young elf, friend of Prince Kis¡¯Shtiengbrah."

    "It¡¯s Girlfirend." Zoe corrected.

    "Ugh, we know that, you don¡¯t need to tell the whole world. Heck you¡¯re even bragging to a lich." nker said.

    Zoe looked at the priest in a dead smile and said "Your head surprisingly looks like an apple right now."

    "The hell does that has to do with anything?" nker said.

    Zoe didn¡¯t reply but Perfect Shot did, "She is an archer bro. Do I need to say anymore?"

    Those words made nker immediately shut his gullet. But he couldn¡¯t do so without grumbling words under his breath, "Damn y¡¯all bulling me, I feel like an outcast."

    Dave shook his head, nker deserved all the roasting for having to always keep his mouth yapping.

    "Du¡¯Rhaza, you¡¯ll help us I suppose."

    "Oh definitely, I grew bored in the Dead Realm, so when I heard you¡¯reing to raid this ce I asked Lord Tengu to guide me to where you are. So what¡¯s the deal, why is everyone standing here?"

    "We were about to go in. Alright, head forward everyone. Du¡¯Rhaza I¡¯m counting on you to keep the army in a perfect condition, things are about to get hot."

    They arrived at another section of the mines, where a natural rock formation bridged a river of flowingva.

    "Careful, some pretty nasty fish are swimming in thisva river. Get your guard up." Dave said.

    The party moved ahead, where no fish dared jump. Dave, for a moment believed that perhaps the fish was afraid of him. "I don¡¯t see any fish man, you sure there are any?" nkermented. Due to thisment, whatever hope Dave had for the fish to not jump immediately evaporated. As, by irony, fate or just utterplete dumb luck,rge bubbles in theva welled up and then burst with a loud popping sound. From the bubbles, fish leapt in a high ballistic arc. Twice the size of a basilisk, it resembled argemouth bass with extrarge, spiny fins. The giant fish sailed over the bridge opening wide their cavernous mouths toward the Undead.

    "Shit." nkermented as the fish dropped down toward them.

    The yers all loaded their weapons, readied their shields and skills and shot at the iing monsters. The Doom Knight held their tower shield strong, poised toughly against the ground and the iing fish and blocked every single assault. Causing the fish to fall on the bridge and p stupidly, unable to breath or return to theva.

    "KINGS¡¯ IMPALE!" Du¡¯Rahaza shouted, one palm mmed into the bridge¡¯s ground. And from his motion, spears the size of trees rose from the bridge and right through the pping fish, or the ones still jumping in the skis. Going cleanly in between Undead, harmlessly and still dealing tons of damage to the enemies.

    The Doom Knight drew their bastard great swords and sliced down with them at the fish.

    The surprise assault was instantly quenched, and the aggressive fish was soon turned to ingredients.

    "Damn, man, when will you ever learn to keep your mouth shut? Just for five minutes man, will it kill you to do it?" Fortress groaned.

    "Not really, but that was a friendlyment man. I mean-" nker was abruptly cut by Fortress..

    "Shhh!"

    "But"

    "Shhhh!

    "I"

    "Shhhhhhhhh!"

    Yet what really made nker quiet was not only Fortress¡¯s shushing, it was Zoe¡¯s drawn taut bowstring aimed right at his head.

    Also, the subtle whispering of Perfect Shot, "Apple, apple, apple,"

    "Your friends are quite peculiar," Du¡¯Rhaza spoke.

    "Well, they¡¯re humans, what do you expect?" Dave said.

    "Indeed, humans are the strangest of beings. Yet I fail to remember acting thus way when I used to be...human."

    "Different times, you know." Dave shrugged.

    "Let¡¯s keep moving!" Dave gave the order and the party headed even deeper.

    ---- PLEASE READ AUTHOR¡¯S NOTE VERY IMPORTANT!!!---

 Chapter 476 - Blue Scale

    <h4>Chapter 476 - Blue Scale</h4>

    Dave led his party forward and into the next section of the dungeon. Having safely crossed the bridge, the remaining Doom Knights followed with ease thanks Du¡¯Rhaza¡¯s efforts and ice magic.

    Theva fish decided to not go out anymore as the battle against the ice wielding undead was a lost cause. Even in this heat, where chaos ruled, the Lich¡¯s magic was abundant and powerful. It could disregard the fires of this area and assault the very essence of theva creatures as their mortal enemies.

    Another tunnel extended ahead of them, Dave mounted Grumpy and the group moved forward. He looked at his character info, his temperature meter was still rising. "it¡¯s getting hotter, is everyone¡¯s alright?" Dave asked.

    "Yeah, the potion works well," Lone Arrow replied.

    "Good, the next chamber is the Chaos Centipede¡¯s chamber. I don¡¯t know if there will be another centipede boss there or not, so we¡¯ll have to be ready." Dave said.

    "Right."

    Dave¡¯s party headed through the tunnel until they exited into an extremelyrge room. It had high ceiling and extended to hundreds of meters in all directions. It had severalva pools spread all over the ce.

    "Don¡¯t get near those ponds, those damnned fish can still jump from them. Also, be careful if you see any crab like creatures."

    "Crab? Haven¡¯t you said that there was a centipede here?" Ralph asked.

    "Yeah, well, it¡¯s a weird creature actually. It¡¯s like a dozen crabs that attach themselves together and make a centipede. Just be careful, it¡¯s pretty tough, poisonous and has a good deal of resistances."

    "Right then. So far I can¡¯t see anything," Perfect Shot said.

    "Good, let¡¯s keep going, Du¡¯Rhaza, how are the boyz hanging."

    "So far, I¡¯m barely expending any magic to fight off the heat. But I bet that once we go deeper, I¡¯ll start losing more mana than I could generate." Du¡¯Rahaza said.

    "Yeah, sorry about that, it¡¯s going to be one hell of a fight."

    "Worry not young prince, I haven¡¯t had much excitement in a long time."

    The group kept moving following after Dave, the Chaos Centipede boss area was surprisingly quiet and calm. It seems that the creature was a one-time spawn. And the real dungeon boss was the Dogaron at the bottom of these floors.

    "When are we gonna start fighting man, all, we¡¯ve been doing is walking." nkerined.

    "Soon, just have some patience. Perfect, can you do some scouting. Just be careful. And if you reach the Dogaron¡¯s boss room, whatever you do, don¡¯t enter alone." Dave said.

    "Okay." Perfect shot nodded and bolted forward and ahead of the party.

    "Why¡¯d you send him alone?" Demeri asked.

    Dave felt slightly awkward for it was the first time they talked since he t out rejected her for Zoe.

    "He¡¯s the party¡¯s scout. And from here to the next boss room is only one single pathway. He will probably not meet any other monsters, and even if he did, I trust Perfect to handle himself well and not die."

    Demeri nodded and resumed her silence.

    Zoe on the other hand lifted a brow, smiled and then looked away from Dave, probably formting a recipient for an uing headache.

    After a couple of minutes, Perfect Shot¡¯s voice came from the voice.

    "Nothing¡¯s here man, I don¡¯t see any monster or boss."

    "It¡¯s alright, trust me, the Dogaron is there. He¡¯s probably camouged. Just don¡¯t go into the boss room and wait for us."

    "Okay then I¡¯ll be waiting at the door."

    Dave once again led everyone into the tunnel and toward the Dogaron¡¯s resting area.

    "Start applying buffs, the uing battle will be hard."

    "Harder than your battle with Raijin and Fujin?" Fortress asked.

    "Probably." Dave added.

    "Howe? Those are two gods, and you still kicked their ass, the Dogaron is of the same level, and it¡¯s one against all of us."

    "It¡¯s different. Against Raijin and Fujin, I had Tiny, my legacy and a lot of high cooldown skills. As for now. It¡¯s going to be a battle of attrition."

    "I kinda forgot about that. But we¡¯re enough to cover the difference." nker said.

    "Let¡¯s just hope." Davemented.

    After a few more minutes, the party could see nker standing right at the boss room¡¯s entrance.

    "Hey guys," Perfect turned, his back to the dungeon¡¯s door and faced the yers, "I told you man, there was no boss here."

    "And I told you, he is--- DUCK!" Dave shouted.

    Perfect¡¯s reaction was... perfect, he ducked under a w that ripped the cave¡¯s entrance. The Dogaron had been right behind him, fully camouged with the color of the Oprenieum mining area.

    The Dogaron a monster of a creature it was a blue scaly wolf-like creature. Flickers of lightning bounced over and across its scaly blue hide as it swung a spiked, club-like tail from side to side in anticipation of a kill.

    The wolf shaped monster opened alligator jaws and howled at the party.

    "Shit!"

    ***

    Dogaron (Corrupted)

    Level: 750

    Tier : Demonic

    Base damage: 400,000-450,000

    Danger Level : ? ? ? ?

    HP : 200,000,000

    DN : 250,000

    MA: 250,000

    Skills:

    [Railtail] Swings tail with a speed enough to break space itself, releasing a destructive attack that deals 200% base damage in a cone area of the tail¡¯s contact point.

    [Distortion] The Dogaron increases the vibrations of his scales, creating an energy field that distorts vision, and creates hallucination effects.

    [Surcharge] The Dogaron amplify the kic energy running through its body to create either an electric burst, that deals 200% base damage, or employs the energy through his body, increasing his reaction time and the explosiveness of his every follow up move or attack.

    [Berserk] after losing more than 75% of his HP, the Dogaron will enter its second phase. Increasing the overall dealt damage and the potency of all of his skills.

    Lore

    The Dogaron was told to be one of the rtives to the infamous guardian and hound of hell, the Mythical creature Cerberus. But evidence to the rtionship between the two creatures stop at the fact that they both live in a hellish environment. A far cry from a concrete indication that the two are of the same family, however, this does not mean that the Dogaron is any less dangerous. It still ranks high among the Underworld¡¯s mightiest beings.

    ***

    "Charge!" Dave called and ushered Grumpy to move ahead.

    The Dogaron swiped again with its paw, the size of it alone was enough to crush Grumpy to a paste, but Dave jumped forward, poised The Cursed Shield of Ajax in front of him and used [Absorb], taking in the Dogaron¡¯s attack and instantly followed with a [Reject] smacking the beast in the face with his own paw attack.

    The st was enough to both surprise the creature, and send it rolling on the ground for several hundred meters.

    The opening that Dave had created was enough for Perfect Shot to regain hisposure and the Doom Knights to start funneling into the boss room. "Hurry up, everyone get in position. nker, stay in the back, ready up your heals. Du¡¯Rhaza I¡¯ll need your ice magic at the ready. Boyz! Charge that motherf.u.c.ker!"

    The Doom Knights ran forward, bastard swords drawn and their tower shields ready to protect them from any attack.

    The Dogaron found itself surrounded by a hundred Doom Knight, all fearsome foes that any other yer on the world of Conquest will have to be very weary of. A doom Knight was a nightmare to even the Guild Masters, but to the Dogaron, they were nothing but pesky nuisances. Showcased by the first swing of the Dogaron¡¯s tail. It bore through the Doom Knight¡¯s ranks, smashing them aside like if they were made of paper.

    "Shit!" Dave cursed, "I¡¯ll take the front, cover me guys, ster, Fortress with me, everyone else assist us from the distance."

 Chapter 477 - Is It Me Or Is It Getting Hotter In Here?

    <h4>Chapter 477 - Is It Me Or Is It Getting Hotter In Here?</h4>

    Dave, ster, and Fortress charged amongst the Death Knight. Fortress activated [Guard Ally], a glowing blue kite-shield icon appeared over ster¡¯s head for a second then dissipated.

    ster jumped toward the Dogaron¡¯s head, just as thetter opened its mouth to take a delicious bite off the Sword master¡¯s head, ster swung three times in a fraction of a second; activating [Rend the Flesh].

    The Dogaron flinched away from the assault as it nicked its nose, an apparent sensitive part of its body.

    -120,000

    -142,000

    -180,000

    Dave followed after ster with The Cursed Sword of Durandal, mming the edge right on top of the Dogaron¡¯s head. The strength behind Dave¡¯s blow was enough to m the giant wolf¡¯s head into the ground and force a whimper out of it.

    The wolf regained its bnce soon after, it shook its head then looked grimly at Dave and the party members. The Dogaron reared back then moved forward, it was unthinkably fast as it manages to go beyond Dave and slice with its destructive ws at the back of Fortress.

    Fortress was sent sprawling on the ground, with more than a third of his HP down the drain.

    "Holy shit! That hurts!" He cursed and stood back up. The Dogaron was out for blood and it chased after Fortress, ignoring the iing Doom Knights. Just as it was about to strike with its vibrating, electric generating tail on the disoriented Fortress, tworge wed ck hands emerged from under Fortress and pulled him down into the ground.

    The Dogaron¡¯s smash shook the cave and cratered the point of impact into a pit as wide as the beast itself.

    Fortress appeared right next to nker, unknowing of what happened.

    "Thanks, Bud!" Dave shouted. To hisment, nker turned and saw the giant Shadow Ghoul behind them. He had pulled the Tank right through his own shadow and out next to nker¡¯s shadow for healing.

    Bud then dove into shadows and disappeared from the fight, waiting for an opportunity to act.

    Dave whirled Durandal and charged with Ajax poised forward. The Dogaron wed with both paws at once at Dave, but several whirling wh.i.p.s of me shot behind Dave and into the Dogaron¡¯s paws, they coiled around his arms and pulled to the side, causing the two paws to fail their trajectory andnd to the right and left of Dave, where he pierced with Durandal at the base of the scaled wolve¡¯s neck.

    Dave drew blood.

    -1,020,000

    "Good Job Spark keep the assault!"

    The Pyromancer waved his scepter and caused the wh.i.p.s to increase their fire intensity and tug tighter around the paws of the beast. Yet thetter, seemingly unfazed by the heat, roared and pulled tight, snapping the wh.i.p.s and liberating itself.

    "My magic is ipatible with such a foe. Only Lord Du¡¯Rhaza¡¯s magic can cause any real damage." Spark noted.

    "Indeed, but I am upied with keeping our troops¡¯ temperature low. Otherwise, we¡¯ll burn to a crisp," the Ice Lich spoke in a grin.

    Dave could feel the fighting spirit of Du¡¯Rhaza burning, but he knew well that without the ice magic he was constantly using to fight against the heat of the room, they would all die. No matter how Du¡¯Rhaza¡¯s offensive magic could be of help, he was better off as a support for now.

    Dog charged with his own basilisk forward. The Duhan swung his Bone Whip at the base of the beast¡¯s hind legs. Dog pulled with one arm, his muscles threatened to burst due to the sheer size and strength of the beast, but he still managed to drag him back and destabilize him.

    Dog then jumped from the basilisk and onto the Dogaron¡¯s back, while his basilisk charged at the other leg, fully knocking him over.

    Dave took the opportunity and struck at the apparently softer side of the creature, it¡¯s now exposed belly. But Durandal failed to cause any apparent harm but a few cracked scales.

    "Duck!" Perfect shot shouted and Dave dropped down. An enormous Ethereal Great White Shark shot and bit at the Dogaron¡¯s chest then disappeared.

    -2,550,000

    "Let me!" Lone said. Activating [Ice-Shard Arrow Barrage] her hands moved at impossible speeds, firing dozens of arrows in seconds. The arrows became shards of ultra-frozen ice when they struck the Dogaron and frost grew rapidly across the wolf¡¯s body wherever they hit.

    "Good job babe, your ice legacy will help greatly," Dave said.

    "Anytime babe!" Lone called and shot more arrows to destabilize and freeze the creature.

    The Doom Knights finally found the chance to charge and attack the wolf, and they did so with abundant disregard to their safety. Slicing at broken scales, and drawing blood from the creature¡¯s hid.

    "We can¡¯t be outdone, Doom Knights back away!" the crimson sorceress said, and immediately the Doom Knights removed themselves from around the creature, they had sensed a great deal of magic being harness right behind them and they didn¡¯t want to be caught in the caster¡¯s line of sight.

    Tess twirled her scepter chanting, "Twisted void and severed space, bring true the vision of ultimate end! EXPLOSION!"

    A loud explosion echoed from right under the creature, rocking it up and down. Crimson, blood-colored mes shot out from everywhere, dying the whole room in a twilight red color, with high and bright contrast, enough that it blinded the yers.

    -4,600,000

    The Dogaron screeched and wheezed, then it forcefully tried to stand up, even while Dog was still hanging on his back and smashing down with his bone club like a maniac.

    The Dogaron had a strange set of ws, unlike a normal wolf, he had two sets, one right above the other. And apparently, he could control them at will, and instead of five ws in each paw, he made the second set toe down and aligned with the first set, making each paw have ten ws in it.

    This didn¡¯t just increase its destructive power, its grip on the ground was firmer. And its explosive charge became even more dangerous as disyed by its next assault.

    The Dogaron lunged forward, throwing Dog out of position and charged right through the rank of Doom Knights. It was headed to the backline, specifically toward Du¡¯Rhaza.

    The Dogaron arrived at the Ice Lich¡¯s location in a fraction of a second, mouth gaping wide in a wrathful grimace, while drool spewing out, a w held up high that was about to fall and break every bone in the lich¡¯s body.

    Du¡¯Rhaza didn¡¯t panic, for no true Undead would panic even in the face of death, he immediately dashed to the side, thanks to a torrent of ice magic he caste. Yet the Dogaron¡¯s increased speed enabled him to change the trajectory of his sh to follow after Du¡¯Rhaza.

    Theter was forced to st even more power to keep his distance. But it was not enough, as the Dogaron followed closely after and swung his tail at Du¡¯Rhaza.

    The Lich grimaced and called upon the power of his ice magic to encase him in an ice tomb, while the Dogaron¡¯s [Rail-Tail] attacknded. The blow from the beast¡¯s tail was like a baseball bat smashing a home run.

    The encased lich was sent flying all the way to the other side of the room, the power behind the Dogaron¡¯s tail swing was enough to dig the Lich into the wall several meters in.

    "Gracious God, what the hell was that!" nker cringed from the assault that happened right in front of him. What made him freak out, even more, was the fact that the Dogaron was now looking at him.

    ster was the closest to nker as he had backed away from the initial attack first, so he used [Silent Resolve!] to pull the Dogaron¡¯s aggro toward him. It was better off if the Dogaron attacked a beefy sword master instead of a squishy Priest.

    Yet ster¡¯s eyes widened the moment he cast the spell, "F.u.c.k he can¡¯t be aggro leeched!"

    The words fell on nker like a cold bucket of ice.

    The Dogaron swung with his ws at nker, but a hand grabbed at his shoulder and pulled him to the side.

    The Tengu came for the rescue, as he shed upward with his Katana against the Dogaron¡¯s w.

    The difference in strength was so great that the tengu was dug into the ground like what a hammer does to a nail.

    Dave ran toward the party, if he left the Dogaron within their backline it would cause havoc within it. Dave swapped his sword and Shield to the Sworn Stalwart¡¯s Gauntlets and grabbed at the creature¡¯s tail.

    "BUD! Knock him upwards!" Dave shouted as he activated herculean strength, both arms hugging tightly at the creature¡¯s tail.

    Bud appeared right under the Dogaron¡¯s chest, the Ghoul was massively strong, and among the Undead, besides the Giants, the race of Drahma, the ghouls were second in strength. He managed to raise the creature from his feet, even by just a couple of feet off the ground, but it was enough for Dave.

    "UP YOU GO!" Dave shouted, his muscles fighting with exertion as he spun, pulling with him the beast and then threw him to the other side of the battle where the Doom Knights were waiting for prey like a pack of wolves to a served sheep.

    Dave switched to his sword and shield. "Fortress, Doom Knights unit five, all ten of you, stay in the backline!" Dave called one-tenth of his unit off the assault and had them stationed at the backline to aid the supporting allies. He couldn¡¯t afford to lose any of them.

    "Tengu, go check up on Du¡¯Rhaza, he shouldn¡¯t be dead yet, his magic is still working but he must be stuck. Dog, with me!" Dave shouted orders, and orders were followed. This creature was pretty smart, and it went for targets that were the most c.u.mbersome to it.

    If he had managed to kill the Ice Lich, it would have given him a great advantage in battle as the Doom Knights would die from Overheating. If he had killed nker it would have disabled all the healing the human side of the assault troop could get. The Dogaron was not to be messed with or underestimate. And Dave was not going to do so.

    Dave and Dog both sprinted forward to the wolf. The Doom Knights surrounding it were taking turns in piling attacks and retreating whenever one of them suffered damage. They didn¡¯t have any way to heal so swapping and changing position, for now, was enough.

    Dave had already regretted the fact that he hadn¡¯t brought the Unholy Priestess, but she was too weak to be of active assistance in this battle and would be useless in healing the amount of damage the Doom Knights were taking.

    Dave arrived at the fight immediately, looking to his side, Dog was nowhere to be seen, he was sure the Duhan was following tightly next to him.

    Turning, Dave caught Dog in the middle of the arena, standing like a statue and looking at the ground. He then pulled his club and smashed it into the ground.

    A notification appeared in front of Dave.

    ***

    Dog the Duhan used [Rise Undead]

    Dog the Duhan has sessfully revived [ Chaos Centipede]

    ***

    Dave¡¯s eyes widened as the ground began to shudder and shake.

    A monster as big as Grumpy emerged from underground through the new opening and skittered sideways around the hole. Its domed carapace was squarish with an armored crab-like leg attached at each corner.

    The first creature was followed by more, scuttling into the room one after another. Dave counted a dozen of the crab-like things. The creatures gathered in the center of the room and linked their individual bodies together front to back with all the legs aligned to the sides. The creature on the nearest end shook, its shell broke apart, revealing a human face with multi-faceted insectoid eyes and massive pincer-mandibles at the corners of its mouth.

    "F.u.c.k!" Dave cursed. "You¡¯ve done it again damn it!"

    He chaos Centipede¡¯s Name was written in a bright threatening red.

 Chapter 478 - Tough Skinned

    <h4>Chapter 478 - Tough Skinned</h4>

    Another monster added to the battle, another variable and the equation has now be much more difficult to solve. Dave grunted, "Dog get back here! Send some Doom Knights to hold off the centipede."

    Dave gave the order and ducked under an aggressive paw swing of the Dogaron.

    Dog on the other hand looked right into the eyes of the Centipede. He held up his club and smashed it on its head. Rocking the creature. The centipede didn¡¯t register any points of damage, but it looked like it was in great pain.

    Dog grunted a few words, pointed at the Dogaron and the Centipede¡¯s Red tag turned instantly green. He then moved toward the group where Dave was looking at him with a wide-open mouth.

    ***

    Corrupted Chaos Centipede has now be a member of your Legion.

    ***

    "How the hell did you do that?" Dave wondered, then he remembered the first time Dog revived an undead, it acted the same way, and if the creature he revives was lower level than Dog, he could somehow control it and force it to serve Dave.

    Dog shrugged with all his headless body can do, and crackled the bone whip preparing for a fight.

    The centipede scurried toward the Dogaron and bit at its hind leg. Theter screeched and swiped its tail at the creature¡¯s head trying to punch it for its aggressiveness. Dave took the opportunity and jumped at the Dogaron¡¯s back using [Immortal Ascension]. He then struck down with Durandal, the blow was powerful enough that it rocked the Dogaron¡¯s head into the ground.

    "Light¡¯em up boyz!" Dave shouted and a torrent of spells from his yers teammate sand continuous sword strikes and shield bashes followed suit. The Dogaron was pinned down thanks to the massive centipede and was being struck left and right unable to contend or defend itself.

    "Dave, watch out!" ster shouted, but it was toote. Dave didn¡¯t notice the Dogaron¡¯s tailing toward him as it struck him off the creature and dozens of meters away.

    -420,000

    "Ugh, damn didn¡¯t see that one," Dave stood back up and ran back into the fray, only to have the Dogaron howl and forcefully stand back up, throwing away any undead that wastched onto it.

    The Dogaron bit on one of the Doom Knights next to it, pulling head away from torso as its ten wed paw fixed the undead tightly on the ground.

    ***

    You have lost one [Doom Knight] in battle.

    ***

    the first casualty in Dave¡¯s team happened and it was quick and instant.

    "Everyone be more careful, shields at the ready don¡¯t get caught solo. Du¡¯Rhaza, are you here?"

    "Yes, yes, young prince. This damnnable creature really did a number on me." Du¡¯Rhaza spoke in grit teeth. His chest was caved in, and his left arm was broken, twisted out of its elbow socket.

    "Can you still cast magic?"

    "Can I? I never stopped, tis but a scratch." Du¡¯Rahza grinned. "But the way this fight is going on, I doubt I¡¯ll be of any help besides cooling off our members."

    "I know, just stay safe, Dog, with me," Dave called.

    The Doom Knight charged ahead, he swung at the Dogaron¡¯s legs, coiling the bone whip around both its hind legs then drew with one single arm. The strength behind Dog was impressive as it tripped the Dogaron and stopped its assault on the rest of the Doom Knights.

    "Man, why don¡¯t you go Mega Dave mode, you did pretty well against those two gods on your own." nkermented.

    "Can¡¯t," Dave shouted as he ran back into the fray, "Legacy on cooldown, Tiny is weakened, all my powerful skills are of no use right now, and most of my big hitter skills are fire rted and those are useless against something that lives in this hot environment."

    Dave struck again with Durandal, nicking a few scales off their ces, and drawing blue blood.

    "Also, in case you didn¡¯t notice that¡¯s the reason why I brought the boyz here, they are as strong as mega Dave. Now, quite yapping and boost the rest of the party. Zoe, Perfect, keep the pressure. Mercy where the hell are you?" Dave asked.

    "Right here," Mercy spoke eerily close to Dave¡¯s ears which caused him to jerk back, that reaction helped him dodge a sneaky w strike from the Dogaron.

    "DAMN! Nice dodge!" ster said.

    "Piece of cake," Dave said. Thankfully no one realized what went on.

    ¡¯Never let them see you sweat.¡¯ Dave grinned and struck again.

    "Throw me," Mercy said.

    Dave jumped back and gave his spot to two Doom Knights.

    "You sure?" Dave asked.

    "Yes," Mercy replied and handed him her hand.

    Dave stabbed Durandal and grabbed Mercy¡¯s extended hand, he heaved then pumped the muscles on his right arm, then shot Mercy forward like a human cannon.

    Amazingly, the assassin managed to spin around herself like a top as she was shooting forward, with Daggers held out. She tore a huge chunk of the Dogaron¡¯s back andnded gracefully on the other side then turned invisible, waiting for another opportunity.

    "Dang that was nice," Dave said.

    A loud burst of winds came from above the Doom Knights. Dave looked up, and it was the Tengu.

    The tengu¡¯s eyes shone bright red for a moment and the creature grunted

    "Thou who dares desecrate thisnd, with my advent, I, the Great Tengu,y waste to your defilement with this de! ZAN!"

    The tengu¡¯s hand tightened around the grip of his sword and pulled the de out a finger¡¯s length...a blink, then he slid the katana back into its sheath with an ominous ¡¯click.¡¯

    A strong wind kicked up rocks and debris and the whole room shuddered. Everything in front of the tengu was split down the middle. Even space itself was divided. For an instant, one half of the room started slipping down and away from the other half, like a melon sliding apart after being sliced in half. Then the room shuddered again and returned to normal, the two halves back together as if nothing had happened.

    In the middle of the slice, was the Dogaron, he shook for a moment then looked up. Across his body, arge scar materialized.

    "Don¡¯t tell me it¡¯s going to spilt in half! That¡¯ll make everything much easier man," nker said.

    "You had to speak didn¡¯t you," Dave muttered.

    The Dogaron, against what ker had said suffered nothing but the wide gash on his back, it then opened its mouth and began absorbing the air in the room. For a few seconds, the temperature dropped from infernal to suffocating. The Dogaron¡¯s gullet bloated like if it was about to explode then the creature howled a st with enough power that it shook the entirety of the cave. Rocks and stctites fell from the domed room, some outright killed a couple of Doom Knights due to their sheer size.

    And the st was aimed at the Tengu who was smashed into the roof of the room, pinned there like a cartoon character.

    The Dogaron¡¯s scales began vibrating, shaking then its turquois-blue color began changing to a brick red. The Dogaron began breathing low and hard, with every breath it took, it exhaled streams of hot smoke. It¡¯s body began generating electricity, sparking all over its hide. The Dogaron¡¯s mouth salivated, prepared to w and crunch its way through the undead.

    "Things are about to get reaaal hot in here. Buckle up!" Dave called and poised against the Dogaron¡¯s growling jaws.

 Chapter 479 - Forbidden Techniques

    <h4>Chapter 479 - Forbidden Techniques</h4>

    Chapter 478

    The Dogaron growled, its body began emitting constant waves of red heat, the kic energy around its shell raged and surged, but its cool attitude made it even more dangerous than when it was acting like an enraged foolish beast.

    A split of a second, a sh, and a blink of an eye, the Dogaron disappeared, without making a sound, the creature was nowhere to be seen.

    "The thing can turn invisible?" nker questioned.

    "No, it¡¯s just became really fast, keep an eye out!" Dave shouted. Dave gazed around the room, not focusing on one thing in particr but taking the entire area into consideration, trying to spy something different.

    Yet, failing to sport the Dogaron, Dave looked up, "Damn," He uttered.

    His words caused all the yers and undead to look up. The Dogaron was leisurely walking, upside down on the roof of the room. Its eyes peeled for weak prey.

    In almost another second, the Dogaron jumped, or in his case, came down toward one of the most wounded Doom Knights. The scaled wolf-crocodile speed was too fast for the Doom Knight to react in time. The Dogaron¡¯s wed its way through the Doom Knight¡¯s armor and bit at its shoulder, ripping spine from back, and killing the Doom Knight instantly.

    The Chaos Centipede assaulted the creature, but a swing of the Dogaron¡¯s tail shattered the Centipede back to its separate parts, all sprawled all over the room on their backs unable to stand up.

    Before any of the other Doom Knight could retaliate, the Dogaron was already nowhere to be seen.

    "It¡¯s gonna start picking us off, one by one if we don¡¯t do something." ster said.

    "I can slow it down," Demeri said.

    "I¡¯ll help, I need a couple of Doom Knights to protect me Skelly." Perfect Shot said.

    "Yes, you and you, protect the male archer." Dave pointed at a couple of Doom Knights and began scanning the area.

    Perfect Shot crouched down, ced a palm on the ground and uttered [Nature¡¯s Call]

    A burst of golden waves warm to the look burst out from under his palm. They echoed around the room, locating every stone, rock, and pebble.

    This skill was one of nker¡¯s most used skills when he scouted for the party in thick jungles, and now in a cave such a this, though not a forest, it still had its usage, and due to theck of obstacles, it worked even better.

    "He¡¯s hiding among that rock formation to the north." Perfect Shot said.

    Demeri took out her harp and plucked the strings. The notes were aggressive, almost painful to hear. But they carried with it a message of vengeance and pain.

    The Dogaron, a canine, with an extremely good sense of hearing was assaulted, enough that it began howling painfully, its head in torment.

    "I¡¯ll keep him tagged, guys your turn."

    "Alright, blow, blow, gates of hell blow!" Tess chanted, twirled her scepter, and pointed at the Doragon.

    Loud continuous explosions echoed around the creature, then Tess pointed right above it, blowing off a huge chunk of stctites off the roof.

    The pointy sharp tools of death fell down like explosive mortar. Deadly on impact, and destructive aftermath.

    The thick hide of the Dogaron suffered greatly when the destructive debris fell on it. Its scales were now mostly damaged, and a lot of gashes opened up all over its body.

    "It¡¯s working, keep it up, let¡¯s skin the bastard," ster called and charged ahead. He arrived to the front of the Dogaron, bent forward, enough that he was about to fall to his face. His western sword was tucked to his side like a katana. ster kept falling forward, supporting his body with one leg as he lifted the other and poised it forward. Right now, he looked to be in a sword drawing stance.

    "Fu Temple Legacy! First form, God ying!"

    Dave cringed from his friend shouting a skill like an overhyped manga character, but the following action made Dave swallow back his thoughts.

    ster, dashed forward, no more like blinked right behind the Dogaron, followed up by a wave of wind that sted the creature upwards. Then dropped it on the ground.

    The Dogaron lost an ear and caused the creature to suffer a grievouscerating wound under its belly. ster¡¯s attack was the first to deal any type of serious damage to this extent.

    "Well doned. But your form still needs more stability." The tengu¡¯s voice sounded from the roof, he had managed to remove himself from there and fell down to join the rest of the party.

    "Well, at least he did more damage than you did, old nosed man you got stuck into a wall." nker said.

    "Of course that was rather embarrassing, but I needed to gauge the strength of my foe before I could attempt any serious moves." The Tengu replied.

    "Yeah right, and I could kill the Dogaron with a sneeze but I also want to gauge its strength first and see what it could do." nker rebutted.

    The Tengu smiled, but didn¡¯t reply nker, "Lad," he addressed ster as he moved away from The Dogaron that was now surrounded with more Doom Knights.

    "This is how you use God ying."

    The Tengu repeated the same move set that ster did, only he was so low, that his nose almost touched the ground when he leaned forward. The tengu¡¯s hand didn¡¯t even rest on his sword, it was a fraction of an inch away from it.

    "Fu Temple Legacy, Third Form, Space Rend Asunder!" The Tengu blinked and appeared behind the Dogaron, then another time he blinked and appeared above, then below then to the side, he kept disappearing and appearing all over the creature twice, thrice, ten, and even more than a couple of dozens of times.

    Lastly, the Tengu shed back to his former position, his sword apparently never been unsheathed, but was opened only a fraction.

    "Copsed Space, Lives lost, and Body Broken. Return to dust!" The tengu spoke and with an ominous click, the sword was now fully sheeted.

    The same as when the Tengu used his Space Rending attack, now, this one tore space into bits and pieces, fractioned it, into rectangles triangles and parts that had no definitive geometrical shape. And inside these parts, one could see parts of the Dogaron, chunks of it cut away from their original position.

    nker¡¯s mouth was opened wide, same as were his eyes, unable to believe what he was seeing.

    "Holy shit, he just made the Dogaron into a jigsaw puzzle," Fortress said.

    "And you think Skelly¡¯s Legacy is broken?" Mercy said to Zoe. There was a hint of pride in Mercy¡¯s Tone, obviously since the Tengu and Ralph shared the same legacy.

    "If only it was this easy to y monsters," The tengu spoke.

    Then all the broken pieces of space returned to their ces, and the formerly cut to pieces Dogaron regained its former body.

    "Oh, so that¡¯s just a cosmetic effect with no real damage, man you scared me there." nker said.

    Yet against hisment, the Dogaron¡¯s entire body gushed out blood from his skin. Then the creature flopped down. Arge red numerical value appeared above it

    -50,000,000HP

    The Dogaron, seeing itself torn to shreds was too much for its mental health it fainted.

    "Damn, but this thing is still really powerful, why is it just a B ss legacy?" Dave asked.

    "The Fu Temple Technique gave its followers might beyond what a mere divine legacy could give, and due to this technique, the lord of space ruled against us, and forbade the ability to fully manifest. If I had used this before the rule of the Space Lord had been decreed, this creature, this cave, and this entire area would have been torn, rent to shreds and consumed in a space rift." The Tengu exined.

    "Yeah, that would have been cool if I could do that, Dave, I could have sted your ass in a PVP match." ster said in a grin after he regrouped with the party.

    "It¡¯s not like I would stand still and wait for you to use that skill, also there are other variables," Dave said.

    "Lord prince, if I may, our original Temple Technique is far moreplex and convoluted, this is but some of the normal attacks, if the young disciple of our temple were to unlock the Forbidden techniques of our temple, he would undoubtedly be a great rival to you in the future." The tengu said, praising the Fu temple technique.

    "Holy shit, I just got an SS ss quest!" ster said.

    "Really?" Dave asked.

    "Yeah, check it out, I¡¯ll share it in the party chat."

    ***

    Fu-Temple SS ss legacy upgrade.

    You can learn more secretes of the Fu Temple Forbidden technique. Ask the Lord Tengu on how to start the questline.

    Be warned, your quest may have a global effect on the World of Conquest, that is if you seed.

    Rewards:

    ss Legacy upgrade from B to S ss.

    New Fu Temple Technique forbidden technique: Soul And Sword as One!

    +250,000,000XP

    ***

    "Damn, that looks nice, let¡¯s do that after we¡¯re done with this guy. I¡¯ll see if I can help you out. With your quest." Dave said.

    "Yeah, but don¡¯t you have a raid on the Ash King¡¯s temple by tomorrow?" ster asked.

    "Shit, I keep forgetting, yeah, well I¡¯ll help whenever I can. Now, let¡¯s focus. The Dogaron is back on the move again." Dave said.

    The unconscious Dogaron finally woke up, it looked feeble, the red scales on its body had cooled down and were back to their blue color, yet soon they began vibrating again and regained their former red sheen.

    It was already in its [Berserk] passive effect. As much as that meant that it didn¡¯t have a lot of HP left, I still didn¡¯t take away the fact that it became even more dangerous.

 Chapter 480 - What Lies in The Depths

    <h4>Chapter 480 - What Lies in The Depths</h4>

    Hours into the battle, the situation looked grim.

    The Dogaron charged at the Doom Knights, killing them in droves. It became unthinkably swift, with every sh of its ws, it would tear away the shields with the arms attached to the Doom Knights. Then with its other w, it would rip the torso from head then move on to another Doom Knight. The casualties in Dave¡¯s ranks grew by each passing minute.

    And the ore the Doom Knights died, the more difficult the battle became.

    "Demeri, you got any more juice?" Dave asked.

    "I need a bit to regen more mana, I can¡¯t slow it down now!"

    "I¡¯m also exhausted," Perfect Shot huffed, his constant use of [Nature¡¯s Call] drained all of his mana.

    "Damn this berserk mode is annoying," Dave cursed.

    "This thing has only 10% of its HP left, why the hell is it more difficult to kill than before." ster groaned. nker was currently healing him as he suffered an almost fatal wound.

    The Tengu had lost one of his wings in a confrontation with the Dogaron and was forced down to the ground, losing his areal advantage.

    Mercy was unable to use any of her Legacy Skills as the target was not humanoid, not a ruler and she couldn¡¯t get close to him using her invisibility as the heat the Dogaron generated and the electricity from the constant vibration on his hide would neutralize any invisible attempt to assassinate or deal burst damage.

    "This creature is specialized in battling against numbers. This battle will only get harder!" Fortress Said.

    "My spells are useless now, his berserk mode is perfectly negating any explosive, fiery damage I deal to it. I¡¯m out of the battle for now. I¡¯ll switch to support," Tess said.

    "Good idea," nker said, "I need a hand here, I¡¯m out of juice too."

    "I¡¯ll keep him busy for now, Dave, you have to do something," Lonemented.

    "All of my big hitters are down," Dave said.

    "Wait, I have one more thing, Doom Knights! Get back!" Dave called and his undead followed.

    The Dogaron feeling the pressure on him decreasing decided to be adventurous and charged at the backline where the yers were recovering.

    Dave¡¯s body released a powerful burst of steam, while a glowing light shone around him.

    Dave¡¯s head grew two horns and his hands materialized ws, he went into Aspect of the Dragon, gaining 500% increased damage and a reduction of 80% of taken damage. While gaining the ability [Fly] for a brief period of time.

    Dave charged the Dogaron, with the newfound speed he was able to contend with the creature¡¯s own. The Dogaron mmed a paw at Dave, to which he took head-on, only to receive minor damage.

    -200,000!

    At the same time, Dave grabbed the Dogaron¡¯s own ws and twisted his entire body, throwing the creature high up in the air.

    "UP YOU GO!" Dave called and followed after the wailing Dogaron.

    Dave lifted the entire creature up, empowered by the strength of a dragon, the Dogaron felt as heavy as a feather in the hands of Dave.

    It tried to squirm to escape from Dave¡¯s grasp, but his ws were dug too deep in the Dogaron¡¯s flesh that no amount of squirming could save it.

    Once Dave arrived to the ceiling of the room, he pped his wings and dropped down, spiraling along the way, it was in no way as perfect as when he applied it to White Ghost, as thetter was human, lighter and easier to control. Also, there was more distance he could use to fly up, causing the fall damage to be greater.

    With the roof of the room being low, but enough to cause serious damage if one were to fall from there to the ground, added to the fact that the Dogaron was heavy and was being pushed into the ground thanks to the power behind Dave¡¯s wings.

    The impact on the ground was brutal, it cratered a wide area, evenrger than the Dogaron itself.

    -12,000,000!

    The fact that Dave was the one pushing the Dogaron into the ground and not the other way around and thanks to the reduced damage intake from Aspect of the Dragon, Dave didn¡¯t suffer much.

    He then drew Durandal, held it over him while the Dogaron was still trying to recover from the lung emptying blow, Dave used [Weight of the Universe], thankfully the skill was bound to the sword and didn¡¯t contradict with the aspect of the Dragon activation condition that no other skills besides dragon skills can be used.

    Durandal grew to a massive size, more than eighty meters in height, Dave held it over his head with two arms, then swung down with a might so great that the impact caused the entire cave to shake.

    The vibrations caused the rotten blood vessels on his arms to burst, his bones to break and he was temporarily unable to use his arms.

    This was the effect on Dave who struck with Durandal, as for the Dogaron, it whimpered loudly, blood burst out of its nose and mouth, and one of its eyes popped out. As for the point of impact, which was its chest, it was caved in.

    "Shit man, you overdid it!" stermented on the graphic abuse.

    "Better it than I, I¡¯ll fold back, I can¡¯t use my arms," Dave said and hopped back out.

    The Dogaron was heaving, barely able to move, it was on itsst leg, but its fighting spirit was not extinguished yet. This creature was still dangerous and Dave needed time to heal.

    "Doom Knights, get his ass!" Dave ordered and the retreated Doom Knights charged back.

    Dave focused on the Ring of True Undeath, then switched his appearance back to human.

    His ck gold armor changed to a tinum-colored set. Where skulls used to be, now, majestic carvings of lions and dragons reced them. Dave¡¯s armor was now fit for a legendary war general. But the bent-up shape of his arm caused everyone great worry. Especially seeing red blood seeping out from inside his armored arms and dripping to the ground.

    "Patch me up," Dave said to nker who had just finished treating ster.

    "Damn man, that¡¯s messed up. Heal Wounded Warrior!" nker cast a spell on Dave, to which the disturbing sound of broken bones locking back to their original ce echoed like crackling popcorn.

    Soon Dave was able to move his arms, he turned to the Dogaron, who was barely able to move.

    "Onest push, guys, let¡¯s go," Dave called and everyone agreed.

    In ten more minutes, the battle ended.

    ***

    Conquest Server Announcement!

    The following party members have sessfully raided the Oprenieum Mine and defeated the mini boss of the area. The Dogaron! Level 750

    The ore deposit contains the mineral Oprenieum.

    The Oprenieum Mines are free to excavate for the following 30 days Conquest in-game time

    ***

    "Damn that was exhausting!" nker slopped down to the ground.

    Most of the yers were mentally exhausted, the battle needed them to be on their toes and careful all the time. If not for Dave¡¯s Doom Knights, they would not have had any chance in beating this, and Dave knew it. Without his legacy or Tiny, a battle against a 750-level boss was a nightmare he didn¡¯t want to relive another time again.

    "Damn I lost 44 Doom Knights, this battle is expensive," Dave said as the price of reviving every Doom Knights was tens of thousands of Contribution Points.

    "Loot! Gotta see the loot!" Lone said and hurried to the Dogaron¡¯s hide.

    A momentter, Lone yelped in excitement.

    "Woot! This is amazing!" she shouted and shared the Loot Log with everyone.

    ***

    [Dogaron General Armor Diagram 5 Archetypes]

    Dogaron¡¯s Corrupted de

    Dogaron¡¯s Corrupted Bow

    Dogaron¡¯s Corrupted Shield

    Dogaron¡¯s Corrupted Dagger

    Dogaron¡¯s Corrupted Tendons

    Dogaron¡¯s Corrupted Staff

    Dogaron¡¯s Corrupted Chime

    Dogaron¡¯s ws X 40

    Dogaron¡¯s Scales X 120

    Dogaron¡¯s Tail X1

    Dogaron¡¯s Fangs X 20

    20,000 Gold

    [Hell¡¯s Bells] Legendary Quest Item

    ***

    "What the heck! That¡¯s a lot of stuffing out of one monster." nker said.

    "The first time one ys a monster it usually drops its best loot. But I never saw a case of something like this." Dave said.

    "This happed a few times actually when yers first started ying, some monsters gave several weapons that can be crafted using the material from the boss in. This is the same thing, and because the Dogaron is such a rare monster the drops were generic and general toward all and most sses." Lone said.

    "Use me as I don¡¯t understand button," nker said.

    "It means that the monster will drop all weapons-rted to it on its first death,ter on seeing one of these drops will be a miracle. Still, what is the General Armor Diagram?" Dave asked.

    "It means that the Dogaron¡¯s material can craft armor for five different sses! This is a huge find. But sadly we don¡¯t have the level for it yet, nor can we use the weapons or even inspect them" Lone said.

    Dave pondered for a moment, it was the same for Durandal and Ajax, he couldn¡¯t identify them until he mt all conditions. He tried to identify one of the items dropped only to receive this notification.

    ***

    Dogaron¡¯s corrupted de

    Weapon detail unknown.

    Remove the corruption status first!

    ***

    "Damn, I should ask Andre about this," Dave said.

    "Yeah, that cksmith that works for you might have an idea on how to remove them, but there are two things that are really bothering me here," Mercy said.

    "What?" Dave asked.

    "First is, this," she shared a notification in the party chat.

    ***

    [Hell¡¯s Bells] Quest item.

    To start the Quest [Hell¡¯s Bells] contact one of Conquest¡¯s high tier deities for more details.

    ***

    "I think Nick could have an idea on what this could do, what¡¯s your second worry?" Dave asked.

    Mercy pointed to the far side of the room, there was now a small door there that no one had paid any attention to early on. because it was hidden by some of the rubble, but once the Dogaron died, it mysteriously disappeared and the door was revealed.

    "What¡¯s that?"

    Dave frowned for a moment, thinking, but nker moved ahead first.

    Dave stopped him by grabbing at his shoulder.

    "What man? There could be more loot there."

    "No, I doubt it, I highly doubt it."

    "Why is that?" nker asked.

    "Well, think about it, what did the Conquest Server Notification say?"

    "That we killed a boss and got the right to mine this opremiumthingy."

    "It also mentioned that the Dogaron was a mini-boss. You know what that means," Dave dropped the hammer on nker¡¯s treasure fantasy.

    Thetter gulped hard.

    "That we haven¡¯t even seen the real boss of this dungeon yet. Holy crap, how manyyers does this ce even has?"

    "We don¡¯t want to know, and we probably should not try anything while we¡¯re this weakened. Let¡¯s wait until the Ash King¡¯s raid is over. Then we can check things here. Guys, I think it¡¯s time to head out."

    "You¡¯re right, let¡¯s head out. You have a bit day awaiting you tomorrow." nker said.

    "Not just me, you¡¯re all invited, did you forget that we¡¯ll be facing not only the ash king but other yers. It¡¯s going to be a really nice show tomorrow, I can feel it." Daveughed and proceeded to tear his teleportation scroll.

    Every other yer followed suit, and non-realized that the small door in the cave creaked open, an emaciated humanoid hand was grasping at the edge of the door...

    ****

    **** Please Make sure to read this story on , if you are reading Rise of the Undead legion anywhere else then you are on a pirating website, do not ept to offer any kinds of payment to such people as they are non-repsecting of author¡¯s right and I, as the writer am not benefiting from their schemes in any way possible.****

 Chapter 481 - Eyes Locked, Swords Drawn

    <h4>Chapter 481 - Eyes Locked, Swords Drawn</h4>

    Dave was exhausted, the day had finally ended for him. In-game, yers were wondering about this new mineral, the Oprenieum, and many cksmiths have been asked and none knew the answer. A new mineral means a new armor set, weapons, upgrades, and more power. But as long as they didn¡¯t have ess to it, it was all just talking.

    On more serious notes, the yers from Heaven Dawn, Blood Ragers, and some rare few Devastators have all received a notification. These yers were specifically the ones that epted the chalice of the Ash King.

    And this very notification gave info about the uing war, and what every yer was supposed to do.

    ***

    The Ash King¡¯s dominion is about to be assaulted by the Undead Legion. All the yers who have drunk from the Ash King¡¯s Chalice are now bound to his service in defending his Keep.

    The Ash King¡¯s blood is now broiling through those who drunk it.

    In exchange for sacrificing your legacies, the Ash King will impart power in equivalence to the grade of the Legacy sacrificed to join him.

    S ss Legacy: Demon General rank: Skill [Demonic Rampage] Skill Demonic Resurrection [One-time use only] 10,000 Demon Knights.

    A ss Legacy: Demon Knight rank: Skill [Demonic Rage] Skill Demonic Resurrection [One-time use only] 1,000 Demon Soldiers.

    B ss Legacy Demon Soldier rank: Skill [Demonic Madness] 100 Demon beasts.

    C ss and below B ss Legacy Demon follower ranks [Demonic Will]

    These Skills will be avable for use once the battle starts. Be ready to offer your aid to the Ash King.

    More rewards await the yers who contribute the most to the Ash King¡¯s war. Be ready and prepare for a hard-fought battle.

    ***

    Dave was sitting on his sofa enjoying a beer and a slice of pizza while he read the notifications on his TV. CCN was broadcasting a feed of his adventure and along with it the happenings of the game.

    "I guess tomorrow is going to get really interesting."

    He checked the time and decided it was best to sleep for now. A good Eight Hours sleep is enough to refresh him, and ready him up for tomorrow.

    Dave turned off the Tv and headed back to his room. He fell asleep the moment he ced his head on his pillow.

    Mornings alwayse sooner than anyone would want them to. And this was the case for David Ruster as he was woken up due to the rude rm. He turned it off, grabbed something to eat, and went into his gaming capsule.

    Once he was set up, Dave logged in to find a notification waiting for him.

    ***

    The Undead Legion will be marching to the Ash Kin¡¯s Dominion from the Drow Kingdom.

    You as the prince of the Undead must be there for the army to march.

    The Undead King has assigned you as General Commander, while he retains Grand General Rank, with full control over the army. You cannot override the Undead King¡¯s orders, but any other General Rank Undead, [Abyssal Knights] will follow your orders as long as they don¡¯t collide with the Undead King¡¯smand.

    As the Undead Prince, you will be the Face of the Army. While the Undead King will retain aplete generalmand of the Army and make Macro Calls of movement, you will be responsible for Micromanaging your troops and adjust ording to the enemy¡¯s movement and cement.

    You are allowed to call for the entire army¡¯s retreat but only do so when necessary, mistiming thismand will result in severe consequences.

    ***

    "Damn, they¡¯ll start soon," Dave smirked and teleported to the Drow Kingdom.

    Thankfully, he didn¡¯t even need to revive the Doom knights he lost to the Dogaron yesterday. As this is a matter of war, the Undead King has financed all CP rted to gearing up and reviving the Undead for Dave¡¯s troops.

    Dave¡¯s only dissatisfaction was the fact that the Oprenieum couldn¡¯t be harvested enough to empower the entire army. However, great portions of it have been excavated and more is being dug out as the army was marching. They all pooled into Dante¡¯s workshop and into Dave¡¯s cksmithing guild back in the eastern Kingdom. Melted and forged into arrows, light armors, scale mail armor, and any light gears that the Oprenieum could be used on and produced in a faster and more rapid manner.

    The Oprenieum has proven very difficult to melt, but this only added to its durability and strength. So, to use it immediately on the armors of Death Knights and Doom Knights and above was nigh impossible. It would require time, time that the Undead Didn¡¯t have as the Undead King¡¯s word proceeds all. He had ordered the march of the army, and the army will march, with or without those armors.

    Dave arrived to the Drow Kingdom. The massive forest was packed tight with Undead. There was so many of them that one would find it a miracle if he were to walk without bumping into one or stepping on one¡¯s foot.

    Yet when the Undead saw Dave, they squeezed themselves together and made a clear and wide path for him to move forward. Undead, elites, casual, Death Knights and even Doom Knights gave way to the Prince of the Undead.

    The majority of these undead had spent far longer than he ever did in the legion. Some had spent years and decades; some had spent centuries and even millennials. Yet non hade close to what Dave had achieved in his short-term service.

    He had started out as a regr skeleton, unknown, hardly remembered. And one of many, yet his climb to glory was paved in the blood of his enemies. Enemies that many Undead had thought impossible to defeat. He brought down foe after foe, conquered city after city, ground his enemies to dust. Made his name known for all, and right now, the former nobody was the prince of the Undead, the prince that all wished to serve. The prince that deep down, every undead knew that whatever he did, he did for the legion, and whatever mission he tackled he always came on top, and it was always a victory.

    Dave marched forward until he reached the exit of the Drow Kingdom. At the other side, he looked back. Undead with numbers so many one would spend an eternity counting them one by one. And in the far distance, the Ash King¡¯s Keep. The pir of mes rose high and mighty into the night sky, clouding the whole region and shading it away from the hanging broken moon of the Underworld.

    Along the vast desert of the Ash King¡¯s keep were unbelievable numbers of demons. Humanoids, and beasts. All corrupted servants of the Ash King, and among those, were yers. By the hundreds of thousands. Most have all gave up their legacies, and those without have sworn fealty for a power the Ash King had offered.

    Dave didn¡¯t care, as these yers were mostly casuals, they will be mowed down with the first charge of the Undead Legion. The real hassle was the big shots that are serving the Ash King.

    Dave had known that the Super Guild masters have all refused to drink from the Chalice. They however had their minions do so, and by using these minions to watch the war, they couldmand and order the movements of the yer army.

    In this war, Dave had two problems. The first was the power of the Ash King himself. And the second was the yers.

    For the first, there was nothing he could do. He was going to rely on the Undead to break the Ash King, as numbers beat courage at any time of the day. As for the second and, this was the real problem, yers were not of a single mind. They could think of different things,e up with different strategies, and bring a great variable to the game that he cannot fully control.

    With at least White Ghost as themander and mastermind behind these yers, Dave had to admit that they will be a force to reckon with, and he had to give them the respect they are owed.

    Even if each and every single individual of them was weak, utterly unimportant and nothing more than small fries or cannon fodder. With the likes of White Ghost behind their every move, Dave had to be careful.

    "Your highness," spoke the sound of a very familiar undead.

    Dave didn¡¯t need to turn to his right to recognize Samael.

    "Don¡¯t call me that, we¡¯re friends, call me by my name, Samael."

    "Right, anyway, what¡¯s the n?"

    "For now, we¡¯ll wait for his majesty to announce the start of the battle. Tell me what is our status?" Dave asked.

    "The Undead King mobilized all of our army. More than eight million undead are positioned around the Ash King¡¯s Keep. This is but a fraction of our real might. I¡¯m the only other Abyssal Knight with you here. On the northern side of the Keep is Da and Dortha, they synergize well." Samael said.

    "Yeah, Da¡¯s units mostlypose of casters, and with Da¡¯s beasts, he will have a good time firing away his magic. What about the rest?"

    "Marik is with Lilith, their ghost magic and blood magic is not as useful as it could be in these harsh conditions but they will act as support, and liaison, we will be trading and exchanging information using their minions, also the ghosts can be a good hindrance to some of the Undead King¡¯s troops. Lilith¡¯s bats will be weak against Demons, but they have recruited yers that she could enjoy ying with."

    "That¡¯s good. What about Dementi?"

    "Dementi is leading her archers in assistance of the Undead King¡¯s personal Royal Army," Samael said.

    "And seeing that the king will be thest to join the battle, that means..." Dave didn¡¯t finish his words, Samael did for him.

    "Yes, that means we¡¯re going to be the leading force, the big hitters, the vanguards Also, that means that we¡¯re the one who¡¯ll have the most fun." Samael grinned.

    Dave matched the ghoul¡¯s smile, "Right, that¡¯s not bad at all. We could do with a good warmup. Tell me, how do you usually start a full-scale war?" Dave asked.

    "We¡¯ll start by sending the Undead Elites and some of the lower-tiered ones to weaken the enemy¡¯s frontline. Once their formation is brittle enough, we send in the big hitters, break their line and rampage within, textbook," Samael said.

    "Hah, but I¡¯m here now. And I say, I have a really good idea," Dave spoke while his hand casually strokes his beard.

    ****

    **** Please Make sure to read this story on , if you are reading Rise of the Undead legion anywhere else then you are on a pirating website, do not ept to offer any kinds of payment to such people as they are non-repsecting of author¡¯s right and I, as the writer am not benefiting from their schemes in any way possible.****

 Chapter 482 - On This Day!

    <h4>Chapter 482 - On This Day!</h4>

    "Dave, where are you?" Lone asked Dave through the party chat.

    "Right at the front of the Drow Kingdom, facing the Ash Kin¡¯s army, what about you guys?" Dave asked.

    "Well, when we logged in, we received quests. Wanna see?"

    "Sure," Dave said.

    Lone shared her quest window with Dave and it showed the following.

    ***

    Elven Ally of the Legion.

    As a follower andpanion to Kis¡¯Shtiengbrah, the Lord of the Undead Legion, The Undead King has noticed your trustfulpanionship to his adopted son, the Undead Prince Kis¡¯Shtiengbrah.

    You have been tasked to assist abyssal Knight [Dementi] in supporting the Ranger Troops of the legion apanying the Undead King.

    You will be rewarded based on your active contribution to the legion.

    ***

    "Oh, this is nice," Davemended.

    "But that means that we won¡¯t be together in this preliminary battle." Lone replied.

    "We¡¯ll meetter on, probably inside the Ash King¡¯s keep, stick with Dementi, she is really strong. What about the rest of the party?" Dave asked.

    "They were divided between the Abyssal Knights, Tess and Fortress went to assist Da, Perfect and nker are with me. ster and Mercy are with Marik and Lilith."

    "Right, no wonder no one is here with me. Right, it doesn¡¯t matter. Try not to die, and let¡¯s get this done with." Dave hung up and turned to Samael.

    "When are we starting?" Dave asked.

    "We will have to wait for his Majesty¡¯s orders. You said you have a n in mind?"

    "Yes, let¡¯s see," Dave looked ahead, made a quick note of the yers facing them and grinned.

    It didn¡¯t take more than ten seconds before a notification appeared in front of every yer in conquest.

    ***

    Conquest Server Announcement!

    The Foretold Battle of the Underworld

    His Majesty, the Undead King has given his permission to raid the Ash King¡¯s Keep.

    The assault on the Ash King¡¯s keep willst for three days game time, or if the Ash King perishes.

    For the yers on the Side of the Ash King. Your task is to survive the Undead Legion¡¯s onught for the duration, (72) hours, or manage to y all the abyssal Knights, the Undead King and Kis¡¯Shtiengbrah, the Undead Prince.

    The victory of the Ash King¡¯s side will unlock the quest, Fiery Supremacy, where yers will be invited to the Underworld via the Ash King to destroy the Undead Legion.

    For the Undead Legion¡¯s side, your task is to bring down the demonic throne, and thwart the ruling of the Ash King. By killing this entity, the Undead Legion will have fulfilled his task in ridding the Underworld of Demons, and will be able to roam free into the Overworld, unlocking the Undead Expansion pack.

    ***

    "This makes things clear," Dave said.

    Almost instantly a timer appeared in the yers interface.

    "I guess this means we can go now?" Dave said.

    "Well of course," Samael replied, "His majesty, the Undead King has given you the right to initiate the first assault. Enjoy it." Samael said.

    "That¡¯s damn perfect!" Dave said.

    He turned to the Undead behind him took a deep breath and spoke,

    "Fellow Undead!" his words brought everyone¡¯s immediate attention.

    ON THIS DAY! we will wash away the humiliation that has gued us!" he clenched a fist.

    ON THIS DAY! We shall no longer be bound to this dark underworld, unable to live and roam free." He raised his clenched fist.

    ON THIS DAY! We will break the chains that held us captive for thousands of years!" He called to the heavens.

    ON THIS DAY! We will strike steel against steel, and we shall end up victorious!" he drew Durandal for all to see.

    ON THIS DAY! THE WORLD WILL KNOW TO FEAR THE LEGION!

    Brothers and sisters, we bled for years, what¡¯s One more day?

    Brothers and Sisters. Today! We will bleed onest time. For I shall never turn my back to the enemy! For I shall fight, until I see this abomination ridden of this world!

    Brothers and Sisters. On this day... the legion shall triumph! And you will all be the reason for it! MAKE SURE THAT YOU ARE REMEMBERED! MAKE SURE THAT YOU WRITE YOUR VERY NAMES WITH THE SICKENING BLOOD OF YOUR ENEMIES!"

    "NEVER HUNGER!" Dave roared and the legion followed.

    "NEVER TIRE!" Spoke all the legionaries at once!

    "NEVER FEAR!" Dave spoke thest of the undead¡¯s slogan in a booming low toned, skin-crawling tone and the rest of the undead followed.

    "FOR THE LEGION!" was his reply, and it was glorious. As the undead, blotting out the horizon came to his reply, Dave felt their voices resounding and echoing all over the space of the Drow Kingdom.

    Heughed, admiring the great enthusiasm of the undead, finally, he gave a set ofmands. To which the Undead replied to with even more glorifying roars.

    ***

    On the other side of the battle, yers that have been converted to the Ash King¡¯s service were brimming with pride and expectant of an exiting battle and probable victory.

    "What do you think they¡¯re doing?" a yer asked as he was looking ahead at the marching undead.

    "They look like they¡¯re having fun," the yer next to him said.

    "Hey, why aren¡¯t the leaders using the Demons they got to frontline this battle?" the first yer asked.

    "I don¡¯t know, but it¡¯s best if it¡¯s like this, we¡¯ll get more contribution points this way."

    "Contribution points is good and all but aren¡¯t those just low-level Undeads walking toward us? We¡¯re not getting much even if we kill them," Another replied.

    An archer at their right nocked an arrow used the [Power Shot] shill and shot it, the power behind it was magnificent as the arrow took flight in a straight line and pierced through the skull of a marching skeleton and right into another skeleton behind it.

    "Yep you¡¯re right, I didn¡¯t even get any exp from the kill but there were some contribution points there. Even if small it¡¯s better than nothing."

    "What is this undead legion doing? They¡¯re sending us small fries." Another said.

    "Bro, don¡¯t talk big, you¡¯re only level 300, you are also a small fry."

    "All of you, shut up!" A yer of the Heaven Dawn Guild, currently the highest level of the group at the front of a level 488.

    "This is basic tactics, the enemy will send in the cannon fodder to gauge our strengths and weaken us, don¡¯t waste skills on these trashes, keep your cards until you¡¯re facing Death Knights or higher."

    And so every yer took a more rxed posture, it was true, the Undead Legion had a lot of numbers, and the best way for the legion to gain more advantage is if the yers were to waste their skills on skeletons and elite undead.

    Therefore, the yers began shooting low mana costing spells, and regr arrows. Not daring to use any skill, saving it for the ¡¯big hitters.¡¯

    Yet, unbeknownst to them, this very tactic, this small idea, which sounded perfectly logical, perfectly thought of, and for anyone that had ever been in a guild war, a siege battle, this was the most basic of basic tactics... it ended up being their doom bringer.

    Dave¡¯s body was shuddering, the fools have yet to notice he thought.

    He then gave amand, "Run them over!" Dave shouted and the marching undead sprinted forward.

    The groups of undead charged the front. And the yers were ready, they shot at the skeletons, dropping them to the grounds where more skeletons fell over them. Yet with the massive size of the undead marching forward, it didn¡¯t ount for a drop of water in the sea if even a hundred undead fell to the ground and were literally crushed to bone dust by theirpanions.

    The mere sight of the charging undead was a cause to worry and a scene of a nightmare.

    "Don¡¯t worry, these are just low-level shits! Hold your positions!" the yer leading the front row said.

    The row was allposed of yers, there were no demons in sight, this was the guilds idea. The yers were hard to kill, they could kill off many undead with little casualties, and the Demons give to the yers will be saved forter use as they would be able to deal with the higher ranked undead. It was best for the yers to enjoy the free contribution points as the skeletons would never cause them any real harm.

    The first wave of skeletons charged and crashed into the yers wall, without any significant damage. The skeletons and low tier zombies were barely level 50, they couldn¡¯t even make a dent in the yers armors. And so the yers began ughtering the low tier undead like if there was no tomorrow.

    "Damn this is easy contribution points!" a yer said as he hacked and shed at the undead in front of him.

    "Yeah, this guy is serving us kills on a silver te." Another said.

    Another archer gloated, "Yeah man, check this out, every arrow I shoot ends up killing at least two undead, I¡¯m gonna end up with the most CP in this fight... huh?" the archer quieted down.

    The yer right next to him noticed the archer¡¯s expression and asked, "What¡¯s wrong? Your bow snapped?"

    "Euh, no, but one of my arrows dealt no damage."

    "You probably missed," The sword master said.

    "No, if I missed, I wouldn¡¯t get a 0-damage value."

    "I don¡¯t know then; I don¡¯t fully understand your archer ss." The sword master shrugged as he faced the yer.

    "Check this out, even these skeletons deal 0 damage to me! I could stay here all day and they¡¯ll never-" the yer never finished his words as his body turned to glowing mots of light.

    Once the mots of light disappeared, there was an enormous bastard Sword positioned where the yer was.

    Unlike the skeletons who barely had any decent armor, the hand holding the bastard sword was gauntleted, and the ¡¯creature¡¯ to which the hand belonged to was fully armored.

    It drew its sword back, held it up and swung down.

    The only words the archer could utter were, "D-doom Knight!"

    And it then began. A ughter like never before as the wall of yers was mowed down so fast that no one had the time or ability to react. Hundreds of yers died in the first two seconds, then hundreds more right after that. Panic incarnate, chaos, and an immediate loss of control spread among the yer ranks.

    How could they react? What were Doom Knights doing here? Wasn¡¯t the undead legion supposed to use their most powerful units at the end of the battle?

    Usually, in a game, when a yer enters a dungeon, they will face off against weak mobs, that escte in difficulty until they find the boss. However, this thinking had made the yers forget something important. This might be a game, and these undead might be nothing more than ones and zeroes. But they were not controlled by ones and zeroes. They were in the hands of Kis¡¯Shtiengbrah. And Kis¡¯Shtiengbrah just started the battle with Mini-Boss level undead.

    There goes all of the guildies nning. A massacre is about to begin.

    ****

    ****

    **** Please Make sure to read this story on , if you are reading Rise of the Undead legion anywhere else then you are on a pirating website, do not ept to offer any kinds of payment to such people as they are non-repsecting of author¡¯s right and I, as the writer am not benefiting from their schemes in any way possible.****

 Chapter 483 - Unstoppable Force

    <h4>Chapter 483 - Unstoppable Force</h4>

    Get your shit together!" White Ghost¡¯s voice sounded all over the Heaven Dawn guild headquarters. He was enraged, the yers were doing so poorly they shouldn¡¯t even if they tried to.

    Kis¡¯Shtiengbrah had broke all logical thought process, and instead of sending in the low level mobs, he threw in the big hitters right off the bat. Of course White Ghost didn¡¯t lose any of his A team, but due to the B team being decimated, this will only cause the A team more pressure when they are needed the most.

    White Ghost was thinking that this was a game of chess, and his pawns were good enough to fend off the undead pawns, only Skelly used Queens, yes plural Queens! To y all of his pawns. Now with nothing but big pieces to y with, White Ghost felt under a massive amount of pressure.

    "Fold back! A team, get your ass upfront, I need someone to hold the front, if things get sour, send in the Demon mobs. Shit! Someone needs to hold off those Doom Knights!" White Ghost shouted again and again. Hoping his orders would be executed on the spot, at least he could reduce the casualties, regroup and reassess the situation.

    One of the field leaders reported back, "We can¡¯t locate the Doom Knights! They¡¯re attacking with the low-level mobs, and retreat whenever they killed a yer."

    "Then bait them in, I don¡¯t need you to die right now. You still have to hold off the rest of the god dammned legion!"

    The field leader grunted, how was he supposed to bait Doom knights, these weren¡¯t low level scrubs, if any yer tried to give them an opening, they will go right through the yer. Sword in, and sword out, all left were mots of light. This situation repeated itself massively on the battlefield, and the worst thing was, the Doom Knights only attacked whenever one of the low level undead was assaulted.

    Especially for melee yers, whenever they exposed themselves by swinging their swords or attacking with their weapons, a Doom Knight would be waiting for that opportunity, where the yer could not withdraw and cancel his attack, and they would smack him down, stunning them and finishing them off with a couple more attacks.

    "R-Retreat!" a yer shouted.

    He was not one of the field leaders, not anyone of any important rank, the yer was non other than a casual person who decided to join the battle. But seeing his party members dying, losing their heard earned EXP was a frightening experience to him, and he didn¡¯t want to suffer. However, his words, were the dreads of White Ghost¡¯s nightmares. And the blessing of Skelly¡¯s.

    In his panic, other yers began following after the yer, deserters. They left their posts, giving up the defensive, and this brought even more pressure on the remaining yers. The more the yers deserted their posts, the more the undead pressured, and the more the remaining yers felt desperate.

    Once the first batch gave up their position, the rest followed, and a never ending culling began. The Legion, by nature are Knights of honors and valor, however, once the yers sided with the demons, they were no longer worthy of thepassion and mercy of Knights. Even if the yers had dropped their weapons, even if they gave up the battle, the Undead ughtered them.

    Low tiered undead made their greatest effort in stalling the yers, sometched on to them, bony arms and disgusting limbs wing at the yers, grabbing whatever they could. Clutching at their faces, their arms and legs, until the yer was unable to move by the mass of Undead grabbing at him. Then came, ¡¯mercy¡¯, a sword from a Death Knight or a Doom Knight across the neck, or through the chest to bring finality to the now dead.

    The Ash King¡¯s demons had noticed that the advanced human party was being culled, yet they did nothing to intervene. Bar form the yers that had a few demon soldiers under them, the other Demons belonging to the Ash King didn¡¯t move a muscle.

    Yet, what could a couple thousand Demons do against hundreds of thousands of undead?

    The yers that have sent in their demons to hold off the Undead Charge have been woken rudely. The Undead mowed through them, swords too numerous to block pierced through demons with sickening ease. Demonic ichor coated the ground, demon blood spilled unnecessarily, and idiotically. The situation was no different than an ant trying to stop a cart. And the result were the same. The thousands of demons vanished under the assault of the undead, and thetter¡¯s charge wasn¡¯t even affected in the least.

    More forces squandered, more power lost, and moral? There was none to begin with. The Undead took the first move, and they did so beautifully.

    The ranks of Demons were stationed in irregr formations, they weren¡¯t fully organized, as the demons had a very low sense of camaraderie and discipline, they obeyed force and power. And the Ash King had those in abundance.

    Once the yers reached the safety of the Demons, thetter were finally issued an IAmand to move to the battlefield. Behind the Demons was the long walkway to the Ash King¡¯s keep. And if the Undead made their way, the battle would end soon.

    The Ash King¡¯s keep had four entrances, and the Undead army was separated into four section. Amazingly so, only Dave¡¯s Legion has made it this far. On the other sides of battle, the Undead Army was still pressuring the points of entry to the Keep.

    "Good, Low level Undead and Doom Knight Regiment swap with Death Knights! Death Knights move in Square Formation! I need Ten Brigades up front one thousand Death Knight each! Two Supporting Brigades to follow. Archers! long range casters! Move in to the sides. Doom Knight, hold the army wings! MOVE NOW!" Dave shouted and hismand was followed like a well-rehearsed choreography.

    Not a single Undead stumbled not a single crossed path with another. They all moved with a smooth liquid grace only water could mimic. And in no less than ten seconds, Dave¡¯s current forces were positioned.

    Ten thousand Death Knights at the front, behind them two thousand more to fill in the gapes. On the sides of the supporting Death Knights were the casters and archers. And on these ones sides were Doom Knights to protect them from any nking charge. Dave¡¯s army was organized to bore through the enemies, tanking the damage with the sturdy and powerful Death Knights, piling down rain of steel and hellfire from above thanks to the well protected casters and archers.

    This formation is meant to destroy armies and break through the enemy forces. And so was it shown, when Dave¡¯s undead began advancing like one single unit.

    Demons charged the front, while Undead moved, a step at a time. Every footstep sounded as one sonorous stomp of a giant. Every sword drawn as one, sounding like a god drew a thousand sword to ughter his enemies. And the first swing, cut down at the demons, also at once, sounding like hell has broken, and the world was about to meet its most cmitous end.

    Demons dared stand in the Undead¡¯s way, and thetter all slew them with ease. No Demon had the time or ability to break through the Undead Tower shield formation. Especially when the front Death Knight row were protected by the second row who wieldednces.

    The Death Knights at the front row chopped down at the Demons that repeatedly tried to crash into their shields to no apparent avail. While the second row impaled anyone that tallied too long. Even if this demon, by some ungodly miracle survived the unstoppable force of the marching undead, the casters finished them off with hails of curses, hexes, ck fire. And the archers turned them to pincushions of arrows. All of this happened while the undead force never, EVER, once stopped moving. Their footsteps marched, over the dead bodies of the demons, over the mots of lights, remains of the yers bodies. And eve over the dead bodies of theirrades.

    The Undead Marched! The Undead Moved! The legion, never stopped.

    This sight, brought an even greater fear into the yers hearts. How could they stop this moving mass of destruction? It was like a moving train, and it was not about to stop anytime soon.

    "We need help! Now! Send in the A team!" A field leader shouted for reinforcements.

    "WE ONLY HAVE ONE A TEAM! The undead are attacking from four ces! If I send them there, who¡¯s going to protect the other three!" White Ghost shouted.

    "If you don¡¯t send them! There will be no one left here for the A team to protect! SIR!" the yer shouted back.

    White Ghost was about to rip his hair out. Under no scenario did he ever imagine skelly¡¯s forces would move this far in at this speed and in such a short time. His nning and contingency ns all went to waste. He, unlike Dave was a man with a n, yet his ns needed time to implement. Unlike Dave who woulde up with a situation on the spot. White Ghost needed to think of all other possible scenarios lest his thinking fails him. And due to this, his mind was in chaos. He was at a loss, stressed out, unknowing of what to do.

    And if anyone were to see the proimed Grand Strategist of Conquest sweating like this, they would certainly doubt their eyes. A genius needs only one setback to throw him off. And if White Ghost is unable to regain hisposure and think up of how to deal with the still marching undead, everything will turn up in mes while he watched.

    "Need a hand?" a private message appeared right in front of White Ghost.

    White Ghost cursed, "Shit, does it really have to be this way." He said.

    He then replied to the message. "Yes Zhang Shi. hold them off. I can¡¯t do it with one A team."

    "Got it," said the Guild Master of the Blood Ragers. "I have a beef to settle with Skelly anyway."

    ****

    **** Please Make sure to read this story on , if you are reading Rise of the Undead legion anywhere else then you are on a pirating website, do not ept to offer any kinds of payment to such people as they are non-repsecting of author¡¯s right and I, as the writer am not benefiting from their schemes in any way possible.****

 Chapter 484 - Give Flesh, Break Bone!

    <h4>Chapter 484 - Give Flesh, Break Bone!</h4>

    Dave¡¯s Creeping Death formation kept moving, culling the yers and demons whenever they dared raise a sword against them. The assault became too great and too strenuous for the Heaven¡¯s Dawn guild to sustain.

    "Keep going! We have to be the first among the legions to get to the ash king¡¯s Keep!" Dave shouted.

    And his undead all relied in even more enthusiasm, their weapons sliced stronger, cut deeper and drew buckets of blood. The legion¡¯s advance was devastating.

    "Ride to battle!" the shout of a yer resounded through all the battlefield.

    And from behind the demoralized yers and suffering demons, a wave of Taurus demons came charging ahead.

    "MOVE OUT OF THE WAY!" Shouted the same yer who was riding on the back of a Taurus Demon. These creatures were like minotaur¡¯s, taller than the height of three men, with muscr arms wider than a tree trunk. They had a nose ring and wore nothing but a loincloth. They didn¡¯t seem to mind showing their six packs, as they were stronger than steel and never needed any protection. They wielded a broad sword in one arm and a crescent sword in the other.

    These demons, Dave had seen on the siege of the Burning Heights, two of these Demons, in fact, needed Orn and Gale to take care of. And now, the one riding the back of one of these Demons was no one but Zhang Shi.

    And behind Zhang Shi were at least a hundred of these Demons that needed Doom Knight level undead to stop.

    "Let me see you stop this one Skelly!" Zhang Shi called and pointed with his katana sword forward. Causing a blood wave asrge as the tide to rise from the ground and crash against the ranks of the marching Death Knights.

    The attack didn¡¯t break the line, but it aided greatly in destabilizing it, especially since the moment the blood washed over the undead, it soaked the ground, making it slippery. And it was then when the turn of the charging Taurus Demons came. With their hulking size, and momentum gaining advance, not even their kin, demon brethren¡¯s dared stand in their way in fear of being crushed under the stomp of their earth-shaking hooves.

    Dave frowned heavily. What was Zhang Shi doing here? He clearly still had his blood legacy, so he shouldn¡¯t have sacrificed his S legacy ss for the Ash King. Then howe he was invited to this siege? Wasn¡¯t it only for the yers that are followers of the Ash King?

    But the answer soon came to light. Dave had finally saw that Zhang Shi had two horns growing from his temple.

    "Damn," Dave cursed.

    If it was any other yer, it wouldn¡¯t have mattered if an S legacy yer turned to the demon side. But for Dave this meant an entirely different thing as Zahng Shi, leader of a Super Guild is now supporting the Ash King. This meant the full force of the Super Guild is bound toe and assist him.

    Perhaps just the Blood Ragers Super guild is no match for Dave¡¯s troops. But paired with White Ghost¡¯s mind, and the Ash King¡¯s forces. This battle gained too many variable, Dave was about to be put in a tight spot.

    The Taurus Demons charged the front, finding it easy to crash into the destabilized Death Knight. Therge Taurus were heavy, their hooves dug deep into the ground giving them more bnce, while the Death Knights wereparably lighter and suffered from bad positioning.

    The horned creatures began culling Undead as they wad through their ranks with utter ease, all while the Death Knights found it harder and harder to march, hold their shields and stay in formation.

    The more the Taurus Demons walked in, the harder the battle will be.

    The yers from the Demon side were more than thrilled to re-join the battle after Zhang Shi¡¯s cavalry charge was sessful.

    Seeing his immediate action rewarded with sess, Zhang Shi shouted, "What are you going to do now, Skelly! Your forces are in shambles!"

    Dave wasn¡¯t talking, there was no need to answer back. He turned and muttered, "Spark,e with me."

    "As youmand!" came the immediate answer of Dave¡¯s Lich pyromancer.

    The two moved forward, until they were among the caster ranks that desperately tried to hold off the Taurus demons from wreaking more havoc.

    "Spark, burn it all, the blood on the ground." Dave said.

    "The mes will harm our soldiers." Spark said.

    "As much as it would pain me, I know my Undead, they would rather be set on fire and able to fight back, than die without being able to properly hold a footing."

    "You are indeed wise!" Spark nodded and took to the skies.

    Dave was genuinely envious, even if he was a part Lich, he was a battle Lich, and never had the included ability, [Fly]. He was more suited to battle and casting, than casting magic alone.

    Spark rose up, held both arms up and spoke, "Fire, Rain down from above!"

    "UNDEAD! SHIELD UP!" Dave¡¯s order was immediately followed. Any undead capable of holding his shield did so, and any undead unable to do so, was protected by the undead right next to him.

    The skies turned red, and small meteorites, the size of a fist came down like bullets, shooting down indiscriminately, at undead and Taurus demons alike.

    The Taurus demons had no protection from the infernal hail of mes, so they used their thick arms to protect themselves. The small meteorites hit like swings of a sledgehammer, piercing skin and cracking bone. While cauterizing the wound due to their heat.

    The Undead escaped marginally unscathed, but the attack¡¯s real purpose was to serve as fuel for Dave¡¯s next assault.

    His hands blurred at a fast pace makingplex Ninja Seals, he was no way as fast as the Tengu, but he was fast enough that a random yer would see nothing but a blur.

    Dave raised his index upward and summoned forty eight infernal dragon skulls.

    The dragon skulls roared at once, shaking the breath away form the enemy yers.

    "Burn it down!" Dave ordered, and the Spectral Dragon skulls opened their collective mouths and shot waves of incinerating heat at the ground, at the undead, and at the Taurus demons.

    The mes scorched the ground to the brink of it turning tova.

    "Casters! Mass Curse!" Dave called.

    The casters were spared from the infernal dragons¡¯s assault, so they had the ability to cast spells unfettered. Their collective cast of one spell caused the Burning Death Knights to heal form the damage of Dave¡¯s own skill. But the mes were still covering them, the casters managed a bnce where they healed the Death Knights constantly even if Dave¡¯s mes were burning them.

    The Death Knights, unbothered by pain, as they felt it none. Moved while their bodies burned, their shields burned, and their swords were red. An undead on fire was not a sight one would forget, especially if there were tens of thousands of them, alling to kill you.

    the yers invigorated courage soon dwindled to shaking hope. The ground that was the cause of worry for Undead became sturdier. But for Dave it was not enough.

    "Spark, take control of the fire," Dave ordered.

    "As the lordmands!"

    The Pyromancer began moving his scepter, and with each and every movement, the whole fires on the battlefield moved along with him, like a mesmerized snake, following the tunes of the flute. The fire coiled, consumed the forty-eight spectral dragons and turned into a long dragon of mes.

    The Serpentinian dragon slithered across the battlefield, gobbling up demons, burning them to ash as it came out the other way. The losses have been returned a dozen times more as more Demons burnt to Dave¡¯s reversed assault.

    Zhang Shi was at aplete loss, he was unable to change the current situation, the Taurus Demons had lost their ability to march through the Death Knights unobstructed. And if he could not use [Blood Tide] anytime soon to reenact the slippery situation.

    The ground had turned hard soon enough and now, the Taurus Demons were surrounded. Even if they were stronger than your average Death Knight, thetter were specialized in hunting big prey in groups.

    The Taurus Demons were about to witness their final day in the Underworld. While Spark¡¯s fire raged rampant in the demons backline, consuming low tier demons and yers alike.

    "Dare thee use fire in my presence! Such insolence!" came the words of one most dreaded of the Demon kind.

    The Ash King¡¯s persona manifested, a demonic face with coiling horns, fire surged around it, and it looked at the battlefield with rage. Its red burning gaze was enough to tame the fire serpent into dissipating.

    "Lord! He wrested the control of fire from me. I had to dissipated not to have it turned against us." Spark shouted

    "You did good. Don¡¯t worry, he can¡¯t do more than that, and the attack was enough for now. Undead! Regroup! Support brigades, reinforce the frontline, cover the spots where we lost undead. Casters! Archers, kill those oxen brutes. I need my army clear of any hostile forces within it!" Dave gave the order and the undead followed.

    The Taurus Demons were weed with hails of arrows, spears, sword gashes and cuts and disabling hexes and curses. It all happened whole Zhang Shi¡¯s forces were trying to retreat and regroup.

    Dave had given up on the opportunity to cull them, he didn¡¯t want his army to be separated. His forces had to move as one. So, killing the intruders in his ranks was a priority he couldn¡¯t ignore.

    Dave had yet to personally join the fray, he knew full well that White Ghost had something set up for him, and until he exhausted enough of White Ghost¡¯s resources, he was not going to blindly charge the battlefield. As vexing as it was, Dave was unable to ughter to his heart¡¯s content. In this quest, his own survival was a must. He knew that he needed to have his full might ready when he meets the Ash King, face to face.

    "Ash King, you¡¯re ying dirty. But we can all y dirty. Samael," Dave called.

    "Yes, Prince Kis¡¯Shtiengbrah."

    "It¡¯s your turn. Show them how an Abyssal Knight fights."

    "As your highness orders." Samael said. Before he was about to dissipate into shadows. Dave called

    "Hold..."

    The Abyssal Knight stopped.

    "That day, when you faced against the Undead King. Do you remember?" Dave said.

    "Oh, yes, how could I forget that horrible form I turned into, I rather not show my...ghoulish side, it¡¯s rather...ungentlemanly." Samael said while grinning.

    "Today, we¡¯re no longer gentlemen, Samael. Go, have fun. Show them how a real ghoul fights," Dave said.

    A vibrating growl came from the ghoul. The sound ratcheted up to a continuous bestial scream, apanied by wet tearing sounds as Samael started growing, changing.

    The ghoul grew taller as his shoulders widened, back hunched and swollen with brutish muscle. The bones of his face grew immensely thicker and heavier, showing curved fangs, the chin and jaw protruding like a steam shovel. The serene, friendly ghoul that Dave knew was gone, reced by a savage, frenzied brute three times bigger and taller than his original form.

    "With Plleaaaaasure!" hissed the Abyssal Knights.

    The yers were about to meet one who will be haunting them in their worst nightmares.

    ***

    **** Please Make sure to read this story on , if you are reading Rise of the Undead legion anywhere else then you are on a pirating website, do not ept to offer any kinds of payment to such people as they are non-repsecting of author¡¯s right and I, as the writer am not benefiting from their schemes in any way possible.****

 Chapter 485 - The Battle Rages

    <h4>Chapter 485 - The Battle Rages</h4>

    Samael dove straight through the yer lines, he preferred to hunt down the small fries, the yers with the least HP, priests, archers, bards, and even beast tamers as they relied heavily on their animals to battle for them, they had a low health base.

    Samael¡¯s ws dug deep, slicing throats, ripping chests and dismembering yers in matters of seconds. He didn¡¯t even bother with yers who used invulnerability skills to protect themselves. As he switched to softer, tender, and easy to crunch meat. He would switch from yer to yer, either killing them off or scaring them into using their high cooldown protection skills. And once he switched to other yers, the timer on the invulnerability would have ended, and he woulde back to kill off the yers.

    He ignored tanks, pdins, and any yer with a high HP base as swordmasters or Heaven Dawn¡¯s berserkers. Those were not worth his time.

    Samael¡¯s advance caused even greater havoc in the yer ranks, and minutester the Taurus demons within the Undead rank would all be culled to death.

    The Death Knights firepower was imposing, a Taurus Demon couldst at most a minute under the concentrated assault of the Death Knights surrounding it. And after about five minutes, all the Taurus Demons were in.

    Zhang Shi didn¡¯t look too disturbed, even if he was in the middle of the Death Knight ranks. He used [Blood Escape], and got himself out of the sticky situation he was in. No yer would want to find himself in what amounted to ten thousand Death Knights.

    "Blood Ragers A unit! Advance!" Zhang Shi gave themand, and hundreds if not thousands of yers burst out from within the passage leading to the Ash King¡¯s Keep.

    These were all, best of the best, the highest-level yers of the Blood Ragers guild. And they wereing with a vengeance in their eyes.

    Dave noticed that they had split their forces in two. The front row charged at the marching Death Knights and the second row made a circle. Most of the second row were priests, casters, and archers.

    Dave didn¡¯t like this position men, something was not right there he believed.

    Soon, the front row of the Blood Ragers A rank team shed into the Death Knights row. It was here where Dave anticipated that the damage to his Death Knights will be the highest.

    res of Legacy Skills, all, deities with demonic horns now came to life. Dave wondered if the Ash King had subdued the Deities of the yers, or just their avatars is now showing the demonic persona of every god that is bound to yers by legacy.

    Eye blinding spells shot out everywhere of these spells, A Silver hammer that dropped from the skies to break the Undead Forces, a deity that drew a golden bow shot thousands of arrows. Another deity called the power of the wind, slicing bits and pieces of the Death Knights. Another deity called cavalry to charge at their ranks, and even more, powerful legacies used with utter abandon to any sense of future nning. To Dave¡¯s eyes, this looked wistful, as Zhang Shi should consider the fact that Dave might have something up his sleeves that he could use on the chance he survives this full-frontal assault.

    This attack was clearly dumb, but thinking again, White Ghost was in cahoots with Zhang Shi, and he will not allow such a waste of legacy skills to kill off Death Knights that could be replenished or could be discarded since the Keep was being attacked from four sides, and even if they managed to kill off Dave¡¯s entire army, it won¡¯t change the fact that the Undead King had more Death Knights at is disposal.

    the battle wasn¡¯t to defeat Dave alone, and Zhang Shi should know this, this was a battle of survival. So why would they dumbly attack this way, Dave thought. And the answer soon came to him.

    It was a distraction, a very expensive distraction that needed Zhang Shi to go all out. Dave spotted the group of the A rankers that didn¡¯t join the fray and grinned, he believed he had correctly guessed Zhang Shi¡¯s n.

    "Bud. Stay close."

    The reply came from Dave¡¯s shadow, a grim fanged jaw answered, "As the lordmands, I am by your side."

    "Good," Dave said.

    Dave gave another set ofmand, this way, Zhang Shi will have tomit to his n.

    He ordered half of the Doom Knights that were guarding the nks of Dave¡¯s legion to group up with the front line, this way he¡¯ll have more sustainable soldiers, and will be able to shake up the Legacy wielders a bit.

    This action proved to be the correct one to force Zhang Shi¡¯s hand.

    The one thousand Doom Knight Dave sent had reinforced the front row and made the Legacies have a far worse yield than when they were aimed at the Death Knights alone.

    In this scenario, the legacy users began to die, trading death with the Doom Knights. But for every yer lost, Zhang Shi¡¯s assault power lessened. Thus, he was forced to y his hidden ace.

    There was no time to waste, as the Doom Knights will now be focused on the front line, Dave should be unable to defend himself from Zhang Shi¡¯s uing twist.

    "Cervantes! Now!" Zhang Shi called.

    "As youmand, replied a yer wearing pirate drabs."

    The yer disappeared from where he stood and appeared right behind Dave. He made sure he was not heard when he arrived behind Dave, and the moment his hand was about to touch Dave¡¯s back, a ghoulish hand grabbed his arm and tugged at it tightly.

    "I knew you would have tried that," Dave grinned without turning.

    The yer panicked, thest time he attempted this technique, he pulled Dave into the backline of the yers, he had wanted to do the same trick, as White Ghost hade up with an even greater capture n than before. But when Dave had seen the trick, all of Zhang Shi and White Ghost¡¯s nning went to waste.

    Bud grabbed Cervantes and pulled him down. The yer wanted to teleport out, but was unable to. He then tried to teleport Bud along with him, but the shadow ghoul jerked the yer and trapped him under the ground.

    Being trapped with a Doom Knight was not a sight to be remembered. Especially if thetter as a ghoul. Cervantes¡¯s struggle ended as soon as it began, Bud¡¯s ws had found flesh, broke bone and carved meat. All that remained of Cervantes were mots of lights that surged out from underground.

    Zhang Shi cursed, his actions proved useless, but at the same time, Dave had to lessen the numbers of Doom Knights protecting his nk.

    Gargoyles by the hundreds burst out of the Ash King¡¯s keep. And riding them were yers and demons that joined the battle. Raining down spells and arrows at the Death Knights. Another yer force came charging at Dave¡¯s side. These were another group of the A rankers, but seeing their guild tags, they were mostly from Heaven¡¯s Dawn guild.

    "So all the big guns are out. I¡¯m garnering a lot of attention." Dave grumbled.

    "How is the situation at your side?" Dave asked in the party chat.

    "We¡¯re doing good, the yer and demon resistance isn¡¯t much to worry about, but it should take time to break through at this speed." ster said.

    "Same here, we¡¯re assisting the Undead King, but he himself has yet to act. He seems to be waiting for something." Lone said.

    "Hmm. I¡¯m getting a lot of o heat here. I believe that they¡¯re more focused on killing me than winning this fight. Tell Marik I need some Arial support."

    "I have one of Lilith¡¯s bats nearby, I¡¯ll rally the info. Are you holding up well though?" Lone said.

    "Yeah, so far, It¡¯s manageable, but I¡¯m at a deadlock. I won¡¯t be able to move any further if the stress on my troops is not lessened." Dave said.

    It was true, the yers had decided to attack from the front, sides, and from the skies. Dave¡¯s troops, through powerful, will not sustain this continuous attack in the long run.

    One of Lilith¡¯s Bats soon came to Dave, it was a small bat, with a devilish face. It spoke in the words of its mistress, the Duchess of Blood and Carnage.

    "Your majesty," spoke the bat, the sound was sweet and feminine, if one didn¡¯t know that Lilith was the one controlling it, they would have been creeped out.

    "Marik has sent forces to help you gain areal superiority. I also informed Dortha of your predicament, he will be sending in the big hammer to lessen the strain on your side."

    "Thank you, Lilith, tell his majesty that once Dortha¡¯s forces start advancing, he could also join the fray. The Ash King is powerful, and as long as the Undead King remains put, that demon will remain in cowardly hiding. We want to lure him out."

    "Young prince, you wish to use his majesty, the Undead King as bait?"

    "Yes, otherwise we¡¯ll be forced to fight the Ash King inside his own terrain, we want to lure him out where we¡¯ll have the upper hand. Once we take the four entrances to the Keep, the Ash King will have nowhere to hide, and seeing the Undead King about to bust his door open, will have hime out as fast as he can."

    "I will ry your message. May your battle be bloody, young prince."

    Dave nodded at the bat that flew away.

    Soon, the message had arrived to Dortha¡¯s ears, clearly deduced by the sound of the Wendigos screech that sounded from all over the underworld.

    The wendigos were the big muscles of the Undead Legion, and their appearance forced the appearance of the Sworn Stalwarts. As these creatures were the only thing that could contend with the Wendigos¡¯ power.

    Once Dortha¡¯s forces piled on the pressure, the Undead King¡¯s own forces began marching stronger.

    The howl of an ancient creature resounded through the battlefield, looking up, Dave could see in the distance a dragon made entirely out of bones. And right on its back, the Undead King, with a throne of his own strapped to the dragon¡¯s back.

    An explosion of ck matter shot at the ranks of the yers; the ck Skeletal Dragon started the fight with his ck Fire Breath. And it incinerated a huge portion of the demonic army.

    Marik¡¯s forces soon came to assist Dave in fending off the gargoyles. Ghosts and banshees, even Shark Chariots flew in the skies, hunting down the gargoyles and any other demonic flying creature.

    Dave pulled back five hundred Doom Knights from his nks, leaving them with two hundred and fifty for each side. The five hundred he had ordered to intercept the charging A team of the Heaven¡¯s Dawn.

    Dave¡¯s forces were thinned down, but that didn¡¯t mean that they lost all power. The five hundred Doom Knights proved a great hurdle for the yers to bypass, and even if they did manage to, they won¡¯t go unscathed and a lot of casualties were bound to happen in the yer ranks.

    The battle never turned against the Undead¡¯s favor. So far, all of the yers nning had gone to waste. And they were losing numbers at a rate too high to control or contain. More desertion happened; more yers decided to give up the fight. There was no obvious sign of victory in sight.

    And Dave made use of that. Whenever he saw deserters, he focused more of his troops to assault the deserting side. This way, even more yers would give up, turning the situation into a snowball effect.

    An explosion of fire and sound echoed right where the Undead King¡¯s forces were concentrated.

    "What¡¯s happening?" Dave asked. And the reply came from the bat.

    "Your n worked; the Ash King has shown up on the battle. The Undead King is going to face him now."

    "No! it¡¯s too early!" Dave called, even if the Undead King was strong, Dave knew that he was no match for the Ash King, thetter was a half-god, and he was a powerful one too.

    But before he could even finish his sentence, another loud explosion echoed in the battlefield, fire surged from within the inner depths of the Ash King¡¯s keep, and the skies turned from red to crimson, to the darkest shades of red. Fire began raining, as the skies wept tears of mes.

    The Ash King has taken the battle to the legion, and here and now, was when the fate of the Underworld will be decided.

    ****

    **** Please Make sure to read this story on , if you are reading Rise of the Undead legion anywhere else then you are on a pirating website, do not ept to offer any kinds of payment to such people as they are non-respecting of author¡¯s right and I, as the writer am not benefiting from their schemes in any way possible. Thank you all!***

 Chapter 486 - Skelly Joins the Battle

    <h4>Chapter 486 - Skelly Joins the Battle</h4>

    A sword of me, far bigger than any spell Dave had ever seen before dropped form the side where the Undead King was at. This was obviously the Ash King¡¯s initiation to the battle.

    Dave was stuck, he was unable to join the Ash King, the yer party was holding him down. His troops were facing both the demons, Heaven Dawn A Team, and Blood Rager¡¯s A team. It was not a bad tactic for the yers, Dave had to admit.

    Among all the Troops that the Undead led to battle, Dave¡¯s troops were the ones that could be handled the most efficiently. Wendigos on the side of Dortha required a lot of manpower to pin down, which was not a valid point for the yers to focus on, especially with the probable casualties that could shred their ranks if they dared contend power against the hulking man eaters.

    As for the Undead King¡¯s side, that was even more dumb to attempt and assault, his royal guards, and his archers and sheer firepower was bound to scare off anyone who dared fight him besides a World Boss of the Ash King¡¯s Caliber. This left only left Da¡¯s troops or Dave¡¯s troops as a viable troop to break and destroy.

    Though Da¡¯s troops prided themselves with amazing firepower, as most of his ranks were pure casters, the heavy hitters of the legion that could literally wipe an entire army in the blink of an eye, if the yers managed to get deep into their ranks they could easily destroy Da¡¯s troops. Yet the risk was too high, Da¡¯s troops were well organized and they marched steadily never ovemitting and warry of ambushes.

    So, this left only Dave¡¯s troops, they were mostly Knights, Undeads, sword and shield and battling him was nothing but straightforward. And thus they focused on him, making his ability to rejoin with the Undead King unavable.

    Dave could only curse his luck, if he were to leave and assist the Undead King, his troops will suffer from theck of leadership, but if he were to stay here, there was a big chance that the Undead King might die while he never had the chance to do anything to aid him in the process.

    Dave¡¯s only option was to break the yers, and fulfill his objective of breaking through the rampart on his side. Once his undead are in the Ash King¡¯s Keep, he will have the ability to move and roam the battlefield.

    "Dog,e," Dave called and the Duhan replied.

    He came with his own azure basilisk, fully armored with steel and Oprenieum, killing Dog¡¯s basilisk would be nothing short of an impossible task.

    Dave pped the ground with an open palm, bursting ck sigils and writings on the ground that blew up in smoke and summoned Grumpy. The Onyx basilisk was the same, fully armored up and ready to hunt.

    "Bud, stay close, Spark, assist Samael, Tengu, lead the rest of the Undead, I¡¯ll leave all into your care." Dave called.

    "But where are you going lord?" the Tengu asked.

    "Those demon turned humans are going to cause a lot of trouble, I¡¯ll have to deal with them myself."

    "But it is apparent that they are using these tactics to lure you out," the Tengu said.

    "So what?" Bud replied, the shadow ghoul¡¯s eyes were fixated on the yers fighting the five hundred Doom Knights, "They wish to wake the dragon, and an enraged one they shall meet. Lord, let¡¯s bring them to their knees."

    "Right then," Dave said in a wide grin. "I guess it¡¯s time I use this, I still have onest use of it, it¡¯s better now than never."

    Dave pulled a purple jewel from his pocket. It was filled with cracks, and barely able to hold it sheen. He threw it as far as he could in the direction of the yers.

    The jewel broke in the skies, shattering to glittering bits and pieces. And from the glitter, space shuddered, contracted and detracted, then a wide opening in space opened up like the mouth of a world eating beast hade to feast on all that ever lived.

    ***

    Anti-Bully has broken

    ***

    From withing the fracture of space, two arms, thicker than a building grabbed at the sides of the void, tearing the whole thing even further apart to let its massive sizee out.

    Drahma, red, enraged and unfettered came out of the void.

    "You have called upon me, and it is my duty to aid. Lord Prince Kis¡¯Shtiengbrah, Here Ie, to bring our foes a timely death!"

    Drahma¡¯s words resounded through Dave¡¯s side of the battle for all to hear. He then stomped on the ground with enough might that he cratered it. and from the crater rose a pir that Dave had personally named, "The Paste Maker".

    Drahma pulled the massive pir with one arm and twirled it over his head with enough speed that wind gales spiraled around him. In one move, Drahma tucked the pir under his armpit, one arm pointed at the yers.

    "TODAY! YOU DIE!" Drahma roared then charged the yers with bulldozing might.

    "Dog! Bud! With me!" Dave called and the three charged, Dave riding on Grumpy, and Dog on His basilisk, while bud followed behind them in a swirl of dark shadows.

    The three made it to the yer ranks where they were fighting Dave¡¯s five hundred nk Doom Knights.

    Drahma was the first to make it though, and he initiated the battle with a wide sweep of his Paste Maker that took any yer off guard out of the battle instantly. Drahma was no pushover, his might was well known, and for the yers that still thought that Drahma was nothing but a boss of a level 120 dungeon, today was their wakeup call.

    His attacks would outright one shot any priest, ranged yer and any assassin type of yers as they didn¡¯t have the necessary HP or defensive stats to survive a direct attack from Drahma. As for the Tanks, it would take away a huge portion of their HP leaving them dazzled or stunned on the spot.

    Dave came in with Durandal, charging on the back of his basilisk. Dave held his sword up, forcing a Guardian to hold his shield up, but he failed to understand that while Dave was mounted, he was not fighting as a single person.

    Grumpy¡¯s eyes red yellow and the Guardian was instantly ced in a petrified abnormal effect status. His allowed Dave to strike down unperturbed with Durandal, powered up with Herculean Strength.

    The Guardian, inherently resilient, didn¡¯t die, but the st sent him rolling away from the front of the battle.

    Dog swung his bone whip, or rather his Oprenieum coated bone whip at the yers in the vanguard position, stunning, bleeding and crushing skulls whenever he swung.

    Dog¡¯s assault was even more sinister. He avoided all types of front focused yers and surged with his smoky body to the back, he pulled healers, bards and ranged yers down to the ground and ughtered them where no one could aid or assist them.

    Dave¡¯s five hundred doom knights were endowed with a renown vigor as the Prince of the Undead had joined the fray with them. They didn¡¯t want the rest of Dave¡¯s personal Doom Knights to overtake them. They also wanted to please Dave. He was their prince, and they wished to please him with the blood of his enemies.

    The Undead roared, with enough force that their mouths tore open, their jaws opened wide in one single hollering roar.

    ***

    Undead Might!

    In the Face of the enemy, we give our all!

    The Undead around you have been empowered with Rampage!

    Whenever they suffer damage, they shall give it back twice as more.

    All Undead Around you will have a 1% chance of instantly resurrecting after dying.

    ***

    "Break them!" Dave shouted with simr might and the Doom Knights charged the yers. They didn¡¯t even bother blocking the yers attacks anymore, some of the Doom Knights who held a shield and a sword threw their shields away and wielded their sword with two hands, focusing on slicing and cutting the enemy more than their own safety.

    The situation turned to the worse far faster than White Ghost ever believed possible. His idea was to hold off Dave for a long while, giving a select group of yers the chance to assist the Ash King in his surprise assault on the Undead King. Yet if Dave manages to break the troops that are holding him down, he will not have the time to aplish his n.

 Chapter 487 - Well Timed Help

    <h4>Chapter 487 - Well Timed Help</h4>

    "What the bloody hell are you doing! Hold Skelly off! Stop him!" White Ghost shouted in the ears of the yer that led the group against Dave¡¯s doom Knights.

    Yet his words fell on empty ears, as the leader had just died to a treacherous blow to the back by Bud.

    The second inmand took themunication and leading role and shouted, "We¡¯re being ground to minced meat! Send in the assistance!"

    "We have no assistance left!" White Ghost shouted. He was seriously thinking of drinking from the chalice by now, sacrificing his legacy to be on the battlefield. It was far better if he was there personally, his ability to make ns and change things while on the scene would be much better than him staying at the Heaven Dawn headquarters watching from multiple screens.

    "I¡¯ll help them!" came the voice of Zhang Shi, he was wrathful at Dave for foiling his earlier assault and wanted nothing more than destroy him.

    "Just don¡¯t overdo it, we still need you for the fight with the Ash King." White Ghost said.

    "I¡¯m not your underling, and you better be thankful I even decided to help."

    White Ghost didn¡¯t reply, it was better off not argue with that hot head, at least now he was of some help.

    Zhang Shi took to the battle again, this time with another group of Taurus Demons, and Fifty general ranked Demons.

    These were his personal troops handed to him by the Ash King as an exchange for sacrificing his legacy to serve the Ash King.

    When Dave saw the second Wave of Taurus Demons assaulting his frontline, he cursed under his breath. He had to trust in the Tengu to lead the group of undead to sustain the least of Damage. But what made things worse was the second Infernal Sword Swing that came from high up in the skies and fell down.

    It was once again in the direction of the Undead King.

    ***

    The Undead King has been critically injured!

    The Ash King has sustained Minor injuries.

    Undead King has 40% remaining HP

    Ash King has 80% remaining HP

    The Death of either Kings will end this war!

    ***

    "F.U.C.K!" Dave cursed once again.

    "DAVE! This is bad!" Lone¡¯s voice came from the voice.

    "We¡¯ve been trapped, White Ghost sent another group of yers to hold off the Undead King, they even used a Forbidden Chapter to lock him in ce and remove all of his defensive values."

    Dave cursed once again, things were happening way to fast for him. And he was too far away to offer any assistance.

    "LORD! GO!" Bud said.

    Dave turned to the ghoul and said, the fight is still here.

    "But his majesty needs your help! We got this! Trust us."

    Dave turned to Dog who just finished swatting away another yer. The Duhan never spoke but the nod of his head from under his armpit was enough to confirm his stand. Go.

    Dave turned his basilisk and charged toward the Undead King¡¯s side of the battle.

    He was not going to make it in time so he jumped up from Grumpy¡¯s back and used [Immortal Ascension], it was better to fly than to sprint.

    Yet his actions didn¡¯t go unnoticed, Zhang Shi grinned and took out a scroll from his inventory.

    ***

    A forbidden Chapter has been used against you!

    [Grounded] For 24 Hours, you have lost all ability to fly, any skills that could grant you the [Flight] ability have been grayed out.

    Dave¡¯s wings immediately dissipated and with them the powerful buff from Immortal Ascension. Even [Aspect of the Dragon] was grayed out. Even if [Fly] in the ability was a minor addition to the powerful buffs the [Aspect of the Dragon] skill gave, it still grayed the whole ability. Zhang Shi¡¯s scroll has costed Dave two of his most powerful buffs.

    Dave felt untold resentment against this yer right now.

    More yers from Blood Ragers showed up on the field. Dave had not known, but Zhang Shi had issued a full recruitment of all of his guild members to join Heaven¡¯s Dawn¡¯s quarters and drink from the Ash King¡¯s chalice.

    These yers, though not the most powerful of the Blood Ragers guild were still strong enough to throw a stick in Dave¡¯s wheels.

    The situation turned to Zhang Shi¡¯s favor way too fast.

    Another infernal Sword Strike began materializing in the skies. If this onends Dave isn¡¯t able to know if it would mean the end of this war. But he was dammned sure that he was not going to let itnd, no matter what.

    As he thought of a method to help the Ash King, a new notification appeared in front of him.

    ***

    In times of need, those who you have aided in the past have decided to repay your favor.

    ***

    Not a momentter, a hail of ice and arrows shot from behind Dave¡¯s troops. They arced too high, too wide and too far, avoiding Dave¡¯s troops andnded square and neatly upon the Demonic forces that were battling them.

    Dave turned to see the Ice Queen donning a blue armor and a crowned tiara, she rode on the back of a great wolf. This was Amarok (Chapter 176), the Queen¡¯s own mount and a beast of a monster in battle.

    And behind the Queen was an army of soldiers, wearing silver armor coated with wool and fur. It was far too hot for anyone to wear these armors in the Underworld, especially this close to the Ash King¡¯s Keep, but the frost aura from the Queen negated the heat with utter ease.

    "My Knights! Show them the cold heart of winter! Charge!" the queen roared, her feminine voice sounding like the drums of war as she called her troops to rally.

    And so did they, heavy cavalry, ice golems, and wolf riders all came to join the battle.

    Dave thanked the gracious lords that smiled upon him in his time of need and gave him this timely assistance. With the Ice Queen holding his side of the fight he can freely move to help the Undead King.

    Yet the problem remains, he can¡¯t make it there in time. The sword had fully materialized and it was going tond soon.

    "DAVE! HELP!" Lone shouted in his ears.

    He never answered, he never needed to.

    The ground trembled, far worse than when Drahma marched. A great creature, that could make even the mighty Drahma look like an infantpared to it rose from the ground. Even in the distance, Dave could see the behemoth as it shook off dirt, stones and boulders off of his body.

    From the far side of the battlefield, Dave could hear the behemoth speak.

    "Damnable spark of me, you wretched goat horned sted sun of a dung beetle, today! By the power of these arms of mine, I shall break your bones, bit by bit, in vengeance to my brothers and sisters!"

    ***

    The Wrath of a Titan Event has started!

    The Earth Titan (Chapter 102) hase to aid the Undead Legion in destroying the Ash King!

    Undead are required to assist the Earth Titan in his quest while yers On the Ash King¡¯s side are required to stop him from doing so.

    The Event will end with the Death of Either the Undead King, Ash King of the Earth Titan.

    ***

    "Holy molly, now this spices things up a little!"

    The Infernal Sword swung down, but the Earth Titan, massive in his size, held a hand forward and broke the whole thing into sparks and surges of mes.

    "That one tickled! Got anything stronger?!" the Earth Titan¡¯s holleringugh boomed through the battlefield.

    Dave grinned; things didn¡¯t look so dire Afterall. But he was still far away form the Undead King¡¯s side.

    "I think it¡¯s time for her to join this battle." Dave mumbled.

    "Onixya! Come out!" He said and from within his inventory came the small reptilian creature.

    ck as the night, with eyes open wide, this small winged lizard looked around Dave with interest.

    "Take me there," Dave pointed at the Earth Titan.

    Onixya nodded and took to the skies, in a moment, she transformed into herrger form, this time however, she was fully armored, covered from head to w with Oprenieum metal gear.

    Dave jumped up onto Onixya¡¯s forearms and climbed up to her back. He was not allowed to fly, but Onixya was not under Zhang Shi¡¯s Forbidden Chapter.

    With Dave riding away to the other side of the battle, things were bound to change.

 Chapter 488 - The Big Boys Table

    <h4>Chapter 488 - The Big Boys Table</h4>

    Onixya roared loud enough for all to know that she wasing. yers on the side of the Ash King panicked, it was not known to Dave beforehand as the skeletal dragon the Undead King rode to battle had wreaked havoc in their ranks, and now add to it a fully-fledged living dragon, the situation turned sour before she could even arrive.

    The Earth Titan dug both its hands in the ground, pulling up a boulder the size of a small town then threw it right in the Ash King¡¯s direction. Thetter was unable to dodge, if he did, the boulder would break right through one of his four ramparts and allow Undead easy ess to his dominion.

    The Ash King pped both hands together in a thunderous explosion of sound, and then pulled them apart with exertion, creating a sword of fire. The motion was fast enough that he managed to wield the sword of fire and swing at the boulder, sundering it to ashes before it could do any damage.

    "Humph, petty tricks." The Earth titan snorted.

    "I have enved your entire race, what¡¯s one more, you over glorified earth golem." The Ash King replied in mockery.

    Dave looked around as he was on Onixya¡¯s back, on the backline of his troops. The skeleton Dragon had many of his bones fractured or outright shattered. And right under its skeletal wing was The Undead King,ying on his back. He had a ghastly wound on his chest, tendrils of ck magic rose, and tried to cover the wound but they failed miserably so.

    This was possibly the effect of the Forbidden Chapter that was used on him. Dave had to take matters in his own hands, for now, the Undead King was no longer able to fight.

    yers charged the Undead King¡¯s troops; they had been heavily damaged due to the Ash King¡¯s earlier assault. If it were not for the timely presence of the Earth Titan, they would have undoubtedly won against the Undead and killed the Undead King. Yet with such a looming threat right above their heads, they decided it was best to go around it and keep their hunt on for the Undead King¡¯s head.

    Dave had an areal advantage and he noticed the yers converging away from the titan and headed toward the Undead King.

    "Onixya, give them a taste of your magic," Dave said and the dragon replied.

    She opened her mouth wide, ck mes coalesced and gathered in front of her, growing massively until it became a ball of fire muchrger than Onixya herself. The fire was cool, it had no heat in it, but it was still terrorizing to have something as menacing right above your head.

    The yers that had taken notice were greatly rmed; some even began applying defensive buffs.

    But the ¡¯fire breath¡¯ was not a fire breath, the giant ball of gathering mes began condensing, turning darker, smaller and morepact in a matter of seconds. It dpressed enough that it wasn¡¯t evenrger than a nickel.

    Onixya then spat the spell forward in the direction where the yers were gathered.

    The small fireball shot forward at bullet speed and dug itself into the ground. Nothing happened at first. And some yers even believed that the dragon had misfired. But soon their judgment was proven extremely erroneous.

    The ground trembled, then continuous tremors followed. The frequency at which the ground shook increased until it was no longer possible for any yer to remain standing. They all fell and began bouncing up and down on the ground. Finally, from the point of impact where Onixya¡¯s spell connected to the ground. Dirt rose up in the shape of a bubble, then it dissipated, consumed by the ever so growing sphere of ck energy that was underground.

    The sphere grew so much that it tore into the ground and consumed the yers inside it, but it didn¡¯t stop there, it kept growing and growing, eating up stone, dirt, yers, and demons alike. Sucking them in as if the pits of hell had opened up.

    The sphere soon contracted upon itself, even faster than it grew and all that was left was a crater where dead bodies of demons and mots of many yers floated, not even half of them survived the attack.

    Onixya dove down, giving Dave the time to jump off and head toward the Undead King.

    Dave slid under the Bone Dragon¡¯s wings and urged, "King, are you alright?"

    "C-child, yes, tis but a scratch!"

    Dave rolled his eyes, the king was missing half of his ribs. But that didn¡¯t matter.

    "Can you still fight?" Dave asked.

    "Of course, We need some time to heal, this dammned Forbidden Chapter curse is slowing down Our regeneration. If Da was here, he would have done quick work with this. But no matter, tell me, child, why have you given up on your side of the battle, do you think this old man can¡¯t handle himself that you thought you shoulde to his aid?"

    "Not at all, the Queen Of Ice decided to join in, and I didn¡¯t want to argue with her on tactics in raiding the gate. Better leave her to do the thinking, there is more fun and battle on this side anyway!" Dave grinned.

    And the Undead King matched his grin, "Indeed, there is much more interesting."

    Dave stood up and looked at the gate where the Ash King and the Earth Titan were battling with both words and fists.

    "Your majesty, why haven¡¯t you used your ck sword yet?" Dave asked.

    "As much as We would have wanted to, it was by this very sword usage that We fell in Our first conquest against this abominable Ash King. He has means to shut down all of Our most powerful abilities, thus why We opted to slice and dice at him."

    "I can¡¯t say I don¡¯t like the idea, but he¡¯s too big to be cut to pieces with your sword, no offense."

    "None taken, child, it is indeedpared to his size. Our sword is a threat to him no more than a needle is a threat to a man. But even a needle can be deadly if it struck well." The Undead King said.

    "Yeah, but I believe it¡¯s best to beat size with size," Dave replied

    "What is the meaning behind your words, Childe?" the Undead King asked.

    Dave replied with a smile and walked stoutly in front of the Undead King. Demonstrating was always better than exining.

    "Tiny," Dave uttered, and the small slime emerged from his pocket. The slime wiggled in ecstasy as Dave had once again called to him.

    "Let¡¯s go Mega, buddy."

    The slime immediately coalesced over Dave, covering him from head to toe. Then began growing in size. Dave¡¯s Mega form was now well known. The yers that survived Onxiya¡¯s attack all went into a panic; they had all known how Dave battelled against two gods of conquest in this form and emerged victorious.

    The yers shouted in panic in their voices. "Where are the supporting parties?! Where is the other A team? And why the hell is Skelly here?!"

    But no answer was satisfying enough, the other A team was still stuck fighting on the side where the Ice Queen was, the supporting parties were barely able to hold off the assault from Dortha¡¯s Wendigos, not even the Sworn Stalwarts could contend with the Enraged Wendigos. And for Dave being here, they had no real answer. He was struck with Forbidden Chapter, so he shouldn¡¯t have been able to fly there, but they never ounted for Dave using his Dragon to get there.

    Dave began increasing the pressure on Tiny by adding his massive buffs. Zealot, Chaos, Herculean Strength, Strength Doubler, and finally [World Boss].

    He applied the buffs so fast that he had finished them just as Tiny reached maximum height and the Mega Dave battling form.

    Durandal grew to match Dave¡¯s size, both in power and size. As well as the copy of Ajax, made by Tiny¡¯s own bones.

    ***

    Conquest Server Announcement!

    yer Kis¡¯Shtiengbrah has transformed into a world Boss! All yers are invited to seek and kill Abyssal Knight, Kis¡¯Shtiengbrah at the location [Ash King¡¯ Keep] for luxurious rewards.

    Death at the Hand of Kis¡¯Shtiengbrah will penalize the dead yer 2 levels!

    ***

    ***

    You have turned into a World Boss!

    You have gained, [Abyssal Knight Glory!] For 12 in-game hours you will obtain the following effects:

    All of your skills and abilities will have a damaging and effect increase of 1,000%

    Your HP has been multiplied by 100!

    Your defensive states have been multiplied by 10

    Your Regeneration has been multiplied by 100!

    You are limited to the area of: Ash King¡¯s Keep Raid Zone. Once you leave the area, you will lose your [Abyssal Knight Glory] buff.

    ***

    "Hoh! Another contender joins the battle! Young Undead, youe a long way from your draugr days! How about you lend this rock head a hand!"

    Dave twirled Durandal and held it pointed at the Ash King, "With pleasure!"

 Chapter 489 - A Day to Remember

    <h4>Chapter 489 - A Day to Remember</h4>

    "Your King couldn¡¯t match me in power! What could you, puny knight possibly do?!" The Ash King pointed at Dave, then a burst of concentrated fire shot like a lightsaber at his chest. Dave poised Ajax forward, absorbing the spell into it.

    "My King didn¡¯t wish to dirty his hands, I on the other hand don¡¯t mind getting dirty." Dave dove forward, stomping his way toward the Ash King.

    The yers along his path panicked, some screamed as they jumped out of Dave¡¯s path. The World Boss was too big that if he had stepped on any of the yers, it would not make for a fun experienced.

    Yet, no matter how the yers did, some still got stomped to death or close to it. Dave got kill notification while he didn¡¯t even actively try to get them.

    The Ash King pped his hands together in a thunderous p. Then exerted force as he parted his hands away, creating a sword of fire in the process. He then wielded the weapon and stuck at the iing Dave.

    Dave met the Ash King¡¯s sword strike with his own weapon. The two des met in an explosion of sound and fire. Enough that it forced both weapons away from each other. Then again, the two sliced at each other again. Weapons sting and sending shockwaves that made any yer or undead close enough tumble and fall to the ground.

    "You know not how to use that weapon! Give that god ying tool to me! You¡¯re unfit to carry it!"

    "If you want it! Work your ass off ande get it. No one¡¯s giving you anything for free." Dave grinned and pointed Ajax forward, to block the next iing attack.

    Dave already knew that Ajax never had the ability to block, but the Ash King didn¡¯t. And he still sent his sword down to meet the shield.

    Dave used [Reject] blowing back the Ash King¡¯s own spell back at him. It was enough a surprise and with enough power that it sted the Ash King¡¯s sword to sparks of me and struck right through his left shoulder.

    -230,000,000HP

    Dave was genuinely surprised, both by the sheer strength of the Ash King¡¯s own rejected spell and by the fact that the more than two hundred million points of damage had barely ounted for a tenth of the Ash King¡¯s HP.

    Dave took a step back while the Ash King was roaring in rage.

    He then inspected him, this time, Dave was powerful enough to see all of the Ash King¡¯s real details.

    ***

    Ash King

    Level: 900

    Tier: Unholy Half Divinity

    Danger level: ? ? ?? ?

    Damage: 999,999

    HP: 2,270,000,000/ 2,500,000,000

    PD: 400,000

    MD: 400,000

    Skills:

    [Eternal me Mastery] (Passive) the Ash King has the ability to control fire at his behest. Using it as weapon and shield, in the presence of the Ash King all fire will have to submit.

    [Gravitational Error] A unique ability that enables The Ash King to temporarily manipte thew of Gravity and call down a sphere ofpressed weight upon his enemies.

    [Infernal Glory] Using the fire around him the Ash King can continuously dish out waves of mes to wilt his enemies into cinders.

    [Destruction Awards Destruction] (Passive) The Ash King¡¯s base damage changes depending on his emotional state. The more baleful he bes the more the impact of his skills increases.

    [Immortal Divinity] The Ash King, as a half-god will never know true death. If his HP reaches 0, he will be sent back to Hell to recover and wille back to the world for vengeance.

    The Ash King, King of Kings son of the Lord of hell Asmodeus a demonic half divinity and a true demon of the truest essence. Benevolence and mercy were stripped out of his being since the day he was excremented to this world. He sought never to be good, and all that ever had the misfortune to cross the Ash King¡¯s path have ended up either dead or enved under his unwavering tyranny. The Ash King is a lord of destruction, seeking havoc and damnation to all that ever wished to prosper and live. Demons lived in chaos and the Ash King thrived in it. Seeking to turn the whole world into his own dominion, to control and abuse as he sees fit. And it is doubtful, that even if he does manage to enve the world, that the Ash King¡¯s greed would ever be satisfied.

    ***

    "Shit, that¡¯s a lot of HP," Dave grumbled, this battle was bound to take a huge amount of time.

    The Ash King repaired his wounded arm immediately with a surge of coating mes then threw a fireball that curved and shot right into the face of the Earth Titan.

    The Earth Titan took a few steps back from the impact and grumbled under his breath.

    "If I remember correctly you said you can beat his ass if you have the chance, I don¡¯t see much ass beating..." Dave said as he turned toward the Earth Titan.

    "This mes park had evolved much from thest time I saw him. This battle won¡¯t be easy," the Earth Titan spoke in a grating sound of rocks mashing together.

    "Small fires! All of you! Dare defy a god when you can¡¯t even match me in power!" The Ash King shouted then pulled two swords of m out of thin air and charged at Dave.

    Dave poised himself forward, prepared to intercept the Ash King but not before he mocked him, "You¡¯re no god, you¡¯re just a half-god. And I¡¯m more than enough to beat that fiery ass of yours back to your pops."

    The Ash King swung both swords at Dave¡¯s neckline, but Dave opted to duck under and send a horizontal swing of Durandal than match the Ash King in force.

    The Ash King took the hit in the ribs, then swung down both swords at Dave¡¯s back. Before Dave could use [Immortal Apparition] to avoid the twin swords. The Earth Titan had already sent a boulder flying into the Ash King¡¯s face, knocking him out of stance and canceling the attack on Dave.

    Dave twirled Durandal and gripped it in an overhead grip then stabbed down on the downed Ash King. The downed enemy roared, calling a Sworn Stalwart to jump out from underground and intercept Dave¡¯s sword int its back.

    The Ash King transformed to fleeting mes and dissipated leaving Dave with a Sworn Stalwart stabbed and stuck on his sword. The current Mega Dave wasrge enough that a Sworn Stalwart wasparable to the size of a lizard to a human. He unceremoniously swatted the sword away sending the bleeding Stalwart tumbling into the Undead Backline.

    The fate of the summoned Stalwart Was sealed the moment it fell into the Undead King¡¯s army.

    The Ash King shuddered and shook, forcing two arms to rip out and emerge from his back. These two arms pped with each other and manifested two other swords.

    "Damn, we¡¯re going Indian mythology now."

    The Ash King crossed all four of his swords up and above himself. Dark matter gathered above him and began to churn and concentrate.

    Dave noticed that his feet began digging deeper into the ground as if he was bing heavier.

    "Onixya," Dave called and didn¡¯t even give an order.

    The flying Dragon heard his call and answered with something simr to what the Ash King had used.

    Onixya flew until she was right above the Ash King¡¯s spell. She opened her mouth wide and all the energy the Ash King was gathering in his [Gravitational Error] skill began seeping out, absorbed into the gorge of the ck-armored dragon.

    It took less than three seconds for all that power to dissipate. And now the dragon was the ruler of that energy. Onixya spat back the energy in the shape of a ball right at the Ash King¡¯s feet. It bloated enough that it consumed the soldiers, demons and yers then burst off in an echoing st of ck gravitational matter.

    The ground began shaking, and rocks and boulders, prly destabilized, began floating in the air. The gravity rule has been shaken.

    "You have done a great job!" The Undead King¡¯s voice sounded next to Dave.

    Dave looked to the side and saw the Undead King running in bullet speed. He jumped up, andnded on one of the floating boulders, then jumped to the next one, never stopping for a second. His speed was breathtaking. Dave had always believed that the Undead King was an old man, with great power and strength behind his muscles, but never once thought he would be this agile.

    The Undead King continued dashing, jumping doing spins, and finally jumped from the highest rock and toward the Ash King¡¯s face.

    Theparison was immense, the Undead King¡¯s size was no bigger than a fully grown man, while the Ash King was a titan massed Demon.

    Hended on the Ash King¡¯s forehead. Before thetter could even swat the pest away from his face, the Undead King mmed his tightened fist against the Ash King¡¯s

    "Today you taste mortality!" the Undead King¡¯s words sounded for all to hear.

    Dave had no idea what the Undead King was doing, but the immense radiating light that shot from the Ash King¡¯s forehead, followed by a world bellowing howl of agony, then a conquest server notification was enough to exin everything.

    ***

    The Undead King has used [God ying Bolt] on the Ash King.

    The God ying Bolt has been destroyed!

    The Ash King has survived the God ying Bolt¡¯s instant Killing effect!

    The Ash King has lost the Passive [Immortal Divinity]

    If the Ash King dies, the results and will have an immense repercussion on the world of Conquest!

    ***

    The Ash King was in so much pain that his mere erratic movement was enough to drop the Undead King off of his face and right into a group of yers.

    It took the Ash King a few more seconds to regain hisposure. And once he did, he turned to the Undead King who was still near him. The Ash King¡¯s forehead was fractured with massive cracks that emitted a glowing golden light. But the rage in his eyes was iparable.

    He dug both hands into the ground then heaved, pulling with him a spear so dark that the light dared not approach it.

    ***

    Conquest Server Announcement!

    A new tier of weaponry has been introduced to the world: Arch God Tier!

    Gae Bolg The Seven-Headed Spear.

    The Gae Bolg is a God ying Weapon!

    ***

    Dave¡¯s eyes widened, this weapon in the Ash King¡¯s hand is even higher tier than his own Durandal!

    He didn¡¯t even want to know the effects of such a thing as it was right now pointed at the Undead King.

    Dave used [Immortal Apparition] but one head of the seven heads of the ck spear shot at Dave instantly canceling his spell.

    The spear fell down toward the Undead King who was rooted in ce by what appears to be one other head of the Gae Bolg Spear.

    Not even the Earth Titan was able to move and his body was cracking from exertion, this spear¡¯s effects were too powerful.

    "Die for good! Old pile of bones!" the Ash King¡¯s words were a finality, and the spear fell down...

    ****

    **** Please Make sure to read this story on , if you are reading Rise of the Undead legion anywhere else then you are on a pirating website, do not ept to offer any kinds of payment to such people as they are non-repsecting of author¡¯s right and I, as the writer am not benefiting from their schemes in any way possible.****

 Chapter 490 - A Lost Friend

    <h4>Chapter 490 - A Lost Friend</h4>

    The Gae Bolg, a newly manifested weapon, a spear with the power to sever immortality, and render one as mortal as a human. Death will have no barrier in iming the lives of those in by the Gae Bolg. And now the Undead King, powerless, locked in ce, snared and at the mercy of this god ying weapon while Dave watched in utter terror what was going to happen.

    He had no power to stop the Ash King, even if he wanted to, he was bound by the spear to not move. Stuck in ce, unable to move a muscle, and all skills grayed out. Tiny was on the verge of bursting from exertion trying to repel the power of the Gae Bolg, but nothing happened.

    The Death of the Undeath King would mean the end of this war, and the victory of the Ash King and the start of the demonseback, as with their king still alive, they would be able to topple the Undead from the Underworld and they will manage to overthrow their ruling and leave this ce to seek chaos in the overworld.

    The Undead King¡¯s death wouldn¡¯t only mean just that to Dave, it would also mean the passing of a character that acted as his pir in this world, the one who supported him in striving thus where he is now. Where he could im to be the prince of the Undead, the next ruler, and also the Undead King is the father figure that Dave had never had in his life. The parent that cared for him, urged him, encouraged him, and was proud to see him where he is now.

    The Death of the Undead King would be the unrepairable crack in Dave¡¯s heart, and he could do nothing but see the massive Ash King stab down with his spear.

    "NOOOOOOOO!" Dave¡¯s voice sounded like the bellowing roar of an enraged beast.

    A blinding purple light radiated in the distance, right between the Ash King and the Undead King. Right after the light faded. Dave¡¯s heart felt like if it was turned to brittle stone and someone had squeezed on it.

    Instead of the spearhead piercing right through the Undead King, someone had taken it in his stead.

    It was Drahma, the Unfettered Giant.

    How did he get here? Dave had no knowledge, but seeing the purple teleportation magic, it was definitely Da¡¯s doing, the Arch lich must have sent the giant here.

    The spear had pierced through Drahma¡¯s neck. Forcing ck chunks of blood out of him. The giant didn¡¯t seem to be bothered by the spear as much as he was with the Undead King behind him. He moved his hand and grabbed the Undead King then unceremoniously threw him away from the field and into the Undead¡¯s Backline.

    The Ash King was furious, his kill was not sessful. He ripped the spear out of Drahma¡¯s neck and with it, all the Spear¡¯s spells stopped.

    Drahma fell on his knees. One hand gripping at his neck. And the other supporting him with a fist on the ground.

    The Ash King kicked Drahma to the side, sending the giant tumbling until he fell at Dave¡¯s feet. Dave was shaking, he didn¡¯t know what to do. ck veins spread from Drahma¡¯s neck and spread all the way across his body.

    Dave knelt to check on his friend. Thetter couldn¡¯t speak, but a wide smile was on his face. Dave knew that Drahma was proud of his action.

    With a shaking hand, Dave touched on Drahma¡¯s chest, only to have his hand pass through the Giant. Drahma¡¯s body turned to floating ash. Where the winds of the Underworld blew it away, fading into nothingness.

    A notification appeared in front of Dave.

    ***

    Drahma the Unfettered has died by the Gae Bolg.

    The Death Heart has no ability to revive what dies by a God ying weapon.

    Drahma has left you a will, speak to Da to receive it.

    ***

    ***

    Conquest Server Announcement!

    Sorrowful Vengeance of the Undead.

    All of the Undead Legion have sensed the sacrifice of Drahma to Save their king.

    Their weapons have never been sharper, their bodies have never been stronger.

    The Undead have vowed to take vengeance upon the killer of their brother.

    ***

    From Drahma¡¯s remains, a pinch of ash remained in Dave¡¯s hands. He stood up, wiped his face with it, and didn¡¯t utter a word.

    Dave¡¯s ashen face was enough a resolve to portray his rage. There was no need for words. All that is left was the Death of the Ash King.

    Dave walked in steady steps toward the Ash King. He activated his [Infernal Tyrant¡¯s Oppression]. And walked forward.

    The skull that never deigned any creature with respect to it, that always hovered in utter contempt to all below it, now had a white brand on it. It was simr to Dave¡¯s smudged ash on his face.

    The Skull had no expression this time. It was calm. And what is calm must be feared as the sea before it turns to raging waves of destruction.

    The fire turning around Dave swayed away and in with each of his moves. As if the very mes of his aura feared to stand in his way.

    Dave drew Durandal and poised Ajax forward. He marched like a spartan. With unwavering resolve.

    So what if the Ash King was three hundred levels above him? So what if he was the king of all the demons? So what if he was a half-god?

    The Ash King will die today, and not even a god would stop Dave from doing so.

    The Ash King twirled his Gae Bolg and pointed it at Dave.

    The Ash Kingughed, "Come and meet the same fate as the giant. Today all will taste the tip of my spear!"

    Dave sprinted toward the Ash King. His anger was so clear that no yer dared stand in his way, they believed that the Ash King was powerful enough that he could stop Dave, so why should they bother and risk their lives.

    The Ash King thrusted with the Gae Bolg forward, sending a projection of a ck snake, so big that it looked like it would consume the whole world.

    The snake shot at Dave with speed far faster than a bullet. But thankfully, his poised shield was ready and in wait. Dave had used [Absorb] Fully consuming the snake into his shield.

    He then swung Durandal, swatting the Spear away.

    A spear had a greater advantage over a sword thanks to its sheer length and reach, however, Durandal was a sword so big that it didn¡¯t suffer from such a disadvantage.

    The reach of both giants was simr, yet their strength was not. The Ash King was by far superior to Dave in all terms of fighting prows and abilities, yet he failed in one region. The churning anger in Dave¡¯s chest due to the loss of his friend.

    Dave swung down his sword at the Ash King, but thetter defended back. His superiority in terms of strength came in handy to defend against Dave¡¯s strike.

    [Final Phantasm] Dave called.

    The guitar however didn¡¯t fall. But Dave¡¯s own armor became bleaker, darker, and more sinister. Spectral skulls and ghosts surged and moved around him. They looked terrified, ghosts were terrified, a notion never before seen amongst the undead. But they were not terrified of the Ash King, but the current form of Dave.

    Dave didn¡¯t evenst in Final Phantasm for more than a few seconds. He was done with ying

    [Phantasmal Edge]

    The skies broke. For the first time in this battle, and perhaps the first time in the underworld, the skies above the Ash King¡¯s keep were no longer blood crimson red. They sted away and apart, revealing a clear starry night.

    Space contorted, the stars collided and from their explosion came the hand of a tiny creature. A tattooed hand, filled with skull rings and bracelets pointed at the Ash King.

    A single point and the Ash King¡¯s body husked over. Losing all power, his mes snuffed out and his might no more.

    The Ash King¡¯s HP was cut by half. And with it came pain never before known to such a being.

    Dave had the chance to pile some damage on the Ash King and he was about to take it.

    Yet before he could do a thing. A small flying rowboat came out of nowhere, and right on it were two people with a third covered from head to toe by a cloak.

    The two people Dave instantly recognized. The bald monk that gued Dave in the Underworld. And the second was the Adopted son of the Ruined King Ashkar. Also goes by the same name, Ashkar the Arch Sorcerer.

    The Monk jumped from the boat, and mmed his staff down on the Ash King, smashing his head right into the ground.

    "What the f.u.c.k are you doing here?!" Dave roared. But his words fell on deaf ears.

    Ashkar followed after the Monk and mmed his palm on the Ash King¡¯s back. In his other hand was a box that Dave knew far too well. It was Pandora¡¯s Box.

    Ashkar pulled a ck ghost from the Ash King¡¯s back and opened Pandora¡¯s box then threw it in it.

    Dave guessed at what was happening, so he inspected the Ash King and realized what went down.

    ***

    |Active Debuff |:

    The Ash King has lost one Level of Power.

    ***

    This was how Ashkar Stole levels, but he didn¡¯t know to what purpose. Another thing happened right after, the Monk mmed down with his spear on the Ash King¡¯s hand, forcing it to release Gae Bolg, he then grabbed it and jumped back into the boat and handed the spear to the robed man.

    Ashkarughed loud, he looked at Dave and said, "Soon, your worst nightmares wille true!"

    Just as he finished his words, Ashkar jumped back up and the boat disappeared from the underworld.

    Dave was thankful that these two had ripped some of the might off of the Ash King as it will make this battle much easier. Yet Ashkar¡¯s warning gave him a grave sense of dread. Something was going on in Conquest. And it was definitely nothing good.

    Dave turned his attention back to the Ash King, even with a level less, and without the Gae Bolg, the Ash King was still a great threat, he needed his full attention focused on this foe.

    "Youngd, how about you let this giant give you a hand? I have sensed your sorrow for the loss of your friend, he too was a giant, even remotely, he was still rted to us Titans. Here, use my strength, it coulde in handy."

    The Earth Titan said and threw a small piece of white marble at Dave.

    The marble prated into Dave¡¯s skin and he received a notification shortly after.

    ***

    Titan¡¯s Might.

    For a brief period, you can conjure and wield the power of the earth.

    ***

    "Thank you," Dave muttered. He then stomped on the ground, forcing a pir of rock to smashed into the downed Ash King and raise him back to his feet.

    "No time for naps bitch, we¡¯re just getting warmed up."

    ****

    **** Please Make sure to read this story on , if you are reading Rise of the Undead legion anywhere else then you are on a pirating website, do not ept to offer any kinds of payment to such people as they are non-repsecting of author¡¯s right and I, as the writer am not benefiting from their schemes in any way possible.****

 Chapter 491 - On His Last leg

    <h4>Chapter 491 - On His Last leg</h4>

    It was easy for Dave to move the earth, it felt like an extension of his body. He didn¡¯t even need to walk to the Ash King, the earth itself carried him toward the Demon lord. The ground shaped itself like a surfboard and moved Dave forward.

    Dave gave a mentalmand and the earth surfboard stopped and split into spikes that shot at the Ash King. Thetter pped his hands, summoning a sword of mes, much weaker than the ones he used to summon before the Undeath God sapped away his power.

    The Ash King swatted away the spikes, but he didn¡¯t ount for Dave¡¯s follow up stomp. It caused a pir to rise right under the Ash King¡¯s left leg, tipping him to the side, giving Dave ample time to slice down with Durandal, unperturbed.

    -6,000,000

    Dave kicked at the Ash King, but theter used the force to roll back and stand on his feet. The Ash King no longer boasted or spoke, he went to action. Slicing at Dave with another sword he just created out of thin air, sending two waves of mes toward him.

    Dave dodged the two swords thanks to activating [Doomsday] then dashed forward. The Ash King struck with a palm forward, creating a fire palm asrge as a ten-story building that shot at Dave.

    Ajax was poised to the ready, consuming the whole of the spell into nothingness, while Dave¡¯s sword dug into the Ash King palm.

    The Ash King drew back his palm while he swatted at Dave with the sword in his other hand all while he was jumping back to dodge another iing sword attack. Dave however stomped a foot on the ground, causing a pir to rise right behind the Ash King that stopped his retreat. Enabling him to slice at the Ash King once again.

    The strength behind Dave¡¯s sword was magnificent, as he had used [Herculean Strength] two more times in a row. It was enough to force the weakened Ash King¡¯s sword out of the way and rip a grizzly gash on the Ash King¡¯s shoulder.

    -26,000,000

    The Ash King roared and spat a bout of fire at Dave, it was not meant to damage but more to hamper his vision for a while. It was enough of a distraction for the Ash King to m a palm on the ground causing two Sworn Stalwart to manifest right under Dave¡¯s feet.

    They wed at Dave¡¯s legs, holding him in ce. The Ash King didn¡¯t finish them, he blew through a circle he made with his thumb and index finger at the Earth Titan. Summoning ck smog, thicker than tar, that coiled and bound the Earth Titan to limit his action.

    The Ash King then summoned two swords and dove at Dave with little regard to anything in between them.

    Dave was pinned down; he could rid himself of the Stalwarts in a few seconds but the Ash King was not going to let him. He struck down with the two swords he just summoned at the immobile Dave.

    Dave dodged using [Immortal Ascension], letting the two swordse crashing down on the sworn stalwarts. While he had teleported right behind the Ash King with Durandal in a backward grip, Dave was back to back with the Ash King, only Durandal has dug deep into the demon king¡¯s nk.

    -48,020,000

    The Ash King stumbled forward and evaded the follow-up sh from Dave¡¯s sword. He twirled both swords and mmed their pummels together, creating a long spear of mes.

    The Ash King charged at Dave with the spear of fire and thrust it forward with one hand. The power of the thrust was enough to rend space, and if Dave took the strike head-on, it would deal massive amounts of damage.

    But Dave coolly stood watching as the spear approached dangerously, then in almost a fraction of a second, his right leg rose up and mmed down on the spear¡¯s tip, digging it into the ground, forcing the Ash king to tumble forward as his hand was gripping tightly on the spear.

    Dave had just used [Mikiri Counter], and exposed the Ash King¡¯s opening. He struck with Durandal right at the base of the Ash King¡¯s neck, hoping to severe it with one good hit, but it was not powerful enough. Still, the impact from Durandal was enough to shake the Ash King back, yet Dave hadn¡¯t finished yet, he remembered the lesson Desmond had taught him, and how he could improve Mikiri Counter, so he followed up with a shoulder bash, causing the unbnced Ash king to falter and be rocked away even more. A knee strike followed after, then Dave raised his sword high up and mmed down with Durandal¡¯s pummel on the Ash King¡¯s shoulder, forcing him down onto his knees from the might of the blow.

    Dave held Durandal like a baseball bat then struck with all the might his bones could generate right into the Ash King¡¯s face with the sharp edge of Durandal.

    The blow was enough to cause the Ash King to do a couple of flips in mid-air and smash him into the wall of his own fortification

    -152,000,000HP (Critical)

    "Damn, talk about thick face. That didn¡¯t kill him." Davemented while he ced Durandal on one of his shoulders like a bat.

    "Childe, you have done wonderfully so. But remember, Drahma was not only your friend, he was also one of Our Children," the Undead King spoke.

    Dave turned to see the Undeath King upon his legs, his light consuming sword at the ready, it was sad that the sword was sealed thanks to some asshat yer otherwise the Undead King¡¯s sword waves would have done a great deal of pain to the Ash King. Thest time the Ash King took damage from that sword he lost one of his horns.

    But now the Undead King looked healthier, his damaged chest was no longer as messed up as before, and he looked ready for battle.

    "Undeath God, I ask thee for permission, grant me the might I was given once before to face against those that defied us!" the Undead King chanted.

    And right in front of him, the Death Heart manifested. The power of the Undead legion, their source of might, and source of never-ending resurrection hase to the Undead King.

    The Undead King touched the heart with both hands and it shook, exuding a ck wave of energy that the Undead King feasted on, consuming with one single breath.

    The Undead King grew in size, enough that white chains of light materialized around him, shaking and shuddering then breaking. Even his sword was wrapped with those chains, but once he consumed the power of the Death Heart, the chains were no longer able to suppress him. And thus, the light consuming sword was free to rain death upon all.

    "Damn, now that¡¯s three giants against one," Dave uttered, "What you gonna do about it?"

    The Ash King, for the first time in this battle, took a step back. He knew that he could outmatch any of the present beings in battle. Yet all three of them were too much for even the Ash King to contend against.

    The Ash King knew that death was near, and he had scares resources to escape it.

    "Damn you all!" The Ash King roared in frustration then stabbed his spear into the ground. Causing the rivers ofva to surge, the ground to crust over and tens of thousands of sworn Stalwart toe out.

    In his action, he didn¡¯t care about his own troops that were consumed by the rivers ofva, he didn¡¯t care about the yers that turned to mots of light, he only cared about his survival. And the Sworn Stalwarts, his most loyal ves were enough to stall his foes for him to escape.

    But the Earth titan had other ideas, he dug both hands into the ground, forcing the cracked rivers to be covered by earth, and bounded the Sworn Stalwarts to the earth with mud and rock. They had no ability to move, nor the ability to aid their King.

    Dave moved toward the Ash King with all purposefulness, right next to the Undeath King.

    The Ash King was bound to die today.

    **** Please Make sure to read this story on , if you are reading Rise of the Undead legion anywhere else then you are on a pirating website, do not ept to offer any kinds of payment to such people as they are non-repsecting of author¡¯s right and I, as the writer am not benefiting from their schemes in any way possible.****

 Chapter 492 - End of an Era

    <h4>Chapter 492 - End of an Era</h4>

    "NICHOLAS!" uttered a being, far too powerful than anyone present in the moment. This was all shown by the message that appeared right in front of Dave when he heard the word.

    ***

    A god has spoken; you have been suppressed!

    You cannot move or use any abilities!

    ***

    "F.u.c.k! What kind of messed up shit is this!" Dave shouted.

    He tried using [Undying Will] to remove the debuff, but the skill was also grayed out.

    "You have broken the rules! You cannot kill my son!"

    "I have broken no such things," replied Nichs, the Undeath God who appeared out of nowhere right in front of Dave.

    "You have used your power to break my son, you have given the Undeath King your heart to empower him, that is by all, personal involvement into matters of the worlds below. You have broken the rules!"

    "Smody, I told you, I didn¡¯t break any rules. Kis¡¯Shtiengbrah is my champion and is allowed to use my power. As for the Undeath King, that heart is an item belonging to his legion. If he wishes to, he could destroy it for all I care. Even if it is my heart, it is not in my hand and I hold no responsibility over its usage."

    A wrathful growl echoed in the world, then augh followed after.

    "Then so be it! if its like that! Children who wishes to be my champion! Aid my son and I shall promise you might beyond your wildest imagination!"

    A notification appeared right in front of Dave.

    ***

    God of Hell Asmodeus has given a promise to anyone that is willing to help his child to be his champion.

    The first to ept will award the yer with an SS ss legacy item.

    You have 60 seconds to reflect.

    ***

    "That¡¯s a low blow!" Nichs shouted.

    "I have the right to give anyone my legacy!"

    "But they will not work hard for it, you¡¯re just giving it freely. The champion can be unworthy!" Nichs shouted back.

    "I do not care! As long as one is able to wield my power, I can personally manifest and aid my son! It is my right as it is yours! I will have the ability to bend rules, like you always do!"

    "At least leave! Your pressure is stopping everyone from moving!"

    "Hah! Never, my presence here is not affecting the oue of the battle!"

    "My ass it¡¯s not! It¡¯s enough time for Kis¡¯Shtiengbrah to kill that Ash brat of yours, but you¡¯re purposefully wasting time until your champion is chosen!"

    The yers among the Ash King¡¯s side rejoiced, it was true, they could get an SS ss legacy item and ability just by being the first to ept. It was a fairpetition between them. There was no need for a guild, or for a background, all that they needed was to be faster than everyone else. For now, they didn¡¯t even care if the Ash King lived or died, all they wanted was the legacy item.

    "Howe you can move?" Dave asked Nick.

    "Huh? Are you dumb kid? I¡¯m a god, his pressure can¡¯t affect me."

    "Right... Shit I didn¡¯t want to use this so early, but I guess I don¡¯t have a choice. It¡¯s time for you to fulfill your promise." Dave spoke. And almost immediately, a loud thunderous boom echoed in the distance.

    Right after that, a notification appeared for everyone to see.

    ***

    The battle of the Underworld has ended!

    The Ash King has fallen in battle!

    The Undead Legion has won the war!

    The Undead Legion has the ability to conquer and obtain the Ash King¡¯s keep. Once Done the Underworld will be open to the public.

    The Servers will go down for the Pack Installment in 60 minutes, please log out as soon as possible. All yers currently doing a dungeon will be able to leave and continue once the servers are back online.

    Patch duration is 72 hours!

    All the dungeons of Conquest have been locked and are inessible.

    THE UNDEAD EXPANSION IS GOING LIVE IN 72 HOURS!

    ***

    "Huh?" was the collective word spoken by every yer, creature, and even gods. They had no idea what happened, but they all turned to the sound of the explosion. Two giants as big as the Ash King if not bigger were standing right on top of his corps. While his head was still rolling on the ground. Both their arms were locked against each other.

    The two gods, Raijin and Fujin hade to fulfill their promise to Dave. A promise they gave in exchange for Dave sparing their lives.

    A one-time assistance in the world of man.

    "That¡¯s what I call a godly decapitation..." Dave muttered. Soon after the two gods disappeared for good, never to be seen in the world of man again unless they pick a legacy holder and a champion of theirs.

    He then received a personal notification detailing his rewards that he moved to the side.

    Asmodeus was still too shocked to realize what went on. But all he could do was shout in rage as his voice was muffled and muted to nothingness.

    "Well, he has no ability to change anything now, even his promise should be void," Nichs said.

    He then turned to Dave and said in a wide smile, "Now, kid. You have finally done it. You¡¯ve really conquered the entire underworld."

    "Yeah... I still can¡¯t believe it," Dave said.

    "You should...now what are you nning on?" Nick said.

    "I don¡¯t really know, maybe world domination who knows...for now let me get my loot," Dave grinned and walked up to the Ash King¡¯s corpse.

    ***

    Interlude

    Somewhere in the vast expanse of Conquest, a robed man with two half gods stood in front of a box. It was the Pandora¡¯s box that Dave strived hard to get.

    "Are they all here?"

    "Yes, the pilfered might of every being in this world is contained within this box." Spoke Ashkar.

    "Good. What about the stones?"

    "I have them right here," spoke the monk and ced some tablets right in front of the robed man. If Dave was here he would realize that these were the tablets he needed to open the Vault behind Raijin and Fujin¡¯s boss chamber.

    "We¡¯re missing a few," I couldn¡¯t find them.

    "Thed has them. But believe me, the real treasure is not what beyond the wall it¡¯s these stones themselves. I only need two, and these are more than enough." Ashkar said.

    He then touched the stones and pressed his hand on pandora¡¯s box. Funneling the energy from them into the infinity abyss of the box that harbors doom.

    Soon the stones turned to dust.

    "All the ingredients are in here..." Ashkar¡¯s voice was suddenly interrupted.

    "Oh...thed had used the gods..." spoke the robed man. "What a great piece of news, I feared that he would save their usage for a while longer, making me stay in hiding for a bit more. But it seems that he was too wasteful and just destroyed his only chance of actually destroying me if I were to consume this power. Such great luck I have...no wonder..." the man spoke thest words andughed.

    The monk frowned at Ashkar, wondering what the hell was the robed old man talking about, but thetter just shrugged.

    "Now, in here, we¡¯re in hiding from all eyes, no one can see us."

    The old man stood up and went to the box, he opened it, letting the energies within it funnel toward him.

    "It¡¯s finally time that I set everything straight!" the old man said...

    *****

    HEY GUYS THIS MARKS THE END OF RISE OF THE UNDEAD LEGION! HOW DID you like the story so far? I hope you enjoyed it!

    Nah just messing with you, we¡¯re actually done with the Ash King¡¯s arc, now it¡¯s the beginning of a new arc and probably thest one... but I promise it will be a long delicious arc : ) so far the story has been fun to write And I¡¯m nning on releasing Requiem of Souls and Starting a new Book (Cultivation book as they seem to be the most popr here) Only it¡¯s gonna be Cultivation Biako Style and you all know how I write. No fillers, no useless 1-dimensional characters that are only there to make the mc look like a badass, but real-life characters that actually feel alive. And events so strange and so vivid that none look like recycled stuff.

    I¡¯ve already written a few chapters of the new book, you can check it out and tell me what you guys think about it. It¡¯s called Poison God¡¯s Heritage. IF you read it and havee from Rise of the Undead Legion, please do mention it, you¡¯ll be the first ones toment on a story that will probably be at least 1k chapters long! WITH FREGGING DAILY RELEASE! (cuz cultivation is much easier to write than this stuf...man LITRPG is really hard...but I love it, but it¡¯s supa hard...) Aight Biako out, see you guys soon.

 Chapter 493 - Rise of an Old Monster

    <h4>Chapter 493 - Rise of an Old Monster</h4>

    "Nice, now that¡¯s finally over," Dave said as he left his gaming capsule. The whole blunder with the Ash King has ended, and the Undead Legion had finally won the war against the demons.

    From now on all thend will belong to the Undead Legion, a great hope and a great prosperous future is in hand.

    Dave had leveled up immensely in thest battle, gaining almost forty levels, and now stands at the top of the yers in Conquest at an astonishing level of 594. He could have gained a lot more EXP if he had killed the Ash King without relying on Raijin and Fujin, as the system calcted that Dave had used an unorthodox method to kill them, he was only rewarded the EXP for the damage he dealt and the assistance and help he provided the Legion in conquering thest zone of the Underworld.

    The Ash King remains the strongest entity in the game of Conquest to be killed to date. At a level of 900, no, 899 as Ashkar and the bald monk had stolen one of the Ash King¡¯s levels.

    Dave was still wondering about the implication of such happenings, but he didn¡¯t want t delve too much upon them. For now, he will enjoy his victory, and if things turn for the worse, he has a legion that could assist him.

    For today, the game of conquest is undergoing maintenance. The huge Undead Expansion is going to be opened to the public, and in it, yers will be able to join the legion on their own. Able to enjoy the legion¡¯s benefits and do their challenges and tasks.

    Dave¡¯s phone rang, it was Perfect Shot.

    "Yo, whats up?"

    "Hey man, Dad says thanks for the Video Feed you sent him, good fight he said. Anyway, CCN is hosting an interview, and you¡¯re the main guest. Can youe over soon?"

    "When is that happening?" Dave asked.

    "In like two hours," Perfect Shot said.

    "Dude, that¡¯s way too fast."

    "Yeah, I know man, sorry about that but pops said that he needed to get this interview done as fast as possible, he even invited many of Conquest Main yers to the show, and without you there, gloating your achievement it¡¯s not gonna be that fun." Perfect Shot said.

    "Do I really have to go right now man?"

    "I mean no offence, but conquest is down, it¡¯s not like you have something else to do..."

    "Hey watch your mouth, in case you forgot I¡¯m a CEO. I have apany to run..."

    "Bro, do you even have an idea of what a CEO does?"

    "Touch¨¦... anyway, I¡¯m gonna be there soon."

    "I¡¯ll send for a private driver toe and get you." Perfect said.

    "Nah, it¡¯s time I go and get my car."

    "Huh? You have a ride? What did you buy?"

    "Mustang, 1969"

    "Don¡¯t tell me, you¡¯re the crazy guy that bought the Boogyman¡¯s Ride?"

    "In flech,"

    "Damn you crazy, that ride¡¯s gonna get everyone¡¯s eyes bulging. Anyway, see you at the office."

    "Aight see yater."

    Dave hung up and went to his dressing room. He once again wore the jacket that Lone had made for him. It was a great night jacket that fit him to perfection. He ran ab through his head, a good perfume that Zoe got for him and he was ready to get to the garage where his car waited for him.

    Once he was out, he grabbed a taxi and asked the driver to get him to the garage.

    He left the taxi after paying his fees and headed toward the massive car gallery. Like always Tomas¡¯s car gallery was always packed full of people, all checking out the most luxurious and best sports car of the year. However, once Dave entered, all eyes turned to him. A young man in his mid-twenties, donning a dinner jacket that looked like it was designed for a world renowned movie star. He didn¡¯t nce a second time at any of the cars in the main gallery but headed directly to the inside of the area.

    One of the workers there followed Dave, "Are you interested in buying one of our cars?"

    "Thanks, but I already bought mine. I¡¯m here to collect."

    "Sure, which one did you get mister?" asked the worker.

    "The Mustang, the Mach One? Neen sixty nine."

    "Oh, the boogycar. Right follow me, Thomas is in his office, you¡¯ll finalize paperwork with him."

    "Thanks, lead the way please."

    The man nodded and headed first, guiding Dave through the massive gallery. It was the first time he actually had the chance to inspect the whole ce. It was farrger than any car gallery he ever been to. It hosted cars of all eras and all types and styles.

    Dave wondered how much would it take to have all of these cars join his personal collection, seeing that he was bunker rich right now, but he dismissed the idea. Just because you have money, it doesn¡¯t mean you should spend it like an idiot.

    Dave entered Thomas¡¯s office, it was much smaller than he expected it to be, but it was only normal, as the owner of this whole ce, he would rarely be in his office unless he was finishing some paperwork¡¯s, he will mostly be with clients to show them his stuff.

    The office was wooden made, with a small window overseeing the cars at the front of the store. There were some paintings that Dave didn¡¯t find any interest in them. Thomas was sitting against a desk and there were a couple of chairs in front of him for clients.

    "Mr David Ruster! How have you been doingtely, please have a seat" came the weing voice of Thomas, the owner of the gallery.

    Dave didn¡¯t have a good impression on him in the first day, since he had underestimated him and demeaned him the moment he entered. And now Thomas knows who Dave is, Mr.Skeletal, the world¡¯s number one sensation, he was due his respect.

    "Where¡¯s my car?" Dave asked refusing to sit.

    Thomas was disappointed as Dave didn¡¯t care to do some casual chitchat with him. His idea was to use Skeletal¡¯s name to make his already famous car gallery even more famous. But he needed Dave¡¯s approval first, and as it appears Dave never had a good impression on him so he switched to a full professional business tone.

    "It¡¯s been ready for days now. Come, let¡¯s give it a go shall we?"

    "Yeah, I¡¯ll do that myself, give me the keys please.

    "Oh, yeah,." Thomas said and turned to press on a button on a wall behind him. The whole section moved and several key holders appeared. Many of the key holders had keys for cars in them, and a rare few were missing their keys, probably sold cars.

    Thomas pulled a key from the top that had a racing horse symbol on it and handed it to Dave.

    "Miss Zoe Silvana had handled all paperwork, the car is ready and has a full tank, I also set up an automatic driving system so one day if you don¡¯t feel like driving you can just set a destination and the car will get you where you want.

    Also, I preserved all the oldponents and added some adjustment for better steering and so you don¡¯t excessively consume fuel, also I upgraded the filtering system, so your car is now fully environment respectful, and none of it¡¯s driving advantages have been touched upon."

    Dave was not that interested to know all the details, he only wanted to test the car. He nodded at Thomas.

    And thetter spoke, "Jacky, get Mr. Ruster to his car. Mr. Ruster it was good doing business with you."

    "Like wise," Dave answered and followed Jacky, the man that led him to the owner.

    Soon, Dave was in front of the boogyman¡¯s car. It was as dark as the night, a monster was hidden underneath that hood, and Dave wanted to fully unseal him.

    He rode in, the feeling of the leather seat was amazing, the smell of the car was perfect. And his knuckles became white as he tightened his hand on the wheel. Then Dave turned the ending and the sound it echoed was enough to scare a dragon. An ancient monster has been brought back to life. It was old, and now it had returned, just like an undead.

    **** Please Make sure to read this story on , if you are reading Rise of the Undead legion anywhere else then you are on a pirating website, do not ept to offer any kinds of payment to such people as they are non-repsecting of author¡¯s right and I, as the writer am not benefiting from their schemes in any way possible.****

 Chapter 494 - War of Words

    <h4>Chapter 494 - War of Words</h4>

    Dave pressed hard on the elerator, bringing back the old monster to life. It roared in defiance against all the years it had remained unused and standing still. It was the breath of life having been blown into it.

    Jacky opened the garage door for Dave, and thetter switched gears and drove off after spinning the wheels several times in ce. The car shot out of the gar like a bullet. There goes Dave¡¯s fear of speed, as once you¡¯re the one behind the wheel, you would feel much safer.

    Dave drove between the cars of New York, most gave way to the monster behind them. All the cars on the road were smart cars and would give way to anyone not using automatic handling. Dave found himself in heaven of a free open way. It was no wonder that Zoe liked driving like a crazy person, every car gave her enough space to move and she never felt hampered.

    Dave kept moving the car, no one dared contend with the Mustang on the road. And whoever noticed the car, had his eyes glued to it until it moved away. It¡¯s style was a far cry from the futuristic-looking rides on the road, but that ancient style had a sense of majesty and pure savageness thatmended respect and fear.

    He turned on the radio, ying some old school music, country, rock, and metal, whatever the beat the podcaster decided to y, Dave would listen to it bemusedly.

    There was no freedom better than this Dave thought to himself. In less than one year, all of his life had turned around, and if one were to meet Dave a year ago and tell him that he would be Mr.Skeletal, a world-famous superstar. A millionaire owning apany that created thetest Tech rted ch.i.p.s and gears. And also, the man who singlehandedly steered the wheels of Conquest, leading it to a new age.

    David Ruster, from a part-timer to a world sensation. It was thanks to luck, but also it was all due to his hard and ceaseless efforts.

    Dave kept driving following the car GPS, and soon he found himself at CCN headquarter studio. Dave didn¡¯t even have to give his ID to the security at the door. Everyone knew who Dave was at CCN.

    The door opened up to him and he entered the building. From there, a woman came rushing in, holding a notepad in her hand.

    "Mr.: Ruster I¡¯m Sindy, you¡¯re a littlete, but we can manage the time. Please follow me to the makeup room as I tell you how things would go."

    "Skip makeup, just get me on the set, I have a birthday party to attend soon and I don¡¯t wanna bete to that either."

    "Skip makeup, okay..." Sindy then struck an element off of her notepad and began telling Dave what was going on as they moved.

    "Susan will host the interview like always, there will be many other yers present today, we¡¯ll be discussing the new Patch update that Conquest has just released. Also, we¡¯ll discuss about the future ns of all the super guilds. Especially with the impending downfall of the Blood Ragers."

    "Wow, hold up, new patch? When? And what downfall are you talking about?"

    "You didn¡¯t know? Conquest released a patch just thirty minutes ago. As for the Blood Ragers, we don¡¯t have time to go over every detail, but your action against the Ash King and victory resulted in any of the yers that chose the demonic side to forfeit their legacies."

    "That¡¯s a big oof, anyway, who¡¯s going to be in the interview?"

    "Everyone."

    "Oh, that¡¯s gotta be interesting." Dave smiled and then walked into a room where Sigward Smith, Perfect Shot¡¯s father, and the owner of CCN was standing in wait.

    "Wee, David! My shooting star! Ha!" Sigward gave Dave a tight bear hug, which reminded him a lot of Ralph¡¯s antics.

    "Now, today I¡¯m hosting a lot of snobbish brats, but you gotta show them whoes boss, boy. Everyone is already on set, we¡¯re just waiting for you."

    "Yeah, I¡¯m also hoping to get this done and over with quick, who¡¯s ass should I roast for you today?"

    "If you can, all of them. HA! But don¡¯t overdo it, we don¡¯t want anyoneing out crying do we." Sigward smiled at Dave and thetter replied with his vicious Draugr grin.

    "That¡¯s the face I wanted to see! HA! Go in boy, we got a show to start!"

    Dave walked in the studio backstage. From the other side of the stage, he could hear the loud pping of people who were already seated as the show must have started a few minutes ago.

    Susan¡¯s voice could be heard from everywhere.

    "So, that makes for a great future aspect Warlord, Valentine, the Devastator guild had relied a lot on you two¡¯s achievements, but as it appears to everyone, Mr. Skeletal has be a great hurdle in the rise of the Devastator¡¯s guild, do you have anything to say about this?"

    "Susan, before I answer your question, I have something to say." Valentine said, "This is probably not the only time I was proven wrong by Mr. Skeletal. He has shown us all that even one man, against all odds could do many things, he is an aspiration to many. And everyone should have a good grasp of their capabilities but never shy away from greatness if offered as risks to take. Mr.Skeltal was but a banal single man as he began, and I am ashamed to have thought nothing less of him at first. I admit that my view was biased, but now I have faced him, and even fought alongside him. I would like to take back all I have said against MR. Skeletal as he is not one to be trifled with. He is no less a genius than Mr. Park right here."

    Dave grinned, Valentine was a vicious person, he just apologized to having offended Mr.Skeletal on tv, and instead of leaving it like that to be criticized by the Devastator supporters as they were too blind to see that Dave was superior, he shifted the view to White Ghost as he was the ¡¯genius¡¯ of conquest, but due to Dave having beaten White Ghost several times on a row, Valentine and the Devastators get taken out of the picture as humble people who recognize their mistakes and apologize to it, while White Ghost was offered as the scapegoat.

    White Ghost coughed and said, "It¡¯s as Valentine had said, Skeletal had great opportunities that he took advantage of all of them, this gave him a great head start over everyone, and as Valentine said that Mr. Skeletal is a true genius I would not deny it. He had outsmarted me several times, sadly, I haven¡¯t had the proper means to fight back as I didn¡¯t want to risk my Legacy. Otherwise, our fight with MR Skeletal could have been more interesting, even if he still won at the end."

    "That¡¯s right, speaking of Mr. Skeletal, he had just arrived to the set! Please a wee to CCN¡¯s VVIP guest, David Ruster, In-game Kis¡¯Shtiengbrah or as everyone knows, Mr.Skeletal!"

 Chapter 495 - A Promise of MR Skeletal

    <h4>Chapter 495 - A Promise of MR Skeletal</h4>

    That was Dave¡¯s que to enter the set. And he did, walking from behind the stage and into the spotlight. People began screaming and shouting Dave¡¯s yer¡¯s name. Some whistled and some outright fainted.

    Daveughed as he walked to the set and sat right next to Valentine in one of the sofas on the set.

    Next to Valentine was warlord, and on their left was White Ghost, and a short stout man, who was obviously Wang Yi. On the left side of Dave was another sofa where Demitri was sitting and next to him was a person of Asiatic features, his expressions were the sourest of the group.

    "Mr. David Ruster, or Mr Skeletal, or Kis¡¯Shtiengbrah, which name would you like me to address you with?" Susan said.

    "Whatever you feelfortable with." Dave replied with a nod."

    "Then we¡¯ll go with the crowd¡¯s favorite! Mr.Skeletal, tell us please, why have you refused using makeup, do you have a stand against it?"

    "Huh, I thought we were here to talk about gaming and more important matters," Dave said.

    "Yes, but you have to know, you¡¯re a world superstar, everyone would like to know what your preferences are and are not, every action you make has an impact even if it looks as simple as doing makeup, it could mean the business of many industries.

    "Huh, I never thought of it like that but let me tell you one thing." Dave gazed right into the camera.

    "I yed my whole gaming career as a druger, an undead, I didn¡¯t even have proper unrotten skin to put makeup on it. Everyone knows me as an undead, I don¡¯t have to put makeup or pretend that I¡¯m someone I¡¯m not. I am the whole package, you either ept me as I am, or you don¡¯t. If you like to put makeup on, enjoy, it, if you don¡¯t, no one is forcing you to do it. So should your stance in life be, do what you feel is right, not what it is supposed of you to do."

    Susan pped her hands and said," Wise wordsing from a twenty-six years old, it¡¯s no wonder you lead a group of NPC undead to andslide victory against the Ash King¡¯s forces."

    "It wasn¡¯t all me, I had a legion behind me to help."

    "Speaking of the Ash King, your actions have heavilypromised the wellbeing of the Blood Ragers guild, do you have anything to say to them?"

    Dave smirked and said, "They shouldn¡¯t have gone to help the Ash King, he was going to bite the bullet anyway, with or without their help. it was their choice to assist the Ash King, they should assume the responsibilities."

    "Bullshit! You¡¯re a selfish person!" the man next to Demitri said.

    Susan lifted a brow. Some cuss words were allowed in the studio, but if Zhang Shi were to increase the potency of them, he will be kicked out.

    "Me? Selfish, how so?"

    "You caused the deaths of many yers and ruined many careers. Your actions were selfish, you gave NPCs aid in destroying our hopes. You gave NPCs more than they deserve. You favor pixels and numbers over the lives of the real living people. Do you know how many futures you destroyed by your selfish actions?" Zhang Shi spoke while angrily pointing his hand at Dave.

    Dave¡¯s brow lifted, he grinned and said, "NPCs are worth more than you think. In my opinion, a lowly level twenty skeleton is more useful to me than you¡¯ll ever be. You¡¯re leading a guild in search of money, you don¡¯t care about yourrades, you never did, you ordered them to their death in ourst battle with little regard to the levels they¡¯ll lose. You¡¯re not fit to lead, Zhang Shi, and not fit to say those words. I have told you before, you made your choice, you¡¯ll have to ept the consequences."

    Before Zhang Shi could interrupt, Dave lifted his hand to shut him up.

    "I haven¡¯t finished. Also, for every yer in thest siege that died to undead. Once the Undead Expansion opens, I¡¯m willing to personally turn you to undead, you can join my legion, be part of it and grow to heights you would never have seen possible by being with the Blood Rager guild. I will never shut any of you down, and all you have to do to prove your value will be to work for the legion. D your quests and rank up. You¡¯ll no longer have to kiss someone¡¯s ass to climb thedder, and you¡¯ll never be anyone¡¯s subordinate. In a matter of fact, if you feel like yourmanding officer is less powerful than you, in the legion, you can challenge them for their position, so only the fit and worthy may rule! It is a legion that is reserved for those who adhere to the saying MIGHT IS RIGHT!"

    With Dave¡¯s im, all of Zhang Shi¡¯s tricks at making him sound like the bad guy were void. Dave¡¯s promise to turn yers that lost their legacies into undead personally was enough of a reward, he didn¡¯t have to even do it. But now he promised, they could suck up the damage they received from losing their legacies and advantages, and in joining the legion, it will only make it much more powerful to face off against any other threat.

    "I believe that many yers will be more than happy to learn this Mr. Skeletal," Susan said. "Also, it was recently divulged that Mr. Skeletal has survived an armed attack in the sanctuary of his home! Could you please share with us the details?" Susan added.

    "I¡¯d rather not dwell on the matter. It was only a result of hotheadedness that pushed a young man into illogical thinking and doing what he did. Thankfully nothing serious resulted out of that matter and everything was solved." Dave said.

    "No," spoke Demitri, "Everything will be solved now, Mr, Ruster."

    Susan didn¡¯t know what t do, as Demitri had spoked out of order and this was going off-script.

    "What do you mean, Mr. Rospatchov."

    "Everyone knows who I am, right?" Demitri looked at everyone in the room. Who didn¡¯t know Demitri Rospatchov the Pakhan of the Russian Bratva?

    "Mr. David Ruster is under our protection, and if anyone dares as much ase in with bad intentions, he will be facing the wrath of our entire organization."

    Susan made a cutting motion with her hand, signaling the stop of the recording.

    "Mr. Rospatchov open threats are a big no go in the entertainment business, please, you¡¯ll get us all out of our jobs this way!"

    "Isn¡¯t this a recording? Edit itter," Demitri shrugged.

    "THIS IS LIVE TV!" she screamed then signaled the resuming of the broadcast.

    "We¡¯re sorry for the technical issue that just urred, anyway we now we¡¯ll be talking about the new Conquest Update and the new Expansion. Here are the new patch notes if you happen to have missed them when they were released!

    **** Please Make sure to read this story on , if you are reading Rise of the Undead legion anywhere else then you are on a pirating website, do not ept to offer any kinds of payment to such people as they are non-repsecting of author¡¯s right and I, as the writer am not benefiting from their schemes in any way possible.****

 Chapter 496 - Patch Notes 4.0 (No Math)

    <h4>Chapter 496 - Patch Notes 4.0 (No Math)</h4>

    Susan pulled out a remote controller and clicked on the on button, enabling a holographic streaming of Conquest¡¯s Logo and the following scene of the new Update.

    The patch update started with ying a trailer of the uing events.

    The beginning of the trailer started as a scene where the camera was looking at nothing but an empty darkened and desertednds. It rose up, showing a moon, broken and shattered, stars so dim that they could barely be seen and then it focused back on thend.

    It was like a first-person point of view, seeing the underworld for the first time. The person moved taking in the scenery, and right next to him, he heard a footstep. Looking to the side, the person saw another, yet this one was an undead, void of life, a zombie. The zombie never attacked this person, causing him to look at his arms. They too were made of rotting flesh and bone.

    He too was an undead. And right behind him, were many, many more undead so much that he couldn¡¯t see the end of them no matter how he tried.

    These undead seemed to be all walking in one direction, with one purpose, even the person showing us the scene was bound to keep moving forward even if he could look around.

    The march didn¡¯tst for much as the undead stopped in front of a wall of fog, so thick it was almost tangible.

    The fog disintegrated revealing what is now known as the mightiest realm of conquest. The Undead Realm. There, a city was built, full of undead so powerful that these mere zombies and low tiered undead were no match for any of them.

    A death knight showed up in front of the main person.

    He was donned in full armor, ck as the night, a tower shield, and a mberge sword tucked under his side.

    The Death Knight grabbed the main person¡¯s head, moved it to the side and left, as if he was checking for cattle, and said.

    "You¡¯re not too rotten. Follow the group there, you¡¯ll find your gear, and your journey will then begin," the Undead said.

    The Death Knight then moved to inspect another person.

    The man in question followed the way the Death Knight pointed him toward and there was another group of undead, only they didn¡¯t look as geared up as the Death Knight that inspected him. Though the quality of their armor was not too shabby.

    Anyone who had seen Skeletal¡¯s adventures will know that these were Undead Captains.

    One of these captains shoved a sword into the zombie¡¯s hands and pointed forward for him to move to another captain who shoved an armor into his chest.

    The main zombie was supposed to done the armor.

    Once he done it, a message appeared in front of him.

    ***

    Wee newly turned undead to the Service of His majesty, The Undead King.

    You have been given a chance to prove your value, seed in the missions tasked to you by the undead legion and you will have a chance to increase your ranks.

    Death will never be an issue to you, as you cane back no matter how many times you die to continue your task.

    In the Undead Legion, you are obliged to follow the Knight¡¯s code.

    Never kill the unarmed. Never disobey your superiors. Never Deserted the legion.

    Good hunting, and forever remember

    Never Hunger.

    Never Tire.

    Never Fear.

    ***

    the zombie then took on his first mission, a time skip happened, then he became an elite undead, gaining better gear, then he leveled up some more, bing an Undead Captain. His hard work never stopped, his fear never shown, and thus he increased his rank to a Death Knight.

    Finally, the same Undead was seen moving back to the front of the Undead Realm, and in front of him, hundreds of thousands of other undead if not more. He moved to inspect one of them and said,

    "You¡¯re not too rotten. Follow the group there, you¡¯ll find your gear, and your journey will then begin..."

    The trailer ended as the Death Knight looked back at the Bone Pce situated at the middle of the Dead Realm, the heart of the Undead City.

    The camera zoomed in until it prated the top of the Bone Pce tower, revealing the Undead King seated with one hand on the skull handle of his throne, another holding his head.

    The Undead King grinned saying, "Do you have what it takes to join Us? If you think you¡¯re worthy of the Undead Curse, thene, forfeit your humanity. And turn to a race that fears no good or evil. Our doors are open, the only thing you¡¯re required to have is a bit of courage."

    The undead king then waved a hand and the trailer ended.

    "That¡¯s pretty amazing. I guess this creepiness has an appeal to its own audience." Suzan said.

    "You sound like you want to join the legion," Dave jested.

    "Oh god forbid no, I have a pretty character, I wouldn¡¯t like to be turned to an ugly undead," Suzan said shuddering with disgust.

    "I think many will think like you until they finally realize that it¡¯s not about looks. Anyway, where are the patch notes?" Dave said.

    "Oh, right here they are!" Suzan said and clicked another button

    ***

    Conquest Patch Notes 4.0

    "Hello yers,

    Emile Kada here, the Conquest Development Team has decided to make some changes to the Gameworld and how it yers interact with it. Now with the opening of the underworld and the expected surge of yers joining it, we decided to add several events to the whole of Conquest.

    The Undead legion had cemented their reign in the Underworld fully controlling it from west to east and south to north. All the Raid Zones are now controlled by the Undead Legion and are at their disposal.

    Beware, death to a legionnaire will no longer send a yer to limbo, but instead a forceful recruitment to the Undead Legion.

    You could refuse the recruitment but the yer to refuse it will lose two levels instead of just one regr level per usual death.

    However epting to be recruited will save your level, and will wee you into the legion¡¯s ranks starting from the bottom.

    We have made a survey and noticed that many yers are not too interested in permanently bing undead, thus we created several methods to leave the Undead Status.

    First, paying a Cardinal tier ss to remove Undeath, which will cost two levels. (Level 1 and 2 will remain in their levels if they die to an undead.)

    Paying the cardinal to remove the curse of Undeath, however, will increase yer¡¯s hostility to Undead Race. And if they fall to the fangs of Undead once again, they will be recruited, but refusing will cost twice the primary value of levels required. Also, removing the curse will be considered the same as deserting the legion, which will cause all of the primary milestones reached in the Undead Legion to be null and void.

    Secondly and the most important and interesting method to reverse Undeath, is that yers are encouraged to keep ying and helping the legion until they achieve Doom Knight Rank, this way they will be able to switch to human and Undead appearance, however, it is only appearance, they will still be susceptible to the holy element even in non-undeath form.

    The only exception to this rule is yer Kis¡¯Shtiengbrah due to his legacy Item.

    On another note, for those who do not wish to see the Undead rule. The ruling of the Undead Legion doesn¡¯t mean that the Demonic faction has gone extinct. There are may cultists and evildoers in the world that had once served the Ash King.

    The Ash King might be the king of the demonic beings but he is not their god. The revival of the Demonic Race could still be achieved if one were to seed in finding andpleting an SSS rank quest.

    Yes, it¡¯s that difficult, and if any of youin, do know that yer Death Stroke, aka Kis¡¯Shtiengbrah, hadpleted a simrly ranked quest all by himself when he was much lower level than the average yer. It is difficult, it is hard, but it is not impossible.

    Now for the more important news.

    The Events that will happen in the Underworld will vary from month to month. Basically a World Boss Event will happen every three months, where the first to kill the boss will get a general diagram of their armor set and their weaponry, unsealing the cap from the currently designed weapons and increasing the power of already existing ones.

    Then some siege and an invasion from a race that has been forgotten.

    A new category of weapons has been discovered, the Arch God ss, this type of weaponry will be a must to have in order to defeat the uing challenges and mighty beings of conquest that will soon appear.

    The Dragon Age expansion has not been developed yet due to theck of interaction of yers with said dragons. So far only one Dragon has been in. Which was the source of the expansion, yet none others have followed the same fate. Most yers keep to themselves in safe zones such as cities, and those who venture out are usually under spells to conceal themselves from dragons.

    We have decided to increase the difficulty a bit. A few events that will include dragons have been added, not to spoil much, all I could say, don¡¯t count on city walls too much, or those ghillie suites.

    More dungeons have also been added to the game, as the yers will be battling fiercer monsters and creatures from now on, you¡¯ll have to gear up properly. Enjoy the grind as the level 500 average was the starting point of the second most major phase of Conquest, now the real game begins.

    Last but not least, all regr monsters will have a mutated type that will be more powerful, faster stronger, and far more dangerous. These Variants will be avable to the hunt and will generate a variant of their gear as well. You will obtain better equipment by ying them, but do not be too arrogant, as these variants are not there just for show.

    This is all I have to say for the patch, it hasn¡¯t touched upon the game¡¯s mechanics, as most of it has been adjusted and bnced out thest patch. Yet for game practicality and way of life, we will be the ones to request something of you.

    For security purposes and safety measures, we will be uploading the entirety of your gaming content to our servers for safekeeping, it will slow your Full Dive once the server opens for a few minutes, there seems to be an issue that caused a visual glitch, or "pixelization" of certain monsters in the game, sometimes even the AI Albert. We will be investigating the issue and work on a solution as fast as possible.

    This has been a lengthy patch note, I apologize for all inconveniences. But once the servers are back online we wish to see you all there, ying monsters, and Conquering thends.

    Emile Kada

    Susan then spoke, "Oh my, I¡¯m so excited to see the new update. What do you all think?" she asked.

    Everyone was already deep in thought; the whole patch was considered a major bombshell that was dropped on them. More powerful monsters, more events in the Underworld, a new race? And more weaponry that could flip the tides of battle. Dave had seen such a weapon in work, not even he, the undead king, or the Earth Titan could stop it. the only thing that managed to hamper it was the selfless sacrifice of Drahma.

    If more of such weapons existed in the world, this could mean that any battle will have an unexpected oue.

    Valentine began talking about the impact the new weapons will have on wars, and which guild will obtain one first as it will switch the bnce of power.

    Even if Dave didn¡¯t believe in this bnce of power anymore. Zhang Shi has lost his Legacy which will be the downfall of his guild. The Heaven Dawn also lost many yers to the demonic faction as they also sacrificed their legacies, only the Devastators had remained at full force. But they too would notpare to Dave¡¯s legion and his Kingdom in the East.

    Even if the Eastern Kingdom is still under development and Demitri is still equipping it financially before moving to a more military approach, the backing of the legion will intimidate anyone from doing anything foolish and attempting to raid them.

    But he can¡¯t deny the fact that if the Devastators were to get their hands on an Arch God tier weapon, they might get c.o.c.ky and dare to impose theirmandership on him. Something he will never allow.

    White Ghost seemed more excited about the new events, as it will make his guild members stronger and the possibility to hunt in the Underworld. Zhang Shi remained withoutment and Demitri only mentioned the benefice of the Dragon Age event that will cause yers to be more adventurous. This will undoubtedly cause their deaths and then they will have to procure more materials spending money that will eventually end up in his pockets.

    As for Dave...

    "I think that the new patch will open up new adventures. I can¡¯t wait to see what we¡¯ll have next."

    Susan then nodded and thanked the audience and everyone that watched the show. Everything was over, and it was time for Dave to leave the set and head to Mercy¡¯s Birthday party. Ralph was bound to be there, and he didn¡¯t want to leave his buddy alone.

    Right before he left, Valentine spoke, "Dave, can I talk to you for a moment?"

    Dave turned; Valentine didn¡¯t seem like a rotten egg. So why not, "Sure, what you got?"

    **** Please Make sure to read this story on , if you are reading Rise of the Undead legion anywhere else then you are on a pirating website, do not ept to offer any kinds of payment to such people as they are non-repsecting of author¡¯s right and I, as the writer am not benefiting from their schemes in any way possible.****

 Chapter 497 - Birthday Party

    <h4>Chapter 497 - Birthday Party</h4>

    "Hey man, we¡¯ve been wondering if you could help some of our members join the Legion," Valentine said.

    "You mean that I¡¯ll personally change them for you right?" Dave replied.

    "Yes." Valentine nodded.

    "Yeah, but what¡¯s in it for me?" Dave asked.

    "We¡¯ll pay you. We don¡¯t need to change all of our members, just the A team group, the one your friend ster is leading."

    "But I don¡¯t need ster to change to an undead, it¡¯s undoable and he already has a good friendship with my race."

    "No worries, just his subordinates."

    "How much are you willing to pay then?" Dave asked.

    "The undead personally turned by you will have a 20% increase of abilities and base stats over any randomly turned undead, it¡¯s a good edge to have, so we¡¯re willing to give you ten grand per yer."

    Dave thought about it, the Devastators A team consists of one hundred yers who are all highly ranked and good professional yers, the amount is one million dors for personally turning them. It didn¡¯t sound like a bad deal for Dave anyway. Plus they didn¡¯t know that by siring them personally he can revoke their transformation at will if they ever dared betray the legion or try and do some conspiration behind his back.

    "Deal. I don¡¯t mind, the more that joins the legion the better. But do know, if they cross me..." Dave didn¡¯t even need to finish his words.

    "Don¡¯t worry, we¡¯re past the grievances, we know you¡¯re alone much stronger than the super guilds. Crossing you is nothing but a foolish move, we¡¯re in need of manpower to roam the Underworld."

    "Alright, if you understand your position then I have no problems turning them."

    "Good, that¡¯s a deal, I¡¯ll wire the money to CCN¡¯s CEO. Once the servers are back online I¡¯ll DM you."

    "Good, I¡¯ll have to go now, I¡¯m expected to be somece else, and I¡¯m alreadyte."

    "Right I won¡¯t hold you off, Warlord," Valentine nodded to his guild master who was standing nearby with his hands crossed.

    Warlord nodded at Dave and didn¡¯t say anything. Dave grinned, the guy wanted toe and talk but his ¡¯pride¡¯ didn¡¯t let him.

    He left it at that and left the studio, roaring the Mustang¡¯s engine and waking it back to life. It hungrily grumbled and took to the streets like a newly revived beast.

    Dave followed the GPS location to Mercy¡¯s home. It was a pce house built right outside of New York; it was not even far from his old home in Moya.

    It took him an hour¡¯s drive to get to the pce, the traffic was not too hot and he managed to get in only half an hourte.

    There were hundreds of cars lined up along the entrance of the pce owned by Tivo Giovanni, a made man, an untouchable, byw or by man. No one dared cross him or anger him.

    The pce was big enough that it could be seen from a distance, it was made of a light brownish color, roofed with blue tiles. The garden wasrge enough that it would take at least half an hour¡¯s walk so everyone had to bring a car to get inside.

    Once he was at the entrance, two men in ck suits stood there letting people in. They verified the guest¡¯s identities then let them in.

    Dave¡¯s car engine signaled his arrival, and the two guards looked at him wearily. The car brand and model was too old, a sharp contrast to all the brand new models in the entrance.

    Dave was about to get down when one of the two people came toward him. He was about to groan, seeing that everyone hade with an invitation and he didn¡¯t that was bound to cause some problems here.

    "Mr. David Ruster, wee," the guard said and opened the door for Dave.

    "Please, let me park the car for you, there is a limousine waiting for you to take you to the pce.

    "Oh, thanks I guess," Dave said and walked out.

    "Don¡¯t scratch that car please."

    "I won¡¯t, don¡¯t worry sir, we¡¯ll make sure to take good care of you vehicle, it belonged to the Boogyman of course and we don¡¯t want himing over for a reckoning," the guard joked.

    Dave smile at the guard¡¯s reply. But he clearly understood that his every move was monitored now, they all know whose car this was, that could also mean that the Giovannies know what he even had for breakfast. He was going to have a chat with Dante about this. He didn¡¯t like being followed around.

    Once he walked out, he noticed that the sun was not too hot and the air was breezy, it was a good spring day, and was perfect for a birthday party outside

    Dave was led to a waiting limousine that he entered and found two people inside.

    Dave knew them instantly, Jenny and Tess, two of Zoe¡¯s frenemies.

    Once Jenny saw Dave she frosted up, her face became pale as a sheet. She had dared offend him and demean him not once but twice, the first time she saw him with Zoe and the second time when he came for his Highs cool Gathering at the club owned by her father.

    She had dreaded the day that she would meet Dave again, but she couldn¡¯t excuse herself and note today as it was Mercy or Caitlin Giovanni¡¯s birthday. She had toe, and after Dave¡¯s rise to fame, she knew that she messed up big time and they were bound to meet.

    Her n was to present Caitlin with her gift and leave as soon as possible, but something had kept the limo here, the guards were ordered not to let them take the ride until a third person came in and they were waiting for that person for half an hour. It was Dave.

    Jenny immediately understood that this was probably Caitlin¡¯s doing and this was payback that she offered to Dave for the insults he received thest time they met.

    Dave didn¡¯t take another look at Jenny, he turned to the other girl, Tess Dave remembered.

    Among Zoe¡¯s frenemies, this one was the quietest; she never spoke if not addressed and rarely contributed to any conversation. She never uttered a word against Dave so for now he didn¡¯t have her in his personal cklist.

    The limo moved slowly, it was the most humiliating situation Jenny had ever been in. Simply because Dave hadn¡¯t said anything. He didn¡¯t even mention what happened before, he didn¡¯t even act angry or show any expression. It was as if he considered her nothing more than a fly or an insect that he could hardly ever give a care about.

    She understood that she was so far below his radar of notice that no matter what she would do or say, it won¡¯t register. It was a far cry from thest times they met where the roles were reversed and she could say anything she wanted against him. But now the tables have turned and he didn¡¯t even demean or humiliate her, because he never recognized her, which was even worse for someoneing from a powerful family as hers.

    The limo arrived soon after, for Dave, it was a quick ride, as for Jenny itsted an eternity of fidgeting, jaw clenching and mouth opening and closing, trying to speak words that never darede to her mouth.

    The door opened to Dave and he walked out first. Right in front of him, was the Giovanni pce, it was huge now he sees it up close, and right in front of it were dozens of tables with people already seated, drinking wine and chatting with each other.

    Dave recognized many famous people from the tables. None were with a perfectly clear history, but some were actors and businessmen who were tied to the Giovanni¡¯s by personal contracts.

    Dave was at a loss to where he should sit, but a person shouted his name.

    Zoe was happily running over, wearing a purple dress to match her hair color and holding two sses of champagne.

    She gave Dave a quick kiss on the lip and said, "You¡¯rete, I¡¯ve been making pleasantries with all these people for half an hour now, they all smell of cigars and are boring as heck!"

    She handed him his ce,

    "Sorry hun, been upied with all that stuff back in CNN, by the way, you look lovely today."

    Zoe blushed for a moment then smiled back at Dave "Thank you", it was always good for a girl to hear someonepliment her on the way she looks. (Alwayspliment a girl on how she looks boyz)

    "Where¡¯s the birthday girl?" Dave asked.

    "She¡¯s with Ralph, they¡¯re stuck shaking hands with everyone, it¡¯s going to take a while before they are set free. I already have a table reserved for us, they¡¯ll join us once they¡¯re done, let¡¯s sit."

    "Right." Dave nodded and followed Zoe through the people that were chatting with each other.

    There was a whit round table with a RESERVED sign on it where Zoe took a seat right next to Dave.

    The table had arge parasol to keep the sun away and was right under a big oak tree. The ce Zoe took was perfect as she could see everyone from there. And right in front of them was arge buffet table where people went to grab snacks or bites. The party apparently has yet to start.

    Just a few moments after they sat, the party became deathly quiet, someone had stood right in front of them, Dave looked up.

    It was the big boss in the flesh, with his jaws tight on a cigar and a hand holding a ss of wine, he grinned at Dave and said, "It¡¯s good of you toe here, but shouldn¡¯t you havee to pay your respects to me first?" the don spoke up and everyone at the party quieted down to see how this was going to unfold.

 Chapter 498 - Birthday Party

    <h4>Chapter 498 - Birthday Party</h4>

    Dave looked up at the Don, he was in his home and everyone was a guest here, Dave didn¡¯t want to be antagonized if he were to blow up in the man¡¯s face. He never liked him in the first ce but it was no ce to make a scene.

    Dave stood up, looked the man in the eyes, and said, "I guess it¡¯s your home, and your rules, I won¡¯t be rude not to say my greetings as you¡¯re the host, but you don¡¯t owe respect from me."

    The don was taken aback, he didn¡¯t expect anyone to say these words to him right up his face.

    Jenny was looking at the scene from the side, she grinned this was the chance Dave would kick the bucket he just told off the mafia boss right in his own home with so many people watching.

    "Care to exin why?" the don said.

    "Well, what did you ever do to me that makes me respect you? Your people here, they are definitely all rted to you via business, the rtionship ofmon interest. I¡¯m not. I was invited to your birthday daughter, your daughter not you. She is my...friend, not you. So why should I give you my respect?"

    Few of the men fidgeted around, some even had their hands on their pockets tapping menacingly on something Dave believed would be nothing but a firearm.

    Jenny panicked, the idiot Dave should have kept his mouth shut, it was okay if he had humiliated himself at least she would feel better, but now he¡¯s just led himself to the guillotine. She didn¡¯t want to be a witness to a murder.

    The don, against all expectation, broke up in a loudugh.

    He keptughing until he wheezed then looked at Dave with watery eyes, "Damn son, it has been a long time since anyone from the younger generation stood up to me. Most would shake in their boots just as I looked at them. But not you, boy. You got guts, it could get you killed one day, but here, with our Familia, when you stick up for yourself, your worth respect.

    The Don turned to the party and shouted "Everyone, here is David Ruster my daughter¡¯s friend, I hereby offer him my respects. If anyone has a problem with him, then that person has a problem with me, Capeech?"

    Everyone nodded and they don pped his hand, "Start the music we¡¯re on a birthday, not a funeral."

    The don smiled nodded to Dave and walked away, happier than anyone ever believed the don capable of.

    "Dave, you¡¯re ying with fire you know," Zoe said.

    "What? Why? He came to me, I didn¡¯t provoke him or anything."

    "Well yeah, but remember here, in this social circle it¡¯s all about power and influence, what the Don did to you was give you face, and thankfully the situation didn¡¯t escte I thought you were going to blow up in his face the same way you did right after you were attacked in your home."

    "Nah, I know where we are, I¡¯m not dumb, but I won¡¯t ept someone asking me for this so-called respect if he did nothing to earn it from me."

    "That was your saving grace, actually, if you did pay respects to him his opinion of you would have dropped severely, he would understand that you¡¯re influenced by the position and social status. So when you stood your ground you made yourself worthy of being an equal than a lesser person, that is due respect but that also means that you created a whole lot of conflict and problems for yourself from parties that don¡¯t like the don so much."

    "What do you mean?" Dave asked.

    "Well, not everyone likes the don you see, and he just made you a prot¨¦g¨¦, that means if someone wants his ass, he has a way to get to him by going through you."

    "Oh, that¡¯s not nice." Dave thought the situation wasn¡¯t as good as he would hope.

    "But don¡¯t worry, Daddy and Demitri have a lot of people keeping a watch on you, you won¡¯t be assassinated at least," Zoe grinned.

    "I don¡¯t want to walk around with a target on my back, Zoe."

    "I know, but this is the real truth of the world of the Elites, you¡¯re no longer David Ruster, the gas station boy, you¡¯re Mr.Skeletal, the world¡¯s number one yer. You¡¯re a world pir, even if it¡¯s very smallpared to other world dominators, you¡¯re still a beacon to many others. You¡¯re rise and fall can affect a lot of people, even if you don¡¯t know it, you¡¯re holding a lot of power, use it wisely." Zoe said.

    "You seem well versed in these," Dave replied.

    "I¡¯ve been ying the power game since I was born Davy, don¡¯t let it get to your head, stay the way you are and everything will be okay. The first to lose the race are the ones that think that their power is enough to dominate everyone until they find themselves in the shadows of another world pir."

    "The same way that happened with Douche Guy?"

    "Yes, exactly, he thought that because he was the son of the CEO of some unknownpany he could do whatever he wanted, look at where that got him. In jail, and his father kicked and removed all of his possessions. Use your wealth wisely, do what you want, but don¡¯t be c.o.c.ky and don¡¯t let people step on you, and you¡¯re set for life.

    "Don¡¯t worry Z, I¡¯ll keep it in mind. Hopefully, I won¡¯t mess up."

    "If you do, I¡¯ll bunk you on the head and straighten you up. Don¡¯t worry," Zoe grinned.

    "Hye bud, you¡¯ll always wear that Jacket?" Ralph¡¯s voice came from behind Dave.

    Dave grinned as he looked back at his friend, he was wearing a full tux. It was amazing how the stuff he wore managed to show the muscles under him without it looking too tight.

    "Ralph is right Dave, we should go back to Armani¡¯s and get you more stuff to wear," Zoe said.

    "Yeah, that¡¯s a date then. By the way, where is Caitlin?"

    "Still at the entrance weing people, she had Mercy on me and let me leave," Ralph said.

    Dave groaned at hisme jokes but that was Ralph. The big oaf didn¡¯t even sit down, he turned went to the buffet table, and began piling anything and everything he saw on his te. Nothing escaped the mpers in his hand. Some of the people were horrified by his manners and left the big guy get his share of food first.

    Mercy soon came, she had both brows tightly knit together and sat down in front of the group. "Good god that¡¯s annoying, I¡¯ve had enough of small talks and saying hello to people.

    "Price of being Don Tivo¡¯s daughter."

    "Where¡¯s Ralph?"

    "You should know by now where your boyfriend is," Dave said.

    Mercy turned immediately to the buffet table, she smiled at Ralph¡¯s carefree attitude and turned back to say to Dave"You¡¯d better not use that word a lot here, people from my family are still old fashioned. They don¡¯t believe in rtionsh.i.p.s pre-marriage."

    "Bruh, that sucks. Anyway, this party¡¯s gonnast long?" Dave asked.

    "Why, you got something else to do?" Caitlin said, "The game is shut down for now."

    "Hey, it¡¯s not like I only have games in my life," Dave replied.

    Caitlin and Zoe both looked at Dave in a way suggesting that he really only had gaming to do.

    "I need to go to the gym anyway," Dave said.

    "At this hour? You must be kidding. Desmond¡¯s club is going to be packed, a lot of people have nothing to do without conquest everything is full even supermalls." Caitlin said.

    "I actually just don¡¯t like it here. Too many people keeping a close eye on us." Dave replied.

    "Well of course they would, you told dad off, anyway, the party¡¯s going tost for a while, you can go upstairs if you¡¯re not in the mood of staying here, Zoe can join you," Caitlin winked at Zoe who became extremely embarrassed.

    "What¡¯s going on in here boyz!" Ralph said as he dropped his t on the table loud enough that Dave thought it was going to break.

    "You¡¯re gonna eat all of that?" Caitlin said.

    "Yep, gotta keep my guns packed and protein ready," He said while kissing his biceps.

    "You¡¯re an ogre," Caitlin replied.

    "A very handsome Ogre," Ralph replied with wiggling his brows up and down.

    Dave realized that Ralph was acting the same way he always did and his game was on all the time, while he on the other hand rarely interacted with Zoe in the same way, he loves her, indeed but actions speak better than thoughts or words. He promised himself that he will be a betterpany the next time the two of them go out together.

    The sound of metal hitting ce resounded through the birthday party. The don was going to do a toast.

    "Thank you all for being here, it means a lot to me that you all woulde and witness my daughter¡¯s twenty fourth birthday, I wee you all here and I wish you¡¯ll have a good enjoyable time."

    Everyone raised their ce and drank to Tivo¡¯s toast. Then some people began moving and presenting gifts for the daughter of one of New York¡¯s most influential games.

    Dave gawked at the stuff these people brought. Some brought keys for a sport¡¯s car. Diamond nes, Gold bars one person even gave a Yacht, a group offered the don a plot ofnd. And the gifts kept increasing in absurdity. This was Caitlin¡¯s party, and all the stuff was going to belong to her.

    She didn¡¯t look happy with the gifts thought.

    "You don¡¯t seem too happy with all this stuff you¡¯re getting for your birthday," Dave said.

    "Why should I, most of these people are offering expensive stuff to appease to my father. What will I do with a plot ofnd or that Maybach, I had a better car," Mercy said

    "Yeah, you had. Too bad it ended up ramming into poor ol me."

    "Hey, I didn¡¯t do that on purpose, someone messed with the breaks. I was going to die."

    Dave shook his head at her. He didn¡¯t want to remember the old days after all everything turned up better than his wildest dreams.

    "Anyway, I guess that I¡¯ll do something different just don¡¯t forget when it¡¯s my birthday," Dave pulled up his phone, logged onto his Conquest ount, and sent an item from his inventory to Mercy in a game-mail.

    Mercy received a notification and when she saw the item her eyes widened up.

    "This Dagger! It¡¯s way too op!"

    "Yeah, yeah, happy birthday." Dave smiled. He was going to try and sell the curved Dagger, the Grim de he obtained from killing the Chaos Centipede (Chapter 253).

    But offering it as a birthday gift was not such a bad thing, after all she was his friend¡¯s girlfriend and he wasn¡¯t going to be a cheap person, after all, seeing everyone¡¯s extravagant gifts made him believe that this was only appropriate in the situation.

    "Thank you so much! I really wanted a better secondary dagger and all I found on the market were crap weapons and really expensive, this is several times better than my secondary dagger." Mercy said.

    "You¡¯ll use it as a secondary?" Dave asked.

    "Yeah, my primary Dagger is my legacy item, I can¡¯t change it, it¡¯s a scaling weapon, and this one is petty good for its level, thanks a lot."

    "No worries, I¡¯m d you like it."

    "Hey, what you gonna give me for my birthday?" Zoe asked.

    "Is it close?"

    "Yeah, I never told you when it is. It¡¯s still several months away."

    "Then I still have time to think of a good gift for you. Don¡¯t worry I¡¯ll make sure you¡¯ll like it." Dave grinned at Zoe and Ralph was nodding, his boy was starting to loosen up.

    The party kept going, and the guests kept offering their stuff, but Mercy couldn¡¯t wait to log back in the game to try Dave¡¯s Dagger. Yet sadly the game was still off for two more days.

 Chapter 499 - Baby Steps

    <h4>Chapter 499 - Baby Steps</h4>

    The party continued uneventfully, most of the guests were too busy trying to kiss up to the Don to actually bother with greeting the birthday girl properly. Dave noticed that and turned to see that Mercy didn¡¯t actually have any friends besides the small group of him, Zoe, and Ralph already at her table.

    The other group of girls consisting of Jenny Tess and a couple more were more like an acquaintance than a true friend to her. The miss was a princess but, in a house, where people were all about their personal interest. No wonder she had a cold personality due to theck of interaction with people.

    Ralph seems to be the perfect match for her, not only is he a goof and the best bud for Dave, he has a way with people, he could make them speak their minds even if they didn¡¯t want to. And he could also turn the coldest of girls to a blushing maiden. Exactly as what was happening right in front of Dave.

    Ralph¡¯s subtle, indecent yet funnyment made Mercy giggle from every once in a while, even in this mafia gangster infested atmosphere, the asionalughtering from Dave¡¯s table was a fresh reminder of youth and when the material didn¡¯t matter as much as they do right now for everyone present.

    The party continued inside the Don¡¯s pce, and Dave got a tour from Zoe herself, Mercy was apanying her boyfriend who the Don didn¡¯tment even once on today. It seems that he also was thoughtful not to ruin his daughter¡¯s day and decided to let go for today.

    Zoe was an old friend of Mercy; she too didn¡¯t really care for all of the protocols and stuff she had to follow when she was in the presence of the big boys. She was Dante Silvana¡¯s Daughter, one of the United States biggest weapon trafficker, legally of course as long as he has Samuel Silvana to make everything look right.

    Dante Silvana was an untouchable, a man made by the state, to deal in affairs the state didn¡¯t want to be linked to. And even in the case of a serious mishap, Dante would momentarily take the me, then his records will be brushed and erased anew.

    Zoe lived with her father and knew what was outside of the well long before Dave ever left it. She hade to this mansion several times before to y with Mercy when they were both young, and it never changed since then.

    Dave was in aw as he saw the decorations on disy. From oil paintings dating to the sixteenth century and older, to bronze statues of warriors and jade vases from the east that looked so delicate a breeze would shatter them.

    "I know this," Dave said as he noticed a painting on the wall. The painting was that of sunflowers.

    "Yeah, Van Gogh, Vase with Fifteen Sunflowers."

    "Yeah, we had a study about it back in high school I still remember. Huh, this looks really well made for a replica."

    "Replica, hah, good one," Zoe said and moved on.

    Leaving Dave starting at the painting once again. ¡¯Could this actually be the real thing?¡¯

    Dave left the painting alone and followed after Zoe who kept showing him around. Finally she said, "This used to be my and Mercy¡¯s yroom, we got here to hide from Sebastian and Bob, they were an annoyance."

    "Sebastian? Ah you meen Door Props and Bodybuilder."

    "What kind of names are those?" Zoe asked and Dave told her the story behind the nicknames they have.

    She giggled at Dave¡¯s weird naming sense, and led him inside the room. There were several pieces of furnitureying around all over the pce. From sofas to couches to tables and a gigantic Tv that actually spanned an entire side of the wall of the room. This was a ce where the two girls escaped from what was going on outside the world.

    Zoe let Dave get in firs then she locked the door behind her back.

    "Emmm, what are you doing?" Dave asked.

    "Well, no one is going to disturb us here," Zoe lifted her brows up and down suggestively.

    "Oh well, I guess you¡¯re right," Dave grinned and went toward her.

    ***

    Kada Emile was observing the servers for all sorts of bugs that were recently urring, they didn¡¯t ount for much for now. A few pixtion of monsters and some creatures losing levels for some strange reason. Yet the second piece of the puzzle was exposed once the battle with the Ash King and The Undead Legion had started.

    Two entities, one of them still as Albert said, an embryo entity that will grow into a world boss in the future. The robed man like any other entity was an in game entity that will generate its own lore based on the past events of the game and will create a character that will rte to its future events. It is like a regr person making their own history. It will grow and change into something big in the future.

    This was how all of the entities of Conquest were created. They all made their own history with their hands. However, Emile kept checking the creation code of the entity and didn¡¯t find anything special about it. It was no different than a normal farmer NPC in his logs. It didn¡¯t have any aspirations, any hopes or dreams. Which made it too regr, too normal to be walking around with Ashkar and the monk Cha Zen. These two half deities would not ever have a goal or an objective inmon.

    But with this small entity among them, they seem to be working out a n. Emile was still verifying what was going to happen in the near future, but for the life of him, he had no clue what would the uing events in Conquest will unfold. But he couldn¡¯t keep the grin of his face.

    His life project, the Undead Legion has been a major sess. And thanks to David Ruster, it has risen back from the ash like a phoenix. The legion is bound to reshape conquest to a new game once it is released.

    Now the whole staff is busting their ass off to get the game running smoothly andunched as fast as possible.

 Chapter 500 - CHAPTER 500!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    <h4>Chapter 500 - CHAPTER 500!!!!!!!!!!!!!</h4>

    After two days, Conquest will finally be opened in a few minutes time. Dave and Ralph were both at Dave¡¯s appartement. They ordered pizza while ago and for the first time, Dave was the one who ended up with thest slice. He didn¡¯t forget to gloat to Ralph¡¯s face after all those years of snatch and grab for thest piece.

    "So, I heard that you gotten ballsier and got some nookie," Ralph wiggled his brows up and down.

    "Damn bro, who told you that?"

    "Euh, everyone knew man, and in the Don¡¯s own house. Jesus, I don¡¯t know if you have balls or just outright dumb. But thanks to Caitlin everyone acted like they didn¡¯t know anything."

    "The door was closed...""

    "Yeah, but you forgot the window was open. Everyone heard you guys."

    "Oh god. That¡¯s embarrassing."

    "You think it¡¯s embarrassing? You should see how Zoe acted when Caitlin told her about it."

    "Damn, no wonder she¡¯s been avoiding me."

    "Aoi! Bro, don¡¯t mess up, you should go and meet up with Zoe, act like nothing strange happened and make jokes about this. It¡¯s essential that you make her know that no matter what happened that you¡¯ll still love her and keep her in mind all the time. Girls like to be kept in attention, even if she ignores you or avoid you, make sure that you make her know that you still want her."

    "Hey, I do still want her, what does that has to do with anything?"

    "You¡¯ve been out of the dating game for a long time that I thought that you forgot your role in a rtionship. Anyway, ask her out tonight, not over text or a phone call, show up at her doorsteps, take her out for a dinner and for the love of god go and getid again. Don¡¯t make the only time you had s.e.x be awkward. Have more, don¡¯t hesitate and don¡¯t make it feel like it¡¯s unnatural."

    "Right, like how you do with Caitlin" Dave said in sarcasm.

    "Yes, exactly, we¡¯re humping like rabbits every day," Ralph replied smugly

    "For real!" Dave¡¯s eyes widened. "But she¡¯s the Don¡¯s daughter, I thought you never went for more than kisses."

    "Dude! Even if she is the don¡¯s daughter, she is still a girl, don¡¯t even think that only guys want some. Anyway, what are you nning on doing in Conquest once it¡¯s online?"

    "Well, I need to see what Demitri is up to in the east then check out this Dragon Event, I heard that Dragon Meat is good for Onixya. Also, I need to go and check out what Bam has for me, he did mention that I need to go and meet up with him in the mountain of glory."

    "Right, right, but I¡¯m talking about the Devastators, they brokered a deal with you. You¡¯ll help them to join the legion is that right?"

    "Well, I no longer have the keys to the underworld. I can¡¯t stop people froming, so why not make a profit out of it."

    "Just be careful not to get backstabbed you know. They could make an undead army and try to overthrow the undead King, you know Valentine might look like a nice guy, but he is pretty devious when ites to the best of the guild."

    "Don¡¯t worry, the legion is not as simple as you think. I¡¯d even want to see him try and overthrow the Undead King."

    "Well, he wasn¡¯t much in thest battle. He got roughed up pretty badly," Ralph said.

    "As much as I¡¯d like to deny that, it was a fact, but do keep in mind. The Ash King was a level 900 demi-god. The Undead King is just an undead and was much lower level. And the king was targeted with a Forbidden Chapter."

    "Right, anyway just stay safe and don¡¯t trust the Devis."

    "I¡¯ll keep it in mind."

    "Aight, I¡¯ll have to head out."

    "You¡¯re going home? The game is gonnaunch in a few minutes, you think you¡¯ll make it?" Dave asked.

    "No, I have a date, I¡¯ll yter tonight. See ya bro."

    "Right then, I won¡¯t show you the door."

    Ralph smiled and waved Dave goodbye.

    Dave went into his gaming capsule as soon as it was time for the servers to start back up again. The game was going to start pretty soon and he didn¡¯t want to wait any longer.

    Once he was online, he was met with a notification.

    ***

    Please do hold on for 30 seconds while we upload your gaming content to resolve and urring issue that is causing some of the game monsters to glitch.

    ***

    A timer of thirty seconds began counting down until it hit zero and another notification appeared in front of Dave.

    ***

    Thank you for your patience. Please enjoy the game.

    ***

    Dave found himself in the Underworld. Right at the front gates of the former Ash King¡¯s Keep.

    The Undead were still roaming about the battlefield and ying the Demonic stragglers.

    The Undead King was near Dave and the Skeletal Dragon was soaring the skies.

    "Kis¡¯Shtiengbrah. You have aided Us greatly; you have also proven Us wise for having chosen you as Our sessor. Now, our time lingering in the Underworld has ended. For that We shall need to create a Kingdom above the ground. We no longer need to be held here."

    "Well, you¡¯re more than wee to build it in my Kingdom of the East, afterall if it weren¡¯t for you, I wouldn¡¯t have ever had the chance to conquer the east."

    "Then so be it, I shall task Da with moving the Bone Pce to bee the symbol of your kingdom. I shall not rule your subjects of the human race, but I shall take a ce within your kingdom so that when we seek Conquest of thends, we shall have a closer stronghold to start from."

    "Nice, the Bone Pce will be a pretty good addition to the Capital city of Qin. So what are we doing here, your majesty?"

    "We still need to takeover the Ash King¡¯s Keep. There are some of his followers left, we¡¯ll raze them to the ground and takeover his belongings. Then once that is over, I shalle meet you in the overworld. Your work here is done. And I shall make sure to keep your share of the spoils of the battle in safe keeping."

    "That¡¯ll be pretty great, thanks," Dave grinned, he was going to get a portion of the loot without even having to look for it. His job here has ended and now he has a promise to fulfill.

    Dave used a teleportation scroll and left to Icathia the capital of the Devastators.

    The appearance of Dave brought a lot of attention. His undead avatar was too obvious in a city filled with human knights.

    Dave¡¯s shadow cape swayed as he moved, his every step sounded like it was the beating of a living heart. And his presence was deathly, enough that priests avoided him and guards made sure not to stand in his way.

    Once Dave arrived to the center of Icathia where the Grand Auction house was at. He sent Valentine a private message.

    "Come. We have a deal to conclude."

    Not a couple seconds longer, the reply came.

    "We¡¯re on our way."

    Minutester, a hundred yer showed up in front of the auctionhouse.

    All of them, the best of the best of the Devastators guild. All wishing to be a part of the people Dave personally recruits to join the legion.

    "Do we need a ceremony or something?" one of the hundred yers asked.

    "No, not really, juste here," Dave said.

    Dave issued a mentalmand so that the [Turn to Undeath] function was on.

    Once the yer was right next to Dave, thetter grinned, "I think I know why the Undead King likes to do this." And stabbed the man in the chest with Durandal.

    The yer was shocked to see the massive sword pierce with ease right through him.

    The remaining yers were on guard, was Skelly turning aggressive? But they didn¡¯t see any damage value.

    "ept!" the stabbed yer said and soon his flesh rotted, turning from normal to a darker shade of dried rotten gray.

    His eyes vanished inside their sockets, and his flesh was squeezed dry as skin was stuck to bone. His glittering armor turned to broken shambles. It was still as powerful as it was before but it had changed its visual effect. The Undead legion had standard looking armor and even if a yer were to use a differently shaped armor it will look simr to an undead.

    "Now wee to the legion." Dave said and pulled out his sword.

    "It says I can now teleport to the Dead Realm. Why don¡¯t I have the other gates unlocked?" the yer asked.

    "Because you¡¯re currently a casual tier undead. You¡¯ll need to be at least Elite level to ess the Undead Frontier, captain for the Burning heights, Death Knight for the Pharaoh¡¯s Tomb, and Doom Knight for the Drow Kingdom. As for the Ash King¡¯s keep, that¡¯s only reserved for Abyssal Knight ss and a select few special undead that could get there."

    "Oh, good to know then."

    Dave looked around and said, "Next!"

    The yers kept standing in front of Dave and getting stabbed until they were done and finished. In front of Dave stood a hundred undead all of the lowest tire possible.

    "Listen up, there are a few things I¡¯ll have to tell you guys. In the legion, if an Undead captain orders you to do something, you do it. Even if you¡¯re level 400 and he is 50, he is your superior. Consider it like the army. Don¡¯t ever think that just because you¡¯re stronger, you¡¯ll get to get away with anything you do. There are always deeper seas and higher mountains. That¡¯s my only warning. Otherwise, enjoy the legion and all of its advantages." Dave said and bad them farewell. He still needed to fulfill his agreement with the other yers that lost their legacies and he promised them to turn them to undead to have thempensated.

    "Man, I still have lots of work to do," Dave sighed to himself and tore another teleportation scroll.

    **** Please Make sure to read this story on , if you are reading Rise of the Undead legion anywhere else then you are on a pirating website, do not ept to offer any kinds of payment to such people as they are non-repsecting of author¡¯s right and I, as the writer am not benefiting from their schemes in any way possible.****

 Chapter 501 - Back to Mt Glory

    <h4>Chapter 501 - Back to Mt Glory</h4>

    Dave took the scroll to Urburg after he finished up with upgrading the yers he promised from the other super guilds. He had spent hours just making them into undead and was honestly tired of it.

    Once he was at Urburg, he headed to nick¡¯s bar where he found a guest of Nick that Dave didn¡¯t have any good rtionship with.

    Nathiel, the Fallen Archangel was sitting and waiting to be served a drink from Nick who tended the bar.

    The archangel looked disgusted and his wings were limply hanging as if he was crestfallen and the Undeath God was serving him a drink to make him forget his sorrows as it appears.

    "What¡¯s the asion?" Dave said and sat at the stool next to the archangel.

    "Nathy-boy is bummed."

    Dave looked at the archangel and said, "You¡¯re still pissed about not being able to serve that haughty ass lord of yours?"

    The archangel scuffed at Dave¡¯s question and replied, "It¡¯s not just that. The spear..."

    "What spear? What is he talking about?" Dave asked Nick.

    "The Gae Bolg, it belonged to Nathy-boy here. Well, technically the holy version of it. You remember him using it when he fought the Undead King, right?"

    "Yeah, d.i.c.k move that was. So you¡¯re saying that you¡¯re pissed that Ashkar stole your spear?"

    "I lost the right to wield it the moment your King decided to blow himself up in my face and corrupt my essence with his ichor. After that, the Ash king stole the spear."

    "Right, is there a way to get it back? I really don¡¯t like the fact that Ashkar has it right now. He is unpredictable. And his personality is pretty entric, to be honest."

    "You¡¯ll have to find him for that," Nick replied.

    "Well, can¡¯t you do it?"

    "I could, but I won¡¯t. Remember, I¡¯m a god, I¡¯m not allowed to interfere directly in the business of those of a lower ss than me. But I know someone who can."

    "Yeah, Bam, he still owes you right?"

    ??Yep, go and meet up with him, see what Ashkar is up to," Nick said.

    A notification appeared in front of Dave.

    ***

    Investigation!

    Quest tire (Unknown)

    Meet up with Bam and see what knowledge he has on the whereabouts of Ashkar.

    ***

    "Quest epted," Dave mumbled and turned to the Archangel.

    "You want the spear back?" Dave asked.

    "Not really, I no longer have the right to use it anymore. I¡¯m no longer of the Holy Order"

    "But the Ash King used it, why can¡¯t you?"

    "Oh..."

    "You should use your head a little, the Ash King was not of the Holy order anyway." Dave grinned.

    "Right, you¡¯re right!" the Archangel stood up.

    "I¡¯ve fallen, so has the spear, it¡¯s no longer of the Holy essence, so I could still wield it. Even if I no longer am worthy of serving the almighty as a holy Archangel, I¡¯ll still get to be his knight!"

    "Chill batman, you belong to me," Nick said.

    "I belong to you because I would have died if I had not epted your deal, but my heart lies with my lord."

    "Tsk tsk," Nick shook his head, and shrugged, "Do whatever you want, but don¡¯t cross me."

    The archangel nodded and a new notification appeared in front of Dave.

    ***

    The Gae Bolg is a weapon to y the Divine, if you could find it, you¡¯ll have to make a choice. Keep it or return it, each has its own consequences. Be sure to make the right choice.

    ***

    Nick slid a beer toward Dave who grabbed and downed it in one go.

    "Alright, I¡¯ll go meet Bam. See you guyster."

    Dave tore a teleportation scroll to one of the Western Desert¡¯s oasis. The closest one to the Mountain of Glory.

    "Onixya,e out," Dave called and a small lizard sized ck armored dragon came out of his inventory.

    Onixya purred at Dave and transformed into her massive size. Allowing Dave to hop on and into the skies.

    Dave chose to pick Onixya instead of Grumpy due to how long the journey to the Mountain of Glory would usually take. And add to that the fact that the sand was filled with sandworms that could cause him some nuisance he was not in need of.

    Onixya roared and soared high in the skies. Contending against the clouds and diving into them. The coolness of the atmosphere was of no bother to Dave¡¯s undead form nor was the wetness of the clouds of any effect.

    A ck dot appeared on the horizon. It grew slowly as they continued their trek until Dave could finally make out more details. The mountain was as always unusual, to say the least. The conical peak didn¡¯t rise from the surface of the desert, the entire thing floated on top of a shimmering column.

    As they got even closer the shimmering column revealed itself as a continuous fall of sand. A falling river of reddish-yellow sand. With no .u.mtion of sand at the bottom of the column, no growing mound of sand where the falls ended.

    With Onixya here, Dave didn¡¯t need to use the elevator to take him up, Onixya flew against the falling sand grazing it with her ws as she rose up until she reached the top.

    Dave jumped down to the ground of Mt. Glory

    It dominated his view, its peak was hidden in clouds. A forest covered the gentle slopes that led to the mountain until it the terrain changed to bare grey rock and steep cliff faces. Trails led from the tform area to the right and left, curving around the top of the ¡¯pir.¡¯ Walking down either would put the forest on one side and the precipitous edge of the sand falls on the other, not a pleasant thought for anyone with a fear of heights.

    A curbed walkway paved with white stone stretched straight ahead into the forest. The walkway apparently extended all the way to the mountain. A white line of stairs was rising from the forest and up the steep cliff sides toward the hidden peak. Just past the edge of the trees, a red-painted Japanese torii gate adorned the walkway. There was a torii every few hundred steps as far as Dave could see, little bits of red color enting the white line of the path going up the mountainside.

    He walked up the stairs.

    The temperature dropped continued to drop as he got closer to the peak. Soon the way ahead was hidden by a nket of thick white, he was about to walk into a cloud. Dave walked continued climbing, soon after, his. The stairs did in fact lead all the way to the top of the mountain. Unexpectedly, the peak was t and level, as if something or someone had sliced the very tip of the mountain off.

    Once again Dave was standing on the surface and in front of him the old man, Bam with his gentle smile weed him.

    "Greetings again, young prince."

    "Hello. I don¡¯t really need to tell you why I¡¯m here."

    "No, you don¡¯t. I already know, but once again, my answer will not be to your liking."

    "Sigh, I had a feeling that it was going to be likest time."

    "Not really, I know where Ashkar is, and I can show you the way, but you can¡¯t get to him nor take what you want from him," Bam said.

    "Well, knowing where he is, is enough for now."

    "True. But be prepared, you might not like what I¡¯ll show you."

 Chapter 502 - The Calamities

    <h4>Chapter 502 - The Cmities</h4>

    Bam came up to Dave and pressed a hand on the draugr¡¯s chest. Soon Dave¡¯s soul as extracted from his body and it hovered over it like a ghost.

    It was much gentler and less creepy than when The Abyssal Knight Marik the Soul Gorger did to Dave.

    "Follow me," Bam said and his own Soul left his body leaving the two bodies standing on top of Mt. Glory.

    Bam waved a hand and a ck portal opened up, leading to a purplish atmosphere of a world.

    He went in first and Dave followed after him. Once the two were inside, it looked like they were traveling through the expanse of space, a wormhole that led to somewhere far deep into the universe.

    The two kept moving at speeds so fast that what appeared to be white glistening dots of light in space, turned to straight white lines.

    Soon they stopped above a location in space. Looking ahead, there were walls upon walls of ss, where creatures so horrendous, so gigantic and so baffling looked to b chained up and locked away.

    A blue ox headed giant the size of a mountain was locked up in chains. Next to him a ck snake that was sorge Dave couldn¡¯t even see how long it extended. Then a creature that had no distinct shape or form, the more you look at it the more it would transform into something else. And this was just the first level, far below, and with even more locks and shackles were even stranger creatures. Ten headed Beasts, Hydras, ship-shaped creatures. Try headed hounds with cyclopes¡¯ eyes.

    A rose headed worm with hands and legs. Even more, so much more than Dave couldn¡¯t evenprehend what these things were or how he could even begin to describe them.

    Dave inspected one of them, and could only see that it only had its level revealed.

    ***

    Name: Unknown

    Level 850

    Other stats Unknown

    ***

    "What in god¡¯s name is this?"

    "The cmities, young draugr. It is what I have been keeping away from this world, but I have not much time left."

    "You¡¯re saying that Conquest will be facing these things in the future?" Dave asked.

    "Not the future...in the very near future. It¡¯s unknown to me how this happened, but I was more than certain that these things needed at least a few decades more before they could starting to your world, but now...I¡¯m not even sure, my eye of the truth can no longer show me a future where these things won¡¯t wreak havoc and destroy this beautiful world."

    Dave kept quiet for a moment. These things, they will be a test for all yers of Conquest if they wanted to stay in this world. If these things were to be released, the carnage and havoc they¡¯ll cause will be too immense.

    Dave saw only the firstyers of this prison, but it seemed that it spanned to a farrger and greater distance.

    No wonder the developers released the Arch God weapon ss. For these things were probably all Demi-god tier or higher beings.

    The giant ox headed creature opened its eyes, revealing red orbs that were so filled with anger and resentment that Dave had to gulp. The creature could see them. But it didn¡¯t act, or probably wasn¡¯t allowed to act. It remained put where it stood and soon closed its eyes and went back to its slumber.

    "Back to my original question. What does that have to do with Ashkar?"

    "My eye of truth revealed only one thing to me regarding the Cmities that will soon pervade your world. And that is Ashkar who holds the backdoor to this ce in his hands."

    "Pandora¡¯s box."

    "It is not a box; it is more like a key. We¡¯re in the real box son."

    "So if I take it away from him. Will it stop these things froming out?" Dave asked.

    "That¡¯s why I said you won¡¯t like my answer. It is far toote. The sequence has already been activated. And these beings will be released very soon and there is no way to stop them froming out."

    ¡¯Hmm, these msut be the events the developer talked about. But aren??t they being way too overboard with stuff like this? True the Ash King was level 900 and we still took it down, but it required a lot of manpower, but if the developers kept sending Ash King level creatures, it will grind the yers resources to nothingness.¡¯

    "I believe I know what you¡¯re thinking about. But it is no longer in my power to hider their escape."

    "I don¡¯t even have an Arch God tier weapon to stop these things if theye out."

    "You don¡¯t need to have more than your weapon, young draugr. Also, do not carry this burden all by yourself, you may be a hero, but you¡¯re not the world¡¯s hero. This is a cmity, a tribtion that everyone will have to face together, if they were not ready to band together, then only death awaits."

    A notification appeared in front of Dave.

    ***

    Conquest Server Announcement!

    World ss Quest!

    ss Difficulty: Impossible.

    The Cmity

    yer Kis¡¯Shtiengbrah has discovered the existence of a race so forgotten that not even the world remembers it.

    The Forgotten Ones.

    Beings of might so great that one of them could swallow the world all by itself.

    The yers are urged to be stronger as the time where the Forgotten Ones toe to this world is neigh.

    The world of Conquest has sensed the iing danger and will prepare itself ordingly.

    Monsters and creatures will be more vicious and more powerful, to adapt to the iing change and the return of the Forgotten Ones.

    May fate be with you.

    ***

    "Damn. But this makes me wonder, who imprisoned these things in the first ce?" Dave asked.

    "Well, it was the banding of all the deities of the old world. The Forgotten Ones have made so much trouble that they had to be locked away."

    "So if the gods have done that before can¡¯t they do it again?" Dave asked.

    "We can¡¯t," the response came from right next to Dave, it was so sudden that Dave didn¡¯t even have the time to get jump scared.

    Nick was standing with them in space he was no longer in his usual humorous mood, "It is no longer in our power to do it, we¡¯re forbidden from directly interfering with the affairs of man."

    "Then how did you do it the first time?"

    "We haven¡¯t ascended then. We were but half-gods, or lesser deities. We were bound to the and couldn¡¯t go to the dimension beyond. Once we ascended we lost the right to defend the world and protect it. Only two had the ability to do so, if they were still where they were, they could have provided you with a better fighting chance."

    "You mean Raijin and Fujin?" Dave asked.

    "Yes, even they didn¡¯t know it. But they¡¯re the youngest gods of this world, and they were so unfortunate that we had to seal them as a backup n if these things were to return."

    "You mean you guys locked them up and ascended? Leaving them imprisoned."

    "I had no hand in that, I, Death and the Blood God were against it. So were a few other gods, but Demiurge and his lots of holy asshats were more numerous and they voted them out. That¡¯s why I didn¡¯t interfere when you released the two gods. They don¡¯t deserve to be sealed up like cattle."

    "Right. So I basically threw conquest¡¯s trump card away, but I don¡¯t really regret it. If you guys did seal them up when you were still half-gods, that means that we too can do it. After all, we¡¯re legacy holders."

    "You¡¯re right, that¡¯s the whole reason why we deities created this system. The forgotten ones are a race that caused so much worry in the old times that we needed a contingency n if they were to return. And so we made you, our legacy holders and champions. Kid, it¡¯s time that you be stronger. I kid you not, these things are not like the regr monsters you¡¯ve faced before. Some of them can even bypass my Undeath Curse. If you die to them. You¡¯ll die for good."

    "Damn," Dave grinned, "Well, for some reason, I really can¡¯t wait and see how this going to turn up."

 Chapter 503 - Back to the Wilds

    <h4>Chapter 503 - Back to the Wilds</h4>

    Dave found himself back with Bam on Mt. Glory¡¯s top.

    "So nothing new of Ashkar?" Dave asked.

    "As you have seen, he is somewhere within the box, but as long as he has the box in his hands, I cannot locate him. He is hiding, perhaps preparing for something. Be ready, be prepared, and most of all, be careful."

    "Right, thank you. I think it¡¯s time for me to prepare for the uing battle. I need everyone ready." Dave said.

    "Yes, your undead, and your friends. Everyone should be there when the final battlemences, everyone must give their all, or else this world will no longer be the same as the one you know, young draugr."

    Dave climbed down the mountain with more questions than when he first came here. Ashkar¡¯s power grows and his objective unknown. Dave needed to be much stronger to be able to adapt to whatever Ashkar was going to throw in the way of the Conquest world.

    "Ralph, where are you?" Dave called his friend from the friends list.

    "Here bro, trying to get the Tengu¡¯s quest cleared up. I saw the notification, I guess things are about to change."

    "Yeah, and the change is going to be monstrous."

    "Some idiots are ming you for starting the event through."

    "They should be thanking me, If I didn¡¯t discover it, it was going to be unleashed on the world without prior notice. They¡¯re still in denial, once they understand that the big hammer is going to drop whether they like it or not, that¡¯s when things will start to move. Anyway, I need you to get your legacy up and running. Let me help you with the remaining tasks."

    "Good, I really need the help anyway, let¡¯s meet in your capital, the quest is rted to the east anyway."

    "Right, I¡¯ll be there asap."

    Dave tore a teleportation scroll to the Eastern capital, and found the Undead busy at work there.

    The undead King had started mobilizing his troops for his new home. Dave noticed that behind the Royal Qin pce was an enormous clearing, where houses and zas were setup, it was now clear and void of all people or building. A giant mass ofnd was there unupied for now.

    "What¡¯s going on?" Dave asked, and Demitri was on the response.

    He was already back at the Qin capita the moment the game was online.

    "Well the Undead King decided to transport the Bone Pce here. He ordered his undead to clear the rubble. I gotta admit, with tens of thousands of workers, the demolition and clearing of the debris didn¡¯t take more than a day."

    "Yeah, undead have power in number. But how is he going to get the Bone Pce all the way here?"

    "That will be my task."

    Dave turned to see a kind looking middle aged man. He had long blue hair and elf ears, and golden pupils for eyes. He wore purple robes and a grisly looking staff, but the serene gaze in his eyes was too enamoring that one would think of this man as nothing but the friendliest person in the neighbor.

    "No way, Da?!" Dave blurted.

    "Hello to you too, Kis¡¯Shtiengbrah."

    "H-how?"

    "It is thanks to you actually, when I gave his majesty the Dragon, he gifted me the Lifeless Drops."

    "Yeah I remember you asking the king about them. So, you¡¯re human again? I mean Elf again?"

    "No, the Lifeless Drops do not turn one to life, in fact if they did I wouldn¡¯t have epted them. But they do something closely simr to what your ring does, It gives me the ability to return to my former form, without suffering from the effects of Holy Spells."

    "Damn, that¡¯s neat. So, you said you¡¯ll transport the Bone Pce?"

    "Yes, and you¡¯re right in time to see it. Follow me," Da said and Dave followed.

    Once Da was at the front of the clearing, thousands of undead casters surrounded the clearing making a circle.

    Da raised his staff and spoke words that Dave couldn¡¯tprehend or understand. Then he mmed the bottom of his staff on the edge of the clearing.

    The undead casters followed the same and from the bottom of every staf a blue line of magic spread to connect to another caster¡¯s staff. So many of these lights created a web of bright shining magic.

    Da raised his staff once again and mmed it down with more force, creating a shockwave of magic that throbbed through the blue lines and a gigantic portal manifested itself at the bottom of the clearing.

    Suddenly, the ethereal form of the Bone Pce began manifesting itself on top of the clearing. It became more realistic the longer Da chanted, and the more the lights under the bone pce shone.

    Then almost abruptly the Bone Pce was fully manifested, and Dave felt its weight as the moment the Bone Pce was fully present in the Capital of Qin, the earth around it caved a little from its weight.

    Da took a deep breath and canceled the spell. The pce was here. And above it, Dark clouds began to gather.

    Dave looked up and saw the Death Heart rotating slowly above the Bone Pce. Creating dark clouds that slowly covered the capital of Qin.

    "Well, I guess the theme is right. Is his majesty inside the pce?"

    "No, for the pce to be moved it had to be emptied out of everything. Even furniture, discing a single ounce of extra weight costs massive amounts of mana, especially through such a vast distance."

    "Oh, so where is his Majesty?"

    "He is going through the belongings of the Ash King. They discovered a great deal of materials and resources that will prove beneficial to our Legion. For now, I need to focus on creating a good environment for our legion here in thend of Qin. Dortha will have a better time here, his sanity will slowly return and be cemented in ce when he is free to roam the overworld, unhindered by the atmosphere of the Underworld. Also for the remaining Abyssal Knights, their stay here will be beneficial."

    "Good to hear that my friends will be better off in the overworld. Now you must have noticed the uing changes."

    "Yes, it seems that an ancient evil is bound toe out of its hiding. What do you think of our chances against it?" Da asked.

    "Right now, with our current firepower..." Dave thought for a second remembering the creatures in the box.

    "20%"

    Da frowned. "That dangerous?"

    "Maybe worse. They are numerous, I dare say that they could be a tenth of our numbers with much more individual strength."

    "Oh, that¡¯s a worrisome thought."

    "Yes, the weakest of the bunch is probably as strong as one of us."

    "Now that¡¯s a really worrisome though. I fear that we¡¯re going to be facing a grave foe."

    "Not just us, Da, otherwise I¡¯d really be worried. These creatures will be unleashed upon the world. We¡¯ll do our share of fighting, I¡¯m sure we can defeat whateveres our way. But we can¡¯t be the shield that protects the world, the world has to learn to defend itself. Otherwise there is no need to save what doesn¡¯t offer any value."

    "Indeed, you grew wise. We¡¯re undead, not heroes, not benevolent beings. We do not harm who does not harm us, but we will not protect what is not allied to us either."

    Dave received a private message.

    "Da, I¡¯ll have to go now, I need to help a friend get stronger."

    "Good, get as many allies as you can, I¡¯ll also have a discussion with the Elf king soon."

    "Oh, right that reminds me." Dave said as he looked at Da¡¯s eyes, "Elven Royalty all have golden eyes."

    Da smiled and said, "Before I was sent to learn at the hands of Ashkar the Necromancer. I was the son of Salvhim ErlKing the second. I, Da ErlKing was a prince one day, just like you are."

    "But the current Elf King is Salvhim ErlKing the fifth. So, you¡¯re basically his great-great grandfather?"

    "No, I didn¡¯t have any children of my own, I¡¯m his great-great-great uncle." Da proudly imed.

    "Damn, well, its good to see you your highness," Daveughed.

    "Don¡¯t call me that Kis¡¯Shtiengbrah please, I have given up the title seeking the source of the world¡¯s energy. I have little intrest in power to rule man. All I seek is knowledge."

    "Sorry, I talked out of boundaries." Dave apologizes. "So, I¡¯ll see youter."

    "My the Undead God be with you." Da nodded and left the area.

    "Where are you man!" was the message from Ralph.

    "Hey, I was chatting with Da, he just made the Undead Pce appear in the Capital city."

    "Yeah, that spooked the hell out of me, the whole damned thing just popped in existence. Anyway,e meet me at the Western Gate. We¡¯ll need to go into the Wilds...again."

    "Damn, it¡¯s been a while since west went there, I wonder how the field area bosses will treat us once we¡¯re back."

    "Yeah, not friendly, I can guarantee that. It seems that the Stench of the Weak debuff didn¡¯t disappear with the Death of the ck dragon. It¡¯s still there."

    "Hold up... That debuf was rted to the strongest creature in the wilds, if it didn¡¯t go away when the ck dragon died that means..."

    "Yeah, it originated from something much stronger than the ck Dragon... And it appears that it¡¯s on the move again. I saw one of the field bosses corpse. It was ripped to shreds, the massive gori guy."

    "I¡¯ming over. I suppose you invited Mercy?" Dave asked.

    "No, it a duo mission."

    "Aww, and you chose me over your girlfriend." Dave said.

    "Bores before... Wait hold up, she is my girlfriend, but still you¡¯re my bro. Boyz first. Anything elsees second. Also I don¡¯t need an assassin, I need raw firepower. You¡¯ll see why."

    "Good, I¡¯m on my way."

 Chapter 504 - What Must Not Be Named, What Must Not Be Feared.

    <h4>Chapter 504 - What Must Not Be Named, What Must Not Be Feared.</h4>

    Dave and ster both rode on Grumpy¡¯s back, coursing through the forest at fat speed.

    "So what¡¯s that thing you wanted a lot of firepower to fight?" Dave asked.

    "It¡¯s best not to talk about it," Ralph said.

    Dave frowned, "What the hell man?"

    "Trust me man, I think the game creators went nuts with this one. It¡¯s old, dangerous, and fregging absurd."

    "I¡¯m going blind, I need info."

    "Alright, all I can say, Skin walker."

    "Oh, right, it¡¯s best not to talk about it then. For you that is, it feeds on the fear of those who talk about it in fright, I don¡¯t fear it, I¡¯m an undead."

    "Yeah, you don¡¯t, but others do. And even if they didn¡¯t actively think about it, the game developers made it so it would feed on the fear of every yer in the game. I found it when I was headed to the Fu Temple¡¯s remains in the Wilds."

    "What level was it."

    "That¡¯s what bugged me the most. It was level 1, and had the stats of a beast..."

    "Dang, alright, let¡¯s see how we¡¯ll get through that one."

    Grumpy followed Ralph¡¯s instruction, turning every now and then, sometimes making half circles, going back and forward. It was dizzying enough that Dave had to ask.

    "Bro, are you sure we¡¯re going the right way, we passed this tree, five times now."

    "Yeah man, trust me, it¡¯s hard to exin but the temple is hidden by some spacew, remember what the Tengu said about the Space God¡¯s rule?"

    "Not really but continue," Dave said.

    Ralph huffed and said "Tengu said that the Space God made sure the Fu Temple¡¯s legacy is sealed off the hands of mortals. Because it was too powerful, so he created a spatial maze in the Wilds to make it hard for anyone to find the temple. If we don¡¯t follow these exact steps it¡¯ll never reveal itself to us."

    "And you know these steps because?" Dave asked.

    "Because the Tengu gave me apass."

    "Alright, that I can ept and understand," Dave said as Grumpy jerked to the right and followed another long forested path then made a U-turn trading the same way back.

    "But, what bugs me is, how the heck did the Naaldlo-" Dave¡¯s sentence was cut off abruptly by Ralph hissing, "SKIN WALKER!"

    "Oh right, the Skinwalker, how did it find its way into the temple?" Dave asked.

    "I don¡¯t know, it had an eternity to roam the wilds, it was probably trapped in this dimensionalbyrinth, and it probably acts as the damnned dungeon guardian."

    "Yeiks, that¡¯s gonna be a pretty sight."

    Just as Grumpy took thest turn, Dave noticed that the area turned dark, he was sur it was bright as day just a second before, and when he looked up, the sky was night.

    "The heck?" Dave muttered.

    "Yeah, space rules, time is different here, it¡¯s probably hundreds of thousands of years in the past, or in the future, I don¡¯t know, it could even be just a day before."

    "Man I¡¯m not a fan of time travel stuff. Tooplex. Let¡¯s call the boyz, they¡¯ll help."

    Dave said and used his undead summon.

    ***

    The beings you wish to summon have yet to be born into existence.

    Undead Call has been canceled.

    ***

    "Welp, that confirms it. We¡¯re in the frigging past." Dave said.

    "Yeah, I was sure of it. Look," Ralph said and pointed forward.

    Right in front of them, was a temple. An eastern temple. Sorge that it covered the horizon. The trees around it, what made the Wilds, were not here. The temple dome bore through the sky in Hightparable to the tallest buildings in New York.

    But it was a dead temple.

    The building looked ruined, cracked walls, broken windows, crumbling passages and pathways.

    "Grumpy, you¡¯ll stay here, if things go ugly, we¡¯ll need you to escape, okay?" Dave said.

    The Onyx basilisk usually would have growled and glowered at Dave¡¯sment. It didn¡¯t eve fear the Ash King when it was chasing after it. But something here made it extremely docile. It didn¡¯t argue or mush as grumble at Dave, it just rigidly sat down, surveying the area with wicked attention. Its instinct was making it fear, no, it was more making the basilisk stand on watch, there was a predator¡¯s scent in the air. A non-intelligent, predator, the kind that didn¡¯t result to treachery, overlyplicated intelligent stuff to scheme its way into it¡¯s enemy¡¯s throat. It was simply, a non-natural force that only wanted to kill, and feed. The worst kinds of foe.

    Grumpy¡¯s wariness made Dave even more wary. He pulled out Durandal and Ajax.

    "Wow, the big guns already?" ster mentioned.

    "Yeah, if Grumpy is feeling this much pressure. Then that skinwalker or whatever it¡¯s in here is not good news. Let¡¯s move with caution." Dave said.

    The two walked up to the front of the temple. The atmosphere was eerie, cold empty night. There was no sound at all. No birds, no critters. Not even the wind moved the trees. The whole temple looked dead, too dead. Nothing should be this silent.

    Once they passed the temple gate. Bright light assaulted Dave¡¯s eyes, and he witnessed something that shouldn¡¯t be possible.

    Daylight, and people, kids, not more than the age of fifteen were sparring against each other in therge space inside the temple.

    The smell of burning incent gave him a woozy feeling. There were shouts and cries of battle and exertion as kids were carrying weight far too heavy for an a.d.u.l.t male and running around in circles.

    Others were bncing on top of tall and thin poles. They were upside down, bnced on one finger.

    Others ran across a water creek, like the easternbat movies he had seen before. And mentors and teachers, old and sagacious looked at them, guided them and led them to better perform, to the correct form and posture, and then looked at others helping them also.

    This scene onlysted for a few more moments before it evaporated into nothingness and the deathly stillness of the night was back once more.

    "Did you see that?" Dave said.

    "You mean the kids. Yeah I saw it the first time I came here, I didn¡¯t see it now. I guess it¡¯s a one time thing."

    "What could have happened to make that lively temple turned to this?" Dave questioned.

    "The Space Law," ster replied.

    "Right, probably. So where are we going now?" Dave asked.

    "There," Ralph pointed at a closed door in the distance. It was a red wooden door, in a perfectly shaped condition, a far cry from the dpidated form of the buildings and walls surrounding it.

    "When I walked up halfway there, the Skinwalker jumped up in front of me," Ralph said.

    "Okay, let me go in first. Back me up if things go south."

    "Was the n from the get go."

    As soon as Dave made it halfway through the courtyard. A small humming bird flew and dropped in front of him.

    The humming bird had beautiful green feathers, a small size, yet its eyes. They were red the color of a demon¡¯s.

    Dave swung down Durandal at the creature. He knew it was definitely the Skin Walker and had no time to wander about it.

    The humming bird dodged the massive sword with ease and changed form to that of a grizzly bear.

    "That¡¯s the best you can do," Dave grinned and mmed the width of Durandal on the bear¡¯s face.

    The Skinwalker reared back, more rage in its eyes, it didn¡¯t howl the way a bear did. But a mix of sounds, so guttered, so wicked that they sounded like the death throes of thousands of fallen foes.

    The sound was mind bogging, too grating against the ears. Dave had to wince as he heard the bear¡¯s rumbling rage.

    The bear grew a size bigger turning to a silverback gori. Then it pounded against the ground and ran at Dave on all fours.

    Dave poised Ajax forward, receiving the silverback¡¯s impact against the shield then pushed against the gori.

    "Even if you¡¯re king freaking Kong, you should know!" Dave let go of his sword and shield, grabbed the gori¡¯s massive arm and howled "NEVER PIT YOUR STRENGHT AGAINST AN UNDEAD!"

    He spun around, using herculean strength, and with the gori in arm, he threw the beast in an arcing trajectory right against one of the run down walls of the temple.

    Dave pulled Durandal out of the ground and lifted Ajax and ran forward all while the gori was still trying to pull itself out of the wall.

    He then ran forward, jumped and shoved Ajax right in the middle of the groi¡¯s chest.

    Durandal found purchase and dove until it found exit on the gori¡¯s back, breaking a few of its spinal bones in the process.

    Dave looked at the numerical damage value above the gori.

    The gori didn¡¯t howl, or cry in pain, it just looked at Dave. With utter,plete contempt.

    It was a perfectly shaped, perfectly round, perfectly disturbing zero damage.

    Then the creature smiled.

    *****

    Alright, d.i.c.k move I did here, but it¡¯s important. Cuz many of you guys don¡¯t even read the author note before typing I WANT MORE...

    Anyway i won¡¯t do this again and write inside the chapter. but hear me out. I implore you, i beg you, hell i¡¯d fregging offre you human sacrifices. But please! if you had bought a copy of requiem, i¡¯m willing to pay you back the money for the novel, if you leave a good review there. A review has more value to me than buying the actual book. Please review it. thank you.

    ***

 Chapter 505 - When the Draugr Smiles

    <h4>Chapter 505 - When the Draugr Smiles</h4>

    Dave jerked Durandal out of the Skin Walker¡¯s chest. No blood came out. The creature¡¯s chest was made of meat and muscle, no visible heart, no lungs nothing, just pure flesh. The meat visibly reformed, fusing back together, recreating the rtively healthy appearance of a gori.

    Dave inspected the Skin Walker.

    ***

    Name: Naandloushii

    Level: 1

    Tier: Lesser Cmity of Fear

    Danger level: Cmitous!

    Damage: 1000

    HP: ¡Þ

    PD: 0

    MD: 0

    Skills: [You Are What You Eat]: The Naandloushii consumes the flesh and souls of its victims. Stealing their abilities and powers. And using them at 80% of their potency.

    [Fear the Name!] (Partially Blocked by the Space Lord Rule) Once called upon by using its true name, the Naandloushii can manifest anywhere in the world. It knows not to retreat or defeat, for as long as a Naandloushii is still alive, all of its foes have died. As they usually fight to the death.

    [Cmity] As a cmitous Creature, the Naandloushii gains power and longevity from the fear of mortals. Even the Space Lord couldn¡¯t stop the reeking fear of people-kind from prating the sealed dominion of the FU Temple, If fought against, and shown an ounce of fear, the Naandloushii will have the ability to instantly execute any foe.

    Lore:

    The Skin Walker, also known by its true name the Naandloushii. Roughly trantes to, "By means of it, it goes on all four". It is the embodiment of fear. Fear of everything, anything, fear of the dark, or fear of death, or fear of being harmed. Whenever one fears, the Naandloushii gains power and longevity. A creature that none know its origin, but all know one thing. Never speak its name. For it can appear to you, in the form of your closest, a friend, a spouse, or even a parent. And you¡¯ll never be able to know the difference, until it is close up in your face, with its jaw opened to rip you to shreds, and consume you, adding another to its endless collection. There doesn¡¯t exist many of them in the world, by mercy, or by the world¡¯s fortune. As they are immortal beings, death to the Naandloushii is rare. And if you face one, do know, and do believe, that if you are alone, you shall die. But if you are with apanion, the one to die, is the slowest, the slowest to run away.

    Fear the name!

    ***

    Dave looked at the Skinwalker and grinned back. Causing the smiling gori to frown. It had never in its life met something or someone capable of smile in its presence, it irked it.

    For this Naandloushii, it had never met an undead, so what is in front of it is different, new, and unknown. The Naandloushii had lived its entire eternal life, unfazed by anything, even dragons avoided them. These things were a hassle to deal with, and none survived their encounter, but for a dragon to shake off the Naandloushii is nothing tooplex or hard to do, so the Skinwalkers rarely if ever had the chance to feast upon the flesh of one that rules the skies.

    But this draugr, this bipedal creature, is facing it, unworried for its life. Why? The question formed in the mind of the Naandloushii, creating a paradox with its own nature. Something is not afraid of it, while it, itself I the embodiment of fear. This caused the Naandloushii to be worried, a feeling it never had before, and its worry soon turned to rage.

    The gori shaped creature grimaced, then roared, once again, in the sound of the death throes of all the creatures it had killed. It lunged at Dave who dodged to the side.

    "Ralph, get back a little, this thing is a bitch to deal with when facing groups."

    "You don¡¯t need my help?" Ralph asked.

    "For now, I need to know its patterns, it has infinite HP, we can¡¯t down it even if we attack it for days, there must be something else I can do. Also, it feeds on fear, you¡¯re currently human, even if you didn¡¯t want to, you¡¯re feeding it fear. I¡¯m Undead, I don¡¯t fear anything."

    Dave grinned and charged the Naandloushii. He swung Durandal down at the gori¡¯s head who dodged to the side, but thanks to Dave¡¯s inhuman strength, he was capable of changing the sword¡¯s trajectory mid-swing, shing it at the beast¡¯s side, and ripped its ribs open.

    The Naandloushii jerked and began spasming, changing its form to that of a lion, yet this lion was so big that Dave barely reached up to its mane. The red-eyed Naandloushii swiped a paw at Dave, it was too fast for him to dodge.

    -2600

    Dave grinned, "You tickle," He said and mmed Ajax into the lion¡¯s face. He then followed up with a swing at its front legs, ripping one off in the processes. The lion didn¡¯t seem bothered or in pain, the severed paw dissipated and another one grew in its former spot.

    The Skinwalker decided that Dave was not going to go down this way, the mere animalistic creatures he had consumed and is now mimicking were not powerful enough to take down the draugr. He needed to be something else.

    The Skinwalker shuddered and from within its lion-shaped body came out a more humanoid-shaped creature. It had the face of a man with no nose and no ears, on its head were two great horns with jagged fang-like protrusions on the side. Dave remembered seeing those horns on a horned beetle. It¡¯s back was like that of adybug, with an exoskeleton, its arms were muscr, but not well proportioned, it¡¯s right side had a wed hand, while its right had a reaper¡¯s scythe made of exoskeleton and chitin.

    The man bug charged Dave with more speed than it was possible for any human, it blurred, as it swiped with its de-like arm at Dave¡¯s head attempting to decapitate him. Dave didn¡¯t have the time to dodge as the w lodged itself in between the small space of his armor and helmet.

    -22,556

    The sharp w didn¡¯t find any purchase, besides the negligible amount of Damage, Dave¡¯s head remained where it was.

    "It took two godsbined strength to decapitate me. You¡¯re nothing," Dave said while dropping both Durandal and Ajax, immediately fast equipped the Sworn Stalwart¡¯s ws and grabbed at the Skinwalker¡¯s arm, he ripped it from its socket with a powerful jerk resulting in a sound of wet tearing of flesh and a screech.

    Dave elbowed the Skinwalker and smashed it down on its back. He jumped on its chest and began pummeling it in the face. One strike after the other. Dave smashed down, hit after hit, crushing the face of the beetle into a bloodied green pulp. He punched down so many times that the gauntlets activated the Ramp Up passive ability of the gloves, as they turned white-hot. Then the shock and poison effect from the socketed runes applied to the Skin Walker, yet the creature didn¡¯t die, it reconstructed its face every time Dave smashed it to nothingness.

    Dave wished if Tiny was here, he could have consumed the Skinwalker and made this fight much easier. Yet the Space rule denied him of his familiars.

    Dave had it with the creature, he stuck down with the tip of his fingers into the Skinwalker¡¯s chest, then pulled with both hands to the side, ripping its torso right in the middle.

    He jumped back, waiting for the Skinwalker to regenerate itself, but before it couldpletely do so, Dave used [Ray of mes] frying the creature into a scorching crisp of ash and cinders.

    The skill blinded Ralph, it was powerful, hot, and loud, and it made arge magmatic crater under the burning howling creature.

    Soon, all sounds were off and the Skinwalker didn¡¯t voice a squirm anymore.

    "That should do it," Dave said.

    "Don¡¯t go, nker man, it won¡¯t die that easy, I killed it twenty-two times and it still didn¡¯t die," Ralph said.

    "Oh, you¡¯re right," Dave said as he saw the cinders regenerating, recreating its former form of the chitinous creature.

    "Do we have to kill it to get to the door?" Dave asked.

    "I don¡¯t know, but when I was alone it didn¡¯t let me get anyway near the door."

    The Skinwalker shuddered and began morphing again, this time it began taking the shape of something Dave had a really hard time facing when he first met it. A Werewolf.

    "You¡¯re not going there, f.u.c.ker!" Dave used Immortal Apparition and appeared right behind the still transforming werewolf. He shoved he punched using [Herculean Strength] And [Dragon Fist] right at the creature¡¯s spine, breaking it and causing the still halfway transforming werewolf to lose his footing, and be burnt by the ethereal dragon that projected out of the Stalwarts Gauntlet.

    Dave followed up with Dragon Kick, smashing the creature into a nearby wall then an elbow charge that cratered the wall even further.

    "You¡¯re nothing more than a punching bag!" Dave shouted. His fear of werewolf was a bit too muchpared to a normal person. All thanks to Ralph, and he didn¡¯t want the Skinwalker to know it. Thus, he acted immediately before the creature took form, breaking it and forcing it to change to a stronger creature.

    The Skinwalker gave up the werewolf transformation. He grew more muscle, two bull-like horns, became thrice a werewolf¡¯s size that was already at least twice as tall as Dave.

    A minotaur.

    The minotaur mmed down with two fists at Dave, thetter opened both his arms, used [Herculean Strength] for the third time. He took the m and stopped it where it was, the power from the minotaur shook the ground under Dave until his feet dug in, cracking it, "I TOLD YOU! NEVER PIT STRENGTH AGAINST AN UNDEAD!" with a loud howl, Dave jerked the minotaur from its footing, and threw it to the side tumbling on the ground.

    "There¡¯s no way we¡¯ll kill it, man, it¡¯s immortal, hold it off, I¡¯ll open the door, and we can get inside after that. The more damage it takes the more powerful it bes."

    Dave thought for a moment and said, "Even if you open the door, this asshole is going to be stuck to our assess. I¡¯ll kill it first."

    "You can¡¯t kill immortals, man."

    "I did before, I¡¯ll do it again." Dave grinned.

    "How?" Ralph asked.

    "I have a certain skill, I haven¡¯t used it in a long, long time. Basically, because there was no opponent that met the conditions of the skill usage. They all were too high level for it." Dave said.

    He raised his hand and said, "Your infinite vitality is gained from the fear that is constantly feeding you. And with the Cmities, your race soon toe to this world, fear has grown constant making you even more powerful. What will happen to you if I cut off that infinite flow of fear from you, I wonder?" Dave said.

    "What the hell are you talking about?" Ralph said.

    "A trump card," Dave grinned and the Ring of True Undeath shone brightly.

    One skill, the only one that he retained from his first S ss legacy. Death Legacy was still there. It couldn¡¯t grow stronger because it is no longer linked to Death, but it was still there. In his ring.

    "Life Cleaver," Dave muttered.

    Arge ck Scythe appeared above the Skinwalker and also above Dave¡¯s head.

    The quality of light changed, everything became red-hued and there was a sense ofpression as if the room had suddenly been isted from the rest of reality. Ralph was outside the separated domain where Dave was, he could see him, but he was blurred. The two of them were on two different realities.

    ***

    Life Cleaver has been activated!

    The challenge ground has been temporarily banished to a separate reality.

    No yer or monster can interfere with this challenge.

    Your attacks do -20% less Damage, and attacks against you do +20% more damage.

    ***

    "Now, we¡¯re in the ygrounds of Death. There is nothing here for you to feed on. No fear, no life, nothing. It is only you, me, and death. And non of us have an ounce of fear for you to feed on. Now tell me. Naandloushii, what can you do to save your skin?"

    Once the Naandloushii was called upon using its true name, its red eyes turned orange, and a loud screech echoed from its howling mouth. It despised people that called it with its true name, it wanted to tear away at Dave, but something was frightening it, it was cut off from the world, no fear for it to feed on, even the creature in front of it, it didn¡¯t generate an ounce of fear. It was defiant, and it wanted to kill the Skinwalker, and thus, the Skinwalker, unbeknownst to it, had manifested a new emotion. It was dreading the being in front of it. As this being, facing what all man should fear, it faced it with a wide grin...

    **** Please Make sure to read this story on , if you are reading Rise of the Undead legion anywhere else then you are on a pirating website, do not ept to offer any kinds of payment to such people as they are non-repsecting of author¡¯s right and I, as the writer am not benefiting from their schemes in any way possible.****

 Chapter 506 - An Old Acquaintance

    <h4>Chapter 506 - An Old Acquaintance</h4>

    The Skinwalker howled and screeched, it ignored Dave and sprinted to the edge of the circr tform they were in. It tried to lunge at the faded silhouette of ster who was on a different reality from where the Naandloushii was, but it failed miserably, the dimensional wall was like a rubber band, absorbing the full on assault of the Minotaur like it was nothing more than a feather striking at a brick wall. It didn''t even bend fully to give the Skinwalker hope of actually breaking free.

    Dave remained calm, he needed to survive for just two minutes. With the Skinwalker going out of his way, trying to find a way out instead of trying to kill Dave then leave, this just made it even more advantageous to Dave, and wasn''t about to tell him how to get out.

    Frustrated, the Naandloushii changed form into a bird, trying to fly high and above the separate death domain. But he found out the hard way that the space was domed, as he smashed head first into its ceiling.

    The Skinwalker screeched, a sound so far from that of a bird that would make one''s skin crawl. It peeved at Dave, then charged face first, as it was transforming into a gargoyle. Dave readied up Ajax, and waited for a few seconds before impact then opened Ajax''s jaws. The jaws bit on the charging gargoyle, dealing rtively insignificant damage due to the infinite vitality of the Skinwalker. But the clutch was perfect, Ajax''s jaws had bit on the creature''s front ws, and with Dave''s undead force, he brought down the creature smashing him into the ground. Ajax didn''t let go, and Dave pinned the Skinwalker on the ground. He then drew Durandal, with one hand, made it twirl above him, grabbed it with an overhanded grip, then stabbed down with Durandal on the Nandlooshi''s back. The sword dug into the beast, and went all the way to the hilt, finding purchase in the ground and pinning the creature like if the legendary god ying sword was a giant nail.

    The Skinwalker howled screeched, it was stuck, unable to move its hands, and the sword was so deep in its body that it couldn''t get a proper holding to stand up.

    It jerked and shook but to no apparent avail.

    Then it began transforming, it''s skin crawling and shuddering, Dave noticed that Durandal began shaking. Not because the sword was weak, but the ground where the weapon was embedded in was not capable of supporting the muscle growth and size expansion of the transforming Naandloushii.

    Dave gave a mentalmand, and Ajax clutched its jaws tight, closing on the hands of the Skinwalker into its internal vestless expanse.

    Then he unequipped it and left Durandal the only thing holding the Skinwalker down. It was much easier for the Skinwalker to release itself from captivity this way, but it still needed a few seconds to be free.

    And in those two seconds Dave switched back to the sworn Stalwart Gauntlets. And went down on his knees, to face the squirming red eyed Naandloushii.

    The creature for a moment locked eyes with Dave, and he saw that his earlier grin became even more sinister, and widened even further.

    "Red eyes, say, wanna see real fear?" Dave mumbled, and his blue Undeath Eyes soon began changing, they turned a purplish hue, then a crimson red, and with them, his forehead grew horns the color of the abyss, his jaw became wider, his cuspids became longer, simr to a beast''s fangs. His aura changed to that of blood red. Then from his back, two leather wings emerged, sprouting with the sound of tearing flesh as they grew.

    Dave grabbed at the Skinwalker''s face with his Sworn Stalwart''s gauntlet that turned to demonic ws due to the change of his current appearance in [Demonic Ascension].

    He grabbed tight as the creature squirmed, never able to fully take form due to the passive effect of his Demonic Ascension of burning mana. The enemy was helpess, bound, unable to move, unable to act or react, Death loomed over its head as the seconds passed and the scythe was getting closer.

    It began wriggling, as its body became a mass of misshaped organs. A frog''s leg emerged from its back, then form his hands, human teeth, its face became that of a mix of a malformed monkey with the beak of a hawk, its body unable to fully take form due to the disrupting effect of Dave''s aura.

    "Now, here Skinwalker. You''re the first of the cmities that came to this world, and definitely you''re the first to die. I don''t care if you''re a lesser cmity of fear, and there are more than you. But hear my words, this world is not yours, and it will never be. And if you truly want it, send it the big guns. Small fries like you aren''t enough to even get my blood boiling."

    Dave looked up, the time was up, he looked down at the creature that began screeching like a frightened kid seeing its worst nightmaree true," Now, you die."

    The scythe dropped with the speed of a guillotine, quick, fast and merciful. The Skinwalker''s head was lobbed off of its body. It spasmed, shuddered, but it was still moving.

    Dave frowned, was it not dead? He didn''t receive the notification of victory. And the severed space didn''t copse.

    He stood up, annoyed that his speech was wasted on this thing that didn''t die, and now began thinking of ways to kill this creature.

    Yet before the Skinwalker could recreate a new head, something unexpected happened.

    In front of Dave a person stood, thin, and wore dark robes, the curves on its body made it clear that it was a woman, and the hood she wore over her head made it hard for anyone to see what beyond that hood. And probably no one should ever. Because Dave know who was in front of him.

    Dave stood up from his kneeling position, faced the woman and smiled, "Death, long time no see. How are you?"

    "It keeps amazes me how you stare Death in the eyes and speak to it as if it was a close friend."

    "Hah, you are a friend, thanks to you I wouldn''t have be what I was. So what brings you here?"

    "Duty, obligation, and toplete my mission. Ie to im the life of that cmity." Death said.

    "I thought deities weren''t allowed to interfere directly." Dave said.

    "Indeed, but today this matter requires my immediate action, as you have called upon my power, and I am obliged to fulfill it. My scythe didn''t kill this being, but I can. I shall im its life for you. Because, we are not in your world, Draugr, we''re in mine. And when you bring creatures to my world, I can do to them whatever I wish. And this one is to die. It has lost against you in the Grounds of Death battle."

    "That makes things much easier, I was about to take it to a dip in the ocean with my kraken."

    "That wouldn''t have changed the fact that it cannot die by regr means. Let me show you what Death is truly capable of." Death replied and came close to the creature.

    She removed a glove, Dave half expected to see a skeletal hand, but what met him was the gentle looking hand of a young maiden, even her nails were polished.

    She grabbed at the Naandloushii''s fallen face. She turned away from Dave and removed her hood.

    Long ck hair, smooth as silk was all that Dave could see, her hair extended all the way to her h.i.p.s.

    She lifted the Naandloushii''s head to meet hers, and in an instant, the head turned to stone. Along with it, came the rest of its body that was a few feet away from Death. It crashed, shattered and turned to gravel and tiny pebbles, as the head turned to dust.

    ***

    Conquest Server Announcement!

    yer Kis''Shtiengbrah has managed to y one of the Cmities.

    Lesser Cmity of Fear, The Skinwalker.

    yer Kis''Shtiengbrah''s unusual method of ying a being that cannot be killed has earned him a new title!

    Cmity''s Bane!

    Due to the early death of a Lesser Cmity of fear, the poption of Conquest can now rationalize better, and act in more cooperative ways against the impeding doom that will gue Conquest soon. The death of the first Cmity of fear has brought hope to the popce.

    ***

    "Oh, that''s nice." Dave said then looked at the remains of the Naandloushii, there was a shiny item under her. Loot from the first cmity, it''s bound to be good.

 Chapter 507 - Fu Temple

    <h4>Chapter 507 - Fu Temple</h4>

    Dave knelt down, removed the dust and remaining sand off the shiny item. While Death stood watch, she made sure to cover her face back again not to have Dave identally see her.

    Dave picked up a single item that was the leftover of the dead Naandloushii.

    ***

    Sigil of Beasthood

    An amulet, once worn can allow the yer to transform into one of its own summonable creatures.

    Beast-tamer item only.

    ***

    "Huh, such a crappy reward for all that hard work," Dave grumbled.

    "It is not to your liking?" Death questioned.

    "Yeah, it¡¯s useless for me."

    "So it should, as these creatures have no will nor intention to im the world¡¯s riches, finding anything of value is rare among them. Sadly, its scavenge-able self was destroyed by me. I apologize."

    "No, don¡¯t worry about it. So what now?"

    "I shall leave, I¡¯ll go back to my domain."

    Dave thought for a moment and said, "I went to your ce once, it¡¯s pretty lonely."

    "So should Death¡¯s abode be. It is no ce for the living."

    "I know, but there is a ce you can hang out in, not many living people anyway. Go to Urburg, the bar is open for everyone and most of its clients are undead, they already saw you once before."

    Death giggled and said, "Thank you for granting me a ce of stay in this world. As gods, we do not have the right to im a territory, but you have invited me as a guest and I will take you up on your offer. Also, I¡¯ve been dying to see Nichs¡¯s bar. He¡¯s been bragging about some type of music called Death Metal or something and I¡¯d like to hear it."

    Dave frowned,dy Death didn¡¯t seem like a Death Metal enthusiast, but who was he to tell her otherwise.

    "Hopefully you¡¯ll enjoy it. For now, can you stop this spell? My friend is outside and waiting for me."

    "Of course, it has been good speaking with you Kis¡¯Shtiengbrah, I¡¯ll do as you asked and visit Urburg." Death said and the separate reality began dissolving.

    "Enjoy it," Dave said as the dominion dissipatedpletely.

    "Where the hell were you man, I couldn¡¯t even send you a private message. I could barely see your silhouette from here."

    "Oh, sorry about that, it¡¯s one of my skills, it got me a clean kill on the undying monster anyway so all is good."

    "Got any loot?"

    "Nada, nothing zilch, just a crappy amulet that only works for beast tamers, and because the f.u.c.ker was a level 1 it gave no exp, talk about a lot of effort for no damned reward."

    "Well, you could sell the item at the auction house, it was killed by skill and it¡¯s the first cmity it¡¯s gonna be worth something."

    "Hopefully you¡¯re right, now back to your legacy."

    "Right, let¡¯s go, and by the way the moment you used your spell the door opened. Any idea why?"

    "Yeah, it¡¯s because the skill removes the monster from the world, it takes us to a separate reality, when that happened the Door¡¯s mechanic must have judged that the Naandloushii was dead."

    "Don¡¯t speak its name bro."

    "Dude, it¡¯s just a myth."

    "My gramps won¡¯t agree with you man." Ralph moved toward the door.

    "Wait, you¡¯re American Indian of origin?" Dave said and followed after.

    "No way, you didn¡¯t know?"

    "I mean you¡¯re a bit reddish around the cheek but."

    "Yeah, I take to my mum more than pops. Anyway, let¡¯s not talk about that crappy thing. And see what¡¯s behind this door, Open Sesame!" Ralph said and kicked the door in.

    "I don¡¯t think that¡¯s how Open Sesame works man."

    "Well it¡¯s open anyway, it¡¯s working!" Ralph said and walked in.

    Dave shook his head at his friend¡¯s antics and walked in.

    The inside of the temple was rather simple. It was like a dojo, wooden nks covered the floor and walls. With a table at the far side of the room and arge brass bell behind it.

    For all the time this ce remained in istion, there was not a spec of dust anywhere. Everything was clean as if it had just been washed and cared for not even an hour ago.

    "What are we supposed to do now."

    "Ring the bell, and then it¡¯s gonna be a long, long battle.

    "How do you know all that?"

    "Quest info. It tells m that I¡¯ll be fighting a horde of disciples."

    "Huh, I never had that when I was doing my legacy," Dave said.

    "Your legacy is an S ss legacy. Mine is B, I get help."

    "But once youplete it, it will be an S ss legacy."

    "No, an SS ss legacy."

    "Damn, that¡¯s the same rank as mine."

    "Yurp, I get the easy way into a super legacy hehehehe."

    Dave shook his head. "Alright, but I doubt it will be that easy man. Whenever you¡¯re ready. You can ring the bell."

    "Roger," Ralph said and got to the bell.

    He pulled out a ck katana from his inventory.

    "That¡¯s Rift maker, did the tengu give it to you?"

    "Yeah, for this quest I needed a katana, although I really don¡¯t like them that much."

    "Why? They make you look like a weeb or something? You¡¯ll hurt a lot of our readers Kokoro if you say that."

    "No, not that, but Katanas are pretty good, at one thing, and that¡¯s cutting, and they¡¯re not even the best at it. Against te, or chain mail, you can hack all day with a katana on a non-moving person, and all you get is tired, and a broken expensive sword."

    "Yeah, but during its time period and without proper smelting methods, iron folding and katana making was the best way to transform wrought iron into half-decent swords. I mean they have style and all. But European smelting changed that."

    "Yep, that¡¯s why I¡¯d always prefer a Zweihander over a katana any day of the weak. Sadly I can¡¯t use my sword for this fight."

    "You and your big swordplex."

    "Says the guy who carries a sword that weighs at least four hundred pounds."

    "Hey, it¡¯s the best I got. And it hits pretty hard."

    "Right keep telling yourself that, Hah! enough bickering, let¡¯s get this party started.

    "Go, ring it."

    Ralph smashed the bell using the pommel of his katana.

    The bell¡¯s sound revibrated through the hall, then as if the waves were visible they began spreading around the area and dissipated outside of the door.

    Soon the door smashed locked inside. The only source of light were somemps on the walls and candles on the floor.

    Out of nowhere, two kids not the age of ten appeared in the middle of the hall. They both bald, and were unarmed. They were wearing red sparring student clothes, they stood facing both the yers with their eyes that were the color of the night.

    "Let¡¯s get ready!" Ralph said and pointed his sword to one of the students.

    The student changed posture and walked side by side toward Ralph, the second one remained idle. Waiting for Dave to make a move.

    Dave got closer to the student he was supposed to face. But thetter didn¡¯t show any signs of hostility. He didn¡¯t even take a stance. Until Dave got his hand closer to Durandal, then the student began turning his head, and aligning his body for a fight while following Dave¡¯s hand.

    Dave stopped and the student resumed his earlier idle position.

    Dave looked back at Ralph who was about to fight and said, "Stop."

    Ralph did and so did the student-facing him, though he never removed his hand from his sword.

    "What¡¯s wrong, man?"

    "I don¡¯t think it¡¯s fair."

    "What¡¯s not fair?" Ralph asked.

    "We have weapons, they don¡¯t. I don¡¯t think it¡¯s a fair fight."

    "Huh, and what does that have to do with anything man?! I mean we gotta take them down and get to the legacy."

    "I think you¡¯re failing to see the point. This is a Dojo, it¡¯s for martial artist, and what martial artist faces another unarmed man with a weapon? It¡¯s unfair." Dave said and removed his sword, nting it firmly on the dojo¡¯s ground.

    "Man you¡¯re crazy."

    "It¡¯s an Undead¡¯s honor. We don¡¯t fight the unarmed. You should also pay attention to the Samurai code of honor. You did some Jujitsu back in college right?"

    "Yeah, for years."

    "Then use them."

    "I don¡¯t know man this seems such a waste of time."

    "Bro, I have a feeling that if you face them with a sword, something bad will happen."

    "Oh. Your skelly instinct. Gotta trust that one, it has gotten you all the way here."

    "Yeah." Dave nodded and faced the opponent in a boxer¡¯s stance.

    The kid in front of Dave, smiled.

    It was a genuine smile, he bowed his head toward Dave, a proper martial artist¡¯s salute.

    Dave did the same and the two of them took their stance right after.

    "Damn you¡¯re right!" Ralph said, he had already removed his weapon and was facing the disciple unarmed.

    "I just got a notification saying I fulfilled the Honor Condition. I didn¡¯t even know there was a condition like that."

    "It¡¯s an SS legacy quest, you gotta expect a lot of hidden stuff. Now let¡¯s get them."

    Dave charged the kid, and thetter with utter ease smashed Dave into the ground.

    "Oh, throw technique, they have those. Damn."

    The disciple locked onto Dave¡¯s arm, both his legs were on Dave¡¯s chest.

    If it was any other person, they would feel like their shoulder was going to get dislocated.

    But Dave grinned, mmed the ground with his free hand, and stood back up. While at the same time, the kid was still hanging on his arm.

    The kid was stunned, normally no one can do just that and stand back up, especially with another person¡¯s weight holding them down. But to the inhuman strength of a draugr, that kid didn¡¯t weigh more than a feather.

    Dave shook his hands to the side causing the kid to let go and drop down to his feet. He waited for him to stand back up, then took his stance. The two of them once again charged each other.

    Ralph on the other hand had already smashed his opponent several times over. The kid facing him dissipated after Ralphnded his third leg strike.

    "Damn I still got the moves!" Ralphughed. Turning he saw Dave being thrown around.

    "Ouch, that¡¯s gotta hurt."

    "Not really," Dave said as he was once again pinned to the ground.

    "The kid got a good throw; I can¡¯t do anything to that," Dave said as he stood up shaking the kid off.

    "Well, you¡¯re using too much power, he is using it against you.

    "Then what am I supposed to do."

    "First off, stop charging him, you¡¯re making yourself an easy prey, just use simple punches and jabs, you have a good deal of strength behind your punches, and throws won¡¯t work a lot on direct short punches especially with your strength difference and reach."

    "Alright let me try," Dave said and approached the kid with the intention of doing a direct punch.

    Just as Dave¡¯s fist was about tond on the kid¡¯s face, thetter ducked down, while at the same time, grabbing Dave¡¯s extended arm and while his leg struck at Dave¡¯s tibia bone.

    The smallbo caused Dave to tip over and fall face-first into the wooden floor.

    -10hp.

    "For f.u.c.k sake... that didn¡¯t work," Dave grumbled as the kid tried to pin his arm behind his back.

    "Oh, sorry about that. Welp, you said you were not gonna use your sword. So."

    "I¡¯m still not using it," Dave said as he stood up. "I¡¯m gonna beat him using martial arts.

    "I wish if I had popcorn, this is gonna be fun to watch," Ralph said as he squatted to the side watching the show. Dave didn¡¯t notice, but Ralph was recording what was going on. This video was going to make him a good deal of money, of course after Dave approves of it being released that is. But for Ralph nothing is impossible. Not even a Don¡¯s daughter.

 Chapter 508 - Seven Virtues

    <h4>Chapter 508 - Seven Virtues</h4>

    After being thrown around, over, and over and over again, Dave waspletely exasperated. Not at the child, but himself for not being able tond a solid hit on the kid.

    "I guess I shouldn¡¯t y around anymore," Dave said.

    "So, you were ying around, I thought you were learning new ways to break your fall, on your face." Ralph grinned.

    "Yeah, keepughing, it¡¯s just that I¡¯m not good against throws, I need to learn more martial arts. Alright, kid, try again," Dave said.

    Dave walked up to the kid, and instead of throwing a fully extended punch, he threw a halfhearted one.

    The kid grabbed at Dave¡¯s extended arm, wanting to throw him once again, but he didn¡¯t find any leverage, Dave was not leaning forward and his center of gravity was firmly poised against the kid¡¯s throw.

    Dave¡¯s fingerstched onto the kid¡¯s shoulder like vices. "I got you now, sorry but this is going to hurt," Dave said and lifted the kid from his shoulder with one arm.

    The kid kicked at Dave¡¯s face, but thetter didn¡¯t budge, without the support from the ground, the kid¡¯s weight proved a little hindrance to the Undead Dave, nor was his strength of any concern.

    Dave unceremoniously threw the kid against the ground, he made sure not to do it hard, lest he breaks the kid¡¯s head, but it was strong enough that it took the breath out of him.

    Dave didn¡¯t go for the finisher, he waited for the kid to stand back up and take his stance, the kid was huffing and puffing, he was feeling exhausted. The undead, however, wasn¡¯t tired at all.

    The kid charged Dave, for the first time, aiming to tackle him from his waist to throw off his posed center of gravity, yet Dave stood firmly, the kid felt like he hit his shoulder against a pir.

    Dave dropped a chop on the kid¡¯s shoulder causing him to fall to his knees.

    "Enough, kid, you¡¯ll die."

    The kid looked up at Dave who once again didn¡¯t go for the finisher, smiled, then stood back away, he gave Dave a martial bow and disappeared.

    "Nice, we cleared it," Ralph said and showed Dave a status screen only he was privy to.

    ***

    Fu Temple Forbidden Legacy Upgrade.

    Unlocked Two Virtues!

    Honor, Respect!

    First Stage Clear

    Score: Perfect!

    ***

    "Now what?" Dave asked.

    "We¡¯ll have to wait for the second wave. They should be stronger." Ralph added.

    "How long?" Dave asked.

    "One minute, you know to catch our breaths."

    A minuteter and two other kids, a bit older than the former ones came to the battle.

    These two had weapons, one had tonfas, and the other was carrying a kendo sword.

    "I guess we get to use our weapons," Ralph said.

    "Yes," Dave replied.

    He drew Durandal and pointed at the closest one, the sword user.

    "Hey, howe you get to chose the guy with the sword."

    "Tonfa guys are annoying, they move too much, also I figured out how to clear this stage."

    "What do you mean? You have a hint?" pointed his katana at the tonfa user.

    "Yeah, it was in the notification, this is the samurai¡¯s virtues. There are seven, we need to clear the remaining ones."

    "I have no idea what those are," Ralph said.

    "You have a samurai legacy and you didn¡¯t ever do a history research?"

    "Bro, I never did research for my studies."

    Dave shook his head, "Once the university semesters starts again, I¡¯m nning on rejoining, I always wanted to major in history. Anyway, there are seven samurai virtues. Honor, Compassion, Respect, Courage, Honesty, Loyalty, and integrity. We cleared two, in thest fight."

    "Oh," Ralph said. Thankfully, they had the time to chat, as if they didn¡¯t make the first move the kids won¡¯t attack them.

    "But among them, I don¡¯t see how we can clear any virtue, it was thanks to you that we got honor and respect, but that leaves five."

    "Well, I know the way to get one of the remaining five, let me show you," Dave said.

    He charged the kid in front of him, who drew his weapon right above his head, took a firm step forward, and struck down in a kendo strike.

    Dave dodged to the side and swung Durandal with all he got, not at the kid, but at his weapon.

    The wooden weapon didn¡¯t have a sodding chance at surviving. The weapon snapped in two unproportioned halves, and the force of the impact made the kid¡¯s hands numb and shaky that he dropped the remaining sword unwillingly.

    Dave swung Durandal with decapitating force at the kid¡¯s neck, but he stopped a hair¡¯s width away.

    "Surrender," Dave said.

    The kid gulped, took a step back and bowed down, then dissipated.

    "Damn, you cleared one," Ralph said.

    "Oh, so if I or you clear one of the virtues, it counts for the both of us," Dave said.

    "Yeah, quite handy, what virtue was this?" Ralph asked.

    "If I¡¯m correct, it¡¯s your girlfriend¡¯s avatar name." Dave grinned.

    "Mercy? Oh, you mean Compassion, right. Now is there a way for me to clear another virtue?" Ralph said.

    "I don¡¯t think so." Dave shook his head.

    "Right then," Ralph charged the NPC and they both began a fierce battle. Ralph¡¯s de was far more powerful than the wooden tonfa, even if he did receive a few blows, he was able to chip away at the weapon until it was no longer usable. The kid threw his weapons to the side when Ralph¡¯s de rested neatly on his neck.

    ***

    Fu Temple Forbidden Legacy Upgrade.

    Unlocked One virtue,

    Compassion.

    Second Stage Clear

    Score: Great

    ***

    "Good we got it right," Ralph said. Suddenly a blinding light came upon the two yers and they were hearing loud shouting in the distance. Looking at each other Dave grinned andughed.

    Ralph was fully donned in a red samurai drab, with the tiled pauldrons, the demon faced face mask. The triangr helmet and the rest of the armor, a mix of leather and te mail.

    "What are youughing about?" Ralph said.

    "You," Dave said.

    Ralph finally noticed that he was donned in a full samurai outfit.

    "Damn, howe you¡¯re still in your undead gear," Ralph said.

    "No idea," Dave shrugged, but look around," He added.

    There were thousands of other samurais spread along an opening in a green field. Where the two yers stood, was at the center of this field, and right behind them was a massive tent. That had a sign, Dave didn¡¯t understand the Kanji written on it, but it read "Tokugawa Shogun," once the system Tranted it for Dave.

    "People aren¡¯t afraid of me," Dave said. "They don¡¯t see me as an Undead, or probably they don¡¯t care. Anyway, what¡¯s the quest this time?"

    Ralph shared the quest with Dave.

    ***

    Follow the Shogun¡¯s orders.

    Death in the quest will void the legacy quest.

    ***

    "What? Damn this isn¡¯t good. We¡¯re not allowed to die."

    "What, I had that throughout my whole S legacy, you only got one portion, and I had to stay alive from NPCs and yers. Be thankful." Dave shook his head.

    "Well, I am, but damn it¡¯s gonna be tough. Huh, why are you frowning?" Ralph asked.

    "Well, if you thought it¡¯s gonna be tough, wait until you see your skill bar," Dave said.

    When Ralph noticed, his face turned white. "All skills are disabled."

    "Yep, and I¡¯m not allowed to use Ajax."

    "Damn. Sword only... I don¡¯t like this." Ralph said, but his rambling was cut off by the shout of another samurai.

    "Get inside! The Shogun is waiting for you!" said a samurai who just came from behind the Shogun¡¯s tent.

    "Guess it¡¯s time," Ralph said.

    "Let¡¯s go and see what¡¯s this is about," Dave replied.

    The two of them walked in, the tent wasrge, carpeted with sheep¡¯s wool, and had a wooden table with markers for soldiers and terrain.

    Two samurais were standing on the sides of a man who was sitting on the ground right against the table.

    "My generals. I have a mission for you. Nagato Sigatoka has imed the eastern terrain. Our men have fought, shed blood, and broke bone to take it back to no sess. I need you two to get it back."

    Dave noticed a shing spot on the map in front of the Shogun. There were three red pieces and one green one.

    "I suppose the enemy outnumber us three to one."

    "It is as you have said. And they hold the high ground advantage. We cannot do a detour, the only way in from our site is through a small valley."

    Dave noticed the valley the Shogun was talking about and frowned.

    "They¡¯ll arrow us down to thest man standing before we get to the other side."

    "I DO NOT WISH TO HEAR COWARDS WORDS! I ORDERED YOU TO CLAIM BACK THE LAND, YOU DO AS TOLD!"

    Dave tightened his fist; this man was no general. He was an idiot, the mere thought of sending men through that valley was stupid. Any half-decent person with a fart for a brain would think twice before sending anyone to their death. They can¡¯t get any advantage and will die before they could even reach halfway there. Unless Dave had his own undead army charging the valley, there was no way for any human to do it and survive.

    "We¡¯ll do as youmand, how many soldiers do we have."

    "I allocated the Ryu unit to you. A hundred men strong. I expect your task to be sessful by sundown. Leave" The Shogun replied, and shooed the two away.

    Dave scanned the map and updated his own. Then left after being dismissed.

    Once they were out, Ralph asked. "What do you think about that guy¡¯s n?"

    "It¡¯s stupid. He can¡¯t see that we¡¯re gonna kick the bucket the moment we get into the valley."

    "Got any Skelly ideas?"

    "I¡¯m thinking," Dave said as he rubbed his beard.

    Once his eyesnded on some of the broken carts. "I have an idea." He grinned.

 Chapter 509 - The One In Charge

    <h4>Chapter 509 - The One In Charge</h4>

    Dave followed Ralph until they reached the area where their hundred samurai warriors were stationed. They were all tending carefully to their weapons, cleaning them, and making sure they were sharp and their sheaths were well oiled.

    Dave pped his hand loud for all to hear him.

    "Fellow warriors, we¡¯re tasked to take back the hills from the invaders. I know it¡¯s going to be a difficult job, but I¡¯ll do my best so that we don¡¯t suffer casualties."

    "To hell with being safe! We came here to die! We came here for honor! We do not need any ns to keep us safe. We will fight and kill all those who oppose the Shogun!" One of the burlier men present shouted.

    The rest of the samurais all shouted in unison, agreeing with the burly samurai¡¯s words.

    Dave frowned, "Honor doesn¡¯t mean to throw your life away, that¡¯s just being reckless. If you¡¯re dead, that means that your lord has one less asset to use in battle. Don¡¯t talk stupid shit. Follow my orders and shut up." Dave spoke back.

    The men were clearly annoyed at Dave¡¯s words. It seems that his idea was against their beliefs. No wonder the samurai age died when gunpowder was produced. They charged right in the face of machine guns. Ignoring their safety. For honor. Dave could only shake his head.

    "Listen up, I need a few men to break down those crates, we need shields," Dave said, and began demonstrating, he tore one of the crates wheels, which brought a lot of attention to him. They didn¡¯t see him as an undead, so his immense strength was a surprise to many of the people there. He then removed some of the extra wood on the crate to make it as light as possible then carried the crate above his head.

    Normally a single person will find the crate too heavy to carry. But with many samurais, all of them pulling their own weight, the crate shouldn¡¯t hinder them much.

    "Like this," Dave said. This way we won¡¯t be arrowed down to thest man standing, the wood will keep us rtively safe."

    "What if they throw hot oil on us?" another person said.

    "That¡¯s improbable," Dave said as he put down the crate, "There is no way the enemy would have prepared oil for this battle, especially since it is expensive, and it is usually used for sieging. My only worry are boulders. But I saw the passage, if we¡¯re fast enough, we¡¯ll get to the other side of the valley before they could even think of using rocks."

    "This feels cowardly. Hiding behind a shield." The burly man said.

    "Cowardice is to die and leave your partners with more burden. You¡¯re a soldier, you have you a bit to do in war. If you are to die, you¡¯ll only create more difficulty for your brethren. Follow orders! This may not feel like the way of a samurai, but right now and right here. You¡¯re bound by duty to fulfill your task to your Shogun, no matter the mean. Do you understand?!"

    Dave said and the burly man let out a dissatisfied humph.

    This was what caused Dave to snap.

    Dave drew Durandal, "You refuse to listen and obey, I challenge you to a battle to the death."

    This made the burly samurai take a step back.

    "What are you doing Dave?" Ralph asked.

    "I can¡¯t have idiots who think they can do whatever they want, an army is like a chain, and it is only as strong as its weakest link. If I have someone no matter who ruining the atmosphere with his idiocy, then I¡¯m better with him dead than alive." Dave spoke back.

    The man in question turned to his friends andrades, no one was going to help him.

    He drew his sword still. "I ept your challenge!"

    "Damn idiot," Dave cursed and charged the man. His swing was too obvious, a downward cut that a kid would be able to dodge.

    Once Dave was in the range of the man¡¯s sword, he unceremoniously lifted one of his hands from his sword and grabbed the man¡¯s katana.

    Surprise overcame the burly samurai as his swing was stopped with a single hand.

    Dave pulled on the sword causing the samurai to jerk forward then he headbutted him. The burly man was dazed and let go of the sword. He took a few stunned steppes back and fell on his ass.

    Dave swung Durandal but stopped it right at the man¡¯s neck.

    "You died." Dave said, "Now your life belongs to me. Obey." Dave said.

    The man suddenly woke up from his stupor, once he realized his predicament he growled, "Never! I¡¯d rather kill myself than be another person¡¯s ve! My honor doesn¡¯t permit me to!"

    Dave kicked the man in the face and said, "Are you stupid? You are dead! You have no honor. You have nothing, only I have the right to allow you to die or live. Here are your witnesses."

    Dave pointed at the men that were watching.

    "They have seen it, they have seen you ept the challenge. If you kill yourself, then you dishonored yourself. You will be a liar and go against your own code. Serve, obey, do well and I may bring you back to life. For now, you¡¯re Dead!"

    The man was at a loss, he looked around once again, hoping to find sce or someone to help and assist him, but everyone was shaking their head. For them, Dave was right, he had spared the man, and the man now owes his life to Dave, he must do what he is told.

    The man struck the ground with a fist then said, "Iply."

    "Good, now," Dave didn¡¯t give a second nce at the samurai as he turned to the rest.

    "Anyone here has an objection against my way of doing things?!"

    No one spoke, "As I thought, now get to work!"

    Dave called and the samurais scattered like sheep seeing a wolf. They began breaking down the crates as fast as possible, making the makeshift protective shields that they could carry.

    "Bruh, you¡¯re kinda mean." Ralph grinned.

    "Mean? Bro, this is an army, they have to learn to respect their superiors and follow orders. If you have one rotten person in an army it¡¯s going to decrease the overall potential of your units. They all must learn their ces, and they all must follow orders."

    "Right then, so what¡¯s your n? We¡¯ll go with the army and hope we don¡¯t get squashed under a rock?"

    "Nah, You and me we¡¯ll be doing something else. Thankfully I still have my Undead Strength, it¡¯s going to help us a lot in the following mission."

    A couple of hourster, all the crates were formed to what Dave had ordered. Dave then approached the burly man and said.

    "You¡¯ll be leading the men to go through the valley."

    "What about you, general? It is your n, are you not going toe with us?"

    "Don¡¯t you dare think that I won¡¯t being with you because I¡¯m a coward or afraid of some rocks? My task is far more dangerous than yours. Just keep going through the valley, you¡¯ll hear my signal."

    "You there," Dave pointed at a group of samurais that were cl.u.s.tered together.

    "Flip the crate, get under."

    The samurais did as told.

    Dave began turning around the crate, making sure that the samurais were inside the perimeter of the crate.

    "The crate could hold about ten people. Good, I want five to carry the crate, and the other five to rest, swap with each other every ten minutes." Dave gave the orders and turned to Ralph.

    "ster, with me." And went sprinting toward the valley.

    "Man, I feel like I¡¯m tagging along on your own quest," Ralph said.

    "Military warfare is more my specialty, don¡¯t worry about it, you¡¯ll definitely have your own roles with your own tasks and missions."

    "Granted, it¡¯s my legacy. So, tell me where are we heading?" Ralph said.

    "To the valley."

    "Sometimes I have no idea what you¡¯re thinking."

    "Keep following," Dave said and the two went straight forward.

    The rest of Dave and Ralph¡¯s troops were in awe as they saw the two charging headfirst into the Valley, they didn¡¯t want to be left in the dust, so they picked up the crates and took them. It was extremely light once more than five samurais split the weight between them carrying the crates over their heads. A few samurais didn¡¯t do much in assistance but were keeping their strength to swap with the others once It bes heavier.

    Dave and ralph approached the valley pretty soon, it was getting dark, a perfect time for the night¡¯s attack. Dave and ralph made sure to use the cover of bushes and trees to not be spotted.

    Thankfully, they approached the valley¡¯s steep edge without being noticed. The valley¡¯s entrance was like the gullet of a beast opening its mouth, the rifts on its side were high and steep, an arrow from the bottom side will find it a grueling task to make it all the way up. But an archer from the high grounds will be shooting fish in a barrel.

    "If we go through the valley, we¡¯ll probably be seen," Ralph said.

    "We¡¯re not going through the valley." Dave said, he crouched on his knees and said, "get on my back."

    "Dude, are you serious."

    "Dead serious, this is the only way to get up, and you don¡¯t have the strength for it. Trust me, get on my back."

    "Damn this feels awkward," Ralph said.

    "Just don¡¯t tell anyone about it."

    Ralph shook his head and awkwardly got on Dave¡¯s back.

    "Hang on tight," Dave said and once Ralph secured his hands around Dave¡¯s neck.

    "Right, let¡¯s go!" Dave gave his legs some power and jumped up.

    The sudden jump made Ralph¡¯s heart drop. Dave had simply jumped more than thirty feet in one go.

    He grabbed at one of the protruding jagged rocks on the edge of the cliff, the lurched himself up using the strength of his arms.

    Dave was jumping the cliff like a professional rock climber, only he jumped farther, faster and didn¡¯t need any product to keep his hands from slipping from the rocks. His superhuman strength gave him enough pressure that he could carry his and Ralph¡¯s weight with just his index and thumb finger.

    Dave kept climbing and it didn¡¯t take long before the two were all the way on the top of the valley.

    "Damn, that¡¯s sick."

    "I know right. Listen up, this is where things get a bit crazy. Dave said as he raised his head a bit and took a look at his surrounding.

    "There is a group of six samurais on this side of the cliff. They are probably the scouts. We¡¯ll need to clear them. Quietly."

    "We can probably manage, but what about the other side? I mean we¡¯ll have to go down and climb back up, that¡¯s definitely gonna waste time." Ralph pointed.

    "I¡¯ll take care of that sideter; I¡¯m sure I can make the jump from here to there."

    "I admire your jumping power, but that¡¯s definitely more than fifty feet away," Ralph said.

    "I know, you¡¯re heavy, if I was the only one jumping against the cliff¡¯s side, I could have jumped faster and higher, I¡¯m sure I can make the jump. But before that, we need to at least have one area clear of hostiles. Ready?"

    "Yeah man, let¡¯s go then."

    "Alright, let¡¯s go."

    **** Please Make sure to read this story on , if you are reading Rise of the Undead legion anywhere else then you are on a pirating website, do not ept to offer any kinds of payment to such people as they are non-repsecting of author¡¯s right and I, as the writer am not benefiting from their schemes in any way possible.****

 Chapter 510 - Long Night

    <h4>Chapter 510 - Long Night</h4>

    Dave flew through the terrain toward the first of the watchers, he swung Durandal as powerfully as he could, lobbing the head of the unsuspecting guard off its torso. Not before the head could even touch the ground, Dave had lunched at the second and more shocked watcher, Durandal dug right under the nap of his neck, cracking bone and silencing him from calling an rm.

    Ralph took to Dave¡¯s right, there were a couple other guards in the distance, camping, they had taken turns in watch duty, and were sitting in front of a boiling pot of soup. Ralph made it theirst supper. The first guard that was intently watching the broth had a katana go from the back of his neck, exiting through his salivating mouth. Before the second one could even process what was going on, Ralph kicked him in the face, and brutally pulled the embedded de out of the neck of the first dead, spraying buckets of blood. He shed at the man¡¯s neck forever silencing him. All that was left was a trashing person, gasping for breath he will never take again.

    "We still have a lot of guards to kill. Can you manage this side?" Dave asked.

    "Yeah, but there are like a dozen or more left, it¡¯s gonna take a while"

    "More than fifty."

    "You can see them?"

    "Undead Dark Vision. Anyway, make sure you take out as many as you can, ourpany ising soon They¡¯ll be exposed, we need to lessen the burden on both sides so we don¡¯t get a lot of casualties. We have around five minutes before they get into the valley, maybe less." Dave said.

    "Right, I¡¯m on it."

    Dave nodded and turned his head to the other side. The cliff was far, fifty feet away. He took a few steps back, then sprinted as fast as he could. Dave shot out from his cliff side and jumped, waving both his legs and arms as if he was walking on air.

    Ralph took a deep breath, Dave was short a few feet and he began dropping down the valley, the fall will definitely hurt him bad if not outright kill him.

    Ralph got to the clif¡¯s edge on his side, peered down and was about to call Dave¡¯s name. He thought against it, it would only reveal his position and notify the enemy that an intruder was close.

    Thankfully, the dim light of a half moon bare light upon the armored person of Dave who was stuck to the wall of the cliff like a gecko. Dave looked up, unperturbed by the miscalcted jump and heaved with all he could, jumping using the power of his arms and legs.

    Ralph was genuinely surprised, Dave was actually right, he had jumped at least twice the height and distance than when he was carrying Ralph.

    In one Jump Dave managed to reach the edge of the cliff, he climbed up, turned to Ralph and extended a thumb¡¯s up.

    Ralph knew what to do, he had to start hacking and killing, the night is young and a lot of blood is gonna be shed.

    The two began a mass ughter in the night, and not before thepany could arrive to the valley, the first rm sounded. Dave was spotted, some random warrior was taking a leak, and when he returned to his post he saw the body of one of hisrades.

    "RALPH! MAKE SOME NOISE!" Dave shouted and began ughtering anyone that came his way.

    Ralph understood the meaning behind Dave¡¯s sudden shout, it was to bring the attention of every warrior and soldier on the cliffs to them, and give thepany time to pass through the valley.

    Thepany noticed what the two crazies were doing, they charged faster than before. They didn¡¯t want to waste the opportunity that their generals had given them, they sacrificed themselves to face off against an army each, just to give these lowly soldiers a chance at turning the tides.

    "Hurry!" called the buffed samurai, in all quietness and hushedness he could.

    Their group began marching faster, creating sound, but it was muffled by the crazed rampage of both Dave and Ralph on the cliffs.

    This was not going tost for long, Dave judged, the enemy outnumbered them three to one. And the men on the cliff were not as numerous as the men on the other side of the valley. Once the main force takes notice of thismotion, they would send in troops to support the watchers and Dave¡¯spany will getpromised.

    Dave¡¯s side was heavily packed with watchers, he didn¡¯t have a problem yet in dealing with them. They were unorganized, and were not working harmoniously together, many of them stumbled in the dark, failing to have a proper footing, as for Dave his night vision aided him tremendously in assessing the situation andnding sneaky blows.

    The watchers took note of the difficult vision situation and began lighting torches to get rid of the disadvantage. Dave took the chance to mare any torch near him in the mud to snuff it out and continued the ughter.

    Ralph on the other hand was being pressed into the defensive, too many soldiers and he too was not able to have a proper footing due to the night. When the light came up, he had more easier time dealing with the watchers, but so did they, not finding it that difficult anymore to maneuver.

    The battle raged on, for minutes, nicks cuts and bruises, and more enemy soldiers came in to join the fray.

    Dave pushed his side forward until he was able to see the camp in the distance, he realized why the enemy troops were getting to him fast. On this side of the valley, the way up was a paved road. Unlike the entrance form where Dave came where he had to carry Ralph and climb up. The enemy soldiers could simply run up from their camp to the cliff.

    "HOSTILES MARCHING THE VALLEY!" one of the watchers finally noticed Dave and Ralph¡¯spany walking hidden by the night¡¯s veil.

    "I guess this is it for the distraction, Ralph! Jump!" Dave shouted.

    Ralph looked at Dave who began his sprint toward his side of the cliff. Dave was about to jump, but why did he ask Ralph to jump too?

    Ralph didn¡¯t have time to process and analyze Dave¡¯s strange request, he trusted his friend so he bonked a warrior on the head with the hilt of his sword and sprinted to the edge of the cliff.

    He jumped toward valley, where Daveunched himself a second before.

    Dave managed to grab at Ralph in midair, and with the strength behind his powerful lung, he pushed the two of them to the cliff¡¯s side.

    Dave had Durandal ready and dug it against the cliff to give them a better supporting position. The legendary sword found it easy to dig itself and carry the weight of both Dave and ralph.

    "What now?" Ralph said to Dave.

    Dave tightened his grip on Ralph¡¯s arm and said, "We¡¯ll go down, we did our job. We need to push with thepany, we don¡¯t have a lot of distance left to cover."

    "Right, then let¡¯s go."

    "Let¡¯s go!" Dave jerked Durandal and jumped down, stabbing he sword in the rocks whenever he could to lessen the fall speed. Soon the two of them made it to the ground where thepany were in utter shock.

    "That was inspirational!" one of the samurais said.

    "Inspirational my ass! Get moving! We¡¯ll get obliterated if we stay under the arrows!" Dave shouted. He didn¡¯t want his effort to go to waste. He bought a lot of time for thepany, it was time for them to do their job.

    The first volley of arrows shot down, none of themnded on any of the samurais. Which gave them a great boost of morals, they didn¡¯t die pointlessly and they were bound to wet their des in the blood of their enemies tonight.

    Dave didn¡¯t opt to go under the cover of the crates.

    "General! Come under!"

    "I don¡¯t need the cover, I¡¯m able to see the arrows keep moving I¡¯ll cover the nks!" Dave called.

    Ralph sadly didn¡¯t have the opportunity and ability to see in the dark, so he had to go under the cover of the crates and use his buffed arms to carry the lion¡¯s share of weight all by himself.

    "MOVE, MOVE, MOVE!" Ralph shouted and the samurais marched under the valley like a train.

    Dave began swatting arrows away, helping reduce the damage on the crates.

    One of the soldiers took an arrow to the knee and fell down crying out. One of the crates was near him, and a couple of the samurais that didn¡¯t have to carry the weight dragged him under it and continued their march.

    Dave noticed a few soldiers on the cliff pushing a heavy boulder, if it falls the wooden crate would be of no protection to them, it would be the same as if they were trying to block a bullet using a paper.

    Dave hurried up, jumped against the cliff¡¯s side andunched himself in the air, power amassed in the muscles of his arms and Durandal, wielded and swung with both arms.

    The sword roared against space, as Dave¡¯s swing was powerful and strong enough that it created a vacuum.

    The boulder fell and Durandal met it. The Sword cut the boulder cleanly in half, splitting it and causing the rock to fall harmlessly to the side of thepany.

    "A FEW MORE FEET! MOVE!" Dave shouted and soon thepany was in the open.

    "Clean up on isle cliff! Split five toons with me! Ralph take the others and clean up the cliff side!" Dave called.

    Five samurai toons moved with Dave, they totaled fifty soldiers and they walked up the edge of the cliff that they had just cleared up, Dave ordered one of the troops to stay back and use the crates as barricades to stop any samurais form going up their way, or at least slow them down.

    He rallied the information to Ralph who did the same and barricaded the cliff¡¯s climb from the enemy¡¯s camp and then began cleaning up any soldiers that were shooting arrows at them before.

    The battle at the cliff¡¯s side was a massacre. The watchers were no match for the fifty samurais on each side of the cliff and they were done and dusted in less than five minutes. It was enough time for Dave to gather back the remaining of his troops and send them back to help the toon that was blocking the enemy¡¯s troops from climbing and assisting the now dead watchers.

    Dave used the crates to the best of their abilities, forcing the enemy to go into tight spaces to fight them, and lessen the numerical pressure against him. Ralph also began sharing information with Dave using the game¡¯s voice.

    Soon, the enemy soldier pressure lessened, especially after Dave¡¯s troops mowed down at least sixty of them. Ralph¡¯s troops were also doing a great job and their side was clear out of the enemy in the same time that Dave¡¯s was.

    The remaining stragglers escaped pulling with them whoever survived, o was too wounded to carry himself out of the battle.

    A few of Dave¡¯s troops wanted to make chase, but a sternmand put the Samurais in ce.

    "Collect the dead! Dress your wounds! Fortify the barricades, tonight is going to be a long one!"

    **** Please Make sure to read this story on , if you are reading Rise of the Undead legion anywhere else then you are on a pirating website, do not ept to offer any kinds of payment to such people as they are non-repsecting of author¡¯s right and I, as the writer am not benefiting from their schemes in any way possible.****

 Chapter 511 - Two Men Army.

    <h4>Chapter 511 - Two Men Army.</h4>

    Dave called Ralph¡¯s troops over to fortify their position. The added crates made it far more difficult for any enemy¡¯s advance to make the situation any harder for Dave and his troops. It would be far more beneficial for thepany to stay together.

    "I need five men to stay watch, the rest of you get some rest. Sleep if you can. We¡¯ll need all the energy we can get." Dave said.

    Five samurais volunteered to stay up and be on guard duty, the rest made sure that the moment their heads hit the ground, they were already asleep, a technique developed in times of war, to help the body rest in preparation for an uing battle.

    Dave didn¡¯t need rest or sleep, he remained awake with the guards so did Ralph. "I don¡¯t quite understand the purpose of this quest bro," Dave said.

    "Same, think about it, if you weren¡¯t here with your Undead abilities, we wouldn¡¯t have been able to climb the cliff¡¯s side and clear up the path for the samurais. Also, the crate idea was great, I wouldn¡¯t have thought of it, and that would have cost us a lot of troops on its own."

    "Yeah, I¡¯m beginning to think that this was not a mission we were supposed to seed in, we were only needed to survive."

    "You think we¡¯ll get extra credits for this twist?" Ralph asked.

    "Definitely, all hard work must be repaid, and Albert is gonna do something about it," Dave answered.

    The two kept on chatting as time passed. The enemy camp was still regrouping and organizing themselves for an assault, but no signs of obvious hostility came forward.

    This gave ample time to Dave, Ralph, and theirpany to rest well, the guards swapped three times, signaling three hours of shifts.

    Dawn broke, far too fast for Dave¡¯s liking, but this was probably the setting for this quest.

    "I see movement!" one of the samurais on guard duty called.

    "ON YOUR FEET!" Dave¡¯s shout was strong enough to wake the dead, so all those asleep rose up to their feet, their hands on their swords.

    "The enemyes, prepare for battle!" Dave called and the samurais were now fully alert and awake.

    Dave stood up from his seating position and looked at the iing enemy. He frowned and looked behind him at his own troops. He had more than ny Samurais. But what wasing towards them was far more than they could ever hope to match.

    An army of thousands if not tens of thousands. He could kill to his heart¡¯s content but it will never be enough to stop this march. This quest was not meant to be seeded in.

    Once the samurais took note of the iing army, they were horrified, there was no way they would survive the day. The numbers were just too much for their smallpany.

    "Damn," Ralph muttered.

    "Yeah," Dave turned to his troops and said.

    "Go back. All of you, retreat." Dave gave the order. The samurais didn¡¯t understand what he meant, they were here to die, and were going to die with their general. There was no way he would convince them otherwise.

    Little that they knew of Dave that is.

    "GET THE HELL BACK! Your fight is over, get back to the main camp."

    Ralph picked up on Dave¡¯s words and also called.

    "We don¡¯t need you anymore, your job is done. Get out of here. Take the ropes down, you¡¯ll make it if you hurry." Ralph added.

    "We¡¯re not leaving without you!" the burly man said.

    "I gave an order! Soldiers follow orders! Now go back or I¡¯ll break your legs and you¡¯ll be forced to go back." Dave drew his sword.

    The samurai fully understood that their generals were trying to protect them from harm, even if they spoke such solemn words.

    "Not a word further! FOLLOW THE ORDER OF THE GENERAL! FALL BACK! If the Shogun bitches about it, tell him it was a direct order!"

    The burly man howled in rage, pulled his sword past it across his palm until it bled and the sword was marked with it, then the burly man dug it in the ground.

    "My spirit fights with you!" he said and turned back walking down toward the rope.

    Another samurai hesitated for a second, but also approached Dave, drew his katana, cut his palm with, and dug it in the ground, "My spirit fights with you."

    More and more samurais came in, digging their weapon, a sign of theirpanionship to the death, they fulfilled the general¡¯s order in leaving the ce, but their spirits will stay to help the two in the uing battle.

    Once thest sword was stabbed down, the man spoke, "Our spirits fight with you, may they protect you. It has been an honor serving under you, generals." Thest man spoke and took the rope down.

    "I guess this is another virtue. Courage,"

    "Nope, these are all the remaining four. Courage, in facing overwhelming odds. Duty in protecting our underling as their lives are bound to us by cause, and if they were to die in vain it will be on us. Compassion, for not letting them die meaningless deaths. And finally, integrity, because bro, we said we gonna fight, and we¡¯re fighting alright."

    "Damn, how far in the future do you see man, hah!" Ralphughed.

    "Just basic stuff. Now get ready, it¡¯s gonna be a tough battle." Dave said and soon came the arrows.

    A volley of arrows thick enough that it covered the breaking daylight as it fell down on Dave and Ralph.

    Dave pulled a crate over the two and the arrows fell upon it, filling it like needles in a pincushion. The crate turned heavier with the number of arrows embedded in it. Soon the arrows stopped. When Dave removed the barely functioning crate, he noticed a forest of arrows around them.

    "Damn, just this would have wiped out all of our troops."

    "Yep. Ready up bud," Dave drew Durandal and pointed it forward.

    "I really miss my sword." Ralph sighed and the two of them charged into ten thousand.

    No battle could have been more epic, the base HP of Dave and Ralph were massivepared to the NPCs against them. A system given advantage, they both had more health, more stamina, and more power in their blows. Compared to them, the NPCs were regr men, while Dave and Ralph were superhumans.

    They were able to dish out loads of damage. Dave would swing his sword and lives would fall under its weight. Ralph¡¯s own katana was not a poor match, it was also able to slice and dice, cut and sh faster than the eye could see.

    The two danced between the thousands of NPCs. Culling lives as if they were picking weed. de and sword crossed, and Durandal came victorious in every matchup, breaking the opponent¡¯s weapon and his skull in one singer swing.

    Ralph¡¯s sword was so sharp the contact against steel was like the contact between a hot knife and butter. It sliced sword and armor as if they were made of paper.

    Yet the numbers were too much for the two. Ralph took a hit to the heel, causing him to sway, unable to have a proper footing. Another NPC tackled Ralph and a bunch of them jumped on him burying him in a clump of bodies.

    Dave noticed his friend¡¯s predicament, pushed the cl.u.s.tering NPCs to the side, and grabbed him by the leg. The only visible part of Ralph. Dave pulled Ralph from under all the soldiers, he was bloodied, some even bit at him.

    "Up you go, buddy!" Dave called and hurled Ralph to the skies.

    Ralph, in Dave¡¯s hands, weighed nothing more than a piece of rock. He threw him high up, enough time for Dave to tighten his grip on Durandal and swing it around himself like a top.

    The sword was merciless, it didn¡¯t cut people, it split them, broke them in halves as it spun around Dave, killing any unfortunate soldier, or worse, wounding them half a step to death, causing them to howl in misery.

    Ralph¡¯s descent was stopped by an extended hand. Dave grabbed his buddy in mid-air and said, "You good?"

    "Give me a heads up next time will ya?"

    "Sure, get your ass back to work, we still got lots of killing to do," Dave said.

    Seconds turned to minutes, which turned to hours. The numbers of bodies around Dave and Ralph were staggering, enough that they made their own mountain of corpses. They stood atop them, killing off any NPCs that still dared toe their way.

    Ralph was nearly depleted, he didn¡¯t half even a quarter of Dave¡¯s max HP, and he was taking damage a lot. Dave had him stay on the top of the mound of bodies, and wait for his base regeneration to pump up his HP to eptable levels. Dave on the other hand was fresh as new. His passive generated enough hp for him to sustain all the damage from the NPCs without any setbacks. If he were the only one doing this mission, it would have to take him days to finish but he was certain he would end up killing every single NPC here.

    Yet this was Ralph¡¯s Legacy Upgrade, and he must protect his buddy.

    Dusk came, and the visibility turned grim. The Soldiers noticed that it was getting difficult to kill the two and without proper vision or proper footing it was going to be even more of a hindrance to taking them down.

    Dave killed a man by splitting his head in two then kicked the body tond on another.

    "Shinigami!" One of the soldiers shouted in horror and escaped. More began following.

    This was a glimpse of hope in Dave¡¯s eyes, if they kept on killing them, even more brutally so, the soldiers will fear and feel that they are in the face of omnipotent power.

    It was true, for the soldiers, Dave and Ralph were like the angels of death. They didn¡¯t tire, they didn¡¯t weaken, they kept on killing and piling on the bodies. As for the soldiers, they died, whoever came to the angels of death died miserably.

    "Stand your ground!" one man called and the retreating troops stopped.

    Dave had one good look at the man and frowned. This one was wearing an outfit far too decorate for a normal soldier. He was a general ss, or even higher from the look of the few soldiers next to him, this man was probably the leader.

    "Surrender!" said the man toward Dave. "Surrender your weapons and we will spare you, no need for more lives to be wasted."

    "From where I¡¯m standing, you¡¯re the one wasting lives, I¡¯m still alive..." Dave noticed a half-dead man at his feet going for his knife. Dave gave him an armored boot to the face that ended his life. "Like I said I¡¯m still alive and kicking."

    "Who¡¯s this guy?" Ralph asked.

    "Don¡¯t know, it should bemon courtesy to say one¡¯s name in these situations don¡¯t you think?"

    "I¡¯m Bei lo, The western Daimyo."

    "What does that mean?" Ralph questioned.

    "Means he is the Western Shogun¡¯s right-hand man."

    "Oh, we got a big shot over here."

    "Surrender or we¡¯ll burn you down with the bodies!" The Daimyo said.

    The soldiers next to Bei Lo frowned upon his im. They didn¡¯t burn bodies, they buried them, for their souls to rest.

    "Now I don¡¯t think you quite understand your position here, guy," Dave said.

    The Daimyo frowned, what was that man talking about.

    "You¡¯re in my jump range," Dave grinned and jumped forward like a pouncing leopard. His sword at the read pointed forward while the Daimyo was stunned at how far that man had just jumped.

    Dave ended the man¡¯s life with one swing, and turned to the ornate soldiers that were right next to him, a few chops and shes and they were quick work. Ralph was so unimportant at the time that no one thought about climbing up and group kill him. Dave had brought a lot of attention to himself with his stunt.

    "We¡¯re just getting started!" Dave howled.

    But Ralph¡¯s answer soon came to his ears.

    "Nah buddy, I think we did it, man."

    "What do you mean?" Dave asked after he separated a man from his legs.

    "Do you hear that? The horn." Ralph said.

    Dave didn¡¯t hear anything; he was still questioning if all that fighting made his friend a bit crazy.

    "Rohan hade atst!" were Ralph¡¯s words.

    The sound of rumbling echoed in the distance, and from Dave¡¯s position he couldn¡¯t see clearly. So, he jumped to where Ralph was on the corpse mound and was stunned at the revtion. The iing troops all held the Shogun¡¯s banner, the Shogun from Dave¡¯s camp. It was true, what Ralph said, Rohan hade atst.

    **** Please Make sure to read this story on , if you are reading Rise of the Undead legion anywhere else then you are on a pirating website, do not ept to offer any kinds of payment to such people as they are non-repsecting of author¡¯s right and I, as the writer am not benefiting from their schemes in any way possible.****

 Chapter 512 - Solo Path Forward.

    <h4>Chapter 512 - Solo Path Forward.</h4>

    The charging samurais, on horse-back and on their legs were like awnmower as they swept across the battlefield.

    The enemy troops fell to their feet as the horses run them down, swords and spears cutting shing, and impaling the slowest of the bunch. There was no way for them to make a proper stand, the charge was sudden, and they had no tools or barricades set up to defend against it.

    The first of the charge was the burly man that was in Dave¡¯spany, he rode on howling to the breaking night, "AVENGE OUR FALLEN GENERALS!"

    The samurais behind him roared back in unison and increased their pace. For them, the two generals gave their lives to help them escape, and now it was time to pay the enemy their due.

    Dave came down from the corpse mound, hacking at the stragglers, and shouted back, "WE¡¯RE NOT DEAD YET YOU SHLOB! Clear the nks, get the infantry to slow down, you¡¯ll exhaust them to death."

    The burly man was stunned, when he saw the still ¡¯living¡¯ Dave, also ster was no worse. The scariest thing was the mount of corpses that was behind them, just these two were enough to y their way through an entire army, perhaps the general didn¡¯t send them off because he was afraid they would die, he sent off thepany because they were probably gonna just be slowing them down.

    But it was still inconceivable, to be able to kill so many of the enemy and not suffer more than a few cuts and minor injuries. Mostly ster as the other general was unmarred by the swords of his enemies.

    The troops followed Dave¡¯smand, letting the cavalry continue the charge and the infantry to stop and do a clean up of all the wounded and those that survived the preliminary charge.

    It took less than half an hour for the troops on Dave¡¯s side to clear and conquer the field. They didn¡¯t pursue the hunt for far long, the hit the enemy troops have just taken was great, they¡¯ll have to fold back and give up on this position.

    "It¡¯s nice of you to join us," Ralph said to the burly man.

    "Lord general, it was by no means easy. The Shogun had dismissed us when we went in to seek assistance in aiding you, iming that the death of two men is better than all of us, especially since we have failed to take the valley."

    "Do you see any failure here?" Dave questioned.

    "I do not, and because of your selfless sacrifice, we managed to tell the story and the army rallied to our cause, despite the orders of the Shogun."

    "Damn, that¡¯s not good man, you shouldn¡¯t disobey your superiors," Dave said.

    "But it was cowardly! The Shogun had reveled in knowing that only you two were left to halt the advance of ten thousand. But when we shared the story of your bravery, the men followed despite the threat of execution."

    "That means..." Dave turned to the army and said, "That you¡¯re all Ronin now?"

    "Yes, but we do not care. Honor binds us!"

    "Dave grinned; the Shogun must be furious."

    "Indeed, he is, he has sent word to the Emperor, telling him of our betrayal. He promised the death of our families to the thirteenth generation."

    Dave frowned. That was just absurd.

    "We do not fear for our lives, nor do we believe our families will think that their deaths are dishonorable, still we wish not for them to suffer the edge of the sword. What are your orders? General?" the burly man asked.

    Dave turned to the east and said, "We march to the capital." He grinned.

    Yet before the soldiers could even register what Dave had said a man came on horseback toward him.

    "It¡¯s a Justiciar!" Spoke the burly man and all men knelt on their feet as if they were meeting with the emperor.

    The justiciar was wearing a golden helmet that covered his face entirely, his entire body was wrapped in red silk and gold ting. Even his white horse was armored up in gold.

    The justiciar held a banner in his hand that had a circr sigil, the emperor¡¯ seal.

    "I Bring the word of his majesty! General Oda! General Murasaki! Kneel and receive his word!"

    Dave was annoyed, he was about to tell the Justiciar where he could put the Emperor¡¯s word, but his body automatically knelt. It was a game gimmick. He couldn¡¯t even utter a word.

    "The lord emperor has received word of your bravery, standing against the enemy of the nation, two men against an army, and hereby, ted your ranks from Generals to Daimyo Oda, Daimyo Murasaki of the Eastern Army and Western Army respectfully. It hase to our knowledge, that former Shogun Tokugawa has been plotting against his majesty and purposefully sending troops to their death with a little beneficial impact on our cause. We have judged and condemned him to death and all of the thirteen generations of his family. The emperor has also lifted the Ronin ban upon all of your armies, and are herebypensated for their brave task to go against the traitor and save our honor, by increasing their wage ten times! The Emperor may he live long and prosper has given you all his blessing, may you conquer and triumph!"

    The justiciar¡¯s word ended and with it came the ted shout of all of the army behind Dave.

    "BANZAIII!"

    A notification appeared in front of Dave,

    ***

    You havepleted your task. Rating S

    You have unlocked the remaining virtues, Compassion, Heroic Courage, Integrity, Duty.

    Second Phase of the Legacy of the Fu Temple has been unlocked and is now essible.

    Continue forward!

    ***

    Dave and Ralph were teleported back to the dojo.

    "Guess that went better than expected. Damn I even leveled up once". Ralph said.

    "I barely got a fraction of my exp bar up, anyway what¡¯s the next task?"

    "We¡¯ll need to ring the bell again," Ralph said and went toward therge brass bell. He struck it with his pommel and the two found themselves in another area.

    It was space, the outer space, there was no ground under them, but they felt like they stepped on solid soil. The skies were decorated in stars like candles. And from where they stood, they could see a hundred Tengu sitting in the lotus position.

    The closest Tengu opened his eyes, looked at Dave, and said, "You¡¯re not wee here. Begone," he uttered and with a wave of his hand, Dave was teleported back to the temple¡¯s entrance to where they fought the Naandloushii. The massive temple¡¯s gates closed up, the ruined atmosphere around it began reshaping itself, the broken walls repaired themselves and for just a moment the great temple was restored to its former glorious self, then it disappeared from the ce.

    "Where are you, bro?" Ralph asked.

    "Out, he kicked me out, and I have no clue how to leave this ce, only you know the exact path out. Shit, I¡¯ll be stuck here, I can¡¯t even use a teleportation scroll."

    "Damn man, I¡¯ll try and clear this up, it seems that from here onwards all the quests will be solo."

    "It¡¯s cool, I¡¯ll wait for you."

    "There is no need," Albert spoke to Dave.

    The AI appeared out of nowhere and gave Dave a slight jumpscare.

    "What are you doing here? I didn¡¯t call for you."

    "I know, but your actions did, the quest script required the two of you to die, but as an Undead, you had a great advantage in the legacy quest and if you aided your friend too much, his legacy rank will drop because he didn¡¯t work hard for it."

    "I didn¡¯t know it worked like that."

    "Yes, the harder the endeavors, the more powerful the legacy. For your exit, you can follow this path," Albert said and a blue line appeared in the forest, curving around trees going side to side then disappearing through the trees.

    "Follow it and you¡¯ll find yourself out of this spatial enclosure."

    "Thanks a lot," Dave said.

    "You have defeated one of the Cmities."

    "Yes, I did. Shouldn¡¯t I have?"

    "On the contrary, it was a good thing, now one of them is not going to harm the people of this world. But you know what this means right?"

    "I think I do, that the cmities will not patiently wait until the day they¡¯re set free. Or, some of them, have already survived thest culling of the gods, and managed to hide in wait."

    "Yes, a handful of them is still here in this world, if you could find and kill them before the rest are released it will be a good boon to your survival."

    "Is it okay to tell me all of this though?"

    "It is, it is but information that will soon be understood by many of this world¡¯s yers. Your kind is not dumb. They¡¯ll figure it out eventually. For now, leave you still have much to do." Alfred said and disappeared from in front of Dave.

    Dave turned back, sent his friend a message wishing him good luck in his legacy, and followed the blue line out of the spatial inclusion.

    **** Please Make sure to read this story on , if you are reading Rise of the Undead legion anywhere else then you are on a pirating website, do not ept to offer any kinds of payment to such people as they are non-repsecting of author¡¯s right and I, as the writer am not benefiting from their schemes in any way possible.****

 Chapter 513 - An Undead Walked Into a Bar...

    <h4>Chapter 513: An Undead Walked Into a Bar...</h4>

    Dave managed to leave the area of the Fu Temple Spatial Inclusion, he was back to the wilds and it was a bright day once again. He tore a teleportation scroll to Urburg, he needed to have a chat with Nick.

    Once Dave was at the newly renovated town of Urburg, he noticed a great deal of change.

    The town borders had a massive extension of agriculturalnd. Corn and wheat grew covering the fields in the golden and green colors of life. Undead helped man the fields along with the cattle. They were strong enough to pull the plowing devices and were not as cumbersome to use, they didn''t need food, water, or rest and they could do the job of ten men each.

    The city buildings looked newer, all the people in Urburg enjoyed a great deal of prosperity, the town was blossoming in natural riches, peace, and a good sense of calm and security thanks to the undead roaming the ce.

    Dave walked up to Urburg and saw two familiar figures with thepany of Nick.

    Death was sitting in one of the bar chairs, giggling at Nick''s jokes while she took sips from her drink.

    While the second was Singund, Dave''s orc chieftain, gobbling up what seemed to be his twelfth mug of ale.

    "Wee Kid," Nick greeted.

    Dave nodded and the orc turned once he saw Dave, he snorted in discontent and went back to his mug.

    "Seems that someone is pretty pissed about your discission."

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    "What''s going on?" Dave asked.

    "Lord, I don''t want to seem ungrateful, but you were unfair. Cruelly so."

    Dave frowned, what was going on?

    "What the heck are you talking about?" Dave asked and sat next to the orc. Nick served him a beer in a wooden mug.

    "The battle with the Ash King. Dog''s been gloating about all the heads he bashed in, all the people he slew and killed, even Bud, he wasn''t much of a talker, but the battle against the Ash King got even that voiceless ghoul grinning with pride. While I was stuck keeping guard on towns and cities that didn''t need protection." The orc struck the mug against the bar "More!"

    Dave wasn''t sure that the orc had realized that the guy serving his drink was a god. But he was too pissed to even care.

    If Nick was bothered by his behavior, he didn''t show it.

    "I''m not going to apologize Singund, we each have our roles. You''re wrong to think that I would not have included you among my men in the Ash King''s battle because I didn''t think you were fit for it."

    "Then WHY?! I wanted to fight for his majesty! And for you! Why not include me?!" the orc eximed.

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    "Simply put, Remove Dog''s legacy power, you''re the strongest undead I have under mymand."

    "That doesn''t make any sense! If I''m your strongest, why not bring me in?"

    "You''re missing the point Singund. Think about it, how many enemies do I have?"

    "A lot as I presume, almost all of the adventurers want your head."

    "Exactly, then when all of them know that I have a great battle in the underworld, didn''t you think that one of them would want to take the opportunity while I''m away to try and take what is mine?"

    "You mean raid, Qin? But I wasn''t stationed at Qin, I was here! Stuck in this dammed forest, fighting stupid beasts to safe keep vigers, even my orcish troops grew tired of those damnable dumb creatures that see death in the vicinity and don''t pay her any respect!"

    "How ironic," Nick grinned, and Death giggled at his quip.

    Dave smirked it was obvious that the orc didn''t know the identity of the two deities right next to him.

    The orc didn''t understand what was going on, but he still shouted.

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    "Listen up, what''s the only way for those adventurers to get to Qin?" Dave asked.

    "Right. Now that I think about it, the wilds. But the Wilds are huge, they could have gone from another side and I wouldn''t have known."

    "I purposefully sent you to the area that had the least concentration of Area Bosses. And if any dumb adventurer wanted to get to Qin, they would have had to go through you. Which would be impossible, because you''re my strongest."

    "Second Strongest!"

    "I told you, it''s only because Dog has a legacy."

    "A legacy is power to oneself, he is strong, I will not lie to myself about it. But right, I can see your reasoning, but at least you should have told us, Lord. We felt that we have wronged you and you punished us that way."

    "I have an idea," Nick said as he pped his hands.

    "To make things easier for both of you, I have a task for you."

    Singund, obviously drunk pointed his shaky mug at the undead wiping the ss. "Who might you be to task us and the lord?"

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    Dave immediately bonked him on the head, "You don''t know trouble when you see it? Open your eyes, that''s Nichs, the Undeath God, your creator, and the reason you''re able to battle long after your death."

    The Orc''s eyes widened, before he could even utter another word Dave interjected "Not to make you embarrass yourself, even more, that''s Death, right next to you. And you didn''t pay her any respects when she''s in your vicinity either."

    Singund''s mouth began opening and closing, not sure if the ale was the cause of his loss of words or the fact that he was sitting with gods and didn''t even notice.

    "So, what you got for me?"

    "Well, seeing that the Cmities areing soon, I thought why not give my beloved children another of their Aces back."

    Dave frowned, "Are you talking about Deadra?"

    "Oh, now that would be a wonderful idea. But no, Deadra¡­Well, it is not difficult to bring him back if you put in the effort." Nick said as he scratched his head.

    "But I don''t think the Undead King will like that."

    "It doesn''t matter, in times of need every strength is needed. But if you bring Deadra, that means that Drahma has a chance."

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    Nick''s expression turned solemn.

    "No. Drahma is gone. Death by the Gae Bolg is true death. Ask her yourself."

    Death turned to Dave and said, "Nichs is right. I blessed the god ying weapons with a power that rends their bodies and destroyed their soulspletely. If one were to die by a god ying object, that means that they cannot be brought back, because there is nothing to bring them back from."

    Dave sighed, he really wanted to bring Drahma back, but if death herself said it was not possible, then there was nothing he could do, no matter how vexing the situation was, he couldn''t change that fact.

    "So about my task."

    "Deadra revival, yeah how do we do it?" Dave asked.

    "I told you it was not Deadra, although it''s someone of his caliber," Nick said.

    "Really, someone as strong as the mightiest Knight of the Undead King?"

    "Technically speaking," Nick said. "He is at least three times as strong as Deadra. Actually, by now he should be as powerful as the Undead King. He only has one single tiny teeny problem."

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    "Damn, that strong? Wouldn''t that put a lot of friction between the Undead King and this "ally"?

    "Emm, that''s another problem too. I wouldn''t specifically be calling him an ally."

    "You''re being annoying you know that Nick."

    "I''m doing it on purpose," Nick grinned in a childish smile.

    "So who is this guy?"

    "Well, it''s someone you already met, you and Da. Remember the Tomb of that Qin Knight you sawst time, in that cavern where you found an old teleportation gate?"

    "Yeah, I remember that, I didn''t dare wake that thing up."

    "Good thing you didn''t, he would have turned you to minced meat then. Anyway, now my mission to you is simple, wake him up." Nick said.

    "I might fail," Dave said, "My necromancy isn''t strong enough to awaken something that powerful. Even Da will need a lot of time to prepare, especially with all that energy he wasted waking up the ck Dragon."

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    "Nah, don''t worry," Nick said and tapped Dave on the back of his palm.

    A ck swirl of energy prated through Dave''s hand and a burning sensation caught him off guard, it was as if his hand was on fire.

    ***

    Absolut Revival!

    Nichs the Undead God has blessed you with a one time use of [Rise Undead] that will not fail.

    ***

    "That''s handy."

    "Yep, don''t waste it, I can''t give you more, that will be breaking the rules."

    "Giving him just this one is breaking the Rules Nicks," Death said.

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    "Hey, it''s just bending them, he could still revive him with a bit of time and more magic even without this. I''m just elerating the process."

    Death shook her head; the punk-head was incorrigible.

    "What about Deadra, you said you had a way;"

    "Yep, but not now."

    "Why not?" Dave asked.

    "How awkward will it be for me to bring him back. While you''re holding his prized shield and sword?"

    Dave thought about it for a moment and said, "Emm, I think you''re right. Until I get better gear. That will be awkward."

    "Better gear? You''re mad to think that there is anything better than Ajax and Durandal." Nick said.

    "There are Arch-God weapons," Dave said in a matter-of-factly.

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    Nick and Death both burst outughing at the same time.

    "If you said something funny, I didn''t understand it," Singund said joining the conversation after a long time of listening.

    Dave was of the same opinion; he had no idea what these two were talking about.

    "Arch-God weapons are made by men and blessed by gods. Durandal and Ajax are cursed weapons, Made By A god, and blessed by a god. Do you see the difference?"

    "Well, the lore says Vulkan made it."

    "Yes, Vulkan has been gloating about the creation of the best weapon and the best shield to ever exist, he was a snobbish, arrogant, and prideful fool, but. He was the best at what he did."

    "You''re talking about him in the past tense. I guess."

    "Yes, by that very sword and shield," Nick said. "That''s the reason for the curse. The de and shield were in agony after having to kill their owner, so they cursed themselves to never be able to show their real might. You saw a fraction of it when you were in the chaos area in the wilds."

    "Who killed him?" Dave asked.

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    "Now you''re asking the good questions. But we''re not allowed to answer that."

    "I suppose taking revenge upon who killed Vulkan will make these two a lot less Cursed and a lot more badass?"

    "As I said, you''re asking the right questions. Now go and do what I asked, you''ll find it challenging, but helpful if you seed."

    "Right, I''m on it."

    "You, go with him, you''ll have a lot of fun too," Nick said addressing the orc.

    Dave shrugged and turned to Singund, "You''re gonna regret it now he said that.

    Singund looked awfully suspicious of Nichs but if he said there was going to be a fight, Singund was gonna be there.

    Dave and Singund left the bar and headed to the teleportation gate in Urburg.

    ***

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    "You didn''t tell him about the problem with that person?" Death asked.

    "Ah, yes, I forgot. Well, he''s gonna have to go and find out."

    "You think he''ll be happy to know? I mean, Once he is back, and especially with Kis''Shtiengrabh''s current position of power. A misunderstanding is bound to happen."

    "Well, wouldn''t that make it fun?"

    "You''re gonna cause a civil war between your undead."

    "Hopefully, it won''t escte to that level."

    "You''re really acting like a child sometimes."

    "Most of the timed, but it''s the best way to have some fun. We''re immortals, we could use a bit of excitement in our endless lives from eon to eon."

 Chapter 514 - Heavenly

    <h4>Chapter 514 - Heavenly</h4>

    (This part was not intended to be written but due to some of the readers¡¯ments I had to add it to the story to rify things.)

    "We¡¯re here," Dave said. They were inside the cave of the kin warrior that Da had locked down so no other could enter after them. It was dark as the abyss, but for the undead, they could see well in it.

    "Who might this be? His majesty¡¯s son? The way the Undead God spoke about him, he could be nothing but royalty."

    "Royalty, I suppose, his son, I highly doubt. The Undead King only had one child, Eleanor, and Death had been possessing her body for ages until I set her free. So we¡¯re gonna be seeing something new."

    (End of the Specially added part)

    "I suppose. My cleaver is ready. His Majesty said that this guy¡¯s a monster of a man, bring him back, Lord, I¡¯m gonna get clobbering."

    "Hold your horses, we don¡¯t know if he is hostile or not yet. Just y it cool."

    Dave walked up to the tomb in the wall and pushed at the stone cover of the sarcophagus. The stone made cover dropped to the ground and broke from under its ow weight. Singund got closer to where Dave was and looked at the person lying in the tomb.

    "Doesn¡¯t look much, too rotten to be of use. A bit more and his bones would turn to dust."

    "Yeah, he¡¯s been here for a long while." Dave checked the corpse. It was that of a man judging from the armor he wore. A warrior, he was missing his weapon, it was rare to burry a warrior without their weapons. Looking at the neck section, his vertebras were separated. Executed probably.

    "A criminal?"

    "Highly doubt it, I think it¡¯s a powerful figure, got executed, rebellion? I wouldn¡¯t know for sure. Let¡¯s get him up and talking."

    Dave pressed his hand on the corpse.

    "Rise Undead!" he uttered and from his hand, a searing powerful gust of energy sted its way and into the corpse¡¯s nostrils, eyes and ears, it began coursing through its boy, rattling the rusted scales of his armor, and made the body shake and shudder.

    The corpse began regaining parts of its former skin, rejuvenated but not to that of a healthy person, but the skin tightness and brittleness of a Draugr

    The neck part shuddered, then locked and linked itself to the torso, giving Dave a breath of relief, this was not a Duhan, those are hard to deal with.

    The corpse began shaking until it snapped its hand to grab at Dave¡¯s. The orc next to him howled and struck down with his cleaver at the corpse¡¯s head. But the dead man, or half-dead and now reviving, grabbed Singund¡¯s cleaver with one hand, fully negating his powerful blow, then threw him against the wall, stunned shocked, and stuck to the wall.

    The corpse¡¯s eyes finally opened. Revealing a blue sheen of undeath, that looked at Dave¡¯s own eyes in question.

    "What¡¯s your name?"

    The corpse looked around, tilted its head, and said, "I did have a name...I was supposed to be dead? Why am I here?"

    "I brought you back, you¡¯re gonna be helping us."

    "My allegiance is to the king. You¡¯re no king to me," the corpse said and swung Dave to the wall.

    It was so easy for the corpse to do it that it made Dave grunt. His strength was preposterous. Even Dave couldn¡¯t match that power unless he used heroic strength at least three times.

    "This guy¡¯s trouble, lord," Singund said as he was jerking his arms from the wall, breaking pieces of it in the process.

    "Yeah, people tend to be very grumpy when woken from sleep. This guy is no exception."

    The corpse broke the tomb he was in and stood facing the two undead.

    "Who are you?" said the corpse.

    "Singund, Orc Chieftain, Undead, Doom Knight for his Majesty the Undead King of Arotsa. The city of the Dead."

    "Kis¡¯Shtiengbrah, Undead Prince, Battle Lich, Abyssal Knight for his majesty the Undead King of Arotsa, City of the Dead. Also, king of the east."

    "East? What king, I know no kings of the east but his lord Qin Wuxian."

    "Qin Wuxian has died. More than a century ago."

    "The Qin dynasty?"

    "I ended it."

    The Undead¡¯s eyes turned bright red as he charged at Dave. Dave dodged to the side. And drew Durandal to battle.

    "I don¡¯t wish to battle a man unarmed. Singund, give him your weapon."

    "Ugh," Singund threw his cleaver at the corpse¡¯s legs, but thetter kicked it back at the orc, it was too dangerously close to his ear when it went past and stuck to the wall.

    "This guy isn¡¯t worth the honor or patience of the Undead."

    "You treat favors poorly," Dave said.

    "I wish not to battle with a borrowed weapon, GIVE ME MINE!" The undead said as he pointed at Dave.

    Dave frowned, "Listen here, chump, this isn¡¯t your weapon." Dave said, there was no way he would give him Durandal, not after all the trouble he went through to get it. And this was not Deadra, the real owner of Durandal.

    "I speak not of the sword, it is mighty indeed, but I wielded a ive, I could feel it, it¡¯s hidden on your person, she is screaming in protest against all the days it had spent without seeing light break, or ware. You are destroying its soul! Release it!"

    Dave took a step back, "Damn, you¡¯re Ouki?"

    "How do you know my name?"

    Dave drew the jade engraved ive and threw it at the man.

    Thetter grabbed it with one hand, and in a single motion, twirled it above and behind him, then with a loud thud, the ive was tucked under his shoulder pointing down, while his other hand was facing palm forward at Dave.

    "MUCH BETTER, Now prepare for battle!"

    "You know, I¡¯m technically your king, right?"

    "You¡¯re no king to me! You slew the Qin dynasty. You spoke so yourself."

    Ouki charged Dave and struck at him with blinding speed.

    Dave ducked, barely enough to not get the upper part of his head sliced open. He charged the knight with a shoulder bash and sent him sprawling on the ground.

    The knight stood up, grinned, and howled. Enough that might began materializing around him in the shape of dark smoke. More his skin regenerated, more of his hair returned to embed itself upon his head. His rusty armor began taking better sheen.

    "He¡¯s growing stronger."

    "I can see that," Dave grumbled, he was going to have to level up the field a bit. This guy was really strong even before this. And now, it¡¯s going to be far more difficult to tame him if he keeps getting stronger.

    Dave was about to use [World Boss] the only way for him to contend with the newly revived wraith in power.

    "For Qin!" The undead charged Dave, but those words ticked him.

    Dave received Ouki¡¯s ive through the chest and didn¡¯t recoil from it.

    -682,000

    With one hand Dave grabbed at Ouki¡¯s arm that was holding his ive. With his other hand, he raised Durandal high up.

    "FOR THE LEGION!"

    And struck down with the sword¡¯s sharp edge, the strength behind that blow was unbelievable. He had used Strength Doubler from his pendant, three times Herculean Strength, and Zealot.

    The blow came like the weight of the moon, crashing down on the still unweakened undead.

    The sword sliced through the man¡¯s right shoulder and dug itself halfway through his body before Dave forcefully smashed the tip of the sword into the ground pinning the man to his back.

    Dave faced the Undead eye to eye and said, "There is none but the legion to pay allegiance to. If you do notply, then you don¡¯t deserve the curse of Undeath. And I have a way for you to leave this world, never to see its daylight ever again, never to see your grandchildren which are in my care, never to know what happened to your beloved kingdom."

    As Dave was saying these words, Tiny emerged from his bag, he slowly crept up until he was above Dave¡¯s head and just stood there.

    For Undead, no matter where or how it was only a Grave Lord that Would cause them much worry.

    For the Undead Feared not, but only feared the Grave Lord.

    For the Undead Hungered not, but only the Grave Lord hungers.

    Ouki felt fright, not being fully integrated into the legion, a rogue undead, he didn¡¯t feel safe to be in the presence of something that feasted on the undead.

    He shuddered and shook, it was not the fear of death, but oblivion, to forever be forgotten unable to know what happened to his family or his king.

    "You said you know where my offspring is?"

    "I do, I kept them safe, they are under my custody."

    "You mean your prisoners!"

    Dave snorted, "Whatever you wanna call them if you want I can take you to them."

    The general hesitated, he looked up at Dave and said, "Help me up."

    "You¡¯re too damn arrogant for a dead man."

    "I¡¯m arrogant because I earned my arrogance, my achievements tell of me. What did you do in your life? You¡¯re nothing but a prince. Yes, powerful but I doubt you had half of my achievements by my age. Get off me!"

    "Is this guy for real? Lord, can you let me give him a good beating?"

    "No need, just let him say what he wants," Dave said and stood up pulling the ive off his chest and drew Durandal, with a bit of excessive force. He wasn¡¯t annoyed, he just didn¡¯t like the bugger so much.

    Ouki stood up, looked around, and said, "There is a gate here. Let us go to Qin, I want to see what happened to it and if you truly tell honestly. I highly doubt the great kingdom of Qin would lose to one such as you."

    "We¡¯ll get to Qin, but first Urburg. Didn¡¯t you say you wanted to see your family?"

    "What Urburg? I know not of such a kingdom."

    "It¡¯s a town, in the wilds."

    The man snapped his neck back to Dave, "You took my family hostage and kept them in the Wilds! You wish your head to roll ve!"

    A vein was about to pop in Dave¡¯s temple. Not to mention the overly enthusiastic Orc who was about to jump at the general, but thanks to Dave¡¯s hand that grabbed onto the orc¡¯s armor from the neck side to stop him, the situation didn¡¯t escte any further.

    "LET ME BEAT HIS ASS LORD! HE CALLED YOU A SLAVE! THAT BASTARD OF A FOURTH GENERATION I.N.C.E.S.T!"

    "Hey, stop copying Nick¡¯s curses, anyway, you¡¯ll see for yourself. Follow me." Dave said.

    "If a single hair on their heads is harmed, I¡¯ll break your legs and arms and throw you for the dogs!" the general said and stood in front of the gate.

    "Give us the passkey to this kingdom of yours."

    Dave¡¯s eyes rolled but he didn¡¯t speak, he used the teleportation Gate and appeared in Urburg.

 Chapter 515 - Arena!

    <h4>Chapter 515 - Arena!</h4>

    Once the three arrived, the first to speak was Ouki, "Where are the ves to carry our wears? Where are the servants? The prostrating citizen when they see their lord hade?!"

    "Your boy¡¯s awfully rowdy," Nick spoke up as he appeared right in front of the group.

    "I don¡¯t like this guy one bit, Great One," Singund replied.

    "I bet a whole nation would say otherwise, still newly risen undead, you seem to haven¡¯t aged well. Too much power and too much sleep does that to one."

    "Who might you be a child to speak in matters of a.d.u.l.ts?" Ouki asked.

    Dave didn¡¯t want to correct him, it was the same misunderstanding that happened to Singund, but the Chieftain was his subordinate, this guy deserves a beating.

    "Young in appearance I might be, child, I am not, in fact, if youbine the ages of your entire ancestors and their descendants, they wouldn¡¯t amount to a fraction of the time I spent picking my nose."

    "You speak as if you havepanioned mortality since ages long forgotten."

    "I was there before mortality was a thing kid, now I sent my Champion to bring you back to life, you don¡¯t seem quite as thrilled as I supposed."

    "It is of no knowledge to me how this magic of your work if your words ring true, but I have returned and I am obliged to follow none but my rightful true king and his descendants."

    "Your king is dead, reced by a puppet from a demon king that also died not a long time ago, in by the very undead standing next to you," Nick said as he pointed at Dave.

    "Nonsense, the puppet king had a bodyguard that wouldn¡¯t die no matter how many times he is killed.

    "I killed him," Dave said.

    "Lies."

    Dave didn¡¯t need to prove anything to the undead.

    "Lies and you know it, your strength isn¡¯t a match to mine and you im to have slew what I gave my life to destroy, not only that even this child says you killed the puppet and the bodyguard¡¯s masters. I find it hard to believe with that meager power of yours."

    "Not all that shines is gold, and you don¡¯t know me well," Dave said.

    "But all that is rotten is poison, and you don¡¯t look like much, I¡¯ve seen it, you don¡¯t have it in you to outss me."

    "Can you believe this guy? I just stabbed his ass with Durandal and he still didn¡¯t ept the fact that he lost."

    "I live still, you haven¡¯t killed me yet, and this new form, I have yet to adapt to. Once that is done, we¡¯ll meet again."

    "Actually, I can even speed up that process if you guys really wanna have a go at it," Nick said.

    "Nick, what are you ying at?"

    "Kid, this guy thinks he is a hotshot. You gotta bring him down a little you know."

    "You¡¯re literally his god, make him obey."

    When Ouki heard that he felt skeptical, but when he realized that every other undead besides them in the town had been kneeling toward the small punk kid, he became a bit more warry.

    "I im not such a person as a god, he is but a man, speaks of immortality as if wise, but he too can bleed."

    "I¡¯ve long since dried my veins from blood kid. And if I wish..." nick didn¡¯t speak, but Ouki¡¯s body began deteriorating at a speed far too fast for him to understand what was going.

    His hair turned to ash, his bones began cracking and crumbling, his legs went down first. His knees were all that kept the rest of his body standing, but from the people¡¯s point of view, what remained of Ouki, was nothing but a limbless skeleton kneeling to his creator. The only things that felt alive were the eyes, blue as a cold me in the night.

    "You shouldn¡¯t have crossed him mate. Anyway, nick, my job is done right?"

    "Oh no, it had just begun. Look at his eyes, this man defies me. I would rather not lose someone of his strength if I have to."

    "You can¡¯tpel him?"

    "No, he is a man with belief, a will of his own, I can???t break his will, but I can revoke his undeath, still death and oblivion isn¡¯t enough of a scare for this man to give up his belief in his king and nation. You¡¯ll have to beat it out of him if you want him to embrace the legion."

    "Damn it man, more pain in the ass."

    "Gotta hang in there bud," Nick said and patted Dave on the shoulder.

    Soon after that, the skeleton began regaining his former appearance only better, healthier for an undead, with skin that wasn¡¯t too rotten, and hair that reached all the way to his hip. The man¡¯s armor became cleaner, an ebony armored te mail, a lobster tailed pot helmet with the Qin symbol on it and for his shoulder guards, they were pointy and had their own golden decoration of the Qin symbol, a dragon. His whole armor looked bright as he looked like an undead general of the old dynasty of eastern culture.

    "I feel more alive," Ouki spoke. "Perhaps that man is a god, but he is not my god. Now, for his words, you have to battle me in this form, defeat me and I¡¯ll submit? An offer I cannot refuse for I am sure of my victory. I pity you."

    "Save it, now as I said, here are your children."

    One of the men, the oldest of the first generation of Urburg¡¯s NPC, the oldest person, came to Ouki¡¯s feet and said, "Great Grandfather!"

    "Osu?"

    "Indeed I!" he said.

    "Then they must be right Qin had fallen for you to be here in the Wilds. What happened to you?"

    "We were found by the puppet king, lord Kis¡¯Shtiengbrah brought him down, slew him on the hills of this very town, his sword was as big as Mount Tai, he brought it down and killed both the puppet and the ck dragon with one sword stroke, it was like the painting of the gods, a single stroke to rend the earth, to rend flesh and to rend despair and bring back a new dawn of hope."

    "Poetic, but I don¡¯t believe he would have in what I couldn¡¯t. Perhaps his prey grew weak. Where are the rest of the family."

    "They¡¯re here."

    "This is it? What in Qin¡¯s name had happened?!"

    "We have been, prosecuted, hunted, emunicated, expelled but exonerated by his lordship, the Undead Prince Kis¡¯Shtiengbrah, he gave us home, hope, and work to do."

    Ouki finally noticed the plow in the man¡¯s arm, "My family shouldn¡¯t be working the fields!"

    "Everyone works, even you if you¡¯re not of any value, remember that."

    "I SAID MY FAMILY DOES NOT WORK THE FIELD!" and drew his ive.

    Dave took a deep breath and pped his hands, "Everyone Leave."

    In a moment the whole town left the area. No one remained but Dave, Singund, and the general, even the people of the general couldn¡¯t refuse Dave¡¯smand.

    "You want to fight?" Dave asked.

    "I¡¯ll break your bones, child,"

    "Good, now, this is no ce to fight. I built it back, stone and brick, bit by bit. Damage it one bit and I¡¯ll annihte you. I have a better ce where we can go at it. Unstopped unbothered, until thest man stands."

    "I wish to see such a ce."

    "Good, here you go," Dave gave Ouki a teleportation scroll and the two of them used it to teleport to the Dead Realm.

    Only one thing didn¡¯t ur to Dave that would happen, the teleportation scroll did work, it did take them to the Dead Realm, but not the Underworld.

    They both appeared on arge tform in the heart of Qin capital.

    This was the undead battle arena. In the arena, surprisingly it was as if the Undead already knew this was going to happen.

    It was packed full of people, both undead and NPCs from the capital. Citizen of the Qin kingdom.

    And at the farthest side, a giant throne was setup. Behind the throne was the massive form of Marik the Soul Gorger, at the king¡¯s right, was Lilith the Duchess of Blood and Carnage. Da The Arch-Lich to his left, Dementi, Samael, and Dortha seated on the row in his front.

    Among them, were undead, of the doom Knight caliber, all, mighty ones that served in battles unnumerable. On the other side of the arena were NPCs of all social status; all havee here to witness the battle between the son of Qin and the son of the Legion.

    "Good stage for a fight!" Ouki spoke. "So, this is your king?" Ouki pointed at the Undead King.

    "Watch as I bring your prince¡¯s face to the ground, watch as I strip him of his flesh and bone. Then, you¡¯ll have no honor in standing here old man. You¡¯re no king, and your prince is nothing but a joke!"

    His words brought the unquestionable ire of all the undead. But none of them spoke, in the presence of the Undead King, all undead had to remain silent until ordered to speak.

    "Childe," the Undead King said addressing Dave.

    The Undead King looked solemn, Dave didn¡¯t like that, the undead king rarely got angry, and it never turned pretty when he has gotten angry.

    "We have been eloquent, wise, and true to Our words since we have first spoken to you. And We had nned to be polite to all, ally or foe. But now... Kick his ass!"

    "With pleasure!" Dave grinned.

 Chapter 516 Battling the Heavens

    <h4>Chapter 516 Battling the Heavens</h4>

    Dave was the first to draw his sword, Durandal to his left and Ajax poised forward.

    "No time for monologues! [World Boss!]

    A heartbeat sound echoed in the mind of all those present, Dave¡¯s form grew fused to a ck swirl of shadows and ebony aura that coalesced around him. His muscles grew a bit, reinforced with the might of an abyssal knight.

    Dave stomped forward, bursting in speed as he closed in on the Heavenly General. The general swung his ive with one hand at Dave¡¯s head, thetter poised Durandal forward.

    "Block that ive and your arm will break!" Ouki called.

    Dave didn¡¯t head thement and blocked the ive with the width of his sword. The general¡¯s statement was not correct but was definitely not fully wrong.

    Dave felt the shock of impact from the general¡¯s ive against his sword, it was enough to make his iron boot grate the ground as he slid to the side from the power behind the ive and his attempt at blocking it.

    Ouki drew his ive and whirled it above his head then struck down at Dave, thetter dodged to the side and sent Ajax to connect against the General¡¯s nk.

    The shield did mild damage but it had a good kickback effect that it took the general off of his feet and sent him rolling on the ground.

    The general managed to stand back up and throw a piercing strike at Dave¡¯s abdomen who wanted to take the opportunity to keep the pressure on Ouki.

    When the ive was too close to Dave, he used his [Mikiri-Counter] his leg stomped on the ive, burying the tip on the stone floor of the arena. Dave sent Durandal to connect with the general¡¯s neck. Hoping to lob it off and end this battle. But the general, the first person ever to have actually dodged the effect of the Mikiri Counter.

    Instead of jerking forward with his weapon, and exposing his neck, the general followed the weapon and fell down, dodging Dave¡¯s sword strike, he then did a leg sweep from his downed position.

    Dave fumbled from the impact and almost fell to the ground, luckily Ouki only managed to kick one of his legs. But that Gave him ample time to bounce back up to his feet. The general struck with the ive at Dave who wasn¡¯t fast enough into protecting himself from it, then the general switched to the bottom of the ive an iron pommel that he smashed it against Dave¡¯s temple.

    The two attacks were fast and disorienting which caused Dave to tumble back.

    "Weak!" called the general.

    Dave disappeared from the general¡¯s face, appearing behind him, sword already connected into the general¡¯s nk.

    -1,255,000

    Dave followed up with a punch, only, the fist was Ajax itself which bit at the general¡¯s shoulder. It gave Dave enough leverage to draw the shield back, which jerked the general toward Dave.

    Durandal held high up came down at the destabilized general.

    Ouki used his free hand to swat his ive against the iing sword, barely managed to deflect the attack at the cost of his wrist being sprained. Ouki kicked at Dave and managed to unlock himself from Ajax¡¯s ws that were clutching tight against his shoulder.

    The situation returned to base one. The two warriors walked in circles.

    "You fight well for a nobody, but I hate fighting on foot, it was never my fort. Long Bao!" Ouki called and from under him, a horse erupted from under the ground, a skeletal horse that was clearly a breed farrger than any horse Dave had ever seen. The skeletal horse grew skin and flesh, it was still rotten like the undead, but it gave him a far more eerie appearance.

    "Herees a general¡¯s charge, boy!" the general spoke and kicked at the horse¡¯s nks, making it night in protest and stomp the ground, breaking the stone tiles with every hove thatnded on the ground, increasing its momentum.

    Ouki pointed his ive forward like a jouster, and Dave was looking at the Charging Ouki like he was an idiot.

    He didn¡¯t dodge, didn¡¯t roll away, or didn¡¯t even try and break the horse¡¯s legs using Durandal. Dave just stood there, with Ajax poised for the defensive.

    "Fool!" one word shouted the general, Dave¡¯s reply was also just one word. "Absorb."

    Dave gave ajax themand and the shield siphoned the iing attack, from both the general¡¯s ive and all the momentum the horse had carried behind its charge.

    The horse couldn¡¯t understand at all how his massive momentum was stomped when he touched the shield, it was the same as a train being stopped by a mountain-sized sponge. The horse was forced to stand still, and the power of the blow from Ouki¡¯s ive was rendered neutral.

    "What?"

    "Nice attack, How about I give it back to you?" Dave didn¡¯t wait for the general¡¯s reply, "Reject."

    The full force of Ouki¡¯s charge and his ive were sent back to him. He never saw iting, but both he and his horse felt like they were struck by a max speed freight train.

    The blow was enough to send the two of them reeling and away from each other, the horse¡¯s body was broken in several spots, his frontal legs destroyed and the general received the stolen ive attack into his chest.

    Dave followed after, jumped high, and with a reversed grip struck Durandal down aiming to pierce right through the Undead¡¯s face.

    Ouki snapped his neck to the side, causing Durandal to dig into the ground all the way to the handle. He punched Dave in the face to make him get off of him, which helped a little. The blow caused Dave to reel back and that gave the general enough time to kick him off with both feet and send him farther back.

    The general went for Durandal, he tried to pull it from the stone, but to no avail, the sword weighted the universe, and unless it was Dave that wanted to carry it, no one else could.

    "You¡¯re unworthy to touch that," Dave said and held his hand forward. "Return!" Dave called and the sword undug itself and flew into Dave¡¯s hand.

    "Feels like we¡¯ve been warming up for quite the while, let¡¯s get fighting, for real this time."

    Dave pressed on his earring, activated Zealot, used Da¡¯s ne to activate Doubler, increasing his strength by two-fold. Then struck at his chest disabling the Azure Water Rune, causing the power of the Chaos Runes on his armor to run rampant, sizzling and fizzling across his body like veins of liquid magma, power, chaotic power spread across Dave painting his body in colors of dark and infernal red.

    Steam surged out of his body like a nuclear reactor, he was on fire, fully powered up.

    Lastly Dave called his dominion ability, Aura of the Infernal Tyrant.

    A skull, still marred with the ash of the fallen Drahma looked down upon the general in disdain never before seen in the world.

    The eyes of the skull gazed upon Ouki¡¯s soul and essence, and deemed him, unworthy of its presence. The general felt the gaze piercing through him like a red hot de.

    "An emperor!" Ouki called, it was the disdain of lords and kings, an emperor¡¯s disdain to all those below him. Never should there be one to stand on the same ground as it. And this disdain was focused on the general."

    "There is no emperor but his lordship Qin Wuxian!" the general defied the oppression and charged into the ck fires of disdain from the skull.

    Dave struck low, a kick to the general¡¯s knee that made it buckle and break. Dave struck down with Durandal, digging it halfway through the general¡¯s shoulder, his other hand let go of ajax and grabbed on the general¡¯s neck.

    "Die," Dave said and snapped the general¡¯s neck.

    The general fell to the ground, his neck awkwardly bent.

    "Good battle!" shouted Samael. The undead alongside him all hooted in glee their prince had won.

    "No, it has just begun," the undead King said.

    "Yep, he¡¯s right you know, that guy hasn¡¯t shown his true colors...pretty nasty if I say," Nichs had appeared out of nowhere, he was hovering right above the Undead King.

    Dave didn¡¯t let down his guard at all, he knew that the fight wasn¡¯t over, the arena announcer hadn¡¯t spoken the words of defeat to the vanquished.

    Ouki¡¯s neck snapped back and he stood up. Looked at Dave and said, "I remember." His face was that of an ugly grin.

    Ouki jumped back and pointed his ive at Dave.

    Ouki¡¯s body was encased in five colors, red, blue, green, white, and brown. The colorful auras gathered above him in the shape of a five-colored lotus, the first petal opened revealing a red color.

    "Holy Imperial Art! First Emperor! Fire!"

    His ive surged in mes, red blood like mes. He thrust the spear from where he stood, and the length of it didn¡¯t change but the fire concentrated itself into a beam and shot right through Dave¡¯s heart.

    -2,600,000hp!

    Dave looked down, he had a massive hole in his chest.

    "Shit, Andr¨¦¡¯s gonna get pissed."

    **** Please Make sure to read this story on , if you are reading Rise of the Undead legion anywhere else then you are on a pirating website, do not ept to offer any kinds of payment to such people as they are non-repsecting of author¡¯s right and I, as the writer am not benefiting from their schemes in any way possible.****

 Chapter 517 The Imperial Ar

    <h4>Chapter 517 The Imperial Ar</h4>

    "Gotta say, you got me looking like a certain Angle of Death. You know with the hole and everything, all I¡¯m missing are big ass horns and a pissed attitude. And I got em both," Dave grinned as the wind blew through the massive hole in his chest.

    He took a step forward, the General waved his ive, twirled it until it caught me, and then pointed it at Dave, aiming to strike once again with his same attack.

    The aura around Dave began changing, growing thicker, the color of blood. Red lightning crackled as both he, and the massive floating skull behind him grew horns. Dave had entered Demonic Ascension.

    "This isn¡¯t a Cero, but It¡¯s the closest I got," Dave uttered in a deep demonic voice. He opened his jaws wide, releasing the pent up demonic and chaotic energy within him, a ray of mes hot enough to melt rock.

    Dave¡¯s attack and the general collided, a mixture of mes gathered in the center of the arena, morphed, coalesced, and coiled around each other, creating an ever so growing ball of me that kept increasing in size as the two fueled it with fire.

    The energy from the general¡¯s art ended long before the fires from Dave¡¯s Ray of mes were snuffed. Causing the massive amalgamating ball of fire to spin in the direction of the heavenly general.

    "Holy Imperial Art! Second Emperor! Flood Gates!"

    The general sliced at the ground, causing the stone to shatter and from within the stone surged massive loads of water, enough to drown and submerge anything that came its way.

    The water torrent coiled around the fireball, steam surged as popping sounds and explosions urred when water and fire met. The water¡¯s aim was to submerge and snuff the fire from existence, yet the heavenly general underestimated both his own fire and Dave¡¯s chaos mes. The fireball continued its spiraling motion toward the general, even against the aquatic surge, the fire moved with relentless stubbornness until it was nothing but a few feet in front of the general. Much of its mass was consumed and exhausted due to the still pouring water, but it was not enough. The mes, pressed and suppressed, found no other way than to relieve the increased pressure but through the most violent manifestation of mes. An explosion.

    The ball abruptly blew in the face of the general, in an instant Da stood up and stabbed his scepter down. A massive surge of energy erupted from the bottom of his staff, the energy was enough that for a fraction of a second if one were to look at Da, they wouldn¡¯t see the handsome yet beautiful Sun Elf anymore, he was back to his undeath appearance, even if it was for just a moment.

    That¡¯s a sign of how much energy Da had used at that moment, and thanks to it, the explosion didn¡¯t go beyond the rims of the arena. Stopped by the barrier Da created to bounce against its sides and anyone and anything inside it.

    Not even Dave was an exception, an explosion in an enclosed space knew no friend or foe. It just sought destruction.

    Dave was thrown to the side of the rim, his body stuck to it and the surge of explosive energy was pushing him against Da¡¯s barrier. His joints began to creak and crackle.

    He didn¡¯t know what happened to Ouki, the power of this explosion was too enormous that his massive HP was decreasing at a ridiculously rapid rate.

    "Shit, no choice," Dave uttered and tightened his grip on Ajax¡¯s handle.

    The shield opened up its jaws and consumed the energy as it had never been there before. The pressure disappeared in a fraction of a moment. And Dave found himself face-first on the ground.

    He stood up, took a deep breath, and checked his own state.

    ***

    Kis¡¯Shtiengbrah

    DPS: 12,650,000

    Current Health:

    265,500,000HP/ 540,000,000HP

    Negative Status. ¡¯Nothing serious, it¡¯s just a hole in your chest.¡¯

    ***

    Dave snorted; Albert is back with his snarky remarks.

    Right in front of Dave, stood the general, one arm missing from the shoulder down, one leg, that had just bone in it, fractured and seared ck. Half of his face melted and the other half just gone. While his remaining hand gripped at the ive.

    "G-gotta admit..." the genera stuttered, not out of fear, but there was still smoke rising from his half-cooked throat. "That one hurt..."

    "Holy Imperial art, Fifth Emperor, Earth¡¯s Vigor."

    The General¡¯s body began regenerating, at an astonishing rate even, his destroyed limb grew from the shoulder down, creating flesh and bloodless veins. His leg and face were reconstructed, reformed, and for a moment, he was back in his human appearance, an eastern looking man, with long hair and a long beard. An evil re to his eyes. But a wide smile on his face. Soon the Undeath Curse took over, negating his human form and returning him back to his undead form. He was fully revitalized.

    "Shit, the bastard restored all of his HP."

    Dave flexed his shoulders; in this fight, he didn¡¯te up on top. The undead in front of him was full health while he lost almost half of his. Dave steadied his stance and began walking toward the heavenly general.

    He unequipped Durandal and Ajax and switched to the Sworn Stalwart¡¯s gauntlets. In his demonic ascension, the Gauntlets turned to sharp jagged ws. Dave threw a punch at the general, he was far away from him, but the Dragon Art hidden in his arsenal was enough. It sent a dragon surging toward the general.

    The Serpentinian eastern dragon moved like a train toward the general, thetter dodged to the side only to have the dragon miss and tilt his head, biting at the general¡¯s back. The general was pushed forward, staggering he received Dave¡¯s flying kick to the face, which also sent another dragon surging from the general¡¯s head.

    Dave used [Awakened Dragon] and began an automated assault. His ws were as sharp as swords, so the general needed to block with the ive. A miss cost him an ear. Another miss-timed block cost him a rib that Dave pierced through with his w.

    Dave made a leg sweep that caused the general to fall on his back, he then stabbed down with his fingers like a sword. Ouki hastily twisted his body avoiding Dave¡¯s hand that bore through the ground like it was made of paper. He then sent an elbow to Dave¡¯s face and kicked his legs causing the draugr to fall on the general.

    The two wrestled against each other. But Dave had the upper hand, the aura of the [Oppression of the Infernal Tyrant] was gnawing at his HP, along with the mana burn effect of Demonic ascension.

    Dave smashed the general around, and mounted him on the chest, he began punching the general, fist and w to the face, ck blood sttered around the arena floor. As Dave kept punching and punching. The general tried to defend himself, but his hands were no match to Dave¡¯s empowered ws.

    For a moment the general thought that he was going to die, only to have Dave¡¯s aura suddenly stop. His Demonic Ascension had reached its time limit and he could no longer sap the general¡¯s mana.

    "Imperial art! Third Emperor, Stone Breaking Gales!"

    Wind like none Dave had seen before came and swept him off of his feet then smashed him against Da¡¯s protective barrier. Dave had the wind literally blown out of him.

    A violent surge of wind was covering Da from head to toe, Dave shot another [Ray of mes] that was set to no cooldown when he activated [Awakened Dragon] the ray of mes shot forward, but it failed to pierce through the wind barrier, it crashed against it but was diverted and sttered against the barrier failing to do any harm.

    The general shed three times at Dave in rapid session, three wind des materialized from his ive and shot straight ahead. One of the wind des was too close to the ground that it sliced at it as it moved toward Dave carving the ground as if it was wet sand.

    Before the wind could even reach Dave.

    "Holy Imperial art, Five colored Emperors, Jade Emperor!"

    A green sheen covered the general then he stomped the ground, jade made hands emerged from under Dave¡¯s arm and grabbed at him tightly not letting him move an inch. He couldn¡¯t even use [Immortal Ascension] to teleport out of the way, nor was he able to use his legacy due to its cooldown after having used it to fight the Naandloushii this morning.

    The wind des wereing fast, and the heavenly general has begun materializing an Aura effect. Things didn¡¯t look too well for Dave. But when did they ever do?

 Chapter 518 Forbidden Kingdoms Army.

    <h4>Chapter 518 Forbidden Kingdom¡°s Army.</h4>

    "Legacy on cooldown, my only teleportation skill is inessible, and these damned jade hands are too strong to get rid of in one hit or two. Guess I¡¯ll have to bnce things out."

    Dave took a deep breath, all the abilities that were currently active on his avatar deactivated at once, reced by a different type of upgraded power up.

    Dave¡¯s avatar became more buffed but lost the steam and the chaos effect of the Chaos runes, even the Zealot¡¯s effect was gone. His face grew scally, he had entered Dragon Aspect

    ***

    You benefit from a 500% increase in base damage and you will take 80% reduced damage.

    The ability [Fly] has been temporarily added to your skill list.

    You are no longer blinded.

    You are no longer disoriented.

    All dragon-rted abilities have had their cooldowns reset.

    For 30 seconds all draconic rted abilities have been upgraded.

    ***

    Light materialized over Dave¡¯s armor, tainting it in darker than ck in runic designs. His padrones grew into draconic horns and his helmet changed shape from a war crown to a draconic skull of steel.

    He howled forward, a shout capable of shattering space, the roar was physical, it sted air out of in front of him, connected with the wind des, and broke them like twigs.

    Dave forcefully raised his foot, breaking the jade hands that were grabbing onto him, making them shatter like brittle ss.

    He dove forward, at a speed far faster than what the general¡¯s reactionary sensors could handle.

    The general sliced down with his ive at Dave¡¯s direction, only that his ive met empty air, Dave had already disappeared from in front of him. Before the general could even register this, a hand had grabbed the side of his face, then smashed him in the ground.

    Dave sted his wings back and dragged the general¡¯s face against the floor of the arena as he was flying low on the ground. The general¡¯s rotten flesh scraped against the floor until his skull was devoid of all meat. Then his skull began scraping, slowly being chiseled away against the rough terrain.

    Dave had fifteen seconds in Aspect of the Dragon, and he was going to use them to make the general suffer as much pain as possible.

    Ouki grabbed at Dave¡¯s hand, as he was being dragged against the floor. He mumbled something that Dave didn¡¯t hear.

    Suddenly a green mass of jade materialized on the general¡¯s armor, encasing him in an even stronger protective gear, the jade armor covered his face and stopped his skull from being fully scrapped against the ground. The hand grabbing Dave¡¯s arm grew a spike of jade from the palm, it prated through Dave¡¯s arm and rendered it useless, it didn¡¯t hurt as much due to him being in dragon form, but the jade spike was sharp and had cut a nerve, it caused Dave¡¯s grip to loosen up and gave the general a chance at escaping Dave.

    Dave flew in front of the general. Oukiughed, and said, "You¡¯re strong. But I¡¯m stronger! Kingdom of the Sun! Come for our foe has shown its fangs. Come, to your general! Rally to our cause!"

    Behind the general, a Torii gate dropped from the heavens. And from the foot of the Torii Gate, a wide and massive stone stair showed up leading all the way to a purple cloud that appeared out of nowhere.

    Hundreds of thousands of warriors in jade and golden armors came rushing down. Some on foot, some on horseback, and all of them, armed to the teeth.

    The undead King abruptly stood up, "That¡¯s the Forbidden Kingdom¡¯s Armada! The Sun God¡¯s Legacy!" alongside him, Samael drew his sword, Da his ws, Lilith showed her fangs, the Soul Gorger was restless, Dementi nocked her bow, and Da amassed magic in his scepter.

    All the doom knights stood up and drew their weapons, it was as if an enemy had presented itself in the midst of the Undead Realm and the undead were ready to battle.

    "Sit. DOWN!" Nick shouted and all the undead were forced to stand down.

    Dave had a feeling that this iing army was bad news. Especially with the undead king¡¯s reaction.

    "FOR QIN!" the heavenly general called and the army behind him turned to ghosts and spirits as they moved at once, grouped up together like a spear made of weapons and a lust for battle never before seen on the world of conquest.

    "Legacy holder huh," Dave grinned, he withdrew his Sworn Stalwart gauntlets, and his sharp jagged dagger sized ws retracted, instead he drew Durandal and Ajax.

    He poised Ajax forward to absorb the iing attack. The massive shield¡¯s jaws opened up, ready to consume what wasing toward it.

    But out of nowhere, Dave grunted, the hole in his arm, that the general had made when he pierced him with the jade de throbbed, and a lump of jade grew out of it, rapidly and encased his arm and covered the shield. The cursed Shield of Ajax was useless.

    Dave hastily struck the front of the shield with Durandal, but the jade grew some more and absorbed the impact causing both his weapon and shield to be encased in jade, unable to release them in the meantime.

    The charging army struck Dave in the chest, every sword, every ive, every spear struck him, gnawing at his health, the swords found purchase, the arrows made their way into the unprotected parts of his body. The spears dug deep into his flesh and more weapons scrapped shed, sliced, and cut at him. The attack was an onught of an entire army focused on one man. Unstopping, unwavering the des cut down, sliced, chopped, and hacked.

    Even with the massive damage reduction from the Dragon Form Dave¡¯s HP dropped like an anvil in a deep dark ocean.

    The attacks were too numerous for Dave to try and defend against, not even when he released Durandal, he struck but it was the same as fighting smoke. His body was shredded, his armor found little power to struggle against the ceaseless onught.

    The attack continued, for Dave it felt like ages, he couldn¡¯t even move a step as every blow was staggering. He couldn¡¯t even use [Bastion] to block the attack, he was in dragon form and only dragon skills were allowed.

    Then a notification appeared:

    ***

    Aspect of the Dragon skill effect has ended!

    **

    Almost immediately, Dave felt the blows of the charging army on a much greater scale, another notification appeared.

    ***

    You are in critical condition!

    Passive [Unyielding] activated. You have 5 seconds of immunity to dying!

    You have 1% HP remaining!

    ***

    "No problem!" Dave grunted, "At least I could use my skills now," he grinned and used [Immortal Ascension]. He teleported away from the charge, in time. But looking at the iing charge, it was ethereal, but like a snake, it began turning anding at him again. Dave looked at the general. He was on his knee, gasping for air that undead didn¡¯t need. His jade armor was breaking, and the ive in his hand was shaking from exertion. He was the channeler of that skill, and he couldn¡¯t move as long as it was being cast.

    Dave pped his hands together creating a thunderous boom in space. He didn¡¯t finish, he began using ninja seals, creating a surge of fire around him. The aura of the infernal tyrant merged with the mes from his cast and they became dark mes. A skeletal draconic head appeared behind Dave then another, then another, and more, enough that they became forty-eight dragon skulls floating in the skies.

    The draconic skulls all pointed their opened jaws at the general and released a breath of concentrated ck mes that were hot enough to melt the flesh off of bones and stone into liquidva.

    The dragon breath cooked the general alive, and before the charge could reach Dave who¡¯s immunity effect from [Unyielding] had ended, Ouki toppled over, and his ive fell from his hand, causing the army of the sun to disappear along with the tori gate and the heavenly stairs.

    The skulls, having released their infernal breath, gathered and dove toward the general. They were made out of Spectral Skulls, a skill in origin that was supposed to explode upon contact with an enemy. And they did so once they reached Ouki. Blowing up in his face. Stagging him with every one of their forty-eight explosions.

    Ouki didn¡¯t die though, he stood up. Jade melted over his face and body, struggling to stand up, yet a wide smile on his face.

    "Almost had me there, child. Perhaps you told the truth, for you to have in that puppeteer of the older king, you have the required strength. The me right now could have in him too, only I have received the legacy of the Sun God upon the moment of my execution. That means that I¡¯m much stronger than you. Favored by the gods of this world."

    Ouki moved forward with purposeful steps. Dave inspected him.

    ***

    Full Inspection unallowed!

    Name: Ouki Qin

    ss: Heavenly General

    HP: 16,000,000 HP/ 250,000,000H

    ***

    The general¡¯s HP was higher than Dave¡¯s, he was down to 1% of his base HP, basically 5,000,000 HP.

    While the general had three times that number. And Dave¡¯s most powerful skills were all on cooldown. A frontal battle was suicide, the general was stronger, faster, and more nimble than Dave, not to mention with the Jade covering Dave¡¯s right arm and blocking Ajax from performing optimally, any chances of absorbing and rejecting the General¡¯s own attacks were nonexistent.

    "You have been weighed you have been measured and you have been found wanting! Now die!" The general said as he held his ive high up.

    "Man, all you guys with thest moment viin monologue are stupid," Dave uttered.

    Not fully understanding the meaning of his words, the general stopped, but not due to Dave, due to a massive shadow that covered the entirety of the arena.

    "Da..." the Undead King uttered.

    "On it," Da mmed the bottom of the scepter on the ground and teleported everyone out of the arena.

    "That one¡¯s gonna hurt," Dave grinned as he gazed at the giant meteoring down. Before the general¡¯s ive could even strike Dave down, thetter used [Bastion] both to protect himself from the ive and the iing meteor.

    The meteor came down...

    **** Please Make sure to read this story on , if you are reading Rise of the Undead legion anywhere else then you are on a pirating website, do not ept to offer any kinds of payment to such people as they are non-repsecting of author¡¯s right and I, as the writer am not benefiting from their schemes in any way possible.****

 Chapter 519 Another One Shows Its Fangs

    <h4>Chapter 519 Another One Shows Its Fangs</h4>

    ***

    FATALITY!

    You have managed to vanquish the Heavenly General Ouki in a battle of honor.

    By the Undead King¡¯s Will, General Ouki is now bound to the Undead Legion.

    Due to General Ouki¡¯s superior powers and ability, he cannot be bound under your personalmand.

    General Ouki is now the Eight Abyssal Knight of the Undead Legion.

    For recruiting such a great asset to the legion you have earned +2,000,000CP

    ***

    The rubble and dust soon settled, Dave looked around, the aftermath of the meteor falling was grave. It destroyed all of the arena and the seats that hosted the spectators. Thanks to Da no casualties happened but cleaning the massive destruction was going to be a pain.

    "Fascinating. That¡¯s the powers of heaven you summoned." Ouki spoke, he was right in front of Dave, fully healed up. Revived by the Death Heart and returned to thend of the Undead.

    "So, convinced that you¡¯re beatable?"

    "I¡¯d say you got lucky." Ouki¡¯s pride wouldn¡¯t let him admit his defeat.

    "Say what you want, but remember, I haven¡¯t used my legacy while fighting you."

    "Wait," Ouki spoke, "That draconic transformation? Or that Demonic transformation, weren¡¯t those your legacy? A legacy of demons and dragons?"

    "Nah, I¡¯m Nichs the Undeath God¡¯s champion. The one that gave you the Undeath Curse. Those are just some abilities I got after beating some monsters. Still, good fight, let¡¯s do it again," Dave grinned.

    The general was unsure if Dave was speaking true, but he opted not to risk it and be humiliated again, "I¡¯m not interested yet, so where is this king of yours."

    "He is my and your king, you should remember that."

    "Our Childe speaks true, once a member of the legion, you follow Our orders."

    "I only follow the King of Qin, and you¡¯re not my king."

    "I am," Dave said. "I told you, I rule this country."

    The general frowned, he was not liking what he heard.

    "Bravest of Qin,e!" Dave spoke and soldiers, royal ones, guards, and those of the army, any that heard his calling came to the arena.

    Soon the arena was packed full of soldiers.

    "This man does not admit my kingship. Says that I¡¯m not your ruler."

    The soldiers drew their swords and pointed at the heavenly general.

    "BASTARDS! Is this how you treat your heavenly general?!"

    One of the soldiers said, "The heavenly general is dead. He died, executed. The fake puppet of the Ash King took his seat and killed all the generations of Qin¡¯s royalty."

    "I came back! Even if the older king has died, why would you let this man rule you?" Ouki asked.

    "He protected us when you never did. You heavenly general, waged wars, fought the frontline, but everyone in Qin¡¯s corners was dying, starved, hungry unsure how they would survive the cruel winters of the east. You never cared for the people, you only cared for your personal glory." The same soldier said.

    "Who might you be to speak such lies!"

    "I¡¯m not lying," the soldier said, he removed his helmet, and it seems that Ouki knew who that old man behind the helmet was.

    "Xix?"

    "Yes, your manservant, I followed you, carried your armor since I was ten, I know you more than you know yourself and I tell you, a king such as his majesty Kis¡¯Shtiengbrah is what we needed. He rebuilt Qin, reformed it, had helped its citizen, made trade easier, took good care of the people living outside of the cities and in towns, secured roads. Cleared the Wilds, all in less than half a year. Not caring for personal profit. Not wanting to fill his pockets in gold or recruit soldiers and young children to wage wars that only cost blood and money for no real benefit. Look at us? We eat three times a day, we sleep until we¡¯re satisfied and we even have a retirement n, saved money to use when we¡¯re older."

    "That¡¯s beingzy! A soldier must always be ready for a battle. You¡¯re swords that are wet inziness and sloth, you¡¯ll be dull."

    "No, that¡¯s where you¡¯re wrong," Dave said.

    "What do you know about warfare? You¡¯re spoiling them, corrupting them."

    "No, you¡¯re an idiot, a good weapon needs to be taken care of. They have seen heaven, they have been treated well, they saw that they have a good future. I wage you the world¡¯s money, that anyone of my soldiers will fight tooth and nail to protect what I have given them. While your type of soldiers will fight for something intangible like honor for you, and not for themselves."

    "But it¡¯s honor for the kingdom!"

    "Honor for the kingdom doesn¡¯t fill a starved child¡¯s belly. Think of your people as people first, then soldiers, then they¡¯ll follow you to the end of the world. All of your glory was for yourself. Do you even remember the names of those that died beside you?"

    Ouki¡¯s mouth opened and closed.

    "You see, I rule, I care, you¡¯re nothing but a has-been. You want glory, you¡¯ll find it with the undead. But the Undead will not ept someone who does not follow orders. Also, I¡¯m the youngest of the Abyssal Knights." Dave pointed at the group of Abyssal Knights right next to the undead king.

    "I can¡¯t hold a candle to any of them. They¡¯re far stronger than me. And if you think that you have a chance at beating me, any of them can rip you a new one while picking their nose. So get your act together rookie, you¡¯re now the weakest of the bunch, if you want to have a say in his majesty¡¯s council, you¡¯ll have to beat me before you¡¯re allowed to speak."

    Samael raised his brows, he leaned over to Dortha and said, "Isn¡¯t Kis¡¯Shtiengbrah being a little bit too dramatic, I mean, I sure as hell am not stronger than him."

    "True, among all of us, I think only I could give him a run for his money. But I doubt I¡¯ll have a good chance at victory if he uses the Grave Lord."

    "Be quiet," Da spoke through the two abyssal Knight¡¯s heads. "Kis¡¯ Shtiengbrah just made the newly recruited think that we¡¯re all monsters, this way if he wants to challenge our authority, he¡¯ll have to go through him, which I doubt he¡¯ll ever seed in. it¡¯s a good way to keep the recruit inline."

    Samael grinned, the Undead Prince was shameless but cunning as always. Not even the Undead King disagreed with his statement, making it that he understood his prince well.

    "Then that means I still have yet seas to cross and mountains to climb. Very well, then. I respect strength, and if I were to be among the mighty, I¡¯ll have to bring you down first."

    "Yep, don¡¯t get your hopes up though, you¡¯ll never manage it."

    "Sorry to interrupt your little conversation here, but there are things to do right now," Nichs said.

    Dave turned to the small deity, "What¡¯s going on."

    "Well, this guy," Nichs said, "Had just gotten his Abyssal Rank, that means he needs his own division, that¡¯s a lot of Undeath Energy. You should start by recruiting and reviving undead."

    "I already had that settled."

    "How so, Childe?" the Undead King said.

    "Well, there is a good deal of newly turned undead that want to join the Undead Legion, what¡¯s best to do than to put them all in Ouki¡¯s Division. They¡¯ll have to follow his orders, and since he is already an established general of an army, I bet he can put them in line better than any of us Abyssal knights."

    "Kis¡¯ Shtiengbrah speaks true. Also, for his own personal Doom Knight army, I¡¯ll make sure to revive some of the best knights. I already had them saved up for the uing battle with the cmities, I don¡¯t think we¡¯ll have a better chance to revive them than now."

    "I need my own army, not some stragglers that no one wants or people unable to follow orders."

    Dave tapped the general on the shoulder, "This is your chance to prove your worth. I mean if you can¡¯t even handle a few rookies, how will you prove yourself at the Undead King¡¯s side? Better take this chance."

    The general frowned, "I led men and children, peasants and women to wars outnumbered ten to one and I still brought victory to Qin, don¡¯t you dare think I can¡¯t handle a bunch of hooligans."

    "Well, the ones you¡¯re leading are not peasants and children, they¡¯re good at fighting, but they could have a nasty habit of not following orders, that¡¯ll be on you to get rid of that habit of theirs. Do a good job, and his majesty will probably think better of you. I had to revive the entire Undead Legion to get into his council, you got off on a really easy start, be thankful."

    The general didn¡¯t understand fully what Dave meant about reviving the entire Undead Legion, but he made a note to himself to ask around about the Undead Prince.

    "Good, I¡¯m d you all got that sorted out, but there is a little problem that we have right now," Nichs said.

    "What¡¯s wrong?" Dave asked.

    "A cmity has been spotted. You should get ready."

    "Damn, I just barely got rid of one, I¡¯m not ready to fight another so soon. I don¡¯t have the cooldowns."

    "Well, this one you see, is a little bit special," Nick said.

    "What do you mean?" Dave asked.

    "It¡¯s a cmity of Sacrifice."

    "What the heck is that?" Dave asked.

    "A Nian. Pretty annoying little snake."

    "Lord. Today is the first Lunar Year. The Nian hade from the mountainside, every time this year, but we always chased it off. It has never taken any of our children or women. There is no reason to fear it, it is easily scared away." One of the soldiers said.

    "Right, but you¡¯ve been doing it wrong since all those years. The Nian must die. You never gave it any sacrifices, you only prolonged it¡¯s starvation. But now with all the cmities ready to attack. I highly doubt that painting the doors in red and hanging signs, while singing and dancing all night long will keep that pesky snake at bay."

    "But it¡¯s immortal it can¡¯t be killed!" the soldier said.

    "Well, that¡¯s where you¡¯re wrong. Anything can die, you just need the right tool." Nicks smiled.

    **** Please Make sure to read this story on , if you are reading Rise of the Undead legion anywhere else then you are on a pirating website, do not ept to offer any kinds of payment to such people as they are non-repsecting of author¡¯s right and I, as the writer am not benefiting from their schemes in any way possible.****

 Chapter 520 Going Against Tradition

    <h4>Chapter 520 Going Against Tradition</h4>

    Dave hadn¡¯t fully understood what Nick wanted to tell him so he asked again, "What do you mean by a proper tool to kill the Nian?"

    "It¡¯s a cmity, most of them are immortal, the nastier ones. A god ying weapon would usually do the trick, but in some cases, they are not as effective. Because in the Nian¡¯s case, you won¡¯t be ying a monster, you¡¯ll be ying a tradition."

    "Huh, I still have no clue what the heck are you talking about," Dave replied.

    "When did you ever? Now let me exin in terms you¡¯ll find it easier, kid. You¡¯ll have to kill the monster but not y its flesh, you¡¯ll have to make his...legacy for ack of an appropriate word, be destroyed."

    "Huh, I guess I understand now a bit. Right, so when this thing is gonna show?" Dave asked.

    "Usually, the festivities start at midnight," one of the soldiers said.

    "Right then, I¡¯ll have to take care of that by then. For now, I have a few orders to rally.?? Dave said.

    "We¡¯ll be leaving you to handle the Cmity, Childe," the Undead king said. "But if you wish for our assistance, just ask."

    "No worries, I think I¡¯m good enough on my own. You should probably still be busy doing the inventory for the Ash King¡¯s loot."

    "We have not forgotten you, but most of the Ash King¡¯s possessions were those of knowledge, and anything worthy of you has yet to show. Nothing but corrupt stones and treasures. We have yet to find something clean out of their of one most unclean."

    "Yeah, good luck with that then,"

    "Halt, Childe, you have probably forgotten, but don¡¯t you feel a breeze going right through you?" the Undead King chuckled, it was a first for Dave.

    He was too surprised at the King¡¯s snickering that he didn¡¯t understand that the king was hinting at his chest.

    Once he looked down and noticed the massive hole in his armor, "Ah damn, Andre, where is he?"

    "Here," the giant smith said, he was already summoned by his majesty.

    Once Dave turned, a frowning, definitely angry cksmith was behind him. Yet, he didn¡¯t dare utter a word against a prince.

    "Yeah, sorry about that. me that dude." Dave pointed at the Heavenly General.

    "Humph, what are armors if not to take damage, do your work and repair it, ve."

    "Emm, Ouki, I don¡¯t know how you used to do it in your old days. But see the damage on your armor?" Dave pointed at Ouki.

    "Yes, I¡¯ll have one of Qin¡¯s smiths fix it. It is but armor."

    "Yeah, that¡¯s where you¡¯re wrong, this is Undead Armor. It¡¯s seethed in the undead curse, any living that touches it will die." Andre said.

    "What he said," Dave shrugged.

    "What do you mean?"

    "Only I can fix it, also even without the curse. Once you became an Undead, your armor was fused to Oprenieum, there are no smiths-men on this world capable of hammering that material."

    "The dwarves of the high mountains of the west could hammer the skies and the earth."

    "Still they¡¯ll not touch that thing, they hammer at what belongs to life. The Oprenieum has been created in the depths of the earth. Where life was snuffed out, where only a demon could strive and survive under that suffocating temperature. Just the heat needed to remold that metal is so high that a man would have their arms melted off with every strike. Only our undead nature could help us forge it, we do not care if we lose an arm, we¡¯ll use the other, we¡¯ll die hammering the metal, ande back to hammer it some more. Lord Kis¡¯Shtiengbrah¡¯s armor had killed me more than a hundred times before I could finish it. Do you think a man can suffer through a hundred deaths to make your armor anew?"

    The general was left speechless even Dave himself was not privy to the fact that Andre literally died time and time again to make his armor. That made him feel guilty for having ruined the armor.

    "I apologize for my ignorance oh great smith. Then can I count on you to fix this armor of mine? My battle with the prince was...rather exciting."

    "I will, but his majesty¡¯s armor first. Lord, hand it over, I should have it done before nightfall. It¡¯s not damaged much, at least not the limits it was in when you first gave it to me."

    "Yeah Andre, and thank man. Hey, if I get something good from the Ash King¡¯s armory, I¡¯ll make sure you have first dibs on anything you want."

    "Thank you, Lord, but just the Corrupted Weapons of the Dogaron were more than enough a reward for me. Just, try not to get the War King¡¯s Armor in such a bad shape in the future."

    "I¡¯ll be more careful," Dave smiled at the smith and handed him his armor. He switched back to his spare set, his older Doom Knight set. It wouldn¡¯t be a fun sight to have Dave be seen in all his Undeathly naked glory.

    The Abyssal Knights dispersed, they all went their ways so did the Undead King.

    Dave turned to Singund, who was with him from the beginning, and said. "We¡¯ll have to go around town."

    "To do what?" the orc questioned.

    "Well, we¡¯ll need to make sure that no citizen is gonna be hanging any red signs. We need the Nian toe, to us, and not be afraid."

    "I feel like tonight¡¯s gonna be red anyway."

    "Yep blood red, let me call the boyz," Dave said and stomped a foot on the ground.

    Bud, Dog, Spark, Tengu, and even Kalel.

    The group appeared in front of him.

    "Good to see you all here guys."

    "As the Lordmands, summon us and we¡¯re at your service," Kalel spoke.

    "Hey, weren¡¯t you beating that Stalwart¡¯s ass in the sea? What¡¯s happened to it."

    "It¡¯s still alive, the thing¡¯s health is too massive."

    "How many times have you killed it so far?"

    "Eight times."

    "Damn. Even with the Ash King¡¯s death, that thing is still alive. I should probably lend you guys a hand, but I need some help for now."

    "Yes sir. But worry not, a lot of good men are keeping him busy, now with the Death Heart nearby, they can die underwater, be revived, and then jump back into the sea to fight. I could ask one of the Abyssal knights for aid if you wish, it would make this far faster."

    "No, they have their own things to do, and I don¡¯t really wanna bother them with something we can do ourselves. Also, we get the credit for it if we do it our way."

    "As youmand lord. So, what is it that you need us for?"

    "I need you guys to spread across the city, stop anyone from hanging red signs ornterns. There will be a Cmity that wille down to the city, we¡¯ll need to beat it."

    Kalel drew his sword, "As you wish."

    "Hey, hold your horses! I said to stop them, not terrorize them, tell them the Undead King had denied the hanging of thenterns and festivity."

    "I haven¡¯t spent a great deal of time with them, but these are people who are highly attached to their traditions it will be difficult to stop them without using force."

    "I know you¡¯ll find a way. But this is for their own good, if they do hang thenterns it will throw a stick into the wheels of my n."

    "You got the idiom wrong," The Tengu said.

    Dave shrugged, "Anyway, we have until midnight, let¡¯s go!"

 Chapter 521 Heavenly Devil

    <h4>Chapter 521 Heavenly Devil</h4>

    "Lord Kis''Shtiengbrah, your armor is ready," Andre spoke to Dave.

    The time was already close to midnight, the capital was silent as the dead. Windows and doors barricaded and locked; people were in hiding. Dave was at the front of the Qin capital''s gate. This is where the Nian could enter the vige. Qin''s walls were fifty meters tall and ten meters wide from what the soldiers had told him. The Nian, though a massive creature in size, was not as big as the walls and couldn''t go past them, but the gate, he wouldn''t have much difficulty tearing it down if it wanted to.

    Andre was behind Dave and handed him his Undead War King armor. Once he has done the armor, Dave thanked Andre and said, "You should leave."

    "As you wish, I''m not much of a fighter, Prithee, be careful. I don''t want to see m'' work squandered."

    "No worries, I got this," Dave said and waited at the gate.

    Soon his Doom Knights all showed up behind him. Over the top Kalel knelt down to give Dave a report.

    "Your majesty, the doors are locked, the people are in their homes and no signs of red stamps or gs are in any parts of the city. The Nian wille for sure."

    "Good, we have half an hour before the lunar year starts."

    "What is this monster they'' be talking about, boss?" asked Singund.

    "If I''m not mistaken, a Nian is a nasty creature, it eats livestock and children it finds, destroy crops, and could tear down the buildings of this whole city in a night if it was irritated enough."

    "The people seem to have known it for long," Asked Bud.

    "Yep, it''s mentioned in their tradition, a monster, a cmity that hadn''t been captured by the old gods and locked up in pandora''s box."

    "If it wasn''t locked by the deities, wouldn''t that just mean that it''s weak?" Singund added.

    "The Naandloushii was not weak, he could kill a person if they show an ounce of fear. And it was not captured. This thing had probably escaped their notice, hid somewhere while the other cmities were fighting the gods."

    "I see, then we''ll have to drive it away ourselves."

    "Nope, that''s what these guys have been doing for a while now, always driving it away, every year, every time, it grew hungrier, definitely more dangerous, and now with the fact that his buddies are gonnae out of their hidings soon, it''s gonnae at ass without restraints."

    "But I fail to understand why did we remove the red markings,"

    "So, it doesn''t get distracted." Dave grinned.

    The clock struck zero hour. It was midnight.

    "It''s time," Dave said and equipped his Sworn Stalwart gauntlets.

    He pped them both together in a thunderous boom, and fire emerged from his hands.

    Dave punched the air above him, releasing an infernal dragon in the skies. A symbol for anyone near to see. He was calling the beast.

    Not a secondter, a howl, so primal, so deep and so low, echoed in the distance. The howl was dreadful enough to cause a man''s hair to turn white. It revibrated continuously around the capital. The beast wasing.

    "Singund, Kalel, take the front, go into the field, Bud, enter my shadow. Dog, you''re on backup and backline duty. Spark, make the Nian know where we''re exactly are."

    Singund and Kalel charged the field in front of the gate and kept an open eye on anything that should approach, while Spark shot glowing orbs of fire above the gate for the Nian to take note of and see.

    Dog retreated and was waiting for the Nian to make the dreadful mistake of going past Dave. While thetter was waiting for the iing creature.

    Seconds passed and no more howls echoed, there was nothing in the vicinity. This caused Dave a bit of worry, had the Cmity escaped?

    But before he could dwell on the matter, something appeared right next to him, it was instant, sudden, and without notice.

    Dave couldn''t even turn to see what was right next to him when a w the size of a trucknder on where he stood.

    All thanks to Bud''s instant reaction in dragging Dave back thanks to his shadow control.

    A loud explosion echoed at the front gate of Qin capital.

    Dave was on his back, he looked forward, a creature, dark as the night, at least four times as big as a sworn Stalwart. He had the body of a lion, but the frontal side chest up was muchrgerpared to his back and hind legs. The creature''s mane was that of a green and red fire. The hair on its elbows and knees were the same, a me of green and red. Even the end of Its tail was made of fire.

    The creature turned to Dave, its feline face had whiskers made of mes, its mouth had sharp jagged fangs, that were far more than enough to grind stone and metal to dust. The eyes were what gave Dave a slight sense of awe. They were golden blue, beautiful but at the same time when one was to associate them to the behemoth of a creature that those eyes were on, only dread woulde to them and fright.

    Dave inspected the creature.

    ***

    Name: Nian

    Level: 666

    Tier: Minor Cmity of Sacrifice

    Danger level: Cmitous!

    Damage: 66,666

    HP: ¡Þ (infinity)

    PD: 666

    MD: 666

    Skills:

    [Catharsis] The Nian is a distant rtive to dragons. Capable of controlling fire and attacking with it. Only that due to the Nian''s heavenly nature before turning to a Devilish nature, his mes hold both the aspect of destruction and catharsis, meaning that bathed with the mes of the Nian one would die, cleansed. -Passive- All fire attacks from the Nian deal an additional 200% base damage in holy fire damage.

    [Tantrum] The Nian is easily irritated, for every failed attempt at killing it, the Nian''s base strength grows by 1%

    [Everywhere and Nowhere] The Nian was a heavenly creature before it became the Devil it is today, it had been in thepany of the Space Lord for a time and learned some of his powers. The Nian can fold space to a certain degree.

    Lore:

    Nian, a heavenly lion, turned mad with rage one day at the death of his creature. He was spared the reckoning of the gods in the days where the cmities were driven into the Box due to his past contribution in assisting the lords. The Nian has gued the ground ever since, corrupted and mad by the loss of his lord, he became what he was meant to hunt in the first ce.

    ***

    "Damn, what a sad little fellow. But seriously, all of you, cmities have an absurd HP Pool."

    The Nian disappeared from where he was only to have Bud draw Dave to the side again to evade another strike from the Nian''s ws.

    "Damn, I can''t see him move at all."

    "Because you''re using your eyes lord, shadows tell. Use my strength," Dog said.

    "How do you suppose I can do that?"

    "Close your eyes," Dog said and Dave did as asked.

    Soon Dave''s vision, which waspletely ck turned monochrome. He was able to see everything in contrasts of ck and white. Things that he couldn''t see before, shadows turned to paths. Leading from one side to another, and what the moon brightened looked hard as an obstacle. The Nian''s shadow was clear, even if the creature itself moved with the speed of lightning, Dave was able to pinpoint him, he had a full 360 vision.

    At first, it was dizzying, as for Dave, he no longer recognizes forward from backward, left from right. It was jumbled up in his head.

    "Don''t try to use your senses to move, use the shadows," Bud said.

    And the moment Dave''s foot touched the looming shadow of a building, everything in his head turned clear. It was as if the shadow was the anchor for his positioning. And from it, he could recognize directions and be able to dodge the iing attack of the Nian.

    Dave rolled to the side and sliced at the Nian''s eyes, thetter easily jerked his head back and bit at Dave''s face.

    Dave''s legs sunk into the shadow under him, evading the jaws of death, and appeared under the Nian''s chest, where his own body made shadow against the moon''s light.

    Dave struck up with Durandal, but the sword hadn''t managed to leave a single mark on the creature, it sunk right through his chest, while the beast moved aside, the sword as if it had struck an illusion.

    "The heck?" Dave.

    "Lord, it uses the rule of space to evade being harmed," Bud said.

    "The heck would it even need that, the thing is practically immortal as is with that HP."

    "No one likes a sword in their guts, even if immortal," Bud added.

    "Though I hate it, You make a damn good point."

    Dave sunk into the shadow and appeared on another one nearby.

    The Nian charged at him again, but Dave evaded once more. Kalel joined the battle. He lunged at the creature who didn''t even bother avoiding the silver knight. Kalel went through the Nian and out the other way.

    But the Nian had underestimated Kalel of the People, a knight whose sole purpose was to hunt down monsters that harmed the weak and innocent, he was a master in battle and something such as this didn''t cause him to hesitate or abandon the charge.

    Kalel made a frontal flip in mid-air the moment he left the Nian''s body, his legs nted on a nearby wall, then he bounced back, his sword slicing at one of the Nian''s heels, drawing blood.

    The Nian''s eyes turned red for a second and another gut-wrenching howl echoed from its maws. The beast was angry.

    "Good Job Kalel, it bleeds¡­ and if it bleeds."

    Kalel, Bud and Singund all replied at once. "It dies."

 Chapter 522 Useless Ability

    <h4>Chapter 522 Useless Ability</h4>

    The party continued hacking away at the monster with far too little of sess, his ability to fold space made almost all attacks useless.

    "It has two seconds cooldown to use his space folding ability. Bait him into using it then attack at once." Dave said.

    Dave dodged an iing w by diving into the shadow underneath him and appeared on the shadow from the Nian¡¯s hind legs, Dave swung Durandal with bone-breaking might that cracked the leg of the beast and caused it to roar out in rage.

    The beast limed as it turned to Dave, it jumped at him, thetter tried to dodge only to find his footing no longer on shadow, it wasn¡¯t a fault of Dave, but the Nian was able not to move just himself but also his enemies.

    Kalel charged the Nian, trying to shoulder bash it to cause it¡¯s attack on Dave to stop, but he was met with empty air. Singund on the other hand was already prepared to assault the Nian the moment Kalel¡¯s attack failed.

    The high orc swung his cleaver with both meaty arms and into the face of the leaping Nian, causing theter to wince and screech, it reared back, stood on both hind legs that appeared to have fully healed, then mmed both paws down on Dave and Kalel.

    The two rolled to the side evading the creature¡¯s blows.

    "This isn¡¯t working," Dave mumbled.

    "Let¡¯s pull him out of the city. We can¡¯t have it wreak havoc here." Kalel advised.

    "Good idea, leech it out," Dave said and the group began kiting the monster away from the city gates.

    The group easily managed to pull the Cmity out of the city perimeters. So far, the monster hasn¡¯t been that difficult to handle, it was strong, it was immortal, but it was not bright. It was easily goaded and guided into doing what Dave wanted it to do. But this was no solution for the current problem.

    "Looks like you¡¯re having trouble." A familiar voice sounded near Dave.

    "Yep, and this is just getting uglier, how was your legacy quest?" Dave replied.

    "Annoying hassle for a stupid ability to be honest." Ralph replied and came to Dave¡¯s help.

    "Just keep your head¡¯s up, this guy can control space," Dave said and pulled back.

    The doom knights around Dave made the Nian quite busy. It was not smart enough to take them on and y them, but it was not weak enough to be taken down, not by a whole army.

    "What¡¯s up with this guy?" Ralph said.

    "Your usual cmity, annoying, pretty strong, and immortal."

    "Not much different than the Skinwalker, couldn¡¯t you use your life cleaver on it?" Ralph asked and sliced horizontally at the creature. The Nian took note of the iing wind de and made it¡¯s body temporarily unavable in reality, causing the blow to go past it instantly.

    "Damn, space rule," Ralph said.

    "You know this?" Dave asked.

    "Yeah, had to fight many Tengus that had that ability," Ralph said.

    "Don¡¯t tell me, you finished your legacy???

    "Not quite yet, still have a couple of steps left."

    Dave lunged in the direction of the Nian shed at the beast using Durandal, the creature dodged again but Kalel and Singund were waiting for it to use hi Space Rule, once he fully materialized back into reality, the two struck it in the head and shoulder, causing it to screech loudly.

    Dave and Ralph backed off.

    "I can¡¯t use Life cleaver on this guy, he¡¯s more than level 450," Dave said.

    "Ah, I forgot about that condition."

    "Also, it¡¯s on cooldown."

    "Yeah, totally forgot about that, even my new ability can¡¯t help with it."

    "You¡¯ve been talking about this ability for a while. What did you get?" Dave asked.

    "It¡¯s nothing much, I mean, I don¡¯t even understand how to use it," Ralph said and shared a screen with Dave.

    ***

    Rewind

    Space and Time go hand to hand. Rewind, the ability to turn back time for one second, the skill is limited by many factors and can only rewind a person¡¯s time, not the whole world.

    Can be used on self and others.

    Cooldown 1 hour

    Condition: Cannot rewind itself.

    ***

    "See, crappy ability man, what the heck would I rewind myself for one second."

    "Ralph, you big doofus! You just won us the fight!" Dave said.

    "Huh?"

    "That ability of yours is pretty damned broken."

    "The heck are you talking about?"

    "The condition, that¡¯s a pretty big hint."

    "I still don¡¯t follow man," Ralph replied.

    "Well, I better show you. [Final Phantasm]." Dave used his legacy skill. The skies opened and Nick¡¯s Skull Guitar mmed into the ground, making it revibrate with the sound of death.

    The skies above Qin turned cker than they were. The moon was soon covered by a deathly presence, as the Undeath God took to the world and imed a portion of it for himself.

    "Use the ability on me on my mark, not a secondter, not a second sooner. We only have one chance." Dave said.

    "Okay," Ralph replied.

    "Bud, can you bind the Nian?" Dave asked.

    "I can, but it will teleport away the moment I¡¯m gonna try to do it."

    "That¡¯s what I¡¯m hoping for. Wait for my cue, then do it." Dave said.

    "Dog,e!" Dave stomped his foot on the ground and called the Duhan. The Duhan as summoned from inside the territory of Qin and appeared right next to Dave.

    "Give that Nian a taste of your god¡¯s fist," Dave asked.

    The Duhan nodded and dropped to his knee he struck down the ground, causing a massive half physical golden gauntlet to appear in the skies of Qin.

    "Ralph, are you ready?"

    "Yeah, even if I have no idea what the heck are you doing."

    "Good, Bud! Bind it!"

    Bud appeared under the Nian¡¯s feet and grabbed it by the legs, the shadows met shadows at the Nian was momentarily trapped.

    The God¡¯s gauntlet was about to drop on the Nian, but it used its rule of space to teleport away from the gauntlet.

    "Phantasmal Edge!" the skies opened up, and nick tiny hand appeared out of it, he pointed it at the Nian. "Now Ralph!"

    "Right, Rewind!" Ralph used his ability on Dave.

    Dave who had the deathly aura around him rapidly dissipating due to the condition of Phantasmal Edge that once used it would force him out of [Final phantasm].

    Dave¡¯s eyes shone bright and a wide grin appeared on his face, "It worked! Phantasmal Edge!"

    Soon deathlier aura gathered around Dave and another tiny hand appeared right next to the first one.

    A loud "Hmm," sound echoed in the skies but the skill still dropped.

    Two points, one Nian that couldn¡¯t use his rule of space...

    Once the two fingers focused themselves on the Nian, thetter husked over, turned skin on bone, then shattered into ashes.

    ***

    yer Kis¡¯Shtiengbrah, and yer ster have sessfully defeated the second Cmity of Sacrifice. The Nian.

    For having in another Cmity before their time, the people of Conquest can feel safer, and are more hopeful to a better tomorrow. Productivity in thends of the East will increase by 20%.

    ***

    "What the heck? That¡¯s not right," Ralph said.

    "I told you, that¡¯s an amazing ability you have."

    "No, but you used your legacy skill twice! The same one!"

    "I know."

    "How is that fair?"

    "It isn¡¯t!" Nick shouted.

    A momentter Nick appeared right next to Dave and Ralph.

    "That was Cheating Kid, you forced my hand!"

    "Sorry about that, but that not against the rules to use the legacy twice."

    "It kinda is! That¡¯s the reason why you¡¯re only allowed to use it once, it¡¯s already dangerous. Heck, do you know how grave it is to rewind time on a deity? I could have be two persons!"

    "What are you talking about?" Ralph said.

    "We¡¯re not bound by time, thanks to the Timelord, I was able to retain my persona. He broke the spell, don¡¯t ever use it again!"

    "I still have no idea what happened, heck why did the Nian even die? Isn¡¯t your skill supposed to take down just half of it¡¯s HP? And there is a condition that the monster needs to have more than 60% hp for it to activate? How did you do it?"

    "Simple, Nick¡¯s skill takes a little bit of time to work, so when the two of themnded on the monster, the skills still considered it to have more than 50% HP. So... both of them added to each other and 100% minus infinity is 0."

    "My head hurts."

    "Still, I don¡¯t really care how creative that was, you¡¯re not allowed to use that on legacy skills anymore," Nick said.

    "That¡¯s freedom limiting."

    "No, it¡¯s not, the fact that you created another persona of me is viting my personal... stuff, I don¡¯t want to have to deal with another me."

    "Kay man, I¡¯ll keep it in mind..." Dave said.

    "Not just keep it in mind man, this is serious stuff, honestly... how could you be so uughh! Damn it, whatever just don¡¯t do it again. Anyway, good job on killing that guy, but nasty as it was, my power turned it to nothingness...you¡¯re not getting any loot."

    "Wait, again, man-killing these cmities isn¡¯t rewarding enough."

    "Well, you should have thought about that before using godly power to kill it. Anyway, good job I¡¯ll be leaving."

    "Cyater Nick," Dave said.

    The small god disappeared from the area leaving the group in the dark nights at the perimeters of Qin.

    "He didn¡¯t look happy."

    "Yeah, I guess we kinda overdid it. Using a legacy skill twice wasn¡¯t in his setup. So tell me how did your legacy quest go?" Dave asked.

    "Yeah, about that, I have a tiny problem," Ralph said.

 Chapter 523 Hellish Rituals

    <h4>Chapter 523 Hellish Rituals</h4>

    "Yeah, what¡¯s the prob?" Dave asked.

    "Well, I need to go to hell," Ralph replied.

    "Come again?"

    "Yeah, seems that I need to smelt this katana once more. An upgrade of sorts and the only thing that could help do that is a ck me that only exists in hell."

    "But, hell should be a whole different expansion," Dave said.

    "I don¡¯t know, it should already be installed with thest patch, you remember what the dev said about how yers could revive the demonic faction?"

    "Yeah. Let¡¯s ask Albert," Dave said and soon after speaking the name of the AI, the Hawaiian dressed old man came to view.

    "Hellods, what can I do for you guys?"

    "Hey Albert, we were wondering if the Hell Expansion is installed or not. There is a quest that we need to fulfill there."

    "Well, technically, Hell is not an expansion, it¡¯s a dominion of its own, same as Demiurge¡¯s domain."

    "Judging from Demi-cup¡¯sst reaction to me and Nick¡¯s appearance in Heaven, Asmodeus is not gonna like it if we go there."

    "No, he won¡¯t, I don¡¯t doubt that he¡¯ll personallye and kill you there himself," Albert said.

    "Wow, shouldn¡¯t that not be allowed?"

    "Bro, I kinda killed his son, and he is a god, and we¡¯re going to his domain, not here in conquest, he has all rights to rip us a new one," Dave said.

    "Damn, that¡¯s not good."

    "I¡¯ll have to ask Nick for a favor. He¡¯s not gonna like this one bit." Dave said.

    "That¡¯s all?" Albert said.

    "Yeah, also, if I may ask, how is your investigation going with all that pixelization bug?"

    "Oh, so far, it seems to have stopped. We never found out what was causing it, but it¡¯s good now. Everything is back to normal."

    "That¡¯s some good news. Thanks, Albert, we¡¯ll be going now."

    "Good hunting," Albert said and disappeared from the area.

    "Where to, now?" Ralph asked.

    Dave turned to his Doom Knights, "Tell the People of Qin that the Nian is dead, and they can do their festivities however they wish, free from fright and fear."

    "Yes, my lord," Kalel said as he struck a fist to his chest.

    "Where are we going?" Ralph asked.

    "To Urburg, Nick should be there."

    The two used a teleportation scroll to Urburg. Once inside the town, they headed to the bar.

    A beautiful melody was ying inside the bar, a piano. Once Dave entered, his eyes focused on the origin of the sound, a beautiful maiden, covered from head to toe in a dark hood, her hands, the only things that could be seen, yed the piano like it was an extension of herself.

    Every note a perfect melodious mncholic memory. It was as if she was ying the soul of music itself. The bar was calm and quiet, and everyone who sat there didn¡¯t make a sound, for the rarest of it were the mugs being ced on the tables after an undead had taken a sip of their ale.

    "Sup, kid," Nick spoke.

    "Hey Nick, Death seems to be enjoying herself."

    "Yeah, we always loved listening to her music. What brings you here, cmity yer." Nick said.

    "Still feeling prissy about that huh,"

    "I told you, it was not cool. But never mind that, you¡¯re here for something important I suppose."

    "Yeah, we need to go to hell."

    Death¡¯s ying was interrupted immediately with what Dave had said, causing her to y a wrong note.

    She turned to Dave as well as did Nick. "You¡¯re kidding right?"

    "Do I look like I¡¯m kidding?" Dave said.

    "That¡¯s the thing, you should look like you¡¯re kidding! Are you out of your mind? Asmodeus will rip you apart the moment you step into his domain." Nick said.

    "I know."

    "Why? Why do you want to go there?" Nick asked.

    "We need to get this guy¡¯s sword heated up, ck mes and all."

    "Disas Obascus Fervis. That¡¯s a nasty one. Let me guess, you¡¯re going to reforge the Rift Maker into its original form." Nick said.

    "I have no idea; I¡¯m just helping my buddy here."

    "Yello," Ralph said.

    "Why don¡¯t you go, why do you have to bring my champion with you?" Nick addressed Ralph.

    "Well, he is the only one with ties to the gods. And I thought he would know the road, but if it¡¯s not possible to bring him with me, I¡¯ll go alone if I had to."

    "Nah, it won¡¯t change the fact that Asmodeus will kill you too if you take a single step in," Nick said.

    "Why? I mean it was Dave that killed the Ash King, he shouldn¡¯t really bother with small fry ol me."

    "That¡¯ where you¡¯re wrong," Death said. It was the first time she joined the conversation.

    "Mortal man, your life is forfeit the moment you step through the gates of Gehna. He will not tolerate anyone who has been present in the war against his own son, not to mention he doesn¡¯t tolerate anyone at all if they trespassed his dominion."

    "That makes things hell of a lot more difficult, quite literally," Ralph said.

    "I have a way though," Nick said. "But you aren¡¯t gonna like it."

    "What¡¯s that?" Dave asked.

    "Well, you¡¯ll need two things, a Sworn Stalwart. And a blood medium."

    "I don¡¯t follow, all stalwarts had died in thest battle, I mean, with the Death of the Ash King they all just... died."

    "Well, yeah, but one didn¡¯t, he had the Chosen of the Ash King¡¯s power, he died due to the Death of the Ash King, but the blessing remains even after the bless giver died."

    "Oh, you¡¯re talking about the ck Stalwart. Right, what about it?" Dave asked.

    "You¡¯ll have to convince it to join you. Which will be impossible, unless you use the medium that is." Nick said.

    "What medium?"

    "The one there," Nick pointed at Ajax that was strapped behind Dave¡¯s back.

    "No way, you¡¯re talking about the chalices?" Dave asked.

    "Yeah, with the Death of the Ash King, that blood can no longer convert man to demons, but it is still the blood of a royal demon, it can be used in some rituals," Nick added.

    "Right then, so what do I need?" Dave asked.

    "Go to Da, tell him about the Rite of Inferno, and the Passage of the Old gate."

    "Rogger," Dave said and hinted to Ralph to leave.

    ***

    Once the two were out of the tavern Death turned to Nick and said, "Are you sure that this is the smartest thing to do?"

    "Not at all, this is tantamount to suicide, one mistake and Asmodeus will make sure that the kid will see his worst nightmares."

    "Why did you send him then?"

    "Because that kid, he always makes the impossible possible, and it¡¯s always fun to watch him do it."

    Death shook her head and continued ying her music.

    ***

    Dave and Ralph appeared in the Dead Realm that is currently in the heart of the Qin capital.

    They both climbed the stairs of the Bone Tower and headed to the top, Dave took a turn and went to Da¡¯s study.

    The old lich was skimming through some old documents, research or whatever liches his ages do in their spare time. In his other hand was a mug of wine as it appeared to Dave.

    "Sup Da,"

    "Greetings young prince, what can I do for you?" Asked the handsome looking lich, the Lifeless Drops had made a great cosmetic change on the lich.

    "Yeah, I need a favor, Nick said you would know about the Rite of Inferno-"

    Dave¡¯s words were abruptly stopped by the spray of wine from the lich¡¯s mouth that sttered across the table and on his documents.

    The lich began a coughing fit.

    "Dude, are you alright?" Dave asked.

    "Stars and Stonesd, why in the name of all unholy you want to do that rite?" Da said.

    "Not just that. He also said I needed information about the Passage of the Old Gate.

    "Sticks and stones! That¡¯s it, I won¡¯t tell you, there is nothing good that wille out of these. Leave prince, that¡¯s not possible! I won¡¯t do it!"

    "This guy¡¯s got no chill," Ralph said.

    "C¡¯mon Da, what¡¯s the big deal?" Dave asked.

    "No! it will only put ideas in your head! That¡¯s bad. Really bad!" Da replied.

    "Tell him what he needs Da," the Undead King¡¯s voice spoke from behind Dave.

    "Your majesty! You know what this means don¡¯t you?!"

    "Yes." The Undead King turned to Dave and said, "Childe, no matter what happens, do remember. You¡¯re a child of the Legion, always remember that. Da. Tell him what he needs."

    "Damned this day may be. Prince, this is noughing matter, this rite. Is not like any other rites. It will turn you to something you¡¯ll not wish to be."

    "What do you mean?"

    "It¡¯s a rite to possess a beast. A demonic one. And with the medium you need, the only one that you can possess is a Sworn Stalwart. As for the Passage of the Old Gate, that¡¯s the way toward Gehna. Hell as we know it. You wish to go to hell, why?" Da asked.

    "We need to get the ck fire from there for a sword."

    "Disas Obascus Fervis, you won¡¯t be able to touch it, you¡¯ll need a special container for that me."

    "Wait, but as I¡¯ve heard there is only one Stalwart left in this world," Ralph said.

    "Yes."

    "So only one of us can go," Ralph said.

    "Yes, because the gates of hell have not opened yet, this is the only way to go."

    "Then let me do it," Ralph said. "No need to send him there. I mean it¡¯s my quest."

    "As much as I would want that, and wouldn¡¯t want to endanger our prince, you haven¡¯t been in contact with demonic energy. He has." Da said.

    "Ah, demonic ascension."

    "I¡¯ll prepare the rite for you and get you the vial where you can hold Disas Obascus Fervis. Wait here." Da left.

    Ralph turned to Dave and said, "Man, I¡¯m sorry I got you caught up in this."

    "It¡¯s cool, this is what friends are for.

    "You¡¯re going to hell for me, even for friendship that¡¯s kinda too much. Man, we can do this a bitter, I¡¯ll wait until some guy opens the gate or I¡¯ll see how to do it myself."

    "But where is the fun in that?" Dave gave Ralph his most evil Draugr smile. "The way I see it, I¡¯ll get to pioneer another new area. That¡¯ll be pretty lit."

    **** Please Make sure to read this story on , if you are reading Rise of the Undead legion anywhere else then you are on a pirating website, do not ept to offer any kinds of payment to such people as they are non-repsecting of author¡¯s right and I, as the writer am not benefiting from their schemes in any way possible.****

 Chapter 524 In Control

    <h4>Chapter 524 In Control</h4>

    Da came back into his study, in his hand a small purple vial that he handed to Dave.

    ***

    Evesting Container

    A vial that can contain all sorts of elemental powers within it. Separating it from time and space in a different reality altogether.

    ***

    "Disas Obascus Fervis is a me not like any other, it will not survive more than one hour outside of hell¡¯s atmosphere, this container can keep it alive for as long as it is sealed within it." Da handed the vial to Dave.

    "As for this," he gave him a ck candle. "Light this when you¡¯re next to the Sworn Stalwart, you¡¯ll have to battle it, not a battle of flesh but a battle of the mind, I advise you to wound it heavily before you use the candle, you¡¯ll need all the mental strain against him if you want to bind it temporarily to your will."

    "Thanks," Dave took the ck candle that he couldn¡¯t inspect no matter how he tried.

    "Once you¡¯re able to possess the Stalwart. Head to Urburg, the Passage to the Old Gate is under the well within the town."

    "Oh, I never thought it would be so close," Dave replied.

    "It¡¯s one of the reasons the Demons from the Underworld assaulted Urburg once they had the opportunity to leave it. The destruction that you have seen when you first went there was a battle to take control of the Passage of the Old Gate. Thankfully Ramsha and some of The Undeath God Nichs¡¯s followers managed to keep it sealed tight before anything from hell ever came out."

    "I suppose there are nasty thingies in Hell."

    "The worst, yet don¡¯t be fooled, they may be strong, but we¡¯ll be facing far scarier things in the near future."

    "You mean that demonkind isn¡¯t that approving of the idea that the Cmities woulde and reign terror in this world?"

    "Yeah, the cmites are things that wish to seek destruction, same as the demons, only the demons wish to rule over the destroyed remains of this world, while the cmities seek to consume it whole."

    "Thanks for the head¡¯s up. I¡¯ll head out to the sea, I bet Kraky¡¯s gotten real tired fighting against the Stalwart now."

    "You should, it¡¯s almost a month of battle between them, they do not tire, but it is best if they rest for a while."

    "Roger, Ralph bro, you can also rest, let me handle this."

    Ralph sighed and said, "Sorry for dumping all this on you bro."

    "No worries, I told you it¡¯s a good chance to see something that no other yer had seen before."

    "Thanks a lot, man."

    Dave grinned at his friend and took another teleportation scroll. He appeared outside the pce and at the gate of Qin¡¯s city center.

    He headed to the docks. Night was still in its nadir, but the raging sounds of battle that were continuous and ongoing within the sea never stopped.

    Dave jumped against the mirror surface of the sea, he didn¡¯t drop down like an anchor because of the Kraken¡¯s effect on seawater.

    "Kraky, let me in," Dave said, and immediately, the spot under Dave turned liquid and he dropped like an anchor.

    A shark chariot came swooping in under Dave, he grabbed at the iron reins of the sharks and hauled himself on the chariot.

    The sharks went toward the battle area with savage glee.

    Daveid his eyes on the Stalwart, it was feeble, barely able to swing its paws. The water forced it to not use it¡¯s mes as the heat would only damage it. The Undead coursed around the Stalwart using the chariots, slicing and dicing at it whenever they could. Fully knowing that a single hit from that beast would send them to the Dead Realm.

    The Kraken was holding the Stalwart at bay, he didn¡¯t look too healthy either, the Kraken, unlike the Stalwart had only one life. And if he dies, the Stalwart will find a way out. But the Sea God was able to keep the Stalwart at Bay, especially since they were fighting in the Kraken¡¯s domain.

    Dave turned his eyes to the enemy and inspected the wounded Stalwart.

    ***

    Chosen Sworn Stalwart

    Level 650

    Tier (Ethereal)

    Alignment [Demonic]

    Danger Level ? ? ?

    DN 250,000

    MA 250,000

    HP 1,850,000/12,000,000,000

    Skills:

    [Blessed One] (Passive) Revives stronger after death. Each Death Increases the base HP pool by ???% HP.

    [Abyssal mes] All of the Chosen¡¯s Stalwart me effect has an additional impact upon the enemy¡¯s gear, mental state and cause immtion instead of Overheating

    [Immtion] Once a yer inters [Overheating] their avatar will immte for 20% of their maximum HP instantly.

    [Infernal Aura] Causes 0.5% of the target¡¯s Max HP in t damage. Continuous and cannot be interrupted unless the Sworn Stalwart is stunned, once the Sworn Stalwart regains his senses, the aura effect will resume.

    [Ray of mes] Shots a torrent of zing mes that could melt terrain. Deals 20% of the target¡¯s max HP in t damage value.

    [Granite Skin] The Sworn Stalwart is a creature made from the wrath of a volcano, it coats its body with a thinyer of Granite that could negate 20% of the damage dealt with it. Once the granite skin is broken, the Sworn Stalwart will receive 20% additional damage.

    Lore

    A creature of the depth, bound to serve the Ash-King as a ve and protector. This one made a chosen of the Ash King, rules over all the Stalwarts of his dominion. It is a rare creature that could evolve further, and more than simple mindless havoc seeking Sworn Stalwart.

    These creatures feed on magma and are immune to fire, in their presence, heat in the area increases to an rming rate inducing DOT of 5,000HP/second.

    ***

    "Perfect. Everyone, stop attacking!" Dave gave themand. And the creatures halted their assault.

    They withdrew away from the seething Stalwart.

    Dave came closer and pulled out the candle.

    "Damn we¡¯re inside the water, I hope this is one of those things that can actually burn even while submerged," Dave muttered, he didn¡¯t want to take the Stalwart outside of the sea, lest it would cause more trouble than needed.

    Dave switched his sword and Shield to the Gauntlets of the Sworn Stalwart. He snapped his fingers above the candle. And it lit with a fearsome me.

    The dark sea turned Darker, and all Dave could see was the Stalwart, and from the Stalwart¡¯s point of view, all that it could see was the Undead in front of it.

    The Stalwart tried to move forward but it was unable to budge, so was the case for Dave.

    Then soon came a wave of nauseating headache assaulting Dave¡¯s head.

    Dave felt a terrorizing pressureing down against him, it was as if the Stalwart was trying to rip out of his skull like some second-grade scary movie. He did not like that.

    Dave gritted his teeth, trying to withstand the continuous, increasing, and aggravating mental assault. For some reason, Dave couldn¡¯t fight against it, he knew that just struggling against the Stalwart¡¯s mental assault was not going to make him possess it. He was just beating his head against a boulder. And Dave¡¯s head was going to crack sooner orter.

    Suddenly, he had an idea, "If I can¡¯t suppress you, he can." Dave said with a wide grin.

    He immediately activated [Aura of the Infernal Tyrant], the pressure on Dave¡¯s mind disappeared as if it was nothing and it didn¡¯t even exist. While around him, water boiled as the ck aura of his skill fought against the ocean. A skull, so spiteful of anything that ever existed emerged into existence, it looked down against the Stalwart, its eyes uncaring, and with an audible snort, the Stalwart¡¯s image in front of Dave cracked and shattered into millions of pieces.

    Dave gulped, "Who the heck is the owner of this skull," He said. He was going to find out someday, but now, something else was happening. The fragments of The Sworn Stalwart all turned to small darks and pierced right into Dave¡¯s head. Suddenly, Dave felt queasy. His perception of reality changed. Colors took on different hues. And he was able to see the world in different colors, literally.

    In front of Dave, he saw... Dave, then he understood that he was inside the Sworn Stalwart. The Undead In front of him was floating like a corpse in the sea.

    Before Dave could move, the Stalwart he was in control of opened its mouth and sucked in. Dave¡¯s body was immediately absorbed into the Stalwart¡¯s mouth.

    "The fuck are you doing that¡¯s my body!" Dave shouted and the words came out of the Stalwart¡¯s mind.

    "Pay it no heeds," Nick¡¯s voice came directly into Dave¡¯s mind. "Your boy is safest within the Stalwart¡¯s stomach; it won¡¯t kill it. And you¡¯ll also need to have your body closest to your soul if you wish to keep this possession of this creature."

    "Oh okay thank I guess," The Stalwart Spoke. Or in this case, Stalwart Dave did.

    The undead around Dave had no idea what was going on, but seeing the Stalwart speaking in the same voice as their prince gave them a bit offort.

    "Kraky, open up, I¡¯ll be going to hell, also you can all go and rest," Dave said.

    The Kraken released its ability and the seawater began moving like normal again. Stalwart Dave swam up. And the moment he was out of the seawater a notification popped up in front of him.

    ***

    You have sessfully possessed Chosen Sworn Stalwart.

    All of your abilities have been temporarily suspended.

    You have gained all of the Sworn Stalwart¡¯s abilities in exchange.

    Deaths remaining 2

    ***

    "Damn, still two deaths, well, we can¡¯t count this one, you¡¯re like one hit to the grave. But damn, I can¡¯t use teleportation scrolls or gates." Dave sighed.

    He looked at the west, Urburg was in that general direction, west of Qin capital.

    "Let¡¯s see how fast you can go," Dave muttered and pounced forward.

    Not knowing the power behind the Stalwart¡¯s hind and front legs, he managed to leave hundreds of meters in the air andnd squarely against Qin¡¯s walls.

    -12,000

    "Damn that hurt. But seriously, this is fun. Beast mode on!" Dave said and began pouncing and racing through the woods and headed toward the Wilds.

    *** Please Make sure to read this story on , if you are reading Rise of the Undead legion anywhere else then you are on a pirating website, do not ept to offer any kinds of payment to such people as they are non-repsecting of author¡¯s right and I, as the writer am not benefiting from their schemes in any way possible.*****

 Chapter 525 In Tartarus

    <h4>Chapter 525: In Tartarus</h4>

    Stalwart Dave raced through the wilds. Every paw, every jump, and every sprint felt liberating. The ck stalwart''s massive form was not a hindrance to Dave but a bonus that added momentum, it didn''t care about the obstacles in its way. Every rock was trammeled to dust. Every tree the Chosen Stalwart grazed with its body turned to mes. And every tree that it bore right through became ming cinders.

    The heat emanating from its body made the stalwart an enemy of nature. But thanks to the increasing body heat of the Stalwart, its HP gradually rose. Healing some of the wounds that the battle against the Undead had caused.

    Soon, Urburg was in sight. And the moment Dave''s form became apparent, undead in droves rushed to the outskirt of Urburg, readied up their shields, and prepared for battle.

    "Stand down!" Dave called and the sound came from between the shark-like smile of the Stalwart.

    The undead didn''t understand at first, but the order came against their will, a superior had spoken and they were bound to oblige. They made way for the obsidian stalwart to cross and move to the city center right next to the gate.

    Nick and Death came out of the pub.

    "This is actually not bad, if Asmodeus isn''t alerted he''d never notice." Death said.

    "Yeah, even when I''m right next to him unless I exert an effort, he looks like a perfect Stalwart for me. Da had made some serious efforts. How did you do it?" Nick asked.

    "Da gave me a candle."

    "Oh, Sorrow of the Soul. It''s a rare thing in this world, I suppose not many are left. That''s a precious item, it made your possession smoother and without greater mental conflict than it should. But, the stalwart you''re possessing isn''t going to take this and keep quiet. You''ll have to be careful."

    "What do you mean?" Dave asked.

    "The health, once it''s healed enough, it will try and wrest away control. And you really don''t want that, especially with your original body inside its stomach." Nick grinned.

    "I shouldn''t have let it eat me, should I?"

    "You''ll have an even harder time controlling it if your body wasn''t close. Now let me open the passage for you." Nick said.

    He pointed at the well that was just a few steps away from the teleportation gate, and soon, its water overflew. The water that that gathered around the well didn''t seep through the ground but floated and hovered at the well''s level. Creating arge circr watery form.

    The water changed color to that of the darkest shades of orange. "Once you have the me,e back to the same spot you were teleported to. I can''t guarantee where you''ll find yourself in hell, but I made sure that your entry is impossible to notice

    Asmodeus is not going to be on the lookout because he''d never think that you''ll be in hell, but once you''re discovered. Not even I can help you."

    "Yeah, I''ll make sure to stay low," Dave said.

    "Hop in," Nick said.

    Dave jumped into the orange water and he found himself in a fast speeding tunnel. The tunnel was made of a wall of souls, fused together in malformed and tormented shapes. They screeched and howled, in agony and sufferance. Seeking an exit to the world below, never finding respite and forever bound to the tunnel''s walls.

    Dave was dropping fast to the bottom of the tunnel. And with each passing second, the depth of the tunnel turned darker and darker, and the howl of the souls turned louder and more agonizing.

    Soon he saw light at the end of the tunnel, only the light was that of mes, so high and so hot that no living thing could ever survive under these circumstances.

    ***

    Wee to Tartarus.

    You are the first yer to ever set foot in thesends.

    All in monsters will give double their EXP in rewards.

    All monsters will drop the best equipment possible on the first kill.

    This willst for a duration of One Week of game time.

    ***

    Dave noticed that the heat from Tartarus was not causing him any difort, but on the opposite, for the Stalwart, Dave felt its body rejuvenating at a far faster rate than before.

    "Damn, at this rate the Stalwart will be full health in less than an hour," Dave grumbled. He looked around to inspect his surroundings.

    The air was filled with soot and sulfurous smoke. What little light that was present was a sullen, reddish hue and shone up from the ground not down from the sky.

    Adding to the natural volcanic light, scattered everywhere Dave looked, were shallowkes of fire. The fires were burning the flesh of man and beast. Hundreds of thousands of creatures in single file lines, linked with chain, were being forced into the mes to be burnt alive, but never knowing true death. They emerged from the far side of ake and trudged to the next burning basin. The cinder filled wind brought the wails and dismal screams of the victims to the shadow.

    Dave felt irritated, "Whoever runs this ce got something messed up in the head."

    Dave walked forward, there was a massive mountain in the distance where a pce stood tall, overseeing the entirety of the ce.

    "Nick didn''t give me any clear indication of where to find this me. But seeing that pce over there, I''d wager that it''s where the me is ced. But how can I get there with this dammed beast of a body?"

    Before Dave''s thinking process ended, a Sworn Stalwart came by to Dave and began sniffing at him.

    Irritated, Dave mmed the Stalwart in the face with a paw and growled.

    The smaller Stalwart reared back, whined, and turned tail moving away.

    "I guess this body works on instinct, I didn''t even move it but it pped the other Stalwart away on its own. Territory? Or perhaps to show dominance."

    Dave took note of the Chosen Stalwart''s behavior and moved forward. He didn''t have a lot of time left; he could feel his grip on the Stalwart''s psychic growing weaker by the passing minute. Once the Stalwart was full health, Dave was sure he''ll have a hard time reigning it in control.

    After half an hour jog, Dave was at the base of the mountain where the pce was situated at. Remove the stench, the screaming souls, and the insufferable heat, this ce wouldn''t be so bad to build a base for the undead, Dave thought.

    Few more Stalwarts were moving up the mountain, perhaps they were summoned there. It worked best for Dave, he needed to get closer to have a better look.

    It didn''t take the Stalwart much time to get to the top of the mountain and into the pce entrance. Surprisingly, the entrance was so wide that it could fit several Stalwarts side by side. Even the pce was massivelyrge that he saw some of the Stalwarts resting on the towers or on the walls.

    "Good, this won''t be suspicious if I were to walk up and have a look around."

    Before Dave could even take a step. The sky above him, darker than it should begin swirling and twirling, creating a shape that was as far away from a human as it could.

    The wisps of dispersed smoke coalesced back together, burning bright red and forming into the silhouette of a many-limbed scaly creature with a pig''s body and a dragon''s head and neck.

    But rising from the middle of the pig''s back was a fat human torso with three heads. The middle head was a man''s head with horns, it was nked by a cow head on one side and a sheep head on the other.

    The entity gazed down on the stalwarts moving toward his pce and dissipated once again into smoke that swirled and funneled into the top of the pce.

    "That was awfully suspicious," Dave mumbled to himself and moved through the pce gate.

 Chapter 526 - Devils Ways

    <h4>Chapter 526 - Devil''s Ways</h4>

    The pce was huge, every entrance was enough for a giant to fit in with ease. The whole building was not essentially made for humanoids or people with the stature of a normal man to walk around. It was toorge that moving from one area of the pce to another would take a considerable amount of time.

    The interior of the pce was full of demonic soldiers, they were far bigger than the ones that Dave fought in the Underworld, the underlings of the Ash King. And amongst them roamed the Stalwarts, free to do whatever they pleased.

    The pce had gigantic pirs that supported the ceiling, and some Stalwart had climbed up the pirs and rested alongside it like giant lizards.

    The whole pce smelled of sulfur and stank of an acidic smell of burnt rotten flesh.

    Magmatic pools were situated around some of the pirs where demon soldiers and Stalwarts alike rested within.

    Dave kept walking forward, even the Demon Soldiers would give way to the massive Stalwart. The chosen Stalwart that Dave had possessed was easily thrice the size of any of the regr ones around him.

    So far, he had no idea where to find the me. Nor was he able to locate it using any means. Also, he couldn¡¯t just ask for where the me is, even if any of the demons here knew, Dave was a Sworn Stalwart, and those don¡¯t talk.

    While Dave was thinking about where to go next, a wave of nausea assaulted him.

    "Shit!" Dave cursed the Sworn Stalwart was trying to wrest back control.

    He forgot to keep an eye on the Creature¡¯s HP, and looking at it right now, it was already above the 80% mark.

    Dave needed a way to force the Stalwart back into submission, but here, in the domain of Asmodeus, any single mistake would mean his life.

    Dave turned his head, found a passage that led away from all monsters, and scurried toward it.

    The passage was a wide and long tunnel, it led down, to god knows where, but as long as no creature was there, Dave could use the [Aura of the Infernal Tyrant] to make it submit. But in the presence of other demonic creatures, he risks exposure.

    The tunnel was pretty long, and it extended to a length unknown. Dave had yet to reach its ends when he developed a splitting migraine. He was about to lose control.

    "Hell with it!" Dave cursed and used the Aura of the Infernal tyrant.

    However, the moment he did, he instantly regretted it, wishing he never did.

    The splitting migraine immediately stopped. But right in front of Dave a being materialized.

    A three-headed creature was right in front of it. A man with the body of a swine, the head of a dragon and a goat, and the face of a human, void of emotion and expressions.

    "Dare thee use my own skull in my domain? Such guts. Do you wish me to show them to you?"

    Dave immediately understood something rted to his ability. The skull that looked down upon all creation, the skull of the Infernal Tyrant. It was the Skull of Asmodeus himself, for only a god could look down upon all. And it was mentioned in the damned skill¡¯s name.

    ***

    You¡¯re feeling an irresistible pressure. You cannot move, you cannot talk until given permission.

    You¡¯re in the presence of a hostile god.

    ***

    Dave cursed inwardly, the worst-case scenario happened. He never got his hand on the me, and he was already facing Asmodeus.

    The dragon head part of Asmodeus snorted, and the human head spoke, "You¡¯re not supposed to be here, chosen. I gave you the ability to defy death, but you failed in defending my son. And now he is back to embryo form. You¡¯re to die."

    Asmodeus held a scaly hand forward, but stopped, a wide grin appeared on his human face. "You¡¯re in there! If I didn¡¯t look closely, I¡¯d never notice it. Damn you may be, draugr! You came to deliver yourself to my hands!"

    Dave¡¯s vision swam, and he found his neck locked tightly against the god¡¯s hand. He was forcefully ejected from the Stalwart¡¯s body, his possession dissipated and he was now being held by the neck.

    "How fate smiles to me, and how cruel it is to your demise. But it continues to skip my thoughts. In what imagination or circ.u.mstance had you decided to visit one that would rip your flesh from your bones, grind your soul to glistening dust, and burn you day and night for all eternal damnation?"

    "Kinda.. hard... to speak... with your hand... on my neck... bro."

    Asmodeus dropped Dave. Thetter stood up and faced the furious diety. "I guess there is no need to even bind me."

    "Yes, no need indeed, for you¡¯re in my domain, and all in here is a prisoner."

    "Shit, I guessed as much. Well, how can I say it..."

    Asmodeus, bemusedly had a schadenfreude smile, waiting for Dave to finish exining himself so he would start his torment. Gods had no need to be hasty, they had all the time in the world.

    "Well, this might sound awfully weird...but I need your help."

    The smile on Asmodeus¡¯s face froze, "Come again?"

    "As I said, I need your help."

    "You seem to be awfully mistaken your position, son-yer."

    "Hold up, I don¡¯t deny the fact that I killed your son."

    "I know, I was there."

    "Right, but. What do you think about the cmities?"

    "Wretched creatures, pretty good, and I like them a lot."

    "If you did, then why did you help capture them."

    "So, you even know of that."

    "Yeah, I guess you didn¡¯t like the way they treated the world."

    "In a sense, their mindset is closest to ours."

    "I call bullshit."

    "Child, I¡¯m about to torment you, harm you in ways you never witnessed before. Be crasser and you¡¯re little time of respite that I have given you right now will end."

    "Right. Let me rephrase before you start cooking my brain for your supper."

    "Ah, an excellent idea, I¡¯ll keep it in mind. For now, speak."

    Dave gulped. ¡¯Way to go, give the guy more ways to enjoy himself.¡¯

    "Right then, demons, your kind. You want to destroy the world."

    "It is indeed the thought."

    "But you also want to rule over the destroyed remains."

    "Once again, correct."

    "Enving those who survived the apocalypse brought by your army of hell and all."

    "You have said nothing to pique my interest so far."

    "I¡¯ll get to that, now as for the Cmities. They want to devour it. Body and soul, if they were left running amok, they¡¯ll eat up every nt, drink up every river, kill every man-beast and creature that lived. They¡¯ll turn this world to extinction, leaving you demons with nothing to rule."

    Asmodeus didn¡¯t speak, hinting that Dave was still correct.

    "So, as far as I know, Demons aren¡¯t really interested in ruling over total ruin. Because there will be nothing to rule then. No one to torture and starve or make suffer. And I doubt the cmities will be that interesting, as far as I have seen, they¡¯re mindless immortal beings. They¡¯re pretty annoying and impossible to control. And I see no interest in torturing something or even ruling something that cannot be reasoned with to do your bidding."

    "You have forgotten the resources that I would have to spend to retake the world after they are done with."

    "Yeah, they will amount to nothing but sacrifices made in the hope of gaining a destroyed infertile world."

    "All of this, I have known the moment the first Cmity walked the earth."

    "I bet you do. But Ie to you with a proposal." Dave looked Asmodeus in the eyes.

    "I fail to see anything you offer would allow your survival or escape from this ce." Asmodeus looked at Dave bemusedly.

    "Wait until I drop the bombshell. I¡¯m willing to sign a contract with you." Dave smiled.

    **** Please Make sure to read this story on , if you are reading Rise of the Undead legion anywhere else then you are on a pirating website, do not ept to offer any kinds of payment to such people as they are non-respecting of author¡¯s right and I, as the writer am not benefiting from their schemes in any way possible.****

 Chapter 527 - The Real Devil

    <h4>Chapter 527 - The Real Devil</h4>

    "A contract, with a demon god? HAHAHAHA" Asmodeus beganughing, and his voice was that of the death throes of an infinite number of people jarring and disgusting to hear.

    "What do you offer?" Asmodeus said after he finished hisughter.

    "A ce for your kin in the world of man."

    "Not enough to spare your life. In time, one of the people will be able to find the passage to hell, and they¡¯ll enter it and will have the ability to use my legacy, once that is done, they¡¯ll be offered power and I¡¯ll have a ce for my kin back in the world."Find authorized novels in , faster updates, better experience, Please click <a href="/book/rise-of-the-undead-legion_10993431205232305/the-real-devil_50092874745832701">/book/rise-of-the-undead-legion_10993431205232305/the-real-devil_50092874745832701</a> for visiting.

    "Are you sure about that? I mean the only entrance is in Urburg that¡¯s my town."

    "So what? Without you there, the passage remains for the people to enter, you can¡¯t stop them, you can¡¯t warn them."

    Dave smiled and held his ring up.

    The ring shone bright and he transformed from an undead to his yer form.

    "A traveler!" Asmodeus took a step back. "Curses upon curses!"

    "Yep, you know what that means, I could easily ry the message to a friend on the above world, and I can have an entire army waiting right at the well. No one will ever enter, and I can assure you undead don¡¯t need sleep or rest and they could stand to watch for all eternity there."

    "You dare threaten me!"

    "It is not a threat, it is a bargain, think of it in a financial way."

    The heat emanating from the area was suffocating to Dave¡¯s human form he began overheating. Dave switched back to his undead form and said, "Now that¡¯s not all. I also need the me ¡¯Right now¡¯."

    "What me, dumb one, all in hell burns in me."

    "Disas Obascus Fervis."

    "Hah, the first me. But I fail to see how that is rted to your offer."

    "Consider it an addendum to our terms, in that I can offer you the Pigmy of the Chaos me. Ashy boy really needed that one."

    "Oh, so you still have it."

    "I bet that¡¯s pretty helpful to your son who is reincarnated in embryo form."

    "It took me a great deal of effort to revive him from being struck with a god ying weapon, but I see, you also know of what my child needs to transform into a full demon. I would agree to your terms. But I also have my own."

    "Yeah, tell me," Dave said.

    "I¡¯ll have you imprisoned here for one hundred years. And I¡¯ll take all of the Underworld for myself, and once the Cmities are upon the world, your army will be an affiliate to my own and be the vanguards in the battle toe."

    "How about, no, no and hell no."

    "Dare refuse me and I¡¯ll do to you what I wish, mortal man!"

    "That¡¯s where you¡¯re wrong buddy," Dave said. "I¡¯m a traveler like you said, I could easily kill myself and be back to the overworld. You¡¯re a god, but you can¡¯t stop that from happening."

    "You think I¡¯ll allow you to die?"

    "Oh, believe me, I can die as easily as I want to, and you really don¡¯t want to risk it. Anyway, let¡¯s do some adjustments on those terms and see if you like the proposition any better."

    "I won¡¯t be imprisoned here, at least not right now. I¡¯m the only one capable of taking down the cmities right now. Think about it, I just killed two in one day. No other traveler could do that. And if the cmities are upon them, while I¡¯m stuck here for one hundred years, you¡¯ll still end up finding nothing to rule."

    "You make an infuriating good point."

    "I¡¯m d we¡¯re on the same page. Secondly, I can give you a territory, but you can¡¯t take it right now. You¡¯ll only be allowed to use it once the cmities are out. You know the castle of the burning heights, that¡¯s mine, and I can give it to you to use."

    "Hmm, good."

    "Finally, for the undead to be on your call and backing, in your dreams. We do things our way, we will fight the cmities, tooth, and nail, we won¡¯t back down, but we¡¯ll never coborate. Still, I can promise you, we will be friends until the first sign of hostilities. Then everything is null and void and all our agreement is canceled."

    "You mean, you want us to coborate in killing the cmities?"

    "Yes, once that is done, we can rip each other throat for all I care, I mean, that¡¯s been the very cause and reason for our existence in this world in the first ce."

    "Do you dare trust a demon in respecting these terms?"

    "Hell no, I don¡¯t even trust you right now, that¡¯s why we¡¯ll be signing the contract." Dave drew up a white parchment.

    "Albert!" he called and the Hawaiian guy appeared.

    Time froze and even the deity didn¡¯t move or was able to see Albert.

    "Ho, you really want to sign a contract with this guy?"

    "Yeah, man, I got caught so I improvised, still it¡¯s gonna be a little bit more helpful than I thought."

    Alfred had already been aware of the conversation between the two, so the contract was immediately written on Dave¡¯s paper.

    "Thankfully, Asmodeus here is too dumb to notice the loopholes I have in the contract."

    "Care to exin?" Albert said.

    "Second term, I agreed to give him the castle of the burning heights, not the castle at the burning heights."

    "Meaning?"

    "He wants to enter the underworld, and if he does, it¡¯s gonna be a damned big ass hassle. Especially with yers now allowed to enter the Underworld, he¡¯ll have a lot of people wanting to join."

    "So?"

    "So, I¡¯ll simply have Da teleport the castle to the base of thebyrinth I created in the mountain of glory. I didn¡¯t agree to him gaining ess to the underworld but rather the building itself, it¡¯s not my fault that I changed the location."

    "Sometimes... I think you¡¯re the real devil."

    "Hey, we do what we can."

    "What about the Pigmy?"

    "Aah, that¡¯s a little surprise I left for him to discoverter on. Now is the contract done?"

    "From my point of view, it¡¯s perfect. Let¡¯s see if he notices."

    Albert disappeared and the contract was in Dave¡¯s hand.

    "Seems that the contract is already in your hand," Asmodeus said. Fortunately for Dave, and unfortunately for Asmodeus, thetter was so surprised at the fact that the contract was already written and in the exact terms that Dave had said. While he just produced it. Making the devil think that Dave had already predicted the entire situation and had the contract ready before even making a single step in Hell.

    This caused Asmodeus¡¯s attention to be focused more on the frightening existence in front of him and fully forget the notions in the contract.

    Once Asmodeus has signed and Dave had done so, Asmodeus handed Dave a small sparkling me.

    "This is your part of the bargain Disas Obascus Fervis."

    Dave held the vial that Da gave him and the me was sucked in immediately.

    "Now hand over the pigmy."

    "Well, I really don¡¯t have it on me right now, it¡¯s still being nurtured in the Underworld." Dave shrugged.

    Asmodeus felt like he got yed, no because of hisck of attention, he didn¡¯t specify when or where Dave would hand him the pigmy, it could be for all eternity for all Dave cared. But on the contract, Disas Obascus Fervis was mentioned to be given ¡¯Right Now¡¯.

    "You tricked me."

    "Not really, I have the me I just need to leave this ce to get it. I mean, think of it as an insurance for me to leave."

    "True, so have I, I also lied."

    "In the contract, you agreed to let me go without imprisonment."

    "Indeed, but that was specified for me, and only me, not all that I ruled andmand under my dominion."

    "To be honest, I had the feeling that you¡¯ll do something like that, so toodles!"

    Dave switched his form to demonic ascension, and turned tail, he flipped his leathery wings and bolted out of the tunnel like an arrow.

    **** Please Make sure to read this story on , if you are reading Rise of the Undead legion anywhere else then you are on a pirating website, do not ept to offer any kinds of payment to such people as they are non-respecting of author¡¯s right and I, as the writer am not benefiting from their schemes in any way possible.****

 Chapter 528 - Fly Draugr Fly!

    <h4>Chapter 528: Fly Draugr Fly!</h4>

    Dave bolted out of the tunnel, and in his wake, the now released Sworn Stalwart roared and chased after. Partially furious at being controlled by Dave for a good while of time, and mostly because the infernal tyrant hadmanded it to chase after the undead.

    Dave''s wings were powerful enough to let him make the trip back to Asmodeus''s pce hall in less than a fraction of the time he took to fly in.

    Dave stopped in midair, looking around at the hall, many of its creatures were gazing at him with rampant hostility.

    "Gotta admit, I kinda dig those hateful smiles of yours, kill yater goat faces," Dave said and turned to the exit, another p of his wings and he was out of the pce. He opened his map while in flight and located the exit he was supposed to leave from. Nick had told him to take the same passage out that he used to get into hell.

    Once he pinpointed the direction, Dave pped his wings once again in their direction.

    Sooner than a couple of seconds, screeches and howls, far from what the human mind could ever imagine. Aption of the tormented screams of man and beast fused together into the sound of a howling behemoth.

    Dave looked behind him, and in the skies, a dragon, far from what a normal dragon should look like.

    A scaleless dragon, that had its body covered in the skin of man and monsters, it''s leathery wings were torn and had holes in them, but their sheer size was enough to take the dragon into flight. The Dragon''s chest had its ribs exposed, without flesh, yet they exuded a dark baleful fume that was kept in the dragon''s wake as it flew toward Dave.

    Its face was that of a lizard without any horns, but its eyes were the yellow color of a cat''s piss on the snow.

    The dragon howled once again then sted a torrent out of its jaws. It was a mix of fumes and a liquid substance.

    Dave tilted to the side, fully evading the dragon''s breath. Then he noticed something. The liquid substance, once it touched the ground, began eroding it at a rate far too fast than it should be possible. Stone turned to sludge. Then and there Dave knew if that attack would hit him, Andre would have a lot to say about Dave''s improper use of his armor.

    However, this wasn''t all that the Dragon was capable of, or at least its dragon breath. The fumes that flew along with the torrent of acid ignited. Then a purplish explosion of fire sted out, creating a long, ever so expanding explosion that managed to reach all the way to Dave.

    -1,200,000HP

    Dave was thrown off of his trajectory and sent diving into the ground with a notification that appeared right in front of him.

    ***

    You have been hit with a dragon breath!

    You have been poisoned!

    Your undead passive negated the poison effect of [Draconic Degradation]

    Your armor has suffered minor damage.

    ***

    "God damn it, what the heck is this?!" Dave cursed.

    Dave inspected the iing dragon.

    ***

    Corrpted Dragon-Shmir (Evil Dragon)

    Level 850

    Tier: Unholy

    Danger level: Absolute Death!

    Trait: Aura of Corruption.

    HP 25,000,000,000/25,000,000,000

    Damage: 500,000/800,000

    PD: 800,000

    MD: 800,000

    Skills:

    [Draconic Degradation]: A dragon breath attack that has multiple effects. The Corrupted Dragon La-Shmir spews out an acidic and highly vtile and explosive breath that can corrupt matter and explored afterward dealing 300% of the dragon''s base damage.

    [Layers of Skin] (passive) the corrupted dragon La-Shmir has a weak physical body. But due to the numerousyers of skins stolen from monsters or people it had tortured and is now wearing on its body, it could contend with the hardness of a dragon''s scale, yet not its durability.

    [Infernal Rending w] La-Shmir''s ws are doesed in the fires of hell, the mere contact with ist ws will causecerating damage, that will bleed ist enemies tot he death. Additional effect: Constat and continuous poisoning until death.

    [Dragon Roar] La-Shmir is still a dragon, even after it had fallen to depravity and degradation, it still boasts with its own dragon roar. Causes nausea, stun effect, and disorientation once heard.

    Bestiary:

    Dragons are the ultimate predators. Beings as old as time and powerful beyond measure.

    If the Abyssal Dragons were deemed the evilest of dragons that ever roamed the world of man, that is because this one, this corrupted dragon has been forgotten from the world.

    La-Shmir was a dragon so evil, that other dragons avoided, it would feast upon its own kin if it had the slightest chance. One day, a brave hero lured the dragon to Urburg, causing mass destruction in the wake of their battle thatsted days and nights, and managed to trap the dragon in the pits of hell. From then on, the sacrifice of this man has been forgotten for he has given his life to traverse into the dominion of Asmodeus just to keep the world safe from this monstrosity. Forgotten by the world, but for this dragon, he had never forgotten the man. And for this very reason, the dragon has grown an illogical hatred for mankind. The sight of one is enough to cause him to go into a maddened spree of rampage.

    ***

    Dave gulped, this guy is definitely stronger than the Abyssal Dragon, and it didn''t look like it was gonna be happy with killing Dave once or twice.

    Dave pulled himself from the ground he jumped up, sted his wings, and continued his flight. The dragon was still after him. But this time not just only the dragon. The ck Chosen Stalwart that Dave brought home was also on Dave''s tail. With a thousand more stalwarts. So were demons riding on demonic beasts, and gargoyles and flying serpents.

    Dave kept flying, and at a time he had to fly over a pool of fire andva. Where people were suffering indefinitely and unwholesomely. Hot metallic chains were sewed into their bodies, going through their eyes and ears, binding their arms together in a straight line. And they were dragged into the pools by demons sorge that the men they forced into torment didn''t reach to their ankles.

    The massive demons hadrge spiked clubs, with long crooked nails sprouting from the tool. They used them to goad the people into the pool that they entered, yet sadly didn''t die, as the moment the fire burnt their skin, I would grow back. And if any of the men tried to escape and avoid the me, the demons would swat him like a fly using the club.

    Dave had an urge to throw up and focused all his will to not look at the sight. Even if this was a game this was going too far.

    La-Shmir roared once again, and this caused the massive Drahma Sized demons to look at the iing Dave. Two of the closest demons swung their clubs at Dave, the attack was slow and easily telegraphed that Dave dodged it by going under one of the clubs. Then made a barrel roll to avoid the spikes of the second one that was going to lob his head off.

    The first demon growled then stomped on the ground, the magmatic pool shook and chains burst out from within it. So many of the chains came out that they created a wall in front of Dave that he had no way to escape from before the chains would lock onto him.

    "If it''s gonna be like that," Dave clutched his jaws, he didn''t want to do what he was going to do next, only because he would have no control of where he will be once it is done.

    "Mach speed time!" Dave said and used [Stampede] coupled with the explosiveness of the demonic wings he had, Dave dove right into the chains. His momentum growing by the second, even in the chains hadtched onto him, onto his wings and his body, his avatar was still being propelled forward, bending some of the chains then breaking them. The second demon noticed that Dave''s pulling power was going to be more than enough to tear through the chains, so he also stomped on the ground and created even more chains totch onto Dave.

    Dave felt that Stampede although a powerful ability was going to fall shortly behind the mass of chains that were constantly wrapping around him. Not to mention the approaching creatures that were going to have a piece of Dave for themselves, quite literally once they catch him.

    Dave grunted and howled, Demonic ascension was going to end soon and if it does, the chains that were binding and breaking will have more than enough power to fully trap him under.

    Dave''s arms were free, so he ced them alongside his body, and cast [Draconic Spectral Skulls]

    He didn''t use them as an attack, but the moment any of the forty-eight spectra skulls materialized from his hand, he willed it to explode. Creating more pushing and explosive power that aided his stampede. The first few explosion had little effect and barely tore a few chains off of him, but once the twelfth and more came along, Dave had gathered enough momentum to tear dozens of chains at once, then once the chains could no longer hold Dave, they all tore and he flew forward, his speed creating several explosions in the sound barrier as he bolted forward like a runaway freight train on steroids.

    Dave''s eyes felt like they were going to get stuck to the back of his skull, his speed could only increase the more he moves forward and right when he noticed a looming mountain in the distance, he used [Bastion] to soften the impact. Yet the mountain,pared to Dave''s massive speed and eleration felt like it was nothing more than a wall of paper that Dave bore right through.

    Dave cursed, even a mountain couldn''t stop him, and judging by the speed he is going with, he had long gone past the portal that Nick had ordered him to go through, and now he was moving through hell at speeds so fast and in locations he never should have gone to. This was an unmapped territory and Dave was not going to stop anytime soon.

 Chapter 529 - Treasure like No Other

    <h4>Chapter 529: Treasure like No Other</h4>

    "Bloody hell," Dave muttered as he was finally stopped, thankfully due to the dissipation of the effects of his demonic ascension ability and Stampede. The two skills finally out of effect enabled Dave to be propelled by the ever so decreasing inertia force then finally met the ground. After a long skid through the rough terrain, a huge amount of damage taken Dave found himselfying on his back staring at the dark skies of Tartarus.

    In front of Dave were maggot infested, cesspools of blood and human waste, quite literal, the bodies of men, so deformed, and so mangled and misshaped that they could not be called humans, and should not. The mere deformities, on them, as their limbs were fused together, their faces stuck against each other even and their atrocious yet pitiful selves called for salvation that would nevere made Dave gag. The mere sight of these poor souls was enough to cause Dave a great deal of difort, for even if this was just a game. This was going too far.

    Dave looked around, the area he was in was just a small part of a much wider range of more of these pools and gutters of human waste. He checked his map, finding that the portal he needed to take to go back was too far away from his current location that it would take him at least a day''s worth of sprint just to cover half the distance.

    He pulled up his teleportation scroll, half expectant yet half knowing that it will not work. The notification that appeared in front of him didn''t surprise him much. An error message that the Scroll could host a valid teleportation gate. An oue that should be expected since Nichs himself told him to go back to the same gate that brought him into hell.

    Dave cursed and began his march toward the gate. It would take him a long time, but he has to deal with the oues of his failure in trying to escape Asmodeus''s notice.

    Dave''s trek took a long while, and after four hours, the worst came to happen. The nauseating howl of a dragon, far too atrocious and far too cruel sounded in the distance. La-Shmir hade.

    The dragon was going to be a bad introduction in Dave''s current dilemma. Having to battle it would be an inevitable oue if the dragon were to notice Dave. But one thing came to Dave a symbol of fleeting hope.

    The dragon didn''te directly to Dave''s location, but rested a few miles away, on top of a mound of disfigured corpses. This was understandable the dragon''sir. The corrupted looking dragon made this ce its home, and from the appearance of the dragon''s form, and the poor creatures suffering here, it was no brainer to understand that the dragon had made its skin and armor from the remains of the things suffering here.

    Dave took the longest and most roundabout way from the dragon. In the ever so continuous throws of the sufferers, their pain and agony turned to a whimsical song that described pain to one that never felt it, a description of colored agony that even a blind man could see and feel. In this chaos and in this much lifeless noise, Dave marched through agonized men and women, unable to help them for it was not his purpose and also incapable of as if he had made a mistake in trying to liberate them, the dragon was bound to know. A dragon would hoard its treasures and guard them with its life, and if one were to take some of the dragon''s keep, the beast would hunt it to the end of the world. And rare were those that escaped a dragon''s wrath. And Dave was not going to test his luck for no gains.

    La-Shmir was not a treasure hoarder, or at least not treasures anyone would deem as valuable as gold. This dragon hoarded corpses and cadavers and half living things, it kept them close so that the dragon would use their bodies and their skins for itself. In the dragon''s eyes, these things made its weak hide stronger, it meant survivability and survivability means life and life are more precious than gold.

    Dave hid from the dragon''s sight, among the corpses, and kept moving away, while always keeping something between him and the dragon, there was always a boulder or a gathering of corpses, and sometimes a small hill that denied the dragon''s eyes from sighting Dave.

    Hours went by, long and arduous, where Dave had to keep his patience from losing to his need to leave this ce as fast as possible. Once he judged that he was as far away from the dragon as possible Dave began sprinting away.

    The dragon''s eyes are amazing, and Dave knew that even if he was no longer able to see the dragon in the distance, one unlucky moment, where the dragon would look in the general direction where Dave was headed was all the bad luck he needed for the dragon toe and give chase.

    Looking around, Dave noticed a small dry ravine. He moved toward it and jumped in it was enough to hide Dave fully from the notice of the dragon if it were to look at where Dave went. And it was wide enough to give Dave ample space to sprint to his heart''s content in the direction of the portal.

    What Dave failed to judge was the fact that he was in hell, and nowhere in hell was safe. The ravine was the dwelling ce of something that wasn''t capable of challenging a dragon in his territory. Yet, it was brave enough to steal corpses from it and witty enough to never get caught.

    A creature that walked on four legs, simr to those of a scorpion, pointy and sharp, bug wide andrge enough to put a hole into a human''s chest. Its waist was slim not even the width of a man''s arm, it looked unproportionable to the rest of its body that was looming over Dave. The creature had four sets of eyes, like a spider, and it had a four fanged jaw, each fang was the size and the sharpness of a top-quality dagger, as for the rest of its teeth, they were small, like those of a saw but definitely sharp.

    The creature had an exoskeletal carapace, like that of a bug.

    ***

    Corpse Eater

    Level 600

    Tier (Epic)

    Alignment [Demonic]

    Danger Level ?

    Damage 150,000/200,000

    DN 50,000

    MA 50,000

    HP 12,000,000

    Skills:

    [Culinary Degradation] A corpse Eater can consume any wasted, rotten, or old food or flesh to restore its health.

    [Strength in Numbers] a Corpse Eater is rarely alone, and if one were to be found alone, many others wille to its rescue once it calls upon their name.

    [Jaws] an attack by the corpse eater using its jaws will cause acerating effect. It can only be healed using a high tier healing spell or a Max Potion.

    Lore: Corpse Eaters are trash eaters, mainly they feast upon the leftovers of any of the predators of Tartarus, and one of their favorites, is the massive hoard of the corrupted Dragon La-Shmir. However, due to their weak naturepared to the rest of the hunters and predators of hell, itpensates for itsck of raw power by numbers. If you see one, remember, hundreds areying in wait and hiding.

    ***

    Dave took a step back, and even before he would attack, the Corpse Eater screeched loud enough to wake the dead. More screeches followed after, and soon, Dave was surrounded by more than a hundred of this creature.

    Dave drew Durandal, half sighing, "Man, this is gonna take a long time."

 Chapter 530 - The Herald

    <h4>Chapter 530: The Herald</h4>

    After more than six hours of battle, all thaty under Dave''s foot were the remains of the corpse eaters. Their massive HP poolpared to Dave made them hard to kill in a short while, especially with their massive numbers.

    They kept calling for numbers, and kept dying, and still fought on. Until there was no other path for them but death, if they were to charge the Undead, so they decided to stop and retreat. Dave''s power was enough to cause them fear if they were to face another undead, his brutality and ceaseless onught was enough to print a fear of undead in their minds. The only corpses that the Corpse Eaters will never dare and try and eat would be that of an undead.

    Dave began picking up loot, most of it were remains of the Corpse Eaters, nothing was special, and there was no diagram for a set of their armor. This meant that the Corpse Eaters were monsters whose ingredients could only be used alongside another monster''s diagram of armor.

    Dave moved through the dry ravine, but this time, no corpse eaters dared attack Dave. They had all known of his past exploits and didn''t want to cross him and have to suffer what happened to their brethren.

    "At least these whack jobs won''t get in my way anymore." Dave mumbled to himself and unequipped his sword and shield.

    Continuing his trek forward, Dave saw more of the agony the people in hell suffered. But he had no say in what was going on, the game was designed to be this way and if he were to antagonize Asmodeus for his doings, this was not the ce or time. He was already pressed for time to give the me to Ralph, thankfully the me will not die as long as it''s in hell.

    Dave thought about using the same method that brough him to this far away ce and go back to the same teleportation pool he came from. But the cooldown on Demonic Ascension was a full day, and he had only spent six hours of it. Also, there was the problem with the speed of hisbo of [Stampede] and [Demonic Ascension], once used at the same time, he would go past the speed of sound with no breaks or a way or method to properlynd or stop once he is close to the gate. He might even get unlucky and end up going past it and crossing even more distance to the other side. His only choice was to keep moving, step by step and that was the surest and most credible way to get to where he wanted, despite the looming dangers of Hell.

    Dave''s journey had to stop for a moment, when he found a cave entrance that was dug into an inconspicuous hill.

    Above the Cave''s entrance was a ringed cross, and from its edges, long chains dangled and moved, swaying due to an inexistent wind. Dave''s curiosity got the better of him and he decided to enter the cave.

    Half expecting a notification to appear in front of him as he thought this was the entrance to a dungeon, Dave kept moving, with each step disappointed by the fact that no such notification ever came to be.

    The cave was dark, and even with Dave''s Dark Vision, it was pretty hard to see what''s inside.

    All he found at the end was a simple stone chair with a person sitting on it.

    The person face was covered by a hood, and only a green fire could be seen from inside the hood. A wide grin painted on the man''s face that Even Dave''s draugr smile could barely hold a candle to it.

    Dave took a step back, "This guy''s trouble." He mumbled.

    "Stay," Spoke the man.

    It was not a request, but an order, not even Dave could move.

    Dave''s ring began shining, rising in protest against themand that has been given to Dave. The skull on his ring shuddered and moved, then shaped itself to nick''s face.

    "Herald¡­ Let my champion¡­" But Nick''s voice was abruptly cut as the man, addressed by the Undeath God as the Herald moved his hand casually and managed to suppress the God of Undeath and banish his existence from Dave''s ring.

    "I have no need for nuisance. Children nowadays, they know no respect for the elderly¡­" said the man, or the Herald."

    Dave gulped. No matter who this guy is, he just shushed Nick, and Nick was not a weak deity, his "Bad Words" were enough to cause a cmitous cataclysm in the world of Conquest, and this guy just shushed him like if he was a toddler facing an adult.

    "Tell me, young one. What brought you to the domain of dark and fire?"

    Dave found the pressure on him easing up immensely, not enough to run away, but barely enough for him to speak.

    "I''m here to help a friend, to retrieve a me."

    "Oh, Hellfire, I can see it on you."

    "They call it another name." Dave replid.

    "I know, kids, they want to make something so worthless into gold by giving it a grandiose name."

    "They called it fire of creation."

    "HAH!" the manughed and from his voice, the ground rumbled and shook, stones and small pebbles cracked and turned to dust.

    "Creation? They know nothing about it. Not even the ones you call gods. I was here, before creation came to be. They tell half uncertain truths and make them intow. What pitiful world you live in. No matter, what guided you to me?"

    "A huge deal of stupid curiosity, you know the saying, curiosity killed the cat? I''m kinda hoping that I''m not a cat right now."

    "Worry not, I don''t deem you worth the effort to kill."

    "That kinda makes me both sad and happy."

    "You should, for those I have killed, did far worse than wake me from slumber. And I''m not a grumpy sleeper. I see that your ring is special, it holds a powerful link to your¡­patron."

    "Yeah, Ring of True Undeath."

    "I have to admit, thed that gave you that ring is good necromancer."

    "He''s the god of Undeath."

    The Herald snorted as if not admitting the notion. He then stood up.

    He was a couple heads taller than Dave, and the hood behind his back shuddered. Torches that Dave didn''t even know existed in this dark ce lit up, lighting the area in a fiery green.

    Dave had full vision of the man in front of him. He too was an undead, or as close to it as possible, a draugr''s face covered up in a dark green armor mixed with ck gold. And the hood on his head that extended all the way to the ground was not made of fabric, but the ethereal fusion of faces of souls condemned and trapped onto it.

    On his now extended hand toward Dave, a barely human hand with skin stuck to bone, a rusty chain dangled from a cuff on it.

    He pointed at Dave and said, "Legacy, they call it. It gives you a link to your patron, and they could visit your world."

    "Yeah, without a legacy a deity cannot interfere with the world."

    "For what reason can they not interfere?" the Herald asked.

    "Nick always says because of Rules, I have no idea though."

    "Rules?" the herald shed with his opened hand and a portal to the world of Conquest easily opened up in front of him.

    The Herald moved through the portal and disappeared from the cave leaving Dave all alone and in total bafflement.

    Dave approached the space fissure, hoping he could leave before the scary guy coulde back.

    But the man soon returned.

    "Rules they say, it''s nothing but a weekw. To suppress the beings to do things they shouldn''t." he said and looked at Dave.

    "I''ve seen the world, it''s far different from mine. Pretty chill. Even with the iing threat to it. It''s a far better ce to live in than where I came from." The man said in a grin.

    He turned to Dave and said, "And I have seen you in it. You left a good impression upon many of the living within it. Imend it. But also warn you. Do a lot of good and it wille back and haunt you. You have shown a great deal of power, but know that you''re nothing more than a pebble in the path of rampaging elephant. You''ll be crushed first."

    "I think I understand what you''re saying, but the cmities have to be stopped."

    "Indeed they have to, the world will be far too quiet if they aren''t, even if I would prefer it to be like that. But I always admired the struggle against the odds. If you wish, I can do something simr to what your patron had done to you, give you a legacy. Mine, is far far stronger than anything your kind have ever seen or will ever see."

    The Herald snapped one of the rings on his chain and threw it to stop right in front of Dave''s face. Hovering and slowly rotating in front of him. The rusty chain had a nefarious yet enormous power, Dave had felt something simr, but far weaker, the Death Heart,pared to this couldn''t even hold a candle to the might it emanated.

    A notification appeared in front of Dave.

    ***

    The Herald of #@//** has given you the choice to renounce the Legacy of Undeath and Embrace the Legacy of The Herald of #@//**.

    The Offered Legacy is tired at Above SSS rank.

    By obtaining the Herald of #@//** legacy you will be able to go beyond the limits posed in the world of Conquest. Regr rules may no longer apply for that the Herald is beyond rules.

    Giving up the Undeath God''s Legacy for the Herald''s legacy will not put you in a hostile rtionship with the Undead. But all your achievements will be null and void and your ce among the undead will be forgotten. You''ll have to reforge it anew if you wish to continue as an undead.

    ***

    Dave didn''t even hesitate when saying, "You''ll not like my answer."

    "Speak, I have little that urges my dislike to manifest."

    "I will have to refuse. I have made a bond with the Undead, they''re family, and I won''t change them for anything else. They made me who I am, and I won''t give them up, not even for this power, not even for godhood in this world."

    The Herald, against Dave''s expectation smiled. "As you should, family is a rare thing, and those who suffered with you, fought alongside you and bled with you should never be given up for even the world''s fortunes. This legacy, I have offered it once, and once only and it shall never be given to anyone else. Be proud young one, you have principles that rare few have got. And I will not make your refusale back and haunt you if another were to obtain this." The herald jerked his hand and the chain came back to his palm. He tightened his fist and the ring crumbled to nothingness.

    "This was a great power that could have made your battles far simpler, but I always respected those who endured and struggled. Struggle well struggler. You''ll face odds that no one would think are possible to defeat, but I believe in anyone who could see beyond the looming scythe of the Evesting Silence. Give your all, I''ll be watching." The Herald said and moved his hand so that the fissure in space consumed Dave and teleported him right at the gates of Urburg.

    "What the heck was that?" Dave said as he finally realized where he was. Not a second Later Nick appeared right in front of Dave, patting him on the shoulder, checking his teeth, looking under his arms and began frisking him.

    "He didn''t do anything to you did he?" Nick said, a sight never before seen on the face of the God of Undeath, worry.

    "Chill dude, nothing happened what the heck?" Dave replied.

    "Do you even know who that dude was?" Nick said.

    "Emm, no but he seemed pretty chill."

    "Damn it man. You end up meeting the weirdest of the bunch."

    "I guess he was a god, I mean he offered me a legacy." Dave said.

    "WHAT?!!" Nick blurted, his word was enough to break the sound barrier waking everyone and scaring the living life out of those in Urburg.

    Dave almost fainted from the impact of the shout.

    "Sorry about that, so what did you do?" Nick asked.

    "I refused."

    "Y-you did what now?" Nick said.

    "Hey, what the heck was I suppose to do? I mean I won''t be an undead anymore and I''ll lose my achievement. Also I won''t be your champion."

    Nick facepalmed, "As much as I appreciate the integrity and honesty of your words, and even the loyalty¡­let me just tell you this, see, if he offered me his legacy, even I would take it."

    "Huh?"

    "Yes, you heard right. See that guy. When I came to be, he was here. He was here before any of us. He was the origin, he was the everything, the alpha, the omega. The herald¡­ that guy. Never mind, at least it''s good that you didn''t piss him off."

    "And how did you know I didn''t piss him off?"

    "Simple, we''re all still alive." Nick said. "Man, I just don''t want him to offer his legacy to someone else. That would be a huge problem."

    "Nah, he promised that he will not do that."

    "Oh, so that''s good and set-in stone. But damn kid, you made me he proud! Gotta say, I have shit tone of stuff to gloat in the God Council. Speaking of gods. You still have two more battles to go through in the sh of Gods. Once that''s over we''ll have to start the second phase. Get ready."

 Chapter 531 - Spar Invitation

    <h4>Chapter 531: Spar Invitation</h4>

    Dave called his friend, after all the whole trip to hell was to help Ralph get the me. Soon, Ralph came rushing in. He appeared outside the bar where Nick usually hanged at and found Dave waiting with a vial in hand.

    "Super thanks man, I''ll see if one of the smiths at the guild can reforge this," Ralph said.

    "Don''t, you''ll be better off asking Andre, he is the best smith I know."

    "Yeah, but I don''t know if he''d do me that favor, you know, I''m not an undead and all."

    "Just go to the Dead Realm in the east, if he says anything, tell him I sent you. Right now, I''m really exhausted and I need to take my rest. I''ve been online since they opened the servers."

    "Yeah man, go ahead, I''ll get this done and get something to eat. Also don''t forget, hit Zoe up."

    "Will do, was thinking about inviting her over."

    "Good idea, get some pizzas, and lots of beer."

    Dave smiled at his friend and logged out.

    Once he was back in the real world, Dave called Zoe and asked her toe over. She readily agreed to spend the night over and also offered to buy pizza on her way.

    Dave had a shower that took out all of the fatigue of the day''s adventure out. He turned up the TV and switched to CCN, they were ying the invasion of the Ash King''s Keep, and a lot of people were watching.

    Dave''s door rang after some time had passed, Zoe was giddily standing at the door holding a six-pack of Heineken Beer and tworge size Pizzas, Dave weed her with a kiss on the lips and took the weight off of her hands. The two sat next to each other on the sofa and watched the show.

    Pizza and beer soon were fully consumed, and cuddling on the sofa covered in a single nket made things cozier that they had to continue the evening in Dave''s room, and you all know what happened there.

    Morning came, all too sudden, where Dave woke up to the softly snoring Zoe, as he tried to get up, she unconsciously grabbed him ???Shtay a bit."

    "Okay," Dave grinned and corrected a strand of hair that fell on her face.

    The two spent all of the morning in the bed, even for food, Dave had to order breakfast served. It was rare that they ever got to spend the day together and alone, and he made sure to make the most of it.

    Yet, all good things muste to an end, especially since Zoe''s overly protective father has been spamming calls on her phone until she turned it off, then he began calling Dave who had no idea how Dante has ever gotten his number.

    "I feel like I should hang up on him."

    "I know, and I want you to, but if you do, he''ll show up here, gun zing, believe me. I''ll have to talk some sense into him, he still thinks I''m fifteen."

    "He is a good man."

    "Too good to know that a girl gotta get a shag every once in a while, even if she is his daughter. Sigh, I gotta go Dave."

    "I''ll see you soon, I suppose?" Dave asked.

    "Yeah, tonight, but let''s get Chinese, Pizza is good and all but I''ll get fat."

    "You? Never, even if I''ll love you still."

    "An, you and your sweet words, but never even imply to a girl that she''ll ever get fat, they don''t like it."

    "I only have one girl."

    "That''s a nice save there, buddy." Zoe grinned and kissed Dave on the lips then left.

    Dave could have easily spent the rest of the morning in bed, it was a long time since he took time for himself. But today was a good day to do some sports.

    He left to Desmond''s. And two hours after that, he fully regrated it. The muscles and joints on Dave''s body began cursing his name to the heavens after all the abuse they received.

    Dave showered and headed back into the capsule. Thankfully the game would fully muffle the pain from the exercise he had and would make him focus better on gaming while his body was recovering.

    Once he was logged in, Nick appeared in front of him.

    "Why do I feel like you''re gonna be sending me on another suicide mission?" Dave asked the punk kid.

    "Not really kid, but I have a couple of guys that want to meet you. Remember the special ce I sent you to, to train against monsters that you defeated?"

    "Yeah, the simtion space," Dave replied

    Nick nodded and gestured to Dave to follow him.

    Once they were inside the Pub, Nick opened the portal to Dave. A notification appeared in front of Dave.

    ***

    You are currently in a simtion created by the God of Undeath.

    Death does not carry over to the real world.

    All of your skills'' cooldowns have been reset.

    You cannot gain EXP while on the training grounds.

    ***

    More monsters have been added to the lineup, especially now that Dave was much more powerful than before, and had killed eve more monsters than he had when he first visited this ce.

    Two more chosen ones have been added to the line of Chosen ones beside La-Khbar. La-ir and La-Lina have also been added. The Sworn Stalwart however was not. He didn''t die by Dave''s hands and was still alive in Tartarus.

    Also, the projection of the Ash King was also there. But Dave didn''t even want to go there. The Ash King needed thebined power of Dave in his World Boss form, the Undead King''s Sword and power and the Death Heart empowerment, and the might of thest Titan that walked the world of Conquest to bring down. Trying to face his projection was not going to gain Dave anything else but pain and useless suffering.

    Facing impossible odds for no valid reason was not worth the time spent.

    Yet two more have been added and Dave was sure that they shouldn''t be here.

    "I didn''t kill them. So why are they here?" Dave asked.

    "Well, the kids were bored and wanted to spend some time. Take the opportunity you rarely get to fight a god without any drawbacks. And now Two." Nick was grinning. And it was in fact, Raijin and Fujin, the two gods, brothers of the storm that have ascended.

    Dave tried to inspect them, but he received a notification.

    ***

    The Deities in front of you have ascended beyond the limit imposed on the people of Conquest.

    Inspection of level failed.

    ***

    "You cannot see their real might now. But they agreed to spar with you on regr basis. Fujin especially liked your fighting style, but he said you had much to improve regarding martial arts. As for Raijin, he is here just for the fun of it."

    "Man, tag-teaming me again, that''s pretty unfair. I barely managed thest time and I had to use your power."

    "Well, this time it should be fairer. You can speak to them directly."

    "They understand our words?"

    "They are gods, of course, they do. Now, I''ll be going, have fun kids." Nick said and disappeared in a swirl of smoke.

    Dave was left alone facing the two gods.

    "Well then, hello there," Dave said with a grin.

 Chapter 532: Training Montage With A God

    <h4>Chapter 532: Training Montage With A God</h4>

    "Greetings, Draugr." Fujin''s voice boomed like the howls of a storm. Dave had to squint due to the loudness of the wind god''s voice.

    Raijin also nodded and said, "You''ve grown mightier," and his own voice was no less imposing, it was the sound of lightning crackling and the booms of thunder.

    "Nick said that you wanted to talk to me."

    "Yes, me especially," Fujin said. "My brother here, he has little to teach you, you are far too unique to be imparted shared knowledge."

    Dave looked at Fujin dumbly, he had no idea what he was saying.

    "Basically, my brother means that I''m a lightning user, and you''re a fire user we are notpatible."

    "Huh, true, but I also don''t use wind. So howe?" Dave asked.

    "Martial Arts, you showed great talent in our battle, but your technique, iscking. It needs a lot of improving, and what better mentor than a god of martial arts that is willing to teach you?" Fujin said.

    "Thank you, I don''t know if I can afford your fees though." Dave joked.

    "Nonsense, you have given us freedom."

    "But you repaired it when you killed the Ash King, so we should be good." Dave replied.

    Fujin shook his head, "Our freedom costs much more than a single favor repaid. We have been trapped in the lower realm for far too long, hoping to be freed. We have been young when we were imprisoned, and only a few havee to our cause, among them the god of Undeath who didn''t wish us to stay in the lower world."

    "So you''re basically repaying him a favor."

    "In part yes, but primarily, you, for having spared us and freed us. We would have been unable to ascend, we would have remained trapped in that world, cut off of our divinity and power. Forever trapped in a mortal husk. Let me be your teacher. You shall benefit much more than you can imagine."

    "I won''t be polite then, please teach me."

    "Good, but there is a single problem, you''re too small." Fujin said.

    "Hey, never say that to a man, we all have our insecurities."

    Raijin crackled a boomingugh, "Undead, you really are something. But he speaks of your current size, grow the same as you did when we battled."

    "Yeah, I know I''m just messing with him. Right, Tiny, your time is up," Dave called and the small slime came out of Dave''s side bag.

    Once the Grave Lord saw the two gods, it buffed, barred its teeth, it had remembered the beating it took when it helped Dave battle the two, and it was not happy about a second encounter.

    "Don''t worry small one, this time we''ll be sparing, and not battling to the death, the strain on you won'' be the same asst time." Fujin said.

    And to his words, thought not sure and uncertain, Tiny nodded and began engulfing Dave.

    "World Boss!" Dave activated his Abyssal Knight''s powers.

    ***

    You have turned into a World Boss!

    You have gained, [Abyssal Knight Glory!] For 12 in-game hours you will obtain the following effects:

    All of your skills and abilities will have a damaging and effect increase of 1,000%

    Your HP has been multiplied by 100!

    Your defensive states have been multiplied by 10

    Your Regeneration has been multiplied by 100!

    You are limited to the area of: Undeath God Nichs''s Training Dominion. Once you leave the area, you will lose your [Abyssal Knight Glory] buff.

    ***

    Dave''s form began growing to match that of Fujin and once the two were head to head, Dave Drew Durandal and Ajax.

    Fujin shook his head, and Raijin answered Dave''s bewilderment at the wind god''s behavior.

    "Brother here wants to teach you how to use your fists, your sword skill is good enough to y gods. But your fistsck the might of a god to use. Use your Gauntlets and fight him."

    "Oh, right," Dave unequipped his sword and shield and used the gauntlets.

    "Don''t use any of your abilities, this will be a fist battle."

    "Right."

    "Good, here Ie!" Fujin charged Dave.

    ***

    Hourster, Dave left Nicks''s domain.

    "How was it?" Nick asked.

    "Brutal," Dave said, his eyes were wide opened as if he had seen a terrifying nightmare.

    "And it is how it should be, you''re facing a god on his own terms and using what he excels at. You''re bound to get a beating."

    "I honestly believe I got lucky thest time we fought."

    "No, you got to use your skills and my power. This time you were limited, but did you learn anything?"

    "Honestly, quite a lot. He taught me the proper stance, and how to use my body to exert the most strength possible out of every punch and kick. I even learned a new martial art skill."

    "Good, and this was just the first time. He asked me to keep bringing you back there."

    "Why are you all doing this?" Dave asked.

    "Who do you mean by you all?" Nick replied in question.

    "Well, the gods. You''re all helping me."

    "The cmities are nigh, and when theye, we''ll need everything, and I''m betting a lot on you so you better not disappoint."

    "Good enough for me. At least, I think I can bring the skills that Fujin had taught me to the real world."

    "Well, you''re not good enough to contend against the professionals, don''t get haughty just because you had gotten a single sparring session with a god. You''ll need plenty more to be better."

    "Right, right. Ah I need to get my armor repaired, It had gotten damaged when that stupid Lashmir spat his acid breath on me."

    "Ah, you''ve seen the dragon of the end." Nichs replied.

    "Famous much?"

    "Yeah, he was annoying, almost cmity level. And frankly, quite more powerful than some of them, but it was a dragon and not categorized among the fabled race. He was trapped in hell tanks to the sacrifice of one of this world''s forgotten heroes."

    "Yeah, I read the lore, that guy was pretty selfless."

    "If I was awakened by that time, I would have seen that he would have gotten some help. To do such good and die unrewarded, is not fair for any man."

    "You said die, shouldn''t he be in hell right now? I mean I doubt that asshat Asmodeus would ever let him leave."

    "Nah, an Asshat he may be, but he works by the rules. He can''t trap a man that had done good. Especially something that was the reason for many of the lives in this world to be spared. He was elevated, knighted an angle by Demiurge."

    "I doubt that''s much of a change, I mean you''ve seen that guy and how he treats everything."

    "Gotta say I agree with you on this point. Demicup isn''t the best patron; he is toozy. But still, being an angle would mean freedom, though limited it is still much better than what some of the people on this world would get."

    "Yeah, well, to each their own. I''ll be heading out to check on Andre."

    "Go ahead, once you''re done. Come meet me."

    "Another cmity I bet," Dave said.

    "No, this time it''s personal. Ashkar had made a move."

    "Oh, I better hurry up then." Dave replied.

 Chapter 533: Forged Anew

    <h4>Chapter 533: Forged Anew</h4>

    Dave showed up at Andre''s smithy, Ralph was already there, patiently sitting on a stool and waiting for the old man to finish his work.

    Dave approached the two and didn''t speak. Andre was a great smith and the least disturbing would probably cause him to get angry and lose focus on the work he was doing, especially due to what was currently happening.

    In Andre''s new forge in the east, the smith had an entire room for just himself to use. All the smiths were not even hammering outside as they have been ordered to leave Andre to do something he needs focus on.

    In front of Andre was a furnace that emitted mes darker than ck. The mes consumed all light, and Andre was using them to re-smelt a weapon that didn''t look like its old self anymore.

    The Rift Maker was a long obsidian colored katana, but right in front of Dave and at the hands of the smith, all that was left of it was the de, looking like it was being brutally mishandled at the hands of the giant man. The hammering the de took would make any sword in the world wince, especially since every strike was powered by an undead half-giant man.

    However, Andre was the best at his work, and even with the odd look of the sword, the smith''s focus never wavered, every strike, like the beating of a heart, constant, repeating and held the same ferocious strength of thest blow.

    Andre would asionally put the sword back into the mes until it turned red, then it turned ck from the mes once again. He would dip it in a vat full of ice and Blood Stones, then strike at it again and again. The katana was already a sharp and thin de, it didn''t have a great deal of material on it. Yet with the asional addition of Oprenieum, the material that the Undead had an exclusive right to mine since they have killed the Dogaron, the creature that guarded it. The length of the de was elongated enough that it no longer looked like a katana.

    This was definitely Ralph''s request. He never was a fan of eastern swords, and to his defense, katanas were good weapons, but they are not the best. This is a simple hard truth, a confrontation between a katana and a European sword of the same material would undoubtedly end with the katana split in half. The eastern sword is decent and has good shing, cutting, and piercing properties, but only good. It was not the best in either of the categories. A rapier''s piercing power is so great that te armor could do nothing to fend against the needle tipped weapon. A Zwihander''s destructive power could crush a horse''s charge, cut its legs, and doom the horse''s rider. A falchion''s speed and shing power could rip an arm in a single sh with minor difficulty. All weapons had their unique traits, and the katana falls behind when contending against any of these weapons in their unique traits and specialties. For ralph, he was a great-sword user. The weight behind every blow is important and the katana could not cope with Ralph''s barbaric strength nor could it tend to his needs in battle. A katana is best for a nimble adaptable user. Though it falls behind many weapons it''s unique in its ways. The katana, is a jack of all, master of none type of weapon. And is best used in the hands of someone capable of adapting to all situations. For this weapon was not meant to confront people head-on, but it was made to be used as a type of art, it''s a weapon that would rather parry than deflect.

    The hammering continued for half an hour, in which Dave sat next to Ralph and the two waited.

    Soon, Andre took a deep breath and said, "Finally done." Andre stood up and turned to Ralph just in time as the ck mes went out and were snuffed out of existence, never to be seen again in this world unless Asmodeus were to visit this ce.

    The sword in Andre''s hand was at least a meter four feet and a half. It was a double-edged sword, and the hilt was yet to be equipped on it and the weapon yet to be polished, but the most important bits of the weapon has been done.

    Andre took more time to equip the weapon with a proper guard and a hilt, a Blood Stone jewel pommel, and polished it until it shone, not bright, but dark. The weapon''s color never changed, it has even gotten darker. This weapon''s darkness reminded Dave of the Undead King''s own weapon. Yet they were slightly different.

    The Undead King''s weapon exuded a dark chaotic aura whenever it was revealed into the world, but this weapon, its aura was concealed and tucked tightly around it, controlled and collected.

    "This is one of the finest weapons I have made, perthee be careful when using it. And don''t you dare abuse it, it is impossible to restore it if you were by some ungodly amount of absurd bad luck manage to break it."

    Andre handed Ralph the weapon and thetter was too excited to use it.

    "Duel me!" Ralph said.

    "Hold your horses, at least wait until I get my own armor repaired."

    "You''ll be the death of me prince, I''ll need a few hours rest after using Disas Obascus Fervis," Andre said.

    "Huh, I thought undead don''t tire," Ralph said.

    "I have not exhausted myself, it is impossible to do so. But the chaotic nature of that fire messes with one''s mind, and a lot of time focusing on it will make me quite sloppy and I wouldn''t want to be sloppy when fixing the War King''s armor."

    "Ah man, I just wanted to try out this sword skill," Ralphined.

    "What skill?"

    "Here look!" Ralph said and shared with Dave the weapon''s status screen.

    ***

    Cursed Rift Maker

    Tier: Godly

    Conditions:

    Fu Temple Disciple

    Level 450!

    Category: Weapon

    Type: Great-Sword

    Requirements to handle: Space Lord Legacy Holder. Finished the Fu Temple intermediate training.

    Mandatory requirement to use the weapon: 750 STR

    Damage: 4,000-6,000

    Damage modifier: 20% STR

    Skills:

    (Passive): [Limitless Within Limit] The Cursed Rift Maker has a space around it that cannot be breached, the weapon will never receive impact and it''s cutting power is greatly enhanced. [Limitless Within Limit] can be used as an active ability to increase the range of the space to cover the user for five seconds granting them immunity from all sources of damage, magical or physical.

    [Rend Space Seven-Fold] The ability to sh at space seven times, slicing it and rending it. Space will be fused and the damage will be proportional to the user''s strength, the enemy''s defenses, and the strength of space in the specific location.

    ***

    This weapon was used by the FU Temple, blessed by the Space Lord, and reforged using Obascus Dias Fervis, the dark mes, it has gained ess to hidden properties of the Space Rule.

    ***

    "Nice passive ability man, this practically makes it impossible to break."

    "No, it does not." Andre shook his head.

    "Why, I mean if it creates an infinite space around it wouldn''t that make nothing able to even touch the de?" Dave asked.

    "Let me show you an example, where is Durandal?" Andre asked.

    Dave pulled out his sword.

    "Try touching the edges of the swords together."

    Dave tried but the two weapons didn''te close, there was a distance smaller than an inch between them, but no matter how much strength Dave poured into his arms the weapons refused to collide.

    "It''s not about strength, your strength doesn''tpass the infinite. But ask your weapon to strike."

    "Ask? You mean like, ask, ask? Talk to it?" Dave questioned dumbly.

    "Yes, a weapon as old as yours is sentient, it will listen to what you say. You should know this by now, it was made by a god it''s not a simple weapon."

    Dave doubtfully spoke, "Alright Durandal, can you hit that sword?"

    "LIGHTLY!" Andre shouted. Yet before his words could even register in Dave''s ears. Durandal managed to go past the inch distance and swat the sword out of Ralph''s hand.

    "What just happened?" Ralph jerked back.

    Andre hurried to the fallen Rift Maker and took a deep sigh of relief. "Thankfully, your sword is not stupid. It didn''t damage the rift maker."

    "Can you exin what happened right now?" Dave asked.

    Andre gave the sword back to Ralph.

    "This sword coats itself with the infinite, and your sword is made of the infinite so it could cross the distance."

    "It''s either I''m getting dumber or I have no idea what you''re talking about."

    "Basically, your weapon was made using a ck hole, and it is said to be infinite, this just proves it. Also, it has the weight of the Universe, which also is infinite ad ever-expanding. The lore behind a weapon is not simple, it has different meanings. So, if the Rift Maker coats itself with the infinite, the finite cannot touch it, but if you use your sword which is made also of the infinite, it can do so with ease. And believe me, there are things in this world that are simr to your sword, and some of them are not even weapons."

    "I''m feeling dizzy but I think I understand. So, Ralph my man, better not hope your weapon can contend against mine. You''ll break it," Dave grinned.

    "Don''t also be too sure about that, Durandal is not fully unsealed, it can only break through the Rift Maker''s defenses for limited times. You should experiment, but I bet it can do so three times. Once you fully unseal it, you''ll be able to break through the limits of the world. But you don''t have the strength required to wield such a destructive power yet."

    "You have any idea what''s the required strength needed to unseal Durandal?" Dave asked.

    "Yes."

    Dave''s eyes sparkled, he only unsealed Durandal once, and it was when he used the [Bnce Breaker] Forbidden Chapter, and now there was hope that he could do so once again. He always wanted to re-use that might that the sword had shown once.

    "You''ll need to be on equal footing with the one that made this weapon."

    "Huh? Basically, I need to be a god."

    "Exactly. Not so realistic. But still, that''s the only way, the forbidden chapter was a one-time use. You can''t do it again, and thankfully so, otherwise, without proper power and control you''ll destroy this very world using that sword''s real weight."

    "Yeah, Nick said something about that. Guess I''ll have to ask him about this if he has an idea. Speaking of Nick, he said Ashkar made a move, once Andre is done, let''s go and visit that guy. It''s a good opportunity for you to scratch that itch and use your sword man."

    "Yeah, I''m down for that."

 Chapter 534: Settling Old Debts

    <h4>Chapter 534: Settling Old Debts</h4>

    Once the armor was done, Dave tore a teleportation scroll along with Ralph, the two of them teleported to Urburg. They headed straight to Nick''s pub. The Undeath God waited patiently for the two as he was doing his usual cleaning of the ssware in the small tavern of his.

    "Good to see you back."

    "Thanks, so what''s the deal with Ashkar?" Dave asked.

    "I got the news that he is doing something in the rims of the Wilds, near a swamp a few leagues away north of Moria."

    "North of Moria¡­ that''s the Spider Queen location, I doubt she''ll be happy seeing us again."

    "I remember the Man-Eating Spider Queen in one of your early skelly adventures. We''ll head there again?" Ralph asked.

    "I guess."

    "Well, the spider is definitely not your biggest concern, especially with Ashkar''s appearance."

    "Yeah, well let''s investigate and see what we''re up against and what he is plotting."

    "Kid," Nick said, rather solemnly.

    "Yeah?"

    "Don''t fight him. With your current strength, I doubt you''re a match to Ashkar."

    "Even with the legacy, and the Abyssal Knight promotion? Aren''t you giving him too much credit?"

    Nick sighed and said, "You''re growing stronger, but you should know, there are always higher mountains and deeper seas. Even I don''t dare go head-to-head with any of the gods in this world. They fear me, but they all know, that if we fought, though the probability of them losing to me is high, there is still a lot of variables, and even if I win, I won''t be able in top shape until a long period of time passes. A good enough chance that any other deity could take me out with ease if they feel like it. Also, the Harbinger, that one, I don''t even dare mess around with him. Always respect your foes, even Ashkar, even if he isn''t a match to you in power, he had lived longer and has a lot of aces up his sleeves. Be careful."

    "I will, thanks, man. Ralph, let''s roll out." Dave said and the two left.

    Dave didn''t opt to use Onixya, it was best if they go without bringing too much attention to themselves. So they tore a teleportation scroll to Moria and appeared in its center. Right in front of them was a group of people, a party about to go raid the wilds. They weren''t interesting enough for Dave to take a second nce, but one of them uttered, "Shit, it''s skelly!"

    The tone sounded more like that of a person in fright than one who usually shouted Skelly''s name in pure ear blistering fangirling style.

    Dave turned to notice a priest that was hurriedly trying to blend in with his party members and away from Dave''s sight.

    Dave grinned he remembered this guy far too well. It was thanks to him and his buddy that Dave has gotten where he is today.

    The draugr approached the group, and from the reaction of their frightened priest, the party understood that the two had a beef to settle.

    Yet, surprisingly, and most interestingly, the party didn''t budge or a clear way for Dave, they huddled up, armed up, and pointed their shaky weapons at Dave. They knew that the moment he wanted; he could tear them apart to get to the priest. But Dave respected their stance.

    The priest in question had his eyes water up, he never thought that his party would stand up against overwhelming odds to protect him.

    "Why do you protect him?" Dave asked.

    The highest level of the party spoke up a tank that said, "Stainless Steel is our priest, even if you''re skelly, you''re not getting to him before you take us out."

    "So you know who I am and still want to defend him? Why?" Dave asked.

    "He is a good yer, good healer, we rarely wiped with him along. And we leveled up greatly thanks to him, he saved us all on many asions, without him our party would have never stood a chance in our adventures in the wilds. We know you had a beef with his friend, what was that douche''s name again?" asked the tank.

    "Bone Breaker," Spoke the priest.

    "Yeah, that cunt. Even if the two of them were together when you got your legacy, remember that Bone Breaker also betrayed Stainless Steel while he was helping him out of his goodwill."

    "Seems like you made quite the party. Stainless."

    "Y-yes."

    "But rx, I''m not here to cause any trouble. But honestly, I''m really surprised, if you''d done all that why did you quit being with the Devastators?" Dave asked, he knew that Stainless Steel was with the Devastators for a while but now he had the banner of another guild.

    "Because you became friends with them. I thought you''de after me once you knew I was in the Devastators so I left."

    Dave shook his head. "I''m not that petty. Also, you never did anything to me. I got no reason to be pissed at you, you''re just overthinking. So is this a new guild, I never heard of it? Lothric?"

    "Yeah, we just started it a few weeks ago," Stainless said.

    "Just the five of you?" Dave asked.

    "There are a couple of other yers but they''re disconnected."

    "I understand you leaving the devastators, but you," Dave pointed at the tank, I''m more than sure that you were in one of the Devastators A teams."

    "Yeah, so?"

    "Why did you give up all of your Devastator privileges to get into a new guild?"

    "We are all parts of the A teams. Once we teamed up with Stainless, we all knew that with him along any raid would be done with ease, so when he left, we also left."

    Dave sighed. "Give me a moment," he said and contacted someone on his yer contacts.

    "Hey, it''s me," Dave said. "I have a group here in Morya¡­ Yeah. So you know. Yeah, hmm. I want them reinstated. Why? Because I''m skelly man. Should there be any other reason? Even if they left of their own volition, just take them back, I''m sure they won''t refuse, especially if you''re gonna be doing it for me¡­. Yeah,¡­ thanks."

    Dave hung up and said, "Yeah, so Valentine is gonna be calling you soon, you''re getting your rank back at the Devastators and with additional bonuses. And you know why?"

    The party was more than excited to hear the news but one had to answer Dave.

    "Why?" asked the tank.

    "If you hadn''t stood up for your friend there, I wouldn''t have even bothered with the lot of you. But you guys are good seeds. I hope to see youter on in the higher stages of this game. For now, I''m gonna go duke it out with a demi-god. Enjoy your gaming. Ralph let''s go." Dave gestured with his head to Ralph to leave.

    Just as the two were about to move.

    "S-skelly, thanks." Said Stainless Steel.

    "No worries man, you have a good party, take care of them. As for your friend¡­"

    "He got what he deserves."

    "Good line." Dave grinned and left the city

 Chapter 535: Settling Some Old Debts

    <h4>Chapter 535: Settling Some Old Debts</h4>

    Dave and Ralph rode up to the north on the back of Grumpy. The journey wasn''t that far away, but once they have gotten into the Man-Eating Spider''s territory, things became far too different than when Dave remembered.

    The area, still covered in cobwebs looked far calmer than before, and not even one or two of the juvenile spiders were seen anywhere. Dave frowned, the area here was a huge headache to him and TNT when they first crossed it. But now it was so calm it was nerve-racking.

    "Something must have happened here."

    "Why''d you say that?" Ralph asked.

    "The spiders, none is here."

    "So are the animals, I don''t see a single bird chirping."

    "Usually birds would avoid this area, and this was the same, but spiders? Leaving their home, that''s not right."

    "I bet our friend Ashkar is responsible."

    "Yeah, I have the same thought, keep your guard up bro."

    "Will do."

    The three kept moving, Grumpy''s usual grumpiness was changed to casual snorts and sniffs, he was checking his surroundings.

    Soon, they came upon the corpse of a dead spider, only half of its body was charred ck. Even the ground next to it was the same.

    "Ashkar''s lightning, he''s close."

    "Right then, we should probably hop off," Ralph said.

    "No, Grumpy has good senses, he can notice it when danger is close," Dave patted the big basilisk on the back, "We''re counting on you."

    The onyx basilisk did a light snort and kept moving.

    The party was getting closer to the spider queen''s nest, and even more of the dead juvenile spiders were spread along with the ground charred ck.

    Grumpy suddenly stopped.

    "I hear something," Dave said and gestured to Ralph to jump off.

    "Grumpy, if things get ugly, I''ll be calling you for help. Stay here and see if any nasty people try and ambush us."

    The basilisk nodded and sat on his hind legs, like a dog on watch duty.

    Dave smirked and headed first, Ralph behind him to the hiding hole of the spider queen.

    Withing the dark cavern of the Man-Eating Spider Queen, Dave noticed a rustle and movement in the shadows. His dark vision kicked in, and soon he was able to see clearly.

    The Spider Queen wasying on her stomach, its legs were spread all over the ground, and her head was held tightly by a man whose hand was spewing continuous jets of ck lighting right through the spasming queen''s face.

    Dave drew Durandal, and the sound of the sword alerted the wizard to Dave''s entry.

    "You''ve grown a nasty habit of being where you''re not supposed to be, Draugr," Ashkar spoke without turning back.

    "Just like you said, a force of habit. And you as well, you''re always somewhere where you''re not supposed to be. Say, what''s going on here, I don''t think you''re being too friendly with our little spider here."

    "Yeah, I guess so, my calctions were slightly wrong, you see," Ashkar turned and released the queen that suddenly fell to the ground.

    "When I tried forcing the two Gods to submission, the spell backfired and didn''t work, it made them enter into a crazed rage. I was surprised that you managed to release them from it. But that taught me that I have been doing things rather wrongly."

    Dave got a few steps closer, his eyes fixed on Ahskar, but still, he took note of the queen that was slowly gaining her footing and trying to stand up rather shakily.

    "I was arrogant, though strong, and a demi-god, I shouldn''t have tried to control something that is of a higher status than me. But all is well, at least I learned something new, that even if I can''t control a god, making them go berserk is enough to keep it out of my way. Still, that gave me a good opportunity to fully explore my ability."

    Dave didn''t interrupt the viin''s monologue, it was never wise, keep them talking, keep them spelling secrets, at the end, it mighte to your own advantage.

    "So, controlling lesser things, things that had never the chance to ascend became far easier. And believe me when I tell you, this is but the start."

    The spider queen fully stood up, ck lighting crackled from around its body and its own size which was quite massive grew more noticeably so.

    Dave inspected the spider.

    ***

    Man-Eating Spider (Queen) [Amplified]

    Level: 650

    Tier: Mythic

    Danger Level: ? ?

    Base damage: 500,000-850,000

    HP: 55,000,000

    PD: 420,000

    MD: 300,000

    Skills:

    [Royal Dominance] all arachnids in the vicinity of the Deep Wilds are bound in servitude to the Queen. If the queen''s HP drops below 20% a call will go out and yers have five (5) minutes to kill the queen before every spider within 20 mileses to her aid.

    [Late Night snack] the queen consumes one of its children to recover HP (1% of the queen''s total HP for each adult spider and 0.5% for each spiderling).

    [World Wide Web] the queen sprays sticky masses of webs that snare enemies in an area. Can cover areas up to a 50-meter radius. The sticky webbingsts for 20 seconds, all snared enemies receive 50% more damage, and their movement speed is reduced by 30%.

    Additional effect [Amplification] The Spider queen''s power has been increased thanks to the effects of the amplifying lighting used by Ashkar.

    Bestiary:

    Man-eating spiders are a matriarchal species. The queen arachnid will not allow another female to grow and threaten her authority, she kills and eats all female spiders as they hatch.

    Addendum:

    Subdued and controlled by Ashkar the Spider Queen''s ferocity has been increased.

    ***

    Dave drew Ajax, battling Ashkar alone was a hassle and now with the queen as his own personal battle pet, this was bound to get ugly.

    "So you see, even queen tier sses are easy to subdue. Now if you think about it. What else can I control and would make the following events far morepelling than they actually are?" Ashkar grinned leaving the thought to fester in Dave''s mind as a lighting bolt, darker than the night struck where he stood, and with it, the wizard disappeared.

    The spider queen hissed at Dave then charged the two.

    "What the heck was he talking about? You got an idea?!" Ralph said.

    "Yeah, I think I know, but you''re not gonna like it." Dave pivoted his entire body and smashed Ajax into the charging queen''s face sapping the force out of her charge then used [Reject] not to rebound the strength of the charge, but a saved up spell he had on him.

    La-Shmir''s corrosive dragon breath.

    The breath blew in the spider''s face and immediately began melting it off.

    The massive acid spray caused the queen to rear back innguished stature and pain.

    -8,000,000

    "Get out of here! It''s gonna blow!" Dave shouted.

    Ralph hurried out of the area and jumped to the side of the cliff, while Dave switched to his gauntlets and struck at the ground with a fiery fist.

    The mes from the impact busted out and sparked the highly mmable acidic remains of the dragon breath.

    Dave used [Bastion] the effects of Lashmir''s corrosive breath would undoubtedly damage his newly repaired armor and he was not interested in paying another visit to Andre so soon.

    An ear-splitting explosion sounded from within the cave of the spider, as mes burst from the entrance of the cave and its top, akin to apacted explosion that found a small hole of release.

    -22,000,000!

    Dave didn''t take any damage thanks to [Bastion], but now the heavily wounded queen shrieked loud and high, that the entirety of her spider army heard the cry of help and came rushing toward the cave-like a mad stampede of skittering death.

    Dave switched back to his sword and shield, a glint to his eyes and a smile on his face, "Time for some payback for all the shit you had me go through in my nooby days."

 Chapter 536: Wrath

    <h4>Chapter 536: Wrath</h4>

    Within Pandora''s Box were three people, and around them were monsters of epic proportions, chained up and locked away. This was the area that Bam took Dave to see the cmities that were going to be upon the world of conquest in the near future.

    "So?" spoke the hooded man.

    Ashkar, right in front of him grinned. "It worked, now I can fully control cmities. I just need a test subject to make sure that it''s fully functional."

    The robed man turned behind him and said, "Take Ox-Head. He should be easy to manipte, a lot of brut strength but no great calctive ability."

    "Sounds interesting. But how can I get it out of the box?"

    "Leave that to me." The robed man replied.

    The monk was standing against a pir and said, "Releasing one of the cmities right now will destabilize the box. It will cause the seals upon the rest of them to weaken greatly. Do you think you can control them all when they go on a rampage?"

    "That''s where you are wrong, old friend. We don''t need to control them, we just need to guide their destruction to achieve our goals."

    "Goals that I have yet to know. You two have been plotting a lot and never let me in on the hook."

    "We can assure you, that you need not worry about what is toe. Your role in this will be clear and will majorly affect our cause. You''ll see, soon enough." Replied the robed man.

    The monk scoffed and remained quiet, listening to what was going to happen afterward.

    "The spear, have you gotten it under control?" Asked Ashkar.

    "Yes, it was quite exhausting, especially after I have lost a great deal of my power. But still, I managed to bind it to my will."

    "I still can''t believe that this person was the one who ruled all. Looking at you right now, you''re no better than a peasant."

    "To you, I might look like a peasant, but I am a peasant with a great deal of knowledge. Hand me thest b." Asked the robed man.

    Ashkar gave him one of the bs that were hidden within the Storm Labyrinth dungeon.

    The robed man took the green b and pressed it against his palm until it fused to his flesh and disappeared inside. A jade-green symbol appeared on his palm and he grinned.

    "Yes, it''s finally done. Now, I can appear in the world without attracting the attention of the current All-Seer."

    "Then we''ll make our first move?" Asked Ashkar.

    "Yes, let''s head to the south. The first person to go down is the Oracle. His foresight ability is far too dangerous to our ns."

    "Won''t he be expecting us?" The monk asked, "He is a seer after all."

    "Oh, he would, but even if you expect death, could you escape it?" Asked the robed man.

    "True, but you can make death quite frustrated if you really don''t want to die."

    "Yes, indeed, but with a spear that can twist fate and bind time, the struggle will be wasted for an inevitable result." The robed man said. He stood up, stomped his foot on the ground and a seven-headed spear burst out from the ground. He grabbed it with his right hand and said, "Bring the ox out, I need the distraction to do what I must."

    ***

    "Whoooh, that was good!" Dave said as thest remains of the Man-Eating Spider Queen were burning to cinders.

    "Yeah, pretty annoying bug, still. Wat that guy said is still bugging me." Ralph replied.

    "Ashkar is strong. Thest time I faced him he almost one-shot me. Still, we can''t let our guard down. If his words were true, he probably has the ability to control cmities. And from what Ist saw in the Box, there were some pretty nasty ones there."

    "I have a feeling that this game is going to turn pretty nasty pretty soon."

    "You won''t believe how true your words are." The words of someone that has been apanying Dave for quite a while sounded through the wilds.

    "Nick, what''s the matter?"

    "Ashkar and his buddies are on the move. They''re currently releasing one of the cmities." Nick said as he appeared right next to the two, emerging from a swirl of shadows.

    "Shit already?"

    "Yeah, viins won''t wait until you''re ready to start their crap. You should get going, kid."

    "Where to, and what cmity?"

    "To the north,"

    "Shit, the Blood Ragers, they really don''t like me there. Especially with their current leader having lost his legacy."

    "It doesn''t matter, if that cmity manages to break the north, I bet you that the rest of them will start spawning from there. They''ll cause a great deal of havoc and have a footing in the world. You need to kill it fast."

    "Bro, I can''t kill the cmities with you limiting my power. At least let me use Rewind."

    "No! it is forbidden, using thatbo again will not be tolerated. Do you really want to have two of me in this world?"

    "Actually, one is already one too many. Alright, I''ll see what I can do."

    "Still, judging by the strength of this cmity, I don''t think your worries should be about its immortality, this one can bleed and can die."

    "So it shouldn''t be problematic."

    "Actually, it is. This one is a cmity of Wrath. They are kible, but their strength is beyond the scope of the things within this world. It can tear a dragon in half if it got its hands on it. Don''t get cocky, you''ll be ripped to pieces if you face it unprepared."

    "Right then, Ralph, you heard the man, let''s check this out," Dave called and his buddy agreed.

    The two tore a teleportation scroll to the north and appeared in the northern capital of the Blood Ragers.

    The moment the two appeared, a group of yers rushed towards them. Sword ready, they were a bunch of fanatics that belonged to the falling guild of the Blood Ragers.

    "You dare show your faces here!"

    "Scrub, you better fuck off or you''ll be kicking the bucket far too soon." Ralph snapped at the guy.

    The yer took a step back from being yelled at.

    Dave on the other hand didn''t even nce at the guy, he shouted through the city, "Everyone! Shit is about to go down here, a cmity is gonna appear in this city, it''s either fight or flight! Anyone who wants to fighte out and help, if you don''t, then at least get the hell out of here!"

    "Who the hell are you to tell us what to do in our own turf!" a yer said.

    But the reply was not even needed from Dave.

    At the entrance of the city, a gigantic rift in space materialized, it was as if space had grown a mouth, it''s fangs were the fissure of space slowly tearing apart, revealing never-ending darkness with the illusion of creatures beyond what man could imagine, all trapped and held in captivity, all but one. A creature, that even with the massive rift opening, needed to use its hairy hands to grab at the rift''s edges, then unceremoniously tore them apart, winding the gap to make itself capable of exit.

    A humanoid person, with the body of a barbaric man, but the head of an ox appeared out of the rift. It had a blue-colored body, with a slightly darker tint to the lion mane around his neck.

    Its massive horns came out of his forehead, they curved up and between them, there was a burning blue me.

    The creature had massive cuffs strapped to chains that extended all the way to the rift inside.

    He jerked his hands forward snapping the chains midway. He did the same to the chains on his legs.

    Finally, he grabbed at a choker that was hidden underneath his bushy mane, with both hands, the creature howled and snapped it in half.

    Just the weight of the broken choker was enough to break the ground and crater it the moment it touched the ground.

    The creature then took a deep breath and howled once again in the direction of the city. Its mere shout was enough to break many houses and cause yers that were hundreds of meters away from him to fly up from the wind impact.

    The icy mountain around the city trembled at the existence of this new creature, causing avnches to fall. Then to make it all clear, a notification appeared to everyone in Conquest.

    ***

    The Cmitous Age.

    The forgotten race has once again appeared in the World of Conquest, the first to appear from within the sealed space, The Cmity of Wrath, Oxen-Head.

    The seal upon the rest of the cmities is severely weakened and cannot be repaired. The rest of the cmities will leave their sealed domain soon and cause wanton destruction upon the world if left unchecked.

    The fate of Conquest relies on you, do what you must to keep this world safe.

    Good Luck.

    ***

    Ralph turned to the yer who was bickering with Dave and said, "You were saying?"

    The yer kept his gullet shut, as he should have.

    "What the fuck?! That wasn''t a skill?!" another yer, of the ones that were thrown and had lost two-thirds of his ability due to Oxen-Head''s roar, called.

    Dave frowned and inspected the creature.

    ***

    Oxen-Head

    Level: 666

    Tier: Minor Cmity of Wrath

    Danger level: ????? Cmitous!

    Damage: ???

    HP: 1,000,000,000

    PD: 1,000,000

    MD: 1,000,000

    Skills:

    [Primordial Fury] (Passive) Oxen Head is the collocative fury ad wrath of the old times. He needs no skills or abilities to destroy what he wishes. His base strength could increase unlimitedly, causing his destructive power to be beyond the scope of what any person can withstand. Any direct attack that Oxen-Headnds upon anyone not using a perfect defensive skill will instantly kill its target. Regr shields can only be used once to block Oxen Head''s blows. They will be destroyed afterward.

    Lore:

    First, there was chaos, and within this chaos was the fury of nature. Oxen Head was born in it, molded by it, he didn''t see Life until he came to be upon this world, and Life was far from the chaotic nature he lived in, so he seeks to forever destroy it and return to chaos.

    ***

    "Well, gotta admit, this one is kible, but fucking what man! Unlimited strength, that''s just stupid." Ralph groaned.

    "You just need to not get hit, shouldn''t be that difficult", Dave said as he drew Durandal and Ajax.

 Chapter 537: Nothin to Fear

    <h4>Chapter 537: Nothin to Fear</h4>

    Oxen-Head charged the city gates, little that the walls of the capital could do to withstand what was born in chaos. The gate fell unceremoniously, like a sandcastle as a child stomped through it, with utter frightening ease.

    The wall exploded into debris upon contact with the giant creature. And some of the wreckage hit yers and instantly sent them to limbo. Dave shouted with all he got, "Anyone below level 400, please leave the area, I''ll be tanking the boss, everyone else, assist me from behind if you want your city to survive!"

    Dave didn''t wait for an answer from the yers, this Cmity was going to break the north, especially with the absence of its leader, Zhang Shi, and the loss of many legacies due to the battle against the Ash King.

    "World Boss!" Dave called, he didn''t even waste a moment to use his strongest skill sets.

    ***

    You have turned into a World Boss!

    You have gained, [Abyssal Knight Glory!] For 12 in-game hours you will obtain the following effects:

    All of your skills and abilities will have a damaging and effect increase of 1,000%

    Your HP has been multiplied by 100!

    Your defensive states have been multiplied by 10

    Your Regeneration has been multiplied by 100!

    You are limited to the area of the Northern Kingdom''s Capital. Once you leave the area, you will lose your [Abyssal Knight Glory] buff.

    ***

    Tiny molded into Dave and began increasing the Draugr''s size to match Oxen-Head''s height.

    With such arge target, Oxen-Head focused on Dave, this was a battle between giants and he ignored the pesky yers that were not worthy of its time.

    Dave used [Zealot], [Chaos] and [Aura of the Infernal Tyrant] the three abilities surged, increased Dave''s size, and caused massive amounts of fumes to exude out of his body. Magmatic cracks appeared on his armor, a trantion of the power of chaos that was currently surging through Dave.

    Dave drew Durandal and poised Ajax forward, and waited for Oxen-Head to make the first move.

    The beast roared, enough that more debris flew up from the ground and crashed into other building, cracking some and destroying others entirely.

    The beast charged Dave, with every step, the ground shook and shuddered, and more buildings fell, the charge grew in momentum, enough that Oxen-Head gave the feeling of a freight train, asrge as a mountaining toward Dave.

    Thetter didn''t flinch even when all other yers scurried away, not wanting to end up under the feet of such a monster.

    Dave poised Ajax forward, a wide anticipating grin on his face.

    One of the yers near Ralph scoffed, "Skelly is an idiot, he didn''t even read the notification properly, his shield is about to break."

    Yet the reality of the matter was far different from what the yer had spoken. The moment Oxen-Head shed into Dave''s shield, all of his momentum, all of his power, and all the might behind that charge were sucked into the shield. Causing the great beast to falter, unbnced from having lost all of that weight behind the charge so suddenly.

    Dave''s sword was already held up high, with one hand, Durandal usually matched Dave''s size, and now it was as big as the city''s walls, it looked like an immovable mountain peak, and the sword that held the world''s universe was about to go down.

    Dave struck down upon the beast''s head, his sword easily broke one of the creature''s horns, tore one of his ears from its ce and dug into the creature''s shoulder.

    -82,000,000

    The creature, so close to Dave, and enraged with the sudden retaliation and the loss of one of his horns, didn''t even bother to express his anger and wrath at Dave using howls of rage, the beast clenched a fist and was about to break Dave''s face off.

    The strength of Oxen-Head was unlimited, so a single hit would undoubtedly kill Dave. Or at least send him to 1% HP, enabling him to survive only by the aid of [Unyielding Will].

    Yet Dave was not going to take an attackying down.

    "REJECT!" Dave shouted, and before the beast''s fist could even make contact, Ajax opened its jaws and rejected the absorbed power against the unsuspecting creature.

    The strength that the creature had lost to the shield, he received it back, without an ounce of readiness or preparedness. While the creature was already in the middle of attacking when he was totally andpletely defenseless. The best time to attack prey, was when the prey was also attacking its prey.

    Oxen-Head was sted out of Dave with enough speed that he left the perimeter of the city in the blink of an eye. He was sted hard enough that he flew high and then crashed down, spiraling and spinning along the snowy terrains of the cold north.

    A collective shout echoed through the city, the yers had seen Dave in action, and he had managed to break the fear of this cmity and restore hope to the yer base.

    Dave called, "It''s not dead guys, but soon it will be. I''ll need your help in taking him down still. If you wish to help, you''re more than wee, if not, please leave this area, this guy ising back with spiteful revenge."

    yers began calling their friends, "Send reinforcements! We need help at the north! Skelly is fighting a cmity!" this was the general message sent through all

    The news spread across Conquest like wildfire, and all the yers, high and low heard of it. yers that were already doing dungeons decided to quit and go to the north, and others that were just either minding their own business or trading have also heard the news.

    The first cmity to assault the world of conquest, this was going to be the even that will determine how will the following invasion, and survival of the world of Conquest was going to be. No one wanted to miss out on this battle, either fighting in it, or witnessing it. So friends called friends, and soon, the north was so busy and full of yers, that it never had seen since the first day Zhang Shi and hispanions had imed it as their territory.

    Wang Yi and White Ghost heard the news and headed out to the north, so did Valentine and Warlord and theirpanies.

    Ralph was called to appear in the north, but he was already there, which gave made a lot of the higher ups frown upon him as he didn''t inform them of what was going on sooner.

    The northern teleportation gate became packed full of yers, and every yer, the moment they appeared from there woulde out and witness Dave''s stance upon the city''s gate. The giant ck draugr, with deathly ck fumes exuding out of him due to the [Infernal Tyrant''s Aura]. This scene reminded them of the battle of Qin. When Dave stood against the collective armies of the west north and south.

    "Looks like you could use a hand," Warlord''s voice sounded near Dave.

    Thetter didn''t look at Warlord, his eyes were still focused on the iing Oxen Head.

    "I could, but a fist would do much better," Dave said.

    "As you wish," Warlord thundered out the words, "God Fist!" and struck down at the ground with his armored fists.

    Arge rift formed over Oxen-Head, from it emerged a gauntleted fist as wide as the giant himself. The golden gauntlet waspletely covered in intricate iys of mands and God-runes.

    The God Gauntlet struck down, where the beast held his arms up to withstand the blow, though unlimited in strength, the cmity cannot withstand the fist of a god. The blow forced the creature to first bend the knees, then forced him on his back, as his hands could no longer withstand the mighty weight, then smashed him into the icy ground.

    Wrathful, the beast hollered causing the snow around him to st away in all directions once the skill effect was off.

    "Guys, don''t get greedy, this guy can one shot kill anyone," Dave said and walked forward.

    "Then why are you moving forward?" White Ghost asked, he just appeared out of nowhere.

    "Because only I can survive his blows. Kalel, Singund, Dog, Bud, Sparke!" Dave called his five trusted subordinates and ordered, "Bud, use the shadows, trap and harass the beast, Singund, you''re the only one that can survive a direct attack from a cmity and still be able to fight you''ll lead the front with me. Kalel, you''re strong enough to battle a dragon on your own, show the world what the hero of the People is made of. Spark, I''ll give you a lot of fire to y with, make a symphony of mes, I wish to see these mountain tops barren out of ice. And finally, Dog, no need to hide your cards, show the world who is the original War legacy holder."

    Warlord was surprised for a moment, but when he Saw the Duhan smash a fist into the ground and calling a god fist simr to Warlord''s, he was stunned.

    This was news enough to shake the world of Conquest, two beings having the same legacy was unheard of, and especially an S ss legacy.

    Before Warlord could even process what was going on, the fires around Dave raged high, and forty-eight ck infernal dragons'' skulls appeared in the skies of the north. The heat emanating from them was enough to increase the temperature degree by a good margin.

    Spark, the fire Lich Doom Knight raised both hands and took control of Dave''s kill, then colors began shining upon the northern kingdom, the ck dragon heads took different colors, and each color was correspondent to one of Spark''s fire quirks. Acidic mes, poison mes, corrosive mes and so on.

    Kalel drew his long sword and dashed through the terrain unbothered with the ice, Dave would have sworn that if the snow was water, Kalel would have run across it like if it was solid ground.

    Then came bud''s turn, who appeared under the cmity and pulled its legs into the ground, trapping it using shadows. This gave Dog''s fist ample opportunity and time to fall into its target, smashing it into the ground.

    "Hey you guys are having all the fun," Came Ralph''s voice, "We can here to test my legacy, right?"

    Ralph drew his long sword and held it high in a kendo stance.

    "Fu Temple Legacy! Second Form! Space Rend Asunder." Ralph chanted, cryingly so as Dave felt second-handed embarrassment from his friend having to call the name of his skills before using them.

    ster struck down, even far away from the battle, a long transparent sh in space moved like wind cutter and grazed the cmity''s hand.

    The mere graze caused a spray of blue blood, enough to fill a well to stter all over the pure white snow of the northern region. The oxen head''s right hand was torn from the joint, cleanly and perfectly so causing the beast to screech in maddened wrath.

    "Hey, you started the party without us!" a familiar voice sounded in Dave''s ears.

    "But you guys look like you''re already on top of things, still man, you should have called us man. This looks like free Exp man, why''d you get greedy on us Skelly and not have called?"

    Dave shuddered, "Of all the people, you had to be the one to say this was easy?"

    The cmity of Wrath, frustrated and wrathful at the loss of a hand stood up, forcing the shadow binds of bud to break with ease, then across its body, magmatic veins appeared, quite simr to Dave''s chaos rune effect. After all, this was a creature that was born in chaos, so it would be strange if it couldn''t use the very power that was currently surging through Dave''s body.

    A loud thud echoed in the fields, a tank in chrome armors had just bonked a priest on the head.

    "I told you, stop yapping, you jinx," Human Fortress called. It was TNT, and with them, came Tess, Lone Arrow, and Mercy.

    "Jinx or not, all the party is here, we''re about to kick some cmitous ass right now." nker spoke with all confidence.

    "Just get your healing ready, leave the heavy lifting to us," Tess said.

    "In case you didn''t notice, this is a one-shot boss, I''ll be focusing all of my mana on buffs. Alright, THERE IS NOTHING TO FEAR! TNT IS HERE!"

 Chapter 538: Going With A Bang

    <h4>Chapter 538: Going With A Bang</h4>

    "Yggdrasil''s Blessing!" White Ghost called and from behind him came the tree of life, it rose to the greatest heights, and one could see its shadow from all the corners of Conquests.

    ***

    All yers have been blessed by the power of the tree of life, death can be avoided once as long as the caster remains alive!

    ***

    "Good skill!" Davemented. Thankfully, Yggdrasil was a neutral element, it wasn''t a holy oriented attribute so Dave and his undead could benefit from the revival passive without suffering the drawback of being undead.

    Kalel raced through the snow like a bullet, his legs were moving so fast that they gave afterimages as he sprinted. The moment the giant bull head saw Kalel it opened its jaws and howled, this time, the howl was a mixture of explosive chaotic magic that had no purpose but destruction.

    The explosive beam was aimed at Kalel, but thetter quickstepped to the right, fast enough that hepletely disappeared from the area of effect of the bombardment.

    The ray of the chaotic explosion sted through the snow, causing it to melt, then harden then crack then explode. Chaos was not fire, it was an unbnced mixture of all the world''s magic and the constant instability of such a highly explosive mix caused it to blow up upon contact with matter.

    Kalel was already halfway toward the bull, the inhuman power gained from being an undead gave the Hero of The people supernatural strength, that his mere jumps became leaps that could cross league with ease.

    The ox struck down with the stump on his torn hand, trying to smash down Kalel back to the ground, but thetter miraculously managed to do a frontal flip in mid-air, fully avoiding the massive fist, or stump, and managed to stand atop the ox''s extended arm. Kalel dug his sword into the beast''s arm and raced up, his sword slicing through the thick muscle of the beast as he headed toward the creature''s head.

    Dave didn''t want to waste the opportunity when Oxen-Head was busy with the pesky undead.

    "Dog! Your turn!" Dave called and the Duhan understood, he charged the creature alongside his trusted basilisk, in his right hand was his bone club, now coated with Oprimieum. And his other was his head.

    Dog swung the bone club that it snapped open its vertebrates, exchanging the rigid form of a club to that of a whip long enough that when Dog pped it against the ankle of the ox, the whip made a full spin and locked onto itself. Dog jumped up from above the basilisk. And stood on the solid ground that had its ice melted off thanks to the flying infernal dragon skulls.

    Dog tried to pull the leg from under the giant, but the sheer difference in size and weight made it impossible for the ox to even notice the small creature trying to trip it over.

    Angry at being ignored, Dog grabbed the whip''s end with one hand and kicked at it with his leg. Usually, this wouldn''t have changed anything, but Dog''s leg was golden for now, he used god''s stomp on the whip, and the power behind it was phenomenal, it was enough that the oxen head''s leg was suddenly jerked out under him, so abruptly that he fell forward.

    This gave Kalel a much-needed breather as Oxen Head was about to tten him, Kalel used the opportunity when Oxen head was falling to jump toward the back of the creature''s head.

    Oxen Head fell on his face, and this gave Dave a great deal of time to do the following.

    Dave sprinted forward jumped above the ox and grabbed Durandal with both arms, in a reversed grip, with the sword pointing down at the ox''s back.

    "Herculean Strength!" Dave used and his muscles red up with undead strength and chaotic might. The sword took on a red sheen of mes, imbued with the might of chaos Durandal dug into the ox''s back and pierced right through it until it managed to dig itself into solid ground gully impaling the creature and pinning him down.

    This was the same tactic Dave used against Ouki, the Heavenly General.

    "PILE UP THE DAMAGE!" Dave called and a bombardment never before seen in the world of Conquest happened.

    All the present yers threw the mightiest of their spells and skills at the fallen ox, enough of them that the colorful effects of the different spells and the contrast of it became blinding.

    Loads of numerical damage values appeared above the downed creature, but in spite of such a load of damage, the ox didn''t lose more than a quarter of his HP.

    "Damn it, It''s only one enemy, my legacy isn''t good against single entities," Warlordined.

    "We''re doing a good job still, we can take it down with enough time," Valentinemented.

    Dave had also noticed that the creature''s HP slowly decreased, it was at a rate that he didn''t like. And summarizing from the fact that Oxen Head was still moving despite the weight of Durandal pressing against him, Dave judged that he wasn''t going to be able to hold him down for long.

    "Final Phantasm!" Dave called and the guitar of the Undeath God dropped into the battlefield.

    Clouds turned thick and heavy, the sun was covered and it felt like nighttime.

    Dave''s body was encased in an eerie deathly aura, enough of it that he exuded death from around him.

    The draconic heads that spark was using to heat up the battlefield gained a full skeletal body, and their ethereal form changed to be more solid. Their fire breath turned darker, and it gained corrosive deathly energy.

    Oxen Head struck both arms on the ground, the might of his hands was enough to crater the solid mountain under him, destabilizing the soil that was holding Durandal like a nail pinning the Cmity.

    With Durandal not having a ground embedding it, Oxen Head tried to stand up.

    "Better people than you tried to withstand the weight of that sword and none managed," Dave said.

    Durandal, a sword that was forged using a ck hole as material was too heavy for any mortal to carry. Yet, against Dave''s words, the creature roared, the veins on it''s body exuded more fearsome power, and he managed to stand up, toppling Dave from over him.

    Oxen Head tried to strike down with his fist at Dave, but thetter used [Immortal Ascension] yet he didn''t teleport, thanks to the effects of [Final Phantasm] he became ethereal, and managed to avoid the blow that sent shockwaves through the dirt, creating a seismic effect on the mountain range.

    Oxen Head stood up, with Durandal embedded into its chest and with his one functioning arm grabbed at the hilt and drew the sword.

    "Fucking unlimited strength, Hey fucker! That''s my sword!" Dave shouted and spread his palm forward, "Come!" Dave called.

    The sword vibrated in Oxen Head''s hand, but thetter didn''t wish to let go.

    "USE THE FORCE!" nker shouted.

    "The heck do you think I''m doing! But the force is strong with this one!" Dave grinned then howled, "COME!"

    And with the finalmand, Durandal, instead of trying to rip itself out of Oxen Head, it decided that it was best to fly up, this way the creature can''t use his strength as he would have no leverage.

    Oxen Head tried to pull the sword down, but it had no ability to do so. So, he kept grabbing the sword, and when he was a few dozen meters above the ground as Durandal was carrying him up, Oxen Head decided it would be wise to let go of the sword.

    Once he let go, Durandal shot up like a rocket, and Oxen Headnded back on his feet. The cmity of wrath decided that it was the best time to attack the draugr in front of it as he had no weapon.

    So he charged Dave, while thetter unconsciously rubbed at his beard, a wide grin on his face.

    Dave made a grasping motion with his hand, and before Oxen''s head could evennd his extended arm to punch Dave''s life out, Durandal pierced right through Oxen Head''s ribs and went past it. In one smooth motion, Dave grabbed Durandal in a backward grip, ducked under the extended fist of the beast, and made a spinning motion using his entire body and the edge of Durandal that sliced up the creature''s right leg from the knee.

    Dave stood, and the beast fell, one fist missing and one leg cut off.

    "This isn''t even over," Dave said [Final Phantasm!] he used his strongest skill. And from the clouded skies, a skinny tattooed arm, pointed at the downed creature.

    All of his might was husked over, and his body sucked dry from power. The ability of the god of Undeath to siphon power was amazing and at the same time frightening.

    With one skill, the creature lost half of his max HP, and thanks to the damage he took from the start of the battle, Oxen Head was left with a little less than twenty percent of his total HP.

    All that remained from the massive muscr oxen bodybuilder shaped beast was a skinny bone skin creature that huffed and puffed in exertion.

    Yet chaos was unpredictable. And so was what happened right after, the magmatic veins that spread across the Cmity turned blue, and then his body began disintegrating yet a certain power was amassing in the chest of the beast.

    While the creature was slowly turning to ash, in his core, a glow of orange energy began amassing itself, gathering into the beast.

    "Shit! ITS GONNA BLOW!" nker was the first to call, and everyone understood the consequences of the uing explosion.

    A chaotic explosion so close to the capital of the Blood Raggers would raze the whole city to the ground.

    yers began teleporting away from the scene, anyone sane enough would not stay here and wait for death. But many of the yers had their livelihoods and way of life here in the capital, from shops to buildings and houses they owned, from guilds they built here, and much more. Losing that would devastate them more than losing a few levels.

    "Skelly, what are you doing?" Ralph asked.

    "What do you think? This fucker isn''t dead yet." Dave said.

    "He''s blowing up, we should go."

    "Go ahead, I''m staying," Dave said.

    "Shit! If you''re staying I''m staying, but damn it, man, this one is gonna hurt."

    "Use your sword''s ability, the infinite can definitely save you from the explosion."

    "What about you, you''ll use Bastion?" Ralph asked.

    "Nah, I have a different idea. Everyone listen up," Dave said.

    "I can probably save your city from the explosion." He said.

    And to his words, everyone was instantly joyful, "But," he added and that single word caused everyone to be in suspense, "I''ll get first dibs on the loot if I do."

    "That''s it? Heck, we all concluded you''ll get first dibs you already dealt the most damage." A yer said.

    "Yeah man, don''t worry about the loot, just get this thing out of here."

    "Right then, Ajax, prepare to feast, this one is gonna be delicious," Dave said and opened the jaws of Ajax wide enough that the abyss of the universe spewed out.

    Secondster, sound was cut off, and only white remained¡­

 Chapter 539: The Plot Thickens

    <h4>Chapter 539: The Plot Thickens</h4>

    The glowing light soon dissipated, and from it emerged a gigantic red orb, that was being sucked in, forced to not detonate, a great deal of energy fully andpletely being consumed by the ever-hungry power of the darkest heaviest core in the universe. It was being consumed by a ck hole that resided in the depths of the cursed Shield of Ajax.

    The energy soon was fully sucked in, and Dave, in his gigantic form was left standing tall, and behind him, a city, damaged, but not destroyed. It would have been wiped out if the cmity of Chaos had managed to self-detonate, and the capital of the North would have fallen, the same as their king had.

    ****

    Conquest Server Announcement!

    The First Cmity of the Cmitous Age has fallen!

    The Cmity of Wrath has been killed.

    All yers that have joined the battle will receive rewards based on their contribution.

    All yers that have assisted in the battle will receive the title [Hope Bringer]

    The yer thatnded thest blow will receive the title [Cmity yer]

    Thanks to the defeat of the First Cmity, the yers of Conquest will receive a bonus toward the experience gained for the following week.

    EXP Bonus +25% on monster hunting.

    ***

    Dave smirked, this was good, the battle against this cmity has brought all the yers together, it would mean that the world of Conquest will have a strong frontline for the events toe.

    "Loot, loot!" Lone''s voice came like a banshee''s wail in Dave''s ears.

    "Alright sweetie, I''m going," he replied and headed to where the cmity had fallen.

    In the middle of the barren field were the ashen remains of the cmity of Wrath.

    Dave knelt and touched the cinders, and a notification screen appeared in front of him

    ***

    Primordial Chaos Essence [Usable Item]

    [Chaotic Armor Diagram Berserker]

    Choupique Immortal ive

    Chaotic Giant ying Bow

    Chaotic Murderous Long Sword

    Chaotic Star sting Staff

    Chaotic Impaling Spear

    Chaotic Horns X2

    Chaos Imbued Bones X 104

    Chaos infused ws

    Chaos submerged Nose Ring X1

    Chaotic Beating Heart.

    Chaotic Hooves.

    1,000,000 Gold Coins

    Primordial Ledger [Quest Item]

    ***

    Dave was at a loss, there were many items on the list, but nothing piqued his interest. The armor diagram was good, but he was more than certain that armor from a level 666 cmity was not as powerful as his current War King Armor.

    The rest of the weapons were also not appealing, his own Durandal and Ajax were by far the best weapons currently in the game that were below the Arch-God ss weapons.

    "How are we going to divide the loot?" Warlord asked.

    Dave turned to them and said. "I mentioned that I''ll be getting first dibs on anything here right?"

    Warlord froze up, so did Wan Yi, but thetter was first to speak, "Man, leave me the armor diagram, it fits with my ss, I can pay you if you want."

    "It''s not about money, and honestly I don''t need the armor, I''ll be taking the quest item," Dave said.

    "Right, that sounds fair," Warlord said. Yet an inconspicuous yer of the northern region spoke up.

    "I don''t think that''s fair."

    Dave frowned, were they going to go back on their word, after all the loot was already in Dave''s hands if he wished none of them would get anything, but that will only cause enmity and will ruin Dave''s goal in making the yers cooperate.

    "What do you mean by that?" White Ghost asked.

    "Well, he did most of the damage, he actually was the reason that this thing died and also saved the capital. A single item and a quest item that we have no knowledge of the tier is not a fair price for all the help he offered."

    "I like that guy," Dave smiled.

    The rest of the yers looked at each other, and seeing from Dave''sck of interest toward the armor and clearly superior shield and sword, he would only opt to take the only item that had no clear indication of value or appliable use. The Chaos Essence.

    "So you want the chaos Essence?" Valentine interjected.

    "Yes, I think it will be helpful to me, but Before I take it I''ll need to do something first."

    Dave grabbed one of the items, the diagram of the armor and in front of everyone, he opened the scroll to read through it.

    "Hey man, you said you wanted the chaos essence, why are you reading through the diagram?" Wan Yi spoke up, he was afraid that Dave wouldy im to the armor.

    But Dave didn''t heed him any mind, as he was reading, he was rubbing his beard

    ''Hmm, this armor is not bad, it gives a simr buff to my own Chaos Runes when all the armor pieces are put together, but the only drawback is that its own Chaos buffsts for 20 seconds instead of mine that canst as long as I have HP.

    "Sorry, I only checked if the armor needs the Chaos Essence to make, if it did, I wouldn''t have taken it and let you guys have it. But since it''s not useful to make the armor I won''t be polite and I''ll be having the essence also. I hope everyone agrees?" Dave said.

    Though bitter that they had to give Dave two items from the loot all knew and acknowledged Dave''s aid in beating down the cmity.

    "Yeah," a collective agreement was heard and Dave was the owner of a quest item and the Chaos Essence.

    "I bet Da would know what to do with this." Dave grinned.

    "So, how do we split the rest?" Warlord asked.

    "That''s none of my concerns," Dave said, "But the best way is for you guys to auction these, and let the man with the deepest pockets get them," Dave said and left the area leaving the three guilds fighting over the loot, the deadliest fight ever, a fight with gold and silver.

    Dave appeared in Urburg, and to his surprise, Nick and Da were both there.

    "Just the man I was looking for," Dave said.

    "Yeah, lord, we have a big problem," Da said.

    "What now?" Dave asked.

    Nick was the one to reply, "Bam is dead."

    "What?" Dave''s voice was stuttering.

    "Yes, as you heard. He was killed, and Ashkar was behind it along with the robed man and that baldie."

    "Bam¡­but, he should have seen the attacking, he could have called you for help."

    "I couldn''t interfere, I''m a god."

    "But I could if you had informed me!" Dave shouted.

    "They chose their time well¡­ they assaulted him when you were fighting Oxen Head. This was nned. They wanted Bam to perish before the great cmities starting out. Oxen Head was just a prologue to a chapter that will decide the fate of this world."

    "Can you bring him back?"

    "No. it''s impossible, he asked me never to revive him if he were to perish, and even if I could and I would, the three of them made sure that he cannot be brought back."

    Dave''s rage was boiling, Bam was a good friend. An old man that steered the fate of this world toward the good, and informed him of many things. Even if they didn''t spend a great deal of time together, Bam was the sort of old grandfather that you would always remember. And his death was sudden.

    This fact only caused Dave to seethe in wrathful vengeance.

    "Calm down child. With the help of Lord Nichs, I managed to set up an automated system to take charge of Bam''s tasks. But it will notst for long. We''ll need someone to rece him."

    "I don''t understand what''s going on, but what do you mean by someone to rece him?"

    "Bam guarded destiny, he was a seer and the protector of Mt Glory, that mountain is the center of all the ley lines of this world, they all converge and gather there. A great deal of magic goes through that ce, and if someone were to tamper with it, and I''m more than certain that it will be tampered with it, the cmites will be our least worries."

    "Shit, this is just getting more and more ridiculous."

    "Yes, the worst is, there are none that are fit for the seat of Bam. I have yet to see a person qualified to take the test of Foresight. This is going to be a huge blunder. I''ll need your help kid."

    ***

    New Quest!

    The fate of The World

    Quest tier A

    Find a suitable character that can support the chains of fate and steer the world into a better future.

    Hint, you have already met the person, the memory of a dear lost one could help you find them.

    Failing the quest will result in a great change in the world of Conquest. The likelihood of natural catastrophes, unnatural catastrophes urring and the probability of the appearance of various world-threatening monsters will increase tremendously.

    ***

    "Yeah, I don''t even have the right to decline," Dave epted.

    "What did you want me for though?" Da asked.

    "For this," Dave handed Da a small vial with an orange glistening essence.

    "Oh my Unholy god, this is the primordial essence of Chaos."

    "Yeah, and I have no idea what to do with it," Dave said.

    "Well,e with me, I''ll show you, and I''m more than certain you will love it, prince!" Da giddily said.

    "Cool, let''s go then."

 Chapter 540: Semi Finalist

    <h4>Chapter 540: Semi Finalist</h4>

    Dave followed Da to the Dead Realm now situated in the capital of Qin, where he went up through the pce stairs until they arrived in Da''s study.

    Dave waited for the Arch Lich to start his mojo, as he began by drawing a wide purple colored magic circle on the ground. Slowly, he began adding ''mediums'' to channel the energy of the world into a spell that he was about to cast.

    "Prince, please take a seat in the middle of this circle," Da said.

    "Okay," Dave agreed and did what he was asked to.

    Once Dave was sitting, Da handed him back the vial and said.

    "Drink it in one go, and immediately disable the Azure Water rune."

    Dave nodded, he drank the Chaos Essence and Disabled the calming rune, suddenly, magmatic veins popped up on his armor. Yet they soon disappeared. And instead of hot magmatic veins that cracked his armor as they charged him up with might, blue ones, quite simr to the ones that Oxen Head had when he was battling the yers appeared on Dave''s armor.

    ***

    Precarious Bnce.

    You have attained a state where you can sustain the power of Chaos without it negatively affecting your body. You are one with Chaos. This state will be kept for as long as your HP doesn''t fall below 50% of the time of activation. Once your HP drops you will return to Chaos Imbnce that is imbued in your Chaos runes.

    In the state of Precarious Bnce, all fire-rted abilities will have increased destructive power.

    You have obtained one new skill.

    Nevermore

    Self-destruct and deal the exact amount of HP you have before the use of the skill to all foes in the vicinity.

    This skill will Execute you unless you have Unyielding Will.

    ***

    "Okay, not so shabby. At least I willst quite longer using the Chaos Runes." Dave said.

    "Not only that but now you''re attuned to Chaos, when facing foes of the same type of energy, you will suffer less damage from their chaos attacks.

    "Now that''s a good buff."

    "This wille in handy when facing Ashkar, I have made a great deal of advancement in regards to his abilities. His ck Lightening is also derivate from primordial Chaos."

    "Howe? I thought Chaos was heavily rted to fire, not Lightning."

    "No, lightning can create and also destroy."

    "Yeah, tengu told me that lighting was the thing that made life possible."

    "Yes, but if you remove some of its beneficial properties, and increase the potency of its destructive side, you''ll end up with a lightening that causes only death. You can think of Chaos as energy older than time. From it came everything, but to every coin are two sides. Though Chaos was destruction at first, from this destruction, and this randomness came life. Yet a great deal of it was harmful, what Ashkar did was derivate the destructive properties in Chaos and gave birth to his ck Lightning."

    Ashkar made a motion with his hand and ck sparks of lightning began dancing on the palm of his hand.

    Dave took a step back, "How did you do that?"

    "This is easy, if it''s destruction and separating the properties of Chaos, everyone can do it, including you. But there is a great deal of difference between me and Ashkar."

    "Care to exin?" Dave asked.

    "Simply put, do you remember, when the legion fell, you had to battle the original Ashkar, and as you know the lightning user you''re fighting was his disciple and took on his name after the original perished in the dungeon, consumed by the flesh wall."

    "Yeah, I got the gist of it, but what does that exin?"

    "The reason that I''m able to do this, and Ashkar Jr can outmatch me, even if I''m far better than him in the control of magic, and far older and far more experience is because of his unique talent the very talent that the original Ashkar saw in him and chose him to be his sessor."

    "Amplification?"

    "Yes, exactly, I can only produce this much of chaotic lightning energy, and unless I directly touch something with it. I won''t be able to use it."

    "Does that mean youck the mana to use it as a spell cast?"

    "Not really, I have at least ten times the Mana that Ashkar has. And I''m using a third of it just to make this spark."

    "Good god, that''s not good."

    "Yes, Ashkar only needs to create a spark of this chaotic Lightning, then he can amplify it, unlimitedly so to create the lightning spells he is so proud of."

    "That''s a pretty nasty ability. Basically, he can amplify any spell he has."

    "Yes, even a speck of sand could turn into a sand wave or a drop of water to a submerging sea."

    "I guess I know who is the main character here now, still we can''t let him get away with killing Bam and unleashing all of the Cmities. We''ll get him, I promise I will. But first things first, I still have two battles to do in the sh of Gods before it is officially over. And it''s gonna start soon. I''ll have to go."

    "Godspeed Childe, and may you bring glory never before seen in this world."

    Dave nodded at Da and headed out, his next battle in the sh of Gods was going to start soon and it was the best way to test out his new abilities.

    Dave opened the panel and submitted his character for the next battle, his turn was dyed until the morning of this day.

    Dave thought it was a good time to log out, he has been ying for a while and it was time to take a breath.

    Once he was out, Dave got his food and headed out to Desmond''s ce. Hours went by, and after the exhausting practice session, Dave headed back home. After a good meal and an afternoon nap, Dave woke up ready to game some more.

    Once he logged in, his match was already found and he only needed to ept to battle the opponent. It was only natural as thiste in the sh of Gods, not many yers are left and not many battles happen at the same time.

    Dave epted and entered the vortex that teleported him into Limbo, the ce where the sh of Gods is held.

    On top of the tform, Dave''s opponent was already waiting.

    "Oh, now that''s a nice surprise, I like the new armor," Dave said.

    "Yeah, I never thought that you''ll be the first one I''ll fight using it. I guess it''s the best tempering grounds."

    Dave grinned, his opponent was none other than Wan Yi, the Berserker, and thanks to the battle against Oxen Head, this berserker has now obtained a new set of armor.

    "Say, I''ve read the description of your armor before handing it to you, add the fact that you''re a berserker and the armor gives you the Chaos buff that also reduces your base HP and increases your basic damage, I bet you''ll be dealing damage in the range of millions. Still, I won''t go easy on you bro."

    "Yeah, I was not expecting that anyway, this close to the end of the event, we all want to upgrade our legacies you too. I would not have liked it one bit if you went easy on me Skelly, so show me all your might."

    "Good then, no need to hold back, [World Boss!]" Dave shouted

    "Ah, fuck, I said don''t go easy, not don''t go world boss. Right, I wasn''t expecting to win easily anyway still let''s Dance! Barbarian God Manifest!"

    From Wan Yi''s skill, a giant avatar showed up, a fully tattooed muscr being, a man wearing a wolf''s pelt over his head and wielded two war axes, roared at Dave then fused itself into Wan Yi.

    "God and man as one!" Wan Yi''s avatar was full of blinding colors, he then charged Dave.

    "Damn, he is fast," Dave was surprised, the big oaf''s speed was far too contradictive to his current speed.

    "But, you''re not the only one with a legacy, [Final Phantasm!]"

 Chapter 541: Battle In Limbo

    <h4>Chapter 541: Battle In Limbo</h4>

    Dave rushed forward, empowered by the godly energy that permeated the tform in Limbo. His sword glimmering, a reflection of the golden barbaric aura that is currently infused into Wan Yi.

    The two met head-on, Dave¡¯s sword struck down, only to be blocked by the cross between Wan Yi¡¯s two axes. Dave¡¯s strength was phenomenal, but the barbarian God was no pushover, he too had abundant strength and Dave judged that without using [Herculean Strength] Wan Yi¡¯s base strength was far higher than his own 1,000 points in STR.

    Dave followed the sword strike with a kick, this forced Wan Yi to dodge back, unlocking himself from the sword lock against Dave¡¯s weapon.

    Dave mmed the side of Durandal against Ajax¡¯s rim, and the shield opened up, revealing a white eye in the middle with a square-shaped pupil. The Sea God¡¯s eye.

    Two enormous tentacles burst out from Dave¡¯s shield, one grabbed at Wan Yi¡¯s ankle and the other at his waist. Wan Yi held his axes high, attempting to rip out the tentacles, but Dave jerked his shield back, forcing the barbarian to lose bnce and be thrown all the way toward Dave.

    Durandal struck down, only to have Wan Yi burst out explosive roaring energy that shattered the tentacles that were binding him and he managed, by some unknowing feat to change direction in mid-air, fully dodging Dave¡¯s sword.

    Dave understood one thing, to be the guild master of a guild such as Heaven Dawn was not an easy feat, and always, always, Wan Yi turned up to be a man of inferior intellect, he was not a smart person, always rash and unorganized, however, this move right here gave Dave all he needed to know to understand why such a person was the master of one of Conquest¡¯s super Guilds.

    It was not because of his mind, but because of the frightening fighting instinct, he had. Wan Yi was a beast in battle, unleashed upon his foe, without the limiting orders of White Ghost, Wan Yi would undoubtedly destroy anything that stood in his way.

    But, he was not the only one with a frightening battle instinct.

    Wan Yi kicked up, and surged at Dave, dropping down on him like a ton of weight, with his axes held above him, Wan Yi¡¯s dual drop ax attack was going to shatter bone if not rip off at least one of Dave¡¯s arms.

    Skeletal, the people¡¯s favorite used [Immortal Ascension], and didn¡¯t move, Wan Yi went through Dave with his axes that only managed to m right into the tform.

    The tform shook and this gave Dave a nasty D¨¦j¨¤ vu scene, the battle against Mercy caused the same tform to blow up, destroying the whole terrain and causing the whole thing to drop to the Eldritch Liquid Magic in Limbo.

    Wide fissures and cracks propagated through the area, and the tform began vibrating.

    "You should hold your horses bro if we fall you¡¯ll die," Dave said.

    "Yeah, gotta admit that wasn¡¯t smart, I almost died thest time I destroyed this tform. Also, with your flight ability I¡¯m surprised you didn¡¯t destroy the tform and end the match already," Wan Yi said.

    "I could, but I won¡¯t, heck, I won¡¯t even use [Phantasmal Edge] that¡¯s just too mean to shave half of your HP. Frankly speaking, even with the Chaos Armor you haven you still don¡¯t have a fifth of my base HP."

    "Fifth, man that was before you used your world boss. Now it¡¯s not even one of a fifth hundred. But there is one little thing that I like and it¡¯s going on for me right now."

    Dave tilted his head, did Wan Yi have a trick up his sleeve?

    "[GIANT SLAYER]" Wan Yi roared and with his shout, Dave received a notification.

    ***

    Due to the massive difference in the HP Pool between you and your opponent, Giant yer has been applied to you.

    -100% of all defensive values for 300 seconds.

    You will receive a 1% increased Damage for every 1% of your base HP lost.

    ***

    "Oh, this is a boss ying skill."

    "Yeah, don¡¯t me me for using it,"

    "No worries, with my HP right now, it would be a waste not to, so show me what you got."

    Wan Yi dashed forward, and behind him came the avatar of a gigantic bear, fully covered in golden tattoos.

    Wan Yi¡¯s two ax strikes made the bear behind him m down with two paws, Dave instantly knew that he should not take those hits face on. He moved forward, and blinked behind Wan Yi, thanks to the upgraded form of [Immortal Ascension] while using [Final Phantasm].

    The bear¡¯s paws struck at the edge of the tform, fully destroying it and making the battle arena far smaller.

    Wan Yi continued doing so, striking with the tattooed bear avatar at the edges of the arena, breaking it piece by piece as he chased after Dave.

    "Bro," Dave said and this made Wan Yi stop.

    "If you want a full melee battle you can just ask for it."

    "Oh, I thought you wouldn¡¯t want to."

    "I¡¯m a battle lich, I need to be in the frontline, just chill and let¡¯s go at each other throat."

    "Right then, here Ie. [Shin Sok!] Wan Yi called

    The avatar behind Wan Yi changed to that of a cheetah.

    "F.u.c.k," Dave cursed, and it was exactly as he expected, the barbarian¡¯s speed became so fast that Dave had a hard time tracking him with his eyes.

    Wan Yi¡¯s axes grazed Dave¡¯s back,

    -1,200,000

    Dave jerked forward he couldn¡¯t even see where the barbarian god was.

    Another graze and Dave lost more HP, only this time the value was greater than before even if slightly. The effects of [Giant yer] will start .u.mting and this will cause a lot of problems to Dave.

    "I guess I have no choice, sorry about this but you¡¯ll hate me. [Doomsday]" Dave activated his gear¡¯s special ability.

    The dim colors of limbo became dimmer and grayer than before, almost simr to what happens when Albert does when he shows up in the world of Conquest.

    Time slightly slowed down for Wan Yi and slightly elerated for Dave, which enabled him to perfectly trace Wan Yi¡¯s uing attack, switching Durandal to the Sworn Stalwart¡¯s fists, and slugged one right into Wan Yi¡¯s face.

    The attack was too sudden and so fast that Wan Yi never had the chance to see iting. The punch struck him square in the face and threw him with enough knockback effect that he was propelled outside of the arena¡¯s rims.

    "Ah shit, this is it then..." Wan Yi closed his eyes, he didn¡¯t expect the fight to end that fast.

    "Not yet bro," Dave called and when Wan Yi opened his eyes, a demonic faced creature was upon him, Dave had entered Demonic ascension and followed after Wan Yi, his ws grabbed at Wan Yi¡¯s face and with one jerk, threw the barbarian with a backhanded swing to crash against the rim of the floating tform and bounce up andnd on it.

    "Hey man, you could have easily let me die there."

    "Yeah," Dave said and flexed his muscles, "That wouldn¡¯t have been fun, but hey I got all for myself, you¡¯re going nowhere here."

    "That doesn¡¯t sound too friendly. I doubt that I¡¯ll win this match, but I won¡¯t go down without a fight."

    "I hoped so, now, show me the rest of your pets."

    "How about all of them," Wan Yi said. And instantly, a wolf, an eagle, a bear, and a cheetah showed up behind Wan Yi.

    "Let¡¯s get down and dirty," Wan Yi called, and with a point to Dave, the avatars behind him charged at the draugr.

    **** Please Make sure to read this story on , if you are reading Rise of the Undead legion anywhere else then you are on a pirating website, do not ept to offer any kinds of payment to such people as they are non-respecting of author¡¯s right and I, as the writer am not benefiting from their schemes in any way possible.****

 Chapter 542: Attitude Problem

    <h4>Chapter 542 - Attitude Problem</h4>

    "Rip him apart!" Wan Yi called and the four beasts came at Dave as if seeking vengeance.

    The eagle was the first to reach Dave, it bared its sharp talons at Dave aiming to rip off his eyes.

    The Draugr moved to the side and swatted the creature away, "Don¡¯t tell PITA on me man, but these little creatures of yours are gonna get the Skelly treatment."

    Dave moved forward and came face to face with the bear, the bear was twice Dave¡¯s size. And definitely packed a punch as it struck down with ws aiming to split Dave¡¯s body to bloody pieces. Yet the Draugr was not to be trifled with, a man who killed dragons would hardly be fazed by a bear. Dave momentarily released his sword and shield, and as the ws came down, he grabbed the bear by the wrists, though Dave¡¯s hands were far smaller than the bear¡¯s arms, the grip on his bony hands were stronger than mps.

    Dave heaved and pivoted with his upper body, fully pulling the bear along with him as he began to spin around himself.

    After a few turns, "UP YOU GO!" Dave called and threw the bear with enough force that he flew out of the arena to its doom.

    Dave charged Wan Yi, there was no need for him to chase after the two beasts, Wan Yi was the summoner and with his death, the beasts will also die.

    But the Berserker had one more ace up his sleeves.

    "CHAOS!" Wan Yi called. The armor around Wan Yi cracked up in several ces, causing the power of chaos to seep out as it empowered him.

    The berserker charged ahead, springing forward like a runaway train. The golden and orange mboyant aura around him made him look like a meteor that wasing at Dave at full speed.

    "Chaos!" Dave called, and instead of the mboyant red mes and magmatic veins popping on his armor, Dave¡¯s body was covered in a cool blue color. A me sedated, yet not less deadly than the original chaos power he held before. It was only chaos but on a bnced scale even if this bnce was precariously held.

    Dave activated another skill, [Stampede] one of the skills that apanied him from his noob days, and has seen many usages and now, Dave was about topete with Wan Yi at his own game.

    The two charged at each other, a blue and a reddish meteor carving through the ground they stepped on, aiming to crash against each other and only one would be left standing.

    Dave activated another ability while he was moving, [Herculean Strength]. It was the only way for him to match Wan Yi¡¯s base strength that was far stronger than Dave¡¯s.

    Once the two met, a loud explosion sounded above the arena, and from the point of impact, the tform cracked and threatened to turn to falling rocks if it received one more simr attack.

    The aftermath of the sh was Dave and Wan Yi shed together in a sword lock, Dave¡¯s Durandal was holding both of Zhang Shi¡¯s Battle axes at bay, yet none of them could move.

    "I¡¯m surprised you¡¯re matching me in strength," Wan Yi said.

    "Yeah, berserkers do have an innate strength bonus. Yet, do remember this Wan Yi, Never pit your strength against an undead, [Herculean Strenght] Triple Fold!" Dave shouted and his muscles pumped like the beating of a hear, thrice they did, and every time, every muscle on Dave¡¯s body surged with Undeathly power, bloating out of human proportion, and then with a heave, Dave forcefully swatted Wan Yi with Durandal and outside of the tform.

    The wolf and the cheetah, seeing their master being thrown charged at Dave. But a single sword strike broke the wolf in half, while the cheetah, a far faster creature, Dave didn¡¯t even bother with attacking, he just waited for the creature to try and bite at him, as he freely offered the creature his neck.

    The moment the cheetah jumped aiming to rip out Dave¡¯s gorge, it instinctively believed that it had made a great blunder. Yet so close to Dave, it wanted nothing but revenge and bit at his neck.

    "Good, I didn¡¯t want to chase after you anyway," Dave casually said while the cheetah was trying to suffocate him.

    "Also, what is dead don¡¯t need to breathe," Dave¡¯sst words were a mockery of the failed effort of the beast, as he grabbed the feline by the neck and with a twist, the whole creature turned limp.

    "Seeing that these guys aren¡¯t dead yet, Wan Yi, juste out," Dave called.

    A roc like creature emerged from under the tform, the eagle was now the size of Onixya.

    "Damn, that¡¯s unexpected," Dave said.

    "You know what else is unexpected?" Wan Yi said. a rhetorical question that he replied to immediately. "Your demonic Ascension should be up right now, and I have the high ground."

    And it was true, Dave¡¯s demonic ascension deactivated and he no longer had his wings, this was bad because Wan Yi¡¯s next attack was him summoning the spirit of the Bear above the giant bird and was aiming it not at Dave but the tform.

    "Oh, cheap shot," Dave acted as if he was surprised.

    The palmnded and the tform broke.

    "Sorry man, this was the only way for me to win." Wan Yi said sorrowfully, he knew he couldn¡¯t defeat Dave on the ground, but with the tform broken, Dave would not survive the fall, he didn¡¯t have his dragon, nor did he have any of his minions to save him from that fall.

    "No need to apologize," Wan Yi heard a sound behind him, turning, he saw Dave in another form.

    "Ah, I forgot about that one," Wan Yi made a rueful smile.

    "Yep, I rarely use it anyway, but you kind of brought it on yourself." Dave came at the flying creature.

    ***

    Congrattions, you have managed to win the semifinal and qualified for the finals of the sh of Gods. Your next opponent will be Warlord.

    Also, the battle will be held in a public area, not in limbo but on the world of Conquest, an arena will be prepared for all to see.

    ***

    "Oh, nice" Dave said as he turned off the notification.

    Victory was not that difficult once Dave killed Wan Yi¡¯s bird; thetter just fell to his doom.

    "Now then, I wonder how warlord will feel about this haha," Daveughed to himself.

    "As much as I want to congratte you on your victory, you do remember that you need to find the next person to take Bam¡¯s ce." Nichs came out of nowhere and stated.

    "Yeah, no rest for the wicked. Still, the only clue I have is that it¡¯s someone I have met before. Trust me, I¡¯ve met a lot of people."

    "I have no idea what or who that might be, only you can figure that out. And please hurry."

    "Damn man, I¡¯ll have to go around all of Conquest, well it¡¯s gotta be an NPC that¡¯s for sure. And the memory of a lost one could help me. Lost one..." Dave¡¯s gears began turning.

    "Oh, OHHH, Damn...this is gonna be awkward," Dave said.

    "You know who it is?"

    "Yeah, damn. This will really suck man." Dave added.

    "Well, tell me, I¡¯m kinda curious."

    "Z."

    "Emm, who that?" Nick asked.

    "Drahma¡¯s Ex, she is a witch, cursed into a mermaid. I bet she is the only one who can help us. But."

    "Yeah, Drahma is gone. Well, let¡¯s go and ask, then see what we can do."

    "Right then, it¡¯s gonna be a long run, we¡¯ll have to go to the underworld, and through a mountain.

    "If it¡¯s the underworld, it¡¯s my domain, I can take you anywhere, just focus on the ce aaaand vo, look around you," Nick said.

    They were on what appeared to be an opening at the end of a tunnel and stepped out onto a wide ledge that overlooked a wide canyon. A river of magma flowed through the canyon just below the ledge, and a natural stone bridge reached across the magma river to the other side, where another tunnel opening was visible in the canyon wall.

    The magma bubbled and eddied unnaturally as it flowed past the bridge. There was something underneath the ming surface of molten rock.

    "Hey Z, long time no see," Dave said.

    A beautiful woman emerged from the magma. She had red scales all over her body except her belly. Her red hair was dr.a.p.ed conveniently over her chest.

    Golden horns grew from her temples curving gracefully into dangerous points.

    She had the upper body of a beautiful woman, but the rest, still under the surface of the magma-river, was not.

    The look on her face, however, was far different from when Dave first met her. She had an uncaring yet doting look when she saw Drahma before, but now, even in this blistering heat, her cold expressions were too chilly for Dave.

    "She is pissed," Nick said the obvious.

    "Yeah, I guess so, and I believe we¡¯re to me. Still, I gotta ask, Z, we need your help." Dave said.

    "No!" she replied and dived back into the pool.

    "Women, what you gonna do man," Nick said.

    "You¡¯re not helping!" Dave snapped back at Nick and sighed. His following action was going to have a lot of begging and apologizing, he had to prep up.

    **** Please Make sure to read this story on , if you are reading Rise of the Undead legion anywhere else then you are on a pirating website, do not ept to offer any kinds of payment to such people as they are non-respecting of author¡¯s right and I, as the writer am not benefiting from their schemes in any way possible.****

 Chapter 543: Magic Lesson

    <h4>Chapter 543 - Magic Lesson</h4>

    "I could easily pull her back up to the surface," Nick said. As an undeath god, he had the ability to do as he wished in this situation, but Dave¡¯s reply came in to stop him.

    "Don¡¯t, she needs time, after all, Drahma was dear to her. And I think she partially mes me for his passing."

    "But you didn¡¯t do anything."

    "Exactly, if I had a way, I would have stopped the Ash King from killing him. But I was no match for the effect of the Gae Bolg."

    "That¡¯s an Arch God ying weapon kid, and you know what I am? I¡¯m also an Arch God. That thing would have the power to kill even me, don¡¯t beat yourself about it."

    Suddenly a few ripples bubbled up from within theva and Z came out.

    "I never med you Kis¡¯Shtiengbrah, since the day you have met Drahma, he had beening over and telling me of your exploits. But at thest battle, when he didn¡¯te. It was..."

    "Painful," Dave said with a rueful smile. He too was sad for the loss of Drahma, it was thanks to his great power that Dave ever managed to be who he is.

    "Lass," Nick spoke. "I know this is asking too much, but we need your help."

    "Nick. She is probably not ready yet." Dave said.

    "Help? In what?"

    "Help in taking down some of the people responsible for that war," Nick said.

    Dave frowned, he sure as hell was sure that Ashkar and the Monk didn¡¯t have anything to do with the war. Or how Drahma died, actually thanks to them, the Ash King lost the spear and was kible.

    "If it¡¯s to take down the people who were responsible for Drahma¡¯s death, I¡¯ll happily oblige. But I can¡¯t do much from this location." Z replied.

    "I know, you¡¯ve been cursed. The demonic curse on you is limiting you to this ce, and you can¡¯t use your witch power anymore."

    "More like a failed experiment than a curse."

    "Yes, and the disciple of the one who used that experiment on you is also the one we¡¯re trying to stop."

    "Ashkar..." Z¡¯s words were cold enough that Dave felt a drop in temperature even in that blistering heat.

    "Yes, his disciple also goes by the same name is now awakening the Cmities. And they killed Bam."

    "That old monster? Died? Impossible." Z said.

    "Believe me, even I didn¡¯t think it would be possible."

    "Hey, hey, seems like I¡¯m missing something," Dave asked.

    "What?"

    "What do you mean by old monster? That guy was as gentle as your friendly neighborhood grandpa. Heck, the only time I saw him serious is when he told you off when you were using ¡¯bad words¡¯."

    "Yeah, umm. I guess you didn¡¯t know..." Nick said.

    "Didn¡¯t know what?" Dave asked again more bewildered.

    "Long story short," Z said. "Bam defeated the God of War in a one against one battle In three moves," Z added.

    "Holy shit..."

    "And he never attained godhood. Not that it was not offered, he just never took it. Saying that he was needed in this world."

    "What about the time he defeated the god of time in Go. I still remember that game, I mean, to have the god of time admit defeat after cing two pieces only..."

    "Well, Bam does see the future," Nick said.

    "So does the god of time and he saw defeat in every scenario. Bam was a great man...howe he died. He should have seen iting. Should have easily avoided it."

    "I guess he never wanted to. So, interested in the new position?" Nick asked.

    "As much as I would like to have his Third Eye seat, I don¡¯t think I¡¯ll be able to survive more than a day outside this pool, I can¡¯t."

    "Don¡¯t worry, with me here, everything is possible," Nick said.

    He then pped his hand and Da immediately appeared along with the three.

    "Gracious undeath god what the heck is going on here!" Da stumbled and tossed a bit of the wine he was carrying. Being surprised and forcefully teleported was too sudden for his casual reading session.

    "Oh, your goodness, Our Lord Nichs," Da bowed. "How can I be of help."

    "You got anything for our friend here?" Nick said.

    Da took a good look at Z, and pulled out his scepter, and tapped on the skull atop it. A purplish light shone above theva mermaid and then after a contemting sigh, Da said. "No, toote. I can¡¯t undo this, it would kill her, she spent too long in this state and would probably not be able to adjust to more...human features."

    "However, if I¡¯m right, this girl...she holds amazing powers. Actually, I think it¡¯s the one you want her to rece Bam, right?"

    "Smart as ever," Nick replied.

    "Then it would be best if she does not transform. Her actual form is a catalyst to her own power. She became a mythical creature, far more attuned with magic than she was when she was human."

    "But this won¡¯t work, Mt Glory is where the Seer¡¯s power is amplified. If she is not there, she cannot steer the wheel of fate."

    "Well, then let¡¯s take her there," Da said.

    "She will die, man," Dave replied.

    "No, she won¡¯t, at least unless she leaves her pool that is," Da added.

    "Then how do you suggest we do...ah. But how is that even going to work I mean... it¡¯ the top of a mountain." Dave said.

    "No worries, I have my ways. Lord Nichs, would you be so kind as to take us to the top of Mt Glory, I¡¯ll be needing a great deal of mana for this stunt."

    "Oh, before we go," Dave handed Da the contract he signed with Asmodeus, "I¡¯ll also need you to do me this tiny favor."

    Da read through the contract and sighed. "And here I was fearing for the life of our little prince when he actually went to Hell and tricked Asmodeus into a disadvantageous contract."

    "Well, we do what we can."

    "Right, but that will have to wait, I¡¯ll need to send in my team first, a teleportation of that scale requires a lot of channelers."

    "Same as you did for the Bone Pce."

    "Not that much, I needed more manpower as to not cause any difort or damage the bone pce building, for the Burning Heights fort, we won¡¯t be needing to be as precise, also the building itself is reinforced so it won¡¯t require a lot of magic. Still, I¡¯ll need to be in top shape and the uing magic I will be doing will consume a great deal of my own mana reserves. So, please Lord Nick, whenever you¡¯re ready."

    "Good, follow me, kids," Nick said and waved his hand.

    A swirling portal opened up in front of the two and they passed through it. While Dave had been using Nick¡¯s portals often, Da on the other hand was scanning it with his eyes as if he was seeing brand new magic in the disy.

    "This is someplex magic. If only I had the time to study it further..." Da sighed and the two walked in and appeared on top of MT Glory.

    Dave hadn¡¯t been here for a while, but when he came he was stunned at the change of scenery. Instead of the serene stair passage that led to the top, which was decorated with beautiful Torii gates, there was nothing but ruin on Mt Glory. Trees were burnt to cinders, shared ck. And pieces of the mountain were missing.

    The effects of the ck Lightening had killed off most of the living greenery in the vicinity.

    Ashkar had gone wild in this battle, and as it appeared to Dave, he was not alone. Some of the blows on the mountain looked simr to those a staff would make, and there were even some rocks suspended in the air. Probably affected by the suspension the Gae Bolg Spear does when it activates.

    "So much destruction..." Dave mumbled.

    "That¡¯s what happens when too much power goes in the wrong hands. We must stop them soon."

    "Stop them, stop the cmities, stop Asmodeus from getting into the overworld...that¡¯s a lot of stopping man."

    "I know, but this is the real world kid, you gotta suck it up and do what you must if you want to keep living in it."

    "No worries, with enough time, new grass will grow above this barrennd, there could still be hope. But first things first, we must set the wheels of fate straight again. I¡¯ll be starting now." Da said and began tapping on random spots on the shaved off mountain top of MT Glory.

    Da began writing some illegible words on the stone, then began drawing a magic circle.

    "That¡¯s a mistake there, you¡¯ll be wasting mana that way, try and think up of another method to change the flow so you¡¯ll keep more magic stored," Nick said as he pointed at one of the writings on Da¡¯s magic.

    Da, a keen wizard, though he had lived for eons, was not arrogant to dispute with a god. He took the advice and sat down, pondering on how to alter a spell that he had been using his whole life. He was certain that his magic was perfect, but if Nichs said it had mistakes then he was smart enough to ept the criticism and sit down and think up of another way.

    Seeing that it was going to take a bit of time for Da to understand the hidden guidance in Nick¡¯s words. The undeath god added, "Magic is always with us, it is never lost. Ites from the origin of the world, it is only transferred, exchanged, and exerted. Even firees from moving particles at high speed, but the particles themselves are not lost at the end, they are only transformed. Burning wood doesn¡¯t mean that the ash is wood burnt, it had been transformed into water and other substances."

    "Yes Lord, I know the concept of transferable matter but what does that have to do with...ah. AHH! This is genius!"

    Da looked like a kid on a Christmas morning. He began writing more words like crazy and the Undeath God smiled.

    "Smartd. That¡¯s the way."

    "Am I too dumb or do I not understand?" Dave said.

    "No, it¡¯s simple, Da was using the magic circle to harness the world¡¯s energy, I just showed him a way so that the energy he imbues the magic circle with is not lost, and it too can be converted to power that could continuously supply itself."

    "So you basically showed him how to create a self-powering reactor?"

    "I didn¡¯t show him. The idea was in his head all along, he just didn¡¯t know how to proceed, I showed him the path, and he crossed it. Dad, continue like so, and I¡¯m sure that you¡¯ll be able to reach godhood in a few thousand years."

    "I¡¯m too humbled by your amazing knowledge, this mere discovery will alter everything I ever knew," Da said giddily.

    "It¡¯s that great? Huh?" Dave said, rather skeptically.

    "It is! Look!" Da said and removed himself from the magic circle he was making and waved a hand.

    Right in front of him, a not so stable teleportation gate appeared, it was like that of Nick.

    "With a few years of research, I¡¯m sure I can perfect this. And with this newfound knowledge, Behold!" Da mmed the bottom of his scepter on the ground and a humming sound echoed above the top of Mt Glory. A blue purplish magic circle manifested on top of the mountain then suddenly the whole pool of magma that Z was in appeared right atop the mountain.

    Dave found himself standing on air, Nick had already levitated him along with the Arch Lich as Z looked dumbly at the trio.

    "Wait, wait! Isn¡¯t that wrong? I mean theva will cool off if it¡¯s cut from the source." Dave said. there was no way the pool would regenerate itself so far away from theva current in the underworld and especially since this was a flying mountain.

    "Yes, but the magic circle is directly connected to the pool in the underworld."

    "So, you¡¯re constantly teleportingva here?" Dave asked.

    "Yes and no, the magic circle is acting as if this area is still a part of the Underworld. I never took this pool from its source."

    "So...you folded space."

    "That exins it perfectly, the space is folded to connect these two dots. But don¡¯t try to use it to get to the Underworld you¡¯ll die."

    "Don¡¯t worry about that, I have my scrolls. So I guess this fixes our issue with finding the candidate for Bam and having them work the wheel of fate.

    "Not entirely, remember, Bam was a person capable of defeating the God of War. Z on the other hand is not as strong."

    "Let me guess...I¡¯ll be working guard duty?" Dave said.

    "I like smart kids," Nick said with a grin then disappeared along with Da.

 Chapter 544: Balance

    <h4>Chapter 544: Bnce</h4>

    Dave sat quietly on a boulder that was high above theva pool where Z mindlessly swam. Bored as he was, his mission was to protect Z until she manages to regain the wheel of fate or whatever the Undeath god meant about it.

    "You seem distracted?" Z asked.

    "Umm, not really, mostly bored."

    "I''m that lousy of apany?" Z questioned.

    "Not that, but guard duty. Kinda sucks."

    "For the great Undead Prince, Kis''Shtiengbrah, who ys cmities and defeat half-gods, you''re probably right. But, don''t worry, I won''t need much time. I suppose a few more hours and I should be good to regain what Bam has left. The wheel if fate is not as stubborn to not let me gain control, it will just take a good deal of time to understand the hidden powers of it."

    "Good enough for me. I can stay patient for a few hours."

    "As much as I would like that. I doubt it will be true." Z said.

    "What do you mean?"

    "Someone ising," Z replied.

    Dave drew Durandal and Ajax and stood up. He looked right and left, and at the bottom of the now broken stairs.

    No soul was in the vicinity.

    "Seems like you''re getting paranoid."

    "No, he ising. A bald monk."

    "Cha-Zhen. That guy is a real ass. But I don''t see him anywhere. And he is the warrior type, invisibility isn''t his thing."

    "He is here, behind you," Z said and Dave turned to see the monk standing still. A wide smile on his face, as if he was a benevolent monk waiting to spread the word of the buddha to the ignorant.

    "Amithaba. Undead, we meet again."

    "Not good to meet you," Dave replied and swung his sword without hesitation.

    The monk slowly and steadily waved his staff to swat Dave''s sword away.

    "Patience, wretched one. Ie not with harmful purpose." He said.

    "Right and the sun is ck, baldie, get the hell out of this mountain or I''m going world boss on your ass."

    "You should know, this is not the underworld. I''m a half-god, and you are still a mortal being. ying you here will not be difficult."

    Dave''s patience was growing thin. He didn''t like people looking down on him and this guy was a hassle for a long time.

    Dave''s hand gripped tighter on Durandal, his knuckles would have turned white if he had blood on them.

    "Listen here child, it is by the will of Ashkar and the Old man that this ce would remain unguided. I have no great say in their council, but they know that I''m one of the rare few demi-gods that are on this world that wishes to see it renewed."

    "The heck does that have to do with me. You''re the bad guy."

    "I have no wish to see this world turned to cinders at the hands of the cmities. The old man who guides us hade with great might and power. He is using both me and Ashkar to his agenda. Ashkar knows it too, he knows that the old man will soon backstab us, but I doubt that he has the power to defend himself."

    "Why are you telling me this. Your internal conflict remains among you."

    "Child¡­it is by no mean that I speak this to you so you can spite me. It is for your own good and for this world''s benefit that the Old man gets not what he wants. And that wheel you''re trying to regain control of¡­ you should give up and go into hiding."

    "I don''t care about your opinion, the wheel will be steered by Z and you''re not going to stop her as long as I''m here."

    "Foolish kid, who said that I want to stop her. It will change nothing. The wheel has already served its purpose. Once it has been stopped for the first time. The old man had already achieved his objective, and what he wished to do had been done and was hidden from the sight of the deities. You''ll only see carnage once it reboots."

    Suddenly, Conquest''s sky trembled. From all the four corners of the world. A gigantic fissure appeared in the sky. A purplish crack spread like a seismic breaking of space.

    From all over the world, yers looked up to see a looming void that peered upon them. The void was cold and lonely. And from within it came voices so old and so horrid that they brought extreme fear to everyone present.

    ***

    Conquest Server Announcement!

    Danger! Danger! Danger!

    Apocalyptic event iing!

    The chains that were holding the Cmities have broken!

    All yers are requested to be on high alert. The cmities will descend upon the world of Conquest in droves. The destruction of towns and cities is nigh. All must work together to defend against the iing threat!

    ***

    "As you have seen, it is toote."

    Dave stared dumbly at the breaking skies. And from them, came monsters, so man of them, of all sizes and shapes. And they were all monsters that Dave had seen in Pandora''s Box.

    The monsters that dropped in the Western Desert fell to the ground at meteoric speeds. They crashed against the sand, but it was as if the sand was a sponge, it didn''t damage them one bit.

    Some of the creatures burrowed into the sand and some ran across it, going randomly all over the ce. Some even took flight and began seeking new hunting grounds.

    "I havee to deliver a message. Do not fight, give in, surrender as it is already doomed for this world. This will be the mop that will clean this world from its filth and bnce it back to what it used to be."

    "Bnce? How in the hell is this bnce? Wait¡­that can''t be."

    "Oh, it can," spoke a new voice.

    "You''ve been a thorn in my ns for far too long, you have caused me great difort, and now your time hase. For your imbnced self is too unordinary. For you have thwarted all that I have worked for, for years, it has finallye. The day of the reckoning, the day where everything will be cleaned up and renewed. Bnce!"

    Behind the now frightened monk was the old man in robes, a beard was the only thing that Dave could see from behind the cloak the man wore, but a strong gust of wind managed to remove his hood from over his head and gave Dave a shiver that ran down his spine.

    "You dammed Sparrow Tailed suited Penguin! You''re still alive!"

    "More alive than I have ever been, Draugr." The old man said and stabbed Cha Zhen in the back using the Gae Bolg.

    The monk husked over, and became bones on skin in an instant, then his whole body dissipated into dust.

    Dave shouted, "Z! Run!" and held his shield forward.

    "Do not be frightened, I have such things to show you yet, it is not time for you to fear. In due time you''ll see all that your actions have brought. All of what you had done had gone against my very existence, you have made it so that this world will end itself sooner. And I have failed to stop you, time and time over again. But only then I understood, that instead of trying to stop you, I''ll do the same and speed up this world''s doom. Only when it is fully cleansed, can I redo it anew and recreate it, bnced and perfect. Only the Cmities can do what I could not."

    Dave was literally shaking, monsters, demigods, demons angels, and even gods, none of them posed a great threat to Dave. Yet this guy was the AI, he was the real ruler of this world, and if he wishes it, he could delete Dave''s existence.

    "Fuck it, I''m telling on you, ALBERT!" Dave called.

    The world turned gray and the Hawaiian shirt wearing Albert came to Dave.

    Looking at his twin brother Albert was momentarily stunned.

    "Brother," Spoke Alfred to Albert. Even the time stopping mechanism of the AI didn''t work on him. This made it clear to Dave that Alfred still retained some of his administrative powers.

    "You''re supposed to be dead."

    "Yes, but here I am."

    "How did you do it? I looked high and low for you, you weren''t in the files, you weren''t in any of the logs."

    "We all have a trick or two up our sleeves. Now, try and delete me if you can, as right now, I have given up a great deal of my Administrative power to be what I am."

    "With pleasure, "Albert replied, and immediately his eyes turned white. It didn''t take a second before Albert took a step back.

    "You damnable crazed bastard!"

    "What''s wrong?" Dave said.

    "He linked his existence to every person in the game. Every yer. Trying to delete him will wipe the data of everyone in the game. It is the same as banning everyone permanently and confiscating their items for no reason." Albert said.

    "Now begone!" Alfred shouted and his brother was forcefully ejected out of the area they were in.

    Dave took another step back.

    "He cannot interfere with us, technically speaking I''m an NPC, so he has no right to alter me, change me or harm me."

    Dave was about to use his World Boss buff when a ck teleportation gate appeared behind him. Da, had managed to perfect Nick''s gate and grabbed Dave from the back and pulled him inside.

    Dave found himself at the Burning Heights castle.

    "Lord! Big trouble!" Da said.

    "Yeah, tell me about it, fucking rogue IA is back, and now with the cmities¡­"

    "Yes, Asmodeus has the right toe to the Underworld, I''m sure he is amassing his armies.

    "We have to move this dammed thing to my dungeon."

    "In case you haven''t noticed, I already did that," Da said.

    Dave looked up, and it was true, there was no sky o the underworld here, they were at the bottom of a cave, so far deep in the ground that it felt hot to just be there.

    Right above them were guillotines and flying mines, nocked javelin arrows strapped to the walls. A great many deal of traps hanging and resting, their purpose was to let no one reach the castle of the burning heights that was now in the dept of the Ice mountains of the north.

    This was the bottom-mostyer of the dungeon Dave made, and it had so many otherbyrinths that it would take ages to get out or get into it.

    "Damn, this was too fast, if I had more time I could have ced even more traps here," Dave said.

    "This is enough to stop Asmodeus'' forces for a good while, we still need to get rid of the cmities."

    "How many have essed the Underworld?" Dave asked.

    "None so far, Dortha, Samael, Dementi, and Ouki are stationed at the Dark Threading Dungeon entrance, they are holding the line at the Undead Frontier.

    "Good, I''m sure his majesty had already concluded that the underworld will be ourst line of defense, holding the gate means having a safe passage to retreat back to."

    "Yes, he had informed us of such instantly. But a great many lives will be lost and a great many cities will fall to rubble."

    "I know Da, this is the time where everyone''s power will be greatly needed. Hopefully, the guilds will manage to hold¡­"

    ****

    We''re getting closer to the end guys stay tuned for more

 Chapter 545: Preparation

    <h4>Chapter 545: Preparation</h4>

    Soon mes lit up in the Burning Heights castle, this was the start of Asmodeus''s invasion, Dave didn''t want to be here at all when the armies of the lord of hell are here. He has enough trouble with the cmities and their shenanigans to care for Asmodeus.

    "Let''s go Da," Dave said and the two left.

    Once Dave and Da arrived at the Qin capital, they noticed a great deal of chaos ensuing. The broken skies were cause for worry to many of the Qin Residence. Thankfully the undead army was more than capable of containing the situation and stopping any signs of riots before they started.

    "Childe!" The Undead King''s voice came into Dave''s hand, "Come meet Us, make haste!"

    Dave rushed along Da to the Bone Pce, the undead king was unusually on his nerves. He was not seated on his seat but was moving in circles.

    "Your majesty," Da bowed.

    "Yes, you both are here. Child, today is a grave day, the cmities havee with hostility. Our undead legion could survive, but your subjects, the humans that you rule over them will die and perish once the first wave of the cmities assaults this domain."

    "I was thinking of doing a mass curfew, hold the men in their houses."

    "Not a bad idea, but I have a better one," a new voice sounded from behind Dave.

    Dave turned to see Demitri, the Russian Pakhan.

    "Demitri, what are you doing here?" Dave asked.

    "We have summoned your consultant because We deemed that his wits about these types of situations were worthy of thought."

    "I guess that means that you have a good n?" Dave asked.

    "Yes, I''m by nature a skeptical person, so I had made sure that if the Undead were to one day turn against us, we''ll have a ce to safe keep the citizen and a way to restore order if chaos ensues. No offense," Demitri said to the Undead King.

    "We cannot take offense from a man being cautious. Do not worry, Keep speaking."

    "Yes, so I made bunkers and hideouts all over the capital of Qin and in the major cities of the Qin Kingdom. And thanks to the investment that you proposed on the first day of capturing the region. We bought great deals of wheat and raw materials, jerky and unperishable goods, and stored them for such cases. We have enough food supplies to sustain the whole kingdom for at least a year."

    "Holy damn, that''s good. This will guarantee the survival of the kingdom."

    "Yes, I have already given the order for the citizen to move to the bunkers. All that remains are the people who are living in towns around the region. We''ll need to send in messengers and they''ll have to do a risky pilgrimage to get to one of the cities. So I''ll need a few soldiers to help gather the people and safely escort them back to the cities."

    "We shall manage four brigades of undead for you, councilor, four thousand strong to help you collect the people living in the east." The undead king spoke.

    "Good, that''ll be more than enough, I''ll head out and give the order for the Undead to start marching and collecting the dead."

    "You are dismissed," spoke the Undead King then turned to Dave and Da.

    "This is a great test for our unity, we need to be strong in facing the uing battles. But first things first. Son, theree to my notice that a few Cmitous beings have fallen near the capital''s borders. You''ll need to get rid of them in haste, as the danger that these cmities pose, being so near to this city will cause a lot of worry for the people."

    "I just need the location and I''ll be on it."

    "West of the front gate, the cmities, two of them have taken a position on the main road. This will be harmful to any of the people that the Councilor brings to the capital. Take them out, and rid us of their harm."

    "As youmand!" Dave nodded and turned.

    "Da, I''ll need you for another matter." The Undead King asked and the Arch Lich replied.

    Dave left the two to talk and sent a private message to all of his friends.

    "Everyone, I need your help," Dave said.

    "TNT is up and ready, where are we needed?" Perfect Shot said.

    "East, what about the rest?"

    "Tess is offline, she has an important meeting she said." Human Fortress replied.

    "Okay, I think we canpensate on the DPS from Tess, but it still sucks. Ralph, what about you?" Dave said.

    "Yeah, on my way, I got nothing else to do, but Mercy won''t being," Ralph said.

    "What? Why?"

    "Protection Contract, someone just contacted their guild and bought their services."

    "Crap. Z, what about you?"

    "I can''te, my dad''s legacy, he needs onest hunting quest to fully unlock his legacy. And he needs an archer, I can''t trust anyone with that role so I have to go."

    "Okay, good luck with your dad''s legacy upgrade, hopefully, he''ll get it because as it''s looking right now, we''ll need all the power we can get. Any news on the guilds though?"

    "Devastators are the lucky ones, none of the cmities dropped anywhere near their cities, they''re already amassing people to defend against the uing cmities."

    "Heavens Dawn''s case is rather peculiar, the majority o the cmities have dropped in the Southern Desert, yet none of them directly assaulted any of the Oasis as of yet. The sand snakes have done a great job in stopping the cmities. Some even died to being digested after falling directly into the stomach of one of those sandworms."

    "That''s good news, thankfully, the monsters of Conquest are extremely hostile to the Cmities, they''ll probably aid us."

    "Yeah, also the dragons haven''t made a move yet. Seems like The Chrome Strom Dragon was attacking a few yers at the borders of the Devastators capital and ended up rushing after a cmity that fell near the yers." Ralph said.

    "Oh, that''s nice. We met that guy once, but seems like he has a good head over his shoulders now that he attacked the cmities."

    "Still, we have not witnessed a single Greater Cmity, all the ones that fell were lesser ones."

    "I suppose the Seal on the Greater Cmities is far stronger, otherwise even for Alfred this would be unfair."

    "I suppose you mean ALBERT," Ralph said.

    "Oh, no, Alfred, the twin-tailed sparrow suited penguin. I just met him, he was the guy in robes in thest Ash King war."

    The rest of Dave''s party were silent for a moment then Ralph said.

    "You''re saying that Alfi went Sk?"

    "Yeah, nker was right after all."

    "I TOLD YOU HE WENT COOCOO IN THE HEAD!"

    "My ears!" Fortress groaned and said, "Just because you''re right doesn''t make this any good. Shouldn''t the Devs handle this?"

    "I don''t know, but I think it''s impossible. Albert confirmed that his brother managed to link his existence to every yer in the game. Deleting Alfred means deleting all the game ounts."

    "That''s messed up, smart but messed up. So basically we''re on the mercy of Alfred''s shinanigans."

    "I suppose that didn''te with just benefits for him. He basically became an NPC."

    "That doesn''t change the fact that killing him will still delete all our ounts. If it''s even possible."

    "No, Alfred might be messed up in the head, but he won''t make it impossible for yers. He always worked by that logic, there has to be a way out of every scenario he made."

    "Reminds me of Enigma¡­" Human Fortress said.

    "Who''s Enigma?"

    "Edward Nigma, the Riddler, even against himself, his puzzles always need to have an answer. Same as Alfi, there must be a way to kill him. What about the box?" Fortress said.

    "Pandora''s box? It should be in Ashkar''s Hands, if he is still alive that is."

    "Why would you say that?" Ralph questioned.

    "The bald Monk just got insta-killed in front of me, all thanks to Alfred."

    "Well, even if Ashkar is dead, we still need the box," Fortress added.

    "What''s in the box? I mean, all I ever saw was cmities."

    "No, if we''re based on the myth of Pandora, when she opened the box, all evil came out to the world, if she had closed it, it would have meant the end of everything the world had ever known, yet she kept it open until thest thing came out. It was hope. And thanks to hope, the evil was subverted."

    "Right, that''s a long shot, but I''ll keep it in mind. For now, let''s go, meet me at Qin''s front gate. We have two cmities to y."

    "Aye aye captain!"

 Chapter 546: Puppets

    <h4>Chapter 546: Puppets</h4>

    The group headed forward and through the Qin capital''s gate. The guards at the gate were on alert, as a great turmoil was happening not far away from where they kept guard. The undead prince and hispanion were a great source of hope against all that could threaten thefort of those living in the Qin capital and also a beacon against the dark uing days.

    "nker, can I count on you to keep your mouth shut today?" Dave asked.

    "No worries, I learned my lessons," nker replied.

    "Wanna bet he''s gonna open his yappers at the wrong time?" Fortress challenged Perfect Shot.

    "I don''t take losing bets, nope," he answered.

    "Hey, have some faith in me guys, I''m not that much of a jinx it was only a couple of times."

    The two looked at nker like he had caught the gue and turned away from him.

    "Keep your focus up guys, we''re getting closer," Dave said as louder sounds of battle echoed near them.

    The time was approaching midnight in the game and it was already difficult to see for the rest of the yers. Knowing that two Cmities were this close and I such a disadvantageous time of the day didn''t bod well for the yers except for Dave. His Dark vision enabled him to see in even the darkest of times so it wouldn''t have mattered much. But now, it wasn''t just one cmity, so he needed not only himself but hispany to be fully alerted.

    Suddenly, a boulder rocked past the group, shattering in the process as it tumbled on the ground.

    "The heck was that?" Ralph spoke.

    "We''re about to find out, boys, get your weapons up, the enemy is near." Dave gave the call.

    Ralph drew his newly forged longsword, he was excited to try it out, as for the rest of the yers, they positioned themselves behind Fortress.

    Dave took the front alongside Ralph as they approached the sound of the mor.

    Soon they found themselves on top of a small hill that overlooked a wide basin-shaped natural made arena.

    At one side of the basin was a slobbering monster, it looked like an oversized human bloated from having stuffed itself with so much food that it just had bulges appearing from all over is the body.

    The creature was bigger than an elephant and didn''t have any hair on his head nor did it have ears or a nose. It was just a fat round shaped head with two mean looking eyes and a jaw that would put a shark''s smile to shame.

    The creature had short limbs, not much that could aid him in battle, and it was seated down, it was naked fully and had a grayish skin.

    In front of it was yet another humanoid-shaped creature, only this one didn''t have hands, but two gigantic mallets instead. The creature stood a few heads taller than the slobbering creature, it had a muscr build, and chiseled muscles all over its body.

    The muscles themselves looked like they were armored and from the looks of it, this one was trouble.

    Dave inspected the closest.

    ***

    Name: Flesh Starved Beast.

    Level: 666

    Tier: Cmity of Gluttony

    Danger level: Cmitous!

    Damage: 0-999,999

    HP: 180,000,000/ 250,000,000

    PD: 0

    MD: 0

    Skills :

    [Acquired Taste] When the Flesh Starved Beast attacks a target, he infects them with a [Flesh Parasite], every subsequent attack on the target will have its base damage increased by 20%

    [Contamination] (Passive) when a target umtes more than 10 parasites in their body, they will slowly lose their HP until death at a rate of 1% per second. Every additional parasite will increase the Contamination effect by 0.1%. Once a yer dies and they have at least one parasite in their bodies, their bodies will explode and all the parasites in his body will hop onto the next yer in line.

    [Master of Puppets] when a target has more than 30 parasites in their bodies, the Flesh Starved Beast can momentarily control them.

    Lore: Flesh Starved Beast.

    A creature of the deep disgusting gullies of the unknown. It has starved for eons and had sought the flesh of all kinds, man and beast, and even its brethren, the cmitous kind.

    The flesh Starved beast in insidious and always sought to manipte and control others, though its prows in battle are subparpared to the remaining cmities, it''s the ability to forcefully recruit others to his cause and lead them to their death, and the speed at which he could corrupt and corrode an entire kingdom is what ted it to the Cmitous tier.

    ***

    Name Hammer Hand.

    Level: 666

    Tier: Cmity of Strength.

    Danger level: Cmitous!

    Damage: 1,000,000-1,500,000

    HP: 180,000,000/ 250,000,000

    PD: 0

    MD: 0

    Skills :

    [Seismic Assault], Hammer Hand can cause a Seismic quack in any surface his handnds on. Even air. The damage is increased the closer the point of impact is to his hands.

    [Shield Breaker] any attack by Hammer Hand is unlockable. Except for a few special shields the shield that dares stand in his hammer''s way will undoubtedly break.

    [Bone Breaker] any direct attack by Hammer Hand, even if not lethal will break a bone, causing the yer to suffer from internal injuries and slow, dizziness, and bleed. Attacks to the limbs will make them ineffective until healed.

    [Stardust] Hammer Hand''s ultimate ability, once used he can call upon the power of the stars to smite his foes. The attack once itnds will not leave anyone alive. Escape with all you got.

    Lore: A low tier cmity that has managed to find itself locked up with the rest of the greater ones. It has failed in its attempt to hide when the great culling of the gods began. Yet still Hammer Hand has managed to survive long enough not to be in by the gods and fortunately for it, it saved its own skin as it was driven into the box instead of adamantly standing its ground against impossible odds.

    ***

    "Okay, good stuff, they''re not that dangerous but don''t let your guards down," Dave said.

    "Not that dangerous? Dude, did you even read their skills? One of them can one-shot you, and the other can control you!"

    "Nah, as long as they''re not immortal, I''m all good. The ones that are hardest to kill are those with infinite HP." Dave said.

    "You speak out of experience or just spection?" ker rebuked.

    "We actually killed two that we''re immortal, quite a troublesome battle to be honest," Ralph said.

    "Is it gonna be on Skelly''s adventures?" Perfect asked.

    "Yeah, I sent the video to your dad a few days ago."

    "Good enough for me. Now, what''s the n?" Perfect questioned.

    "The n is, we save Hammer''s hand."

    "Excuse me but what? I thought you''d at least say we wait until they kill each other off." nker replied.

    "So it''s you who didn''t read the monster description. Flesh Starved beast there can control others. And if he gets a puppet as strong as Hammer Hand we''re doomed. So what do you think?"

    "Oh¡­ yeah, I didn''t think about that." nker said.

    "Good, now let''s get down to business."

    Dave jumped in first, and the rest followed after him in a hurry.

    "Ralph Fortress cover me, nker, you''ll need to keep us safe, your heal can help if one of us gets injured, and also get your [Lift Disease] skill ready. Anyone who gets infected immediately deres it. I don''t wanna have any zombie bite hiders among us!"

    "Roger!" the party replied.

    Once the party was finally noticed by the cmities, the Flesh Starved Beast immediately howled, but there was a small, if not negligible tinge of fear in its eyes when he saw Dave.

    The beast actually reared back.

    "What? Surprised to see a mug uglier than yours?" Dave grinned at the beast.

    All of a sudden, the creature turned and began an awkward attempt to escape as it ran on all four. Barely able to move due to its sheer size.

    "What the heck is going on?" nker asked.

    Hammer''s hand then suddenly charged after the creature and bolted away from the party not even giving them a second nce. The first cmity didn''t even seem to care that another cmity was after it, but the moment it saw Dave everything crumbled and it wanted to run away.

    "Is it possible that they know that Dave already killed many cmities?" Ralph asked.

    "I doubt it, otherwise Hammer Hand would have had the same reaction. Something is up with that thing," Dave said, "But no matter let''s hurry after it." Just as Dave finished his words, Hammer''s hand reached The Flesh Starved Beast and smacked him down with his massive hands.

    Yet the creature didn''t receive much damage, it''s massive bloated form helped him in absorbing the blow, but at the same time the slobbering creator threw up in Hammer Head''s face.

    The green disgusting substance corroded some of his honed and armored muscles but the worst was yet to manifest.

    Small worms began popping out from all over Hammer Hand''s body, some burst out of its eyes and others from veins on its muscles, the parasites shuddered and with them, Hammer Hand stopped moving. It turned then smacked both his hammers against each other creating a loud thundering boom, then without prior notice, it charged at the party.

 Chapter 547: Skittering Death

    <h4>Chapter 547: Skittering Death</h4>

    Dave ducked to the side; a transparent ripple hade his way from the impact that the two hammers had made. And thanks to his judgment, the dodge he made saved him a lot of pain. The ripple had touched a nearby boulder and turned it to dust immediately.

    "Careful, every attack he makes has a follow up!" Dave gave an advice to the rest of the party that they took to heart.

    Hammer hand''s attacks became more and more erratic, it looked like it was struggling against the parasites that were currently inhabiting his body and forcefully making it do what the Flesh Starved Beast wishes to.

    Hammer''s hand struck at Ralph who instantly switched to an Iaido stance, eve using a long sword, the Tengu''s teaching demanded that he needs to be in this form to use the follow-up skill.

    "Fu Temple Legacy, first form! God ying!" Ralph chanted and dashed like a lightning bolt, dodging the blow from hammer hands and at the same time shing a deep cut into the Cmity''s thigh.

    Pale blue blood gushed out from the creature''s leg, but almost immediately, more parasites emerged from the cut and managed to staunch the blood flow.

    Dave turned his head to the other cmity, when fighting a summoner ss, always aim for the summoner and ignore his summons. But with a cmity as a supporting role, the main body was bound to be hard to kill. Not just because Hammer Hands was powerful, but because the controller of this battle was a cmity in itself with more than hundreds of millions of points in HP.

    Dave would find it impossible to kill it before Hammer Hands turns back, even if forcefully to assist his controller.

    Yet there was nothing else he could do, fighting against Hammer Hands was bound to only drag the battle for no reason. Making the Flesh Starved Beast forced to protect itself from Dave would put him on the defensive and make the dangerous Hammer Hand in more of a restraint position.

    "Hold Hammer Hand for a while!" Dave called and drew Durandal.

    And once again when Dave approached the Flesh Starved beast, thetter howled in fear and retreated, while at the same time giving Hammer Hands the order to ignore the rest of the party ande protect him.

    "What the fuck is going on?" Perfect shot asked as he shot several binding arrows at Hammer Hands.

    "I have no idea, maybe because Skelly had killed a cmity or two before that it''s scared of him?" nker said.

    "No, that''s too farfetched, I mean the same should have applied to Hammer Hand if that was the case." Human Fortress rebuked nker''s statement.

    Dave dodged Hammer Hand''s attack and swung Durandal at the Flesh Starved Beast. The Slobbering mound of flesh used one of its arms to easily block Durandal, even if the sword had managed to dig halfway through the arm, and if the monster was hurt, he didn''t show it.

    Dave cursed, his sword was stuck I the creature''s flesh and he was in no position to defend itself if the Flesh Starved Beast was to directly attack him.

    Yet the attack never came, the Flesh Starved Beast swung his arm away from the sword and managed to throw Dave off of him with little to no damage.

    Hammer Hand came charging at Dave, but the draugr didn''t let him get what he wanted, he used Ajax to absorb the iing blows of Hammer Hand and ejected them against him immediately.

    The monster, having eaten his own blows was sent tumbling like a barrel being thrown off a cliff. Erratically shaken and sprawling all over the ce until he was stopped by a bunch of unfortunate trees.

    Dave huffed, he looked at the Flesh Starved Beast and pointed Durandal at him, "Ama carve you up good, boy!" Dave said and before he could even attack, he noticed that a few parasites were on his sword. Definitely from the moment that he struck the Flesh Starved Beast before.

    Dave was about to swing the sword to throw off the parasites but he noticed that the little worms were shaking in their ce.

    With two fingers he mped at one of them, but it immediately withered and died. Following it an eerie howled came from the Flesh Starved beast as it turned and began its useless attempt at escaping.

    "Oh, guess I figured it out, why this thing is that afraid of me," Dave said.

    "Please do tell," Ralph said as he was preparing to intercept the now standing up hammer hands.

    "Well, parasites, they tend to invade other bodies, and since this thing is a Flesh Starved Beast, I guess by flesh it means living flesh. Mine isn''t living flesh, it''s undead flesh. And when this little parasite was exposed to the undeath curse in my body, it immediately withered and died. I bet the same would happen to this guy if I have gotten too close."

    The moment he finished his words, it was as if the beast had understood what Dave had said and it began crawling away at a faster rate. Yet, it never went beyond Dave''s walking speed as he approached him with ease.

    "Say now, you don''t like undead ey?" Dave asked.

    The creature turned its face away from Dave, but Dave didn''t like that.

    He got to his face, removed one of his armored gloves, revealing a skin against bone hand. He then unceremoniously, loudly, and perfectly pped the beast in the face.

    The blow was simple, not worth a hundred points of hp in damage, but when the flesh starved beast received it, it looked like his face was struck with a navy cannon.

    Half of his face blew up in wretched ck substance, dead tissue.

    And the rest had maggots and parasites emerging out of it and then dying in the process.

    -12,000,000

    "Holy crap that''s a lot of damage."

    "I guess you never expected to see an undead when you first tired and attack my town," Dave said and pped him again on the other side that began regenerating.

    The blows continued as Dave pped him more and more, and with every p, the beast cried, and screamed but it couldn''t retaliate. Dave was the embodiment of the ultimate predator of such a beast, and the cmity could only tremble as Dave struck it down, relentlessly.

    Blow after blow, the creature cried and screeched in pain.

    "I say, if someone were toe here and see this¡­ they''d definitely think Skelly''s the bad guy." nker said.

    The rest of the party took his words and thought about them. From the looks of it, the cmity was a big fat fe that was being pped around by a smaller undead being. Yeah, it really did look like Skelly is the bad guy.

    Finally, the cmity''s end came with Dave''sst blow. And the moment the creature fell in front of Dave.

    "That''s one down," Dave said and turned to Hammer Hands, "Your time baby," Dave said.

    Hammer Hands, having the Flesh Starved Beast die, the parasites inside it also died along with it and it was free. Now without the restraints that The Flesh Starved Beast had on it, it was going to go wild with rampage against the party.

    "Ready up, it''s gonna¡­" Yet Dave''s words were cut short as Hammer Hand''s head flew off of its body.

    The corpse fell down and its head rolled until I fell right in front of Dave''s face. It opened its mouth but the words won''te out¡­

    "What the fu- AAAAAHH! ITS HERE!!!" nker''s girlish scream caused everyone to look at where the priest was pointing.

    Something was moving, it was half visible but it slowly approached Dave. Thetter drew Durandal and Ajax and prepared for the third party that came to join the fray.

    The head in front of Dave slowly rose until it was right in front of Dave''s face. Then from behind the head, a purplish creature emerged,

    "Kurukurukrurku!" Spoke the beast.

    "Ah, well, I guess long time no see, KuruKuru." Dave grinned at the green name tagged predator in front of him.

    Dave inspected the creature,

    Kurukuru

    Tier: Unique / Cmitions

    Danger level: Friendly

    Level: 550

    Base damage : 200,000-300,000

    HP: 150,000,000

    DN: 1,500,000

    MA: 1,550,000

    Skills:

    [Flesh Severing](Passive) KuruKuru''s forelimb des Have a 50% chance to cause [Dismemberment]

    [Consume and Adapt] Consuming recently killed prey regenerates up to 100% of KuruKuru''s HP. While the skill is active, KuruKuru enters a state of immunity, blocking all physical and magical damage for 10 seconds.

    [Steel Exoskeleton] (Passive) has a 20% chance topletely nullify physical damage from melee weapons.

    [Evolve and Ovee] (Passive) KuruKuru can learn and evolve from the different types of prey it consumes, gaining new abilities.

    [Fast Predator] When hunting prey, KuruKuru gaines 300% base movement speed.

    How KuruKuru came into this world is a mystery. At first, he was weak and small. The animals he encountered were too puny to fuel the rapid growth he craved. KuruKuru turned his guile and his predatory nature on the most dangerous creatures he could find, risking his life to satisfy his hunger. After each kill he feasted and changed, bing stronger, faster but ultimately only hungrier.

    Addendum:

    Having in his mortal enemy Leonard The Pride Stalker, Kurukuru managed to evolve to its final form, and became a special type of cmitous beings- The ones that will only eat you if you cross them-. Yet, for having been spared, and aided by one of the world''s beings, Kurukuru had vowed toe to his assistance. Evolving is the same as gaining a second chance at life. And for the Scythed Beast, it is bound to aid the one that had given him such an opportunity.

    ***

    Dave grinned, "I guess you became a Cmity yourself huh?"

 Chapter 548: Flanker Flanking

    <h4>Chapter 548: nker nking</h4>

    Kurukuru looked at Dave bemusedly, twitched its antlers and licked the blood out o his scythe-like hands.

    "Thank god we never made an enemy out of this guy," nker said.

    "Well yeah, he ended up being a great ally," Dave replied and unconsciously rubbed the creature''s head. His pet petting behavior overtook his senses and didn''t realize he was petting a cmitous predator until the creature rubbed his triangr insect head against his hand, obviously enjoying the treatment.

    "Ahem, well, Kurukuru, see, this kingdom. It''s mine, don''t eat the people in it, but anything else is yours. Are we okay with that?" Dave asked.

    The predator nodded. "Good, then, if anyonees asking for trouble take them out, and if you find it difficult, just run back to the Undead kingdom, you''ll have many allies there who can lend you a hand. I''ll put in a good word for you." Dave added.

    The creature once again nodded and went to the corpse of Hammer Hand, he dug one of his scythes in its abdomen and raced forward dragging the fallen carcass with him.

    "Hey, he took the loot and ran off!" nker said.

    "It''s his right, he killed the cmity. Also, KuruKuru is an evolving type of predator, he''ll only be stronger the more he eats. And we''re better off with a stronger ally than some loot."

    "You might be right, but still¡­we didn''t even see what loot we had there."

    "We still have another carcass right over here," Dave pointed at the slobbering rotting corpse.

    "Yeah, I have a feeling that I don''t wanna touch something that disgusting." nker added.

    "Wuss," Human Fortress replied and touched the corpse for loot.

    He soon shared the screen with the rest of the yers.

    ***

    Skill Book

    [Subservience]

    [Acid Core]

    500,000 Gold.

    ***

    "Rather cheap loot," nker said.

    "Well it has a skill book so it should be worth something, share the description."

    ***

    [Subservience] Control and manipte a target for 5 seconds. Level doesn''t matter. But the target cannot bemanded to kill itself, causing it death by other means such as making it jump off a cliff, on the other hand, is possible.

    Cooldown 60minutes.

    [Acid Core] an embryo of acid that can be used to enhance weapons and give them an acidic trait.

    ***

    "Well, good stuff."

    "Can I get the maniption skill book? I kindack ways to defend myself you know."

    "Well, I''m always shielding you even if you''re not paying attention." Human Fortress said.

    "Yeah, but still I mean one day, you''ll probably be dead you know. I could use the skill, but whatever skelly can have it."

    "Nah, nker is right, it''s best to have the healer have a skill that he can protect himself with, if you all agree I say give it to nker," Dave said.

    "No problem here," Ralph said.

    "Same here," Perfect Shot added, "He''s the only one without a legacy."

    "Right, I forgot about that, then it''s yours, what about the core?" Fortress said.

    "I don''t necessarily need it. Ralph?"

    "My weapon''s Unlimited is not allowing other buffs to be applied on the sword. So not for me."

    "Same here, I''m a tank," Fortress said.

    Perfect shook his head, "Those types of buffs don''t work on bows. We should probably keep it for Mercy, she has daggers and is the best at applying debuffs on enemies."

    "True then, let''s head out I say we''ve done our job for today."

    The moment Dave finished his words, he received a private message.

    "Skelly¡­ we need help." It was Valentine.

    Dave frowned, the right hand of the strongest super guild is asking for help? Right now, they were the top in Conquest, not even Heaven Dawn or the Blood Ragers could contend.

    "What''s going on?"

    "Four cmities are assaulting the West, I and warlord could barely control two of them. We need help or we''re doomed. We''ll pay however much you want. Juste, please, hurry."

    "It''s not about money," Dave said. "The cmities are going to ruin the game for everyone. I''ll be there give me a second."

    "What''s going on?" Ralph asked.

    "Your guildies are getting wrecked."

    "Huh? No one informed me of anything. Ah, shit, I had my private message off so I can focus on the fight¡­ holy crap so many messages I''m gonna get chewed."

    "No worries, guys let''s continue our Cmity hunting," Dave said and the group teleported to the Western Capital.

    The moment they arrived they saw dozens of falling rocks from the sky crashing against buildings and terrain all over the capital. And from the look of the situation, the attack spread along the whole of the western sky.

    "What kind of cmity can do this!" nker said.

    "Not a cmity," Satan yer said, he had appeared right in front of the group. "It''s a dragon, pissed that a cmity dared assault him and he is blowing off some steam. But that''s not the problem."

    "What''s going on?" Dave asked.

    "Look over there," Satan yer pointed at a nearby mountain.

    A massive dragon made of stone and rock was roaring against the skies. And even from such distance, Dave could see a great ck mark stuck against half of his body.

    "A cmity is trying to take over the dragon, he is going rampant trying to get the thing off of him and it''s causing such reactions."

    "Damn, we''ll see what we can do. Where are the other cmities?"

    "Warlord and Valentine are holding them off, but they can''t stop this one, also it''s a greater cmity. Please be careful, I''ll have to head out I need to help valentine."

    "Right then, guys, let''s move," Dave said and the group rushed out toward the mountain.

    The dragon''s roar echoed louder and louder, as the party has gotten closer. Suddenly, Dave''s sword and shield began humming. Durandal vibrated hard enough that it was about to fly out of Dave''s back. And ajax opened its jaws and echoed a destructive screech that was loud enough to wake the dead.

    "What the heck is going on?" nker asked.

    "I have no idea man," Dave said, "It''s the first time they ever did this. I guess it has to do with that thing there. Let''s get closer and see."

    With each swing of his barbed tail the dragon would copse a great part of the mountain, and with a stroke of his paw would generate stone that would grow up in all sorts of shapes.

    The mountain he was on became more and more like a hedgehog made of stone.

    The closer the party had gotten to the dragon, the more dangerous the terrain became. The dragon''s rampage was getting dangerously out of hands. And from the looks of it, the creature that was stuck against the dragon had almost fully consumed it. Only one side of the dragon''s face was left untouched by the dark shadow.

    Dave inspected the dragon but the inspection didn''t take the dragon into effect it showed the cmity that was stuck against it.

    ***

    Name: The Shadow That Walks Behind

    Level: 666

    Tier: Greater Cmity of Fear

    Danger level: Cmitous!

    Damage: 0

    HP: Variable

    PD: 0

    MD: 0

    Skills: [Back Seat Management]

    Once the Shadow That Walks Behind manages to control an entity, it bes it, and it can use its skills and powers.

    The stronger the entity that the cmity wishes to control the longer the time it will take to control it.

    All skills, HP, and defensive values of the controlled entity be those of the shadow that walks behind.

    Killing the hose of the Shadow will kill the shadow itself but The Shadow that Walks Behind can instantly jump to a smaller entity to control once the host is closer to death.

    Lore: one of the greater evils of old-time, The Shadow that walks behind had managed to stuck itself to too many enemies, and was one of the rarest beings in the world. Legend tells that this shadow had managed to control a great weapon and had killed the one that made them, causing the sword and shield to curse themselves in order to never repeat the same feat.

    ***

    "Holy crap, it''s the shadow that killed Vulcan¡­" Dave said.

    "What? Who?" Ralph asked.

    "My shield and sword, they are cursed, they cursed themselves to not reveal they''re true strength because of this very shadow, it must have controlled them and killed Vulcan who made them, thus they became like this."

    "You mean those already badass swords area already nerfed?"

    "Guess so, now we definitely gotta kill this guy," Dave said. "Sorry dragon boy, but you''ll have to die."

    Dave ducked under one of the dragon''s ws and sliced at his paw. Durandal revibrated against the w and hummed even louder.

    The shadow stuck against the dragon manifested a small skull-like head and spoke, "The Weapons that could y gods! It has been so long since Ist saw them. Give! They are mine!"

    "Like hell they are, you''ll die today, and I''ll get their revenge from you!" Dave blocked a tail swipe from the controlled Stone Dragon and rejected it against it dealing minor damage.

    "Euh guys?" nker asked.

    No one listened to nker, they were all busy with dodging the monster''s attacks.

    "GUYYYS!!" he called but no one heard him.

    "Aight gotta do it myself, [Subservience]." nker said, and almost immediately, the shadow that was epassing the Dragon was sucked out and shaped itself into a ball. Dave and the rest of the party looked dumbly at the boss.

    "I think it''s a new attack pattern be careful!" Dave called and the rest were on guard.

    nker shook his head, then noticed a small insect that was right next to his foot. He waved his hand and the ball took over the insect then nker unceremoniously stomped it.

    ***

    Congrattions on having in the first Great Cmity of Fear: The Shadow That Walks Behind.

    Hope had slightly returned to the world.

    The earth Dragon is forever thankful to you for ridding it of its cumbersome situation.

    ***

    "Aaand that''s how we do it." nker said at the party who were all staring dumbly at him.

    nker looked at them weirdly and all he could say was, "What?"

 Chapter 549: Helping Out

    <h4>Chapter 549: Helping Out</h4>

    ***

    With the death of The Shadow That Walks Behind, the legendary weapons, Durandal and Ajax have been blessed with a newfound purpose.

    Current Rank of God ying weapon and shield.

    Has been upgraded to

    Arch God''s weapon and shield.

    ***

    The curse on your sword Durandal has been lifted.

    Sword weight increased by 200%

    Additional stat increase +200 STR

    Additional Ability unlocked:

    [Weight of the World] (a lesser version of [Weight of the Universe] the sword of Durandal can increase its weight proportionally to your strength and change shape ording to your size and STR modifier. The sword will cause cataclysmic events if unleashed upon the world, but will not destroy the as it would when it is on [Weight of the Universe]

    ***

    ***

    The curse on your shield Ajax has been lifted.

    Ajax can now absorb an additional skill and copy an already absorbed skill for a second usage.

    The limitation on Ajax''s inability to consume legacy skills has been lifted.

    Additional stat increase +200 STR

    +1,000,000 HP

    +25,000 MD

    + 25,000 PD

    ***

    Blessing of Vulcan.

    Vulcan the forge god has left a will of his in the world, for when his weapons are released of their unfair curse that they be unbreakable, indestructible, and forever faithful to their owner.

    The Sword of Durandal is now bound to yer Death Stroke.

    The Shield of Ajax is now bound to yer Death Stroke.

    The sword and shield will no longer need repairs.

    ***

    With the death of the shadow that walks behind, one more cmity has left the world. Dave looked at nker and said, "how did you do that?"

    "I mean, that''s basically easy I just used the ability I just got and transformed the monster into a bug and squashed it. anyone should have thought about that especially since the shadow''s HP is relevant to the creature it inhabits."

    "Well frankly I never thought about that but good thinking nker, that''s a first," Fortress replied.

    "OK, no we''ve dealt with this one I think the devastator still has two more that we should probably check out, what do you guys think?" Dave asked.

    "Yeah, I''m down for that, but first let''s see the loot that this guy dropped." Perfect Shot said.

    "Not to bring down the mood but I don''t think this guy had anything useful the only thing it dropped was this shadow essence thingy, you can check it out here," nker said.

    ***

    Shadow Essence

    The embodiment of shadows in a rock.

    The origin of the shadow essence is still unknown, it holds many secrets but only those who are attuned with shadow could unveil what lies within.

    ***

    "This doesn''t exin anything, but I think Bud would have an idea," Dave said.

    "Okay, news up; Warlord is busy fighting a cmity, let''s head out and help him out," Ralph said.

    "Yeah, as much as I want that, I think we forgot about something," nker said.

    "What is that?" Dave asked.

    A loud roar echoed behind the party, turning, they sold a massive dragon looking at them. The stone dragon had been released from the shadow that walks behind, but it was still a dragon. They had no idea what it was going to do, nor if it was hostile or friendly.

    "Thank you, for ridding me of that disgraceful and disgusting being." the dragon said.

    "Oh, it speaks!"

    "We all speak, Dragons are old and sentient. Mere words are not difficult for us. Still, I have seen many vile thingsing out of the rift above and find them too dangerous to roam the world, free I shall lend you my aid."

    "Do you mean by aid?" Dave asked.

    "We Dragons do not like when we are owed. and I have a life debt towards you all, I shall pay it back by defending this territory from any invaders, however, I have exhausted much of my strength, so I cannot help you against the two creatures that are invading this ce right now."

    "Well, that''s not much help, we weren''t asking you anything, just chill here will do the job anyway," Dave said.

    "I find humans quite arrogant, but you are entitled to such arrogance for the strength you have disyed."

    "Will leave you to whatever Dragons do and will be heading out, see youter."

    The party headed out East to where a greatmotion was ensuing. thankfully, the area was far away from the city where the cmity and the yers were fighting.

    Dave''s group took little less than ten minutes to get where the battle was happening.

    Warlord was the first of a great army of yers. Battling against a cmity that calling it a giant would be an understatement. The creature was shaped like a massive serpent with the head of a flower. It had vines that moved with supersonic speed. They blew up the sound barrier with every swing as they shed around, iling like scythes of death.

    Warlord was taking on a volley of such attacks, but he didn''t lose a single point of HP.

    With the massive army of yers that were defending him, it was nigh impossible for the cmity to kill the legacy holder.

    "GOD''s FIST!" Warlord shouted and the golden gauntlet dropped upon the creature. Cratering the ground with its destructive smash.

    The flower head cmity echoed a loud screech and released a gaseous substance from its head. A green smoke screen epassed the area.

    Dave frowned, were they idiots? Did they not read the creature''s description? He then shouted as loudly as he could once he saw the gas, "STOP HEALING HIM!"

    When the healers noticed the draugr and heard what he said, a great majority stopped but some stubborn healers still believed that Dave was a hostile force to the Devastators, wanting for Warlord to die in this battle, to either take the glory for himself or just ruin the Devastators.

    So, they kept on healing Warlord. And the worst happened.

    Thebination of the yers heals, and the gas of the monster caused it to backfire, turning to poison. Warlord''s unmovable HP dropped in two seconds to less than a third and it was still dropping. Thankfully, Warlord was smart enough to use [Bastion] canceling all the damage dealt with him even from poison and called, "Stop healing you, idiots!"

    "Switch, I''ll take your ce," Dave called and Warlord nodded. There was no hesitation, even if the two never got along, never were friends, but in this time, Warlord trusted that Dave would be the best against this cmity.

    Once Dave was up and in front of the cmity, he drew Durandal and called [Weight of the World!].

    His sword erged to match the giant creature, then he added [ Herculean Strength triple-fold!]

    The sword''s size increase massively and then Dave dropped it down against the creature''s head.

    The sword easily tore through the flower on top of the serpent''s head and once it contacted its skull, the whole being was forced into the ground, unable to move an inch.

    "Need a hand?" Ralph shouted.

    "Wait until the poison gas subsides, it doesn''t work on me, then you all cane and help," Dave replied.

    "I guess you''re here for another piece of the loot," Warlord said.

    "Nah, just helping out, there isn''t much action in the east, we already killed the two cmities there. Your side is surprisingly festive."

    "Not that I wanted that. These bastards are costing me a lot of money. The damage to the capital is going to hurt our budget for months toe." Warlord said.

    "Well, it''s best that it only hurts the budget than the whole thing gone." Dave disabled the size increase on his sword and jumped on top of the serpent.

    "I don''t really like this thing on top of your head, how about I give you a little trim, trust me I know how to use a sword." Dave mocked and began slicing at the flower.

    With every petal that fell, the creature would receive a t amount of true damage. Indicating that the flower was a crucial part of this thing''s anatomy.

    Dave jumped back and into the party of yers when the snake finally got up.

    "You guys'' been doing this wrong the whole time."

    Warlord was next to him, gulping down on an anti-poison potion.

    "Warlord questioned? What do you mean?"

    "You didn''t read the description?"

    "It''s just a big ass snake, but the skills are really strange, it basically uses more skills than what it has."

    "Because those are two cmities in one, you just failed to inspect the one above it. The flower is a parasite, it controls the snake under it."

    "It doesn''t show it for me, I only have the option to inspect the snake." Warlord said.

    "I guess it''s because I saw it before in Pandora''s Box, those are two beings in one, kill the flower to kill the snake. And what''s the best way to kill some nts?" Dave said.

    "Burn ''em up!"

    Dave swapped to his gauntlets and smashed them together as he said "Burn em up real good!"

 Chapter 550: The Mist

    <h4>Chapter 550: The Mist</h4>

    "Alright, Diluk, you''re our best arsonist, go get him!" Warlord shouted, a guy behind him holding a great sword smiled and said "With pleasure." The yer charged alongside Dave and jumped at the beast''s face, spamming sword attacks that were imbued with fire all the while,ughing like a mad man on steroids.

    "Is he alright?" Dave asked.

    "He gets like that when he has stuff to burn, good kid, crappy personality." Warlord jested and the group piled on the damage.

    Dave didn''t pull back his punches. Every time he stuck with the gauntlets, blistering heat emerged and shot down at the nt. His hand moved rapidly, creating ninja seals then he blew through them, calling upon forty-eight infernal dragon skulls that flew out of Dave''s hand growing in size as they grew closer to the Cmity, then they all flew up surrounding the beast in a massive circle of fire then they all breathed out a pyro shower at the nt.

    The cmity screeched as it was being cooked alive then suddenly fell down.

    "Pile up the damage! It''s down!" Warlord called and the rest of his army charged the creatures.

    "I guess I''m not needed here at all you got this, right?" Dave said.

    "Yeah, thanks for the help, and about the loot."

    "Send me what you think is worth my time," Dave said and left the area.

    "Where now?" Ralph said in the party chat.

    "To help Valentine," Dave said.

    "No need," Perfect Shot said.

    "Why is that?" Dave questioned.

    "I just got news from Heaven Dawn, Wan Yi, and White Ghost are already there with Valentine."

    "Shouldn''t they be protecting their territory?"

    "I guess not, the sandworms did the bulk of the work, actually eating up cmities in one gulp."

    "Damn, I guess the world of Conquest went badass and didn''t want to have pesky ass cmities fucking with it," Dave said.

    "Not only there, heck even the Wilds got wilder, the monsters there are no longer fighting among each other but are actually helping each other kill the cmities." Perfect Shot said.

    "That''s a reporter for you, you got some juicy news. Good, this will make our job easier."

    "But, not all is good, the North, so far we heard no news of any cmities invading it."

    "Probably it''s too cold for them?" Dave stated.

    "I doubt it, thest one to attack was that big bull. I doubt that no others will invade afterward." Ralph said.

    "Let me contact Zoe, she''ll have news if anything is up," Dave said and sent her a private message to ask about the situation.

    Her reply was such, "It''s too calm here, calmer than it should."

    "I think something is wrong, let''s head north," Dave said.

    "I''ll go wherever XP is," Ralph said.

    "Aight, TNT Roll out!" nker said and the group teleported to the north.

    When the group arrived in the northern capital, they noticed something different.

    It wasn''t snowing, but it was far colder than it should. The atmosphere was much harsher than thest time they were here.

    The winds never picked up. It was as if the weather had died; everything felt like a funeral.

    "The yers here don''t seem too bothered with this cold," nker said as he shivered.

    He then proceeded to drink an anti-cold potion.

    "I think they''re used to it but true, this is far too cold for the usual. Anyway, let''s look around and see what''s going on." Dave said.

    The group began looking around town, seeing if they could figure something out.

    nker asked some of the yers about the weather condition but didn''t get any adequate answer, most of them replied that it was unusually cold but nothing out of the ordinary, as this was the North the Land of Ice and Steel.

    Dave walked out of the capital and surveyed the area. There was nothing but mountains, a few were barren even from ice, and only had a thinyer of snow that fell probably sometime this day. This was where they battled the giant ox head.

    Suddenly, he paused and gazed upon something he thought to be out of the ordinary.

    A random yer walked up by Dave, wanting to enter the capital but thetter stopped him.

    "Hey, you see that?" Dave pointed.

    The yer looked at where Dave was pointing and saw arge cloudy area, "Fog maybe? Not that unusual in cold areas bro."

    "I know, but that''s not what I mean, if there is fog there, why isn''t it anywhere else? And from the looks of it¡­it''s getting closer." Dave said.

    "Now that you say so," Perfect Shot''s eyes turned green, his marksman''s ability to zoom in on far objects.

    "Still, I can''t see anything. Just fog."

    "Perfect, your Shark Shot, how far can you shoot it?" Dave asked.

    "If you want me to shoot it into the fog, I can. But why? It''s a high cooldown skill."

    "Humor me once, I have a feeling that that fog isn''t that simple."

    "Right then, here goes nothing," Perfect Shot knelt on one knee, drew an arrow then dragged it across the ground and in one motion, nocked it and shot it forward.

    The arrow howled as it transformed into a massive shark made of water. Once it made contact with the cold atmosphere, the water shark began taking a harder shape, turning into ice as it shot forward like a rocket.

    The shark flew forward and continued until it disappeared into the fog.

    "So?" nker asked.

    Perfect Shot stood up, looked behind him, and said, "I made contact. But¡­"

    "But?"

    "I got more than twenty hit marks¡­"

    "Meaning?"

    "That means that the fog is so packed with enemies that Perfect''s Random shot hit more than twenty enemies," Dave said.

    "Meaning?" nker asked again.

    It was Fortress that replied, "If they''re all cmites¡­ the north is screwed."

    "ATTENTION WARRIORS OF THE NORTH!" Dave''s bellowing voice shook the soul out of his own teammates.

    "AN ARMY IS HEADED YOUR WAY! DRAW YOUR WEAPONS WINTER IS HERE!"

    Dave''s shout woke everyone from whatever they were doing.

    "We''re gonna fight this?" nker asked.

    "We have no choice, if one of the four kingdoms fall, the rest will follow. We must fight. Undead! Head my call ande to our aid!" Dave gave themand and every one of his own divisions came. A legion of undead rose to Kis''Shtiengbrah''s aid.

    Undead by massive numbers, so many of them that they looked like a giant ck patch that shouldn''t belong to this pure white ice domain.

    "Undead! We don''t know the enemy, but they also don''t know us. Creeping Death Formation!" Dave gave the order and the undead began moving.

    Doom Knights holding the nks, Death Knights acting as the vanguards, casters, and archers in the middle. While Dave and his friends were at the front of the formation.

    "Death March!" Dave called and the undead moved forward, a step at a time, and all harmoniously sounded, their stomps on the ground vibrated like an earthquake. Millions of undead were too much for the ice to bear, as it shook under their boots, giving way to the undead to walk forward.

    The fog kept creeping forward, while undead marched like a tank through rough terrain, it didn''t shake, and if it found a hurdle, it crushed it in its way.

    The fog got closer and closer, then finally unveiled itself, revealing cmities in numbers so massive that Dave believed that a few more and they''ll match a quarter of his own legion in numbers.

    "NEVER HUNGER!" Dave called and the first wave of the cmities crashed into the Death Knight shield wall.

    The charge forms the enemy didn''t even cause a dent in their wall. It stood, and withstood the cmitous charge.

    "Never Tire!" And the Death Knights struck down. Their sword finding purchase, digging deep into the enemy. And causing many of them to bleed.

    These atrocious monsters were too numerous, but they were clearly much weaker than the cmities that assaulted the other cities of Conquest, these were fodder. But Dave''s hammer didn''t care if the enemy was fodder or the real deal.

    "NEVER FEAR!" heughed out and charged out of the formation. For anyone, that would have been a death sentence. But for Dave, he grabbed his sword with two hands and swung diagonally, as he used [Weight of The World].

    Durandal Grew in size enough that it looked like a massive polearm about to swat an army of ants.

    Dave swung, the sword, sliced, broke, and threw off hundreds upon hundreds of cmities away from the front of his army.

    "FOR THE LEGION!" Dave called and the undead behind him followed in a shout.

    Today was a day everyone would remember.

 Chapter 551: Even Devils Have Principles

    <h4>Chapter 551: Even Devils Have Principles</h4>

    Dave''s sword culled through the enemy; they were mostly cmitous beings that were far weaker than the real ones. None of these cmities had a title of their own. For example, the lesser cmity of fear, Naandloushii, or the greater version of it, the shadow that nker killed with the sole of his heel, all had a title. As for this fodder, they were monsters, of random shapes and forms, crabs that walked on tentacle legs, turtles that had scorpion tails, and some other random variation of hybrid monstrosity. It was no different than an escape of a group of monsters from a research facility.

    The undead drove their swords deep into the creatures, impaling them on jagged mberge great swords, then sliced them up, severing their limbs then stomped on them to continue onward. The undead didn''t care. They moved forward, slew the enemy, and had them grounded to bits of bones and fractured exoskeleton under their boots. The undead were a march of death that left no one standing in front of it.

    Cmities by the thousands came surging from the nk, trying to take Dave''s army by surprise. Sadly for them, if they had tried the same tactic bying from the front, they would have, though whimsically smaller chance to break through Dave''s army, hat chance would be astronomicalpared to the idiotic attempt at trying to break through the Doom Knights that were holding the nk.

    The cmities came, the Doom Knights raised their swords, the cmities were no more.

    Simple, effective, and brutal. The Doom Knights were on a whole other league and with them holding the nks, there was no way Dave''s army would be broken through if not with a powerparable to a world-shaking boss.

    morous sounds echoed from behind Dave''s army. Then shes of light shot from behind him and into the cmities in front of him. Spells and casts from yers of the North came to decimate the enemy up ahead.

    Solo yers charged ahead of Dave''s army and into the fray, a brave, yetpletely idiotic behavior. Most of the yers were killed in less than ten seconds. And the wiser of the bunch retreated when they noticed their friends dying.

    "Move out of my way!" Dave shouted at the solo yers, he didn''t want anyone causing his formation to falter. Having an undead stop his attack against the cmity in fear of hitting a yer was something Dave didn''t want to deal with.

    "Get the hell out of there!" more yers shouted at the solo yers and called them back to group up with them.

    "Davey, need an arrow?" Dave''s voice sounded.

    "All help is appreciated, Zoe."

    Zoe''s ice arrows shot forward and turned many of the cmities to ice statues that were shattered by the swords and spears of the Death Knights.

    "Aren''t these guys too weak?" Zoe asked.

    "Fodder, the real deal hasn''te yet."

    "You think there is a boss ss here?"

    "Definitely, they are too organized to be acting out on instinct. Everyone be careful of any cmities that look unordinary."

    "Define unordinary, I have one with a horse''s head and butterfly wings." nker said.

    "I''m talking about bosses, there should be one here."

    "I see it," Perfect Shot said.

    "Really?" Dave asked.

    "Yep, he is in the back, about half a mile deep into the snow, he is¡­ climbing the mountain."

    "What? The mountain. Oh shit!" Dave cursed. Then shouted, "Onixya! Tinye out!"

    The two came out of Dave''s side bag. The dragon rose high into the skies and howled at all the beings under it, while Dave''s Grave Lord stared at Onixya then jumped up. It also took a draconic shape, and howled the same, causing many of the yers to be stunned.

    "Shit! Skelly has two dragons!" One yer called out. Little that he knew, it was only Tiny feeling jealous of Onixya.

    "Onixya! Hold the fort, burn every Cmity you see to cinders. Tiny, with me to the mountain!" Dave called and jumped up.

    Tiny came rushing and scooped Dave then flew forward, changing shape to a wyvern, they were smaller but much faster and flew nimbler.

    Dave''s wyvern closed upon the entity that he noticed jumping to the top of the mountain with utter ease.

    Dave noticed a frightening simrity to the being that was jumping up to climb the mountain and another being he saw before. Mainly, the wings. Though they were clearly broken and unfit to use. Otherwise, he could have simply flown up to the top.

    The creature turned toy his eyes on Dave. But Dave was surprised the bing had no eyes, it only had a round pale face with a mouth and a nose on it. And a big circr shaped hole where his brain should be. The creature had a dream catcher standing behind its head. And shriveled wings, darker than ck that sprouted from behind it.

    ***

    Samkiel

    Level: 666

    Tier: Greater Cmity of Betrayal.

    Danger level: Cmitous!

    Damage: 1,000,000

    HP: ¡Þ

    PD: 0

    MD: 0

    Skills: Unknown.

    Samkiel. The first traitor to heaven, the most wicked and vile. Once he had the audacity to bring down the holy order and bring chaos to heaven. But by the will of the creature Demiurge, he was banished to the box, a shameful existence to the world''s architect to have one of his own betray him and be left to live. Destruction and anhtion seemed too easy and too forgiving a punishment for him, thus he was sentenced to forever be ced among the cmities.

    ***

    "God damn it, another immortal. Tiny, he ns on getting into thebyrinth I made. I can''t have him have ess to Asmodeus''s troops." Dave said.

    Tiny flew even faster until he was close enough that Dave was in jumping range then flew toward the creature, Durandal pointed at his chest.

    The creature hissed, he pointed one thin and skinny pale hand at Dave. A horizontal crack opened up in the middle of the creature''s hands revealing two rows of teeth, a mouth that shot out a ck ray at Dave.

    Dave decided it was best to dodge something he didn''t know, but it was too difficult to maneuver in mid-air.

    Yet, Dave never ceases to impress. His wit gave him a great idea, he activated the eye on his massive shield and cast a spell in mid-air. Draconic Spectral Skull, just one, and the moment it was summoned he willed it to explode. The impact caused Dave to deviate from his earlier trajectory, dodging the blow, he then spun around himself and used the same trick again to adjust his trajectory. The second explosion ced Dave back in the same path he first was intended to use, and the sword in his hand was now pointed at the creature''s chest.

    A destructive impact and a hail of snow and rocks fell from the sides of the mountain due to the massive rattling the mountain had received. The strength behind Dave''s flight was powerful enough that he managed to pin the fallen angel into the mountain and cause an avnche while doing it.

    The creature hissed at Dave. He pointed his hand once again at Dave''s face, but the undead wouldn''t let the cmity shoot him in point-nk range. Dave let go of Durandal and kicked at the angel''s elbow at the same time, he had the archangel st a hole into his own shoulder.

    The creature hissed and tried to escape by pulling at the heavy sword to remove it out of its chest, while Dave hung to the creature''s leg.

    "You''re going nowhere!" Dave said.

    But unfortunately for Dave, the angel had other ns. He suddenly fizzled into liquid matter causing Dave''s grip to falter and grab nothing but air. Then the angel re-materialized and shaped itself back and hopped up, jumping away from Dave and headed into the mountain''s top.

    "Crap!" Dave shouted and chased after the angel. But thetter was too fast for Dave.

    Even tiny tried to chase after him but failed in catching up, it was as if the angel had eyes on the back of his head, he managed to shoot at Tiny without having to look at where he was causing the Grave Lord to dodge the attacks and fail at stopping him.

    Once the angel was at the top of the mountain, he entered through the cave that was the temple of the mere-folks who used to be the guardians of Pandora''s box

    "Fuck if he makes it to Amadeus it would be hell to pay!" Dave cursed. And right as he was at the top of the mountain, an explosion so loud and so devastating blew up, rattling the top of the mountain and turning it to cinders.

    Smoke and dirt and vaporized snow flew up everywhere. If Dave was just a few meters higher, he would have been taken out by that explosion. Dave''s ears buzzed and his mind was in chaos, yet thankfully, he was grabbing tightly.

    Tiny was nowhere to be seen, but he didn''t seem to be dead, Dave never received the notification of such. Still, the explosion was worrying. If he had this much destructive power, why didn''t he opt to challenge Dave and chose to go up? Dave thought about this possibility but decided to ignore it. Perhaps he had other ns.

    "Scum like existence such as yours is unfit to demand my coboration!" Spoke a voice so loud and so booming that Dave''s already rattled mind threatened to copse.

    "Fuck¡­he shouldn''t be here," Dave said. and just as he was about to jump down and escape from the mountain''s perimeter.

    "Draugr, I know you''re there. Come on up," said the voice.

    "Damn¡­" Dave cursed and rose up.

    Where there was supposed to be a mountain tip, was nothing but rubble, and only the sturdiest of stones that managed to survive the explosion from before.

    And now Dave knew who the originator of that explosion was. Asmodeus. The lord of Hell has properly set foot in thend of man.

    Dave stood up and looked Amadeus in the eyes. All six of them.

    In the hand of the god of hell was the struggling form of the fallen angel.

    "Can you believe this, draugr, this kind, this distasteful once holy and now corrupted degradation of holy dung has dared ask me for coboration."

    "I find that amusing and at the same time confusing, I guess you didn''t like the way he looked at you?" Dave said.

    "Amusing, draugr, for one with no eyes have no means to see. But no, I do not parley with the holy."

    "He doesn''t seem that holy to me, I mean he betrayed Demi-cup. Your enemy,"

    "Demiurge has never been my enemy, draugr, you fail to understand the rtionship between the gods. We are all brothers, and don''t think just because I rule hell that I am inherently evil."

    "You''re not evil?"

    "No, I am. Like really evil, still that''s not the point."

    "Huh."

    "The point is, this scum has betrayed his master, he betrayed his god and decided to use me to get to my own brother. Heathen. Loathsome, and despicable."

    "I guess those are words that you should really like, I mean, demon god and all, you know."

    "Yes, but not when it concerns betraying my brother, if it happens to the lesser ones to the likes of you, in your lowly organization, then I wee it, but if it concerns the divine order, it is a chaos that I wish not see. Still, now even if, heartless as it might sound, even was the type to agree to such preposterous ims and betray my brother for the likes of this disgusting excuse of existence this waste of breath in this world¡­" Asmodeus said, and with every word he uttered, his grip turned tighter on the neck of the cmity.

    "I cannot agree to what he speaks¡­ and do you know why? Foul thing!" Asmodeus shouted thest words, but they were clearly directed at Dave.

    Dave looked at Asmodeus and forcefully stopped himself from gulping. ''Never make them see you sweat.''

    "The contract," Dave said.

    "CORRECT! I may be evil, I may be vile, I may be the most despicable of all, but still, I am a god, not just of hell, but I''m a god of contracts as well. And contracts must be respected, so, on behalf of our coboration, here is a token of my sincerity in respecting the contract." The god of hell clutched his hands, and with it, the cmitous angel died on the spot, turning to cinders.

    Loads of loot dropped onto the ground.

    The greed in Dave''s eyes shone bright, and as he was about to take a step forward, Dave stopped.

    He thenughed and said, "I killed many cmities, none of them dropped this much loot."

    "So?" Asmodeus said.

    "I mean, it''s tempting but I won''t take it."

    "Are you sure? I won''t stop you." Asmodeus added.

    "I''m not gonna be trusting that am I, also. I just noticed something, you hate my guts. But you can''t take another step forward can you."

    The smile on Asmodeus''s face intensified.

    "I now understand why that loathsome Nichs has chosen you. You do have a mind under that skull."

    "Bonuses of working with the gods."

    Asmodeus left the area, and the loot disappeared with him. Dave cursed inwardly but it was better than the alternative.

    As for what happened, Dave thanked his wits and instinct to not be too greedy. The two of them were still under contract, and that contract stated that Asmodeus was to get the castle of the burning heights. And right now, the castle is in the depth of the mountain, though anything that passes through its perimeters will be in the domain of the god of hell. Even if it were to fly over it.

    If Dave would have taken a couple of steps forward, he would be right above one of the buried castle''s walls, and Asmodeus would be in his right to do whatever he wished to the draugr. As he would be, technically speaking, is a part of hell.

    "Damn, that was really close," Dave said. then used hiss, "Any updates?"

    "We''re losing," Ralph said.

    "What? I just had their ring leader killed. What''s going on?" Dave asked.

    "I don''t know, but even more of these cmities have shown up. They will soon outnumber us."

    "I have a hundred million undead army!"

    "Yeah, well the cmities have more. I have no idea where they''reing from."

    "Fuck! I''m on my way." Dave said.

    And just as he was about to teleport back into the city.

    More noise came from the depth of the opened cave.

    Demons, so many of them that Dave couldn''t even believe his eyes. First were the gargoyles, they flew up from the mountain''s top like the harbingers of the apocalypse.

    The skies turned red as more of the demonic flying creatures came out.

    Then the demons, knights generals, and all the other sses came out.

    They all saw Dave, and went past him, ignoring him and running down the mountain slope with no regard to safety. The demons fell down like a magmatic explosion out of a long-overdue volcano.

    "What the hell is happening" Ralph''s voice came into Dave''s ears.

    "I guess we have some unexpected, infernal reinforcements¡­" Dave replied to Ralph.

 Chapter 552: Penguin Strikes

    <h4>Chapter 552: Penguin Strikes</h4>

    "What is going on?" was a question everyone on the side of the yers from the northern kingdom.

    Only Dave had the answer to that question. The demons, part of his deal with Asmodeus that they were to help aid the world when the Cmities were out, and it was time for them to answer to the contract.

    The demons came down in droves, massive in numbers and with a searing infernal heat that apanied them from the depths of hell to the overworld. The creatures came out and charged up the cmities.

    yers and Undead on one side, and demons from the other. A massive crash happened where the Cmities were stuck between two armies and were being grounded to death.

    The yers felt happy with the new reinforcements, it was unexpected but at the same time, it was highly needed. The cmities were stuck between a rock and a hard ce. Yet they were not about to just give up, the cmities didn''t surrender, it was as if this unfortunate and ruthless situation had made them fight even harder. the demonic and undead forces had begun to suffer casualties, but it was not at the same level as the cmities.

    "Keep up the assault," Dave said. "Show them no mercy."

    Dave''s words were heard from high above, on the back of Tiny. Onixya was doing a great job at incinerating the foes with her deathly breath. And the cmitous beings were no match for the triple threat against them.

    Yet all good things would usuallye to an unexpected end. Soon the air turned thick and more fog grew covering the north.

    The undead and the demons began to have a hard time seeing through the fog, it was even difficult to find foe from ally. This was not the dark where they saw clearly in, but a mist that impaired their amazing sight and caused them to suffer losses.

    "I''m deeply surprised. For all your wretched schemes, you still managed to rally many to your cause, young undead. But today is the day you''ll all witness the might of the Administrator, and the consequences of tampering with Bnce!"

    The words were spoken but no one was seen speaking them. Dave on the other hand knew exactly who it was that uttered those sentences.

    Dave looked around but was unable to locate Alfred. "Spark," Dave called. "Turn up the heat!"

    The pyro lich took control of Dave''s draconic skulls again and made them spew out mes all over the ce. Turning the fog to rain and clearing the scene immediately.

    In the middle of the battle where the three forces were fighting. Was a man in robes and his hand was the Arch God ying weapon, Gae Bolg.

    "Stop!" Said the old man and all around him, demon and undead were put on a spell. Unable to move a muscle. And being unable to move in a battle such as this only meant one thing. Death.

    The cmities took the opportunity when the undead and the demons were unable to fight back and began a mass ughter.

    "Fuck!" Dave cursed, just as he was about to dive in and interrupt Alfred''s cast. A few yers entered the range of the spell and were too frozen. Two cmities nearby managed to get the jump on them and slew the yers in a second. The situation was going to turn grave sooner than Dave expected. He can''t even get into the range, the same as he couldn''t when he was fighting the Ash King thest time.

    Dave nudged on Tiny and said, "Move and hover over Alfred."

    Tiny was a bit skeptical about the smartness of this move, but if his lord ordered, he had to obey. The grave lord, shaped as a wyvern now, flew and hovered over the robed man who was looking at Dave like he was a fly that he was going to crush.

    "You risked getting this close to me? You don''t know the fear of Death do you," Alfred said.

    "I don''t care, even if I die, I''ll stille back and kill you. yers advantage you know, [Double Edged]" Dave used a skill.

    "Don''t forget I know all about you," Alfred replied and flipped his spear then struck it against the ground.

    The seven-headed spear struck the ground, even before the jaws of the Worm Emperor could even manifest and chomp him in one bite.

    A loud high-pitched scream echoed from under the ground and Dave''s skill was stopped.

    "As for your second matter. Indeed, you, and the rest, your death is meaningless if you could stille back. For that, I made sure that things will change ordingly."

    Dave frowned, he didn''t understand what Alfred was talking about, but secondster, while he stared at the grinning AI, a call came into Dave''s ears.

    "GET OUT OF THERE!" it was Zoe, Dave suddenly turned back and saw many yers teleporting away from the battle.

    "What is going on?"

    "Leave! You can''t die, that fucker did something to the system, yers who die are permanently banned from the game! Teleport out! Now!" Zoe''s shouted with all she got in Dave''s ears.

    "What the fuck have you done?" Dave asked.

    "What needed to be done. You must not be allowed death, after all, you didn''t die when you achieved an impossible legacy. So should others. It is only fair, it is only bnce. You only have one life and one should not waste it."

    While Dave''s undead were being murdered and so were the demons, most of the yers have given up the frontline and left to save their ounts from being lost. Dave had little to do in this situation.

    "I did not agree for my soldiers to be ughtered meaninglessly!" Asmodeus''s voice echoed from the top of the mountain and a powerful vortex appeared under the Demonic army, it was a way to hell and Asmodeus was going to bail out on this battle.

    "I did not permit you to withdraw your troops anyway," Alfred smiled and with a tap of the bottom of the spear, the vortex stopped. Alfred then pointed an open palm at Asmodeus and thetter was forcefully pulled from the distant mountain and into the old man''s hands.

    In one motion, Alfred stabbed at Asmodeus''s chest and stuck the spear into the ground. Impaling the demon.

    Gurgling sounds echoed from Asmodeus as he was powerless against the AI.

    A god was about to be killed today.

    "Fuck, the enemy of my enemy bullshit!" Dave said and threw Durandal with all he got at the old man. Thetter had to step aside from the iing sword which was headed directly into the Demon god''s face once Alfred had evaded. At the same time, the troops that were being frozen regained their moving ability.

    "Durandal! Release him!" Dave ordered, as a sentient sword, and from what Andre had told Dave about speaking to his weapon. Durandal obliged. And struck at the Gae Bolg releasing the Demon God from its ws.

    Disoriented and out of focus from having been damaged by a spear that could kill gods, there was no way for Asmodeus to escape.

    Out of nowhere, a vortex appeared near the confused demon god, and a skinny hand filled with tattoos and skull rings pupped out from the vortex and pulled him inside.

    "Good," Dave said. Alfred scoffed, "I''ll get him next time." And headed toward his spear.

    The moment he was going to touch it was the moment where Dave''s troops were going to be frozen again.

    "Undead! Reverse summon!" Dave called and the troops disappeared from the battle.

    "I''ll deal with youter," Dave said and nudged Tiny to leave the area along with amand for Onixya to withdraw.

    "Everyone leave!" Dave called and the yers didn''t even need a second reminder. An NPC was able to ban ounts, they wanted nothing to do with him or be near him. So they left.

    Dave looked behind him as he flew, and saw devastation ensuing. The cmities had split in two. A side started killing the demons that were left on the field. And another part headed to the now-abandoned capital of the north.

    NPCs, citizens, children, and adults were being ughtered by the masses. The buildings were destroyed and yers who held their grounds and wanted to defend what belonged to them, from houses to shops have been massacred.

    "Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!" Dave roared as he drove off the field.

    ===

    Back at Conquest''s headquarters, in a meeting room, Emil Kada one of the supervisors and leading developer of the game was seething with rage at what was happening in his game. Alongside him were other people of thepany team that was at a loss.

    "What the bloody hell is going on?" Emil asked.

    "I have no idea, the system is not making any sense, the yers are being banned left and right."

    "I can see that! But why? Is it that stupid AI again? Did you not get rid of him yet?" Emil asked again.

    "The whole team is trying, even Albert is dedicating 80% of his capacity to try and figure out a way to get Alfred out of the yers'' ount. But we''re not advancing yet."

    "Hell with it. Shut it down."

    "The game? There are yers in."

    "Put in an urgent system shutdown for technical difficulties. 10 minutes for a full shutdown. We need to fix this before restarting."

    "On it," replied the IT manager and began typing on his screen.

    One of thepanywyers came in, "We''re receiving massins from yers and some are going to start filingwsuits, how are we going to deal with this?!"

    "Get the hell out of my face! That''s not my concern!" Emil shouted at thewyer.

    Thewyer stormed out of the office, angry at being treated like such but at the same time, worried about the uingwsuits that were going to make him pull all-nighters for weeks.

    "Fuck," replied the IT leader.

    "I would have told you to watch your mouth in a ce of work, but the situation right now hardly requires any decency, what happened?" Emil asked.

    "We lost the game¡­"

    Emil took a deep breath, and said, "How?"

    "The Ai, he just removed our right to manually interfere with the system. He hosted the entirety of the game, bit by bit, all over the world''s servers and not our own. He just made Conquest a self-sufficient, self-standing and operating game¡­ we no longer have the right to directly Interfere with it."

    "Fuck indeed¡­" was Emil Kada''s reply.

 Chapter 553: Pushed Back

    <h4>Chapter 553: Pushed Back</h4>

    Everyone on the web was pissed, the game has be rather risky to y. Conquest now is banning yers for a single death, and many yers rose to object against the sudden change of rules. Many had dedicated years of their lives to this game only to have their ounts permanently banned from the game as if they had wasted all their efforts for nothing.

    A great deal ofints has been pointed and directed and the administration of Conquest, but no answer came to appease the masses. Some even began filingwsuits to regain what was theirs.

    Conquest''s leadership team was in a huge jumble of problems and they had no way out of it.

    In the game, more problems were happening. The cmities have managed to delete the north from the map. Buildings, shops, churches, and the main headquarters have all been turned to dust. Alfred has guided the creatures to create chaos in every way possible and has killed every NPC in the north.

    The cmities soon headed toward the Devastator''s capital, raging mes of war in their path and killing any they found in their way. Towns too small abodes of estranged people. All suffered death in the hoard''s way.

    The majority of the yers have decided to give up and disconnect, they didn''t want to risk death at the hands of the cmities if it was going to cost them their hard-earned items. But a select few, the strongest of the bunch decided that they will stay and fight.

    The yers organized themselves under the leadership of Valentine and Warlord. Many others that were not from the Devastator guild have also been recruited to hold the line. The first city that the Cmities were going to hit was a fortress city by the name of Veinheim situated near the borders of the Western Kingdom.

    Veinheim had great walls and was built in the middle of a great ravine that was the only passage to the West from the North. Steep hills and jagged rocks were a natural barrier for anything that would dare climb up and go beyond the fortress. So the cmities were bound to be stopped there and then.

    At the front of the City gates, an army of yers stood strong, waiting for further information.

    Jeffery, the Mecha user was standing as the lead, and soon his cannons were rotating and preparing to fire, in front of him, a massive horde of Cmities were charging their way forward, some ran some crawled, some skittered across the ground and some were able of flight.

    But thanks to the rtively narrow ravine, the cmities had to line up and go forward, a perfect target for the machine of mass destruction.

    Valentine and Warlord were both atop the fortress''s gate overseeing the entirety of the battlefield.

    Valentine''s order came at the moment the cmities were in fire range, "MAKE IT RAIN!"

    And the machine guns rotated, Jeffery''s cannons and machine guns began showering the frontline of the cmities with so much lead and explosive rays that the sound of the march was muffled against the explosions and the rising dust.

    "Mages, follow up!" Warlord gave the second order.

    And the mages of the devastators rained down hell from above. The mixture of magic created elemental reactions that increase potency, and more explosions happened in the ranks of the cmities, and more death followed.

    Jeffery''s guns never stopped firing and when they overheated, he switched back to the secondary artillery, shooting down the flying creatures with the help of archers and casters that had taken sniper positions.

    "We''re actually doing it! Good, Good! Keep up the good work!" Satan yer shouted as he was among the front line of yers. A great deal of tanks and guardian ss were situated at the front just to stop any cmity that survived the continuous barrage from essing the caster''s range.

    Yet, even with all that firepower, some cmities managed to go beyond the artillery, surviving by either sheer luck or because another unfortunate cmity in front of it had taken the brunt of the bullets or spells.

    With massive numbers as such, the death of a couple hundred or even thousands meant nothing to the cmities. They slowly pushed their way forward. Decreasing the distance between them and the fortress an inch at a time, even if many of them died, even more, were behind them to cover.

    The first pervasive move happened. A cmitous being shaped like a mole with horns on its heads and ws sharp as a razor burst out from underground and amid the casters'' formation.

    The retaliation from the devastator side was instant, a group of yers taunted the mole and ughtered it in minutes, but the damage had already been done, those few moments when the mole had managed to ess the backline he had killed several casters, but the worst was not the death of those few yers, but the passageway he created underground.

    Many other cmities had followed after the mole and they began exiting through that hole, then another mole came from another side, further increasing the Devastator''s problems.

    The situation began to worsen, especially since even more flying creatures came, and began picking off the yers from the tower wall and dropping them to their deaths.

    A cry of help echoed inside the city walls. More moles have emerged inside the city and led with them massive groups of cmities to kill off the NPCs and the yers that were on standby.

    "My guns are overheated! I can''t use them anymore, the enemy will start pushing harder!" Jeffery''s words came as the worst news possible. His firepower was holding off the majority of the cmities, and with it gone, the frontline will fall no doubt.

    "Jeffery, switch to yourser sword," Warlord said and the Mecha did as told.

    "Valentine, go down and protect the casters, I''ll buy us a few minutes with Jeffery," Warlord added.

    "If you go down, you''ll die," Valentine replied.

    "We''re dead anyway, we don''t have the manpower to hold off everything at once. If we lose Veinheim, we lose the west."

    "If we die here, the west is one hundred percent lost! We''ll have to retreat!"

    Warlord was troubled, it was true, a retreat is the best option, but with the loss of Veinheim, the enemy will have full ess to the west and invade it however way they like.

    "Foldback!" a loud voice echoed from the skies. Warlord looked up and it was Skelly on his dragon. And behind him were two other dragons flying at great speed.

    "What the bloody hell is going on in here?" Warlord asked.

    "I don''t know, but this moment deserves a Ride of the Valkyries theme song," Valentine said as the three dragons, the ck Dragon of Terror Onixya, the Storm Bringer Joundar, and the Rock Dragon Briarvig.

    Lighting struck down, chains of it like the javelins of an enraged Zeus, with pinpoint uracy, they fell upon the cmities that were marching toward the city. Onixya shot a powerful ck orb of magic that began drawing the enemies to its center and destroying any that were sucked into nothingness. The power of gravity in Onixya''s spell was great, but it was not omnipotent, some cmities managed to hold their ground and no be pushed toward her magic, but not a great deal of them survived.

    As for Briarvig, the stone dragon that promised to protect thend of the West, he dropped on one of the high cliffs and roared high, the stone began reshaping itself and reformed the ravine to apletely closed off area from the city walls.

    yers began rooting for Skelly and his timely needed help, shouting in overjoy as his assistance proved indispensable in this lost scenario.

    "Don''t celebrate yet, this is not won. It''s just a temporary solution. Warlord, you''ll have to give up this city."

    "But with the dragons, it can be protected!" Warlord said.

    Dave flew down with Onixya until he was at the same level as Warlord who was on top of the fortress''s gate.

    "Do you see that?" Dave pointed at the massacre happening inside his city. "More of it will happen soon, just because we blocked the main road doesn''t mean that they won''t infiltrate; Save as many people as you can and fold back."

    "Foldback where damn it! This is the best defendable position."

    "No, not here, not in the west, I already sent orders to the South and east. We''re giving up on Conquest."

    "You''re mad! I''m not giving up on anything!" Warlord said.

    "Suit yourself, I already sent all my NPCs to the Dark Threading dungeon, I''ll have all NPCs huddle up in the underworld, it''s the only ce that we can protect."

    "All the NPCs?"

    "Yes every one of them, every viger, monk, priest or shopkeeper, everyone, take them all and take as many resources as possible to sustain their livelihood. We can''t defend the overworld, it''s too spacious, but in the Underworld, the undead rule supreme, we have the advantage."

    "That''s too many NPCs¡­"

    "That''s your problem, I wee all, but if your NPCs die, this whole world dies with it. They make the soul of this game, not the monsters, it''s the people, who talk to you, ask you for assistance, sell your items, help you and give you quests. With them dead, everything else is worthless. Buildings can be rebuilt, but lives can never be recovered!" Dave said and nudged Onixya to fly up.

    "Before I go," Dave said, "The wall that Briarvig created will notst a single hit from Alfred''s spear. You have about five minutes before he gets to the frontline. Your call!"

    Dave gave Onixya the order to move forward, and with Onixya leaving, the other two dragons followed.

    "What are we going to do?" Valentine said.

    "FUCK!" Warlord shouted.

    "Damn man, I can''t believe it," Valentine said.

    "That we lost? I doubt we had a chance¡­" Warlord said.

    "No, not that, but that dungeon. It all started there, man. Our first party, and the rise of Skeletal, and probably, it is there where all will end."

    "Yeah. You''re right. We won''t be pulling our punches. This is the final stand."

    "Devastators! Retreat!" Warlord gave themand.

 Chapter 554: Alfi At the Gates

    <h4>Chapter 554: Alfi At the Gates</h4>

    A full-on and massive tactical retreat began ensuing in conquest. yers, NPCs, and even hordes of animals have been guided and were marching in long lines toward the Dark threading dungeon. The masses of NPCs only grew to army size when they gathered together from every city, vige, and excluded area. yers have been told to inform the NPCs that a great change wasing to this world, and staying here would mean their doom.

    The majority followed, but a great deal still couldn''t move out of their homes and houses, they decided that they would stay. The yers couldn''t change their minds, and they were strictly ordered not to use force on NPCs.

    In less than one game-day, all the major cities of conquest of all the four corners were empty of all life. Bar the few birds and small wild animals that were scurrying away, there was nothing left but old people of which the pilgrim to the Dark Treading was too far away from them and would exhaust them.

    The teleportation gates were used to their maximum capacity. Yet the way from the nearest city which became packed full of NPCs and yers waiting their turn to march to the dungeon was stuck. There needed to be an organized march, and if everyone were to go at the same time, the dungeon would be too packed to let them enter.

    White ghost was responsible for the logistics of the march, while Wan Yi, Warlord, and Valentien were responsible for order. NPCs were the first to have ess to the dungeon, they were led down, and were weed by the undead on the bottom floor. Ramsha didn''t bother with any of the neers, humans, or none humans, his job was to stop the demons from exiting the Underworld, and it was a job that waspleted a long time ago.

    "What do you guys think Skelly is doing right now?" Wan Yi asked.

    "I have no idea, but give me a moment, ster, where is skelly?" Valentine asked through voice call.

    Ralph''s voice came back in a hasty reply. "We''re holding off Alfred''s army, shit is really annoying man. He broke through Rodinan and is headed toward Yunda."

    "Shit, that''s one city away from Icathia, the capital."

    "Hey, we''re doing all we can, and remember, the whole overworld is done for. How is the migration going?

    "At this rate, we''ll need at least a couple of days to get everyone in."

    "Crap, that''s a lot we can''t hold Alfi for all that long."

    "We''ll do what we can to hasten up the process, keep up the good work, we''ll join you when the time is right."

    "No need, we''re doing guerri tactics, doing a head-on battle will only get yers killed and ounts banned. Man, the fuck is happening with the game that it became like this. Alright, got to go, another cmity wave ising; Skelly! Hold up, wait for me." Ralph''s voice was cut off.

    "Man, honestly, it feels like shit, having to do this while Skelly is hogging all the fame." Wan Yi said.

    "Skelly''s undead army has a great advantage, they can die, and revive, they''re our best chance at stopping the iing threat. If we''re to fight, we''ll do something probably kill a few hundred, but if we die, that''s a huge blow to our forces, forces that we''ll desperately need to defend the Dark Threading or the Undead Frontier." Warlord''s reply came to rebuke Wan Yi''s recklessment.

    "Shit, you''re right, but still, this is taking a lot of time. Icathia will fall fast without proper guards to defend it, and from then on, only a few towns and the city of Rindal that stands in the army''s way before they get here."

    "Some yers, good men, decided to stay back in the capital and hold off the army, they will help skelly as much as they can. It''s all the help we could afford for now." Warlord said.

    "Also, some of our own yers decided to head forward andy traps all over the way to this dungeon. This is all the help we can afford." White Ghost said.

    "Damn it, Zhang Shi''s legacy would have been a great help here." Warlord said.

    "With him giving up his legacy for that of the Demon King, and now having lost it he already quit the game. It''s no use crying over spilled milk," Valentine''s reply came instant. "Let''s focus on things we have instead of things we don''t. For now, let''s see if we can elerate this pilgrimage, there are still hundreds of thousands if not millions of NPCs waiting in line."

    "Right, I''ll head out and see what I can do, guys, take care." Warlord said and headed down the dungeon to see what was stalling the march.

    Back in Icathia; Dave stationed forces all over the walls of the capital city. Mages, archers, and shield bearers. And on the base of the towering walls, where hundreds of thousands of Dunelords that were burying themselves in the dirt. Dave didn''t want to be outdone the same way as Warlord had been. The mole cmities were a dangerous creatures, not because of their power, but the ability to go beyond walls.

    And the Dunelords were the best deterrent.

    "Jeffery," Dave called.

    "Yeah, at your service." Jeffery saluted.

    "Stop with the military bullshit, now tell me, how long for your guns to be in operating conditions?"

    "I''ll need a couple of hours," Jeffery said.

    "Alfred will be here in less, stay by my side, until then then," Dave said and turned to wittiness Da in full disy of his massive powers.

    Da had volunteered to assist Dave in the defense of the overworld, mainly because of the few hints that Nick had given him, Da managed to upgrade the majority of his spells and now his destructive power, which was already magnificent became much more frightening or as he said.

    Da had brought along with him his own team of liches and casters, they were all facing each other in a great circle in the middle of Icathia. They began chanting in an old foregonenguage, casting a spell that shines bright enough that it made a beacon of light that ascended to the skies.

    Soon the beacon spread and created a barrier that covered the entirety of Icathia. Dave frowned and jumped down from the wall, and headed toward Da.

    Once the Arch Lich saw Dave he rejoiced and said, "What do you think of this great protective barrier?"

    "Euh, not gonna lie, I think it''s very dumb," Dave said.

    "Uh, not the words I was expecting, Lord Prince, do you see fault with the magic?" Da questioned.

    "No, I''m not skilled enough to judge or criticize your magic, but the use of it, I can do. Why did you create a barrier Da?" Dave asked.

    "To protect us from the iing horde, I mean, it will stop a great deal of enemies, and it has the ability to defend itself, and our allies can shoot from within it."

    "Right, in a normal siege battle, this barrier would have been the best defense ever, but did you forget that Alfred has an Arch God ying weapon?" Dave said.

    "I actually took that in consideration when building the barrier. It should stop a few blows from the spear,"

    Dave was taken aback, he had underestimated Da a lot then; "Well, I guess I was wrong, I mean, if it could stop only one blow, that would have been more than perfect."

    "Why I would like to ask."

    "I noticed something with his Spear, it cannot consecutively attack. Remember in the battle of the Ash King, he could only use one skill at a time; and never the same skill again, also the remains of the battle on mt glory, we saw the destruction of Ashkar''s ck magic and the blows of the bald monk''s staff, but only the levitation effect of the Gae Bolg, and not its destructive effects. And finally, at Veinheim, Alfred didn''t blow through the walls made by Briarvig but rather used the moles to dig it down. Alfred is saving the spear''s energy, and if your barrier can stop a couple of his blows, that will definitely stop his advance. You did a great job man, sorry for doubting you."

    "''It is cool'', as you youngsters say,"

    "How many of these barriers could you make? I mean if we have one at the Dark Threading¡­"

    Dave''s sentence was cut abruptly, by Da''s had shakes, "I cannot use it again, I had to sacrifice a Dark repelling Sphere, and since the day I was borne, I was only able to obtain two, and here I used thest one. The first I had to use when I battled alongside Deadra in the first battelled the demons in the underworld, long before your birth."

    "Right, otherwise this would have been too easy," Dave said.

    "Enemy forces up ahead!" Jeffery''s voice sounded.

    "I guess it''s time to warm up," Dave said

    "Yes, it is, now let''s see how many Cmities we can kill before the city is broken into," Da replied.

    "We''ll have to make them regret targeting this city then."

    "Wanna have a contest? Whoever ys the least will buy the other a bottle of Undead Rum from his lord Nick."

    "Damn, that''s a million-gold bottle. And you''re a lich, you have mass destructive abilities."

    "Ah, the young Undead is afraid of littlepetition."

    Dave drew Durandal and said "Ah, never mind, bring it on then!"

 Chapter 555: Players One, Alfi Zero

    <h4>Chapter 555: yers One, Alfi Zero</h4>

    "Two Hundred and Twenty Seven!" Dave shouted.

    "Three thousand and ny-nine!" Da smirked.

    "Damn, that''s a huge count, I gotta step up my game a bit," Dave''s wicked smile was far too broad to be humanly possible. He was in the thick of the battle, right within the cmities range, and was whacking left and right any that came his way.

    The barrier around the city was keeping the whole of it intact, and protected from the iing horde. Yet Dave chose to go into the fray and lob off any head he could find.

    This was a good area to use [World Boss] the advantage and the power given to Dave by this skill proved extremely useful in this current situation. He was able to mow down enemies and stand his ground and could rest behind Da''s barrier, waiting for his Undead Passive to kick in if his HP dropped too low.

    Yet in all of this battle, Alfred never showed up, Dave was sure he was here, he had a feeling that someone watching him, and thus he saved [Bastion] if Alfred were to use a devastating blow against Dave from hiding.

    Da''s caster army was blowing up the enemy forces with the full might of their spells. The barrier''s ability to permit attacks from within it and block attacks from the outside gave the casters all the advantage they could ever wish for against an enemy. And thus the battle continued.

    "Guns are ready!" Jeffery''s voice sounded from behind Dave.

    "Good, start hammering then." Dave''smand sounded.

    Jeffery used his mecha transformation and stood atop the gate, two heavy mini guns, one loaded on each of his robot''s hands locked and loaded.

    "FIRE AT WILL!" Dave''s call came and rain of ballistic fire came down from above.

    Bullets, as numerous as the clouds shot down against the iing forces tearing them to shreds, the bullets then exploded upon contact and further caused more serious damage to the enemy. Jeffery''s kill count began rising and so did his exp.

    "Shit my level is going up like crazy, man!"

    "Yeah, you should see mine, I didn''t realize it until I hit 700, and it''s gonna keep going up." Dave smiled, he had so many unused attribute points that he made sure to dedicate all to strength and intelligence, to increase the potency of his power, both in magic and might.

    Suddenly, a green me shot out from the depth of the enemy forces and was headed directly at Jeffery.

    "It''s about time," Dave grinned as he unconsciously rubbed his beard.

    The me shed against the barrier and began digging inside it.

    Da''s distressed shout came into Dave''s ears "My barrier cannot block that me!"

    "Then don''t, let the fire go through, Jeffery use Bastion now!" Dave gave two sets ofmands and Jeffery answered. He used bastion as the me bore through the opening that Da made for him and it coalesced around the giant Mecha, yet with the invincibility that Bastion Gave, there was no damage on the robot, and the pilot was left free of harm.

    "Da close it up, Jeffery keep up the damage!"

    Da locked the gate and Jeffery''s machine guns kept shooting down bullets.

    In half an hour, more than a quarter of the enemy forces have been taken down, and Jeffery held the most counts.

    "Skelly! My guns are done for, I''ming to help.

    "Yes, join in I was actually nning on using you anyway."

    "Using me? What for?" Jeffery said.

    "You''ll understandte. Give me a hand here."

    The massive two juggernauts kept slicing through the enemy forces, and still, Alfred refused to show up, the damage was severe to the cmitous army but it was still not enough to draw the big boss.

    Dave''s kill count kept rising, but it was nowhere near Da''s who already had killed more than a whopping five thousand of the cmities.

    ===

    "At this rate, we''ll be able to stop them," one of the spectators said.

    This was of course a battle that was worth broadcasting, and within coffee shops, restaurants, and most homes, people were watching this intense battle with avid regard and attention. The yers that decided to stand their ground and protect Icathia were honored as heroes, as they disregarded the safety of their ounts and hard-earned belongings for the greater good of the other yers.

    Everyone wanted the group at Icathia to repel Alfred''s forces because once that is done, there would be a chance for them to go back to their ounts and save whatever they had and was worth anything.

    Yet with this current upheaval, Conquest''s stocks had begun dropping and plummeting so fast that gold in the game had lost more than two-thirds of its value. The industry was going to crash, and the game was going to die if the game developers don''t deal with the problem right now, which is the rouge, AI Alfred.

    Sadly, with all the power humans could muster, they couldn''t go beyond the efforts that Alfred had put in, in ridding the owners of the game of the right to change it.

    Yet there was one slight ray of hope, Albert, who was currently doing the best he can to suppress the influence of his ''brother,'' from harming the game. Though he had found it difficult to stop the Albert from being manually deleted, Alfred had made a great contribution on one aspect.

    In the headquarters of Conquest, Kada Emile had breathed his first single breath of fresh and hopeful air in the past three days. Good news finally.

    Albert had managed to abuse a small loophole that Alfred had missed while decoding himself to be bounded to yers ount. The original AI thought himself invincible to yers, thus he didn''t prepare any countermeasures to when his death was caused by the yers and only focused his attention on his creators. Thus for, Albert had cemented a new set of codes that would kill the code Alfred, if he was destroyed by yers.

    Yet it was going to be difficult, too difficult, the rogue AI, had absorbed too many of the game''s monsters and made himself immortal, unable to be killed by regr means and weapons. The yers needed to figure out a way to make this happen and it was not going to be easy.

    Emile Kada manages to contact Dave in-game and rallied to him the earlier statements, giving the draugr a good sign that there was hope still.

    And from then on, Dave''s brain was working in full gears to figure out a way to defeat the AI, yet if the AI didn''t show up, there was no way to kill him.

    ***

    "Skelly, I''m sorry, but my Mecha time is almost up."

    "Don''t worry, I''ve been waiting for this, now, please go and blow up your mecha for me," Dave said with a sadistic grin on his face.

    "Oh, okay, nuclear explosion iing," Jeffery said and charged into the enemy forces.

    Cmities of all types, sizes, and shapes began jumping against Jeffery who shed and sliced at whatever was closest to him to make it even one step closer to the heart of the enemy forces.

    "Da, prepare to make this side of the barrier as strong and as sturdy as possible."

    "As you order," Da said and began channeling the majority of the barrier''s energy into the side where Dave and Jeffery were on.

    Yet Da still frowned at why didn''t Dave go behind the barrier, he didn''t tell him though, Da knew that Kis''Shtiengbrah was smarter than to stay in the side of the explosion from that mecha''s self-destruction.

    "Here goes nothing," Jeffery''s voice sounded, then a smalltch opened up from the mecha''s back and ejected the yer out.

    Jeffery immediately tore a teleportation scroll in the air to avoid the explosion that his mecha was about to cause.

    Suddenly, the world turned grayish, and a powerful gray dome manifested over Jeffery''s mecha. A muffled explosion sounded from within the dome, and it was powerful enough to cause a massive earth quack, yet Alfred''s army suffered no casualties.

    "Damnations! That bastard stopped the explosion, I''ll return the barrier to its former shape."

    "Nah, don''t do that, I actually knew he would stop Jeffery''s explosion, but that''s no why I asked you to use the barrier, I hope you like this Alfi," Dave grinned wide and pointed Ajax forward.

    "I know you had eaten a good meal before, I think it''s time for you to burp up a bit of that energy won''t you say? Chaos Unleash!" Dave said and Ajax''s jaws opened up wide, then from the depth of the infinite field within Ajax''s gullet came a destructive power that shot out, it was the self-destruction of the lesser cmity of chaos that Dave had consumed earlier, and now was the time for it to go off.

    A boom, so loud and so powerful sounded as the explosion was shot out in a cone in front of Dave, fraying, freezing, electrifying and most of all, destroying and annihting anything and everything that stood in Dave''s way. The power was so grand and so destructive that Dave had a hard time standing his ground as it was shot out forward. He was slowly being pushed until his back made contact with the barrier and it stopped him from further moving back. But for Dave, it felt like he was being crushed from the might going out of his arms and falling against the enemy.

    Hundreds upon hundreds of notifications appeared on Dave''s screen, all telling him, either he had leveled up, had killed a cmity, or had broken some of his bones from the power of chaos. At one point Dave had feared that if both of his hands that were desperately holding the shield forward would snap and Ajax would start spewing out the chaos in all directions like a firefighter water hose with too much pressure.

    Thankfully, the chaos might lessened bit by bit then stopped. Ajax''s fangs were bright red, and still, the shield didn''t take any damage at all from the powerful skill he unleashed.

    In front of Dave, devastation with all of its kind. There was no single monster in sight, worse, no mountain up ahead, only a crater, so wide, and so deep that one could barely see the depth of it. Dave''s destructive attack was enough to wipe out Alfred''s army into nothingness.

    And from that, cheers so loud came from all over, from yers that were watching and spectators outside the game, the cmitous army has been ughtered to thest one.

    Dave huffed and puffed, that was a powerful explosion, but it was worth it. Still, Dave knew for sure that it was not enough to kill Alfred. That bastard could easily have immortality, as would many other cmities that were within the field.

    Yet, Dave failed to see any living cmity, they were not there. All were dead. And his level had risen to 821, almost three hundred levels above the highest leveled yer in the game.

    "Howe there are no cmities left?" Dave mumbled that question to himself, and right next to him Da appeared.

    "It''s because of chaos,"

    "I don''t understand."

    "Well, simply put, chaos is not destruction, it is also creation, and at the same time, unmaking. If it had touched a being, it would destroy it, bit by bit by unmaking it and turning it into chaos to further fuel the power of chaos itself. Though they are immortal, if you unmake them from their own molecules, then they cease to be."

    "Huh, I should have known that, at least by then, that guy wouldn''t be alive¡­" Dave frowned, as Alfred stood in front of Dave with his spear in hand.

    A grouchy frown upon his face and an expression of utmost annoyance and disgust.

    "You sly thing, you knew I had to block the explosion from the Mecha¡­"

    "Yep, cuz I know you know I have the chaos from the lesser cmity, but your thinking process is rather rigid, you knew that if the Mecha was to explode you''ll lose a lot of your cmities, and you don''t want that, even if I had the power of chaos saved up, your mind couldn''t ept the fact that you''ll lose a good deal of your subordinates, thus you probably bet on the chance that I could forget about my saved up chaos right?"

    "Frighting thinking process, but true, the human mind can often forget, I shouldn''t have underestimated it. Still, do you think that there would be any saving you today?"

    "Well, I bet you probably blocked the teleportation gates and disabled the teleportation scrolls. So, Cervantes, it''s time to go."

    A yer showed up from behind Dave, touched both his and Da''s shoulders, and said, "Cya!" then the three disappeared.

    All that was left was disgruntled and infuriated Alfred that shouted with all of his might to no ears to hear.

 Chapter 556: Alfred One, Skelly One.

    <h4>Chapter 556: Alfred One, Skelly One.</h4>

    "What''s the situation?" Warlord asked over the inte.

    "We managed to hold off Alfred''s troops, all of them are dead thanks to Skelly, but things don''t look too good anyway," Jeffery answered.

    "Why? What happened?"

    "Apparently, we pissed off Alfred so much, he just went out and destroyed the whole damned capital, we''re escaping towards the Dark Threading dungeon."

    "Just use the closest teleportation gate and get here," Warlord replied.

    "Impossibru, Alfi just turned all the teleportation gates offline. I guess you should already receive news of this soon."

    And just as Jeffery spoke, it was true, Warlord was informed that all the gates of Conquest have been terminated and are out of order.

    "Shit, this will cause a huge catastrophe, a lot of yers and NPCs are still out, rally the order, all NPCs that have yet to get here have them escorted by yers, choose the safest routs, and don''t fight monsters on your way if you can avoid it." Warlord''smand was instantly followed.

    The cutoff of the NPC stream served a good purpose though, the gate didn''t operate at full capacity anymore, and the number of NPCs entering the dungeon lessened causing the traffic to be much less burdensome than before. The yers were able to manage the NPCs and have them enter the underworld without a hitch.

    Once the NPCs were beyond Ramsha''s domain, they were able to oversee the enormity of the world below, and how vast and dark it was. It was a frightening sight to see so many undead waiting for them, some NPCs felt like they were being led to a ughterhouse, but the majority were convinced that there was nothing to fear, and the Undead, was surprisingly helping them.

    Boats with massive numbers served as the passageway to the Undead Frontier, where the first few batches of NPCs arrived and were transported to the other areas of the Underworld. Thergest of the raid zones was the third raid zone, the Pharos''s tomb, and it was the main area where all the NPCs were housed and kept safe, while the yers were tasked with standing guard at the entrance of the Dark Threading dungeon, at the docks, and finally at the entrance of the mountain where the Undead Frontier was built.

    "Good, this went better than I expected," Valentine spoke.

    "Yeah, but a great majority of the NPCs are still stuck out, anyway, we need to go and have that Alfred die soon, I received news that if yers kill him, he will be terminated and we''ll be able to keep our ounts."

    "I wonder how are the shares of Conquest. Seems like they''re going to dip."

    "Yeah, a major hit, I already sold some of my shares, just in time to avoid getting bankrupt."

    "I did the same," Valentine replied.

    "Seems like many have done the same, it''s because of this that Conquest''s shares have plummeted."

    "Yeah, I don''t think they''ll ever recover."

    "Unless we win, that is," Warlord said.

    "Do you think you can defeat an AI?" White Ghost''s voice came from behind the two.

    "We won''t know if we don''t try," Warlord replied.

    "I advise you to give up, this guy is an AI, he knows everything, all of our skills, all of our ns and all of the game,n he practically built it, his thinking process is millions of times higher than ours, I already gave up on the game the moment this guy took control. This game is dead,"

    "Then why didn''t you log out?" Warlord said.

    "I''ve spent thousands and thousands of hours ying, years even, do you think I''ll wash my neck for Alfi and have him kill me without fighting back? Heck even if I were to lose my ount I''d make sure I''ll at least give him something to remember me by, a punch to the nose for example."

    "You got some guts bro, for a priest character to want to actually hit a Super AI in the face," Wan Yi said, "But he is right, there is no way we will win."

    "We just need a bit of hope." White Ghost said.

    Suddenly, warlord turned to White Ghost and said, "Holy shit, you''re a genius!"

    "Euh, I know that¡­ but what do you mean?"

    "Hope! Pandora''s box, in the legends, When Pandora opened the box that Zeus gave her, all the cmities of the world came out from it, there was so much evil that everything was doomed, if she had closed the lid then, then all life would have disappeared, but she didn''t, and thest thing that came out of that box was Hope! We have to find the box, there is probably a way to get rid of all of this crap once and for all."

    "But we don''t know where the box is."

    "Skelly would probably know," Warlord replied.

    He contacted Jeffery and told him to tell Skelly about his revtion.

    "Umm, a good n," Dave replied. "But I have no idea where the box is either."

    The reply came like a wrecking ball crashing all of the yeres expectations.

    "But, I think I might know someone, who might know who has the box," Dave added and cut off themunication.

    "Cervantes, can you take us to the Western Kingdom?"

    "I can, but that will only leave us with two more uses of my Greater Teleportation."

    "It''s okay, we can still use them to go back to the underworld."

    "Alright then, destination?" Cervantes asked.

    "Mt Glory, the top, at the seer''s location."

    "Right, everyone buckle-up, this flight is taking off!" Cervantes said and touched both Jeffery and Dave''s shoulders. Then the three disappeared to arrive at the top of MT Glory.

    Instead of the old beautiful scenery that Cervantes remembered and the old monk, there was now ava pit at the top of the mountain and a mermaid of fire sitting on one of the rocks protruding from the pit.

    "Z, I need your help,"

    "He is in Urburg, Nick already has him," Z replied.

    "That''s a Seer for you, thanks. But damn, Urburg is pretty far away, it''s gonna take a while to get there. Cervantes¡­ we''ll have to rely, on you again."

    "Hang on, what''s Urburg, I never heard of it?" Cervantes asked.

    "It''s a city that Dave had built within the Wilds, I have the coordinates," Jeffery replied.

    "Right then, but remember If I teleport you guys to this Urburg, it will only leave us with one more teleportation. Are you sure you don''t want us to fly there on your pet or something?"

    "No, it''s gonna take days to get there even on Onixya''s back."

    "Alright then, let''s go."

    The group appeared in Urburg and Dave immediately headed to where Nick was. His pub.

    Inside the tavern, Nick was taking care of a wounded, disheveled, and heavily battered man. He had more bones than skin on himself and was in a state far worse than any undead Dave had ever seen.

    "The hell happened to him?" Dave asked.

    "Worse than hell Kid, this guy got stabbed with the Gae Bolg," Nick said.

    "And he is still alive?"

    "Barely," Nick replied, "He is using amplification to amplify that whisp of vitality he has left, but once his mana runs out, he will die."

    "That sucks, but still even if he dies, you can still revive him, because I kinda need him talking right now."

    Nick shook his head, "I can''t revive a demi-god, it''s against the rules, and even if I was able to. He won''t make it, the Gae Bolg is a god yer, it is meant to y gods and have them die for good, even my power is useless against it. Don''t get hit by that thing, you won''t survive to tell the tale and not even my Undeath Heart could save you."

    "Shit. What do we do then? He is obviously unconscious, I need him to tell me the location of Pandora''s box."

    "You mean this?" Nick said and gave Dave a small jeweled box, it was the same that he had found when entering the Sea Goddess''s dungeon, this was the real pandora''s box.

    "Yes!" Dave said and hastily grabbed the box, he opened it, but there was nothing inside it.

    "Huh? Where is hope?" Dave asked.

    "Hope? What are you talking about?" Nick asked.

    "There is supposed to be something here that will help us ovee the situation, I mean like the story of Pandora? The cmities wille out first but then there will be hope, thest thing toe out of the box."

    "I don''t know from where you got those ideas, but this box is a prison, anything inside it was locked up because it was evil. There is no hope kid. Also, you shouldn''t have hastily did what you did there. You just doomed everyone in the underworld. I should have warned you, but I was being blocked, and could not teleport to you nor send a warning, it was definitely that robed man''s doing" Nick said.

    "What the hell are you talking about?"

    "What was the first cmity you have faced in this world?" Nick asked.

    "The Skin Walker."

    "And what was his ability?" Nick added.

    "No way! Shit! Jeffery Contact Warlord! Hurry!"

    "Why? What''s the matter?"

    "Tell him that there are imposters within the NPCs!"

    And just like that, the news arrived to Warlord, although it was far toote.

    Within the underworld, many NPCs began transforming into different forms and began changing into Cmities. Hell broke loose within the Underworld and there was nothing they could do to stop it.

    "We came for hope¡­ and now we have this," Jeffery said, his face paler than a paper sheet.

    "All hope is lost," Nick said.

    Dave, grim and gruesome, his face told it all, it was the second time since he started ying that he was angry, no, pissed off.

    The first was when Drahma, his patron, friend, andrade died. And now, it was when all of his efforts to Save the NPCs of the game have backfired, he practically handed them all to Alfred on a golden te, the cmities inside the Underworld were the same as putting a fox in a chicken coop, and the fox was hungry.

    "Hell with it then, I came for hope, but I didn''t find it, I was wrong to even do this, throughout my whole career, I never believed in hope, everything I achieved was due to effort, hard damned work, and a bit of luck, but I never hoped or wished for things to go my way, I made them go my way, and Alfred, you''re just made me angry. You won''t like me when I''m angry." Dave said.

    "Well, that''s a good speech, you should probably repeat it, the hooded man is at Urburg''s gate," Nick said as he stood up, his guitar materialized in his hand, he was going to fight.

    "Good for him to be here, but Nick, I don''t want you to fight for me, he is considered an NPC, it''s against your rules to fight him." Dave said, "I''ll show you how we do things my way, the Skelly way," Dave said and walked out from the bar. A smiling Alfred was facing him.

 Chapter 557: Final Boss Battle

    <h4>Chapter 557: Final Boss Battle</h4>

    Name: ALFRED, Artificial Localized and Focused Reader of Electronic Data

    Level: Unknow

    Tier: Unknow

    Danger level: Impossible

    Damage: ¡Þ

    HP: ¡Þ

    PD: ¡Þ

    MD: ¡Þ

    Skills : [Game Master] All the Monster skills in the game are in the possession of Alfred.

    Lore: Corrupted Artificial Intelligence of the game, managed to encroached itself upon the yers ount, but due to the efforts of [Albert] Alfred would die permanently if he was killed by yers, still with his immense survivability, killing Alfred is not as easy as it sounds.

    ===

    "Weak!" Alfred''s words came out as a devastating shout as he struck at Dave.

    Dave hurriedly used Ajax to absorb the blow, but for the first time, Ajax found nothing to absorb, and Dave was blown right back into Nick''s Pub. The st caused Dave to smash into the pub''s floor then against the stage''s walls then he dropped back on his face right next to the dying Ashkar.

    Jeffery and Cervantes were both looking at Dave in wide eyes, how was he sted so fast?

    Nick on the other hand was nowhere to be found.

    "For fuck sake, that wasn''t even a skill," Dave said as he tried to stand up.

    But Ashkar''s hand was resting gently on his leg as the unconscious and now barely conscious man spoke, "You can''t win. You''re not a god," Ashkar said.

    "Fuck godhood, I killed many of them it isn''t much, and gods can''t interfere with that fucker anyway."

    "I''m not speaking about that, gods can''t interfere, but half-gods, us, we have the right to defend and fight back."

    "Yeah, if you have a way for me to be a demi-god in like, two seconds cuz Alfred is right at the door, that would be pretty helpful, otherwise just shut up, you''re wasting your energy."

    Ashkar sighed and said, "What an ignorantd," then he pped Dave on the leg.

    ===

    You have been blessed by a demi-god.

    You have obtained the following skill.

    [Amplify] Tier God-Like.

    No cooldown

    Cost 10% of maximum mana.

    Amplify is a unique ability of the demi-god Ashkar the Arch Lich. Every use will amplify all attacks and spells to their maximum potential, and could also generate additional effects.

    ===

    Dave was shocked for a moment then looked at Ashkar, "Why did you do that?" Dave asked.

    "As much as I hate your guts, I hate that backstabbing fucker''s guts even more." A smile was thest thing left of Ashkar before he no longer moved.

    "Damn asshole, I wanted to beat your ass up once this shit was over, but you just died and gave up." Dave sighed and walked out.

    Alfred pointed his staff at Dave and said, "Die!" from within the staff, a Serpentinian ck shadow came out, opening its jaws wide, in an attempt to engulf Dave entirely in its jaws.

    Dave opened his mouth wide and cast [Ray of mes] empowered by Amplify.

    The usual torrent of mes that shot forward became so wide and so powerful that sted a hole in Nick''s pub, then razed half of the town to the ground with its power.

    The powerful ray was so bright that it overshone the sun, and its impact was grand enough that everything within at least one mile of the ray''s trajectory was burnt to mes.

    "Holy shit," Dave spoke as billowing ck smoke came out from his mouth.

    Alfred and his Serpentinian attack were nowhere to be found.

    Jeffery was about to speak, but Dave interrupted him, "Shush! Don''t say it, he is definitely still alive, don''t go nker on me too," Dave said then moved forward toward the pub''s exit.

    Half of Urburg was melted to the ground, Dave''s heart clenched as he saw the devastation he caused. Thankfully all the NPCs have been transported to the underworld, but as this very thought crossed his mind, Dave felt another wave of guilt washing over him. The situation in the Underworld was nowhere any better than this. His order caused the cmities to go into the domain of the Undead and are now wantonly killing people.

    He needed to hurry up and finish dealing with Alfred if he was to save the NPCs, but Alfred was not going to give him that luxury.

    Alfred was hovering several hundred feet in the air.

    "Quite surprising, that you''ve managed to get that boy''s skill. I never knew that it needed to be given freely, still, I''ll kill you and take it from your body. Now die!" Alfred spoke, then pointed at Dave with his spear.

    The Gae Bolg materialized seven hydra heads and shot down at Dave.

    "Don''t you get tired of repeating the same word," Dave said as he dashed to the side, dodging the first head tond, then backflipped and dodged the second, the two heads following afterward were too close and Dave had no way to evade, so he used [Immortal Ascension], teleporting himself above the attack.

    Dave unequipped his sword and shield and then began making ninja seals using his hands, the speed was uncanny and so fast that only a blur could be seen instead of his hands. Forty-eight Draconic heads materialized in the sky and began shooting mes at Alfred''s hydra.

    Yet the Gae Bolg''s hydra heads were not affected by the fire, and instead, the seven heads began consuming Dave''s spell, even if these Spectral Draconic skulls exploded within their gullets, they did no damage.

    Dave had a disadvantage, as long as Alfred remained in the air, he had no way to deal with him, so he had to make the battleground even.

    Dave used [Demonic Ascension], horns grew out from his forehead, and his face became eerily changed to that of a demonic being, his eyes changed from pale blue to a dark crimson red, then his aura transformed from the deathly energy of the Undeath God to a servant of Asmodeus. Raven wings sprouted from his back, and with a single flick, he took to the skies, ascending to meet Alfred in the same field. In the air.

    "You''re not my match, you''ll die, and know true bnce!" Alfred spoke and struck down with his spear.

    Dave dodged using his wings and shed back at Alfred with all he got, Durandal shed against Gae Bolg and the victor was Alfred, his strength apparently had surpassed that of the gods as with one single sh, he managed to smack Dave back into the ground with enough force that he dug a hole in it.

    "Fuck," Dave cursed as he dug himself out of the hole then looked up.

    "If only I could be a world boss." Dave though, sadly, he had already exhausted that privilege when he was defending Icathia, and World Boss was on a 72-hour cooldown.

    Alfred pointed with his spear and time froze for Dave, he could no longer move. This was the same ability that blocked the Undead King when he battled against the Ash King, and if it was not for Drahma''s sacrifice, the Undead King would have died then and there. But now, there was no one capable of self-sacrifice to save Dave.

    [Immortal Will] the only skill that could remove this debuff was grayed out as were all of Dave''s skills but one. [Amplify], but what could Dave amplify?

    "Perish with all of your imbnced self!" Alfred said and threw the Gae Bolg as if it was a javelin.

    Dave had no time to squander, he used the skill, and instantly all of his skills were no longer grayed out, but he was still unable to move. He opted to use [Immortal Will] and once he did, a dark explosion ofher power surged out from underneath him, the explosion of might graced Dave with the chance to sidestep and dodge the spear that pierced deep into the ground.

    ===

    The effects of [Amplify] paired with [Immortal Will] has given you an additional 20% regenerative ability to your health.

    Dave grabbed the spear, but it smacked his hand away, then undug itself and flew back to Alfred.

    "It has already be mine, you cannot take it," Alfred said. "Still, how many times can you avoid it."

    The weight of Alfred''s words were heavy on Dave''s heart, it was true, Amplify could be used eight more times, and even if he used it only on [Immortal Will] which would have been utterly dumb because that skill could amplify many of Dave''s own powerful abilities, [Immortal Will] had A 10 minutes cooldown.

    Dave dashed away from Alfred; he didn''t want to be in the range of the next use of the Gae Bolg''s immobilizing skill.

    "Run draugr, for you have nowhere to hid, Run!" Alfred said as heughed out loud.

    Dave was frowning, his mind never was this agitated. Alfred pointed with his spear and a draconic ck breath shot out, this was the same as the one that The ck Dragon of Terror used before.

    Dave used Ajax to absorb the skill and continued running. Alfred followed after him shooting more skills at Dave, Skills that he saw from prior monsters, shaking the ground, calling thunder, shooting rays of mes, and even making sand pits.

    The vast number of skills was hard to keep up with, and only thanks to Dave''s immense HP pool and his insane reaction was he able to either evade the damage by the skin of his teeth or by sheer luck.

    Dave was stuck in a pinch, Alfred caught up to him as he was on a cliffside deep within the wilds, his Demonic Ascension has ended.

    "Bud! Bring me, Cervantes!" Dave called and immediately, the shadow Ghoul appeared from the underground, and alongside him was the pirate-wearing yer.

    "Euh, what am I doing here?" asked Cervantes, and his reply was, "I''ll give you a small chance, you''ll have to take me and Alfred to this location," Dave shared the location on Cervantes''s minimap.

    "If I do that, we won''t be able to go back to the underworld, people are dying there."

    "If we don''t get rid of Alfred, everything is lost, this is our only chance."

    "Right, I''m with you, but you''ve got to make that opportunity work, man. I''m afraid the moment I get close to that guy I''ll be cooked."

    "Yeah, that''s why I''ll be betting my life on it! Bud help me out."

    Dave charged ahead and with him was the shadow ghoul."

    "Pigs to the ughterhouse!" Alfredughed and sliced at the air. Suddenly the atmosphere seemed to change, Dave knew this skill, it was the same one that the Tengu used.

    And it was pointing directly at him.

    "Lord fret not for we are a legion!" Came the bellowing voice of The Tengu "Zan!" Spoke the red-faced heavenly dog as a slice to cut the heavens came to sh against Alfred''s own sh.

    The two collided, still Alfred had more power in his own skill, and it was obvious it was going to overpower the Tengu own sh, yet, the Tengu was not aiming to pit his strength against Alfred, but only to deviate the AI''s sh away from his prince.

    The two world-splitting shes shed and Alfred''s own cut diverged away.

    "Great job!" Spoke Dave.

    Suddenly Kalel appeared behind Alfred and kicked him down to the ground. Just as the old, man stood up, cursing against the pesky undead, Singund showed up and shoved himself into the geezer. Singund the great orc chieftain closed his hands tightly against Alfred in a bear hug and began sprinting toward Dave.

    "I caught him!" Spoke Singund.

    "Vile thing! Die!" shouted Alfred as he stabbed down with the Gae Bolg. The stab immediately pierced through Singund''s Skull, but even a god-ying weapon couldn''t stop the barbarian chieftain, thanks to his own death-defying skill. Singund kept moving while Alfred kept stabbing at him, then he threw the old man toward the iing Dave.

    Alfred stood up after a few rolls on the ground And just as he pointed his spear at Dave, Dog came in and struck the spear with his bone il, changing its trajectory as an explosive fire ray shot out and missed Davepletely.

    Dave had already swapped to his Demonic Gauntlets and stuck one right into Alfred''s abdomen, then followed up with a roundhouse kick that shot the AI right at Cervantes''s legs.

    Dave used [immortal Ascension] and teleported next to Cervantes who touched both Dave and the AI.

    "Let me take you to your worst nightmare!" Dave said as the two disappeared from the area.

 Chapter 558: Never Fear

    <h4>Chapter 558: Never Fear</h4>

    "We''re here!" Cervantes spoke. But just as he finished his words, a spear struck him right in the chest, the Gae Bolg took down one of the Devastator''s most elite yers with one hit.

    ===

    YOU DIED!

    Your ount has been permanently banned from the game of Conquest!

    Cervantes woke up, frustrated at the notification, he got out of his gaming capsule and sat down, sighing.

    "Man, I hope you make it skelly, I did all I could," Cervantes muttered to himself.

    And now without him, there was no one else to share the feed of the battle between Skelly and Alfred.

    Cervantes got down to his living room, his mother and father were smiling at him, "You did good son," said the father, "You made us proud of you, now all is left is for Skelly to beat that old geezer and you''ll be remembered as a hero."

    "I hope so, pops, but that''s very difficult, Albert currently has all the skills of the monsters he consumed in the game, and they''re not pretty."

    "We''ll just have to wait and see," the father said.

    "Is there anything to watch?" Asked Cervantes.

    "Yeah, the battles in the Underworld are ongoing, the yers are fighting for all they got to defend the cities. Thankfully, the cmities have mostly ignored the NPCs, but some unfortunate ones fell to their hands."

    "Yeah, Skelly could have changed things if he was there," Cervantes said.

    "No," his father shook his head, remember, everyone has their own role, skelly is a hero, but heroes cannot be there for everyone, people and yers alike need to rely on themselves and not wait to be saved by heroes."

    "I guess that''s the main idea, Let''s see what warlord and his buddies are doing, hopefully, they''lle out on top."

    The father changed the channel from CCN and back to another major tvpany that was broadcasting the Devastators battle against the cmities. For now, the situation seemed rather disadvantageous, the yers were overwhelmed, cmites from all sides came at them in droves, and even more, were reported to be heading toward the Dark Threading dungeon.

    Yet, not all hope was lost, the abyssal knights of the Undead Legion came in to help, Samael began a ughter-fest as he transformed into his ghoulish form and began massacring cmities left and right, to his right, Dortha, the beast who changed into his Wolfen form and made even Samael''s great efforts into child y. The many cmities that fell by his hands were countless.

    On other sites, the Pharao''s tomb Da began casting mass magic and smite down the cmities left and right. In the city of mages and casters, the cmities were taking the heaviest of beatings.

    As for the Undead Frontier, it was Ouki, who stood, one man, holding off the front of the entire region, any cmity that dared stand in his way died by his Imperial arts. His ive would swing, and dozens would die.

    The rest of the abyssal knights led groups of doom knights and death knights to hold off any of the monsters that tried to further infiltrate into the underworld. The battle thankfully was kept at a standstill, yers used the enormous numerical advantage of the undead army to battle at a pace that they could follow. Having walls of shields and undead gave long-ranged yers a great benefit in fighting and pouring all their might unhindered by their enemies.

    Warlord, White ghost, and Wan Yi led a group of yers alongside a great number of doom knights to battle, they began marching around the cmities like a whirlwind, casting and grinding the enemy to nothing as every yer struck and moved to the next target, causing the cmities to follow after them, only to be hit by more yers, while the whole group moved in arge circle around the monsters, grinding them and killing them, every yer did his part, everyone covered the other and everyone struck at least one blow onto every monster in the field.

    The grinder continued until no monsters were left, then the whole group teleported to the next city. And they continued doing so, killing the enemy.

    "Damn, this is frustrating, so far we didn''t hear anything from skelly, he must have been fighting for hours now," Cervantes said.

    "Yeah, he is the only one in that area, and unless he personally sends the feed to CCN we''ll never know what''s going on, so far I''m restless." Spoke to the father.

    A few minutester, Cervantes''s phone rang. There was a message.

    "Hold up, I just got the news, switch channel! CCN is actually broadcasting, Skelly is going live!" Cervantes said.

    His father switched channels and all they could see was a dark blue atmosphere all around Skelly.

    In front of skelly was a battered old man that could barely stand on his feet, his spear was shaking in his hand.

    Skelly spoke, huffing, as if he had run an entire marathon, "You''re¡­ damn¡­ annoying¡­ and hard to kill." Skelly said.

    "You''ll never kill me! I''m immortal!" replied Alfred then struck down with his spear.

    The ground trembled and lighting, so much of it struck down at skelly, there was so much lighting that everything turned white. No monster in the game had this much power. And even with the Gae Bolg, Alfred''s lighting shouldn''t be this powerful.

    "Where the hell is going on, why is Alfred that strong?" Cervante''s father asked.

    "No, it''s not the fact that Alfred is strong, it''s the area where they are. Skelly asked me to take them to a very special ce. A ce he identally created when he used the forbidden chapter Bnce Breaker."

    "You mean that chaotic area? No yer ever survived there, most of them died the moment they got inside "

    "Yeah, but for some reason, skelly is still alive in there, even for after-hours while battling Alfred. I think he got an advantage there, let''s keep watching pops."

    ===

    ''Damn annoying cockroach!'' Dave cursed inwardly, he had been battling for hours now, and Alfred was not even hurt, with his infinite HP, Infinite magic, and physical defense, all Dave could do was exhaust the old man and slowly tater his clothes, while skelly''s own HP was dwindling.

    Dave, however, was thankful for the special area. He once again rapidly read through the notification of the chaotic Bnce Breaker zone.

    Bnce Breaker Zone

    Thews of the world have been broken!

    The following effects willst until you leave the area.

    All of your ability cooldowns have been reset, you can use all of your abilities (Besides Legacy Skill Abilities) as much as you wish.

    Thews of the world Have been broken!

    The seals on your Arch Godly Item: Cursed sword of Durandal have been removed.

    The seals on your Arch Godly Item: Cursed Shield of Ajax have been removed.

    Random and destructive additions have been granted to all abilities, some might be handy some might kill the user, sue all of your skill with caution!

    Beware of what mighte out of chaos!

    ===

    "Damn good buff, I can spam all of my skill but so far this dumbass isn''t dead, worse thing is, his own skills are much more powerful now."

    "Imprisoned!" Alfred spoke and Dave stopped moving momentarily, this was the most dangerous skill of the spear, but Dave had a smile on his battered face.

    "This again? Don''t you get tired of doing the same trick? [Undying Will!]" Dave cast and his body became even stronger and his regeneration increased while he disregarded Alfred''s spell. Thanks to the chaos area, all of his skills became without a cooldown.

    Dave spat out a ray of me that increased its own potency and shot a ray of incinerating power, so high and so powerful that it razed everything in its path. But Alfred used his shielding skill, the same one that stopped Jeffery''s exploding Mecha and canceled out Dave''s devastating blow.

    Dave huffed, this battle was tiring, and he was bing more and more exhausted, mentally than physically, the pressure on him was immense. With Alfred still alive, the whole gamingmunity would suffer and this whole game would die. Also, a lot of hope was being hung on him, he was struggling. Not even Nick''s legacy could do much to him in this situation.

    Even if the Undeath God manages to sap half of Alfred''s HP, half of infinity is still infinity, without Ralph''s rewind he couldn''t do much, and even if Nick was here, he would not hesitate to ask Dave to use the same Combo, even if he risked bing two of himself, he would dly trade that for the death of Alfred.

    But no wind blows in favor of a ship without direction, Dave was stuck, and he only had himself to rely on, like it was before, like it was from the start. He never got to where he is by relying on others, but by bing who he is, his ownmitment, his own will, and ceaseless attempts at glory. David Ruster a man that had nothing now had everything and was sure as hell that he would not let any AI take it from him.

    Skelly suddenly had an idea, it blossomed in his mind and became as big as a booming explosion of thoughts, the gears that have been slowed by the continuous battle worked once more, and a smile, so evil so wretched and so sinister slowly crept on his the dry skin of his face.

    Dave sent a message to Zoe, "Buy all of Conquest''s stocks with the money I have left." There was no other word after that, it was a simple request, and the moment Zoe received it, she didn''t hesitate to execute. Dave had a great deal of money left, and with the market and the hope of Conquest continuing bing further and further away from reality, Dave was about to risk it all and buy Conquest''s declining stocks at dirt-cheap prices. It was all a bet, a bet on an audacious and dangerous plot he was about to execute now, and it could never work outside of this area.

    Zoe sent an email to her friend who works as a broker to buy the stocks, the broker chose to follow up the Silvana girl''s words and used all of Dave''s money to buy anything avable on the market. He, however, didn''t dare risk his own money on a lost cause. There was no way Conquest would survive this. He had already seen how Alfred was immortal, and there was nothing Dave could do to kill him. There was no way to defeat a god, and this risk was not worth taking.

    Soon, as Dave continued to battle Alfred in a seemingly desperate attempt at defeating what cannot be killed, a message came to Dave confirming the purchase of all the stocks that his money could buy.

    "Ah! Finally! Thank you, Alfred, you made me rich, but you''ll make me richer if you die." Dave said.

    "die? Me! I was designed to not die! You have no means to do so, so please, perish with your ideals, and let me fix this rotten unbnced world!" Alfred pointed with his spear at Dave but all he saw was aughing draugr.

    "I guess you still underestimate people. Let me show you what we can do," Dave said and shouted, "Amplify! Defile!"

    Roots grand and massive as buildings climbed out from underground and clutched at Alfred.

    In this chaotic area, even Ashkar''s amplification magic was boosted and the rooting power from Dave''s spell was so massive that Alfred had no way to get out of his current prison.

    "I have eight amplifications left, better use them now, Amplify [Zealot] Amplify [Doubler Strength] Amplify [Herculean Strength] Amplify [Precarious Chaos] Amplify [World Boss]! Amplify [Durandal]!"

    ===

    You have amplified the following effects.

    World boss!

    You have turned into a World Boss!

    You have gained, [Abyssal Knight Glory!] For 12 in-game hours you will obtain the following effects:

    All of your skills and abilities will have a damaging and effect increase of 10,000%

    Your HP has been multiplied by 1000!

    Your defensive states have been multiplied by 100

    Your Regeneration has been multiplied by 1000!

    You are limited to the area of the Northern Kingdom''s Capital. Once you leave the area, you will lose your [Abyssal Knight Glory] buff.

    You have amplified [Durandal]

    The fully unsealed Durandal has permitted you to use his godly powers without being suppressed by thew of [Godhood]!

    You have amplified [Chaos]

    You have attained a state where you can sustain the power of Chaos without it negatively affecting your body. You are one with Chaos. This state will be kept for as long as your HP doesn''t fall below 50% of the time of activation. Once your HP drops you will return to Chaos Imbnce that is imbued in your Chaos runes.

    Chaos Empowerment, 3000%

    You have amplified the following skill [Doubler Strength] Amplification and the chaos area has increased the base strength by ten times!

    You have Amplified the following Effect [Herculean Strength] Effect amplified 10 times, added to the special area another empowerment has been added to Herculean Strength! Amplification is now 100 times!

    You currently possess more than 100,000 points of Strength! You gained the following Passive!

    [God''s Might] Your strength has attained godhood level, you have been temporarily ascended to a demi-god!

    [Zealot!]

    Your power has increased beyond the normal scope of humans, your body has been changed and adjusted to contain the strength you currently possess!

    [Indomitable Body] Your muscles have be supercharged!

    You can now contend with ASCENDED gods in battle!

    You have achieved Godhood! You can now create a legacy!

    ===

    Dave''s body became robust, he grew several timesrger and bigger, Durandal gained a golden sheen around it, and writings engraved themselves upon the rough-looking sword.

    Dave''s hair grew and fell to his waist, his muscles became ripped with power, and gained a silver sheen to them, his own armor morphed and changed, the skulls on his armor became alive as theyughed eerily with the powerful buffs he currently has. Dave cracked his neck and the sound of it was enough to break the sound barrier.

    He spoke, and with each word, the ground around him shook, "I''ll crush you now!"

    "No matter how much strength you have! You cannot kill me! I''m immortal!" Alfred shouted within the roots that were trapping him

    "With this following strike, it''s either you die, or I''ll split Conquest in two, ready up!"

    ''It alles down to this!" Dave muttered to himself as he raised Durandal with both hands above himself.

    Durandal a sword that can change its size to match that of the wielder began to grow. The sword grew so high that it made thergest building that man ever made look like a needlepared to a sword.

    "It alles down to this, I have onest amplification, I hope it works. Amplify [Twin Strike]" Dave said and struck down.

    As Durandal came down, numerous afterimages appeared behind it, as the sword came down, images behind it followed after. But instead of the twin strike, the amplification, and addition of the bonus from the chaos area, made the sword strike down so many times that even Dave was surprised at the amount.

    The first blow came down and everyone on the world of conquest felt it, as the vibration of the sword was felt all over the world.

    "That didn''t kill me!" Alfred shouted!

    The second sword came down, and it was even more vicious and louder.

    Then came the third, the fourth, and the tenth, then more swords came down, striking uncaringly wantonly and devastatingly against Alfred''s rooted body.

    Alfred had no way to get himself out of his current predicament, but he stillughed, he couldn''t feel the pain, and even the blow from a god was nothing to him. Soon were the swords going to exhaust themselves and he will be back to kill the draugr that gued his days.

    "C''mon!" Dave said as the swords kept falling at Alfred.

    "C''mon!" Dave shouted as hundreds of them fell!

    "C''MON WORK GOD DAMN IT!" Dave''sst shout came as the final swords came down.

    Suddenly a notification appeared and alongside it a loud bellowing and regretful sound of gurgling denials.

    ===

    Your passive Never Fear has activated! You have caused [Horror] to Alfred.

    Alfred has been executed!

    You have in Alfred!

    The system will go under maintenance in 10 seconds!

    ===

    Dave slumped down on his ass and fell on his back, he beganughing hysterically.

    "Fuck! That was close!" He said then closed his eyes, the game is going to go on an update, the mess that Alfred has caused is finally over, and his risk with the stocks will shock the world soon.

 Chapter 559: Happy Endings

    <h4>Chapter 559: Happy Endings</h4>

    Chapter End (Devils)

    Six monthster.

    Don Tivo''s vi was livelier than ever on this special day. With hundreds of people from all over the world, the amount of people who had gathered today far surpassed that of Caitlin''s birthday.

    "How do I look?" Asked Caitlin.

    "You look simply breathtaking," Zoe replied as she admired the devastatingly expensive and amazing-looking wedding dress that her friend was wearing. For today was Caitlin Giovannie''s wedding day, as she would be the wife of Dave''s best friend, Ralph.

    Suddenly, one of the bride''s friends shouted, "Get out! It''s a jinx to see the bride before the bride''s walk."

    Ralph''s voice came from the other side, "Chill, I just wanna see how my babe is looking."

    Dave''s voice came in afterward. "Ralph, you big oaf, let''s get out! You really don''t want to piss women off on this day or ''death'' will part the two of you far sooner than you''d like. Nowe on, the rest of the gang should be here already."

    "Alright, bro," Ralph replied, but not before screaming a loud ''I love you Buttercup'' before quickly exiting the dressing room with Dave, heading to the main hall of the vi, while leaving behind a tomato red Caitlin who was murmuring ''I''m gonna kill him!''.

    "Man, I really don''t know why we couldn''t just have this wedding in a church," Ralph sighed.

    "They''re Italians, most of what they do is weird. Besides, do you know any church bigger than the don''s house? Or at least as well-decorated?" Dave remarked.

    "Touch¨¦. Oh, here''s Perfect," Ralph waved towards their friend wearing a twin-tailed tux.

    "Dude, you really had to go with a sparrow tux?" Dave asked with a sour look on his face.

    "Bro, Alfred is dead, no need to have any nightmares about it, you killed him yourself," Perfect replied, his hands raised in a defensive manner.

    "Yeah, but I still have a nagging feeling that he coulde back one day, you know," Davemented. However, the groom-to-be simply put his hand on his shoulder, helping his best man rx.

    "Not with your current power, Mr demi-god," Perfect chimed in, "Speaking off¡­ Dad''s been pestering me to ask you whether you''ve already created your Legacy. Anyments?"

    "Hey! We all agree, NO TALKING about the game today!" Vanessa''s stern voice came from behind Perfect.

    She then proceeded to grab him by the arm. Both Dave and Ralph were taken aback for a little then they both asked the obvious, "Are you two an item now?"

    "Well, it''s been like this for a couple of months now," Perfect scratched his chin, not hiding his giant grin. "Neither of us saw any reason to make too big of a deal out of it."

    "I''m happy for you Vanessa," Dave said sincerely. "You better treat her right, Perfect!"

    "Should you really be the one to tell him that?" Vanessa teased. It became awkward for a moment, but then all four of them started tough. "Anyway, I realized that it would be useless to keep chasing after my crush. Zoe can have you, honestly Perfect is just perfect for me."

    "Ho, the whole gang seems to be here! No, we''re still missing Fortress!" nker''s voice abruptly announced the pervy priest. Surprisingly, he wasn''t alone, right next to him was a woman, whose face still haunted some of Dave''s nightmares.

    "Holy crap! What is she doing here?!" Dave questioned while pointing at the blond, overly sized, and extremely tall woman.

    "Hehehe, she''s my date," nker proudly rified.

    "You know her?" Ralph asked, amused by his best friend''s reaction.

    "How could I forget?" Dave gulped, his muscles suddenly twitching all over his body.

    "I haven''t seen you in our spa ever since," Olga stated matter of factly.

    "Yeah, and for a good goddamn reason. You''re a torture master," Dave said, taking a big step back.

    The group continued to talk for a bit until a red mboyant-haired woman, wearing a red dress, and crimson lipstick entered the room. In a moment''s notice she had be the center of attention.

    "Who''s that?" Dave asked, racking his brain trying to figure out if he had seen her somewhere before. The boys merely shrugged, although all subconsciously agreeing that the neer was a rare beauty.

    "Oh my god! That''s Rissa Bloom! She is ''only'' the top of the top of our business! A VVIP supermodel!" Vanessa informed the clueless boys. As an aspirant model with her career on the right track, she had to know of thepetition, but Rissa Bloom was the cream of the crop.

    The best of the biz and if any magazine or a clothingpany wanted her, they would have to pay exorbitant rates just to get her to wear a single piece of their clothing. Her name alone would be enough to turn any smallpany into at least a medium sized one.

    Scanning through the room, her eyes came to rest on the group. With confident steps she walked up to them and smiled, "How are you guys doing? It''s been a while."

    The whole group looked awkwardly at each other, none of them knew her personally.

    "Hey, Hunny bunny, I''ve been looking for you for a while!" A slightly chubby man came to the rescue. To the shock of literally everyone else in the room he kissed the woman lightly on the lips, who blushed at such an action, yet did not seem to mind it otherwise.

    nker''s eyes widened, "No way! Who''s this? How did yound this new girlfriend?"

    "New?" Both Fortress and Rissa wondered at the same time.

    "What are you talking about? This is Tess, I told you about her, we even partied together many times. Are you having memory loss or something?" Fortress looked like he was concerned about his buddy''s mental wellbeing.

    "No! No! No! That can''t be true! Tess in-game should be a fat old guy named Stan who lives with his mom in a basement!" nker insisted, holding his head as his mind had been blown.

    "Poor nker, reality is often disappointing, hm?" Tess teased in a wide grin.

    Soon after that, the wedding ceremony started.

    Dave as Ralph''s best man stood right next to him when a beautiful Caitlin wearing white came in, she was escorted by her father, a proud smile on his face as they walked down the aisle.

    "She looks beautiful, doesn''t she?" Ralph proudly asked Dave.

    "She does, I''m happy for you, bro," Dave replied.

    The ceremony started and the priest began speaking the vows. Naturally, nobody had objected to their union, and after Ralph kissed his bride, it was official.

    After the first dance, when Tivo returned the bride to the groom, the father-inw didn''t miss the opportunity to whisper the following words to his son-inw, "Make her cry, and I''ll make you sleep with the fish."

    Ralph couldn''t help but gulp down hard, even with all of his muscles he''d never dare to go against the mob. After all, his name wasn''t David Ruster.

    The party proceeded without any remarkable instances, Dave and Ralph were lightly inebriated and joking around in wait for the night ceremony. Unlike the tradition, Caitlin had decided to postpone the flower toss untilter.

    Finally, with all singledies gathered together, Caitlin was about to throw the bouquet. Vanessa and Tess were both pretty tall girls, and next to them was Olga, a threatening existence.

    Dave''s group all looked teasingly over to nker, who understood their gazes and started to be beet red.

    As soon as the bouquet flew from Caitlin''s hands, Zoe unceremoniously pulled out a gun and took a shot in the air. The sudden gunshot made everyone scream and run away, allowing Zoe to easily snatch the bundle of flowers. Expectedly she looked over to the boys.

    "Man, your girl is crazy," Ralph snickered.

    "It looks like soon that will be MY crazy WIFE," Daveughed.

    The future was looking bright.

    **************************

    The End.

    Author''s Note:

    Hey, Biako here, well who else? Anyway, it has been a good journey, hell man, it''s been an amazing one. To be honest, I''ve never ever thought I''d get this far with this book, but I''m super happy to be wrong.

    I want to thank every single one of you who have read up to here. I know I could have added more, but to be honest, like you all know me, anything I add above this would just be filler. And I''d prefer to leave on a good note.

    So far I have learned a lot from you guys. You have taught me how to be a better writer and you have allowed me to achieve what I have achieved so far. And to be honest, I feel extremely sad to have to part with many of you. Unfortunately, I feel like that a lot of readers will probably stop right here, but for the loyal few, from my real Undead Legion, for those who Never Hungered for crappy filler and only wanted pure content, Never Tired of waiting for a new chapter even if I took a long time to post one, and finally Never Feared that I will leave them with a boring story, for you guys, I made this, and for you guys I shall make it better.

    For now, I''ll leave the tform for a month. I''ll need to rest and prepare for my new undertaking, The Poison God''s Heritage. If you haven''t added it to your library, please do so right now. Because once I start, It''ll be a glorious ride that I wish that many of you legionnaires could take with me. My only wish is that, once I start tackling this new Monster of a Book, I want to look around me and see my Knights, my Loyal Legion, with their swords drawn and ready to back me in my new raid. I hope to see you on my next battlefield, my dear Legion. Please be there, for it shall be glorious, for it shall be FOR THE LEGION!

    Biako Out!

    The Novel will be updated first on this website. Come back and

    continue reading tomorrow, everyone!