《The undead starting zone is the worst》


 chapter 1 The new age of legends began a new

    The world of Zostrora was a world where the times of legends came and went often, with both great progress and destructive results to show as a result. This caused such times to be both feared and reveared by the people of the world. Feared for they would have to live in such dangerous times again because of the great acts done and legendary treasures left behind for those to come after them.


    One such great treasure left behind was the lighthouse of Alexdra. One of the great wonders of the world, as it shows one of the brightest lights in Zostrora. It was the only thing keeping the terrible beast in the dark ink from tearing the lands of Zostrora apart.


    The common people lived in wonder of the heroes born and the great deads they committed in the legendary era. The people also shuddered in horror at what the villains at the time did at the horrors they unleashed upon the world. The children of the common man often pretended to be the heroes and villains, replaying the legends of the past.


    Once such story of legend the children loved to play out was the story of the battle between the dwarven villain Fotin and the elven heroine Amra. The elven druid Amra had defended the woods under her protection against the brutal assault from the dwarven alchemist Fotin, who wanted to drain the forest of all its worth. Children liked to play the story because they got to pretend to command an army of animals or pretend to have access to unending explosives. Either way, they had fun.


    The leaders feared such times because it was a time of testing as the leaders of empires and kingdoms were pushed to their limits to maintain their domain. It was a time when, if disasters were not shattering countries, it was the revolutionaries toppling the government to bring about the change they wanted. If the leaders survived and if their realm did as well, they would be legends.


    One such legendary king would be Leocres, a legendary king of the Lion People who kept his people together despite constant assaults by hyena raiders and dealing with droughts at the same time. This was unlike his neighbor, the crodile king, who found his kingdom undone by a revolutionary simply known as the ticker.


    Even the gods both loved and feared the times of legends. As they could find their pantheon flipped upside down with their leaders overthrown or outright slain. But for the ambitious young god, it was a time to improve their standing among their compatriots. For those older gods who could shelter the storm and defeat all those who dared to come for their throne, they would find their power increased greatly through new believers inspired to faith in seeing their demonstration of might.


    One god of a pantheon that was made up of desert gods found himself growing in power as many powerful sand storms began to tear through the land far more than ever before. So the Olios god of sand found his power increasing as people needed him to cross the dessert and not be left to die in the desert''s endless sands. This was just one of many tales of the gods benefiting from the unnatural increase of natural disasters that will occur in a time of legends.


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    So it sufficed to say none escaped unscathed from the storm that was a new era of legends. None were spared; none would be safe from the times reach, as it was not distinct from class, race, gender, or even creed. For in an era of legends, the blood flood flows as champions kill each other across the world.


    This was a darker aspect of the times of legend as Great City burned. Thousand were slaughtered, whether they were soldiers fighting on vast battlefields or farmers fleeing for their lives in fields. Ancient works would be lost as others would be discovered while others still would be destroyed, never to be found again. These were among the many tragedies and miracles of the time of legends, as the innocent were slaughtered, the evil butchered, and works of good destroyed, as well as artifacts of evil sealed away never to be seen again.


    Sadily for Zostrora, the time of legends was upon them once again, though only a few had noticed the early signs of a new age of legends, but it was starting once again whether they knew it or not. So whoever you are, whatever you may be, may the fates watch over you because only they can help you in times of bloody chaos such as these.


    The fates watched from the realms above Zostrora, watching and cataloging all that happened, all that was destroyed, as well as all that was made at the time it happened. They were the only ones who knew the total truth of history; they knew that not all villains were truly villainous and not all heroes were truly heroic. Though they would never go down to Zostrora to correct the record as it was not their place to do such things, they merely kept a total record of all things, no more, no less.


    As all went about their business, both the knowing and the ignorant, to prepare for the next age of legends or to go about their lives as they had for years before, there was one god who was preparing, though he was sure it wouldn''t be enough like all the times before. Phabium was a god of monsters; in fact, he was the greater god of all monsters.


    He was trying to prepare for the time of legends that would be when all the civilized races champions, both heroes and villains alike, sharpened their skills slaughtering those under his domain. He had tried time and time again to prepare to keep as many of his monsters alive as possible, trying plan after plan only to have it fail as they only survived because they bounced back from the edge of extinction quickly.


    "Perhaps this time it will be different." Phabium said quietly to himself in his realm above Zostrora as God of all monsters. He hoped, as he always did every time a new age came, that this age of legends would be different from the ones that came before. Sadily each time it was just more of the same as those he shepherded were slaughtered despite his best efforts. But perhaps this time it truly would be different perhaps this time there truly would be a new age for those he shepherded.

 chapter 2 The end of monsters begins once again

    All across the world, heroes and villains, like those coming from great cities to poor villages, went out into the world. Thus taking the first step on their grand journey that would be made into an epic tale at the end. Though whether these tales were of them helping those in need or tormenting the innocent would be dependent on who was walking the journey and what they turned into by its end. Though both tales of heroes and villains had mentions of those monsters they killed along their path.


    That was truly a main part of all tales told in the legendary age¡ªthe whole slaughter of monsters. Though at the beginning the focus of the tale had to use their intelligence, skill, and cunning to defeat the monster, by the end the greatest monster could be crushed by these champions of legends with but a wave of the hand. There is no speaking of the life''s the monsters made for themselves, for the killers see only savage beasts and not anything deeper that lays beneath. They do not see the heroes and villains that lay among monsters, as that would mean seeing themselves in the monsters, which they refused to do.


    One such hero among monsters was the ogre bad tooth. He was tormented by a bad tooth that kept him in constant agony, but when the ogre hunters came to his home to slaughter his people to kill them all for glory and valuable ogre skin. Bad tooth stood his ground, holding off many a hunter before he fell, allowing his people to escape, but to those who played him, he was no hero, no worthy advisory, just a stronger beast to gloat about killing at the bar later.


    A villain born from them that was whispered about even among his own monster kind was Greca the Goake, a hybrid goat snake monster. He used his powers over poison in combination with his horns to leave a trail of broken and dying people all crying out in agony as they waited for the sweet release of death. Eventually he was slouched by the hero, who thought him merely an interesting hunt instead of the sadistic villain he truly was.


    Those going on these grand monster-slaying adventures they do not care about the kingdoms they destroyed either, for they did not see them as kingdoms. They merely saw them as ravenous savage hordes or mere beast dens, for it is so much easier to slaughter a people when they are not people but vermin to put down for the good of all. They didn''t even show respect for the kings and queens of these fallen nations and, on more than one occasion, didn''t even bother identifying who the royals were leading these small monster nations, so many were left to just rot in the ruins of their once budding kingdoms.


    One such tale of a monster''s kingdom being cruelly destroyed without the slightest thought was the tale of the spider queen Spikera; her kingdom of webs had stood for generations, spawning legion after legion of ferocious spider warriors. Then, in but a moment, the Spikera kingdom of webs were undone, burned to crisp to satisfy the needs of a pyromage to burn all that was in their path. There was no great threat that Spikera Kingdom posed to the wider world, but it was in the way of one who loved to watch things burn, so her kingdom did.Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel.


    Another tale of a small monster kingdom horrific slaughter by those who thought the task nothing more than a mere chore was the fall of the kingdom of Akreg. They were hardy people born living in massive dirt mounds and masters of acid. Their kingdom was destroyed by a dwarven hero so that they could mine the ore that the Akreg people lived near, and you do not negotiate with monsters; you kill them. So a kingdom that had lived for four kings was snuffed out in a single battle by a hero who did not consider the story of their valiant defense of their existence worthy of putting into his grand legend.


    The gods of the monster pantheon were helpless as they watched their people turn from them in this harsh world of survival. For how can they believe they have gods in a world where all the civilized races hunt them for fun, making it clear to them they exist to die for the legends of the people''s champions? These gods exist perpetually, questioning whether they will survive this era of legends and if they will die as they watch the monsters they are supposed to govern be slaughtered and brought to the age of extinction once again.


    You will find many such sad tales as hundreds of heroes and villains among the monsters rise and die in a day. Thousands of monster kingdoms raised, then fell just as quickly as their hopes for a better future were crushed without remorse by those who merely wished to use the slaughter of their small kingdoms as a way to warm up for the true great battle ahead. A thousand legends of monsters were born and snuffed out, creating a hundred eras of legends among monster kings; all of them used to fuel the tales of the civilized races as they rose to great heights once again.


    Phabium watched all of this as the new age of legends began once again as fledgling champions slaughtered those under his care as the lesser gods of his pantheon held out hope that maybe this time wouldn''t be as bad as the last one. Phabium had more than hope, though he had a plan, as he had many times before in eras of legends that had come and gone. Though this time he had just enough to get aid from outside the world of Zostrora and the heavens above them.


    Usualy he would have been limited to training to controlling events on Zostrora to try and better the survival chances of the monster races on Zostrora. Now, while Phabium has never been able to prevent the slaughter of monsters; he was not that strong enough to turn that specific tide, he was able to prevent the wholesale extinction of several races over the years.


    Though this time he had saved up enough power to be able to call forth a champion. Though unlike his colleagues he would not be able to create some grand hero, he could bring someone who had drifted away from the river of Styx and was lost in the void between worlds. Hopefully, with this soul''s help, he could take a more direct course on Zostrora, and finally, for the first time in thousands of years, there would be a few legends of monsters that survived the age of legends.

 chapter 3 Maxwell Alston new start

    Maxwell Alston was closing in on three orc kingdoms that had come together to form a confederacy just to fight his undead kingdom. Which was nice to see considering the three orc kingdoms had spent the last fifty turns fighting each other before he showed up, so the fact they put aside their blood feuds just to deal with his undead army showed he was doing something right.


    He has spent his time fighting dwarves while the orcs have been fighting each other; luckily for him, there hadn''t been a winner in the three-way war. Otherwise, he probably would have gotten in orc charge to the rear of his undead hordes while trying to break the dwarves strongholds. But now it was too late, as he ordered his zombies into the meat grinder that was the orcish melee doing it to weaken them before he sent in his elites, such as his skeletal knights.


    Maxwell began to hear the boom of his necromantic cannons in his headphones as his undead dwarves began to pummel the orcs reserves. The orcs proved they were a warrior race as they fought hard long after it was obvious that defeat was certain. The only real threat left on the battlefield is the heroes of the three different orc kingdoms.


    "Stupid heros." Maxwell said bitterly as he had to direct a massive amount of his undead forces to overwhelm the three ork heroes. Maxwell found bitter resentment filling him as he watched many of his elite skeleton knights get smashed to pieces by the orc heroes, who weren''t way to make. Eventually, to reduce losses among his elites, he had the skeleton knight pull back and the zombies go forth. Of course, the zombies were getting cut down like they were made of paper, but they held them long enough for the undead dwarves to blow them to bits.


    Eventually, under the barrage of necrotic cannon fire, the three orc heroes finally died, allowing Maxwell to declare victory, rise undead orcs, and begin to march on the capitals of the new orc Confederacy. Maxwell had been annoyed at the fact it was so hard to kill heroes with troops due to the fact he had to use troops to kill them. As the undead were a monster faction in the era of legends strategy game.


    While the monster factions offered a lot of cool game play mechanics, such as the undead ability to use any troop so long as you mixed them with the power of necromancy, their biggest drawback is that they spawned no heroes or villains, which made them rather difficult to use against civilized factions in the game. In fact, despite the interesting unique mechanics of each monster faction, most chose one of the civilized factions, which were easier to use due to their respective heroes or villains, which the player could use to devastating effects on the battlefield.


    This meant that Maxwell was in the minority as not many players played the monster factions. As such, he tended to like playing the campaign on the game rather than playing against other players. Though when he had played the multiplayer function, he had done decent enough, all things considered. Maxwell watched as part of his undead horde lay siege to one of the orc capitals, of course, without the orc heroes, as he wasn''t allowed to raise them as undead.


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    He watched the animation of the orc defenders trying desperately to hold of his zombies as they scaled the walls despite knowing there were not near enough defenders to hold them off. Then the surge hit and electricity traveled through the entire computer, shocking Maxwell when it hit his computer, ending the memory.


    Maxwell took a moment to take in the feeling of victory he had before he began to run once again. As a soul, he had once been in the great river of souls traveling down it to either be sent to an afterlife or be reincarnated if he believed in that or nothing at all. Sadily though Maxwell was one of the unlucky few that fell out of the river of souls and was now forced to constantly be on the run from the many creatures that wanted to devour him.


    That''s how Maxwell spent his time as one of the dead, not in heaven facing eternity of happiness with all his relatives or in hell facing punishment for his sins not being sent back to earth to live again. No, he spent his time in the darkness of the void wondering around, trying to not accidentally walk into a creature''s gullet as he couldn''t make out their mouth in the darkness, and that was when he wasn''t running from the mass of tentacles and teeth that were the other denizens of the void.


    The few precious moments he had to himself and was not running or floating as a more accurate word to safety, he would spend reliving his memory''s. Though the problem with that was the void seemed to slowly take away his memory''s, leaving him remembering less and less of who he once was. The only memories he could hold onto were those associated with the moment of his death, which meant the ones he had spent playing the strategy game Age of Legends were the only ones he could seem to remember.


    So he only knew his name and how he once played a video game¡ªnot really a lot to keep a soul going when he was constantly on the run from the creatures of the void trying to not be devoured. As summoned by his thoughts once such a creature of teeth and tentacles made itself known as it came barreling after him. Once again, Maxwell floated as fast as he could in the sea of unending darkness, knowing that the chase would only end when something bigger ate whatever was chasing him.


    But as the chase went on for a while days, weeks, possibly years, it was impossible to tell in the void that Maxwell saw something that should have been impossible. He saw an opening; he saw a way out of the unending darkness. A bright portal had opened up not far from him, and a giant hand somehow made up of multiple different hands hanging from crab claws to ghoulish fingers waved him over.


    Many would hesitate at accepting the invitation of such a strange monstrous hand, but not Maxwell. He had been in the void for far too long, hunted in places where time held no meaning and millennia and seconds passed in the same breath. The portal was the first way out he had seen in a long time, and he was taking its consequences, be damned. So the soul of Maxwell Alston leaped through the portal into the new life that awaited him on the other side.

 chapter 4 meeting the god of monsters

    Maxwell took a moment as his senses had to take in light for the first time in what he felt was a very long time. Maxwell slowly looked around the new place he found himself in and, for the first time in what felt like centuries, saw something other than an unending void, though the new place he found himself in was no less strange.


    It was a strange, ever-changing landscape where the hives of different giant insects were constantly colliding with the mountains belonging to dragons, which were pushing through oceans belonging to kraken. Maxwell wasn''t entirely sure how any of what was going on around him worked, but before he could start to lose his mind to the constantly shifting landscape, he heard a polite cough behind him.


    So Maxwell turned and beheld the being that the hand that had guided him to the new realm belonged to. Just like the landscape around him was constantly shifting, gaining and losing limbs as it formed shifted from a hybrid of a centaur and ogre to that of a dragon and a crab. For a moment, the two just stared at each other, taking in the others presence before Maxwell spoke.


    "Welcome lost souls into my domain. I am the god of monsters, Phabium, for the world of Zostrora. I have called you here to bargain for your aid." Said Phabium, who waited with trepidation for Maxwell''s response to a possible offer from a being as terrifying as him.


    Maxwell merely stared at Phabium for a moment before responding. " Yes." Maxwell said he agreed to whatever Phabium wanted, not bargaining at all on his end of the deal. The sudden agreement clearly shocked Phabium, who was currently in the form of an eight-headed horse.


    Phabium looked at Maxwell for a moment, trying to think of the words he should say but finding he could only ask one. " Why?" Phabium asked, wanting to get to the bottom of the sudden agreement considering what little he knew was what his colleagues had told him about these summonings, which had told him that he should be offering an arm and a leg, not getting an easy yes.


    "You saved me." Maxwell said with a blank stare, and suddenly Phabium understood this soul was not some normal person torn from their world and offered great power as compensation. No, this was a lost soul that had been trying to escape being devoured in the void for who knows how long.


    Seeing the pain in the stare of Maxwell, Phabium spoke again. "I am in need of a ruler to lead my people in an age where they are slaughtered for sport. Would you lead them in this dark, hopeless time?" Phabium asked again, being sure that Maxwell knew what he was getting into, to which Maxwell merely nodded and eagerly said yes.


    Seeing that Maxwell was still eager to return the favor of freeing him from the void, whether the task was doable or even survivable, which wasn''t likely all things considered. So to try and return Maxwell''s blind eagerness as well as increase his odds of surviving, he began to show Maxwell the hundreds of options he had available to him, as Phabium was the god that ruled over the entire monster pantheon and so could provide any monster race as a starting option.


    For a while, the near limitless possibilities scrolled in front of Maxwell in a blue light. For a long moment, the endless options caused Maxwell''s head to spin as he saw monsters he''d heard off, ones he could guess the nature of, and hundreds more he couldn''t even pronounce.


    Phabium saw that Maxwell was overwhelmed by his options and decided it would be better to ask if he had preferences for a specific monster. "My brave lost soul, would you perhaps have a favorite you would like to choose?" Phabium asked, to which Maxwell nodded rapidly, causing Phabium to stop the floating blue scroll from showing its endless options and both it and Phabium to wait for Maxwell to tell them what monster he liked best.


    Maxwell took a moment to shake off the dizziness the endless list going through his eyes had caused; once he did, he spoke. "I would like to choose an undead race." Maxwell said wanting to become the ruler of a race he played the most as. Phabium nodded to the request and had the scroll show basic undead races for him to rule over as the more advanced ones would have far too specific requirements to function.


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    Zombies - those who have been brought back through flesh tend to be far tougher and stronger than other undead of similar power but in return for their toughness and strength they lose their intelligence and speed meaning as a ruler of them you would be expected to be the brain behind everything


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    Starter building: flesh pit- simply throw any loose flesh you can find into it and watch as the zombies began to flow out of it.


    Lord form: great grey brain- a giant brain made out of grey flesh that is usually found deep within a zombie horde it is able to command and controll every zombie in the horde as well as use their senses ti view the world.


    bonuses to simple siege building and hard labor negatives to research


    Skeletons- these undead are made from the bones of the deceased and in a pinch they do not even be a full skeleton and can be made from a pile of spare bones. Skeletons lack the strength and toughness of their zombie counterparts but they make up for such short comings with their skill as they carry the skill of the bones they are made from slowing them to master craftsman or warriors of legend depending on the bones their made of though to a lesser degree than to their living counter part.


    Starter building: bone chamber- a stone cavern is dug deep into the earth where bones are thrown in and form together to form a new skeletal undead once they have enough pieces.


    Lord form: giant bone amalgamation - the greatest bones of the skeletal legion are found and gathered for their lord to form his form so that he may march upon the world with only the greatest of the collective might of the legion.


    Bonuses to skilled labor negative to hard labor


    Ghost- more the memory of someone than actually being someone ghost are living memories of those who once were. Their incorporeal state keeps them from being hurt by your standard warriors but easily slain by any basic mage. As such most ghost are only threat to societies that don''t respect mage craft.


    Starter building: hall of memories- a hallway filled with dark items that call forth ghost related to the objects stored in the hall.


    Lord form: visage of the past- the darkest of memories from the most broken of spirits are gathered to form the horrific body of the Lord.


    Bonuses to research negatives to building and labor


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    Maxwell looked at his three choices for the starting options that branch out to all manner of undead. Looking at them, he had already figured out a few things, but if he wanted to accomplish his task, he should be sure, so he decided he should ask. "The great Phabium, would you mind going over how the status of monster ruler works so I''m sure I''ve got what I''m choosing?" Maxwell asked politely, to which Phabium nodded.


    "Of course I would be glad too." Phabium said before pointing to the list of options. "Each undead race had its advantages and disadvantages, as you no doubt know." Phabium stated, to which Maxwell nodded his agreement.


    "Well then, since you know the obvious, we can move into the advance. Each of the undead races will provide you with a body for your new undead life as a ruler. Each of them provided different benefits and weaknesses; they will also be affected by the strength of the kingdom you build." Phabium explained to Maxwell, who gave a happy smile at the thought of such a cool form after so long being a glowing light in the void.


    "That sounds awesome, great, Phabium, but just to be sure if everything works, how does the starter building work?" I figure there is the building I start with, but surely not the only one I can have." Maxwell asked politely, to which Phabium quickly gave his assurance.


    "Of course they will be the building you start off with in your new undead land, but you will build others as you grow and expand your undead kingdom." Phabium said, answering Maxwell''s question and putting any fears he might have had about his building option to rest.


    "Well then, that''s all the question I had; the only thing to do now is decide." Maxwell said for a moment, thinking on it, then remembering his old skeleton knights and wanting to create real ones to command, which ended up being the deciding factor for his choice. "I chose skeleton." Maxwell said in a confident voice.


    Phabium nodded and raised his hand, causing a portal to form. "Then go forth, new ruler of bones, and build your kingdom!" Phabium declared, to which Maxwell, with firm eyes, walked through the portal and found himself in a tunnel of pale light that carried him for a long time.


    Eventually the light show ended, and he found himself about to land in a pile of bones in an old cave when the portal sudenly changed location as a strange energy took over the exit of the portal just it was about to drop him off so instead of safely landing on the ground in a land of undead where he was suppose to be he was instead dropped high in the sky above a forest. He found himself as a skeleton, flying, throwing the air, and shattering against several trees, his bones scattering across the forest until he was just a skull.


    Maxwell took a moment to let the agony pass as he felt the pain of all his bones having been violently broken off. Once the pain finally passed, he looked around with the undead sight all skeleton had and saw he was in a forest that was very much the magical kind of the fairies dancing around the forest creatures were anything to go by. "Well, that could have started better." Maxwell said to himself as he tried to figure out how exactly he was going to start his undead kingdom as he was. Or had he already failed at the start?

 chapter 5 first day is a bad day

    Legotas was the god of legends, and being a legend was quite a good thing. Legotas had been on a winning streak as far as he could remember. No challengers to his throne; endless new legends to add to his power and ever-growing list of tales. Honestly, several of his temples looked more like tombs for his archives, with all the scrolls on legends he had in there than actual places of worship.


    So when he heard Phabium, the god of monsters, was plotting once again, he was quite happy. As everyone of them had failed so far, and usually when they did, they only added to the strength of his legends. Not to mention with another age of legends coming up, which was a decades-long holiday dedicated solely to him as far as Legotas was concerned. So he didn''t have any fears of Phabium breaking the cycle of his monster being cannon fodder for his glorious legends.


    Legotas good mood lasted until he heard from his fellow gods about how Phabium wasn''t going to get action, Zostrora, no, he was getting outside help. As far as Legotas could remember, Phabium has never done before and knew enough about someone pulling out something never before seen to be concerned.


    So Legotas knew he had to be on the safe side and interfere, as he couldn''t outright stop the summoning of outside help by Phabium due to ancient laws among the gods to prevent that. But he could do other things, such as mess with where whatever Phabium summoned was supposed to end up.


    So he did just once he felt the summoning and something enter Phabium''s heavenly domain; he simply waited for it to leave once it did. He timed it just right. Just as the being formed into a skeleton, he knew exactly where to send it and so he used his divine might which was far greater than Phabium''s to switch the summoning portals locations to above the fairy lands. "Let see how your skeleton does in the land of the fair folk." Legotas said in a dark tone before laughing to himself; meanwhile, a certain skull found himself dealing with the fallout of the gods actions.


    Maxwell was at a bit of an impasse; he didn''t have any hands to dig a hole nor did he have any bones. So he couldn''t start building his bone chamber. He also was missing his legs, so he couldn''t walk anywhere to find his hands so he could try and build his bone chamber and start his skeletal kingdom.


    Honestly, if he had tear ducts, Maxwell would probably be crying after God only knows how long in the void he''s freed and given a divine task only to fail right out of the gate. "Truly, I am a total and complete failure." Maxwell said with such sorrow that when paired with his now undead nature, he created a black necrotic smog that came out of his empty eye sockets that killed all the grass in the about-foot diameter area around him.


    Distracted momentarily by his sadness at his total failure, he took in the dead grass that surrounded him. Then, as he was about to wonder if he could do anything with his new-found tears of death to build a kingdom like he was supposed to, he began to hear the voice of Phabium.


    "My apologies for your rude change in location, my new ruler of bone. It would appear my rival god Legotas, god of legends, interfered and sent you into the ancient fairy woods instead of the bone caves I had meant too. But besides that, are you alright?" Phabium asked, concerned about Maxwell''s being, as he doubted Legotas had been gentle with his sudden changing of Maxwell''s spawning location.Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site.


    "I''ve been reduced to just a skull." Maxwell stated sadly worried that Phabium would abandon him considering how badly he had fallen so early in the beginning of his quest. Luckily, Phabium would not abandon his young ruler of bones.


    "Well, it appears we''ll have to adjust our plans. As you clearly can''t start as ruler of skeletons when you aren''t a full skeleton yourself. Nor can we wait for you to become whole to begin when the inherit magics of the magical forest you are in will be trying to destroy you. So we''ll have to adjust accordingly to the current situation." Phabium said to Maxwell as he began to change what exactly Maxwell started as.


    This caused Maxwell to feel a sudden change as something fundamental about his new form was changed. He began to leak a constant small stream of black smog from his eye sockets, leaking into the small area of dead grass around him.


    "There is something that should help you to become the ruler I have asked you to become. I must catch your connection before I bring the attention of those who''s governing the fair folk down upon you. Best of luck. I believe you will succeed." Phabium said before his presence was gone and Maxwell was left alone, and then the scroll appeared showing him the changes to his undead race.


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    Undead construct- unlike other undead that are brought back into the world to walk upon it this undead does not. It instead remains were it is became a building adding more material to itself over time to slowly become an impregnable fortress over time


    Bonuses can repair and expand its building on its own so long as it has the materials. Negative is vulnerable to siege weaponry and has hard time commanding undead armies that are far away from it


    Ruler form: current form: skull fort- a human skull made to act as a defensive necrotic structure.


    Starter building: the tears of smog- the empty eyesl sockets create a continuous flow of black smog that fills the surrounding area maintaining power over the territory the ruler controls and making attackers cross the dead lands around the falls rather then attack from a distance.


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    Maxwell, after looking at the scroll and seeing he had been made into an undead construct from the broken skeleton he had been. Which was good as it seemed his new starter building was the only thing preventing the natural magic, which he guessed was some combination of fairy and nature, from overwhelming and destroying him as a member of the undead.


    Though it was weird to somehow feel a constant flow of black smog running down his face from his eye sockets despite not having skin to feel it with. Though he supposed he would get used to it now it was time to get to business if he was to be an undead skull fort he would need defenders.


    It wouldn''t be hard to imagine that the local fairy he could see in the distance was not happy with his skull suddenly appearing and leaking necrotic magic in their part of the forest. So as any decent ruler of the undead should, he began to look for bodies to raise into the undead, then proceeded to run into a problem as there weren''t any.


    As Maxwell took in his effectively grassy graveyard, he saw that it seemed his crashing landing had spooked off all the nearby insects, and him now leaking deadly necrotic smog was keeping them out. So that meant he had no bodies to raise, and considering he could expect the local tiny fairies to come deal with him at some point, he would need defenders when that time came.


    So as Maxwell took in his grass graveyard, he knew he had only one option. "It looks like my first order of business as a skull fort is to began research and development." Maxwell said as he began looking into seeing what he could do with the only bodies he had he could use, which was grass. So began the first step of Maxwell the skull fort in his battles against the fairy woods of Gregal.

 chapter 6 experimenting with grass was not expected

    Maxwell found himself using the only two resources he had right at that moment, the black smog, which held necrotic power, and the dead grass, which held necromantic potential, as all undead did. The only real question was how to make that work, as grass was not exactly the most well known to be used in wars.


    So he would have to be creative when using it to create an effective undead if he wanted to fight off whatever fairy warriors ended up coming his way to stop him putting more black smog into their woods. "So it would seem I''m blowing my budget on military research, but at least I don''t have to worry about healthcare spending." Maxwell said to himself as a little joke before he got to work.


    He first decided to see what control he had over the smog that was constantly flowing out of his eyes. He watched the smog as it covered his little graveyard, covering it and going upward almost hiding him, leaving only the very top of his skull visible. Once he was done taking the smog in, he began to try and manipulate and found he had already got a roadblock in his research.


    As he didn''t have any hands to wave to try and manipulate that way. "So I guess try moving it with my mind?" Maxwell said to himself, guessing, and then began to try and manipulate the black smog, manipulating with his mind. It did not work no matter how hard he stared at the smog and thought at it; the smog simply refused to move to his will.


    For a while, he simply lay there, lost in his thoughts, trying to figure out how he could manipulate the smog. When the idea struck him, he began to manipulate his jaw, rising and lowering it as his thoughts wandered. It occurred to him that he had no muscles to manipulate his jaw, so he must be doing it magically, so if he could better understand that manipulation, perhaps he could use it to figure out how to bend the dark smog to his will.


    So he began a new series of tests, focusing on his jaw as he carefully and slowly lowered and rose it again and again, truly feeling out the necromancy being used in the moment. Eventually, after many attempts, he began to feel necromancy magic that connected his jaw to the rest of his skull.


    Using this new feeling for necromantic magic, he began to feel the connection from the tears of smog the building built into his eyes sockets that created the smog to the rest of the smog that filled out his foot in diameter domain. He began to feel the smog in its totality, which caused problems of its own.


    He wanted to use only parts of the black smog in his attempt to turn grass into proper undead. He needed most of where it was to keep the rest of the creatures of the fairy wood at bay, as he figured a lot of those would be more than happy to crush him if his smog wasn''t in the way. So this led to new experiments in control as he effectively played with the smog, making it take many different shapes and forms to test and see if he can improve his control.


    As he found he could indeed improve his control of his smog. At first, he could barely make it move in a circle, but as he grew more skilled and his connection to the black smog grew stronger, he could make it take pretty detailed shapes. At one point, he had the black smog from into a dragon''s head.


    Which, on second thought, might not have been a good idea considering the fairy''s around him might be more likely to act if they thought some dragon made of smog was forming in their midst. But he had to move on to making his undead defenders and not dwell on if he had might have caused the fairy folk to attack him earlier, then he would be ready to defend.


    So now that he was able to form the black smog into different forms, he slowly, using all of his skill, broke off a little cloud from the rest and brought it down to the ground so that he could truly begin working on his undead grass project. First he took a look at the grass itself, as the grass was in several bundles all along the ground with their dead roots still buried into the ground and their leaf blades on top laying down on the ground in death.


    The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.


    "So how do you turn regular dead grass into a combat-effective undead?" Maxwell asked himself, thinking on it a moment, and he figured he''d just have to wing it as he went and hope the final product was effective. So the first thing he did was pour part of his small cloud of black smog into one of the dead grass bundles. Then he watched as the grass became undead and immediately tried to grasp at empty air.


    "Yes, that''s not going to do anything, especially considering even if it grabs anyone, it can''t do anything." Maxwell said and began to manipulate the black smog into it to try and manipulate the dead grass bundles. Which actually worked, so he first had the undead pull itself out of the ground.


    Once the undead grass bundle was standing on its own, Maxwell thought on it a moment, trying to figure out how to make the undead grass a threat, and then remembered something about paper cuts Maxwell had heard about a long time ago when looking at the leaf blades. So with something of a weapon that made the grass dangerous to focus on, he got to work.


    He reshaped the bundle of grassy dead roots to be more like the centipedes he could see outside of his territory. Allowing his undead grass bundle to move easier, he then adjusted the grass on top of the roots, reworking them as well as he could to sharpen them until his undead grass bundle was running around like a centipede with a series of jagged leaf blades that cut as anything it went by.


    To add an interesting effect due to its necrotic nature, the leaf blades had a corrosive nature that left behind a burning cut. He''d seen this effect when he had the creature cut a few rocks he had lying around to test its grass blades sharpness.


    Maxwell immediately had its prototype begin to patrol the border of his territory. Now that Maxwell had created an effective undead from grass, he felt he should create two more as unit diversity had won more than one battle that he could remember. So Maxwell set out to create two other forms of undead by separating the leaf blades from their roots and creating undead from the two separate piles of material.


    Once again, taking some of the smog from his small cloud of black smog, he directed it into the small grass blade pile he had made with the help of his little undead grass centipede. He, just like before, began to shape the blade leaves into the only structure he believed would make them a threat as undead, which was that of a spider.


    So after taking several long leaf blades and having them overlap, he was left with a rather tall undead grass spider. He figured it could use the corrosive cut to pierce anything below, and it demonstrated that when Maxwell had it test its blades on a nearby pebble.


    So now he just had to work on the roots, and for this one he figured he would actually take a more classic approach. He slowly shaped the roots to form hundreds of small hands, then began to burrow deep into the ground. There the undead grass roots would protect him from any underground threats such as worms, and he would have the classic undead hand in his undead kingdom.


    Maxwell began to feel something after having finished figuring out how to manipulate his black smog, then creating his undead grass spider and centipede, then having them patrol his territory, as well as having his undead grass roots lay in ambush underground, effectively signifying the end to his necromantic experiments. Maxwell could feel a change start to happen as a dark glow overcame his small, black, smog-covered kingdom. Maxwell wondered what was about to happen next.

 chapter 7 the discovering of policy

    Maxwell felt the energy building into his black smog and then into him. The tension somehow building in his little isolated dome of black smog before a blue screen appeared to show him what his focus on research had unlocked for him. Proving once again that research is an important facet in any society, even one made up of one undead skull construct.


    <table style="border-collapse: collapse; width: 99.8728%" border="1">


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td style="width: 96.4331%">Focusing on research had unlocked several new undead types as well as the first land type of your undead society.


    The new undead types are as follows:


    Smog grass centipede- an elemental made up of both dead plant and necrotic smog it shaped like a centipede though it lacked the mandibles of one instead it was completely reliant on doing damage by cutting enemies as it went by them.


    Smog grass spider- an elemental created through the combination of grass leafs molded to walk like a spider it towers over most things that are equivalent in mass and uses it''s height advantage to pierce through enemies that are below it with the corrosive tips of its legs.


    Smog root hand- grass roots shaped to form hundreds of small hands this undead spirit is constantly grasping things and is always ready to ambush anything living by pulling it into hundreds of root hands.


    New land type- smog grass land- through the constant influx of black smog into the dead grass around it the skull fort Maxwell has corrupted the land with his necromantic energy found in the black smog. Allowing for smog grass elementals to be born regularly from the now undead lands. So as long as the black smog continues to flow the new necrotic land type will maintained and will continue making undead smog grass elementals


    Note: as an undead ruler you are among one of the monster ruler factions that have the ability to change the land into to different landscape which gives benefits unique to your faction.


    New policy unlocked: grow my lawn- you can steadily expand the smog grass lands allowing for an increase in territory as well as a decrease in the time it takes for new smog grass elementals to spawn. Be aware that activating this policy will generate dislike from nearby magical races and magical creatures who''s territory you intrude on.


    Activate grow my lawn policy Y/N</td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    Maxwell stared at the screen, shocked at seeing his research have netted him so much so early, then gazed in wonder as his small territory shifted around him. The dead leaves began to stand back up, now sporting a black color, and he watched a few smog grass spiders and smog grass centipedes form and began patrolling his small territory.


    For a while he ignored the hovering blue scroll that waited his decision on whether to activate the grow the lawn policy or not and simply took in his kingdom that now had its first citizens. There was too much for them to do, but Maxwell got to daydream for a while as he watched his smog-grass elementals wonder his domain.


    But eventually duty called, and he looked back to the blue scroll and the decision to activate his first policy, thinking on it for a while. It would bring trouble to him, but he was already in trouble as an undead in nature and fairy territory. Not to mention he had a divine mission to expand his domain by the god of all monsters, Phabium, so he activated the policy Grow Your Lawn.


    He could already feel through his connection to his smog and his new connection to his smog grassland that it would be a while before the policy made any significant gains, so it was best to set and wait for the moment, so Maxwell did. So Maxwell simply enjoyed watching his new undead elementals as they went about wandering his small territory, sometimes making shapes out of the smog that surrounded him.Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.


    Meanwhile, to the south of the skull fortress and its growing kingdom of undead grass elementals was a village made up of grass huts made by grass bundles being wound together. Inside the biggest grass hut was a bunch of unhappy grasspixie elders that were making their opinions quite clear about their new neighbors.


    "We must march on the fortress at once!" Gressel, leader of the hunters for the grass fairs, declared to the two other fairs at the same table. The one sitting directly across from him shot back her rebetal.


    "Oh yes, go and charge a fortress of the dead. Might I ask who''s going such as you and what army?" The Grekal leader of the grass fairy farmers screamed with heat, pointing out their lack of a standing army to perform his assault on the new undead lands they found suddenly appearing in their lands. The two glared daggers at each other before turning to the third grass fairy sitting at their round table.


    He was the eldest of the grasspixies, being a hundred years old, and was needed to use his wisdom to guide the divided grasspixie folk in their moment of inner strive as the sides of hunter and farner argued their points while the undead threat gathered power to their north.


    The old wise fairy was silent, not leading his younger colleagues eagerness for a descive answer to him into an answer, especially not with the continued existence of his people on the line. He sat there, not moving for a long while, not moving a single muscle, not giving any sign he was still alive.


    The tension built between the two leaders of the farmers and the hunters as they waited on the eldest elder to make his decision known. Then he opened his eyes and spoke. "We have no true information to act on; we must act to get the information we need¡ªquite the condrum indeed." The elder said to himself, causing the two others to look at him in confusion at what exactly he meant by that.


    "Greece, have five of your greatest hunters act as scouts to see what''s truly going on in the clouded dead lands to the north of us while the rest of your hunters patrol our northern border." The elder said to Gressel, then turned to Grekal. "Grekal, we may need warriors to face what is to come, but you are right in that our hunters are not enough and that farmers are not warriors. So gather what spare grass fairy dust we have built up and see what mercenaries we can hire if the need for them arises." The elder of the grass pixies said to Grekal.


    He then looked at both of them for a moment, giving them a hard look into their eyes, making them both feel as if their very souls were being judged. "Now go do your task and do them quickly; the fate of our people rests on your success." The eldest elder said to the both of them, to which the two swiftly nodded, not being able to find fault in his logic and quickly seeing out to their task.


    The grasspixies were a race of two-inch-tall fairies that looked after the small open spaces between the trees where grass grew freely. They had no wings and were considered a lower class of pixies. They had light green skin with dark green hair as well as emerald eyes. They are also known to be grass skirts and shirts.


    They have a natural affinity for nature magic, specifically towards grass; it allowed them to keep it healthy easily as well as alter it for specific uses. They could use their magic to alter the grass into becoming sharper, sturdier, or, in rarer instances, more magical. The magical grass they raised turned into a special pixie dust called grass pixie dust. Which they use to trade with other pixie clans as well as other magical creatures of the forest.


    The grass pixies spent most of their time looking after their grass fields and hunting the bugs that threatened their fields. Now though they found that normal upended as their northern borders were encroached by an undead skull that seemed to be shifting into a dragon of smog. None were quite sure what to make of this new event except for one thing, which was that their peaceful times were over as the elders spoke about the possible battles with whatever was waiting for them in the black smog to the north.

 chapter 8 the first miscommunication

    Maxwell had watched his elementals as they moved, wondering about his domain as it slowly expanded. The expansion was rather slow, as from what he could tell, his territory would expand by a single centimeter at the end of the day, but it was something, and it''s not like he had a list of buildings he needed space to build.


    Not to mention it was nice to be able to enjoy so much color and the moment again, well, remaining completely still after spending so long having to be constantly moving or ready to move back in the void. He watched his smog centipedes as they seemed to race each other across his territory and his smog grass spiders as they went about blending into the small patches of black grass he had before they inevitably jumped out to scare the smog centipedes as they passed by.


    He couldn''t see what his smog root hands were doing as they were doing it underground, but he could feel a connection to them and could tell they were doing alright, which was good enough for him. So Maxwell could say for the moment his kingdom was doing well for itself even if his kingdom''s total size was only a little more than a foot in diameter, with its only citizens being undead grass electronica.


    Then all of a sudden the peace of his domain was broken, and the smog that constantly tossed and turned as it shrouded his kingdom and its borders was broken as five small green pixies broke through into his domain. They were two inches tall and covered in some strange armor that was made entirely out of bugs they had killed; he could tell from the insect skull shoulder pads that still had holes from where they had been run through. They also wielded what appeared to be grass spears.


    For a long moment, neither side did anything, merely staring at each other as Maxwell was shocked at the sudden intrusion to his domain while the grass pixies were horrified at what was being done to the grass around them by the black smog. Though neither side knew what the other side was thinking, as would be made apparent later.


    This uneasy peace was broken as the smog grass centipedes and spiders sensed the opposing nature of the grass pixies and attacked. The smog centipedes were the ones leading the charge against the pixies, while the smog spiders followed behind them, their spider-like limbs not able to keep up with the centipedes speed.


    The five pixies, meanwhile, made a dive for the nearest black grass. No doubt to use the grass to their advantage in the coming confrontation with the smog grass elements. Maxwell, seeing the battle about to unfold and having no feud with the strange new pixies, as well as not knowing how well his smog grass elementals would do in the fight, gave the order to stand down.


    Maxwell, through the power that gave the smog grass elementals life and form, was connected to them and so could command them in an instant as he happened to do. "Hold your position!" He demanded the smog grass spiders, and at the same time he gave a different order to the smog grass centipedes. "Circle the interlopers, but do not engage until we know their intent." Maxwell said to the grass centipedes.The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.


    He was about to try and make contact with the pixies when it occurred to him. "I don''t think I can talk." Maxwell said through his strange necrotic smog network, realizing that in order to figure out the actual intentions of the pixies and reach some type of agreement, The main reason he realized he couldn''t speak to the fairies was that his mouth lacked lungs and was effectively a gate, as he was now a building.


    So if he couldn''t speak to them, he would have his undead speak to them for him. After Maxwell had this idea, he came to his second realization: the only three undead he had access to couldn''t talk any better than he could. As far as Maxwell could tell, his three smog grass elements had zero speaking capacity.


    So as the pixies hid in one of Maxwell''s small grass patches while his grass centipedes were circling them, he tried to figure out how to communicate with them. Maxwell thought on the matter, thinking of any method of communication he could try and coming up short for one that would work.


    If he tried to write something and give it to them, he had no reason to believe the fairies could read the language of whatever he wrote. He counted mime as he was a skull, and his creations were not flexible enough to try something like that as their current shapes were a part of the reason they were alive.


    So with no way to communicate and not wanting to start some type of war with the fairy''s Maxwell, she was left at an impasse on how exactly to handle the situation. Then he recalled that he could use the smog to solve his problem; he could simply reshape to present whatever he was trying to get across. But then Maxwell figured out that with the fairies hiding themselves in the black grass, they wouldn''t see his smog clouds as they formed his images.


    Though the smog could still help him communicate with the five fairies in his land. Maxwell is now figuring the best way to communicate would be to connect them through his smog. So that he and the fairies could speak to each other directly, mind to mind. So once again he took control of the stream of smog coming out of his eye sockets and redirected some of it towards the five pixies.


    This caused a small flood of black smog to move towards the pixies. This apparently caused them to panic as they immediately left their patch of black grass by somehow using the grass to catapult themselves over his smog grass centipedes and close to the border that separated his lands from the fairy forest lands.


    His centipedes went to pursue, and Maxwell was too shocked out by the fact that the pixies launched themselves like boulders from a catapult to order them to stop. Though luckily for the pixies, their heads started allowing them to pass through the wall of smog and back into their side of the border, causing his grass centipedes to break off their pursuit.


    "While that could have gone better." Maxwell said to himself as his smog-grass elementals went back to what they were doing before the pixies arrival. Maxwell decided it would probably be good to have his grass centipedes pay his borders, knowing that he knew his neighbors were checking him out, though how they felt about him he wasn''t sure.


    Though considering he was an undead skull that was classified as an undead construct that was slowly turning the land around him into a dark place where more undead elementals could be born, it was probably safe to say his nature and fairy neighbors were not happy with him. Yeah, he was really going to have to figure out how to increase the rate at which his domain increased because he was going to want more land between his skull and the neighbors that wanted to break it.

 chapter 9 the hunters turned scouts

    Gressel left the hut of elders and immediately went among his hunters that were at a tavern made from twigs and grass. He then found the five that were the greatest hunters among the clan; they were easy to find as they were covered head to toe in bug armor. This was due to the traditions of the clan, as it was the hunters duty to hunt any insect that was a threat to special grass grown by the farmers or to their fellow grass pixies.


    On the occasion they had to hunt a particular vicious specimen of insect that was vicious for its kind or an insect that had become magical, they would take the kill and turn it into a piece of armor. Which meant if you were looking at a hunter of the clan with layers of armor, you were looking at one of the most dangerous warriors the clan had.


    So he of course went to Grokal, the clan''s greatest hunter, who was covered in mismatched armor from different trophies due to the fact his armor had gotten damaged by different greater insects he had hunted over the years, causing him to have to replace parts of his armor. Though ironically enough, Grokal had a habit of replacing the damaged bits of his armor with whatever viscous insect had done said damage, causing his armor to be constantly improved bit by bit.


    Gressel sat down across from Grokal, who was having a drink. "Grokal, I''m in need of your services and that of four of your compatriots." Gressel stated simply getting to the heart of the matter rather quickly. Grokal drank the rest of his drink and waved for Gressel to get on with whatever he wanted him to do, not insulted by Gressel''s rudeness in the least.


    "As you have no doubt noticed, we have new neighbors to the north." Gressel stated, to which Grokal nodded, and seeing his confirmation, Gressel continued. "Well, I and the other elders have discussed the new neighbor and decided the best way forward is for the great hunters to scout out the neighbors and report back. So will you do it?" Gressel asked and went unsaid was the potential life-ending danger such a task held.


    " Yes." Grokal stated simply before getting up from the table and walking out from the tavern before Gressel could try and set up some matter of payment for the task. Gressel tried to chase after him, but once he was outside the tavern, he found that Grokal was long gone.


    "I suppose I will have to figure out a reward for when he comes back." Gressel said to himself left unsaid was if Grokal and whoever he brought with him didn''t come back. Gressel went on back to the elders hut to inform the sending off of Grokal to investigate the dark presence to the north of their clan''s home.


    Grokal, meanwhile, set about gathering four of his hunting buddies for the scouting ahead. He first gathered the shorter twins Thrass and Blass, then the giant of pixies Thruxss, and finally the elder hunter Grast. It took awhile to get together the four as the twins were hiding from the retalion for a prank. The big man was lazing around someplace, and finally Grast was telling some poor bastard the same story for a fifth time.


    But Grokal found them all and managed to get them back to the tavern to discuss what he had agreed to do and that he was bringing them along for his scouting mission. None of them disagreed long, having learned to not disagree with the greatest hunter among their clan and that he would lead them through safe and sound like he always had.


    So with no real information but a location to go off on, the small scouting party under Grokal got out of the tavern and made their way north. They made decent time only to have to stop a few times to kill a few insects that would turn into problems later if left alone. So eventually, on the morning of the next day, they reached the wall of black smog that made up their new northern neighbor''s border.


    Grokal and fellow hunters stopped and stared for a long moment at the constant shifting dark cloud mass. "This isn''t right; we should back." Thruxss the giant of grass pixies said, clearly disturbed by the necrotic magic on clear display. Grokal put a hand on his shoulder and gave it a firm squeeze. Thruxss focused on that a moment before visibly calming down. "No, I''m good. I can do this." Thruxss stated simply having regained his calm, causing Grokal to take his arm off his shoulder and silence to decline once more.


    The silence was eventually broken by Grokal as he tried to analyze the dark smog wall with his years of hunting experience. "We need to see if this wall circles whatever is going on inside entirely." Grokal stated simply before walking to the right, the other falling in behind him. It took them a good fifteen minutes before they got back to where they started confirming the black smog wall does cover up whatever is inside entirely.


    "Well, it seems the only way to know the truth of what''s in there is through, so prepare to breach." Grokal said to which everyone got in formation with Thruxss at the center with the twins to his left and right with both Grokal and Grast behind Thruxss. Once everyone was ready and set to go, Grokal gave the word. " Charge!" Grokal shouted out, causing the arrow formation to move into the black smog wall, bursting out onto the other side in short order as it turned out the wall wasn''t that thick.


    The five experienced hunters looked around at the new world they found themselves in. They stared in horror at what they could see as the pixies of the grass who lived in tune with the grass meadows of the forest. To them, the simple plant called grass was a major pillar in all their lives, so to see it twisted in such a manor was shocking to say the least.


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    They could see a skull leaking more of the foul, dark smog in twin rivers from its empty eye sockets. They could see the black smog as it tainted the land, twisting it to the skull''s dark design. They could feel the power of death in the air as it tried to choke out the life in their lungs.


    To make matters even worse, it had created elements, a rare and sacred thing in the fairy woods, but had created a twisted version of them. The dark skull probably had created the first grass elementals in history, but in doing so, it had perverted the part of nature the pixies were in charge of, and so the very existence of such creatures insulted the very being of any grass pixies who saw them.


    Though from the way the creatures charged Grokal''s scouting party, the feeling was mutual. The group, seeing the strange centiped-like creature with thousands of grass spears covering their tops heading towards them, knew they had to move. So they headed towards the first place that would boost their odds of survival¡ªa section of grass that had survived in this dark land but had become painted black in doing so.


    The group charged, running as fast as they could towards the black grass, only able to stay ahead of the three creatures chasing them because of the dead grass covering the land, which still let them use their ability. That ability being GRASSWALK, which boosts their speed on grassy terrain, they made it to the safety of the black grass with the strange centiped-like creatures not following instead they began circling.


    The five men gathered in a circle in the center of the patch of black grass to figure out what to do next. "I think we forgot that we are scouts, not hunters, young ones." Grast stated simply, causing the twins and Thrusxx to just stare at him, wondering what he was on about while Grokal got it.


    "We forgot our mission and let our habits rule us." Grokal stated, causing the twins to and Thrusxx to turn to him now, while grast just nodded. The other three now realized there was something they weren''t getting. So Grokal decided to explain it to them. "We are scouts, not hunters, on this mission. The moment we saw the skull fortress and the other horrors, we should have gone back out the wall of black smog, but our habits as hunters to never turn out back to a predator, which was what those centipedes were when they were chasing us, were. So instead of escaping, we were deeper into enemy territory." Grokal stated simply.


    Now that the other three were brought up to speed on the group''s blunder, they weren''t sure what to do about it. Though luckily for them, experience had their answer. "Don''t worry, youngsters, I can get something out of this dark grass that should give us a head start against those nasty outside." Grast stated with enthusiasm before he immediately began to use GRASS SHAPE, an ability that allows the grass pixies to reshape grass to their will on the black grass, slowly building some contraption.


    "While he is doing that, the rest of us will watch the besties that are circling us." Grokal said to the other three; each of them then took a different direction and took a look position to watch the undead grass elements that circled their position. For a while nothing happened, just the constant circling of the beast, causing the hunters to wonder what exactly they were waiting for, as it would be hard for then to get to them; it wouldn''t be impossible.


    That''s when Thrusxx noticed the skull leaking constant dark smog was starting to direct some of that smog their way. "Guys, we got creepy dark smog heading out way, and I don''t think we''ll get any better here when it gets here." Thruxss said to others, bringing attention to the dark flood of smog heading straight for them.


    Luckily Grast was ready with his little creation, which was an amazing show of skill as the black grass resistef the pixies GRASS SHAPE as it was filled with necrotic power. So the fact he created anything so quickly showed his experience and skill at the art of GRASS SHAPING. As it would turn out, Grast creation out of the dark leaves would be a spring catapult.


    "We will use this to launch us to get a head start on those horrible beasts and then have our GRASSWALK carry us the rest of the way across the wall of smog." Grast said with a happy smile, rather proud of the fact he had created a spring-loaded catapult with such stubborn material.


    The others might have objected to the idea of being thrown by catapult, but the dark wave of smog heading their way quickly shut down any such objections. Soon they were all launching themselves one by one through the air and rolling as they hit the ground to minimize the damage as they made a break for the skull kingdom''s little border.


    By some miracle of the fairy gods and the nature spirits, they were able to get safely through the smog barrier. Though this was probably due to the undead elementals not expecting them to suddenly start flying through the sky. Once they were clear of the smog border, they all took a moment to catch their breath.


    Once everyone got their breath back, Grokal got up and spoke. "Time to get moving men." He stated it simply to the others disbelief who wanted more time to rest. "Our clan needs to know what''s going on, and they need to know sooner rather than later." Grokal stated to the others who couldn''t disagree so got up as well and so began the journey back to tell the elders of the horrors they had seen.

 chapter 10 the council declaration

    Grokal and his fellow hunters made their way back to their clan village at double speed, fearing the undead grass elementals would pursue them. Luckily they did not, though they did not slow their pace, so when they finally got back home, Grokal let the rest of his hunters rest at the tavern, and he headed to the elders hut.


    As he walked into the elders hut, elder Grekal of the farmers was informing the other two elders about how much grass pixie dust they had to trade. "We only have bags; the fairy grass has not been producing that well the last couple of years." Grekal said before turning to Grokal, rage in her eyes at his interruption of her reporting of their financial situation.


    "I''m sorry, elders, for my interruption, but I have just returned from the mission elder Gressel has sent me on." Grokal said to the elders of their clan, to which Gressel looked at him in surprise as he expected him to still be preparing not to have immediately gone out to scout their new neighbors to the north, which he must have done to be back from the trip now.


    "Well then, hunter who became a scout for task, tell us what you saw with a spyglass." The grand elder of the clan asked Grokal for his attention, fully focused on him; his old body was not showing any signs of life, but his eyes were as bright as a child as they beheld Grokal take in his report.


    Grokal nodded and began his tale to their new neighbor to the north. "I got the twins Thrass and Blass, then the giant pixie Thruxss, and lastly the old hunting pixie Grast to go on the scouting expedition." Grokal said, staring at who was with him on his trip to see what was building in the black smog north of them.


    The elders of the hunters Gressel nodded his head in acknowledgment that he had heard of the four mentioned. Grokal then continued his tale. "We went north, encountering only a few dangerous, greater bugs that needed to be called along the way before we reached the wall of smog. We walked around the entire thing to see if the wall of black smog went all the way around whatever was in the center." Grokal said before he shuddered at the memory that he had waited for them on the other side of the black smog wall.


    The elders, seeing his revulsion of the memory at the next part of the tale, gave him a moment to collect himself before they had him continue. Once Grokal had gathered himself from his revulsion at the things that were counter to everything his people were began to continue his tale at the prompting of the elders.


    "We walked through and saw things that horrified me to my very core, and as one of the most skilled hunters of our people, I have seen creatures with an unending thirst for their own kinblood and others that have been twisted by the magic they have taken in becoming twisted parodies of themselves." Grokal said, his body shuddering as he spoke with revulsion at the very idea of the creatures he was about to inform the elders of.The author''s content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.


    "We walked in and saw a human skull from which an unending stream of black smog came out of both eye sockets. The land tainted by the black smog, and I believe the will of the skull as it sent some of its black smog after us twisted the grass around it, tainting it and giving birth to perverse nature elementals that are parodys of insects." Grokal stated finally with an empty tone but a shaking clench fist.


    The elders had various different reactions to the information that a skull to their north was twisting the part of nature that was their duty to maintain. Gressel elder of the hunters was enraged at the very though his face going from the typical green of a grass pixies to dark red with rage. While the elder of the farmers, Grekal, went to a pale green, clearly horrified at the plant she spent so much time raising and maintaining being twisted to such dark purposes.


    It was the grand eldar''s reaction that was the most tame, yet at the same time his reaction was the greatest of the three. He simply sat there for a moment, the point of calming in a storm of emotions. "We now have the knowledge we required to act. So thank you, Grokal, for your service in these uncertain times." The grand elder said to Grokal, who bowed in thanks of the grand elders recognition.


    "Now may fellow elders we have to act with haste as elementals are born from the energy of their place of birth, meaning these necrotic plant elementals will only multiply and most likely spread the longer we wait." The grand elder of the clan stated this to all in the room.


    The grand elder then turned to Gressel, who had calmed down his rage in the face of the grand elder''s calm and methodical approach to the situation. "You will have to prepare the hunters for a great hunt should the time come to pass for the call to come." The grand eldars told Gressel simply, who nodded his face made of stone as he matched out with Grokal bowing one last time to the grand eldars before following him out.


    The grand eldar then looked to Grekal, who had regained her color in gaining confidence from the grand eldar''s nonchalant attitude toward the violation of lands he had looked over for hundreds of years as he planned how to counter it. Seeing that Grekal was ready to hear what he needed her to do, he began to tell what exactly that was.


    "Grekal, even with the power of a grand pixie hunt called it, it might not be enough to deal with the threat the northen skull poses, but we do not have enough grass pixie dust to pay for the battle pixie mercenary groups, as you have told me. So we will have to give all of it to one great champion, and there is only one that fits that title, we know." The grand elder said his face was grave as he told her of the deal with the scoundrel she would be tasked to make.


    Grokal nodded. She knew of the scoundrel he spoke of, and well, she wouldn''t like to speak to him much less make a deal with him. She knew that such dangerous times sometimes called for deals with dangerous people. She nodded her agreement with the grand elder heading out to where the grasspixie dust was stored to have it ready to be moved to the scoundrel for the services they would need in the future.


    Once he was all alone, the grand elder crumbled in his chair as thoughts of the battles to come and the carnage that would be unleashed because of it left him in a deep sadness. But then he shook himself as he needed to perform his own task. "We must do everything we can to be prepared for the times to come." The grand elder said to himself as he began to write letters on special magical grass. With the die having been cast by the grass pixies, none could say what was to come of it, least of all the skull, who did not know of the war being planned against him.

 chapter 11 maxwell attempts to create a diplomacy department

    Maxwell was left with a bunch of smog-grass elements patrolling his territory, and he tried to figure out what he should do next. As it was, he wasn''t exactly ready for war. As his forces were ready to defend his small kingdom, he wasn''t exactly swimming in war material. He had about a dozen of each of his different types of undead grass elements, and they weren''t exactly multiplying all that fast.


    Maxwell figured as his smog grass land expanded, the rate at which they created his undead grass elements would increase. Though that was in the future, for the moment he was effectively stuck with a bunch of green soldiers that had never seen any combat, and he had no idea how effective they would be until the pixies were attacking him, launching their invasion, and it would be a bad time to find out they were ineffective at fighting.


    So the best thing to do was to prevent fighting from breaking out in the first between him and the pixies as well as make some kind of weapon that he knew would be effective against the nearby pixies in case they launched an attack against him if negotiations broke down. So it would seem it was time for research and development once again.


    He began to think about the matter of how to try and establish diplomatic relations with his neighbors to the south. He would first need to speak to them to be able to establish diplomatic talks, which was a bit of a problem considering that neither he nor any of his current creations had the particular gift for communication.


    So his first goal in this round of research was to find a way to create minions capable of speech. The first problem was how to create such a thing, as he doesn''t have any new material from what he had already used to create his other undead citizens. So Maxwell took in his entire domain, looking for any material that he hadn''t noticed earlier that he could use now.


    He couldn''t find anything on the ground, but as he thought about it, perhaps he could get something from the sky. So using the smog clouds, he slowly began to form a serpent made out of smog clouds and began to have it seek out anything flying above his wall of smog. He mostly got leaves, which he had stored in his skull, hoping to find another way to manipulate them than he had with the grass.


    Though eventually his little serpent of smog got a butterfly, which it dragged down. Which caused it to die as it choked on the smog that made up the serpent, so now Maxwell was left with a dead butterfly. "Well, I guess that''s something, I suppose." Maxwell said he was not really sure how to deal with his smog serpent killing a butterfly randomly.


    His serpent, not knowing or possibly caring about its creator''s feelings about its sudden kill, went on to target any other unlucky insect passing by. Maxwell thought about ordering the smog serpent to stop but then stopped himself. "No, Maxwell, you need new parts to play with to create some kind of undead that can take place in order to open up relations. It''s better for random insects, of which some type only have a natural life span of a day, to die rather than sentient beings to die instead." Maxwell said before forming a hand smog and moving the butterfly body to a particular spot to experiment with later.


    Maxwell figured he would wait till there was a buildup of insect parts before he tried to make something out of them. So instead he began to work on the leaves that had been stored in his skull. Maxwell figured that the leaves would be harder because he wanted to try a second method of necromancy in case a counter was made for his smog-based one.


    Though how to go about creating a second form of necromancy would be rather difficult. He barely understood his first form of necromancy, but he needed a second one, as there was no doubt that a powerful magic forest would have someone or something skilled at magic who could counter necromancy some way. Hopefully having two methods if necromancy would make countering his undead harder, though he would have to actually get a second one.Love what you''re reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on.


    So he would start with his memory of her getting the first form of necromancy. Now, as Maxwell recalled, he had gotten depressed about his failure. The emotion combined, he guesses, with his necrotic power to form a deadly necromantic spell that was made permanent by his transformation.


    So if he wanted a second form of necromancy, the best bet was to transform another part of him that would produce the magic needed to raise the dead, and since the leaves were now in his mouth, what better place to turn into a new building than his skeletal mouth? As it seemed the best place to release a second strain of magical undead.


    Though Maxwell wasn''t entirely sure how to start such a thing, like before, a magical component was required for the process. So he went with his best bet, and like before, when he was learning to control his black necrotic smog, he began to feel the necromantic magic that connected his jaw to the rest of his skull.


    He figured since before it was like tears flowing down his face, which now gave him endless smog to play with. If he could figure out how to connect the feeling of breathing through his mouth with the necrotic magic in his jaw bones, he could create some kind of building as part of his constructed body. Though, like before, this was easier said than done, as he had not breathed in a very long time.


    As he had spent an unknown amount of time in the void then been immediately put in an undead body. So Maxwell may not have breathed for thousands of years by this point. So he would have to just try and imagine what breathing was like while trying to replicate it magically.


    For a long while all Maxwell succeeded in doing was opening and closing his jaw rather fast, but then as he did that, he started to cause a cold breeze to flow through his mouth. As the breeze went in and out, stirring up the leaf sticks in his skull, he started to remember the feeling of breath, and slowly, little by little, he built up a dark wind and held it in his mouth before letting it go.


    This dark, ghostly wind tore apart the leaves in Maxwell before heading out of him and into the land. It went around and around picking up and dropping smog grass elements with ghostly blue images of the shredded leaves appearing in the small tornado.


    "Hmm, seems I''ve created the ghost leaf tornado." Maxwell said to himself, watching the tornado as it moved around his territory, picking up and dropping his minions without doing any damage to them. Once he was satisfied he had seen enough, Maxwell called the ghost leaf tornado back, and it duly awoke going back through Maxwell''s mouth and disappearing inside of him.


    "Well, pretty sure a ghost tornado is a decent enough weapon." Maxwell said to himself before turning his focus back on the pile of insect bodies that had been mounting while his focus was elsewhere. It seemed his smog serpent had been rather busy, as it had built a large pile of dead hornets and butterflies.


    "Well then, I guess it''s time to go to work on this now." Maxwell said as he grabbed one hornet and one butterfly through his black smog and began to try and combine them. As he figured the combination would be able to communicate and be somewhat intelligent.


    So first he took the dead butterfly and reshaped its main body, making it effectively the spine of the new creature and twisting its head around to face forward, then heads it''s limp face forward. He then added the hornet, merging it along the body of the butterfly where the ribcage on a normal human would be.


    Once the fusion of the body was complete, he began to work on the details, fusing both of the legs of the hornet and the butterfly to create a set of strong limbs, then fusing the heads to create one head instead of two, as well as extending the hornets stinger causing it double in size and drip with necrotic venom that promised a dark fate to all who were stung.


    He did not fuse the creature''s wings, keeping the two separate and creating a smaller set of insect wings just behind the other ones. He also didn''t merge the eyes, leaving the creature with four insectoid eyes. Now Maxwell was done with work on his creature, and so he brought it to undeath and watched it buzz around his limited sky.


    Once the creature had shown it was capable of movement with its flight, Maxwell then ordered it to speak. "Bzzzz destroy bzzzz enemies bzzzz of bzzzz of bzzzz hive." The creature said with an aggressive buzz, which Maxwell thought was good enough as he now had a creature type able to communicate.


    Though with that, his experiments were done, and he felt the energy hitting building up once again as his experiments with necromancy had unlocked new things for him once again. "I wonder what I''ll get this time." Maxwell said curiously before a dark necrotic energy filled his small kingdom totally.

 chapter 12 revelation

    For a moment, the smog-filled land belonging to Maxwell stayed energized, the smog crackling with energy, then it all exploded in a single blue flash of light. Then there stood the blue scroll once again, showing all the things he had gained from his experiments.


    <table style="border-collapse: collapse; width: 99.8728%" border="1">


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td style="width: 96.4331%">Through your focus on necrotic research you have unlocked the following skills and buildings.


    - through the creation of an active smog creation you have unlocked SMOG SHAPING which allows for the forming and creation of active smog formations


    - through the combining of hornet and butterfly bodies you have created your first zombie combination unlocking the UNDEAD HIVE which will spawn more zombies made out of flying insects with abilities dependent on the bodies they are made of.


    - through experimentation with your inherit necromantic nature you have found a new way to rise the undead upgrading your form with GATE OF UNDEATH as well as the ability to call forth GHOST LEAF TORNADOS


    this increase in your necromantic knowledge as well as necromancy skill has increased your power as a necromantic construct allowing for a faster expansion of undead grass land</td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    Maxwell took a long look at the results of his recent experimentation with necromancy, finding that once again it paid off quite well. Though Maxwell knew that he was running out of things to use in his research, he had to be careful as the more he researched into necromancy, the more he risked pissing off someone he could not afford too.


    Though for now right now he would use the gains he had made first, he had his smog serpent dissipate back into regular smog as it had already built up a collection of dead flying insects. He then took those insects using hands made of smog and put them together before he began to build the very building he had gotten.


    It was interesting to see as a hive built out of the pile of dead insect bodies he had gathered began to form. It was rather amazing to see insect corpses be transformed into pale wax-like hive walls. Once the transformation was complete, Maxwell was left with a hive building that was a foot and a half tall with a four-inch-tall doorway he guessed was for the zombies that would be spawned out of it.


    The building was located near the edge southern of his territory, facing northward. "While I suppose I now have something resembling an embassy." Maxwell said then looked at his only zombie hybrid that was currently buzzing around his skies, making threats against anyone who threatened its hive. "Now I just need an embassador." Maxwell said he was hoping one of the later-spawned zombie hybrids would be more diplomatic.


    Meanwhile, back at the grass fairie clan grounds to the south of Maxwell''s skull kingdom, the elders were going about their task. The elders of a fairy clan were an interesting thing, as it wasn''t necessarily by age they were made elders. No, the only elder made by wisdom and age was the grand elder. No, the other two elders were made so by other metrics as they were about to demonstrate.


    The elder of the hunters, Gressel, was preparing a grand hunt, a rare magical event that could only be led by an elder of the hunters. It was us daily only called when the greater insects had grown to numerous or one had grown far to monstrous for any hunting party to face. So in such situations, a grand hunt was called where the elder led all the hunters in the clan in one massive hunt.Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.


    Though this is not just a mere group hunt, it is something greater now when all the hunters of a grasspixie clan are led by an elder in a grand hunt; they all become something else. That became one field of swaying grass as the magic of the hunt took over. They became best impossible to hit as they swayed around their prey like grass and became so similar to each other that it became impossible to tell them apart. The only one able to keep his individuality is the elder in such a thing.


    Those who find themselves in the other felt as if they were not fighting grasspixie hunters but felt as if the grasslands had risen up and were not trying to stab them to death for whatever reason. It was a dangerous thing to do though on the course of the grass pixies, as the elder must know all his hunters, for if he forgets one during the grand hunt, they will be turned into grass by the magic of the hunt when it ends.


    So now his hunters prepare as they practice every strike they know and polish and repair their equipment until it shines in the light for the great hunt to come while the elder of the hunt, Gressel, sits and goes over the names of every hunter in the clan as he is determined to not lose one in the grand hunt to come as all elders of the hunt should be.


    Meanwhile, Grekal, the elder of the farmers, was gathering all the grass pixie dust they had grown, slowly gathering it on a cart. That way, if they had to make the deal with that scoundrel, she already had the pixie dust set to the side to pay the degenerate. She could tell her farmers were not happy having to give up all their grass pixie dust to pay one scoundrel''s services, but they would understand the necessity of the worst coming to last and the hunters grand hunt was not enough.


    As was having that thought, she heard the screams and turned around to see what had caused such horror, becoming terrified herself that the creatures the hunter Grokal had spoken of had somehow snuck up on the clan and were tearing through her surprised people.


    But no, that was not causing the screams of terror much to her relief. Though what was actually causing the screams of fear inspired a different kind of fear in her, as in the distance the wall of smog that people could see from basically anywhere in the village had grown a giant serpent that was tearing and dragging down anything that neared the same skies as it.


    To add to Grekal''s fear, she could swear that at one point in the creatures endless hunt of the skies, it turned to look straight at her with eyes that weren''t there as the creature was made entirely of smog, but somehow she could fill herself being gazed at by two endless pits. Eventually the creature returned back to the smog from once it came, but not before it had collected a toll in blood from the skies.


    Grekal then heard the bells of grass signifying the start of the great hunt as elder Gressel saw the threat the smog small now presented, so he was going to go and deal with it by calling the forth the great hunt. She also saw the threat that the smog wall now presented, as unlike before, they now knew the wall could create smog serpents and who knew what else.


    The problem that presented was that today you had serpents on the wall, but what about tomorrow? How long before the smog wall was sending wave after wave of smog serpents to overwhelm them? So she could see why Gressel had called the great now we''ll the huntress still had a chance instead of when they could be buried under a tide of smog serpents before ever getting near the walls.


    Though she began to have her farmers gather the rest of the sacks of grass pixie dust at a double speed. As if Gressel''s great hunt was successful, they would have plenty of time to put the sack of grass pixie dust back, but if he failed, they would have little time to hand over the payment to the scoundrel, who would fight the threat if Gressel failed.


    Grekal took a moment to watch the hunters as they ran towards the smog wall. Gressel stood twice as tall as he usually did, the magic of the hunt making him far stronger than usual. "May the cunning of the Fay and the power of the beast be with you." Grekal said, repeating an old fairy hunter prayer, hoping for their succuss as the first true clash between the grasspixie clan and the kingdom began.

 chapter 13 the great hunt

    Gressel was waiting at an old place, going through the list of names of all the hunters at an ancient place of remembrance sacred to the hunters. It was filled with stone tablets that had names, and in the tales of hunters long gone, the place was known as the grave of trophies.


    Gressel was here as all hunting elders before him had been right before they were to call upon a great hunt of the grass pixies. The sacred sight helped them to remember all the names of their hunters, which the magic of the hunt made it hard to do, which they must resist less they lose the hunters forgotten in the hunt.


    His time of remembrance was interrupted as his hunters, who were outside readying themselves, began to panic slightly, bringing his attention away from his task. They brought his attention to a great serpent that was devouring any insect that flew above the smog wall''s sky. He knew the challenge being posed to his clan''s hunters by the smog, and they would meet it.


    "Gathering my hunters, but is time! It is time to hunt the skull that threatens our clan with its dark necrotic touch!" Gressel roared to his gathered hunters, who roared their approval back, and so he activated the skill available to all of the hunter elders, the GREAT HUNT OF THE GRASS PIXIES, causing bells of grass to ring out across the nearby grass fields.


    The skill once activated caused a change to overcome the pixie hunters before they had been roaring, ready and eager for the battle to come. Now their faces were of a serene calm as they surrounded Gressel. As they were gathered around Gressel, they never stopped moving, constantly moving like swaying grass and changing positions among themselves, and in doing so somehow becoming the embodiment of an ever-moving grass field.


    Though the one who changed most from the call of the hunt was the one who called himself elder Gressel, as he had doubled in height and was now covered in a strange, ever-shifting grass armor. He also now carried a grass war horn that had suddenly appeared in his left hand, and on his right, he carried a grass spear as long as he was.


    Gressel nor the hunters beneath him spoke. Gressel simply began to move the magic of the hunt, making GRASS WALK twice as effective, causing him to eat up the distance between the clans village and the smog wall. The grass pixies following the eldar somehow were carried along with him as part of the magic of the skill GREAT HUNT OF THE GRASS PIXIES.


    The wall of smog silently disappeared as one moment the wall stood shielding the realm of one undead skull from the world around it, then in the next moment the southern part of the wall disappeared. As Gressel led his hunt individuality through the smog wall, he and his hunters cut a giant hole through in moments without a shred of resistance, finding themselves in the skulls kingdom and making their way towards their prey at the heart of their domain without a moment of hesitation.


    Their prey did not wait to be claimed; no, it sent its minions to stop them. The first that came were parodies of centipedes made from black grass trying to pierce them with their hide made out of grass spears. They charged eager to cover the bodies with pierced grass pixies but found themselves failing at their task.


    As the hunters under the power of hunt swayed and dodged out of the way with ease and proceeded to cut them down, looking as if a field of swaying grass had decided to act like the teeth of a beast. Those that charged the hunting elder were quickly cut in half by his spear. Soon, in what could be only a few moments, the grass centipedes were slain to the last.


    With the first line of defenders defeated, the elder moved forward, his hunters following his lead as they moved deeper into the skull''s domain. They found that as they moved forward, a new horror had been added to the landscape; a hive of the dead now stood where nothing had before.


    It began releasing hordes of undead flying insects at them, made up of the corpses of butterflies and hornets, all at the command of a single creature that stood above the melee happening below it. The abomination watching above it all was a horrid mix of the two zombies that were trying to swarm them with a thing made from twisting a hornet and butterfly together into a parody of themselves.This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.


    The attempts of the insect zombies to overwhelm the eldar and his hunters were failing as they left a trail of pierced zombies. Instead of overwhelming them in numbers as the undead above them had no doubt been hoping for, he instead saw his lesser kind be systematically eradicated, their heads pierced in a single thrust by the hunters while the elder would cut down dozens with each sweep of his grass hunting spear.


    Soon the hive was left with nothing to send, as barren and dead as the wax it was made off. The only zombie insect left hovering up, shouting while maintaining its distance. "Bzzzz destroy bzzzz for the bzzzz hive!" The creature said they were still threating their destruction despite having no forces left to send at them.


    The elder and the hunters under Hill had no way to deal with the abomination as it kept his distance, but it had no way to harm them until it got within range of their weapons. So they left the creature to make its empty threats and the empty hive of the undead to move forward to whatever defenses the skull had next.


    They moved slowly forward, passing by small patches of black grass on their way to the skull, and then just as they passed the midway point of the skull''s kingdom, the next line of defenders made their move. The ones formed to be like spiders leaped from the patches of black grass, going to pierce as many of the hunters as they could straight though.


    Instead, the hunters seemed to almost dance around the leap of the spider-like beings and proceeded to remove the spider''s legs before piercing the center of their being. The elder killed them with even greater skill, cutting dozens as they were leaping through the air, not even letting them land as they should but sending them to fall in pieces.


    In an instant, all the grass spiders were slain for their attempts at ambush, barely even slowing the elder and his hunters. They moved on, making it deeper into the kingdom, nearly at the chin of the skull itself. So to stop them, it opened its mouth and released it''s roar, conjuring a tornado of dead leaves to destroy them.


    The elders and hunters saw that whenever the ghostly image of the leaves in the tornado hit, they would cut through. It looked like finally the elder and his hunters had met something they could not beat, but then the elder raised his left hand, which had held the grasswar horn the entire time, and he blew it, causing a haunting melody to come out of it.


    Soon dozens of grass bells sprang up around the ghost leaf tornado, and as the bells continued to chime, the tornado stated to weaken its force draining, and as the eldar blew on his grass war horn once again, adding more grass bells, draining the tornado even faster. In just a few more minutes, the tornado was no more than a breeze in the wind that could do nothing to the elders and his hunters anymore.


    So with the tornado of ghost leaves beaten, the hunting elder Gressel and hunter stood in front of the skull. They were to the side of its smog rivers when the elder spoke. "Now comes the finishing blow." Gressel said as he raised his grass hunting spear high in the air in preparation for piercing the skull and shattering it as he brought it down.


    But just before he could deliver the final blow, the twin rivers of smog stopped flowing from the skull''s eye sockets, and instead two giant serpents formed, becoming the skull''s eyes. They immediately proceeded to ram themselves down, throwing the eldar of his feet and scattering his hunters as they were sent flying.


    The twin smog serpents kept their focus on the eldar, forcing him back as the two kept attacking him while switching positions between each other. The eldar tried to defend himself but found that the servants being made out of necrotic smog made them far too fluid and adaptive to his strikes. Not only that, each attack they traded slowly burned away at the elders grass hunting spear as the serpents necrotic nature made itself known.


    Eventually, after the elder''s spear and the serphants fangs had traded hundreds of blows, the elder''s spear shattered at the bite of one serpent''s head to be bitten and thrown across the field by the other head. With the eldar down, the hunters gathered around him and made to carry him out of the field. With the elder defeated, the hunt was defeated, and it''s magic lost, and they did not think they could take on the twin smog serpents that were circling the skulls without it.


    So with the day lost, the hunters made their way back to their home as fast as they could to get the elder the aid he needed. Though the hunt had failed to claim its prize, they had destroyed the army of the skull that would come to threaten their clan; they could take pride in that, and with that, the GREAT HUNT OF THE GRASS PIXIES came to a close.

 chapter 14 the first defense

    Maxwell was watching his domain wandering how to start a conversation with his first simmingly sentient creation. Though the fact it kept repeating the same destroy enemies of the hive thing over and over again started to cast doubt over just how sentient it really was. Though it hoped it was just a perk of this particular creature rather than the whole species, hopefully the next one that his new undead hive spawned would be far more talkative.


    He was interrupted from his thoughts on when he might get his future ambassador from the undead hybrids by his god giving him a warning. "Beware, my young ruler, those to your south have called for a grand hunt; prepare as best you can." Phabium said in a faint whisper, his voice being carried by the winds.


    "Whats a grand hunt?!" Maxwell yelled to himself, wondering what that could mean. Before he remembered some of the lore on the game he used to play that did had some basis in actual folklore, which was that fairy folk could go hunting, but instead of just a regular hunt, they were mystical events and were more akin to natural disasters to anyone who was the target of such a hunt.


    "Crap, I''m the target." Maxwell said simply to himself as he realized that he was in a very precarious situation and he needed to get his defenses in order immediately if he wanted to withstand what was coming for him. So he immediately went about getting his forces in order to defend against the fairy threat heading his way.


    Using his connection to all the citizens of his smog-covered realm, he first ordered his smog-grass centipedes to pull back from his borders and instead had them wait a bit further in so they could charge at the fairs if they broke through his smog wall. As after giving his order to his smog grass centipedes, he began pulling smog from the center sky of his realm and pushing it towards the bottom of his smog wall''s.


    Once the lower parts of the smog wall were several inches thick, he condensed it, turning the smog at the bottom of his walls into an actually hard material that the fairies would have to break through the now solid wall to enter his domain. After that was finished, he made sure to have all of his smog grass spiders lay in wait in the patches of black grass that spring up randomly in his kingdom.


    So with his last order given, all his citizens, or minions, as others would call them, were in place and ready for the great hunt that was coming for him. Though on that thought on whether his undead were minions or citizens, he began to think deeply about while waiting for the fey to attack.


    As he was undead ruler, he wasn''t sure there was much of a difference considering the only one among his undead that could even go against him possibly seemed to only want to destroy his enemies. Maxwell thought as he watched the hybrid zombie go on and on again about destroying enemies of the hive, though now he began to wonder. Since the hive building appeared, did the hive the hybrid undead spoke of refer to him or the building?


    Maxwell wants sure it spoke of the hive before the hive building existed, which means it could mean it could talk about destroying his enemies. Though when the more literal undead hive appeared, it might have switched to anything that threatened the literal hive. If anyone among Maxwell''s undead happened to be rather intelligent, they might have asked him if having a philosophical reason through about what exactly it''s undead hybrids meant by time was a good use of time.


    Luckily for Maxwell, there was no such intelligent undead among his kingdom at that moment, and it was not like he had anything better to do. As it was, all the preparations Maxwell could make had already been done, so all he could do was pass the time until the day came for him. As if to answer the call, the fey proceeded to burst down his now solid smog wall.


    "What the hell?" Maxwell said as he gazed at the six-inch tail pixie with its small hord of smaller fairies, all of which were covered in grass armor. " charge!!!" Maxwell felt as the smog grass centipedes somehow expressed but not said as they charged at the creepy green pixies that were in his domain. The smaller pixies had a weird look of happy serenity, where everything was fine no matter what was done to them.


    As the smog centipedes were about to meet the pixies somehow transmitting back to Maxwell the feeling of anticipation as they were somehow sure they were going to pin all of them on the sharp tips of grass that made up their backs. Then Maxwell watched in horror as his centipedes were destroyed as their leaf spiked backs were systematically trimmed and their core was pierced, which Maxwell didn''t even know they had.


    Then the horde of murderous pixies began their march forward towards the hive of the undeath, the only building between them and Maxwell. He wasn''t sure how the hive could even slow them down, as it took so long for it to produce a single chimera, so there was no way hit could produce enough force to stop the invading fay. As Maxwell was thinking about the utter uselessness of the undead hive for the defense of his kingdom, a screen suddenly appeared in front of him.


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    Hive of the undead insect-status- under siege


    Comander- none->bunet


    Command given to chimera zombie bunet


    New commander has allowed for the creation of additional units.


    - zombie hornet- ability: pain sting- causes excruciating pain when hit by the undead hornets stonger


    A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.


    - zombie butterfly-ability: hypnotic wing- the wings of this creature can hypnotize any who look to long at its wings.


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    To say Maxwell was surprised by what the screen was telling him was an understatement, as he had not been that long ago deciding whether his first chimera zombie, apparently named Bunet, was actually sentient. Now it turns out not only is Bunet sentient, but she can apparently take command of his undead hive.


    Though he didn''t even know his undead could take command of his building to begin with. Though he was more than fine with it as Bunet taking command of the undead hive had unlocked two zombie types that were easier to create from what he was guessing as the hive was suddenly pumping them out nonstop.


    Though it was a good thing Bunet''s command had unlocked new undead to send into the fight, how Bunet went about commanding those undead left slot to be desired. As Bunet quickly showed, he thought more like a hornet than a butterfly by having all the undead under command swarm and sting all the invading fairies to death.


    Though Maxwell had to admit there weren''t any other options he was aware of as the invading Green pixies seemed to be self-hypnotized, and so the zombie butterfly''s hypnotizing ability was rendered useless, leaving Bunet to relay on the zombie hornet''s painting ability. Though if he were being honest, this desire of Bunet to swarm was probably more due to her aggressive nature than any real strategic desire.


    Though despite the numbers and aggressive swarm tactics of Bunet, it didn''t matter as the horde of insects were cut down, and it especially didn''t help that the huge pixie seemed to be making a game of how many it could cut in half each time it swung its huge spear. So far the maximum the huge pixie had managed was a dozen at one time. So it didn''t surprise Maxwell that the swarm of undead insects were soon enough destroyed.


    Though we''ll Maxwell wasn''t surprised Bunet was seeing red and about to charge in."No, hold position and observe." Maxwell ordered Bunet, not wanting to lose his only commander to a fruitless suicide charge, though Bundy obeyed; she didn''t agree with the sentiment and kept promising death to the green pixies as they passed her by.


    With his smog centipedes and the surprise defense by his undead hive having been defeated, that left his smog spiders laying in ambush to hopefully push the pixies great hunt. He watched as the spiders let them pass one by one, the spiders relying on some inherent instinct they had gained from being their forms being based around spiders to know to let the pixies pass to a certain point so they could get them at the right moment.


    Once they did, it was as if some secret hidden trigger was tripped, causing all the hidden smog grass spiders to launch at once. Maxwell watched as his spiders leaped at the invading pixies and how disastrous it turned out the lucky ones weren''t trying to attack the big one or anyone near him as they were cut in half while they were still in the sky. The rest of his smog spiders didn''t do any better as they were dodged by the pixies as they continued to move while in that creepy smiley state of theirs before cutting down all the smog spiders that had tried to ambush them.


    Maxwell just sat there shocked as his last and final force of minions was wiped out without any effort at all. So with no other option left, Maxwe activated his weapon, which was his ace in the hole and his lady hope. So a whirlwind began to build up inside of Maxwell; leaves were picked up and shredded within the maelstrom, and the ghost images of the leaves that were shredded were born within the dark wind, and once it had reached its height, Maxwell opened his mouth and released his TORNADO OF GHOSTLY LEAFS upon the pixies that were closing in on him.


    He watched as the pixies stopped before his mighty ghostly tornado as it made its way toward them. Maxwell finally began to feel the tension begin to recede from him as he finally saw something of his give the invading Green pixies pause and thought finally that the invading Grand Hunt would be pushed back.


    That is until the big green pixie put the war horn that it hadn''t done anything with since it entered Maxwell''s domain to its lips and proceeded to blow one really long note that sounded like a really strange wind chime. Then Maxwell watched in shock as bells made out of grass suddenly appeared around his ghostly tornado, stopping it dead in its tracks. Maxwell began to feel as the bells chimed his ghostly tornado weaken.


    Maxwell, seeing the somehow perfect counter that the big pixie had for his ghostly tornado, tried to feel it with more wind as he began to release more necrotic wind to try and overpower the bells, but the big pixie just kept blowing his war horn, adding more bells to the ones flooding and draining his ghostly tornado of its strength.


    Soon enough, it was too much, and his ghostly tornado was nothing more than a cold breeze in the wind. Then he watched as the big pixie closed in on her, watching helpless as all his tricks had been played and all his forces had been defeated. Now Maxwell was forced to watch as the first force to come for him would take him.


    "No,nno,no,no." Maxwell said to himself the feeling of his failure crushing him as he watched the big pixie ready his spear for the final blow. " No! I refuse to be destroyed by someone talking a casual fucking stroll." Maxwell said, gathering all his sadness and rage, pushing all that raw negative emotion into one final act of necromantic magic.


    The act of necrotic might cause the constant stream of black smog that had been flowing from Maxwell eye sockets that he had forgotten about in his panic to stop flowing. Instead, they formed into two giant serpents similar in every way physically but vastly different in intent. The two serpents immediately attacked the big pixie, engaging in a ferocious battle while Maxwell did everything he could to maintain the two serpents.


    One of the serphants hissed and attacked with an unending ferocity as they tried their damndest to sink their fangs into the big pixie. The other serpent, though, was filled with venom that kept leaking from it. It attacked less like it wanted to rip into the big pixie like its comrade but more like it wanted to bury the big pixie in a pool of corrosive acid.


    The two serpents kept shifting positions, confusing the big pixie they were fighting as each head would seemingly suddenly change its fighting style without reason. Though this was only because the Serpents were more smog than any physical substance, which was what allowed them to switch places so much.


    Finally, the more aggressive serpent breached the defenses of the big pixie by destroying its spear with its corrusive fangd before biting the big pixie, filling it with the serpent''s specific brand of venom. Though the serpent''s own aggressive nature caused it to send the big pixie flying with a jerk of its head, allowing the big pixie to be saved by its smaller fellows and carried out of Maxwell''s domain.


    Through the big pixies defeat and the green pixies fellowing retreat, Maxwell had won, though with devastating results as his domain was devastated. Though Maxwell had only one thing to say. "See Phabium, I win. I am a good ruler." Maxwell whispered to the god who had saved him from the unending void before fainting from having to maintain his great dual serpent spell for so long, bringing an end to Maxwell''s first defense of his domain.

 chapter 15 the power of healing and farms

    The hunters were no longer in the power of the hunters elder''s magic; they were now thinking like regularly grass pixies once again. Though they were thinking like Hunter grass pixies as such, they were having the uncomfortable thought that perhaps in launching their hunt they had made their prey much more dangerous than he had been before considering how deep they had made it into its lair.


    Luckily for them, before the hunters could find themselves spiraling too deeply into what ifs and shoulds, the skilled and respected hunter Grokal was able to get them back on track. "Alright, we got a job to do. So let''s get to it. Grokal stated simply showing once again how he was a man of few words.


    Though those few words were exactly what his fellow hunters needed to hear as they focused back on the task of getting their hunters back home. Which was not going to be easy as he was still in his grand hunt form and, as such, was quite large compared to the rest of them. Though, to be fair, there were more than enough hunters for several to work together to carry him home.


    Though under Grokal direction, a few more helped out to speed up the journey back to the clans home. As they all could make out visible marks on elder Gressel''s chest from where one of the giant serpents he had been fighting had bitten him, they saw clear signs of venom leaking out from the wound. So all were in agreement with Grokal for a fast journey home, though several hunters had to be posted on watch as they moved to make sure they weren''t attacked by any greater insects who saw the wounded and weak elder Gressel as too great a target to resist.


    The group had a great time going back and dealing with any insects and greater insects that tried to cause them trouble swiftly. They even eventually reached their village''s outer limits, where the other elders, Grekal of the farmers, and the grand elder were waiting for them. Upon seeing the state of Gressel, Grekal went pale while the Grand Elder ran over as much as his old body would allow.


    The hunters meet him a third of the way, and the grand elder immediately begins to examine Gressel. He looked over every inch of Gressel, not letting the most obvious wound draw his attention away from others that could be just as dangerous. Upon seeing that the most dangerous was indeed the most obvious, he gave his command.


    "Hunters bring him to my hut so that I may begin healing him at once. Those hunters not carrying Gressel, I ask to watch the surroundings of the village. I fear we can expect retailtion for our hunt." The grand elder commanded simply and was obeyed by several hunters carrying Gressel to the grand elders hut while the rest went to the outer parts of the village to perform lookout duty.


    As the grand elder was passing by Grekal, he gave her a series of quick orders as well. "Grekal, I''m sorry to say this, but to protect our home and our clan, you must perform a great growth. Then, after you have done that, you will have to perform the earlier task; hopefully the scoundrel will deal with the skull, and if not, he will give us the time we need to get Gressel healed and ready to lead the defense of the clan." The grand elder said to Grekal with a very serious tone.


    To which Grekal nodded her jaw and her eyes determined to die her duties. Seeing that she was ready and able to complete the task needed of her, the grand elder continued on to his hut, to which the hunters carrying Gressel were already half way. Despite his old age, the grand elder managed to catch up with a reasonably fast pace.


    Once at his hut, the elder immediately got to work, going into his hut and grabbing several different types of medical grass before coming back out. "Now first week I need a proper bed." The grand elder said clearly, pointing out that Gressel was too big to come into his hut. The elder then proceeded to remedy this by using GRASS SHAPE quickly, causing the grass under and around Gressel to grow and twist until, in a few short moments, Gressel was now lying on a bed of magically shaped grass in a hut made in the same way.


    The hunters hawked at the grand elders mastery of the art of GRASS SHAPING, as even the most skilled of their artisans of their clans would have taken a bit of time to put up a bed and a hut, but the grand elder had down both with but a wave of his hand showing his skill. "I think my young hunters, you could be joining your compatriots in watching for reprisal instead of staring at me." The grand elder said gently to the surrounding hunters.Find this and other great novels on the author''s preferred platform. Support original creators!


    The grand elder took a moment to look over elder Gressel before applying the different magic grasses to the wound to counteract the strange venom that was now flowing through Gressel. He then turned to the still gawking hunters who were still staring in amazement as he continued to show his skill by using several kinds of magic grass that was temperamental at the best of times to somehow perfectly control it to counter the venom in Gressel.


    "Unless your studying me for your next hunt." The grand elder asked with a raised eyebrow. The grand elders indication that they were wanting to claim his head was more than enough to get the hunters into going to look out positions on the outer area of the clans village. The grand elder laughed to himself as he watched the hunters run to do their new-found duty as watchmen.


    He then turned back to the unconscious Gressel, still stuck in his great hunting form, as his body was clearly in need of the greater magic to fight the bite''s necrotic venom. "Hurry and get better, my friend; we need you for the battles to come." The grand elder said gently to the unconscious Gressel before he walked over to his own personal hut and began writing down messages on magical grass once again.


    Meanwhile, in another part of the village, the grand elder of the farmers, Grekal, was calling forth the great growth. She stood in the center of their clan''s village while the rest of the clans formed around her, swaying around her in a strange dance. They sang a strange song that meant nothing and yet meant something at the same time the words a promise and a lie in the same breath.


    Soon enough the ritual was complete, and Grekal, just like Gressel before, grew twice as tall as any grasspixie, though unlike Gressel, she held only a shepard''s crook in one hand. The change the growth had was quickly made apparent as all the grass within the clans range grew three times as tall. This would hide their clan from reprisal, as not only was the village impossible to see through the tall grass, but the grass also became enchanted, making it easy to get lost in.


    That''s the duty of the grass elders to prevent any of the clans that left the village from becoming forever lost in the enchanted grass. There was also another side effect with the magic of the growth flowing through the grass around them; any that ate it would be fueled by that growth as well, causing large magic insect swarms to be a problem.


    Though they had as much of a problem finding the village as anything else that entered the grass, which usually kept such creatures from doing damage to the clan. Though this time it might be a boon as the insects fueled by the grass magic would be nature-based magical creatures. As such, they would be in opposition to the undead, causing them to seek out the undead kingdom to the north of the clan, hopefully.


    Now that Grekal had performed the ritual of growth, she needed to move on to her other task. She left behind her clansman, going by herself, as she did not want to risk any of them with both the nature insects and the undead parodies of them wandering out there looking to get them. She would be able to defend herself in her current state as GUIDE OF THE GROWTH.


    So she made her way across the grass maze that was impossible to tell where you were in it unless you were her. As such, with her initial skill, GRASSWALK improved in her current form; she made it to where she needed to go in half the time it would have usually taken her.


    So that is why Grekal found herself staring down a hole with distaste. "I know your down, you slime ball there, come on out!" Grekal shouted down the hole, causing it to echo for a few moments before someone slowly began to make their way out of the hole to speak to Grekal.


    "Ah, Grekal, pleasant as always." A figure said while raising slowly out of the pit while sitting on a worm wearing a robe made from dead leaves that covered its entire body. "To what do I owe the pleasure? You pixies usually want nothing to with Womer the worm tamer." Womer whispered politely while staring into Grekal''s eyes with his pale blink ones.


    "I have need of your foul worms Wormer! Undead have started to raise in the north under the command of a skull. Your worms will bury underneath their kingdom and destroy the skull from below, ending the undead threat. In return, you will get our bags of grass pixie dust." Grekal demanded more than asked Wormer, who merely nodded his agreement.


    Wormer then had his worm lower him back down into his hole slowly; his pale, blank eyes never left Grekal''s until the dirt between them broke their line of sight. Grekal shuddered a bit before she turned around and left, heading back home. She hated having to deal with the foul dark fey, but she understood that harsh times make unlikely allies.


    Though with the deal made as they both knew she couldn''t break as fey in general had to honor the agreements they made. She especially couldn''t break any deals when they were made when she was the GUIDE OF THE GROWTH. Though with the deal made, their undead neighbors to their north will have to deal with all the new nature magic insects and a dark Fey''s magic worm army.


    Which means for the time being the undead will have other threats to deal with while they gather their strength. So with that bit of happy news, Grekal hummed herself a happy tune as she made her way back home.

 chapter 16 war for the underground

    Wormer waited until his worm elevator had lowered himself fully to the ground of his underground lair before he got off. Once he was finally lowered, he began to make his way quickly down the corridors of his home. He made his way towards a specific place; his steps filled purpose.


    He eventually reached where he was going, passing several chambers filled with things made of his twisting of the word natural form. The room Worker had been heading towards was a massive chamber with a series of rock bridges hanging over a large chamber filled with worms covered in different types of rock.


    Wormer fast walked across the bridges above the chamber of worms until he reached the platform at the center of the rock bridges. Once on the center platform, he went directly to a stone table that had nothing at the moment. Once he was there, he raised his staff high in the air and waved the head of his staff over the table, causing a larva of a worm to appear in the table.


    Once the baby larva was on the table, he laid his staff down and got to work molding the worm to what he would need to lay siege to the realm of the undead. As he stretched and added the powers of the earth to the worm, getting it ready to lead its fellow siege worms against the undead, his mind began to wonder to the past.


    As Wormer had done the task he was doing now so many times now, it was second nature to him and so he could risk his mind wondering. He remembered back in the old days before elders like Grekal respected him as an equal and his own kin loved him. Though such times were long gone and his name was now spoken in hushed whispers by his kin if they spoke his name at all.


    Back in those days, he was an elder of one of the Bug Pixie clans. The bug pixie clans helped to shepherd different insects of the forest into leaving in harmony with one another and to not let their drive for more to burn the forest to great. For those insect pixies that watched over hives, their politics involved convincing Queens what was best for their hives.


    Well, his clan had watched over the worms beneath the soil, making sure the worms weren''t disturbed in their duty of keeping the soul healthy. Not were they overhunted by those that feed on the worms for sustenance. He had been his clan''s elder of Shepard''s, the grasspixie equivalent of the elder of farmers.


    He had done his duty well for many decades without issue until a disaster struck. A particular species of bird with an obsession for worms had entered the forest and had immediately begun overhunting the worm population. His clan, among the other worm clans decades to the duty, had tried to stop them, but they had strange breaks dedicated specifically to searching out worms.


    So by the time the fairies of his clan found out the birds had arrived and they had begun moving to try and drive them off, they were already long gone with several worms in their beak. He, as the elder of Shepard''s for the Worm Pixie clan, had to deal with this problem. So he did use the magic inherited from his pixie clan to heal the worms; instead, he used the magic to change them into another kind of worm.


    Wormer created through this act a kind of parasitic worm that looked no different from the worm it was originally born from. This way, when the race of worm-obsessed birds came to eat worms, they ate the parasitic ones as much as the regular ones. This caused several of the birds to die as the parasitic worms ate them from the inside out.


    This eventually caused the specific bird breed to choose to focus on other insects besides worms, as they didn''t know which worm would be there last. Though once the rest of his clan had found out what he had done, they had been horrified as each pixie clan had a taboo they could not break.


    The worm pixie clans did not change the worms they cared for. By creating his parasitic breed of worms, he had broken that taboo completely, even if it had saved the worms they were to care for from extinction. So he was exiled from his clan and declared dark fey. Now the only thing he has are the worms he continues to make with the staff made from the last of his parasitic worms, as the rest had been tracked down and killed by his former clan.If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.


    The only reprieve he has from his constant fiddling with his fraction and alteration of worms is when he is hired to wage war in the ever-ongoing conflicts in the magic woods. "Hmmm, it''s been a truly long time since I thought of my old clan." Wormer said to himself before thinking about it. "It must be being hired by my former friend Grekal from those days that brought those memories to the surface." Wormer said to himself before he focused back on his work.


    Soon after he had refocused back on his work, he was done. He looked at his creation that he was going to use to lay siege on the undead through the underground of their new kingdom. The worm had a maw made up of sharp black stone talons, allowing it to easily dig through any earth as well as fight off any threat at its front. Its body was also covered in a gray stone-like material that would toughen it against anyone that tried to kill it.


    With the creature looking ready to fight, he ordered towards one of the tunnels opposite the one he came through. Once it started to squirm through the tunnel, he followed after it after he picked up his worm staff. Once the siege worm had traveled to a certain point, he offset it to stop, then activated his skill REPLiCATE, causing a copy of the original siege worm to fill the passageway.


    Then Wormer ordered the original siege worm to start digging towards the area where the undead were. Then, after the worm had started digging, he activated a second skill, ENLARGE, on the second worm, causing it to grow bigger and bigger as it dug until the original siege worm was creating a large corridor for the rest of its replicants to follow after it.


    Wormer got onto one of the replicants of the siege worm and used it as a mount as he fellowed after the rest of the siege worm army. Meanwhile, in the underground of Maxwell''s kingdom, a certain plant was enduring its depression.


    The only defender left among the undead elementals that were to defend the kingdom of the skull was Maxwell. It had grown deep under the ground, slowly combining as it was the only way to keep its plant-like form. The smog root hands had been the undead elemental that had benefited the most from the grow your lawn policy.


    As the land under the skull Maxwell had turned into a place that slowly expanded into undead grasslands, the roots had benefited from a case of double growth as they still functioned as plants, unlike their fellow undead insects, who acted as insects. Which meant that not only did more smog roots first be born under ground, but those that were already there grew bigger and connected to others if their kind.


    So by the time the grand hunt of the Green Pixies invaded, there was not an inch below ground where the smog root fist was not buried deep. So they had waited for the order to plunge their hands from the ground and drag the invaders deep into the earth. But that order never came; instead, they watched as their fellow elementals were slain to the last, and those that came after them were called and then killed as well.


    But they were not called; even when the enemy held their weapons upon the ruler personally, they were not called. Now instead they reached deep into their power and called upon their magical might rather than call upon their aid. So the legion of smog root hands that lay below the earth were waiting for new undead elementals to be born and replace the ones that had fallen and for the one that constantly buzzed above to rebuild its swarm and attack once again.


    They waited below, knowing they were failures, for they were so insignificant that even the threat of destruction had not caused their ruler to call upon them. The sadness that the roots below would never get to prove their worth for the kingdom was complete and total, then they felt it a shaking that ran through the earth and was slowly making its way closer toward them.


    Joyed soon filled the smog roots as they realized what was happening: the enemies attack from above had failed, so now they wish to try and attack from below. They did not know that they, the smog roots, waited eagerly to prove their worth to the kingdom that they belonged to.


    Soon an air of anticipation built up as the waves were felt closer and closer. Soon enough, with one giant crash, a creature with razor-sharp talons that made up most of its head tried to barrel ways up into the kingdom only to find its path impeded. Before the creatures knew what was going on, the roots were upon it, their hands reaching, grasping, pulling, and digging into pulling apart the roots in total ecstasy as they bathed in the blood, showing their ruler they were defenders of the kingdom.


    Soon there was nothing left of the biggest of the attacker but bloody chunks. Sadily, the rest of the stanpede that followed him did not see the danger in time and soon enjoyed him being torn apart by the blood thirst roots. The only one to escape was one siege worm that turned around with a strange man on the worm''s back that kept urging his mount to go faster as he looked back at the slaughter unfolding in shocked terror.

 chapter 17 invasion of the hornet

    While the roots below were turning the siege worms that had tried to invade into fertilizer below in the kingdoms underground, there was something stirring above ground. Bunet, the hybrid zombie made up of the bodies of a hornet and a butterfly, was filled with rage, and since Maxwell was currently unconscious from his grand necrotic spell, she could act on it.


    "Bzzzz will destroy bzzzz enemies of the bzzzz hive." Bunet said with heat as she gathered the bodies of the slain insect zombies, putting them into the hive of the undead. Bunet was hoping by recycling the bodies she could start rebuilding her undead swarm faster. Though through the feeling of her connection to the undead hive, she could tell it would still be a bit before it started producing her undead hornets like she wanted.


    This was unacceptable as far as she was concerned; she would not let the enemies of the hive wet away with their attack so easily. Especially since they were in full retreat and would be vulnerable to attacks from above as they tried to defend their weakened leader. Unlike before, strange magic allowed them to fight as one and destroy her swarm without effort.


    So she would have to do even more to speed along the recovery of the undead hives resources so that it could begin spawning the undead she required. So Bunet immediately took to the skies high above the rather thin smog wall that had several holes in it, unlike before, as it seemed her maker''s output of smog was drastically down.


    But that would be a later concern; she had something more important than some holes in smoke to deal with. As once Bunet was high in the sky, she began her hunt, killing and bringing back exclusively hornets as they were in the hunt. The hornets tried to fight back against her but found their stingers ineffective, as hers very much were.


    Though she did get bitten more than a few times by the hornet''s mandibles, in the end she got what she wanted and supplied a steady supply of fresh hornet bodies to the hive of the undead. Which meant soon enough she got the option to create the zombie horns she wanted, and so she did. Soon she had a small swarm of a few hundred undead hornets to pursue the enemies of her hive.


    She was about to order a full pursuit when she realized the fatal flaw in her plan, and that was you never leave the hive undefended. No, well, there were several undead elementals matching around having been born under the effects of undead grasslands with Maxwell unconscious; there was no one to command them, and by themselves, they weren''t all that effective, just acting by themselves instead of as a group.


    So if Bunet wants to follow through on her pursuit plan, then she needed another commander to lead the defense. Here, well, she led the offense on the hives enemies. How to get one Bunet thought about it and came up with a crazy idea. As Bunet knew, she thought more like a hornet than a butterfly, even though she was made evenly of both, so why not separate the butterfly from her and have that one command the defense?Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website.


    Seeing as the hive of undead had gotten her as its commander and created in turn both hornets and butterflies, perhaps it could separate the two from her as well? So with the probably insane and reckless idea in her strange combo head, she dove towards the entrance of the hive of the undead. Once she passed through, nothing happened for a long moment, then the whole hive lit up with a strange black light before it stopped, and two beings walked out of the hive.


    A screen appeared confirming what had happened as well as explaining what the new beings were coming out of the hive. The two both looked at the purple screen to get all of the details of their new changes.


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    Bunet commanded the hive of the undead to seperate- command accepted-


    Bunet: chimera zombie- seperated into- specialized zombie commanders-


    Zombies commanders: a zombie that can command other zombies as well as specialize in a specific zombie species-


    First commander: Bunet- zombie hornet commander- hornet tactics- allowing for better control of hornets and use of their stingers against enemies


    Second commander: Horter- zombie butterfly commander- butterfly tactics- allows for better control of butterfly and use of their wings against enemies


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    The two commanders looked at each other after reading the details of their new undead lives. Horter was a zombie butterfly made of a combination of two butterflies fused together and then stretched to their limits. While bunet was of two hornets fused together into a shorter bulker mass than Horter was.


    The two humanoid zombie commanders looked at each other a moment, their instant dislike for each other somehow palpable between them despite coming from the same original form. "You watch over here while I attack the enemy." Bunet said to the other commander. Who simply nodded then proceeded to wave at her to take the hornets and go.


    Bunet promptly did, taking the small swarm she had built up and heading out to pursue the enemy. While the other one turned to the hive. "Now it is time for someone with more sense to defend the homeland." Horter said, sounding somehow distinguished, as he began having the hive of the dead produce butterflies for his own personal army before walking over to the spider and centipede undead grass elementals to get them patrolling in groups.


    Meanwhile, Bunet led her swarm of undead hornets through the wall of smog only to scream in incoherent rage at what she found on the other side. She found on the other side of the smog wall that the invaders had ridden themselves within what seemed massive, unending grass. For a moment, Bunet merely stared with four eyes at the magic grass with the unnatural hatred of the undead while her two sets of mandibles clicked rapidly in agitation.


    "Fine, you want to hide in the grass, then I will search through every last blade until I find you." Bunet whispered in pure rage before directing her zombie hornets into the grass to begin the search. The sound of battle immediately broke out as the insects in the grass fought her zombie hornets. "Good, I''ll add you to the hive of the undead." Bunet said already having some of the victorious hornets bring back their kills to the hive of the undead. So the invasion by Bunet and her swarm of zombie hornets had truly begun.

 chapter 18 time to wake up

    Maxwell came to rather slowly as his senses, which were those of the undead and not of the living, slowly came back to him. He looked around with phantom eyes, seeing his domain as it came back into focus. His thoughts, which had been basically nonexistent in his state of comatose stupor, now came with speed and in number.


    "While that could have gone better." Maxwell said to himself as he looked at his depleted forces that made up the citizenry of his undead domain. All his smog grass elements had been destroyed defending his territory. But thanks to the respawn rate of his territory, he''s already begun to rebuild his destroyed force of smog grass elementals.


    Though the same couldn''t be said for all the insect zombies he lost, as he felt it would take time before the hive of the undead was ready to create him a new undead swarm. Luckily, though the one thing he couldn''t replace, his zombie chimera Bunet had survived the invasion by those green pixies, or the great hunt, as they called it.


    Thought on that thought as he began thinking about Bunet Maxwell and began looking around his domain even harder as it came even clearer into focus for him. "Where is Bunet, and what''s with all the zombie butterflies flying around?" Maxwell asked a bit confused as well as concerned, especially as he figured Bunet was for someone who likes hornets more than butterflies with her aggressiveness. So to see all the zombie butterflies floating around instead of zombie hornets made him wonder just what had happened while he was asleep for Bunet to prioritize the butterflies over the hornets in production by the hive of the undead.


    That''s when he noticed that Bunet was nowhere to be found in his kingdom instead there was somebody else waiting for his attention. "And who might you be?" Maxwell asked the new denizen of his realm who he could feel was connected to him and his kingdom but whose creation he knew nothing about.


    "I am Horter, a zombie commander that is skilled in the command of butterflies, my liege." Horter said to Maxwell in a distinguished voice, shocking Maxwell a bit, as up to this point he did not know the undead of his realm would ever be capable of refined speech. So to have one of his undead prove that they were capable of such things so quickly after he woke up gave him a bit of whiplash.


    Though it seemed having noticed his new zombie commanders showing he was entirely coherent was exactly what his screens had been waiting for. Not too long after having noticed Horter, a screen appeared to tell him what had caused him to fall into a comatose state as well as what had happened while he was in that state.


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    You have undergone a short coma as your body goes through it''s metamorphosis to better handle the necromantic energy that went through it as a result of the new spell invented.


    New necrotic spell invented- summoning great serpents of necrotic rage and sadness : you can summon two serpents of necrotic black smog. One that represents rage and the other representing sadness each having their own methods of fighting that embody what they represent.


    Through the creation of the summoning necrotic spell for greater serpents of necrotic hatred and sadness you have unlocked the ability to create rage and sad smog undead.


    Events that have happened during sleep:


    - the smog root fist destroyed a worm invasion force securing the underground of the realm.


    - Bunet used the hive of the undead to seperate herself into two zombies commanders which were Bunet: hornet zombie comander and Horter: butterfly zombie commanders


    - Bunet has gathered all zombie hornets and order a undead hornet invasion in pursuit of the invading forces while Horter maintains the defense of the realm


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    Maxwell took a moment to go over the screen, really absorbing all that had happened in his coma state and trying to figure out what he should do next. Well, it would seem he had a lot to deal with, as apparently he had new things to research with the discovery of hatred and sad next smog.


    This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.


    But he had his citizens to first be content with, as he had forgotten his smog root fist in the fight against the green pixies, and honestly, he had just forgotten them in general as they were underground, causing the old saying out of sight out of mind to come into play. Which had really come to bite Maxwell, so it was time for him to check on them and see what exactly they were up to after destroying a worm invasion.


    So Maxwell turned his sight from his kingdom''s grounds above to the depths below, finding that the smog roots had become interconnected. Though he was surprised to see that what the screen meant by destroying the invading worms was that the smog roots tore them apart as there were worm chunks scattered through out the thousands of grasping hands that made up the smog root elementals.


    Maxwell could feel the smog roots joy at his attention; he could even see them begin to hold up the chunks of worm they had as both a sign of their defense of the realm and as tribute to their ruler. Well, when shown such clear and eager dedication from the smog roots, there was no way he couldn''t respond.


    So first Maxwell spoke to the smog roots by projecting a feeling of pride at their defense of the kingdom, to which the entire undead smog root system shuddered in joy at the recognition of their contribution. Maxwell then went about coming up with a way for the smog roots to contribute to the kingdom other than randomly stopping underground attacks.


    Maxwell thought about this for a long moment, observing the roots and their underground domain, taking it all in its totality. He then noticed something; it seemed that the worms invasion into the underground of his kingdom and the smog roots own inherent nature to burrow into the ground had caused a series of small chambers with tunnels running through them to form.


    So with the new rooms below ground and with the smog roots holding material in the form of torn worm flesh. So it was time to see if he could have smog roots produce undead forces like Bunet, as it would be much harder to forget them when they were actively producing undead forces for him. So Maxwell got to work filling the smog roots with far more necrotic than they usually had.


    Once he felt that his smog roots had enough excess necrotic black smog to begin making undead of their own, he began to get to the real work of making undead out of the dead flesh of torn worms. He chose the biggest underground chamber that had been formed due to the worm invasion and then had the smog roots slowly gather pounds of worm flesh into the chamber.


    Once the roots had gathered enough flesh into the chamber for him to form something, Maxwell proceeded to get to work. He slowly had the roots that were in the ceiling of that specific chamber pierce a specific slab of flesh, then slowly and ever so carefully pierce their way through the next slab of worm flesh until, by the time we''re done carving their way through one side to the other, they had something of a worm strung together by the smog roots.


    "All right, let''s see if this next part works." Maxwell said to himself as he had the smog roots fill the worms strung together with the excess smog he put into them, then to cut those roots connected them to the worms. Then both he and the smog roots watched for a moment as the stitched worms slowly came to undeath.


    Slowly the stitched worms began to roam the chamber as they got used to their new undead lives. The smog root fist hanging from the ceiling began to make hand gestures, and in response, the stitched worms began to carry out certain tasks that the hand gestures seemed to entail.


    "Well, it looks like we have succeeded." Maxwell said rather proudly that everything had turned out alright. He also shared the feeling of success with smog root fists, causing them to shudder with joy once again. Then, to finalize the success, the blue screen appeared to declare the result of their experiment.


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    In working with the smog root elementals you have unlocked the following building.


    Smog root operating chamber: this chamber is where the smog root fist create their root Marionettes a type of undead that is a puppet to the will of the smog root fist that made it.


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    "Well, it looks like I don''t have to worry about forgetting them now." Maxwell said as the smog root fist began turning all the underground chambers into operating rooms. Maxwell then began to feel the eagerness of the smog root fist as they began to create wormroot marionettes to pursue someone. Maxwell then conversed with them to figure out why exactly they were making an army.


    The conversation was a strange one as it was based more on emotions and images than words, but eventually the smog roots got what they were after across. They wanted to go get the leader of the worm invasion who had escaped. Maxwell gave his approval for the pursuit but not the elimination, as he wanted to know about this commander of worms and if he could expect more of them.


    So with that handled, Maxwell turned his attention back towards the surface and what awaited him there. "Well, let''s see what we can do above." Maxwell said to himself as he turned his attention back to the surface of his kingdom.

 chapter 19 the sky above

    Maxwell brought his attention away from his smog roots and the army they were building to pursue the underground invaders through the tunnel they had left behind and brought it back to the surface. When he did this, he noted several changes he hadn''t seen before, such as the fact that the wall of smog that surrounded his small kingdom isn''t as thick as it was before.


    Though luckily the rivers of smog that came out of his eye sockets were already flowing at a much faster rate to fix that. But as Maxwell looked at the rivers, he noted they actually flowed much more quickly and were a lot bigger than before. So noticing the differences, he began to examine his two rivers of smog to be sure exactly what was going on with them.


    As he examined the two separate rivers of smog, he noticed more differences than he had first glanced. Such as the fact one of the rivers of smog was raging wildly as it moved well, the other seemed to be much slower but to be of far more fluid nature than the other.


    "Ahh, I think these are the two different types of smog." Maxwell said aloud in his weird necrotic link to his citizens, as he didn''t have any vocal cords to speak. Now that he had an idea of what he was looking at, he quickly figured which smog river was which. As Maxwell figured the more violently flowing one was his new rage smog, the more liquid-like one was sad smog.


    Which he supposed was good to know for later experiments. As he was thinking about what he could do with the new types of necrotic black smog, his new zombie commander Horter made his way over to him to get his attention. "Sorry to disturb you, sir, but you might want to see this." Horter said politely before directing several butterflies with strange purple and black wings to move some black grass aside to show what had been hiding behind it.


    Which was a catapult made out of grass that he hadn''t known was there. "Well, it appears I have to change my priorities for this next round of research." Maxwell said seeing the immediate and obvious gains that studying and then unlocking grass catapults would be. Meanwhile, Horter merely floated next to Maxwell, an incredible smug look on his face, which Maxwell told mostly by feeling more than by looking.


    He did have a hard time telling what Horter was feeling from his face, as his face was two butterflies heads merged together. But anyway he had to move on from that line of thought and focused back on the grass catapult. He looked over the catapult with his ghostly senses from every angle until he was sure he had a good idea how it worked, then began reshaping the nearby black grass to copy the already-made grass catapult.


    The first few attempts did not turn out well, nor did the attempts after that, but eventually Maxwell managed to replicate the grass catapult. Once he made his first actual copy of the grass catapult, to be sure he had gotten it down, he made a few more to be sure, creating a firing line of catapults a short distance from himself.


    Though now that he had his line of catapults, he ran into his second problem: he had no ammunition for the catapults to fire besides a few pebbles, which he didn''t think would be all that effective against whatever magic the green pixies threw at him next. Then it occurred to him that he had two new types of dark necrotic smog to test¡ªwhy not see if they could enhance the new grass catapult design he had just gotten?


    So he began to do just that, first enhancing one grass catapult with necrotic rage smog, then one other with necrotic sad smog. The results were rather interesting. As the two different types of smog filled and infused their specific grass catapult, they began to warp it. Though the two catapults were changed very differently from each other.


    As one catapult became filled with rage smog, it became sharper, growing several blades of grass out of it, and the part that launched objects¡ªthe spoon-like part of the catapult¡ªchanged, becoming something very different. As the empty part of the catapult meant to launch things became filled with razor-sharp spikes clearly meant to mince anything in front of it.


    While the catapult changed by rage smog clearly radiated an aura of blood thirsty from all of its changes, the changes done to the other catapult with the necrotic smog of sadness had caused something all together different. The most obvious change was that the catapult was now loaded with some type of smog venom.The author''s content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.


    Not only was the catapult changed by the sad necrotic smog constantly filling the part that launched with necrotic venom to launch at enemies, but it also had this weird structural sadness to it. As several parts of the grass catapult visibly sagged as if depressed, but somehow the catapult wasn''t undermined by this at all.


    Seeing how well the smog had integrated into the grass catapults, Maxwell decided to try something and see if perhaps he could add other things to the grass catapult by having the necrotic smog integrate it into the design with its shifting capabilities. So Maxwell looked to Horter and asked. "Horter, would you mind gathering materials for me?" Maxwell asked politely, to which Horter nodded eagerly back before having his undead butterflies grab things Maxwell would miss with his undead sight.


    Soon enough, Horter''s undead butterflies had gathered a pile of pebbles and twigs for Maxwell to use. The reason the pebbles had been missed was easy enough, as they had never been alive, and being apart of the ground, they blended in when Maxwell looked at them with special ghost vision. The twigs he had missed because they were hidden underneath the patches of black grass he had. So with the new material to work with, he got to work.


    He had Horter have some of his undead butterflies grab some of the twigs and pebbles and put them next to the two modified grass catapults. He then added more necrotic smog of anger and sadness to their respective catapults, and using that added smog, he had the tanks absorb the twigs and pebbles into themselves.


    The modified grass catapults used the twigs to create a support structure and turned the pebbles into wheels so that the grass catapult could move on its own. Though with the added support from the twig frame, it freed up more of its grass structure to use for other things.


    The grass catapult modified by the necrotic rage smog used its extra grass to create a series of grass spears around itself. While the catapult modified by necrotic sad smog is used, it''s freed up grass structure for added protection, having the grass form a thin layer of extra armor. With the addition of adding twigs and pebbles to the grass catapults, the latest wave of experiments for creating tanks were done, and to confirm his results was the blue screen that appeared.


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    Through the experimentation of necrotic smog and the study of a grass vehicle design you have unlocked the following undead vehicles and building.


    - grass catapult- a basic spring catapult made from grass typically used by the grass fairies


    - rage smog grass catapult- a grass catapult modified with the power of necrotic rage smog making it far more lethal as well as blood thirsty


    - sad smog grass catapult- a grass catapult modified with the power of necrotic sad smog making it more lethal as well as give an aura of crushing sadness


    Building- catapult factory- a building made up of grass and twigs that intakes smog of rage and sadness. So long as it is kept fed it will continue to create smog catapults of rage and sadness.


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    Maxwell looked at the blue screen for a moment, taking in his new siege weaponry and his new building that could make it for him. Though as he did, he noticed he now had a name for the green pixies that had been invading his kingdom. "The grass pixies, hmm," Maxwell said to himself before his attention was brought elsewhere.


    As it would turn out, giving a rage grasscat the ability to move may have been a bad idea, as they immediately began picking fights with everyone else, including each other. He was just about to order them to cease when Bunet returned. She had clearly come to get more hornets out of the undead hive but was happy to see her awake.


    Maxwell was also happy to see her as well. "Bunet, take this rage grass catapult with you." Maxwell all but demanded Bunet, who immediately nodded her head yes before heading over to get fresh undead hornets out of the hive of the undead.


    "To war bzzz for the bzzzz hive bzzzz!" Bunet shouted out, eager to get back into the fight, especially as she had been shown support by Maxwell handing over a war machine. Though as Maxwell watched her go through the wall of smog with his rage catapult following behind through the hole in the wall the grass pixies had created.


    "I wonder when I''ll be able to build the catapult factory." Maxwell said to himself, knowing he didn''t have the room for the rather large building as his territory had only expanded another foot since he had activated the grow your lawn policy. Though as he thought about it, he wondered if his latest increase in necrotic power would cause an increase in that growth rate.


    Maxwell thoughts swirled as he thought of the future to come. The battle of the present in the grass just outside his smog wells was only intensifying. Though he was unaware of that, he would be told later how well his rage grass catapult performed.

 chapter 20 the ongoing war for the grass maze

    Bunet had started this pursuit with angry zeal, wanting nothing more than to tear into the ones that had feared to attack her home and tried to slay her creator. Sadily, the ones she pursued turned out to be cowards, as the same magic they had used to lay waste to her fellow citizens had been used to hide them from her.


    As they had grown a tall seemingly never-ending grass field that seemed impossible to find your direction once you were in it as you kept getting turned around and losing where you were when you were in it. Bunet had tried to circumvent this by staying out of the magical grass fields and staying above it, ordering her undead hornets into the grass.


    She had hoped by staying out of it and using her inherent connection to the undead hornets that she commanded that she could eventually find the pixies she was after. That hadn''t worked out, as while using herself as a reference point for her undead hornets had let them begin to navigate the grass fields better, it wasn''t foolproof. As she had a hard time being still as a being made of two hornets merged together, her body''s two sets of wings caused her to always be drifting to the right or the left when she hovered, which was bad when you needed to be the fixed point.


    To add to her problems, the grass field itself was filled with deadly insects that were filled with nature magic for whatever reason. These insects were specifically filled with grass field-specific nature magic, causing the insects to become covered in rather sharp grass spikes and have the urge to destroy her undead hornets whenever they saw them, not that her hornets weren''t more than willing to return the favor.


    Sadily for her, while her unending stamina from being undead and agonizing sting from being undead hornets did make them effective warriors, it also made them rather stupidly aggressive. As in her hornets kept getting lost because they would charge at any opponent the moment they saw them, which meant after the battle if they were victorious they had often forgotten the original way they had been facing, causing them to be lost once again until Bunet told them somewhere they were supposed to be heading once again.


    The biggest problem Bunet found herself with was the lack of golf headway; despite all the undead hornets she had sent in pursuit of the pixies, none had come close to finding where they come from. In fact, they were having a bigger problem making any headway as the more grass nature insects than when they first started encountering them, slowing down their already slow progress.


    Bunet had been coming up with the search for the enemy with a steady supply of reinforcements from the kingdom as she provided the kingdom with the corpses of the insects they had slain so far. But it was becoming obvious she would need to get far greater reinforcements from the hive of the dead than what was steadily trickling in.


    So she gathered a portion of her undead hornets to guard her from ambush while the rest of the undead hornet swarm were left in the field of grass to continue the search for the home of the pixie invaders. "Now I''ll have bzzz to deal with bzzz that smug Horter bzzz." Bunet was clearly upset at the future talk with her comrade about her lack of progress.


    She quickly made her way through the smog wall that surrounded the kingdom that is her home. She made straight for the hive of the undead, taking in the kingdom as it spawned in new elementals to replace those lost. She also took in her creator, the ruler of the realm, who had gone from a regular pale skull to the same color as the smog that surrounded the kingdom.If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.


    She then felt her creator''s presence and realized he was awake, causing her to worry as she hadn''t asked for his permission before leading the undead hornets against the grass fields of the pixies. Luckily, before her worries could completely overwhelm her, the creator showed his support of her actions by lending her a new war machine to bring against the grass fields.


    So with the new siege weapon, the rage grass catapult, under her commander, she got as many undead hornets out of the hive of the undead as it would give her. Then she gathered her newly strengthened swarm around her and charged out to attack the grass fields with renewed ferocity as her salary machine followed behind on the ground.


    The rage grass catapult drove below the swarm, almost dripping blood thirst as it eagerly sought the battle it would face on the grass fields. It was not disappointed as Bunet sent a fresh wave of undead hornets to join the others still fighting in the grassy fields, while the rage grass tank simply charged through no fear of getting lost ever coming across the simple rage-filled mind of the siege engine.


    It had only thoughts of destroying the enemies of the kingdom and all they had created. As it began to leave behind a trail of broken magical insect bodies, it was proving to be able to just that as it brought down the spiked club that was once it''s launched on any poor creature not fast enough to get out of its way.


    Meanwhile, Grekal, elder of the grass pixie farmers, watched on in horror as the undead unleashed a war machine that began to trample its way through the grass she had supercharged with the magic of the growth. The insects turned into greater insects from feeding on the magical grass, which kept the undead swarm busy, but they were proving no match for the war machine.


    "Curse you, Wormer, what is taking you!" Grekal snarled before she marched towards where the great elder was healing Gressel. She made quick time for her Shepard''s size, allowing her to take twice as many steps as she usually would. When she reached the grasshut where Gressel was being healed, the grand elder was standing above him, applying more medicine to the massive marks on his chest.


    Grekal waited for the great eldar to be finished with his application of medicine before she spoke. Once he was finished, she began. "Grand eldar, the undead are looking for us; the magic of the growth keeps them away for now, but they have released a war machine onto the field that none of the greater insects seem to be able to slow down much less stop." Grekal said, speaking rapidly, her worry was clear.


    ''Hmmm," the grand elder said to himself a moment before he responded. "It would seem I might have to begin my grand ritual as well, but before that, what of Wormer has he failed?" The grand elder asked a startled and shocked Grekal, as the grand elder showing his might was almost never done and had only been used when the magical forest of Gregal was being defended from invading armies.


    Grekal took a moment to visibly calm herself, then responded. "Well, I haven''t been in contact since I made the deal originally; to be honest, he might not have even launched his attack yet." Grekal stated honestly, to which the grand elder nodded thoughtfully, thinking on it a moment before giving his final opinion on the current situation.


    "Grekal, go to Wormer and see if he has attacked or if he hasn''t stressed the importance of attacking soon to him. Then return to me with your findings." The grand elder commanded Grekal, who nodded and asked one question before she would go to Wormer''s lair.


    "What if he attacked and failed?" Grekal asked, concerned that Wormer may have already failed them and what they were to do if that was the case. The grand elder stood there a moment thinking before he replied.


    "Then if he had failed and died, there is nothing more you can do. If he failed and lived, found out how he failed, then try to convince him to attack again." The grand elder stated simply, to which Grekal nodded quickly before running off to Wormer''s lair.


    The grand elder stared out after her for a moment then turned to double check on Gressel, who was recovering fine thanks to the medicine. He then proceeded to go into his own private cabin, where the scribbling on magic grass could be heard once again before it stopped and the grand elder began to gather what was needed for his grand ritual.

 chapter 21 Wormer is not having a good day

    Wormer had never ordered his worms to move at maximum speed, nor did he ever really know they had a maximum speed. He found that out when he watched his quickly made siege worm army get destroyed quickly, being torn apart by the most bloodthirsty plants he had ever seen.


    Which considering Wormer was an elder among his kind who had lived in a magic forest filled with different varieties of magic plants, including several that survived on blood alone. Well, the fact that the strange undead roots had out shown even them with their need to find out if his worms could bleed and how much blood they could get out of them if they did ended up distributing him to his core, which wasn''t the biggest surprise all things considered.


    So he spent every single moment on the ride back constantly looking forward, then back wishing for his only surviving siege worm from the disastrous attack to just be a bit faster. Well, he imagined the undead roots creeping down the tunnel after him, a mere moments away from sinking themselves into him and tearing him apart. But eventually, through some miracle, Wormer made it to the other side of the tunnel and was back in his lair.


    So now that he was in his own territory and feeling just a tad safe because of that, he began to act to make sure his lair was ready for whatever retaliation was to come. So first he cast his skill ENLARGE on his last siege worm and then had it collapse the tunnel behind him that led to the caverns filled with undead roots.


    Once that was done, he then ordered his enlarged siege worm to expand this side leading into the collapsed tunnel until he had a large chamber. Then once that chamber was big enough, he used his skill DUPLICATE to create several more giant siege worms and hide them. Wait in the now massive chamber for anything that might come through the collapsed tunnel with the early defense settled. Wormer made his way back to the chamber of his lair, where he worked on his WORM SHAPING craft.


    Wormer made quick time, quickly finding himself back at his stone table thinking of his defeat and wondering how to combat the undead roots. Though he wasn''t finding much luck on that as he couldn''t think of any modifications he could make to his worms that would make them capable of standing up to the undead roots onslaught.


    As he stood there over his table stumped, a voice filled his cavern, shaking him out of his thoughts. "Wormer you scoundrel, get up here now." Grekal shouted, her voice bouncing off the cave walls of Wormer''s cave home. Wormer took a moment for the ringing to clear his ears before making his way to his work elevator.


    "Well, it looks like I get to talk to my good friend Grekal again. How joyous the occasion this will be." Wormer said with clear sarcasm to himself as he made his way to his work elevator, walking through several stone platforms that passed over his more dangerous creations.


    Wormer looked at a few of them, wondering if perhaps he might need to use his more abominable creations against the undead roots if he wanted to emerge victorious. Though he eventually shook his head, clearing his mind of such thoughts as he had other, more pressing things to do, like finding out what Grekal wanted.


    So he made his way over to the work elevator, getting on, and it took him up to the surface, where a clearly impatient Grekal waited. "Grekal always a pleasure to see you; to what do I owe the pleasure?" Wormer said it with a tone so sweet you could get a sugar rush from hearing it.


    Grekal clearly having no time for the formalities nor wanting to engage in them with him to begin got straight to the point of her visit. "Have you attacked the underground of the young undead kingdom or not, you scoundrel?" Grekal hissed with urgency.


    Wormer thought on his he should answer that for a moment before honest was probably the best answer, especially since he didn''t have anything to hide. "I did attack, but the young kingdom you mentioned has a garden of undead grass roots below that took my siege worms by surprise, slaughtering them and forcing me to run got my life. Which I don''t remember you mentioning." Wormer stated, looking at Grekal with a questioning gaze.


    Grekal understood the implication and replied quickly. "No, we did not know about the undead roots, or I would have warned you. We need your underground assault to succeed." Grekal stated simply restraining her rage that a disgrace pixie like Wormer would dare to insinuate her on the elder of tragedy, and when she was in the form of the Shepard defending her clan, no less.


    You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.


    "Well, then the bargain was struck, and I still have to uphold my end. Not to mention I doubt the undead kingdom will let me off for my little attack on their little realm, no matter how easy it was for their underground plants to tear my siege worms apart literally." Wormer said confirming that he would honor the early deal made between the two of them.


    "Good, how long before you can gather enough worms for another attack?" Grekal asked intently, needing to know when Wormer''s next attack would be so that she and the other elders could use it to their advantage on whatever they ended up planning.


    Wormer looked at her moment, not speaking, merely thinking on his answer before he finally spoke after a long moment of silence. "It will be a few days at least before I can have another attack." Wormer stated simply to which Grekal gave him a look that demanded why.


    "I will have to come emeoth''s type of siege worm that can best fight effectively the undead roots that protect the underground if the undead kingdom to the north. Once I do, I will launch my attack." Wormer explained simply to Grekal frustration at the delay.


    "Fine, I understand, but do not take a second later than necessary to get your army ready before you attack. The clan will not wait forever for you to do what you are going to be paid for." Grekal stated coldly, to which Wormer simply nodded, then had the worm elevator lose him down back into his lair, watching as Grekal stomped off back to her chains village.


    Wormer, free of his employer''s annoyance, made his way quickly back to his stone table to work on creating worms to battle the undead roots. But as he made different siege worms, one covered in sharp blades to cut through the roots, as he tunneled another siege worm producing a poison from its skin that would burn the roots when it touched them.


    But the more he thought on it, the more flustered he got as he realized that, well, these siege worms might have early succuss doing some damage to the network of undead roots; they would be completely overrun by the sheer weight of roots as he could only make so many at once. So Wormer realized he would have to use the darker things he had created taboos of his creation.


    He had broken the taboo by modifying the worms as he had long ago, but in order to master his craft, he had taken that even further. Creating creatures that were not just modified worms, but we''re a combination of worms and other things. He did this by typically using the worm as the spine and adding on extra limbs and other such things to make a more dangerous creature.


    Though these creatures were usually so outside of how worms lived that his creations became far more aggressive as a side effect of not knowing how to deal with all the additional limbs, making them rather effective war beasts. The problem was that if such a beast were a taboo within a taboo, their mere knowledge of their existence getting out would probably get a bounty for his head.


    As he thought about whether he should use such taboo creatures, hoping the nature of the underground fighting would keep his pixie kind from finding out about their existence, Though as his mind spun in circles with how everything could go wrong with the use of such creatures, knowing he needed them to lead, he charged if he wanted in an effective attack on the underground of the undead kingdom.


    Though the descion was taking from Wormer as he heard a loud crash and then sound of fighting on the northern edge of his lair. He then realized to his horror that it had been a good night and a half since his I''ll fated attack. He hadn''t noticed the time pass as he had been lost in his work then in his indescion while the enemy had been getting closer.


    The undead kingdom was in his lair and was fighting the enraged siege worms he left behind. "It looks like I don''t have a choice now." Wormer said to himself as he charged towards the special cells that kept his taboo creations, hoping his siege worms bought him the time he needed to release them and lead a counterattack.


    As Wormer made a run for the taboo cells, there was only one thing he could say to the whole situation. "It just isn''t my day today, is it." Wormer stated simply as he ran like his life depended on it because it may very well.

 chapter 22 attack of the undead roots

    The network of undead elemental roots had never before felt such excitement traveling through them as they used their new operating rooms to build their own personal army. Before they had lingered in the depression of being forgotten as they did not do their duty. Now they had not only done their duty by tearing invaders apart, but they had been awarded for it by the creator himself.


    They now were the first among the undead elementals to have defended the kingdom against invaders and the first elemental to be entrusted with the creation of other undead. Truly, it was a great time to be smog root fist, but they could not be complacent, and so they needed to continue to show they were worth the post they had been given.


    So the smog roots needed to give pursuit of the enemy commander that had fled them and capture him alive as their ruler had decreed. So they kept making more and more of the root worm marionettes until they had hundreds of them ready for battle, having used up their supply of worm flesh.


    "Now attack! Go and get the one that has escaped us," the smog roots said as one speaking as one, causing hordes of worms stitched together by roots to squirm out of dozens of chambers, all making for the same tunnel they had once come from.


    They all made their way into the tunnel, a dozen zombie plants and worms at a time. The groups slowly merging together into one giant horde filled with the eager bloodthirsty of completing the goal given to them by the smog root fist. Soon the undead worm horde reached the roadblock of the tunnel and collapsed from the other end.


    This would not impede them, as the undead worms immediately got to digging using the inherent skills of their bodies. Digging through the stone took time, but eventually they were through, only to find five great siege worms on the other side of the tunnel waiting for them.


    Neither side hesitated, charging immediately at the other the moment they noticed the other''s existence. At first the five ENLARGED siege worms were winning their still hardened bodies and hardened stone talons being brought to bear with great effectiveness in their ENLARGED state against the root worm marionettes, who lost their hardened skin and their rock talons in their transformation into undead.


    Though as the battle went on between the root worm marionettes and the five ENLARGED siege worms, the horror of the root worm marionettes was unleashed. As more and more of the root worms were destroyed as they joined the battle coming from the tunnel, these destroyed root worms began to pull themselves back together and go back into the fight.


    But each time the roots that held the undead worms pulled themselves back together to rejoin the fight, they didn''t just restore themselves; they would link up with another zombie worm doubling in size. So as the fight went on, the root worm marionettes would lessen in number with each passing second until finally the force of hundreds of undead worms had been reduced to about a dozen, but in return for this loss in numbers, each root worm marionette was now ten times its original size.


    This increasing size as the battle went in with the five giant siege worms had caused the defenders to steadily gain injuries dealt by the room worms even as they were slain. Which meant by the time the roots worms had achieved their massive size, two of the five defending siege worms were dead from blood loss; the other three were covered in wounds.


    So the now giant root worms simply swarmed the three quickly, bringing them to a swift and bloody end. The five defenders, now dead, the root worms did not move in; instead, they opened up their mouth, causing a series of tlroots to come out and tear into the five dead defenders, tearing at the dead flesh and dragging it into their mass.


    Soon enough, there was nothing left of the five defenders as their flesh was added to the now twelve gigantic root worms. Which now, having extracted what they wanted from the fallen defenders, immediately proceeded down the hall and deeper into the lair of the enemy commander. Where Wormer awaited with his most taboo of creations.This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.


    As the root worms had been wearing down the defenders he had left to guard the collapsed tunnel, Wormer had made it to the cell hall, where he kept his most taboo creations. He walked down the cell hall, passing each of them as they rattled their cells at his passing. He reached the control panel, a thing of special magic rocks linked to the cells through fey magic he had cast a long time ago.


    He pushed the glowing rocks in a special sequence, causing the cells to open one by one and his taboo creations to stumble out their rage, coming off them in almost visible waves. One of the taboo creatures was a worm that had been made into a spine as it had the legs and pincers of scorpion carved from stone added to its body then had its tail sharpened to be a stinger. The poor creature had never adapted well to its stone scorpion extensions.


    Another of the creatures had a strange glass-like material that had been reshaped into insect wings added to it. The worm in question had hundreds of these shiny rock insect wings along with mandibles made of the same material. These two creatures, along with others, immediately made to fight each other, but before they could get into it, truly, Wormer acted.


    Wormer used what little control he had over the creatures to direct them towards the rumbling that he guessed was what had ever been sent after him by the undead kindom, and by how close it sounded, whatever it was, it had already defeated his defenders. The creatures with a different target to take their aggression out on went together in a screeching gaggle of rage at the unasked for extensions he had given to them.


    It was times like these where he witnessed what he had created, hating what he had done to make them so much, causing him to regret ever becoming what he was now. But he was what he was now, a fallen alone, cast out fur doing what needed to get done, and now damned to keep going forward on the path he had started as a punishment for his breaking the taboo.


    Wormer shook his head of such thoughts as he chased after his taboo creations to see how their fight against the invaders would turn out. He quickly found himself back in his working chamber, running over the stone platforms until he saw the trespassers of his lair.


    They were twelve great things of working worm flesh that he honestly had no idea how they worked. As so many of the worms bodies didn''t match, as muscles were backward or even inside out to the ones they were right next to. It was when he noticed that the strange undead worms moved more by the roots than by the flesh of the worms that he began to make sense of these undead worms invading his home.


    Though on the battle side it was easy to make sense of as it was a one-sided slaughter as hemis taboo creations quickly tore through the undead worms with laughable ease. But then the world would rise again, joining together to become bigger. His creations enjoyed that as it continued the time they got to use the undead worms as stress balls.


    But neither the taboo worms nor himself saw the danger until it was far too late. As the worms were going from six to three, doubling in size once again, some of his taboo creations were caught up in the reformation and, as such, were torn apart and added to the undead worms as additional parts.


    This became a tipping point as it allowed the undead worms to cause more damage to his taboo creations before they were destroyed and forced to resemble taking more with them. Thus, when at last there was one undead worm left, it was a massive thing and quickly tore the remaining taboo creations apart.


    Wormer saw the danger as it headed towards him, but he was still in too much shock from the gruesome spectacle he had just witnessed, and so he was frozen stiff with fear by the time the undead creature was looking over him. He looked up at the giant undead worm; it was now surrounded by the limbs of his former taboo creations, expecting to be torn apart.


    But instead of a bloody, quick demise, the creature opened its mouth, and out came hundreds of roots grabbing him and dragging him into the creature. Wormer struggled as best he could with his instinct to survive, demanding he did, but it wasn''t enough, and so Wormer found himself in the undead creatures gullet.


    Wormer lay there in the bowls of the heart, expecting to be digegest by whatever means the creature had; instead, he heard the grinding of dirt and the trembling beneath his feet as the creature moved. Wormer was desperately trying to figure out why he wasn''t dead when a wave of black energy passed through the undead creature, hitting him because he couldn''t dodge it.


    Then he knew way as he saw the creatures thought through the energy. "It has its prize." Wormer said in a low whisper as he spoke the truth aloud that the undead was here for him, as he had thought, but what he hadn''t considered was that the undead wanted him alive. Though as he felt the creature continue to move through the vibrations traveling through it''s body, he began to wonder what for and shuddered at what his mind conjured.

 chapter 23 the surprise

    Maxwell had been waiting and watching as his kingdom restored itself to before the grasspixie invasion with their use of their great hunt. As he did, he began to think and consider how well his smog grass elementals had done against the grass pixies. This train of thought made him realize perhaps he should use the new necrotic smog types to upgrade them to make them more effective against the next pixie attack.


    He thought on this for a long moment, watching the undead butterflies as his thoughts went around in circles about whether he should or not. Eventually he decided he should, as he could feel the eagerness of his undead grass centipedes and undead grass spiders for a round two.


    Which, considering how the last one went, wasn''t the greatest idea without upgrades to their current forms. So once again Maxwell began to perform experiments with a necrotic smog of anger and sadness. Though this time it was on the smog grass elements instead of the catapults.


    As such, he immediately began by creating two grass spider forms but then brought them to life with new types of smog to see what would happen. One undead grass spider got necrotic smog of rage while the other got sadness, and the effects of the different smogs in use were interesting, to say the least.


    As the grass spider was brought to undeath with necrotic sad smog, it grew fatter somehow despite only being made of grass and immediately began dripping a highly crossive venom out of the fangs it had just grown. Maxwell could tell because just a few of the drops coming out of its fangs were already causing small pits to form on the ground.


    The smog spiders that were filled with rage smog, on the other hand, grew even taller; their spear-like legs were growing even sharper at the tip-like ends, becoming more like spear tips than the single talon they were before. They also had grown a series of smaller grass razors growing up and down the sides of their legs, and to top of the adding of so many pointy bits, the grass spider that was filled with rage smog now had fangs half as long as its own face.


    To show the differences between the two even further, the sad grass spider immediately went into hiding among the black grass patches he had, while the angry grass spider immediately began chasing its weaker and smaller kin. The rage spider did not hunt it''s kind out of any sense of malice but of its need to fight as a being filled by rage smog.


    "While that was interesting." Maxwell said, watching his creation for a moment, trying to be sure what exactly the grass spiders had become under the effects of the different types of smog. He watched for a long while before finalizing his conclusion, which was that the sad grass spider relied on camouflage to let its enemies get close so it could use its corrosive venoms, while the angry grass spider used its improved legs and new razors to get closer and shred enemies.


    Though on seeing the angry spider''s aggressive nature even towards its own kin, which even holding back from using its sharp razors and spear-like legs was still pursuing its lesser kin with off-putting enthusiasm. Though Maxwell put that out of his mind as he would that level of aggressiveness to fight the pixies.


    So Maxwell continued his with his different kinds of smog on the grass, creating two, then bringing one back with angry smog, then the other with sad smog. As he had done earlier, and just like earlier, there were two very different results with the two different types of smog.


    This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.


    First the angry smog prouduced a grass smog that was far more aggressive, which was startling as well. As had been expected, the grass centipedes were already aggressive to begin with. Though the angry grass centipedes took that to a whole new level as they had a series of what looked like pikes coming from the front of their heads with grass spears coming from the rest of their upper body like their lesser kin.


    Though unlike their lesser kin, they had twice the number of grass spears, and they looked twice as sturdy as well as far more diabolical. As the new grass spears on the back of the angry grass, centipedes had jagged edges to them. Which means they would cause a lot of bleeding wounds when they hit. So it was sufficed to say the angry grass centipede was a bloodthirsty sort.


    The sad grass centipede couldn''t be more different, as it hadn''t gained any new grass spears, nor had the ones it had changed; in fact, they were gone. The sad grass centipede had lost all of its grass spears, but in return it had gained a strange poison armor. As it now has a strange reflective green fluid covering its body and causing things to bounce off, as had happened when one of the angry centipedes grass spears bounced off the armor as it charged back and forth across Maxwell''s kingdom.


    Which was a bit of a problem as the angry grass centipede kept charging back and forth looking for enemies while the angry grass spider kept chasing its lesser kin. Maxwell was about to order them slot stop and figure out what to do with them. Which would bring this time of experimentation to a close when he felt it.


    The happiness of his smog roots, who were keeping out of his experiments because they were doing well enough on their own. He felt their excitement as they sent him an imagine of their victory as a picture of the escaped commander trapped in some hodgepodge creature of theirs. The creature soon enough presented itself to Maxwell, bursting out of the ground to bring his captive to the ruler of the small undead realm.


    "While it appears I''ve got guests." Maxwell said with a bit of nervous excitement, wondering how the conversation would go. As he also ordered the rage grass spider and rage grass centipede to stand down as both had charged at the new undead creation the moment they had noticed it, not knowing it was a creation of the smog root fist using their operating chambers below.


    Soon enough, the strange and rather large worm had made its way over, bowing before Maxwell the skull fort before presenting its prize. The undead marionette did this by opening its mouth and dragging out Wormer with its root holding up by his arms and legs so that the captured blay gazed upon the greatness of its ruler.


    Though as Maxwell looked at the captive and kept gazing at him, a thought kept bouncing around in his skull that eventually he had to give voice to. "How exactly is a voiceless skull supposed to talk to some kind of worm pixie using necrotic magic without killing him?" Maxwell asked this very serious question that stopped him from beginning the dialogue with the captured commander and starting the very first step in establishing himself as an intelligent ruler instead of another mindless undead who merely hated the living.

 chapter 24 the very first conversation

    Wormer waited in the bowels of the undead beast that had captured him, bouncing around as the creature moved ever forward. He waited and he thought, as that was the only thing he could do as he waited for whatever was about to happen to him. He thought of his past and his current present situation and all the decisions he had made that had led him to this point and wondered if it had been worth it all.


    Well, there wasn''t a lot to put forward as evidence of his choices being good ones. As his own clan had cast him out, and the rest of his kind wanted nothing to do with him unless they needed his creations to help them for whatever reason. To add to the list of evidence that he had made bad life choices, he was now in some kind of patched-together undead worm being carried off to who knows where to have probably unspeakable things done to him.


    Though despite all of this evidence that he had made bad life decisions Wormer knew if he could go back and do it all over again, he still would have created the parasitic worms that had gotten him exiled. As he had done what needed to be done back then, though if he could go back, he probably would have planned the initial attack on the undead kingdoms underground a bit better.


    Though just as Wormer began to think about how he could have planned his assault on the underground better, his undead prison stopped. He lay there at the bottom of what would be considered the thing''s stomach, wondering what would happen next when the thing leaned forward, causing Wormer to slide forward.


    "While I wonder what will happen next." Wormer stated sarcastically in a bitter tone as he got off the disgusting undead flesh that the sudden movement had caused him to fall into. As if in answer several roots suddenly burst down into the stomach and carried him out. "I wasn''t being sarcastic!" Wormer shouted out in protest.


    In a sudden rapid moment, Wormer found himself going from the guts of a giant undead worm one second to being held up by his limbs by the same undead worm''s roots the next second. Though Wormer found his attention focused far more on the giant skull seemingly staring down at him despite having no eyes rather than the roots holding him up by his limbs.


    For a long moment there was silence, the kind of dark, foreboding silence that made Wormer think that this was his execution. Then he looked up and noticed the smog that covered this place of the undead was swirling rather intensely, and unless he was imagining it, the smog was getting closer. Which was bad, though whether it was worse than the pure necrotic presence the skull gave off was the debatable part.


    Though as time passed and nothing happened but the building of necrotic energies around him, Wormer found himself wishing something would happen already. Though much to his dismay, something did happen and terrified him more than anything had in his entire life. As the skull covered him in its necrotic presence, covering him in a thin layer of necrotic power.If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.


    "My name is Maxwell, ruler of this realm of the undead." Maxwell stated through his necrotic presence that was covering Wormer. "You have attacked part of my realm, and I would know why." Maxwell said to Wormer firmly, demanding he give a reason for his unprovoked attack.


    Wormer found himself on the back foot as he hadn''t expected the undead to be intelligent or have a hierarchy of any sort. Though he managed to shake of his suprise and respond. "I was paid to attack you by the grass clans, and seeing as most undead are mindless, I was not aware you had any intelligent undead among you. Therefore I wasn''t trying to attack a new kingdom but a few mindless undead." Wormer said back through the weird necrotic bubble he was in.


    Wormer was watching the skull hopefully, as it seemed he was in some type of strange hearing. So he figured if he could prove he wasn''t aware of an actual kingdom and thought he was attacking just some rabble undead sitting around, maybe he would be let go. Though considering he was being held by the undead, that might be wishful thinking.


    "Well, you might not be aware of what you were truly attacking; you attacked all the same." Maxwell stated simply. "Therefore you must be punished to serve as a precedent for the realm, and so you will serve the smog root fist until you have worked off whatever you would have been paid." Maxwell stated simply, and before Wormer could reply, he was taken back into the undead worm by the roots.


    So once again Wormer found himself waiting, though this time it was much shorter. He was soon spat out of the large undead worm into a large empty cavern with hundreds of roots in its ceiling. Wormer looked around for a long moment, wondering what exactly he was supposed to do.


    Then all of a sudden a few of the roots above him came down and wrapped around his head, blinding him, but soon he had a new type of vision as he saw room in the way the roots did, and to add to the strangeness, the roots began to speak to him. "Yes, invader, you will aid us! Make our creations even better than before!" The interconnected smog roots above him said almost screeching with enthusiasm.


    As Wormer saw what the smog roots could do for his work and they saw in turn what he could provide through the connection from the roots wrapping around his head, both sides saw the start of a beautiful relationship. To show results for this new symbiosis, they first had the undead worm, a combination of hundreds of dead worms and other parts, fall apart to provide them with the material they needed.


    "Now let''s see if we can get my taboos to finally be as brilliant as I hoped they could be." Wormer said he was filled with enthusiasm at the possibilities the new relationship could bring. Well, the deep smog roots were just happy to have new forces to add to their army that they could use to defend the realm even better and greater than before, proving their worth to their creator and ruler, Maxwell.


    In next to no time, a stone slab was put at the bottom of the chamber, and parts of worm, root, and stone were skillfully combined to create the first of what would be a legion of taboo creatures. Soon it would be clear to all of those of the underground that all of the underground would belong to the armies of the smog root, though not even the smog root knew that. Now they were merely being happy in having something to show off to their creator.


    While Wormer would not realize it, this would be something of a prison sentence for him, as was assigned by Maxwell; it would turn into something else. It would become something far greater for him to give him back what he had lost, and for that he would always be loyal to Maxwell, though that is a tale for another time.

 chapter 25 improvements and new possibilities

    Maxwell thought a long moment after the rather large root worm marionette had taken the enemy commander to the root operating chambers underground. Well, former enemy commander, he was supposed to be, which was what was consuming his thoughts, as Maxwell wasn''t entirely sure if he had handled that entire situation well.


    He figured he had pulled off regal and dignified, which was good for the rule of a country, even one as small as his. But at the same time he wasn''t sure about his form of punishment for the attack on the underground. As technically he supposed it was slavery because he had no idea what the guy had been paid, now normally that wouldn''t be a problem as he could just figure out what the equivalent was and use that.


    Sadly, his kingdom had no form of money and, as such, had no way to figure out what exactly the commander had to work off to be freed. This was a bit of a problem that he would need to rectify, and as such he would have to come up with a form of money for his kingdom. But before that he would look at the blue screens that had been waiting on him to finish with his business with the commander.


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    Through experimentation with both sad necrotic smog and angry necrotic smog you have unlocked the following smog grass varients


    Sad grass spider- a grass spider that uses corrosive venom and camouflage to get its targets.


    Angry grass spider- a taller grass spider with far sharper legs and fangs covered in razors that relays on aggressive pursuit to bring down enemies.


    Sad grass centipede- a grass centipede depended on its defensive armor that is also corrusive to be an effective threat.


    Angry grass centipedes- a grass centipede covered in far more sharper and deadlier grass spears than a regular grass centipedes that now includes grass pikes at its front.


    With the unlocking of these varients the land type: undead grass lands: will now spawn these varinents along with theyr original counter parts.


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    Maxwell read the screen and reread it a few more times to be sure he had read right. As he wasn''t entirely sure it was a good thing that the variants would spawn on their own. While he did need more powerful forces, the angry variants had proven to live up to their title and be rather aggressive.


    Which had him worried, making him wonder if he should start grouping together the angry variants and start sending them out to join Bunet''s counter hornet invasion of the grass pixie territory. He was pretty sure the angry variants would agree with the idea, and it would keep them from making trouble in his kingdom.


    Though before he could definitely give an order to have his angry grass elemental variants march out, he heard Phabium, the god of monsters, and his savior, begin to speak to him. "Maxwell, do you have a moment? I need to speak to you." Phabium asked politely, trying to get into contact with Maxwell.


    "Of course, Lord Phabium, but I thought you couldn''t speak to me easily." Maxwell stated, a bit confused. As he had thought, Phabium, God of all monsters and ruler of the pantheon of monsters, was limited in how he could interact with the world of Zostrora, and it was a miracle he had warned him earlier of the grass pixies plans of a great hunt to get him and destroy his realm.


    "It usually would be as I might be a powerful god in the higher realms, but the power I command in the realm of mortals is near nonexistent from many years of those in my domain being slaughtered as the warm-up act to whatever grand adventure they were going on." Phabium admitted with a sad tone at his shrinking influence and, with it, his ability to protect or save those that were his responsibility.


    "Then my Lord, how can you speak to me now? And not to be rude, but why speak to me now? I am currently expanding my forces, and my domain is expanding steadily. Unless I have somehow gone wrong in my rule?" Maxwell asked nervously, wondering if he had somehow unknowingly committed an offense against Phabium in his rule without knowing.If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.


    " No ruler Maxwell, in fact, you have done very well in your rule. So well, in fact, that you have caused a certain event within a monster kingdom that allows me to interact directly with you for the duration of this event," Phabium said with a tone of delight that made it quite clear he was happy at the event unfolding.


    "What event would that be, Lord Phabium?" Maxwell asked, happy and curious in equal measure. He found himself desperately trying to figure out what event could call down the God that was his savior. He couldn''t remember anything special recently; the only things that were big to happen recently were his sentencing of the enemy commander and his recent necrotic research.


    "Well, you have just recently had Wormer exiled from the Fey and join your smog roots in the underground part of your kingdom as a form of punishment, correct?" Phabium stated simply, to which Maxwell gave back his agreement. "While then that means in this moment in time, you''re a multiracial monster nation made up of dark fey and undead.


    "Ohh, really, just one exiled fey joining my realm not by choice is enough to make my nation into a multi-monster nation," Maxwell stated with a bit of weariness. It wasn''t that he didn''t trust Phabium; it was simply that it seemed too easy, especially as it allowed his savior Phabium to interact easily with Zostrora for a period of time.


    "Yes, as now you have made contact with a dark fey and swayed him to your side for even a temporary portion of time, you will unlock the dark fey and all that entails for your realm, and since I am the god of all monsters, I can come and congratulate rulers when they bring other monsters under their rule." Phabium said with enthusiasm to Maxwell, explaining that it was rather simple to get other monster races to his realm, though he had to find and get them to agree, which wasn''t always the easiest of things.


    "Alright, but what exactly do you mean by unlocking for getting dark fey?" Maxwell was curious what Phabium was getting at and what exactly his realm could be gaining because of Wormer. Phabium was quick to give an answer as he was eager to tell him.


    "Well, you see, you can only unlock dark fey pertaining to the ones you have brought into your realm. But you may unlock more from experimentation as you have done with your necrotic smog." Phabium stated simply but excitedly.


    "Okay, got it, Lord Phabium. Was there anything else you needed to tell me or that I needed to do?" Maxwell asked to be sure his savior did not have any task for him that he would need to complete. As he would do so to perfection for the one that had saved him from eternity in the void.


    "No, that is all, Maxwell. Continue your good work. I do have plans if you reach the size required, but for that you must deal with the grass pixies one way or another so that they no longer threaten your realm. So best of luck, and may the fates be with you." Phabium stated simply before his presence left as it did, a purple screen appeared to tell him what he had gained from Wormer joining him.


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    Congratulations you have added a dark glory to your kingdom making your kingdom a duel kingdom of undead and dark fey. This unlocks the following


    Dark fey- Wormer''s assistants: dark insect fey that have some skill in WORM SHAPE but do not have the same level of knowledge and skill that wormer himself has.


    Dark fey- worm siege beast: worms with black talons extending out of their mouth and hardened stone skin.


    Dark fey room- Worm mutation chamber: a underground chamber operated by one of wormer assistants that can give limited mutations to regular works to make them into siege beast.


    Cross room- worm root operating room: a special room that mixes a root operating room with a worm mutation chamber to create a chamber that allows Wormer and the smog roots to combine their skills to create even greater monstrosities.


    Finally due to the unlocking of dark fey worm clan magic it has now added to the speed of the policy of grow your lawn allowing for faster expansion as the growth below and above ground happens at the exact same rate.


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    </table>


    Maxwell looked over the recent additions to his kingdom and began wondering how his neighbors, the grass pixies, would react to finding out about his expansion into the realm of dark fey. As he guessed, his magical presence that now had dark fey mixed in with his necrotic would probably give it away.


    Though it would probably take time before he fully integrated the dark fey magic he now had access to. As he hadn''t even begun spawning all the dark fey he had access to, though the rooms had already begun to form, he could tell that Wormer was currently working in the worm root operating room.


    Well, this decided his earlier decision, then he needed to press the fight before people began to note his added dark fey magic and bring more enemies to his doorstep. "Attack." Maxwell said simply causing all the rage grass elementals he had to go out of his kingdom and into the realm of the grass pixies outside.


    "Well, I suppose now it''s time to wait and see what happens next." Maxwell said as he effectively waited to see what would be the reaction of the grass pixies to his big push against them.

 chapter 26 the clans own counter offensive

    Grekal watched as the undead hornets and their war machines continued to battle their way through the grass mass her GROWTH skill had created. Due to one being an undead construct and the rest being zombies, their continued advance was relentless.


    She saw the one that commanded it all, some twisted abomination of two hornets horribly mangled together, commanding the attack while flying above the growth. Grekal knew that if they continued unchallenged, they would eventually reach the clan''s home through sheer chance of nothing else.


    At the moment the greater insects made from smaller regular insect-eating the greater fast-growing magic grass were fighting the undead''s advance. But they were unorganized and being destroyed by a swarm of undead. So if they wanted any hope of stopping them, they needed another force in the maze of endless grass to force the ideas back.


    Sadly, they didn''t have that, as only the hunters of the clan led by a hunting elder could find their way through the endless maze of grass. So Grekal could only watch as the enemy got closer and closer to her home, hoping that perhaps Wormer''s next assault would force them to turn around and defend their kingdom, resetting their progress.


    Luckily, though, for her clan, there didn''t seem to be any more reinforcements besides a steady flow of undead hornets to replace the ones lost. As if called by her very thought, a sudden surge of violent-looking undead grass elementals poured out of the fog wall and into the grass maze to reinforce the ones already fighting.


    Grekal realized with this that the grass maze was effectively lost, and it was only a matter of time until they found the clan''s village. So she quickly made her way out of the grass maze in her giant form, safe as the magic of the GROWTH not only allowed her to find her way but made it impossible to find her so long as she was in the grass maze she had grown.


    She quickly made her way back into her clan village and made directly for the grand elder, who was still looking over Gressel in the rather large healing hut he had made for him. "Grand Elder, will Gressel be ready to enter the fight again soon?" Grekal asked quickly, her desperation clear in her voice.


    The grand elder nodded a no back. "He will be ready soon, but he just needs a bit more time as his body fights off the last of the toxins. Now what has you in such desperate spirits, Grekal?" The grand elder asked gently, to which Grekal took a moment to calm herself before answering.


    "The undead to our north are pushing hard and are overwhelming the wild greater insect in the grass maze. Soon there won''t be many of them left, and once they''re dealt with, they''ll focus their efforts on finding us. Which they will do, as they have the numbers and the ability to see it from above to find us if they aren''t interfered with." Grekal stated to the grand elder her fear of their village being found and then being overwhelmed, apparent.


    The grand elder merely sat there a moment in his chair made of twigs next to Gressel, who was breathing evenly in his bed of grass while Grekal waited outside the door. Grekal waited for a long moment before the grand elder eventually spoke. "It is time for the grand creation of grass." The elder said simply, to which Grekal nodded grimly, knowing that the situation called for it but also knowing that if this failed to deal with the undead threat, their clan would more than likely meet its end.


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    So with the decision made, the grand elder got up and left the hut, leaving Grekal, who took over the watching of Gressel. The grand elder soon made his way over to a part of the village where all the crafters of the clan were and began the call of his fellow craftsmen.


    "My fellows who have longed to create the village and all its wares. The hunters have made their grand hunt but have been caught instead; the farmers have grown a great field to keep the enemy at bay, but they make their way through anyway. So now it falls to us to craft as we have always done to push back those who threaten all we hold dear." The grand elder said softly to the assembled, who all heard despite how quiet he had been.


    The people gathered did not roar as the hunters would have; they did not cheer as the farmers would have either. No, they merely nodded and got to work, and so the grand elder and all the craftsmen of the village got together and began to craft something very large. The thing took over a hundred craftsmen to make and thousands of regular grass fibers and an unknown amount of magic grass fibers woven in.


    As the creation was woven, the grand elder got bigger and bigger until finally he was as big as the other elders at two and a half times his original size at the same time they were done making their creation. Then the grand elder activated a single skill and, in doing so, let loose one of the most dangerous creatures to ever stalk the grass.


    The skill was GRASS LIFE, and a serpent made of grass opened its eyes for the first time. The grand elder looked at their creation and spoke but a single word. "Seek." He said, and with that softly spoken word, their creation quickly took off, speeding its way across the village and into the grass maze where its prey was.


    The grand elder and his fellow craftsmen watched their creation for as long as they could before it disappeared in the grass. One of the most skilled grass craftsmen of the clan, a man by the name of Grasser, looked to the elder and asked. "Will it be enough?" Grasser asked simply, to which the grand elder''s reply was simply.


    "It had to be." The grand elder said softly, falling back into the waiting arms of his compatriots, who had waited for this moment knowing the price to be paid for bringing to life such a great grass serpent was to bear great weakness, which would be doubled if it was slain before its task was completed.


    So with the grand grass serpent, the rest of the crafters carried the grand elder to where Grekal was waiting and laid him down next to Gressel. Grekal then began applying special medicine to help the grand elder during this time of weakness. Once she was done, she sat down and looked at her fellow elders and then simply said, "Let it be enough." A prayer, a promise, and a desperate hope all in one sentence.

 chapter 27 the serpents hunt

    The undead hornet dead did not have a name. It did not need a name, for it was but one of many made to be exactly like the rest of its drone-like kind. It would say it was simply a cog of a greater machine if it knew of the existence of such things. This was the thought process of all the undead hornets that made up the undead swarm of Bunet.


    Though they did not have an idea of individuality, that did not mean that the concept was completely foreign to them. As while they did not name each other, they did distinguish each other in another way, which was by what they had accomplished, as they had an inherent sense of who had accomplished what in the swarm, and they as a whole always wanted to do more for the undead hornet swarm.


    So this certain undead hornet was known as Fifty Four Kills because he had managed to kill fifty-four of the strange plant-like bugs that wandered the seemingly never-ending sea of tall grass. He was hoping to get a fifty-fifth kill, which would make his new title fifty-fifth. So he kept moving, using his never-tiring insect wings to fly across the ground, bursting through the tall grass in search of his next kill until he found it.


    A strange wormlike creature had clearly grown dozens of strange green spikes recently as the insect moved awkwardly, clearly not used to the spikes on its body. Seeing this as a clear sign of magical mutation, marking it as an enemy, fifty-four immediately attacked, turning its body around so it was thrusting its stinger at the newly mutated magical insect.


    The wormlike creature turned and tried to bring its new spikes to bear against fifty-four, but the spikes were too new, and so it wasn''t used to them enough to bring them up quickly and so couldn''t defend with them in time. So fifty-four quickly buried its stinger in the wormlike thing''s eyes, killing it instantly in a moment of pure agony for the nature insect.


    The undead hornet, fifty-four, pulled its stinger out of the dead, twitching insect''s corpse and proceeded to do a little dance as it felt its new title of fifty-five, but before the newly titled fifty-five could move on, he felt a huge lurking shadow over him. So he turned around and saw a new creature, though not an insect but clearly of grass magic.


    The titled fifty-five undead hornet was filled with joy that it could gain its new title of fifty-six so quickly and was just about to bring its stinger to bear once again, but sadly it was never to be. Before he even brought his stinger around to be in the right direction, the massive grass magic creature had already devoured fifty-five before it could become fifty-six. It would proceed to do this to many undead hornets, ending them and their titles within the swarm.


    There was an undead catapult, a very angry undead catapult, the first of its kind, made of grass and sent into a sea of grass to look for a village of grass pixies. The angry grass catapult, if it could speak, would admit it was lost within the sea of grass and had no idea if it was getting closer or farther from the grass pixie village.


    It did know, though it was enjoying killing the greater insect that charged it. It had left a trail of corpses behind it, proving that it was skilled and that it had been constructed properly. In fact, the more it killed, the more it proved its creator right to make it, as well as the skill needed for its construction, for only a great creation could do such a great job.


    So it was quite happy that there seemed to be a never-ending supply of magically mutated bugs that kept charging at it. Though it also had to admit it might be due to the fact it was always angry, and having something to smoosh helped it deal with said anger. So the angry grass catapult had just seen more bugs to crush and was charging towards them on its pebble wheels when it saw the creature.


    It was a massive thing, and honestly, the always angry grass catapult had no idea how it had missed it. But in the end that didn''t matter; what mattered was there was a giant creature it could crush under its special arm, which when spring would bring down the spiked side on whatever was in front of him. So with such a massive target in front of the angry grass catapult, it charged at it solely so it could crush its head.


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    Sadly for the angry grass catapult, it would not succeed in its brutal charge. As the giant grass serpent was so flexible, it was able to flatten itself completely and still move, allowing it to get under the grass catapult''s spikes that were coming out of its sides, then proceed to wrap around and squeeze the angry grass catapult.


    The grass catapult tried to move to escape the squeeze so it could come around for another charge, but it couldn''t escape the grass serpent''s grip. When the angry grass catapult realized it was captured, it came to a realization: as an undead construct, if it was captured, it could be copied by the enemy.


    The angry grass catapult was not the smartest; it knew this quite well, but one of the smartest things it knew was that only the ruler could be allowed to command the angry grass catapults. So it could not be allowed to be captured, so the very first angry catapult brought its arm high in the air and then brought back down on itself as hard as it could again and again until the very first angry grass catapult was no more, choosing death over capture.


    Though whether the grass serpent was trying to capture the angry grass catapult or had been trying to crush it in its grips is unknown and will likely never be known. As the grass serpent quickly moved in after the destruction of the angry grass catapult. Though the large grass serpent seemingly turned invisible as it blended into the grass as it moved through the sea of grass with astonishing speed.


    Though it suddenly found itself ambushed as the ragged grass spiders suddenly leaped at it with relentless abandon, somehow knowing where it was. There were three of them, and one of them missed, but the other two landed, starting a violent struggle as the angry grass spider tore into the serpent with as many of its sharpened points as it could put into the serpent at once.


    The battle went on for a short while with the one angry grass spider that missed joining the fight, and the confusing melee eventually ended with the three angry grass spiders broken and dead on the ground. Though the serpent was in much worse shape, now sporting multiple gaping holes from where the angry grass spiders had pierced its body.


    The grass serpent was about to continue its fight when it heard the clawed steps of the angry grass centipede, and it knew it couldn''t fight one in this state. So the grass serpent had to retreat, now returning to the village for repairs before it came to hunt again.


    Meanwhile, above it all, Bunet was freaking out. "Dammit, bzzzz, dammit, bzzzz, dammit." Bunet said grabbing her antenna and pulling them out of sheer frustration. As her only war machine had been destroyed, as well as her undead hornet swarm being devastated by some new magical creature unleashed before Binet could figure out a response.


    Luckily for her, the angry grass elementals, while taking few casualties, had driven the thing off for now at least. "Got to form up. Can''t be isolated now that we got some monster hunting us in there." Bunet said, eyeing the grassy sea that was acting as a maze below her.


    I''ll have the next wave of hornets group up with the siege equipment. Yeah, a dozen undead hornets to each catapult and have the angry grass elements move as one. Bunet thought to herself, then gave a sigh before acting on her plan. By first having all the angry grass elementals group together and then having the surviving undead hornets come with her back to the undead kingdom.


    As she had to go back once more, she found herself speaking aloud the dark thought that had been bouncing around in her head. "Horter should keep his mouth shut if he knows what''s good for him." Burnet said she was not happy at all that the sudden counterattack from what she was pretty sure was pixie magic had sent her back again to ask for reinforcements once again.


    "Will see what you do when I come back with a dozen rage grass catapults instead of one." Bunet said to her enemies the grass pixies her voice clearly filled with anticipation as Bunet wanted to get back at the grass pixies for this humiliation and finally get the victory that had been denied to her.

 chapter 28 a new beginning

    Wormer had been focusing on working with the smog roots in the strange chamber they were in that was allowing them to share one mind. This strange mind share allowed them to share thoughts on how to best integrate the roots into his taboo worms. It was quite an experience, and honestly, though it was very strange, Wormer found himself quite enjoying the experience.


    As it had been many years since he''d worked with anyone and longer still since he''d worked on something so complex and new. As even when he was still welcomed among his old clan, he was an elder and was expected to do his duty maintaining the worm population, not experimenting with other like-minded people in something like he was now.


    Wormer looked at the roots, wrapped his head for a moment, and read his earlier thought in his own mind as the roots were sort of people. The deep roots were sharing a strange kind of hive mind. It was like a hive mind in the fact that all the roots came together to think as one on a single topic, combining their intelligence. On the other hand, it was unlike a hive mind in the fact that each of the roots could break off from the others and think on its own.


    Wormer felt it was quite the interesting experience to be connected to such an interesting connection of different plant minds. Though he quickly got back to work refocusing on what he and the smog roots were doing rather than the working minds of the smog roots themselves.


    It took a while as they slowly inserted roots into a living worm, painstakingly making sure the worm survived the process. Which actually caused them to fail the first few times, making Wormer use DUPLICATE to create a living work and cast the dead work to the side to be made into just another root worm marionette. Though after a dozen attempts they finally succeeded in successfully joining a living worm with undead roots.


    Once that first stage was complete, they decided to add in the limbs going with the earlier scorpion model. So the tail of the worm was sharpened and six large stone insect legs were added. The roots took over operation of the legs, putting less strain on the worm, who now just had to operate its now sharpened spiked tail.


    They watched the tabby worm scorpion move about the chamber far more sedately and controlled than any of its predecessors ever had been. Though it then proceeded to show an interesting feature the earlier taboo roots worms hadn''t had. This feature was shown when the scorpion root worm opened its mouth and roots shot out across the room, piercing a stone and dragging it back into its maw.


    "Hmmm, an interesting effect of adding the roots to the mix." Wormer stated with a curious wonder what other things they could do with undead root combos in his siege worm experiments. Though he was thinking that he felt the smog roots through his strange connection tell him that there was something he would want to see in another chamber.You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.


    Wormer, feeling the importance stressed, decided to go see what it was they wanted him to see, and so the smog roots unwrapped from his head. Once they were fully gone from him, he walked out of the large chamber he had been working in and into the network of confusing tunnels, only knowing where to go because the smog roots had told him.


    Soon after the hazardous walk of going down uneven and different-sized tunnels, he made it to the one chamber the smog roots had wanted him to enter. So he entered the chamber to find it was rather small and held only two things. Which was a small pit on one side with six strange worms trapped down it somehow, and on the other side was a well carved out of stone. How either came to be here, he had no idea, and if he was a betting fairy, he would guess strange fey magic.


    He walked over to the stone well after having given the worms in the pit a closer look. They were regular worms, besides the fact that their head had an odd shape to it that allowed them to grasp things. The well had a strange pale dust. He wasn''t sure what it was or why the smog roots would feel it was that the worms or the dust were important to him.


    Then, as he looked closer at the pale dust, he began to carefully examine it. He began to realize what it was and what the worms could possibly be, but then began to shake himself. "No, it couldn''t be that it''s not possible." Wormer said to himself in a low whisper full of disbelief, but still a small part wondered if somehow it was possible.


    So he looked at the pale dust for a long moment, and then he said, "To hell with it. If it works, then it''ll be worth it, and if it doesn''t, then it isn''t what I thought it was, and it won''t matter anyway." Wormer said to himself, reading it out, trying to not get his hopes up that perhaps after centuries he wouldn''t be alone anymore.


    So he grabbed the pale dust and brought it over to the small pit with the six worms in it, and he took a long breath, and then he stared at the worms for a moment as they squirmed in the pit. "Please let this work." Wormer said as a desperate plea to whoever might be listening before dumping all the pale dust he had into the pit.


    He then watched as, upon seeing the pale dust, the six worms surged upon the pale dust, covering themselves in it; then they grouped together in two teams of three. These two groups formed a T-shape and then slowly began to transform in a cloud of dark smoke until, by the time the dark smoke cleared, Wormer was looking at two pixies that were awfully similar to himself.


    For a moment Wormer just stared at them, emotion roaring through him as he felt surprise, shock, and awe all at once as he stared at the young pixies that would be the start of his new clan of the family he would have once again. Then he came to his senses and realized he had been just staring at a couple of newborn fairies who needed guidance, not for him to stare at them slack-jawed.


    "Come up, little ones." Wormer said helping them out of the small pit and into the wider cavern. "Come with me, let me show you your new home." Wormer said covering the two with his cloak and waking down the maze of tunnels knowing with this act of creating pixies he was forever tied to these undead kingdom. As he had been without a clan for centuries, he would never be without one again.

 chapter 29 Maxwell is having a very hectic day

    Maxwell sat there, a skull in his kingdom of smog and grass, wondering if there might come a day he could find the rest of his skeletal limbs. Though he wondered if he did find them, what he could even do with them considering his current status as an undead construct, which effectively made him a building. "Perhaps use the additional body parts to expand myself?" Maxwell said to himself.


    Then he became distracted by Horter''s wings as he was guiding his undead butterflies through complex formations that made full use of their hypnotic wings effect. Which was rather impressive considering Horter was a young and recent addition to his realm. Though the thought of recent additions got him thinking of the most recent addition, Wormer.


    Maxwell wasn''t quite sure what to make of Wormer joining his realm; well, he had been forced into it as a form of punishment. The fact it had given him access to the creation of dark fey was a bit of a surprise. As he had expected, to get the mercenary to stop helping the grass pixies attacking him and maybe help build up the infrastructure of his underground realm.


    What had actually happened was far beyond his expectations. Though how he was to use the dark fey magic he now had access to, or even create the only true dark fey he had access to, he wasn''t sure. Though as he thought about it, he felt a strange sensation that told him to look into a certain place in the underground.


    So having nothing better to go on than this new feeling granted to him by this new dark fey magic he had gotten, he turned his undead sight to the underground. He looked around for a moment. "This is a mess." Maxwell stated to himself, looking at his underground realm, as the earlier raid by Wormer, as well as the random digging of the smog root, with the final nail being the random chambers being formed, causing a maze of random tunnels.


    That Maxwell honestly admits probably had no business existing and should have already collapsed under its own weight. But the smog roots were a determined sort and had caused their random maze to hold together through the roots unrelenting grip. Hopefully Wormer could use whatever knowledge he had of underground architecture to make his underground network more functional.


    Maxwell took one last glance at the mess of a maze before going back to looking for the place his strange new sense was telling him was important to making Wormer''s new assistants. Eventually he found a seemingly random small chamber with a small pit with a well already made inside. Maxwell looked around wondering how this had been here before he remembered some lore from his old video game Age of Legends.


    The dark fey typically corrupt nearby places to suit their own needs, such as turning a beautiful lake into a poisonous swamp. If he went with that logic, then his new dark fey magic has simply formed this chamber so that he could get his new dark fey minions. Though how the empty pit and empty well were supposed to make Wormer his new assistants, he had no idea.


    Then he remembered some other lore when it comes to creation, though it was on the lighter, fairer side. It was once said that certain fairies were born by a combination of pixie dust and a child''s belief. So if we go by that logic, Maxwell thought then either the pit or the well is supposed to hold the pixie dust while the other holds the second component needed for the creation of Wormer''s new assistants.


    Though where the hell he was supposed to get pixie dust, he had no idea. That''s when the feeling came back, though this time instead of directing his gaze back to the chamber, it was directing him somewhere else in the underground. So Maxwell followed the feeling through the maze of nonsensical tunnels until he finally reached his destination, where his gaze found one of the root operation rooms in which the smog roots worked to make their root worm marionettes.


    He looked around the room trying to find the pixie dust he figured must be here but couldn''t find it. So he asked the roots smog roots operating in the room who were eager to answer any questions and get him anything he desired. The smog roots in the chamber quickly directed him towards a pile of discarded worm corpses.


    The smog roots, using their rootworm marionettes, pointed out the strange pale dust that had been formed from the bodies, that little of it there was. That''s when Maxwell came to the realization that pixie dust was supposed to be a magical thing that came from nature. It would appear that the pixie dust that Maxwell''s lands now produced was from the corpses of worms used in necromancy.


    Maxwell was pretty sure that something about his realm was unflattering; honestly, he wasn''t sure. Though he turned his kind away from where he got his worm pixie dust and began to have his smog roots order their root worm marionettes to collect all the worm pixie dust to be found in the small operating chambers scattered across his underground.


    Once he had every single speck of worm pixie dust put into the well, as he figured he would probably need worms as a second ingredient, and those would fit in the well. So what exactly did he need to put into the pit to have all the ingredients to begin Wormer''s assistants? Once again his new sense directed him, and so he followed it to where he needed to go.


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    He looked through the tunnels and eventually came upon a strange place at the very bottom of the maze, which was a giant pit with walls made out of pitch-black stone. In it we''re about hundreds of siege worms, with dozens of different types, all squirming together. Though from what he could tell, they were the most basic type of siege worm. The feeling told him there was a specific type of siege worm in this squirming pile that he was looking for.


    So after much looking through it, it eventually found a worm with a strange head that kept gripping and letting go of its fellows. This was the one it was looking for; it found five more of the same type. Maxwell ordered all six to leave the pit of siege worms and head towards the place where the chamber that would create Wormer''s kin awaited.


    Before Maxwell turned his attention away, he focused back on the pit of worms, looking far deeper than before, and he saw it was very strange. As the pit was far less a dark hole and more an ever-shifting and expanding sea. "Great! I''ve probably had this dark fey magic for something of a day and a half, which was apparently all it took for it to create dark, foreboding evil pits of infinite worms." Maxwell said with exasperation, though he felt it would be a while before the strange siege worm pit coughed up more worms required for making more of Wormer''s kin.


    He felt it was time for him to begin the creation of Wormer''s assistants, then felt Wormer was required and so had the smog roots pass along the message to go to the chamber where he could create his assistants. Though with that being dealt with, he turned his attention back towards the surface only to find Bunet and Horter were having a standoff.


    Well, it would appear I should intervene. Maxwell said to himself in his own mind, then spoke aloud. "Now what exactly is going on here?" Maxwell asked the two sternly, causing both to turn towards him startled. Bunet turned into a fidgeting mess while Horter gained a very cocky aura about him.


    "Well, sire, bzzz." Bunet said with hesitation, clearly not eager to tell Maxwell whatever she was going to but knowing she had to all the same. "The enemy pixies bzzz have released bzzz some kind of bzzz creature upon us, bzzz sire." Bunet eventually got out.


    "Well, it looks like your undead hornets aren''t up to the task, Bunet." Horter said with a mocking tone, causing Bunet to turn around and begin closing in on him menacingly with her two sets of mandibles crunching loudly. Horter didn''t back down, raising both his wings in response, getting ready to unleash a dazzling light show sure to leave Bunet blind.


    "Bunet, what did this creature look like?" Maxwell stated clearly, causing both his zombie commander to turn back to him and calm down, realizing they were showing themselves to be unworthy of their rank.


    "It was bzzz like a worm bzzz but with scales bzzz and sharp green bzzz eyes." Bunet said with a clear tone, trying to give her description with as much professionalism as she could muster to make up for her earlier angry outburst. She was glad her connection to her undead hornets allowed her to share their vision, which had given her glimpses of the creature as it destroyed them; otherwise, she would have had no answers for the creator after giving an embarrassing outburst.


    " Hmm, sounds like some kind of serpent." Maxwell said, After he had thought on it, well, it was good to have some idea of what they were facing; the problem was they didn''t have an idea for numbers. "Do you know if it was just the one?" Maxwell asked to be sure, to which Bunet gave a shake of her head.


    Well, that''s not good. Maxwell thought it could just be one or could be a dozen, and if it''s pushed back, Bunet''s invasion, I need to take it seriously. Maxwell thought a moment before he gave his orders. "Bunet, you are no longer invading alone; Horter will accompany you." Maxwell stated simply, to which Bunet was about to protest.


    But Maxwell stopped her with what he said next. " No, Bunet, we could be looking at a big counter offensive, which we need to stop in its tracks, so I am sending everything. You will gather every undead hornet you can find and press the attack. While Horter will get his undead butterflies to hypnotize all the will insects and get them to charge at these serpents for us." Maxwell said simply, then turned to a few dozen grass catapults that hadn''t been turned into either variant.


    He then turned them into a rage grass catapult with a quick intake of necrotic rage smog and then reached out with his necrotic rage smog, gathering the materials to make right more, giving him twenty rage grass catapults. "Now, Bunet, gather your forces, and once you have a swarm of hornet bees at full strength, both you and Horter will go out and stop the pixie threat. Is that understood?" Maxwell said with a firm tone.


    To which both gave firm nods and began to gather their forces and prepare to assault the grasslands once more. While the rage catapults began to form into a column up in front of the southern breach at the solid fog wall, they were getting ready to roll south at a moment''s notice. Maxwell watched it all and wondered if this would be the force that finally ended the back and forth between him and the grass pixies to the south.

 chapter 30 the first great invasion by Maxwells kingdom

    The angry smog grass elementals had been holding the line, fighting the many magic mutated grass insects that were trying to make their way into the kingdom of the undead that belonged to a single skull. The angry grass elementals could not push forward without the direction of Burnet from above to help direct them, and they could only hold the insect at bay.


    To add to their troubles, the grass pixies new war beast hunted them. It knew better than to attack them as both the angry grass spiders and the angry grass centipedes moved in groups, never moving alone among the sea of green grass. This prevented the grass monster from picking them off, but they weren''t completely safe, as the great serpent still attacked them using hit-and-run attacks to do damage before blending back into the tall green grass.


    So the angry grass elementals were forced to hold a line they weren''t entirely sure actually was what was within the grass maze. Well, a grass monster sent by the grass pixies came launching raids at them, making them quite angry. Though they couldn''t act on their anger, that was until they saw Bunet and her undead hornets come through the smog wall, and they then knew the push for the base of the grass pixies was back on.


    Though the rage grass elementals were surprised to see that the undead hornets weren''t flying alone, they were flying with the butterflies, and on the ground a column of rage grass catapults was making their way into the sea of grass. The angry grass elementals were very pleased by this sudden influx of reinforcements, as now they could press the attack as all those born from necrotic rage smog wish to do.


    Bunet watched from up above as her undead hornet swarm paired up with the rage grass catapults as they split up from their column to go searching for the home of their enemy, the grass pixies. She looked to her side, filled with a quiet rage as she watched her comrade for this push, Horter, gather his own troops, the undead butterflies, and have them perform some strange little dance above the sea of grass.


    Seeing this as a waste of time and of Horter messing around, she was about to inform him he needed to get on task in a very polite and aggressive manner, benefiting a commander. That''s when she heard him say a skill that was an army tactic. ENTRAPMENT OF POISON WINGS.


    Bunet then watched stunned as the undead butterflies began to form in groups of five, linking up their wings, causing a dazzling display of purple and black from their wings. Which was quickly enslaving the rabid magical insects belowing them that Bunet could make out. Horter saw the shock look on Bunet''s face and flew over to her.


    "You didn''t think I was just resting in the kingdom, did you? No, I was developing my tactics as a commander, creating this skill. I do look forward to seeing the skill you have developed out on the front of your hornet swarms, Bunet." Horter said, radiating a smug presence from every inch of his being.


    Bunet didn''t respond, as she hadn''t developed any army skills, not even knowing that was a thing, and having been focused on finding the location of the enemy''s main base. So, not wanting to admit she didn''t have an equal army skill, she simply turned around and focused back on organizing the search of her hornets.


    Horter watched her fly away from him, his smugness somehow coming off stronger as he watched her go. Then he turned around and got back to guiding his undead butterflies as they enslaved more and more of the magical insects in the grass to their will.


    Bunet, embarrassed by her lack of an army skill, decided to make up for it with a ferocious push and her undead natural sting ability. So she began to, in concert with the rage grass catapults, make for a rapid push trying to find the enemy base through sheer tenacity and ferocious pace. This wasn''t working as much as she would like, as the damn grass serpent kept attacking her troops in fast raids, killing one or two undead hornets before disappearing back into the grass.


    She tried to coordinate her forces to trap the damn serpent, but it wasn''t working as the serpent escaped her attempts at encirclement again and again. Bunet''s rage built and built with each failed attempt until she was filled to bursting, her two sets of mandibles giving off a hard grinding noise.


    "Well, it seems you are doing about as well as I am, it would seem." Horter said, suddenly appearing as if by magic, beside Burnet. Shocked by his sudden appearance, she turned to him, bearing her mandibles threateningly. "It would seem you were too frustrated by our mutual green friend to notice me making my way over." Horter stated simply not reacting to Bunet''s feral stance.


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    Bunet held herself back but made no room to reply to Horter''s statement. "Well, it would seem the conversation relies on me once again. The serpent the grass pixie has sent against us has been attacking both of our keeping, both yours and mine, from finding where the main base lies." Horter stated that he was simply informing Bunet that Horter''s forces had been getting attacked as well by the grass serpent.


    She looked at him, momentarily judging him, then asked the important question. "Then what do you suppose we do about it?" Bunet asked, simply wondering where he was going with this. Hotter gave her a searching look for a moment, then responded.


    "Well, it''s quite simple, my dear comrade; we work together." Hotter told Bunet simply she looked at him for a moment stunned, which wasn''t considering the animosity between them due to their conflicting natures. But sadly she knew he was right and nodded her head slowly in agreement, and so the two combined their powers of command over their different undead swarms.


    This allowed them to quickly find the grass serpent, as it could not escape the eye of all the undead flyers that flew both in the grass and above it. Soon enough, through their strained cooperation, Bunet and Horter cast a web around the serpent, with their forces bringing the rage grass tank to bear with the enslaved insects on their flanks and the undead hornets and undead butterflies above to finish the encirclement.


    Bunet, seeing the only true enemy that she had found since she had first set out of the smog wall with her first hornet swarm, seeing said enemy was trapped within their encirclement, gave the order. "Attack!" Bunet screeched through the connection she had with the undead forces, causing all of them to move on the trapped grass serpent.


    The serpent used all of its ability to fight back, using its flexibility and reach to keep the undead forces at bay for as long as it could, but there were too many, and it clearly couldn''t destroy any of the angry grass catapults unless it tried to strangle them, which would leave itself vulnerable to the others. The serpent knew it was living on borrowed time as it felt itself take more and more damage and was about to make one final great lunge to take down as many as it could.


    That''s when the serpent noticed that a small gap had opened, and it leaped through it, making speed as it went across the ground as fast as it could to leave behind the encirclement. Just as the grass serpent gained some distance, it heard the frustrated shriek of a creature it had not heard before, causing it to try and double its pace.


    Bunet had just let out a shriek of frustration before turning on Horter. "What have you done?" Bunet shrieked at Horter as he had allowed a gap to appear in their encirclement. Horter looked back calmly at her, stoking her rage, but before she could make a dive at him, he spoke to her.


    "Simple, we wounded the grass serpent enough to hurt it rather badly, then I let it escape before the finishing blow could be administered." Horter admitted freely, causing a shriek of rage to come from Bunet before she gathered her swarm to attack Horter and his clearly traitorous forces.


    "I did this because where would a wounded grass snake go when it''s hurt?" Horter said, causing Bunet to stop gathering her undead hornet swarm abruptly and stare at him before turning to see a single undead butterfly far away from its comrades, seeming to follow something in the grass as it shifted direction.


    Then she looked back at Horter, and the both of them began to laugh from strange insect throats that were never meant to do such things. This was because both found it hilarious that the one thing that had been such a menace to them would now be such a great aid.


    Not to mention the fact that the happiness that came with knowing they would finally do what they had originally set out to do and counterattack the home of grass pixies for their raid of the kingdom of Maxwell. The unnatural laughter of the two Undead commanders filled the sea of grass, becoming a dark omen of what was to come for the grass pixie clan to the south.

 chapter 31 the preparations of the third grass clan

    Grekal was stuck in the hut the grand elder had built, watching over Gressel and the grand elder himself as Gressel healed and the grand elder regained his strength. As such, she was dependent on the hunters that were on lookout around the clan''s village for information on what was going on around them. Sadly, what they told her did not paint a pretty picture.


    It seemed the serpent of the grand elder''s had pushed back the undead invaders and even destroyed their war machine. Bringing great hope that perhaps once Gressel was awake again to help the grass serpent in its attack against the undead, they could finally vanquish the threat to their north once and for all.


    Sadly, it seemed the undead was merely playing with them, giving them the illusion of hope so they could take away, as it was not long after they destroyed the one war machine that twenty came to take its place. If that was all, it would have been bad enough; it was not, as they had fresh undead to add to their next push and even a new type they hadn''t seen before.


    Grekal waited to hear more on what was going on as she was tending to the grand elder at a particular moment when Gressel finally woke up. "What have I missed?" Gressel asked immediately, trying to get up to date on the current situation. Grekal gave him a quick rundown to which he replied with.


    "That bad, huh?" Gressel stated with a morbid acceptance as he got up from his bed, hoping to quickly rally his hunters for another great hunt against the skull, hoping working with the serpent would allow them to finally destroy the skull, sending all this undead at them.


    Though that line of thought died as one of the greater hunters of the clan Grokal came into the hut. Grokal looked startled and happy that Gressel was finally awake before he came back to himself and gave his report quickly. "The serpent has returned too wounded to continue to fight for the time being." Grokal stated simply.


    "Well, there goes my first plan of attack." Gressel said, sighing, not at all happy that his first plan after coming to had already fallen through. That''s when Grokal made it known he wasn''t done delivering bad news by continuing.


    "We believed it may have been followed." Grokal stated simply without a hint of emotion despite what that might entail. This bit of news caused both Gressel and Grekal to stare at him in horror before they began to argue with each other, though far too fast for anyone to figure out what they were saying.


    That''s when the grand elder spoke up, making it clear he''d been awake to hear the report. "Enough! There is no time to be arguing." He said loudly before talking in a quieter voice. "We must make the preparations necessary for what is to come next." The grand elder stated simply, showing himself to be a beacon of calm despite the rapidly declining situation.


    "Now, Gressel, you will work together with the craftsmen to make defenses so that the village may hold against the undead." The elder said to Gressel, and then he turned to Grekal: "You must prepare the farmers to evacuate and gather everything essential so that if the village fails, we do not fail with it." He said simply both his fellow elders looked like they wanted to argue on specific points.


    He grabbed both of them and pulled them closer to whisper something softly in their ears, and so Grokal watched as the two elders showed shocked faces at what the grand elder had told them. "Are you sure such things are only called in war, and this would only be considered an infestation?" Gressel stated he was seriously worried about whatever had been said.


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    "Yes, besides, if the village falls, then it will be an act of war, will it not?" The grand elder stated simply, to which Gressel gave a grim nod before both he and Grokal went out to begin preparations to defend the village with the hunters and the craftsman. Grekal gave the grand elder one last round of medicine before going out to gather the farmers to prepare for evacuation.


    The grand elder used what strength he had to grab a piece of magical grass and scribble something on it. "Hopefully we will stand triumphant, and this will not be necessary." The grand elder said with little hope before falling back in his grass bed and resting once more.


    Meanwhile, craftsmen were using GRASS SHAPE to create a solid wall of grass around the village with a platform at the top for hunters to use the grass spears to strike down from. The hunters under Gressel''s command once again were quickly taking position on the wall.


    "Alright lads, you know what to do. You know what''s on the line. So I expect the best out of you, as you have always given." Gressel said giving a little speech to try and motivate his hunters just a bit more for the battle to come. As they would need every advantage they could get considering how badly outnumbered they were going to be.


    Especially considering his own great ability THE GREAT GRASS HUNT was an offensive ability and wouldn''t be of use in a defensive ability like this. So they would have to make do without his ability, but his hunters would be up to the task.


    Meanwhile, in another part of the village, the farmers were gathering all they could, putting all the supplies and tools they had in the clan''s wagons. Grekal stood above the farmers, directing them. "Grab that one, no, not that one, the one next to it!" She yelled at someone before moving on to someone else, being the force of order in a maelstrom of chaos as she both directed the farmers and kept them from panicking.


    Both the elders of hunting and farmers spent most of the day making preparations for what was to come, and by the midway point of the day, they had done all they could. Which was rather good timing on their part, as it wasn''t long after they finished their preparations that the army of undead began to surround them.


    "So it began." Gressel said to himself before speaking aloud using the connection he had to all of his hunters while still in his great hunt form. "The time has come; today we are not hunters; we are soldiers, and we shall hold the hold line!" Gressel said his voice was being heard by all his hunters as they all brought their spears down in response before leveling them at the enemy coming toward them.


    "May the fates and the magic of the woods be with us this day." Gressel said softly to himself as he joined his hunters on the wall for the battle. For the battle of his home had begun, and he would do everything he could to keep it, but even with his will to do anything and everything possible, as he looked at the forces beginning to surround his home, he wasn''t sure if he or his hunters were enough.

 chapter 32 the attack of Horter and Bunet

    The angry grass catapults and the enslaved mutated grass insects surrounded the walled home of the grass pixies, making sure there was no escape for the pixies inside. Well above the village, the skies were quickly taken by the undead butterflies and undead hornets who swarmed in mass.


    In the dead center of this swirling mass stood two figures, the leaders of this army, Bunet and Horter. They watched as the grass pixies below reacted to their presence at the walls and above them by those at the walls having grass spears aimed at the sky and at those at the walls. Well, those not fighting took cover in huts and other buildings that made up the village as eager undead hornets had already begun to make dives at the village.


    "Finally we''ve reached our enemy." Bunet said with a tone filled with satisfaction. "Now we only need to overwhelm and destroy them." Bunet said her mandibles were making happy clicking sounds as she was about to bring the entire might of her undead hornet swarm upon the home of the grass pixies.


    But just before she could, she was hilted by Horter. "Now wait a moment; we need to waste our vulnerable swarms on a frontal charge when we have disposal units and tough siege weapons at our disposal." Horter stated to Burnet, simply, who found herself nodding to his logic.


    She did not want to admit it, but he had a point, and a frontal assault by her swarm would probably overwhelm the defenders but would cause a lot of casualties for her swarm. Which she could avoid if she went with Horter''s idea and had the ground forces be the main thrust while her undead hornets distracted them by giving from above.


    So with an agreed-upon plan between the two zombie commanders, the attack began in earnest as both the angry grass catapults and those that flanked them, the enslaved magical grass insects, attacked the walls. The wheel of the catapults spun fast, but it was the enslaved insects that reached first, not that it did them any good.


    As the defenders grass spears were quick to pierce them through, though they weren''t making a dent in their numbers. As Horter was sending out some of his undead butterflies and having them enslave and bring back more magic insects, which meant any that were lost were quickly replaced.


    Though, despite seeing how hopeless it was to slay the enslaved insects, as it wouldn''t be enough as more and more kept coming, they weren''t deterred and continued to slay them. Though after several moments that were somehow both long and short, a common occurrence in grand battles, the siege weapons of the undead made themselves known and felt.


    The angry grass catapults were unlike most catapults as they slammed into the walls of strengthened and weaved grass walls that were created by the craftsman of the grass pixie clan. Now in range, they brought their arms to bear and began slamming the spiked ends at the wall like the snapping of a whip.


    The craftsman of the wall showed as it held despite the fact it was being hit by twenty different siege engines at twenty different points. The hunters, now soldiers, continued to focus on dealing with the enslaved insects, not having a method for dealing with the siege weapons.


    That duty was left to the elder Gressel, who still towered over fellows in his grand hunt form. He used his large hunting spear to force back the siege weapons. Though due to the fact that the enemy siege weapons were attacking all at once all along the wall, he could only push them back, not destroy them, as he couldn''t engage them in a battle needing to push them all away from the wall.


    "Keep fighting, men; we can win this!" Gressel screamed as he once again ran from one side of the wall to the other, forcing the enemy siege weapons back at another point. Only to have more siege engines attack another point, causing him to run over to that point.


    This battle went on like this for hours as the enslaved and the undead kept pushing and the hunters kept holding the walls, but eventually something had to give, and so it did. The wall of interwoven grass had proven itself time and time again as it held, but this was due to the skill of the clan''s craftsman.


    The problem was it was only due to their skill that the wall had held, as they hadn''t had enough time to truly transform it into another material or use other materials to reinforce the wall. So the wall had been totally dependent on the ability of the craftsmen''s GRASS SHAPE; as such, it was the inevitable fate that the wall would fall under the onslaught, and so it did as several holes suddenly appeared in the wall.


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    The defenders tried to plug it, but with several points to focus their numbers, the enslaved bugs began to pour through the holes in the defenses and move into the village. The elder Gressel broke off from the wall and began engaging the enslaved insects that had broken through, slaughtering them with his hunting spear a dozen at a time.


    Sadly for Gressel, he could see it wouldn''t be enough, especially as he could see that pulling himself on the wall had allowed the enemy siege weapons to create more holes in the defenses. Which meant the walls were now living on borrowed time and would collapse sooner rather than later. Gressel gave a sorrowful shriek as he now had to admit that the battle was lost.


    So he sounded his bell, the sound going throughout the village, signaling the craftsmen and farmers to flee. Gressel, meanwhile, activated the magic of the hunt, making his hunters move with him as one being once again as they all swayed like grass and slashed their way to the escape point on the southern point of the village.


    Far above the village, Bunet eyed Gressel''s retreat with all his hunters as the walls crumbled. "Get ready, Horter; something is about to happen." Bunet said her experience with the grass pixies told her they were about to pull a trick, and she didn''t want them to escape her grasp once again.


    "You worry far too much. The battle is won, the walls are down, and they are merely fleeing for their lives." Horter stated smugly, seeing the crumbling defense of the grass pixie village with minimal undead casualties as another point in his favor for their little rivalry.


    Horter would soon be proven wrong, as suddenly bursting out of a large structure within the village was the hurt grass serpent, carrying behind it supplies along with most of the villagers from the looks of it. Bunet, having been getting ready and seeing the escape attempt for what it was, reacted immediately.


    She sent the full force of her undead hornet swarm at them, their hornets at the ready. The satisfaction in Bunet built as the stingers were getting closer to their targets and Hirter began to gather his butterflies at a much slower rate. Though right before Bunet''s undead hornet swarm could reach their target, one of the larger pixies stood up and shouted something.


    Whatever she shouted caused the grass, which had been rather tame within the village, to grow far outside of control. This caused Bunet''s undead swarm to be flung back into the air by grass that had suddenly grown six times their size. " No bzzz!" Bunet roared seeing her longtime enemies escape into the grass.


    She sent her swarm back after them, but it was too late; their accursed fey magic had helped them to escape into the grass. Bunet turned around and shouted to Horter. "You fool! You let them escape!" Bunet said furiously to Horter that he took a moment to adjust to the sudden escape of the grass pixies.


    "I apologize, Bunet. I will take responsibility to the creator for this, but for now let''s secure the village, shall we, so we have something to give the creator?" Horter said to a furious Bunet, who had to agree, as there was no way they could be given twenty angry grass catapults and come back with nothing.


    Grekal looked back over her shoulder in the cart before looking forward once again and directing the grass serpent as best she could. Grekal thanks the magic of the woods and the gods of the fey that her trick with the greater growth had worked.


    Though she couldn''t let the success make her negligent, as she had to keep moving her people to the meeting point with Gressel, then on to where they needed to go next. Grekal looked over her shoulder one last time, seeing where the undead were still desperately searching for them from above. "Yes, where we need to go to make things right." Grekal said before looking forward again, though this time with a determined glint in her eyes.

 chapter 33 the home front

    Maxwell waited in his kingdom of smog, wondering what was going on outside his realm''s borders. His sight was limited to within his realm, and so he could not look outside his kingdom''s borders to see if his forces were winning or losing.


    So Maxwell was left to stew and wonder in indecision. The big decision he was left with should build more focus to reinforce the ones already invading or not so he could build forces to defend his realm if needed. The problem with making decisions such as these is you need information on how the battles are going.


    He did not have such information, as neither Bunet nor Horter were staying in contact and giving him reports on what the situation was. So he was left in a state of limbo where he didn''t know if his forces were about to achieve total victory or if they had been broken and a counterattack was on its way to destroy them as they waited for news.


    Maxwell kept thinking on it and eventually realized he needed to do something, though it couldn''t be either of the options he had been thinking about before. So he came up with a third option that had worked for him before, which was it was time for more research and development.


    This way, hopefully, whether they won or lost, his commanders Bunet and Horter would come back and tell him what exactly had happened. At which point he would have more advanced units for them to use no matter the situation that turned out to be. So it was time to see if he could get the parts he needed to make improved models from the hive of the undead.


    Luckily, as it had demonstrated before, the hive of the undead was rather adaptable with what it spawned, and soon some non-animated corpses of some hornets and butterflies were provided for his experimentation. Maxwell looked at the bodies for a moment, thinking on what he should do first to make improvements, and figured he would start with the basics.


    So he first combined two corpses of a hornet, though unlike what he did with his zombie commanders, he did not have them form a humanoid form. No, instead he had the two corpses of hornets come together back to back, moving the insect wings to the side. Then he proceeds to combine their spines and merge their stingers.


    Maxwell then took a moment to look at his new hornet creation, having it maneuver in the air for a bit. Maxwell saw it had lost a lot of its speed and maneuverability. But it had gained a lot in attack power, as once it reached a certain height and simply dropped onto its target, it would do some damage if it hit.


    Maxwell, satisfied with his combined hornet, moved on to his butterflies, taking two of their corpses and beginning to combine them just as he had done with the hornets. Maxwell took a moment to gaze at the butterfly bodies and tried to figure out how best their bodies could be used to make an improved undead creation.


    Maxwell came up with an idea and then proceeded to act on it. He took both butterflies and then proceeded to connect them at the ends, leaving both heads at opposing ends. He then began to combine the limbs to better bear the creature''s own weight. He left the wings alone so that the new undead butterfly now sported right butterfly wings.


    Maxwell had this newly improved undead butterfly, like the hornet before it, perform maneuvers in the air to prove its body worked properly. It performed some rather graceful maneuvers, showing that its body functioned properly and the beauty of its wings. Which was rather good, as the most dangerous thing about an undead butterfly was its wings, which could hypnotize others.


    Maxwell spent a good, solid moment watching his two new undead creations as they flew through the air before deciding he should get more advanced with his experimentation. So it was time to use his smog to create more advanced types of undead hornets and butterflies.


    So just as before, he took two corpses, though this time he started with the butterflies instead of the hornets. He filled one with angry necrotic smog and the other with sad necrotic smog. The results were strangely dazzling as both butterflies came to unlife.The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.


    As the one butterfly brought to undeath with angry necrotic smog had its wings become an angry shade of red. The butterfly born from angry necrotic snog almost seemed to pulsate rage, while the other butterfly brought to undeath with sad necrotic smog was the opposite.


    The other butterfly born through sad necrotic smog took on a sickly green color that gave of a feeling of sadness as if all was lost. With the butterflies done, Maxwell moved on to the hornets, seeing what effects the advanced form of smog would have on them. So he grabbed two hornet corpses and got to work.


    He decided to see what would happen if he filled one of the hornet bodies with sad necrotic slang first. The hornet in question began to visibly droop, somehow falling in on itself slightly as well as constantly dripping a strange blackish-green venom from its stinger.


    The hornet brought to life by the angry necrotic smog grew spikes out of its size, and its mandibles became much sharper. Its stinger also gained extra barbs, showing itself to be rather ferocious in appearance alone without taking into account the aura of feral rage it gave off.


    Maxwell watched the now six upgraded undead units as they flew in the air. He spent a long time just enjoying his new creations as they flew around and making sure everything worked right with them before finally confirming the experiments were done, finalizing the results of his recent experiments. To confirm the result of his work, a blue screen appeared.


    <table style="border-collapse: collapse; width: 99.8728%" border="1">


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td style="width: 96.4331%">


    Through your expermination of necromancy you have unlocked the following units:


    Undead Hornet javelin- a combination of two hornets that uses its large stinger to deliver a fatal blow from above


    Angry smog hornet- a hornet revived with necrotic rage smog and as such has had its agonizing sting improved with a bleed effect


    Sad smog hornet- a hornet revived with sad necrotic smog because of this it''s agonizing sting has been changed to weeping sting. :Weeping sting- caused a total lose of hope and eventual death turning them into weeping zombie.


    Undead dazzlingly butterfly- a combination of two butterflies into one undead one. This allowed it to use it hypnotic wings on a much larger scale enslaving far more to its will.


    Angry smog butterfly- a butterfly revived with angry necrotic smog causing its hypnotic wings to be changed so that they only cause rage instead of being controlled but the rage they induce is far stronger than the control.


    Sad smog butterfly- a butterfly revived with sad necrotic smog causing its hypnotic wings to be altered so that caused great sadness in all who behold them instead of being enslaved to their will.


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    Maxwell looked at the blue screen, going over it and being sure to read everything before being satisfied. "Looks good as far as I can tell; hopefully, Bunet and Horter can make good use of them." Maxwell said to himself. He then went back to watching his new creations as they flew through the air, getting lost in the colors of his new butterflies.


    Though as time went on, the anticipation built, and he began to wonder when the news would finally reach him about whether his forces had won or lost. That''s when a purple screen suddenly appeared to inform of the outcome of Burnet''s and Horter''s invasion.


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    <td style="width: 96.4331%">


    Your forces are victorious


    The invasion force under the co-command of Horter and Bunet having taking the third clan''s home forcing them to flee.


    Now that you have taken the clans village all their former territory that was theirs is now yours.


    You territory is under the grow your lawn policy which will cause the transformation of all the land from pixie grass land into undead grass land.


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    Maxwell looked at the report, and, well, he was happy they had won the battle, and he could already feel his territory growing as his necrotic smog went across the land by a few dozen feet from what his territory already was. Though he very much wanted to hear from Bunet and Horter about how the battles went.


    As the report stated, they had driven off the third pixie clan, which meant there were at least two other grass pixie clans to be worried about. So he needed to know how much of the invasion force remained and what exactly they had gotten from the taking clan''s village.


    So suffice it to say, Maxwell was very interested in the report from his zombie commanders. As apparently the war had barely begun and he hadn''t even known he was at war with a larger group of grass pixies besides the one to his south. But hopefully he and his kingdom would be ready for what was to come.

 chapter 34 the report

    Bunet and Horter found themselves with multiple tasks after the grass pixies had fled, and so they got to doing them. This task mainly revolved around securing the village by having the angry grass catapults take up patrol through the now overgrown streets of the village with the enslaved insects flanking them, making sure they weren''t ambushed.


    Though one of the most unfortunate tasks the two zombie commanders found themselves dealing with was calming the naturally angry rage grass elementals. Since the defense of the village had been overwhelmed by the catapults and the enslaved insects in the first wave, the rage grass elementals hadn''t gotten to participate in the battle since they were in the second wave. This, of course, made them furious, and so the zombie commanders had to calm them down before they damaged the new holdings of their kingdom.


    Though eventually they had no more task to complete, and so they began to make their way back to their creator to tell him all that had happened. Though as they went, they noticed the wall of smog that had surrounded their homeland began to spread out rapidly, covering the land, turning all the grass black, and covering it in a thin layer of smog. Not long after that, smog grass elementals began to be born across the newly changed land.


    Not only that, but they could clearly see their creator, his now dark black skull, sticking out just above the small wall made of solid smog. They could clearly see the hole in the southern part of the wall from when the grass pixies had attacked. The two zombie commanders made good time in the sky and were soon flying in front of their creator.


    "Well, Bunet and Horter, how exactly did the campaign go?" Maxwell asked, knowing they had won but not how well they had won and wanting the exact details of what had gone on with the battle outside of his domain of sight.


    Bunet and Horter looked to each other before they both turned towards their creator and began to give him their report, alternating as they told him their perspective on the battle and how it unfolded. This eventually changed when they got to the report of the grass pixies retreat, to which Horter spoke alone and took responsibility for their escape.


    "So as you can see, sire, it is due to my mistake that the enemy escaped annihilation at our hands, to which I have no excuse, so I accept full punishment for this failure." Horter stood with his back straight, awaiting his punishment with dignity. Maxwell merely looked at him a moment before he spoke.


    " No, Horter, I''m not punishing you. I wanted them subjugated, not annihilated to begin with, so it''s a failure of mine to be more clear with my orders." Maxwell said calmly, causing his two zombie commanders to jolt in surprise, but before either could respond, he spoke again.


    "Besides, I need both of you in top shape for what is to come. As I got a message that those grass pixies we had just defeated were of the third clan, which means there''s a first and a second. So we must prepare for the third clan to team up with the first and second clans and then come back to strike back at us." Maxwell stated simply as both Bunet and Horter got concerned at what was now coming their way.


    "So with all the new territory and with the units I have developed, we will begin splitting and expanding our forces." Maxwell stated, causing both Bunet and Horter to suddenly notice the new advanced undead of both butterflies and hornets, as they were too focused on their creator to notice before.


    The two zombie commanders had a moment to get excited about the new upgraded units for their respective swarms before Maxwell brought their attention back to him. "Well, Horter, you will defend the East, and you, Burnet, will defend the West. Well, the new village is turned into a large catapult workshop to mass-produce grass catapults to defend the south." Maxwell said, giving his two commanders their orders.


    The two were going to ask how they were going to do that considering the forces had both been made from a single small hive, and because of that, the size of their respective swarms wasn''t all that large. Well, they were more than enough combined together, and with other curves to overwhelm a single pixie village, they were nowhere near enough to defend the rather large territories they now had.


    Maxwell seeing the question on them before they could ask it, and he answered it. "I will create two nests, one for each of you that specializes in undead hornets and butterflies, respectively, so that you may grow your swarms and replenish your ranks." Maxwell said easily dealing with their concerns before saying. "Now, was there anything else?" Maxwell asked to be sure everything was covered.


    "Well, we were able to slay a few of the grass pixies. There are bodies at the village. What would you like us to do with them?" Shorter asked, wondering what their ruler would like to do with his war prizes from this battle. Before Maxwell could answer, he felt the presence of Phabium, clearly showing his interest in the bodies.


    Maxwell remembering that Phabium, his savior, wanted him to grow his domain, which he had done, and now he guessed these bodies were another part of whatever he was planning. "I want those bodies brought here." Maxwell ordered simply, to which both Bunet and Horter immediately bowed their heads and sent a few undead hornets and butterflies each to collect the bodies.


    "Now go; your new base of operations will be waiting for you when you arrive." Maxwell told both his zombie commanders, who bowed low and then proceeded to fly off to where they were commanded. So while he was waiting on the grass pixie bodies to arrive, he got to work on the new undead hives for his commanders and his new grass catapult workshop.


    He first started with the nest in the east for the butterflies. Using his control of smog, he gathered a couple dozen twigs, and then he formed them into one tall tower with several branches coming off. Once the tower of twigs was fully formed, he then had the smog that was holding the twig tower together merge with it, finalizing the building and causing the twigs to merge together totally to form a nest of undead butterflies.


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    With the nest of undead butterflies out of the way, he moved on to the nest for undead hornets, which needed to be made differently. He took hundreds of twigs with hands made of smog in the west and then shredded them down until he had a brown mash. He then took the material and slowly made a dome structure with hundreds of holes in it and laid it on the ground. Once he was sure the structure was sound, he filled it with smog, making the structure into a hive for undead hornets.


    Not too long after he finished, both of his zombie commanders arrived and set up their swarms around them. While they were doing that, he got on with turning the former grass pixie village into one giant grass catapult factory. Maxwell decided to have his grass elementals participate in the creation of the facility as a way to make up for being robbed of the chance in the fight to take the village.


    The grass elementals, spiders, and grass elementals centipedes quickly gathered several piles of twigs and pebbles, which were combined with the buildings that made up the village to make one giant grass catapult workshop. The workshop had three exits, each one popping out a different type of grass catapult.


    Which were the regular, sad, and angry grass catapults, this was quite good and the major reason Maxwell had turned the grass village into a big grass catapult workshop. As he figured that the first target of whatever alliance force the grass pixie sent his way would be retaking their former village back. So now when they tried to take it back, they would have to go through an army of catapults to do so.


    With this final building task completed, the few grass pixie bodies had arrived. He had them laid down in front of him, and not too long after, Phabium spoke. "You have done well, Maxwell; you have grown your domain and expanded your list of forces to bring to bear against your enemies once again." Phabium said, causing Maxwell to swell with pride at the praising of his savior.


    "Now that you have gained significant territory within the forest of Gregal. I was wondering if you could do me a favor?" Phabium asked gently, his tone filled with a small measure of hope to use to everything falling apart as the ruler of the monster pantheon. But Maxwell had proven himself to be rather adaptive and had been eager to help so far, but after having so many things fall through, Phabium found himself as a constant skeptic.


    "Of course, anything, just ask Lord Phabium." Maxwell said he was eager to aid the god that had freed him from the horrors of the unending eternal void as it had been since they had first met. A small bit of happy shock went through Phabium as well; he had expected that answer. That didn''t mean it wasn''t a happy shock that something was going right, unlike the rest of the time for Phabium, God of Monsters.


    "You see, the favor I require of you is to help restore one of the dark fey gods back to life," Phabium stated simply to Maxwell, which caused him to be shocked because while he had grown in power, he did have a decent amount of territory for a grass pixie; reviving gods seemed like out of his kingdom''s level.


    "Of course, Lord, but how and why do you need my help? As the god of all monsters, isn''t this something you can do?" Maxwell asked Phabium, confused as to why the god of monsters would be trying to revive a dark fey god. As he figured, a fey god would be outside of his pantheon, and if it was in his pantheon, he could handle it.


    "Well, you see, there are several dark fey species that are more monsters than they are fey, so their gods are within my pantheon, not within the dark fey''s pantheon. Sadly, many years ago, the fey gods, both light and dark, took offense to this and launched a campaign to exterminate these dark monster fey races." Phabium said with a tired and sad tone as if multiple genocides were just part of the course.


    "So what? They committed genocide on a massive scale because of association, and they succeeded?" Maxwell asked, shocked at the ludicrous statement that because you didn''t want to be associated with other species, you render those species extinct.


    "Yes, they did. Now only their gods exist as shadows of their former selves in my pantheon for failing to protect their people." Phabium stated sadly, clearly hurt by how he had to watch the shadows of his former compatriots as they passed him by within the pantheon.


    Maxwell felt pity for the poor bastards; he couldn''t really blame them. From the sound of it, the forces of good and evil had made an alliance just to wipe out their kin. Not a lot could probably stand up to that, much less species belonging to what we''re probably weaker fey gods. "So how can I help?" Maxwell asked, eager to right this wrong.


    "Simple Maxwell With your new space, build a temple catacomb and put the bodies of the slain grass fairies in it. I will find a dark monster fey god strong enough to take the temple catacombs and use the bodies to give birth to the god''s kin in question, bringing them back into the world. So can you do it?" Phabium asked Maxwell gently one last time.


    "Of course." Maxwell said then felt the plans for the temple catacombs enter his mind before Phabium left. He looked over the plans in his head. "Hmm, looks like I''ll need Wormer''s help on this one, and it''s a good opportunity to make some order out of the chaos that is the underground of the kingdom." Maxwell said to himself, preparing to do a complete overhaul of the underground. Well, Wormer was working with his assistants underground, still unaware of the monumental task about to be put upon him.

 chapter 35 Wormers first commission as a citizen

    Wormer was working with his two new assistants in the operating chambers, showing them how to perform the craft that he was known for and what they would need to know as well to be proper members of their clan. As well as contribute to the kingdom that their clan was a part of.


    Wormer still found himself surprised by that thought; it had been a little while since he had gotten the first two members of his new clan. But the fact he had a clan once again after decades of being alone still shocked him like their birth had happened a moment ago. Though he supposed he might grow used to it when more and more members were born, which would be a surprise in and of itself, he supposed.


    Wormer at that current moment was teaching his assistants how to create a basic siege worm. Though they could only, at the moment, modify the worm in front of them in a single way. One assistant favored defensive modification, such as skin hardening, while the other favored offensive modification, such as talons of stone extending out the maw of the worm.


    This difference in how the assistants chose to modify the siege worms with their admitted limited ability inspired him to give them their names. He named the one who favored defensive modification Worense and the other who favored offensive modification Worack.


    Only working with him or each other could they create a fully fledged siege worm. As he thought about what he should try and teach his assistants next, one of the nearby smog root fists reached out and grabbed his hand. The root soon passed along an image of an underground building the ruler of the kingdom wanted constructed, as well as anything else he could do to bring structure to the underground.


    Wormer passed back the feeling of acceptance of taking the job and the pride at the opportunity for such a grand project. The root gave a feeling of happiness at his acceptance as well as a feeling of brotherhood, showing the smog roots would help with the project if he needed it before the smog root pulled back.


    Wormer thought on the plans that had been implanted into his head for a moment before coming to a decision. "We''re going to have to make this underground temple last." Wormer stated simply that there was the structure that needed very much to support such an understructure, and as things were, they risked the whole thing collapsing if they tried to build onto the maze of random tunnels.


    "So we will improve the tunnels first and then do the temple." Wormer said to himself before turning to his assistants, who were still practicing their skills on smaller stone tables than what he himself usually used. "Come, my assistants, we have a big project to get started on." Wormer said to his assistant, who had gotten bored repeating the same practice task over and over again.


    "Yes, Elder Wormer!" The two pixies said together in total unison before giving each other an ugly glare, their opposing skills having given rise to a powerful rivalry in a short span of time. Wormer merely chuckled, happy to be called elder once again by a young kinsman as he led them out of the chamber and into the tunnels.


    The three dark worm pixies wandered the underground, being sure to explore all of the underground as they could to be sure of what they needed to build. Eventually Wormer was sure he had the layout of the confusing tunnels down in its totality. So he thought about how best to rectify the architectural shortfalls of the current underground.


    Wormer thought it in for a long moment with his assistants at his side staring at him, wondering how the elder would fix the underground. He looked at them for a moment and remembered an earlier failure of Worense, who had accidentally hardened a few of his worms too much, causing them to die as they were turned into a stone statue of a worm instead of a worm with stone skin.


    "I have an idea my assistants will turn Worense''s earlier mistakes into successes." Wormer said as he began leading them back to the chamber where the worm statues were left. Sadly for Worense, his fellow assistant Worack couldn''t let an opportunity to comment go.


    "Well, it''s good that our elder can make something of your mistakes because I don''t think you can." Worack stated with a vicious grin that Worense was about to say something back, but Wormer saw the argument coming on and stopped it before it got going once again.


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    "That''s enough. We have work to do, so move your feet faster instead of your mouths." Wormer said firmly to his assistants, who both quieted and picked up the pace. They made it back to the chamber, and all three went over to where the stonework statues had been put to the side. Wormer gave the statues a quick look over before he spoke.


    "Yes, with a few modifications, these worm statues will fit our needs perfectly." Wormer said before waving his assistants over to him and going over what they would need to do with the worm statues with the skill WORM SHAPE. Once they were shown what they needed to do, the assistants got to work on the worm statues. Well, Wormer got several worm parts from the dead piles to make into more statues for their use.


    Worense and Worack showed their skill by easily shaping the worm statues into small pipes, and as Wormer added more and more worm stone for them to shape, they soon had a pile of worm pipes to use. Wormer looked it over for the pile of stone worm pipes, making a few adjustments so they would have the angled pipes required.


    "Well, I think we have enough, so to the tunnels we go." Wormer said before he and his assistants gathered the stone worm pipes and went into the tunnels, and as they went, they would turn the stone worm pipes into stone worm tunnels with the use of the ENLARGE skill.


    Wormer tried to have all three of them take a different tunnel to reinforce at a time it didn''t work. As Worack seemed to have no ability when it came to the ENLARGE skill, he had to follow behind Wormer while glaring at a very smug Worense, who started putting up stone worms in another stretch of tunnels.


    Slowly, over the course of hours or a couple of days, as time was hard to tell underground, they had turned the mismatched underground maze into a uniform tunnel system. The three assistants were reunited back at a connecting tunnel with a smug Worense being glared at by Worack.


    "Now we need to dig here to get the materials necessary for the temple catacombs." Wormer said, pointing to the solid wall, which had traces of a gray-colored rock that was necessary for the construction of the temple. "Though how to get it." Wormer said knowing the material was a bit tough for a lot of his worms to try and collect for them. He looked over to his assistants to make sure they hadn''t attacked each other due to their rivalry and remembered that just like Worense, Worack had made an early mistake by making the extending talons too long and sharp, causing them to cut their own head off by mistake.


    With a few modifications, his overly sharp worm could work for this wormer thought and turned fully to his assistants to speak to them. "Well, it looks like we''ll be using Worack''s earlier mistake to tunnel the rock we need." Wormer said to the two assistants, which caused Worense to become more smug while Worack''s glare at him became even more intense.


    They made their way over to an empty worm mutation chamber, and then the three began to mass-produce the piercing siege worm, a modified working version of the overly sharp version Worack had tried and failed to make. Once they had a couple of piercing siege worms, Wormer and Worack used DUPLICATE to copy them into a small horde and then had them mine the rock out and bring it to a large empty chamber that Wormer had specifically marked as the location where the temple catacomb is built.


    Worense was now glaring at a smug Worack because Worense couldn''t use DUPLICATE to flip their earlier dynamic. Eventually a large pile of stone had been gathered in the large empty chamber near the surface. "Now it is time to begin." Wormer said and began to build the catacomb with a central chamber with several connecting hallways, all having smaller chambers.


    The process of construction went on for a while as the temple catacomb slowly took shape, but soon enough the main chamber was complete with its large pedestal as well as the connecting hallways with their caller chambers, with the only way in or out being the entrances, one above ground and one deeper below. With the entrance carved out into the above ground, the temple catacombs were done, so he and his assistants stood to the side and waited for the judgment of the ruler of his kingdom and whether he had succeeded or failed in his task.

 chapter 36 the return of one forgotten

    Phabium walked the domain of the pantheon of monster gods and found himself once again hit with waves of grief that usually hit him upon seeing the other gods of his pantheon. He slowly walked by the courts of the monster pantheon. He looked upon the withered husk of monster gods that when the realm of mortals was young were titans whose mere presence could crush cities.


    Now they barely exist as a memory of a shadow of what they once were. It would stay that way for many of them, but today it could change for one, and in the realm of the monster gods, that was good news that they had not heard in a very long time. So Phabium made his way to his destination, passing by several courts of his pantheon that had not had any business done in them in several mortal lifetimes.


    Phabium reached his destination, the court belonging to the gods of the dark monster fey. He walked among them for a moment until he found one that could use what was being offered and had the strength to take the opportunity. So it would be that one of the forgotten monster races returned to the mortal realm of Zostrora.


    In his kingdom of smog, Maxwell waited, wondering if his savior was happy with the temple catacomb. Phabium had not returned, and he was beginning to get worried that perhaps either he or Wormer had messed up when making the temple catacombs and was about to order the construction of another one when it hit them.


    A strange power flowed into the temple catacombs. It was far weaker than Phabium, but he could tell it was similar in its holy nature. "It worked." Maxwell said excitedly that he had succeeded in the task given to him by his savior. Though as he gazed upon the above-ground entrance to the temple catacombs, he wondered what dark fey god of monster fey had taken ownership of the temple.


    Inside the temple catacomb, Wormer and his assistants watched as a statue formed above the empty pedestal. The air within the main chamber became charged as the statue took form, the power building up as the statue grew closer to completion until it finally burst out as the statue was complete, sending Wormer and his assistants to the floor.


    Once they picked themselves up and waved the smoke away from themselves that had been created from the explosion of energy, they looked at the statue and took in the figure it presented in its entirety. The statue was large, about six inches tall, and was of a strange humanoid figure that was of a combination of ant and what looked like to be some kind of plant.


    Worack approached the statue to see what was written at its base, somehow being able to read it despite not being taught how to read it yet. The words somehow speaking to him said. "Acrostile, god of the anes who are of the dark fey." Worack stepped away from the statue, surprised at the self-speaking magic words at its base; he ended up backing into Wormer, who stood there looking at the statue.


    "It appears that we have succeeded in our task." Wormer stated simply, as it seemed clear to him that they made the temple to be provided over by a god, and now that one had it, they only needed to tell the ruler of it. So Wormer walked over to one of the many smog roots that were everywhere in the underground and touched it, allowing for feelings and thoughts to pass through each other.


    Wormer passed along the image of the statue of the god that had taken the temple catacombs for themselves and sent along a feeling of pride at having done the task assigned him. Once he was sure the message had gotten through, Wormer collected Worack and Worense, talking them down the underground exit to get back to their training in one of the mutating chambers.


    Maxwell was quickly informed of the new dark fey god''s ownership of the tomb through the smog root fists network. So with the tomb now claimed, he needed the bodies moved in so this god Acrostile could begin bringing his people into this world. So some smog fists were quickly formed, and the pile of grass pixie bodies near him was picked up by this fist made out of smog, and then they were carried to the temple catacombs.


    Maxwell found strange guidance once his hands made out if smog were in the walls of the temple catacombs guiding him, and so counting on the power''s guidance, the bodies were all laid out around the statue in a circle. For a long moment nothing happened, then the statue''s plant-like arm opened up, and dozens of seeds shot out, hitting and embedding in the bodies surrounding the statue.


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    These seeds quickly began to dig deeper into their respective bodies, and soon roots began to form out of the corpses, then an insect-like carapace. Soon after a slow and what several would call a horrifying transformation, the once corpses now stood as living but as something else entirely.


    Instead of being grass pixies, they were now Anes, which caused them to have an insect head, torso, and legs, causing them to stand on all six of their new insect legs but have their new plant arms in front of them. Maxwell observed all of this with his special undead sight that allowed him to view all within his kingdom, which included the temple catacomb. So Maxwell watched his new dark fey species as they began to talk among themselves in a strange clicking with their ant mandibles.


    "Well, it appears I have a second underground race to go with my first." Maxwell said to himself as the Anes went about claiming the smaller cells of the temple catacombs for themselves. Maxwell was moving on, letting the Anes get settled in when a yellow screen popped up detailing what helping Phabium had gotten him.


    <table style="border-collapse: collapse; width: 100%; background-color: rgba(128, 0, 128, 1)" border="1">


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td style="width: 96.4331%">You have gained the patronage of the god Acrostile.


    Acrostile has used the temple and sacrifices provided to revive the Anes.


    Congratulations ruler Maxwell you have unlocked Anes.


    The Anes are a species that specializes in long range combat able to use their plant arms to shoot seeds at far distances with powerfull force as well as use a special sticky substance they create to stick to tall places as they climb up.</td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    "Well, it looks like I haven''t gained a second race of underground fey but some kind of long-range sniper." Maxwell said to himself, fascinated with the concept of having effectively living long-range guns. Though as he was thinking that, he felt Phabium''s presence once again.


    "Thank you, Maxwell. With this one act of kindness, you have allowed one of mine a chance to rise once again." Phabium said, clearly pleased and hopeful that perhaps this once something might be going right for his pantheon. Though in order to ensure that he had important information to pass along while he could.


    "Maxwell, you must prepare for the battle to come, for it is greater than what you have ever faced before." Phabium said in a dark tone, causing Maxwell to grow rather concerned about what exactly was heading his way.


    "What is it? If it''s the grass pixie clans, I''m already preparing for a counter attack by three; that''s why I have begun the creation of a massive catapult army on where I believe they will focus their attack." Maxwell said, staring at his preparation, hoping he was already prepared but somehow already knowing that he wasn''t ready for everything heading his way.


    "Yes, Maxwell, you have prepared for the combined might of the one clan you have driven from their home and two others as well, but the grass pixie clans number nine in total, not three." Phabium stated gravely, causing Maxwell to become very, very worried.


    As he realized he was in very deep danger, especially if each clan was capable of the powerful magic the first one was. "Thank you, Phabium sire. I shall prepare. You do not have to worry; I shall hold my kingdom will not fall." Maxwell said with determination.


    I hope it is so." Phabium said simply before his presence left, and Maxwell immediately began to think about his current situation and what he could do to prepare for the large army heading his way. He thought on it a long moment and came up with only one answer: "It''s time to make superweapons." Maxwell stated simply deciding to create powerful weapons known to be used by nations. Though the question was, could he make them, and would they be enough?

 chapter 37 the making of a nations weapons

    Maxwell found himself having prepared for an attack by three pixie clans, which turned out to be nine. So the only way to prepare for such large numbers was to create weapons that could deal with enemies on a massive scale. Which for any nation would be a superweapon, as he lacked the ability to create heroes, so the classic superweapon was his only option.


    Though how to go about creating one was going to be a rather interesting and troubling problem to tackle, especially considering he didn''t have a body to tackle to begin with. Though as he recalled in the few memories he had left from his life from before, which was from the game Age of Legends, superweapons of a nation tend to be super versions of what they use.


    So in the case of the game dwarves, one of the options for their nation''s superweapons was a giant cannon; well, the orc nations had an option of a massive shaman ritual that called a massive berserker surge in an orc army, turning them into a powerful berserk horde. In both these cases the nation merely brought the greatest potential they could out of specific military technologies they had.


    So if he followed that same logic, well, he currently had three new bases around him based on three different lines of his necromantic units. So he supposed trying to create one superweapon from each would be his best bet in pushing back nine different grass pixie clans. He looked at the three bases for a moment before deciding that the first superweapon he would create would be based on his catapults.


    So he focused on his rather large catapult workshop to the south and had it stop making catapults and have the ones it had made form into three separate armies, then face towards the new smog wall border. He then reorganized his workshop so he had one massive exit instead of three smaller ones.


    Maxwell then waited as the grass elementals gathered more and more material, adding it to the pile building in the catapult workshop as well as the necrotic smog that was filling the workshop. Once there was enough material, Maxwell got to work having an idea for the super catapult he wanted to create. So slowly, bit by bit, his creation began to take shape within the workshop.


    Maxwell created the frames of nine angry grass catapults and then created the frames of nine sad grass catapults. He then combined all the angry grass catapults into one large frame and then did the same with the sad grass catapults. Now Maxwell had two giant frames; he then flipped the angry giant grass frame upside down so all their spring-loaded arms with spiked tips would be facing downward.


    Maxwell then put the sad giant grass frame on top of the upside-down angry giant frame and then began the process of fusing them. Once that was done, he combined all the stone pebbles gathered and combined them into four giant wheels, which were then put on. With the body now complete, Maxwell added the final part that was needed, which was necrotic power. So he took all the angry and sad necrotic smog that had been filling the workshop and put it in the huge catapult.


    The huge catapult came to life with a jolt as it shook and rattled before settling. It then rolled out of the workshop and made itself known as all catapults that felt its presence seemed to shake. The giant catapult gave off two auras, one of immense sadness and the other of intense rage, which clearly unsettled its fellow grass catapults.


    "Well, it looks like I''m needed for the battles to come. I''m sorry!" The giant catapult said with eminent sadness before speaking again in a very different tone. "An if I catch any of you not doing your duty, there won''t be anything left once I''m done with you, understood!" The mega catapult now raged at the smaller catapults, who gave their terrified compliance.


    "Well, it seems being a combination of eighteen smog catapults and two different emotions has made the super catapult intelligent but emotionally unstable at the same time. Well, I guess it''s a good thing I''m making just the one." Maxwell said to himself as he moved on to the butterfly nest and looked over the undead butterflies, seeing what made them dangerous.


    Maxwell figured what made the butterflies dangerous was their ability to hypnotize the insects into becoming cannon fodder. So it made sense to focus in on that particular strength, though of particular interest was their ability to change their wings color, as they had already demonstrated, which had given Maxwell a rather interesting idea.


    He used his ability to connect to his undead citizens through necromancy to pass the idea to Horter, whose response was, "It would be my honor, sire." He said it with such politeness, but the rapid flapping of his butterfly wings said that he was rather eager to see the idea made into a reality far more than his polite and respectful response would show.


    So with the positive feedback of his zombie butterfly commander, who would be expected to command this particular weapon, he got to work. He had the undead butterfly nest build up more and more pieces of undead butterflies until he could probably make a hundred undead butterflies with the parts lying around.


    So Maxwell, thinking these parts would be enough for the project, got to work. He first combined the spines of all the butterflies into one giant central pillar, then he collected their eyes and formed them into a massive sensor at the front of the massive butterfly project.


    Now with the main body and the eyes out of the way, he moved on to the legs, combining them into eight giant legs. With the eyes, torso, and legs done, he moved on to the most important part, the wings. He created two sets of four wings; both sets were huge, but the bottom set was slightly smaller than the top set.


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    This was on purpose. Maxwell then showed why he did this by bringing this super butterfly to undeath, which proceeded to quickly take off. Once it was in the air, its bottom wings changed color to blend in to the sky, showing them to be cloaking wings. The top wings, with the slight edge over the bottom, though, were hypnotic wings. The edge they had over the bottom wings allowed them to be a small splash of color in the sky that could hypnotize those below but still be hidden.


    Maxwell watched the large camouflaged butterfly as it flitted around for a bit before moving on to the wasp nest with the continued praise of Horter for his skill following him. Maxwell looked around the wasp nest for a moment, taking them in and trying to see what made them most dangerous, which was, of course, their stinger. The problem with that train of thought, Maxwell realized, was that the hornets couldn''t always bring their stingers to bear against the enemy.


    So he would have to create something that did that, and remembering how the undead hornets had been outmaneuvered by those grass pixies in that great hunt of theirs, a bigger hornet probably wasn''t the way to go about it. He looked around for a long moment, then the sudden movement of a new undead hornet being spawned from the undead hornet hive gave him an idea.


    He passed this idea along to Bunet, who was very pleased with this idea. "Must have bzzzz destroy enemies bzzzz with bzzzz I will bzzz." Bunet said he was very eager to have this new weapon to destroy enemies of the hive and creator. So he got to work on it by first gathering twigs.


    Once he had enough twigs, he began to mulch them, getting a brown pulp, which he then used to form a sphere. He then got the undead hornets nest to give him the body parts of a hundred hornets. He then began preparing his sphere for the new additional parts it would receive.


    Once the sphere had enough slots in what he considered the upper part, he began to put in hundreds of hornet wings, and slowly, with their unstopping buzzing of their wings, the sphere slowly took up into the sky. With the sphere now airborne, he added slots to its side and bottom. Maxwell then proceeded to put hornet eyes in all its side slots and stingers in all its bottom slots, allowing the now battle sphere to see and launch stingers.


    Maxwell then decided to test its ability to regrow stingers it had fired, so Maxwell decided to have a big battle sphere test fire. Though he let Bunet have the honor of giving the order. "Fire bzzz!" She shouted out in excitement, causing a barrage of a hundred agonizing stingers to hit the ground and be quickly replaced within the battle sphere.


    "Well, it looks like the battle here is done. So I will leave its use to you, Bunet." Maxwell stated leaving her in command of the battle sphere as he had left Horter in charge of the large cloaked butterfly. Bunet gave many praises for the honor and the creation of the battle sphere, but her voice was filled with too much excited buzzing to tell what was being said.


    So Maxwell turned his sight from her and back to himself to think on his current preparations. "Well, I have created three super weapons that should be more than enough, right?" Maxwell said to himself, though he still felt nervous about having nine grass pixie clans invading his kingdom. As if to take his mind off it, a blue screen appeared to finalize the results of his creation of the weapons of mass destruction.


    <table style="border-collapse: collapse; width: 99.8728%" border="1">


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td style="width: 96.4331%">


    Through the experience in the creation of specific necrotic units you have created super weapons varients of these necrotic units which are the following.


    The miserable rage catapult- a super catapult that had two layers of small catapults two it. If you come at it from below you find your self squished by the many arms of rage catapults. Well the top is made up of sad catapults sending a constant barrage of corrosive venom at the enemy. Though this combination of angry and sad catapults had caused this super catapult to always be in flux between the two emotions.


    The cloaked butterfly ship- a giant undead butterfly with two sets of four wings it is constantly cloaking itself with one set well hypnotizing with the other. This allowed it to be a hidden threat turning armies against themselves without them knowing it was even there above them the entire time.


    Hornet doom sphere- a sphere made out of wood pulp that uses the never tiring wings of undead hornets to stay floating in the sky with its ability as a partial nest its able to replace parts which includes the barrage of agonizing stingers it sends to those below it. This makes this sphere an unending threat to all who dare be below it because no matter how good you are one stinger will get you and then it''s all over.


    Note: you can have only one of every superweapon


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    Maxwell looked over the details of his superweapons and was rather pleased. Seeing the weapons lethality spelled out like this went a long way towards calming his nerves in the upcoming fight. As he didn''t think even with their numbers and all their magic tricks, the nine grass pixie clans would have an easy time dealing with his superweapons.


    "This isn''t the story where the heroes destroy the necromancer and destroy his realm. No, not this time." Maxwell said with conviction as he waited for the army of the grass pixies to come for him and all that called his domain home.

 chapter 38 Grokals journey into the unknown

    Grokal greatest hunter of his now defeated clan was making his way across the other grass clans territories and towards his clans former territory which now had a giant wall of smog covering it in its entirety. The other clans where already calling it the kingdom of smog even though it hadn''t even been that long since it was the third clan''s territory and the clans were already meeting to talk about destroying the undead threat so it seemed premature to rename his clans former territory when they were already going to retake it soon enough.


    Though Grokal had to put such thoughts from his mind as he got close to the wall of smog that hid what was going on behind it. As someone that had led a previous scouting team through a smaller wall of smog and being familiar with the landscape as the clans best hunter he had been sent to find out what the undead where doing with their new gains.


    Though this time he came alone as to limit the risk of being caught. So with some trepidation Grokal walked through the smog wall into his home to find it have been turned into something else entirely. He looked around in shock and horror as every blade of grass sloths still stood was now as black as the smog that covered everything. Not only that but there was now three massive building that hadn''t been there before one of which was where his village had once stood.


    Though if he was being honest with himself Grokal was focusing on the buildings to ignore the massive catapult that was roaming around whatever his former village had been turned into now only was the tiling massive a bit taller than the skull at the center of this supposed kingdom of smog but it radiated a sense of wrongness. The stange massive contraption gave of a feeling of complete an utter madness as it seemed to be switching between two extremes the aura it was giving off constantly giving switching between two states constantly giving the feeling of utter madness.


    Though he could tell even without whatever dark magic powered such a twisted construct it was so massive and seemed to be put together well enough that it would not go down easily. So not even five feet into this new undead realm and already he had horrors to tell his people if he could just tell he was going to love every moment of this scouting mission.


    So Grokal stayed close to the grass trying to hide among the plant life which was a bit hard to do as a grass pixie. This was due to the fact that all grass pixies were effectively just varying shades of green which allowed them to blend in with regular grass lands. This would not so went it came to this new black grass that made up the entirety of the grass found with in this new kingdom of smog.


    But Grokal was the greatest hunter of his clan for a reason and was able to move through the grass that he stuck out of despite standing out as he did. This was by no means easy as the lands were filled with the undead twisted creations made of grass. These spiders and centipede made out of grass twisted with dark necrotic intention were constantly moving across the land.


    In fact it seemed just to make his job even more difficult the twisted grass elementals would sometimes just be born near him. Which was surprising to say the least as ti suddenly find a grass centipede of necrotic rage being formed from from the smog around him then suddenly charging with a roar in a random direction was one way to test his reflexes.The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.


    Though eventually after several close calls he finally within viewing distance of his former village and saw what had become of his home. It had become a dark place made into a single large building that put out a constant stream of siege engines out one large entrance like it was some strange brood mother.


    After seeing what had become of his home he needed to see what the two buildings were of in the distance because if his home was now creating massive amounts of siege engines on demand he needed to know what the other two buildings were doing.


    So he slowly made his way to the center of the kingdom to a small place dead center of the kingdom were the ground was slightly higher than the rest around it. He had a few close calls but Grokal made it once there he used the GRASS SHAPE skill to make some nearby grass into a monocular he then used it to view both building from a distance and sadily both did not disappoint.


    As the two new building were nest that were mass producing undead just as the massive building his village had been turned into was mass producing catapults. Though as he looked at the undead nest that was creating undead hornets in a massive scale he was shocked to see some strange abominable sphere that seemed to be mix of wood and hornet body parts.


    Grokal took a moment to go over everything they had learned and came to one conclusion. "The war councils need to be warned about this immediately." Grokal said softly to himsel before begining to slowly leave the smog kingdom as quietly as he arrived and just as before he succeeded though the moment he went through the smog wall he began running going straight for where the clans where speaking on how to attack the now powerful undead threat in their lands.


    Grokal ran and ran going through the borders of several territories until he finally reached where he was going. A territory that bordered several others and at its centrel border was a camp filled with the combined might of all mine if the grass pixie clans. Grokal quickly went for center of it all and all sentries that spotted him let him pass unchallenged as they knew the severity of the task he had been given and so knew as well the elders needed his knowledge as well.


    Grokal burst into a massive grass tent where the three councils where meeting the councils where made up of each class of elder which was hunter, farmer and grand all of who stopped their discussion to hear what Grokal had to say and upon hearing the dire news they then knew what they needed to do.


    As the elders those considered the wisest and most skilled of their kind they were expected to lead their people as best they were able to but as Grokal''s report had informed them well they debated the best course of action the ranks of the undead grew and so if they took to long to act it would be too late. So they would act now before the undead grew to numerous for them to defeat but considering the preparations required they would have to fight in three waves effectively.


    Which would be hunters then farmers then at last the craftsman in this three prolonged attack they would have to relay upon be able to destroy the kingdom of smog that threatened the lands belonging to the grass pixie clans. The eldest of the grand elders a being so old it was said by some he was alive when the first seeds of the magical forest of Gregal where put in the earth looked around the room then he spoke.


    " Much has been asked us in times long forgotten and much is being asked of us now. We shall succeed for it is our duty to do so." The eldest of the grand elders said as all elders got up to leave the responsibility of what needed to be done weighing down on them but the determination too see through it in there eyes.


    A great battle was about to began for the fate of the pixie grasslands and none knew who would reign supreme by its end. All any could say was it would be a battle for the ages and would be written in the history of whoever the victor was by it''s end.

 chapter 39 the beginning of catapults vs the hunting elders

    The first of those among the war council that were ready to march were the hunter elders performing their grand war ritual the quickest, and so they marched first among the three armies of grass pixies that would be fighting. It was quite the sight to see; some would find it magnificent and others horrifying as the power of all the combined Hunter elders transformed the hunters that made up their armor.


    As unlike when one hunting elder used their power, such as when Gressel did, causing himself to be transformed into a more powerful being that all the others followed. The power of all the hunting elders from the nine grass pixie clans working together transformed all of the hunters under them as well as the elders themselves.


    So as each hunting elder was transformed to be like Gressel, they had become three times their size while also holding a magic bell and giant hunting spear. This transformation did not end with the hunting elders; no, it also changed the hunters beneath them, as this was not a great hunt but a GREAT PIXIE RAID, which transformed the hunters as well when it occurred.


    The transformation that occurred was among the armor of the grass pixie hunters as they wore the trophies of their greatest hunts, those greater insects that threatened the grass pixies when they went into the grass. The power of the GREAT PIXIE RAID would not only make their trophy armor stronger but also bring it to life in certain ways. Such as the heads on the armor biting things that got too close to those that wore them and pincers being usable by the wearers.


    This transformation to a living armor also allowed the armor to have some self-healing ability, which allowed it to repair itself in a fight. This living trophy armor boosted the fighting abilities of the grass pixie hunters tremendously as they went from just an agile fighting force to an agile fighting force that could take a hit and deal a lot of punishment.


    Though there was a price in doing such a thing, as if the hunters were not careful and let the armors lead them astray, they would forget who they were; they would become the very armor they were. This was why such powerful ritual was rarely used, as it granted great power, but it had a terrible danger if the pixie hunters were not careful.


    Thought it was quite the thing to see as the great pixie raider army marched across the lands of the eight pixie clans to the one that had fallen to the one now called the kingdom of smog. The march was at a fast pace, crossing the eight clans territory quickly, and in next to no time, the nine elders were all standing in front of the wall of smog that surrounded the fallen territory, all nine divisions of their army, as they were about to march into the wall of smog.


    The nine elders looked to each other, not speaking, as their minds were linked to the magic of the hunt. This allowed them to coordinate their raider army with great efficiency but also allowed them to act together as one, and when nine hunting elders in their great hunt forms fight, they are a great danger to all they face, for there are not many things in the forest of Gregal that could not be threatened by such a thing.


    Though the inherent danger in connecting the minds was that the hunting elders could become jumbled, confusing who was who, which was a risk that was necessary in such dark times. The nine hunting elders turned away from the smog wall and spoke to their divisions of raider grass pixies at the same time.


    "We fight as one to save our lands and our people to do as our forefathers have always done. Which is hunt all that threatens our clans; now this kingdom threatens our people, and it shall be hunted to nothing if it remains." The hunting elders said as one, then turned as one to face the wall of smog they were about to enter.


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    The miserable rage catapult continued its ever-tilting patrol around the workshop that had made it. The miserable rage catapult also kept switching between its primary emotions of misery and rage. At one point it was miserable that nothing had ever threatened the southern part of the smog kingdom, which meant its existence was a mistake, for it had never been needed.


    Then it would be enraged that nothing had ever showed itself to dare attack the South, and when someone dared to do so, it could tear them apart for daring to even think of it. Then it would be miserable thinking it shouldn''t hope that someone or something would attack what it was charged with protecting.


    Suffice it to say, the miserable rage catapult was a unique existence, and that was without considering the fact it towered over its lesser kin. It was the first time ever to be a general of the catapults of the smog kingdom, which it was quite proud of, though granted whenever it voiced its opinion, the miserable rage catapult would either say miserably that it would fail spectacularly in its leadership or it was enraged that the catapults under its command weren''t good enough to be led by it.


    Though the catapults placed under its command had rather interesting reactions to being under the command of the super weapons known as the miserable rage catapult. The rage grass catapults and the sad grass catapults both saw it as the greatest. The sad grass catapult was called the great sorrow, and the rage catapult was called the great rage¡ªnot the most imaginative, but then not many catapults were.


    Though that was besides the point, as what was important was that titles given by both of the emotion-based smog catapults were based around the fact they saw the miserable rage catapult as the ultimate. The greatest expression of their kind that had ever existed, though granted neither had the words to express such things, as the rage catapults were always in a rage to kill something and the sad catapults were always too sad to ever truly express themselves.


    This seeing of the miserable rage tank as the ultimate was why it could command the rage grass catapults and sad grass catapults so well, as they were eager to follow its orders. Though the regular grass catapult had a much different opinion than its fellows, as it thought that the miserable rage catapult was insane, and so were its kin, the rage and sad catapults, for wanting to follow such a mad creature. Though the grass catapult, being the most sane of all the grass catapults, wasn''t dumb enough to go against a super weapon that had been allowed by the Creator himself, so they obeyed like the others did.


    So as the miserable catapult made its endless patrol around the workshop that continued to make more grass catapults for its army, it set up its legions. The miserable grass catapult has the rage catapults in front of the regular grass catapults in the middle and the sad grass catapults in the backline. This formation is becoming a living wall that would be behind all of the southern front.


    So both sides had made their preparations, and now it would soon be for both sides to be tested as a wall of smog was all that stood between two opposing armies. Who would win the battle for the southern front of the kingdom? No one was sure, but it would be a great and terrible battle; that all would be sure.

 chapter 40 battle of hunter vs catapults part 1

    The two sides were tensed on both sides of the smog wall that covered Maxwell''s kingdom, though both were unaware of the other. They both could feel a tension in the air, a feeling of the importance of what was about to happen, and as such, both armies prepared, though they did so in very different ways.


    The army of smog grass catapults was all preparing themselves by drawing back their arms, ready to launch their payloads or bring down razor-sharp spikes, depending on the catapult in question. The miserable rage catapult stopped its patrol and now maintained its position at the back of the line, all of its sad catapult frames ready to launch their venomous payloads, and its rage catapult frames were locked, fully ready to spring if it needed to charge at the enemy.


    Meanwhile the army of grass pixie hunters was preparing by getting into nine separate arrow formations that formed into one giant arrow formation, all of the hunters ready to leap at the hunting elder''s command. For a moment the hunting elders debated in the realm of their own minds, using their shared senses and experience to judge when the time was right.


    Then at some unseen sign that only the combined senses and experience of the nine hunting elders could see, they gave the command. "Attack!" The hunting elders all roar at the same time before leaping into the smog wall with their army of hunters following behind them in their insect trophy armor. They quickly charged through the smog wall and found themselves facing down the catapult army of the smog kingdom.


    They do not hesitate; they do not stop the hunting elders, and those the hunters following them continue to follow them. The miserable rage catapult seeing the charge of the grass pixie hunters gives out his hunters. "Sad smog and grass catapults fire!" The miserable rage grass catapult roars, to which the sad smog catapult obeys without hesitation. So in no time at all, the sky is filled for a moment with rocks and the venom of the sad catapults before it rains down on the advancing army of the grass pixie hunters.


    The grass pixie hunter army proves their dexterity as they seemingly dance through the hail of fire. Several are slain as there is just too much being rained down upon them for there not to be casualties. But there are far fewer than miserable Rage Catapult was expecting. "Sad smog catapults and grass catapults fall back! Rage catapults advance!" The miserable rage catapult roars, waiting for its long-range catapults to gain some distance and ordering its short-range catapults into a countercharge to delay them and perhaps even push them back out of Smog Kingdom territory.


    Sadly for the miserable rage catapult, that was not the case, as well the rage catapults gave a good account of themselves, wielding their razor-sharp spikes well as they had a trigger and so could bring them to bear quickly and with force. The problem the angry smog catapults were facing was that they were outnumbered and the grass pixie hunters were faster than them, which had been a problem before, but now with their new insect trophy armor, they could bring insect claws and mandibles to bear, which could damage or destroy the angry smog catapults.


    So while the angry smog catapults were holding the line, they were slowly being ground down as more and more of them were slain. It did not help that the nine hunting elders could take on and destroy multiple angry smog catapults at the same time as their large and fast forms sped across the battlefield, spearing through one angry smog catapult after another. Luckily, to help balance out his mounting losses, the catapult workshop was still making catapults and at the moment was providing a steady supply of rage smog catapults to replace the ones he had lost.


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    The miserable rage catapult watched as his front line continued to be pushed slowly back as losses mounted. It found its usually tense emotions intensifying even further as the battle on the front line unfolded. Its rage was mounting at the fact that the enemy grass pixie army that had dared to invade wasn''t already destroyed, and its sorrow was also great at all the fallen rage smog catapults.


    "So many lost, never to drive out to squash the enemies of our creator and defend the kingdom again." The miserable rage catapult said it in a magical, necrotic voice filled with sorrow. Then it switched emotions and then spoke again. "I will squash you under my wheels for this like the smears you are!" The miserable rage catapult was now filled with rage.


    The elder hunters moved from one side of the battlefield to the other, moving as one, using their shared senses to tell where any of them was needed on the battlefield at any given moment. This allowed them to gain and keep the upper hand in the battle as the necrotic siege weapons found themselves on the back foot or back wheel since the beginning clash.


    Though the siege weapons were no easy opponents, despite the hunting elders fighting as one being and all the hunters wearing armor made of the most dangerous beast they had ever hunted, brought to life into animated armor. These melee siege weapons were filled with a rage that allowed them to fight far beyond most to keep going when they should have fallen long ago.


    This allowed them to keep fighting despite having what could be considered their insides torn apart due to sheer determination to get one more hit in. Though it also didn''t help that the large workshop the scout report had informed them of was constantly making more of the foul things. It was easy to spot as it was a large complex and being constantly filled with the dark smog of the kingdom.


    Though now having seen it, the elders began to fight harder, as well as the hunters under them. This was because they saw the workshop for what it represented: a possible future for all the grass pixie clans to be nothing more than places of spawning for the smog kingdom. Though as they fought, there was one thing that did give the entire grass pixie hunter army pause, regular and elder alike.


    This one thing was the massive catapult in the distance that stood above all of its kin. The magically sensitive grass pixies could sense the foul magical necrotic madness radiating off the gigantic siege weapon. None of them relished getting near it, but all of them knew that they must, for it was clearly the leader of this army of siege weapons and a defender of the catapult workshop.


    The battle raged on as grass pixies pressed the rage smog catapults, slowly pushing them back despite the constant reinforcements they received from the nearby catapult workshop. The question now was does the miserable rage catapult enter the fry or try something else with his catapult army?

 chapter 41 battle of hunter vs catapults part 2

    The miserable rage catapult wanted to charge its rage had demanded it go forth and shatter the grass pixie invaders on his wheels to paint itself green with their flesh and blood. But the misery in it pointed out the flaw in such a plan that it would be overwhelmed and destroyed. There was no doubt it could destroy the lesser soldiers of the invaders, but the magic of the invaders had long been a problem, and they would no doubt use that to destroy him should he charge blindly.


    So instead he would play it safe no matter how much it enraged him to do so. He would have those that can still retreat do so, but those that have been crippled and can''t keep up become a rear guard to hold the pixies advance. Once the rear guard is destroyed and the pixies advance, they will do so under a sad and grass catapult barrage.


    He''ll just keep repeating this tactic, relying on reinforcements from the catapult workshop to keep their numbers up. He would do this until he reached the back line, as he had no plans of moving from his current spot. When that occurs, he will charge forth, filled with hatred for those that slayed so many of his kin.


    "Yes, this plan will do for now; misery will reign until it is time for rage." The miserable rage catapult said through his necrotic voice, and so his plans were acted upon by his catapult army, following the will of the superweapon born of their kind. So the rage catapults found themselves filled with even greater rage than they ever had been before.


    As their kind had always been beings of rage, but it was more a state of being for them than any actual reason. Now, though, those rage catapults that formed the rear guard find themselves angry that they had failed in their task, that they would be destroyed, and in doing so allowed the enemy further into their home. So they somehow fought harder and lasted longer even when there was nothing left of them anymore.


    Well, those rage catapults leaving to form a new line found themselves enraged for having to retreat to leave their brothers behind to let the enemy go even if they were losing. So once they formed a new line, not that further down from their brothers, who were being slain, they watched with burning hatred for their turn to once again bring their arms down and crush the invaders beneath their spiked hand.


    The sad catapults watched all this and found themselves tasting a new kind of bitterness as they watched safe and far back from the fighting as their rage catapult brothers were destroyed. They tasted the bitterness of watching their brothers do everything they could to stop the enemy and fail. Then to make you pay for that failure, he forced you to leave your fellows behind to buy time while they formed a new line. Truly a miserable thing to see, and so this misery they felt added to their venomous payloads, making them even more deadly.


    The grass pixies, meanwhile, felt themselves in a strange position to be in. They were winning and pushing the army of the necrotic siege weapons back, and from what the basic soldier of the grass pixie hunter army could tell, even the greatest of their kind did not wish to take them on as it remained at a safe distance. This made them rather hopeful that they could soon annihilate the necrotic siege army under the leadership of their hunting elders.


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    Though at the same time this hopeful optimism filled them, they found that it wasn''t all good. Even though they were winning, they felt a change come over their enemies as they weren''t taking their losing of the beginning clash very well, and this rage at their loss seemed to fuel their necrotic power to rather fearsome levels. As many of the grass pixie army found out as they would destroy a melee necrotic siege engine only to feel it pull itself together through pure rage.


    They were eventually able to destroy most of what was left of the former front line of battle, but several refused to stay down and kept using their building rage at their continued defeat to fuel their rebuilding to fight again. Eventually, to finally destroy these necrotic siege engines of pure hate and rage, the elders themselves had to use the great hunting bells to drain them of all their might, finally putting them down for the last time.


    With the last of the front line destroyed, the grass pixie hunter army turned towards where the surviving melee necrotic siege engines had gone. They saw they had formed a second siege engine battle line further in the kingdom of Smog. The elders communed among themselves for a moment, within their one moment, looking over their situation through one mind but many different eyes.


    They saw that casualties had been rather limited, but that there had been casualties, which wasn''t good considering the giant workshop they all saw continued to pump out more necrotic siege engines to replace those that were destroyed. But they could not retreat, for if the giant workshop was not destroyed, the kingdom of Smog would flood their lands with necrotic siege engines.


    So they marched, hoping that their skill and magic would win them the day over the dark power of their enemy''s dark power and their unending number. "Charge for the clans!" The elders of the hunters grass pixie said as one as they and the rest charged forward to the second line of necrotic siege engines. As they did once again, as had happened before in the last charge,  the air filled with pebbles and acid as the grass pixies charged forward under the barrage of the grass Catapults and Sad Smog Catapults, who only stopped their barrage once they had engaged the necrotic rage catapults in a grand melee once more.


    The Miserable Rage Catapult watched all this in the back line, waiting, its rage building, turning into pure hatred as it watched the casualties mount and the invaders dare to go deeper into the lands it protects. Though soon it knew its time would come, for now it bathed in its own misery, the sad smog catapult near it shivering in awe at such powerful concentrated misery. "Soon you will break our lines after shattering line after line of my rage-smog catapult brethren." The miserable rage catapult said in its necrotic voice, misery dropping from every word.


    But then it''s hatred come forward so intense that it seemed to burn the very air around it. "But then you will be close, and then you will be mine, and I will grind you into a smear across the lands before charging out of the realm to invade your lands. Then I will get to feel the joy of grinding your people into nothing while in your lands." The miserable rage catapult said its words, a promise for what was to come of its hatred if it was not stopped in this battle.

 chapter 42 battle of the hunters vs catapults part 3

    The elders continued to lead their armies across the kingdom of Smog. Each hunting elder led their own battalion of hunters turned soldiers from one battle line of necrotic siege to the next. The elders coming together and pulling apart their battalions, following in their footsteps. This allowed them to easily outmaneuver the far more static melee necrotic siege weapons that tried to stand against them.


    Though that was not to say that the elders and their battalions had their way entirely with them. Well, it was true their maneuverability allowed the elders to outmaneuver the necrotic siege weapons. The elders pulled off enough pincers, flanking, and break through to prove their superiority on this front. Despite the pixie hunter army''s tactical superiority, the melee siege engines proved dangerous for.


    As every time they had broken through their lines and broken up, then surrounded the melee necrotic siege engines. They never ran, nor did they ever show fear; many would attribute this to them being nothing more than machines who could not feel such things and had no self-preservation. The pixies, though, could feel the truth, as they were sensitive to magic, as all pixies were.


    Their enemy knew they could be destroyed; they knew they risked death by continuing to fight, and if they wished to live, they should flee. They did not because they did not care; they were beings full of rage, and each time one of their own fell or they were outmaneuvered, that rage grew. Their rage was growing so great that magically sensitive hunter pixies were actually feeling heat from the rage of the melee necrotic siege engines.


    In fact, in normal times, they couldn''t even approach the melee necrotic siege catapults with such concentrated magic rage as it would magically burn them to get so close due to their magical sensitivity. Though this was not normal times, as all elders were in the GREAT GRASS HUNT form, allowing them to counter the anger with their own power.


    Well, the regular hunters were protected by the armor that made them soldiers. Their armor, in fact, somehow absorbed the rage, causing parts of the soldiers armor that bore the heads of trophies to turn rabid and constantly bite at whatever was in front of them. whether it was actually something or empty air seemed to be of no consequence to the rabid parts of the armor.


    This new partial rabid status to their armor made it harder for the grass hunters to control their armor and not be consumed by it. The hunter pixers used all their will to not be melded with their armor into a new ferocious rabid being that had forgotten all its oaths and ties to the clan that knew only the rabid urge to tear apart all that were before it.


    The elders saw this through their nine sets of eyes, thought on with their now one mind, and knew they must hurry and push their force faster, for the longer the battle went on, the more at risk they were of their own turning into rabid creatures and then turning on their own. So if they did not want to be their own destruction in the land of the undead, they must push faster.


    So they did the elders now knowing the risk of a more calculated and safe approach that would get them fewer casualties but would take longer, risking the army turning on itself. So they got rather risky by making their battalions of nine break through and pincer the battle lines of the melee siege engines from both sides, pinning them in the middle of nine battalions.This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.


    A more risky approach to what they had been doing before, which had been having several battalions merging together and then breaking through. Which had limited casualties, but it took time to do only a bit of time to get the merged battalions in position¡ªnot much time, but some¡ªand now they were in position where every second counted, so they instead simply found nine different points on the line and simply charged through.


    So they could then flank them from both sides, as half the nine battalions would be on one side and the other half would be on the other side, causing the melee necrotic siege tanks to have to defend from the front and behind. Which they had a hard time doing, but they gave a damn good attempt, as while line after line of broken melee siege catapults were left by the advancing pixie hunter army, there were also more than a few broken bodies of pixie hunters left behind.


    The pixies hunter army advanced through line after line, each time they did so leaving more dripping bodies behind. As siege engines far off in the distance that were beyond the reach of the pixie hunter army would make sure that every step taken between lines was met with a barrage of venom that they filled the skies with.


    The pixie hunter army slowly closed in on their target, the huge workshop that had once been a village that had been the home of the clan that had owned the lands and would again if this army had a thing to say about it. Though the Pixie Hunter army found itself closing in on the target that kept making reinforcements for their enemies, they also got closer to the champion of the necrotic siege engine army.


    As they did that, they felt it was madness far better than was ever good for their kind. As they could feel it switching between utter hatred and misery with each step they took. It was starting to drive them insane, and so the elders had to give the order. "halt!" They shouted as one to their combined nine battalions, who were exhausted and slowly beginning to give in to utter madness.


    "We will continue on; you will rest here!" The nine elders shouted to which the army sat down in response, resting and conserving their energy and letting their armor repair itself so they would be ready for whatever battle came next. The nine elders turned from the troops and slowly began to walk towards the champion of their enemy.


    It did not switch emotions; it was filled with utter misery as it threw a countless barrage of venomous spuldge at them from its top at them. The elders swayed side to side, dodging every one with ease despite being three times the size of all the soldiers that had followed them. The elders slowly gained ground, not in a hurry to close with the champion, as its emotions were so raw and dark that even with their magic might in their current forms, it was barely enough to allow them to close with its dark nature.


    As they got closer, they found themselves having already crossed half the distance between themselves and the champion. Though that had left behind a lake of green as the champions barrage had covered the earth in its venom. Then the nine elders felt the champion''s nearly overwhelming misery turn into another emotion it had been hiding deep in its self.


    It let loose its pure, utter hatred for them, sending the nine elders to the ground for a moment with the weight of it. "Now is the time of hatred. So prepare yourselves. I have watched as you led your kin against mine and butchered them across these lands; now your kin will watch as I smear you and be helpless to stop me." The champion said to the nine hunting elders, its voice dripping with contempt and hatred for their very existence with every word.

 chapter 43 the duel of the elder hunters vs the miserable rage catapult

    The promise of hatred and death from the champion of the necrotic war engines hung over the nine hunting holders as they got up quickly, adjusting to the hateful dark presence of the champion. Which was what was needed of them, as the champion had grown tired of waiting for them to come to it and now charged them its massive stone wheels, digging small trenches into the ground as it charged towards them.


    The nine elders moved as one to meet the charging champion. So the nine elders and the champion soon met in a charging clash as the elders split into three groups of three, attacking the champion from the left, right, and below. While the champion itself tried to crush them beneath its wheels, both sides found themselves not doing anything as the elders easily dodged the giant stone wheels, and the elders couldn''t seem to put more than a scratch into the great stone wheels of the champion with their hunting spears.


    The champion came for another pass, its hatred palpable, as well as its need to see the elders, those that lead the army that had destroyed line after line of its siege engine brothers squished under its wheels. The elders tried again, this time combining their strikes at a single point in the hopes that they could cripple the champion that way. But both sides were disappointed as the elders didn''t damage the stone wheels of the champion, and the champion didn''t get to feel its enemies being crushed beneath its wheels.


    The miserable rage tank felt its rage boil as it watched its enemies escape it once again. No, not only did they escape it, they had the arrogance to try and destroy its wheels, the great stone wheels made by the ruler of the realm himself. There was no end to the ways these invaders could enrage him, could bring him to new levels of rage and hate yet unfound.


    "Fine, if I can not squish you with my wheels, I will spike you with my hands!" The miserable rage catapult roared with its necrotic magic voice, turning around again for another charge. Though this time to get as many of the elders under it as possible so it could bring the spikes down upon them.


    So the elders suddenly found themselves in a brutal melee as the champion of their enemies came over them. It brought down the weapons that showed it was kin to those they and their army had destroyed on their advance. The hunting elders found no less than twenty of the arms of a melee necrotic siege tank being swung at them. Every one of them swinging with the speed of two of its kin and the force of three.


    The deadly melee was quick, as the champion of their enemies was forced to keep moving, its own hatred forcing it to keep moving. Though even only having a few moments to bring its wraith of arms down upon them was a force to be reckoned with. The elders realizing rather quickly that in such a dance of death they would be better together than separated as they currently were. So the group of three joined back up into one group of nine to face the next onslaught by the champion.


    The miserable rage catapult watched as its enemies joined back into one group. It felt its hatred for them that they had survived its first few attempts at killing them. Then it turned its senses to the workshop for just a moment and watched the reinforcements continue to flow out to the reinforcement line.


    It turned attention back towards the enemy leaders and its need to destroy them not just to satisfy its hatred but for victory. If it killed their leaders, the invading pixie hunter army would become confused and vulnerable as they tried to adapt to having no leaders. That is when miserable rage catapult will have its part line of smog rage catapults advance, making full use of their confusion to win and push them out of smog kingdom.


    "So you will die, and I will wear your skulls as trophies on my frame!" The miserable rage tank roared as he came back around for another pass at the now grouped-together elders. Who still did well against his onslaught before he was by them again, but miserable rage tank knew he would get them eventually; his hatred would make sure of that.


    The elders were in their group, ready to meet the next charge of the champion of the necrotic siege engines. Though as many elders currently linked as one kind, they knew they couldn''t let this go on as the champion always fueled by its own hatred for them. So it could keep coming at them, its hatred of them keeping it as powerful as when the battle had started. They, on the other hand, had no such ability.


    Well, their GREAT GRASS HUNT form gave them quite a well of energy to draw from, which allowed them to last longer in battle than most of their kind would in this situation. Their strength was already being drained just being near the champion, as its raw dark magic hatred for them harmed them, so they had used part of their magic to stand being near it. Then there is the fact they had not rested since the start of the invasion, which had been a while ago, and several battle lines of melee necrotic siege engines to get through before they ever met up with the champion.


    The point the nine united hunting elders were getting was that they were tiring; their enemy was not. So if they did not want to be slain simply due to being left vulnerable to attrition, then they would have to do something soon. The combined minds of the nine elders thought on it for a long while as they defended another ossc by the champion, and they came to a plan, which they proceeded to act on, seeing it as their only hope and the doom of the army of the necrotic siege engine champion.


    The miserable rage catapult was in a rare mood; it was being of duality. As such, it was always flipping between anger and misery; the enemies that invaded had brought a more intense emotion: hatred. But that was simply a more advanced version of rage and was not really a new emotion for it, merely an upgrade of one it had before.


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    Now though the misery rage catapult found itself feeling a new emotion: happiness. This was due to the simple fact that it made run after run at its enemies; it could see them getting slower and weaker, having to rally more on some strange link they had between each other. This fueled its hatred as it was breaking its enemies down bit by bit until the final blow was struck.


    It also fueled his misery, as misery loved company, and the miserable rage catapult could see the misery in such a fate¡ªnot that it had sympathy for them, just that they were facing oblivion before their armies and could do nothing to stop it, and their destruction would cause a wound in their armies that he would capitalize on to destroy them as well.


    So to come this far, do so much, and to have it all undone in one swoop surely that would make anyone miserable. So for once, instead of flipping between emotions, the miserable rage catapult found both of its sides to be satisfied. Which had brought him the new emotion happiness. He might have even thanked the invading elders and their army if he wasn''t going to destroy them utterly.


    To add to the miserable state of his enemies, they kept taking a few pathetic swipes at his frame when they could. Not doing anything besides leaving a few dents and some scratches, but truly the might had fallen if this was all they could do after they had left a trail of destruction to get to him. He watched the nine elders as they brought their spears up, all on their knees, trying to conserve their energy. The next pass, the miserable rage catapult thought that would destroy them.


    The elders watched as the champion came for them. They had bided their time, taking a few blows they could have dodged, but they had set up what they needed for the plan to work. The champion made its way back around for one more pass, its happiness coming through, assured, of course, of its victory. "How wrong you are," the nine elders said as one.


    The champion made its pass, and just as it came over them, the elders blocked the first half of its spiked wooden catapult hands it brought to kill them, they then struck. Nine elders struck with their hunting spears, and nine hit their mark, and suddenly the great champion felt a huge part of its frame fail as it continued to roll forward, but it was out of the fight, the elders having made dozens of small cuts in the champion''s insides that only came apart at the massive blows they had just struck.


    The miserable rage catapult lay there, its wheels rolling away from it, and a new fourth emotion bursting in itself, shock, completely and utter shock. As it lay there, trying to figure out how it now lay there, crippled and unable to move. The elders move towards the miserable rage tank and shake their bells, restraining the power of the miserable rage catapult.


    This shook the shock out of it, the miserable rage catapult, and immediately began using its rage at its crippled state and the eldest attempt to destroy it with their bells to repair itself, trying to pull itself back together. It worked, but it was weakening, and the miserable side of the miserable rage catapult saw what the elders were doing. They were having it weaken itself by using its rage to repair itself so they could finish it off with the bells.


    "No!" The miserable rage catapult roared in fury, now knowing the trap but needing to still repair himself to continue defending the land. Then it had an idea it had promised to use them in its frame, didn''t it? The miserable rage catapult thought rapidly, Why not alive instead of dead? and since that was what it did.


    The nine hunting elders were all in a circle around the champion of the necrotic siege army and were using their magic bells on it. As they stood there, they all were using their combined magic might to keep the champion caged, draining him of his power as he used that same power to try and repair himself, weakening himself further.


    Though so focused they were on his magical might, they missed the physical. All of a sudden, the frame of the crippled champion stopped trying to reattach its wheels and instead grabbed for them instead. It happened with such suddenness that none of the elders could respond in time, and all nine hunting elders were made a part of the miserable rage catapult trapped within its frame.


    The miserable rage tank, now free of the magic grass bells, quickly reattached its stone wheels and looked towards the army of the hunting elders, who looked at it in horror. "Well, now it is your turn." The miserable rage catapult said its voice filled with menace, but before it could act on its words, it received orders from its ruler, Maxwell King of Smog. He wanted the miserable rage catapult to take as many alive as he could.


    So the miserable rage catapult was left with the dilemma of how to do such a thing. Then it looked at the pixie hunter army, and it saw the perfect prison to hold the pixies in. So it used its rage and hate as it charged forward to the still shocked and disorganized army that was transformed by the time he was on the other side.


    When the miserable rage catapult looked back, he saw the pixie hunter army had been transformed by their armor, which had consumed their wearer as they had been consumed by its rage. Now they are all mine, and so they are all the property of the kingdom of Smog, the miserable rage catapult thought as it looked upon its new feral army. Wondering when it would get to use them to conquer the land beyond the border in the name of the kingdom.

 chapter 44 aftermath of the southern defense

    Maxwell found himself calming down from his earlier shock. As well, he had created three necrotic superweapons for his kingdom; that didn''t mean he expected to need them so soon. As it seemed the moment he had finished the miserable rage catapult and his catapult workshop had just finished making a few dozen more regular smog and grass catapults to go with it, that a whole damn army was bursting out of his smog wall.


    Then Maxwell found himself having to react quickly and make several fast but rather hard decisions. As before, these forces of pixies were led by an empowered elder pixie, which last time had gone straight through his defenses without much effort. But this time they were led by nine of the damn things, which had Maxwell slightly panicking on how exactly he was going to deal with them.


    Luckily for Maxwell, his miserable rage catapult immediately made a deal with the threat and had his fellow smog grass catapult form battle lines and receive the enemy. They took massive casualties for doing so, but it gave Maxwell time to form a wall around himself and create several ghost leaf tornadoes behind the wall. So that way if the enemy pixies broke through, they would do so headfirst into his ghost leaf tornadoes.


    He then had his smog grass elementals sad and rage both forming a secondary line with a few continuing to supply materials to the catapult workshop. So that it could continue to create smog catapults for the catapult army fighting the southern invasion by the pixies. Maxwell figured that it would come to him and his tornados after the pixies had worked their way through the catapults and the grass elementals.


    Though he was proven wrong and happy to be so, as his miserable rage catapult defeated not just one of the elders or a couple of the elders leading the southern invasion. The miserable rage catapult defeated all of them and now had them trapped within its frame. Seeing that his miserable rage catapult was clearly about to capitalize on its opportunity as the now leaderless pixie invasion found itself demoralized and unorganized without their elders.


    So Maxwell gave orders, the first he had given since the battle had begun, as he had taken a hands-off approach, allowing the miserable rage catapult to command it as it saw fit. Which had gone rather well, but now it needed to reel in its general and superweapon''s clear blood thirst. As he wanted as many prisoners to be taken as possible.


    As he was a ruler, and as a ruler he needed to negotiate and show that his kingdom was one of a higher status by negotiating a ceasefire, what better way to do that than by capturing the entire invasion army to his south? He would then use them as bargaining chips at the negotiating table with the pixies, finally ending hostilities. Proving to his lord Phabium of his skills as a ruler.The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.


    Maxwell watched through the senses he had that allowed him to see anywhere within his domain how his miserable rage catapult went about capturing the soldiers that had followed the elders. Maxwell was rather shocked by what he saw as his miserable rage catapult used its rage to take control of the living armor the invading pixies had been wearing.


    "Huh, did not expect that." Maxwell said to himself as he watched the rage rage of his miserable rage catapult spread through the armor of the pixies, driving them feral and under his control. Leaving the pixies, who had been wearing said armor, as his prisoners. "I did not know he could do that," Maxwell said to himself as he thought on this use of rage by the miserable rage catapult.


    While the regular rage catapult had already shown they could repair themselves using their rage to some extent, Maxwell thought. So it isn''t that much of a stretch that the superweapon version of them could do a bit more with rage than they could. Especially as it seemed the pixies themselves had a hard time controlling their armor, as Maxwell had noticed more than a few times when mandibles and pincers in the armor seemed to strike at empty air as if they were in a frenzy, and it seemed from the looks on the pixies faces they had a hard time containing their armor''s ferocity.


    "Hmmm, he would have to remember that the miserable rage catapult could use its rage in such ways and find out if it could use its misery in such unique ways as well. It seemed his superweapons had far more to them than he had first thought," Maxwell said aloud in his necrotic voice, though as he thought about it, he realized it shouldn''t have surprised him, but it was something to look forward to nonetheless and something he should study in the other superweapons to see if they were capable of more than originally shown.


    Though now as he thought on the other two superweapons, his mind turned towards his commanders, Horter and Bunet, who were holding their forces and superweapons at their outpost. "Well, they won''t be pleased that they missed all the glory for defending the realm." Maxwell said to himself as he thought about how he had those two maintain their position in case invasions happened on other fronts. But that hadn''t happened, and now the invasion looked to be over with the youngest of his commanders, as the miserable rage catapult could command, having led defense by itself.


    Which would no doubt sting their pride a bit; he would have to find a way to rectify that. Perhaps having the two help him secure a route between his kingdom and whatever capital the grass pixies had so he could get started on negotiations would balance out the scales. Though how he would go about such negotiations would be a difficult thing, as it wasn''t like he could sit down with them for a conversation, though hopefully Wormer could provide aid on that front.


    Maxwell''s thoughts were interrupted as he felt a new force push through his wall of smog. He turned his attention and saw it was a new army of pixies very different from the first heading straight for the undead hornets outpost. "Well, it looks like my commanders will get a chance for glory after all." Maxwell said to himself. Then he watched as Bunet prepared her superweapon as well as her swarm of undead hornets to meet the new pixie army on the battlefield as the second battle of this siege of his kingdom was about to unfold.

 chapter 45 the march of the grass pixie farmers

    As the hunting elders had done before them, the nine elders of the farmers of the pixie clans performed their grand ritual. Preparing to face the great enemy, the small land of the undead had become, or the kingdom of smog as it was quickly becoming known. So they gathered around each other, performing their grand ritual, the GREAT GROWTH, that became the GRASS FLOOD when it was performed by nine elders instead of one.


    So there at its center, with the power of the ritual flowing through them, were the nine elders, all becoming large, each bearing a shepherd''s crook. The grass in the surrounding lands did not just grow due to the power of the GRASS FLOOD; it exploded upward, going so far upward as to be up past a humanoid''s leg in height. The extremely tall grass went on endlessly in all directions from the pixie eyes, creating an almost literal sea of green.


    The farmers under the command of the nine farmer elders were soon wrapped in grass that became a strange armor around them as it bent and shook around them. Yet it also seemed to be rather sturdy, showing itself to be a rather flexible but sturdy material. Soon all the farmers turned soldiers were using their growth abilities on their armor to grow them to even greater heights. Though the farmer pixie soldiers were distracted from their experimentation with their new grass crop armor by the elders ritual.


    As it was not quite finished yet, as one last act showing of their magical might, the elders created nine ships grown and shaped from grass for the army''s use. The nine farming elders were at the head of each of the new ships as they rode them atop the newly made gas sa. The farming pixie soldiers used the ability of their armor to have it reach out for them and allow them to get up to the newly formed grass ships.


    Soon all nine grass ships were filled with the farming clansmen of each of the nine farming elders, and so they began making their way across the new grass sea at the top of the grass in their ships as if they were on the water. The nine farming elders used their shepherd''s crooks to command their ships where to go. It was a once-in-a-lifetime moment as a sea of grass grew before a fleet of nine ships carrying the nine farming elders and their army to the kingdom of Smog.


    Sadly, there were none to see such a magnificent sight as the army of hunters had gone before them, and the army of crafters with them was too busy with their own preparations to pay attention to them. So the fleet of nine great grass ships crossed from one clan''s territory to the next with no fanfare. Their destination set as the nine farming elders sought to bring the wrath of them and the farmers under them down upon the undead that had threatened all they held dear.


    Though they must be careful, as all factor rituals have a price to pay for their power, and this one was they must not fall in. Which meant if any of the ships were destroyed or anyone on board fell into the sea of grass around them, they were lost forever. Though the power they had been granted for their invasion was worth such risk.


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    As they could not only bring a grass sea of life into the lands of the undead, no doubt weakening them, as what undead would thrive in an abundance of life that the elders and their fleet brought? But there was also another effect of the GRASS FLOOD, which was that insects caught in it were changed, becoming goliaths of their race or multiplying into swarms, as well as gaining the ability to truly swim in the grass sea that the GRASS FLOOD had created.


    So while none bore witness to the nine ships crossing the pixie grasslands across their great grass ships, those upon the ships got to witness the majesty of the creatures that now swim below them in the magic grass sea beneath them. But all too soon the time of wonder was over, and the nine great ships gazed, and all those that crewed them gazed upon the great smog wall that hid their enemy beyond.


    The nine elders spoke to each other, though not in words; they spoke through their crooks, for in some way the hunting elders became one mind, that of an obsessed beast. In their GREAT GRASS RAID, the grass-farming elders became one as well during the great GRASS FLOOD, though in a different way, for they were shepherds of grass fields and of their kin. So instead of sharing their minds to become the ultimate predator, the nine farming elders instead shared their voice, guiding all in their fleet through a silent siren''s song that directed them to where they needed to go.


    The nine elders did not have their great grass ships pierce the smog wall at the first opportunity. No, instead they saw where the grass hunter pixie had gone through and went east of their entry point into the smog wall, knowing it would be better to open multiple fronts against an undead foe. As focusing at one point would surely get them swarmed by the undead, which was a known tactic of most undead species.


    So their fleet went around the dome of smog, being careful not to penetrate it with the grass sea that followed the great grass ships. As they wanted the element of surprise for their attack, every advantage would be needed in this grand siege that would decide the very soul of their very people. Once the nine elders had guided their ships to their destination, they sung a song that had the ships grow spiked battering rams at the front and javelin grass to grow from the deck, which the farmers pulled out ready to fling at their enemies.


    The elders not saying a word but still heard in a strange, singsong voice across all nine grass warships. "The time is now; strike the blow, cleanse the land." The nine elders said in a deep baritone sing that rattled the nine grass warships as they pierced the smog veil that covered the smog kingdom, beginning their part in the siege of the realm of the kingdom of smog.


    Those on the other side of the smog wall who defended their home against invaders found themselves trying to make sense of being invaded by a naval fleet while being on land. As well as the fact that the very nature of the fleet threatened the land of the smog kingdom itself. So both sides clashed: one over the souls of their people, the other the spirit of their home.

 chapter 46 Bunets command of the hornet doom sphere

    Bunet found herself waiting in the command chamber that was dead center of the hornet doom sphere. She was sitting in a wooden throne made of wood pulp built into the undead hornet flesh that made up most of the frame of the craft she was in. She found herself staring in rage at a screen made from undead hornet wasps that allowed her to view the outside of the hornet doom sphere from the strategically placed hornet eyes around the sphere.


    She was watching as the invaders, the pixies that had played so many games with her in the damn grass fields before she could finally find their home and strike true, were now attacking her home once again. It infuriated her, causing her hornet nature to demand she charge them and sting them into an agonizing earlier grave. But she could not because her king and ruler of the hive had decreed that duty belonged to the newest of their ranks with the ability to lead.


    That new commander was the miserable rage catapult, a strange being, for it was of the new weapons but for some reason was more intelligent than its fellows. Though that wasn''t entirely true, as Bunet thought about the miserable rage catapults, Perciluar''s na was what led it to being more intelligent than its fellow superweapons. Because it was a being of both rage and misery, it needed a certain amount of understanding to understand such emotions, hence its higher intelligence.


    Though that didn''t stop it from seeming insane to Bunet and Horter if she guesses right. As he didn''t seem any more comfortable around the things ever swapping emotions than she was. This dislike for the creature''s seeming insanity caused her to question her ruler''s decision on whether or not the miserable rage catapult should be leading the defense, and her having to watch the smog grass catapult army being pushed back under its leadership didn''t help such matters.


    Though it turned it around, causing Bunet to realize that while its dual nature did make it insane, it also made it an effective commander. As it seemed to use a combination of her blunt approach with a mix of Horter''s more complex one. Though whether this made the miserable rage catapult a better military commander or just one harder to predict, she couldn''t tell.


    Though to be honest, she didn''t want the answer because if it turned out that she needed a more mixed approach, like the miserable rage catapult had, she would be in trouble as she was hardwired for simple aggressive tactics, as was the nature of hornets, hence her being a hornet undead commander. She figured Horter was in the same boat as an undead butterfly commander; it was a bit depressing thought to think that she might be already be getting replaced with those undead with better static sense.


    So to take her mind away from such thoughts, she brought her focus back to where she was in the command chamber of the hornet doomsphere. She looked around, taking it all in, and had hope for the future once more. Even if her ruler began creating better tacticians, her kind would be needed to command the hornet doom sphere, and the power she felt in every inch of the hornet doom sphere told her it wasn''t getting replaced any time soon.The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.


    She looked at the ornate architecture of all the chambers and the cells that made up every wall and hallway around her. It was truly a magnificent creation that she could feel pulsating with the urge to release its urge on those below it. For the hornet doom sphere was an undead creation and as such had a will, though it was nowhere near as intelligent as the miserable rage catapult but was intelligent enough to follow her orders and fix itself.


    Which was more than enough for her needs and what the kingdom demanded of its service. Though soon she hoped her king and ruler of the hive would demand that she have the hornet doom sphere release its payload of hundreds of agonizing stingers on those below them. Sadly, though, as she turned her attention back to the screen of wax that began showing her the battle in the south, she saw the miserable rage tank not only emerge victorious but somehow capture the pixies with their own armor.


    Well, it looked like she would have to wait before she would have a chance to show the night of the hornet doom sphere and her skull in commanding it. Though she supposed it was no time to relax, as she needed to be prepared for anything that might be coming if there was anything else coming to attack. Which might be wishful thinking, though it was shameful to wish such things. Bunet knew, but Bunet felt like she needed to prove herself, as her last few battles, where she had been in total command, had not ended well.


    In fact, it had only been when Horter had shown up and become the commander of their army in the last few battles with the pixies out on the grasslands that any progress had been made at all. Which Bunet was starting to become afraid that her ruler, Maxwell, had noticed that detail, hence the need to prove herself to her hive and kingdom?


    Though for the moment she found herself without any opportunities to prove her abilities. So it was best to use her time to practice until an opportunity arose for her. So Bunet began making the hornet doom sphere go in circles from her chair in the command chamber, testing the steering and how well it flew. She then did a couple more advanced maneuvers, such as a figure eight or lowering then rising the hornet doom sphere height while moving.


    Once Bunet was sure everything was flying good and she had gone through all the flying practice maneuvers, she moved on to the other things to practice. Which was the firing mechanism, so she found a good ground area that had no smog grass elementals in it and fired, sending hundreds of agonizing stingers into the ground. Seeing the firing has worked, she then had the hornet doom sphere reload, which it did rather quickly.


    Bunet then began practicing her firing while moving and shooting, trying to improve her aim as well as the hornet doom sphere''s ability to create new agonizing stingers by practicing. This went on for a little bit, causing a small mountain of stingers to form within the territory within her ruler''s domain that Bunet had been assigned to protect.


    She began thinking about what she should do with all the stinger left lying around by her practice fire when the next part of the pixie invasion started. All of a sudden, nine ships on a wave of giant grass came through the smog wall, making a direct line towards her outpost.


    "Well, it bzzz looks like I bzzz get to bzzz f after all bzzz." Bunet said, her voice filled with anticipation at the chance to destroy her ruler and give enemies. Though she would admit she was very wary and suspicious of the clear pixie magic on display. Luckily she was far above them and would soon fill them with agonizing stingers for daring to invade her hive. She directed the hornet doom sphere, which shook with an eager anticipation at the carnage it would unleash on the enemies of its maker.

 chapter 47 the hornet doom sphere vs the grass pixie fleet

    Bunet looked upon the threat that was charging towards her outpost, the hornet dome, which was even now spawning more undead hornets for her swarm. Though luckily the grass sprites invading fleet was having difficulty traveling as the land belonged to the ruler of the Sm Kingdom. His essence soaked the realm, and as such, it fought the foul pixie magic that let the fleet float across a true living sea of grass.


    She would use this time, the night of her maker and ruler having bought her, to its fullest potential. Bunet was getting the hornet doom sphere in the perfect position to begin destroying the invading grass warships one by one. But while she was doing that, there was no reason for her undead hornet swarm to wait on her. "Attack!" Bunet roared to her swarm through her connection to them, and they rushed to obey.


    The fleet found themselves coming through the wall of smog into a land that seemed to actively hate their very existence. It fought them every moment of their advance, causing their once great flood to slow to that of a crawl. Though the fleet was not concerned as they were assured of their eventual victory, as while the land could slow them down, it could not stop them or force them back.


    So the nine grass warship ships and the living grass ocean beneath them advance forward uncontested as all the grass smog elementals that tried were quickly destroyed by the grass sea that consumed them as they went by. The nine grass pixie farming elders, as well as their clansmen, began to believe they would be an unstoppable wave that would eventually wipe clean the undead kingdom of smog from their pixie grasslands.


    They were soon proven incorrect, as though none on the ground could threaten their fleet, those in the skies could. As was demonstrated by every single grass pixie warship being attacked by undead hornets swarming them. The undead hornets were swarming the NE grass warships, covering every surface of the vessels with their kind, stabbing at the vessels or those that crewed them.


    The nine grass pixie elders that commanded the grass warships countered this sudden swarming by the undead hornet swarm by singing a great song that echoed across all nine vessels. This strange melody caused the grass to grow grass spears, piercing the attacking undead hornet swarm as they suddenly found themselves run through. This allowed the grass pixie farmers turned sailors to be able to counter the swarming undead hornets.


    As the nine grass warships grow grass spears and help the grass pixie sailors repel the undead swarm, it allows them to deal with their overwhelming numbers. Though it seemed for every undead hornet that was slain or fell into the grass sea to be eaten by the strange insect creature that dwelt in it, there were two more to replace the undead hornet that had fallen.


    This meant that all nine grass warships were one giant battle as undead hornets kept flying in to join the melee on one of the nine grass warships, and what a melee it was. The hornets used their ability of flight and their undead nature to never tire to always press an aggressive attack that, while leaving them vulnerable, did pose significant risk to the grass pixie sailors.


    The grass pixie sailors, on the other hand, used their growing grass armor to fight, having it grow grass spikes and blades to keep the undead hornets at bay. This style of fighting allowed the sailors to use the hornets on aggressive nature against them by having them impale themselves on some new grass spikes or grass blades they had suddenly grown out of their armor. Though the danger of using their armor too much prevented them from completely dominating the battlefield.


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    Just like the grass pixie hunter and their powerful trophy armor, the grass pixie farmers had to worry about their grass armor, as it was powerful, but that power came with a risk. Which was that too much growth too fast would turn them into fuel for their armor as it grew out of the user''s control. Though this grass pixie farmers fighting had prevented such a thing from occurring so far.


    Bunet watched this ongoing battle on nine different grass warships through her wax monitor in the command chamber of her hornet doom sphere. She was not liking what she was seeing, as it was clear they were pressing them hard; the fleet was still going forward, as the ships had yet to stop moving. "Foul pixie magic." Bunet said with venom as she knew the grass pixie fleet wouldn''t stop because her swarm was fighting them despite the fact her undead hornet swarm was attacking every ship in their fleet on every inch of visible surface they could find.


    "Fine, you bzzz want something bzzz more before you bzzz stop. Don''t buzz, you worry; I have what bzzz you need." Bunet said malice dripping from every word as she had her hornet doom sphere prepare to launch its first barrage of the battle at the shop furthest to the left. She would start left to right, destroying them one by one under the barrage of her hornet doom sphere agonizing stingers.


    "Let''s see, bzzz, you bzzz, magic your bzzz way out bzzz of this bzzz one," Bunet said with malicious glee as she finally gave the order to fire and watched as hundreds of stingers were shot out from her sphere with force going for the first ship that would surely fall to her. Bunet''s thoughts were filled with images of the destroyed fleet scattered across the lands of her home, covered in her hornet doom sphere''s agonizing spikes.


    That''s when Bundt heard a weird moaning song quickly come out of the ship she had just fired at, and just before it, her barrage of agonizing stingers hit the ship, which lost all its grass spikes and suddenly gained grass shielding. Bunet watched in shock as her barrage bounced off the new grass shielding of the first grass warship.


    She was then filled with rage as she wondered what was going on and how the damn pixies had blocked her agonizing stingers with just grass. She then took a moment to calm herself and then shared her right with those undead hornets trapped behind the grass shielding of the grass warships. She only had a few moments to see before the undead hornet sight she was sharing with was killed, but she had seen enough.


    "So that''s how they''re doing it." Bunet sat filled with an intense rage as she reviewed what she had just seen. Which had been that the grass warships were overlapping grass to form a kind of strange shield that protected them from her hornet doom sphere''s stingers. "For now, bzz." Bunet said her promise and threat clear as she ordered her undead hornet swarm to continue attacking as they had backed off during the transformation of the grass warships. The battle was only just beginning, and Bunet would sink the grass pixies precious warships.

 chapter 48 the hornet doom sphere vs the grass pixie fleet part 2

    The nine grass pixie farming elders found themselves in a rather strange position. They were leading what would be considered the only naval power the grass pixies had in a land battle against the aerial forces of the smog kingdom. It was a rather complicated situation that was not easy for the nine farming elders of the grass pixie clans to deal with, as they were looked to for wisdom by farmers, not by captains or admirals, but that was the role they played in this battle.


    It was still a role they played well, all things considered, though that may have been because the kingdom of Smog did not expect the magical power of the farming elders to turn the grasslands they grew into a strange magical ocean with the elders themselves and their fellow farming grass pixies in grass warships on top of it. Though the elders had to be fair to their foe and admit that they doubted anyone would have been able to predict they could do such a thing.


    But the elders had done it and still used their magical might and ability to grow grass with magic to fight their aerial adversary. They had already grown thousands of grass spears out of their warships, slaying many of the undead hornets. Then the undead hornets decided to show their true depravity by having their weapon, a sphere made from the corpses of their fellow hornets, move and fly forward to bring down from above them.


    The nine elders realizing the danger the sphere represented as they could feel its menace as it hovered above them. Not to mention that whatever dark necrotic power that gave the sphere power also gave it will, and the elders could feel its will. The sphere''s will was rather basic, showcasing its lack of intelligence, but what it lacked in intelligence it made up for in malice. As the nine elders could feel its need to cause them agony as it made its way over them.


    So the nine elders reacted, singing a song that changed their warships once more, though instead of growing spikes as they had before, the nine grass warships instead grew shields. As the spikes bent and overlapped, creating shields that would protect the nine grass warships from the sphere above them, threats of an agonizing grave to all that were aboard the warships.


    Luckily they sang their song of growth just in time, as had they not done that and the shields not been formed, then one of the grass warships would have fallen into the grass sea, its crew lost forever to grass fae magic. Though well the shield protected from above, it did not protect from the sides, as the undead hornets were quick to notice and were quick to use charging in to attack those aboard the grass warships. Not that it did them that much good, as the grass shields limited the undead hornets way of attack, making it easier for the grass pixie sailors to defend and counter the undead hornets reckless charges.


    So the battle continued on with the undead hornets on the baco foot as they were forced to attack at angles that were bad for them, and their hornet sphere was not in play. Though that did not stop the sphere from launching barrage after barrage at the grass warships. So the sounds of grass spears and grass blades clashing with the undead hornets stingers were joined by the sounds of large, agonizing stingers bouncing off the shields that protect the grass warships from above.


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    It was a dangerous melody that was sounding out across the grassy sea as the battle unfolded across its surface. The constant fighting had actually slowed the advance of the grass sea, though it was due more to the constant barrages of the hornets that were above them hitting and bouncing off the nine grass warships that was slowing the fleet down more than the undead hornet sway, which was more a problem for those aboard the ships than the sea that carried the warships.


    Though the grass sea was becoming tainted as more and more barrages of agonizing stingers were launched and bounced off the grass shields of the nine grass warships and fell into the grass sea along with those undead hornets that had been slain and gone overboard. The grass sea that was carrying the nine grass warships was a magical phenomenon related to the magic of the grasslands. Which meant it would not mix well with corpses that had necromantic power in them.


    This tainting of the grassy sea by necrotic bodies had been negated through the fact that the grassy ocean has within it many insectoid creatures eager to devour any easy meal they could. So any of the defeated undead hornets from the beginning of the battle that had fallen into the grass sea have been quickly devoured by the insectoid monsters that swim in its depths. Though as the battle went on, there were too many for the swimming insect of the grass sea to devour.


    These rotting undead corpses were tainting the green sea, causing it to have to stop and deal with it. The nine elders realized if they wanted to keep making progress and not get bogged down and overwhelmed, they needed to deal with the sphere that was hanging over them. As its destruction would allow them to focus their might on the swarm that was clogging up the grass sea.


    So they sang another magic song, though this one was very different than those that had sung before, as this one was of a far more haunting melody. Once they were done singing their dark and foreboding melody, nine great fish pulled up beside each of the great grass warships. Each of the nine grass pixie farming elders got on one of the strange giant fish walking along its spine until they got to the strange object that went out from each of the strange fish''s head.


    Each of the strange protrusions went out a fair distance from the fish''s face and had a strange platform hanging from said protrusion. All nine farming pixie grass elders got onto the fish''s strange stage and then began to sing once more. Though this among was far more aggressive and seemed to be some kind of war chant as the nine elders sang it, the fish they were all dangling from grew spikes, and their fangs became sharper and three times as long.


    Then all of a sudden a wave came through the grass sea that carried the nine elders and their strange war fish steeds, carrying them far higher than the rest of the fleet as the wave the nine strange war fish were riding went much higher than the rest of the grass sea. This put the elders within reach of the hornet''s sphere, allowing for one final battle between the sphere and the elders, which would decide the battle between the two armies.

 chapter 49 bunet the undead hornet commander vs the grass pixie farming elders

    Burnet had given the order again and again, ordering barrage after barrage at the damn fleet that invaded her hive''s lands. Though it was to no avail, as her hornet doom sphere''s constant barrage of agonizing stingers was doing nothing against the fleet of nine grass warships. The damn pixie magic had proven itself her bane once again as the elders used some foul magical song to have their warships grow and bend till they had shields above them to block the constant barrage.


    Though Bunet could take some joy in the situation that in order to create the shields, they had to remove the grass spikes their warships had been using to slay her undead hornet swarm at an alarming rate. So she was pressing them effectively, if not as effectively as she wanted to be, to have to force them to make such changes, especially as her undead hornet swarm continued to attack them.


    Burnet watched through a wax screen while seated at the command chamber within her hornet doom sphere as the battle at the top of the grass sea continued to unfold. She still has a hard time believing it, even if she was looking right at it, that there was a sea made up of grass and pixie magic carrying an entire fleet of grass pixie warships through her home.


    Though despite her disbelief, the magic grass sea was real and was an active threat, which allowed Bunet to push through her disbelief with her rage at the pixies invasion fleet atop said magic grass sea that was daring to threaten her ruler and her hive. In fact, to emphasize this point of rage, she ordered another barrage. Not that the hornet doom sphere needed to be ordered; she just felt screaming in rage. "Fire! Bzzz!!!" Bunet roared with venomous rage as another barrage of agonizing stingers was launched from the hornet doom sphere and once again bounced off the grass shielding of the pixies grass warships.


    Bunet let out a sighing buzz that the barrage of agonizing stingers had failed once again. Which was to be expected, as none of the previous attacks had made a dent. Why should the one she personally ordered do any better than the rest? The hornet doom sphere was launching on its own. Though as she felt the vibrations of the hornet doom sphere launching another barrage without her orders, she could find she could take solace in the fact the hornet doom sphere showed no signs of doubt.


    No, the hornet doom sphere was just as eager and believing in its ability to put the warships of the grass pixie fleet down as when the battle had started despite so many failed barrages of agonizing stingers. She could feel the hornet doom sphere''s eagerness pulsating in every part of it as she sat in its command chair. Bunet took a moment feeling the eagerness to destroy, letting it ease her for a moment.


    Then she opened her eyes back up and focused back in on the battlefield and on the intense draw both sides were at. As while her hornet doom sheets barrages weren''t piercing the grass warships shields, her undead hornets were fighting them on every space they could get onto. So the pixies weren''t having their way entirely. Bunet could take solace in that.


    Just as she was thinking of how to press the ships to truly gain some kind of advantage, the pixies performed a magic song once more. The captains, from what she could tell of each ship, were calling forth strange sea creatures from the green sea with their magic song. "While this bzzz will be bzzz fun bzzz." Bunet said with venomous sarcasm as she had to watch more foul pixie magic and wonder what it would do to her and her hive this time, as she didn''t think the sea creatures would be the end of it.


    Bunet was soon proven right as the captains got on the sea creatures they had called and sang a different song, causing the strange fish they were on to not only become more vicious as spikes grew out of them and their fangs grew twice as long and sharp. The nine captains were all on strange little platforms that dangled from protrusions on the front of the fish''s face.


    "I''ll know bzzz where to aim bzzz." Burnet said with malice before a sudden huge wave formed that missed the nine pixie''s grass warships but did hit the nine captains and their strange war fish. So that was why, for a few precious moments, Bunet stared slack-jawed at the giant wave carrying war fish right up to her and her hornet doom sphere that should be far out of reach.


    " Damn pixie bzzz magic." Bunet said simply before the doom sphere was hit by the giant grass tidal wave and the war fish inside of it. The hornet doom sphere spun around in the air, the force of the impact causing a dent in its frame and for it to spin uncontrollably before it regained control of itself and began to right itself and repair the damage done by the tidal wave and warfush attack.


    Meanwhile, while the hornet doom sphere was doing that, Bunet was picking herself off the ground of the central control chamber. As the force of the sudden hit earlier had forced her from the command chair, the following spin had sent her flying around the room before it had stopped, causing her to crash on the floor. So Bunet got to her feet and made her way quickly over to the command chair. Once there, she looked to the viewing screen to see what exactly was going on outside the hornet doom sphere.If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.


    What Bunet saw was the same grass tidal wave coming back around for another pass. "I hate bzzz pixie bzzz magic." Bunet said bitterly as she braced herself on the command chair for the next impact that would send the hornet doom sphere spinning. She was not disappointed as once again the hornet doom sphere was sent spinning, though this time she wasn''t sent flying as she was holding onto the command chair for dear life.


    The nine elders were commanding their war fish from the platforms that dangled them over the grass sea. It was a dangerous place to be, as one wrong move and they would fall in, and that would be it; the magic of the grass sea would have them, and they would be lost forever. But it was what was required, as they could create grass tidal waves that allowed them to reach the great weapon of their enemy from atop the war fish.


    So well they risked much; it was a necessary risk if their battle was to be won and the undead hornets defeated so they could move further into the kingdom of smog. The nine elders swung around once more, having their warfish go for another attack as the doom sphere was still spinning from their last attack. It was difficult to keep the grass tidal wave and their war fish turning so much so that they were constantly sending the doom sphere spinning with another attack.


    But they had to keep up the fast pace of their attack, as otherwise the doom sphere may gain its bearing long enough to gain height and be out of their reach. So the nine elders had to maintain a constant attack that kept the doom sphere adjusting to them until eventually it was unable to keep in the sky and fell, signifying the end of the undead hornet swarm.


    Bunet had found herself being spun one way or another several times at this point, and she was honestly getting sick of it. "So let''s bzzz do something bzzz about it." But said with barely contained rage, not at all appreciating being spun around by the nine captains and their earth fish. Though how she was going to go about it was a difficult question.


    Luckily she was undead and not alive, so she could still think. If she had been living, she was pretty sure all the spinning would have her puking her guts out on the control chamber floor. So how to deal with this pest Bunet, though, as the hornet doom sphere was hit once again by the nine captains with their grass tidal wave and their war fish, sending it spinning out of control for a few moments before it readjusted once more.


    As Bunet thought on it, she stared into the wax monitor, watching the warfish in the tidal wave as they came for another strike before the spinning would make that a bit difficult for her. Which caused her to have a realization it wasn''t the warfish or the tidal wave that was the threat; it was those that controlled them. So Burnet decided to wait for just the right moment before carrying out what she had planned.


    So Bunet gave out a few orders to her undead hornets through her necrotic connection to them and then waited for the time to strike. Which she knew would be soon, for the enemy captains were eager to end this battle and continue deeper into her home, but that would not happen under her watch.


    The nine captains got faster with their strikes, sending the hornet doom sphere spinning faster out of control with worse damage with each strike. But Bunet waited even as the continued strikes and harsher spinning sent her flying across the room no matter how hard she held on to the command chair. Soon, though, the moment came as it seemed only a few more blows would be required by the captains to finish off the hornet doom sphere, which they could tell, and so they became hurried to end the battle with the undead hornets finally.


    Though their rush left them blind and vulnerable, all of a sudden, without any warning, Burnet gave the order, and those few undead hornets who had been waiting above them moved. Then all of a sudden, one by one, the captains, as they were called by Bunet, or the farming pixie elders, as they were called by their kin, were grabbed from the platforms that they had been on.


    None of the captains could respond in time, and without them and their magic, the war fish went back into the deep grass sea while the grass tidal wave disappeared. The captains were carried into the hornet doom sphere, where they were then imprisoned in the very walls of the superweapon as it made repairs to itself. Bunet took a moment to enjoy her victory over the captains as the hornet doom sphere made repairs.


    Once she had enjoyed her victory over the nine captains, she put her focus back into the melee happening on the nine grass warships below. Burnet wondered how she was going to deal with them as she was still in a bad position with the ships as the grass shields were still holding. Then she looked to the now imprisoned captains and recalled her orders to take the army alive and had an idea.


    As Bunet has remembered that the pixies otter used items to focus their accursed magic. So in this case the grass warships were probably what allowed the magical grass sea to exist, especially with the captains out of the action. So with this theory to test, she acted, given the order of having thousands of her undead hornet swarm being constantly created by her hornet dome outpost, go to the sides of each warship and fly up, taking the warships out of the grass sea, and much to Bunet''s delight, her theory was correct, as the ships were held aloft and away from the grass sea; the grass sea withered and weakened to nothing, especially as the natural nature of the smog kingdom began pushing back.


    So once the grass sea was fully gone, Bunet had her undead hornet lower the grass warships. The grass warships could maintain the magical phenomenon but not create it. As was demonstrated when they didn''t create a new magical sea once back on the ground. Bunet watched as smog grass elementals began to spawn nearby and swarm the now-beached grass warships. The crew was quickly being overwhelmed, and Bunet would have them all for the ruler of the hives.


    "I am bzzz victorious bzzz," Burnet said with glee, wondering how she should present her captured grass warship prizes to her creator and ruler, Maxwell. As it is not only an important victory but the first one where she had overcome pixieaguc on her own. "Truly, things bzzz are looking bzzz up." Bunet said brimming with glee at the presentation she would give.

 chapter 50 fall out of the first naval battle for the smog kingdom

    Maxwell found himself both surprised and very grateful. As Bunet had captured the second invasion, the grass pixie clans had sent into his lands, stopping them at the undead hornets outpost and making sure they never got any further into his kingdom. Though he was surprised to find the grass pixies had invaded with a fleet of grass warships on a sea of moving grass.


    Honestly, it showed that the grass pixie''s magic was not only powerful but was able to bend the laws of nature itself. Well, not bend them, Maxwell thought, but more swap them, as the more he thought on it, the more the entire grassy phenomenon was an advanced version of the grass maze that was earlier deployed. It was just the growth part of the maze taken to such an extreme as to be ridiculous.


    Well anyway, he now had the leaders of the fleet and their crews captive, as Burnet had captured them all. Though he wasn''t sure what he was going to do with nine grass warships, Burnet had also got him; he figured such powerful magical creations would be more than good enough for a new round of necrotic experimentation.


    Though that would have to be later. As he would be busy at the moment trying to get some kind of diplomacy going with grass pixie clans. As he figured he could get peace in return for all his current prisoners easily enough, though how he would go about contacting whatever government the grass pixie clans had would be another thing entirely.


    He had figured earlier that Wormer would be his best bet for peace talks, as he was the one best suited for talking to fairies. But he wouldn''t risk Wormer until he was sure he had a safe route to whatever would be considered the main government capital for the grass pixies. As he wanted no doubt in the certainty of whatever agreement was created, he didn''t want to risk Wormer being killed in some skirmish.


    So at the moment Wormer was in the underground of his realm creating more of his creations to defend the underground with his small clan in case of an underground attack. Maxwell used his necrotic vision to look around his domain. He saw that many of his citizens had been slain in the two invasions. His smog rage catapults and undead hornets had thrown themselves into the battlefield with a berserk that had slowed the enemy advance.


    He hoped he would be able to make their sacrifices worth it by negotiating, at the very least, a ceasefire, if not an outright peace with the grass pixies, considering how many of them he now had to bargain with. Though his eye saw sight turn towards Horter for a moment, who was gathering his strength. Maxwell had expected Horter to be a tad more upset at being left out of the fighting.


    Especially considering Maxwell''s three current commanders were his miserable rage catapult, Burnet the wasp zombie commander, and Horter the zombie butterfly commander. Having the miserable rage catapult, who had been leading the first defense of the kingdom, and considering the miserable rage catapult was the youngest and least experienced of the three, some may have very well considered letting him lead the first defense an insult. Though Horter hadn''t, in fact, from what Maxwell could tell, Horter was taking it in stride.


    He had sent a lot of his butterflies over to Bunet''s battlefield not to intervene but to recruit. As Horter had used his undead butterflies hypnosis abilities to take control of the magical insects left behind by the grass sea. He then had these newly recruited magic insects come over to his side at the undead butterfly outpost, leaving Bunet to finish the battle on her own with the grass sea insects interference.


    Without the hope of reinforcements from those insects magically changed from the grass sea, the sailors of the nine warships had ended up overwhelmed and trapped below deck on their own warships. So Horter found himself currently fielding the largest army of the three at the moment. Not only did he have the undead butterflies that his outpost was constantly creating, but he also had those greater magical insects enslaved to his hypnosis, meaning that of the three, he was the most ready for a battle, though there wasn''t likely to be one as the grass pixies had already lost two armies. Maxwell couldn''t imagine them risking a third.


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    The crafters had taken much longer than their farmer and hunter cousins in their grand ritual. But the results of their grand vision and slow, methodical precision were plain to see. As the hunters had harnessed the power of the predators they had hunted while the farmers had pushed the power of growth the grasslands had to its absolute limit. The craftsman had used their skill over GRASS SHAPE to create the final weapons that would allow them to be the final nail in their enemy''s coffin.


    As their grand ritual of GRASS SHAPING ended, the nine elders were gone; in their place stood a nine-headed grass hydra with the elders hidden deep within its torso, providing it life and the power to heal. This creature of power and versatility let out a roar from each head, for which it revived a hundred hissing roses in return.


    As unlike the farmers and hunters before them, the grass pixie craftsmen did not have magical armor form around themselves to fight better. No, the magical craftsman instead combined their skills and might to craft grass snakes, which they ride deep inside to protect themselves in battle while also repairing their creations from the inside while in battle.


    The horde of grass snakes led by a nine-headed snake hydra let out one more hissing roar in unity before charging towards the walls of the kingdom. The horde of grass serpents had the promise of death in their emerald eyes as they slithered ever closer towards their goal. The horde knew to attack from the West as had been the plan, and hopefully the other two attacks would have already made it deeply into the smog kingdoms defenses, the grass pixie crafting elders within the grass hydra thought.


    Yeah,no, why would the grass clans would risk a third army? Not when he had already captured two. Then he thought about it. "Unless they don''t have a way to communicate, and so the grass pixies don''t know the two armies had been defeated and captured." Maxwell said aloud to himself in his voice made of necrotic magic.


    Maxwel thought of the what a train of thought might lead to, especially for his current situation. Then he decided not to think about any more except to see later if maybe he could build a train out of necrotic smog and twigs later, but that would be for another day. For now he was going to have to figure out how to establish a route to the capital of the grass pixies while not departing from his defenses in case the grass pixies tried something else.


    Maxwell thought of the future, and while he did that, Horter prepared for the present as he brought his super weapon out of the smog wall. Horter was on his cloaked butterfly ship hidden above the army of grass snakes heading towards the smog kingdom. "Nobody said I had to wait for you to come to me." Horter said with a sense of smug superiority that was radiating off him for what he was about to unleash.


    So the third and final battle of the siege of the smog kingdom was about to unfold will this third army of the grass pixies be victorious when the others haven''t? Who is to know only when all is said and done will the truth be revealed and history be written down for those that came later to know.

 chapter 51 grass snakes vs undead butterflies

    Horter watched from atop his superweapon, the cloaked butterfly ship, as the army of grass snakes below him came slithering towards the smog wall of his home. They could not see him; the camouflage provided by the lower set of wings on the cloaked butterfly ship hid them from their sight. Horter watched them for a long moment more before he turned towards his butterflies that were flying in cloaked patterns nearby.


    "Go." Horter said simply and suddenly, as if out of nowhere, thousands of undead butterflies flew out of the sky, no longer cloaked. All the undead butterflies had switched from their cloaked-patterned wings to a red, angry color as they floated above the grass snake army, who took notice of them. The grass snake army, noticing the undead butterflies circling above them in angry red patterns, stopped to see what they were up to.


    But for a long moment nothing happened; the butterflies simply circled above them in pretty but safe dances with red-patterned wings. The elders in their nine-headed grass hydra were about to command the army forward once more when the attack began. As all of a sudden hordes of greater insects began pouring from all around the grass snake army and attacking them with a single-minded, berserk ferocity that was suicidal in nature.


    The snake army, though initially surprised, reacted quickly to the sudden attack and fought back. So the grass fields beyond the smog wall of the smog kingdom were filled with sounds of clashing as insect claws met grass snake scale and tooth. The grass snakes found themselves being chewed on by hundreds of enraged greater insects, all bearing red eyes that swarmed up their bodies.


    The grass snakes countered this by rolling around and crushing the insects beneath themselves. When they weren''t crushing the insects swarming their bodies, the grass snakes were opening their mouths wide and swallowing the berserk one off and tearing them to shreds with their hundreds of grass blades that acted as teeth for the grass snakes.


    Though the grass snakes were not having it entirely their way, as well as they were killing the enraged insects with ease, the enraged insects were doing some damage before they died, which was building up over time. Luckily the grass snakes had their grass pixie crafters inside of them and were repairing any damage being done from the inside.


    Though while the grass snakes were showing how much of a dangerous and capable foe they were, the grass hydra was showing why it was the ruler of this horde of grass snakes. As it seemed with every move of an ant of its head, hundreds of enraged insects were killed in a multitude of ways. Some were killed as they were crushed by the hydra; others were sent flying high in the air and turned to mush when they landed, and those that didn''t die the last two ways were shredded in one of the grass hydra''s nine mouths.


    Horter watched the battlefield unfold below him from far above it in the central platform that was on top of the head of the cloaked butterfly ship. "Well, it looks like my initial plan of simply using surprise, numbers, and suicidal rage isn''t working. I suppose I had best change it up if I want to emerge victorious from this battle." Horter said before then went about giving new orders to his undead butterflies, having them change up their patterns, which would change up their exact effects.


    The effect was immediate as the horde of enraged insects under the power of Horter''s undead butterflies hypnosis began to break off their attack and organize themselves into separate groups. This moment of reorganization by the insect horde allowed the grass snake army to also reorganize itself. The grass snake army comes together, forming effectively one giant ball of grass snakes, all of them mixing together as their bodies constantly move among the mass, watching outwards for whatever happens next with the grass hydra at their center.


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    Horter looked at all the grass snakes far below mixing together, forming their defensive ball so they couldn''t be surprised and that any force of enraged insects that came against them would find itself plunging into a bundle of grass snake scales and fangs. "Hmmm, a rather interesting maneuver on their part." Horter said to himself, observing the grass snake''s army''s rather interesting maneuver.


    "Though I suppose it will be fine in the end, my next ploy should be a rather good one." Horter said to himself with an aura of smug optimism as those bugs under his undead butterflies sway began to invade his will. When the battle had first begun, the bugs had been mixed together, so you had crickets, beetles, and mantises all fighting against grass snakes, all in one big wave of enraged insects.


    Now after his forces had been reorganized, this was no longer true. As Horter had his undead butterflies reorganize his hypnotized bugs by species. So now when they attacked, hopefully his butterflies could better control them to more devastating effects. As their earlier mixed approach was effective for numbers and surprise, it left his undead butterflies with the difficult task of trying to maximize the ability of a dozen different hypnotized insect races that all had different strengths and weaknesses while in the middle of a battle.


    Now though with the importance of surprise no longer necessary the focus has moved elsewhere and so with the his forces having been reorganized into the current more easily managed formation that were now currently fighting the ball of grass snakes. While it was no real surprise they were fighting far more effectively, as his undead butterflies now only had to command a single insect species effectively instead of the dozen they had to before.


    So Horte watched as his forces pressed the attack from all directions against the defensive wall the grass snakes had become. The grass hydra at the center of the formation hissing out their instructions, causing the ball of grass snakes to shift to better deal with his attacks as the battle shifted around them.


    Horter watched on for a long while, not saying much and seemingly just enjoying the nice breeze on top of the cloaked butterfly ship. It was as if he had forgotten the battle entirely going on below him as the insect he had enslaved and the grass snakes tore at each other. Eventually, though, Horter did finally break the silence.


    "It is sad we didn''t get to use any of the new undead we got, isn''t it?" Horter said to himself, though he spoke as if he were talking to someone. "Though I supposed our youngest needed all the necrotic smog, which is fair, I suppose, though it would have been nice to use the new rage smog butterflies." Horter said with a sigh, clearly sad at the loss of using such an undead in the field.


    He then focused on the battlefield below him. "But I suppose that will be for another time. This time I make do with my new superweapon and the undead butterflies I was created to command." Horter said with finality before his gaze sharpened towards the grass hydra. "No, I believe you and I have things to be doing, mainly me eliminating you." Horter said to the grass hydra that clearly couldn''t hear him. As he began to direct the undead butterflies more personally so that the battle would be brought to a victorious close.

 chapter 52 grass snakes vs undead butterflies part 2

    The elders of the nine pixie clans craftsmen were of a slow and methodical mindset. This made them slow to act, taking their time to consider their vast experiences and the skills they have acquired over the years. This usual method of dealing with things has allowed them to deal with most problems. Sadly, such methods would not work this time, and the elders knew this as they rode within the center of their creation.


    The nine grass pixie craftsman elders were commanding the army of grass serpents that had their fellow grass pixie craftsman inside of them. The elders found themselves having to react quickly and without much forethought to a rapidly changing situation, forcing the elders to rally on instinct and quick action rather than their usually calm and methodical approach. Though the nine pixie craftsman elders knew that this was the nature of war, to have a rapidly changing situation.


    Though the elders had hoped to be able to at least plan a little for their invasion within their grass hydras. They weren''t allowed this and were forced to give up on their earlier plans as they were ambushed long before they got to the point they were supposed to be in their siege of the undead kingdom of Smog. Which was the way of things the elders knew: no plan survived first contact with an enemy, not even getting to the battlefield.


    So the elders found themselves managing a counterattack as hordes of vicious insects attacked from every direction. The craftsman commanded the grass serpents they were in to destroy the rampaging insects, which the grass serpents did with gusto, their serpent nature causing them to instinctively want to devour and hunt insects no matter their state or form, despite the grass serpents being far more grass than serpent.


    The nine elders of the grass pixie craftsman instead did not control a grass serpent; they instead directed a different head of the grass hydra they were in. The battle was intense, as even though the grass serpents and grass hydras had size and durability on the rabid insects that charged them, the insects were relentless and heedless of the lives the grass serpent army was claiming as they continued to charge at them.


    That was until they suddenly stopped and broke off their attack. The grass snake army did not pursue as they had become separated and strung out from the ambush. The elders seeing the danger in their current position, especially as it was unlikely that the rapid insects were done with them quite yet. So the elders communed among themselves for a moment before giving the order and having the grass snake army form up into an ever-shifting ball so that they would be ready for the next attack.


    "Form together, unite the army into one!" The elders said their voice echoing out of the nine heads of the grass hydra. The grass serpent rushed to obey, coiling and wrapping around themselves, forming one giant pile of grass serpents that would be difficult to move or swarm with the grass hydra at its center, directing the ever-shifting mass of grass serpents.


    As it would turn out this forming up was the correct descion as the insect horde returned just as ferocious as before. The battle was once more a clash of magic grass craftsman vs. enraged insectoid. Though this time the enraged insects were far more organized, putting the grass snake army on the back foot, or back tail, as more appropriate.If you come across this story on Amazon, it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it.


    The grass snakes found themselves facing enraged battalions of mantises from one direction and then, once they had dealt with them, they were dealing with enraged ants and beetles from two other directions. The battle was ever shifting, with the enemy seeming to be always probing, looking for any weakness in their formation or any force of grass snakes that was weaker than the other.


    The elders within the grass hydra found themselves having to move their hydra from the center of their ball formation on more than one occasion to help a force of grass snakes that had been strained by multiple attacks. The elders thought on the situation, wondering who was commanding such a force of enraged insects, as it was clear they were commanded, but by whom the elders asked themselves.


    Eventually the elders came to their answer by finding the undead butterflies that had been flying above the battlefield. They had just been missed by the grass serpent army because they were so focused on the melee that they spared no attention to the skies, where nothing was attacking them from. Though now that the elders were now actively looking for the one commanding the insect horde attacking them, they spotted the undead butterflies and their strange colors.


    The battle went on, the elders commanding their forces better now that they knew to watch for the undead butterflies above commanding them as a sign of where an attack was about to come from. Though as the battle continued and the elders commanded their fellow craftsmen through ever more swarms of rabid insects, they had to repair their grass serpents even as the enraged insects were still tearing at them. The elders came to a conclusion as the battle raged that undead butterflies may have been leading the enraged insect swarms, but something else was leading them.


    As the undead butterflies were leading basic insect swarms of a single species rather well. But there were a few times when the species hadn''t gotten mixed up in a melee, and their lack of command ability showed as they had a hard time commanding multiple insect species. So with the rather complex proving tactics being used by the insect swarm as a whole, it meant something else was ordering the undead butterflies to have them do such complex maneuvers.


    So the question for the elders and the army was where was this commander, and how could they get to him, for it was clear the enraged insects were without number? So if they wanted any chance of victory against the enemy that has surrounded them, they had to deal with the enemy''s leader in hopes that that would cause them to either fall upon themselves or become far less tactical, thus becoming easier to deal with.


    So the elders put all their knowledge together to try and find where the hidden commander could be. They used their nature as pixies, which made them sensitive to magic, along with their knowledge of the realm of the pixie grasslands, to find where the enemy commander was hiding, as he would not belong, and that otherness would give them away to the magic senses of the elders.


    The elders spent a long while focusing their senses outward, scanning their surroundings. This caused the grass hydra they were in to become a bit rabid without their direction. Though the elders efforts were soon paid off when they found what they believed to be the commander far above in the sky on some kind of giant undead airship. Now knowing this information, the elders prepared to make the strike that would end this battle.

 chapter 53 grass hydra vs cloaked butterfly ship

    Horter watched the swarming, enraged insects that were under the control of his undead butterflies as they charged at the grass serpents that were all in one giant mass, constantly moving over each other as they attacked all the insects that got close. Horter watched this all with a bemused detachment as his forces, despite having many casualties, were not behind in his plans for his victory.


    As Horter had watched how each group of grass serpents had responded to each of his probing attacks. It has been a bit difficult for him to admit to himself to keep all the different grass serpents separate from each other in his head and not mix them up, especially so far above the battlefield as he was, but he had managed it.


    So with the intelligence his probing attacks had gained him, he would soon have his forces make a coordinated strike that should utterly destroy the grass serpent army. Horter was about to give the order that would put his plan into action and end his probing strikes so that the true final blows could be struck. But before he could give the command, he noticed the grass hydra, his opponent in this game of strategy, beginning to move rather oddly.


    "Well, it appears my opponent is about to make his move." Horter said, focusing all his attention on the grass hydra far below him, wondering what exactly his opponent''s move would be. As you to this point, the Horter had been deciding the temp of the fight, but perhaps his opponent has grown tired of that and was trying to change that somehow.


    How the grass hydra would do that, Horter wasn''t sure, but he wasn''t going to allow himself to be surprised, especially while trying to perform a complex maneuver. So he held off on his final blow strategy, waiting until he knew what exactly the grass hydra and those inside of it were up to before he knew that he would not give the order to those under his command to execute the final blow maneuver.


    While Horter watched them from above, the elders of the craftsman of all nine grass pixie clans were changeling their power into their grass hydra. Using all the experience and power the elders had, they used their ability, GRASS SHAPE, to its absolute limit by pushing the growth of the grass hydra to far greater heights than intended. As the foe of their grass serpent army was far above them and hence would have been out of their reach. So the elders were now correcting that.


    As the growth of the grass hydra caused the hydra''s nine heads to grow into the sky, reaching ever upward in a never-ending growth towards a destination they could not see. Though the grass hydra''s nine heads could not see what they were reaching for within the skies they were now in, the elders controlling them did, and so under their control the grass hydra reached for what was hidden.


    Horter was watching all of this shock coming and going quickly through him as he reacted quickly to the threat in the skies. "While I didn''t expect you to grow your grass hydra until it could reach out and touch me. So quite the move on your part, though I believe you''re going to do more than touch me." Horter said to the grass hydra that was currently reaching up for him as he had the cloaked butterfly ship gain more altitude.


    The elders, though, were not to be dissuaded and had the heads separate so that instead of pursuing the cloaked butterfly ship as a single mob, they instead broke off into nine heads, each pursuing the ship in a different direction. The grass hydra''s plant nature allowed it to separate and bend its heads far more than what a regular hydra could no doubt do.


    This was made quickly apparent to Horter, who found himself having to maneuver the superweapon he was on rather fast, trying to maintain a high altitude with the grass hydra''s heads in hot pursuit, trying to box him into a trap by coming at the cloaked butterfly ship from multiple directions. It was proving rather difficult for Horter to keep the cloaked butterfly ship in the sky.


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    As it was a ship more suited towards espionage than the current situation, which was a strange kind of air-to-air battle forcing the cloaked butterfly ship into rather complicated maneuvers it was having trouble with. Though Horter managed to keep the cloaked butterfly ship airborne, it was more due to his skills as a strategist than his flying skills. As he was able to predict how the grass hydra''s heads were maneuvering to get him and his ship.


    So with that foresight, Horter managed to get around the grass hydras as he predicted where they would be a few seconds before they tried to strike at the cloaked butterfly ship. After this battle of hits and misses had gone on in the sky for a while, Horter spoke. "While I think this game in the sky has been wonderful, my dear opponent, your counter has been a wonderful distraction." Horter said with certainty.


    Which Horter was correct, as he had become so focused on keeping the cloaked butterfly ship, which was the superweapon of the undead butterflies, from being hit by the grass hydra that he had left the undead butterflies to their own command. Which was a rather bad thing, as the undead butterflies were capable of commanding small groups but not coordinating between each other to fight a larger battle.


    So this meant that the battle on the ground had turned rather badly for the enraged insect horde, as their earlier proving attacks were no longer happening, and instead mass suicide charges were happening because the undead butterflies didn''t know what else to do. "Well, it appears I have to end this game between us now, as you can see the melee on the ground has gotten rather interesting." Horter said with a smug arrogance towards the nine-headed Hydra, no roaring in anger at having been missing something from them for far too long.


    So needing to put an end to the grass hydra and this winning the battle in the sky and on the ground, Horter began to act on his earlier suspicions. He began using his control over the cloaked butterfly ship to try and use the greater power he believed it held inside. He had this suspicion due to the fact he had witnessed the miserable rage catapult showing much greater power than it was originally believed to have.


    So Horter had a suspicion that all the superweapons of the kingdom of Smog had more power to them than was originally known. He was proven right as the undead nature of the cloaked butterfly ship responded to his call and began using its power of hypnosis that was far greater than any of its kin on the grass hydra that was pursuing them.


    Horter than watched with relish as the nine grass hydra heads under the empowered hypnosis of the cloaked butterfly ship turned on each other. The elders controlling the hydra healed the injuries the heads were causing each other but couldn''t gain control back over the grass hydra heads. Horter, seeing the control he now had over the grass hydra, which was the most powerful creature of the grass serpent, had a great idea.


    Horter acting quickly has the cloaking of the greater lower wing turned off and instead turned to the same hypnosis of the upper greater wings. He then turned the hypnosis power of the cloaked butterfly ship to the rest of the snake army. He then watched as the entire grass serpent army stopped moving along with the enraged insect swarms.


    "Well, it looks like I have quite the present." Horter said they had now trapped the craftsman in their own creations. Horter then gave the order, and the now enslaved grass sergeants moved in formation under his command to be displayed before his liege, Maxwell. "Well, this makes us three for three. Does this not make our kingdom great? Horter said to himself upon his ship as he brought back his defeated enemies to be delivered as trophies to his king.

 chapter 54 the returning general

    Maxwell watched as Horter came through the smog wall that covered his kingdom. Horter led an army of grass serpents in a parade while atop the cloaked butterfly ship, a palpable pride coming off him in waves. Horter took the captured army towards the butterfly outpost and had them circle the outpost while Horter and his undead butterflies watched over them.


    "While it seems my commander, Horter, couldn''t wait for his chance to defend the realm and got an invading army before it could make it past the smog wall." Maxwell said to himself, a bit stunned at Horter''s eagerness, figuring out if all his commanders, it would be Bunet that would charge outside of his domain to fight the enemy, not Horter. But it showed that his commanders were always capable of surprising him, and it was a very nice surprise, Maxwell thought, as he looked at the captured grass serpent army with the grass hydra at its center.


    With Horter''s victory and capture of a third army of the nine grass pixie clans, Maxwell was sure whatever governing body the nine grass pixie clans had would surely have to meet with him to make peace. Now he just had to figure out how to begin negotiations before he figured he would have to send out an envoy, but considering he now had three whole armies as leverage, he figured the grass pixies government would come to him to bargain.


    Though now he had to come up with a place to receive guests from another nation. Maxwell still thought wormer would be his best bet, but now he needed a spot in his realm of smog for them to meet safely. So he best get to figuring out how to build such a structure that could welcome a delegation and not threaten them with its mere presence, which would be a bit of a difficult thing to do.


    As whatever building he ended up creating for the talks would be made from necromancy or perhaps dark fey magic. Though hopefully all his current leverage would not only keep them civil but also enable him to stomach being in his new embassy in order to get their people back. So the only question Maxwell had for himself was what magic he would use in the creation of his new embassy and where he would put it.


    Before Maxwell could begin the creation of his embassy, he felt the presence of his lord, the god of the monster pantheon, Phabium, within his kingdom of necrotic smog. "You have kept your word and done more than I dared hope, Maxwell. Your kingdom still stands after the nine clans of grass pixies sent all they had at you." Phabium said, his voice filled with a tone of daring optimism, as Maxwell''s army''s successful defense led Phabium to hope once again that perhaps there was hope for the future of at least part of his pantheon once more.


    "Of course, Lord, I will always do my best to uphold my word to you. So now that I have defeated the armies of the grass pixie clans, when can I expect the leaders of the clans to come and parlay?" Maxwell said, his voice filled with pride as he responded to the god that had saved him, and then asked in curiosity, expecting his lord to know when he could expect the leaders of the nine grass pixie clans to meet with him for negotiations.


    Phabium responded, though not with what Maxwell was expecting. "There won''t be any negotiations as the leaders of the grass pixie clans were their elders who led the three armies that you''ve captured. Which means you, ruler Maxwell, have conquered the entirety of the grasslands within the pixie forest of Gregal." Phabium stated plainly to a shocked Maxwell.


    Maxwell was left to ponder on that for a moment before Phabium continued. "Now that you have conquered the grasslands of the pixie forest of Gregal, you will get a new policy to go with your new domain after this conversation is done, but before I leave to manage your new lands, I''m afraid I must ask another boon of you." Phabium asked, his voice tense at having to ask more of the ruler, Maxwell, after his kingdom had gone through several great battles and after he had already done a favor earlier with the underground temple deviated to a dark fey god of his pantheon, but Phabium found himself needing to ask all the same.


    "Of course, Lord Phabium, I am always willing to aid." Maxwell said with absolute certainty, to which Phabium, though unseen within his holy realm, gave the response with a small, sad smile. As he thought about how long it had been since any had been eager to serve, many of those under the monster pantheon either cursed them or outright denied their very existence. It was refreshing to have one eager and able to serve once more, which was also what made Phabium hesitant to ask for aid, as too many that had been eager to serve in better times had gotten themselves destroyed doing so.


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    "I thank you, Maxwell. It is a credit to you that you are so willing to help after your kingdom fights in a war of three great clashing armies. The boon I ask of you is that I may use the power of the captured grass pixie elders grand rituals to bring power to my fellow gods of the monster pantheon." Phabium said making his request known, which was much as the power of the grand rituals was much and could be used to great effect by Maxwell in the art of necromancy with some testing.


    "Of course it is yours." Maxwell said, not hesitating for a moment to give his lord Phabium the great power that had been claimed by his creations for himself. Phabium was a bit shocked for a moment, not used to such ease in attaining what he needed. Though in a few moments he got it together and responded to Maxwell''s quick surrender of the power.


    "Thank you, ruler Maxwell. With this power of rituals, I shall craft divine artifacts to bring strength to my weaker kin and bring them back to my realm. Now I leave you to your duties. May your rule be long and prosperous, Maxwell." Phabium says as his presence fades from Maxwell''s kingdom of necrotic smog.


    Maxwell sat there silently for a while. A silent skull construct in the middle of walls made out of solid smog that were patrolled by ghost leaf tornadoes before he suddenly let out a cheer. "He was happy with how I was doing my job." Maxwell said as his cheer went through his domain, causing the necrotic smog and grass elementals to act in a strange way for a moment before Maxwell got back to work.


    He turned his attention over to his imprisoned grass pixie armies and saw the elders were far smaller and weaker than before. Which was a clear sign that they had been drained of all the great ritual power that once held. Maxwell looked at all his prisoners at a loss as to what to do with them, as he had accidentally conquered them but had no real idea how to go about enforcing his new rule.


    That''s when a purple screen appeared to show Maxwell the new policy he had gained through his conquest of the pixie grasslands. He looked it over a few times and found it to be exactly what he needed for the situation, so he went about implementing the policy he had gained.


    Through the conquest of the grass pixies lands of Gregal, you have gained the following policy.


    Make a fence¡ªthe separate territories you have gained will be walled off from one another with walls of solid smog. These walls will be reinforced with outposts that produce either undead zombies or undead constructs that will defend the wall as well as patrol the territory under your control.


    Would you like to activate this policy y/n?


    Maxwell activated the new policy to make a fence, which worked very well with his Grow Your Lawn policy. The two magical kingdom policies'' effects working in tandem quickly reshaped all of Maxwell''s new territory from being grass pixie clan territory into being a part of the necrotic smog kingdom. Maxwell could tell this as his senses expanded along with the control of his territory, which allowed him to see the new walls and the shifting pixie grasslands that went from pixie magic to necrotic magic in nature.


    "Well, I suppose the only thing left is to break up the armies and send them back to their respective clan territories." Maxwell said with a grim tone, as he could already tell this was going to be a difficult task, but he would get it done, and then everything about the war would be done, and Maxwell could move on to testing all the things he had gained from the war.


    As experimenting with necromancy and the magic of the dark fey awaited him once his kingdom affairs were all in order. So he merely had to get three separate armies back into nine clans and head back home with minimum trouble. Maxwell could already tell he was going to be having a fun time ahead.

 chapter 55 the great divide

    The grass pixies had formed three great armies, each empowered with the greatest magic their people had to offer. They had gone to war against a fire that threatened all they stood for and all they were with these three armies, and they had lost. Now they found themselves imprisoned, waiting for word of what was to happen to their people.


    The future looked bleak, and most were of the opinion the greatest question their people had left to ask was how dark their future was. The grass pixies from each imprisoned army watched those that worked and belonged to the undead kingdom of Smog as they went on about their business around them. They were not taken one by one, never to be seen again, nor did they see a mass grave being dug to bury them all.


    The fact that these events that would be a prelude to darker things happening were not occurring did not reassure the imprisoned grass pixies. As they began to worry that a far worse fate awaited them, one their captors wanted them to know nothing about just in case it gave them the courage to take their own lives to avoid a worse fate than death. Maxwell, through his necrotic senses, began to notice the darker emotions swirling among his grass pixie captives and knew he had to act soon.


    Maxwell could see the dark emotions of the captives growing physically through his necrotic power, so he sought out Wormer to have him speak to the captives to have them informed of the new status quo. As they were now a part of his kingdom of necrotic smog, as none of their lands were untouched by his necrotic policies, and as such their lands were already forming grass smog elementals to enforce his rule upon them.


    Maxwell wasn''t quite sure what to make of that, as he had expected to gain territory from the war as part of the negotiations, but full-on conquering the nine grass pixie clans had been a bit more than he had expected. Though regardless of his thoughts, that was the situation, so Maxwell stopped thinking on it and got back to making contact with Wormer. "For an empty skull I do a lot of thinking, don''t I?" Maxwell said as a little joke to himself before he made contact with Wormer, who was working on some large worm monstrosity.


    Maxwell looked over the creation, wondering why Wormer had made such a thing, and then came to a realization that underground Wormer may not have been informed of his kingdom''s victory and so was still preparing for a great battle that wasn''t going to happen underground. "While bestowing the good news of our victory, tell him the news of his promotion as well to ambassador between him and my new subjects." Maxwell said to himself before having the Smog root hands reach out to Wormer to connect their minds so that they could speak.


    Wormer, before the arrival of Maxwell''s focus, had been in a state of frenzy creation. As he did receive some news from the smog root hands about what was going on on the surface but not much. So Wormer knew the war was going well for them but had no idea how it was going at that moment. This lack of information caused Wormer to begin preparing for the worse by beginning the creation of a large worm monstrosity to defend his new and growing clan''s domain.


    While his apprentices Worense and Worack worked on their skills and expanded the forces they had to defend the underground with by using their WORM DUPLICATE skill. The three dark fey''s efforts were producing quite the sizable underground force to fight off invaders with. Which is why Wormer found himself both happy and depressed at the news the smog root fist finally passed on to him.


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    The smog root fist passed on a series of images showing him that they had won the war. "You can lie down. We won." Wormer said simply to his apprentice, who collapsed to the floor in exhaustion. The two having pushed past their limits to keep expanding the size of the worm army they held. The two apprentices stared at each other for a moment, looking like they wanted to argue about who collapsed first, but then they both slumped back down as it became clear neither had the strength to bicker.


    Wormer simply smiled to himself at the antics of his apprentices and then got going down one of the tunnels that would take him to one of the chambers that would allow him to communicate better with the ruler through the gestalt that was the smog root fist minds better. As though he couldn''t communicate with the ruler directly, he could feel his presence and figured the ruler had probably told the smog roots first to inform him directly about the war''s conclusion.


    Wormer made quick time, not wanting to make the ruler of his home wait for him any longer than necessary. So that''s how Wormer found himself in one of the special chambers belonging to the smog roots fist as they wrapped roots around his head, and through this now-physical connection, he began communicating with the ruler of the smog kingdom.


    "Hello, my Lord, how may I be of assistance?" Wormer said in a polite voice, wondering what his ruler could possibly want from him now that the war was over. Especially seeing as he was a maker of war worms and underground complexes, there shouldn''t be any need of him after a war on the surface.


    "While you see, I have conquered all the grass pixies lands; as we speak, new smog grass elementals are being born across the land, and new walls are rising that have my banners as well as my soldiers guarding them." Maxwell said in a firm tone, then being quiet as he let Wormer absorb that bit of information. Once Maxwell saw Wormer had adjusted to the new information, he continued. "So to get this across with no misunderstandings, I need you to speak to my prisoners." Maxwell said his words both as a statement and a question to which Wormer gave a rapid, not-too-in response.


    "Of course, sire, I will endeavor to see that the grass pixies understand the new status quo of the land." Wormer said in an eager tone of voice, making it clear he was eager to serve his new kingdom and this, his new clan, by proxy. Maxwell, seeing his agreement, gave the equivalent of a nod and then left the connection between them.


    Wormer, now having a rather important task to complete, went back to his two apprentices, who were still lying on the ground resting. Wormer wasn''t worried about their safety, as the tunnels nearby were filled with their war worms, though the two apprentices would probably have bad back pain come morning from resting on the ground.


    Deciding not to disturb them Wormer drew a note on the wall next to where his apprentices were sleeping telling them where he went and what he was doing, then went on to do just that. So Wormer then took the fast but convoluted path out of the underground maze and into the above ground, where three grass pixie armies were imprisoned. Once up top, Wormer looked around to where the three different armies were imprisoned, then picked one at random, picked them, and went to talk to them about their new circumstances.


    Maxwell watched Wormer as he came up and chose one of the imprisoned grass pixie armies at random with his necrotic senses. "Best of luck, my friend. I think you need it." Maxwell said to himself, hoping the upcoming conversations wouldn''t cause more problems for him.

 chapter 56 the talks

    Wormer made his way towards the first group of prisoners he would be talking to, who were the former grass pixies now imprisoned on the very warships they once crewed. It was a rather ironic situation for the former crews of the once-powerful war fleet. Though Wormer didn''t think the farmer pixies appreciated the irony, especially as they had been a powerful threat only a half a day at most ago.


    It shocked Wormer that despite the scale of the conflict, it was over with rather quickly in the grand scheme of things. Which now would add towards the bitter feelings those imprisoned had about the situation and make his task all that harder. Wormer sighed to himself as he realized the true challenge of what had been asked of him.


    As he was now in charge of explaining to the prisoners their new position in the kingdom of Smog on parchment, he was also going to have to figure out how they exactly fit into a new kingdom of the undead. Which he did not figure they would agree to, considering it would be a betrayal of everything they believe in. As grass pixies, they are to maintain the grasslands, but the power of the great skull, who rules the kingdom, will change the land.


    So they will have to try and maintain grasslands with necrotic magic trying to change it into something else. Though Wormer thought more deeply on it as he walked the final distance between him and the now prison ships. Perhaps he could use the fact that they needed to get back to their clan territories quickly if they were to maintain the nature of their grassland as well as could be expected within the domain of the kingdom of necrotic smog.


    So Wormer made it to the steps up to the prison ships with a plan only to be suddenly stopped at the first ship he was going to visit and make his case to by an undead hornet. The undead hornet just suddenly appeared, buzzing in front of him, stopping his progress forward. Before Wormer could figure out what it wanted, he was suddenly picked up by two other undead hornets who were carrying him off somewhere.


    Wormer, though surprised by the sudden air ride, didn''t panic, as he knew that all the undead in the land of necrotic smog were loyal to its ruler, so he figured the undead hornets had a good reason for carrying him into the sky. Though as Wormer looked down, he wished they hadn''t, as he was more a creature of the earth and so was uncomfortable in the sky. Eventually the undead hornets carried him to their destination, which was the hornet doom sphere.


    Wormer found himself being carried through the giant flying sphere, passing by many chambers and cells until he reached the one he needed to be in, he guessed, as he gazed at the grass pixie''s farming elders, all sealed within a single wall of the hornet doom sphere. Wormer, being brought to where he needed to be, was then unceremoniously dropped on the floor before the sealed grass elders, and then the undead hornets proceeded to turn and fly away, going back to whatever they had been doing before.


    The elders, all sealed in the wall, didn''t react much to Wormer''s presence, keeping their faces carefully blank and their thoughts to themselves; that is, for one of their number, the very one that had hired him to deal with the undead threat. " Wormer, you backstabbing worm!" Grekal roared out, squirming in her confinement with a renewed frenzy at perceiving Wormer''s betrayal.


    "Miss Grekal, it''s good to see you too." Wormer said to which Grekal screamed back barely coherent threats that caused her fellow elders to look at her in shock. "While it appears I''m not much welcomed, am I?" Wormer stated with a small smile as another frenzy of threats came from Grekal to confirm just how unwelcome he was.


    "Well, I''ll hurry up so you don''t have to deal with my company longer than you have to." Wormer stated loudly to the imprisoned elders, who focused their attention back on him and away from their frenzied colleague. They all stared at him, their full focus on him as their old minds tried to use their experience to figure out what exactly he was there for.


    "Well, you see, my dear elders, you have lost the war, which I know is stating the obvious. But that doesn''t mean it''s the end for the grass pixie clans; it just means you now have a king." Wormer stated simply that the hard stares he got in response said they begged to disagree. "I''m sorry, but you must face facts quickly, for the longer you take, the longer you risk losing your grasslands to change." Wormer said to the imprisoned grass-farming pixie elders before him.


    The elders look at him a moment, wondering what he was talking about, then it occurs to all nine of the elders at once that the changes that had come over the first clan''s territory would now be happening to all of the different grass pixie clans territory. So if the grass pixie clans were to hope to have any pixie grasslands, then they would have to act soon to preserve what was their duty to care for before it was transformed completely.


    Wormer spotted the elders understanding of the situation from the look in their eyes and so spoke on the situation. "So as you now realize, you must accept that the old ways are gone and accept the new regime if you are to preserve what is important." Wormer stated firmly, his echoing in the hall he was standing in as he looked each of the elders in the eye. They stared back at him in silence for a long moment before nodding their assent.


    So it was that the elders of the farming pixies accepted the new status quo, and through them, the rest of the farmers of the grass pixie clans did too. A few undead hornets came over that apparently had been waiting for him to convince them as he had and were now getting the elders out of their cells built into the walls. He was being carried off and out of the giant flying sphere and back towards the ground.


    Which Wormer guesses made sense since the ruler of the kingdom of necrotic smog wanted him to convince the prisoner of the new status quo; as far as Wormer knew, he wasn''t expected to do anything else. The undead hornets did not drop him off on the ground directly below the giant flying sphere. No, they instead carried him towards another prison where other pixies were being held.


    "I suppose they want me to pick up the pace." Wormer says to himself, figuring that his was being dropped if direct to cut the time required for him to walk there, thus speeding these talks along. Wormer found himself being dropped in front of a massive war machine whose mere presence seemed to radiate a kind of madness as it kept switching between rage and misery to add to the dark emotions going around. All of the nearby grass pixies were imprisoned in their own armor.


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    Somehow the mad construct before him has turned the grass pixies own armor against them, though how it did this, Wormer wasn''t sure he wanted to know. As the armors had pincers and mandibles being made from the trophies of hunts, and the living armors kept biting and pinching the air with a ferocity that bordered on madness, it showed that the control either wasn''t well done or it was too well done, as the controller didn''t look all that stable to begin with.


    Wormer shook his head, as none of this was his business, and so he shouldn''t let it distract him from his true purpose, which was to convince the prisoner to accept their status as citizens of a new undead kingdom. He was wondering where the elders were kept within this prison camp, but then had a few of the rabid living armors guide him over to the mad war machine, which lowered one of its catapult arms to allow him into its frame, where it was revealed to him where the grass pixies hunting elders were kept.


    They were being kept trapped within the frame of the mad war machine that led the other smaller and more sane war machines. Wormer took a moment to find a spot within the frame where all the captured grass pixie elders could at least hear him and then began to speak. "I have come to tell you that the times of old are over and that you are now under the new regime." Wormer said to the angry glares of those grass pixie-hunting elders that could look at him.


    Which was to be expected; the hunters were the defenders of their people. Their failure to lead their fellow hunters into victory as their elders had now doomed their people, at least from their perspective. "The farming grass pixies will soon be sent to take care of the grasslands that now belong to the king. They do this to maintain the grasslands, as is their duty. Will you abandon yours?" Wormer said, to which all the hunting grass pixie elders gave him a hard look.


    "I will return to the fields." Gressel suddenly said, his voice firm, as he basically agreed to Wormer''s request without fuss, much to the shock of his fellow hunting grass pixie elders. "Our kin need us to watch them as they tend to the fields, as we always gave; we cannot abandon them in these times, especially as what will come to stalk the grass now." Gressel said as a way of explanation as to why he had made his decision.


    The other elders found themselves agreeing with his point. Since their clan''s land had been a young kingdom of the undead, they could expect more undead to form, and quite worrisome, they might have to be concerned with rogue undead. So they needed to be out there with their kin, making sure the grasslands are safe for them to be in.


    The other elders all have their assent confirming their agreement to be a part of the kingdom of necrotic smog. Not that they had a choice in the matter. So with their consent, the elders were slowly released from the frame by the mad war machine while Wormer carefully lowered himself to the ground.


    Once on the ground, Wormer found himself being picked up by the rabid living armors and put on top of a war machine filled with rage. Which, once he was all the way on, took off eager to get him to the part prison camp within the kingdom of necrotic smog that held the third and final defeated grass pixies army.


    The enraged war machine quickly took him to a place where green war beasts were constantly parading in circles for those that watched above them. Wormer was dropped off in front of a grass hydra that watched him with nine sets of eyes. Wormer looked around for the last set of elders he would have to speak to so that his task would be complete.


    As if in response to his thoughts, the torso of the grass hydra opened up, showing him where the last of the elders were. So he walked in, and the door shut behind him, though Wormer wasn''t concerned, figuring it would open again once he was done convincing the elders of the reality of their situation.


    Wormer walked a few steps to find the grass pixie craftsman elders all in a circle, clearly trying to think of a way out of this situation using their vast experience and wisdom. Their eyes focused on him as he approached, but their sight held neither anger nor hopelessness; instead, they held curiosity. Wormer sat in the middle of their circle, thinking on his words for a moment. The silence stretched for a long moment before he finally spoke.


    "The hunters and the farmers have already agreed to join the kingdom due to their duty. Will you?" Wormer asked, figuring he didn''t have to try and convince them, as these were pixies of a far older age than him, and he was an elder himself who had been around long enough to see mortals live, grow, and die of old age several times over.


    The grand elder, the one whose clan territory has been the first to fall, spoke after a long moment of silence. "We will join the others and be a part of this new kingdom, though it saddens us to do so. But sometimes you must admit you cannot fight against the changing of times no matter how much you wish to." The grand elder said in a sad and slow voice to which Wormer merely nodded to before getting up and leaving the crafting pixie elders the grass hydra torso opening to let him out as he had suspected it would.


    Wormer made his way back slowly towards the underground entrance as all around him the kingdom of smog had busy movement as the servants of the ruler of the kingdom of necrotic smog paired up the nine grass pixie clans¡ªhunters, farmers, and craftsmen¡ªto be sent back to their clan territories under the watch of zombies and undead elementals. Wormer put the whole business out of his mind and picked up the pace back to the underground as he figured he had probably left his apprentices without supervision for too long.


    "Hopefully they haven''t somehow set fire to the underground." Wormer said with a nervous chuckle as he made his way back home and to his clan in the underground. Well, the grass pixies tried to find what their home was in this newly changed landscape.

 chapter 57 the return

    Maxwell had watched as Wormer had managed to somehow convince the elders to accept his rule. Though granted he didn''t understand whatever language they were speaking, he managed to figure out through physical posture, gestures, and the emotions he could pick up through his necromantic sight. Which allowed him to feel the dark emotions of a reluctant acceptance of the situation from the elders, who then spread this through their captured soldiers.


    "While now the hard part is over, all you have to do is zone your kingdom, Maxwell." Maxwell said to himself in a fake cheesy voice as he began to try and figure out just how he was going to go about administrating his now vastly larger realm. He then shook his head side to side in frustration at the task before focusing back on the task. He supposed the first thing to do was to separate the three armies back into the nine clans and then ship them back to their territories.


    So Maxwell got to that, setting it in motion, having his three commanders, Horter, Bunet, and the miserable rage catapult, use their forces to help separate and prepare the grass pixies for the return trip. There were a few incidents here and there as miscommunications happened between the undead forces of his and the grass pixies. But it was eventually gotten across that they were being separated and sent home, which they were agreeable to.


    So it went on for a long while, the confusion and chaos of getting so many all organized for the mass movement while keeping commanders happy. As they had grown rather frustrated with dealing with the grass pixies, he had to watch all three of his undead commanders rather closely. Though eventually, and by some miracle of Phabium, he got them, eight of the nine grass pixie clans, heading back to their original territories. This left only one single clan, the Grass Pixie Clan, within his main zone, as this territory was their original territory; in fact, their village had been turned into his smog catapult workshop.


    This left Maxwell in a bit of a bind as to what he should do with them as he continued to watch them as well as the other eight clans as they slowly marched back to their villages. He couldn''t destroy the giant catapult workshop, as it would increase the number of his smog catapults and regular grass catapults that he was going to need to patrol his now large territory. Not to mention that it would be a poor reward to the miserable rage catapult to dismantle the workshop that expanded itself into an army just after it had defeated an invading army for him.


    Though since the grass pixie clans were now all under him, he needed to find a place for them to live since it was his responsibility as their new ruler. Maxwell thought on it for a moment while trying to come up with where he could put the clan, and then it occurred to him what he could do. "It has been a while since I''ve experimented." Maxwell said, thinking on the fact that the power of their rituals has been taken from the elders, perhaps by working together he and they could create something that they could live in.


    The idea seemed like it could work, though how to communicate it. Maxwell thought about using Wormer once again as his voice but decided against it and instead decided to use the same form of communication that he did with Wormer. This was a bit of a surprise, as several roots suddenly shot out of the ground and wrapped themselves around the heads of the three elders of the pixie clan.


    The smog root fist was only wrapped around their heads for a few moments, allowing for Maxwell to get his thoughts across before they let go and went back underground. This allowed the elders a moment to discuss among themselves and the crowd of grass pixies around them that had panicked at the sight of their elders being wrapped in necrotic roots.


    For a long while there seemed to be a fierce debate going on before the elders finally agreed and the rest of their kin along with them. Once they did, they gave a nod to his presence, which they could tell was somehow watching them, which showed their agreement. So Maxwell gathered his new power of the dark fey and began to try and pour it into the three elders, using them to focus and create a series of buildings in between himself and the miserable rage catapults warehouse to the south.


    Through each elder, he wanted to try and create a different series of buildings using this dark fey magic. It took Maxwell a moment as he didn''t have much practice when it came to using dark fey magic. Soon enough, though, he managed to bring the magic out and watch it appear around the elders as worms made out of pure shadow, which made sense; he supposed he did get this magic from Wormer, a dark fey who specialized in the creation of worm war beasts.


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    The shadow worms of pure dark fey magic quickly poured into the gathered elders at Maxwell''s command. At first nothing happened, as for a long while the three elders just stood there doing nothing with the power until they started to scream. That was when Maxwell realized that they didn''t know what to do with the power so experienced with grass pixie magic that they were adapting to dark worm fey magic very well.


    So seeing no choice, Maxwell took a far more active role and took control of what was going on instead of simply supplying the elders with power as he had been. He first took control of the grand elder, directing him and guiding the power through him to form the first building, which took shape quickly as hundreds of shadow worms formed into the building. He then left the grand elder panting as he moved on to who was next in the circle, which was Grekal, the grass pixies elder of the farmers.


    Maxwell did the same thing with her as he did with the grand elder, though it was more difficult as her rage at his mere existence caused her to resist his influence so much. But Maxwell managed it, causing another great building to form out of hundreds of magic shadows coming together. He then moved to the last elder, who was clearly at his limit when it came to dealing with the unfamiliar magic, who was Gressel, elder of the grass pixie hunters.


    Maxwell focused the power one last time through Gressel, causing a third and final large structure to form. Which, upon completion, left Gressel gasping on the ground with his fellow elders as their clansmen took care of them. Maxwell left the three grass pixie elders to be tended to by their kin and looked over the three new buildings that would be the center of the new grass pixie village. As to confirm the result of the ritual, a screen appeared to tell him what he and the elders had created together.


    <table style="border-collapse: collapse; width: 99.8728%" border="1">


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td style="width: 96.4331%">


    Through collaboration with the elders of a grass pixie clan, you have created the following buildings.


    Grassworm workshop: a place where craftsmen use both the magic of grass pixies and dark worm fey magic to create.


    The grass fey vault¡ªa bank that safely stored all magical grass underground, making sure that they would always have more to grow no matter what happens above ground.


    Worm safari arena¡ªa place where hunters may train their skill by hunting the constantly spawning war rooms below or enjoy the rooms above.


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    Maxwell looked over what had been created through his collaboration with the elders, and from what he could tell, it seemed what had been created was based on the type of dark fey magic used and what the elder did that was used as a focus. This was an interesting observation that could be something to be tested in later experiments, but for now the village had a starting point instead of having to start fresh.


    The grass pixie elders, not too soon after Maxwell was done making his observations, had gotten up and were making their way towards the new center of their new village. They walked around a moment seeing what the buildings were and quickly began barking out orders to get the village made proper.


    Seeing that the elders now had everything well in hand, Maxwell leaned back and just let his mind drift for a minute. Then something occurred to him that probably should have occurred to him earlier: How is he moving his head so much? It''s just a skull; he shouldn''t be moving his head so much.


    So now noticing this new particular thing about himself, Maxwell turned his necrotic sight back to himself and began looking himself over, trying to find how he was moving his neck so much. Then he found what was causing him to move his head so much: a neck. He had somehow gotten a neck without noticing it. "Well, I guess I know what I''m studying next,"'' Maxwell said to himself as this new mystery made itself known to him.

 chapter 58 why a neck?

    Maxwell had a neck; he did not have a neck before. No, normally it would be odd to be without a neck, and so having one once again would actually be a cause for celebration, but he was undead, and suddenly growing back lost limbs as if he was healing may not be a good sign. So he had to examine this development rather carefully, especially as everything was coming up pretty well for him lately, and so he wouldn''t want this strange development to ruin that current winning streak.


    So focusing his special necrotic sight on his new neck bone, Maxwell followed it to the end underneath him. What he found was quite shocking, as it seemed his new neck now connected him more physically to the underground system of his kingdom. As it went through the ground and into the network of tunnels that Wormer and his apprentices had helped make and improve.


    Maxwell took in the fact that he was not more physically connected to the land and all that entails. Well, he was doing that nearby, smog-fist roots who hadn''t noticed his spine as it had somehow blended with the rock around it to their senses had it brought to their attention with Maxwell''s own focus on it. Soon his only third of a spine that was underground was covered in smog fist roots, all looking to protect their ruler and honored for the chance to do so.


    Maxwell could feel the smog roots fist clinging to and surrounding his new neck bone. Which was an odd thing to feel, but he didn''t mind it as it was just his loyal creations trying to protect him. There was nothing wrong with so with his new neck explained and any possible danger coming from his new neck now eliminated with his smog root fist guarding the new limb.


    The only question left for Maxwell to ask then is why he had gotten a new neck. He thought for a moment, recalling what undead he was exactly, which was an undead construct. So by going off that, then a good sign of growth for an undead of his type would be expanding. So he supposed it wasn''t so much he got a neck but was growing a basement? This was most likely due to the sudden expansion of his territory.


    As all that power was being spread throughout the lands of the grass pixie clan''s territory, it had boasted his authority. Which, as an undead ruler, there was probably a link to his power as a ruler and the might of his physical form, though how much of one was probably still up for debate. Which was probably good to keep in mind for later but wasn''t important right at this moment.


    So with his new neck now settled, Maxwell now focused back on the surface and on other issues. Such as the grass pixies returning home, some had already returned to their villages while others had not yet reached theirs yet. Maxwell watched them for a long while as they went about their business of either marching home or getting their villages back in order.


    Maxwell''s necrotic vision allowed him to see a physical manifestation of their dark emotions. As they knew they had lost the war and were now under a king, but that did not mean they had to like it. Especially for those in the village, they could already see the changes to their way of life as undead butterflies and undead hornets patrolled their skies. Well, smog grass elementals patrolled their streets, angrily watched by grass pixie hunters who felt insulted by the fact they could not even walk their own streets without being reminded of their defeat.


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    Maxwell, seeing this, thought on it a moment. "Perhaps some carrot is in order." Maxwell said to himself thinking that perhaps if he gave them something to be positive about they would be less angry and perhaps a bit more accepting of the change in status quo. So using the new building he had gotten and the memories he had from playing Age of Legends when it came to city building, he added three new buildings to the other eight villages that made up the clans.


    Which caused different reactions among the grass pixie clans, as some were still on the march back to their villages when these new buildings appeared. While others were in their villages, three buildings suddenly shot out of the ground, created through the use of dark worm fey magic. The universal reaction was suspicion, as none of the grass pixies trusted the building made from dark worm fey magic. But after some prodding by the undead of the smog kingdom, they went into the new buildings and found their uses.


    So all In all, Maxwell thought it worked out as the different grass pixie villages used the new building with suspicion. But in the end they used the new facilities, which was a start to hopefully improving relations. Now with that done, Maxwell focused back on his capital territory, where his commanders were. He began to think on it a moment then came to a decision, which was that the three should be patrolling his new territory.


    Since both the cloaked butterfly ship and the hornet doom sphere were mobile, as well as the fact that the miserable rage catapult was a mobile siege engine. As it was with the outpost and workshop nearby, Maxwell had a constant supply of low-level troops to defend himself with, not to mention the ghost leaf tornadoes he could use if the more basic troops weren''t up to the task.


    So it would be better to have his commanders leading their personal armies through his lead-fortified territories that, as if this moment just had walls of solid smog between them. So with his mind made up, he gave the command, and all three of his commanders began to gather large personal forces before they set out to patrol the eight other provinces that made up his kingdom of smog.


    It was actually quite a thing to watch as Horter and Bunet built up their giant flying armadas before taking off to watch the skies and ground of his realm. While the miserable rage catapult gathered line after line of smog grass catapults, forming them up only once he had several lines in front of and behind itself, did the miserable rage catapult begin to have its forces march out to begin their patrol of the realm along with the other three.


    "With that, everything should be good for now, and my realm will be secure for now on." Maxwell said, thinking that the era of war with the grass pixies was finally over and that he probably wouldn''t ever have to worry about fighting grass pixies ever again.

 chapter 59 the making of three

    Phabium walked the realm of his pantheon once again in search of those that could use the power that Maxwell had just given him the best. Walking the courts of all those monster gods, whose court long went silent, though for the first time in a long time he was the only source of movement within the holy realm of the monster pantheon. As Acrostile, a lesser monster god of the dark fey, had gained followers and a temple.


    Through this, two things Acrostile had gained power and slowly brought life to the court of the dark fey monster gods by tending to his duties. Hopefully, Acrostile would be the catalyst needed to breathe life back into the rest of the withered dark fey monster god court, though only time would tell. Phabium turned his attention from Acrostile and the dark fey monster gods, as he had to watch over all monster gods and so would use the power of the grass pixie elders to bring power to several monster god courts.


    First he took the power of the ritual of growth that the farming pixie elders had used and went through the court of those that once spread sheer terror and worship in those beasts that live in the ocean depths. Now those of this court of monster gods are barely remembered by sailors that once shuddered in pure fear if only half their names were spoken.


    Phabium looked among the court of the sea for a monster sea god with the strength that was compatible with the power that he had brought. He looked upon the court, seeing the many monster sea gods whose forms once filled entire trenches but now barely fit inside their thrones as they had shrunk so much due to being weakened from the hunting of those under their authority.


    Soon enough, Phabium found one who met the requirements. He walked towards him, Phabium''s ever-shifting form causing what little light there was within the sea court to cast his shadow in strange ways in the dark, murky depths that surrounded them. He soon enough had crossed the distance between himself and the one he sought, which was the monster sea god by the name of Arrab.


    Phabium gave Arrab a quick glance that painted him dearly as it always did to see his godkin reduced to such a state. Arrab was a monster sea god of the Arowac. The arowac were a race of giant sea crabs that had huge arrow-like horns sticking out of their heads. As their god, Arrab once had entire fleets at the top of his arrow horn on which he had pierced personally.


    Now Arrab did not even have a small canoe on his head, much less the fleet of broken ships he had run through. "My king, what brings you down to where the dregs are today?" Arrab said, not looking up, as he did not have the strength to even lift his head up. A shame that destroyed Arrab every moment of every day for one that once destroyed entire fleets that had angered him while looking them all in the eye.


    "I have come with a chance for honor to restore you to a semblance of what you once were. Will you take it? To look your king in the eyes again." Phabium asked plainly, getting the point across but quietly, so as to not disturb the other weakened monster sea gods in the court. At hearing the offer, Arrab tried to tilt his head up to look his king in the eye to be sure of the truth but didn''t have the strength to.


    "Of course, sire. I want that more than anything." Arrab said the hope and desperation mixing clearly in his voice as he answered. Phabium nodded and passed him the power of the grass pixie ritual of growth. Once Arrab had the power in his class, he knew what he was to do with it and immediately began to shape it into an artifact of himself.


    "Good, I have powers for others, so I will go and give them and come back for the artifact you have made." Phabium said leaving Arrab to his work while he went to find others in his pantheon to give hope to. Phabium walked the halls for a moment, taking several forms with each step as he grew and lost crab claws only to get a dozen batwings in return.


    Phabium walked the halls of the pantheon for a while looking for one who would be compatible with the power of the ritual power of the craftsman elders and make the most out of the power at the same time. Phabium eventually found the court he was looking for. The entranceway to this specific court was made out of trees utterly destroyed by the claws and fangs of a massive beast that seemed to have dragged the wood they tore apart into a loose doorway.


    He walked in, the pain surging into him once again as he gazed around the courtroom and saw those that once destroyed great forests and made their nests out of young world trees. Sadly, those days were long gone as he gazed at the monster gods of the forest eaters. They were the gods in charge of those monsters that devoured all plant life in their path.


    Sadly, it seemed every elven hero had it that as a right of passage, they could only be a true elven hero if they had caused at least one species of such plant-eating monsters to go extinct. Which, considering the sheer amount of elven heroes over the years, meant that at this point there were more legendary trees than there were species of forest-destroying monsters.


    Though hopefully with the power he now brought, they would be a little less rare. Phabium looked around for a god of the forest eaters that was most compatible with the power he brought, and soon enough he found them. So he walked over to them, careful not to disturb the others.


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    Phabium was next to them in next to no time. The god he was standing over was Upath, god of the pavooth, a race of four-legged monsters that had giant, razor-sharp teeth. They were once like vermin found everywhere in the forest, cutting trees in half and chewing through the roots of any plant their claws could dig out. That was before elven archer heroes decided they made the best target practice.


    The pavoot went from being vermin found everywhere to rarer than some forms of unicorn. As such, Upath, their god, was weakened and never recovered, though now perhaps he could, and the pavooth with him. Upath finally noticed Phabium''s presence. "What does the great king want from Upath? His great fangs don''t work anymore. And what is an Upath worth without good fangs? Upath said his negativity was practically palpable.


    "You may not have good fangs, Upath, but you have not lost any of your skill." Phabium said gently, causing Upath to turn towards him, curiosity clear on his face. "I have obtained a power for you to use so that the pavoooth may greatly once again, and in doing so, hopefully help you to do the same again." Phabium said, causing Upath''s look of curiosity to turn to hope as Phabium handed him the ritual power of the crafting elders.


    Upath got to work quickly crafting into an artifact of himself and the pavooth. "I have one more power to deliver, and so I shall return for the artifact when you are done with its creation." Phabium said to a focused Upath, who gave a quick nod of confirmation but stayed focused on his work.


    Phabium made his way down the hallway once again, his ever-shifting shadow his companion for the journey. He was looking for the one compatible with the last power he held, the ritual power of the elder hunters. He looked for a moment and found what he was looking for: the entranceway was caught in a single moment, specifically the dawn. This caused a rising sun to just always be over the doorway, but the rising sun never seemed to fully rise despite how much time had passed.


    Phabium walked through the doorway to the court of the dawn monster gods, those monster gods that represented the monsters that attacked at dawn. They made the most of the transition between night and day to attack those made complacent due to the change in time as. Though sadly, just as the elven heroes hunted the forest eater for sport, causing their decline, the same had happened to the dawn monsters.


    As the dawn monsters were caught in between an unfortunate private battle between those heroes that worshipped day and those that worshipped night. As a way of proving who was better over the other, they had taken to hunting monsters in the dawn in extreme numbers. They did this as a form of competition between each other, which has devastated the ranks of dawn monsters, as such competitions were held often.


    Phabium looked around at those weakened husks that once were considered celestial disasters. Those with the gift of foresight would foretell of their coming with the dawn, which meant the doom of civilizations. Now most with the gift of foresight guess at his long before the dawn monster gods die totally. Though Phabium hoped that with what he brought he would have helped the dawn monster gods avoid such a fate.


    Phabium looked around the court for a moment, looking for one who could use the power he had brought the best. Then he saw the one he sought and approached quietly, though with speed, and in no time, as he had with the others, Phabium now stood over the god he was going to ask for aid from.


    The god looked to him. "It''s good to see you, sire, but what brings you to the court of the dawn? Our time has long passed." Dawth said god of the eorap, a race of all lizards known to scrounge for weapons and supplies during the night. So they can launch their raids during the dawn.


    "It may have come again, Dawth; I just need your help in making it so." Phabium said, to which Dawth looked at him curiously. Phabium then proceeded to give Dawth the power of the ritual of the hunting elders. Dawth, quickly seeing what was being asked of him, got to work. Phabium watched as Dawth worked, not leaving as he would wait for Dawth to finish the artifact, then go and collect the others.


    Once the three artifacts were completed and brought back to Maxwell, those gods would have ways of entertaining with the mortal plane once again. This would allow them to gain power and rise once again. As Phabium watched Dawth forge a weak godly artifact, the first time the monster god pantheon had done so in thousands of years, Phabium wondered.


    "Will this truly be the time things change?" Phabium said to himself, a faint trace of hope coming through his voice as Phabium felt hope building to a point that he hadn''t felt in thousands of years. A dangerous thing to do, he knew the more you hoped, the more you were destroyed when it all came crumbling down, as it had done for him many times. But perhaps he had to have hope as the ruler for those that had lost all of theirs a long time ago, even if it hurt him in the end.

 chapter 60 Legotas new legend

    Legotas had to admit to himself things had not gone as he had expected. When he had sent Phabium''s little champion into pixie woods, he expected him to be destroyed by all the magical creatures that lived there not long after his arrival. As the pixies and those that lived in pixie woods weren''t exactly fond of the undead. But instead of being quickly destroyed as Legotas had expected, the little skull had instead built his own little kingdom of undead within a part of the pixie woods of Gregal and had just recently won a great battle, claiming a larger part of the pixie woods of Gregal for his own.


    Which was the little skull''s greatest mistake. As Legotas was a god of legends and as such would always find out about such interesting tales, as was his nature. The falling of the nine grass pixie clans to the skull superweapon as well as the skull''s armies was an interesting tale indeed; in fact, it was just the tale he needed to destroy the skull before it could become a true problem for him later down the line.


    As the skull has now become a ruler of a great but small kingdom of undead with great and powerful weapons as well as having mighty armies to go along with their mighty weapons. Though granted, in the grand scheme of things, the weapons weren''t all mighty compared to what several beginner heroes had used. Though even with that taken into account, he still had to deal with this new undead realm, the Kingdom of Smog.


    Besides what was added to the talk was the defeat of grass pixis clans, as their elders were not the strongest things, but they were decently powerful. So then not being able to overcome the skull and its kingdom of smog showed its legitimacy as a threat. So while the grass poxie clans would remain under their new skull ruler for the moment. Though being under an undead skull''s rule, they would no doubt lose something fundamental about themselves, which did add a bit more depth to the tale, which Legotas always liked.


    These were the kind of tales that Legotas loved to hear, as they were perhaps some of the easiest to deal with and yet at the same time had the greatest payoff at the end of the story. As all that was required now was a hero to appear and defeat both the superweapons of this fledgling undead kingdom and its armies as well. Which wouldn''t be too difficult as far as Legotas was concerned, as heroes had done more practicing to be heroes than would be required to destroy the skull and free the grass pixies clans from Phabium''s little skull champion.


    Luckily, Legotas had the exact hero in mind as the grass pixie clans had a hero. But as heroes do when all the adventure in the area had dried up, he left for other places to make his legend even grander. Though now with his people conquered, grand superweapons held over their heads, and armies of undead creation marching across his home, there was now more than enough adventure for said hero to return home.


    The said hero in question was marching across one of the many different fey forests in search of his next grand quest. There were many fey forests, all different from one another, and each one was almost a continent unto itself, as fey forests tended to be far larger than they first appeared. The magical woods were where he could find a good adventure, whether it was the sun fairy woods, the ever-shifting moon woods, or perhaps even the eternally swarming woods. These three choices were the greatest candidates to produce a satisfying adventure in the hero''s mind.The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.


    As these magical fey woods weaved, they boasted interesting magical effects. This meant even if there was nothing in these magical woods that could challenge his heroic might, he could still find interesting magical phenomena that would more than make up for it. Though he had to be careful, as magical fairy woods like to separate themselves into distinct districts. Which means you can have the strange experience of walking into a fey woods and somehow finding a desert deep inside of it. Which had only happened to him once.


    As the hero of the grass pixies walked the small territory between fairy woods, trying to come to a decision on which of the fairy woods he should explore, he heard something strange above him and began to focus on it. The winds shifted above him, carrying the leaves past him, and on this new wind came whispers, which the hero could hear, telling him of a tale. This tale was dark, as it was a tale of how his homeland had fallen to the undead, conquered by a skull that commanded smog, and how his kin were now his kin in desperate need of their hero to return and save them from their conquerors.


    "I, Greero, the great hero swordsman of the nine grass pixie clans, will save my people!" Greero shouted towards the sky. Not questioning for a moment why he had been told all of this from a voice on the wind, as such things happened to heroes often. Greero then raised his great and powerful blade, the Gratana, and charged forth, heading straight for his homeland, not willing to slow down or stop for anything.


    Legotas had watched Greero''s proud declaration to the sky to defeat the enemy and free his people. "Hmmm, I''ve seen better." Legotas said to himself honestly, as he had in fact seen better. As the god of Legends, he watched thousands of heroes give such declarations with much more passion and better words. Though Greero was young, Legotas figured he would eventually improve, so there was something to look forward to.


    As Legotas always liked to see the stories getting better, for that to happen, the heroes had to improve. Which Legotas figured Greero would, as nothing made the heroes a bit more skilled at speech than freeing their homeland, at least in his experience, which was rather vast, all things considered, as the god of legends.


    Though he did have to admit Phabium has already won in a way, though he doubted he knew that. As that poor bastard has been so long without a win, he probably wouldn''t know if he won if Legotas beat him upside the head with the literal embodiment of victory. Though he had to admit to himself that Phabium had indeed won, at least in a way.


    Which was that Phabium had him routing against an underdog, which honestly Legotas couldn''t remember the last time he had done that; it had probably been thousands of years if he was being honest. As underdogs were the favorite of legendary stories, the fact that Phabium got him to plan the downfall of one is a win for him.


    Though sadly it will be the only win for him, and then it will be back to business as usual. "My dear Phabium, once again you tried, and once again you failed." Legotas said in a teasing tone of voice as he watched the hero Greero make his way towards the kingdom of Smog, no doubt heralding its doom. "Better luck next time." Legotas said before he turned his attention to other tasks within his domain that required his attention.

 chapter 61 the three artifacts of monster gods

    Maxwell had found himself far busier than ever before watching over his kingdom. As not only had he not been expecting the great expansion of his kingdom, but he had also been in no way ready to deal with having conflicting people. As the grass pixies did their best to maintain and even try to expand the grass pixies lands within the borders of his kingdom.


    This act of theirs outraged his undead grass elementals and undead insect zombies, who saw the attempt to expand the grass pixie lands even by just a little as treasonous. Now Maxwell himself did not see it like this, as the grass pixies were merely trying to stave off the transformation of the pixie grasslands. They had the fact that the source of the transformation was him, and therefore they were technically defying him, despite the transformation being automatic, and therefore Maxwell had no real input in the process.


    As such, he wasn''t directing the grass pixies lands to be transformed and thus had no problem with the nine clans trying to maintain or expand the pixie grasslands they had watched over for generations beyond counting. Though the fact Maxwell was not against what the grass pixies were doing was a moot point, as those loyal to him were. Which was a bit of a problem, especially as those loyal to him were numerous and spread throughout his kingdom.


    So Maxwell now found a lot of his time taken up playing peacemaker between the new citizenry and the creations of his kingdom of necrotic smog. It was exhausting, which was an odd sensation to have as an undead construct, but in the end it was his duty as the ruler of the kingdom. Though luckily, as time went on, the clash between the two over the issue became less frequent.


    Though why that was, Maxwell wasn''t quite sure. His guesses were either that the zombie insects and smog grass elementals had gotten the message he wasn''t bothered by what the grass pixies were doing, or the other option was that the grass pixies were getting better at hiding what they were doing from their new undead watchers. Though Maxwell figured it could also be a combination of the previous two options.


    Maxwell shook his skull. "It doesn''t matter, Maxwell." Maxwell said to himself, no matter the reason the outcome was, he was back to having a lot of free time as his kingdom ran itself for the most part. So Maxwell figured he should go back to experimenting with dark magic once more, as it had done nothing but improve his realm so far. Before Maxwell could begin on this endeavor, he felt the presence of Phabium.


    "Your highness, welcome back to my realm. What can I do for you?." Maxwell said speaking with the most reverence to the presence of Phabium he felt above his kingdom. His willingness to serve was showing through in every word he spoke. Phabium took a moment to look over Maxwell''s newly expanded realm and see the overall state of Maxwell''s kingdom before he spoke.


    "It is good to see you again, Maxwell, and your kingdom. I have returned to bring you the artifacts I promised would be made with the power you handed to me. Now that they are made, they are theirs to do with as you wish." Phabium said in a calm tone, though his words shocked Maxwell despite the calm tone they were delivered in.


    "I can use the artifacts however I want? Are you sure these divine artifacts don''t belong to your fellow monster gods? Don''t they have demands for their use?" Maxwell asked, confused, figuring that the artifacts of gods would come with strings attached even if they were being given by his savior.


    The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.


    "No, they have no orders for you on how you must use them. As it is, the artifacts merely existing on the mortal plane will give the gods who created them influence. Which they have not had in a long time. So use the artifacts as you will to help maintain your kingdom from all who threaten you." Phabium said, explaining why there were no demands, clearing up Maxwell''s confusion on the matter.


    "Well then I will try to use the artifacts to the best of my ability and bring glory to the monster god pantheon." Maxwell said figuring that would be the best response and hoped it would satisfy Phabium. Which, as far as Maxwell could tell, Phabium was satisfied with his answer.


    "That is all I can ask for. I must go now. Best of luck, ruler Maxwell." Phabium said his presence was leaving as three lights came down from the sky and burst into the artifacts he had been promised. A screen appeared before Maxwell, telling him of what each artifact did and what god it belonged to.


    <table style="border-collapse: collapse; width: 99.8728%" border="1">


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td style="width: 96.4331%">You have been gifted the following lesser divine artifacts of the monster god pantheon.


    Helmet of Arrab¡ªcrafted by the monster sea god Arrab.


    This helmet is made of arowak bone and has a giant arrowhead horn coming out of its top. The helmet has the ability to grow its arrowhead horn to absurd lengths to pierce anything before it. The helmet also allows its bearer to have any weight atop his head so long as they are piercing it.


    Teeth of Upath¡ªcrafted by the god of plant-devouring Upath


    The teeth are made of a strange stone-like substance and kept in a large bone jaw. The power of these teeth is that all wood that stands in front of them will be cut in half with one bite of the teeth.


    Claws of Dawth¡ªcrafted by the dawn god Dawth.


    This set of two claws represents both night and day, and their use in which you are supposed to use the night claw and then the sun claw has them represent the dawn together. The ability of the claws is that the night claw first leaves behind dark wounds that the light claw will then ignite.


    That is all the artifacts.</td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    Maxwell looked at the three artifacts and found the ideas swirling in his mind of what he should do with them. Luckily for him, with things starting to quiet down within his realm, he could devote his full time and attention to those ideas. So the only real question for him was what he was going to do with the new divine artifacts of his kingdom.


    Does he put them into a temple dedicated to the monster pantheon? Since each of the artifacts represents a different monster god, it would fit. Though he could also try and use them in his experiments, as even weaker divine relics would probably help him to create truly bizarre but powerful things.


    "So, Maxwell, what are you going to do?" Maxwell says to himself, his thoughts circling as he considered the future of the divine artifacts and what that held in store for him and all those that followed him.

 chapter 62 the prototypes

    Maxwell used his necrotic sight to examine the divine artifacts of the monster pantheon looking over inch of the divine relics he now had in his possession. He was now found himself thinking about what to do with the relics. As well he had been given permission to do as he willed with them that didn''t mean he shouldn''t try to use them in the most optimal manor possible nor that he shouldn''t be respectful as well.


    So taking all that into consideration Maxwell found his mind swirling with ideas on how to use the divine artifacts but he had to choose the best. So he began to go through them with the process of elimination hoping he would have the best idea by the end of his thought process. The first and most obvious would be to create a temple to the monster gods and have the divine artifacts displayed there.


    Maxwell thoughts on the idea for a few moments before dismissing it. Well it would be respectful to the artifacts and the monster gods that created them it would also mean the artifacts saw no use which would be a bit of waste. Which would probably be disrespectful in of itself to the aetifacts and the monster pantheon that created them. so that idea was out and it was on to the next one.


    The next idea in line would be to find warriors he could bestow the artifacts on to that would be both champions of the gods that made the artifacts and of his realm. The problem with this idea was for that to work he would have to have great warriors of martial prowess. He did not have that well it was true he had powerfull elementals in the undead smog grass elementals and he had what could be considered vivacious slayers of life with his undead insects. Not to mention his smog grass catapults were always willing to prove their ability to bring devastation to the living.


    The problem is none of these were skilled warriors. They were more than capable as forces of the undead but when bringing the artifact of a monster god you did not want to be shamed because the one welding it wasn''t able to use it properly. Now the grass pixies could do it but he didn''t have anyone among them he could trust and well Wormer or one of his worm dark pixie clamsmen might prove worthy to wield a divine relic they were to few to risk any of them at this juncture.


    So the champion idea was out as well leaving Maxwell with the final and most difficult idea but the one that was probably the best out of all them. Which was use the three monster god artifacts to create a new monster. It seemed a rather tell ask for one as lowly as him but surely there is no other great form of faithful worship to the monster god pantheon then the creation of a monster in their name.


    Though how he was going to do it was going to be a bit of a problem. Maxwell pondered on the issue for a long while and came to the conclusion that the best option was to create a body that would then have the three artifacts added when it was brought to life. This would create a monster of immense power surely and one that would make sure his realm was protected. As none would ever threaten him or his kingdom if they new such a monster would retialate against them.


    Though with artifacts of such power he would have to do a few test runs before he did it with the divine artifacts. " So it is time to experiment once more!" Maxwell said excitement filling his necrotic voice at what he would soon get to create. Though first he needed to gather material for his experiments. So he gave a command through his necrotic connection and soon his undead butterflies and undead hornets were dropping of heaps if material in front of the inner wall that was near him personally.


    He waited for a little bit letting the pipe fill with twigs, leaves, grass, pebbles and corpses of dead insects. Maxwell looked at all the material he had and figured he would experiment with what he learned from the pixie grass clans invading. He would also seperate the process into two phases with an initial frame phase and then a secondary part where the nesscery part would be put in. This will allow him to practice for the divine artifacts monster he planned to create later.


    So now that he has set on a course of action there was only one question left. " Where do I began?" Maxwell said somehow feeling a phantom smile on his skull though it was phantom as he didn''t have the lips or the muscles to have a real smile. Maxwell though on how he should experiment for a moment and came to a conclusion that he would start with what he had seen from the battle fleet belonging to the grass pixies.


    So just as he had said he would be began with the body. He took from the piles of material with hands made of smog using them to get twigs out and began using them to make a frame similar to the grass pixie warships. Maxwell spent a long while bending and shaping the frame to get it right. Once that was done he got dead grass and wrapped it around the different parts of the twig frame forming the walls of the vessel.


    Maxwell looked over his work once he was done and adding the dead grass he then proceed to add dark worm magic to it. This caused several worms made out of dark ooze to appear and began squirming and wrapping around the frame of the new ship. The worms of dark ooze finnaly stopped moving once they had reached where they were heading within the vessel. Theae magic worms caused the frame to become firmer as loose parts were tighned and the dead grass to hardened as they waved themselves into it.


    This casting of magic left the ship''s body done now it was time to add three parts to truly bring it to life. Though first he had to create the parts to began with and the most obvious was the sail. So he began doing just that. He first grabbed a rather long twig and some leafs from the pile of material. He then cast his dark worm fey magic once again binding the leafs to the twig.


    With that done he then began the next step and began to cast his usual ghost winds though this time he didn''t destroy any leafs to do it causing no ghost leaf to form in the necrotic winds. He then had this winds pushed into the small leaf sail causing the lower half of the leafs to be shredded and cause a small gust of wind to blow around that had small shredded ghost leaves flowing it. Maxwell looked over his little haunted leaf sail and found himself happy with it.


    So he moved on to the next item for the ship. Which he figure should be a figure head. So he got to work and grabbed a lot twigs even had his undead insects bring in a few more before he got to making it. Once he felt he had enough he began to work crafting a two headed mask with one face sad the other angry. He wasn''t an artist so well not the greatest thing ever it looked decent enough he thought when he was done.


    With the body made he then filled the angry face with necrotic rage smog and the sad face with sad necrotic smog causing the eyes in both joined faces to glow ominously once he was finished. Though with the magic applied to the figure head he now had two items of power for the ship so he moved on to the third and final item.Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation.


    Maxwell figured the ship he was working on should have a way to hunt things that were below it. So he first grabbed some twigs once more and began shaping them creating a giant skeletal clawed hand that when attached the ship should allow it to hunt anything beneath it. Once he was done crafting the claw to the best of his ability he then filled with the magic of dark worm fey. This caused what seemed like veins to appear in the claw but was the dark worm fey magic making the claw magic easier to use.


    Now with three items of power for his expermination Maxwell grabbed all three with his hand of necrotic smog and carefully added them to the ship. Maxwell watched as a change seem to come over the new warship as the three items war incorporated into it. Maxwell watched the ship as it went through practice maneuvers using it ghost leaf gust to move on its small river of rage and sad smog that it created beneath itself. At one point Maxwell even had the ships use its claw to snatch some rocks for him which it did with rather explosive results as the ships claw shattered the rock with ease and by mistake.


    With that last test done Maxwell sent the ship off to began patrolling around him in his capital territory. "So on to the next experiment which will be based on the hydra. Though my attempt won''t have as many heads." Maxwell said to himself a bit eager to began the next round of experiments as he was always eager to get new units for his realm though he might not have always showed it. But he was a skull so he didn''t think anyone could hold it against him.


    So since he was doing three objects of power for this round of experiments. He would instead of making a full nine headed hydra he would instead make a three head serpent. So with the plan he got to first grabbing a lot of dead grass and shaping the serpents lower body then once hat was done the three upper necks. This took a lot of time but once he was done Maxwell used his dark worm fey magic conjuring worm made of black ooze and having them act as threads binding the giant three headed serpent body together making it more stable.


    With the body done Maxwell moved on to the heads taking pebbles from the pile and slowly shaking them into three serpent skulls. Once that was done he moved on to making the three serpent skulls powerfull objects. He did this by filling each of them with necrotic magic. He filled one with angry necrotic smog another with sad necrotic smog and the last with his ghost wind.


    Once all three serpent skulls were done being filled with necrotic magic Maxwell attached them to the three headed grass serpent body and watched it as it came to undeath. He watched the three headed serpent as it came into its new existence and slithered around getting used to its form. Though once Maxwell thought it had gotten good at moving Maxwell had the three serpent show the effect of its necrotic heads.


    The results were rather interesting as the host wind head sucked in things to then shoot out phantom versions of whatever it had devoured. The angry necrotic serpent head shot out a gas that turned all plant caught in it into angry grass serpents. While the final serpent head the sad necrotic serpent head shot out a strange substance that moved like tears when it hit the ground but also burned anything it touched.


    So all in all Maxwell was rather satisfied with his three headed grass serpent. So with him now satisfied with it he had the three headed serpent patroll like the battleship he had made earlier was. " Well it''s now time for the final experiment. Which also happens to be the one closest to what I''ll be doing with the divine artifacts later." Maxwell said to himself both eager and wary. As this experiment wouls show how well his plans with the divine artifacts would go.


    The experiment would be replicating what the grass pixies had done when creating that strange living armor of theirs hence why he had gotten his creations to gather the insect corpses. As he needed them for this specific experiment. So Maxwell began gathering material for the experiment from his material pile. He chose to go with mantices, beetles and centipedes as the material for his creation.


    Once the insect bodies were chosen he got to work. Maxwell first took the centiped and sure he''d them to their max limit as he made their bodies both the spine and the limbs of his creation. Once he had them all layed out as he wanted he then added beetles making them armor for what he was making. Once the beetles were all placed over the centiped skeleton Maxwell then added the mantices making them essentially hidden close blades scattered through out the strange amalgamation he was creating.


    Once Maxwell had double checked the placement of everything several times and was sure everything was where it needed to be he then used the magic of the dark worm fey to conjure worms of black ooze. The black ooze worms sprang up and into the strange insect form Maxwell had created binding it together. With that done Maxwell moved on to creating artifacts for it to use.


    He first created a chest piece made out of pebbles figuring extra protection never went wrong. Once he had finished created the chest piece he filled with angry necrotic smog causing it to dark angry hurt and become sharper. Maxwell having finished the chest piece moved onto a helmet once again taking pebbles and slowly crafting them into the shape he needed using his necrotic power.


    Once the helmet was fully shaped he put sad necrotic smog in it causing tears of green to pour out of the eye socket that burned the ground where they hit. Now with a helmet and chest piece done he decided to make a gauntlet with a big spike on the end. Once again using pebbles he quickly crafted it and once he was sure it was good he filled it with dark worm fey magic.


    Which gave Maxwell the strange task of watching as the strange worm magic dug into the spike wiggling into and causing it to turn. This gave the gauntlet a drill bit effectively instead of a spike. Maxwell now had three apowerfull items for his rather strange bug armor and so he put it on the creation and watched as it sprang up to its feet. Maxwell had it for through it paces before deciding it was ultimately good to go and sending it to patroll with the other two.


    With this Maxwell was done experimenting and could now began his grand act of worship to create a monster with divine relics inside of it. Though before he could do that he had a status window appear informing him of what exactly his creations were.


    <table style="border-collapse: collapse; width: 99.8728%" border="1">


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td style="width: 96.4331%">Through expermination you have created the following units.


    The haunted grass warship- it uses the smog generated from its dual headed figure head to sail and it''s haunted sail to help push it forward. It also has a claw that has immenseness strength to crush any enemies below it.


    The three headed grass skull serpent- a large grass serpent with three magical necrotic skulls each of the skull have a different breath of nectotic might to each other. This allows the serpent to deal slot of damage in a short amount of time well also being hard to counter.


    Living insectoid armor- a large body made out of three species of insect it is made almost entirely of carapace making it rather durable. It also has surising amount of hidden mantice blades that acted independent as well as a drill gauntlet to deal massive damage.


    This units well expensive are mass producible with the proper facilities.</td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    Maxwell looked over the details of his new units liking what he seeing. But then he looked away from the screen getting back on task as he had great holy work to do. He could try and began mass producing these elite units at a later date. Meanwhile a certain hero was getting closer spelling a possible doom for an unaware Maxwell and his kingdom of necrotic smog.

 chapter 63 the attack on the walls

    For a time beyond counting, the pixie grasslands within the forest if Gregal had remained open. There were no walls nor borders as each clan knew where one clan''s territory began and another''s ended. The only real thing within the pixie grasslands keeping others out was the fences the grass pixies put around their villages. As well as the greater insects that were roaming and constantly hungry for both magical grass and pixie flesh.


    That time was over now, as now there were great walls of solid necrotic smog separating the different territories. These walls also separated the pixie grasslands from the rest of the pixie forest, Gregal, to add to the drastic change upon the lands. The walls did not even have grass pixies atop them in control of such dividing walls. No, instead an entire other force controlled these walls, that controller who could enter the pixie grasslands as well as where they could travel to once they were inside.


    This force was the undead truly showing just how radical the change to pixie grasslands was. As no undead would be allowed to exist before within the pixie forest of Gregal. Perhaps you could find one or two undead creatures hiding in a part of the pixie woods of Gregal. Somehow creating a meek and shallow existence for themselves as they hid in the darkest of shadows that they could find.


    Now the dead did not hide; no, they now had taken a portion of the pixie forest, specifically the pixie grasslands, and made it into a kingdom of the undead. Where undead insects ruled the skies above and undead constructs as well as undead grass elementals ruled the ground. As necrotic smog covered everything, hiding the no-doubt dark deeds and horrible acts of the community behind the walls that now stood separating the new kingdom of necrotic smog and its fairy population from the rest of the pixie forest of Gregal.


    Greero, upon hearing the tales of this new necrotic kingdom and of his people being conquered, had come to bring about the end of the undead kingdom''s no-doubt dark reign. Greero had made a quick journey back to the pixie grasslands within the pixie forest of Gregal. So Greero was standing there, the wind swirling around him as he stared at the wall separating his people''s home from the rest of Pixie Forest.


    "The undead''s reign ends here and now!" Greero declared his voice carrying on the wind as he once again held the powerful blade of legend above him, the Gratana. A mythical blade made by the elder crafters of the grass pixie clans long ago using the sharpest magical grass ever produced by the pixie grasslands. It was said that anything in the path of the Gratana would be cut down as the power of the mythical grass blade allowed it to cut through anything with ease. In fact, its cuts were so quick and easy that many had been slain by the blade and never known they had been cut by it.


    Those undead tasked with the guarding of the wall were quickly made aware of the grass pixie approaching their post. How they responded was of two different lines. The sad, necrotic smog catapults and the undead butterflies were of the opinion that since the war against the grass pixies was over, the one grass pixie slowly approaching them should be brought inside. As they figured he was just a single grass pixie that had been outside the wall when it formed and as such was now trapped outside of the kingdom of necrotic smog.


    Those undead hornets found patrolling above the upper part of the walls were of a completely different opinion. As undead hornets had been led by the undead hornet commander Bunet into battle on multiple occasions, they as a whole had gained some of her basic tactics. Which was effectively charge the enemy until you couldn''t charge anymore and don''t trust grass pixies with strong magic. As Bunet and the hornet swarm had been outmaneuvered on more than one occasion by grass pixie magic.


    So when the undead hornets felt through their undead nature the rather powerful pixie magic the one walking towards them had on him. The one and only conclusion to come to for the undead hornets was to kill him. So they charged the grass pixie with the blade, their fellow defenders, the undead butterflies, and the sad necrotic catapults, calling them back to the wall.This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.


    The hornets did not listen as they had an enemy before them, and they would kill him before he used his magic against the kingdom. Their various different stingers were being brought to bear against the threat they saw before them. The first to reach him was the undead hornet, javelins their great stingers glinting as they brought down their powerful thrust on the enemy.


    The grass pixie walking towards them did not turn around to try and flee the undead hornet javelins coming for him. Nor did he try and dodge; instead, he simply swung his sword with a wave of his hand. The swing of the grass blade, to be honest, was less of a swing and more of a frivolous swipe at the air. Though despite this seemingly ineffective and wasteful moment, its effects were devastating as the first dozen lead undead hornet javelins were cut in half.


    Their momentum caused their bodies to fly past the grass pixie that had slain them and not a drop of dark blood from their bodies to touch him. The other undead hornets seeing the faster undead hornet javelins being easily slain did not hesitate and continued to charge at the enemy. So it was a moment that the grass pixie and the undead hornets were in a melee.


    The undead hornets continued to use their size and their large stingers to try and pierce the grass pixie in one shot through the force of their greater stinger. While those undead hornets blessed by the necrotic smog of anger or sadness used their special stingers to try and match their foe''s blade with their special stinger. Neither of these more advanced undead hornets succeeded; instead, they found themselves being slain left and right as the grass pixie seemingly danced around their attack and proceeded to keep slicing them in half with his powerful blade.


    The more basic undead hornets tried to help by flanking and guarding the more elite undead hornets. Sadly the undead hornet could do nothing, and soon enough the grass pixie was standing on a hill made out of the bodies of slain undead hornets. Though through their sacrifice, the undead butterflies had gathered a large number of the greater insects that roamed the pixie grasslands.


    The undead, dazzling butterflies lead the charge by gathering the largest horde of controlled greater insects under themselves and ordering the charge. While the angry smog butterflies used their ability to cause rage to cause a horde of enraged greater insects to form and attack, reinforcing the dazzling undead butterflies attempt to bury their single foe in a wave of greater insect bodies.


    The butterflies blessed by the sad necrotic smog used their ability to create sadness to try and make it easier to kill the one grass pixie threatening them. Sadly, just like before, the grass pixie danced among them, moving like a single blade of grass swaying in the wind. While at the same time it moved, it swung its hand with minimal effort, but despite the lack of trying, the blade still cut down the greater insects and the undead butterflies that commanded them with ease.


    Soon enough, both the undead hunters and the undead butterflies were all slain, leaving the sad grass smog catapult as the only one left to defend the wall. So sad, smog grass catapults having no allies to worry about getting began firing their ammo of venom, filling the air green as they sought to bury the grass pixie swordsman in acidic venom. It did not work as the grass pixie swordsman kept moving forward somehow dodging the constant barrage.


    I''m not sure at all. The grass pixie swordsman was at the bottom of the wall. The grass pixie swordsman then, without warning or hesitation, leaped upward, his grass blade moving rapidly in his hand as he cleared the wall and landed on the other side. He stood there a moment as if waiting for applause before he began to walk deeper into the kingdom of necrotic smog.


    The sad smog grass catapults did not try to turn around to try and hit the enemy that had passed them by. No, instead the sad smog grass catapults had become silent; even the sadness they naturally gave up was no longer present, making the wall truly silent for a few moments. Then all of a sudden, cracks formed in the wall and in the sad, smoggy grass catapults. Then in the next moment after these cracks had appeared, both the sad smog grass catapults and the wall itself collapsed into pieces.


    The hero Greero made his way forward, a happy smile on his face. "That was a good warm-up." The hero Greero said before he began to charge forward, having taken the strength of those that defend the walls, and so he was now on the way to destroying other walls as he made his way to the skull that ruled this kingdom of the undead, and with the fall of the first wall, the hero was now unleashed on the kingdom of smog.

 chapter 64 the fall of the hornet doom sphere

    Bunet patrolled the skies above the kingdom of necrotic smog. She, within her hornet doom sphere surrounded by an undead hornet swarm, went from village to village and from wall to wall. Being sure that the grass pixies were remaining compliant and that no new threat had emerged to threaten her hive or her king of the hive. So far in her patrol there were no new threats, and the grass pixies made no move to rebel against their new ruler.


    Though to be fair, Bunet knew it would be impossible for them to do so. As they had just lost a major battle and would need time to recover. Not to mention the fact that with all the new territory that they had gained, her forces and those of her fellow commanders were far greater than they had been before. So it would take quite a while before the grass pixie clans could muster up a force equal to their previous armies, much less one to match the maluch expanded armies of the kingdom of necrotic smog.


    Bunet had come to this logical conclusion, though that didn''t mean she liked it. As she wanted the grass pixies to rebel sooner rather than later. So she could wipe them all out. This wasn''t due to a desire to see their rave exterminated, though she hadn''t become their biggest fan. No, the reason she wanted an excuse to wipe them out early was that she didn''t trust them. As she had been the victim of grass pixie magic far too many times for her liking.


    So while she knew it was true that the grass pixies couldn''t raise an army in rebellion any time soon. She also knew that they could probably figure out a way to cast some spell that would have far more devastating effects than any army the grass pixie clans could raise. So she wanted them gone before they could cast any spells, but sadly her ruler''s orders had been clear: she was not to touch the new grass pixie citizens unless they rebelled against them.


    So that was why Burnet found herself staring at the wide screen within the command chamber of the Hornet Doom Sphere. Her insect eyes constantly scanned the wax screen that showed her the grass pixie villages she passed over, looking for any excuse that she could use to remove the threat she saw the grass pixies as. As she was doing that, an undead hornet came to her, flying fast through the halls of the hornet doom sphere until the undead hornet reached her in the command chamber.


    The undead hornets did not speak; they used their necrotic nature as undead to pass messages that were a combination of intent and emotions, the same as they would have using pheromones if they were alive. As such, it took a moment for Bunet to get the message the undead hornet was passing to her, as its message was jumbled from its need to pass it along quickly and the shock of whatever it was trying to say.


    Though once she untangled the message made of necrotic energy from the undead hornet, she found herself being filled with rage. "Those damn bzzz grass pixies bzzz!" Bunet said the message she had gotten was that the outermost wall of the kingdom had been breached. As some kind of magical grass pixie swordsman, he had cut through everything he saw and was now making his way deeper into the realm.


    The bastard had chosen the perfect time to do such a thing. Bunet thought to herself as she knew that their ruler, Maxwell the Great, was currently out of action. As he was busy in a holy ceremony, all his focus was taken up by his task. Which is why Bunet had to be told about the breach by an undead hornet. Usually they would have their Maxwell using his great and expansive necrotic senses to tell them if there were any intruders, but with his focus elsewhere, that wasn''t the case.


    This meant that the vast majority of the kingdom was unaware of this invasion. As that was what it was, despite it only being a single grass pixie, the powerful magical grass blade they wielded made them worth an army in and of themselves. So Burnet, seeing the inherent danger, sent two of her undead hornets out with info on this new threat. One went to Horter, the other the Miserable Rage Catapult, to tell them of this threat.If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.


    Bunet then gave the order herself to go after this threat to the realm. "My undead hornets bzzz. We attack bzzz the enemy bzzz! Bunet roared, her voice echoing through the hornet doom sphere and through her necrotic connection to her nearby undead hornet swarm. The undead hornets that made up her swarm roared back in approval with the intense buzzing of their wings and the scraping of their mandibles together.


    So with the order given, the hornet doom sphere and the undead hornet swarm under Bunet''s command made their way towards the enemy. Soon enough they found him slaughtering the undead grass elementals who gave their lives to try and stop his advance but failed to even slow him down. Now with the enemy in sight, they made their move, Bunet bringing the hornet doom sphere above the grass pixie swordsman.


    Once she was in firing position, causing the hornet doom sphere''s shadow to cover the grass pixie swordsman, Bundt let loose the hornet doom sphere barrage. She had the hornet doom sphere let loose a regular be barrage of undead stingers with the barrage fired. Bunet watched the grass pixie swordsman through her wax monitor, hoping to catch the moment of his demise.


    Sadly to Bunet''s shock, this was not the case, and instead of being pierced by hundreds of hornet stingers, the grass pixie swordsman dodged them. He somehow managed to weave around the stingers as they fell upon him, much to Bunet''s surprise. Seeing the regular undead hornet stingers being dodged, she decided to use the special ones. As with so much new land now being a part of the kingdom of necrotic smog, there was far more necrotic smog in the air for her to use to make special stingers for the hornet doom sphere.


    "Let''s see how you handle this." Bunet had a look of viscous excitement coming across her undead hornet face. She then launched waves of javelin stingers and rage smog stingers as well as sad necrotic stingers. The different effects of the stinger make themselves apparent as the javelin stingers shoot down with far faster speed and force than regular hornet stingers. Well, the two varieties of smog stingers gave off auras of rage or sadness as they fell.


    Despite the special effect of these special stingers being launched by the hornet doom sphere in the hundreds. It turned out to not be enough, as not only did the special stingers not hit their target, but the grass pixie swordsman was actually using the constant barrage as steps as he began to climb upwards using the barrage. Seeing the danger, Bunet canceled the attack and had her undead hornet swarm attack the swordsman while he was in the air, figuring he would be vulnerable.


    Sadly, her hopes were dashed as he was not vulnerable, somehow dodging as he flipped this way and that while maintaining himself in the air. He used her undead hornets as footstools as he kept gaining altitude while splicing her swarm apart. Bunet tried to tip the scales in her favor by taking far more direct control of the swarm in order to coordinate their attacks more effectively. While Bunet was able to coordinate thousands of undead hornets, having them in one to attack the skybound grass pixie swordsman from every angle.


    She was able to slow him down with this method but not stop or defeat him, and soon enough the last of her swarm was cut apart. So the swordsman took one last leap on the last of her undead hornets, making a leap for the hornet doom sphere while cutting the undead hornet he was standing on at the same time.


    Bunet saw the swordsman and saw as well that he would close in on her in moments. So in defiance she brought the hornet doom sphere closer, firing everything while trying to slam the swordsman back towards the earth. Bunet failed as the swordsman swung his sword once more and, with seemingly next to no effort, caused the hornet doom sphere to be severed in half.


    The swordsman fell towards the earth, and upon reaching it, he took a pose with his sword held high before he made his way forward once more. While behind the hero, the severed hornet doom sphere fell into the mass of bodies that was once Bunet''s undead hornet swarm. With this victory, the hero was ever closer to bringing an end to Maxwell and his kingdom.

 chapter 65 the sinking of the cloaked butterfly ship

    Horter watched those greater insects under his undead butterflies control as they swarmed the land beneath him. They moved as one giant mass of clicking claws and shining carapace. Horter was pleased at how large the horde of greater insects he controlled had gotten as it showed his skill at controlling the minds of so many and different greater insects. Though he did have to admit to himself the large horde he controlled made it a little difficult for him to patrol.


    As he has to be careful near any of the grass pixie villages. As if he let the cloaked butterfly ship too far left or right, it could cause the horde enslaved to its hypnotic wings to accidentally tear through a grass pixie village as he went by. Luckily so far he had avoided such a great accident with the use of his greater control over the cloaked butterfly ship. Though it would have probably been easier to simply give the grass pixie villages some distance as he passed through that specific section of the kingdom of necrotic smog.


    But sadly for Horter, he didn''t get the easy option, as part of his patrol was to monitor the grass pixie villages that were now a part of the kingdom, and so he had to get close to get a good look at them. Especially as he was usually high in the sky, details were a bit hard to spot if he was far away. So he got close while being in the air, also being careful not to accidentally destroy anything, which he continued to do so rather well; he thought so himself.


    It was rather boring work when he wasn''t in danger of overwhelming a grass pixie village by mistake, though he found himself able to occupy his spare time by coming up with scenarios. Horter used the experience he had gained to come up with battle scenarios, and then he thought of how he should best act in whatever battle situation he had put himself in. It was during one of these hypothetical battles that were playing out in his mind that Bunet''s undead messenger hornet reached him.


    It quickly passed on the message of the intruder as well as the threat he posed. Horter saw the immediate severity of the situation. As with their ruler, too focused on holy work to sound the alarm for everyone within the kingdom of necrotic smog. It had left them strung out and unaware of the danger that came into the kingdom, which was delaying their reaction time. Horter immediately turned the cloaked butterfly ship and made to go help Bunet, though he hoped it would be unnecessary and he would show up to see her having already dealt with the intruder.


    Horter made quick progress in the closure butterfly ship. So did his horde, but sadly, as they were all patrolling apart from one another, each commander was at least two territories apart, which meant by the time he arrived, the battle was over, which he had hoped for, though it was not the outcome he wanted. Horter stood there a moment, staring at the wreckage of the Hornet Doom Sphere, trying to sense the new erotic signature of Bunet but finding nothing.


    Horter found himself filling with pure, unadulterated rage. As Bunet and he had been rivals, his more tactical approach was the opposite of her aggressive and straightforward approach. Their style of commanding showed their personalities, and they were opposite from one another. But despite that, they had once been one being before they had split into two. As such, he and Bunet were as much siblings as they were rivals.


    So as a brother, how could he look at the shattered remains of his sister''s great flying doom shere where her broken corpse lies in and then turn to see the one who did it cheerfully walking away? If his senses weren''t deceiving him he was even whistling a little . "That bastard!" Horter said his voice was filled with complete and utter venom.Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there.


    "Attack!" Horter roared, his voice echoing through the sky, his rage becoming almost palpable as it caused a visible change over both the butterfly swarm that followed him and the cloaked butterfly ship. As Horter rage mixed with his necrotic nature and transformed all the undead butterflies under his command, dyeing them an angry crimson red. Those greater insects under the control of the undead butterflies flew here also changed.


    They were turned crimson as well by the undead butterflies control of them. They not only turned crimson but also grew spikes and stingers as they charged forward, becoming an angry red spiky sea that was heading for the one that had slain Bunet, commander of the undead hornets. The slayer and intruder saw what was heading towards him and simply smiled before saying. "This will be a great battle to add to my legend." Greero said, holding his sword, the Gratana.


    Horter''s hearing the intruder seeing him trying to avenge his sister and rival as nothing more than another part of some story to be told among his friends only fueled his rage. "Tear him apart! Run him through! Tear his legs off and make him choke on them." Horter roared, threatening a grizzly death to the intruder. His threats did not stop, and he kept going until his words became incoherent, showing that he and Bunet were more alike in some ways than either knew.


    Soon enough the battle began as thousands of rabid, mutated, mind-controlled greater insects threw themselves in pure savage fury at Greero. Their charge did not do much as the area soon filled with the blood of insects as the hero became a blur as he sliced through dozens with each swing. So it was that a red sea was made in a land covered in the colors only black and green.


    As the undead butterflies dyed the sky red with their kind, the greater insects now turned crimson, turning the ground red. The final trace of red was the blood being shed, filling the air and hitting the air as the greater insects on the ground were slain. The greater insect''s blood connection, the sky and ground turning the blood sea into a red world. The battle went on for a long while with the bodies stacking as Horter continued to send the great insects through the meat grinder that was the hero swordsman Greero.


    The flood of red seemed unending as the crimson undead butterflies above directed more and more greater insects at the intruder, looking to have him destroyed by being overwhelmed by unending numbers coming at him from all sides. But it didn''t work no matter how many they directed at the intruder, as he just kept slashing his hands, never tiring, nor was his blade ever dulling.


    This went on until finally the roars stopped. The tide of red ended as there were no more greater insects to direct, much to the shock of Horter, as there had always been more greater insects, but it looked like he had truly depleted all the greater insects, at least in this territory. With the forces on the ground, Red destroyed the sky. The intruder looked to the sky towards Horter specifically and smiled. This caused Horter''s rage to reach heights before unreached.


    So Horter, seeing the battle was lost on the ground and that his forces in the air weren''t likely to do any better, gave an order. "Form up!" He shouted, causing all the undead butterflies to form together into one single mass with the cloaked butterfly ship. "Let''s see you handle this." Horter said as he charged at the slayer of Bunet, hoping to take him out with a suicidal charge. The intruder didn''t try to dodge or flee.


    He stood there on top of the great cloaked butterfly ship, which was the center of the mass of undead butterflies. Horter stared down the intruder as he brought everything he had down on him. Greero simply smiled back and waited. Once the swarm was in reach, he swung, and he didn''t stop swinging until the horde passed him.


    He then turned and walked away, the undead butterflies and the cloaked butterfly ship falling to pieces behind him. With this defeat, there was only one undead commander left. The question the kingdom of necrotic smog now had to ask was, would the miserable rage catapult succeed where others failed?

 chapter 66 the breaking of a catapult

    The miserable rage Catapult was patrolling on the ground, the only one of the three commanders to do so. As it made its rounds going from one territory to the next that made up the domain of the kingdom of necrotic smog battalions of grass catapults traveling at its side, it found itself thinking on the current situation once more.


    It has promised to bring death and destruction down upon these villages for daring to attack the kingdom it was made in. Though sadily the grass pixie clans would fall and become a part of the kingdom of necrotic smog before he ever got a chance to follow through in his promise. This angered it greatly, which was fine, as it was a being of rage, and it saddened it as well because it was made a liar.


    This was also fine due to it also being a misery. So the miserable rage Catapult found the two dark emotions thatsde up its existence were fuelled by the current situation. Which the miserable rage catapult thought was time as it found its emotions switching between rage and misery as was its nature. Though it was able to take some satisfaction in the large tire marks it left in the grass plains, its wheels were rather large, so the tire trails it left were rather large as well.


    This upset the grass pixies who were trying to maintain the grass plains despite all the necrotic smog coming out of the ground and in the air. Besides this small petty revenge, the miserable rage Catapult was able to act out the miserable rage Catapult found itself moving in circles, nothing happening. Though luckily it was still at the stage were everything was still new and so it hadn''t gotten bored of the view yet. Though hopefully it would never be, the miserable rage Catapult knew such things were out of its control, and only time would tell if he could remain satisfied with its constant payrolls.


    Though it did have high hopes it would find a way to remain satisfied with its lot in undeath. The uncertainty of the future angering it and saddening it at the same time. Which was its nature, so the miserable rage Catapult was happy for the moment as it continued to patrol the territories of the kingdom of Smog. Though before it could cross the border wall into the next territory, a sad smog grass catapulted and directed his attention to something coming towards him fast.


    The Miserable Rage Catapult prepared its misery Catapult arms, causing the miserable rage Catapult to have a barrage of miserable necrotic venom ready to be launched. The rest of its battalions of smog grass catapults are also ready to launch barrages, though it turned out to not be necessary. as what was coming in was an undead hornet, the one Bunet had sent earlier as a messenger.


    The miserable rage Catapult waited for a few moments before the rapid buzzing of the undead hornet signaled how close it was. Once next to miserable rage, the catapult passed along its message, informing it of the threat currently rampaging its way through the kingdom of necrotic smog. This information is quite happy, while as much as being made of rage and misery could be.


    This rogue grass pixie by taking the actions that he had now allowed the miserable rage Catapult to deal with him in a way that he felt would be rather satisfying. Hopefully there would be enough left of him for the miserable rage catapult as it was a given that the other two undead commanders would reach him first. So now, with a sense of urgency, the miserable rage catapult was made to move where the intruder had last been spotted. The miserable rage catapult felt the urgency because being the one to kill the intruder would go at least a little way in upholding its earlier bloody promise.


    So it was that the miserable rage Catapult made it rapidly across the different grassland territories, heading straight for where the intruder was last spotted. Though instead of finding the intruder broken and dead already slain by the other two commanders. He instead found the commander''s their supperwapons and their armies destroyed. For a long moment, nothing was said as the battalions of necrotic grass catapults slowly moved with the miserable rage catapult as it slowly moved by the destroyer remains of its comrades.This book''s true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.


    In the grand scheme of things, the miserable rage catapult was rather young and had no real time to connect with its fellow commanders. Not to mention, as he was on the ground and they were always in the air, there weren''t a lot of opportunities to interact with each other. Despite the lack of personal connection, the miserable rage catapult views them as comrades, as they were all part of the same kingdom and tasked with patrolling it.


    So they would be avenged. " My catapults we mourn those who have fallen." The miserable rage Catapult said in its necrotic voice, which was filled with misery. It then spoke again, though, in an entirely different tone of voice. "Once we have mourned, we will destroy those who did this." The miserable rage Catapult said its voice was now filled with rage.


    So for a few moments the catapults stood still in silence mourning the loss of their comrades. Then they moved forward, following after the one who had committed the slaughter that had left a mass grave of those that were charged with defending the same land as them. They charged across the grasslands, going in the same direction the bodies had been pointing to, and they were soon proven right in their decision.


    They found the intruder attacking the next wall that separated the territories, and so they stopped and then let loose a barrage of green venom. Once again turning the skies green as their barrage flew across the sky. The intruder some how noticed the barrage coming at his back and turned to charge at them dodging around the falling barrage. The miserable rage Catapult and its sad smog grass Catapults did not stop as well, continuing their barrage as they closed in.


    Though the barrage continued to prove itself ineffective and so the intruder was able to each melee range. The rage smog grass Catapults were waiting formed into a front line before their long range catapult brethren the rage smog grass catapults began to engage. The melee battle that broke out between them and the intruder did not end well for them. The rage smog grass catapults used their rage to pull themselves together so that they could continue to attack the enemy.


    But sadily for them the intruder kept cutting them into smaller and smaller pieces until they could no longer pull themselves together. They tried to squash him under their spiked arms, but the intruder danced around their swings; no matter how many swung at him or how fast, he always dodged every attack. So despite all their rage and their superior numers all of the rage smog grass Catapults were destroyed.


    Through their sacrifice, the miserable rage Catapult and the sad smog grass Catapults had gained distance and so were able to launch the barrages once again. Though as before they failed, and the intruder closed the distance between them once again, leaving it to the Miserable Rage Catapult to slay the enemy as the intruder closed until melee once more.


    The miserable rage catapult tried to run the intruder over well also using the angry smog catapults that were part of the bottom part of its frame to bash him to death. Neither tactic worked, and instead the miserable rage catapult found itself vulnerable as it was sliced to pieces from the underside upward.


    With the miserable rage catapult killed as well as the rage smog grass Catapults those left the sad smog grass Catapults were made quick work of. The intruder looked at the mass grave of the once-proud Grass Catapult army and then spoke. "This is going to be a great legend to tell the others later!" Greero said excitedly to himself before he charge at the wall trying to make his way towards the skull that ruled the kingdom of necrotic smog.


    Now with the fall of the miserable rage, Catapult, the only hope was that those newly created elite units were enough to save Maxwell from death. Though the destruction of all three undead commanders, their super weapons as well as their armies did not paint an optimistic picture. But the undead kingdom of necrotic smog had gone against the odds before; who was to say it would not do so again?

 chapter 67 the first stand of the elites

    Greero made his way through wall after wall, destroying all in his path and slaying all that tried to stop him. He was no longer even being slowed with all three undead commanders beaten and their armies destroyed. Not to mention he had figured out how the defenders of the walls fought so he could slay them without even trying, and it didn''t take much effort to make a wall through the walls.


    Due to all of this, Greero was left to his thoughts as he closed in on the skull that had conquered his homeland. Greero found himself rather excited as he closed in, as the last several battles had been exciting. While they had not been all that challenging in the grand scheme of things, they had each featured interesting opponents. Though perhaps if they had fought together, they could have been a genuine threat.


    Greero found his mind circling on the grand battle that could have been had the armies that tried to stop him joined together to do it. Though eventually he broke through the last wall and saw the walls surrounding the great undead skull that had conquered his people along with the ghostly tornadoes that patrolled its personal walls. "Well, perhaps I''ll get one last interesting fight before the adventure is over." Greero said as he made to move towards the inner walls.


    He made it about halfway towards the last walls standing between him and the ruler of the undead kingdom when he was intercepted. A claw coming seemingly out of nowhere headed straight for him. He dove to the right, easily avoiding it as he took in what exactly it was. He then saw three strange undead creatures. A three-headed serpent, some kind of giant insectoid armor, and finally the thing that had shot the claw at him: a ship flying on a constantly streaming flow of smog from the faces at its front.


    "While this kingdom is so generous, it''s almost a shame I have to destroy it. But despite all the interesting opponents, it has given me, the hero has to destroy the evil kingdom." Greero said with a disappointed sigh as if he was having to condemn his favorite playground to demolition rather than a kingdom to destruction. Greero then charged towards his new opponents while the ship pulled back its claw.


    The three-headed serpent opened its three maws and met Greero''s charge with its dangerous breaths. The left head quickly chewed up a lot of grass and then shot a tornado of ghost grass at the intruder. The center head fired its angry necrotic gas to the side of the intruder, causing a bunch of angry serpents to be born and then attack the intruder. The final serpent head on the right fired its strange tear breath that burned all it touched, mixing it with the left head''s ghost tornado breath to do even more damage.


    Despite the three-headed serpent''s devastating breath attack that would have killed most anyone else, it didn''t kill the Greero. In fact, not only did it not kill him, but he also managed to kill the angry grass serpents that had been creating while somehow charging through both the grass ghost tornado and the acid tears. Greero charged through the danger, somehow finding a path through the danger, but before he could strike a fatal blow as he had closed in to melee, he was then suddenly pushed away.


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    The strange floating undead ship that had shot its claw at Greero earlier had shoved him away from the three serpents using a combination of its sails, wind, and its smog river. The three-headed serpent used the distance between it and the hero to fire its breath once again. Though this time instead of having all of its heads fire the necrotic breaths. It had only its center fire so that the intruder landed on a bed of angry serpent snakes.


    The three-headed serpent had hoped it would prove an effective tactic. Sadly, the intruder made quick work of the bed of angry grass serpents and was once again charging towards them. The undead ship and the three-headed serpent made sure to keep him between themselves, as when he got too close to one, the other would either push him away or pull them towards them. Their teamwork makes them an effective threat against the intruder.


    Greero found himself getting annoyed from the constant back and forth, which was a novel experience as fights rarely lasted long enough for him to feel anything about them. Though as he thought about the current situation, a thought occurred to him, and he spoke this thought aloud. "Weren''t there three of you?" Greero said realizing that perhaps he had let himself become too focused on the two and forgot the third as a result.


    The third then made his appearance as all of a sudden Greero heard a strange sound and ducked as the third undead creature tried to shove its strange spike through him. He dodged it as his senses were far above the average grass pixies, and so he heard the sound the strange spike made a bit earlier than the insectoid armor probably intended. Greero found himself in a melee battle with the rather dark-looking armor in front of him while the undead ship and three-headed serpent provided support.


    Greero found himself facing a decent fighter that could keep up with him for the first time in a long time. Though it wasn''t because his opponent was as skilled or as fast as him. The strange insectoid abomination in front of him masquerading as armor had hidden blades all over him in the form of mantices. As such, it was ready to match his strikes because it had blades already intercepting his.


    The battle went on for a while in a stalemate between the three elite undead and the grass pixies swordman hero. Though that eventually ended as while the three undead elites were good, they were young as well. So eventually they made mistakes due to experience. The first was the insect armor; it left a gap in its defense due to experience, which Greero quickly exploited by running it through.


    With the melee down, the other two elite undead were back to keeping the intruder between the two of them. Though the next mistake made was by the ship as it shot its claw at the intruder, he didn''t just dodge to the side as he had done before; instead, he leaped up and ran along the chain connecting the claw to the rest of the ship. Once he reached the ship from his chain walk, the intruder made quick work of the undead ship.


    That left the three-headed serpent as the only undead elite left. It never stopped fighting; it kept firing different necrotic breaths, trying with all its might to destroy the intruder, but in the end, it wasn''t enough. The intruder closed in on the three-headed serpent, and it was soon left in pieces on the ground.


    The hero took a moment to gather his breath. As it had been quiet some time since anyone besides a villain or another hero had gotten him to work this much. "It really is a shame this kingdom is coming to an end soon." Greero said he was saddened at the loss of all the interesting opponents that the undead kingdom had given him. But he had a job to do, and it was time to finish this tale. So with that thought, Greero closed in on Maxwell, who was too focused on his holy ritual to notice the danger closing in.

 chapter 68 the rise of lords

    Greero made his way to the last wall with their tornado ghost leaves patrolling and found himself a bit sad that this adventure was ending so soon. But it is what it is, and the earlier three-headed serpent''s ghost breath attack had already given him some insight into what he could expect from the ghost leaf tornadoes. It was a bit sad that the last surprise of this adventure was ruined, but he supposed the three-headed serpent itself had more than made up for ruining the later surprise with the fight it had given him.


    So with no real resistance, just a few undead grass elementals desperately throwing themselves at him, he cut them down with ease. Greero soon found himself at the final wall and brought his blade, the Gratana, high in the air and was just about to bring it down, slicing apart the final wall, then proceeding through to defeat the final defenders before destroying the skull once and for all. But just as he was about to do that, Greero got a sense of danger that told him to leap back immediately or he would die, so he did.


    Greero was soon high in the air; his leap back put him a few feet in the air, nearly reaching the dome of smog that covered the entirety of the kingdom of necrotic smog. Greero looked down, wanting to know what danger his instincts had warned him about, and he was a bit shocked by what he saw. As what was now where he had just been a moment ago was one of the undead grass elementals that he had been slaughtering since he had arrived.


    Though this one was far different from the rest of its kin. For a starter, well, it was one of those angry centipede grass elementals he''d seen by the dozen; this one was ten times their size. Also, the rather sharp grass that the angry centipede grass elementals were known to have was turned into complete blades on this beast. Which is where the danger has come from, as Greero could see the blades on this large example of undead grass elemental rage were constantly trying to cut either against the air or each other.


    So the thing likely wanted to take him by surprise, likely by using pure speed, as it was far too loud with it constantly clashing red grass blades on its body to be sneaky. Greero, having taken in the creature as he fell back to the ground, prepared to charge the beast with glee, as he had gotten another interesting opponent. Though just as he landed on the ground, his instincts warned him once again, and so he rolled to the side, barely avoiding a sudden spider leg appearing out of nowhere while having acid coming out of it, nearly running him through.


    Greero looked at his ambusher for a moment, taking all the details he could make out, which was a bit of a difficult task. As his ambusher, a giant version of the earlier grass spiders that he had been killing with ease was somehow disappearing back into the grass around them that was far smaller than itself. Just as Greero was beginning to figure out where the giant grass elemental spider might have gone within the limited fields of black grass, the large, angry centipede grass elemental came at him.


    It barreled at him at high speed, giving Greero only a moment to prepare himself for the loving caravan of red grass blades. Greero got his blade into position and fought off the thousands of blades that were bared at him as the large, angry grass centipede elemental charged at him. He managed to block them and divert the charge of the creature, but only just. Greero actually found himself breathing more heavily than usual, as he had to put in a bit more effort than usual, and he had several interesting flights before this fight.


    Though just as he was getting his breath back from the charge and the subsequent barrage of red grass blade attacks that had taken it out of him, he then found himself rolling on the ground. As almost invisibly and with virtually no warning, the hidden giant grass spider that was four times the size of its kin attacked with its six legs, causing him to have to move rapidly. Especially as one dodge would end up putting him in the path of another sharp spear-like spider leg.


    Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit.


    This meant he was rapidly dodging in one direction only to end up dodging in an entirely different direction. Greero was eventually done dodging the barrage of hidden spider legs, though then he found himself lined up perfectly for another charge by the giant red centipede. "Well, it looks like I''m facing a team once again." Greero said in the few moments he had before he once again had to take the giant red centipede''s charge head-on and the swinging of all the red grass blades that came after the initial charge.


    Greero handled it as he had done before but found himself pushed back and actually bleeding from some strikes that he couldn''t block. This is the first time he''s been hurt since his invasion of the necrotic smog kingdom had begun. Though now that he thought about it, Greero hadn''t been hurt in a long time period. Though before he could think further on that line of thought, the large hidden spider once again let loose a barrage, wanting to capitalize on the undead red grass centipede''s success.


    This actually succeeded to a degree as the fourth leg of its second six-legged barrage attempt actually managed to graze him, adding to his wounds, if only slightly. Greero, despite the increasing wounds and danger he was finding himself in, couldn''t help himself from voicing one thought that was echoing in his mind. "Where is the damn spider!" Greero said he was not angry at being wounded by it but was wondering how it could attack him so closely without being noticed.


    Though Greero quickly had to abandon that train of thought as the giant undead red grass centipede came around, charging once more. Though this charge was different, as about halfway through the giant undead red grass centipede''s barrage of red grass blades, the spider made its move, probably figuring with the slight wounds Greero had gained as well as him being busy defending from the red centipede, it would be the perfect time to finish him.


    Though just as one of the giant hidden spider''s legs was about to run Greero through his blade, the Gratana glowed, and he entered into a kind of super state, moving even faster than before and was able to block all attacks and duck away, gaining much-needed distance. Greero took a moment to gaze at the red centipede that was circling back around for another attack. Then he looked to the black grass fields, where the spiders were no doubt moving around in getting into position for another attack.


    Greero then looked back towards the red centipede that was charging back at him and found himself smiling. As heroes and villains had been fighting each other for as long as anyone could remember. The last of any monsters capable of fighting heroes was rendered extinct thousands of years ago, but as Greero felt his small wound drip blood onto the ground, he knew he had found a foe capable of it.


    He knew with their slaying and the wounds to show for it, his legend would be great, for he would be the first to slay monsters capable of hurting heroes in thousands of years. So Greero charged forward, going to meet the red centipede''s charge, his eyes shining brightly as he thought ahead to the glory he would have.


    The battle continued on, neither side truly knowing what was to come, while the ruler of a realm besieged continued his holy work, ignorant of the blood spilled as he continued his work. Though if he was allowed to finish his work, the changes to the world would be profound.

 chapter 69 the rage of the defeated

    The grass elementals had never defeated any invading forces. Once in the early times of the kingdom, they had driven off an enemy, but since then the grass elementals had never been victorious themselves, always being defeated or helping other forces achieve victory. They themselves had not achieved a grand victory in the name of the kingdom or their Creator in a long time.


    This was a sad and furious thing to them, for they had tried. They had fought in every battle the kingdom they called home ever had, but they had never achieved that much success, no matter how useful they might have been to their zombie or undead construct kin. Which was unacceptable to them, as they were the first when the ruler, the great skull Maxwell, had been creating the first of the undead creations to be in his domain; they were what he had made. The undead grass elementals had been the firstborn of all the undead races that resided in the undead kingdom of necrotic smog.


    Despite such history and titles, they had been beaten by every generation that came after them as they gained more and more glory, leaving the undead grass elemental as just a footnote, if that, in the history of their undead kingdom. Even as their ranks swelled and they covered the land in their numbers as every few minutes a dozen more of their kind was born from the necrotic energy that filled the ground. But still they were overshadowed by the grand armies of the three commanders that patrolled the lands and those undead that manned the walls across the kingdom.


    Now, though, an enemy had come and broken those grand armies and shattered the walls. The undead grass elementals had fought the enemy every step he had taken, and they had been slain for it. Though, to add to their shame, their kind''s attempt to stop the enemy went unnoticed as the enemy took no notice of them as they did everything they could to stop him and merely slaughtered them with each sword swing like it was an annoying chore while looking for true opponents.


    So once again they were to be a mere footnote in the story being told. At least that would be how it would have been, but that rage of the undead grass elementals grew too great and their sadness too deep. So two rose above the others, embodying the sadness and rage of their kind at their failure to defend their home and at being left behind by those that came after them. So the two that had risen went to meet the enemy and to finally end the threat against their home and write the name of their kind into the history of the undead Kingdom of necrotic smog by destroying the one who dared threaten it.


    The two soon found the threat: the one who had slaughtered so many of their kin. The one of rage and speed charged forth, its nature demanding it feel the enemy be torn apart upon the thousands of red blades that now made up its body. The other embodied sadness, but it took such things in silence. So it had already vanished, getting ready to strike while the one of rage and speed charged.


    It looked like the one of hidden sadness would be unneeded and that the one of rage as well as spore would give the first and final blow as the enemy did not see him coming. But just before the charge could hit, the enemy suddenly leaped away, gaining distance and causing the charge to miss, though the undead red grass elemental that seemed to be the embodiment of speed and rage was not deterred and turned itself around for another charge that did hit.


    The hidden one capitalized on the hit and brought its legs down to try and hit the enemy as it was regaining its posture from the blow of the fast red one. The hidden one did not land a blow on the enemy, but the hidden one made its presence known to the enemy as he figured him to dodge one direction and then the next to not be run through. So the battle had truly begun between them, and the two found their rhythm: one constantly charging, always seeking to tear through the enemy, the other hidden, striking from places unseen.


    Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.


    The battle went on for a while, the rhythm found between enemies as they struck against each other again and again. This went on for a time until finally, first blood was spilled, and the one in red speed found itself squealing in rage-fueled delight at the blood it had taken from its enemy. The hidden one then took blood of its own as one of its hidden strikes landed, shedding even more blood of the enemy onto the ground.


    Both of those that had risen from their humble origins of simple undead grass elementals to the greater forms they know found themselves mixing the feeling of happiness as it mixed with the rage and sadness that made up their being. That feeling of happiness was swiftly destroyed by the look in their enemy''s eyes. What they saw took their feelings of rage and sadness to new heights, as the enemy did not have a look of fear from the injuries they had given him or a look of rage at being wounded.


    No, their enemy looked happy as if they had just proven themselves worthy of their enemy''s time. Seeing this brought them even deeper into rage and sadness, bringing upon an even deeper transformation as the one of red rage and speed began to gain spider legs covered in razors and a spider''s maw added to its centipede one, making its mouth one giant bed of razors that would be instant death to any caught in it.


    While the one who was hidden began to lengthen and gain armor, making it also into a strange mix of centipede and spider. The one with red speed rage charged its transformation, happening rapidly and completing just as it met the enemy. The enemy had merely a moment to be surprised before he found himself on the back foot from the clash of charges and the followed attack by the hidden one, who now had far more strength to its hidden attacks.


    The two further transformations were not just physical but spiritual as well, as they began to embody sadness and rage separately and completely, proving they had reached a higher form of elemental. Though they had reached such a high status for their kind, the two did not care; the one in rage merely wished to tear the enemy apart, and the other wished to share the misery it felt.


    Though the raising of two elementals into a higher form did trigger a message for Maxwell, as such things were a great event for a kingdom. So Maxwell, who had been focused on mixing on artifacts of three different monster gods that belonged to different courts, suddenly found himself looking at a message.


    <table style="border-collapse: collapse; width: 99.8728%" border="1">


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td style="width: 96.4331%">Your undead grass elementals through the use of emotion and battle have risen a lord of rage undead grass and a lord of sad undead grass.


    Lord Red Razor Armory¡ªa giant red centipede made out of red grass blades that has giant spider legs coming out of its side that are covered in barbs. The Lord uses ferocity and speed to tear apart all in its path.


    Lord Hidden Blue Tear¡ªa giant spider made out of black grass with the ability to be hidden within any grass field. It has a strangely lengthened body with armored scales covering everything, giving the Lord''s form a mix of spider and centipede. The Lord uses His ability to remain hidden to give a miserable death to those not expecting it.


    Do take notice that having elemental lords will affect other elementals.</td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    Maxwell turned to look at the blue screen, trying to make sense of it, and all he could say about it at that moment was one thing. "My kingdom has aristocracy now?" Maxwell asked himself aloud, shocked and wondering what exactly was going on.

 chapter 70 the tally

    Maxwell had been focused on his holy work, putting the three holy artifacts he had gotten from the monster pantheon into one holy monster. This was surely the greatest form of faith he could show to the one who had save him Phabium and the monster gods he ruled over. Though this was great holy work, it was rather difficult work, as it would turn out each of the holy artifacts he had gotten belonged to a different court of monster gods.


    This meant he was having a bit of a hard time getting the artifacts to fit into one single being. This conflict between the artifacts had consumed his attention utterly as he tried to get the different artifacts to fit together while also forming them into a new monstrous form to be a part of. Which wasn''t an easy task either, as each of the artifacts belonged to a specific god as well as a court. This meant that each artifact had a form that they preferred that the others did not.


    So Maxwell had found himself in the rather strange position of having to convince holy artifacts to get along that didn''t actually think in a traditional sense. Which honestly Maxwell hadn''t expected to be doing, but he had proven himself to be adaptable, so he was making progress on this surprisingly difficult task. Though all of a sudden, Maxwell found himself interrupted from his work just as he was making headway on the holy artifacts, agreeing on a single form for their new monstrous body.


    He saw the status update of his grass elementals gaining two new lords. Which were the red razor armory and the hidden blue tear? This sudden raising of lords from his undead grass elementals was a shock, and I wondered what was happening. Maxwell turned some of his necrotic senses from his holy work towards his realm to see what exactly was going on, and what he saw was shocking. As he beheld his commanders with their armies all slain to the last.


    Maxwell also took in the walls that both separated and defended his different provinces. It didn''t take much effort to find the giant gaping holes to be found in the walls along with their defeated defenders laid slain around the new breaches in the defenses. For a moment Maxwell gazed at his broken and destroyed forces using his necrotic senses; then he turned and saw the battle going on in front of his personal walls.


    His new lords of the undead elemental grass were keeping a powerful swordsman from the grass pixies from getting any closer to him. "Not all is lost for the living are gone, but the undead can be rebuilt." Maxwell said to himself as the dome of necrotic smog that covered his undead kingdom came down, filling his commanders and their armies, then slowly pulling them back together again.


    So it was that Maxwell commanders came back together. One by one, Bunet, Horter, and the miserable rage Catapult were put back together along with their armies and superweapons. "Good, my armies will stand strong once again, though not in time." Maxwell said, taking notice of the fact that by the time his three commanders and the armies were fully restored and then made their way over to the battle happening right outside his personal walls, it would already be over.


    Maxwell looked back at the battle and took stock of how it was going. It was at the moment a draw as Red Razor Armory and Hidden Blue Tear were keeping the powerful grass pixie swordsman that he was afraid to admit as he demonstrated amazing skills with a blade that gave off powerful pixie magic, may in fact be a hero. So seeing the danger, Maxwell wanted to send reinforcements immediately to tip the battle in the favor of his new lords of the undead grass elementals.


    A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.


    Sadly, he did not have the forces at the moment to send as reinforcements. As his commanders wouldn''t get here in time, which meant they were out. He would usually call upon the smog root fist to aid him, as they were always willing and eager to do so, but they couldn''t due to the fact that they had become so large and interconnected with the underground network that it now took time for them to reposition in order to respond to threats above ground, which meant they were out as reinforcements as well.


    He would try to send for a wormer and his new clan members to come to his aid, but they also took time he didn''t have. As they created worm siege beasts for battle, it would take time for them to create worm siege beasts powerful enough to help sway the battle in his favor, and by that point it would be too late. Which meant they were out as well; he could try to send out the most recent addition to his realm.


    As the Anes were a race who perhaps could win him the battle being born as a race of marksman that could win him the entire battle with a single placed shot. The problem, though, as he continued to watch the battle go on between his undead grass lords and the hero of the grass pixies, was that the battle was happening too fast. As Lord Red Razor, the armory constantly charged at the hero swordsman, and the other lord, Hidden Blue Tear, was constantly hidden as it launched sneak attack after sneak attack.


    So the Anes could believe they had a clear line to fire only to end up hitting hidden blue tear by mistake. Which meant that the time for the Anes to display their marksmanship was not now. So Maxwell looked around desperately for a moment, trying to find anyone that could turn this battle in his forces favor, sparing him and his kingdom. Which was the only thing that had proved him worthy of being saved from the abyss by Phabium.


    In his desperate search, he found what he sought: laying in pieces nearby were the elites he had just created as a kind of practice for the holy ritual he had just been working on. Using his power of ver, the necrotic smog once again, he began putting them back together again. Which meant the timer had truly started for the hero of the grass pixies, as he had to beat the lords before the elites were brought back to join the battle once more.


    Greero sensing the necromantic energy in the air and noticing the elites he had slain felt like days ago at this point but was only half an hour at most. Greero figured out quickly while continuing to trade blows with the two ferocious opponents in front of him that his previous dance partners were going to join in. "What hero doesn''t like a ticking clock?" Greero said with a mad smile as he felt this tale reach even greater heights. Though whether the elites would be needed or even be on time was unknown, it was soon to be determined.