by Han Yang
Once I shot out of my body, I zoomed through the tunnel and right towards a section of minions ahead of the vanguard. I chose a lone dran minion who held a sword and shield.
When I connected with my skeleton, I let the sync finish.
The dran skeleton wore loose fitting chainmail and pants were apparently expensive because this one had none. The body wasn’t too different from an orc in its thickness and height, making my movements fairly simple to manage.
The army shifted behind me to bring the siege weapons forward while in front of me, the large tunnel way wrapped around a bend. I trotted to the curve, and when I rounded the corner, an ogre-sized spear zipped for my frame.
A quick summersault to my left resulted in the weapon missing by inches. A gray illumination highlighted four ogres standing in front of a hastily constructed wooden wall.
Additional minions arrived and three of the ogres turned to leave. A single ogre channeled a crackling spell of blinding white light.
I flung myself out of my summersault and into a dive.
A lightning strike burst down, cratering the spot I barely vacated in time.
Ka-Boom!
Chaos seemed to take a firm grip of the scene. Even more minions arrived to back me up, and the lightning ogre turned for the blockade at the tunnel's exit.
In the background, I saw white snow falling behind a wooden wall and the first signs of a larger army assembling.
The three ogres seemed to realize what we were and what undead skeletons represented. They fell back, running in fright towards the main army in the distance.
I picked up a furious run, pumping my knees high to try to catch the last ogre.
My swarm of dran skeletons created a cacophony of landing footfalls that echoed loudly in the wide tunnel. The lightning ogre decided to join his brethren in their retreat.
He kept glancing over his shoulder with uncertainty. I’d seen what doubt could do in battle and in movies. About five steps in, his mild panic and quick checks over his shoulder led to him tripping.
The ogre skidded to a halt with a loud oof sound. The adolescent flipped onto his back, raising two hands in our direction.
White power condensed into growing orbs filled with static popping. The crackling energy culminated, and in a dazzling flash, the ogre unleashed his spells.
I cut left, hoping to stay in between the orbs of electricity.
Searing power flared through my shield arm. When my vision cleared, I realized why. The arm had ceased to exist and even the shield had vanished. I didn’t glance over my shoulder. The tunnel was wide enough for my troops to spread out, and I only felt a few tingles telling me others had died.
Most had survived, proving that the ogre had wasted time he could have used running. I watched the young male scamper backwards, realizing we were closer than he wanted.
A crackling of energy from above caught my attention. That cheeky ogre was determined to kill me and -
Ka-Boom!
The minion I was in died, bursting into a trillion tiny pieces.
I occupied another minion who neared the adolescent ogre. My sync mid-run resulted in a staggered struggle. When I recovered, a blinding light neared -
Whoosh!
Another minion dead from a lighting ball.
I flew into another minion who leaped to attach to a calf of the now fleeing ogre. The transition left me flailing.
Snap!
The echo of ballistae unleashing rang out behind me. I flew near the calf, readying to latch on. Right as my hands readied to grab onto pants -
Crack!
The minion died, clattering to the snowy floor in a dozen pieces. A ballista bolt had struck him right in the back and caused the frame to explode.
Seven bolts sunk into the ogre and sprayed out the front of his body in a shower of gore. I was fairly certain one went through his heart because he slammed face first into the thickening snow, and an orb instantly appeared.
I returned to my body, already condensing a spell.
The second I returned, I blasted out a wave of connecting and domination magic. I grinned happily when his resistance shattered.
You have connected to Iron Doomfist worth 67.854 Zorta. Your desire to claim all has been accepted. Spend 67.854 Zorta to convert Iron Doomfist into a minion. (YES) - (NO) - Yes selected.
“You got one?” Nick asked, knowing my limitations.
“I’m in my body at the moment. The skeleton is collecting his gear before coming back to the front lines. My dran skeletons are tearing down the pitiful barricade, and I expect the enemy to fly the yellow soon,” I said loudly.
I sat up, seeing the mercenaries around me listening intently.
“Why do you say that?” Nick asked.
“Just a hunch,” I lied, laying back down into a semi-comfy spot.
While I didn’t believe this. I wanted Garrigan’s loyalists to hear me say it.
I chanted my cadence demanding obedience and shot out of my body.
The trip to the ogre was quick. Mr. Doomfist walked calmly with the siege engines.
I synced into his body and predicted he picked out his name because his hands were actually kind of small.
His leather jerkin covered his ribs, the club fit nicely in my hand, and the shield was big enough to protect a portion of a siege weapon. Our front line narrowed to transition by the partially deconstructed barricades.
My decision to stick close to Garrigan revolved around his big test.
Ever since I had seen the gates to the underground, I wanted to challenge my new units. Why buy something you can’t rely on? Also, this was a great opportunity for me to increase my power or Zorta collection.
I was honestly expecting the Jeer Coalition to offer prisoners set for execution; I earned more skeletons and the coalition sold their damned at cost. Instead, I was making the most of the situation.
Everything I had done since arriving at the outpost had been calculated or adjusted for. Right now, I knew a key moment was about to happen, so I readied.
A roaring fireball consumed a skeleton who dared to exit the tunnel. The ashes whisked away from a catapult round that landed nearby. The billowing snow evaporated from the residual magic.
A scout raced back from the snowy opening, the troll’s face awash in horror.
“The enemy. They - they - they number in the thousands and more are coming,” the scout told Garrigan.
“Did you hear that, mancer?” Garrigan asked the skeletal ogre.
I ignored him.
The army continued to march forward. A hundred catapult rounds tried to pick off the skeletons running sporadically in the snow.
“He must be busy controlling all of them,” Garrigan muttered. “He said they would fly the yellow.”
I could almost hear him thinking.
The sound of hushed whispers gave it away. I knew he would never willingly charge into a superior foe. Six hells, I wouldn’t either. The problem was that I had an edge he didn’t know about or understand.
He would need to betray me or -
Crack!
A wave of ice froze the front few ranks of the army. Leetro stood unscathed, staring at his boss in shock.
“Nick, halt the army,” I said through my real body.
I kneeled down, bringing the skeleton close to Leetro. The goblin ogre panted from unleashing his monthly spell. I gazed down at my goblin ogre fondly, understanding he had betrayed his boss for me.
“He said to kill you. How could he do that? He is sworn to protect you,” Leetro said in dismay to my skeleton.
I stared at a very nervous tigran trapped in ice coating. His eyes darted in fright, and I could see him struggling against his confines. The magic would wear off soon, so I had to make a swift decision.
“Nick, I need a voice enhancer,” I said. “You and the ogres need to get behind a shield too. I’m about to do my monthly spell as well to make this a win.”
My large ogre hand drifted closer to the
general who betrayed me. The reality saddened my heart. My mind steeled my resolve. I pinched Garrigan’s frozen head, turning it into mush.
I sighed seeing his orb float over his icy tomb. I proceeded to crush each of his lieutenant’s heads, one after another. The message I sent was clear - Garrigan and his leadership was dead.
“I have a goblin ready boss,” Nick said. “We’re seeking cover now.”
I left my minion’s frame, returning to my real body. Every second counted. I charged up my magic, pouring green energy into my core. When the spell begged to be released, I unleashed it as far and wide as I could.
Your once-a-month casting of ‘Fountain of Youth’ has been consumed. This spell recharges in 29 days 23 hours and 59 minutes.
Shock rolled through the dozen or so ogres in our formation as they watched the rest of the army regain their prime age. Their gasps were nothing compared to the unbridled anguish from outside the tunnel.
I couldn’t delay. I had to accomplish a whole lot in a short time frame, or we might lose. I snapped my fingers at the goblin with enhanced voice magic.
He cast a yellow spell that glowed over my body. I could feel the spell ready for my use.
“The gods bring death. Garrigan has fallen, and I reign supreme over this army. There are only three options for everything in these catacombs.
“Bend the knee, be reborn as a minion, or flee from my might. Choose wisely. Today, you join Tribe Moonguard, either in infamy or death,” I bellowed, my voice belting out in intense echo. “Signal the full charge. I will carry us all to victory. Trust in your new general.”
The command platform lurched forward as the goblins on the whips pushed ahead eagerly. The alpha wolf howled in approval, signaling the pack stood with their new leader. The goblins cheered the change.
The ogres were the first to rush forward. The orcs followed with the trolls hot on their heels. The tigran saw that I had won over the masses and that their time for dissent had passed. They flowed with the army that surged towards the ogre opening.
Nick glanced around and said, “Unbelievable. How long did you have this planned for?”
“Which part? Killing Garrigan or making the enemy ogres young again?” I asked.
I brewed a spell, unleashing it to connect to the dead.
You have connected to 42 dran skeletons, 14 tigran, and 3 orcs worth 335.337. You desire to consume all has been accepted. Confirm (YES) - (NO) - Yes selected
“Did you… did you just kill him forever?” Nick asked in shock, noticing all the orbs disappear and no transformation magic erupting in the tunnel.
“Nick, I value your friendship and feel like you’re a brother at times. So, I will spare you any falsehoods and be direct. He died a true death. He wanted to kill me, but I killed him first. I could have used him as a minion, but his death will prove a point.
“I don’t trust the Jeer Coalition. Never have. I entered their den with the plan to always come out alive no matter what I had to do. A betrayal or double cross always seemed likely.
“Garrigan tipped his hand during an earlier conversation about his ambitions. I was supposed to trust him, but he just couldn’t help himself. He had to gloat that he would do whatever it took to make the council. I could be delusional, but I highly doubt it. He was going to take me down. He would slay some dran and scorpions proving his worth. Then, when we boarded the moth flock -”
“Eclipse,” Nicked reminded me.
He didn’t seem bothered that the campaign had taken a sudden darker turn.
“The whatever… Once we were all nicely packaged for a long flight, that is when I figured I would be sent to King Korbi in the biggest betrayal yet. I think Petrion doesn’t want that, and this is part of a ploy to get around his wishes.
“Theatrics and politics at play. However, that doesn’t matter anymore. What matters is that I need dead troops to grow our force for the coming war,” I said with determination.
“What is the plan?” Nick asked in a hushed tone.
“We reap the ogres while I hide under this cloak in the back of the army around minions and goblins. The map, the one that Garrigan showed me earlier, revealed ogres on this floor, and the next one down had an icon of a minotaur,” I said with a guilty shrug and cocky grin.
He gasped. “You just made them all young again. By the gods. We have wards against this. Did they?”
The tunnel’s exit arrived, and I finally saw the inside of the ogre’s home. The word grandeur didn’t do it justice. This was the fifth floor, and I guessed we had gone down a thousand feet since we started.
The sheer height of the ceiling told me we were much deeper. Light clouds dropped snow and allowed intermittent sunlight with a gray overcast. I scanned the horizon, for the area stretched that far, to see what the snowy biome held.
Trees rose to three hundred feet tall on the horizon to my left and right. Near the right forest, a huge herd of elk grazed under the snow on grass, oblivious to the coming battle. Near the left trees and directly in the path to the next tunnel rested at least two thousand ogres in disarray.
Their entire existence was predicated on the strong growing larger than their peers. It could never be stressed enough that ogre society revolved around brutal dominance and in this very moment, as they all shrunk in size, the pecking order had been reset.
Suddenly, the forty-foot alpha was just as strong as the twenty-foot young adult. That wasn’t nearly as big of a deal as the thirty five foot beta having a shot at suddenly being the boss.
A few units consolidated around leaders giving commands, mostly the siege units. The rest screamed and yelled at each other. A rain of catapult rounds crashed among my remaining dran minions.
As one, the goblins who served their larger masters tilted noses to the air. The smell of our army reached their noses. All part of the plan.
Instead of taking control of a minion to fight this battle, I wrapped myself in my cloak, peering out from under the hood. Nick stopped our horses, and I hopped down. The alpha wolf approached, as if knowing what I wanted.
I grabbed a patch of fur before vaulting onto his back.
The war drums for both sides stayed silent during this shocking new reality.
Our units hurried to exit the confined tunnel. The vanguard commanders managed to spread out, desperate to avoid clumping and becoming prime targets for the enemy siege.
Any hesitation to void their contract or cross the necromancer faded instantly. The enemy ogres had the advantage. Their superiority on the battlefield quickly faded as we formed battle lines. I waited patiently, knowing what was coming.
An ogre pointed his club toward our army, shouting at his troops. A double headed axe twirled out of the loosely formed ogres. The weapon smacked into the side of the leader’s face. When the body fell, a tuft of snow cascaded high and both sides gasped in shock.
The culprit fled with his legs pumping full bore, darting toward the trees.
That single event was the spark the rest of the army needed. We weren’t a threat yet; to them, if they turned their might on us, the outcome was never in question. We were supposed to be easily defeated, providing time for the internal fighting.
A searing ball of fire magic erupted from behind a tree line, incinerating an ogre with his back turned. A half mile to the left, a club cracked against a shield and a duel broke out. The defender never stood a chance because a surprise mace caved in his skull.
A healer charged her magic to raise the dead but a hand stayed her revival.
Further right and near the siege engines, a crew killed the goblins who served them. A billowing cloud of powdered snow obscured a scene. A goblin shot out of the whiteness as it soared high from a kick. The goblin splattered against the ceiling, dead from the kick and converted to smush upon impact.
The goblins converted in mass at this. A series of spells crashed into the reloading machines from my newest allies.
The ogres stomped, cleaved, kicked, and ripped apart
the traitors in their midst, but the siege weapons paid the price for their sacrifice.
Across the horizon, the internal war increased. Ogres started to die in droves, and a lot of the ogres trying to join their brethren to form battle lines hesitated.
I waited, wanting ever so badly to unleash a spell. Instead, I dug into my interface, willing to pay a hefty cost.
Cultivation Level 50 -} Cultivation Level 55 = 85,550 Zorta - (YES) - (NO) - Yes selected.
I grunted at the cost, knowing so many lives had perished to afford the upgrade.
The fighting amongst the enemy slowed a smidge when my army finally exited the cavern in its entirety. Nick shouted orders from the command platform. Everyone followed his direction, morale increasing at the sight of the enemy killing each other.
An ogre neared a body that she didn’t kill, trying to steal the Zorta. A second ogre attacked her, chasing her down. She fell into the snow, hurt but alive. The perpetrator had a sword erupt through the front of his armor.
The female swooned, scampering to her feet with blood freely pouring out of her forehead. A black ball of energy coursed through her hands until an axe lopped off her head.
Across the ogres, the bloodshed continued until a solid blare of a warhorn brought sense back to the enemy.
The long note echoed, and I reacted.
The wolf charged ahead of our advancing army. We still lacked the ballista range, but that would end soon. I continued to ball up my power, the wolf kicking up snow with his increasing speed. This caused the ogres to focus on us for a moment.
They couldn’t see me, just the wolf, and I knew I needed to capitalize on the short window of opening. Already, new leaders stepped forward to manage units for the interim.
Before the first ogre could revive their brethren, I unleashed a massive spell.
Whoosh!
The repetitive tingling sensation brought a smirk to my face; when it kept going, I grew confused. The notifications continued, my spell hitting a ward wall and bouncing back, smashing through defenses on the second time over the area.
My eyes widened when I realized what had happened. I emphatically retrieved my report.
You have connected to 719 minotaurs, 135 goblins, 77 ogres, and 3 orcs worth 43,009.112 Zorta. You desire to claim all has been accepted. Confirm that you want to convert these beings into minions. (YES) - (NO) - Yes selected