The trees around us began to shrink as we walked further. Their barks turned thinner and their tops, shorter. The greenery turned scarce as we reached the end of the forest. A burst of wind sprung through my hair, enjoying its freedom in the open, now unconstrained by the lack of vegetation.
I took in a fresh breath and chugged along, walking beside Freya. “Are you sure we’re on the right track?” I asked.
“Yeah,” she said, sliding out her Ga’em menu and going through a few options. A translucent white screen opened up, and I could immediately tell that it was a map. There was small cluster of tree icons in the center, with a blue dot pulsating on the cluster’s left edge, and further to the left of that was a black ‘X.'
“This is the place Ijyela wants us to go to,” Freya said, pointing at the cross. “Right now we’re headed on the right track. The hard part is when we get there.”
“Why?” I asked.
“Ijyela could trace the presence she felt only so much, so although she knows a general location of where we need to go, the actual specifics are entirely up to us to find out.”
“She seems to have been pretty specific already, to be honest with you.”
“I know, but still,” she said. “We don’t even know what we’re looking for at this point. For all we know, this darkness is probably some ancient rune or something.”
“That’d be neat.”
“That’s not the point!”
“Fine, fine,” I put my hands up in the air, a smile on my face. “I get what you’re saying. I’ll keep an eye out.”
“Thank you.”
Of course, I did try to keep an eye out, but my mind quickly moved to my own concerns as we headed down our route. In the three months since my battle with the Dark Lord, things had changed considerably in my environment. Let’s just say I was not that well-liked by people in general.
The Kingdom of Aingard and the Dargonian Empire were two big dynasties to the east of our position right now. As far as I knew, they both hated me at the moment. Like a lot. Last I saw of them they were both trying to kill me, but since then everything had been pretty quiet. It’s almost like they forgot about me or something.
And that certainly wasn’t normal.
The vegetation around us quickly disappeared as we moved into what could only be described as desert land. Hot sand spread over the ground, with a dry wind kicking up dust as we moved against it.
This place is the complete opposite of the Viridian forest, I chuckled. I was currently staying at Ijyela’s house in the Viridian Forest, a wide arc of dense greenery between the kingdom to the north and the empire to the south.
It’d been hard for me to find a place to live, especially since a lot of people were after me, but Ijyela was kind enough to provide me with shelter. Although, there was never telling when someone might attack me, and that would mean finding a new place to stay at.
“You know, you’re basically a vagabond at this point,” Nyx said.
“I know,” I sighed.
“What?” Freya turned to me, just like before, only this time she seemed really intent on knowing what I was doing.
“Nyx just called me a vagabond,” I said.
She looked at me for a second and then sighed. “Sometimes I realize it’s for the best that I can’t hear you both converse.”
“Hey, that’s just mean,” I said. “We have great conversations I’ll have you-” I stopped.
“What?” Freya asked, and then she jerked her head around an instant later, looking in the same direction I had.
“Do you feel that?” I asked.
She nodded. “Something is here,” she stretched out her arm, feeling the air, as if searching for something within the gentle winds.
I closed my eyes and focused, trying to gauge my surroundings. I could feel a weird sensation come from ahead of me, as though something both did and didn’t exist.
I thrust out my hand. “Ulhius,” I said.
A blast of fire shot out, a sphere of flames searing through the air. It dissipated about half a hundred yards from me, as if an invisible wall had blocked it. Cracks formed in the air, like a transparent sheet was being shattered apart.
All of a sudden, the image flickered, and a village faded into vision.
Just like that.
“What the heck?” Freya gasped.
Wooden buildings and stone towers lined the edges of the village, with smaller homes standing further in. The village itself was moderately sized, with maybe thirty to forty buildings.
Unease built up within me as I looked at it. I couldn’t tell why.
And then I found my reason.
A monstrous shriek broke through the air, reverberating in my mind and resonating through the ground, powerful waves of sound echoing deep into the wind.
A smile curled onto my lips.
“Found you.”
***
CHAPTER TWO
We rushed into the village, paying no caution or creed to what might actually be going on in there.
“Really? No caution at all?” Nyx asked. “Are you sure that’s a good idea?”
I mean it’s always worked for me before, I said, as I charged in.
“You have also been nearly killed on numerous occasions before.”
Good point, I chuckled but kept going, the thought of death not worrying me.
“What do you think made that sound?” Freya asked, running beside me.
“I’m not sure,” I said, my eyes scanning the houses as we headed deeper into the street. The village seemed empty for the most part, something that I found very odd. The wooden walls around us were musty, dust and murk collecting on their corners and edges.
“This village seems to have been abandoned many centuries ago,” Nyx said. “It’s possible that that’s why it was never on a modern map in the first place.”
That makes a lot of sense, I said. However, if this place is abandoned, where the heck had that screech come from? I wondered. I’d heard goblin cries before, and I could tell for sure that definitely wasn’t what I’d heard.
A threatening silence loomed as we took a few more steps into the village. I stepped softly over the stone tiles of the roads, a little hesitant of what it was that we were facing. In all honestly, I found it hard to think the enemy was stronger than I was, since that was statistically really unfavorable, but at the same time, I wasn’t willing to take the chance.
Not more than ten seconds had passed when I heard scuttling from behind us, as though wood was running over stone. I turned around, and my eyes widened.
Skeletons.
I blinked, watching the small group of skeletons rush up to us, swords of silver in their arms. I froze for a second, still taken aback, and then swiftly made my move. I slid out Dawnbreaker and swung it far before they even reached the attack zone of my blade. The swing let a blast of air surge out as it sliced into the skeletons and threw them to the floor, their bodies dissembling into a pile of bones.
I looked at their broken forms and used my Analyze skill.
DING!
Race
Skeletal Warrior
Level
96
Health
2190
Mana
540
Stamina
2570
“Okay, what was that?” Freya asked, breathing heavy for a moment.
“A skeletal warrior,” I mumbled, confused a bit.
“What does that mean?”
“I’m not sure.”
“They’re undead creatures,” Nyx said. “Very much like zombies, but still distinct enough at the same time.”
Wait, if they’re undead, my eyes lit up. Does that mean I get to control them?
“Because of your title of the Undead Emperor?”
Yeah, I said.
“It makes sense that you would, but I’m not sure how exactly that would work.”
“I can hear more noises,” Freya turned to me, gripping her sword t
ight.
“Let’s get to higher ground,” I said. “I want to observe these creatures for a bit.”
“Fine,” she nodded.
We jumped off the stone floor, landing softly onto the top of the nearest house, perching a little more than two stories above the ground. I saw a flash of white on the streets in front of me, and all of a sudden there was a swarm of skeletons flooding the pathway, cluttering around with weapons of silver in their hands.
Why are there so many of them here? I asked myself.
“Was this the darkness Ijyela sensed?” Freya whispered.
“It seems plausible,” I said, keeping my voice low. “But these skeletons are not beings of the Dark Lord. I don’t know why she would sense darkness from them.”
A skeletal cry pierced the air, and a sword flew right at me. I quickly jumped back, sliding a bit on the roof before coming to a stop, my breath panting hard.
Sure, my level was about five times higher than the skeletons, but critical hits and skill hits were still possible even then, which meant if a low-level enemy managed to injure one of my vital points, like say my heart or my brain, I could still end up taking a ton of damage, even if the power difference was too much.
“You almost got killed, Diablo,” Nyx said. “Pay more attention.”
I will, I said as I walked along the roof to the edge.
“Are you okay?” Freya stood there, a worried look on her face.
“I’m fine,” I said. “Don’t worry.”
Dawnbreaker slid out of its sheath, and I held it beside me. A piercing scream exploded through the sky, this one not of a skeleton, but something else.
A human.
“Come on!” Freya mobilized immediately, rushing off the roof and down to the path below. The skeleton men made their move an instant later, charging after her with vigor.
That idiot, I jumped down, landing softly on the ground and following her. Normally I’d have tried to smack my blade into the ground or something, and maybe cause a wide range attack to take out the Skeletal Warriors. But the fact that there was a victim somewhere here meant I was going to have to be careful about what kind of moves I used. I certainly didn’t want to take them out with some mass attack.
I quickly turned around, facing the skeletal creatures, and charged into them. Dust and wind kicked up as I surged through the streets, slashing multiple warriors with Dawnbreaker. A few seconds later a clutter of bones lay on the ground, a bunch of weapons lying abandoned between them.
DING!
You have defeated Skeletal Warrior Squadron (Lv 76). Reward: 40300 XP. Reward: 1200000 Sol. Reward: Spear of the Skeletal Warrior (x17). Reward: Sword of the Skeletal Warrior (x10). Reward: Shield of the Skeletal Warrior (x5).
“I’ve auto transferred them to your Equipment Inventory,” Nyx said.
Thanks, I turned from the pile of bones and rushed away, catching up to Freya in a few short seconds. On a regular day I’d have been enthusiastic about the loot I’d gotten, even though it wasn’t that useful to me, but right now things were different. There was something more important to focus on.
“I take it the skeletal warriors are gone?” the elf asked me as I entered her field of vision. She had taken out the men around her, and I could tell she’d done it quite easily given that there wasn’t a single scratch on her body.
I nodded. “That set won’t be coming after us.”
Cries echoed from a street intersection in front of us, and a swarm of skeletons rushed through on cue, these ones just as active and invigorated as the previous.
“You might want to rephrase your statement,” Freya sighed. She hunched down and jumped into the air, landing gracefully onto the closest house and hopping from one roof to the other, completely avoiding the streets and thus the skeletal warriors.
“Well that seems super convenient,” I smiled and followed her up just as the swarm approached me.
In seconds, we’d taken our fight from the floor and changed it to an escape through the roofs. I took my steps softly, careful about not crushing the surfaces. I was still getting used to my strength even now, and shattering a whole roof would not be the best way to showcase that I was slowly getting there.
Screams echoed through the air once again, this time more painful than before. I heard another one accompany it this time, this one distinct from the other.
Another one, I realized, my mind silently wondering how many victims there were.
“And what exactly are these things even doing to them?” Nyx asked, concern showing in his tone.
I don’t know, I said, anger coursing through me.
A few seconds in, the cries of skeletal warriors and humans alike intensified, both worrying me and letting me know we were on the right path. My feet picked up the pace, a little less wary of the damage I did to the rooftops as I pushed ahead.
Freya seemed to notice my urgency and she pushed forward alongside me, a few odd tiles cracking under our feet as we moved ahead. A puff of smoke rose from the ground a hundred yards ahead of us, and we both locked onto that location immediately. I considered going back down to the streets to attack, but I knew that would leave us at a disadvantage.
A speck of white caught my eye and I instantly stopped, sliding on the stone tiles of the roof before coming to a stop at the edge. I knelt down, hiding my presence, and looked to Freya, who’d done the same on the adjacent roof.
I turned to the sight ahead of me, noticing a large town square beneath us, a waterless fountain in the center, and a massive swarm of white around it. The Skeletal Warriors. I leaned over a bit more to get a better view, and I managed to catch a glimpse of our targets.
Five young humans, three men and two ladies, all donned in metal armor, and carrying swords and bows in their hands. They were all tied to posts of wood held from the floor, and red marks lay struck all over their bodies. I moved my eyes forward and saw a few Skeletal warriors with whips in their hands.
“They were being tortured,” Nyx whispered.
“What the hell,” I muttered.
My feet sprung off the roof, letting me up into the air. Nature did the rest, pulling me back down to the ground. I kept my sword ready at my side and prepared my mind, reminding myself to only use physical moves and no spells. This was not the time to arouse suspicion within these men and women, and having them know I was the infamous Phantom lord would only give my current position away.
I’d prefer that didn’t happen. Especially since it’d been hard going into hiding in the first place.
The moment I touched the floor, I whirled around, striking the skeletal warriors around me in one swing. I surged around the square, taking out the warriors fast, my sword swings just flashes of purple even before my eyes. I caught Freya in the corner of my vision, taking out a bunch of skeletons as well.
In just a few seconds the entire enemy squad had been reduced to a pile of bones on the ground. I looked around, at the sea of white in front of us. There had been a lot more warriors this time.
DING!
You have defeated Skeletal Warrior Squadron (Lv 112). Reward: 80300 XP. Reward: 1950000 Sol. Reward: Sword of the Skeletal Warrior (x23). Reward: Tome of the Skeletal Mage.
A tome? I blinked, curious immediately. I also noticed that these warriors were a lot stronger than the previous squadron, which meant these ones had specifically been sent for this task of capturing these adventurers, something that I found to be very odd.
Oh yeah, adventurers, my eyes turned to the bound people before me. I caught sight of their health bars, and my body tensed upon seeing that they were nearly empty. I quickly stepped up to them, using the tip of my blade to cut the ropes binding them. They fell to the floor, gasping for breath as they lay there, their fingers brushing the wounds all over their body.
“Th-thank you,” one of them gasped, breathless from everything that had just happened to him. I could tell a few of them were on the brink of losing consciousness, and so I knew I had to act fast.
“Warrior’s Restoration Potion?” Nyx asked.
“Yeah,” I said. “How many do I have?”
“Enough.”
“Give me five.”
“On it.”
A stream of glowing lights emerged from the air, condensing in my hands as glass vials. For some reason, Nyx seemed to have control over parts of my Ga’em menu as well, so he could put in and take out weapons and items from my Item Inventory and Equipment Inventory as he saw fit, and I found that to be a pretty neat feature to have.
I held the vials in my hand up to the light, or at least what was left of it, and saw the red shaded liquid inside.
“Here,” I tossed two to Freya. “Give this to them.”
She nodded and we both knelt beside the fallen adventurers. I quickly uncorked the vials and emptied the contents into the mouths of these half-conscious bodies. Health bars around me quickly filled up, the filling color going from red to green in a few seconds. The adventurers’ eyes fluttered open nearly a minute later, and they sat up gingerly, looking around for a second and noticing me and Freya the next.
“You saved us!” one of the men jumped up, happiness glowing in his eyes. “Thank you so much,” he smiled, his hair fluttering in the wind.
“We did what we had to,” I said, my attention still focused on the other people behind him.
All of a sudden, a loud roar shuddered through the air, sending shivers down even my spine. And trust me, that hadn’t happened in a while. I quickly turned around, trying to locate the source of the sound, but it was too hard. It was far too loud to discern what direction it was coming from.
“Maybe it’s coming from all directions,” Freya said.
“It sounded like the Skeletal Warriors,” I said. “But I don’t hear any movement.”
Suddenly, a massive shadow cast itself over the square. I immediately turned around, but there was nothing there. I looked at the shadow again, confused about how it was sitting there when there was nothing casting it.
The Eternal: Dragonborn - A LitRPG Saga (World of Ga'em Book 2) Page 2