As my skeletons leapt from the wall and slashed their bony claws at their friends, I pointed at the rock pile.
“Raise Golem!” The rocks began to move, forming into another golem that raised its head toward the heavens and bellowed. As I moved to cast Reflecting Fog on my own walls, I sort of wondered how Dark Heart was getting along.
System Message: You have raised a stone golem. Health: 250 Mana: 0.
I wouldn’t be able to summon a golem to help her, and what’s more she didn’t have a lot of long ranged attacks. Still, I just had to hope she knew what she was doing because when we’d asked what she was going to do, she’d just said she’d handle it. Then she’d taken the priest.
“Eat icy death!” George cried, blasting a skeleton and turning it into iridescent shards, but it hardly mattered. Between my golem, Reflecting Fog, and my controlled undead, the wave of skeletons had been decimated.
“Is that all they’ve got?” I asked, worry tugging at my mind as our archers finished off the remaining skeletons and peace descended across the battlefield. “Because that seemed a bit easy.”
System Message: Wave two will begin in thirty seconds.
“I’m guessing not,” I muttered as the counter began to count down. Had the second wave been triggered via time or because we’d beaten wave one? Or was it some combination of both?
I wasn’t sure, but as I watched the counter count down, I almost thought we could win. Sure, I had no idea how many waves there would be, but at the same time, wave one hadn’t been that bad. Still, I was a little bummed because I hadn’t gained any experience from the wave. I’d hoped to hit level fifteen during the siege, but it looked like that wasn’t going to happen. I just had to hope I’d gain experience once it was all over.
“Everyone rest a minute,” I said, wiping the sweat from my brow with the back of my hand as I clutched my black mithril dagger in the other. I’d gotten my scythe back good as new from Joe a while ago, but since it didn’t deal extra damage to undead, I wasn’t using it. Besides, if I had my way, I wouldn’t be engaging the enemy at all. No, I’d be safe up here on the walls.
Like the first time, wave two opened up to reveal more skeletons, but there were at least three times as many. Worse as they tore themselves from the earth and sprinted forward to meet my minions, a massive giant of a thing that reminded me of the abominations from World of Warcraft lumbered forward.
Its skin was white as bone and green ichor that smelled like rotting garbage dripped from its slavering jaws as it turned its milky eyes upon us and gestured at me with a metal axe the size of my body.
“Come down here and face me as a man, adventurer!” the abomination cried as it approached my golem, and with one slash sent it flying across the battlefield. I knew Reflecting Fog had to have hurt the creature because my golem’s health dropped by fifty percent, but evidently, the abomination didn’t care about things like getting hurt.
I gulped. If they didn’t care about getting hurt, I wasn’t sure how to drive them back. No. That meant they’d just keep coming until we were all dead.
“Target that thing!” I screamed as I raised my hand and used my Weaken Armor curse.
Arrows and icy magic slammed into the abomination as the broken shield icon appeared over its head.
“If that is the best you can do, you may as well give up now,” the abomination cried as it devastated my controlled undead with another swing, shattering them into bony fragments. Then it settled into a three point stance like it was a linebacker about to charge before rushing forward and slamming into the wall with a sound like wet meat striking a counter.
The smell of rot and decay hit my nose and made my stomach lurch as the massive creature pulled its splattered body off the wall, leaving bits of glistening fleshy bits behind in the process that sizzled and popped, filling the air with acrid smoke.
Still, that concerned me a lot less than the health bars of the place it had struck. They’d dropped by five percent from that one attack, and the monster was still alive. Who knew what it could do with a few more attacks.
System Message: Wave three will begin in thirty seconds.
“Fuck!” I cried as my golem lumbered back into the field of battle and rushed the abomination.
There was no way this was going to work, and as I had that thought, a ridiculous idea struck me. The abomination was undead. Sure he was strong, but he was still undead. And I could control undead.
“Hey, Sally, care to switch sides?” I called as I dropped my Weaken Armor curse and raised my hand. “Control Undead.”
System Message: Your spell has failed.
I gritted my teeth as the abomination threw back its head and laughed. “You do not have the strength to control me, pitiful necromancer.”
“You know, your mom said the very same thing last night, but by the end of our time together, she was my oh-so willing wench,” I snapped, using the spell again. “She’s a very lovely lady I’ll have you know.”
System Message: Your spell has failed.
“Are you seriously talking about my mother?” the creature replied as more skeletons began to tear themselves free of the ground, and this time, half of them were riding horses. That didn’t concern me though, what concerned me was this abomination. Clearly it was here to break through the walls so the smaller monsters could zerg us. I had no idea if the other gates were under the same attack, but I couldn’t worry about that now.
“Of course I’m talking about your mother you overgrown—“
My words were cut off as an explosion erupted from the west gate, and as I turned my head to look and saw a spiraling mushroom cloud of black smoke filled my vision, I knew what had happened. Dark Heart had triggered her explosions. Fuck. It was way too early for that. We’d been fighting only a few minutes.
Thankfully, the sound of the explosion caused the undead besieging us to stop for a second, and as they did, I cast my Control Undead spell once more.
System Message: Your spell has failed.
I cursed. I was nearly out of mana, and I really didn’t want to trigger my explosions already, and as I had that thought, I saw the golem I’d cast at Crash’s gate vanish from my controlled monsters screen. Damn.
“Um… so what are we doing about ugly?” the bunny asked as the abomination reared back to charge again.
“I’ll take care of him,” I said, gripping my dagger as I turned toward the archers. “Guys get the rest of the undead, leave the abomination to me,” I said and cast control undead again.
System Message: Your spell has failed.
“On it!” the archers said in unison, turning their focus onto the undead cavalry and peppering them with silver arrows. As undead began to fall, the abomination charged once more. I swallowed, focusing on the abomination.
“Control Undead,” I whispered, shutting my eyes and praying to any and all deities for help as I leaned forward and used my remaining mana for one last try.
40
System Message: Your spell has failed.
As those horrible words chilled me to the core of my being, my whole world shook as the abomination slammed into the wall below me, causing me to topple forward. My hands shot out in a desperate grab for something to stabilize myself.
My fingers passed uselessly by the stone railing at the top, and I fell careening over the edge as the abomination below pulled his hulking body away from the wall, leaving more bits of slimy goo splattered across it.
I slammed into the ground a half a second later. My vision went dark around the edges as my bone shield shattered and my health dropped by thirty percent. Pain wracked my body as the abomination lumbered toward me, massive axe carving a furrow in the soft earth with each step. It wasn’t close, but it was close enough that I knew I wouldn’t be able to regenerate enough mana to do much damage to the creature before it got to me.
“So you’ve finally decided to face me, adventurer?” the abomination said in a voice like gargled nails as it raised its axe
high. “I didn’t think you had it in you.”
System Message: Wave four will begin in thirty seconds.
I barely glanced at the words as I raised my hand and gritted my teeth. “I’m not going to die to the likes of you,” I snapped, sucking in a deep breath as the creature’s horrible laughter filled my ears.
“You don’t get a choice,” it replied, swinging its axe at my face, and I’ll be honest, I did not face death like a man. No I cringed away from it shutting my eyes. Only, death did not find me.
As wind buffeted my clothing with enough force to knock me flat on my back, I carefully opened one eye to see my golem in front of me. The abomination’s axe had cleaved a slash straight down its middle. My golem exploded into rubble, spraying me with bits of stone as the abomination tore its axe sideways.
“I bet that doesn’t happen twice,” the abomination said as undead began to rise from the ground around us. There were no more abominations, but there weren’t any of the skeletal foot soldiers either. No this wave was just more cavalry, and my archers could take them. At least, I hoped they could.
“Yeah, well, you know what they say about lightning and striking twice,” I replied, backing up until my shoulders pressed against the cold metal of the gate. Then I reached out and touched one of the runes that had been carved into the stone. It was the one that would trigger the explosives we’d laid throughout the area. The only problem was while that’d kill the abomination, it’d probably kill me too.
No, I just needed some mana, then I could do some damage. After all, he’d killed my golem and minions while in the middle of Reflecting Fog, how much HP could he possibly have left?
“You know, I don’t usually eat adventurers, but I like the cut of your jib. I bet it tastes like lemon candy,” the abomination said, licking his lips as he took a step closer. My mana ticked up again, but he’d be on me before I would regenerate enough. I also wasn’t sure if I could fight him, not with most of my melee skills retired. If only I had a way…
I stopped as he raised his axe high overhead to split me in half. I could get mana.
“Mana Drain!” I shouted, extending my hand toward the abomination while throwing myself to the left. The axe tore into the ground as I hit hard on my arms and rolled to my feet. But the even better thing was how mana tore itself free of the abomination and surged into me, giving me a total of fifty four mana.
“I can still fight without mana,” the abomination exclaimed, annoyance and rage filling its words as it tore the axe free of the dirt in a spray of debris. “You have done nothing to save yourself.”
“That’s where you’re wrong,” I snapped as the rest of the skeletal horsemen came charging toward us, but I ignored them as my archers let silver arrows fly. “Body to Soul.”
As I spoke, fifty health vanished in an instant as it turned into thirty mana, and as it did, a smile crossed my lips. I was down to just over a hundred and ten Health, but what mattered was that I now had eighty-four mana.
“What are you doing? Are you trying to kill yourself?” the abomination asked, hesitating for a second as it eyes me with a sinister gleam in its eye. “Because that’s a lot less fun.”
“Well, is this more fun?” I asked, taking a step toward the monster as it raised its axe for another swing. “Chaotic River.”
No sooner had the words left my lips when red fog exploded from my outstretched hand. As it coalesced into a sphere of light between the abomination and I, tendrils hewn from the depths of Hell lashed through the air while geysers of blood burst from the ground all around us as reality was torn asunder.
Malevolent eyes looked out from the abyss as the words I’d been hoping to hear filled the air.
“Rise and defend!”
Fourteen dark as death skeletons tore themselves free of the void and turned their emerald eyes upon the abomination before them. Darkness rose off of them like fog as they screamed like the world itself was ending.
The abomination swallowed, so hard his adam’s apple bobbed in his rotten throat, and the skeletal horsemen skidded to a stop in the tracks, throwing up dust and dirt as the fear icon appeared above their heads. My skeletons gnashed their claws and took one ominous step toward them all.
“Kill them all,” I whispered, and as I spoke, it became law. My skeletons surged forward, tearing into the abomination with claws of death. Now, to be fair, I wasn’t sure if it was because the abomination was already weakened from its previous attacks in the fog, or if the skeletons were just overpowered, but before I could blink, the creature was reduced to a pile of rotten meat.
Not that my skeletons stopped there. No, they surged forth and slammed into the horsemen. But I wasn’t watching. No, I was too focused on the downed abomination, and as I stared at it, a smile crossed my lips. Would it work?
System Message: Wave five will begin in thirty seconds.
“You can’t win if you don’t try,” I whispered to myself as I used Body to Soul once again, removing fifty more HP and giving me another twenty mana. Then I raised my hand to the fallen abomination. Darkness exploded from my fingertips and wrapped around the creature, and as it did, sparks of energy began to pop and spit.
As my summoned skeletons fell apart on the empty battlefield, the abomination’s body pulled itself back together and stood like Frankenstein’s monster himself. I’d done it. I’d raised the abomination, and as I stared at its stats, my mouth dropped open in jaw. The thing was strong as hell. No wonder it’d been able to kill my golems with impunity.
Abomination
Health: 1000
Mana: 100
“Hello,” I said, staring in awe at my creature as it glared at me with such hatred, I actually checked to see if I’d burst into flames. “Pleased to meet you. I’m Kahn. I’ll be your lord and master for this evening.”
“You will regret this, adventurer,” the abomination replied, picking up its axe and gesturing at me with it. “Now, what would you have me do?”
I probably should have responded because undead were starting to rise from the ground, and unlike last wave, there were no more skeletons. No, this time two more abominations pulled themselves from the earth.
Panic surged through me. It’d taken everything I could do to stop one, and now there were two? Worse, Chaotic River was on cooldown for another four minutes. That wouldn’t help me this time. I took a step back toward the gates as an explosion boomed from the north gate, indicating Crash had blown his load as well. It made me both happy and sad because Crash had probably successfully defended the gate, but what did that mean for Dark Heart?
“Fuck,” I cursed as my mana ticked up again. “Just kill them, okay, pal?”
“I ain’t your pal,” my controlled abomination cried as it launched itself at its brethren, stopping them in their tracks. Still, I knew this wouldn’t last long. There were two of them to my one. No, my abomination would fall, and when it did, that would be it.
“Raise Golem,” I said, pointing to another pile of rocks, and bringing forth another golem to send into the melee.
System Message: You have raised a stone golem. Health: 250 Mana: 0.
As it charged into battle, I set it to defend the abomination, not because I thought it would help the beast stay alive longer, but because I wanted to take one down as quick as possible and the golem reflected more damage.
“Focus all attacks on the left one,” I cried, moving closer to the melee.
“On it!” the archers called, and as one they turned to fire at the abomination on the left. As arrows turned it into a pincushion, I raised my hand to the right one.
“Earth Wave,” I said, using the level three spell I’d learned from Gereng. Instantly the ground in front of me lurched, surging forward in an immense wave of stone and dirt that slammed into the right one, throwing it backward across the field of battle.
As it smacked into the ground, I waited until my mana regened a bit more before deciding to risk it all. “Slow.”
It must
have worked because instead of getting a spell failed message, golden chains of light wrapped around the abomination, causing its speed to decrease by half. It sort of made me wish I’d used Control Undead instead because maybe I’d have two abominations, but in Titan Gate, Slow had worked a hell of a lot more often than Control Undead, so I was pretty sure I’d have just blown my mana uselessly if I’d tried again.
Besides, definition of insanity and all that.
“You dare betray the Skeleton King!” the left abomination screamed as it tried to slash open my abomination, but instead of burying its axe in my creature, the golem leapt in front of the blow. I wasn’t sure how many attacks it’d taken, but either way, my golem shattered into dust, letting me know the abomination had taken a ton of damage from Reflecting Fog.
“You do not judge me!” my abomination snapped before braining its former ally with its axe. As the abomination dropped to the ground dead, I smirked. One down, one to go. Unfortunately, my abomination was already down to half health and my golem was down. Worse, the far abomination, while slowed, was out of the range for Reflecting Fog and I was pretty sure the slow effect would wear off before it got back to us.
And here I was with only twenty mana.
A sigh escaped me because I could only cast one of the spells, and what I really needed was both. My golem would be practically useless without Reflecting Fog to deal the damage it took back, and it couldn’t deal damage on its own…
My eyes widened as a realization hit me like a ton of bricks. But my abomination could.
“Raise Undead,” I said, extending my hand toward the downed abomination, causing it to pull itself back together and rise to obey my commands. Like the first abomination, it didn’t seemed pleased about being my minion. As it narrowed its eyes at me, lips twisted into a snarl, the first abomination began to laugh.
“Wanna talk about betraying the Skeleton King, now?” the first creature asked, causing its newly raised ally to direct its ire to it.
“No,” it replied, shaking its head as I pointed toward the slowed abomination.
Soulstone: The Skeleton King: A LitRPG Novel (World of Ruul Book 2) Page 26