Nicholas Holt
“Jeeves! Another glass of wine,” Nicholas Holt demanded. It was not even 7 a.m. but he was already stationed on his chaise lounge chair. If he was going to be up this early, then he was going to do his best to be less miserable about it.
The attack on his volcano essence outpost was not a surprise. Truth is he had been monitoring his enemies progress for days, and he had known about it before then. After all, a deal had already been brokered. There were two contenders that no longer belonged in this battle, and a third that was too far behind to matter.
Initially Jeeves and himself had thought of manipulating the weaker dungeons to help him take on his real opponents. Of course the republic bastard and Gale would be thinking along the same lines. Even a lesser dungeon could make the difference in a head to head between Nicholas and any of the other dungeons. The others likely had come to the same conclusion. Going against two dungeons at once would be difficult to overcome. Well at least while still progressing his own dungeon. However similarly the other top contenders were of the same conclusion. Six dungeons were just too many, with alliances on the board.
Sure this move would help Gale out more than him, but the alternative was less desirable. Gale’s full might resulted in a far smaller force than what all the other dungeons could manage, but giants and trolls were extremely powerful. Add on several thousand fodder from another force, it would be impossible for him to focus all his efforts on Gale, resulting in a rather difficult battle.
Gale had played both sides. She had given her next door neighbor an ultimatum, and she had given him an ultimatum. Jeeves had been unsure of which way she would actually move till the armies had set out. Nicholas would play along for now as would Leonard, although they all probably expected things to fall through within a matter of weeks.
Nicholas shifted the view once again on the interface. The sun was already almost fully above the horizon, yet it was difficult to pick out his forces under the trees. The goblins were camped in a field several miles from his territory, planning on assaulting his settlement the next day. He doubted the goblin forces were expecting to be the ones being attacked.
Nicholas saw a massive ten foot shape moving through the trees. It was one of his mummy lords. The massive clothes figure carried a massive coffin on his back. Nicholas had four branches from the undead tree unlocked. The first was the skeleton branch. The branch was made up of tier 1 units, only giving one tier 2 unit, the skeletal knight. Of course he also had a couple combination units that bolstered the branch in the higher tiers.
His mummy and zombie branches both had several options in both tier 1 and tier 2. The mummy branch had even given a tier 3 unit, the mummy lord.
The last branch he had unlocked was the tier 2 spirit branch, made up beings that were full or semi incorporeal. The weakest of the incorporeal units was a ghost with a 2.0 base power rating. They were probably weaker than a normal unit with the same power rating, but they were also difficult to kill with physical attacks. Enough physical attacks would scatter their essence enough resulting in the unit’s death, but that would require quite a bit of effort. It would be difficult for units to focus on the task, since his army was already the most numerous among the dungeons. The more powerful spirit units were far more fearsome than even the ghost.
All four branches followed the same upgrade path as the humanoid branches with classes and skills. Nicholas knew that much from conversations with Leonard and Gale. However, it would be his research lab foci that set his dungeon apart from the others. He had enchanting, essence, and embuing like probably all the other dungeons, but other dungeons could not use the necromancy focus. At least not very well since death magic would harm living casters. With necromancy, Nicholas was able to add to his forces both before and during battle.
But his favorite focus by far was the dominion focus. It was a mix between skill and equipment. Various objects like the coffin that was being carried by the mummy lord could have many various effects. Perhaps it was because it was well suited for the undead, or perhaps it was due to him having the most researchers working on it, he had more dominion projects completed than almost all the rest put together.
“Young master, it appears there is chaos in the goblin camp,” Jeeves said, even as he refilled Nicholas’ glass. He was already sharing his interface.
Sure enough, he could see the whole goblin camp scrambling about. Nick checked the time. It was 0654. It was too soon. He sat back contemplating for a moment as he watched the butler’s screen. What little the goblins had done to set up a camp was quickly being broken down. Soon they would be completely organized. That would not do.
“Jeeves, have our armies start,” Nicholas finally said.
“Young master, that might throw off the others,” Jeeves said hesitantly.
“Just do it! I will message them. A few minutes should not make much of a difference. If they are able to summon more units and give Gale and Leonard a harder time… Well that would just be too bad,” Nicholas smirked.
Nicholas sent a few quick messages, as Jeeves started moving the armies. The army was split in three. There would be a two pronged attack from the front by the two undead armies. The third fiend/demon army would be moving in from behind. By the time Nicholas had finished sending the messages, the goblins had become even more frantic.
Nicholas watched while smirking. How had Amelia Cromwell made it this far? After having attacked her dungeon previously he had expected for her to have a few large undead beasts, but what was before him was a force almost entirely made up of tier 1 units. The bugbears were seemingly the lone exception, and there were only a hundred of them. The commander, though… The bugbear commander was impressive, but then he had a title. He would hardly make a difference, especially since he had brought one of his own titled units.
Nicholas had two units with a title. He had elected to move one up here while he deciphered Gale’s true intentions. Now it seemed his titled would have a chance to throw down with another titled unit.
Nicholas had decided to just name the unit after its title, so now the unit was Numerous ‘the numerous.’ He could care less if it seemed lazy, naming a zombie was tacky anyways. Luckily the title had fallen to one of the zombie tier 2 units, the wight. Very lucky since the title was given to the 5,000th unit to be summoned into existence at the same time. He was lucky that he had capped out many of the lower tier’s already. No reason not to since they did not consume resources just by existing.
Numerous’ power rating was only 6.2, but it was not its power rating that made it dangerous. The unit was wrapped in chains that it could swing about its bodies to keep enemies at bay. All while weaker 2.0 to 3.0 skeletons summoned all around it. Numerous could only have up to 10 times its power rating in existence at once meaning 62, but they would immediately start pulling themselves out of the ground within seconds of their predecessor dying. It meant Numerous could send a steady stream of 20 to 30 weaker wights to attack enemies. Numerous might not be the best frontliner, but how many hundreds of units could he spawn over the course of a battle.
The two undead armies broke the tree line first. Already the goblins were starting to form ranks. However, their ranks started to become chaotic once again when the commander realized that another fiend army was coming from the opposite direction. The fiend army was still a good minute out, but they could not be disregarded. It was a couple months worth of sponsorship packages after all.
A level 5 sponsorship package could give a half dozen decently strong units for the tier, a dozen slightly weaker units, or 25 even weaker units. This fiend army was composed of all three types. There were some remnants from tier 2 sponsorship packages, but most of the army had been opened after their dungeon had hit level 3. The power rating for the 400 odd fiends fell between 3.5 and 5.0. Nicholas used them in every battle since maintaining them did cost some MP.
A goblin shield wall formed on both sides. The more elite bugbears, goblin reserves, and archers formed up in the center. Several goblins in the center started beating war drums. Nicholas scoffed that they thought a shield wall held up by a bunch of tier 1’s would stop his forces. However, he was enjoying the cadence from the drums. His own army was eerily silent all of the time, except for the banshees none said a word.
Nicholas wondered if the goblins plan was to hold out long enough for Gale came to their aid. Nicholas knew that would not happen. Gale’s army wasn’t even here, but then his jaw dropped as an earthen wall sprang into existence nearly entirely around the force. The wall was a good four feet tall with an additional ditch right before it. Not something that could not be overcome, but it would certainly help.
Then came a volley of arrows. Nicholas watched as they duplicated in the air before crashing down into the front ranks of pygmy skeletons. Tiny explosions erupted among his fodder, killing over a hundred pygmies all at once. Not a big deal since that was the purpose of the pygmies, but Nicholas had only thought it would happen after several volleys and they had also come into range of the goblin mages. The one volley had been quite effective.
Twenty five wights broke out into the front of the left army. They were Numerous spawned. The goblins answered with arrows that duplicated before bursting into flames. A good deal of the wights went down, Nicholas' eyes shifted to where Numerous was. Only a second later zombie arms started pulling themselves out of the earth. Always fun to watch. If there was anything that his army was good at, it was overwhelming numbers. Right now their forces might be equivalent as far as numbers were concerned, but in a matter of minutes his force would bulk up.
A wave of ghosts overtook the vanguard. Over a hundred translucent white wisps. This was where things would start going wrong with the goblins. The incorporeal beings always threw enemy forces into chaos while the stronger undead approached. However, a new volley of arrows burst into light and swept through the ghost ranks. Nicholas was shocked as he watched the arrows annihilate his ghosts. Only about 20% made it through unscathed. It was still enough to cause confusion, but it would not throw the force into full disarray as expected.
The shock only continued, when the ghosts quickly closed the distance before a another volley could be launched. Normally the ghosts would pass right through units unhindered, before they were able to become more tangible and strike from behind unexpectedly. However the ghosts slammed to a stop on the goblin’s shield wall. The shields flared blue in response and repelled the ghosts.. A few ghosts tried to go up and over, but the further ghosts separated from the ground the slower they became. The ones who attempted to go up and over became easy pickings for the archers on the back line. Amelia’s dungeon enchantments were certainly living up to what they had heard and seen.
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In the end it would not matter, a new wall of tier 1 skeletal soldiers and tier 2 skeletal knights were moving in from the left flank. Each carried a shield and a melee weapon. Similarly from the right flank were mummies and zombies bearing shields before them as they closed on the earthen fort. The enchanted arrows had been more effective than Nicholas had expected, but even they would not be as effective against higher defenses. Right behind the shield bearers were the special forces. Dominion units and mages that were the true trump card of his forces.
As expected the next volley of arrows were far less effective. Some arrows pierced right through the shields and into their bearers, but far fewer undead units fell as they closed on the wall. Then the goblins had to start to split their focus as 400 fiends broke out of the tree cover and into the open from behind. Many of the fiends carried a shield and all of them had fairly decent defensive stats. Arrows sifted through their ranks, but not a single fiend went down.
However, the goblin forces immediately countered. The heavily armored bugbear platoon hopped over the wall to engage the fiends outside of the walls. Seemingly at once all of the forces met. Skeletons, zombies, and mummies slammed into the front wall, and the bugbear platoon and fiend army slammed together. Outnumbered and weaker than most of the fiends, Nicholas expected the bugbear platoon to buckle fairly quickly, but the bugbears were actually carving into the fiends.
It only took Nicholas a moment to realize that the difference was made due to skills. If that was the case, their skill bars would run empty in a minute or two. Then the fiends would quickly take the upper hand.
His attention turned to the other side. Several powerful tier 3 banshees swept the front line shields with their sonic wails. The wails did not effect the undead, but whole swaths of the shield wall opened up as the goblin units fell back clutching their ears and eyes which were already bleeding. Undead started making their way over the walls. Ghosts, wraiths, shadows, and spectors also started pouring past the protective shield wall that likely would have kept them out. It looked like the battle had quickly shifted to being a slaughter, all thanks to the spirit branch. A shame since the dominion units and mages were coming into range.
However, the goblin force had a new surprise. A handful of round globe like objects were cast out from the center to the different parts of the front line. Each exploded, sending golden energy in all directions. Tier 1, 2, or 3, it did not matter, all of the spirit units caught in the aura were obliterated. They screamed as they were torn from existence. Wights, zombies, and skeletons fared better, although more than a few collapsed.. Conversely the injured and wounded goblins started jumping back up to their feet. The aura only lasted for a couple of seconds, but it had renewed the goblin forces and devastated his own. Nearly all of his spirit units had been whipped out by the one move.
Nicholas gripped his chair. The goblin ranks were still fairly chaotic, but they were already coming back together. They had anti-undead bombs? and they were alarmingly effective. He was beginning to feel pissed off. Not because he thought that he would lose, but from the fact that this battle was starting to seriously cost him. Still he controlled his rage as he saw his trump card come into play. The special force units got into range.
Undead eldritch mages started firing green flames into the goblin ranks. Necromancers sent black globs of energy forward. They passed right through the bodies of goblins archers and into the ground. Within seconds bony or flesh covered fingers started pulling themselves from the earth. Other necromancers outside of the wall were bringing back fallen undead and goblins. It was not a true resurrection. They would collapse when the spells wore off. To maintain balance the battle creators had put limits preventing him from making an infinitely reviving army.
Dozens of dominion carrying units started to make their move. The only downside about dominion was that the units could not move while asserting their dominion. Thoroughly interspaced mummy lords slammed undead banners into the ground. All of the undead within the banners range would become 20% stronger and their wounds would heal. Other high level undead whipped around their dominion items. There were all sorts. Coffins that had chains that shot out to ensnare goblins before pulling them into the coffin. Other coffins released powerful undead guards that were both powerful and difficult to kill.
Goblin mages and archers started targeting his special forces, but most of their efforts were in vain. Chains knocked fireballs aside. Most of the arrows were not powerful enough to take down the stronger undead. There was not enough concentrated fire. Most of the goblin archers were still trying to fight off the undead popping up out of the ground within their midst. The 75 wolf spiders had already been sent out to aid the bugbear platoon as their skills began to wane. That fight would actually eventually go his way, but it would be a slow tilt of the scale.
The bugbears would last longer than he would have expected. Amelia had certainly spent a lot of time and resources to make that force quite strong. If he was not pissed off, he would have felt quite good about it. The fiends would deal with a force that she had put such care into raising. Undone by 3 months worth of sponsorship packages.
The goblins inside the makeshift fort were now in complete disarray. Undead unearthing in their midst, and goblins rising from the dead made it impossible for them to hold a line. Until that point the handful of bugbears that were leading had managed to hold things together, but now things seemed past the point of no return. Pockets of goblins were fiercely fighting to stay alive. Apparently, the bugbear commander had come to the same conclusion. He roared, “On me! On me.” A good eight bugbears that were still alive within the mayhem made their way toward the bugbear commander, abandoning their zones of control.
“I think they are going to try to break out and escape,” Nicholas warned. Jeeves immediately started barking orders to close the net.
Half a minute later the bugbear commander started forward. Except instead of trying to break out through the rear or try to escape through the flank, he went straight into the undead force in front. “Hmmm, looks like instead of escaping, he is going on a warpath.” Jeeves mumbled quietly.
Nicholas watched as the bugbear commander led a wedge of other units into his own forces. One part of him had wanted them to try and escape. He would lose less units. If things went according to plan it would not matter if the force was wiped out or not. The other part of him wanted to continue to watch the showdown, after all he hardly had much occasion for excitement over the last half year.
The bugbear commander’s war hammer swept back and forth turning bones and flesh into paste as he surged forward. His charge quickly breached through the front lines and into open space. A half dozen eldritch spells slammed into a shield bubble that formed around him. He emerged unscathed, hardly losing a step. Nicholas smiled, they had actually just finished researching the energy shield enchantment. Nice to see what they had to look forward to.
A skeletal knight carrying a dominion tombstone sent streaks of energy his way. The energy went right into the commander. They seemingly had not done anything, but Nicholas knew that the bugbear commander’s stamina would drain quicker and he would not be as fast or strong. It was an all purpose debuff.
A second skeletal knight with a dominion tombstone sent out red streaks of light. They hit the bugbear, flashing red and then down into the earth. Red ethereal chains formed wrists and ankles tethering the commander to the earth. The chains could stretch indefinitely in theory. In practice their pull to that spot of earth would become stronger the further the ensnared unit moved from the spot. However the commander seemingly flashed right through the red tethers that hovered momentarily before winking from existence. Neither did he seem weakened by the debuff.
Nicholas could only guess at the reason, but they had not taken effect. The bugbear commander surged toward the two skeletal knights. They both attempted to use their dominion tombstones as melee weapons, but the bugbear commander bashed right through them.
Several mummy lords had chains pour from their coffins. The bugbear commander was too quick and strong, he powered right through them, smashing them and their coffins. Other high level undead closed in on him, including several dozen grave rippers.
The rippers were combination units between his zombie and mummy units, overpowered half clothed wrapped skeletons, They were currently the pinnacle of what Nicholas could currently bring to bear in melee. Their base power rating was 3.4, but these units were well past that. They were the perfect close combat fighters since they fought with such ferocity. His other tier 3 unit the mummy lord on the other hand was big and slow. Electricity sparked from the bugbears eyes and hammer as the rippers closed in on him. He was finally going all out.
Nicholas frowned when the first swing obliterated one of the rippers. The backswing destroyed another. He once again felt the rage built as he watched his best melee fighters easily get blasted into fragments, and the enemy general showed no signs of stopping. This battle was becoming beyond costly.
However, the bugbear commander was now alone in his assault. The rest of the force that had formed and followed him had faltered quite quickly as they engaged the more powerful undead units. These goblins were hardly going to cost a thing. They were stuck fighting Numerous’ wights. All while they were preyed upon by the other high tier undead. Goblins screamed as chains dragged them toward the abyss inside of each coffin. The coffins closed briefly, before sending out a chain wrapped mummy to fight its former comrades. Seconds later the chains streaked back out to catch another. The chain wrapped mummies would only last for a day, but since they had a 50% increase to the victims power rating, they were quite fearsome.
In another minute the goblins that had followed their commander would be obliterated. The goblins in the makeshift fort would be finished in a matter of minutes as well. The bugbears and spiders would fall soon after as more undead joined the fiends in exterminating them. However, Nicholas could not feel too enthusiastic about the fact when he had tier 2’s and 3’s falling in quick succession to the bugbear leader. From all appearances the bugbear had every base skill along with its abilities, and some… Just by himself, the commander had already cost him six figures worth of MP, and worse even if Nicholas put him down, he would respawn in a matter of months if Amelia survived this ordeal. Gale and Leonard better come through on their side of things.
Too think he had mainly partook in this battle to gain units more experience. He should have just sat back and waited for Amelia’s dungeon core to be crushed. She would have likely had too much on her plate to take the battle to him this morning. Then again, how was he to know that his spirit units would all be killed so easily. He would just have to chalk this battle up as a learning experience in what other dungeons could be capable of.
The bugbear commander made it to the back of the undead army. He had zeroed in on Numerous. A fresh batch of wights started pulling themselves from the earth. They surged forward to only be quickly crushed. Seconds later their replacements were pulling themselves out. However the two titled units were already going at it. The bugbear commander had clearly burned through and used most of his trump cards.
Numerous on the other hand was strengthened by undead banners and could use its chains to keep its distance and attack from all sides. The wights who spawned one after the other aided where they could. They could not do much, but they delayed the bugbear’s advance which was enough for Numerous to keep out of range. Another tombstone welding knight sent red tendrils from its tombstone. This time the cuffs remained on the wrists and ankles. Red ethereal chains secured the bugbear commander to the ground. The titled unit ignored them as he continued to try and kill Numerous. The bugbear commander had to know he would not be escaping now, so was making every effort to bring as many down as he could.
More debuffs hit the leader and caused him to start to noticably flag. Numerous just maintained its distance. Wights continued to pull themselves from the ground and swarm the bugbear commander, who now could only fend them off. The bugbear commander changed tactics to try and kill the skeletal knight who had tethered him, but a red energy shield sprung into existence stopping the blows. Cracks formed on the red shield, but they were half way healed before the next blow. The energy shield would not be broken in time. The wights closed in and the bugbear commander had to give up.
The tether dominion shield would not protect knight from any unit that was not so ensnared, but apparently even a 10.4 power rating unit would not be able to break it on their own. In another minute, it was all over. Pockets of resistance still struggled among the goblins and bugbear platoon, but his losses from now on would be nearly nonexistent. Most of the undead were sitting back and allowing the necromancer summons to do the fighting, at Jeeves direction.