Chapter 168
Allie stood in her usual soul-woven bone armor, staring with red eyes out of a skull mask with her thrumming wand twirling around in her hand at blurring speed. She’d gotten the hang of flipping it around absentmindedly between her fingers and could now do it with one hand and not even bother looking.
It was just a neat party trick, nothing more.
Vin and Nin - the skresh necromancers stood beside the ghoul Mara in an underground cave a dozen miles outside Dawn’s Capital: the city of Mandon. The large cavern was easily big enough to house an entire legion, but that wasn’ the purpose of this place. Instead, it was merely a laboratory - one that was hidden from the view of the normal populace, and a safe house for her to retreat to in case Dawn was less than trustworthy in days to come should she need a place to lay in hiding. It had dozens of tunnels through the underdark, found by some of her allies from Deepnest at her request, and accessed the outer rim of Tereen’s lands as well. Most importantly one of these tunnels was incredibly large, and had been artificially dug all the way out to the surface to a hidden pit in a nearby forest.
The size of that particular tunnel was going to be very important for what she had planned.
Concerning Dawn: she could honestly say that the relations with this human kingdom were going quite well. Trade had drastically increased, and the two kingdoms were more or less dependent on one another for certain valuable resources each had. The Thane Necropolis provided Dawn with numerous alchemy ingredients that could only be found in the unholy affiliated landscapes surrounding Brightsville, such as death attuned herbs or feral ghoul body parts. Chicago also had a large amount of mana-infused salts along their coastline that were very good for improving enchantments on weapons. Then there was the direct access to Deepnest, which provided both the Thane Necropolis and Dawn with valuable minerals in exchange for weapons and mercenaries for their stalemated war against the dwarves.
On the other hand, Dawn was providing her forces with two things the Thane Necropolis very much wanted outside of the normal goods pedaling merchants often carried in their caravans. The first was something called ‘Sky Ink’ by the system, a treasure in its own right that allowed her mechanical units from Chicago to operate at a much higher level. Any mechanical units like cyborgs, machines, or even weapons would have their basic functions increased by a very large margin - though she didn’t know where the king was getting this strange blue fluid either. Whatever the source was, Dawn had hidden it. The second thing they were trading were roc eggs - with each one coming at a very steep price in Elysium coins.
But it'd be worth it one day when she was able to have her own roc riders flying overhead. The large golden birds were just as fast as many of the helicopters and they were able to grow levels too, and some of them were inherently born with storm martial arts that produced lightning attacks.
And that was all aside from all the elf and dwarf slaves to man their farms, and bodies Allie had acquired from the wars. Both the war with Tereen elves, and the war with the dwarves in the underdark had resulted in massive amounts of casualties that further fueled her undead acquisition. The amount of undead that she’d created from the bone garden had skyrocketed, and their necropolis was now numbering in the hundreds of thousands of undead due to the violence. It only served to make the necropolis all that much stronger - and the bone garden all that much more valuable.
Not that her bone garden was a normal one. It also produced avenues of access to off-world undead who weren’t affiliated with any of the other multiverse major factions, ones that were below a certain level threshold, due to early quests in their war against prophet. It had been upgraded three times now, and losing it would mean a drastic decrease in undead output if she had to build a replacement. A new one simply wouldn't do as well, as these upgrades were all system-unique. There was the upgrade to allow off-world undead to come over, an upgrade she'd gotten for being the most notable native undead faction on the planet Panu that allowed for far less resource consumption per undead produced, and an upgrade she'd acquired for finishing a quest to sacrifice a city's populace to the death pillar. This last upgrade had been achieved using one of the elf cities, and though she didn't like losing all those slaves - the upgrade she'd got was more than worth it and allows for spontaneous upgrades to random undead who were within a zone of influence ranging 50 miles out around Brightsville.
She snapped out of her thoughts when Gurth’Rok and Dr. Brass entered through the tunnels, leading another five of Gurth’Rok’s own orc warriors along with another unfamiliar seven orcs with them. The unfamiliar warriors all wore blue painted feathers in their braided hair, and their tusks were slightly smaller than the orcs of the Yellow Skull Tribe that’d been incorporated into the necropolis.
Passing the huge pile of rotting bodies, skeletons, and the alchemy lab set up that bubbled and hissed in large vats and cauldrons to their right - the seven new recruits warily sidestepped a pair of heavily armored cyborgs that carried enchanted plasma blades on their backs and automatic rifles in their hands.
“All clear.” Came the voice of a scout on the outer lip of the entrance through the walkie talkie at Allie’s side.
Allie gestured for the seven orcs to step forward, passing some of the larger vats of green bubbling liquid casting eerie light along the walls. Stopping alongside Mara, she pushed her wand and her hands into the dark pockets of her cloak.
“Kneel before our queen.” Gurth’Rock said, his red eyes glinting in the dim light of the cavern and his wooden cobra staff slamming into the stone floor.
The seven newcomers did as he told them, getting on their knees to prostrate themselves. They did not speak until spoken to.
“Your tribe is called… What was it…” Allie said, kneeling to examine some of the blue feathers adorning their braids by picking one up in a gauntleted hand. “The Blue Hawk Tribe? Is that right? You may rise.”
She let the feather and the man’s braid go, standing as they did. She peered up at the taller orc chieftain in front of her, and curiously hummed to herself while circling him with light steps.
“Queen Allie Thane of the Thane Necropolis-” The orc chieftain bowed low, a very muscular man with a strongest jaw who carried an axe at his side. “I am humbled that you would spare time to meet with me personally. Your reputation precedes you.”
Allie giggled slightly, coming back around to stop in front of him with another twirl of her wand. “And what reputation is that?”
The orc chieftain didn’t skip a beat, giving her a menacing smile. “Your brutality, bloodlust, and ruthlessness. They are all qualities we desire in a leader - especially when they’re directed towards high elves.”
The other greenskins chuckled ruthlessly, and the orc chieftain gestured to two of his men. Together they dragged the body of a blonde elf man forward, still covered in blood and wearing what had once been pristine clothing that was now shredded. The pointed ears were still intact, but his eyes had been gouged out and the expression rested in a silent scream while a deep wound was torn across his chest. “I present to you the prince of the Tereen. My clan and I ambushed his honor guard when crossing the twin rivers to the northwest.”
Allie took the body in her free hand, noting the tattoo of the royal family on the man’s neck. Turning to Mara, she gestured to the marking while prodding it with her wand. “Have our sources confirmed the prince’s death?”
Mara nodded. “They have. That is the genuine article.”
In response, Allie pulled out a sack of coins from her spatial bag and slapped it into the outstretched palms of the orc chieftain representing the Blue Hawk tribe. Then she stored the body of the prince for later use. “Very good. Here’s your bounty, run along now.”
“Eh… My queen.” Gurth’Rok interrupted, bowing low and hesitating with a glance the other orc chieftain’s way. “What about the other matter?”
“Other matter?” Allie asked, puzzled. She blinked twice, then snapped her fingers in realization. “Oh yes. They can join the necropolis if they want to, but it’s your responsibility to make sure their tribe accommodates just like yours did. You’ll be speaking for them Gurth’Rok, I don’t want any more incidents like the last one where your soldiers were caught torturing a slave. I’d hate to hang more of them from the tower as another display of what happens to those who damage the property of the crown.”
The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.
Gurth’Rok grimaced slightly, but nodded - and the other orcs present remained absolutely silent while he spoke. “Of course your majesty, I will make sure they understand the consequences of damaging any of your slaves again and I will let them know what the norms of our country are. Do I have permission to take funds and build another residential area?”
“Where?”
“Likely renovated buildings from Brightsville itself.”
“Then yes you do.”
“And the other stipend? I had promised the chieftain of the Blue Hawks tribe that he’d be paid for integrating his people, as is your policy. They bring another two thousand orcs ready to serve you, most of them being civilians as their numbers were culled by the Teleen.”
“Oh yes. Sorry, my mind has been elsewhere lately ever since I enrolled in the academy.” Allie pulled out yet another bag of coins, this one much bigger than the first - which she tossed onto the ground for the greenskin leaders to pick up.
“Thank you my queen!” Gurth’Rok replied happily while the other greenskins of both tribes both grinned widely. They were just happy to have more of their own kin now, as both of their tribes had been almost decimated during the early integration. It was the fourth orc tribe to join, and their numbers were growing fast. “You will not regret this! Our people are steadfast in our loyalty and your kindness will not go unreciprocated! Now if you do not mind, I need to attend a hunt. My people are tracking Locust Wraiths spawned in the outer reaches of our lands, and they rapidly breed with other feral undead to produce small swarms if not put down.”
Allie nodded, then waved them away with a shooing motion rather impatiently. The orcs packed up and left, laughing to one another and speaking excitedly about what to expect when moving into the suburbs of Brightsville that were being rebuilt and renovated as more people moved in from the surrounding wildlands or other less well-protected areas.
Then when they’d finally left, Allie motioned to the two elite cyborgs nearby. One was female, the other was male, and both wore very stern looks of hardened military veterans with various metal pieces incorporated into their bodies. “Follow the Blue Hawk leadership after Gurth’Rok lets them depart. If they seem to be galivanting off with the money given to them and don’t take a route headed towards the necropolis, assassinate them and bring the money back. I don’t want a repeat of the Bloodhound Tribe’s treachery where they stole a bunch of money and ran off with it.”
Both cyborgs silently nodded, then activated stealth fields and disappeared entirely. The only reason Allie knew they were there was due to their heartbeats that continued to disappear down the cavern and then out a tunnel exit the way the orcs had departed.
“Back to the drawing board!” Allie turned heel towards the center of the cavern, and as she did her friends Vin and Nin activated the sigils that’d been placed there. “Is it ready?”
The sigils on the stone floor glowed a faint neon teal, shimmering with black wisps as death mana poured into the magical construct and slabs of stone began to rise at intervals akin to an evil stone-henge.
The loud bubbling of the chemical vats nearby came up an octave when lines of power connecting them and the sigils began to intertwine, and Vin nodded expectantly while rubbing his skeletal hands together. “Yes Allie, we’re good to go! Do you have the corpse?”
Allie nodded, walking over to the circle - lifted a hand, and withdrew a small bauble. One that Riven had gifted to her after defeated and containing the dungeon boss after saving Hakim’s team across the planet.
Then, smashing it between her fingers almost effortlessly, the corpse appeared before her.
The drake was enormous, far larger than she’d thought it would be - an it almost instantly took up half the cavern. It was only just big enough to fit on the runic sigils and inbetween the pillars of stone, and she nodded approvingly at the scaled blue behemoth while noting the wounds still kept fresh by the time freeze her spatial sack had.
“Riven killed this thing huh?” Allie muttered, rubbing at her neck and giddily skipping backwards to the edge of the runic circlets while clapping her hands together. Then, with hand stretched to the right, Mara placed a soul stone they’d crafted together just for this particular occasion from a combination of soul shards.
With a recent breakthrough Allie could now say that - though she couldn’t completely resurrect people yet without damage to the original soul, she could mix-and-match different pieces of souls and imbue these newly created true souls into bodies. It was a grand step in the direction of complete revival, and was supposedly not often done even in the outer reaches of the multiverse.
“I don’t know of anyone who can completely revive a soul from true death without immense cost to themselves.” Kathrine had told Allie months ago when she’d asked.
Well fuck that. Not just anyone had a 100% affinity to the death pillar either. Other people might not be able to do it, but Allie was hellbent on figuring out a way.
Mara nudged Allie with a wide smile. “Good luck! I’m excited. To your first ‘Captain’ undead!”
Captain Undead minion slots were those reserved by Allie’s swarm necromancer class. She had two of these slots. The ‘captains’, which she hadn’t successfully created until now, were supposed to be intelligent and could control the other undead she commanded alongside giving her swarm a command stat buff whenever they were nearby. However, she’d failed every time when trying to create a ‘captain’ type undead, as it required the soul to remain completely intact while simultaneously controlling them.
But that problem was now gone. Mostly, anyways.
“Here goes nothing.” Allie cracked her neck, then concentrated on the unique soul she and Mara had infused into the soul stone clasped between her fingers. The stone lit up, becoming a bright neon teal that flared and pulsed over and over again with each infusion she channeled into it. Cracks started appearing on the stone one after the other, little pieces of crystal chipping off of it and falling to the ground until eventually - suddenly - it burst.
Blinding teal light roared to life as the uniquely crafted soul - a true chimera masterpiece created from their most deadly enemies - was let loose and directed into the body of the drake. Power flowed and pulsed, charging forward and slamming into the huge blue-scaled monster.
The corpse shivered and trembled.
The ground shook with the infusion of necromantic power.
The runes along the stone pillars and cavern floor lit up and pulsed from teal to white.
Scales began to fall off the massive dead beast, leaving behind exposed flesh that crackled and tore at the air with smoldering necromancy. Diseased flesh rotted away and was replaced with thick cords of black miasma. Membranes along the wings decayed and fell away, only to be replaced with a similar black power that stretched between exposed bones - integrating little trickles of neon teal light like blood vessels would do.
The drake then opened its eyes to reveal a dull gray-white color, and the undead creature slowly rose to its feet.
[You have created a new minion with additional boost enchantments to the soul aperture. New minion’s soul has been fed numerous other souls to strengthen its core. Affinity with body is still intact due to 43% of current soul being utilized from previously deceased drake. Your minion’s affinity to the Death Pillar has increased after being imbued with your blood. New Captain Minion has been applied to your status page and can control all other minions you possess as long as those orders do not contradict your own:
Undead Drake, Level 60, Unnamed
Ability Synopsis is shown below, see individual status page for this minion for more details:
* Deathfire Blast - Breath death-attuned flames at your enemies
* Winds of Rot - Cast a billowing torrent of black winds that rot away your enemies, or use it to boost your own speed
* Wraithflight - Increases flight movement drastically by turning your body into a wraith’s form, can move inbetween the land of the dead and the living at will at high mana cost, affects any adjacent items or riders
* Pulsating Roar - This martial art sends a shockwave of kinetic energy at your enemies and potentially silences them for a short time
* Unholy Slash - Imbue your claws with unholy energy, empowering your slash attack for additional speed and physical damage]
“Bravo.” Mara muttered under her breath while slowly clapping, watching the titanic monster stand to its full height - though it had a hard time stretching its wings out without touching the cavern ceiling. “Bravo, bravo, bravo…”
“Oh yeah baby!” Allie humphed triumphantly while the other undead around the room cheered or gawked, and let the drake’s enormous skeletal head drive itself forward to get a better look at her.
A deep rumbling sound came from the monstrous, zombiefied, skeletal drake - and it breathed a brief bought of flames out its nostrils while side-eyeing her when it turned its head. The eye itself was larger than she was, but it centered on her position with intent.
When it spoke, the noise was like a demonic hiss that echoed through the caves and tunnels beyond. “You are… Master.”
“Allie Thane, and yes. I am the one who created you.”
The drake picked its head up to look at her from another angle, then let off another rumbling sound. “Allie Thane… is a good name. My memories are… jumbled. My understanding of this world is… limited. Please advise me on what my purpose is, and what I was created to do.”
“Your purpose is to serve me.” Allie replied, staring up at the large creature with a devilish gleam in her eye. “And your first order of business is to educate yourself.”
Allie gestured over to Vin and Nin, the two skeletal humanoids. “They will be your tutors here in the cavern while I’m gone. Learn about what our situation is, about the world outside, and I will be back to claim you in due time. As for the rest of you…”
She turned heel to stare at the others who’d gathered here in the cavern, witnesses to her new mount’s birth. “Prepare yourselves for an assault, you’ll all be coming with me in upcoming days. Riven will be too, but he’s currently on a long-needed date and I have my own plans at the academy. So it’ll wait. The assault will take place in two days.”
“Assault?” Mara asked curiously, shoving her hands into her pockets with another side-eye at the large draconic creature looming over them. “This is the first time I'm hearing about it. Who are we attacking? Are you and Riven going to break the front line stalemate with the Tereen?”
Allie shook her head. “No, we’re going to let our own forces continue that fight. They need the levels, the system rewards those who kill and champions will rise from this war. No need for myself or Riven to get involved because we’d simply end a good opportunity. No, we are going to be attacking the dungeon who is supporting the Tereen. Dungeon Alibast, and I hear it has lots and lots of treasures.”