Chapter 28 - The Shades Begin Their Invasion of the East

POV: 3rd person

Going back a couple of months, to a couple days after Haliel left her home, a figure could be seen moving around in the shadows of the partially burnt woods.

This figure could easily be distinguished by its gray toned skin, jet black horns growing from many parts of its body but most distinguishably the two on its forehead, and the markings on his body.

This figure was known to the inhabitant of the Froenia continent as a Shade, a calamity that appeared not long ago from across the sea, as was suspected.

Finally coming out of the shadows, the Shade begins talking to itself as it looks at a shining barrier protecting a grave.

“Huff, that pesky little [Hero]! Showing up when I was about to get myself another pet! And that one was especially powerful too, but even still I wonder what could this barrier be trying to protect? It must be important if a barrier of this level is used on it, when not many people can even pull this off in these lands.” [Shade]

Extending its hands out, the shade made contact with the light of the barrier and was blasted away.

“!” [Shade]

Stunted by the power of the Tier 8 barrier an evil smile appeared on the Shade’s face.

“Hahaha. What interesting magic, this confirms that something really good is in there! Let’s eat that magic and get to the goods, [Corruption].” [Shade]

A magic circle appears above the barrier and with its activation, a light purple shimmer showered over the light barrier and then it was consumed by darkness.

Walking to the now unprotected ground the Shade squat down and  read the letters written on the tombstone.

“Here lies Alan, a father and a warrior. May you rest in peace. Haha what’s this, a grave? Hmm, but to protect this with such a powerful barrier, this Alan person must’ve been important… I’m sure they’ll be delighted to see him up and about again right?” [Shade]

Another smile popped up on the Shade’s face as he said that and quickly got to work.

___________________________________________________

POV: Symond

It’s been roughly seven years since I came to this world, at first I thought of it as something akin to a game, but over the years and witnessing many events I sought to truly change this world.

My first real battle was an experience I couldn’t forget either, seeing people actually die before my eyes was not the same as seeing it on Tv or animes.

Overtime, after a couple of years fighting the [Darkened] monsters, I got used to it and while traveling the border of the Eastern Oulene Kingdom and the Beast Kingdom I encountered another disturbing occurrence, slavery.

For the first two years, I had never been out of the Great Urgayne Forest but we were running out of supplies and most of the monsters had disappeared so me and my men decided to go buy some supplies from a nearby town.

What really caught my attention was a cat girl who was brutally whipped by the slave merchants for protecting a child, not even 5 years of age.

Again, seeing this occur with my own eyes is completely different from watching an anime, so I followed them and bought her from the merchants.

Even though King Grevis of the Slodidal Kingdom told me that beastmen were despicable I don’t think so because “Cat girls are justice and any friend of cat girls are a friend of mine.’

Well, that’s my little secret that no one else knows about, and most people wouldn’t really even believe that I watch anime if they saw me since I have a pretty mean looking face.

So that’s how the cat girl call Nari came to join us and with her we prevented many conflicts on both sides.

At first she just watched us from a safe distance but over the years she has learned to fight and now she’s on par with most of my soldiers.

Even though we solved issues concerning these two kingdoms, they were minor conflicts that I did on my own.

Lately this is what we spend time doing the most with there being fewer and fewer [Darkened] monsters.

Since I thought this was suspicious, I sent a couple of my men to investigate and today they should be coming back to report things.

As I was thinking about some of the things that happened in the years following my summoning, Nari came into the my tent.

“Oh, master the men who went to investigate came back and they are badly injured.” [Nari]

“What!? Let’s go then, and also I keep on telling you but you don’t have to call me master all the time.” [Symond]

“But you are, and I’m glad.” [Nari]

“Huff. we’ll continue this after I hear what they have to report. Also is a healer already there?” [Symond]

“Yeah, the healers are currently healing them.” [Nari]

After confirming some things with Nari about the safety of my men, we reached the tent they were being treated in.

Stepping in everyone turned my way and a healer took me to them.

“Nick and Asa? Where are the others?” [Symond]

What I saw were Nick and Asa heavily wounded and covered with deep cuts.

Nick also had a severed arm and Asa had come fingers cut off, but Nick was still more severely injured as he must’ve taken most of the damage as a tank.

“H-hey Symond…” [Nick]

“Tell me what happened. What did this to you?” [Symond]

The one to get up was Asa since she was mostly heal by now.

“W-we were attacked by a monster, but it was not just any monster. H-he was the rumored [Reaper of Flames] and was leading a horde of [Darkened] monsters that numbered to more than what we have ever fought in a single battle before… Everyone else died protecting us so that we can make it back to report this…” [Asa]

I was in a complete shock, the reason the number of [Darkened] monsters went down these past few months were because they were all gathering under something.

“T-that’s insane… But who is this [Reaper of Flames]?” [Symond]

“The [Reaper of Flames], he was originally from the Oulene Kingdom and was a bounty hunter, someone who slayed a Dragon. He was well known for his strength, brutality, and dark fire magic before he suddenly disappeared about two decades ago. I’ve personally only heard of him from stories b-but to see him in real life is a different story.” [Asa]

“Originally from the Oulene Kingdom? Aren’t you also originally from here?” [Symond]

“I-I was, but I moved to the Slodidal Kingdom with my parents when I was a kid.” [Asa]

“I see. Hmmm.” [Symond]

While I was thinking about what Asa just told me, something hostile popped up in my [Radar] and was coming towards our direction fast.

“Nari, tell everyone to assemble at once. I think those monsters are coming so make haste and tell everyone to be fully equipped.” [Symond]

“Yes master!” [Nari]

“Two healers stay here treat Nick and Asa, the rest follow me. [Equip].” [Symond]

Using the auto equip spell, my armor and lancer appeared on me as I walked out of the tent.

In my mind I began reassuring myself that everything will be fine and kept telling me it over and over again.

“[Status Window].” [Symond]

Status WindowNameSymond JonesGenderMaleRaceHumanTitleHeroAge26Fame7,100Level77Health7,680(+3,456)Concentration425(+191)Mana6,230(+2,804)Strength6,042(+2,719)Endurance3,066(+1,380)Intelligence3,995(+1,798)Wisdom3,267(+1,470)Agility4,035(+1,816)Stamina3,721(+1,674)Offense8,761Vitality3,806(+1,713)Defense4,446Magic Resist30%Faith5,000Fighting Spirit937Bonus[Hero]+45% to All Affinity and Stats

x1.5 to All Stats gained from Level up

[Hero’s Aura] +30% boost to offense, spell damage, and defense in combat

Looking at my stats I felt  more confident, especially when I thought back to how much I had improved.

Finally reaching where everyone was I dispelled [Status Window] and cleared my throat.

“Ahem. Everyone, for those of you who have [Radar] I’m sure you can feel them by now but we are about to be attacked by many [Darkened] monsters so prepare formation and let's greet them. I will leave command to you Tobin.” [Symond]

“Huh? Why, isn’t this going to be a big battle?” [Tobin]

“That’s exactly why I chose you. You have shown me you are capable of command over the years and I need you to lead everyone when I’m busy fighting the [Reaper of Flames].” [Symond]

“I won’t let you down Symond.” [Tobin]

“In addition, I need Nari, Tiffany, Wilfred, and Orson to back me up.” [Symond]

“Roger!” [All]

“Let’s go give them a good beating!” [Symond]

On my command we moved out of our camp area and went to the clearing at the Great Urgayne Forest entrance so that there would be room for us to move about and also not get surrounded inside the forest.

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As we exited the forest and went into formation, we could hear loud roars coming from within it and soon hordes of monsters were pouring out.

Tobin instantly went to confront them while me and my group were enchanting each others with buffs.

Just when Tiffany finished giving everyone their attack enchant, a shadow came out from the depth of the forest at incredible speed.

The shadow was aiming at Tiffany our support and healer so I rushed in the intercept with [Gallant Rush].

Bending its body backwards, the shadow dodged my attack and came to an abrupt stop behind us.

Upon closer inspection I could clearly see that this person was but a corpse with the dim light of the undead shining from his eyes, though he has yet to rot.

This means an extremely powerful necromancer must have done it, or he is a new corpse.

“Heh. Seeing you are an undead then this’ll be easier for us… Undead shouldn’t be able to think properly right? And you guys have a weakness to light. Well, let’s see [Identify].” [Symond]

Status WindowNameAlanGenderMaleRaceHuman (Undead)TitleDragon SlayerAge46Fame50,000Level100Health29,950(+11,980)Concentration5,645(+2,258)Mana11,400(+4,560)Strength9,135(+3,654)Endurance6,593(+2,637)Intelligence6,190(+2,476)Wisdom5,010(+2,004)Agility7,090(+2,836)Stamina5,640(+2,256)Offense12,789Vitality6,175(+2,470)Defense9,230Magic Resist55%Faith0Fighting Spirit15,500Bonus[Dragon Slayer] +40% to All Stats

+65% more damage to Dragons and Wyverns 

[The Undying] when Health drops below 10% All Stats Triples and Health doesn’t drop below 1 (last 5 minutes)

[The Reaper of Flames] +1,000 to Strength

+10,000 to Health

+50% resist to Fire and Fire magic (stacks with current Magic Resist)

[Undead] Resistance to Dark magic +70% 

Dark magic affinity and damage +100%

Weakness to Light magic

A drop of sweat flowed down my face as I saw the insane stats and various boosts that the [Reaper of Flames] have on him.

“Tiffany, Wilfred, and Orson, you guys have affinity to the light element right?” [Symond]

“Uh. Yeah, but only Orson have 100% affinity with it. Me and Tiffany are only at  40%.” [Wilfred]

“Good enough, he’s an undead now so just hit him with Light magic. I would love to say Fire too, but he has affinity to that obviously.” [Symond]

“T-that explains his eyes. Since we’re in the clearing and there’s not much shadow or grass for him to burn, we should have to advantage.” [Orson]

The pressure the [Reaper of Flames] was giving off was strong but all of us here have also gone through our fair share of battles so we won’t go down without a fight but there was one thing bothering me.

‘Who is the one organizing this and what is their purpose in doing so, especially to bring back someone who died.’ [Symond]

While we were still talking, Alan had already launched another attack and this time Nari was the one who jumped in to shield Tiffany, knocking her back several feet.

“Tch. Tiffany increase the defense enchant and focus on healing us. This is going to be a long fight.” [Symond]

With Nari down, Alan raised up his sword then did swung down one of his blade with the tip aim for Nari’s throat.

Using [Hero’s Flash] I kicked Alan away from Nari and Orson followed it up with [Light Wave].

Alan was fast to react and quickly jumped away from Orson’s attack.

“Tread lightly and push on forward, [Tailwind]!” [Wilfred]

“Okay, now it's our turn to launch our attack. Nari and Orson follow my lead and let’s give him a taste of our strength!” [Symond]

Using [Tailwind]’s additional boost to our speed, us three went in and attacked Alan from three sides but he easily parried our attacks and countered.

“[Limit Breaker], [Chaos Fire], [Sonic Boom], [Thousand Slashes of the Inferno Asura].” [Alan]

Instantly Alan was covered in black and red flames while thousands of blazing swords also appear around him.

Blasting off from the spot he was at, a loud boom could be heard and appeared in my face.

Panicked I used [Brilliant Pulse] and blasted him away from me but his swing still sent a Black inferno at us followed by the blazing swords.

“Shit! Quick Cast and Multicast? This guy is OP man! [Hero’s Shield]!!” [Symond]

Using my exclusive [Hero Skill] I created a shield of light in front of us, which bounced the attacks back at him.

From out of the dust, Alan appeared with a snarl on his face as his blood shot eyes were staring at us.

“That seemed to have affected him at least.” [Tiffany]

“Yeah but here he comes again.” [Orson]

Once again he came rushing at us so me and Orson rat towards him too.

When we made contact with him, he suddenly disappeared and and the next thing I know, I heard Orson yell out in pain as his body was severed in two.

“GAhhh!” [Orson]

“Ors-!” [Symond]

Before I even had a chance to help Orson, a vertical slash came at me from behind.

Quickly swinging my lance backwards, I was barely able to stop the attack from landing on me and instead slid off my lance.

In the blink of an eye a two against one was turned into a one on one.

While we were exchanging blows with one another I saw in the corner of my eyes Nari coming in this direction.

“Stay back! He’s strong enough to cut cleanly through Orson’s armor like it was nothing! Tch.” [Symond]

While I was shouting to Nari, I was barely in time to block an attack that would have severed my head.

Nari stopped her feet when I called out to her and just stood there with a grim expression on.

Using my longer reach to my advantage I was able to keep Alan at bay while also keeping his attention on me because from his attack earlier I could tell that no one in my whole unit could take him on.

Even though I do have a longer reach, I was barely keeping up with his dual wielding and had it not been for Tiffany and Wilfred’s enchants and heal I probably would be dead by now too.

Suddenly Alan came to an abrupt stopped and the reason for this was that Orson had grabbed hold of Alan’s foot.

Without wasting his effort I used this chance to finally use a Light based skill.

“Die you fucker! [Radiant Stab x100]!!!” [Symond]

Since Alan was held down and couldn’t move at the moment I used my skill with the fastest attack speed.

My lance shown a brilliant gold color as it blurred striking multiple stabs into his body within a second.

Multiple holes appeared on his body as he was sent flying a few yards.

Those holes were quickly covered by darkness and healed completely.

“GRAhhhh!! How dare you attack my little girl!!! I’ll kill you all!! DIE!!!! [Oblivion Fire]!! [Death’s Dance]!!!” [Alan]

Getting up, Alan said some random nonsense and went on a rampage.

From beneath him a gigantic magic circle began forming, glowing black and red, and extended to cover the entire field that we were on.

In that instant he also disappeared and to my right, where Tobin had been battling the [Darkened] monsters, I could hear screams of agony coming from my men and the monsters.

They were all brutally cut into multiple pieces, not discriminated between humans or monsters.

As the markings inside the magic circle finished forming, I had an extremely unpleasant feeling and ran back to where Nari, Tiffany, and Wilfred were.

When I got there I instantly placed up another defensive spell, the strongest and fastest one I got.

“[God’s Protection]!!!” [Symond]

Just as jet black flames outlined with red erupted from the ground, golden magic circles appeared on us and protected us as the flames engulfed everyone.

Almost fainting from the shock that followed the eruption I barely held out until the flames began to disperse.

Laying on the ground barely conscious, I saw another figure entered the battlefield.

He had gray toned skin with many jet black horns growing from his body.

This figure then continues to walk up to Alan, the [Reaper of Flames], and with the snap of his fingers, Alan fainted.

Without any energy left I could only watch as he said words that sent chills running down my spine.

“Hahahaha! Amazing! Truly amazing! Such strength! With such a toy in my hands, I’ll be the first to conquer the East! The higher ups will truly be happy if I brought destruction to these lands. Hahahaha!!” [??]

***

PS. You guys asked me to do an info dump but I'm not sure how to do it, was thinking in a normal chapter or one with just info dump and not much of a story? Well, tell me what sounds better and hope you guys enjoy this chapter. Was also thinking of doing a chapter with just the stats of all the important characters and their skills/spells.