Karl marched with his minions towards one of the exists of the Blood God Court's courtyard. He had decided not to ask Genji about people from other worlds, because he frankly had little trust in the man.
"The guy has an agenda and making me stronger or more knowledgeable ain't in it." Karl thought bitterly, it would be better to mingle a little first before asking around. No one trusted a total stranger.
Before they exited the sect, Karl payed attention to multiple cultivators that tried to cultivate in the open. Some of them practiced the celestial path that was familiar to him due to his close relations to the Water Dragon Sect, but there were cultivators that did not shy away from more unorthodox practices and the leadership of the sect did not seem to mind.
The only policy seemed to be to do all demonic cultivation in the open to allow others to immediately intervene if something went wrong.
On his right, Karl saw a cultivator who was painting runes on naked bodies of slaves that were chained to the ground. What would happen next to them could be imagined.
On his left, there sat a giggling girl that was surrounded by bodies of animals and what she appeared to be doing was preparing to graft animal body part onto her own body, not caring about altering her looks.
Karl noticed that the demonic practices were being silently observed by the others and it was probable that not all practices of demonic cultivation were welcomed in the camp.
"Even a tolerant sect like this one seems to have its limits." Karl mused while passing the checkpoint with ease, as no one really cared about people going outside.
Karl marched in full force towards his destination. It was after dawn and he considered waiting for the night, but he was too impatient and his minions would be able to deal with the annoying birds anyway. He had no plans to go deeper into their territory, staying just on the edge.
"Let's bait them and see how it goes." They continued to march in a loose formation directly towards the watch tower, as if challenging the pair of Razor Hawks that made a nest at its top.
Karl could see that the bigger of the pair, supposedly a male, was watching them when they left the cover of higher buildings that were still standing and entered the region that was the hunting ground of the birds. For a while, the pair of birds was simply watching them from their high position, but when they were far enough from any cover, they took off into the air and screeched loudly.
"Here they come. Romeo and Julie, death has already been prepared for you." Karl followed closely the pair's movements as they began to circle above his group.
Both parties were assessing each other's strength.
After a few circles, the female bird cried out in a pitch one octave higher and descended rapidly on one of the Void Knights.
The dive was too fast and when Karl finally guessed which of the knights had the honor to be chosen by the bird, a steel sound rang loudly across the ruined landscape and Karl saw in shock a pile of metal that used to be his Void Knight, crushed into a pulp by the powerful impact.
"No way! This bird packs some punch!" He Immediately commanded all his Void Knights to unleash the Void upon the daring bird.
The bird managed to dodge many of the flying Void projectiles, the sword lights harmlessly ascending to the sky, but there was too many and it soon fell down with a screech, its feathers stained with blood.
The injured bird had little chance for further struggle against Karl's forces and was promptly bisected by the Dread Knight.
"One knight down, that is unpleasant." Karl lamented and watched the male dive towards the Dread Knight ferociously.
"You are done, you overgrown chicken." Karl watched the clash of monstrosities.
There was a noise even louder than before and the male Razor Hawk ended its assault standing on the top of the lying Dead Knight that had its arm torn away, the top half of his chest had been pushed into its lower part, making him look ridiculously stocky.
"Help him!" Karl commanded immediately when he realized that the Razor Hawk had the capacity to kill his most prized possession.
But that was only the beginning.
In the next second, the air began to shimmer and Karl was glad that he was further away from the duel when he realized what it was. Countless invisible blades materialized all around the male Razor Hawk and began to spin and slash, turning everything in a diameter of fifteen meters around it into minced meat and metal scraps.
It was a domain. In the area around the bird, only the Razor Hawk's blades ruled.
"Ranged attacks! Fire everything you can!!" Karl was stupefied by the unfavorable situation, he had no time to count how many minions he had lost, but it was much more than he had planned.
Again, Void projectiles began to fly towards the bird and only two managed to hit it due to the considerably reduced ranks of the Void Knights. Luckily, the injuries distracted the bird enough for it to miss that the one he was grasping in his talons was far from dead. The Dread Knight swung his one hand and his saw-like two handed sword stuck the Razor Hawk's wing and side, almost severing the wing off.
A mournful screech tore through the sky and another storm of razor blades flooded the bird's surroundings, ending the Dread Knight for good.
Nevertheless, the downed bird was left at the mercy of the ranged attacks that were hitting more and more as the movements of the Razor Hawk were compromised by his injuries.
After everything went silent, Karl looked over the battlefield and counted his losses and his gains.
First, he decided to call his status screen and savor the sweet experience points that came along with killing an entity at the Soul Binding level.
Karl Gulden
Level 3 Dungeon Core
Mana Regeneration - 1000/s
Spells- [Dig], [Build]
Summons- [Molerat (Gluttony) 5/s], [Ghoul Gryphon (Filth) 500/s]
[Experience 1081/10 000]
"The loses are too much, I have to replenish my forces." Karl decided to probe what Edo's underground had to offer, as he had already mapped a place where his trusted Earth Elementals could be summoned.
Why not pause his assignment? He had no time constraints on his actions. With no time constraints, one would lose only when he admitted his loss.
* * * *
"So, your little pet runs around, playing with beasts and that's all he can do." Elder Sato spat out while staring out of the window, looking at the training cultivators below.
"Where is the problem? We can use an extra muscle. Who knows? Maybe he will get more comfortable with us and becomes more valuable in the future." Elder Genji responded while having his elbows propped against the frame of the very same window.
"The Jing-Jang Palace cultivators are like rabid dogs sniffing their demise. They are snooping around, looking for an opportunity to strike." Elder Sato appeared unhappy with what Elder Genji had said.
"You worry too much." Genji just laughed at his comrade's worries.
"Really? You do know what is under this building. If they get too close and disrupt the. .. . "
"Enough!" Genji's fist slammed against the window frame. "You know the rules, not on the surface, Sato!"
Genji's companion bent closer and whispered into his ear.
"They are the last threat remaining, we should deal with them swiftly with all the means at our disposal." Sato kept pressuring Genji until his kin stood up straight and made a step towards him, their amber eyes only centimeters from each other.
"I am Tokugawa Genji, inheritor of the will of Tokugawa Akame and I am perfectly aware of the burden passed down upon me. You will listen to my orders without question, this conversation is over." The commanding tone did not allow any resistance.
"Patriarch." Elder Sato bowed slightly and turned around, his gray hair of the same color as Genji had, albeit much longer, was fluttering behind him. He left the room without looking back and Genji drew a deep breath of fresh air.
He also knew about what they were guarding, but to rush would be a mistake. Everything had the right time.
* * * *
Karl looked at the watch tower for the last time and issued a command to his minions to turn back, it was better to play it safe, who knew if the pair of birds were the only ones in the vicinity. His minions turned around, but when they made just a couple of steps in their new direction, there was an explosion right next to Karl and one of his Void Horrors burst into flames as if hit by a grenade.
More explosions sounded around him and it took Karl a few seconds to realize that the enemy was hiding in the middle of the tower they had been heading for. The projectiles seemed to be arrows, but they were clearly far from simple.
"Hurry, we must retreat!" Karl began to panic and gave the order to sprint towards the nearest cover. Unfortunately, the attack was a perfect ambush, as the territory of the Razor Hawks was typical by its absence of cover that was the very reason the beasts had their nests here.
While explosions were raining down onto their heads constantly, Karl with his minions were moving back towards their camp. With every minion fallen, he felt like being crushed into powder.
One of the explosions was louder than the others and Karl Gulden found himself soaring through the air, landing on the ground a dozen meters away from their destination.
"Pick me up! Hurry!" He was in distress, hoping that his immortal life was not about to ingloriously end in an ambush. Without delay, the nearest Void Knight picked him up and continued with him in his dash towards the nearby remnants of a wall.
When they finally left the clearing, Karl found in horror that there was just a minority of his minions left.
He had just three Void Knights left.
"We must retreat to the base!" An irrational fear gripped him, as if being out in the open meant a certain death. They rushed back, almost being attacked by the gatekeepers of the Blood God Court, as they had not waited for being identified.
"Are you alright?! We have new intel, there should have been two assault teams of The Jing-Jang Palace, not just one. " The disheveled Elder Sato ran towards them, closely followed by Genji.
"We have been ambushed after killing a nesting pair of Razor Hawks!"
"Cursed pests! Why can't they leave us alone!" Elder Sato howled in anger and stomped his foot, sparks flying from the impacted ground.
"We have to double the guards, who knows what else they have in store for us." Genji immediately ordered the cultivators around him to strengthen the camp's security.
"They must have noticed our fight and sneaked on us. I need an empty building to rest." Karl wrote quickly, while suppressing his urge to bury under the ground and start digging our long, never ending tunnels that would make him safe.
"Go over there, we have the defenses covered." Genji nodded grimly and pointed at one of the apartment buildings that could be entered directly from the courtyard.
Kalr did not wait and rushed all his minions into the cellar of the designated building, ordering his leftover three knights to block the entrance.
"I am too vulnerable, I need to hide!" His fear was taking grip of his faculties more and more, until he could not take it any longer.
He could not wait, there was no time to search for a place suitable to summon Earh Elementals!
His mind wandered into his status and he used something he had sworn to never try to use again.
Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site.
His unique dungeon spell.
[Dig]
He began pouring mana into the spell and the ground beneath him disappeared more and more, the Void Horror that carried him descending into the depths of earth.
"I have to dig, hide, create new Buildings, recruit new minions." Karl's mind was not thinking about anything else. The tunnel that was being dug from Jinsheng was far from complete and his forces were too small for a safe returning trip above the ground. He might wait, but he felt too vulnerable and needed to solve the problem at once.
Descending deeper and deeper, his bearer suddenly lost all soil under him and Karl fell into a large chamber.
Crushing onto the floor, he looked around in the sparse glow of Void and stayed staring in front of him where there was a strange shimmering orb floating roughly one meter above the floor. It expanded and contracted, the convulsing orb's diameter changing from two to below one meter. The periodicity of change was irregular and the colors of the orb reminded Karl of a futuristic art from his time.
"What is this?" Karl was stunned by the view and continued staring at the spectacle in front of him, when there was a sound of a door slammed shut nearby.
"Have the intruders reached the forbidden chamber as well?!" Karl recognized Genij's voice and soon, the figures of Genji and Sato appeared in front of him, their expressions ashen.
"This is it, you know what we must do Genji!"
"Wait! Do not be too rash!"
"Are you insane? He now knows of our secret!"
"So what?! Jing-Jang Palace has narrowed the possible locations to just a few spots. We cannot keep this a secret for much longer anyway." Genji responded in a resigned voice.
The tense Elder Sato looked like he would be strangling Genji any second, but in the end, his clenched fists relaxed again without making any violent moves.
"Your indecisiveness will be our doom!" Elder Sato growled and left, leaving Genji alone with Karl and his minions.
"What is the meaning of this?" Karl asked through the writing of his current minion.
"This is the Gate, the reason why our enemy is constantly attacking us. They believe that the Gate to the Second Heaven is a lifetime opportunity and must be used to gain power. They want to enter the Gate and reach higher realms of cultivation. In their opinion, it is the best way to escape the horror the First Heaven has become, or to gain enough power to reestablish order in it."
"That is a good idea, no?" Karl asked innocently, while trying to penetrate into the depth of the Gate with his sight.
"Not at all!" Genji spat his saliva, as he disapproved vigorously.
"No one has passed through the Gate from the other side, to attract attention to the Gate on the other side would mean to doom the First Heaven! Do you think that the denizens of the Second Heaven will simply leave us going back and forth when they discover this passage?! Nothing must pass though the Gate and alert them, that is our sacred duty!" Genji explained passionately and Karl thought how to distance himself from the problem that had obviously little to do with him.
"Fine! Let's leave, seal this place and forget that I have ever entered here." He proposed and Genji immediately nodded.
"That is the wisest course of action."
Karl left the hidden room with the Gate and headed back to the surface, to the building he had previously been in. He discovered that with [Dig], he could not only dig out tunnels and open spaces under the ground, but also fill them with soil or rock at the cost of mana. It was a very convenient spell that he had left unused for too long. After filling the downward tunnel that led to the Gate chamber with rock, the cultivators were obviously watching his movement, not trusting him at all.
He left the camp claiming that he needed to replenish his forces, refusing to share the exact method to do so with the sect. He entered one of the sturdy looking houses not far from the Blood God Sect and stuffed himself and its minions into its cellar, making sure that no one could peep in.
What he was about to do would make the cultivators quite angry.
"I need to get into that region, there were some really interesting possibilities there." Karl started using his new favorite among his system granted powers again and dug deeper, skewing the tunnel shortly in horizontal direction.
In the direction of the Blood God Sect.
"I hope that I will hit its vicinity without an issue." He dug for some time before his position reached somewhere underneath the chamber with the Gate. He knew, because when he called up his status screen and deftly clicked [Build] with his mind, he saw the exact same mesmerizing thing as back then when he had been directly inside.
[Basic Tunnel Element 1 000Ma 0/s], [Basic Trap Element 10 000Ma 0/s], [Advanced Tunnel Element 10 000Ma 0/s], [Advanced Trap Element 100 000Ma 1/s]
[Basic Tunnel Element(2) 10 000Ma 0/s], [Basic Trap Element(2) 100 000Ma 1/s], [Advanced Tunnel Element(2) 100 000Ma 1/s], [Advanced Trap Element(2) 1 000 000Ma 10/s],
[Basic Tunnel Element(3) 100 000Ma 1/s], [Basic Trap Element(3) 1 000 000Ma 10/s], [Advanced Tunnel Element(3) 1 000 000Ma 10/s], [Advanced Trap Element(3) 10 000 000Ma 100/s],
[Gunk Pile 500 000Ma 5/s]
[Festering Wound 500 000Ma 5/s]
[Temple of Blood 900 000Ma 8/s]
[Maw of Insanity(2) 6 000 000Ma 20/s]
[Circle of Submission(2) 7 000 000Ma 20/s]
[Cathedral of The Thousand Eyes(3) 50 000 000Ma 220/s]
[Dungeon Portal(2) 100 000 000Ma 10/s]
"We hit a jackpot, boys." Karl looked at his silent minions and had an urge to smile. He was sure that given enough time, his army would be as good as new.
"It has a weird theme to it, but I won't be picky." Karl thought and expanded the space around him to fit in all the Buildings he needed. With the pitiful remnants of his minions after the ambush, he could generate over five hundred mana pet second, meaning the most magnificent building would take him less then two days to build.
However, he planned to try out the cheaper buildings first.
"My lovely children, who will be the first to be born?" Karl forced himself not to skip due to his excitement and started with the first unknown building. He channeled his mana into the Festering Wound and after five minutes the ground under him turned fleshy with a slit cracking open in the middle of the changed surface. With time it gained color starting from deep red to gradually turn slightly blue-black, it reminded Karl of a badly healed scar. In a way, it was true to its name.
"Oh my, what a disgusting thing. " Karl thought while staring into the Festering Wound.
"But it is my disgusting thing!" His mood improved immediately and he hungrily pressed the [Manage] spell that appeared in his status screen.
[Festering Wound 500 000Ma 5/s]
Corruption(N'Ri)- 10/s
Spells- [Build]
Summon- [Flesh of N'Ri(Corruption) 100Co 1Co/s]
"Come to daddy!" Karl immediately commanded to summon his new minion. In span of ten seconds, a blob of tentacles that was walking on its seemingly thin appendages coalesced in front of Karl, as if it had oozed out of the festering slit in the floor.
"Ouch, that was kind of expected, but what can it do?!" Karl stared questioningly at the swaying blob of tentacles in front of him that would reach the shoulders of a grown man and thought how to test its usefulness.
"Whatever, it seems there will have to be a live testing after this." He dismissed the minion and noticed that the summoning time of this minion was extremely short. If he constructed a lot of Festering Wounds, he might be able to create an uninterrupted tide of weak minions.
He was pleased with the result and continued to the next structure that was the Temple of Blood.
He started channeling mana next to the Festering Wound and a simple altar with runes written with blood began rising from the ground. Along with it, a thick smell of blood appeared in the air, but Karl had no nose to smell it and stayed oblivious to the phenomenon.
Soon, the altar was complete and Karl jumped hungrily at its description.
[Temple of Blood 900 000Ma 8/s]
Carnage(Fu) = 10/s
Spells- [Build]
Summon- [Wartorn of Fu(Carnage) 500Ca 1Ca/s]
"Another positively themed structure, let's see the new minion." Karl thought with irony and summoned the new minion, a process that took considerably longer compared to his previous summoning.
This time, something that Karl would describe as a robust goblin began assembling itself at the top of the altar, the blood from the runes filling its veins. The creature was not at all green, but full of wounds and even weapons sticking from its flesh. This time, the minion had a face, a mad expression hungering for blood. The Wartorn of Fu looked definitely more intimidating than a Goblin and was more robust as well, but Karl could not tell how he would fare in battle. That needed to wait for the later test.
"Next." Karl stepped aside and began channeling his power, building the Maw of Insanity, a second tier building that should contain stronger minions.
This time, a building with many irregular walls began taking shape in front of him, the stone of its roof transforming into steel and glass midway, only to continue with glass and end abruptly, leaving the roof half unfinished. The whole structure looked like designed by a drunk futuristic architect to the point it no longer could fulfill its original purpose of sheltering its inhabitants and turned just into some kind of monument of insanity.
When Karl looked into the building, there was a gaping hole in its floor lined with multiple rows of teeth with multiple tongues flickering inside. When he summoned its first minion, it started crawling from the maw.
[Maw of Insanity(2) 6 000 000Ma 20/s]
Insanity(QiXrcRlr) - 100/s
Spells- [Build]
Summon- [Mad Puppet (Insanity) 5 000In 10In/s], [Brain Eater(Insanity) 15 000In 15In/s]
The Mad Puppet crawled fully out of the maw and straightened in front of Karl. It was a naked, pale, androgynous humanoid with its head lacking ears, hair and eyes, even the creatures mouth was nonexistent, as if its lips had been grown together. However, the creation had sharp nails and a miniaturized version of the Maw of Insanity's maw growing vertically on its chest.
Karl found the new minion weird and immediately tried the next one, it as well, crawled out of the maw in the ground.
This one looked like a giant spider with too many legs that were against all the rules of insects' bodily structure. Instead of its front, the Brain Eater had its mouth at the bottom of its belly. Its legs did not look like having any claws and his only weapon seemed to be his mandibles.
"This is a weird one as well. Is there even something normal this time around?" Karl wondered, but it did not seem to be the case. When he began channeling the last structure before the highly anticipated cathedral, a large, circular pit in the ground started to appear. It appeared as if he was looking at a torture chamber with its roof removed, various steel contraptions and instruments placed everywhere, its walls having chains and cages embedded in them.
"This one looks the most normal I guess?" Karl displayed the Building's details right after its construction.
[Circle of Submission(2) 7 000 000Ma 20/s]
Obsession(Sisith) - 100/s
Spells- [Build]
Summon- [Jailor of Sisith(Obsession) 5 000In 10In/s], [Priestess of Depravity(Obsession) 15 000In 15In/s]
"Oh no, I hope they will not look like I think they will. I need to keep at least some level of decency with my minions." Karl snorted in his mind and began the summoning of the Jailor of Sisith.
Chains and bindings in the chamber rattled and turned to life, gathering together into the shape of a man. The chains gradually turned into flesh and there stood a bare-chested man in trousers from thick leather, there was a leather mask on his face and his eyes were purple, He held a long, spiked chain in his hands that glowed purple.
"Ok, welcome buddy to our marry band, now I am a little afraid." Karl gave a command to summon the Priestess of Depravity.
Surprisingly, after a similar summoning process appeared a woman veiled in a red robe, only her long black hair could be seen, hanging from under her hood with a strand of red here and there.
"Praise all immortals, she is presentable enough!" Karl was glad and decided to leave the priestess veiled until the combat tests.
"Now, here we go! Let's go!" Karl was excited when he finally started to pour his mana into the construction of the Cathedral of The Thousand Eyes. He had prepared an especially large space for it and watched as it was being filled with black obsidian.
The style of the cathedral was undoubtedly gothic, but the base was not a cross how it was usually the case with cathedrals, but a circle. Along the circumference of the circle there was ten high spires with a giant eye standing on the top of each. Each eye was surrounded by flesh that grew in strands towards the ground, enveloping the spires, entwining the whole cathedral in its fibers.
[Cathedral of The Thousand Eyes(3) 50 000 000Ma 220/s]
Corruption(N'Ri)- 1 000/s
The Eye of N'Ri - 10
Spells- [Build]
Summon- [Spawn of N'Ri (Corruption) 1 000ICo 10Co/s], [Flesh Golem (Corruption) 500 000Co 100Co/s], [The Prophet of N'Ri(Corruption) 5The Eye of N'Ri 1 000 000Co 250Co/s],
"Wait, the same shared resource? This is strange. These are Mojo in those round brackets or what?" Karl felt that this time his Buildings were kind of odd themed, However, his musings were quickly forgotten under the weight of his desire to discover new and fascinating minions.
He could not hold himself back, skipping all the cheaper minions and chose to summon his new celebrity, The Prophet of N'Ri
The bell of the cathedral rung loud and the pupils of five eyes on the spires disappeared, turning blind. From the cathedral, a man two and a half meters tall emerged. His skin was pale and five eyes were placed in equal distance around his bald head, making his vision a perfect binocular three hundred and sixty degrees. His right arm was replaced by several thick tentacles and his teeth were sharpened. In his left hand, he held a knife with broad blade that was like a mirror. The most dull from his appearance were his clothes, grey and tattered, but it did not impact his dangerous looks at all. Through the holes in his robe, one could see black veins pulsing with what might not be even blood.
"I need to think of something." When Karl looked at his minion, he realized that he had a problem. Karl was sure that it would not be possible to build more trust with Genji and ask him about the otherworlders after he saw his new army. It was hard to make a positive impression with the options Karl had at hand. "I have to confront him before he sees this, because after that, no one will believe me a thing."
* * * *
A Goblin emerged from an abandoned building in Edo's commercial district and turned quickly in the direction of the Blood God Sect. He was an unusual messenger, but Karl had decided to use him as a proxy, as he was still busy building his new army. The small green creature swiftly turned behind a corner and then exploded in white flames, when a swift projectile hit its shoulder.
"Damned idiots, it seems that I need to first pay them a visit!" Karl was annoyed when he realized the attack was too similar to the one they faced in the territory of Razor Hawks. Ir was an ambush performed in a similar manner to the one before.
"Screw the arena, I have enough forces to swarm them. Let's test my minions in a real battle!" He quickly finalized his plan and the army that looked like from some horror movie was quickly taking shape in front of him.
Karl discovered that The Eye of N'Ri were consumables and he could summon only two Prophet's of N'Ri with one cathedral. He added four Flesh Golems to them and ten Spawn of N'Ri, exhausting all resources of his cathedral. The Flesh Golems were of the same height as the prophet, but were much more robust with no other exceptional features, except of having no eyes, their flesh not being covered with skin at some places.
"Huh, maybe the cathedral exhausted all his eyes on the prophets." Karl chuckled in his mind and switched his attention to the ten minions that were nothing more than six thick tentacles connected together with a wide maw that faced down when the creature was walking on its six appendages. Where the Spawn of N'Ri passed, it left drops of black blood that did not look like good news for anyone who touched it.
"Fine, I have got this group of disgusting things for something over two hundred mana, not a bad deal." Karl proceeded to summon other minions until he had a considerable force that consisted of two Prophets of N'Ri, four Flesh Golems, ten Spawns of N'Ri, eleven Jailers of Sisith, six exemplars of Priestess of Depravity, two Brain Eaters, seven Mad Puppets, fifty Wartorns of Fu and an insane number of one thousand and ten Flesh of N'Ri, because he had an amazing idea of summoning another Cathedral of The Thousand Eyes and use its corruption to summon them, as it was incredibly economical that way.
With a wave of his mental command, he unleashed his forces onto the surface with a single command.
"Destroy the annoying Jing-Jang Palace, I had enough of their ambushes." Karl growled inside of his black crystalline structure while he himself remained in the safety of his new base, ready to make a quick change in the distribution of his forces in case someone decided to visit him even despite all the rock separating him from the surface world.