Somewhere at the border of the Aurelian Dutchy:
The sun hung low in the sky as the battle between Corrupted Humans and the noble Holy Empire erupted on the battlefield. The air crackled with magical energies in anticipation of the incoming battle.
The Holy Empire had gathered ten armies for this skirmish. Three out of ten were renowned and noteworthy: High Inquisition, Royal Mage Corps, and heavy armoured Imperial Knights; the rest were your rank-and-file levied peasant armies. With staffs held high, the Royal Mage Corps invoked the chants for their spells and launched the first slew of the Fire Balls arching in the air. This was the signal for the heavily armoured knights to launch their charge. Right behind the noble knights were your rank-and-file peasant recruits, the rest of the six armies. The brilliant and shiny inquisitors were scattered among the common men, both to give them a morale boost and also to heal them when the time came. All of them charged shouting a single phrase: “In the name of the Holy Light!”.
The Corrupted Humans were vastly outnumbered; the ratio was 10 to 1. However, it would take a fool to underestimate this Dark Force. The corrupted wore heavy armour, it was black like the night itself; and while they weren’t mages they still had a hold on magic. It was the expensive Magic Scrolls which they burned with no restraint. They launched their own projectiles, and those were Dark in nature. But it was not the offensive magic they’d used which made them formidable. Soon a Dark Cloud was summoned to obfuscate their entire army.
That made targeting the Corrupted Humans harder, however, this was a battle on a large scale. All they had to do was keep firing in the general direction of the cloud and they still would hit someone. The Dark Cloud kept expanding and soon swallowed the front of the charging Imperial Knights.
No one here wanted to fight at night then the dark forces were the strongest, hence the current time of early morning. Unfortunately, it seems that the darkness couldn’t be avoided.
“Tch.” High Supreme Master General Commander No1, the one loosely in charge of the combined armies, clicked his tongue.
It was hard to direct the men when you couldn’t see what was going on. However, everyone here was trained to deal with such situations. All they had to do was to follow the simple order: kill everyone that wasn’t human.
No1 observed the battlefield from the Earth Tower erected by his earth mages. That’s right, even as the battle was raging on the earth mages worked hard to erect ramparts and other defensive structures both to protect the archers and to prevent the enemy from advancing on them. The wind mages were scattered among the ranks of archers to boost their arrows, however, with poor visibility of the enemy that was of little use. The few remaining inquisitors worked their magic to keep the encroaching darkness at bay.
There in the distant cloud of darkness, No1 observed pillars of light making pockets in it to reveal the horrors the inquisitors had to face. It was surprising to find that an Inquisitor Paladin was equally matched with a Corrupted Human. But it was of no big concern, eventually, the combined armies would surround the Dark Force and achieve their victory.
The strategy was foolproof with few things which could go wrong. However, the battle just kept dragging on. Even if outnumbered, the Corrupted Humans proved rather difficult to corner and kill. Even worse, they somehow managed to launch a counterattack of their own. Hidden in the centre of the Dark Cloud something nasty was brewing on. Large projectiles in the shape of barrels were launched towards the earthen ramparts of the Combined Imperial Army; It was a siege weapon of sorts.
“Tch.” No1 clicked his tongue.
No need to worry, not yet. The mages shot the flung barrels out of the air or used Wind magic to direct them away. However, in doing so they scattered strange blue powder in the air; it seems that it was the content of the barrels. Some powder burned off and some were blown away, however, some of it reached the men of the Holy Empire. At that moment they became sluggish and lethargic.
“The debuff is BlueDust, it causes Torpor and Sleep eventually.” One of his commanders relayed the findings.
No1 didn’t expect to see the use of Alchemical Weapons on a large scale, especially for siege weaponry. Not here and not so quickly, those took time to get ready. But even still there were Clerics to deal with such stuff, and they did so splendidly.
“Tch.” He clicked his tongue again.
The BlueDust was just the beginning of it, some of the flung barrels carried highly flammable oil, and worse it was of a magical nature and hard to put out even with magic. You get hit by that, you die; the water mages did what they could but those were few in number; a known problem in the Holy Empire.
Such an attack was bad for morale, and it was frustrating not being able to see what was happening in the guise of the Dark Cloud. But surely similar tactics were employed in the depths of it as well.
“Tell Clerics to deploy the Magical Shield”, he ordered one of the commanders.
The spell was a protective dome-like barrier; it was perfect to counter ranged attacks, but rather costly in the MP upkeep.
However, since the enemy gave the position of their siege engines, all he had to do was order a magical barrage on that place. And he did just so.
The fire mages protected by the barrier spent their time to conjure a quick ritual, summoning a large Fire Meteor. And hopefully dealing the decisive blow to the Corrupted Humans.
…
Duke Aurelius looked at his Lantern Bearer, a young Corrupted Human entrusted with holding the Dark Flame. It was a great honour, however, the newbie was shaking in his boots.
“You have nothing to fear! The Dark Force is with us! Now, come closer I need to see what is happening.”
The newbie obeyed still trembling at the horrors of the war.
“Aha, got ya!” Duke Aurelius locked his eyes on the nearby inquisitor and her squad. “[Dark Bolt], [Dark Bolt], [Dark Bolt]…” He spoke rapidly and the pages in his Dark Tome burned one after the other.
The paladin shrugged the first bolt and fought off the second… however, by the twentieth bolt, she shrieked “[Sacrifice: Light Bringer]” and just fell like a puppet with her strings cut.
With the burst of light, the darkness was dispelled and the inquisitor’s comrades turned their murderous looks towards Aurelius. Worse, they were also boosted by the sacrificial spell.
It was just the Monster Duke and his poor minion Light Bringer versus twenty men.
“Don’t you die on me.” He threw the newbie a potion and drank one himself.
[Toxicity: 20], the message informed. It would be a near deadly amount for a normal man, luckily, he was not normal. Thank you, evolution!
“[Dark Blast]” He burned the scroll to stagger the charging men.
The air was saturated with Dark mana allowing the Dark Empowered perk to work its magic. The potion he just drunk gave him a temporary boost in strength. And also he had that passive Super Bulky. The three made him a walking breathing weapon of mass destruction; someone worthy of the Monster Duke title.
The tome right behind him was burning one page after the other as he kept firing the spells at the charging men killing another few in the process, but also he was running to face them in his own charge. Like the behemoth of a man he was, he crashed into swordsmen like a boulder immediately killing two in his maddened Trample. Swords came from all angles probing his Glem armour for weakness; there was none, he was completely surrounded by heavy metal. The only weapon which dealt damage was the recently retrieved Holy enchanted sword.
Aurelius took damage with little care, it was painful but the HP soon will be replenished by the Regeneration Potion+. He swung his fat arm using the Mace Slam; he carried no mace there or even a weapon, yet still, the heavy blow right out exploded the Holy Sword’s new wielder’s head like the TomGrape under a hammer. The sword gained a new wielder, but that man suffered much the same.
A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.
“Monster!” One of the remaining five shouted accusingly.
Aurelius didn’t bother to reply, yes, he was a monster.
“[Dark Blast], [Empower], [Rend Flesh], [Body Slam].”
The truthspeaker was crushed into a paste. The remaining four turned to run away.
“Idiots. [Dark Bolt], [Dark Bolt], [Dark Bolt]…”
Only fools tried to run away from someone capable of magic. With the four dealt with the Dark Cloud rushed back in to hide the atrocities of cold murder under the shroud of shadows.
Duke Aurelius looked at the newbie Lantern Bearer, he was awfully pale.
“Well done, Minion.” He praised the newbie.
The newbie didn’t do much in this fight, however, he didn’t run away at the sight of twenty charging men. If he did so, Aurelius would be left blinded by the cloud and would be in a pickle. Indeed, the newbie earned his praise!
Similar scenes unfolded all around inside the Dark Cloud. Well, there were less use of Magical Scrolls and more use of various Potions and Grenades.
The Aurelian Army primarily consisted of pale-faced and heavily geared men and women, the proper name for them was the Aurelian Order. The order was broken down into multiple parties of five, two Dark Knights, one Shadow Rogue, two Scroll Squires, and one Lantern Bearer.
Those parties were currently engaging the Imperial Knights and dealing with them in all sorts of manner.
A Fire Grenade was thrown at the healer, viscous FireAgave Juice clung to her otherwise pristine white ropes. Soon she was enveloped by the hot embrace of the all-consuming fire. She shrieked startling the men nearby, they tried to put the fire out, but the end result couldn’t be prevented. Without the Healer the rest of the squad soon succumbed.
A Frost Grenade froze the front line of the charging swordmen turning them into icicles. A nearby Cleric did his best to dispel the Frozen debuff saving five lives, but not before ten could be claimed with the Dark Arrow aimed directly at their heads. Worse, a figure cloaked entirely in shadows ambushed them from the rear and killed the only mage capable of Cast Light. Everyone found themselves staring at the impenetrable darkness of the abyss, and soon death followed.
A rank of Imperial Knights was bundled up in a circular formation. The shields were big and sturdy and enchanted too. The knights were here to slay their enemy but were forced into this defensive manoeuvre. Dark spells battered the shield wall from all sides, but the knights were trained and knew how to weather such siege; all they had to do was to wait for the enemy mages to run out of mana, and then they would launch the counterattack. The Dark Arrow assault stopped but neither of them wanted to break the formation, not yet. That was the powder of the strange Blue Dust that found its way past their shields. The terrible need to lay down and sleep assaulted their minds. They were well trained so they fell asleep while still standing, yet still, none of them would ever wake.
…
The Spider King was informed that Duke Aurelius was currently out of the capital, and since he came by it would be rude not to say hello. With the flying ship, a side journey wouldn’t take that long anyway.
The Galleon Whale reached its destination and the Spider King went to the deck to get a good look at the unfolding battle. From high above all he could see was a shadowy carpet covering what must be the epicentre of the battle. He recognised the spell, it was Dark Cloud but cast on a massive scale, likely through ritual magic. The Holy Empire armies were surrounding the cloud from all sides, however, for some reason they hesitated to fully charge right into it; or perhaps they just couldn’t.
Indeed, there was an improvised defensive structure right at the side of the cloud, clearly staffed by mages, archers, and reserve forces. It even had an earthen tower overlooking the whole of it.
From within somewhere nearby the earthen tower a nasty spell took hold.
“Fire Meteor.” Drow Assistant informed him helpfully.
The vast amount of magic was pooling midway between the battlefield and the Galleon Whale, that was the spot where the spell was taking shape. Judging by its placing it was aimed at the centre of the Dark Cloud.
“Should I try to counter the spell?” She offered.
Indeed, she could try to do that with either Water or Wind magic. While he wasn’t here to do the fighting for Aurelius, he couldn’t just stay and watch; that would be cruel.
He nodded in affirmation.
“I’ll try, but I’m not sure I can do it in time.”
The Drow Assistant pulled on her magic beginning to form a spell of her own. And mind you, while she was only a single mage her MP pool was at 2000MP, 20x of a human mage. However…
“Oh, no!” She yelped in alarm.
The human mages finished theirs first. A massive ball of fire began its fast descent towards the ground.
“Oh well, you tried.” He put his arm on the Drow Assistant.
She broke her spell midway and the two just looked at the falling Fire Meteor with resigned faces.
“…”
However! Not all was lost.
A beautiful figure of a winged and radiant woman emerged from the darkness. As hard as it would be to believe, at that moment a magnificent and shiny light enveloped the dark cloud; no doubt it was the work of the Divine Shield. The meteor crashed on the magical barrier plunging it into the flames, however, the magic held and only a few pieces escaped down below through a few cracks.
With her magic spent the Radiant Angel plummeted like a rock to the ground, clearly inflicted with Negative Mana debuff. Noble sacrifices like this, shouldn’t be left to go to waste!
“We must rescue her.” The Spider King declared and started sprinting to the lower deck.
“I’m coming with you!” The Drow Assistant ran right behind.
It was a tad bit too dangerous to land the Galleon Whale here, instead they will be making an aerial drop. Admittedly, something the Spider King always wanted to do. A certain stunt was at work for quite a while, he wanted to use it to impress the Aurelian people but since the Duke wasn’t there… Anyway, the time was as good as ever.
“Are you ready?” He asked.
“Yes!” Warrior Leader Jr chirped.
You see, the spider here was a child, or more precisely the most recent reincarnation of the Warrior Leader; the original royal mount perished due to old age. While the Spider Warrior Jr wasn’t yet as massive as the original, it worked to an advantage for the stunt the Spider King was about to pull.
He mounted the spider and they jumped through the already open hatch.
“Wee!!!” The spider chirped soaring in the sky.
Right in tow, the Drow Assistant ran up to the ledge only to stop abruptly. She looked at the distant ground below with hesitation.
“What was I thinking…” She sighed. “Not like this!”
…
High Supreme Master General Commander No1 was keeping a keen eye not only on the ground below the tower but also sky above. A white spot floating in the sky caught his attention.
“A monster?” No1 warranted a guess.
It would not be unheard of for the Evil Forces to employ flying monsters. Perhaps this was the trump card of Corrupted humans.
“Ha!” He grunted a short laugh. “Too late.”
Fire Meteor was already falling to strike a decisive blow.
“My Seeing Lens.” He commanded the nearby servant.
He needed one to inspect the flying monster better. Even if it came late, he would still need to deal with it.
“What a…” He had no words to describe what he saw through the lens. “It’s not a monster!”
He still couldn’t believe his eyes. Such magical implements were impossible! But here it was, hovering above the battlefield.
An explosion shifted his attention away from the flying ship.
“Tch!” No1 clicked his tongue.
Somehow, there was a Divine Shield, a high-level Light spell that protected the Corrupted Humans!
“This is nonsensical!” He had to pinch himself and check his Status for any foul play like Illusion.
“It was that traitorous angel.” A nearby commander explained.
“Yes, the accursed woman! I’ve wondered where she disappeared to.”
Well, that mystery was solved.
“Tell the mages to aim the next attack at that flying thing,” No1 instructed. “Wait…” He motioned the mage commander to wait.
He spied something else emerging from the flying ship. A deep frown formed on his face. And it wasn’t just him who noticed; everyone had their eyes on it.
A monstrous winged spider emerged from the ship, and it had a rider. The rider used the height advantage to fling Dark spells at his Royal Mage Corps. The attacks were powerful enough to shatter the Magic Shield outright. It seems that the flying ship wasn’t their ace, it was… it was…
“Whatever fuck this is… What is this?” He pointed at the monstrosity with clear frustration.
“It’s…” A nearby Scribe fumbled with his words. “it’s the Monster King! 1050:4500:500.” She gave the three numbers HP:MP:STA.
The frown on the No1’s face only deepened. Those numbers didn’t look good, the king of monsters was equivalent to the small battalion of mages, it wasn’t surprising anymore that he managed to shatter the Magical Shield so easily.
“It seems there is more!” The scribe pointed at the distant flying ship.
Indeed, another monster was emerging from its side, it didn’t have wings but used a web ladder to descend instead. He spied at the monstrosity but couldn’t quite understand what it was supposed to be, some sort of half-humanoid and half-spider. No doubt a product of some extremely evil Dark magic.
“And it is?” He asked the scribe.
“It’s…” she fumbled again. “Drider Calamity. 1000:2000:500.”
“Excuse me, did I hear that right? Calamity?”
The scribe was pale and drenched in sweat, she simply nodded to the question.
No1’s frown was replaced by the expression of someone in deep thought. He was here to test the strength of the Corrupted Humans, to gauge their abilities and to probe their defences. He wasn’t sent here to try to save the entire world from abomination which had a Calamity tag in its name! As frustrating as it was, the current battle was at a stalemate, however, with the appearance of the spider duo, the bloodbath would follow.
“Signal the retreat!” He commanded with all his authority. “We’ve seen enough.”
It was stupid to fight an enemy you knew so little about…