Chapter 30: Aftermath
The first battle of this war was intense.
Goblin, troll, and ogre corpses and a large number of skeletons are scattered around the battlefield.
I even lost my arms and legs. My constant movement and use of my bones made them damaged enough to disintegrate. Especially since my legs are bones that I got way back, and I have already fought multiple battles since then.
Bon got me a new pair of arms and legs from a normal skeleton.
It was okay; I can walk, but it felt a lot heavier than before. I think I can't even leap on enemies in this state.
Idmon: "(t) Bon, you think you can get a horse for me? I can't move around as quickly as I used to."
Bon: "I haven't tried, Milord. You can try mounting the skeleton wolves; some of them are still intact. We haven't had a horse corpse, so I think I have to craft a skeleton horse from scratch."
Idmon: "(t) That would be fine; do your best."
Now we have that mobility concern settled. I felt strangely tired. It's as if my negative energy won't recover.
As long as I am still like this, I can't fight on the frontlines. I have to ride on a horse and issue commands instead.
By the way, I am currently in one of the forts that we took over in the southeast.
It is Horgen now. The south fort was called Jorg, and the southwest was called Warg.
I was put in charge of Horgen's defense in the meantime. The dwarves suffered severe casualties from the battle.
They lost the entire South Fort group, which was made up of at least 400 elite dwarves. They were able to recover the equipment, but their lives are forever lost.
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Or that's what they thought.
I looked outside, and I saw my mages and Mag leading them in casting
It is repulsive to the dwarves, so only the undead are here in Horgen. Even if King Wargh agreed on this, I could still feel his anger towards it.
I explained to him that this is like multiplying our fighting force since even when his dwarves fall in battle, they can still fight another day when we raise them from the dead.
He got even angrier after that, but after a few deep breaths, he was able to see my point. And when he saw the eye sockets of the skeleton dwarves,.
He could feel no anger, no hate for living things, but a determination to win this war.
He knew the feeling because it's the same feeling he gets from his dwarven warriors. After this event, I was able to continue without hindrance.
We were reduced to around 200 in the last battle, but with our recruits, the Skeleton Dwarves, we are now about 500.
The skeleton of Behemoths was still being restored, though. I don't think they'll be able to get back into the war anytime soon.
The skeleton dwarves are a group that relies on strength. They can still wear their heavy armor without any issues, and when we tested them, they could swing as hard as they had when they were still alive.
I was checking each one of them, and after explaining things, none of the reanimated dwarves bore any hatred.
Then suddenly, a dwarven messenger came to my side.
Dwarven Messenger: "Lord Idmon, a letter for you from Master Urah."
Urah was at Jorg right now, and he was in charge of holding that fort.
The letter said:.
Lord Idmon, I know that you are still weary and damaged from the last battle, but this war is still far from over. This letter has a map, and on the map, you could see the location of an ancient fort.
The fort dates way back to the time when there were still humans in this region. I heard from Bon that you could strengthen yourself by getting bones from a stronger person or creature.
In this fort that I mentioned, there was a rumor that a reaper once haunted the place. The good news is that some of our scouts tried to search the site before, and we only saw an abandoned fort with a skeleton sitting on a chair.
If that skeleton was indeed a Reaper's, then I believe this could be a huge help.
-Urah
Hmm?
Reaper. I looked at the monster registry. It was a 5th-tier undead.
Its skills revolve around the use of a dark mantle and using a scythe as its weapon. It does have the class skill of It is a talent that a lich also possesses. This skill makes the skillholder's touch drain life and stats from a target. The stats included strength and endurance. Even the maximum life of a creature. The drain was slow, but if a Reaper can keep his touch on you for a long time, you're sure to die. There is also an impressive skill that it has. Unique only to the Reaper. The skill is Any weapon a Reaper holds has a small chance of harming an enemy's soul and almost certainly killing it in one blow. Okay, time to go. I put on some light armor instead of the full plate. Because it occasionally releases negative energies, and when you add more N.E., the spell "Mantle of Death" covers it, I now refer to it as Void Plate. The significant amount of magic put into it must have made it enchanted. Although it would be safer to wear it at all times, it's impractical, especially if we are going to do some scouting. So, I just wore some leather armor, and I carried only one claw spear instead of my Void Lance. I asked Ran and Mel to accompany a group of five skeleton dwarves and me. Lina was still recovering from the battle, and I put Bon in charge.