Introduction: The End of All Things (of Monsters and Evil Beings)
War was raging in the land. Beast carcasses can be found everywhere. Corpses, bones, and spirit residues were scattered around the battlefield, and equipment for both human and non-human beings was left on the ground by their now-perished owners.
Powerful human rangers are pursuing the Beast Lord, who is on the run. The undisputed masters of the forests and the most agile of humans, these rangers are the best ones to fight beasts.
Even though Beastlords and other Monster Kings are considered 10th tier, that seems to matter little now.
Being outwitted by the humans, the Beast Lord and his minions are wounded and fleeing. They had just gotten out of a large ambush.
Beastlord: Damn it, we won't be able to get away like this...
Beasts are creatures that rely on their instincts and hunger. The humans used their hunger against them. Extensive hunting of the animals around their territory forced them out of their caves and mountain hideouts.
This was a tactic that was started a few years ago and is now having results. The current fight was fought in the forests, where the rangers had set up their ambush spots and rained arrows. They shot their enchanted arrows from all directions.
The beasts did not expect it because the rangers’ cloaking abilities can even cloak their scent. Arrows came from all directions, and it was very hard to pinpoint where they had come from.
Now, one by one, the Beast Lord’s minions fall to the pursuing rangers.
The Beast Lord releases a final cry of rage. Somehow, the rangers felt there was a hint of fear in its roar. It knows it will die here.
It was destroying everything around him. The huge bearlike creature, wearing heavy armor and with long, sharp claws, raged on. Slashing here and there, he did not hit even one of his enemies.
Its minions did not even put up a decent fight. They were killed before they got close. Additionally, the Rangers' controlled vines and trees entangle the Beast Lord every time it approaches.
The Rangers became a formidable force in the forest thanks to their training by the Druids. The rangers were made up of various races, but most of them were elves. As the Beast Lord drowned in arrows, a whimper was heard. The beast probably did not want to die there, but it did. Not a fitting end for a lord, it seemed.
.
.
.
Not far from the forest of the Beast Lord, the Demon Lord is waging war with his demons against holy knights in his volcano lair.
The demons were lazy; they thought they could defeat anyone in their territory because they had advantages like being immune to fire, and living in an environment covered in flames made them more arrogant.
The holy knights charged in. They were wearing their dragonskin armor, and because of that, they were immune to fire.
The demons attacked with
The humans trained themselves vigorously for this moment. They moved forward without hesitation, their desire to exterminate demons now bolstered by light magic.
Only a few minutes had passed since they entered the lair, but they were now forcing their way to the place where the Demon Lord resides.
Demon generals blocked the gateway to the Demon Lord.
The holy knights formed a line and cast the legendary magic
Thousands of holy rays rained upon the generals. Being weak to light, they disintegrated quickly. Ancient demons were reduced to ash in moments. The Demon Lord was not anticipating this.
Now the Demon Lord roared his battle cry and rained various magics on the holy knights.
The holy knights raised their shields towards the Demon Lord and formed a large shield wall. Defensive magic shielded everyone from it.
The holy knights are not to be confused with paladins. These knights are specialized in defensive skills and are equipped with a few offensive holy spells.
A person needs to be a Holy Knight first before they can become a Paladin.
Then the holy priests came in by the hundreds. They went to their formations for their ritual.
"ANCIENT MAGIC!??"
"Urm Nak Varum!" The priests chant in unison.
The Demon Lord knows it already. His reign ends here if he gets hit.
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.
He unleashed his strongest trump card. Using all his power and the volcano’s stored lava, he sent a huge blast of the inferno to the knights and priests.
It hit the shield wall, and little by little, the shield wall fell, and a lot of holy knights fell here and there.
It was not enough, though.
The priests finished their ritual, and a huge spell circle appeared from outside the volcano.
Holy rays coming from the outside beamed into the volcano.
Numerous lights were piercing the ceiling and hitting the demon lord.
This spell was Ancient Magic,
It was a huge victory for the humans, and this was probably the last time they would encounter demons. They prayed for their success, and it was granted to them.
This was not a quick campaign in any way. The holy knights and priests had been fighting for nine generations and could finally destroy the demon lord.
It reigned in terror there for thousands of years; its defeat marked the day in history when humans stopped being prey to demons.
.
.
.
The Skeleton King mumbles.
"Demon... Beast... No... chance... left..."
The Skeleton King gathered all his minions at his great tomb. The minions were in a rush. The liches were raising skeletons non-stop, and the mages were preparing their spells.
The humans on this side of the war were using golems. The Undead was made up of spirits, skeletons, and wraiths.
They don’t have a lot of heavy soldiers, so they were just being mowed by these golems. The light attribute enchanted the golems. Shining golems were the best fighting force against the undead.
Banshees could not curse them; spirits can’t possess them. Aiming for the controllers was not successful either.
……….
Here I am, Idmon. Looking at the slaughter happening to my brothers
It wasn't long ago when I regained consciousness. I don't know if it's because the Skeleton King willed it or if he just released his command over us.
He must be getting weaker if his grip on his minions is fading away. If I were summoned undead, I would have turned into dust or negative energy residues.
Good thing I was a human turned into an undead so my vessel would not disintegrate, and the negative energy holding my bones together held on.
Yes, I am a skeleton soldier. Previously, he was a minion of the Skeleton King. I would beg for mercy in front of the humans, but minion or not, it would not make any difference to them. This is because Undead equals the enemy of all living things.
I listened to one of the conversations between the elder liches watching over us as I was standing guard in the throne room. I seem to be part of a group that was called here.
Every monster and skeleton were called to the throne room. It felt like this was our last battle.
Elderlich: "My... King... They have breached the entrance. It won't be long before they set foot on your castle."
The Skeleton King stood up. He was huge. He was 20 feet tall, I think? His armor was a full black plate that covered his body. The only visible bone on his body was his skull.
He wore a gold crown that was burning in dark flames.
The throne room was made bigger than any regular throne room because of him. This must be one of the benefits of having Undead as an army and as workers.
Skeleton King: "Let them! We've pushed them back before, and we will do so again."
The Skeleton King summoned his sword and shield from a portal in the air connected to the Void. Where do all negative energies come from? For living things, what sustains them is their life force (positive energy), and for the undead, it's our negative energy pool.
As long as an undead has negative energy in its body or vessel, it will continue to fight until the body is destroyed or it is purged of its negative energy. In regards to this, the Skeleton King has absurd amounts of negative energy.
However, it was clear that this would not be enough. A few moments after he finished speaking, the Shining Golems came rushing in. They threw the guards out of their positions and interrupted the spells of the mages. It was the undead’s worst nightmare. Blunt damage and resistance to piercing, slashing, and magic damage made them nigh invulnerable against skeleton minions and mages.
The Skeleton King fought. The shockwaves of his attacks threw me and the other small fries away. We tried to help our king, but we almost got destroyed just from the force coming out of their exchanges.
He was not going to go down easily. With his cursed greatsword, he cleaved hundreds of Shining Golems.
The controllers and summoners then used a suicide tactic. They rushed all their golems and detonated them, causing a great explosion of light in a concentrated area.
"My king!"
The king's closest advisers came to his aid quickly. I could only watch since I didn't want to get in their way.
The Skeleton King is no pushover, though. He was still alive and received minor damage, but his shield was totally destroyed. He dropped his cursed shield, which caused another shockwave and a scream from the spirits that possessed it.
The loss of the golems to humans seemed like a chance for us to turn them back.
"We can do this! Leave none of them alive!" The Skeleton King roared. Suddenly, a ray of light burst from the ceiling.
A Paladin lord had descended.
Paladin Lord: "Greetings! Skeleton King! I have come for some vanquishing, hehehe. By the way, the name is Ganz."
A fat Paladin lord descended from the ceiling. He wore light blue full-plate armor without a helmet.
He also had short brown hair and a mustache. His greatsword, which was too big for his size, swung around without any effort.
It looked like a kid playing with a stick. He surely has enormous strength in the way he handles his weapon. Two of the advisors went after the Paladin Lord right away but were crushed with one hit. Both of them were taken out.
The undead advisors were almost as big as the Skeleton King, but still, they were defeated quickly.
The Skeleton King was charging even while he was talking, and he made the first move.
A huge slash was aimed at the side of the body. There was a huge gap here. Ganz was a 7-foot-tall man, but Skeleton King was a 20-foot giant.
His greatsword is like four times bigger than the greatsword that Ganz was wielding. Then it hit. It was an attack from the Skeleton King. A huge shock wave came. The blow was parried.
He is carrying only a greatsword. Ganz is the only Paladin lord who wields a greatsword and no shield, but he was one of the best.
"Petty."
Counterattacking, Ganz blew the Skeleton King away. The king was able to guard against the attack by producing a shield using his negative energies.
The Skeleton King then used a spell, A few seconds later, Ganz rose from the pile of bones directly below the Skeleton King. He tunneled his way under the pile of bones and into close range of his enemy. It cleaved the Skeleton King's armor in two. A scream came out of it, a huge number of souls were escaping, and shockwaves were continuing to release. The Skeleton King was now kneeling. He was leaning on his cursed greatsword. "How could this be? I am the Skeleton King. I will not die here!" He rushed towards Ganz. It was literally crawling towards him since his leg bones were already disintegrating. Then he made one last slash with his cursed greatsword. A right-handed smash to his skull defeated him and broke the golden crown. While he was still down, "Your existence ends here! Monster!" Ganz blasted the Skeleton King with The attack, infused with large amounts of holy element damage, burned the Skeleton King from the outside. He then started turning into ash. Then, all at once, the spirits and all of his energies burst out of him. Ganz planted his greatsword on the ground to hold on. The force of the spirits and energies damaged nearby living things greatly. Some paladins even turned into skeletons from the intensity of the negative energy. "Hurrah!!! We have won!" Ganz shouted his victory cry, and more of his Paladin soldiers started appearing. Well, as for me (Idmon), I was already running towards the exit of the tomb. It was a nightmare. I had barely escaped. As I was running, I could see paladins coming in from the windows of the castle. Some were dropping from the heavens, crushing down groups of skeletons. We were, of course. Stragglers were trying to run for our lives. I don't know why the others ran as I did, but I can't stop thinking about that. I am aware of this and am not a slave to someone anymore. And I wanted to live, even though it was ironic. As I was running, I could see warhammers hitting members of my group in the head. It was indeed a sorry sight. The skeletons even started running in all directions. Some were dropping their weapons and running as fast as they could. Holy magic is blasting wraiths away. Groups of Paladins are ganging up on the Skeleton Champions and Dread Knights. For those who were running, they were chased down ruthlessly. There were even skeletons that just stayed put—kneeling, waiting for the end. The Skeleton King was probably the strongest of the three lords. a lot stronger than the Demon Lord and Beastlord. That's why they sent their most elite force, the Paladins. The reason I got out of there was because powerful undead monsters were fighting to the end. No one was trying to surrender. as if they would accept our surrender. I promise I will be forever grateful. And my King... I'm sorry, I am leaving the army. There is no hope left. I wish there would be forgiveness even for the undead like us. Humans and demi-humans won the battle. For centuries, they have been fighting monsters and evil beings. Now it is done.