“Skelly-1, go a hundred steps further, build momentum, and crash into the target. Skelly-4, disengaged and wait for a chance to bite the back of the neck. Skelly-6, attack the target. 10, 11, 12, attack and disengage in turns…”
Sweat pours down my face, but I don’t dare to spare even a moment of concentration on anything other than the raging battle. As we grow stronger, it becomes more obvious that only when commanded by me do my undead show their true strength. Hence, I have to give my all to make this assault work without the sacrifice of any of my strong minions.
The problem with facing level 10 or above beasts is that they become extremely powerful in their specific abilities. For instance, a beast with a strong damaging defense, like the porcupine we’re facing, becomes so proficient in using its quills that it can kill a level 1 skeleton just by touching it. Moreover, the deadly spikes grew to almost a meter and became sharper than common knives.
Therefore, I can only use an engage-disengage strategy to expose its unprotected spots and deal damage to it, slowly. A second of neglect can cost me one of my undead, so I need to rotate them while looking for chances to strike. Unfortunately, I’m terribly limited in attack options. The level 4 carriers are the only undead capable of engaging the beast directly without taking too much damage, but once the porcupine gets a chance to strike back, the carrier will be at disadvantage. The trick is finding an opportunity, crashing the beast with all our might, and then retreating timely.
My strongest tank comes running from more than a hundred meters, building enough momentum to crash the average house. This is my chance! I need to create an opening at the perfect time. Thus, I harden my dark necromantic heart and send two of my weakest children to certain death, while moving my other minions to create a path for my champion.
Before the two level 1s reach the enemy, I command my strongest wolfies to increase their attacks at both sides of the beast, disregarding their own safety. I need it on edge, so it will respond instinctively to the suicide attack, even if the attackers don’t represent much of a threat.
The two small fox skeletons quickly find their way through the battle and reach the porcupine’s chest area where no other undead would fit. The level 10 beast is screeching threats while controlling the spikes to block the wolfies attacks when it feels the weak undead throwing themselves against one of its soft exposed areas. Instinctively, the porcupine directs all of the quills toward its chest area and instantly destroys the puny attackers.
I let out a small gasp as I feel the connection with the little ones shatter. They’re gone!
Of course, they are, I was the one who sacrificed them. Then, a wave of remorse washes over me adding to the deep emptiness that I feel every time I lose an undead. However, before I can even process the torrent of emotions, Skelly-1 collides with the porcupine.
It happened so fast that I couldn’t see if my minion crashed into an exposed part or a spiked one. The beast is thrown back, bouncing on dirt and stone alike, but that doesn’t tell much. It all depends if our attack landed on fragile exposed skin or the hardened quills. The bouncing continues for a good 50 meters until it finally crashes into a tree, almost bringing the plant down.
Stolen novel; please report.
I stare unblinkingly. There are painful shrinking noises, but again, that doesn’t tell much. I can feel that my undead got really hurt on this attack, but I don’t dare to check it. If I lose Skelly-1 too, I won’t forgive myself! It all comes to a standpoint; even the nearby area quiets down, and…
The porcupine stays down for a few seconds before standing up awkwardly, visibly damaged.
It worked! I can’t say for sure how much damage was caused, but it was a lot more than all of our previous attacks combined.
The beast glares back at us, its anger is so thick that it can be felt in the air. Then, it looks around while stepping back. We finally caused enough damage for it to be afraid and consider escaping.
Wait, We can’t let it escape!
“Skelly-4, 6, 10, 11, 12, circle the enemy, and don’t let it escape.” I send my fast wolfies to block its escape attempt and then command the rest to move forward.
I can’t lose my cool now. I need to be smart about it, or all will be for nothing. The injured porcupine turns back and tries to flee, but my minions are already on it. It only manages to run for a dozen or so meters before it understands that it’s useless.
We start a second dance of attacking and retreating, however this time the level 10 beast doesn’t react as fast as before. Naturally, my undead are heavily damaged too, but time is on my side. Therefore, I hold back my strongest and send forth the rest, both to tire the beast and to make sure that everyone will get a piece of this huge pie.
Even injured, the beast is still strong, so my levels 3 and 2 don’t do much damage. Still, I don’t care, as long as it accumulates damage, it will fall. However, I’m not stupid enough to send my level 1s, that would be suicidal. Ten minutes, half an hour, one hour… when we’re getting close to two hours, the beast finally falls.
Of course, before the finishing blow, I also approached and got close enough to control the first spoils of the battle. After killing and raising more than thirty beasts, I finally understood the more deadly aspects of my class.
The first noteworthy point was that my direct participation in the battle doesn’t count. In fact, if I also attacked the beast, I would only be taking ‘experience points’, as I decided to call them, from my minions. While the damage caused by each undead counted for their upgrade, mine was dependent on necromancy abilities, such as raising stronger undead, controlling them better, and other things that I’m not yet aware.
However, both the health and mana absorbed after the kill can be freely distributed among us. Unfortunately, I don’t know how to control the distribution from a distance so I need to stand close to the beast when it's killed. But even in the case I’m not, those ‘energies’ won’t be lost, just distributed accordingly to proximity with the body.
The moment the porcupine dies, I feel a powerful flow of energy coming my way. It’s stronger than anything I got before, but I don’t allow myself to be drunk on it, which is actually difficult.
First, I top-up my mana, which was 10 below because of the emergency fixes I did during the battle to prevent some undead from being destroyed. Then, I send the rest to my minions in accordance with their state.
It isn’t that much considering our numbers, but it surely helps in keeping my undead going. Another painful lesson that I learned from experience; aside from being too damaged, the undead also ‘die’ when they’re out of purple mana. That’s the reason why I can’t just summon hundreds of undead. It’s like owning a pet; before getting one I need to consider how I’ll feed it.