Alaster had already learned quite a bit from even the small wall. He had several ideas for an actual fortification. But now, he was annoyed. He wanted to finish this Dungeon as soon as possible. The Everfrost Dungeon had been so much better. There were trees, there was day and night. But in this Dungeon? Alaster couldn’t even tell how much time had passed. Everything was the same. A dark tunnel with some glowing moss on the walls and occasionally on the ceiling. For some untold time, He had suffered the same thing. It was made even worse because he had closely paid attention to everything, careful of being attacked.
And now, so close to the end, so many obstacles stood in his way.
Growling to himself, he had the Minotaurs set him down. He stepped off the shield and immediately got to work on creating a Night Child and a Blackguard. He gave the Minotaurs orders to kill any Goblin that stood on the wall, in case the Blackguards were overwhelmed. Taking only two Minotaurs with him, Alaster walked away from the wall and cries of agony and fury.
The sounds followed him as he walked away and around the corner. As Alaster returned to the sight of the last battle. It had been less than an hour, yet they had already begun to stink. His nose curling at the smell, he pushed forward.
He was done with being strategic. He was done with learning. Done with holding back.
Green wisps of mana radiated out from the young man, faintly glowing in the darkness. Like fog, it rolled over the corpses, consuming them. Alaster’s emotionless and tired eyes watched as twenty Skeletons burst out of their fleshy prisons, crawling out of the remains, and standing, awaiting orders.
Weak and leaning on a Minotaur, Alaster stared over his horde.
He uttered one single word, “Kill.”
* * * * *
Sedall watched through the young man’s eyes. Watched as his Undead Horde blurred past him. Using the support of his Minotaurs, he managed to slowly follow them, turning the corner just in time to see them jump off the top of the wall, throwing themselves into the horde below. The Undead he had designated ‘Blackguard’ stayed on the wall, continuing to thrust downward, but at a much less frequent pace.
By the time Alaster reached the wall and lifted by his Minotaurs to see over, the young man’s Undead had already cleared a sizable area in front of the wall. Not without losses, however. Losses which he quickly replenished with the countless corpses already littering the ground.
‘He is using too much Mana.’ Sedall noted, ‘He needs to slow down or even with [Blood Price] he will pass out.’
The Ancient was not wrong.
Alaster had used six hundred Mana all at once, using [Blood Price] to cover the Mana he did not have. The young man’s mind was not suited for such a tremendous effort. It was more Mana than his Mana Pool was capable of holding, and his Mana Veins were even less suited. Followed quickly by raising even more Undead.
‘It is effective, though.’
While Alaster’s vision was blurry, his head pounding. Sedall had no such limitation, and was able to see through the young man’s eyes with no such impairment. The [Horde] Skeletons were fragile, but they were strong and lethal. Especially when they forgot defense, such as now. Each one dove into Goblins with unbridled fury and glee, jumping over each other to their next target, as the tunnel wasn’t wide enough.
The Goblins did not know how to deal with such a foe. Despite being Goblin Skeletons, they did not move like one. They crawled, jumped, and clawed. They attacked with such abandon, the Goblins took a step back in fear, preventing both themselves and their comrades from making proper use of their spears.
Occasionally, one would get a lucky shot on the Skeletons, which as it built up, destroyed Alaster’s hold over the bones. It mattered not. Before the bones of the fallen Skeleton clattered against the stone, another Skeleton was risen to take its place. It almost seemed like it was the end for the Goblins. But as the Skeletons carved their way deeper into the Goblin ranks, their still breathing counterparts gradually used better weapons and armor. Slowly, the pace of the Skeletons slowed, and more of them fell, only for new ones to replace them.
Sedall was not the only one to spot this, however. Alaster did as well. The young man had the Minotaurs help him over the wall and the Blackguards assisted him getting down, following him. As Alaster walked away, the Minotaurs began hacking into the wood wall with their glaives, determined to get through and rejoin their master. Within moments, the wood was hacked at enough for one of the Minotaurs to back up and charge its way through, opening the way.
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Alaster stopped just short of four meters away and raised a shaky hand. Casting [Dead Bomb], the volatile orb shot from his hand and disappeared in the ranks of the Goblins, exploding in a sphere of sickly green. The sphere quickly expanded to its two meter radius, consuming many of the Skeletons with it. But, a moment later, when the sphere vanished, the Skeletons were left completely unharmed. The same was not the case for the Goblins. All that was left was inorganic matter and their bones.
The young man collapsed to his knees as the Skeletons dashed forward at the unprepared Goblins. At this point, the Minotaurs caught up, allowing Alaster to order his Blackguards to join the Skeletons. They rushed forward, stopping further behind the carnage and thrusting their spears forward.
Alaster was struggling to maintain the [Meditation], allowing him to raise more than eleven [Horde] Skeletons, but he was in control enough to create a rudimentary and fragile chair lift and ordering his Minotaurs to carry him. Similar to the Blackguards, the Minotaurs hung their shields on their backs. The Living Bone adhering the shields to themselves. With four of the large Minotaurs carrying the chair with Alaster upon it, the ride was fairly smooth. Not that it helped with Alaster’s piercing migraine or sore body. Until he allowed both his Health and Mana to recover, he would not begin to feel better.
And with only two free Mana Regeneration, and having to constantly use [Blood Price] to have enough Mana to raise more [Horde] Skeletons, it would be a while.
‘The boy must be running out of Health.’ Sedall was not able to see the young man’s Status, but he was able to generally sense it.
However, as much as Sedall disapproved of such a tactic, he could not deny its effectiveness. The young man’s Undead were slowly tearing through the Goblins. And the Goblins showed no sign of being capable of stopping them. Anytime they managed to brace themselves for the [Horde] Skeletons, the Blackguards’ much longer spears tore holes through them. Even the Goblins’ gradually improving gear was doing nothing but slowing them, not stopping.
Within the hour, the untiring Undead reached the final Goblins just before the bend in the tunnel. These Goblins were fully equipped in crude, but durable iron armor. They had prevented any of the other Goblins from retreating, and not one showed any sign of fear. They resolutely stood their ground.
The first rank took a knee, lowering their spears. The second rank slightly hunched, doing the same. The third rank raised crossbows, and began to fire into the Undead. Alaster, as pained as he was, noted that the formation would have been incredibly effective if their enemy was not the Undead, who were unaffected by pain or blood loss, and who were largely unaffected by piercing weapons. These more experienced Goblins soon learned what the rest of their fallen learned. It was better to just use their spears as clubs against the Undead.
Alaster massaged his temples with both hands as he waited for his Undead to dispatch the remaining Goblins. Surprisingly, while they only managed to destroy three of the [Horde] Skeletons, the armored Goblins were able to hold their ground for an entire hour themselves. Of course, Alaster could have speed up their demise by throwing another [Dead Bomb] at them. While the Goblins were armored, there were still sizable gaps. He was intrigued by how the [Dead Bomb] would affect them.
But in the end, he didn’t. The young man was fine with it taking a while as his Health and Mana Regenerated. By the time the last Goblin fell, Alaster had closed his eyes, trying his best to deal with the pain. His training as a boy from the Siphas Guards had trained a tolerance to pain. But physical pain, and mental pain, were different. It was not overbearing, but nor was it ignorable.
He was alerted to the change as there were no more sounds of combat. Looking up, Alaster noted that while the headache was ever present, the brief period of time he had closed his eyes had helped. His vision was better, if only slightly. Nodding to himself, Alaster dismissed the [Horde] Skeletons. They were a drain on his Mana Regeneration. The Minotaurs took Alaster to a cleaner spot just in front of the now broken wall, where the two Blackguards had been destroyed.
The still active Blackguards hung back, checking over the corpses, and making sure they were, in fact, corpses. Alaster occasionally spotted one of the Blackguards thrusting its spear down, presumably granting mercy, though the Undead had no concept of the idea. It was times such as these that Alaster was glad he had unlocked the Ability for his Undead to have a mind, even as simple as it was. It allowed him to focus on the more important things while they could deal with the less so.
As the Minotaurs set Alaster down, he noted that the area the wall had been built was slightly higher than the ground behind it, not allowing any of the blood to reach the young man. He had no doubt that as the bodies continued to bleed, it would soon create a pool, as the blood had nowhere to go or soak through.
Alaster ordered his Undead to take up positions guarding him as he adjusted his chair to lean back. Sighing deeply, he continued to mediate, desperate to recover his Mana and for the headache to stop. It was a slow process. His Health was the first to fully recover, and Alaster could feel his aches gradually fade away. His Mana was slower, but when his Mana Pool finally filled, Alaster immediately sensed his migraine slowly ease.
The young man noted that the pain from his Migraine and Mana Veins were much slower to recover than his body. Sedall chuckled.
‘Of course, its slower to heal. The incorporeal is more fragile and complicated.’
As his pains slowly went away, but still present, Alaster closed his eyes and leaned back. Breathing deeply and letting it all go, his body relaxing. At least as relaxed as he dared allow himself. The temperature was chilly, but with the cloak he had been comfortable since entering the Dungeon. Keeping his eyes closed, Alaster ran his hand down to the hole in the cloak, where he had been stabbed.
The wound had already long closed. But the hole in his shirt and cloak had not, though the cloak was repairing itself nicely and Alaster had no doubt it would eventually repair itself entirely. Lukas had certainly thought ahead when he gifted the cloak to the boy.
Alaster laid his hands cross his stomach and pulled up his Status. It was time to see what the slaughter had produced.