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Zeig climbed out of the small rectangular window just enough for him to pass through, in an awkward manner, reaching to the roof of the tavern.
How pathetic. I am a proud Vampire - Dragon race.
He could have just destroyed everything in his path, yet he restrained himself, for he could not move recklessly due to lacking of information about the world and other potential candidates who might threaten his existence. For that reason, he first must fish out who were the powerful ones, starting from this Kingdom.
Ironically, what he had in mind completely blown away his thoughts on restraining and not moving recklessly.
Zeig dispelled the illusion spell he cast the first time he met humans. Surprisingly, no one even suspected him. Though, he was dubious regardless of whether the magicians he met felt traces of magic cast. Could that mean the magicians were not strong enough to detect traces of magic he cast? Or probably meant that illusion spell generally does not exist, so there was no way of detection?
But he remembered that Thalia said elves could sense Mana. Perhaps even Thalia did not realize due to the difference.
In the game, ‘Mask of deception’ was a Tier 3 illusion spells which could alter appearance to certain extend to completely fooled low ranked monsters. The maximum time limit for this spell was 3 minutes. What more, he could most likely keep the spell forever if he did not cancel it.
Does the restriction in the game not applied to this world? How about the topmost spells this world could use? It was still a mystery to him, yet the thrill of finding out pieces by pieces to solve the puzzle excited him.
He spread his gigantic dragon’s wings apart and flapped it gradually, hovering above the ground to adjust his balance. This was not his first time flying, still, the thought of flying made the adrenaline rushed faster.
He took off to the sky, reaching up to the moon and hovered in the air, gazing the limitless vast sky filled with a luminous moon and thousands of stars that illuminated the gloomy night.
It was indeed different, experiencing first-handed, high up in the air, admiring the breathtaking scenery. Even though it was dark, he could see with his dragon’s eye.
He reminisced about the sky he always saw. He sighed.
The sky, it’s similar, yet different.
Reminding him of the unpleasant life back on the earth, but that was not the time right now as he pushed it aside.
The wind gently brushed against his face as he flew in the direction where he took on his first quest, crossing the forest with that bunch of adventurers and mercenary. They were a group of nice guys. He thought. He hoped that they would stay out of danger in awhile.
After a few moments of pleasant flight without stopping, the vast amount of forest came into sight.
Zeig swiftly maneuvered himself down from the sky and landed onto a nearby thick tree branch.
He looked at his surroundings, searching for the creature. He could see a different kind of beasts lurking around and a small colony of goblins distances away outside of a cave. But not the creature he wanted.
Zeig truly wanted to use the easiest way to find that creature. But desperate times call for desperate measures.
He took a deep breath and shouted,
“COME OUT YOU DAMN DRYAD!”
A powerful outcry produced supersonic sound swept across the immense forest, causing the land to tremor. The beasts were shocked, some fainted on the spot, and some with strong will only get paralyzed. The goblins were pulling back, struggling to get back into the cave.
“Well, that was unexpected.”
Dragon’s roar
A skill exclusive only to a dragon. In the game, it was a built-in skill to stun the enemy, providing a little time for a counter.
Zeig remained still for that creature to show itself.
The rustling sound of nearby bushes caught Zeig attention; a Dryad stepped out of it.
In the game, Dryad was a tree deity, created to protect the forest. Its main body was the forest itself and could create a temporary physical body for mobility purposes. It uses nutrients from the trees to generate spells.
The Dryad was considered one of the most hypocritical creatures. On the outside, they appeared to be gentle, loving and friendly. But their true skills lay in manipulating minds, exploit and injecting its will onto the victims, causing dismay among beginners.
The Dryad pursued the enormous source of Mana, silently stepped out of the bushes. She knew that this being was dangerous, but she had no choice, that being was far from her reach.
What does he want from me?
Then, the creature spoke.
“I did mention to release you on a condition right?”
Without a word, she nodded.
“Great. Listen, here’s what you will do.….”
The creature marvelous plan came as a bombshell to her as she was gradually taking a step back, trembling.
“… Two days, be there.”
“W-what, that’s absurd!”
“Yeah, that’s right. You can’t refuse you know, and you know the consequences.”
Of course, she knew, biting her lips, she accepted. But there was another problem.
“B-but... It’s impossible, within 2days!"
“Fine, three days. Be there.”
With his wings spread wide, Zeig once again took off to the sky, leaving the dilemma Dryad with a difficult decision.
For two days, Zeig explored the city aimlessly, obviously with his illusion spell to veil his appearance. While most medieval stories he read about was falling behind, this city was, however, way advanced. Zeig thought that people would not have any desire to travel to this city, considering this city was closed to the border to the opposite side of the continent. But he was wrong; Merchants overwhelmed the city, and generally travelers from the other Kingdom, judging by their accents, they were mainly different to that of a native. There were relatively few distinctive races scattered in this city, they were, expectedly regarded as a third class citizen, but not worse than slaves. He saw slaves with branded slaves marking and chained on their neck and feet being restrained, pushed around and sold in the Market district.
He saw what the city had to offer, giving credit to the King for shaping it into a prosperous city.
The King was not one to mess with.
On the third day, he strolled the remaining part of the city and saw the huge East gates. Strangely enough, there was another small gates distance away from the East gates seemed to have more guards stationed than the other gates.
Where does this small gate lead to?
While thinking of such question, he arrived before the small gates intended to enter.
“Halt, State your business here.”
The guards stopped him. Zeig was surprised; going out of the city supposedly does not need checks.
“Oh dear sir, I am a new adventurer. May I question, where does this gate lead to?”
The guard was not amazed, aside from the resident here, not many knew what was beyond this gate.
“I suggest you turn back, beyond this gate lead to diseases and dirt.”
What does he mean by that? His curiosity had reached its peak.
“I see, are there any other interesting things beyond this gate to take note of?”
Zeig emphasized the word ‘interesting’.
Is he serious?
The guard examined Zeig’s outward expression before he sighs,
“Interesting things you said? Kid, you truly know nothing, don’t you? Beyond these walls are people who got banished for crimes they committed. But His Majesty demonstrated profound insight to let them live.”
“I see. So, people living in there are criminals?”
The guard inspected his surroundings, gestured Zeig to come closer as he whispered.
“That’s what the folks said, kid. You’re still young and do not understand the truth of this world. The people commit no crime; they do not deserve this treatment, living with tombs and deceased family, having no chances of redeem- ”
While having their conversation, they were inviting suspicious gazed from the other guards, contemplating what they were discussing.
“I see, so court Priests will once in a month go to the cemetery and cast a spell to prevent the undead from bringing forth due to negative energy. In that case, why bother preserving the cemetery, then?”
The guard shrugged.
“There are rumors here and there, but, nobody knows the thoughts of a King.”
“I see. Thank you for your time.”
“Take care, kid.”
Zeig bided farewell to the guard and returned to Jak’s inn for the nightfall was about to arrive.
Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.
The aforementioned third midnight, The citizens generally slept early as there were not many night life’s activities in this city except for taverns that opened till night and brothel, the remaining shops were closed and the streets were eerie silent.
Zeig was high up in the sky flying to the cemetery he heard from the guard.
In fact, I should probably invite him out for a drink. He could be of use.
It was said that in the cemetery where the dead bodies were buried held the most negative energy, and the undead spell would amplify to a certain extent. However, he doesn't comprehend the hypothesis behind it and was just going along with the flow.
Zeig flew passed the east gate and saw the slum beyond the walls. He took a glance at the slum and was disturbed by it. Though he could certainly not see clearly from afar, he saw fragile straw houses, crowded together, leaving no walking space which could topple with added weight. He made a mental note to explore it after this had been done.
Zeig hovered on top of the cemetery and examined it. There were several small presences spread around but it was not hostile to him. He saw broken pieces of stones scattered around the cemetery.
Are they tombstone? No .. calling it a tombstone would be too luxury…
The stones were cramped together, leaving no space to walk, and then there was an Obsidian statue amidst the cemetery, emitting faint Mana that he did not recognize.
Ah! That was the spell that guard mentioned.
Zeig touchdown gradually into the center of the cemetery, and inspected the statue. A man, with a pair of wings, was kneeling down, holding its hands together, appeared to be praying. Stone tears were seemly falling at cheek.
A weeping angel? But the version I saw back on earth was way different than this. Furthermore, this spell I am feeling, is it restraining something?
Zeig held out his right hand and chanted,
‘Fireball’
A magical circle appeared before his hand, and red light converged into a ball of fire, swiftly fired at the statue. Subsequently destroying the statue, He felt the air around him changed, the negative energy was resurfacing after the suppression spell was gone.
So this creepy thing I am feeling now is the negative energy? Interesting…
Well, better get things going.
He held his hand out and chanted;
‘Summoned: Vampire Baron, Rufus'
‘Summoned: Demonic Berserker Warrior, Gir’
Among the summoned assist, both were top tier creatures which equivalent to an S ranked monster. Summoned creatures feeds on the user’s Mana to prolong their stay.
Rufus was a necromancer vampire specialized in undead magic. Reanimated corpses were his forte and that was exactly what Zeig required.
Gir was a warrior, having an exceptional expertise in warfare. Berserk, a skill that temporarily boosts his strength, shifting to a state of frenzy. The downside of this skill was the aftermath; Gir would be vulnerable for awhile.
Zeig felt a surge of Mana departing his body rapidly, and almost one-third of his Mana was drained. But being a magician, his Mana will recover in time, so he was not worried.
Two magical circles appeared distances away before Zeig and two beings slowly manifested in the magical circles, kneeling down and gradually opened their eyes.
On the right side of the circle was Rufus, an average body without fats with a height of 175cm. His face was pale as moonlight and had milky white eyes that shone with an aged intelligence as though he had lived for millennia, his rich ruby hair was long, reaching to the waist.
Rufus wore cloth armor, made from spider silk and wielded a weapon, the infamous ‘Staff of Undead’ used by the Baron alone that amplified any undead spell with bones intertwined from the bottom reaching to the top of the staff holding an emerald gemstone.
Right alongside him was a tall figure at 190cm with large body frame, Gir. He had jet black short spiky hair, two curved in reversed horns at his temple, crimson red skin, and scarlet iris resembled that of a madman.
Gir wore a black gothic banded mail for protection and wielded a Titanium Sledgehammer as tall as him. “Blood Moon”, with sharp spikes on both sides and long handle finishing with a steel sphere.
The interesting part which had never happened before in the game was the letter ‘Z’ engraved on the right side of their neck.
The pair looked at their master with anticipation. What was the first command their master will order? Furthermore, their master’s will was theirs.
Zeig knew that summoned creatures will be loyal to him, but who knows what could have happened? While thinking of such, an ancient husky voice called out to him.
"Master, your orders?"
Zeig was dumbfounded. He had never anticipated them to communicate since a summoned creature being a puppet, does not have a will. Their built-in command was simple ‘Attack monster within a range of the host’.
A grin appeared on his face, frankly, Zeig had experienced ordering players around but that was in the game. And now that this became reality, it became terribly awkward for him.
"Sorry folks, going to use your bones for awhile"
Zeig said, while doing an inner prayer for the dead.
“Rufus, I need an army.”
In the game, reanimated dead could go up to 10 undead soldiers fighting alongside with the host, and could last for 5 minutes. But now that he was thrown into this world, to what extend the spell could go?
"Your words are my command."
Sensing what his master’s desired, Rufus stood up immediately, without wasting time; he lifted his staff up high and chanted;
‘Raise undead’
The emerald gemstone shone brightly and with the effect of the staff that amplified undead spells, it emitted radiant green lights that completely consumed the cemetery. Slowly, the tombstone shuddered; the first sight was a bony hand, digging its way out of the land.
“Raise my precious slaves; heed your master’s call.”
Eh, was that in a game? Zeig recalled the game does not have such dramatic effect; it was perhaps the influence of the world?
Rufus grabbed the staff with both hands, violently pulled the staff down, smacking the base onto the ground. The impact produced a violent shock wave across the cemetery. In an instant, multiple figures steadily crawled out of the land, positioning themselves in front of Rufus, forming a Legion.
The undead legion comprised of skeleton warriors, skeleton archers, and skeleton mages.
They were equipped with dent armor and an open face helmet. Their weapons were inferior, armed with a rusty sword, bows, and broken wooden staff respectively.
Amidst the legion, there were undead Centaurs Knight and Undead Commander.
Centaurs Knight with a deformed face along with an upper rotten body of a human and lower decaying body of a horse equipped with broken pieces of armor, and worn-out lance.
The undead commander armed with a long rusty sword, wore black plate armor covering their entire face and body, mounted on an undead horse with putrid open wounded in its belly showing its rib cage.
All of the undead had a pair of azure blue orb glowing inside their empty eye socket, representing their life span in the mortal world. Once shattered, the undead will vanish, leaving their bodies behind.
One could tell that the legion was a formidable enemy that nobody would want to mess with.
Thousands of undead soldiers fully equipped stood at attention awaiting Rufus’s command. And Rufus turned to look at his master, waiting for his master’s consent to march forth the legion.
Zeig was in deep thought; he was astonished at this result of the spell was out of his expectation. Was it because of the negative energy? Or was it the ‘Staff of undead’ which could multiply the effect of undead spell? Either way, this proved that the spell in “Phoenix Online” was superior to this world.
“Master?”
Rufus called out to him as he snapped back to reality and straighten up before he gave orders.
“Rufus, Gir lead the undead and raid the Kingdom”
No question was asked as the pair acknowledged, took a bow and walked in front of the legion.
“March, my slaves, fulfilled the will of my master.”
The voice echoed throughout the entire cemetery, instilled fear to crows that built their nest nearby...
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