--Cale’s perspective—
I’ve finally reached the edge of the forest. Once I started heading in the direction of the swamp, the Trent followed me. It seems it will act as a guardian until I give it an order. During the walk over here, we got lost several times, and I had to have the Trent lift me up to get a sense of our location, but finally we made it.
Me and the Trent are standing just outside the edge of the forest, watching the swamp.
Bleah… The ground is moving up and down, shifting and curling as if something were using it as a blanket. Every now and then a bubble of swamp gas will surface in the water and spread out in a green cloud. I imagine it would be toxic if you breathe it in, though I don’t know if it will effect me… or the Trent.
Crawling out of the water are a mass of giant bugs, centipedes, giant flies, beetles, and some bugs I’ve never seen from my previous world.
….Really…. It’s a horrific scene, if not for this undead body, I would have run screaming. I wonder how strong they are… I look at my Trent.
………............
…..No good, I have no way to gauge the strength of monsters in this world. Maybe I should just send it in to attack. If it dies, I should be able to make another right? Hmmmm…..
Well, it’s fine. With my mind, I tell my Trent to attack the bugs.
With heavy footsteps, the Trent stomps toward the bugs. As it gets further into the swamp, its footsteps leave deeper and deeper impressions until it is sinking up to its knees. Out of the impressions, countless smaller bugs crawl onto the surface of the mud and scatter, trying to find a place to burrow back in; similar to stepping on an ant bed.
After trudging a few steps through knee deep mud, the Trent suddenly stops and directs its attention down to the place in front of itself. Almost immediately a giant earthworm shoots out from the mud, lunging at the Trent.
Right when the worm comes within range, the Trent swings one of its massive arms down on top of the worm, slamming its body into the mud. I can feel the ground shake even where I am, and around the Trent, the mud is thrown high into the air; creating a rather large crater with the Trent and the worm at the center.
Whoa! So strong!
Could this Trent be on the level of a boss monster?! As I was thinking that, I notice more and more bugs coming out of the water, stopping at a distance from the Trent.
Looks like they’ve noticed us….
They come out of the water in groups, crawling over each other in sickening piles of writhing blackness. The build up and fall, spreading more and more deeply over the mud and….
….Wait, isn’t this too many? An endless stream of bugs were still crawling out of all the water spots as far as I could see. You couldn’t see the mud anymore through all the bugs, and they kept coming. As If that wasn’t enough, the bugs capable of flying leapt from the ground and hovered in the air over the army.
Aren’t different types of bugs supposed to naturally be enemies with each other?
Just as I thought that, the ground shook. This is!
Footsteps.
From off in the distance, behind the bug army, I see something approaching. The tremors get larger the closer it gets, and then I am able see it clearly.
A giant beetle.
It looks almost like a rhinos auras, it has a giant horn sticking out from the center of its head. Its legs are as thick as my Trent’s legs, but as a whole, the beetle is much larger.
Massive!
That’s the only word I can use to describe it. Four or Five of my Trents would have to be standing in a line to equal the length of it. Two would have to stand side by side to equal its width.
This is no joke…
The beetle comes to a stop some distance away and lets out a loud roar. It’s so powerful it creates a gust of wind which whips across the swamp and even reaches me. As if on queue, the bugs suddenly begin attacking. The flies and wasps swarm my Trent, while the bugs on the ground slither and crawl up its bark and slip into any crevice.
The Trent fights back, slamming the ground repeatedly with loud and destructive smashes, but it is slow. The ones that fly are easily able to avoid all of its attacks and most of the crawling bugs have already latched onto its body and crawled inside. In almost an instant, my Trent is completely covered in them and its movements soon come to a stop. With a stiff body, it collapses in the mud.
N… no way…
Without stopping, the bugs turn towards me and begin their advance.
Not good!
I turn around and run back into the forest as fast as I can.
After running through the forest for what seemed like several hours, I was finally able to find the graveyard again. I ran into the cemetery and stood next to my grave in the middle, watching the forest line.
Seems like they didn’t follow me.
I’ve been like this for a few hours now, and thinking this, I lower my guard a little.
But what’s with that level of difficulty?! Shouldn’t I start off in a beginner zone? Or is that only games…
Complaining about various things, and lie back on the ground.
Those bugs were like an army, and what was with the size of that beetle? Able to make hurricane winds with a roar… isn’t that already on the level of a dragon? How am I supposed to fight a battle like that on my own…
…no, that’s not right, I don’t have to fight them on my own. I can make Trents. But even so… all the Trents in the world wouldn’t beat that endless bug army… They move slowly and can’t attack the bugs once they latch on…
Ahhh, it would be great if there were something in the forest other than just trees…
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That’s it!
Like that, I think of a brilliant plan.
I am currently digging up one of the nameless graves in the cemetery. Why am I doing this? Well I was wondering what else I could use to battle the bug army with and had the great idea of making undead minions like I did the Trent. The fact that I just realized this after standing in a graveyard for several hours, I’ll keep to myself.
Anyway, I’ve finally reached the skeleton in the ground, and uncovered it… for the most part. I take a deep breath, well figuratively, and place my hand on the skeleton. Just like with the tree, a pentagram spreads from under my hand, and a black ooze begins to crawl all over the skeleton. It seeps into the white bone and disappears along with the pentagram.
The next moment, the ooze bursts through the bones and engulf the skeleton in black. The skeleton shakes violently for a few seconds and a small white light is lit at the back of its eye sockets. I back away, and the skeleton pulls itself out of the grave. Standing up, it faces me and stands still.
Waiting on orders it seems… I guess everything I make like this will act the same. It took even less effort to raise it than when I raised the Trent…
Well, better start digging up the rest of them.
Getting the skeletons I animated to help, the process of digging up and turning the others became quicker and quicker. After digging up the entire graveyard, I had a small army of 135 skeletons.
Some were buried with a sword or knife, though they were rusted and almost falling apart; but most of them were empty handed.
Well, I don’t know how well they’ll be able to fight like this… I look around and spot pieces of iron laying here and there around the perimeter of the cemetery, remnants of a fence that once stood. I order the skeletons to pick up any scrap pieces they can find and use them as spears.
With that 35 skeletons are armed with rusty swords, and 50 are armed with rusty iron rods; the rest are unarmed. Looking over my new army, I hang my head.
….well, it’s better than nothing. Even if they are poorly equipped, it’ll work. With my skeleton army at my back, we march into the forest.
In the forest, I approach the first tree I notice, and turn it into a Trent. It was the same theatrical scene as the first time I made one. The tree sucks in the surrounding mist, turning it black, then bursts from the ground with vigor and its body takes shape, towering over me and the skeletons.
….even though you got insta-killed….
Well, anyway, it definitely sucks more power than the skeletons, but I feel I could make thousands before running out… I wonder if it replenishes… I couldn’t really tell because only making one Trent doesn’t use a very noticeable amount, but I should be careful until I know for sure. None the less, I will need more Trents for my plan to succeed.
Like that, we walk through the forest, clearing the fog and making Trents as we head towards the swamp.
Reaching the edge of the forest, my army now includes 35 skeleton swordsmen, 50 skeleton spearmen (questionable), 50 skeleton fighters (aren’t they just unarmed skeletons?), and 100 Trents. With this, I’m able to feel a noticeable dent in my magic power, but even so it’s at most something like 5%.
We emerge from the forest, and the swamp looks just like it did before my first Trent attacked. Good, it would have been bad if we were suddenly thrown into the fight right off the bat.
I have my minions take a circular formation. With me at the center, the skeleton spearmen surround me, followed by the swordsmen, then the fighters, and finally the Trents. Though the swordsmen are the fewest in number, I had them be on the outside of the spearmen because with spears, they will have a longer reach and range of attack, the swordsmen’s job is to keep small bugs from coming too close to the spearmen. The Trents on the outside will constantly pound the ground in and endless AOE attack, and should any bugs slip past them, the fighters will rip them off the Trents and kill them. My only worry is that the spears won’t be long enough to reach the aerial attacks.
Well… it should be fine, if this fails, I won’t be able to escape. But it’s just as well, I couldn’t command the army from back at the forest, the swamp spreads out further than I can see. And I have to do something, I can’t just stay in the forest forever. So like this I decided to bet everything on this assault.
With everyone in formation, we begin to move slowly into the swamp.
It doesn’t take long for the bugs to notice our presence. Much like last time, they crawl forth from anywhere and everywhere out of the swamp, covering the floor in front of us and slowly move to surround us. The smaller bugs are crawling over each other in massive chaotic piles scattered all over the ground, the scene is repulsive. We come to a stop some distance into the swamp, and once the bugs completely surround us, they stop as well.
Again, like last time, I feel soft tremors which grow stronger and stronger, and crack a smile… though it doesn’t reach my face.
Good, I would be troubled if the boss didn’t show his face. I figure the bugs are all acting as one under its command, if I take him out, the bugs should scatter and become much less of a threat.
The beetle roars. It’s just as fearsome as I remember it, I feel the wind whip past the Trent wall and knock down a few skeletons. I immediately order the Trents to start their attacks.
Like that the area is surrounded with explosive smashes. With our legs sunken and encased by mud, it actually makes it easier to keep our footing. Feeling my surroundings, I monitor the fight.
Though the soft mud is weakening the impact of the Trent’s smashes, the bugs are still struggling to break through. Their oversized bodies are working against them in this kind of situation. Every now and then a few smaller bugs will slip through the onslaught of pounding, but the fighters are able to pick them off and kill them.
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The giant flies and wasps begin swarming overhead. They pass the Trents by flying over them, then dive in to attack the skeletons. The swordsmen’s reactions are slow and they can’t hit them with their rusted swords, though I don’t think it would do much damage even if they were successful.
The overhead swarm swoops down and picks up several skeletons, they then rip them apart in the air over us before aiming for more.
Not good, if this keeps up, we will eventually lose…
I heighten my concentration on controlling 5 of the spearmen and wait for the next aerial attack.
Once again, the bugs dive in to grab skeletons. When they do, one swoops in to grab a skeleton near my group of 5 and I simultaneously thrust at it with all 5 spears. Two of the spears are too heavily rusted and break on contact with the fly. One of them is too blunt and is unable to penetrate. However, the other two break through and skewer it. With two spears sunk into its body from two separate angles, the fly is unable to fly away. Controlling the spearmen, I bring the fly into the army and kill it.
Finally! This is where the battle turns!
With the fly now dead, I have to spearmen hurriedly move it towards me. When I’m close enough, I reach out my hand and touch it.
Success!!
The pentagram forms and the ooze coats the massive fly in black. Once the pentagram disappears, the fly shakes and comes to life.
Alright, now I just need to keep it alive until I get a few more…
I have the fly stay low and work to protect the spearmen from incoming aerial attacks. I take control of a couple more groups of 5 spearmen and like that, slowly start building up my own bug army.
Around 30 minutes into battle, I’ve turned around 50 aerial bugs, and roughly 30 other smaller miscellaneous bugs; and am able to use them to protect my skeletons from being grabbed and ripped apart. Though I’ve lost roughly 60-70 skeletons, the bugs are stronger and more than make up for the losses. I continue to convert the corpses of the bugs that die within the circle of Trents and further build up my army.
However, all good things eventually come to an end. All too soon the giant beetle lets out another roar and the bugs back off.
Tsk… I guess the beetle bastard is semi-intelligent. Seriously… what’s with this difficulty….
I look through a gap in the Trent wall and see the boss beetle. He is moving mud with one of his front legs while looking at us. Wait… that, isn’t he getting ready to charge? He was a rhinos auras after all?!
With a speed you wouldn’t think possible in all this mud, the rhino-beetle rushes towards us. Panicking, I break the circle formation and turn it into a triangle, after all this is how you deal with Calvary right? Even if it fails, I have several Trents run toward the front to act as a buffer. Before we are able to completely set up, the boss rams into the front of the formation.
With the sound of splintering wood, I see Trents thrown into the air.
….seriously? What kind of power is required to throw several 4 meter tall trees through the air?
With more Trents moving forward to help, we are somehow able to stop the advance of the boss, though we are now disorganized. As if reading my mind, the beetle once again roars and the surrounding bugs resume their attack.
Not good, not good. I hear the sounds of Trents near the boss being ripped apart and hear the swarm of bugs closing in on us. If only I could do something about the boss…
Thinking that, I call a couple of Trents over, somewhat rebuilding our earlier circle formation, though there are large gaps this time, and it is much less circular as the majority of the Trents are busy holding the boss at bay. I call one of the Trents to me and step into its hand. I command the aerial bugs under my control to fly close to me and protect me from enemy air. With that, I have the Trent throw me towards the boss beetle.
I’m flying through the air, surrounded by flying bugs. They are keeping the enemy flies away from me, as well as keeping the path clear. Following the trajectory, I near the beetle and fall on its back. Having landed on its back, a place my palm down onto it, hoping to convert it.
[C...tions ….t me…]
[Insuf…. ….irements.]
The pentagon forms, but grows dim and fades before the ooze appears.
Damn, I guess that would be too easy huh? But what was that? I could briefly make out a voice for a second… While I’m thinking this to myself, the beetle under me suddenly rolls over.
Unable to do anything in response to the sudden beetle’s sudden action, I fall into the mud with it, sucked underneath its back. Buried in the mud, I can’t see anything, but I can still feel everything that is going on around me. The beetle, rolls back over and stands up, then raises its leg to stomp me.
I immediately order a nearby Trent to act as a shield, but the beetle’s leg smashes through it and pounds me further into the ground.
Surprisingly, I didn’t crumble into dust. In fact, it’s as if nothing happened. Am I surprisingly sturdy?
While I’m lying there wondering about things, the beetle notices that I am still alive(?), and proceeds to stomp on me again and again.
…. What a simple minded fellow, I take back what I said about him being intelligent.
Though it doesn’t seem like I am taking any damage, this is still a problem. I can’t move. But with the beetle’s attention focused on me, the Trents are freed up to move. I order them to group up next to the beetle and simultaneously hit it knock him over.
The Trents do as they’re told, and after grouping up, they swing their arms into the side of the beetle.
The result is, they were able to move it! The beetle rolls a small distance away, and I have the Trents form a wall between us. I pull myself out of the mud and look around. The flies I had guard me in the air were on stand-by while I was in the ground and without air support, the skeletons in the circle were being eviscerated. Without a sufficient amount of skeletons, and with the fewer numbers of Trents forming a wall, the bugs are beginning to cover the Trents.
This is bad, I have to do something quick…
We need some way to take down the beetle, but the Trents can’t penetrate the beetle’s thick shell, and if the skeleton’s rusted weapons barely got through the flies, there is no way they will go through the beetle’s armor. We need something that won’t break when it hits the beetle at a high velocity…..
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…no way.
There is only one thing I can think of that has proven to be at least as strong, or stronger than the beetle’s armor.
Like that, I got back in hand of the nearest Trent.
I need to make this attack count, so to put maximum power behind it, I am using two Trents; one foot in the hand of each. With me controlling them, I should be able to have them thrust me into the beetle at the same time, reaching maximum momentum.
………….
I can’t even laugh. Currently I am standing with one foot on the hand of each of the two Trents, while placing my hands together above my head, trying to make a point. The human (skeleton) spear… no part of this is cool. I look like someone posing before a swan dive. I thought liches were supposed to be badass undead magic chanters, how did it end up like this…
Giving thanks in my heart that nobody is here to see this, I prepare for the attack.
The boss beetle is right in front of the Trent wall, watching us and getting ready for another charge attack. Controlling the two Trents holding me, I brace for the attack.
Kicking up mud high in the air, the beetle takes off towards us. It charges through the mud at the speed of a truck. I have the Trents crouch low and we wait for the right moment. The beetle nears us, and begins to duck its head for contact.
……………Now!!
Right at the climax of the beetle's charge, I have both of the trents thrust me forward with all their strength into its head.
The force is tremendous and with the sound of its outer shell cracking, I break through and enter the beetle. I can feel it rampaging, rolling around and stomping as I tunnel around inside its head, ripping at everything around me.
After a few minutes of fumbling around inside of it, I finally feel the beetle collapse. I remain inside until I confirm it is no longer alive, before crawling out from where I entered.
As I remove myself from the beast, the innards don’t stick to me and slide right off. Now that I think about it, the mud didn’t stick either. I guess it’s a good thing I can’t get dirty, but I wonder if it’s a common trait for skeletons to have? I look over at the remaining skeletons, but they are so black from the ooze, I can’t tell if they have traces of mud on them or not. Ah well.
Most of the bugs have stopped attacking, all but the ones that were already in combat. Controlling the survivors of my army, I’m able to finish most of them off, while the others retreat back into the water. The worms were mostly non-existent, but with the Trents, they are the easiest to deal with so I’m not worried.
With things having calmed down, I walk up to the corpse of the giant beetle. I wonder if I should turn it into a minion? I can’t tell if my magic power is recovering or not yet, at with the amount required being different per creature, I don’t want to unknowingly spend too much of it. Plus with the beetle dead, it should be fairly easy to make my way through the rest of the swamp.
In the end I decide not to turn it. It’s not like it’s going anywhere, and if I encounter something stronger up ahead I can always come back.
Like that, me and the remnants of my army travel across the swamp.
Every now and then we would be attacked by a few bugs or worms, but we were able to easily deal with them. For the most part, it was uneventful.
Eventually we came across a large rock face. It was a straight drop Cliffside stretching left and right as far as the eye could see. Looking up, you can see the top, but it must be over 50 meters high.
Well… I don’t think I’ll be able to climb it….
I stand in front of the rock wall, thinking of a way to reach the top.
………….Well, I guess I can always just try that…
If the Trents were able to throw me into the beetle hard enough to penetrate its armor, then they should be able to throw me high enough to reach the top of the wall… Yeah, let’s go with that.
So with the plan thought out, I step back into the hands of two Trents and face the remnants of my army. Within my head, I give a farewell speech of sorts.
‘Well, if this works out, it may be the last time I see you all. You guys have really helped me and we have even been through war together. I’m going to miss you guys!’
The undead stand there just like before, unmoving. Well, I didn’t really expect any response anyway.
Alright, let’s do it.
I turn back towards the rock face and while controlling the two Trents, throw myself into the air.
Like an arrow, I cut through the air and fly towards the sky.
Success!! I rapidly approach the top of the wall and…
…..Huh?
I pass the top of the wall with no signs of slowing down.
!!!!
Like that, I fly high into the air over the land at the top of the wall, so high I can barely make out the differences in the tops of the trees which are covering the ground. Finally my upward momentum comes to a halt and I start falling.
…. Well if I was stomped on by that beetle and thrust through its shell with this momentum and came out unscathed, I should survive the fall…. Right?
….Ah, now that I think about it, I had several giant flying bugs…
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