“I’m still deciding which of those I would be.”

Whipping around in shock with Gungnir pointing in the direction of yet another newcomer, my soul violently shook as Judy, the Floridian Necromancer, walked through Johnny’s still open portal.

[It’s not fair that someone with magic that revolting comes in a body that hot!] I growled internally. Without the complete hormonal control over my body that my Flesh Sorcery afforded me, I had to almost visibly work to keep my eyes off her body. It felt like I was seventeen again with puberty rampaging through my thoughts.

A moment later, her undead Knights stalked through the opening like they were on a mission. These were no ordinary undead. In fantasy books that I’d read in the past, necromancers had a tendency to amass huge armies of undead, generally uncaring as to their general wellbeing. For them, it was a numbers game. Why did it matter if some of the horde got annihilated if you could just round up some more?

For Judy, she went the opposite route. This broad went for quality. I looked them up and down as they formed ranks on either side of her. There were more of them than there were last time but not by much. In Florida, Judy had five of these massive men-at-arms. Now, she has nine. Nine undead knights carrying hundred pound shields that wouldn’t have been out of place protecting the side of a battleship. Besides that, their right arms effortlessly held up double bladed war axes complete with a speartip, as if they weren’t deadly enough.

At least I didn’t really have to look at rotting faces and there really wasn’t much of a stench either. Kraken helpfully supplied the answer mentally as I took in the sight.

[It’s a powerful stasis spell.] He said through our thin mind link. [It serves to prevent the body from decomposing, provides extra protection against damage via prolonged mana soaking, and the side benefit is that it prevents almost all smells that would normally make everyone within a country mile hurl their guts out.]

I sent a metal thumbs up as a reply, not bothering to do more as I examined their armor. Thick heavy plates of blackened steel covered all the classic wide spaces such as the back, head, chest, and legs. Judy had done her homework. Basically, she had commissioned complete suits of medieval armor and then souped up the protection surrounding the joints. That’s what kept throwing me off. The knees, neck, and elbows had extra flaps or scales of metal that bulged outward. Any blade that hit those areas, trying to disable the undead knight, would simply skip off at an awkward angle.

It would force any attacker to just try and power through the thickest plates covering the head, chest and back, which was a fool’s errand considering the fact that the undead don’t have a sense of pain nor do they give a shit about bruising or concussive damage. While this might have been a laborious expense, Judy basically damage-proofed undead soldiers.

While I looked simultaneously revolted and intrigued, Johnny just looked excited. I stepped forward, gesturing around the cavern. “You better not want to fight me too,” I said, giving a tired grin. “I’d have to get Reeanth and the semi-sane fire witch involved, and nobody wants that.”

Judy looked me up and down and then where Johnny lay behind my feet. Even though the wheels were turning in her head, the honest truth was that I was still very different looking than when she saw me last. A lot of extra height, weight, and even how I carried myself was different. No longer did I look like a halfway gangly sorcerer wielding the elements as easy as breathing. My appearance was closer to a primal Centauri warrior with some kickass tools.

So I did the smart thing for once. I held up one finger.

Judy raised one eyebrow but whirled around in surprise as the outermost wall the left vanished. Sunlight streamed in heralding the arrival of my army. Sunny, Splashy, and Kraken stormed in at the head of one continuous stream of sunstone golems charging in, taking up all of the available room in the cavern.

A full twenty golems surrounding Reeanth and Acantha while two stood over Johnny with oversized spears pointed at his face. The rest faced Judy and her cohort.

She put her hands up in the air. “Yup, you got me surrounded. I know it’s you, Ben. Just your style too. Overwhelming force.” Smirking with a shrug, she gave a little motion. Her Knights dropped their shields and weapons on the ground. “Just a different weapon this time, huh?”

I nodded. “Yeah, magic is a bit on the fritz so I gotta work with what I got.” I nodded at Kraken who was piloting an oversized and over armored sunstone golem. “And I got a big ass army.”

Two hours later, my team and I sat across from Judy and Johnny. A small sunstone sat in the center of our circle radiating enough heat to keep everyone comfortable.

“So let me get this straight,” I said, leaning forward. Pointing at Reeanth, I cracked a few knuckles. “You got a hold of Johnny who used cultivator woo-woo magic to get her when we needed him, and then he rubs three brain cells together to get Judy here because he thought it would be a good idea.”

“And it was!”

Reeanth patted Johnny on the shoulder. “You’re absolutely right. Inviting her was a good idea.”

Acantha sat with her arms still crossed across her ample chest. “Not telling us is the problem. I could’ve fireballed all of us to hell!”

“And that’s why I used the Reflective Shield Seal scroll, to keep my mentor safe.”

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

I rolled my eyes at Johnny. “Did you really think that Reeanth was in any danger?”

My oldest friend here pointed his serpent staff at me. “Dude! For real?! You didn’t see what this place looked like? Both of you were covered in so much blood, fighting like you thought the other person was a demon! The floor was covered in blood, y’all were slipping in blood, what was I supposed to think?”

Reeanth held her hand out to forestall any rebuttals. “My lord, he does have a valid point. He knew that he was walking into a potential battlefield. And seeing what he saw, it’s understandable. His reaction that is.”

My ward huffed a small flame, as if she were a small dragon that was too good for this conversation. “Can we just get to the plan? Or do we have to plan to plan to maybe get to the plan?”

That pulled me up short. “ARE YOU FREAKING SERIOUS?!” I snapped, squinting my eyes so hard that they almost closed. “IT’S A CASTLE OF THE UNDEAD! AND THEY’RE CALLED THE ‘HUNGRY ONES’! AT WHAT POINT DO YOU THINK THAT WE’LL EVER PLAN ENOUGH?!”

“Don’t fuss at me because you’ve been magically neutered.”

It wasn’t the first time that I’ve wanted to bounce her little Irish-lookin’ head against the soft caress of the nearby bedrock floor during this discussion. Judy and Johnny had arrived and immediately presented entirely too much of a united front along with information that was worth me killing over. And Acantha played the part of an angsty teenager too damn well.

But glaring down at the hard light simulacrum didn’t move us forward, but it did give us options.

“Exactly where did these blueprints come from?” I used a stick to trace the underground pathways of the Hungry Ones fortress.

Judy looked me dead in the eye. “That doesn’t matter. In fact, do keep in mind that these very plans,” she said, pointing at Reeanth’s simulacrum in between all of us, “Come with a cost befitting the capabilities of a Flesh Sorcerer.”

I shot a quick glare at Johnny who at least had the good graces to look a bit sheepish. “And that is . . .”

“A new body.”

Before I could even ask the question, Judy leaned forward, her face showing an unusual amount of glee. “I have a plan to fuse living clone bodies with blank phylacteries so that if I die, I don’t have to come back as an ugly pile of hideous bones. I can just put clone bodies of mine to use. And what’s to stop me from enjoying a new look?”

“Done!” I couldn’t say it fast enough. That’s probably the easiest terms I could ever agree to. Shit. My Flesh Golems could pump out a bunch of clone bodies for Judy in any size or shape she wanted. I’d be happy to accommodate that for what I was getting out of it.

Smiling like a cat that got all the canaries, Judy flipped a small translucent piece of glass over to Reeanth. My Centauri teammate held it up to her eye for a moment, deciphering the plans within. Looking down at her floating simulacrum slowly rotating between us, I watched as the false light structure reorganized itself. Not only did the fortress of the Hungry Ones fill in, but tunnels both large and small wove in and out of the ground as if it were one giant ant nest.

“This isn’t the first time they’ve executed this plan,” Judy said, cracking her knuckles. “While I don’t mind getting my hands on some incredibly powerful undead and dominating them for my own use, I’d rather not see my entire homeworld eventually die. That’s how you know I’m on your side, even if you have reservations.”

She glanced to the side where half of my golem army looked in on our little conclave with weapons drawn. Kraken and Sunny both stood at attention, ready to mow down anyone who made a wrong move.

“A bit overzealous but more loyal than an abused druggie,” I joked, winking at Kraken. “Anyways, you were saying?”

“An intricate tunnel network allows for easy deployments in the initial years of the invasion, skirting the damaging rays of the sun that weaken them. Rather than conducting an overland assault that they can see coming from miles away, I will lead the expedition through the underground passageways.” Judy stopped to take off her heavy black gauntlets. Part of me was surprised at how muscular her forearms were. This lady had been putting in some serious work either at the gym or in furious hand to hand combat with heavy weapons. I eyed her own war ax with a bit more appreciation.

“What exactly is your objective here, blowing the entire fortress to hell?” I laughed at how close Judy was. That would have been my old strategy sans Merlin’s interference.

“Something just a bit more sneaky.” I pointed up at the Grand Portal at the very tip top of the fortress. “I need to shut that bitch down.”

Kraken couldn’t help himself. Piloting his oversized golem over to us, my spirit-familiar towered over us. “It’s not that simple! We are going to alter the portal’s basic nature so that it serves as a loop relay. Instead of this portal serving as an exit, any intruders that get routed here will be sent back to a random world controlled by the undead. This way, no multi-universal accords will be breached, we don’t have to destroy the castle, and the Hungry Ones will have to find a completely new way to get to the planet that doesn’t involve their portal network.”

A sharp laugh cut through Kraken’s enthusiastic explanation.

“See, this is why you need me!” Johnny said proudly. He thumped his chest with one fist. “The portal isn’t even up there, it’s down there!” I followed his finger that was pointing well below the foundations of the fortress. “The circle part at the top is just an antennae!”

Judy’s face fell into her hand. “I found the information you idiot.”

“But Ben wouldn’t have gotten it if it weren’t for me getting you! Which means, I’m the man!” He took a deep breath before belting out the words to an old song, “What can I say except you’re-”

WHACKKK! “Thank you, Johnny.” Reeanth said, slapping one heavy hand on his shoulder, forcing him to sit down. “You also will get one favor to ask of our team.”

I sniggered for a moment, letting the cultural slip pass us by. “Anyways, yes Johnny, I’ll help you build the most awesome enchanted gym fit for a cultivator you’ve ever seen. Or grow some uber-magical fruit to crank your power levels through the roof. Something like that.”

Acantha looked like she was about to actually explode into a “CAN WE GET TO THE FIGHTING YET?!”