The staccato sound of attacks raining around him was deafening as he closed in on the wall. More than one attack hit him only for the damage to be absorbed by his ring’s projected mana barrier. It was rapidly fueled and his own resource restored as the fetish in his hand vibrated wildly. Another silk thread or strand of sinew snapped as the flow of energies it channeled continued to grow. Compared to what it had gathered before that ambush attack, this was a flood compared to a trickle. The only problem was the fetish clearly wasn’t able to handle the strain of so much power being channeled at once. ‘Still, while I have it. Best to use it all.’ Dren was close enough now to put his enchanted throwing knives to work. Flinging one out at the base of the wall he multiplied it. For the first time, he put the skill to a real test as he fed it mana without limits. The single dagger turned into a swarm just before it impacted the wall.
The detonation was intense enough that Dren was buffeted backward slightly by the force, stalling his charge. A massive jagged crack spread up the wall and to his shock, he could make out a large hole punch in the base through the dust. Overhead the annoying cackling had stopped finally, apparently, skeletons didn’t need to stop to breathe and the undead Haven Lord had been cackling without pause. Dren rushed forward towards the hole in the wall and overhead he heard someone shouting for the defense to stop him. Figures appeared in the hole, mostly shield bearing defenders even as the barrage of attacks grew more frequent and accurate. Just before he entered the hole he jumped. His fingers pierced to the cracks, digging in before he flung himself upwards. Again and again, he used the jagged cracks in the wall as hand or foot holds as he flung himself rapidly up the wall. Several faces peeked over the wall, seeming to believe he had entered the hole only to spot him just before he crested the top.
Shouts of alarm greeted him as he landed on the outer parapet. Attacks being flung wildly by the ranged attackers while a man wielding a polearm of some sort tried to sweep his legs out from under him. Jumping straight up with all his strength he flung down a dark binding knife before turning it into a fan of blades. Half a dozen impacted the top of the wall below or impaled defenders before a forest of flailing chains covered in seething darkness erupted. Clusters of bound natives were pulled together as Dren landed next to the no longer cackling skeleton. To his surprise, the robed undead monster didn’t seem nearly as afraid as he thought he would be.
“Good, you have come to die at my ha…” Dren interrupted the Skeletal Lord’s monologue with a thrust of his knife. It pierced his robes and deflected off a rib bone before it slid between them. “Bastard! What have you done to my robe!” He howled and lunged for Dren, their bony fingers curled into claws as he aimed for Dren’s face. Jumping back to avoid the claws he landed right in front of a sword wielder. He slashed at him and he twisted to deflect the blow before continuing his spin and stabbing the man in the chest with his black coated dagger. The man’s eyes glazed over as the system chimed merrily with a kill notification. Dren wrenched his dagger free and the man’s body fell back. Before Dren could turn to face his next attacker the body exploded in a spray of gore and blood. All the rib bones in their chest exploded outward towards him. Most deflected off his armor but one ripped past his face, notching his ear.
Even as he stumbled back the bones flew back to the corpse as more were ripped free to join them. Nearby the skeleton cackled away. “Behold my power. Witness my might! Tremble before me you pathetic…” Dren flung a dagger at him without looking, it only enough time to turn it into three before they detonated. Bones and the flaming remains of the skeleton’s robe were flung backward to bound off defenders that had pulled up short when one of their own’s skeleton ripped itself out. Dren in turn began flinging out and multiplying more and more daggers in both directions down the wall. Explosions, bursts of darkness, and flailing chains erupted all around. Just as he started looking for signs of the Seer, the pile of bloody bones at his feet shot up and reassembled into a humanoid skeleton.
Momentarily stunned the thing lunged for him, seeking to claw out his throat with those gore covered hands. Dren pushed away the hands and kicked the thing in the chest. Bones rattled away and the whole skeleton started to fall apart before bones snapped back into place. Eyes flashing with his Profane Gaze he looked over the skeleton and only then remembered. They only had azure lines denoting critical points. Did that mean it had no health points, just mana?
Cackling announced the return of the Skeletal Lord. “I see. For now, you have discovered how hopeless your fight is! You can not destroy what is already dead! Know that even if you slaughter everyone here. All you will be doing is giving me an even greater army!” He tossed back their head and cackled.
“Shut up.” Dren snapped at the annoying Haven Lord before drawing his dagger. It shimmered with his Profane Blade skill and now ignoring the babbling skeleton, he slammed it into one of the azure lines. Light flashed within the skull of the skeleton and the whole thing dropped down into a pile of messy bones. The Skeleton Lord had just resumed cackling after spouting more cartoonish lines and stopped instantly. He looked down at the no longer animated skeleton and let out a shriek of fear. “Impossible! You… You can’t… It is impossible. My power has no weakness. You can’t kill what is dead. You can’t kill what is dead.” He howled and clawed at their own skull, their sharp finger bones making a scraping noise. Dren turned to them and used his Profane Gaze on them. Sure enough, just like the skeletons, there were only azure lines flowing through the undead mage.
“I can kill you.” Dren said, his voice was soft and his face morphed into a toothy monstrous grin. Flames flickered in the skeletal lord’s hollow eye socket as they stared at one another for a brief moment before Dren took a step toward him. With another shrill shriek, the skeleton turned and to Dren's surprise flung himself off the wall, into the Necropolis. Everyone froze on the wall for a moment, save those struggling within the binding chains. Then wild baying filled the air as monsters burst into the cleared land around the Necropolis. Dren glanced at them with the rest to see a strange assortment of monsters. Three headed deer creatures, with large towering sets of horns, bounded forward with hopping gaits. While having three heads alone made them odd, it was the fact that all three heads weren’t deer-like in the least but instead looked like those of slavering hyenas. Their weird baying sounds matched neither animal.
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From behind them came black bears that strode on skinny legs four or five times too long for their bodies while a massive flat tail like that of a beaver was dragged behind them. The tops of each of these tails sporting hundreds of meter long quills like those of a porcupine. For a moment Dren wondered where the third monster was before a sense of danger had him jump back. Giant owls with heads like a shrunken human skull swept silently down on the wall, massive talons outstretched. As they peeled away, the shrieks of those they carried away seemed to break everyone out of their stupor.
All along the wall defenders turned to attack the monsters while those not restrained near Dren lunged for him. For his part, he flung blades towards one group before charging the other, his dagger at the ready.
*****
Kitty stayed in the shadow of one of the houses near the base of the wall watching. This seemed to be the section of the wall everyone was heading towards. Her original plan was to go the opposite way and see if she could escape. But running unarmed out into a monster surge was probably a bad idea. Besides, she wanted her revenge on that bone bag and that annoying woman. She certainly hadn’t considered that if everyone were all going this way, it was likely where that boy was going to show up.
“I don’t give a damn about…” She whispered to herself before a massive explosion rocked the area and she was nearly knocked off her feet. Still leaning against the house she was about to start cursing when a voice boomed so loud it carried beyond the wall.
“This is my Proclamation.” A long pause came, to the point Kitty thought that was all he had to say. Then the booming voice returned. “This battle will only end when the native called Katherine is returned to me or I no longer live.”
Kitty’s face heated up as her brow knitted into a deep scowl. “Are you fucking kidding me? He used my real name!” She spat out, not even bothering to keep her voice down. Her scowl softened and she spoke softer. “He actually remembered my name, huh? I didn’t think…” Her face suddenly heated up again and she shook her head angrily.
She pushed off the house she was hiding in the shadow of and started to move forward when a voice called out, obviously directed at her. “What are you doing down here? You should be up on the wall.” It was a man wearing the heavy chain armor of a defender. He was standing half a block down from where she was. She glanced at him ready to run, but it was clear from his angry posture he didn’t know who she was. “Get up on the wall, the Invader has shown up and the monster surge has started.” He started moving towards her.
“I lost my bow!” Kitty quickly shouted at him. “I have to go back to get my spare.” She started to turn back into the alleyway she had emerged from.
“Just grab one from the guard house there.” He pointed at a stone hut built into the base of the wall. “Then take the stairs and get up top!” He had stopped approaching her, glancing back the way he had come and towards others who were gathering together.
Kitty didn’t hesitate and shouted back. “Thanks, I will!” She rushed towards the indicated building, glancing back to see the man already moving to join a group of other melee fighters who in turn were moving towards one of the gates in the wall. Opening the door she looked in to find a small sparsely stocked guardhouse. There were a few weapon racks and a smile spread across her lips as her gaze landed on several bows. Grabbing one she stepped out of the guard house just as a massive blast detonated nearby. She stumbled and this time didn’t manage to keep from toppling over. Shouts and more explosions followed from atop the wall as she stood back up. The group of melee fighters were already forming up in front of a gaping hole in the wall.
“What the hell did he do this time?” Grumbling she hesitated only a moment before rushing to the stairs.
*****
Maria stood on the balcony of the hotel that served as the main headquarters of the Necropolis, facing the direction of the Invader’s attack. Her eyes were glazed over as she ran down one person after another on her contact list. Seeking to read their futures. Most of which she was able to predict the outcome of the night for. Most would live, and some would die. Those that she found that died all did so from monster attacks. Yet, when she looked at Richard, herself, the girl from Little Garden, the Invader, or even others near where Richard was against her advice standing on the wall. She only got a wild tangle of calculated predictions. With a sigh, she pushed away the screen her skill produced and let her eyes focus on the wall in the distance. Blinking she could see explosions flashing on the wall already.
Pulling up a pair of binoculars she scanned the scene until she found Richard, standing there facing off against the now familiar sight of Dren. He engaged a skeleton that crumbled and fell apart. She let out a long sigh as moments later she saw Richard throw himself off the wall into the streets below. Rolling her eyes at his cowardice she was just glad he hadn’t stayed and got himself killed. As a skeleton he was virtually immune to mundane damage like falling off the top of the wall. Becoming an undead seemed to have only worsened the worst parts of his personality. As she considered what to do, the rattle of bones behind her caused her to look back. A pile of bones that looked like a haphazard mess yet was actually painstakingly placed was rattling. A moment later four skeletons appeared in front of it. Together they took a step forward as four more appeared, then four more.
Maria frowned, what was Richard doing now? All of the skeletons were moving towards her and soon the balcony was full, more walked to windows facing the same way. The sound of breaking glass was louder than the faint sounds of battle in the distance. While she debated what to do, the first rays of dawn crested the horizon. As the light lanced towards them, it glittered off runes painted in silver on the bones of the skeletons.
A single thought went through Maria’s mind just before all the skeletons raised their hands as one. Fire, lightning, and other destructive elements gathering between their bony fingers. “He hit level twenty.”