The longest night of Nenn’s life carried on as the sliver of moon above continued its journey across the sky. The camp of twelve naga survivors had come under attack several more times throughout the night. Each time the Helkis’ zombie minions would try a new tactic, but managed to fail each time. Nenn’s ability to use [Entangling Roots] as a form of crowd control was doing wonders for the group's success. The roots easily overpowered and held the undead minions in place while the rest of the naga entourage practiced their skills and abilities.
Elkorin had chosen to be a warrior through the integration process. He attacked with savage blows that were reckless and unrestrained. His anger at the situation was apparently fueling each of his moves, as Nenn began to notice a faint red outline enshroud Elkorin’s trident with every fallen enemy.
Velkoriss on the other hand had been given the monk class. Trialborn evidently do not get to choose their own classes, but instead rely on the system to award them one that best fits their abilities. Naga conscripts are rarely given good weapons to use, so they most often train to fight using hand-to-hand combat.
Velkoriss’ hand-to-hand combat skills were fast and vicious in their lethality adding to his new latent monk abilities. Now that he had recovered enough to fight, he moved almost effortlessly through his forms and strikes, resulting in more than a few undead minions quickly losing their sharpened limbs before they could try and strike a second time. It was a bit odd to see a naga fight in hand-to-hand combat, without the use of two legs, but the naga was certainly making it work.
Another interesting detail was that Velkoriss had started out at level 11, rather than level 5 like Ortango had. It was just some more food for Nenn’s mind to ruminate on later. To him it made sense that the non-System enabled could level up and gain power that way too. Otherwise, the natural creatures of the Trial shouldn’t be as strong as they were, let alone the sentient non-enabled races, like the orcs and ogres.
It also made sense to Nenn that the non-enabled could learn to use mana and other abilities, just without the System’s help. There was probably a whole method to learning how to control mana that some being, somewhere had perfected and passed along, as evidenced by the Helkis’ abilities predating his System enablement. There was no doubt in Nenn’s mind that the System just made everything much easier and faster to obtain.
The group grew stronger as the night wore on. The Helkis seemed determined to keep sending wave after wave of minions to attack the last remaining group naga survivors, which was perfectly fine with Nenn. In fact, it was the ideal situation. The lowest level survivor was now level 6. Elkorin had reached level 10 and gotten a new active ability called [Berserker’s Rage], that allowed him to ignore pain as long as he fed the ability stamina. It also empowered his blows based on his more aggressive emotions. When activated, he glowed a faint red color, eerily similar to both Aiden’s [State of Martyrdom], or when one of the bear creatures enraged and their eyes turned solid red.
It was definitely an ability that as soon as it was activated things got out of hand quickly. Nenn had to restrain Elkorin after his first usage of [Berserker’s Rage] as he had lost most of his control over himself. It turns out that fighting undead of your own race makes it difficult for a rage-addled warrior to discern who is friend and foe. When he eventually ran out of stamina reserves and returned to his senses, he breathlessly apologized to everyone before taking a seat away from everyone else to contemplate what had happened.
There had been enough downtime through the night that Velkoriss had been able to use [Purify Body] on the eleven integrated naga. The Helkis’ mark had been difficult to remove, as it had apparently been a strong bit of magic. Velkoriss cited that his ability had undergone an upgrade as he finished purifying the last survivor.
It turns out that [Purify Body] was only meant to cleanse the monk’s own body. But, with some meditation, and fancy leaps of logic, Velkoriss was able to get the ability to work on others before the System rewarded him with a skill update. Nenn really didn’t want to be the one to volunteer for Velkoriss to use as a practice dummy when he tried a [Purify Body] infused palm strike. Apparently now the ability would send the spell through the recipient’s body through the sharp mana infusion of a strike.
***
The moon had dipped beneath the mountains, and the sun was beginning to rise in the sky. It would be a little longer before it climbed high enough into the sky to shine down on the fortress at the center of the mountain valley, but it was now firmly morning to the rest of the world. The Helkis’s attacks had also ceased, much to the group's relief. There was still tension in the air as not a single one of them thought the attacks were actually finished. The present theory of the group was that the Helkis was trying to outwait the survivors. At one point they would need to sleep, and then he could make his move.
Then there was the theory that Nenn had thought of. With the final mark having been removed by Velkoriss, the Helkis didn’t really know where the group was, even though they had yet to move from their spot. Or, the Helkis’ minions couldn’t operate in the daylight if they were part dark-mana aspected and would burn up or weaken under the sun’s rays. Whatever the cause was, it was a welcome change. Velkoriss confirmed that Nenn’s theory was the most plausible.
“Listen,” Nenn said. “I know this is going to sound like a bad idea, but if I go ahead right now and attack the Helkis’ fortress, I think I can oust him before the next wave of integrated naga arrives at noon.”
“Shouldn’t you also be weaker in the daylight?” Velkoriss asked, the emotion on his face was hard to read, but it looked like confusion.
“Not that I’ve noticed. I am a deathstalker, not a darkstalker. The light mana, or the lack thereof, makes no difference to me,” Nenn said.
“But then shouldn’t life mana based attacks do more damage to you?” Velkoriss asked.
“I think being a druid cancels that out. I’m not sure about non-nature flavored life mana though, so it's very possible something like a cleric’s healing abilities would actually damage me,” Nenn said.
“I think we can hold our own for now,” Elkorin said. “As much as I don’t want to let you go again, I still think it is in our best interest to let you go and allow you to raise hell. Or, I guess, put down hell. The less raising the better, I think. The faster the Helkis is disposed of, the less reinforcements he has.”
“Especially those of the trialborn variety,” Velkoriss said. “His non-conscripted soldiers are a lot heartier, skilled, and disciplined than his conscripts. Whoever is left within the fortress is no doubt System-enabled by now, so it will not be an easy fight.”
“Noted. Thank you both for your input. Please hold down the camp while I’m gone. Worst case scenario I harry the enemy for a bit, and start thinning their numbers until things become manageable,” Nenn said.
“No, the worst case is that you die on us,” Elkorin said.
“Nah, you mean live. I’m already pretty dead,” Nenn said with a sly smile. Nenn took off into the forest, just as Velkoriss launched into the traditional explanation about death mana infused creatures fearing living, rather than death.
The mountain valley was a sight to be seen in proper daylight. There was so much diversity in the natural flora that it was a shame that a bunch of ruined campsites had blossomed last night. A new clearing also had appeared in the later hours of the night. One of the torches, that had been dropped by one of the naga camp guards that had killed between camps, had ignited a dryer section of the forest. The clearing stood out like a sore, blackened thumb amongst the shades of green forest canopy.
I think we just got lucky the whole forest didn’t catch fire last night, Nenn thought. Or maybe there is something else at play. Like a forest spirit that puts out fires, or something. Now that I think about it, with so much dense forest, there should be some sign of a forest fire having occurred at some point, but I have not come across anything of the sort. That must be some kind of System fuckery.
The run down into the valley did not take long as it was a straight shot towards the center. Nenn slowed down as he approached and entered into [Ambush Predator]. The skill would be essential to avoid detection now that he had lost the cover of night.
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Nenn circled around the fortress a little bit when he got down to the end of the forest. The naga, and the humans before them, had clear cut quite a bit of forest to build the three-walled imposing fortress that stood over a hundred meters away. The ground cover had been removed, so there was no way for Nenn to sneak his way into the fortress without garnering unwanted attention.
He continued to circle around the fortress, looking for an advantage. But there wasn’t one to be found. The naga had been meticulous in preparing the area around the fortress. Even the stumps of the once mighty trees that towered several tens of meters into the air had been cut close to the ground. Not even if Nenn crouched and made himself as small as he could, could he manage to hide behind the stumps low-lying stumps.
There was a creaking sound, like a wooden axle grinding away against a heavy cart, puncturing the tranquil morning air. Nenn looked up towards the established path, the one that winded down from the tall mountain. He saw a caravan of naga rolling down the road. A lightbulb went off in Nenn’s head.
***
Half an hour later and the massive wooden gates around the outer wall of the fortress creaked open on what sounded like the rustiest of metal hinges. The caravan rumbled into the fortress, and came to an unceremonious stop. The naga pulling the carts collapsed on the ground in exhaustion, while the more fortunate task drivers got off of the carts and began to unload their wares. It was a scene that Nenn had seen in just about every medieval period fantasy movie. It was the one where they show the bustling activity of the commoners outside of the castle.
The commoners in this case were the conscripted naga while the well armored and armed naga appearing to be the Helkis’ loyal soldiers served as the knights. The naga knight’s bodies were covered in dull patches of scar tissue. They slithered around with confidence that could only come from being battle hardened, while the conscripted commoners did their best to not end up underfoot.
Nenn clung to the bottom of one the carts between the two sets wheels. He had snuck aboard with ease, as the naga pulling the carts were paying little attention to anything other than their footing, and the task drivers were busy encouraging the naga pulling the carts to move faster. Not one of them had been watching for a Nenn-sized threat, as they must have thought the whole area was well under the Helkis’ control.
Nenn retracted his claws slightly thanks to his [Osteomancer’s Control]. That was something he had picked up from the time he had lost control due to the siphon’s effect. Using [Osteomancer’s Control] Nenn could lengthen and shorten his claws and teeth as required. As a bonus, since they were intimate parts of his body, he already had a refined sense of control over the process. It was an application that Nenn would have not thought possible, given that claws and teeth are not in fact bones. But given his deathstalker form made no traditional logical sense, it appears that his claws and teeth were indeed bone in this case.
Using the bustling confusion around him, Nenn darted out from under the cart and made his way to cover behind a stack of crates. He moved from location to location hiding in the shadows when he could as he surveyed the fortress. Sure, he had been staring at it most of the night from a distance, but it was something entirely different to be on the ground experiencing it.
There were naga pairing off with one another and sparring. They spared no effort as they hacked away at one another, continuing until a healer interceded to heal their wounds. It seemed that the healers were limited in number so the conscripted naga were less likely to receive their mercy.
A cooking fire had been set up and two lines of naga snaked towards their morning meal. Even from a distance away Nenn could tell that the line of naga knights were being given a substantially larger portion than their conscripted counterparts.
Naga commoners were busy unboxing the latest shipment of materials, and porting them around the fortress. Nenn saw the inner gate open a couple of times for the porters, but otherwise it remained closed. The inner gate was much smaller than the grand gates to the outer wall. At best, it could fit one of the carts through it with only inches to spare with both of the doors opened.
The wall itself was not that high. A few of the knights were patrolling the outer walls in a set rotation, along with a couple being posted at several built in watch towers that rose another ten meters above the walls. The towers were busier than Nenn would have liked, and it made leaping over the wall a risky plan in broad daylight.
Without a set plan, Nenn continued to slink along undetected. Other than a hairy situation when a porter picked up the box Nenn was hiding behind, he managed to make it to the interior wall and after a couple of minutes without issue. He moved along the wall as best he could until he found a hole just wide enough for himself to pass through. The hole had a stack of crates in front of it, so the vulnerability must have been an oversight on the naga’s part.
The space between the first and second interior walls was a lot more gruesome, to say the least. The area was dead quiet, somehow the din of activity on the other side of the wall was muffled to Nenn’s ears. The ground was covered in darker splotches that seemed to pool together. When Nenn gave the area a sniff he immediately identified the sweet iron-rich smell of blood. The abundance of blood seemed to be on point for the area, as an assortment of corpses stood under sun-blocking canopies.
This is where the Helkis’ minions are kept when they aren’t being used. I think I was right that they don’t work quite right in the daylight, otherwise why would they go through the trouble of putting up canopies, Nenn thought.
The guard presence was much lighter here. There were only a few naga, most of whom were casters given the staves and vestments they wore. Given the way they were dressed, they looked like clergymen to Nenn, so he decided to think of them as naga priests. The priests slithering between the rows of standing corpses. They stopped in front of each one and performed some kind of rite to them. It looked as though they were performing some kind of magical maintenance.
There are still too many eyes around for me to start here, Nenn thought, so he continued onwards, looking for an egress into the inner area.
The middle area was a lot less diversified than the outer region. This area was wholly dedicated to housing and maintaining the Helkis’ minions. There was a crude looking surgical table that had been set up under a couple of sheets of fabric that had been strung up between the walls. On the table, a corpse that was missing an arm was being attended to by a naga wearing a blood and gore stained white smock.
The naga brandished a thick winding of thread and a long sewing needle. The needle began to radiate dark mana as it seemed to dull in color in the dampened morning light. The naga turned to another table, and selected an unattached arm, and returned to their patient. They began to attach the arm, stitch by stitch until it was firmly fastened. The attending priest raised their staff slightly and a surge of dark mana pulsed through the corpse, making it somewhat whole once more. The priest then clicked the bottom of their staff against the ground and the corpse moved off of the table and into a standing position.
Another naga, this one in remarkably less robust armor, came running over with a large umbrella, and accompanied the corpse back to its waiting position along the makeshift corpse barracks.
The porters who entered from the outer area would drop off their goods by the corpse surgeon’s table. The corpse surgeon would look through the new stock of parts, then select the ones that met their criteria, placing the parts onto the table for future use. The rest of the parts were carted away by another waiting porter as soon as there was enough material in the reject pile.
Nenn watched as the rejected parts were brought over to another pavilion, where they were unceremoniously dumped onto the ground. Another finely dressed naga priest stood in front of the pile, and with a thudding of their staff against the ground, they began a ritual.
The rejected body parts began to break down and lose their defined forms as bone and flesh began to swirl together and congeal. The priest looked to be deep in thought as the animated pile of fleshy biomass began to take shape. The twisted form of one of the humanoid zombies began to emerge as the slurry of flesh started to freeze in place, starting from the feet, and working its way up. The body was thin and tall, and the arms came to long pointed spears.
When the body had solidified into shape the naga priest stumbled, as it nearly lost its balance. A naga conscript was quick to come over and assist the caster, then they walked the new zombie corpse over to its storage location.
Well, fuck. That explains a lot. I thought there were too many humanoid zombies to account for all of the humans who had integrated here. But why humans? Maybe it takes less mass to make? Or maybe it's an intimidation tactic. I don’t know what it is, but it does give me an idea, Nenn thought.
An idea that would have to wait until he had scouted out the inner area, where the Obelisk and Helkis would be.
A minute later Nenn found another hole to squeeze through. The inner area looked pretty familiar to Nenn. The Obelisk stood in the dead center with all of it’s impressive monolithic glory. Around the perimeter of the area there were some permanent structures that had been erected out of wood. They were not the most robust buildings that had ever been built by any means, but they looked to serve as barracks for the Helkis’ loyal living knights and priests.
There was one building that stood out from all of the rest. The building stood much closer to the Obelisk, and was much grander in scale than the rest. Facing towards the Obelisk the building had a second floor balcony that was adorned with banners and flags. It reminded Nenn a little bit of a world leader’s podium when they were giving a speech.
The area around the obelisk was fenced in, with a low, wooden fence that rose to about waist height on Nenn’s base form. It looked exactly like a corral would. That definitely looks like it's designed to keep the newly integrated naga together for processing. Nenn thought. He took a look at the sky and saw that the sun had made some progress towards its apex. Time was running out if he wanted to seize control of the Obelisk before high noon.