“As members of the order we strive to serve the balance. Sometimes people will see us as evil, for they do not know what true evilness is. And sometimes people will see us as good, for they do not understand how dark their world has become.”
This was not the first section of the book talking about this that I’d come across, but it was perhaps worded the simplest. I was sitting in the courtyard attached to our living quarters next to a fountain that I had built, well Kellnock had, but I designed it.
“Ekwin is just one of our deities’ names. It is believed that he is actually one of the greater gods, but this is only speculation. For those of you unaware of what the term greater god means it refers to a certain group of gods. Calling them a pantheon is not quite correct. Unlike most gods people interact with, these greater gods are far-reaching and widespread in power, it is speculated they span over all sections, even the Uncharted. They often take on personas of lesser gods inside of local pantheons to facilitate the interactions there.
“Starting down this path, Ekwin has already granted you several minor benefits, the further you progress, the stronger they will grow, and new abilities will be granted.”
I snorted. Calling the resistances I gained a minor benefit was a bit ridiculous. It might’ve been for most people. But lich’s, unlike zombies or even the living dead, aren’t just weak to life, holy, and related magics. The weakness we have to those powers goes beyond just being a weakness. It is less like using water to put out fire as it is like starving it of oxygen. The water may or may not put out the fire, depending on the fire, but a fire deprived of oxygen will always go out no matter what.
“With each major task completed you will be granted divine favor with Ekwin. These are not like the divine favors you can receive from other gods, as the single point will grant you a powerful boon. Spend them well as these tasks are not easily completed.”
The player in me was already imagining what I could gain from something like that. I was just beginning to turn the next page when Raven walked into the courtyard.
“I have a message for you from Rhea.” Raven sat next to me and handed me a folded piece of paper.
“Finally, I was beginning to get worried, what has it been, three months?” I opened the note.
“Sorry for the delay. We have started our own campaign. You should begin yours as well. For the sake of not appearing to be working with you, our campaign will first start in the south.”
Her message was as brief and no-nonsense as Rhea was herself. “It worries me that they will be so far away, makes it hard to support one another. But hopefully we won’t need it. They do have the harder section since the southern part of the kingdom has more of the military due to the presence of Dothar.”
“Yes,” Raven agreed. “From what Livia has said, it seems like there has been a buildup of military around the marsh as well.”
“I heard about that. While the kingdom doesn’t officially condemn this place, the church dislikes us quite a bit so they’ve gathered forces.”
“Maxwell was explaining to me what a theocracy was,” Raven said. “How is this kingdom not a theocracy?”
“Honestly, I wonder that myself.” I stood; things needed to start moving now. “The church does seem to run everything, then again, it does feel like we haven’t fought any of the regular troops of the kingdom, only zealots.”
“You think the nonreligious forces will stay out of the fighting?” Maxwell walked in, followed by Jess. Kellnock had created a hidden entrance to our living quarters so my sister could come down here. It was guarded by a very nasty construct if anyone managed to find it. And even if they did, the tunnel was rigged to self-destruct if anyone defeated the construct.
“If I had to guess? Probably not,” I said. “Especially fighting against us, they will see us as a tangible threat where Friar Brown will be an internal threat to Olattee.”
“Why are you getting involved then?” Jess said carefully. “Maxwell told me how you almost died, again.” I heard worry.
“We have been arguing about that with him as well.” Maxwell glared at me, “”
“I’m getting involved for several reasons,” I said, tired of the argument. Vito was also angry about me choosing this path. “One is quite frankly that I owe Friar Brown. The second is that I’m pretty sure the Order of Equinox wants me to get involved.”
“Are they going to protect you from that prick who almost killed you?” Jess demanded. I realized Maxwell must’ve grabbed her once he heard of the note, as a last-ditch attempt to get me to change my mind.
“No—but!” I said placatingly, immediately cutting her off before she could protest again. “Vito is a vampire and can work soul energy, he is taking steps that would make what he tried to do much harder. On top of that, the ability to work soul energy like that is not common by any stretch of the imagination. Furthermore, I am much stronger than I was then, and I know it will be coming this time so I should be able to resist it.”
“It’s still a risk,” Jess said stubbornly. “And you will be facing all of the nonreligious forces.”
“Life is risky. I can’t live here in constant fear of dying. Well, more dead I guess.” I puzzled on that for a moment. “I didn’t live that way on Earth, so I can’t live that way here. And I never said I would be facing all the nonreligious forces alone. I’m certain they will get pulled into the fight with Friar Brown. Without my involvement he would face their combined force.”
“I still don’t like it.” Jess glared at me. “I lost you once and now you are risking yourself in a game world to save a game person.”
I pulled her into a hug. “I promise I am doing everything I can to mitigate risk. I also doubt this world is just a game, even if it is, I cannot afford to look at it that way.” I felt her nod as she hugged me back. “I promise we can talk more later, but for now I need to go make some preparations. It’s time to get things moving.”
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***
“Knowing your plans, I have been setting aside minions for you and upgrading them as your power advanced,” Kellnock said, leading the way down. He had met us on the harbor floor to guide us. Raven and Maxwell moved with me. Jessica wasn’t allowed, Kellnock would not abide it. I hadn’t been down below since the creation of Kellnock. Vito had kept us busy, and I didn’t want to strain the relationship with the powerful elder living dead.
“What is their average level?” I asked.
“For you to easily control one outside of the dungeon I have created all of their levels equal.” He paused at the stairs leading down from the second floor below the harbor floor. “They are level 100, and I only have created one hundred of them for you. Any creation that leaves this place will be of superb quality. I will not send you mindless cannon fodder, if you want that, you need to find it on your own.”
I held in my surprise, as the level was higher than expected. I’d had grown a lot, but hadn’t expected Kellnock to be adjusting his creations for me, much less preparing ahead of time. The elder undead impressed me every step. I didn’t mind his unwillingness to provide me with cannon fodder, that was easy enough to get on my own.
“Where have you been keeping them?” Maxwell asked.
“Below,” Kellnock said. “I have changed things extensively beyond this point. No one has progressed to the bottom yet, much less the forge or the reliquary.”
Both Ezra and Aaron had complained about how much harder things got. They still got good rewards, so they didn’t complain too much. What I hadn’t known was just how extensive the changes had been.
Kellnock pushed the doors open to the next floor and I stood there in stunned shock. “How did you have the energy for this?” I whispered.
This had once been the forge floor, but that was no longer true. The stairs let out to a large open area. The stone was black, and the ceiling was supported by familiar crystalline pillars that emitted purple eldritch light from sparks floating inside of them. The open area was more like a balcony. My shock only continued to grow as I approached the edge of the balcony.
“I did not have sufficient dungeon energy for all of this,” Kellnock admitted. “The early parts were done with the combination of my own strength and the dungeon power. However, now with the arena, things are progressing much quicker, though I am reaching the limit of what I can do for now.”
The railing at the edge of the balcony was made of pure black metal. Out in front, the floor dropped away at least a dozen stories. In the middle of the cavernous space was the forge sitting on a platform made of pure black crystal. Its skull shaped mouth glowing with purple and black power. “It looks like we could jump to the forge from here,” Maxwell said.
“Some may try that,” Kellnock acknowledged. “But their flight would be interrupted.” He had a more than normal evil tone to his voice.
“How does one get to the forge?” I asked, after all, I still planned on using it.
“Well, for you or me, it would be possible to jump down,” Kellnock said. “For most, they will rise up through the center of the column that supports the forge. This large room allows for me to gather more power into the forge and further amplify what I can do with it. All of the minions I created for you were created on the forge. While they are far from as powerful as I could make them, they are perfect in every other sense.”
The pride in his tone was clear, and I was certain he deserved every ounce of it. “Where is the library, or reliquary?”
“The reliquary,” Kellnock nodded. “It is hidden, its entrance will always be on one of these lower floors, but it will move constantly. There will always be a powerful guardian as well, just as powerful as the one in the arena.”
“Good, the last thing we want is that knowledge getting out of here.” That being said, I was wondering if some of it might be worth further investigation.
The floors near the top were more developed than the ones near the bottom. The floors near the top were comprised of rooms, open courtyards, labyrinthine sections, even some artwork that I wondered where it came from. But as we got near the bottom, things like that disappeared. “Since no one has made it past the initial four floors, I’m slower to beautify these lower sections, though it will come,” Kellnock explained as though ashamed.
On the bottom floor we found the minions he had been creating for me. They were in a side room that opened from a plain-looking section of the wall. “What does each type do?” I asked. Upon entering it was immediately apparent there were at least three types. I could guess or pull up the description, but I wanted his explanation.
Kellnock was eager to talk about the minions. “I feel the function of each is clear, but I will elaborate on what makes them different.”
Kellnock must’ve given a mental command, because one of the minions stepped forward. It held a black kite shield on one arm and a mace in the other hand. It was clad in pitch-black armor with eldritch runic lines tracing patterns along it. In the places where I could see through the armor was thick bone. “You are aware of the death knight, and this is an advanced variation of one. Far more durable and intelligent than a normal death knight, these can command up to fifty simple close combat undead. They have limited magical attacks, but they are potent when used. In total there are forty.”
The next type that stepped forward had a quiver of arrows with black fletching, and wore a cloak made of dark brown leather with a deep hood. Their bodies were covered in leather armor, and the face was covered in emaciated flesh. “This is an advanced eldritch bone archer. They have the ability to grant either an increase in ranged combat skills or the ability to use a bow, they can also command up to fifty skeleton archers. Aside from that, their bows are powerful and excellent at eliminating enemy commanders. There are twenty-five of them.”
The third type was a zombie that emitted energy. The clothes were tattered and decayed, but the flesh underneath wasn’t rotten, it coursed with power. “This is an advanced greater elemental zombie. Instead of only having their elemental attacks, I have designed this group to be able to support casters. I elected to create these for you these instead of casters since replicating something like this outside of this dungeon would be difficult.”
I nodded in understanding, he was right. The excess magic here made the creation of this type of zombie, in particular far, easier than it normally would be.
A fourth and final type stepped out that I had not seen. It was slender and its chest glowed with purple eldritch power that seemed to course into its head where it burned from behind its eyes. It was clad in simple armor and carried a short sword. “This is an advanced greater zombie nexus. While greater zombies normally control the lesser undead. I have specialized this one to be excellent at it. It can either command a horde of seventy-five simple zombies, ten zombies of the sergeant rank, or three zombies of lieutenant rank like the death knight or archer.”
“Kellnock, you have outdone yourself.” I stared at the small army before me. “I would not ask for anything different.”
“Of course, my lord, how else can one wage war on the world of the living if they lack the proper tools,” Kellnock agreed solemnly. “With these, you can form the core of your army. I do apologize I did not have time to create more of the captain rank, so you will not be able to effectively control all of the lieutenants.”
“That’s fine. We did create the thirteen, I feel like that should help address that problem,” I said as I circled the nexus zombie.
“Of course, and I will make sure I create them in the correct ratios going forward,” Kellnock assured me.
“Any chance you could make me an orchestra?” Maxwell asked. “I feel like it should be simple compared to that nexus zombie.”
Kellnock did not respond, he was looking at me. “Well, could you?”
“It is within my abilities,” Kellnock said. “It would take away from production of these though.”
“That is fine, Maxwell’s abilities are more than worth it when it comes to the battlefield.” I stepped back beside Kellnock. “Make that for him first before you make more of these. I think it’s time to make preparations, these can remain down here for now. It’s time for me to return to the forge.”
“I have been looking forward to this project,” Kellnock agreed.