Chapter 29: The Gang's all Back
[Compatible Magic Catalyst Detected!]
Inhabiting Hector once more, I stood amidst my crowd of monsters as a familiar blue spider screeched and moaned in the background of my army’s hideout.
It was a small cove, located not too far from the Spider Monarch’s territory and the upper strata. A cave dug into the earth by my Capruxas and spiders working in tandem to break and churn the rock until it could fit the totality of my army.
My forward operating base and staging area. A home until we could assert dominance of the lower strata..
Placing the Dungeon Core on Chloe's bones, the item immediately resonated with my comatose minion.
The core cried out, a ghastly sound akin to a banshee's wail as shadows oozed out of the sphere in mass.
From Hector's soul vision, I could tell it was mana, a large quantity attempting to escape before it stopped mid air, almost as if it were caught by m unseen force before it was forcefully absorbed by Chloe.
Suddenly, a white light, one that flooded my senses with energy that washed over my very bones.
[MINION: CHLOE HAS EVOLVED FROM MINOR SKELETON TO SKELETON ORB MAGE]
The light died, revealing a small white skeleton standing upright with a red gem embedded in its spine and mythical runes carved along its skeletal frame.
Huh. It looked like it had skipped an evolutionary step, the dungeon core proving to be more than enough for the evolutionary purpose and creating a class I’d never heard of.
Chloe: Skeleton Orb Mage LvL: 1
HP: 50/50
MP: 370/370
Skills: Undead. Souls Vision LvL 2, Minor Illusion LvL 1, False Life LvL 1, Mage Armour LvL 1, Ray of Sickness LvL 1, Fire Bolt LvL 1, Shocking Grasp LvL 1, Chilling Touch LvL 1, True Strike LvL 1, Telekinesis LvL 2, Impalement LvL 1, Dust Blast LvL 1, Decaying Touch LvL 1, Bone Cage LvL 1, Magick Bolt LvL 1, Fire Infusion LvL 1, Cold Infusion LvL 1, Lightning Infusion LvL 1, Necrotic Infusion LvL1, Fester LvL 1, Levitate LvL 1, Innate Phylactery, Spontaneous Caster. Magic Chant LvL 1, Gem Missile LvL 1, Recorder, Curse LvL 1, Cause Fear LvL 1, Mote of Light LvL 1, Mana Surge, Spark LvL 1, Blunt Barrier LvL 1, Bone Wall LvL 1, Nightmare LvL 1, Aura of Decay LvL 1, Reverse Life LvL 1.
Oh! OH WOW! WHY DO YOU HAVE SO MANY SKILLS?! Phylactery? DID I GET A MINI LICH?!
Chloe bowed, the undead magician recognizing my presence in Hector.
Interesting. Yeah, I can definitely work with this!
Although exceptionally squishy with low HP making Chloe a glass cannon, what she lacked in defensive properties she more than made up with in skills and utility.
The stereotypical spellcaster. But more than that, I could already see the potential! The versatility unlike any other creature in my army!
I turned my attention to my monsters.
Dave, the crocodile girl clad head to toe in chitin and bones. Armor held together by webs. My Tanker and Warrior.
Slimey, my Champion, my Holy Slime in her priestess outfit with chitin plate armor over her body. My healer who was glaring angrily at the Skeleton Mage with words Look at me! Look at me! Look at me! Playing over and over in the slime’s mind so loudly she didn’t need to transmit them directly.
Spooderman and the others, each up-armored in bone or bug armor, my army.
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It felt a bit redundant to stack chitin atop chitin, but, better safe than sorry
And then finally to myself, well… Hector. I looked down at my skeletal hands wearing aged gauntlets. The metal picked clean of the rust but still worn from the effects of time.
The gang's all back together huh…
Slimey shivered, the slime woman suddenly hugging me, taking extra care not to inflict holy damage on Hector's body as a sense of melancholy struck me. I had… other companions. People besides Chloe and Hector. But… for whatever reason. I couldn't remember them.
I took a moment, turning to my army.
And then I saw them, my comrades. My friends. The people that put their trust in me. The people I lost. Their faces all blurred. All lost to time. But I could see them, recognize them as they stood rank in file in between my minions. Specters, ghosts that had been invisibly haunting me all this time… each asking,
What did I do with their sacrifices?
And my answer, silence, as the apparitions faded away.
Did the world know what happened here? Did they know what happened to their champions? Chloe’s grandfather, Hector’s sister. Did they wait at their homes? Spending the rest of their lives staring out windows, at roads, eyes looking up at the same sky wondering what happened to the five hundred who died under my command?
But, well over two hundred years had passed. And even those left behind were long gone. No one to remember the tales of Ravenhawk Hector and Annihilator Chloe.
Everything was gone now… except for me and my sins.
Had I been stronger. Had I been faster. More tactile. Cautious.
Perhaps I would have never lost the ones I cared about.
I think that's why I challenged Barborall in the first place. Why I took up the mantle of “Hero”. To protect them and this world I had come to love.
At least… I like to think that was the reason, Adam’s plan aside. but… for the life of me I can’t remember the true reason I embarked on this journey.
No…
I remember.
My fist clenched.
Even as much as I say I don't. I can remember.
It was for power. Recognition. The ecstasy of a job well done.
That was my muse.
In my previous life, I had nothing. A dead end job in corporate hell, but here… endless possibilities.
And while everyone fought for each other. Bled and cried to save their world, I deluded them all into entrusting their future with me. Pushing forward when I should have retreated. Inspiring everyone with false speeches and idioms. A con man sacrificing the brave to build a ladder for my own selfish ascension.
For my own selfish glory.
And what did I have to show for it?
A home of dust and ash. Cobwebs in corridors that held no warmth and rivers that stunk of death and decay. Why was I still here? What was my purpose?
Was this Adam's punishment for my hubris?
Wouldn't it just… be easier to fade away?
No.
If I did then everyone that died would simply fade away… even if I couldn't remember their faces, even if I couldn’t remember their names, I still remembered their deeds.
The good they did, the essence of what they were.
Heroes. Each and every one of them, as they deserved to be remembered at least, and in the utopia I'll bring, there will be a nice and clean monument for those forgotten. Pine scented maybe.
Or maybe I'm just going insane. Or… am I already insane?
I just…
[Two Minutes Remaining.]
My timer blipping at the side of my vision to remind me that I was running out of time.
Slimey. I sent, ordering my Champion while my mind was still here, before I slipped back into that cloudiness.
“Yes Lord Hiro?”
Take Chloe and make sure she levels up. Have one of the slimes coat her body and weave her armor. She is now of great importance and vital to my operations.
Slimey’s eye visibility twitched at the word Importance, the pinkish skin she imitated flickering a shade of yellow for a moment.
“Understood. My. Lord. Your will shall be done.” Slimey replied, despite her face smiling at me, it felt as though the Slime had grown four times as big, hovering over me with an aura that threatened to choke out my life.
And play nice. I added. Not to rub salt on the wound but to ensure Chloe wasn't being tortured. Not that the skeleton could feel pain or anything, but the idea of my minion being abused made me sad.
“Of course Master.” Slimey grumbled.
Dave.
The Crocotaur girl looked up, bags clearly visible under her eyes as she yawned but held the Phase spider in her arms that had long since lost the strength to flee.
Good job. I sent, the green-haired giant seeming to shrink a little bit, hugging the defeated blue spider in her arms like a toy.
I decided to cancel my skill early, transferring back into my rubber shell to bide my time.
*Suck* *Suck* *Suck* *Suck*
Soon. Soon. Soon. The words kept appearing in my mind. Desires to clean, to purge, but most importantly, even as my mind darkened and the fog set back in, a desire to remind the world of the sacrifices made here and to turn this decrepit ruin into a mausoleum fit for my friends.
*Suck* *Suck* *Suck* *Suck*
Just a little more time.