Chapter 63: SHINE

Doing the thing I did every day, I sat in Slimey's hands observing my domain and the manacysts farms I was creating.

During the time between setting up traps, scouting the castle, and training my troops, I had finally set up enough manacyst farms to break even for my daily operations.

Unfortunately my Manacyst production so far had dwindled as my army scoured the former demon stronghold. With less monsters to cull, there were less corpses. Less corpses meant less compositing. Less compositing… well, you get the gist.

There were still pockets of monsters left untouched, mostly those on the upper strata, areas too far from my domain to offer any real support without supplies or coordination. Toss into the fact there were ravenous packs of gnolls, swarms of zombies, hordes of blighted chickens, I didn't dare venture too far up.

At least not in force.

Yes, you heard me correctly, chickens. Perhaps the most ruthless creatures to ever exist! Mostly docile, but if you attacked one, you attacked hundreds! With diamond-like beaks, tenacious stamina, and capable of holding grudges till the sun exploded, chickens were the animal kingdom equivalent of weeds in this world.

Granted, they tended to eat each other when hungry, but it was always good to beware the chickens.

Man, now that I think about it, you know what I could go for?

Wacdonalds chicken nuggets. Crispy, tender, great with wacdonalds array of variety sauces ranging from barbeque to sweet and sour. Decadent taste that pairs well with their French fries.

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Is it odd that I'm suddenly craving nuggets?

I kinda miss eating…

A hidden memory suddenly pricked my mind, one of Lyndis and I, images of us talking about what we'd do if we ever returned home.

Our different cultures, our different homes. Our promises of visiting each other in our respective nations. Her lips as they spoke of Iceland, her lips as she smiled while I spoke of Okinawa and my friends stationed there. The talks we had of home cooking. Her promise of treating me to fermented shark… and my promise to buy her anything off the wacdonalds dollar menu.

Melancholy. I suppose was the word I could use for it…

The memory faded, vanishing back under the murky cloud that seemed to plague my mind. Obscured once more despite my trying to remember. Or, at least, I say I'm trying. But the truth is a sense of relief took me as the memory faded.

Is it wrong… that I want to forget?

Slimey stroked my head, the familiar woman smiling softly at me.

Right, anyway…

Attempting to distract myself from the cravings of flesh, I focused on Lhikan, the paladin training with my goblins, demonstrating techniques and attempting to communicate with sign language.

The man actually made for an excellent teacher, he was well rounded and patient, the goblins seeming to fear his disapproval rather than his beatings.

Sadly, while I could impart instructions to a monster of my choosing, easily teaching them skills and techniques, the problem with the skill lie in that it required the monster to be slaved to me. A part of my minion counter.

Sadly most of my army weren't loyalists. To them, all I was was a cheap meal, a cot, and safety. Freedom from their oppressive orc bosses. At least, those that weren't fervently praying to the many statues of myself that littered my domain.

Kinda weird, but I let my minions make tiny caricatures of myself. Rocks and stones sculpted in my likeness that signified their faith. I had wanted to stop it, but Slimey argued that it was good for morale.

Oddly, even the Paladin had one dangling from his waist.

Man, being the subject of a cult is weird.

Anyway, moving on from Lhikan, the one known as Simone was teaching class, using Gobledo as her teaching assistant while Jesse followed Zorin around yapping at her.

Wasn't exactly sure what was going on there, but judging from how Zorin was sleeping atop the flailing man begging for air, it seemed he was contained for now.

With business as usual flowing, I decided to reach out, connecting with Hector.

***

In a hallway of ruined cobblestone and purple moss, hungry eyes prowled the darkness.

Gnolls, monsters that knew nothing but bottomless hunger. The furry lanky creatures kept in a pack, moving over a series of bones scattered on the ruined floor.

The monsters paused, sniffing the air, the creatures growling for a moment before leaving.

A moment passed. Then another, before blue orbs within a withered skull flicked to life.

The skull rolled across the ground, connecting to a vertebrae and rib cage before the rest of the skeleton began to assemble itself.

Huh… play dead is such a useful skill.

Inhabiting Hector, I looked left and right, making sure the coast was clear before standing up.

I was in the upper strata, way further than I'd ever been. Every opportunity that presented itself, another I used to take over Hector and explore the castle proper that was riddled with monsters.

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With nimble movements of the undead, I moved swiftly, following the trail left behind by Lhikan's original delving team, little symbols that navigated a path to those in the know. Apparently used by elves but in a dialect wasn't aware of.

Didn't matter, delete.

I swiped my boney thumb across a nearby wall, my white finger smearing the chalk off the wall.

My teeth chattered, a giddy feeling taking me as I erased the disgusting elvish symbols.

…

Am I racist?

No, I mean, I've had elf friends. Not any I can remember but I definitely knew a few knife ears. Anyway, moving on, I utilized my undead status, walking nearly invisible through the castle interior until I came across a set of stairs mired by blood.

Five minutes left.

I pushed forward, stepping lightly, avoiding the half-eaten corpses and bones, a large man torn to shreds, left in a corner.

A dwarf. One of Lhikan's original party members, a artificer. Someone who gave their life to slow the gnolls who had been nipping at their hills.

His body was rotted, only bits of armor, flesh, and bones left on the adventurer who'd been dragged and left here.

Did I feel pity?

No. After all, I had long since transcended the realm of humanity. I mean, it's not like I'm human anymore. What's left of Hiroyuki died two thousand years ago after all. Now I was Hiro, the rubber duck.

I reached down, grabbing the necklace from around the fallen dwarf's neck. A pendent in the hope of a cat. A follower of Adam.

Despite wanting to melt it down, I hung it off my rib cage. A momento to take back for Lhikan I suppose.

Fortunately, the stairs were built as part of the castle, made of solid stone and not deteriorated from time, allowing me to climb to the next strata.

*ScreEk*

I froze. The audible sound emanating from the room ahead filled with stately pillars and ruined architecture.

Activating concealment, I crept along, eyeing the bipedal creatures moving under the moonlight peeking from the cracked ceiling above.

They were akin to shrimps, large seven foot tall insectoids that walked on two legs, the shell on their back dotted with dozens of grotesque eyes with their many “legs” being arms.

Gazer Prawns.

Disgusting beady headed creatures that hung around swamps and rotting corpses. Once employed by the demon lord and used by necromancers to guard their graveyards and places of power.

Their many eyes allowed them to spot threats, while their many arms allowed them to “swim” across the ground.

Now, you might be saying, “Well Hiro, that sounds disgusting but they don't seem like much of a threat.”

Wrong.

Wrong.

Wrong!

These stupid little shrimps had goddamn heat seeking spike missiles. Think magic missile, but instead of magic, you had disgusting paralytic tipped spikes shot out at mach five!

Nearly impossible to dodge, the-oh. Oh it's looking at me. OH! ITS-

I shifted left, the wall I crouched beside impaled by a large spike.

Scrambling right, I zagged, avoiding another spike, pivoting on the balls of my feet as my boney fingers clenched around my daggers and I shot forward.

The second one turned, all eyes on me, shell bristling as it prepared to fire

Crap! I didn't want to fight these things!

Spike missiles flew, a dozen projectiles rushing me. Can't dodge left. Can't dodge right. Too much momentum!

Under!

My knees buckled, body dropping, ribcage scrapping across the floor as spikes flew over me.

I snapped back up, eyes tracing the two Gazer Prawns, both creatures dropping to the ground, scurrying and firing spikes at my body.

Ah. Crap.

I bolted, avoiding the first hail of spikes chasing me, attempting to close the distance but the damn things were fast!

The twin prawns shivered, ees glowing, the pair firing nearly a hundred spikes into the air that spun to face me.

Ah… well. I can't dodge this. Well… we had a good run Hector.

The spikes flew, my body going slump as I accepted my death and my body collapsed like a Lego figurine…

Oh. Wait. I'm already dead.

I sat back up, removing a spike from one of my eye sockets, the attack cracking the inside of my skull. One more blow like that and Hector was gone.

My teeth chattered, bones on the move. Four minutes left.

Left right, pivoting back and forth, I hid behind a pillar, using the shards of a window reflecting moonlight to spy my attackers and the…

Throne room.

The scene of my greatest failure.

My blue eyes reflected in the glass, my undead visage smiling back at me as the two Gazer Prawns moved to pincer me from opposite sides of the rooms.

No time to be distracted!

Options options options!

Gah! Wait! My church!

[Religion: Cleaners]

[Active Members: 348]

[Devotion Points Available: 985]

[Church Skills]

[Emit Mending Energy: 30/ 1HR]

[With the prayers of your servant followers, use the power of your devout to have a designated shrine emit mending energy.]

[Holy Barrier: 300/1hr]

[With the prayers of your servant followers, use the power of your devout to have a designated shrine emit a Holy Barrer of acute strength]

[Bless: 500/ Per Subject]

[With the prayers of your servant followers, use the power of your devout to Bless a designated servant, increasing their experience gains, strength, and skill mastery for a limited time.]

Tch. An idea immediately struck my mind, a way to close the distance and protect myself. The issue lay in wasting half of my devotion points on the skill and all of Hector's mana.

Then again… if I didn't, Hector was as good as dead. Well, redead.

Screw it.

I shot off, the twin prawns acquiring my position, bodies bristling, spikes firing out of their shells towards me.

HOLY BARRIER!

The shield came up, a dazzling array of magical energy that lit up the room, blocking the attack and blinding the prawns.

Swift Step. Accelerate. Dash.

I combine the three skills, dispelling the barrier, charging the leftmost prawn, my bones rattling and burning from the holy energy as my body shot off.

Daggers found my target, slicing into the prawns throat, the monster opening its maw and snapping multiple times before my body crashed into it's.

No time to waste! Get on the move! Using the momentum to carry the prawns body with me I rolled, shifting just in time to raise the disgusting carapace to block the hail of spikes.

Time to die.

I raced off, bug in hand, mouth chattering as I charged the prawn firing wildly at me.

The monster attempted to skitter away, to flee, but I wasn't having it.

I bit the bullet and summoned another Holy Barrier, trapping the monster, the light blinding its senses and allowing me to get close.

Gotcha!

Disoriented from my pseudo flash bang, the dozen-eyed monstrosity never saw its death coming.

I landed on its back, daggers plunging into its head, the monster letting out a *ScreEk* before my daggers sawed through its neck, spewing insect blood all over my bony body as I removed its head.

Three minutes left.

The entire fight had been almost two minutes long.

*ScreEk.*

The monster dropped dead, body spasming with its many arms grasping randomly in the throes of death before the prawn curled up and finally died.

Disgusting.

“AH. WHOOOOOOOOOOO!”*

Suddenly, a war horn, the sound of trumpets playing out.

Ah. Wait. YOU WEREN'T SUPPOSED TO BE HERE YET!!