Chapter 12 – A Rocky Start.

You have leveled up.

Imbue undead has leveled up x4.

The wave of energy from his leveling and subsequent boost in attributes cleared his mind within a few seconds of him passing out. The screech of a mountain-sized bird of prey tore through the room and Bel shivered from the sound.

He put his three free points into strength to get his muscles moving. Imbue had taken a toll on him but he was still somewhat fresh of the body but not as much as of mind.

Bel moved further towards the next set of stairs, looking over his shoulder he saw that the green flame was encroaching at the same speed as last time.

His mana was almost full, he had only used one skill before clearing this level so focusing inwards, he imagined summoning a werewolf. A sharp pain in the back of his mind caused him to flinch and the skill went haywire. It fizzled out and that same pain he was so used to spread throughout his arms.

“Damn. I can’t summon any minions. What do I do Ignatius?” Bel felt a moment of panic at the idea of him being alone against whatever else this ziggurat would throw at him.

“Calm yourself, Master. That is to be expected when you strained your pathways and mind in such a way. The sensation will ease with time and rest and you’ll be able to summon again.” Ignatius's soothing tone calmed Bel.

“How long will that take?”

“Probably between an hour or two. We still have a problem though. I think the fire will reach you before then. The speed by which it’s moving has increased.” Ignatius was watching the green fire.

“Fuck. Well, let's rest and then I’ll try to get at least one minion before the next floor.” Bel sat down and meditated to calm himself, he didn’t need the mana but it was still nice. His stomach gurgled suddenly and he realized that he was getting hungry. He had spent a lot of energy and gotten a lot back but it seemed it didn’t do much for hunger and thirst. Bel hadn’t even been in here long, only about two hours.

Time seemed to fly as he couldn’t do much more than wait. With every second he was forced closer to the stairs and soon he stood at the bottom of the next set. The fire followed him and he couldn’t wait any longer. He tried summoning a werewolf and the skill activated but the pain was almost unbearable still. Bel didn’t have time for another so he was forced to move on with only one werewolf and the rat who was still hiding. Bel thought it was even further up the ziggurat now.

He checked his status before the next enemy spawned.

Name: Bel - Bringer of the Apocalypse

Class: Necro-lord (Path of the Summoning Warrior – Death Specialization)

Tempering: Tin (Bones)

Level: 16

Unassigned points: 0

Wealth: 120 Copper Coins, 86 Silver Coins 2 Gold Coins

Rations: 0

Items: Boots of the Necro-Lord Tin Rank - +1 Willpower

Greaves of the Necro-Lord Tin Rank - +1 Willpower

Leggings of the Necro-Lord Tin Rank - +1 Willpower

Cuirass of the Necro-Lord Tin Rank - +1 Willpower

Vambraces of the Necro-Lord Tin Rank - +1 Willpower

The Necro Blade – Authority of the Dead

Garments of the Necro-Lord – Self-Cleaning and Self-Repairing

Attributes:

Strength: 39

Dexterity: 26

Constitution: 30

Intelligence: 26

Willpower: 51 + 5

Skills:

Deathless Gaze level 10

Bone Storm level 19

Summon Lesser Undead level 22

Bone Shaping level 12

Life transference level 14

Identify level 9

Necrotic Bolt Level 9

Imbue Undead Level 5

Summon Servant level 1

Mana Manipulation level 4

Meditation (Active) - Tin Rank

Battle Meditation (Passive) - Tin Rank

Horde of the Undead (Passive) + 20 Summon Pool

Blades – Basic (Passive)

Shields – Basic (Passive)

Pugilist – Basic (Passive)

Summoning Pool 7/30

Permanent Summons:

Ignatius Pennyfeather the Third – Servitor Flameskull

He threw a glance at his status and saw that everything seemed to be as it should. Nothing had happened so far so he took the opportunity to wrap the blade of his sword with part of his jeans so he wouldn’t cut himself while wielding the sword by the blade. He was still not a good swordsman and the Necro Blade was so long and heavy that it was hard to swing it with just one hand. He could if he wanted to, he had the strength, but so far, he’d noticed that the sword was easier for him to wield with the pommel up and the sword down.

Bel had read somewhere that when the longsword and plate armor were popular in Europe the knights often wielded the sword by the blade and used it as a club and as a tool for stabbing a prone opponent. Bel was by no means skilled yet so he would use the sword as best he could.

He had just finished when something happened. This time a line of vortexes opened at the farthest point from where he stood. From the portals, sturdy armored warriors appeared rising like specters from the floor.

Stone Thrall Spawn of Folkor (Healthy) - level 15

They looked like dwarven warriors from the stories, made out of clay or stone. They had a sheen to them as if they were wet. The short warriors were clad in armor that seemed to be part of themselves, the brown muddy color making them look like golems or constructs. To Bel, they didn’t seem alive but he couldn’t tell. Their eyes, dark dots behind their helmets, were locked on Bel.

“This is going to be hard. What should I do Ignatius? They are five times as many as us.”

“They are Thralls, Master.” Ignatius started to say when a stone spear flew through the air almost hitting him. He was forced to dodge away a sense of surprise made its way through the bond.

“Of course, someone is controlling them.” Bel looked them over. They all looked identical, metal armor fused onto clay-colored skin. They were wielding stone shields, and spears with what looked like obsidian heads.

Bel started to identify them as they began to advance in a slow steady march, perfectly holding ranks.

There wasn’t much room to maneuver and Bel couldn’t back up. He felt a moment of panic as he couldn’t go anywhere and the line of fearsome-looking warriors was approaching like a slow tidal wave of stone. Steading himself he thought over his situation. He was waiting for Ignatius to send him something through their bond.

But the Flameskull was occupied trying to dodge the stone spears being thrown by the approaching warriors or were they, Bel thought something was looking quite off. The spears were coming from behind the advancing line.

“Quick, hold me up.” He ordered his one minion. The wolf immediately complied and Bel could now see over the short thralls approaching. From the floor, a steady stream of stone projectiles was being flung, it looked like a pool of quicksand, a perfect circle of sand, hazy in its camouflage of looking like an ordinary stone floor. The camouflage was ruined by the projectile as they caused a ripple to course through it.

Ignatius had just avoided a stone spear and was about to speak when a second spear glanced off his left temple forcing him to dodge away hitting the invisible barrier between the watchers of the floor and Bel's battleground. The skull stuck like a fly hitting a flytrap and immediately a glow encompassed him. Ignatius dissolved into motes and was drawn up toward the top of the pyramid.

Bel felt it like someone had taken the part of his mind that were Ignatius and wrapped it with cotton, numbing everything but the sense that Ignatius was still alive but in great pain.

“IGNATIUS!” White hot rage coursed through Bel and immediately he dropped to the ground and ordered the wolf to put his back against the enemy and cup its giant paws together. Bel took a running start and then charged with all his strength towards the werewolf, putting his foot in the werewolf’s giant paws, its strength combined with his attributes boosted him high up above the thralls who just arrived, skewering the werewolf who went down in silence.

Immediately the silent warriors turned around following him in their slow monotone march, their speed didn’t change but Bel smelled the fear in the air.

His perception was greater than ever before and his sailing through the air almost felt like it was going in slow-motion. He gripped his sword by hilt and blade and held it before him as a scream of rage came from his lips and he plunged the sword into the circle in the floor. His sword hit something hard at first but then it cracked and the blade went straight into something soft.

The Thralls let out their first sound then, they screamed in pain, a pain so great it made them reverberate and fall apart. While this was happening, Bel yanked his sword up and out of the sand came what looked like a small hair-less dwarf. Except it had no arms or legs, instead it had some sort of antennas attached to it. It looked horrible and smelled disgusting. Bel flung it away as it started to turn to dust.

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Master Controller Spawn of Folkor (Dead) - Level 16

Bel didn’t care what the god was called or listened to the giant noise of a rumbling earthquake, nor did he care about the earth creatures turning to dust. Instead, he ran for the fourth floor, on the way he kicked open the spawned chest and put on the pair of gauntlets lying there.

Gauntlets of the Necro-Lord – Tin Ranked

Taking the stairs in a couple of steps he appeared on what looked like fresh-cut grass, a faint scent of flowers in the air. Bel ignored it all, instead charging the first vortex. The Sylph that appeared, looked surprised for a fraction of a section before it was cut in half. Green blood splattered everywhere as the two parts of the wooden-bodied Sylph hit the grass. Before the parts could even land Bel was moving again, toward the next target.

Decadent Sylph Spawn of Iruthel (Healthy) - Level 18

He managed to kill one more Sylph before the others had spawned. Surrounding him they pulled daggers from their bodies, the handles part of themselves and as they drew the blades metal grew from the wooden parts they held. They came at him from every direction. He lost most of his finesse and he started to accumulate hits but his armor was almost complete now and it was impressive. Able to receive blow after blow without breaking and the daggers didn’t manage to pierce even the vulnerable areas like the joints and armpits.

The blows rained down on him and they hurt even if they couldn’t get through. Bel didn’t care. He blocked, slashed, and clubbed the Sylphs to death with his sword. After a few minutes, he was breathing heavily but all the enemies lay dead around him. He blocked the notifications and kept running. This time there was no chest and so he kept going.

He had forgotten to drain some life from the Sylphs and now he felt the exhaustion setting in. But he couldn’t stop, his friend was in danger, he could feel it.

The crackling sound of a giant tree bending over and breaking could be heard as he left the floor.

He reached the fifth floor in mere moments and first he hesitated, the ground was covered with water and he couldn’t see the bottom. He tested the water and realized that it was only ankle-deep. Taking a deep breath, a smidge of fear creeping in at falling down some deep watery hole, he stepped forward. The fear wouldn’t stop him now.

He had made it a third of the way, the water slowing him down when the first enemy appeared. They were Nagas. Giant serpent creatures with arms that held tridents. Their scales were a dirty blue and their slitted eyes gleamed with deep azure color.

Vile Naga Spawn of Swana (Healthy) - Level 19

There were a dozen of the creatures and they surged forward spraying water everywhere. The first one met the hilt of the Necro-Blade as Bel could now hold the sword by its blade, he used it as a club and when the creature fell to the side he stepped forward and drove the blade down into its neck, it died instantly.

Turning around he dodged a trident while swinging the sword getting two more hits on the closest Nagas. The creatures were taller and broader than Bel and couldn’t come at him all at the same time. After the swing cleared some room he flipped the sword in his hands, and as soon as he caught the handle he lunged forward, skewering a surprised Naga.

These were the best fighters so far but they still couldn’t stop Bel. The closest call was when one Naga managed to hurl its trident and Bel didn’t manage to dodge in time, causing one of the prongs to pierce his cheek. Pulling the thing free with a scream he returned the trident to its owner, hard.

The next Naga to come close to Bel, he stabbed through the lower part of their snake body, pinning it to the floor, giving him time to activate Life Transference and heal his injuries and the worst of his exhaustion. His mind was swimming with worry, fear, exhaustion, anger, and despair. He felt like someone else had taken over his body and was guiding him ever forward.

Two Nagas were remaining. Both looked at him with hateful expressions, colored with a hint of fear and respect. They came at him from both sides forcing him to focus on one or the other. Instead, they ran face-first into his Bone Storm. The slivers of bone cutting at their scales, the skill hurt like hell but it didn’t cause any irreparable damage. That came from the moment of hesitation when the first Naga was hit on top of its head by a large sword, splitting its head down to its chest. With a kick Bel cleared the corpse off and swung around, managing to divert the trident of the last Naga. He dropped his sword and gripped the Naga by the throat, draining it of its life.

Bending down he picked up the sword, slowly exhaling, he couldn’t stop to meditate but his battle meditation was still working so he was sitting at around forty percent mana right now. He moved over to the chest and opened it. The chest shook from the scream of a gigantic whale or sea creature, echoing through the room almost deafening to Bel’s ears. Bel gritted his teeth, ignoring the discomfort, and opened his chest.

The chest contained a tabard and cloak, this time he took a moment to look at the items. Both were dark green and black, with runes and symbols at the hems. The tabard had a dark open-mouthed skull on it with burning flames embroidered around it. The same symbol was on the back of the cloak.

Heraldry of the Necro-Lord – Tin Ranked

These items were part of his armor set as well. He leaned his sword against the chest and put the pieces of cloth on. The tabard went over his head and was fastened at the sides. This wouldn’t have been possible if not for the magical nature of his armor, the range of movement he had in the plate armor was incredible.

The cloak he slung around his back and fastened at two claps on his pauldrons. He wondered for a moment how many more pieces there were. At least a helmet he thought.

Ignoring those thoughts, he fanned the flames of his rage that had started to settle down. He had never been much for anger but now he felt like that was the only thing driving him forward. He felt for Ignatius again and only got the sensation that he was up ahead and he was in pain.

Picking up the sword he moved toward the sixth floor. The burning lava felt warm even from this distance. The heat kept rising and as he took his first step on the hot floor of the sixth floor, he was sweating bullets underneath his armor which was usually quite cool.

The heat was beating down upon him but he stood tall. Looking for his next target, he didn’t need to wait long. Three larger portals appeared on the ground, and from them, three large reptiles emerged.

Devouring Fire Salamander Spawn of Eyrul (Healthy) - Elite level 18

Three elite creatures stood before him, their dark scales blending in with the obsidian-colored floor, only the heat from deep down their gullets that glowed a red made them visible. That and their red eyes.

“Three elites, eh? Well, bring it. I’ll kill everything you throw at me!” Bel wasn’t sure who he was talking to but he needed the rage it gave him now. This would be a tough fight. Cracking his neck, he charged the first one, holding the blade next to his head, tip toward the chest of the salamander.

He was maybe ten steps away from thrusting his sword into the neck of the salamander when it reacted. Quicker than even Bel's new body and mind could react, it whipped its tail hitting him squarely on the right side of his body. The hit was so hard it propelled him like a bullet through the air, he hit the invisible shield next to a snarling mass of fire creatures. A small flame no more than half a meter tall lunged for him but was stopped by the same shield that Bel hit.

Bel lay on the floor groaning from the pain, his whole body felt like it had been broken into little pieces.

"Owh. My bones feel like skittles." Bel shook his head, trying to clear his vision, and as his vision cleared he managed to see just in time, a huge salamander head lunging for his face. Bel let out a short yelp before throwing up his arm blocking the bite attack. That action was unfortunately not the best course of action as the salamander bit down, hard.

Bel felt like his arm was going to snap off. With a snarl, he wrapped his other arm around the salamander's head and his feet around the large creature's neck. Then activated Bone Storm through his hand.

The effect was instantaneous and the salamander screamed in pain but Bel refused to let go. Even as the salamander tried opening his mouth and releasing him he pushed his hand deeper and funneled the skill forward, in a few seconds the salamander fell limp and the storm of bone slivers pierced through its flesh just above its tail, gore and blood flew everywhere.

Bel was ready to bite back the bile rising in his throat, but it didn't come. He felt nothing at seeing the death and mutilation before him. He didn't have it in him to care that he seemed to have lost something.

Bel didn't want to make the same mistake again. so he jumped back from the dead salamander and his instincts were right, a tail landed where he had been standing a moment ago.

Without hesitation, he grabbed the tail and with all his strength pulled the creature towards him. Bel forgot the most common thing with some lizards like the salamander and the tail came free with a sick plop, leaving Bel with a large piece of meat in his hands. The offended salamander turned with a roar of anger and opened his mouth, a red glow started deep within its gullet. Bel swung the tail by reflex, hitting the salamander on the side of its head forcing the fire spraying forth toward the third salamander who was trying to sneak up on Bel.

The fire didn't bother the salamander one bit, but it allowed Bel to dodge away, getting some distance from the two large enemies. His eyes swept the area for his blade. He found it lying in a crack to the right of the tailless salamander.

Bel threw a few bolts toward the enemy, the green flame harming them as probably only necrotic fire could. They both charged him with roars of pain and anger. Timing his stunt he waited until they were a few steps into their charge then he threw himself between them, rolling on the floor.

He managed to clear the first salamander but the other got a swipe in with its claws, making him stumble and fall.

Bel barely managed to get a grip around the hilt before a tail caught him in the side again. This time it only flung him a few meters and he managed to hold on to the sword.

As he landed and turned around on his back the tailless one lunged at him, mouth open. Bel managed to get his feet on the thing's jaws and as the creature pushed forward it caused Bel to slide across the ground. With a heave, he managed to level the sword straight down the thing's gullet and released his feet allowing the salamander to run straight into the blade. The sword pierced the top of the salamander's mouth entering its brain and the thing went limp.

Bel pulled the sword out looking for the last threat. It came from behind, plowing into Bel, it knocked him over its fallen brethren and then it followed, trying to body-slam the tiny human. He managed to roll to the side just before the huge body of the giant lizard landed next to him. Quickly he punched his hand forward fingers extended, an idiotic maneuver not possible unless you had superhuman strength, and he managed to get his hand between the ribs of the salamander. Bel felt several fingers break but it didn't matter. Gripping something, anything, inside the lizard's stomach he drained the creature. A wave of ecstasy and life flooded Bel as the thing squirmed, trying to break free. But as always when Bel was alone against an enemy, the thing stood no chance and its struggles ended after thirty seconds.

Standing on once again steady feet he looked around. The room had gone completely silent. The silence was so sudden and unnerving that Bel thought he had gone deaf for a moment. The hollering and screaming before were gone as the creatures around him turned to dust and blew away accompanied by the sound of a great forest fire burning hotter than the sun.

Bel was holding his knees. He may have regained his strength and stamina but he was still exhausted, the pressure on his mind had increased. He didn't know from where or who but he needed to end this, soon.

There was still a layer left and he knew why it was silent. The beings on the last floor still just stood there, looking at him with perfect angelic faces. All of them were full of pity and contempt. This would be his last challenge, he knew it.

But first, he needed to be as strong as possible. He had been holding back several notifications and now he let them through.

You have leveled up x4.

Deathless Gaz has leveled up x1.

Bone Storm has leveled up x2.

Life Transference has leveled up x2.

Identify has leveled up x1.

You have learned a new skill.

You have learned the Skill - Eyes of the Dead level 1

It was a while ago since he got a new skill. He wondered what it did, but he didn't have time to test it out. He needed to meditate as the green fire was already approaching.

Bel sat down and close his eyes for a moment, the anger from before was still there but he held it back. For now.