Just what caused the government to attack? Why did they want to defeat someone as great and powerful as Andrew? Because they thought they could! They were all old men who believed their superior weapons would completely strike the fear of God into the Undead Clan.
Sure, if they managed to defeat Andrew, they would get a lot of GP, maybe a few Titles, or even maybe an amazing item or something. But what they really wanted was the stability. They wanted the already made country that belonged to the Undead Clan.
They wanted the easy living and the fresh ways to get stronger. They wanted the amazing people and awesome creatures. But they couldn’t by themselves. Besides, they already knew they were old fashioned. There was no chance they would be able to go out and participate in another war.
Now, if you were to compare the entire United States’ forces right now with the Undead Clan, you would find that the Undead Clan is vastly outnumbered. Andrew focused on a stable growth that was aware of popular opinion. He wasn’t willing to go and sweep through the other people.
If he had, he would have already taken over a State and a half!
The army, navy, and air force were actually still operational, they were just running low on supplies. They didn’t have the ability to continue using their machines for too long, as evident by the one tank that was used against John and David.
The armed forces were all trained soldiers that had training in warfare. The common civilians and Adventurers of the Undead Clan relied on the Skeletons to do that sort of thing. They instead used melee or magic, not wanting to rely on such risky equipment as normal guns.
Guns were an amazing tool that would increase the basic damage output of a person to a set point. If a person could deal 5 HP of damage with a punch, that might be average when hitting someone in the face. If someone else were to do it, they might get 7 or 3 HP of damage.
A gun would deal a Critical or Fatal Hit when shot to the head. No matter who uses it. This is of course not counting those who have Skills or Titles. But the problem was that the soldiers actually had a lot of people with these kinds of Skills and Titles!
Many of the officers had Royal Status, the Noble’s equivalent, so to speak. They had warfare related abilities and had their own Domain. This meant chaos to anyone who tried to rely on their monitor when they tried to fight against the army.
Some soldiers also picked magic related Jobs, combining it with their guns, while some picked actual Gunner Jobs. Some used their GP to get guns or special weapons, increasing their effectivity.
The best thing about the Skeletons and other Undead was their reliability and loyalty. They always followed orders and Moral was not important to them in battle. That would be dependent on the orders that were given.
Another thing that the Undead Clan had was overpowered Units. They moved fast, hit harder, lasted longer, and could even regenerate if given the chance. There was also a lot of diversity amongst the Units, making the enemy have to adapt in combat.
Humans are Humans. They aren’t going to have wings, scales, breathe fire, or swing their tail. The only thing you would have to look out for would be Skills and abilities.
The Monsters, Demons, and Undead had many different components that occurred naturally. At Level 0, non-Humans had the advantage. Now add that to the multitude of powerful Level 5s everywhere, and you will have an unstoppable group.
So the military focused on coordinating their attack to happen at the same time. If they could overwhelm the Undead Clan with insurmountable numbers, extremely dangerous weapons, and brilliant strategies, there would be no contest.
But…what about the leader?
All he did was hide out in his Castle. The Castle itself had at least seven powerful Heroes, a large amount of all sorts of different kinds of Units, and the strongest of people.
The most important wrench in the system, Tragedy.
Should they take the smart approach and take them out one by one? If they did that, Andrew would only grow more powerful, practically drowning in the Tragedy.
But if they tried launching a siege against the Capital, the Undead Clan’s other forces would spring up from the side. Every time a person on Andrew’s side died, he would only get stronger! Just how should they do it?!
Nuke it?
No way! That would be catastrophic for everyone!
Napalm?
Come on! That would waste everything as well!
If the government took the easy way out, sure, the Undead Clan would be gone. But what about all the people? The electricity is useful and most people followed the example, however, it wasn’t a good plan for massive areas. There would be too much power necessary to fuel powerful equipment. Sure, hydroelectric generators were still operational, but the cost to maintain it is still too much.
So they realized they needed what Andrew had.
The large amounts of free labor.
They needed the Skeletons!
Some people tried getting the Necromancer Job, but no one could actually pick it. There was some sort of hidden requirement they needed!
They finally decided that they just needed to get Andrew to follow them.
So they set out! They brought all they could, their soldiers, their machines, and their massive over compensating weapons! They decided to scare Andrew into joining the government!
========================
Back in Camp Drive Capital, Andrew was thinking about his options. Most, if not all, of the Skeletons were Level 4. He could now even make Level 5 Skeletons, but was limited to only one a day.
Like that was anything to cry about.
His Bone Equip Spell was amazing, even going so far as to become Level 5, allowing him to make super amazing gear. He passed them out to almost anyone since he could.
That other Undead that were Reese’s bodyguards? They became powerful Units that were something like Mid BOSSes that patrolled the Castle. Those Gelmen helped Dani with her Traps, and Sam’s Dolls were able to travel further, due to his growth of Dollhouse.
The Mimics were all brought back and even Nemo and Buster arrived. These had all become Level 5 as well, becoming forces that could practically wipe out entire cities by themselves. They were dispatched to watch over the outposts and villages.
There was so much GP and Resources being awarded all over the place that the Amigos also Leveled Up! Unfortunately, they were still nothing more than Builders. Just really strong ones. Those little huts became actual homes with a reworked plumbing system and well-designed roadways.
Thanks to the large amounts of GP, there became a large amount of buying Tickets. This led to a lot of winning somethings that weren’t all that great. So they implemented a new Market idea! People would sell their tools for the price they would have received and someone could buy it at a lower price than it was in the Shop! This led to the Market System and peddlers were made to cart their wares to other towns. This required people to guard the convoy and this led to more Quests! What an amazing turnaround!
It was no surprise that people were making more money!
The weirdest part was that no matter how hard the Undead Clan tried to remove all threats, only the zombies were removed. The original ones, mind you. The System was gradually changing, forcing some places to adhere to strange requirements.
For example, Monsters or Beasts would be regularly ‘spawned’ from a pond. Even if the entire pond was drained, it would be filled once again and more creatures would surface.
These became known as Danger Zones, similar to the Talent Zones witnessed during the Talent Show Event. Some places, like the graveyard where Sammy made his Dungeon, basic Undead would appear. This wasn’t a problem, but where did they come from?!
The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.
Sammy was forced to leave after his Dungeon suffered a severe change, although no one paid any attention.
He found himself in a hole underground! He ended up building back up to the surface, but when he looked for the Dungeon entrances, they had changed! He sent in his Units and discovered each Dungeon had transformed, becoming something like instances in a video game.
The same thing happened with the other ones! Now that the Dungeons were self-sufficient, the Undead Clan could make great use of them to get stronger! Even if they defeated them, the Monsters and Beasts would return whenever someone entered again!
It was magic!
But that wasn’t the main point. The heart of the matter was that every single one of the Undead Clan’s members and Units were located in one of their establishments. They weren’t traveling around, and they weren’t going to be missing for the major battle!
Wait, was it going to even be a battle?
In the massive dining room in the Castle, all the big shots were called in. Yes, this meant John and Sammy as well. Everyone was wearing beautiful black dresses or sharp black suits. Another of Andrew’s great ideas to look cool.
It was also extremely intimidating for the Generals and military leaders that were seated and ready to eat. They decided to take a peaceful solution at first so blood wouldn’t have to be needlessly shed.
“Good day, I’m glad we could finally entertain visitors here at this wonderful little Castle. What brings you here today?”
The men were all caught off guard by the situation. So many non-Humans were in the room and none were about to kill them!
Hopefully!
“Hehe, we were just wondering what it takes to be so successful.”
A couple of the men were sweating enough to require beach towels to dry themselves off! They were directly in enemy territory! Even if their entire army was surrounding this little place, their lives were still in danger!
Why? Because Andrew wanted to talk directly to the leaders! They had to oblige if they wanted to get through this safely.
“Oh? Nothing a little bit of motivation and dedication can’t make. No, tell me what you really want, I can’t lie to myself anymore, I won’t play this stupid political game.”
“Hehe…ahem, we want you to join us.”
“Let me check with everyone else.”
Andrew pulled out his little monitor and typed some things out. Soon, a little beeping sound appeared, letting everyone know there was a Clan message from the Clan leader.
The others at the table looked down and made a selection before going back to eating. Not a single one of them were nervous.
“Okay, it looks like most people don’t care either way. Following behind that comes an overwhelming NO. Sorry, boys, I guess we aren’t joining.”
Their faces fell and one was about to reach for his hidden gun with only one bullet in it when Andrew spoke again.
“But we can make a sort of trade agreement. What is it that you guys want? Maybe we can talk things out.”
One sorry man blurted out his immediate thoughts, wanting to hurry up and get this over with.
“Please, we would like to buy your Skeletons!”
Surprised by the outburst, Andrew quickly recovered with a sly smile on his face.
“Sooo…you want my men?”
A collective sound of gulps could be heard.
Still smiling, Andrew called in several dozens of Level 0 Skeletons.
“Let’s start with 100 GP each, is that okay?”
The man about to reach for his gun couldn’t help but yell out,
“What are you trying to pull?! These are the weakest ones! Like hell, they cost that much!”
Andrew narrowed his eyes and dropped his smile, causing the unruly old man to sink back into his chair.
In a voice that had lost its humor, “So what do you suggest?”
One slightly still brave man brought up,
“Well, you would be gaining GP every time they completed their task, am I right?”
“Yes, but these are men that do your job for you. Why should I just give them to you? They will earn me GP no matter what I have them do.”
The poor guy lost his last little bit of courage and sunk down as well. A different man, one that looked more like a businessman, spoke.
“Surely you can understand the situation we are in. If we can get America back on track, there will be a lot in it for you.”
Andrew yawned, already bored of the selfish leaders.
“Oh really? Like what?”
“Uhh, hehe, like…the thanks of your fellow Americans…”
“Uh huh. So nothing substantial? I see. You’ll have to excuse me if I don’t seem too happy by that thought. Especially since it would be empty thanks for you to receive benefits for something my men did.”
“Fine! What the hell do you want?!”
“I told you, 100 GP per Level 0 Skeleton.”
“That’s robbery!”
“Can you not afford it?”
This caused the man to halt. Now, almost all of the seven men had been shocked into silence from the whole ordeal. Now that they had met the Undead Clan in the flesh…face to face…uh, in person, they knew they were all going to die! They had completely underestimated their enemies!
Even if they took them on one by one, the people just in this very room would hunt them all down and annihilate them!
For someone with power like the Undead Clan, there was no room for discussion. Unfortunately, the military only had 1,000 GP left. They had used most of it to purchase more equipment!
But due to this, Level 0 Skeletons could now all of a sudden be bought on the Shop for 1,000 GP each. It was as if the very System was trying to make them feel better, as if what they got was a discount.
Why were they so freaking expensive?! Because it showed up for everyone. Most of the time, one would have to wait to win something before unlocking it in the Companion Summon.
But this meant people could spend 1,000 GP and get that hidden requirement to become a Necromancer!
How would this change things?