Chapter 147 – Death Knights

Jack weaved through the mountainous pile of bones that plagued sector five, pushing toward the gate to sector six. He grimaced in pain, cradling a cut across his ribs.

Jack removed his hand, looking down at the wound. As far as cuts went, this was as nasty as they got. It looked like someone tried sawing through him with a rusty hacksaw, leaving nothing but torn skin and ripped muscle behind. Black veins crept out from the wound like spiderwebs, further infecting his torso. His Vitality was only 24, which was okay at best. Vitality governed how fast you could heal a wound, whereas mastery governed your ability to focus on what got healed first. It was an absolute suck fest to improve if you weren’t a healer. It basically involved taking damage and then willing your mind to focus on healing it.

Currently every ounce of spare willpower he had to offer was focused on the wound, and it was a losing battle. Despite his best efforts, whatever was infecting him was slowly creeping along his body, slowing him down and further draining his life. If he could take a moment and give it his full concentration then he might be ok, but everything had turned to shit, and he couldn’t slow down for even one second.

“Something up ahead, get ready,” Devin said, flanking his left side. Jack looked over at Devin, he was in somewhat better condition than Jack physically, but the past day had taken a toll on him mentally. Gaiju was on his right. She was frothing with rage.

Everything had been going according to plan. They had set up the secondary base in sector five and had already moved a fair amount of troops there to help defend it. The giant bone monsters that were summoned forth upon taking over the sector weren’t actually all that bad. They were slow and could be overwhelmed somewhat easily. They were only a problem if you got hit by the giant laser cannon they shot out of their mouths. Anyone who got hit by that rarely survived. It was well telegraphed though, and Jack didn’t want anyone in the faction who couldn’t avoid at least that much. As for sector six, the zombies and ghouls that plagued the area became heavily armored which actually made them pretty difficult to deal with from what had been reported to him.

Beyond that, things were going smoothly for about a week. Then the world turned upside down. Jack grit his teeth in frustration as he thought back through the events of the day.

The Twilight Lord bastard had gotten the better of him.

The plan was to stabilize and wait for Hannah to return, ideally with Chris and an army of humans in tow to help bolster his factions’ ranks. Jack was now thankful they hadn’t shown up yet. If they did, he likely would have been responsible for the end of humanity in the Tower.

The Twilight Lord took over the last two sections of the city almost instantaneously. Jack had no idea how he pulled it off, but it didn’t really matter. What did matter was the resulting chaos. At danger level six, the basic skeletons gained the ability to cast magic themselves. They also gained weapons, armor, and their numbers increased threefold. In the span of seconds Jack was surrounded by a capable, well-equipped army all hell bent on killing him.

The fortress they had built in the sector fell within an hour. It wasn’t easy, but Jack and his higher-ranking officers were able to rally once they regrouped and there was a brief hope that they could maintain their presence in the sector. Devin pointed out that all hope wasn’t lost, as it was highly unlikely the Twilight Lord would be able to hold his newly acquired sectors either. He likely didn’t care about holding the sectors, his plan was just to force danger level six and let the city flush them out, at least that’s what Devin speculated was going on.

They had been fools to hope.

Like Devin predicted, the Twilight Lord was only able to hold onto his sectors for about thirty minutes. Before they could let out relieved sighs Jack got a notification.

Danger Level Downgrade: 24:00:00

Tower bullshit decided to make a showcase once more and twist the knife. A twenty-four-hour timer until the danger level fell off, meanwhile Jack was watching as his faction member count dropped at a dramatic pace, he was already down to half his remaining forces and it had barely been an hour at danger level six.

“We should abandon the sector. Regroup with everyone in sector six. At the very least, things will be easier there,” Devin suggested to unanimous agreement. With that, he gathered his forces and made their way to sector six. That had ultimately been their biggest mistake.

It wasn’t the magic wielding skeletons. It wasn’t the monstrous dinosaurs with beam cannons shooting out of their mouths. It wasn’t the armor, the weapons, or the numbers that had been their undoing.

It was the arbiters.

There was a certain faction in the city that had a target painted on their back. This faction spent a lot of their time chasing, hunting, and killing the arbiters for sport. This, unsurprisingly, pissed off the arbiters a whole lot. So, when danger level six turned them all into Death Knights, they decided to pay this faction a visit.

You have lost control of sector six.

Jack stopped in his tracks at the notification.

“What is it?” Willow asked. Jack stared in disbelief at the notification. They had pumped a lot of resources into the sector six base, and with the tortuga and their incredible levels of defense, it should have been an impenetrable bastion.

“Sector six is gone,” Jack grimaced.

Several shocked cries rang out. Jack glanced back at his fifty or so troops that remained. The only hope any of them had was making it to the base in sector six. Now they were an army without a home.

Jack searched for Devin among them, leading his mostly intact band of skilled mercenaries. “Plan?” he asked.

“We should get the hell out of the city,” Devin quickly said, restoring hope to the group. Jack nodded in response and pushed on, but not very far.

Five warriors in pitch black plate crested one of the bone mountains. They sat atop sickly and rotten horses that carried with them a heavy aura of disease. The Death Knights leveled their midnight longswords at Jack and charged forth with a sickening speed, the earth rumbling beneath with their charge. Skeletons rose up from their wake and came crashing down like an avalanche of bone and suffering.

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Gaiju stomped the ground and spikes of blood red ice shot out like spears, angled to rip through the charging enemy. The Death Knights took to the skies, riding across the air as though it were ground. They came crashing down in the middle of Jack’s forces. He watched as they trampled Willow, killing her in seconds.

That was the first death to really hit him since the chaos broke out. He had lost hundreds at this point and had been ignoring it pretty successfully. Now wasn’t the time to get caught up in his feelings. He was very used to people dying around him. Hell, his body count was in the hundreds if he wasn’t counting monsters. Death wasn’t anything new to him. But watching Willow die he felt something snap in him. This time things were different. These people had been following him. He actively recruited these people. They were his soldiers, and they had died on his behalf. Thoughts of Sarah came flooding to his head unbidden and try as he might, he was unable to banish them.

"Are you going to let them get away with this?" Sarah's voice, a phantom released deep in his mind scraped against the raw edges of his sanity.

Jack's vision blurred crimson. "No..." The word came out a strangled hiss as he fought against the monstrous grief that raged in his heart, but he knew it wasn’t a monster he could defeat.

Damn them for making me remember.

“What is it you want, Jack?” she asked, reminding him of his charge.

“To destroy the Tower…”

A ghostly warmth brushed his ear, sending shivers down his spine. "Show them, Jack," Sarah's voice whispered, a loving caress from beyond the veil. A terrible, exhilarating clarity washed over him. Jack set his sights on the Death Knights, and became an obsidian storm, thundering towards his prey.

He fell on the first Death Knight, his daggers lashing out as he delivered thirty repeating strikes each heavy with killing intent. The rider and his horse fell in moments, earning him a curious notification.

You have slain arbiter Gregort

+10,000,000AP

+5SP

The knowledge that they were arbiters only served to fuel his rage.

So, they want to get even, huh? Jack thought, a manic grin cracking on his face. He was going to show them just why his bounty was so high. He turned to the second arbiter. It was slightly more prepared, but not nearly enough as Jack pushed his speed harder, lashing out fifty times over. The arbiter narrowly deflected a dozen or so blows before Jack executed the monster, sending his head flying. A blade ripped through his side, and he bit back a pained howl as he whipped around, leveling his flintlock at the third Death Knight. Two bolts of lightning ripped through him, taking off both his head, and his horses.

Devin followed up a moment later, and the initial shock of the assault quickly wore off as his remaining troops turned on the Death Knights, quickly killing them.

“They’re arbiters,” Someone exclaimed.

Jack exchanged a knowing glance with Devin before they turned to help Gaiju fend off the assaulting skeletons summoned by the Death Knights.

“You should let me heal that,” Paul the warpriest advised.

“Save it for everyone else.” Jack waved off the man, chugging a health potion.

As they pushed toward sector six, the Death Knight problem only got much worse. They never showed up in groups of less than five. They quickly adopted different tactics, opting to charge in, kill a few people, and then run away. Jack gave pursuit once, but that just bought time for another group of death knights to attack without him there. That was when they lost their only healer Paul.

By the time they reached the gate, Jack, Devin, and Gaiju were all that remained.

“They’re playing with us,” Gaiju spat in frustration. She had been operating on pure orc rage since the death of willow. Her eyes glowed a deadly read, and even her blood red ice mana was growing a darker crimson.

She was right. Every time the Death Knights showed up, they had different strategies, different abilities. They even seemed more capable in combat. To make matters worse, it wasn’t just the Death Knights they were dealing with. The entire sector was still filled with deadly skeletons that they had to contend with. Although, with it only being three of them they could move much quicker, and draw a lot less attention to themselves. Part of the only reason they were still alive is they had opted for stealth. At the rate things were going though, making it out of the city alive was going to be a long shot.

“Something up ahead, get ready,” Devin warned.

Their group came to a stop, finding a spot to hide inside an overly large skull. Jack panted heavily, leaning against one of the walls as Devin stared out one of the eye sockets, a disheartened look on their face.

“What is it?” Jack asked.

“You want the good news or the bad news?”

“I’m a good news kinda guy.”

“We’ve reached the gate to sector six.”

“...”

“You want the bad news?” Devin prodded.

“Nope.”

“We only have to make it past twenty Death Knights to get there.”

Jack let out several ragged breaths as he processed the information. He looked down at his wound once more. Whatever curse the Death Knights had on their blade was spreading further and further throughout his body. With an annoyed tsk he pulled out the last Panacea health potion he had from his supply chest. He had been hoping to save this for his inevitable showdown with the big bad mayor, but there wasn’t really a point in hoarding health potions if he died before he got to that point

He took a glance at the Danger Level timer.

Danger Level Downgrade: 04:00:00

They needed to make it four more hours. With any luck, the danger level would drop off and the Death Knights would disappear, but he was done hoping anything good might happen. Jack put the potion to his lips and let loose a dramatic sigh as the effects washed over his body immediately. The black veins receded, and the deep gouge at his side stitched itself back together. In seconds he was fully restored and ready to take on twenty Death Knights. Jack stood up giving a few test stretches.

“I’m going to buy you guys time to get to the gate. Once you’re through, I’ll lose them and come join you. Sound good?”

Devin and Gaiju both gave him solemn nods of agreement.

Jack was the first to leave the skull, hopping out and waltzing down the road as if he was taking a casual stroll through the park. The Death Knights all turned on him, a silent cavalry of death.

One horse in particular stood out. Whereas all the other Death Knights rode pale and sickly horses, this one was made entirely of black bone, and was roughly the size of a mini horse. It strode in front of the others as an officer might before leading his troops forward. They never did charge.

As Jack stalked closer, the black horse, roughly the size of a mastiff ambled forward. A skeletal jockey no bigger than a child's doll hopped off with an easy grace. Flesh knitted itself over the jockey's bones, revealing a tiny, slightly shivering, very naked gnome. Jack blinked at his would-be flasher, a beat of stunned silence between the two, then, with a dramatic flourish the gnome conjured forth a purple robe with intricate golden runes sewed into it. A staircase of bones clacked out of the ground for the gnome to ascend, his staff held high like a miniature conductor.

Jack couldn't help but stare. No taller than his knee, the gnome had jet-black hair slicked back like a miniature mob boss. A pencil-thin mustache, meticulously groomed, sat above a smile that could only be described as disconcertingly easy.

"Mr. Atlas," the gnome started, his voice surprisingly deep, "such a shame it takes these unpleasantries to get acquainted."

“Who the fuck are you?”

The gnome’s easy smile climbed upward, turning more and more sinister as he extended his hand outward. “Mayor Mortimaxx. A pleasure to finally meet you.”

Fuck.