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Revenge of the Sorcerer King 2 - 26
🕑 Added 2020-08-29 16:42:22 +0000 UTCHeyo!
Chapter 26
Oberon
I leaned back in my throne after the others left. I now had to think up a way to repel an attacking force of at least ten thousand. If I looked at the raw numbers, I had close to three thousand that I could bring to bare against the attack force. Since almost ninety percent of those consisted of undead, the odds were actually too bad.
Plus, once I bound Siateth as the Guardian Deity, the holy spells wouldn’t have as much affect on the undead. Not only does Siateth represent the undead, he would be the only deity over my lands making the other gods much less powerful in my territory.
“Khaar. Zriq. Attend me.”
The golem appeared almost as soon as I called for him. Bowing at the foot of the throne, he said. “Yes master?”
“In the two weeks that I was stuck in the dungeon. How much work did you get done?”
“The outer and second layer walls have been fully repaired from a material standpoint. They lack the spells that would make them truly defensible. I took the liberty to construct the golem workshop as I assumed you would want to being rebuilding the golem network soon. From there, two more goblin tribes have migrated here from the desert. According to the elders, there are three more tribes they are working to bring to the city.”
“I see.”
Zriq appeared at the moment looking a bit out of breath from his rush. “You called, master?”
I glanced outside and realized it was the dead of night. While the fairies were doing their best to shift to nocturnal it was still a bit of a challenge for them. “My apologizes for pulling you from your chamber this late at night.”
“Do not worry yourself master. I am always ready to receive your commands.”
“How do the fairies fare? Will they be able to join the combat?”
“Yes. Though, I feel the need to inform you to keep them to the rear lines. Our magic is recovering rapidly. The elder is seeing to that, but I fear me might have lost our physical prowess after centuries of being reduce to imps and locked in the core.”
“That is unfortunate. I will miss seeing the famous fairy cavalry in the future.”
“I am sorry to disappoint you, master.”
I waved him off. “No matter. I will take your council under advisement.”
Looking at the fairy reminded me that I hadn’t summoned the fortress core’s fairy attendants. As a clan bound to a fortress core, they were much more war-like in nature. Other than their matriarch or patriarch, the rest would remain in the core slumbering until such a time as the fortress was under siege.
“No time like the present,” I muttered getting up from the throne.
Making my way down the hallway, I quickly came to the core room of the fortress. It had been completely repaired by the fairies and the mana flowing into the cores. It possessed a sleek look with smooth stone forming a sphere around the core. If it had been repaired completely, plates of metal would be layered between the stone that would help repel certain magics.
The core was giving off a significant glow compared to when it was first raised from the depths of underground. Mana was more abundant than when I was alive, and it was showing as the core regained its charge faster than I had anticipated. Not that I was complaining. Placing my hand on the core, I accessed its functions.
Dozens of transparent screens appeared around me. I could access these from the throne room, but the option to summon the dweller fairy required to be in the core’s presence. Moving through the options, I found what I was looking for but didn’t press it just yet. I wanted to make sure the core had enough mana to support its current operations and the fairy.
The core’s mana sat at just above thirty percent. To summon the fairy, and this was just the Keeper, would take nearly twenty-five percent. I whistled at the expenditure, but it sounded about right. To use the full army, I remembered you needed close to seventy percent of the core’s mana to support it for more than a few hours.
Cracking my neck, I clicked the option. Like with Zriq when I summoned him, a portal opened in the room. Only this was much more sophisticated then his had been. The portal appeared more like a door than a tear in space. We only had to wait a few seconds before a figure emerged.
I was taken aback, because one I knew this person and two they looked exactly as I remembered them. They still possessed their original form and had not been twisted by the sins. The woman moved forward and kneeled before me. “My King. I knew you would return. One of your power is not easily ferried to the afterlife.”
The woman was beautiful. She was probably one of the tallest if not the tallest fairy to have walked the land at close to two meters in height. That only served to amplify her beauty. A fairy that challenged the calling of ice, she was blue skinned, with wings made from glittering snow. Her platinum blue hair went down her back like a frozen waterfall. Her eyes reminded one of a frozen lake.
“Lenora. You look exactly as you did a thousand years ago.”
“A thousand years, my king? When we felt your death, we sealed the core as per your orders until one worthy roused us. For us it has been but a few hours.”
“I knew time would pass slower, but I didn’t think it would stand still. Either way. I am glad to have you by my side once again.”
Lenora stood the ground freezing under her then ran a hand down my cheek leaving a trail of ice. “As I am to be with you, my king.” I grinned as more intimate memories of the woman ran through my mind. She had demanded a spot in my harem, and you didn’t say no to Lenora when she wielded power that was almost equal to mine back in my prime.
I took her hand and brought it to my lips as I kissed the back of her hand. “It really is good to have you by my side.” I released the hand and moved back. “But there will be time for that later. Lenora, I want you to check something for me. Think status.”
She nodded looking slightly disappointed that I released her. I knew she saw her status when her eyes widen. “My king. All my skills and abilities are on display for the world to see.”
“What level are you?”
“Level?” She focused on her status as she looked it over. “I am level three hundred and twenty-nine, my king.”
“Excellent. I was worried we’d have to level you up from zero. I wonder why you had a level and not Irgire?”
Zriq cleared his throat and I looked to him. “Likely due to their states, Master. Lady Lenora says only a few hours transpired in her core. When the Hero’s spell took affect five hundred years ago. The relative strength of every being was transposed to the new number system. Irgire might have been a statue when the change happened but he was still part of the world. Lady Lenora is literally only coming into this world for the first time now.”
“That serves my purposes then.” We moved back to the throne room and I saw the sun had risen. “I suppose I shouldn’t delay the next part of my plan too much longer.”
“I will resume my position as your Royal guard then,” Lenora said.
“Then meet Yunio. I suppose she is my royal guard due to have no choice in the matter.” I gestured and the wraith formed in the shadowed part of the throne room.
“When will people learn to stop resisting you. Only you deserve to sit at the top of the world,” Lenora commented shaking her head while looking at the girl.
I laughed. “Well. A thousand years has made most of them forget. I’m just reminding them.”
Kalia Lordship Joint Expedition Force
Two men sat around a table with a map of the Frinz lordship and the Desert of Sins as the focus. Wooden pieces represented the forces the men thought they were to engage according to reports from their scouts. With several large pieces showing their own force, there were three more on the map. One at the Frinz Lordship capital, a beast in the forest of Cross, and a piece that they weren’t even sure belonged on the board in the desert.
General Herald of Kalia. A wizen old man that had seen more wars than he cared to think about. He had been asked by the Kalia lord personally to lead this expedition force. “Surely twenty-two thousand was a bit much.”
General Vario of Fiden. The Fiden Lordship borders the Frinz and they worried that the undead would eventually spill over from the lack of success in dealing with the threat by the Frinz lordship. They had sent half of the members of the Expedition force themselves. “It’s the undead. If you don’t take it seriously you end up joining them.”
The expedition force was currently camped two hundred kilometers out from the frontier town of Guil. It had been overrun with undead and only a few hundred people had managed to flee. One of the people, the guildmaster of the adventurers in town, claimed that something related to the World’s Curse had been found in the desert.
Even though she supposedly received a report that the claim was a lie, she had reason to doubt the man that was put to death. She claimed he seemed different from when he first appeared in town after chasing one of the curse family. She admitted though that she didn’t know the man well enough to make a call and that it was a gut feeling. Coming from a guildmaster gave it credit, however.
General Herald grimaced but nodded all the same. “Too many can cause just as a big of a problem as we’re trying to prevent.”
General Vario picked up one of the pieces that represented the forces from the church of Ternia. “That’s why we have so many of the churches coming with us. I can’t remember the last time so many of the clergy actually decided to work together for a single cause.”
“I wish we could have more from the Yuin persuasion. They specialize in killing undead.”
General Vario agreed with that. Sadly, he had only been able to persuade a mere five hundred to their cause. “I heard that something has happened in their midst. Something about their goddess falling silent.”
General Herald looked at his counterpart with wide eyes. “Has that ever happened before?”
“Not in our time, and that worries me.”
“A great change…”
General Vario only nodded and didn’t say anything. Sounds of the camp around them seeped into the command tent. Soldiers and new recruits both had a tension in ranks. Undead were not creatures you fought lightly. The fact that something had managed to damage half of the west coast of the continent had not been kept quiet. Many worried they would not be going home to see their loved ones again.
The Frinz lordship was in ruin with the people having fled to their neighbor Fiden to the east. The refugees were quickly running out of food and other essential necessities as the people of Fiden struggled to support the on fleeing mass of people. Frinz was home to nearly a hundred thousand people after all.
None known to the people in the camp, several figures watched from the shadows of the trees that surrounded the camp. They each craved to feast on the host of people in front of them but decades and even centuries of living had taught them control. One in particular sat on a high branch drinking a cup of tea.
“How many wars does this make?”
A shadow wavered the only sign that something was in the tree with her. “If you personally participate this time, then it will be your tenth, Lady Helena.”
Helena smirked as she looked at the host of people under her nose. “I certainly do like even numbers.”
Alessa
Oberon called for the me the next night. We met at the entrance to the castle. Walking behind him was a woman that seemed to be made from blue and white. Even though I didn’t feel cold much anymore, even I felt a chill next to her.
“Alessa. Meet Lenora. She is the guardian fairy of the fortress core.” The woman bowed to me with a regalaity that seemed to befit for a queen.
“I see. Nice to meet you then.”
“I like what you’ve done there. Maybe I could give you a few tips later.” I followed her gaze to my armor. Lenora grinned before a burst of snow went up around her. When it cleared she was wearing an armor similar to mine, only made from pure ice rather than blood-ice like mine.
“That would be helpful, but I can’t have it be pure ice like yours. I need it to be partially liquid to use my blood magic.”
“You guys can chat later. We have a ritual to perform,” Oberon interrupted our conversation. He waved his hand and with a black flame, his nightmare mount appeared. I noticed that it had wings now. He likely had increased his necromancy skill. Lenora started to float while I was left standing there.
I thought about Helena and how she had sometimes formed batwings. With some concentration and a bit of mana, the wings appeared on my back. “Go on ahead. I’ll catch up.” I gestured as I knew using the wings wouldn’t be as simple as one two three. Oberon and Lenora nodded before the moved off.
I focused on my wings, but the best I could do was nudge them. For nearly five minutes, I sat there hopping to try and maybe kick in some sort of instinct. I heard a flapping from above me. Looking up, I saw Irgire circling as he moved lower to the ground. “Having fun?”
“Can’t you see. I’m having a blast!” I said not hiding my fangs as I growled at him.
He grinned and before I could do anything grabbed me under my arms. I barely had a moment to realize that we were already several dozen meters in the air. “I’ll show you how my parents showed me. Don’t worry, it doesn’t hurt, unless you hit the ground.”
“Wait. What?!” I shouted as Irgire let go of me. I started to fall as I flailed my arms and legs around. The ground rushed up to met me and I closed my eyes. When nothing happened, I opened them to find I was floating a few centimeters from the ground. Glancing back behind me, I saw my wings flapping… and they stopped as I fell flat on my face. I dusted myself off and turned to Irgire. “Again.”
Twenty minutes, and two craters later I was finally able to fly under my own power. It was still jerky and unstable, no one would be getting a ride from me for a while, but at least I was moving faster than I would be even with my vampiric running.
Irgire flew up next to me. “Oberon is waiting for us. Let’s go.”
