Undead Army!
At present, there were only two skeletons left summoned by 'Dance of the Dead', and previously they had lost a Skeleton Warrior; now only thirteen in total remained.
Responding to the call, they stood guard, shielding Serea and the others behind them.
Fortunately, the Bloodthirsty Banshees also suffered heavy casualties—six out of ten had fallen, and the remaining four had all sustained various degrees of injury.
"Captain Marlow!"
Camilla helped the wounded Marlow to his feet, and together with Serea, they stood within the protective circle formed by the Skeleton Warriors. Suddenly, a blaze of light flared up.
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!
It was the sound of fire igniting.
Countless braziers burst into flame, illuminating the vast underground chamber.
This space was also circular, but at least ten times larger than the previous one.
In the center of the underground space was an altar. A man stood atop it, and beside him was a black crucifix. Beverly was hanging on that cross.
"Beverly!"
Seeing Beverly hanging from the cross, Marlow cried out loudly.
Then, a woman's voice replied to him.
"Beverly? Sorry, she will never wake up again. But don't worry, you'll be seeing her yourselves very soon!"
The words were spoken by "Beverly" herself, but something was odd about the voice.
"You're the demon from that tomb—you took Beverly's body!"
Camilla stared at the cross-bound Beverly, their former companion. But now, she had become a demon.
Responding to Camilla's outburst, Beverly gently raised her hand, then drew out a blue mass from Bondoni's body—it was Bondoni's soul!
As the soul was extracted, Bondoni's body began to rot, reducing to a corpse.
How pitiful—Bondoni, who had dreamed only of seeking undead treasures, had found his "treasure," only to become the keystone for the treasure's resurrection.
Leaping down from the cross, Beverly flexed her new body.
"As expected, this kind of physical vessel suits me best."
As Beverly spoke, Serea obtained her information.
Role: Addis, Reaper's Shadow (Undead, lich, Legendary)
Level: 32
Status: Weakened
Spirit: S
Strength: C
Agility: B
Endurance: C
Constitution: A
Charisma: A+
Luck: D
Skills: Death Shock (Tier 1), bone Spear (Tier 1), undead Revitalize (Tier 1), undead Dominion (Tier 1), Skeletal Barrier (Tier 2), plague (Tier 2), Death Curse (Tier 3), summon: Warbeast – Skeletal Abomination (Tier 4)
Description: A powerful Lich!
"A lich! System, what are my odds... I don't even want your usual odds—activate Blood Frenzy. What are my chances?"
System: The Lich has yet to fully revive, and her power is at its lowest. In the Blood Progenitor state, you stand even odds. Considering all available forces, the host has a 70% chance of victory.
"Seventy percent? That's good. But what if I just run away?"
System: Should the host attempt to escape, no one in the Blood Frenzy state can stop you.
"Well said, then let's run."
With that, Serea prepared to summon Clark to cover her escape. She had no intention of risking herself to prevent Addis from reviving.
"Not good, the death energy inside that thing is growing thicker. If left unchecked, the area around here will become a domain of death."
Hearing Celia's warning, Serea tentatively asked,
"Uh... what about the Elf village?"
"The village is too close to the tomb—it would easily be caught in the aftermath."
"Damn, are you forcing me to do this..."
System: Detected a massive pure death energy. Absorbing it has a chance to activate the 'Death Altar' hero unit.
!!!
A sudden notification instantly roused Serea's spirits.
Activate a hero unit!
Her own "Vampire Queen" was the hero unit of the Blood Altar, and unlocking it had even granted her the initial building—Blood Well.
If she could now become the hero unit of the Death Altar, didn't that mean she could receive its initial building as well?
"System, if I unlock the hero unit, can I then unlock tech?"
System: Yes.
"......"
Serea's heart surged with excitement at this, but at the same time, her suspicion kicked in.
"But... this seems way too convenient. Are you trying to scam me?"
System: All actions are for the host's benefit.
That sentence again. Serea truly didn't know how to retort. Just then, Addis, having regained control of her body, fixed her gaze on Serea.
When Addis spotted Serea, infinite rage erupted in her eyes.
"It's you."
"That's not me, I didn't do it, you've got the wrong person..."
Serea responded while secretly taking out a blood crystal. At the same time, she converted the 45 death crystals she'd collected from slaying undead into pure dark energy.
"Ignorant living beings, receive the wrath of your king!"
As she spoke, Serea noticed that there were more sarcophagi and cages here, just like before. Could it be...
"Undead of the Netherworld, heed my call!"
Death energy exploded outward. Suddenly, the sarcophagi began to shake.
Sure enough, the worst outcome Serea had feared materialized. Only now did she start to doubt her position as a dark sovereign—turns out that in a group brawl, she might actually be at a bit of a disadvantage...
Crack, crack, crack!
Bones piled all over the floor assembled themselves into skeletons, their eye sockets flickering with ghostly blue soul fire—nearly a hundred of them.
"Hiss~ This is looking kind of bad..."
As Serea spoke, an even more terrifying scene unfolded.
Clang, clang, clang!
Blades were drawn, and from the sarcophagi emerged skeleton warriors clad in various battered gear: leather, mail, plate, scale, chain, and more, their numbers in double digits.
On closer look, they weren't just ordinary Skeleton Warriors.
Spears, bows, giant shields, longswords, greataxes... Serea felt something was wrong. She looked at these special skeleton warriors, whose information showed up on her interface:
Skeleton Archers, Skeleton Spearmen, Skeleton Shieldbearers, Skeleton Swordsmen, Heavy Skeletons...
All of them were specialized variants!
"Why do I suddenly feel like we're on a whole different power scale here..."
Faced with this array of specialized skeleton warriors, Serea felt intimidated—and that wasn't the end of it.
Thud~ thud~ thud~ thud~
Sealed cages swung open. Pairs of ghostly blue eyes flickered in the darkness. When the inhabitants finally emerged, Serea couldn't help but curse.
"Holy sh—!"
Role: Skeleton Light Cavalry (Undead, Apprentice Cavalry, Bronze Elite)
Level: 14
Status: Good
Spirit: C
Strength: B
Agility: D
Endurance: B
Constitution: C
Charisma: C
Luck: C
Skills: Riding (Tier 1), charge (Tier 1), group Charge (Tier 2), breakthrough Charge (Tier 2), lethal Thrust (Tier 2)
Description: A special variant of skeleton warriors, capable of mounted combat.
Author's Note:
*Cough* Let me say something. You might think these info panels are just filler for the word count.
But honestly, I think they're necessary. To avoid any impression that this wastes an entire chapter, I usually keep each chapter over 2100 words. That hundred or so extra words, consider them compensation for the info panels. Personally, I think they make reading easier. Ordinary side-characters don't get info panels—only important ones who need explanation or foreshadowing. Don't worry, I won't use these just as filler!
Also—please recommend! Please recommend! Please recommend! PS: Absolutely not a cliffhanger troll.
(To be continued...)
-------------= Clacky's Corner -------------=
We understand you, author...
【ദ്ദി(⩌ᴗ⩌)】